2.01 Seven Thirty-Seven

Summary and spoilers

This episode picks up exactly where the last episode of season one left off: Walt and Jesse have been deeply shaken by watching Tuco brutally beat one of his sidekicks merely because the guy spoke out of turn. Walt recovers quickly and calculates the amount of money he needs (737 thousand dollars) and the time it will take to get it (11 weeks of drug deals at one big deal a week). As the guys drive away, Tuco returns and tosses his beaten and now dying sidekick out of his SUV, yelling at Walt to do something. Walt tries some half-hearted CPR, but it is way too late, and the guy dies. After a few evil stares, Tuco pushes Jesse to the ground and says they can go. They leave as Tuco’s other homey provides a makeshift grave for the dead guy under a pile of junked cars.

Jesse is past scared now. He buys a gun and tells Walt of his plan to shoot Tuco. Walt grills Jesse for specifics and shoots huge holes in the plan, assuring Jesse it will never work. He has a better idea: to use castor beans to manufacture a poison called ricin, a poison so powerful that a miniscule amount can kill a man within 48 hours, and totally undetectable, so they will not be implicated. Walt and Jesse cook the beans and produce a small bag of ricin in powder form. Their new plan is to mix it with a small amount of meth, pass it off as a new blend they want Tuco to try, and then wait to hear the good news.

Marie is still partially in denial about her kleptomania; she’s avoiding her therapy sessions, despite prodding from Hank. Skyler is still angry at Marie and refuses to answer her calls. Hank visits Skyler, attempting to re-start a dialogue between the sisters, but he does little to further his argument when he admits to knowing that Marie had stolen the tiara and had kept this a secret from the family.

Hank appears to be on an inevitable path to discovery that his brother- in-law is cooking. Now he has seen video evidence of Walt and Jesse’s break-in to steal methylamine. Later, he’s at the crime scene where not one but both of Tuco sidekicks are dead. Hank sends a cell phone photo of this crime scene to Walt, just as a joke. When Walt and Jesse see the photo, the assume Tuco killed both men and that he is definitely coming for them next. Walt takes Jesse’s gun and heads for home, suggesting to Jesse that he leave town. Jesse grabs his cash stash and gets ready to flee.

Later, Hank discovers that the second man died from natural causes when the car stack collapsed on him, so perhaps Walt and Jesse did not need to panic (although they do not know that).

Walt arrives home to find Skyler in the bath and Walt Jr. having dinner at a friend’s house. Skyler presses the silent, stressed Walt to talk to her. He seems poised to do so when he hears a sound and sees Jesse’s idling outside. When he walks up to the car to berate Jesse for coming there, he is ordered to get in by the gun-wielding Tuco, who is crouched down in the back seat. Walt complies, and the three of them drive away together.

Comments

This episode was directed by Bryan Cranston.

It may have seemed obvious from the start, but Walt’s original plan to make money by cooking meth as a way of protecting his family from financial hardship was also riddled with holes. It seems there is no way to partially and safely enter the drug arena without endangering yourself and your family. Walt is now unraveling, his relationship with Skyler is deteriorating fast, and the stress he is under is not going to help his health issues.

Hank makes a passing reference to a rival drug gang. This could be who has been watching and calling Hank and Jesse.

When Walt is last at his house, he removes all the cash from the wall vent and places it and his gun in a diaper box – then forgets to hide the box, leaving it askew in full view. I wonder if Walt Jr. or Skyler will find it.

As Walt mentioned, ricin, a poison extracted from castor beans, is a lethal and virtually undetectable poison. In 1978, the Bulgarian secret police used an umbrella to deliver a tiny pellet of ricin into the leg of dissident Georgi Markov, who died in hospital a few days later. It is believed that the KGB supplied the Bulgarians with the technology for this assassination.

Memorable Moments

• Walt returning his night-time companion, a big kitchen knife, back to the knife rack

Quotable Quotes

Tuco: Get rid of him.
Henchman: But, Tuco, we can’t do him like that, man. Buzzards and rats and all that. [pause] Um, I’m just saying, you know. It’s not very Christian.
Tuco: This sounds like arguing

"How can you suggest that we kill a man, and you can’t even open the gun?"
- Walt to Jesse

Walt: I got a better idea.
Jesse: Thank god! Alright, what is it, Mr. White. Lay it on me.
Walt: Beans.
Jesse: Beans.
Walt: Castor beans.
Jesse: So what are we gonna do with them? Are we just gonna grow a magic bean stalk, huh, climb it, and escape?
Walt: We are going to process them into ricin [note: pronounced ‘rice-in’].
Jesse: Ricin beans.

Season 2 Intro Minisodes

As the ultimate hook into season two of Breaking Bad, the creators released six short minisodes for free distribution on the internet. Click here to view the minisodes at amctv.com.

Good Cop Bad Cop

It’s Valentine’s Day: Hank and Marie try to spice things up in the bedroom with a little cop/perp role play, but the passion ends when Marie gets frustrated with Hank’s insistence on due process.

Wedding Day

It’s Hank and Marie’s wedding day, but Hank confides to Walt that he can’t go through with it because he had sex 4 ½ hours ago.

