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)
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