Well, for those of you who complained that this season has been moving too slow…
Second week in a row that I held my breath through the last few minutes. Wowza!
Who called Hank? Gus? Mike? Had to be one of them.
Will Gale go quietly? I don’t think so.
Why did Gus agree to let Jesse work in the lab with Walt? To keep tabs on him? Keep tabs on both of them? Because he had no choice?
I already started a thread on this week’s episode:
It was all worth it. Those last few minutes were pulse pounding. Just one question:
Who the hell called Hank and warned him about the brothers?
The answer to that question I guarantee we are not supposed to know at all until future episodes. Maybe they’ll reveal it next episode, but possibly the one after. You guys have noticed that sometimes things happen that have zero explanation using the information that we currently have and that they’ll be explained in the future, right?
Such as the confirmation of who the bald brothers were. Zero confirmation that they were Tuco’s cousins until several episodes into this season.
I looked – I swear I did! 
I’m still processing everything…
Nice background on Tio, the Cousins, and Gus, however.
And best single line: “You’re Welcome!!!” Heh.
I’m assuming the call came from Gus, because killing a DEA agent would be bad for business. Well then, why did he give them Hank’s name in the first place? Because he somehow arranged things so that he’d know when the hit was gonna go down (a tracking device? Mike?) and he counted on Hank being able to either get out of the way or kill the cousins, thereby ridding Gus of a couple thorns in his side and keeping Walt safe, at least temporarily.
I’d like to think that Mike was nearby, and that if Hank didn’t get rid of the cousins, Mike would.
The question now is how much love the cartel had for the cousins, and will they still be after Hank, or maybe even Gus. I think the cousins were loose cannons and the cartel will be glad they’re gone. It can’t be that hard to find competent killers.
Did Saul know about the hit on Hank? Because I thought the call might have been from him. Didn’t we see him using a voice distortion device earlier? And if that hit was immediately after Hank left the office, how come we didn’t see anyone from the DEA office come running? Surely they would have heard the shooting, and the car horn.
:eek: Wow! I just finished the episode and my heart is racing!
He was in a supermarket parking lot, not the DEA parking lot. I already deleted it, but I’m pretty sure there were people pushing around shopping carts and I’m 99% sure people were screaming which isn’t what I’d expect out of a DEA agent.
Yeah, wherever he was he had just bought flowers for his wife. It seemed like a supermarket parking lot to me too.
Even in the DEA parking lot, not everbody is going to be an agent, or even working for the DEA.
I figured Hank was just outside his office, but maybe not.
Jeez, I really hope he’s going to be okay.
What I want to know is: What’s up with the extremely pointy, curved up Mexican cartel enforcer cowboy boots? I have never seen anything like them anywhere else.
I felt that Walt’s situation eased up a bit as a result of this week’s events.
Gus made the call. The brothers were a liability to him. He told them they’d have to wait for Walt, and they refused, so he set it up so there’d be at least a chance Hank would be able to kill them.
Walt was in a tough position regarding Jesse. It was either get him back under control, or kill him. I’m not sure killing him wouldn’t be the way to go - I mean, he basically guaranteed Walt that he’d land him in jail eventually with his reckless behavior and intent to rat him out. Having Saul get someone to kill him would’ve been self preservation at this point.
I feel bad for the lab assistant - Walt set him up with the wrong temperature just to get him kicked out of the lab. He was a cool guy.
When I was living in Texas, it seemed to me that all the Mexican drug-dealers wore boots similar to the Cousin’s and it wasn’t until you pointed them out that I realized the similarities. I remember thinking at the time just how vicious-looking the boots were and how it would kill if they hit you in the gut or face. I don’t know if there’s anything to be made from that experience, but maybe the people behind breaking Bad are hip to the trends in Mexican gangster footwear.
Who else knew that Gus had given The Cousins permission to kill Hank? Obviously Gus, but maybe the Mexican cartel has been keeping track of The Cousins and knew the death of a DEA agent would cause too much blowback? Gus did have to circumvent the will of the cartel, which strictly forbade the killing of federal officers.
Jesus what a great episode. I fully expected Hank to die during that scene. That tells me something about how good the writing is, because I was expecting a main character to die - something that doesn’t happen with other shows.
Nice to see Walt has some shred of humility left in him, no matter how scant and self-serving.
Fantastic ending! Of course it had to be Gus who warned Hank since only he knew about his siccing the brothers on Hank. This episode also had a dynamite beginning with the flashback and then the Jessie beating. I think what brought Jessie back to Walt was Walt’s parting comments about Jessie’s meth being as good as his. That was a pretty tough admission for Walt. I really thought that Walt has no choice but to bring Jessie into Gus’ operation. If Jessie were “loose” he would eventually get caught cooking and then use his Heisenberg card to make a deal with the feds. Walt knew that. The only thing I’ve missed in BB this season was that Walt’s cancer is no longer being mentioned. Yes, it’s apparently in some form of remission, but it still has to have some effect on Walt’s actions.
Better call Saul, but don’t yank Hank.
I totally though the ass kicking was justified even if misdirected. And what an ass whoopin’ it was.
How long before Walt is asking Gus “Hypothetically, if someone were to kill a former student turned disastrous meth dealing partner turned arrogant lab assistant how would you hide the body?”
Great money shot of Twin 1’s head coming off. The twins had the biggest balls and the stupidest criminal minds on Earth- they were freaking terminators more than human. Amazing they lived this long.
I totally hadn’t recognized Mark Margolis as Don Salamanca when he was in the wheelchair and 'decrepit’ makeup. I’ve always thought he had great presence whether playing a mob boss, priest, perfumer or a mossad agent and he’s one of my favorite character actors, but without the voice or body language it’s hard to be recognized.
I have to say I had a major credibility issue with the vest buying segment though.
Even if it’s your first day on the job and your previous experience is at Banana Republic, if you’re now a guy who deals bulk assault weapons, ammo and accessories from the back of a truck in the middle of the desert you probably know that your core customer base is less likely to be Mormon Scoutmasters hoping they can reconfigure your merchandise into paintball guns and BBs than people who
1- Don’t mind killing
2- Probably don’t have terrible problems with jacking merchandise
3- Are less than enthusiastic about people being able to connect them to a murder weapon
You’re probably going to take precautions and be a bit less trusting than this guy. Particularly you’re probably not going to turn your back on them and walk into the back of an 18 wheeler trailer while talking about a woman who’s into water sports.
I can only assume this guy somehow somewhere had some backup, though the fact that backup didn’t come running when Twin Uno shot his salesman doesn’t speak well of him either. This guy needs to be happy all he got was a broken rib.