TwaughtHammer

Jesse Pinkman presents and stars in a mini-rockumentary about his Albuquerque-based alt-emo-thrash-metal band, Twaughthammer, where they divide their time equally between making music and infighting.

"Fallacies" by TwaughtHammer

Jesse’s alt-emo-thrash-metal band, Twaughthammer, plays their ‘hit’ song, ‘Fallacies’.

Marie's Confession

Marie vlogs her private thoughts on America’s inferiority complex and the unexpected comfort of Madonna’s cone-bra.

The Break-In

Wearing his pom-pom adorned ski mask of choice, Walt prepares to break into a house and steal back a money-filled vacuum cleaner sold during a Skyler yard sale. Walt’s lock-picking helper is the talkative Badger.

Quotable Quotes

(from Good Cop Bad Cop)
Hank: I have the right to remain silent. Just say, "You have the right to remain silent -
Marie: Oh, Jesus – for God’s sake, Hank!
Hank: I’m just saying, I got rights, you gotta Mirandize!

(from Wedding Day)
Hank: I was not looking for it, but I made a love connection.
Walt: What does that mean?
Hank: Mouth love, if you get my drift. BJ and the Bear…minus the bear. Like baby, will you blow my skin flute -
Walt: I get it!

(from "Fallacies" by Twaughthammer)
 "At the crystal palace where I try to make my stand,
My girls all call you Yoko, say you’re gonna kill the band."
- ‘Fallacies’ by Twaughthammer

(from Marie’s Confession)
 "If you have found this tape, that means you have been in my shoe closet, which I expressly asked you not to do."
- Marie

(from The Break-In)
Walt: So your thinking was that I would have a lock pick up my ass, is that right?
Badger: You don’t?

1.07 A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal

(This is the final episode of season one)

Summary and spoilers

At a school/police meeting to discuss the missing lab equipment, Walt loses concentration (the police have no leads and are still investigating). Walt’s hand wanders down between Skyler’s thighs, and she resists at first and then responds. They consummate their passion in the car after the meeting.

Walt visits the recovering Jesse, who is in the process of selling his house (which he says is haunted) and is now living in the RV. Walt puts about 32 grand in cash in Jesse’s hand, but Jesse is still upset that Walt made a deal with Tuco. Jesse also has bad news; Walt should not have made a deal to supply 2 pounds of meth a week, because Jesse cannot get enough over the counter ‘pseudo’ to make more than half a pound a week.

Walt and Skyler’s consultation with the doctor is anticlimactic. He says Walt’s ‘friskiness’ may not be a sign that the chemo is working, and he won’t know until the round is over and he can do another cat scan.

Walt and Jesse meet with Tuco at a car junkyard. Tuco is unhappy at only getting half a pound instead of the promised two pounds. He pays for the half pound, but Walt pushes him for all the money, in advance, as a capital investment. Tuco gives in for the most part, giving Walt 52 grand and the rest as a loan with interest to be paid back; then Walt promises 4 pounds. Jesse wonders how Walt is going to get enough pseudo to make that much.

At the baby shower for Holly (formerly Esmeralda), Walt gives a nice speech to the coming arrival, telling her that she will always have a family who loves her. Marie’s gift is a sparkly, diamond-encrusted tiara. Walt Jr. films the event and mixes in a little voyeuristic cleavage shots. Hank asks Walt for something stronger than beer; alone, Hank pulls out a couple of his illegal Cuban cigars and they discuss why the illegal things are better. After the party, Walt tells Skyler that he’s interested in the alternative therapy of a sweat lodge that takes place over a weekend. Skyler is thrilled. Of course, Walt is going to use the time to cook.

There’s just one problem – Jesse has been unable to get a key ingredient. But Walt decides they can break into a chemical warehouse and get it, using his skills to create an explosive that can cut through the serious security doors on the place.

When Skyler tries to return the tiara to the jewelry store, she is arrested, as it is a stolen item. Held in the manager’s office, Skyler threatens to tell the media that she, a pregnant woman, was held with no evidence. She then fakes going into labor. Skyler is released, and she immediately calls Marie – but gets her answering machine.

Wearing stylish ski masks with pom-poms, Walt and Jesse lock the guard in a portajohn and steal the chemical they need. The RV won’t start, so they move the lab to the basement of Jesse’s house, unaware that an open house is planned for later that day.

Skyler confronts Marie about shoplifting. Marie denies everything.

Walt returns home, exhausted, and collapses in a chair. Skyler brings him a yummy drink and asks about the sweat lodge. She asks about Walt’s strange smell – he says it is sacred Navajo herbs. Skyler tells Walt about Marie’s kleptomania.

Walt and Jesse deliver the meth to Tuco. Tuco hands over all the cash easily, and the meeting goes well for the two cookers, but not so for one of Tuco’s gang, who makes the mistake of speaking out of turn, and is beaten unconscious by Tuco.

Comments

The theme of the show is ‘the desirability of illegality.’ Walt, Marie, and Hank all dabble to different degrees in illegal activities, while Tuco wallows in the illegal. There is a half-hearted attempt to draw parallels between Hank’s possession of illegal Cuban cigars and Walt’s bulk manufacture of a dangerous drug.

