There is no way in the world that Aaron Paul isn’t going to be a major feature in the final episodes.
They could. Glee has done that in the past, and they didn’t even split their season. Part one came out after the midway point.
I will put this in spoilers because it involves Gilligan talking about the final 8 eps.
We then invited Gilligan to assure viewers that, despite Jesse’s lessened presence ever since quitting Mr. White’s crew, there is more Aaron Paul goodness ahead in the show’s final eight episodes. ”Oh, he’s going to have plenty to do,” Gilligan attested. “It would not be the same show without Jesse Pinkman on it and Aaron’s wonderful contributions…. He’s still got a lot of stuff to do yet.”and re: Hank:
“That is the big question [and] the subject of great debate amongst the seven writers, myself included,” Gilligan admits. “Does he walk right out and shoot him…? Do you keep your cards close to the vest? Are you able to control the emotions you feel? Are you in a state of shock?” Pointing out that Hank’s brother-in-law is a “man who he loves and has brotherly love and affection for,” Gilligan asks: “How does one take it all in and process it in a mere matter of seconds?” As for having Hank make the discovery while otherwise indisposed on the porcelain throne, Gilligan says, “We like to try to change things up.” Having ended previous seasons with the likes of a drug dealer delivering a brutal beat-down, a plane crash and Jesse shooting someone in the face, “We figured perhaps the most interesting ending would be perhaps, on the face of it, the least dramatic. A guy getting the revelation of his life while seated on the [toilet] felt ballsy in its own way.”
Vince Gilligan answers that question in this interview.
Q. What reassurances might you have for Aaron Paul fans who might be afraid that he won’t have much to do moving forward?
A. Oh, he’s going to have plenty to do.
I’m not saying it doesn’t matter. I’m saying it’s not a guarantee that he’s received bad news, although I think he’s going to eventually.
Mike’s been gone for three months. I don’t know if they think he’s dead, but they were tailing him all over the place, so Hank certainly knows he’s out of the game and the blue meth is still spreading. I’m not sure Hank would figure Mike for the type to pull off that kind of move either. Whether or not you can make another explanation fit the facts, I think Hank’s view is that Heisenberg is responsible and I think that’s what the writers had in mind in that last moment of the episode - not a halfway realization that Walt is working for someone bad, but the realization that Walt is the dangerous force he’s been chasing. And I think Hank would be very stupid to confront Walt right now. He’s just figured out that Walt has been keeping some huge secrets from him and has frequently lied to his face and kept his cool while Hank talked about his investigation into Walt’s own criminal activities. He’s even marched into Hank’s office a few times. Hank shouldn’t ask Walt any questions until he has a good idea of his own what Walt is up to. The rule in interrogating, I’ve heard, is that you don’t ask the subject any questions you don’t already know the answer to.
Hank’s been ordered to stop tailing Mike, all Hank knows is that he hasn’t been seen in ABQ. He could be running the business from somewhere else in the south west. Also, Mike’s crew all died at the same time just after the payoff’s were stopped. Logically Mike has the most motive for silencing them. Organizing the killings and then disappearing / changing identities is consistent behavior for someone in Mike’s position and resources.
All of the hints and near misses that Hank has from the lab book to the bag of cash half million dollar joke to the car accident before he saw the laundry all point to Walt just being a cook caught up in a larger enterprise. Which he was for most of it.
Until Hank gets more evidence he has nothing to suggest Walt is the master mind.
Wait. First and foremost, the DEA was on its way to arrest Mike when he disappeared. They don’t need to tail him anymore; there is a warrant for his arrest and he’s a fugitive. They would be looking for him and finding nothing. Not only is he not in town, they can’t find anyone communicating with him. He disappeared suddenly right as they were going to arrest him. Hank wouldn’t know he’s dead, but it’s a strong hint that Mike is no longer involved in whatever is going on.
While maintaining what appears to be total silence as the DEA looks for him. Not impossible, but hard.
It’s not true that there is nothing suggesting this conclusion. It’s not the only possible conclusion, but it’s essentially the truth and I don’t think they’re going to have Hank waste time under the misconception that Walt is a quasi-innocent. Hank doesn’t think Walt is that geek anymore. He’s had hints that Walt was more than he seemed, and now he knows it’s true.
Jesse already knows that Mike is dead. Saul told him, and Walt confirmed it when he went to his house. (Unless I really misunderstood something.) That’s gotta be the main reason he was so scared that Walt came to kill him, too.
