I watched the episode 2 3/4 times, and I paid close attention to the head chemist (because I didn’t quite catch it the first time). He never fell down, but in one glimpse of him in the background he’s seated sort of leaning on the table clutching his chest, then the next glimpse he’s slightly slumped over in his chair. That still leaves behind all the junior chemists though, but as I said in the previous episode’s thread, I assume Gus would have that lab destroyed/cleaned-up. (They were videotaping the whole process, if I recall correctly. Besides protecting the recipe, there’s no telling whose faces are on that video.)
Yeah, maybe my use of the word “resolved” referring to the Ted situation was oversimplifying it. I was really only talking about getting the check signed, because I assume there will still be some repercussions.
To add to your list:
Walt knowing Jesse
The time someone conveniently knew to call Hank telling him that Marie was in an (false) accident right before Hank was going to bust Jesse (and Walt) in the RV at the junkyard.
The time someone conveniently called Hank to warn him that the cartel guys were going to attempt to kill him.
Walt visibly beat to shit, but won’t tell Hank what happened.
Walt occasionally asking certain specific questions, like asking about the cartel guys.
Not just the lame gambling story (as you mentioned), but the resulting separation with Skyler over it, when he made over $1 million dollars doing it!!!
The whole drunken “Gale isn’t Heisenberg” where he was saying it with WAY too much smug self-satisfaction and certainty, as if he had A LOT of experience knowing how hard it would be to make such high quality meth.
I’m pretty sure there are even a few other things neither of us remembered to mention.
Do you mean that you think that Hank already suspects him? Because I don’t think so, and I think it’s precisely because he doesn’t think Walt has it in him. Hank is indeed an experienced investigator. If it wasn’t for him completely dismissing Walt by default, he would have surely seen what’s been right under his nose the whole time. If/when Hank finds out, I have a feeling he’ll be more upset at himself for not seeing it, then he is upset at Walt for doing it.
Whats your belief about Beneke’s sincerity? Was turning down Skylar’s money blackmail or some shredded sense of honor? Being broke and homeless IS better than prison, if it truly was blackmail Skylar should have called his bluff. Beneke doesn’t know what shes really involved in and what she’s really afraid of and theres no way from his knowledge she’d do a lot of time, especially when compared to what he’s going to get.
I, like you, don’t think Hank is even kind of thinking that Walt is related to anything, not even a little bit. If he runs across some hard evidence* then all those things will certainly come into play,** but right now I think Hank just thinks of Walt as a little pussy that’s kind of curious about Big Hank’s important job and he just gets kind of jumpy when he’s in a situation that a civilian that watches too much TV thinks is dangerous.
*I’m thinking maybe he’ll see Walt’s car at Jesse’s house or the laundry, maybe run across his name on a receipt for chemical shipment or maybe it’ll play out that Walt will confess to Hank.
**Whenever we have a show or movie like this I like to think that we’ll get a montage ala The Usual Suspects (I think they did it in Fight Club as well) when Hank figures it out that’ll cover all the things in the list.
I honestly thought he was being sincere in trying to give her the money back. Basically that was his way of saying “Thanks, but if you’re going to control what I have to spend it on, I’m not interested”. I figured her reaction was her sort of blackmailing/guilting him into keeping it and paying off the IRS. I mentioned earlier that in hindsight she should have had Saul ‘will’ him the money but then say that the IRS took the money all ready. Hell, she could have just paid them directly, but that would have taken out a lot of the drama.
Even now, I still don’t understand why she didn’t just take the money back and send it into the IRS herself. Then the IRS would be happy and off her back.
Because she’s afraid of how this looks to the IRS, she has gone far out of her way to look as cash poor as possible. Beneke paying them is the best case scenario for her and she didn’t figure anyone would be stupid enough to not pay the government to avoid jail.
Her assumption and it being wrong is plausible I think.
Great episode, very intense. When Ted tripped over the rug the first time I wondered if the actor had actually tripped but just continued with the scene. I should have known better. There is not a lot that happens for no reason on this show.
Watching it a second time I noticed after he hit his head the bowl of oranges spilled down over him. Wasn’t it the Godfather movies where oranges mean death/bad things happening?
The ending also reminded me of Shallow Grave when:
Ewan McGregor is lying there (possibly dead depending on your interpretation) laughing hysterically with the money hidden under the floor beneath him.
So have Beneke make the check out to CASH (or give her the cash), get a cashiers check (Saul can take care of that) made out to the IRS and use that to pay the IRS.