Raymond Cruz (Tuco) deserves mention for his over-the-top yet believable performance as a crazed drug lord.

For those who don’t know, ‘pseudo’ is short for pseudo ephedrine, over the counter cold medication that forms the main ingredient in crystal meth.

Memorable Moments

• The priceless look on Walt and Jesse’s faces when they realize that they are stuck in a no-expiry-date business relationship with one of most violent and insane drug dealers in the world

Quotable Quotes

Skyler: (after making love in the car) Where did that come from? And why was it so good?
Walt: Because it was illegal.

Walt: This is the first day of the rest of your life, but what kind of life will it be, huh? Will it be a life of fear, of ‘oh, no, no, no, I can’t do this’, of never once believing in yourself, huh?
Jesse: I don’t know!

Jesse: How much cash do you need?
Walt: More.

Walt: What would you do if it were me?
Skyler: What do you mean, if it were you?
Walt: If it were me [engaging in illegal activity], what would you do? Would you divorce me, would you…turn me into the police?
Skyler: You don’t want to find out.

1.06 Crazy Handful of Nothin’

Summary and spoilers

At the same time as Walt is laying down the new law to Jesse, telling him that he will do the cooking while Jesse handles the street side of things, and that there will be no more violence, we are flashing forward to what appears to be the aftermath of a bikie rumble, where an almost-bald Walt walks slowly away from the scene, bleeding from the nose.

Later, Walt is in a comfy chair alongside others, all getting their chemo drips. He assures Skyler that he got and deposited a check from Elliott.

At school, it’s painful to watch Walt trying to expend energy in teaching while he is suffering the effects of the chemo.

At a therapy session, Skyler and Walt Jr. confront Walt about where he is spending his afternoons, and why he is coming home late. Walt says he likes to be alone, go for walks, and enjoy nature. Of course, he’s not enjoying nature, except that which he can see from the desert-parked Winnebago as he cooks meth. But his health issues are starting to interfere with his batch-making. Jesse identifies the radiation target mark on Walt’s chest and realizes he has cancer. Walt is unable to continue cooking, but he believes in Jesse, telling him to take over and finish the job. Jesse doesn’t look so sure.

Hank and Gomez have identified that a piece of lab equipment found near the Winnebago site came from Walt’s school.

In a montage of quick edits, we see Jesse frequenting a series of seedy places and selling small quantities of meth to seedy meth users. When he returns to the lab, Walt is unhappy with the total cash haul of 2600 dollars. Walt says they need to move meth in bulk and to think outside the box. Jesse says he does know a distributor, but that he cannot just approach the guy without a referral.

Walt’s ongoing chemo treatments are continuing to make him sick at school. He isn’t cheered up by a visit from Hank. Hank has the gas mask found at the desert cook site and wants some help from Walt. Walt also finds out from Hank that there was a snitch involved (and possibly suspects Jesse?). Hank discovers all the missing items that Walt took to start the lab, but does not yet see Walt as a suspect, preferring to think that a student borrowed the store room keys.

Jesse has found a buddy, Skinny Pete, that will take him in to see the new distributor, Tuco. Tuco likes the meth very much and agrees to a deal, but he wants to take the meth on consignment – without giving Jesse any money up front. When Jesse tries to take the meth back, he is beaten until he is bleeding from the mouth.

Hank arrives one morning at Walt’s school and arrests Hugo, the janitor who had shown true compassion towards a sick cancer patient named Walt. Hank mentions something about a background check. It hurts Walt to have to watch someone else take the blame for his crimes, but it doesn’t hurt enough for him to do anything about it.

Walt is trying to find Jesse but only gets his answering machine message.

A family card game allows Hank to explain more about why Hugo was arrested (he had a record), and to say that he was not the person who stole the lab equipment. Hank and Walt also mirror their real-world cat and mouse game by ending up head to head in a poker hand, and Walt bluffs Hank and wins. The victory is short-lived for Walt, as he discovers later in the shower that his hair loss has begun. Later, he tries to beat the slow thinning by shaving completely.

Walt makes another call to Jesse and tracks him to a hospital, where he lies unconscious, being watched by his ‘friend’ Skinny Pete. Walt grills Pete about Tuco.

Skinhead Walt arrives at Tuco’s, and is able to gain entry to the compound. Walt asks for 50 grand – 35 grand for the pound of meth Tuco already took, and 15 grand for his partner’s pain and suffering. Tuco has no intention of doing any of that, but Walt has a little surprise – the bag of meth-looking crystals he brought is an exploding compound called fulminated mercury, and when he throws a single crystal, it causes a major explosion. Walt grabs the bag and threatens to use it all unless a deal can be made. Tuco agrees to buy two more pounds of meth. Back in his car, Walt celebrates with a throaty roar that only a brush with death can bring.

Comments

The show’s delay/moratorium on selling meth has now been fully lifted, with Walt and Jesse sellng small and large batches as fast as they can make them. So any semblance of morality has also been fully lifted.

