Open house

The episode begins with the fact that Walt notices that a video surveillance camera has been installed in the laboratory that responds to movement, and is furious. A little later, at a meeting with Sol, Skyler convinces Walt to buy a car wash, reminding him how the owner of the sink humiliated his dignity. She develops a plan to trick the owner into selling a car wash, and sends a fraudster called Sol who, under the guise of a water service inspector, is covering up his business allegedly because of the danger of water pollution. The owner immediately sells the Skyler sink, agreeing to even a lower price than what was originally offered. Jesse , still feeling overwhelmed by recent events, is trying to clear her head while riding the map . He keeps his house open for night parties full of orgies and drugs, while deliberately dropping a ton of money in the midst of this chaos. Being angry and frustrated by Hank 's cold trick, Marie again has the habit of stealing ; she begins to steal items from the houses for sale, appearing there as posing as other people, but she is eventually caught by a real estate agent. An angry Hank contacts the senior officer so that she is not charged. The same officer stops at the Shrader’s house to ask Hank for help, letting him see Gale’s lab notes. Hank first discards the notebook, but later begins to read it.

The Open House script was written by Sam Catlin , and the director of the episode was David Slade , which was his first directorial work on television ^[1] . Slade was a fan of "Breaking Bad" and sought to shoot an episode of the series ^[2] . The episode was filmed in February 2011 ^[3] , and its editor was Skip MacDonald, one of the few editors who regularly worked on the series ^[4] . Nigel Gibbs returned to the role of detective Tim Roberts, whom he played in the episode of the second season of “ Popandos ” ^[5] . Stand-up comedian Bill Burr , being a guest star in the series, appeared in the role of the man sent from Skyler to pose as an environmental inspector. Burra took on the role after he expressed interest in appearing on the show to casting directors for extras "Breaking Bad", Sharon Biali and Sherry Thomas. The creator of the series, Vince Gilligan, said: “We just spend a lot of time in the writers room, going to YouTube and watching some of his videos” ^[6] . Stand-up comedian Lavell Crawford returned to the role of Hewell, Saul's bodyguard, and Jennifer Hatsy also played the role of Realtor Stephanie Doswell, who realizes that Marie committed the theft. ^[7]

The idea where Gus sets up a surveillance camera in a met lab comes from the idea of ​​Walter and Gus' work, which Gilligan called “balancing on the brink of war and gimmick” against a friend after they broke up at the end of the third season . Gilligan commented: “How can Gus here charge history with energy? How can he fool around a bit with Walt's head? ” ^{[8] The} first-person footage of the camera is actually a video surveillance camera, including the numbers on the top and bottom of the screen. That is why this shot is shown in the “pillarbox” format and in lower quality than the rest of the episode, which was shot on a 35 mm film ^[9] . The episode has a storyline where Marie again becomes a kleptomaniac , which was a hallmark of her character during the first season . Kathleen said that the creators, sorting out ideas for Marie, who was having difficulty surviving Hank’s difficult recovery, had long thought that she would behave in this way ^[10] . Gilligan described Marie’s actions as a respite for her: “She is looking for a different life, but she is not actively ready to leave her husband or something like that ... We liked such freakishness” ^[11] . Betsy Brandt said Open House is her favorite episode of the season ^[2] .

The idea of ​​Jesse riding the map to relax was inspired by Aaron Paul and other crew members who often traveled on maps between episodes of Breaking Bad in Albuquerque , New Mexico ^[12] . During one scene of a party at Jesse’s house, he throws wrinkled dollar bills into the mouth of a sleeping person with a tie and no pants, until one of them hits his mouth. Kathleen came up with this idea ^[13] , and the money was actually thrown by the props Trina Siopi, who was behind the scenes; she threw the bill into the actor’s mouth on her second attempt ^[14] . The scenes in Jesse's house were shot on set on a sound stage built by production designer Mark Friborne and construction coordinator William Gilpin. Although the scenes in Jesse’s house were shot from time to time in the real house, it was impossible to shoot these scenes there because the party was a big mess ^[15] .