That should keep her name totally out of it.
a. Ted’s not dead. Betcha.
b. The spare, primal heartbeat music as Walt was cracking up down in the crawlspace added “music” to the growing list of what makes this show so good!
When I mentioned the need to cleanup the factory and the videotape, I forgot one thing that I just remembered - they were blindfolded on the way to (and from?) the factory. I guess we’ll see just how thorough Gus was with his planning. Maybe he had some sort of tracker on him to locate the factory. (Or Longshot: ) Maybe he had the forethought to have the GPS pulled on the car they took, and that data is still on there.
Assuming he survived the fall, do you think the goons and Saul are that stupid to let him live after that? Though, I admit, keeping him in a coma/quadriplegic would be interesting. Heh, yet another person whose medical costs Skyler would feel obliged to cover! :eek:
Was anybody else worried that Tyrus or one of Gus’ men was going to appear behind Skyler while she was talking to Walt? The tension in the scene, combined with the throbbing thump-thump feedback of the music, lead me to believe that the White family was in* immediate* mortal danger, and at any second Gus’ goons would be arriving to kill them.
…and he wants to go all the way to the top with it. He knows WW is his in, and his mobility is limited. Hell, he may even suspect or know there is a DEA roadblock in the case. He’s obnoxious, but not stupid.
From this episode, in the hospital, Walt shows up and apologizes:
“Sorry, that guy just came out of nowhere”
“Actually, he didn’t, I saw him coming from a mile away”
They love planting that sort of stuff. As my wife pointed out, Ted stumbled over that same rug earlier in the episode when Skyler visited for “the talk”.
What does Hank know? How much does he know about Walt? What makes you think he knows? Personally, I think he knows he’s about 50% sure that Gus is deeply involved in meth production, but as for Walt, I think Hank considering Walt being involved would be like reading about a bank robbery in the newspaper and thinking it might be your grandmother. That is to say, I don’t think he’s even considered it. Now, once something happens that makes the connection, however minute, all the things we talked about earlier will come flooding into Walt’s mind, but for now, Walt is in the clear as far as Hank is concerned…IMO.
When I saw the “Previously on…” clips and the ricin wasn’t mentioned, I figured the episode wouldn’t involve it. In fact, the need to reintroduce the ricin will rather blunt the surprise of its use, it it ever gets used.
I could imagine a few bluff episodes. Show clips of the ricin, then have its only involvement in that episode be:
Walt: You still got that ricin?
Jess: Yeah, bitch.
We don’t know what Hank knows, that’s what makes those scenes so uncomfortable…
But:
[ul]
[li]The laundry trip came out of left field with Walt, even though Hank new about the German company connection.[/li]
[li]Hank hasn’t been exactly subtle about taking Walt on the rides, but now that Walt’s out, he’s going it alone.[/li]
[li]Hank was a good investigator from our previous experience with him, but was derailed by the cartel hit. With what we’ve seen this season, there may be “dirty cop” implications[/li]
[li]The line I mentioned was telegraphed, granted they do a lot of misdirection here.[/li]
[li]…but most of all for me, Hank as a cop does not miss the Gail/Gus/Academia/Money/Walt implications.[/li][/ul]
In Hank’s mind, maybe Walt isn’t Heisenberg, but he certainly could be the kind of person who would be hired to take the place of a suddenly dead chemist, particularly since he ‘recently came into money’.
I have to say, I love this season, I love that they’ve made Skyler important as anything but a harpy foil to Walt, and I love that they killed Ted :)…
But if they play Hank off as that stupid in the end, based on what we’ve seen of his job competency in the past, it will leave a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
I couldn’t begin to hypothesize where this show goes. All I know is that there were two opportunities to confirm that Beneke is dead (directly after the event and during the call) and they passed both times. We’ll know for sure in a few days.
Hank knew about the German company (Madrigal Electromotive?) and that it owned Pollos Hermanos and the chicken farm, but I think he only recently tracked down the fact that they also owned the industrial laundry. Had he known about the laundry previously, I assume he would have started his recon there, rather than the less likely chicken place.
The hysterical laugh was beyond difficult to pull off and he did it.
The revelation of this show is Aaron Paul. This kid is a new age De Niro and it’s only a decent script writer and a director that will showcase his talent.
I’m so pissed that Scorsese whores himself for the likes of trash like DiCaprio and can’t see the talent of Aaron Paul.