With Walt’s chemical expertise and lack of moral fiber, he could make money a lot of ways – such as by supplying home-made explosives to terrorist groups.

Nits

As Walt was leaving Tuco’s, I thought he would get a bullet in the back. This would have been a safe way for Tuco to dispose of him and get his money back. Sure, you say, but Tuco wanted those next 2 pounds of meth. True, but Tuco also stole the first batch of meth with no regard for the opportunity to set up a supply deal with Jesse.

According to Anne Marie’s Chemistry Blog, fulminated mercury would not look like glassy crystals the way it was portrayed in this episode – it is a grayish-brown powder. And it sounds like Anne Marie knows what she’s talking about.

Memorable Moments

• Walt’s chemically-laden orange urine
• Tuco’s maniacal mannerisms

Quotable Quotes

Walt: Yes, yes! That’s what we need, we need a distributor. Now - do you know anyone like that?
Jesse: Yeah, I mean I used to, until you killed him!

"Damn! Chick’s got an ass like an onion…makes me wanna cry."
- Hank

Tuco: It’s your meeting! Why don’t you start talking and tell me what you want!
Walt: 50 thousand dollars,
Tuco (laughs) Oh, man! 50 Gs? How you figure that?
Walt: 35 for the pound of meth you stole, and another 15 for my partner’s pain and suffering.

1.05 Gray Matter

Summary and spoilers

Jesse’s all dressed up to interview for what he thinks is a sales position, but it’s actually a job where he would dance as a big wavy dollar bill and entice people to save by spinning a big red ‘savings’ arrow around. His old drug friend Badger is spinning the arrow successfully. Badger accosts him as Jesse leaves the unsuccessful interview and tries to convince Jess to start cooking some more of that fantastic crystal again. But Jesse says his ex-cooking partner was an asshole. Badger offers to partner up instead, and the initially uninterested Jesse changes his mind and goes for it after not being able to face more interviews.

Walt and Skyler are attending the upscale party for birthday boy Elliott and his partner Gretchen. Elliott just recently secured a scientific patent for his very successful company, and he invites Walt to work for him. Elliott wants Walt’s fresh eyes and expertise, and Walt wants Elliott’s health plan – but he grows suspicious when Elliott stresses this job benefit. Walt confronts Skyler; she did tell Elliott about Walt’s condition. Walt turns down the job offer and Elliott’s subsequent offer to pay for Walt’s treatments.

Jesse and Badger cook – well, Jesse cooks and Badger clowns around. The end product is probably smokable but it is cloudy and no longer up to the new-found standards that Walt has instilled into Jesse. Jesse dumps the batch and vows to start over while Badger picks up crystals and blows on them to clean them off. When Jesse gets ready to dump the third straight batch, Badger has had enough. He attacks Jesse, but Jesse is able to kick him out of the Winnebago and drive away, stranding him.

Walt Jr. gets arrested for trying to get someone to buy alcohol for a minor. He calls Hank instead of his father to come pick him up. Hank is not happy about being called, but he does the fatherly thing and takes Walt Jr. home. This gives Skyler a chance to straighten out that earlier misunderstanding about Walt Jr. smoking pot (Skyler explains it was Walt, not Walt Jr.). Skyler also suggests that Walt be the focus of an intervention (although she’s more comfortable referring to it as a ‘family meeting’.

When Walt finally arrives home, he is invited into the lounge to join Skyler, Walt Jr., Marie, and Hank. Skyler speaks first and asks Walt to accept Elliott’s offer because it is in the best interest of the family. Hank says take the money and run, but he uses so many cliches that no one can tell what he’s talking about. Walt Jr. expresses anger that Walt is afraid of chemo, after all he has had to go through. Then Marie messes up Skyler’s plan by saying she thinks Walt should do what he wants. When Skyler objects to this reasoning, Marie expands, saying that as a health care professional, she sees unhappy people being prodded by doctors until their last breath. Those people, she said, are there because their families convinced them to do it. Hank now is compelled to change his mind and agree with Marie, which causes Skyler to go off. She doesn’t want to lose her husband. An all-out shouting match ensues, silenced by a sudden Walt whistle. Walt then gets his chance to eloquently explain why he has chosen to maintain his dignity and not have the treatment.

In the morning, Walt has acquiesced and tells Skyler he will have the treatment, and, later that day, he begins.

Still later, Walt receives a call from Gretchen urging him to take the money for the treatment. When Walt again refuses, Gretchen asks if his refusal has to do with ‘them’, indicating that they have a past. Walt diffuses that suggestion, instead lieing and saying that his insurance is covering everything. He then gets out of the car and asks Jesse, ‘Want to cook?"

Comments

The majority of this episode is taken up with the misadventures of Jesse and Badger, and Walt’s intervention.

It looks like Walt is happier feeling he has some control of his life by cooking meth. There’s no charity and no past relationships to cloud the issue, just his expertise with chemicals and those teeny twin problems: it’s illegal and immoral.

