2.10 Over

Summary and spoilers

The episode opens: we look slightly into the future, as DEA agents in full protective gear remove evidence linked to Walt and Jesse’s meth crimes. Next to Walt’s exploded car are two body bags. Are our blowfish-confident protagonists about to die?

Skyler encourages and convinces Walt to take the week off from work until his radiation issues clear up. Walt waits until she leaves and then meets with Jesse to tell him the good news about his condition, and to say that they will not need to cook any more.

At a party to celebrate Walt’s remission, Skyler warmly thanks the absent Gretchen and Elliot for funding Walt’s treatments. The party turns ugly when Walt keeps pouring straight tequila for Walt Jr. When Hank steps in and takes the bottle, he is confronted by Walt, who will not back down. The tension ends when Walt Jr. starts throwing up in the pool.

Jesse and Jane are still very much an item, with Jesse making a huevos rancheros and able to dedicate a whole day to her, now that Walt has slowed down the business.

Walt calls Skyler at work to apologize, but she gets interrupted by Ted just before she hears his explanation, which was lame anyway. Skyler uses this moment to confide to Ted about Walt’s illness.

Walt has discovered that the water heater is leaking. He pays cash for a tankless unit at the hardware store, but has to pull back one of the bills when he sees it has spots of blood on it.

Jane and Jesse are enjoying a lovely afternoon in bed leafing through Jesse’s superhero drawings. When Jane’s dad arrives unannounced, Jane zips back into her apartment through the back door and – for her dad’s benefit - acts as if Jesse is a tenant and nothing more.

Walt installs his new on-demand heater. He tries to apologize to Walt Jr. about making him drink, but Walt Jr. is more impressed with his own drinking prowess, and brags that he kept up with Walt and Uncle Hank.

Jane pops into Jesse’s as if nothing has happened. Jesse asks for an explanation. Jane thinks what she has done was to protect Jesse. Jesse sees it as a slight. And it is, because while Jesse thought they had a relationship, Jane sees it as merely a fun fling.

Walt has found some dry rot where the old water heater was leaking. Bored by lack of activity, and with plenty of cash to spend, he loads up a huge trolley at the hardware store and starts in on a number of diverting projects. Now he’s under the house, removing huge sections of rotted wood.

Working late, Skyler breaks into tears and confides to Ted that the good news hasn’t made things feel any different. Ted has kind words and extends a hand of comfort, and they holds hands for a good long while.

Walt is going mad now, refusing to go to work until he alleviates all the rot; Jesse, thrown from the safety of his relationship, is smoking meth. He is saved by Jane, who slips an ‘Apology Girl’ superhero drawing under his door.

Working late again, Skyler watches Ted walk by to leave the office. She quickly scatters her pens across the floor. This attracts Ted back to pick them up.

At yet another trip to the hardware store, Walt sees a cart loaded with materials for meth cooking. He instructs the cart owner that the matches he is buying are the wrong type. The young guy flees with terror in his eyes. Walt goes about his business for awhile, until something clicks in his brain. Possessed, he walks with purpose out to the parking lot, straight to the two tough young punks who would be meth cookers. "Stay out of my territory!", he tells the tougher one, and this guy, despite his bulk, reads something in Walt’s body language that tells him to back away.

Comments

This is a fully engrossing episode – so much so, that 2/3 of the way through, I had forgotten that Walt and Jesse might be in those body bags at the end.

If Walt does go a bit mad, and lose his very pregnant wife to an affair, he kind of deserves it for all he has done. In any case, he is evolving into something very different. He tells Skyler that it was not he who did those acts at the party, yet it was the Walt that he has consistently been since learning of his illness.

It’s always great to see John De Lancie (a Star Trek alumni) getting some work.

Memorable Moments

• Frypan-cam (below-pan view of Jesse frying an egg)
• Walt’s steely warning to the other meth merchants

Breaking Bad Quotes

"It’s kind of funny. When I got my diagnosis – cancer – I said to myself, ‘Why me?’ And then, the other day, when I got the good news, I said the same thing."
- Walt

Jane: [sees Jesse is making breakfast] Wow!
Jesse: You weren’t supposed to wake up.
Jane: Ever?

Jane: And this guy? What’s his secret power?
Jesse: That’s, uh, Kanga-man.
Jane: Kanga-man. Half man, half kangaroo. And who’s this in his pouch?
Jesse: His sidekick Joey. He rides around in his pouch and, you know, fights crime.
Jane: So that makes Kanga-man a she. You know that, right? Only female kangaroos have pouches?
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, I know, but, you know, he’s definitely a dude. He’s a product of experimentation.
Jane: He’s kinda hot I guess…nice haunches.

Walt: But son, I owe you an apology most of all. I should have used better judgment all around. I mean, having you drink in the first place – it was not right, and for that I’m very sorry.
Walt Jr.: But I kept up, right? You and Uncle Hank – I drank three.

Skyler: There’s supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, but lately it just feels like -
Ted: More tunnel.

"Stay out of my territory!"
- Walt to the other meth cookers