# Breaking Bad 4.13 "Face Off" 10/9 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130 "2011-10-10T00:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/41 "2011-10-10T04:39:54Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > What’s Walt’s body count now? > > He killed Molina in the basement with a bike lock, the two drug dealers (one with his car and one with a gun IIRC), tonight he killed the unnamed henchman. He ordered the killing of Gale (not sure if that would get a conviction since he didn’t kill him personally or coerce Jesse into doing it and in a very convoluted way it was an act of self defense) and he (chemically) engineered the killing of Gus. If you’re going to count Gus, you need to count Hector and Tyrus as well. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/42 "2011-10-10T04:43:44Z")
Oh for sure, I thought it was fairly obvious Saul meant that he was safe in the holding room from Gus’s goons. Those guys were actively trying to kill Walt. Also, it reveals Walt paid that woman the 25k to bring Saul out of hiding, since he’d obviously spoken to Walt. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/43 "2011-10-10T04:44:53Z")
And although, rather indirectly, can we hold Walt responsible for the lives of the passengers of both jets at the end of season 2? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/44 "2011-10-10T04:48:34Z")
Skylar told Walt that the DEA didn’t know what to make of the hospital explosion yet, but there sure as hell will be an investigation, now that it’s clear Gus was involved. I wonder when they take a look at the shrapnel from the bomb, if there’ll be anything tying it to Walt. Also, I think Mike will come back, hear about what went down, raise a tired eyebrow, grunt, nod, then get into cahoots with Walt & Jesse. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/45 "2011-10-10T04:49:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He killed Molina in the basement with a bike lock, the two drug dealers (one with his car and one with a gun IIRC), tonight he killed the unnamed henchman. He ordered the killing of Gale (not sure if that would get a conviction since he didn’t kill him personally or coerce Jesse into doing it and in a very convoluted way it was an act of self defense) and he (chemically) engineered the killing of Gus. > > So that’s at least 4 that he’s killed himself, 1 for which he would be guilty of conspiracy and however the wheelchair bomb would be counted (accessory, conspiracy, or outright murder depending on how you count it). Am I missing any? Wasn’t there also a pair of dealers whom Walt poisoned in the RV? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/46 "2011-10-10T04:50:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you’re going to count Gus, you need to count Hector and Tyrus as well. Didn’t he also gas 2 guys in the mobile home in the desert? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/47 "2011-10-10T04:54:17Z")
Just a minor prediction for the next season: the authorities will descend upon the retirement home and interview the staff to see who was coming and going, who was talking to Hector. Walt surely used a fake name to sign in but was seen by the staff. They’ll describe him to a police artist and the DEA/FBI will have another sketch of Heisenberg. And if this one has a bandage on his nose Hank could find it very interesting. I’m sure they’ll find interesting things on Fring’s laptop too. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/48 "2011-10-10T04:57:04Z")
There’s GOTTA be video surveillance at the hospital. If so, Walt’s on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/49 "2011-10-10T04:59:08Z")
If making meth isn’t _hamartia_, surely poisoning a kid is. I think Walt must die. Perhaps in the process of somehow redeeming Jesse. > [@nivlac](#): > > The only suspense for me now is what the hell will they do for next season? Hank connects the dots? A lot of witnesses saw Walt and Jesse at the laundry fire. A “bald guy with a bandage on his nose” description would pretty much nail Walt. The same description might emerge from the nursing home explosion. Also, I wonder if Gus’s German parent company gets involved? Or was that entity entirely Gus’s creation? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/50 "2011-10-10T05:04:24Z")
The more I think about it, the more I think this series has to go out with Walt never getting caught, making a ton of dough, and dying from his cancer surrounded by his family. Then Hank puts it together. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/51 "2011-10-10T05:16:24Z")
It just dawned on me. This show would cease to be Breaking Bad with out them continuing to cook meth. The Car Wash. That’s their new lab. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/52 "2011-10-10T05:18:26Z")
Wow that was insanely intense. Does anyone have any idea if Gus’s death scene is even remotely medically possible? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/53 "2011-10-10T05:22:48Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Wow that was insanely intense. > > Does anyone have any idea if Gus’s death scene is even remotely medically possible? I don’t see why not. Unlikely, sure, but there’s got to be plenty of medically documented cases with people’s faces blown off, and still alive. I liked how you could see a little gristle of optic nerve or muscle kinda of wiggling around in his socket. The dazed strut out and the adjusting of his tie, while very Gus is probably a stretch. But still, creepy, and a necessary reveal for those wondering how he made it out “untouched”. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/54 "2011-10-10T05:54:46Z")
