Today, we’re going to learn all about scene analysis by studying specific beats. We’ll learn how to align scenes using Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat beat sheet—specifically the break-into-three scene, before drilling down to the zig-zagging sub-beats to see how they operate. To illustrate, we’ll break down the nail-biting beat scene from Breaking Bad’s Season 2 Episode 2, Grilled!
Just before the climax of the episode, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman find themselves held captive at Tuco Salamanca uncle’s house.
Let’s explore how the writer builds the tension with sub-beats, sub-beats that escalate, de-escalate, only to rescaled again, keeping us on an emotional roller-coaster.
- Save the Cat Beat Sheet
The first thing to know about any scene is to identify the sort of story beat it rests on. Ask: where does it occur in the story? Early? Late? A beat’s position helps to define its function. Let’s use the popular Save the Cat beat sheet to explore this further. Snyder’s beat-sheet identifies fifteen beats for a story. Although the type of beat-sheet that best suits a film or tv episode varies depending on genre and style, the scene were examining today fits Save the Cat’s beat thirteen: the break-into-three beat:
2. Set-up
Tuco has taken Walter and Jesse to his mute, paralysed uncle’s house—one Hector Salamanca. The DEA have connected Tuco to the distribution of narcotics and the murder of one of his men. Walter and Jesse initially think that Tuco has brought them to the house to kill them, thinking that he believes that they have ratted him out to the cops.
“The nitty-gritty of scene analysis lies in identifying a scene’s chief beat then examining its sub-beats that it uses to escalate and de-escalate flow or tension.”
3. Scene Goals
Every scene serves a purpose within the overall story. It does this by obeying the function of a particular beat assigned to it by the context of the story. The function or goal of the scene we are exploring, a preamble to the story climax, soon becomes clear: Will Walter and Jesse succeed in poisoning Tuco and saving their lives?
So, again, the main beat is, Break-Into-Three: Walter and Jesse are in mortal danger at the hands of the psychotic Tuco. He demands that the pair empty out their pockets and asks Walter if he can trust him. Walter assures him that he can. But Walter and Jesse need to find something new to use against Tuco in order for them to survive. This new ‘something’ represents the essence of the break-into-three beat.
4. Create a zig-zagging pattern of escalation and de-escalation within the scene
At first, it appears that Tuco will indeed kill Walter and Jessie right away, thinking that they’ve ratted him out to the cops. This keeps the tension heigh. But we soon realize that Tuco suspects one of his own men, Ganzo, as being the rat. This releases the tension momentarily and forms the up part of the zig-zagging pattern of tension.
In fact, Tuco wants them to abandon their lives in Albuquerque and go to Mexico to cook meth for him. Or at least, he wants Walter to go with him. He does not much care for Jesse. The threat to Walter’s family is further motivation for Walter to obey.
Then, out of the blue, an opportunity presents itself to poison Tuco with the packet of ricin that Walter had in his pocket: Zig. This is the ‘something’ that might turn the tables on Tuco.
But Jesse messes things up by taking the ‘sell’ of the drug that he claims he’s cooked too far. In an attempt to impress Tuco he tells him he has placed a secret ingredient in the meth: Chili powder. The problem is that Tuco hates chili powder, so he decides not to take the hit: Zag. Tuco, who has always hated Jesse, threatens to kill him: Zig. Walter barely talks him out of it: Zag.
With their lives at stake, Walter and Jessie adapt their plan to poison Tuco. Thinking that the old man, Hector Salamanca, is unaware of his surroundings, Walter surreptitiously picks up the bag of ricin and secretly scatters its contents into Tuco’s food: Zig.
But Walter is mistaken—Hector is very much aware of what Walter has done. He might not be able to speak, but he can communicate by ringing a bell on his wheelchair! The use of the jarring sound of the bell at crucial moments in the scene is a brilliant tension escalator. The suspense becomes unbearable as Tuco tries to understand what his uncle is trying to tell him, while Walter and Jesse try convince him that Hector is merely confused: Zig.
But slowly, agonisingly, Tuco realises that Walter and Jesse are indeed up to no good: Zag.
The result? Tuco takes them outside presumably to kill them, bringing this extended scene to an end and unleashing the episode’s climax. If you haven’t watched the episode, I won’t spoil it for you!
So, there you have it: The break-into-three scene analysed down to its sub-components. The zig-zagging method illustrated here, with adjustments to emotional direction, depending on the genre, can be applied to most significant scenes in your stories.
Summary
Good scene analysis rests on identifying the main beat your scene rests on. This represents its functional goal. Next, place your characters on an emotional roller-coaster by creating a zig-zagging pattern of sub-beats.