The party scenes were supposed to illustrate Jesse's inner guilt and self-hatred over the murder of Gail Bettiker in the third season finale, “The Complete Measure ”. Brian Cranston praised these scenes, saying, “I thought it was a great way to show someone who goes through their own hell. To show that everyone suffers, and each manages his personal loss in different ways ” ^[16] . Although the previous episode, “The Thirty-Eighth Snub-nosed ”, had similar party scenes, in the “Open House” the party was much darker and more decrepit, and the musical director of “Breaking Bad” Thomas Golubich tried to choose the right music for this dark tone. Initially, he tried to use variations of punk rock , hip hop and dubstep , but felt that it was inappropriate and wanted something “deeper in Jesse's mind” ^[17] . He chose the song “If I Had a Heart” by Swedish musician Fever Ray , which was used during the scenes before and during Jesse's party. Golubich said that he liked the “drowned out loud feeling” of the song, which, it seemed to him, coincided with the mood of Jesse and the “wide, thick darkness” of the party ^[18] . She was chosen by voting among the scriptwriters of the four proposed songs ^[19] .

Ratings

The premiere of "Open House" was held on Sunday July 31, 2011 on the AMC channel ^[20] . The episode was watched by approximately 1.714 million viewers and on a Nielsen scale received a rating of 7.0 points ^[20] , which means that 0.7% of all television sets in US households watched this episode during its broadcast ^[20] . This episode was the 22nd highest-rated program on the day of its release ^[20] .

Criticism Reviews

The episode received positive reviews. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said he was especially interested in the characters of Marie and Jesse, and called it the merit of the evolution of the series, in which the storylines of supporting characters can also be interesting without Walt. He also praised the direction of David Slade, especially transitions in scenes with Jesse. ^[21] IGN 's Seth Amitin called it “a great episode” and an improvement after two previous episodes, “ Clerical Knife ” and “Thirty-Eighth Snub-nosed.” He praised how Skyler showed herself to Walter and Saul, and praised Betsy Brandt's performance, claiming that her storyline brought a long-awaited comic contrast and reminded her of the works of David Sedaris ^[22] . Entertainment Weekly writer Melissa Maerz praised Skyler's character development and said the episode touched on the general theme of the Breaking Bad series about masculinity. Together with Skyler, a self-assertive Walter at work, and Hank, relieving himself of his insecurity due to his disability in the eyes of Marie, Maerz said the script raises the question: “What does it mean to be a strong person?” ^[23] Todd Vanderverff of the Los Angeles Times called him “one of the best episodes of this show,” despite diverting attention from Walter and directing attention to minor members of the cast. Vanderwerff said the episode showed well how Walter’s actions affected everyone around him, and said that Marie’s character has become more interesting compared to the past ^[24] .

Matt Ricenthal of TV Fanatic praised the performances of Betsy Brandt and Aaron Paul and said the latter: “Seriously, is there such an actor on television who, speaking a little, broadcast more than Aaron Paul?” He also compared Skyler’s more thoughtful approach to the drug business of Walter with the personality of Hus ^[25] . Logan Hill of New York Magazine praised Brandt's performance and said he was interested in watching an episode that was noticeably focused on Skyler and Marie, and this is in a show that is usually dominated by male characters. However, he said that Skyler’s transformation from a caring wife into a competent crime accomplice seemed too hasty ^[26] . Not all reviews were positive. June Thomas and Jessica Gros from Slate liked Marie in the Open House, but they felt that the scenes in Jesse's house were unnecessary and that Skyler’s concern about Walter’s safety did not seem to be her style. ^[27]

• Cranston, Bryan . Breaking Bad Insider 403 (Audio commentary) [Podcast]. Breaking Bad Insider Podcast.
• Catlin, Sam . Breaking Bad Insider 403 (Audio commentary) [Podcast]. Breaking Bad Insider Podcast.
• Dixon, Kelley. Breaking Bad Insider 403 (Audio commentary) [Podcast]. Breaking Bad Insider Podcast.
• Gilligan, Vince . Breaking Bad Insider 403 (Audio commentary) [Podcast]. Breaking Bad Insider Podcast.
• Golubic, Thomas. Breaking Bad Insider 403 (Audio commentary) [Podcast]. Breaking Bad Insider Podcast.

• "Open House" on the official website "Breaking Bad"
• " An Open House ” on the Internet Movie Database
• Open House on TV.com