In the opening of season one, the
viewers are presented with the image of pants falling through the
bright blue desert sky, Walt's confession video, and his attempted
suicide. Throughout the episode, the order of events leads us to
place that scene in context. By the end of the episode, we understand
just what is going on. Throughout season one, this form of analepsis
is used in several more episodes and is effective in creating
suspense for the viewer. We can expect to see some sort of
abstraction of a scene and eventually figure out some sort of context
or conclusion of that scene.
Season two opens with the same sort of
abstraction introduced in season one. However, something is markedly
different with this opener. First, the scene is shot in black and
white and has an oddly sharp quality to it. The camera work is stark
and slightly shaking. Normal items from the backyard—a hose, a
slug, a wind chime—now seem eerie and out of place as they cut from
one to the next. At the shot of the pool, we first hear the siren in
the distance as a plastic eyeball floats past—wait, a plastic
eyeball? Soon this is given context as the camera sinks under water
and a neon pink teddy bear enters the frame. Aside from being the
first item of color shown in the scene, it sticks out for more than
one reason. As the camera rotates around it, we can see it is charred
on one side (thus, the vagrant eye). This is alarming: why is this
teddy bear in the pool? Why is it burnt? What relation does it have
to Walt, Skyler, or the unborn baby girl? And why is a siren the only
noise we can hear?
I spent the episode excited for the
conclusion of this bizarre scene (something season one had trained me
to expect). However, no context whatsoever is given for this opener.
While season one was effective in using to create suspense through
analepsis, this scene created even more suspense than any other
opener. Something about seeing the stuffed animal in a bright neon
color juxtaposed with the eerie black and white calm water was
especially disturbing—it should definitely not be there. This scene
effectively sets the tone for the episode; Walt and Jesse cannot turn
back any longer and this season seems as though it will be much
darker than the previous. Indeed, the conclusion of the episode—Walt
getting into Jesse's car at Tuco's gunpoint—is bound to lead
nowhere good. When we will be able to place the opener into context,
only time will tell.
I agree! During the whole episode, I was waiting to find out the context for the initial scene. It definitely helped set an incredibly morbid and deteriorating mood for the rest of the episode. Viewing the scene and burnt teddy bear as a foreshadow for what will come, I was terrified at the end of the episode when we realized that Tuco was coming after the family.
ReplyDeleteCatherine makes a fascinating point here also about the nature of the analepsis in this opening scene with the burnt teddy bear: it is jarring not only because it challenges our sense of time and logical continuity but also our sense of *place*--the formal qualities of the teddy bear (colorful, pink, burnt...)add to a deeply uncomfortable sense of contrast. I look forward to talking more about these issues tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI think that this opening scene does a great job of drumming up people's anxieties, like Catherine says, mostly for Walt and his family. There is also something to be said about a pair of pants drifting through the desert air, which is less threatening because of its distance from the family, than the burnt, stuffed bear which brings the threat closer to the physical home and family.
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