While being without a doubt the most dialog-focused episode of the season, "Gray Matter" was the one that got me hooked again as I first watched this fantastic series. The premise is the same as it was in "Cancer Man" with Walt and Jesse still going separate ways. The one now gets confronted by his family due to his aversion to cancer treatment plus his continuing strange behavior; the other once again tries to succeed in life on his own after both his parents and Walt have left him alone.
The pre-credits scene brings a huge novelty for Breaking Bad as we see Jesse suiting up for a job interview that – didn't we expect it? – doesn't work the way he wanted it too. I always love to listen to this dude talking and so I quite enjoyed this introduction, however, it also brought us Matt Jones' Badger, a junkie similarly as unsuccessful with life as Jesse. I really don't like his character and I'm not at all able to take him seriously since he's just too moronic. Now that wouldn't be too bad if "Gray Matter" were the only episode he's starring in, but unfortunately, he returns for eleven additional episodes in the future. Through that, you can reason that I didn't enjoy the scenes with him on screen that much, although Aaron Paul partially compensated for that with great acting. The real assets of this episode were all the conversation scenes between Walt and Skyler plus sometimes Walt Jr., Hank, and Marie. In one outstanding scene of almost 15 minutes, the latter of this list stage an intervention for Walt. Each and every one of them gets the talking pillow (applause to whoever came up with that idea!) and with the number of minutes increasing, you'll find yourself more and more admiring the screen writing and acting work the cast of Breaking Bad has done with this scene.
"Gray Matter" had other touching, amusing, or simply entertaining moments too, which made it a generally really good episode for me. It's just that because of the emphasis laying on the conversations, it's not that thrilling anymore if you re-watch it and, as I've already said, Badger ruins it a bit for my taste.
The pre-credits scene brings a huge novelty for Breaking Bad as we see Jesse suiting up for a job interview that – didn't we expect it? – doesn't work the way he wanted it too. I always love to listen to this dude talking and so I quite enjoyed this introduction, however, it also brought us Matt Jones' Badger, a junkie similarly as unsuccessful with life as Jesse. I really don't like his character and I'm not at all able to take him seriously since he's just too moronic. Now that wouldn't be too bad if "Gray Matter" were the only episode he's starring in, but unfortunately, he returns for eleven additional episodes in the future. Through that, you can reason that I didn't enjoy the scenes with him on screen that much, although Aaron Paul partially compensated for that with great acting. The real assets of this episode were all the conversation scenes between Walt and Skyler plus sometimes Walt Jr., Hank, and Marie. In one outstanding scene of almost 15 minutes, the latter of this list stage an intervention for Walt. Each and every one of them gets the talking pillow (applause to whoever came up with that idea!) and with the number of minutes increasing, you'll find yourself more and more admiring the screen writing and acting work the cast of Breaking Bad has done with this scene.
"Gray Matter" had other touching, amusing, or simply entertaining moments too, which made it a generally really good episode for me. It's just that because of the emphasis laying on the conversations, it's not that thrilling anymore if you re-watch it and, as I've already said, Badger ruins it a bit for my taste.