Breaking Bad Season 2 Episode 12: Phoenix

[libraryseraph]

This episode begins with Walt, having chosen his drug deal over Holly's birth, hearing about the birth from marie.

When he does get to see Holly, he's genuinely glad and loving. Holly is especially a symbol of everything he's done so far, so it makes sense he's put a lot of emotion into her.

Ted drove Skyler to the hospital. In Walt's absence, he's replacing Walt more and more.

Skyler said she's glad everything turned out with the live birth, and that everything came out "the natural way". Compare this to Walt, who refuses to just let things happen, even if it might be better.

Jane has fallen off the wagon, but she's still going to NA meetings, and lying to her father about her drug habits. Walt is also someone who does a bad thing and then makes more work for himself by lying about it, because he can't put in the emotional labour of coming clean and dealing with disappointment.

Jesse asks Walt to yell at him over the apparently stolen meth. He's gotten used to Walt's disapproval, to the point that it not being there feels strange. It's also easier for Jesse to deal with any reaction than no reaction.

Walt pushes Skyler to not go back to work, because he doesn't want to lose power in the family. He wants to be the sole provider, and he feels threatened when he isn't.

Walt takes Holly to see the money, to "show her what he did for her". He still sees her as his primary motivation, even though he missed her birth to do this, so she's only motivating in the abstract. Similarly, he wants to be able to brag, but he knows he'll get in trouble for it, so he reveals it to the one person who can't condemn him or report him, even if that also means she can't understand. He's using Holly as a sounding board, not treating her as a daughter

Walt is explicitly exerting his power over Jesse in this scene, trying to remind Jesse that, even when he thinks he's going independent, everything he currently has still comes fro Walt.

Walt gets angry the instant he realizes Flynn's homage site has a donate button. Walt likes people relying on him, because it's a source of his power. He doesn't like to rely on others, because that mkaes him feel powerless, and he takes people suggesting he gets help as an attempt to rob him of power, or as them insulting him by calling him weak.

Walt freaks out at Saul's ideas for covering up where the money comes from, because he earned that money. Never mind that he earned that money in an extremely illegal way that he can;t talk about, never mind that he would still earn the money no matter what his family thinks, he doesn't want his achievements taken away from him.

Instead of uplifting each other, Jane and Jesse have become bad influences on each other. Jane especially is taking out her issues with her father on Walt.

Walt is watching a nature documentary about elephants, which describes them as living in matriarchal family groups. It's probably a stretch to say this is symbolism of Walt's opposition to Skyler's job, but I didn;t get an English degree to not make wild assumptions.

Walt mocks Jesse for letting Jane take charge. Especially ironic, since Walt doesn't let Jesse take charge in the way he;s already constructed as masculine either.

Walt runs into Don at the bar, and they talk about family, completely unaware of any of their connections.

Walt letting Jane die of an overdose is another big step downwards for him. She wasn't trying to hurt him, and he's not concerned about Jesse so much as losing control over him, so it's Walt letting someone die because it's inconvenient otherwise. He acts like he can keep his hands clean, but he's still responsible for this.