Who knew Walt was such a handyman? Jesse had better tread carefully; his girlfriend’s father is a Q.
This episode again had the ephemeral, dreamlike flash-forward sequence. We’ve already seen them packaging Walt’s glasses and the pink teddy-bear; this time we see the two body-bags on Walt’s front yard, next to, what I think and hope somebody could confirm, was Jesse’s car? Maybe not.
Any ideas as to who’s in the bags?
Other thoughts: The smug half-smile Walt had on his face when Walt Jr. was puking in the pool was really upsetting. I’ve been trying hard to empathize with his situation, but after this episode, I can’t. He really does deserve everything he’s going to get.
A sneak preview of the next episode is up on AMC’s Breaking Bad site. Spoilers for those who haven’t seen it (or don’t want to watch it):
It looks like one of Jesse’s dealers (not Skinny, not Badger, but the other one) gets capped, and Walt has to turn to Saul for a solution.
Only three more episodes until the season finale. They’re really ramping the tension up.
I don’t think it was Jesse’s car. The one in the driveway had a sunroof and Jesse’s car doesn’t have one.
friedo, what’s a “Q”?
The way Skyler was acting with Beneke, I wondered if they’d previously had an affair. But I guess if they had, she wouldn’t have been so coy with him.
Skyler and Walt are both bored out of their gourds, now that they don’t have Walt’s imminent death to give their lives some purpose. So Skyler’s wrecking her home (metaphorically) and Walt’s fixing it (literally).
It was Walt’s Pontiac Aztek. (Part of the joke is that Walt is such a tragic creature that he drives such a monstrosity.) I thought the scene in the hardware store was funny, when Walt immediately recognized why the guy was buying what he was, and that Walt felt it necessary to offer advice.
I loved this episode… Some thoughts:
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When Hank and Walt are sitting and pounding the tequila, Hank is trying to think of a word and mentions “metaphors” and “analogies” but couldn’t come up with the word he wanted. I thought this episode was full of metaphors…
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First, Walt finding and trying to cut out and fix the rot was such a great (though maybe a bit too obvious) metaphor to his cancer. Rot is cancer for a home and he’s determined to beat it too. You could also say that Walt’s decisions have become a cancer on the home as well, slowly destroying his family like a disease.
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Another metaphor that I picked up on - Jesse and his goth girl talking about superheroes and how everyone wants to be someone greater than themselves. This seemed so apt for the Walt/Eisenberg dynamic. Walt the Meth producer is a different guy than Walt the science teacher, as evidenced by the way he confronted the burgeoning competition at the “Home Depot” place.
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I believe the car shown in the flash-forward was Walt’s as it seemed to match the one he was driving home w/ lumber on the roof later in the episode.
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Does anyone else think that the new water heater is what’s going to cause whatever the flash-forwards are showing us? When Walt said he was going to install it himself I got nervous that he didn’t quite know what he was doing with the thing. I doubt he’s an expert on regular ol’ water heaters, let alone a tankless unit. Could it be heated w/ gas (our home’s is)… I feel a gas leak explosion is what we’re looking at.
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Loved the scene of Walt giving tips to the meth guy in the store. Good stuff.
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So I guess Walt isn’t leaving the game after all? Why else would he tell that other guy to get out of his territory?
Sure seems like it. But wouldn’t a gas explosion take out the whole house? The house didn’t look like it was damaged, but then we didn’t have a wide shot of the house.
A house here in town was destroyed by a propane gas leak a few years back. It was just a pile of rubble. (No one was home.)
In the flash-forwards, they were photographing the windshield of the Pontiac Aztek, as if there were a bullet shot into it, or other evidence. Also, why were those forensics guys in bunny suits and respirators, and why the evidence bags if it was a gas explosion? I think the suggestion is that there was a violent end to the meth business.
I thought about that, too. If the fungal infection was toxic, that would explain why they’re wearing the suits, but why are they taking pictures? For the insurance company, maybe?
I really hope that’s not where it’s headed. It’d feel like a cheat.
There are evidence bags in the flash forward, I’m pretty sure it’s a crime scene. I really like the gas explosion idea, what if those bodies are Skyler and Walt Jr.? If Walt had nothing to tie him to the straight life I think he’d be a drug dealer full time.
It’s hard to watch Walt Jr. idolize Hank and even harder to see that Walt resents the situation. This series is incredibly well acted.
I cannot believe how hard I root for poor, stupid Jesse. I thought he was funny last season but now just love him.
