libraryseraph

There's some more interesting stuff with Hank and Masculinity in this opening scene, despite it largely being a comedy bit. Hank obviously sets his job with the DEA up as a source of masculinity, and conceptualizes it in that way, but here we see that he's not always seen that way, with people shooting down his idea for a "cool" operation name. Masculinity is inherently fragile.

Walt is pretty obviously having a flashback at the sight of the cooking chicken, reinforced by closing in so far on it it's hard to tell what kind of burning flesh it is.

Hank reassuring Walt Jr. is interesting, bc while his encouragement boils down to "you can still be conventionally masculine" he's willing to say that, despite Walt Jr being physically disabled. I feel like, as time goes on, we're start seeing Hank as a foil to Walt in a different way, as two different manifestations of masculinity.

And now we see that Walt revealed one thing to skyler as a cover for another thing.

This is very different from my experiences with cancer, but one thing I can confirm is that cancer has no logic, or justice, or rationalization. Some things make the risk worse, but you can do everything right and it'll still happen.

Hank promises to take care of Walt's family, something we've already seen established as a measure of masculinity. This is the easiest way for Hank, as a very masculine person, to show affection to Walt, but it also leads to Walt feeling like his masculinity has been impugned.

"(the fake pop tarts) are from like canada or something. Imported" ARE THEY NO NAME (r)

Jesse is initially trying to keep the meth secret, but when his friends get really interested he a) almost immediately shows it off and b) claims it's his own recipe. He's motivated primarily by praise and acceptance. The instant he claims he doesn't want to smoke for health reasons and Skinny Pete and...I don't think that's Badger, actually... start leaving, he backpedals.

Walt closes Skyler off from helping him. It's not just about privacy, he also doesn't want to admit weakness around her.

And then there's the dystopian American fuckery of "we're going to bankrupt you for cancer treatment".

Walt hiding his meth money in the nursery has a lot of layers. On one hand, there's the subversion of innocence/juxtaposition, on the other there's the physical representation of Walt's current/alledged motives, and on the weird mutant third hand, there's the fact that Walt cannot keep his crimes from coming home to roost

I can't tell if Walt is laughing or crying whne he realizes he's so paranoid he's scared of cop cars. I think it's probably both.

This scene is a big contributor to my headcanon that Jesse has an undiagnosed/untreated learning disability. The fact that his parents are entirely focused on their "good" son feels very much like they have an idea of what they want, and while that can obviously happen to nt people, it happens a lot to nd people whose symptoms can justifiably passed off as laziness or poor moral fibre.

Jesse's unchanged room indicates a lot of things. the art helps establish a creative side that has only been alluding to with the "cooking as art" description earlier. The fact his parents have preserved it (instead of turning it into a sterile, impersonal guest room, another trope) shows his parents are maintaining some sort of care and affection for him, but it's almost all pushed into the past. FInally, Jesse sleeping in this room helps establish him as someone who hasn't actually grown up in a lot of ways, who is still a child.

Jesse setting the table: another example of behavioural code-switching and approval seeking. Jesse does want to belong with his parents on some level, so he's doing this. And his parents are surprised, so they don't know jesse well enough to understand that.

Jesse is... so proud of Jake *happy tear*

Jake thinking Jesse is the favourite because they never stop talking about him is real. Thankfully, my parents are nothing like Jesse's, but i do remember this feeling my younger brother and I had "they like you more, and that's why they worry about you"/ "they like you more BECAUSE they don't have to worry about you"

The "apply yourself" test motivates Jesse in the present, but since he's trying to please Walt/his friends, he ends up going back to cooking.

Walt is still unwilling to cook, at least until he realizes the money he can get from it. His motivations are still good.

"We can treat your cancer, but the side effects are, basically, cancer" I laugh so I don't cry

Jesse takes the blame for the joint for Jake, because he sees Jake as having more potential and a better life, and because he's basically decided that life's not for him, anyways.

Walt is basically unwilling to be hopeful, because he's concerned about what will happen after he's gone. Walt Jr. is correct in calling this basically giving up, instead of selflessness

Is Ken the world's biggest asshole? Yes. Did he not deserve to get his car set on fire, and does this scene serve to show how Walt will do bad things if he feels like he can justify them? Also yes.

This is a really good episode for setting up Walt's motivations further, and it's got good Jesse parts too