Memorable Moments

• There’s a nice time-lapse sky sequence used to indicate the passage of time as Jesse and Badger cook
• Walt’s moving soliloquy as he explains his reasons for choosing not to have treatment

Quotable Quotes

"Not yet – please – I have the talking pillow."
- Skyler to Walt at the intervention

"Skyler, you’ve read the statistics, you’ve – these doctors talking about ‘surviving’ - one year, two years, like it’s the only thing that matters. But what good is it to just survive if I am too sick to work, to enjoy a meal, to make love. For what time I have left, I want to live in my own house. I want to sleep in my own bed. I don’t want to choke down 30 or 40 pills every single day and lose my hair, and lie around, too tired to get up, and so nauseated that I can’t even move my head. You – cleaning up after me. Me, what a…some dead man, some artificially alive, just marking time? No, no. And that’s how you would remember me. That’s the worst part. So that is my thought process, Skyler. I’m sorry. I just - I choose not to do it."
- Walt

1.04 Cancer Man

Summary and spoilers

Hank is leading an investigation into two missing drug dealers: Domingo (Krazy-8) and his cousin Emilio. Piecing together the meth and mask left at Domingo’s abandoned car, he knows it was a cook site and that there are new players in town with an extremely high skill set – a potential kingpin in the drug trade. Little does he know that the kingpin is his brother-in-law.

At a barbecue with Hank, Marie, Walt, Skyler, and Walt Jr., Walt tells what should have been a romantic story about how they first met by Walt doing crossword puzzles in the restaurant where she was working. When Skyler breaks down, Walt tells everyone what he told Skyler already: that he has ‘bad’ lung cancer. Walt Jr. buries himself in loud music while the others discuss Walt’s delay in telling everyone, and they offer to help. Skyler believes Walt’s cancer stems from his work 20 years earlier with lab chemicals. While Skyler wants to get a lawyer, Marie has a more practical plan: to get a second opinion from an oncology dream team.

Jesse’s got a couple of low-life pot-smoking friends over. When they express an interest in doing some meth, Jesse claims to have cooked up a perfect batch. But he also says he is not doing any of it right now due to health and paranoia reasons. When his friends decide to leave, Jesse says he is joking and brings out his stash. The next morning, long after his friends have used and left, he is still inside, crouched at the window, fearing the outside world, and deciding that smoking more is his only cure. This doesn’t work; instead, he sees two rough motorcyclists arrive in front of his house and dismount, carrying swords and hand grenades. Jesse grabs his full stash and flees out the back door in a panic. Cut to reality – the two visitors were clean-cut religious hawkers wearing white shirts and riding bicycles with little bells.

Walt is in the bathroom, secretly treating his stab wound gift from Domino. Meanwhile, Skyler is arranging Walt’s new doctor appointment with one of the top ten oncologists in the USA. There’s a $5000 cost just as a deposit for the consultation. Skyler feels that money is no object.

Walt digs out his stash of bills he got from Domino and gets caught, sort of, by Walt Jr., who confronts him for acting weird - like nothing is going on.

At the credit union, Walt loses the parking spot he is waiting for to Ken Wins (identified by personalized plates). The guy doesn’t even acknowledge that he cut Walt off. Inside, Walt has to continue listening to this obnoxious and offensive person loud-talking on his blue tooth. Finally, Walt uses his bills to gets a cashier’s check for the Oncology doctor.

Cut to a respective family discussing a budding oboe career with their obviously intelligent and gifted young son. They are interrupted by a suspicious sound from their back yard. But it’s someone they know – their wayward son Jesse, temporarily entangled in their new lawn furniture. Amid the memorabilia of his earlier simpler life, when he showed artistic talent, Jesse crashes in his bed in a safer haven. Through time-lapse photography, we see Jesse sleep through the night, the day, and into the next night. His dad suspects some kind of drug use. Jesse awakens in time for dinner. He is about to get kicked out by his dad as was the original deal (I suppose, "If you are using drugs, you cannot use our home as a rehab center"). But his dad is touched by Jesse’s dedication to setting the table, and he is silently granted a stay of execution.

Walt and Walt Jr. hook up at school with a chance to talk about things, but the extent of the conversation is Walt stating that he feels things have a way of working out.

Jesse is hanging with younger brother Jake in Jake’s room, annoying him while he is trying to work. Mom checks on the boys, making sure to ask Jake if things are okay, and also leaving the door open when she leaves. Jesse complains to Jake that he is the favorite son, but is given much to think about when Jake says the parents always talk about Jesse. Digging through his memorabilia, he looks at old sketches that show his untapped talent as a cartoonist. He also finds an old test paper from Chemistry class where Walt scrawled an F and the words ‘Apply yourself’, and Jesse responded with a rude cartoon. He is interrupted by a phone call from one of his druggie friends wanting more meth – in fact, his rich friends want to buy all of it.

Walt is appalled to find Jesse at his door. First, Jesse says he is there to ‘debrief’; then he proposes that they cook more; and, finally, he throws a wad of $4000 at Walt, his share of the sold batch. Walt kicks Jesse out and then methodically begins netting soggy bills out of the pool.

The expensive oncologist has some better news. It’s still serious cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, but the radiation treatment can prolong life and sometimes cause remission. When he begins reciting the litany of serious side effects, however, Walt loses interest and blanks it out.

