Something I noticed: lighting in season 4

After watching the show several times, I think I might've picked up on something intentional, although I also may be reading into stuff too much. Basically, throughout season 4, conversations between Walt and Jesse or conversations between Gus/Mike and Jesse, the lighting is such that half of the characters faces is lit, half is dark. Now, this type of lighting is not too uncommon throughout shows and films, but it is extremely common throughout season 4 and I think it's intentional. Specifically, I think it's a reference to one of the main conflicts of the season, which is who will Jesse stay loyal to?

Throughout the season, Gus is trying to get Jesse on his side so he can get rid of Walt, and Walt is trying to get Jesse on his side to stay alive. Clearly, both parties are using Jesse in a sense. I believe that the lighting in season 4 might be alluding to each party's deceit; Walt and Gus can't show themselves completely to Jesse, as they have to hide the fact that they're merely using him for their own purposes. They can show some of themselves to him, though, as Walt does indeed care somewhat about Jesse. After all, he views him as a son which is made evident throughout the series. Similarly, Jesse's face is normally half-lit in these encounters, because he's torn between trusting Walt and trusting Gus throughout the season. So if he's talking to Walt, for example, he has to hide his growing relationship with Gus/Mike, and vice versa.

This trend continues when Gus dies; we see half his face gone and half there, just as the lighting was throughout the season. I think this represents something similar: to the outside world, Gus showed only half of himself to many of his friends, as he was known as an honest, good man in the community while being a drug kingpin. Even to his business associates he remained private and didn't share much. The man was a mystery.

Maybe this theory is silly, but I couldn't shake the idea after realizing the lighting patter was so common throughout the season after watching again.

Submitted February 02, 2019 at 03:10AM by yeboi314159 http://bit.ly/2TtV7zG