I feel like I should have way more sympathy for Skyler but I just don’t like her very much at all, she’s boring.
AMC | Watch TV Shows & Movies Online | Stream Current Episodes In the bottom right there’s a contest for a walk-on role in Season 3 - Season 3? That’s promising but it makes me think that the flash forward stuff won’t be resolved or the bodies aren’t Jesse and Walt.
Does anyone have any theories about the continuing theme of liquid? The pool, the chemo dripping in the IV, now the water heater? There were quite a few others–I just can’t remember them right now.
Ah, the opening scene was supposed to be a flash-forward scene. I really couldn’t connect it to what has happened in past episodes or did happen in the current episode at all. Now it makes more sense. This show has been kind of inconsistent with its openings – sometimes it’s a flash-forward to something in the same episode (tortoise head), other times it’s the start of the current episode (Badger getting busted). So tonight’s opening is a flash-forward to a future episode. It’s definitely Walt’s glasses, car, and two dead bodies in this opening scene.
It really perplexed me why Walt got so intensely angry with Hank at the party. This was the Hank who so supported him in his illness and was a second dad to his son. At first I thought maybe it was because of his new medication. Upon reviewing the sequence of events it seemed that Walt’s demeanor really changed when Skyler mentioned Gretchen and Elliott in her toast. That resentment may really be the ticking time bomb inside him. The next time this Angry Walt came out was at the parking lot when he faced down the other drug guy. So contrary to what he previously told Jesse that he was done, he isn’t done. I think that we are watching Walt truly descend into a very dark place.
The resentment was always there. It just took time to come out. Hank is a great guy. He looked obnoxious in the beginning, but all he has done for Walt was try to help him out and support him.
It’s fair to say that Walt has issues. He thinks he deserves to be more than he has become. At first the cancer really drove home the fact that he was going to die a nobody. Even after all that great chemistry research he did, that other people are now enjoying, Walt was going to die a nobody. Dealing drugs gave Walt the feeling that he could live up to his potential. He’s not thinking about anyone else but himself right now. All his life he allowed other people to get their way and that got him nowhere. Now he is pushing the pedal in the other direction. He has become extremely selfish and it seems to be bringing him some short term happiness.
My guess is that he left his rich friend’s company because he was a pushover. That seems to fit with the way Walt is acting right now.
I actually think Walt was having an opposite reaction in the parking lot to the one he was having at the party. I think he felt impotent at the party, emasculated by his own lies, which he projected onto his son and Hank. He was trying to exert what power he had in that situation, which was pathetic and ineffectual.
In the parking lot, he was Heisenberg, a very effective, competent, and frightening person. He faced down that scary-looking guy without having to say much at all. I don’t think he was angry that situation. He seemed sort of fiercely gleeful, whereas after Walt Jr. puked, it was more like grim satisfaction.
Walt is definitely not done with cooking. It’s the only thing that really makes him feel alive, though he also seems to be enjoying tearing the rot out of his house…
Actually, in the beginning it was exactly Walt the science teacher telling the guy to get different matches. Then, apparently he decided he’d rather be Heisenberg the drug kingpin.
ohh, I like the split personality type of viewpoint. He’s ‘important’ when he’s a drug kingpin. When I saw the whole party thing, I was with Walt all the way. I CRINGED at the thought of it. I’d be thinking: “A party is fine… but let’s make it about friends. NOT about friends here to celebrate that I still have cancer.” 
I can’t imagine anything worse (well except maybe cancer itself).
Oh, one more thought. I think it was in the previews where Walt is talking to Saul, and Saul is saying he knows a friend of a friend… of a friend. (maybe it was a previous episode?). Regardless, I got the funny feeling that his foafoaf (friend of a friend of a…) would turn out to be “Heisenberg” who by rumor mill alone would be believed to be around for over 10 years.
But Saul already knows that Walt == Heisenberg.
A thought occurs: when the cops start closing in on Heisenberg, he just has to start moving at a known velocity. Then they can’t determine his location.
(I bolded the important part.)
That’s why Walt, at least a little bit, hates Hank. His son looks up to Hank more than him, Hell, he even went so far as to ‘change his name’ (his friends call him Flynn, not Walter, Jr.) By forcing Walter, Jr to do a few shots, he’s asserting what little influence he has on his son. He smiled a little bit when he puked because he realized it meant Walter, Jr did that last shot of tequila, even though Hank was very against it.
You’re a dork and I love it, best quote I’ve read all day.