The cleaner has found a joint in Jesse’s room. Confronted by his parents, they don’t wait for another denial and excuse – they kick him out. On the steps, Jake joins Jesse to say goodbye, and thanks Jesse for not telling on him. He asks Jesse for the joint back, but Jesse scrunches it up, telling him it is skunk weed anyway. Jesse leaves in a taxi.

Walt tears himself away from Walt Jr. and an old sci-fi flick on TV called ‘Earth versus the Flying Saucers’ to discuss whether or not to undertake the new treatments. Walt wants to discuss it more. Skyler just wants to do it; Walt says 90 grand is too much. Hearing this Walt Jr. pipes in, telling Walt to just die now. A little later, driving in his car, Walt has a cough-up-blood fit that makes it look like he might comply with this. His fit is interrupted by the re-appearance of Ken ‘blue tooth’ Wins, who honks at and insults an old woman crossing in front of him. Walt has apparently seen enough; he walks purposefully to Ken’s car, wets a squeegee, opens the hood, and places it across the car battery terminals. Sparks fly; Walt closes the hood and calmly walks away; behind him; the car explodes in flames. And briefly, a bad-boy smile removes the troubles etched in Walt’s face.

Comments

Jesse shows a different, protective, and dare I say noble side in not giving up his younger brother’s pot use (despite the fact that it is a ‘gateway’ drug for everything else). J

I was thinking that Walt’s second opinion would reveal that he didn’t have lung cancer after all, but now I can see that the show could not really continue if that had happened.

After the Jesse/Walt meeting, I believe if their paths do cross again, Walt will be a little more patient and show more respect. It won’t be hard to improve in either area, come to think of it.

The pressure applied by Skyler and Walt Jr. may force Walt to begin the treatments, but I’m not sure how that will work within the framework of the show, especially if Walt has a particularly bad reaction and is bed-ridden for weeks.

I don’t have a lot of respect for Hank’s intelligence, but he seems to be dedicated, successful, and dogged in his line of work. He is not a guy I would like to have trying to track me down if I was a drug dealer/cooker.

The last time I heard the phrase ‘your breath could knock a buzzard off a shitwagon’ was when comedian George Carlin used it on a comedy album (I think it was AM and FM) in the early 1970s.

Nits

Did Jesse rip Walt off? I thought Jesse said the bag of meth was worth 45 grand. But Walt is only given 4 grand, which is supposed to be half of what it sold for. Surely Jesse couldn’t have smoked that much that fast.

Memorable Moments

• Time-lapse photography of the exterior of Jesse’s parent’s home used to show the length of Jesse’s Big Sleep.

Quotable Quotes

Hank: Operation Ice-breaker. How you likin’ that? We never used that before, did we?
Gomez: Isn’t that the name of a breath mint?
Hank: What?
Gomez: Ice-breakers, right? Breath mint?
Nobody’s gonna be thinkin’ that. Be thinkin’ about some big-ass ship at the North Pole, breakin’ ice!
Gomez: Says you. I’m gonna be thinking ‘Operation Breath Mint’.
Hank: I’m thinking ‘Operation Breath Mint’ every time you and me are on a stakeout together, alright? Breath could knock a buzzard off a shitwagon. Alright! Operation…TBD. Thanks for nothin’, Gom.

"So be on notice – we got new players in town. Now we don’t know who they are or where they came from, but they possess an extremely high skill set. Me personally – think Albuquerque might just have a new kingpin."
- Hank

Walt, Jr.: Hey, I want a beer.
Hank: Yeah? I want Shania Twain to give me a tuggy. Guess what? That ain't happening either.

Jesse: Yeah, man, you play the flute?
Jake: It’s a piccolo, actually.
Jesse: Play some, uh – play some Jethro Tull!

"How many chances have we given you? How many times have we sat right here and had the same conversation over and over again where you look us in the eye and you plead ignorance and you play on our emotions. And you tell us anything and everything you think we want to hear just so we’ll give you another chance. And it makes us feel like fools every time."
- Jesse’s mom

Skyler: So can I call them and tell them you’ll start next week?
Walt: I just think that we need to discuss it a little more.
Skyler: What is there to discuss? You’re gonna get the best treatment, and he’s the best.
Walt: Well, there’s the money discussion – I think, no, 90 thousand dollars out of pocket, maybe more -
Skyler: There’s a way, Walt – there’s financing; there’s installment plans; I could always go back to work. Walt, there’s always a way.
Walt: Alright, let’s say there is a way. And we spend all that money, and [pause]. Am I supposed to leave you with all that debt? No, honey, I just don’t want emotions ruling us. Maybe treatment isn’t the way to go.
Walt Jr.: Then why don’t you just fucking die already? Just give up and die.

1.03 …And the Bag’s in the River

Summary and spoilers

While the boys work together to clean up the very messy job of body parts and house parts in the hallway, Walter flashes back to a much happier time: as a young man, he and a young woman (collaborator or student) are working together in a classroom or conference room, using a blackboard to list the percentages of elements in the human body.

