I loved that! Skinny Pete playing this lovely piano piece on the keyboard, and then Badger just bashing out some chords on a double neck guitar. And then being all professional measuring the cases while Badger is goofing around with the drums and guitar. That was a great scene.
Well, if Walt needs a new cleaner, Landry has experience.
(Friday Night Lights reference)
This is a great point. It seems Mike could have made a much better case for paying off the nine guys. Argument 1 being, Dennis saw you two assholes going into the meth lab all the time. Argument 2, if these guys flip, they’ll bring down the rump end of Gus’s network which moves Walt’s 50 pounds of meth a week. Walt is free to try to sell 50 pounds with Badger and Pete slinging teenths and getting a couple grand a week.
Bottom line: Walt is being an idiot because he doesn’t realize how valuable and irreplaceable Mike and his distribution network are. Not to mention that’s where he gets his precursor. Walt is actually the most replaceable guy in the scheme. And he’s lucky as hell to get his $133,000/week.
I don’t think that Walt understands that if any of those guys talks, they could take him down as well, right? Especially since if someone has a sketch artist draw pictures, Hank will recognize him and Jesse right away.
Secondly, I’m surprised Walt didn’t see if he could negotiate a one time lump sum payoff of the remaining guys. Even if it took a few weeks/months/year(s) to pay them off, at least it wouldn’t be ongoing forever.
Thirdly, he reminded me of when we have people come in and do work for us on the side and think they can charge what their company charges when they’re working. That is, if they work for a refrigeration company that charges $150 an hour but they do some after hours side work, they can’t still charge $150. It’s going to take Walt a bit of time to grasp all these expenses. For example, the 20% that Mike paid for distrobution, Gus still had to pay that, just differently. The money Mike paid to keep all those guys quiet, Gus was paying that, Walt just didn’t see it etc etc etc, Walt just never saw all those expenses. It’s funny how many employees really seem to think the money that lands in the register all goes into the owner’s pocket.
Also, I’m not sure Walt realizes that if he kills Mike or pisses him off enough that he finally decides to ride off into the sunset, he’s going to have a lot of pissed off people after him and he probably won’t survive it.
Finally, regarding the tented houses. It didn’t seem like a great idea to me, but I’d be surprised if they changed it again since we’re here now. OTOH, that’s going to make for a lot of sets and is going to get really expensive, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they find somewhere more permanent in the next few episodes.
I’m pretty sure the electricity is usually shutdown before fogging. Though, Walt and Jesse *were *watching TV.
If so, they could probably get away with BS’ing the average person into believing that all the meth equipment is actually pest-control type stuff.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I guess so.
If I had to guess about a snag with the tented houses, it would either have something to do with the pest control guys not being able to resist stealing stuff, or even some other unrelated burglars with gas-masks breaking in while a cook is in progress.
As far as Walter knows, Skyler *did *actually have an affair with Ted. So he wasn’t even really lying - I think he actually thinks that that’s what’s mostly bothering her.
The Badger and Skinny Pete scene was amusing, but slightly :dubious:-inducing. Why wouldn’t Jesse just go get the rolling-crates himself? What’s he need them for?
They now know the name and location of the cover business, and I can’t imagine Mike just being cool with that when it was so unnecessary.
I was reminded of a moment from last season.
Skyler has finally persuaded Walt, barely, that the car wash would be a great way to launder his meth income. So they buy the place, and begin operations. But only on the day when Walt first brings in duffel bags bulging with cash do they have a conversation about how much he’s going to be bringing in every month, and how that compares with the natural income from the business.
Seems to me that’s a conversation you’d have right away, before you bought the damn place.
I loved the homeowner’s reaction though, to the massive gear case being rolled into his house.
And, oh Skyler, how are you going to massively fuck things up this time?
Vominos Pest… Band name!
Yep. I suppose, if this show has a flaw, it’s the lack of obvious communication; ostensibly to drive the drama higher when expectations are shattered, and characters feel jilted.
It’s not all the time, usually the show is very good in this regard, but I’s enough for me to take me back a little and think, money is the sole purpose of the operation, why wouldn’t these things be laid out and made clear to all involved before even touring possible labs?
Shit, I’m sure Mike hasn’t even mentioned the tangled web of Gus’s connections with Madrigal, etc.
Still the best show of all time, though.
I think with Skyler he might have been worried that if he told her how much money he was bringing in she might have been scared and told him to get out of the meth business. Wasn’t she thinking it was going to be like an extra couple hundred thousand a year.
