It’s Saul. Remember he’s fake Jewish to bolster his criminal practice. And his office is in a strip mall with a giant hot-air Statue of Liberty in front. It’s pretty easy to guess where Walt was going.
Saul.
I think this all was foreshadowed by the scene where Mike here’s the DEA guys talking about him eventually making a mistake (and he nodded in agreement). He’s kind of given up, lost his edge, maybe when the kid got killed, maybe before that, and in the end he made the mistake of trusting Walter White.
One detail I loved from this episode. Walt is bragging to Declan that he killed Gus Fring. Declan is like, “No, the cartel got him.”
And we cut to Mike who gives a sardonic smile and gives an imperceptible shake of his head. As if to say, Walt you fucking moron, you killed Gus by the skin of your teeth and now you are in so far over your head it’s not even funny. All from one little gesture.
Anyone think that was the lowest Walter will go this season? Killing mike that way was low, but not unforgivable since we know mike is himself a ruthless killer.
Walter will kill someone else next episode, my bet is still skyler.
I was under the impression that Declan looked at Mike and Mike was saying “Nope, you’re wrong, it was Walt”. Mike was standing behind Walt.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Skyler, Walt and Jesse aren’t going anywhere for a while. At least not until close to the end of the series. They’re all too valuable to the show to get rid of this early on. Not just as characters, but they need them for Emmy nominations next ‘season’. They’ll likely all get nominations this season and next season. At least that’s my theory.
Well they need to end the half season with Walt doing something even more shocking and ruthless and morally bankrupt than killing mike the way he just did, from annoyance and ego.
There’s only so many ways you can do that, killing Jessie would be the other but he’s even less likely to die just yet.
Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!
Fantastic episode. At the end of the opening scene I turned to my girlfriend and said something like “That was the best five minutes of Walt’s life.” He got to play his badass gangster part to the hilt and someone else had to accept every word of it, and it worked like a charm. Even Mike was impressed. Of course you knew it was going to fall to shit from there, and it predictably did. Walt has this whole thing to himself now and he’s in charge of something of an empire. I thought it was very funny the way Walt dealt with Todd. He was clearly disappointed that Todd’s no Jesse and he hid it in very teacher-y language. “[You stunk but] you applied yourself, that’s what’s important.”
I noticed and enjoyed that, too. Walt played his other card a few scenes earlier when he said Jesse should help him for a few more weeks because “you owe me that much.” And Jesse wasn’t having any of it. He was so digusted that he would rather let Walt steal $5 million from him than keep making meth. He didn’t even think twice about it. To me he seemed more resigned than angry. He’s figured out that Walt is generally inhuman and full of shit at this point, so he didn’t even engage with him. And predictably, Walt said “nobody else dies” and 20 or 30 minutes later he’d murdered Mike. He still thinks these proclamations mean something even though they’re always wrong.
Even though Mike was going away forever anyway, that was a huge bummer. It was very different from Drew getting shot, but equally senseless. I forget if I actually laughed when Walt said “Whoops, just realized I could’ve asked Lydia. Sorry dude!” but I certainly wanted to. What a fucking idiotic thing to do. I didn’t pick up on the gun in Mike’s bag, but right after their fight I thought to myself “If Walt had a gun he’d have shot Mike right there.” Just about everything Mike said was true: they had a very lucrative deal with Fring, and Walt couldn’t let it work the way it did. He had to protect Jesse and Hank, then it became one problem after another, and finally Gus was dead and they were trying to run this thing themselves and dodge the DEA. That’s what I took away from this one: sooner or later Walt brings nothing but misery everyone who gets involved with him. He’s laid waste to Gus’ organization with remarkable efficiency and done a better job of it than the DEA could have.
It occurs to me right now that in a way Walt keeps killing himself. Gale was brilliant chemist building a better methtrap like Walt, and Walt had to kill him. Mike was in the business because he wanted to leave some money for his family - that’s just Walt’s excuse, but Mike was really doing it - and now he’s dead. And of course his family is going to get nothing because the DEA twice seized all the money he put aside for his granddaughter. Walt could’ve learned a lot from Mike; if he had sense he’d have asked “What do you put in a go bag and where should I stash mine?” Instead, this. What a sad, beautiful scene. After the episode I said I’m almost glad there is only one episode left this year because it’s going to be a downer to watch without Mike’s deadpan sense of humor and his calm efficiency as a counterpoint to Walt’s impulsive boasting and nonsense.
You’re wrong on that; it was Saul who was adamant about NOT getting involved at all in getting Mike’s “Bail-Out Bag”, since it was the D.E.A. following the other lawyer that brought Mike’s pay-out sceme down.
So Mike had two choices: Jesse, and Walt. Mike and Jesse’s relationship actually is what Walt wants but can’t have anymore since Jesse wants “out.”
Mike was protecting Jesse, but gave fuck-all about Walt.
I read it the same as Erdodain. It was like, “you were doing so well up until now.”
Yes, Mike was vouching for Walt’s story. We know how he felt about what happened with Gus but in that case it supported Walt’s credibility as they cut their new deal with Declan.
Mike’s death is another pointer to where things are going for Walt: his plans came to nothing and he had to give up on everything and go on the run. And in his case, he wound up dead at the side of some pond in the middle of nowhere. He’s erased pretty much everything and I don’t think his body will be found any time soon.
No one else thinks that with Mike missing, they might pull his cellphone records (since his lawyer has flipped he’ll certainly give up Mike’s ‘business’ cellphone number) and see a phone call from WALTER WHITE right before he bugs out?
That sounds plausible, but my guess is that Mike would’ve thought about that possibility ahead of time and either used extra or temporary cell phones.
Anyone else looking forward to Jesse asking Walt “So, did everything go OK with Mike?”
I am sure that Mike’s cells are as untraceable as they can be and Walt has a different cell phone for business.
“Yes. I gave him his bag and he went off into the sunset. We’ll probably never hear from him again. I’m going to miss the old guy.”
That’s certainly what Walt should say. Of course we know all his lies fall apart sooner or later. In a sense it’s probably good that Jesse doesn’t want anything to do with him. If they were still on good terms it would mean more opportunties for Walt to slip up.
Thanks for both of the posts pointing out my error…I didn’t catch Sol’s reasoning; just thought he was making excuses not to have to do it.
I’m sure Mike would only be using disposable cash-only phones.
Not all of them. Jesse still doesn’t know about the kid Walt poisoned.
We all know that Jesse isn’t going anywhere. One way or another, Jesse will be very involved with Walt.
My hope for the end is that we see a flash forward to Jesse getting his PhD in chemistry and then doing something really worthwhile and world changing with the knowledge and confidence that Walt gave him.
Ok, yes. Not every single one of Walt’s lies has fallen apart, but most of them do fall apart and as a general rule they don’t last long. I think most of us expect Jesse to find out sooner or later that Walt poisoned Brock. If so, it’s basically a lock that one of them will kill the other.
The lawyer called Mike on the same phone on which Walter called immediately afterwards. Even if that phone’s anonymous, the telco could still provide records, and since Walt’s call was within seconds after the ‘sting’ call by the lawyer, the DEA will certainly want the records of that phone i.e. Walt’s, as well. Maybe that 52nd birthday is closer than ever.