Skyler interrupts her painting to research the topic of pot use with Marie, who had done a fair bit of it in college. Marie is her usual negative and imaginative self, assuming from this that Walt Jr is using pot.

Krazy-8 confronts Walter with all the information he knows about him, blabbed to him freely by Jesse back before this whole thing happened. Krazy tries to convince Walter that he should let him go; he says Walt is not cut out for this type of life.

Angered by Jesse’s tell-all mouth and meth use, Walt confronts him and tries to dump a bag of meth down the toilet, but Jesse fishes it out, leading to a free-for-all chase that Jesse wins when Walt has a painful coughing fit.

Marie takes time out from ‘trading in’ her archy shoes for stylish stilettos to convince hubby Hank that Walt Jr is definitely a pothead. Hank agrees to scare the boy straight right after work. Hank takes Walt Jr. to a seedy part of town and makes him confront a meth using hooker. Walt Jr. thinks the whole thing is kind of amusing. Later, the hooker goes into a nearby hotel room and services a very paranoid Jesse.

Walt is still at Jesse’s, giving a lame excuse that he is still at the car wash. But Skyler has already found out that Walt quit the car wash two weeks ago. Skyler tells Walt not to come home.

Walt doesn’t quite make it over to a hungry Krazy-8 with his crust-less sandwich; he collapses and passes out from a coughing fit; the sandwich and plate shatter on the floor. When he comes to, they have a beer together. Walt wants Krazy-8 (who reveals his real name as Domingo) to give him reasons not to kill him. Domingo promises not to hurt him if he is let go, then shares some personal details of his life. Domingo is the only one who knows that Walt has cancer. They remember Domingo’s father’s furniture store, where Walt bought Walt Jr’s crib. Breaking down, Walt decides to get the key and let Domingo free. In the kitchen, he is about to do so, when he sees the pieces of broken plate. Something clicks, and he re-assembles the plate jigsaw and finds that one knife-shaped piece of plate is missing. Change of plans: Walt strangles Domingo until Domingo is dead and stops stabbing him.

Jesse returns home to find the Winnebago clean and the basement empty.

Walt has not shown up for school on Monday.

Hank has found the site where the van was located, and has identified it as a ‘cook’ site. He also found a bag of Walt’s pure meth in Domingo’s car.

Walt returns home and enters the bedroom, where Skyler is crying. He says there is something he has to tell her (we’ll find out what he decides to tell her in the next episode – so many possibilities).

Comments

This episode is a fantastic bounceback after a somewhat goofy, untralight episode 2. There are so many great character moments, the best of which is probably the psychological byplay between Walt and Domingo. Finally, there’s a great ending to leave us wanting more.

After episode 1, I talked about the moral ambiguity of Walt cooking meth, but noted that he hadn’t actually sold any to anyone. This is still true after episode 3, and, in fact, when Jesse smokes some, Walt goes ballistic and insists that Jesse leave it alone. So why did Walt cook meth, and what will be do with the meth that they manufactured?

What do you think Walt will tell Skyler? The obvious answer is that he will tell her about the cancer. But it’s also possible that she may just tell him to leave without giving him a chance to talk – after all, he showed up after being told to stay away.

I love Breaking Bad’s clever camera angles: ‘blood cam’ from underneath the wood floor; ‘key cam’ as Walt reaches up above the cupboard to get the key.

Memorable Moments

• Walt and Jesse spraying each other down while standing in his and his kiddie pools
• Walt makes a sandwich for Krazy-8, and remembers to cut the crust off the bread

Quotable Quotes

Marie: I hate these shoes. These shoes make me look like I should be changing bedpans, like I should be squeaking around bringing soup to some disgusting old person – then take the bus home to my 16 cats.
Walt Jr: Then why are you wearing them?
Marie: I like the support. My arches happen to be extremely archy.

Jesse: No, no, that’s worth 40 grand, you stupid shit!
Walt: It’s worth nothing when you smoke it all!

Walt: I don’t know…seems like something’s missing.
Student: What about the soul?
Walt: The soul…there’s nothing but chemistry here.

"Skyler…there’s something I have to tell you."
- Walt (closing line)

1.02 Cat’s in the Bag…

Summary and spoilers

Walt and Jesse have some cleaning up to do. They get the RV out of the ditch with the help of a tractor-driving native american, who gets a few wads of questionable money in return. They have a plan to clean up the dead bodies in the RV, but there is a little complication: the sound of groaning from one of the bodies. The RV is parked at Jesse’s house when Krazy-8 (one of the knocked out guys) escapes, but Walt arrives after school just in time to recapture him.

Meanwhile, Skyler has taken advantage of a call at home from Jesse to Walt to redial Jesse and find out his website from his voice message. She now knows that he is a drug and MILF lover, although she does not yet know what a MILF is or even that she is one.

Jesse and Walt spent a lot of time bickering over how to take care of the live and dead bodies. Eventually, a coin flip means Jesse gets to dispose of the dead one (by dissolving it using acid) while Walt grapples with what to do about the barely alive Krazy-8 in the basement. Faced with the fact that Krazy is getting better and not worse, Walt gives him food, drink, and toiletry items and puts off the problem for another day.

