Pretty sure he got poisoned by Gus along with all the other cartel people last week.
Ah, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t remember seeing him die specifically, so I thought perhaps he left the party early. (I remember him at the start, when Don Eladio says he doesn’t care whether Jesse’s a “pig farmer”, he’s still cooking better than the guys with all the degrees.)
Shit, meet fan.
I’m a little overwhelmed with all the interpersonal implications and future possibilities from here so at this point, like another poster said upthread, I’m content to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I’m not so sure about Ted actually wanting to give the money back. I think he was sort of trying to blackmail or at least fish for more money. He’s not a stupid guy, he had to know that him writing a personal check for that amount of money to Skyler wouldn’t be possible for her to cash/deposit without scrutiny/taxes. He knew she cooked up the fake inheritance in order to give him the money, so there’s no way she could just simply take it back in the form of a check. That check might as well have been a worthless piece of paper, and he knew it. He wanted more so he could get his business back up and running. He had to know she had more money, knowing that they bought the car wash, and were able to just toss him the amount of money he happened to need for the IRS. It’s not like she just happened to have the exact amount of money he needed and no more.
I won’t go as far as to say that I hated the way they resolved the Ted issue, because it was entertaining, but I would have preferred that Ted refused to cooperate and forced the goons/Saul/Skyler to play hardball with some violence to get what they wanted. I just would have liked Skyler to have to decide or live with making that call. She’s going to have to deal with some guilt as it is now, but it would have been interesting to see if she could really break bad and cope with the repercussions of intentionally harming Ted.
I guess I did that because I’ve had a couple of BILs who had that sort of thing comin’ so the prospect of losing a BIL doesn’t really sound like a deterant to me.
I thik what Gilligan is getting at more here is “the best laid plans of mice and men…”. everyone on this show is so convinced of their own strategic brilliance, and thinks that if they’re smart enough, they can plan their way out of trouble. Everything isn’t always going to go to plan, though.
I agree with your assessment of the Ted situation (he didn’t think for a second that she’d take that check, and was only angling for more money) but you should know by now that nothing is ever resolved on Breaking Bad. Actions have consequences that have consequences that have consequences…
The climax from The Bridge on the River Kwai and the triumphant music was beautifully timed.
When I heard the theremin music (I assume it was theremin), I wondered if it was also relevant. I think the theremin music most familiar to us is from Forbidden Planet. Would it be a stretch to think maybe it was played here as a reference to Walt’s ego? Walt’s ego is just as dangerous here as Walter Pidgeon’s ego in Planet.
N one mentioned it so maybe I am the first to think of it.
Walt may not have enough to make them all disappear but maybe he has enough for Skylar, Walt Jr. and the baby to. Or even more dramatic, two of them to disappear.
“Kick” Walt Jr. out of the house now that he has his license and can drive himself. Then Skylar takes the baby.
Just a thought
Walt could play the “go all in” gambit and tell Jesse he’ll finger everyone involved to Hank, if he doesn’t give Gus the ricin within 24 hours.
Somehow, I see Hank coming into the fold. He’s got to, one way or the other, what better way than for Walt to lay it all out for him? Could make for a great season ender.
Either that or tell Gus that everything about everything is in writing in a secure place and a friend has been instructed that if anything happens to him that he’s to turn it over to the DEA. You could take it further if need be, but I think it gets the point across (ie everything is in a safety deposit box and the friend with a key lives in another state and it’s someone that Walt doesn’t make any kind of contact with, there’s no tracking him down, he’s to send the key to the DEA if anything happens)
What do you mean by ‘into the fold’? Do you mean teaming up with Gus? Teaming up with Walt (with Gus or against Gus)? Or do you just mean figuring everything out and starting to really make some headway in the case?
Obviously something has to happen or they’ll have wasted 5 seasons for nothing. If Hank never takes down the Gus (or Walt/Jesse or whomever is running the operation when it happens) then him and Marie might as well have not been on the show and they could have used some other DEA agent to put pressure on them.
OTOH, I assume having the DEA agent being his BIL was one way of separating the show from Sopranos/Goodfellas/Scarface etc. Not that it’s that similar to begin with, but you don’t want people to draw similarities if you can avoid it.
I’m actually hoping that the plan for a 5th season is a ruse and this season’s really the last. Gus carries out his threat, Walt confronts Jesse and tells him about Jane, Jesse kills Walt, the end. That would be epic.
At this point a 5th season just seems like an unnecessarily protracted grind to Walt’s eventual death, be it by cancer or violence.