Also, there was never any indication that the money Walt gave him was the $5m he was owed. I tend to think it was probably more, and Walt may not have even bothered counting. lol
No, I don’t remember that and if Saul knows I don’t think he would have volunteered the information. According to the AMC site, Jesse tells Walt that Saul confirmed Walt had the 10 prisoners killed.
That’s correct. Saul doesn’t even know that Mike is dead, only Walt and Todd.
I see two possible conclusions:
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After all of this time, and his goals of making money for his family, to be remembered for his genius, to be the head of his empire, Walt ends up dying slowly of cancer, broke and anonymous, with all of those who knew him and/or loved him dead or gone, while in hiding from Declan’s gang, or Todd’s uncle’s gang, or perhaps Czech mobsters, or maybe all three in addition to the DEA.
-
Walt, upon being confronted by Hank after an investigation, claims he was working under duress for Tuco and the cartel, then Gus, then Mike, then Declan (and Lydia?). He goes into witness protection, returning in the end for revenge when one of the gangs kills Jesse and/or members of his family. My one problem with this is that it requires that he deny being a genius criminal mastermind, and Heisenberg don’t play that…
Last season episode 404 Bullet Points.
Okay, just rewatched the relevant scenes. While I agree that it’s not stated explicitly (probably intentionally), I still do think that Jesse knows and that’s what they were talking about. I’ll transcribe the dialog, but there’s a lot lost in the mannerisms, emphasis and facial expressions that are even more convincing.
First off, the scene at the shop, where Jesse was standing inches away from Mike’s body in the trunk:
Also, in that scene, Todd had brought out an empty barrel and put it near the car with Mike’s body, and was just closing the trunk as soon as Jesse came in. At one point, Jesse looked in the same direction where the barrel was, but that was also the direction that Todd had gone into the other room.
As for the scene where Walt goes to Jesse’s house:
Okay, a lot to cover. First off, I don’t think Saul would have necessarily known for sure about Mike’s death, or about Walt being behind the jail killings - he would have probably just assumed both. Walt, Jesse, and Saul all know that Mike’s money got confiscated along with the 9 guys’ money. That Mike would just vanish without a nice nest-egg for his troubles would seem out of character. Saul was also Mike’s lawyer, so he would probably realize that not hearing a peep from him in three months meant the worst. It’s also possible that Walt implied or even told Saul that Mike was dead. No, Saul probably wouldn’t just straight out volunteer that info to Jesse, but we all know how he is. For a lawyer, he doesn’t have a great poker face, to say the least.
As for the theory that Jesse was only talking about Walt being behind the jail killings, and has no idea that Mike is dead, it really didn’t seem that way to me. In the first scene, Jesse was also concerned about the nine, and asked what “we” are going to do about them. It just doesn’t fit that Jesse would have acted as he did if they were only talking about the jail killings. It also doesn’t seem like Walt would have responded with that same sense of remorse and circumspection. Also, and this is a biggie, the level of Jesse’s fear of Walt only makes sense (to me) if he thinks that Walt killed Mike, and has now come to kill him.
(Damn it, I know there was some other aspect I wanted to cover, but it slipped my mind. I’ll post back if it comes to me.)
I’m sorry, but how is it even a question whether or not Hank now realizes Walt is his guy? They showed him flashing back to when Hank pointed out to Walter the W.W. dedication in Gale’s lab journal. Hank had been scrutinizing it for months. He now realizes the joke he was cracking about the initials was actually dead on because that gifted book from Gale immediately links Walter with Gale. It doesn’t take a DEA agent to see that connection.
Really, the more interesting questions are how Hank will react, and what the fallout for everybody will be; eventually culminating to whatever circumstance brought Walt hiding under a false identity, buying an M60 with tracer rounds from a guy at Denny’s.
Also, does the DEA have this sketch from the opening episode of season 3?
(Alright, I think some of it came back to me. I wanted to emphasize some telling dialog I transcribed.)
Come on! I brought this up previously because I couldn’t see Jesse just accepting that as an answer. He specifically asks if he’s safe, and only gets a terse response that he’s gone? While also witnessing the scene with Todd, the barrel, the car backed into the shop, and Todd closing the trunk, I think it’s at this point that Jesse was strongly suspicious that Walt killed Mike. After questioning Saul about what he knows/thinks, they both probably came to the obvious conclusion.
And from the second scene:
Again, come on! Some of the most telling stuff there is what was NOT said. That, and all the elements that don’t come through in a transcript.
Why would have Jesse stressed that he wasn’t coming back? How would Walt “know” he wasn’t going to. The whole scene (primarily, Jesse’s fear) really doesn’t make sense to me if Jesse doesn’t know that Walt killed Mike, and if Walt doesn’t know he knows.
