Now we know the real reason he had to resort to the AED. And while I forget the exact reason, it was something to do with the consistency that they wanted, and getting little peaks in the sauce. If I recall, the frosting wasn’t ideal either, which is why they used paint for Franch.
The balloons are metallized nylon, and can conduct electricity. They’ve been known to cause short-circuits in powerlines where they become entangled.
I’m guessing that Mike disposed of the bodies much the same way he threatened to do with Lydia; the police aren’t going to find Chow or Chris.
For a while now, I’ve thought that Hank’s mineral interest would enable him to eventually catch Walt in an outright lie related to chemistry. Something like the dinner party early last season where Hank jokingly noted a glowing dedication to “W.W.” in Gail’s lab notes could refer to “Walter White”, but Walt was able to plausibly explain that it really applied to “Walt Whitman”. Perhaps that kind of scene will repeat again with some crime-scene detail related to minerals: Walt comes up with an explanation–relying on his reputation as a brilliant chemist to pull it off–but this time Hank sees a major flaw based on his own understanding of minerals, and begins to wonder how a brilliant chemist like Walt could make such a mistake…
Yeticus, you are my hero! Thank you so much!
I have a history of being completely wrong, but I just can’t see Hank’s mineral knowledge playing any part from here on out. It was more to demonstrate what a weirdo and broken man he was without his job. As I remember, Hank wasn’t too interested in the science aspects anyway, when Walt was explaining the pink hue, and he seems to have lost all interest now that he’s back on Heisenberg’s trail. Walt was waxing poetic about a piece of hematite at the end of last season and Hank didn’t give a shit.
Anyway, I think it’s pretty clear that Hank has some serious suspicions already.
When he’s shown eating the stuff, it’s icing (and they had a spit bucket next to him – IIRC, he went through, like, 80 tater tots). But the icing wasn’t holding up under the lights, so in the shots where they showed the stuff in close-up, it was paint. They did have one take where the actor had to come close to putting the paint in his mouth, but I think they cut it short…
I agree, if any of that stuff became useful in the plot later it would have to come from way out in left field.
Hank, it seems, has way more than enough to create a suspicion regarding his brother-in-law (some of this stuff is minor, but when you add it all up…):
[ol]
[li]Though it was Hank’s offer, the ride-along on the meth-bust in the pilot, where Walt was very interested in seeing the lab.[/li][li]Stolen equipment from his storeroom showed up at a cook site in the desert.[/li][li]Walt’s connection to Jesse, and through him, to Tuco and the cartels.[/li][li]The videotape of the methylamine theft by two crooks with “book smarts, but no common sense.”[/li][li]He’s looking for Heisenberg, a brilliant chemist.[/li][li]He’s seen and commented on Walt’s change in behavior since the cancer diagnosis.[/li][li]Walt’s intrusion on the fake “Heisenberg” bust in season three.[/li][li]The fact that, when he had Jesse cornered in the RV, someone was able to make a fake emergency call to his personal cellphone, meaning someone close to Jesse had his phone number on hand.[/li][li]Walt’s sudden income surge (though it’s explained in terms of his gambling system, in light of everything else it looks kinda suspicious).[/li][li]Gale’s dedication of “Learned Astronomer” to WW.[/li][li]Walt’s drunken (and seemingly authoritative) dismissal of Gale’s lab notebook as “common copying.”[/li][li]Walt’s sudden concern when Hank told him they were going to the laundry, followed by crashing the poor, poor, Aztec.[/li][li]Walt’s unwillingness to stay with Hank and Marie when there were threats against him (though Hank thought it was BS, he knew that Walt apparently took it seriously enough to send his family over).[/li][li]Now his (soon-to-be ex) boss begins to reminisce about how thoroughly Gus Fring, a man he was so close to, was able to fool him for so long.[/li][/ol]
There may be other things as well, and of course Hank has known Walt for many years as kind of a milquetoast-nerd kind of guy, but I’m just waiting for some tumbler to fall into place – when it does, all this stuff is going to come back to him so fast his head will spin…
I interpreted the mineral collecting as an expression of Hank’s obsessive compulsiveness, not necessarily a bad personality attribute for an investigator.
In the preview for this Sunday’s episode, it looks like Marie’s going to confront Walt about where the money has really been coming from. (Hope that doesn’t count as a spoiler.) I’ll be curious what makes her suspect something.
Gale’s notebook did seem rich with all sorts of information. (And artistic doodling.) I’ll be a little disappointed if it doesn’t re-surface to give Hank another clue or two — whether that’s from the poem dedication or something about the Super Lab’s operations.
I thought I saw the hint of the beginning of recognition in his eyes when his boss was talking about Gus, but it’s hard to say. Of course, when the blue meth shows up again and he realizes he didn’t get the great Heisenberg…
It was pretty obvious actually. At the very least that’s what the writers wanted us to think.
I don’t think Hank has even the slightest inkling that Walt is involved at all… because the moment he did, there would be about 30 different ways he could prove it almost instantaneously, such as doing even the most superficial investigation of Walt’s finances. Not to mention that the moment he began suspecting it a bit, suddenly he would put a zillion things together and become utterly convinced of it anyhow. Walt has done such a bad job of hiding it, that the only way the cover could be holding up was if Hank was just totally blinded by his previous image of Walt and their family connection.
But I’m prepared to be proven wrong.
Why isn’t episode 2 up on AMC’s website yet? I thought they put them up on Thursdays after the Sunday broadcast.
It’s not going to be. They put up the season premier to kinda show Dish subscribers what they’re missing. Now the show is a bargaining chip to use against Dish. If they put it up on the web for free, that’s leverage that they’re just giving away.
Ah, I hadn’t thought of that. Do they routinely replay the episodes on the AMC channel throughout the week or something? I really need to re-watch this one.
Yes, they show it throughout the week (they replayed it late on Wednesday and Thursday night). But you’ve missed all the replays this week. Next episode is the new one on Sunday. Sorry.
Well, poop. Thanks for letting me know. I drank too much watching the last one and my memory of it is pretty fuzzy.
If you have Comcast, it’s on On Demand.
Here’s a thought : if Hank discovers Walt’s secret…what happens if he decides not to turn him in?
I do and it is! Thanks!