Walt rushes off to be there at Skyler’s ultrasound – the new baby inside her is a healthy girl. Skyler confronts Walt about Jesse, and Walt makes up the story that Jesse is his pot supplier. Skyler visits Jesse and tells him not to sell pot to Walt anymore. Jesse is barely clever enough, but plays along.

Jesse has begun the arduous task of disposing of the other body; to strengthen his will, he fortifies himself with a bit of crystal meth. He thinks he’s clever to use the bathtub, but when the tub and floor underneath it dissolve, he find there was a good reason why Walt told him to get a special plastic container to use instead.

Comments

This episode doesn’t carry the emotional impact of the opening pilot episode. Instead, for the most part, it feels a little more in the Dumb and Dumber direction. But it redeems itself by spending some time focusing on the cleverness of Skyler and the relationship between she and Walt.

Nits

I’m no expert on acid, but it would seem that if you poured two relatively small containers of it in a bathtub with a body in it, it would either eat through the rubber plug/stopper and dissolve the pipes, and /or make a much smaller hole through to the floor and still leave much of the body undissolved, rather than a huge hole and a total dissolving of the bathtub as what happens here.

When the acid eats through the second floor bathtub, it leaks down through the ceiling and into the first floor hallway. Does this seem like an unusual house design – to have an upstairs bathtub over an interior hallway? Usually, plumbing is situated in line with other plumbing or with kitchen pipes, along an exterior wall, especially, you would think, in an older style house like this.

Memorable Moments

• Walt sliding and rolling a quick succession of various food, drink, and toiletry items across the floor to Krazy-8.

Quotable Quotes

"MILFs…what the hell is a MILF?"
- Skyler, checking out Jesse’s website

Jesse: And why’d you go and tell her I was selling you weed?
Walt: Because somehow it seemed preferable to admitting I cook crystal meth and killed a man.

"I'm sorry, what were you asking me? Oh, yes, that stupid plastic container I asked you to buy. You see, hydrofluoric acid won't eat through plastic, it will however dissolve metal, rock, glass, ceramic. So there's that."
- Walt

1.01 Pilot

Summary and spoilers

Walter is a high school chemistry teacher, but he’s no lightweight – he’s advanced enough to have shared a Nobel Prize somewhere in the past. These days, however, he’s trying to energize bored high school students, and he even has to moonlight in a car wash to make ends meet for his family. His big brain is of no practical benefit, and it seems even more superfluous when he is diagnosed with lung cancer, despite the fact that he doesn’t smoke.

Why does he decide to partner with one Jesse, one of his failed students, to produce MethAmphetamine? On the surface, it doesn’t make sense, but within the context of the story, it does. We don’t know precisely why: is it a mid-life crisis (he just turned 50); the knowledge that he only has 2 years to live; or a way at getting back at his know-it-all brother-in-law cop. Whatever the combination of reasons, he’s going to do this correctly, manufacturing unadulterated, dependable meth prepared in safe conditions (with an eye wash station, no less) as warrants a Nobel Prize winner.

Walt and Jesse decide that their lab would best be located in a newly purchased Winnebago. They park it in a remote desert area and go to work. Trouble follows them when Jesse’s former meth-making partner suspects him of tipping the DEA, and wants in on the action. But Walt is like a Chem Teacher Superhero, using his knowledge of the table of periodic elements as a weapon.

Envigorated by his unusual choice of proaction, Walt finds that he is finally ‘awake’, and his self-confidence grows.

Comments

This could be dark and depressing, given the subject matter, but there’s a flippancy in the storytelling that makes it clear that this is a fable, not fact. Additionally, Walt’s character is a highly appealing downtrodden hero – you want him to succeed, despite his moral ambiguity.

There are plenty of reasons why Walter decides to go into the crystal meth business, but it’s surprising that a man who dedicated his life to science and teaching could ignore the results of meth use (increased violence, crime, death). However, this turn of events is in keeping with the fantasy aspect of the narrative.

In the opening credits, there’s a clever use of periodic table symbols highlighted within the letters of the cast names.

Memorable Moments

• Walt’s unexpected exuberance from living a life gone bad

Quotable Quotes

Marie: So how goes the novel?
Skyler: It’s not a novel, actually, which I –
Marie: You’re not writing a novel? You told me you were.
Skyler: No. Short stories. I said that if eventually I have enough good ones that maybe I’ll try and…publish another collection.
Marie: Those really didn’t sell. I just thought a novel would be easier to sell.
Skyler: Yeah, well, maybe so.
Marie: Ever want me to read anything, I could critique it for you.
Skyler: Oh! No.

Walter: No, this is a volumetric flask; you wouldn’t cook in one of these.
Jesse: Uh, yeah – I do.
Walter: No, you don’t. Volumetric flask is for general mixing and titration. You wouldn’t apply heat to a volumetric flask. That’s what a boiling flask is for. Did you learn nothing from my Chemistry class?
Jesse: No. You flunked me. Remember?
Walter: No wonder.
Jesse: Prick!

"Walt! Is that you?"
- Skyler (surprised at Walt’s new prowess in bed)