3.06 Sunset

Summary and spoilers

A lone Mexican border patrol officer investigates a woman who has not contacted her daughter for some time. On a remote property, he sees no sign of her, but through the window, he can see candles burning, a shrine, and a crude drawing of Heisenberg. Out on the line, matching black shirts are hanging. A figure moves inside the house, but the officer does not see this. Please leave now, officer! But he doesn’t. He finds the decomposing body of the woman who used to live there. Soon after, he is ambushed and brutally murdered by the Snake Brothers.

Skyler rings Walt about the signed papers. She wants to talk about how they are going to deal with Walt Jr. if they get divorced. Walt plans to pay for all of Walt Jrs.' needs. Skyler isn’t happy about that, but Walt reminds her that this has been happening for six months. Their conversation is terminated by Walt’s need to convince a property manager to rent him the model apartment.

Gus’s normal manager duties at Los Pollos Hermanos are thrown asunder when the Snake Brothers walk in silently, grab a table, and get into a staring match with him. The boys are back each day, sitting, staring, like a guilty conscience. Eventually, Gus gets rid of them by telling them that they will have what they want by sunset. I thought they wanted Heisenberg, so I don’t know how or why Gus would deliver him.

Jesse is showing off a big nugget of blue meth to Badger and Skinny Pete. They are impressed, but a bit reticent to start selling again after what happened to Combo. But the clean and calculating Jesse has a plan to play it safe and smart this time, and the guys agree. As they emerge from Jesse’s house, Hank is outside doing surveillance, a discreet distance away.

It is Walt’s first day of work. He packs a bagged lunch and dresses smart casual. First stop is to drive Walt Jr. to school. Junior is upset that his parents are splitting, and he takes out his frustration on dad. Walt’s optimism about the future is unaffected by Junior’s negativity. At work, Walt scoots behind the machinery and enters his massive new kitchen. He will work with lab assistant Gale. Highly qualified and obviously highly intelligent, Neil wows Walt with a delicious cup of beaker-brewed coffee. These two geek scientists don yellow lab protective suits and cook together in harmony. Afterward, Gale recites Walt Whitman verses and the two bask in their love of the magic of chemistry.

Hank has reached a dead end in linking Jesse to the RV. At Marie’s suggestion, Hank rings Walt and asks if former student Jesse ever had a brown and beige recreational vehicle. Walt sits up and goes into action.

Walt calls Jesse but hangs up when Jesse answers. Next, Walt calls Saul. Saul’s advice is to go get the RV and dispose of it.

Walt drives to Jesse’s brother-in-law’s car lot and insists that the RV be disposed of immediately. Badger is there and immediately calls Jesse. Jesse runs out of the house and drives away quickly, keen to stop the RV from being destroyed. Hank is in pursuit. Jesse shows up, irate, but he cools when Walt sees Hank pull up and park just outside the RV. Walt covers the windows. Hank prowls outside, casually prying at windows and doors. How can they get out of this one? Just before Hank breaks in, he is thwarted by the lot owner, who reminds him of the 4^th amendment protection provided to domiciles like this RV. In case he doesn’t believe it, Jesse reminds him of it from inside the locked door. This merely delays disaster until Hank can get a search warrant. Inside, Jesse panics while Walt thinks of a plan. He calls someone…and soon, Hank receives a call from Albuquerque police informing him that Marie has been in a serious car accident and being airlifted to hospital. As Hank speeds off, we see that that call was made by Saul’s PA.

Hank blasts through the hospital searching for Marie until she coincidentally calls. He turns red in anger as he realizes he was duped. Meanwhile, Walt and Jesse watch the RV as it is reduced to a thin strip of crushed metal, on its way to Japan as scrap.

As sunset approaches, Gus drives to a remote location to meet face to face with the Snake Brothers. They want to kill Walter White; Gus says no, but he has something better. He allows them to kill the man who pulled the trigger and shot Tuco, a normally off-limits DEA agent named Hank Schrader.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Why the hell are we making meth?"
- Walt’s enthusiastic reaction to tasting Gale’s coffee for the first time

"This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed! Bitch!"
- Jesse to Hank

3.05 Mas

Summary and spoilers

A long time ago, Walt gave Jesse a wad of cash and entrusted him to buy an RV. Jesse promptly spent most of the cash on a stripper party, and then used what little was remaining to ‘buy’ a stolen RV.

Skyler is at Ted’s house again, raving about the heated tile floor in the bathroom. (Having just recently experienced this myself at a ski resort, I can totally relate).

Why is Walt in the closet of his room? He is having a cell phone argument with Jesse. Jesse thinks Walt went behind his back and sabotaged his deal with Gus, getting himself half of the money. Walt swears he knew nothing, and promises to get to the bottom of things, but there is not trust between these two.

