TV-Reviewed

Not so long ago it was clear that Walter’s brother-in-law, Hank, who is a DEA agent, is now tracking him. He found Walter’s protective mask in the desert, so it’s only a matter of time until he makes some serious headway. The opening scene of “Cancer Man” shows the DEA agents discussing the case. I’m curious how much progress they’ll make each week. Walter and Jesse didn’t leave a whole lot of evidence out there, but it’s not impossible to track the guys down.

During an afternoon cookout at Walter and Skyler’s, they told Hank and Marie about Walter’s cancer. Understandably shocked, they expressed their concern and Marie offered to help them out. She managed to get them an appointment with an oncologist to give them a second opinion.

The visit with the oncologist wasn’t free, of course. Walter had to find several thousand dollars in order to pay for the consultation. Fortunately he had enough from his drug dealing. Although Walter received an additional $4000 from Jesse at the end of the episode, the cash is going to run out soon.

The treatment is going to cost roughly $90,000. The only way I see Walter coming up with that kind of money is to go back into cooking meth. It just seems inevitable at this point. If/when he does, he’s going to leave more evidence for Hank and the other DEA agents to find.

We hadn’t been introduced to Jesse’s family, so we don’t know that much about him. In “Cancer Man,” we got to meet his parents and his younger brother. It would seem that drugs have caused Jesse to be kicked out of his parent’s house in the past. The real kicker was the fact that his brother is now smoking pot. I didn’t see that twist coming.

I didn’t think this episode was as profound as the previous ones. But there was one highlight. An obnoxious asshole named Ken took Walter’s parking spot at the bank and proceeded to talk about women in a derogatory fashion. You could sense Walter would get his revenge and did he ever! Poor Ken lost his nice BMW when Walter shorted out the car battery with a squeegee and caused the car to explode. Now that was a nice ending.

Breaking Bad - Cancer Man
Original Air Date: February 17, 2008

Rating: 8.6