Breaking Bad - Stairway

Season three, episode ten, features one of the most tense episodes of Breaking Bad that I ever watched. The drugging of Walter by Jesse and thinking if he is gonna let slip that he let his girlfriend die by not doing anything to prevent her choking, the tension between the two as Walter takes more control over their 'partnership' and the family disputes outside work that threaten to break their own morale and sanity.

But to me, there was one scene in particular that stood out in this episode that only featured the two main actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in their respective roles inside Frings meth lab. While trying all day to catch one fly, Walter won't let them work with a fly buzzing around which he says could mess up a batch of meth, Jesse has had enough and drugs Walter with sleeping pills so he can get to work without an overbearing dictator telling him how to do his job. Soon after they see the fly land on the ceiling Jesse has the idea of stacking many things up to make a very rickety platform. While Jesse climbs up, Walter holds it steady as best he can from the bottom in his dizzy state.

Jessie ascends the ladder.

Walter ponders on the state of his marriage and how his wife Skyler can't comprehend on why he cooks and does the things he does. Tensions begin to rise as Walter tells Jesse that the night Jane died he met her father in a bar and began a conversation about family. Slowly, but surely he begins to have deep feelings of regret and guilt for his actions. Before Jesse swats the fly Walt mutters "I'm sorry about Jane." Just before Jesse kills the fly, Walt falls to the ground asleep and misses his partners victory against the bothersome insect.

Walter refuses to let them work before the fly has been taken care of.

The scene here while holding and climbing the ladder has a lot to represent.
First of all there is a clear sense of who is rising and who is falling. Jesse being at the top of the ladder shows that he is moving on with his life and he has it all ahead of him. He is kind, charasmatic and has been trying to move forward past the tragedies he has had to endure. Walter however is sinking into an oblivion that he has made for himself. His marriage is failing, the lies are falling apart, he is changing from a kind family man to a vicious drug lord and has caused the deaths of others. It's a somewhat religious image of paths to heaven and hell, salvation and damnation.
Another way I see it is that Walter at the bottom of the ladder somewhat aspires to be like Jesse who has climbed to the top. In a way Walter is jealous of Jesse who seems to think of life as an easy chore and lives everyday in the moment. Walter is tied down by his family and responsibilites and is grasping at Jesse's freedom.


The final way I see it is escape. Jesse climbs to the top of the ladder to escape Walters reign of brutality and oppression. He is his own man and is desperate to show it rather than be controlled by Walt which he does by teaming up with his two best friends, Skinny Pete and Badger, by skimming some of the meth they make and selling it on their own. Walter knows he needs Jesse but finds it hard to admit it through his arrogance but feels it deep down. Being at the top of the ladder he desperately struggles to bring him back down because without him, it would all fall apart.

Walt, in his dizzy state, begins to let slip his personal feelings.

Even though this episode was the lowest budget of all the episodes, because Breaking Bad was a high budget show when they didn't have the finances they had to make an episode which didn't require much money, it has stayed with me as one of the most emotional just because of this one ladder scene. It makes you think whether their talking cleared the air of their tensions or just created more.