Hank has turned down a career-building stint in El Paso to prowl campgrounds for his prized RV kitchen. Deep into the night, he has found one that matches, at least externally. With no way to get in, Gomez suggests they call it a night and return with a search warrant, but Hank thinks he’s onto something. He climbs on top and peers in, serious startling an innocent old couple in their underwear playing cards.

Hank is able to smooth things over by the morning, but when he suggests to Gomez that they check out a few more, Gomez says he has to go home to pack for Texas – he has gotten the El Paso job. Back at home, there was tension between Hank and Marie. She’s found out that he is not going to El Paso and that Gomez is. Her attempt to talk to Hank about his feelings end up with him yelling and her walking away, with little chance she will try that again.

Later, Marie tells Skyler about her lack of communication with Hank, about how the El Paso job is dividing them. Listening to Marie describing how Hank has changed after he faced his own death makes Skyler think a bit about how much Walt has changed after a similar experience. She still sleeps with Ted, but she begins to wean herself off the heated floor tiles by placing a towel between them and her feet.

Walt has a face to face with Gus about why he has entrusted Jesse to produce an inferior product. Walt believes that Gus is trying to lure him back in, and Gus plays along, apologizing for doing so. Gus takes Walt to a hidden underground, brand spanking new meth lab – large, clean, and shiny. Walt is more than impressed with this safe, sparkling spectacle.

Walt, Skyler, and Walt Jr. share a quiet but pleasant dinner. Walt Jr. excuses himself, leaving his parents to contemplate recent development in each of their lives. The baby cries, breaking this silent reverie. Skyler sees the longing in Walt’s eyes and invites him to hold her, and then she slips away. This is all she can do for now.

Later, Skyler confides to her lawyer that she is sleeping with her boss. She says this is the only action she can take, the only thing that keeps her alive. After Skyler mentions that there is a big bag of drug money in the house, and seems to be asking the lawyer for permission to spend it, the lawyer comes down hard on her, telling her she should get out of the house and away from Walt before she and her children are also implicated as accessories to a crime.

Skyler returns home to find the money missing and the divorce papers signed.

Hank takes a short break from his dogged RV investigation to wish Gomez all the best. Hank can barely raise his eyes or look Gomez in the face.

Saul has set up a meeting between Jesse and Walt. Jesse’s deal is to pay Walt 10 percent of everything Jesse makes. But Walt has a little big surprise. First, he gives Jesse that half of the money from the last deal, so that he owes nothing. Then he informs Jesse that he is back cooking and Jesse is out. After Saul grovels all over Walt to get the rights to launder the 3 mil that will be made in 3 months, Walt warns Jesse not to cook using his formula. Jesse stalks out in anger and throws a big brick onto Walt’s windshield.

Hank has tracked down the original owner of Walt and Jesse’s RV – Combo’s parents. Combo’s mom tells Hank why she never reported the RV stolen – so her son would never get arrested. As Hank examines Combo’s shrine, he comes across a photo of Combo and Jesse, posing beneath a stripper’s breasts.

Comments

Strike those thoughts I had after the previous episode about any jumping of sharks, as this episode is top shelf, with a number of moving, highly emotional scenes that balance well with the arc of Hank’s relentless investigation.

The scene where Skyler invites Walt to hold the baby was very moving and brought me close to tears. I thought just before the baby started crying that Walt was about to tell Skyler about his new job opportunity.

Likewise the scene were Gus convinces Walt to cook again is a wondrous study of a man knowing more about another man than that man knows about himself.

Finally, the confrontation between Walt and Jesse, in the gluttonous darkness of Saul office, is perhaps one of the best scenes these two have played together. Walt is quiet, controlled, and ultra-confident. This is a man who has stared death in the face and defeated it, and he has little to fear.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"When you have children, you will always have family. They will always be your priority, your responsibility. And a man…a man provides. And he does it even when he is not appreciated – or respected…or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it…because he’s a man."
- Gus to Walt

"You wanna take her?"
- Skyler, inviting Walt to hold the baby and come back into the relationship

"And this man that I’m seeing, you know – as wrong as I know it is, as much as I know I’m probably doing it just to make Walt leave me, it is the only thing in my day where I don’t feel…like I’m..drowning."
- Skyler

Skyler: I didn’t marry a criminal.
Lawyer: Well, you’re married to one now.

Jesse: Do you think this will me from cooking?
Walt: Cook whatever you like, as long as it’s that ridiculous ‘Chili P’ or some other drek. But don’t even think about using my formula.
Jesse: Just try and stop me…bitch.

