Just wanted to get a thread started…
Woah.
I think someone mentioned in last week’s thread that this episode would be an hour and 40 minutes, but apparently not.
I was on pins a needles though this whole episode. I’m still mulling this one over, this is the biggest cliff hanger I think they left us on.
Wow, poor Jessie. and…
Poor Gale.
Aaron and Bryan (and maybe even Hank) all deserve an emmy this year.
How am I supposed to wait another 8 or 9 months for the resolution? This show is like meth.
Wow.
A few thoughts -
Who would have thought Saul had principles? His argument was persuasive, though - if I give up Pinkman, who’s to say I won’t give up you?
Walt’s transformation from meek chemistry teacher to hard-core criminal mastermind is complete. When he was blubbering for his life and offered up Jesse it was exactly what Mike and the other guy expected. But he was thinking one step ahead like a good criminal.
“I saved your life. Will you now save mine?” Great line.
So are there any doubts about Jesse actually doing it? I know we heard the shot but we didn’t really see anything.
spoliers from this point on…
I’m not so sure. I don’t think Walt is that great of an actor. I think he sincerely intended to give Jesse up to save his own skin, if it came to that, but at the last second was able to wriggle his way out of the mess he’d gotten himself into. If Mike had forced Walt to drive them to Pinkman, Walt would have done it.
So…is Gale dead? Did Jesse miss? Did he kill himself? Do him and Gale take off together? Is the episode only an hour and 47 minutes so that everyone’s TiVos picked up Rubico?
pilot, I was just about to post the same thing. Did Pinkman really go through with it, or did he just fire off the round, a tad off-center? The way the camera moved (or was it Jessie’s arm moving into the shot) to his gun barrel made it feel like he was off the mark.
But, really, my gut tells me he went through with it. They’re both cold-blooded killers now.
Whoo-wee.
Are you saying Walt isn’t a good actor or Bryan isn’t a good actor. Bryan is an AMAZING actor.* WRT driving Mike to Pinkman, Walt doesn’t no where Pinkman lives, he just knows that he can find him if he needs too. But yeah, I think he was planning to give up Pinkman as well until he found a way to save both of them. During the “I saved your life” thing he said if it comes down to Gale or Pinkman, Gale goes.
*I’ve always said that I think Bryan showed a wider range in acting ability in Malcolm in the Middle then a lot of actors show in their entire career.
From what I could tell the movement we saw at the end was the camera moving, but it sure gave the feeling that Jesse was aiming wide.
I dunno. That just doesn’t seem like Walt. His simpering and begging for his life just is out of character. He knew what he was doing, that’s why after he made the call, he was Mr. Confidence… not a trace of a gibbering, terrified man.
I thought Jessie might turn the gun on himself, but it’s pretty clear to me he shot either directly at Gale, or missed intentionally. We’ll find out come Season 4…
It was a visual mistake caused by how they maneuvered the camera, according to Vince Gilligan. There’s a great post-season interview with him here
Also, remember, Walt said he didn’t know where Pinkman was, “I don’t know where he is, he moves around, constantly… but – but I can call him…” Walt did know where he was, at the Laser Tag bldg. That speaks to me that Walt, begging for his life, was nothing but an act so he could give Jessie a heads-up to get to Gale first.
Ace in the hole.
Awesome, I’m gonna dig in… thanks!
If you don’t want to wait until season four, Gilligan said in a phone interview with Sepinwall that the camera moved, not Jesse. Gale is dead. But Gilligan did leave things open to interpretation, in case he changes his mind when he sits down to plot season four.
I liked how we saw Mike with his daughter, reminding us that he also has reasons for the things he does. I didn’t quite get why he killed those guys in the chemical warehouse though.
I had to turn off the TV and breathe when it was over. Kudos to Gilligan and crew for another excellent season.
It was his granddaughter.
He killed them because they were the competition, trying to move in on Gus’s associates or something.
Mike said to Gus, paraphrased, “Like you said, cartel.”
There’s another interview with Vince Gilligan here on the AV Club website,
in which he also says that Jesse shot Gale. The camera movement was so that we were looking down the barrel of the gun.
I read the interview and then re-watched the scene. Yes, I can see it now, but it seems like slightly sloppy editing. I also think this is partially due to Jesse shaking so much right before the camera panned in front of the gun. One or the other would be find, but the two together really made it look like it’s possible he missed.
There’s also the remote possibility that someone else (Victor or someone he might have called) got there in time and shot Jesse. If you watch it in slow motion, the screen flashes to white when you hear the gun, but you don’t actually see the gun go off.
I haven’t been on the edge of my seat for a TV show since The Shield went off the air.
Absolutely incredible.
Eh, I can’t feel too sorry for Gale. It’s pretty clear that he knew what was going on - that the boss wanted Walt removed (from both the job and this vale of tears), that he wanted to do this as soon as Gale could take over, and that Gale was only being give a fig leaf of a story to cover the whole thing.
Gale was entirely willing to set Walt up to die. He can’t complain when Walt gets to him first. 
Do we have a back story on Gale? I get the feeling he really had no idea what he was getting himself in to. At least not until Gus implied that he would need him to take over much sooner then “4 or 5 more cooks”. You could see him feeling the pressure from Gus to learn everything NOW.