Fifty-One

This is the fourth episode of the fifth episode of Breaking Bad. I thought this episode was a meaningful filler episode that features outstanding dialogue and great acting. The episode finally has Skylar getting out of her funk in a big way. The action may be limited, but the the main focus of this episode is the exposition and characterization.

In this episode, "Fifty-One," Walt turns 51 years old and he requests a birthday party, in which turns out to be a somber affair. Walt tells Hank and Marie about Skylar's affair with Ted. Skylar is horrified when she finds out Walt is back in the drug business and she wants to send the children away. Meanwhile, Jesse discovers a GPS tracker on one of the main ingredients, prompting the anger of Mike.

Overall, this is a solid episode. It's a little on the slow side, but it's far from uneventful. The ending is very promising and I gather we are in for a treat next episode. I rate this episode 9/10.

This episode is a slow one. I was never a great fan of Skyler, as i suspect other fans of the show must feel; she must have been written to annoy people as i cannot imagine anyone that likes Walt and Jesse also liking the neurotic/complaining/moody Skyler. Every other character in the show has either grown on me or i liked from the start, even her crazy sister now seems more normal somehow. Although i realize she may need more story time now and again to push the story along, but, in the end i think every episode that focuses on Skyler ends up a neurotic boring drudgery; although i still gave it an 8 because i felt it had enough pushing it along apart from the crazy woman.

We are also left to wonder exactly what extent Walt runs his life and how much time Hiezenburg is spending running the show; is he an alter ego or has he become a split personality, or even scarier, is he now Hiezenburg? One thing is for sure, Walt seems to like running the show now, and he doesn't like taking no for an answer. There doesn't seem to be any more Mr Nice Guy, and even though Walt was always an "ends justifies the means" kind of guy he always seemed to have a bit of nice guy underneath.

"Can the Breaking Bad soundtrack get more diverse?", you may ask. "Yes.", responds Vince Gilligan and adds Australian dubstep duo Knife Party for the scene of Walt and his son enjoying themselves with their freshly leased muscle cars. Just as this intro isn't of much importance for the rest of the episode, this also applies for the introduction of my review and I'm now going to make a similarly unsmooth change of topic.

As we meet Lydia again, not only will native German speakers notice that Laura Fraser's German is the epitome of halting, but her story arc is also getting more interesting. Her relationship with Mike hasn't got any rosier since he was on the verge of blasting her head off in "Madrigal" and a little GPS tracker on a methylamine barrel secures that the next episode, "Dead Freight", will be outstanding. That adjective isn't yet fitting for "Fifty-One", but the season's fourth episode has clearly got its moments to shine, to wit the scene that Fraser and Aaron Paul share together and that leads to the aforementioned discovery or the last shot of Walt's birthday present clock ticking. However, that's about everything worth mentioning, which is a fairly low yield from an episode lasting three quarters of an hour.

With that, I'm not insinuating that I didn't like "Fifty-One" since Sam Catlin did a nice job with the script and made some of the duller story lines a bit more interesting. Nevertheless, the episode was too slow for my taste and I disliked the lengthy scene at the White house, which also sets off a new living situation for the family that I'm not too fond of. Additionally, there's a blemish with the episode's title and the actual overall number of it, which is the 50th and not the 51st. But my generous self won't be reducing the rating for "Fifty-One" just because of that.

This was EXCELLENT. Hard to believe a year has passed since Walt's diagnosis.

Rian Johnson directed the hell out of this episode. I'm really quite impressed with what he did here, especially with all of the scenes between Walter and Skyler. What was that car sequence at the beginning though? It felt so strange and off the wall...

I guess this Lydia character is a little intimidating too. For a paranoid, unkept person, she seems to be kind of calculating and manipulative as well. Mike is probably right about her.

The highlight for me was definitely the final argument between Walter and Skyler though. It's such a challenging scene to watch. They've both been through so much over the past year, but it's all coming to an end soon it seems. Gunn and Cranston are stellar.

Very, very good.

How far Walt has come since The Pilot! This episode reminds us that only a year has passed and a lot happened during that year!

This episode was qlso dark and depressing with some amazing character drama! Anna Gun does great as Skyler! Love or have her, but she plays her character to perfection! The scenes with her are tense and unsettling cause we can see she is not well! Pool scene was dark, realistic and uncomfortable! As dark as it may sound, this is how depression looks and feels like!

Great scene between Walt and Skyler! We really see just how much Walt has changed and how much his behaviour and work affects those around him! It was all about her and Walts relationship! Anna Gun was amazing and the drama was great as well!

Overall a great psyhological episode that explores the mental consequences of Walts profession and that not everyone shares his enthusiasm!