Even if that was the case, we would still have to play out the Hank situation. Far too much time has been invested into that to leave it hanging. As I said above, if the DEA (because of Hank) doesn’t come crashing down on them, there was no point in even having Hank and Marie in the show. Though I do see what you mean. In fact I mentioned right in the beginning of the thread that this episode could have been the series finale.
Walt could afford the disappearing act if gave him the carwash. And his house. Although I guess he needs to go right now and not later.
Hank would have to be really oblivious not to suspect anything by now.
The mask and jars were missing from Walt’s lab.
Badger’s description of Heisenberg.
Walt driving by just as he was on a stakeout to catch the fake Heisenberg.
The Whites suddenly becoming rich + their laughable gambling story.
Walt’s initials in Gale’s notebook.
Walt acting weird everytime Hank brings up meth (interrupting him repeatedly to ask questions etc.).
Walt saying Heisenberg is still out there.
Walt acting really weird about installing the bug.
And now you can add Walt purposefully crashing into the car after acting really weird about going to the laundry.
And him thinking that Walt ‘doesn’t have it in him’ only goes so far. These guys are labrats, chemists, not street thugs. Like Gale was some tough guy.
I think Gus telling Walt that he was gonna “take care of Hank” was a trick. He forced Walt to phone in a threat so the DEA are called in to “protect” Hank. But in fact, if gives Gus’s mole an excuse to constantly be around Hank and monitor his actions since Walt wasn’t able to dissuade him from hunting down Gus.
Now, Hank will be so scared for his life that he’ll barely think about Gus. And if it does cross his mind, he’ll never make a move because the DEA will be with him every step of the way and they already told him to drop it. So far, he’s just been working on his own. Now, the DEA (and unbeknownst to him Gus’s mole) are with him 24/7.
Honestly, I thought Walt had barely enough for himself. I really thought that this was how he was going to be ultimately punished. Disappear, alone, safe, but broken. Forever cursed with being able to save only his own life.
Have we actually seen Jesse dispose of the ricin cigarette? Just sayin’: it’s not like the writers to overlook that little detail. It may still figure in a later ep. While Mike has become another father figure that Jesse seems to care about, he owes nothing to Gus, who wanted him dead earlier on. Jesse isn’t the sort of person to forgive or forget. He’s seen that Walt is expendable and knows that he is, too. Perhaps he’s keeping Walt at arm’s length to provide Gus with assurances of loyalty.
There might be something to the fact Gus was bluffing Walt.
He told Walt he’d have his infant daughter killed, yet we saw how he responded when Jesse informed him that his dealers were using kids, and how the kid on the bike was killed.
He’s tough and ruthless for sure, but Gus a monster?.. doesn’t seem his style.
However, I think he has every intention on taking down Hank. He’s already way too close. Now that Walt’s plan is totally fucked up, I don’t think he has much choice in going to Hank, spilling the beans, and pleading for help, in what ever way. Shoot, Skyler might even do it. Whether Hank would choose to do this off the books or not would be quite interesting. Also, once he finds out Walt is Heisenberg, how’s he going to feel about getting shot up by the Twins?
This. The light/cloud effect in the desert scene was amazing. Thanks for the background info.
I think the contract states that he not only has to eat in the majority of his scenes, but he has to talk about food too.
Having worked in the Art Department on a medical drama for a year (and done numerous other hospital scenes in normal drama shows), I can tell you that it’s sometimes just about getting the impressive looking machines-that-go-beep into shot. Our show was actually pretty accurate (we had three medical advisors on staff, one of whom was on set at all times), but even so, I don’t think they would research every single piece of equipment used as set dressing. There’s always someone with specialist knowledge (like you) who will notice, but in the grand scheme of things there’s way too much to do to worry about every detail.
I’m really not sure what’s going to happen with the ricin, but I think Walt will at least have to think about talking to Hank. I figure this was also why we had the exchange between Hank and Walt where Hank said something like “Who better to come to than me?” [if you’re in trouble].
I totally agree with your list of things that should make Hank suspicious of Walt by now (or soon). I do believe that the W.W. in Gale’s notebook really did refer to Walt Whitman though. It was just a bad coincidence for Walt (White).
Ps. sorry for the mega-long catch-up post. I only just had a chance to watch the ep.
That was my guess as well. The extent of my knowledge of the Pyxis system is from watching Nurse Jackie and I didn’t notice it in the scene. I’m sure it was just there to make the “hospital” look more sophisticated and expensive.
But yeah, for anyone that knew what it was (and I do from watching Nurse Jackie) it is kind of a silly thing to have in the scene unless Gus was worried about someone stealing the drugs. But in that case it would have just been cheaper to hire someone to keep an eye on them.