As far as Gus mentioning Madrigal, why would he. That’s none of Walt’s business and the less he knows about it the better. If for some odd reason Walt or Jesse get picked up, all they know is that chemical’s come in, they process them and then the meth gets picked up. There’s no reason for them to know where the equipment comes from, where the chemicals come from, how Los Pollos Hermanos plays into it. That’s for Mike, Gus, Lydia, Shyuler and the other 11 to know about (and probably some others). But Walter and Jesse (and Gale) and just cogs in the machine, just cooks in the kitchen. Now, with Gus gone, LPH dissolved and Madrigal being investigated, it’s really none of their concern. Hell, other then Walt maybe seeing the name on a boilerplate in the lab somewhere, he’s probably never even heard of Madrigal.
OMG, could he be that clueless? Maybe Skyler should pretend that’s what her problem is. If Walt realizes that she’s terrified of him, who knows what he’d do.
Anyone else think Todd and Jesse will have a run-in? I don’t see Jesse Plemons as a bit player in this drama. I can see Walt showing Todd (I so want to call him Landry, or Lance) some extra attention and Jesse getting jealous that some other guy (his own age) is getting close to Walt.
The funny thing was, she told him once, but I think he blew it off with a sort of “meh, whatever” sort of vibe.
Also, last week, at the end, when he was kinda grabby and saying “everything will be okay” or whatever and she was obviously freaked out by him, they originally filmed it with her giving him a handy (but with a scared/stay away from me/back to him look on her face) just to keep him at bay. Vince said they decided to do it this way because they other way looked too ‘rapey’ but they might put it on the DVD as an extra.
I also liked how last season, when Skyler wore the pants, the cover story was Walt’s gambling addiction, a cover story that he always bristled at, even though it was perfect.
This season, now that Walt thinks he’s the cock of the walk, he decides the cover story is Skyler’s been screwing her boss and is heartbroken that he can’t walk again.
We’re only three episodes in, and already Walt needs a serious Mike beatdown.
Regarding the Pollos Nine, I think they may have to be paid in perpetuity because they were constantly dipping into their offshore accounts and probably didn’t have all that much saved up. Mike was the only one who didn’t touch the money. The Vamanos Pest company can return what the Feds seized, but these guys have become dependent on their hazard pay.
“Just because you killed Jesse James doesn’t mean you’re Jesse James” was my favorite line of the night.
Watching scarface. “Everybody dies in this movie, don’t they?”
And commercials for Scarface before the show, during the show, after the show…probably not an accident. Hell, it was the same scene. It should probably be noted that Tony Montana, rags to riches coke kingpin, [del]dies[/del]gets killed in that movie.
Me neither…seems to add multiple unneeded risks especially since the mobile lab gear works so well.
Must be that the smells or residual chemicals are the big factor … what was with the shot of the tent “vented” on what looked to be the roof? I thought it was a mistake on their part at first. Maybe the smell isn’t that big an issue.
Mine was:
Saul (re: Mike): “He threatened me!”
Walt: “He threatened me, he threatened Jesse. He probably threatened someone before breakfast this morning. It’s what he does.”
ETA: Also some ominous foreshadowing with them watching Scarface (which Gilligan has said is an inspiration for the show), and Walt Jr. saying “Everyone dies in this movie don’t they?”
While I do think she is somewhat scared of what Walt’s become, I don’t think her issues are as simple as just being scared of him - that’s only a very small part of it.
After seeing how scared Ted was of her, she’s also scared of what she’s become. There’s also some guilt for what happened to Ted in the first place, since that *was *all her doing - Walt had nothing to do with that. Before Ted’s accident, when she was furious at his recalcitrance, she even seemed to be reveling in her new-found power to summon goons to do her bidding. But now that she sees the consequences of those actions, she’s having a hard time living with it.
Walt also had a hard time with such things at first. Though, I doubt she’ll get over it as easily and readily as he did.
The homeowner is going to be told that the house is full of poison - there isn’t likely to be anything in there that they need enough to risk death. Yeah, it’s likely not that deadly for a short exposure, but that’s actually the point of the checklist - note that the pest guy asked the homeowner twice about medicines. A homeowner sneaking back in to grab something might become a plot point, but I’d find *that *pretty unrealistic, actually. People are scared of chemicals.
And the pest guys set up the tent, of course they’ll take it down. They’re getting $10,000 a cook - I don’t think they’re going to complain.