After what seemed like an eternity, we will finally be able to continue watching how the story of Walter, Jesse, Gus, Hank, and a host of others will unfold. To be honest, I had no idea how the writers would continue the story after season 3's very dramatic final scene. Would Walt and Jesse be on the run? Did Jesse actually shoot Gale? What will Gus do when he finds out Gale's been killed? We truly could not have guessed the answers to these questions, we had to watch. Part of what makes Breaking Bad such an interesting show is its ability to keep us on our toes at all times. I can honestly say that I have not been able to correctly guess where the plot might be headed at any point during the series. Whether I was watching the first season, the second, or the third, any ideas I had turned out to be wrong.
The season 4 premiere managed to answer the immediate questions that the season 3 finale left for us to ponder. Before we got into the mix of things we were treated to a flashback sequence of Gale setting up the under-ground lab for the first time with Gus. It is revealed here that Gale had a huge role in convincing Gus to hire Walter White to cook for him. I liked this scene because for the episode to make sense, it was absolutely necessary as I will explain later. Following the flashback, we see the immediate aftermath of Jesse's shot, and Gale's death. Aaron Paul's acting in this shot is absolutely phenomenal, he manages to bring out the emotions of having to commit murder for the first time in his life, and as the audience we fully understand what he is going through. In my opinion Paul is the best actor on the show, as the degree of difficulty on this particular scene was through the roof and I think only he (out of the whole cast) could have pulled it off. Gus's henchman (not Mike) arrives and finds Jesse sitting in his car. He takes Jesse back to the lab where Walt and Mike are waiting. This is where things slowed down a bit, as Mike insisted on waiting on Gus before doing anything else and we got some shots of other characters. Marie coping with Hank's inability to take care of himself is probably the best of these shots. It truly is tough watching Hank struggle with simple tasks such as going to the bathroom on his own, and Betsy Brandt portrays Marie's struggles with the whole situation very well. Hopefully Hank being incapacitated wont drag on for too long, in my opinion it would make things very stale. Other characters that were featured were Skyler White and Saul Goodman. Saul is as paranoid as ever and is seen checking his office for bugs and wire-taps, while Skyler is as manipulative as ever, getting a locksmith to open Walter's apartment for her, and driving his car away so her son wont get his hopes up. I really do not like the direction Skyler's character is going, I find it very tough to watch scenes where its just her, and honestly she just does not bring as much to the table as she did in seasons 1 and 2. Hopefully, the writers will find something for her to do, other than causing audiences to cringe and beg for her scenes to end.