When I was watching that scene originally, I thought at first that they were talking about killing Walt’s having killed Mike, but I quickly decided that there was no way that Walt would let Saul know, that Saul would spill the beans if he did know, or that either Jesse or Walt would have been anywhere near as calm about the whole thing as they were. Jesse looked up to Mike and liked him, and he knows there was no reason whatsoever for Walt to kill him. The whole vibe of the scene just didn’t fit. Then I realized that they must be talking about the prison murders. Saul would have had to have known about that, because it was directly related to their legal exposure.
If Jesse had seen what Walt was subtly implying by saying Mike was “gone,” he never would have accepted it. Even less if he’d recognized that Walt and Todd were disposing of a body. He’d have gone mad and probably threatened to kill Walt. Even of he does suspect something, that’s definitely not what was being discussed.
Jesse emphasized that he wasn’t coming back and Walt said “I know,” because the last conversation they had was Walt desperately trotting out every argument he had to convince Jesse not to quit. Jesse doesn’t know about the bag of money sitting on his doorstep, so he figures Walt either came by to convince Jesse with another argument or to threaten him.
Voltaire - your interpretation is way, way off. In the second scene you refer to, when Jesse said “Saul told me what you did,” he’s talking about the prison hits. It’s quite possible Walt misinterpreted that and thinks Jesse knows he killed Mike. But there’s no way that he does. If he knew about Mike he would have been livid.
I was of the opposite view on the first watch, although I thought Jesse suspected it. Only after watching an encore, and then again watching just the relevant scenes to transcribe them here, am I thinking otherwise.
I had the same thoughts, and I gave plausible explanations to them, above.
I think that’s the main source of the ambiguity. All of us would have expected Jesse to fly off the handle in a rage of vengeance if he knew Walt killed Mike. That doesn’t mean we were right to expect that, particularly given the circumstances. It’s pretty clear that Jesse is now scared of Walt, (which, by itself, is a strong indication that he knows) and might not have the reckless courage to go after him. One explanation for why Walt and Jesse never explicitly mention Mike by name, and don’t really discuss/argue about it, is that it’s so horrible, they just don’t want to talk about it. Walt had already told Todd he didn’t want to talk about it, and Jesse could have been having a similar reaction.
He also looked up to Walt and liked him, although in a different way. Sure, they had their up’s and downs, but Walt was really his father figure, Mike was more like a big brother or uncle. He spent a heck of a lot more time with Walt than he ever did with Mike.
And he doesn’t really know there was no reason to kill him. It’s even possible that he could see how Mike needed killing. Mike was a wanted fugitive and a potential witness against Walt, Jesse, and the whole operation - there’s a big reason right there. Hell, it’s possible that even Mike thought *he *needed to be killed. Remember, Mike made no attempt to get vengeance for himself after he realized he was mortally wounded. Why should Jesse have a stronger desire for vengeance than Mike himself, against someone he’s also closer to and has much more affection for? Mike always hated Walt, got mortally shot by him, and still decided it wasn’t even worth it to try to kill Walt.
Mike was old, he had lost all his savings, he was now a fugitive on the run, he could no longer see his grand-daughter ever again, and he had nobody else, as far we know. What was he going to do, and where was he going to go? Even if he had enough money to live on the run, and didn’t even mind assuming a new identity and leading a new life of retirement, he would never know if/when he would get caught. And then what? Either die in jail of natural causes because he stayed quiet, or die in jail of murder because he talked.
Mike’s gig was up. I think he knew it, and I think Jesse came to realize it, which contributed towards tempering his anger.
No, the last conversation they had had before that was the one in the shop I partially transcribed above, where it was very clear that there is no “we.” Jesse had come back to help (and find out about Mike) after the blowup you referenced, and Walt went ballistic and chased him off. (I think part of that was him feeling defensive for having killed Mike.)
Look, I’m not saying I’m definitely right about all this, but it seems to me that it was probably left ambiguous purposefully for practical and/or dramatic reasons. I kind of like it… adds to the suspense. Ambiguity can be a good thing, and this show knows when to use it. Remember the whole poisoning of Brock?
P.S. Sorry, I know that was pretty tl;dr. So, am I crazy to think any of that is plausible? I’ll shut up about it (at least until I do a full re-watch) if everybody thinks I’m crazy. 
Didn’t jesse say ‘I heard what you did’ or something when Walt arrives at his house, or is that to do with something else?
He got the gun in that time period b4 he answered the door.