I’m not any sort of medical professional, but there are many accounts of people surviving incredibly traumatic head injury. If you have a strong stomach you can google videos and pictures of people who lost half their brain and lived for years. One of the most famous in U.S. history was [Phineas Gage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage), a railroad worker who had an iron rod literally blown through his brain in an explosion and who survived (with enormous complications of course) for 11 years. In the [spoiler picture of post-explosion Gus](http://imgur.com/2VQrz/) it seems half his face was blown off and his eye was blown out but his brain should be at least still inside his skull. He was probably already in the process of standing up when the blast occurred, and we’ve seen several times that meticulous appearance is near automatic to him, so there’s probably some _conceivable_ perfect storm of injuries that would allow him to survive for a few seconds and straighten himself as a near reflex before blood loss and brain trauma and the like got word to his body “You’re dead”. I’m wondering how Hector ringing his bell detonated the bomb. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/55 "2011-10-10T05:57:38Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > It just dawned on me. This show would cease to be Breaking Bad with out them continuing to cook meth. > > The Car Wash. That’s their new lab. [I called that in episode 4.05.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14147663#post14147663) I hope it holds up. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/56 "2011-10-10T06:17:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m wondering how Hector ringing his bell detonated the bomb. Anyone know? Notice it had kind of a muted sound to it. Apparently, ringing the bell was completing a circuit of sorts. In the prior episode, they showed Walt testing the detonator, and it took a few tries. You did see the bomb was strapped underneath his wheelchair? > [@ekweizn](#): > > [I called that in episode 4.05.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14147663#post14147663) I hope it holds up. Nice! It’s all too convenient. The large facility in which they now own, all the chemicals, hundreds of moving vehicles, etc… it’d be perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/57 "2011-10-10T06:20:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Possibly worth it’s own thread but I’ll just put it here: do you think that Walt has changed from a good person to a bad person, or do you think the remorseless self absorbed person was always his real self? I view it as his circle of empathy has shrunk. He only cares about himself and his family now, including Hank. Everyone else can live or die and it won’t affect him in the least. I think by now he views Jesse as his favorite tool, but really Walt’s had to do most of the killing. He’s had to from the beginning, and a case could be made about the resentment he could feel toward Jesse over him getting to maintain the illusion of being good since Walt’s been the one to bloody his hands when the time came. I’d say Walt’s a realist. A power hungry, ego drunk realist. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/58 "2011-10-10T06:29:30Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > In the [spoiler picture of post-explosion Gus](http://imgur.com/2VQrz/)… Suddenly, I don’t find his chicken so appetizing anymore. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/59 "2011-10-10T06:30:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m wondering how Hector ringing his bell detonated the bomb. Anyone know? I think it was charging a capacitor until it had enough energy to create a spark and detonate the bomb. Remember when Walt was testing the detonator in his kitchen he had to key the transmit button on his radio several times before the thing sparked. I’m sure he fixed it for the planned parking garage killing of Gus, but may have gone back to the original design to strap under Tio’s chair. And I’d like to just admire the great directing and editing of the show for a moment. When Gus showed up at Casa Tranquila (later authentically mispronounced by the radio host when Walt was listening to the news in the car), the close up shot of him waiting for the all-clear as he pondered how screwed he was - how much did Tio tell the DEA? Then the walk into the place felt like a man going to his execution. Just great, tense stuff. And I think the scream from Gus as he figured out that he had been outmaneuvered for the first time since his original meeting with the Mexican cartel was the first real, spontaneous emotion we’ve seen from him. And I think the transformation of Walt from protagonist to antagonist is pretty much complete. Poisoning the kid was preplanned and he might be able to justify it because of the overall plan (and he was actually planning on Jesse saying something to the doctors). But the way he casually and quickly used his neighbor as a potential bomb-tripping stooge and then remorselessly offed the guards at the lab shows that he has completely gone bad. Skyler better wrap her huge lips and hips around the fact that she is married to one cold-blooded, calculating crime boss. Hell, Walt is more like Gus now than anyone else. All he needs to do is buy a Volvo and park it in front of the car wash, sponsor a few police picnics and he’s essentially taken his place. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130/60 "2011-10-10T06:34:16Z")
That has to make for one of the most gruesome shots ever made for primetime television. I consider myself very desensitized by that sort of thing, but I think watching a character as intriguing as Gus for several seasons, to see his demise create such a horrific result… it kinda got to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-4-13-face-off-10-9/599130.md?page=4)