Another great episode. The tension in this show is just out of control sometimes. Spoilers below.
The opening scene did not go at all how I was expecting. I thought for sure the kid was going to end up dead in a crossfire. Crazy.
Interesting to see Skyler lose her little crush on her boss once she realized he’s cooking the books. Was this to show how diametrically opposed to Walt she is as far as breaking the law is concerned?
Jesse is going down a dark dark road w/ the drugs. I don’t see this ending well for anybody.
I liked the Pollo guy but how did Walt figure out he was the “kingpin”?
I have a lot of other thoughts going through my head on this but I’ll let some others chime in now.
The fast-food store owner was the only person to approach them in the restaurant, so Walt took a chance and guessed that he was the drug kingpin. And that was an interesting choice Walt had; go to the wife to be there when she gives birth or go to the big drug deal.
The minute he stopped by the table and asked if everything was ok, I was kind of thinking it was him. Something about him just didn’t really seem to fit; he looked and sounded pretty educated and well-off, and also the second time Walt was there the guy didn’t say anything to him even though it seemed like Walt had been there for hours. How many managers/owners (who seem to be as on top of things as that guy, anyway) would let somebody sit there for so long without approaching? It did just seem “off” somehow. Also, he had actually made inconspicuous contact with Walt and Jesse on the previous visit, a good way to size them up. It was probably a calculated guess on Walt’s part–if you start talking to the guy and he really has no idea what you’re on about, then who cares (as long as you don’t say anything really stupid). If the suspicion is correct, then there’s a possible huuuge payoff.
Oh yeah. But she compromised a bit by going back to work after she found out about the cooked books. Does that mean there’s hope for Walt? Both men are acting on behalf of others, if she wants to rationalize accepting what they’re doing.
Especially Jane. Jessie’s a star, so he’s safe. Jane’s not.
He’s who I picked, mainly because he looked the least likely. All the other guys Walt saw looked like versions of Walt. I liked Gus’s character, so calm and different from Walt with his frantic-ness. Walt always looks guilty of something. Too bad Walt didn’t hook up with him sooner.
Did everybody else get the ad for the drug treatment center? I didn’t know if it was local or not. I’ve never done heroin (or much of anything) but I imagine that Jessie’s bliss might be close to that feeling from the first hit.
****** What i am wondering is did Walt complete the drug deal? seems like he did by the previews with Jesse’s girlfriend demanding his half of the money from Walt. I think Walt wants to ration Jesse’s half out to him so that he does not go on a crazy spending spree and get busted. Great show one that i will never miss. Must see T.V. And i understand Walt choosing the drug deal over the birth because he is doing this to provide for his family when he expires.
Although it’s starting to look like he won’t kick it quite so soon, but this is his only chance to lock in a relatively “low-risk” highly lucrative future, assuming Gus for all his calm equanimity isn’t a psychopath when it comes to business. Skylar might be mad, but there are any number of reasons (in real life) that someone’s cell phone might be unreachable–this is a one-shot chance to secure what appears to be a very good opportunity. People have chosen to miss births for less, I’m sure.
No, I thought he looked more like a grown-up Urkel.
I think he already did that once, earlier in the season. He did something with a cell phone to get off the hook with Skyler, but I’ve forgotten the details.
Alan Sepinwall pointed out in his blog that we saw three characters make some hard choices in this episode – Skyler with Beneke, Walt and the sale to Gus, and Jane doing drugs with Jesse. I think Skyler and Jane agonized more over their choices than Walt did. Walt – he’s more lost than Jesse.
There’s a funny/dark-sad preview for next week on AMC’s website. And the podcast explains the episode’s title, which I didn’t get but you guys probably did. Wheel of life, starting with the bicycle, Combo’s death, the birth of Skyler and Walt’s daughter.
Another excellent episode. The tension was incredible toward the end.
Skyler will be devastated. She does not believe Walt’s stories any more. She won’t believe any excuse that Walt will come up with. She will start wondering what Walt is doing that is more important than the birth of their daughter. My guess is that she will conclude he is having an affair.
In any other show, Walt would say “Not now” and then throw the bag back under the sink and be with his wife. When Walt picks up the bag with a look of grim determination on his face was one of those scenes that showed me how much I love this show.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Skyler lose her crush on Beneke. I thought that for sure she would start having an affair with him because Walt has been so distant, unavailable and just gone most of the time.
When Jesse first started spending time with Jane, I thought she would be good for him; that he would use meth less often and maybe get clean with her. But they actually played it like what happens more often in real life: Jane was flirting with a relapse by sleeping with Jesse when she knew that he was dealing. Now that she’s introduced him to Heroin, I can’t see this ending well for either of them. Does anyone else think her phone threat might be related to the body bags in the driveway and the evidence fished out of Walt’s pool before the credits?
I also saw Gus as a grown-up Urkel, but not played for comic relief.
I don’t see Walt cooking another batch with Jesse, now that Jesse is a junkie. Walt set things up so Jessse has the majority of the risk: the RV lab is in his posession, he kept the meth and was in charge of distribution. Now that they have Gus’s outfit to move the meth the only role he fills is Walt’s lab assistant. And I don’t think Walt likes or respects Jesse in the lab.
What an excellent episode! My god, the angles this show takes you down. I don’t know how the writers can keep up such solid tension and story.
I sure hope that deal goes through with Gus. What a painful decision to have to watch, between his baby girl being born and making a 1.1 million dollar deal. Any other show, and that coincidence would have looked contrived. By the time Walt got to Jessie’s stash, I’m thinking 20-30 minutes had passed, easily. He only had an hour to deliver, so I’m guessing he thinks he can make the drop and get to the hospital, and still have a solid alibi for Skylar (he was at the store and left the cell in the car).
All this is coming to such a boil, on top of knowing something bad is going to go down at the White’s residence. Whose corpses are those? Anyone we know and love? Or maybe the bodies of those thugs in the car at the beginning of this episode?
If Walt is going to take out more thugs, I hope he does it with chemistry! See kids? Science is fun.
I didn’t think she lost her crush on Beneke. I think she gave in to it. She said she couldn’t be a party to his tax cheating, but then she went back. Seems likely that they will have an affair. She’s bound to be extremely pissed off about him missing their daughter’s birth. It might be the last straw.
Gus telling Walt that you can “never trust a junkie” was clearly foreshadowing. Maybe Walt is going to try to fire Jesse and Jesse is going to threaten to out him. Or Jesse is going to get greedy and want ALL the money to walk away, or something. Even if Walt wanted to give him more money, he can’t. He needs $200,000 for his surgery, plus whatever other treatments he’ll need and money he already owes. Maybe Walt will be able to appeal to the better angels of Jesse’s nature, such as they are. It’s going to get ugly first, though.
Dammit, I lost my post…
Another reason Walt pinged Gus was that Saul said the guy he was meeting would be bald and have glasses. “Kind of looks like you.”
For a little while I wondered if it would turn out to be Walt. I figured at some point he would get a call about someone wanting to sell HIM 38# of meth.
It’s boring and nitpicky (and dramatically irrelevant), but doesn’t Walt have insurance through his job?
I’ve been under the impression that he cooks not so much for the medical bills as to leave something for his family to live on. He shouldn’t have to raise the whole $200K. He can’t have reached the million dollar max that some policies have, and his treatment isn’t experimental, so he should be covered for most of it.
What Saul told Walt was “He’s very low profile… careful like that. From what I do here about him, he sounds a little like you.” He never told Walt that the guy would be bald and have glasses.
Walt figured out it was the store manager because he noticed the manager was careful.