3.01 No Mas

Summary and spoilers

Why is a seemingly healthy group of male Mexican laborers crawling along a desert road? These laborers are joined by two young men with shaved heads and suits, who emerge from their Mercedes and start crawling too. They crawl to a voodoo-type shrine in the desert, a shrine adorned with flowers, mini-skulls, and a crude drawing of ‘Heisenberg’.

The news reports cover the story of the midair collision caused by Donald. The reports also detail the death of Jane.

Skyler has granted Walt a grievance period while the body parts are cleaned up from their yard. This period is now over, and Skyler is at the lawyer’s office, anxious to get the divorce proceedings started and finished.

A grieving Walt sets the remaining cash alight in the barbecue, then regrets his decision, dousing the flames and setting himself on fire as well. Just after he finishes cleaning up all the bits of bills, Hank shows up to lend support and to help Walt carry his bags into the car. A particularly heavy bag piques Hank’s curiosity regarding its contents, but he laughs off Walt’s explanation that the bag contains half a million in cash.

Walt Jr. is not happy with his absentee dad, and Skyler hasn’t been giving him enough detail about the reason for their separation. So Walt Jr. picks up the phone when Walt calls and asks for a ride to school. The school is running an assembly where students can unload about the stress caused by the plane crash. The kids are affected, but Walt is not, even though his actions indirectly led to the crash. He is forced to speak and tries to be a beacon of good news amid the tragedy by saying that thank god the planes were not full, that no one on the ground was killed, and that there have been 50 worse disasters that no one even remembers anymore. The mike is taken away before he can do more damage and make more people roll their eyes. Walt Jr. returns home and continues to berate Skyler for not talking to Walt. When he leaves, Marie takes up the cause for more dissemination of information, since she also has not been told the reasons why.

Jesse is gardening and attending group therapy sessions where he is coached on self-acceptance rather than self-improvement. When he is encouraged to speak, he questions why the group leader should be accepted as the expert with the answers. It turns out that the leader is not an outsider in this group. He killed his daughter while rushing to get more vodka before the stores closed.

Skyler shows up unexpectedly at Walt’s hotel room. Her lucky guess that Walt is a drug dealer leads to a confession from Walt. Again, like with the crash, he tries to minimize the damage by saying that he is a meth manufacturer, not a dealer. If he thought being up front would begin the reconciliation process, he was way off. Skyler promises to keep his secret, but only if he agrees to give her a divorce.

Checkout day for Jesse; Walt picks him up and drives him back to his hotel room so they can share. Jesse says he is rehabilitated and is done using. Jesse mentions the plane crash, inferring blame, but Walt tries to blame technology and other factors. Jesse has come to peace with his role in the crash and in Jane’s death, while Walt is still in denial.

Walt lunches at the fast food place so he can tell Gus – in person – that he is not making any more meth and is making a shift in his life. Gus replies by offering Walt one last job – three months for three million dollars. Walk still says no, but will Gus play his trump card (since he knows that Hank the DEA agent is related to Walt)?

The two Mercedes men drive to a farm, trade their city clothes for country clothes, and leave their car, hanging their key ring on the horns of a goat. They board an illegal immigrant truck bound for the USA, and then after it crosses the border, they shoot and kill all the other immigrants – and the driver – and torch the truck. No doubt these very bad boys are headed for a little Heisenberg revenge.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Well, at any rate, what you’re left with, casualty-wise, is just the 50^th worst air disaster – actually, tied for 50^th."
- Walt, minimizing the pain

Walt: You come in here and you wave these papers in my face, when there’s a whole other entire side to this thing. There’s your side and there’s my side and you haven’t heard my side yet. You haven’t heard any of it at all.
Skyler: You’re a drug dealer.
Walt: No! – What – how – what?
Skyler: Yeah. How else could you possibly make that kind of money? Marijuana. That Pinkman kid…No? Oh, my god, Walt. Cocaine?
Walt: Methamphetamine. But – I’m, I’m a manufacturer, I’m not a dealer. Per se. It doesn’t mean –

Skyler: I’m gonna make you a deal, Walt. I won’t tell Hank, and I won’t tell your children, or anybody else. Nobody will hear it from me. But only if you grant me this divorce and stay out of our lives.
Walt: No, Skyler -
Skyler: I mean it. Now let me the hell out of here before I throw up.

Jesse: You windshield’s broken.
Walt: Yep.