3.04 Green Light

Summary and spoilers

Jesse stops to gas up the mobile meth lab and finds himself short of cash and cards. He seduces the girl behind the counter, convincing her to trade petrol for some crystal meth. Whatever has happened in Jesse’s mind has seemingly tipped him over the edge, back into a place where he is truly evil and self-centered – or perhaps he never really left that place.

We find out about the deteriorating state of Walt and Skyler’s relationship by listening to audio surveillance tapes grabbed by Mike, Saul’s private eye. We join Walt as he reaches Ted’s office for a confrontation. When Ted will not open his office door, he tries to throw a huge plant/pot combination through Ted’s glass window – and fails. After he is kicked out by security, Walt spies a back door. As he heads toward it, Mike intercepts him, dumps him in the back of his car, and takes him to see Saul.

Saul wants Walt to channel that energy into cooking meth. Walt wants to know how Saul knew about Skyler and where he would be. Saul admits to bugging his house. When Saul makes an untoward description of Skyler’s dalliance, Walt attacks him, and then fires him. Saul instructs Mike to remove the bugging equipment from Walt’s house.

Mike follows Walt home and does remove the bugs. Mike also mentioned vaguely that perhaps it was good to have someone watching his back. He says this because someone has drawn a threatening symbol near the curb in front of the White house. Walt doesn’t even see it and has no idea what Mike means (and no idea that Mike basically already saved his life once), but I have the feeling he is going to find out soon.

Now Walt, like Jesse, has also gone off the deep end. He sits in his class, drinking coffee and gazing at the desk in a semi-hypnotic trance. When Principal Carmen talks to him about this in her office, he seems uninterested and nonchalant, then strokes her hair and tries to kiss her.

Marie drops Hank at the airport for his El Paso flight. Hank spends some time trying to last minute convince her that this is a stepping stone career move that will get him a DC job – that is something she wants. Marie knows what happened last time, and her mentioning of it to Hank immediately visually stresses him out. Just after Marie leaves, Hank receives a call that some blue meth has been found. He leaves the airport to talk to the person who was holding.

Walter appears to be cleaning out his desk at school, carrying a cardboard box to his car, when Jesse shows up. This would seem to be the opportune time for Jesse to try to interest Walt in cooking again, since Walt is now on ‘indefinite sabbatical’. But Walt is still not interested in cooking. What is of interest, however, is that when Jesse proudly shows Walt the batch of blue meth he cooked using Walt recipe, Walt reacts almost violently, claiming, basically, that his recipe was stolen and that he deserves the bigger cut of whatever profits are made. Walt also refuses to set up a meeting between Jesse and Gus. Jesse says he’ll do it directly, and they part in anger. Plus, Jesse drives off with Walt’s box of office memorabilia on his car. It falls off soon after, breaking the breakables.

Skyler is ostracized at the office, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing her torrid affair with Ted. Ted would like to know what went wrong with she and Walt, but of course Skyler tells him she is not comfortable talking about that.

Hank and Gomez interview Russell, who painfully remembers, briefly, the name of the person from whom he bought the meth. Only thing is – all he remembers is there was a ‘muh’ sound. Hank takes this tiny bad of blue meth as a sign that Heisenberg is cooking again. Gomez questions this belief and wonders aloud why Hank is turning down El Paso for such a flimsy lead. Hank reacts badly, confronting Gomez and treating him like an adversary rather than a friend. Fear will make a man destroy his friendships.

Jesse goes to Saul, dumps the blue bag on his desk, and asks for the contact to be made with Gus.

Mike brings Walt’s medical records to Gus. They show the good news about Walt’s physical health, but Mike tells the bad news about Walt’s mental health. Mike also tells Gus that the Snake Brothers left a symbol on the street outside Walt’s house. Gus tells Mike not to tell Saul about this. Mike tells Gus that Jesse is selling. Gus is not interested in dealing with junkies, but when he hears that Walt and Jesse have split, he tells Mike to do the deal. Perhaps he is hoping that this will make Walt jealous/envious and motivate him to cook. Gus makes the deal, but only gives half the agreed money to Jesse.

On his own, Hank investigates each lead on his list. His interrogation of the gas station clerk gets him the information that the white guy with blue eyes that traded the meth to her drove an RV. The non-working security camera is a dead end, but the ATM facing toward the pumps, taking photos, may provide a picture of the RV.

Back at the tense White house, Walt Jr. tries to play Kissinger to Mom Begin and Dad Sadat.

Called before the Chief, Hank makes lame excuses about missing calls. He has been able to trace the possible motor home. With only 29 of them registered in the state, Hank wants to start knocking on doors. But the Chief tells him he must go to El Paso immediately or officially turn down the assignment (with the obvious career ramifications that would carry). Hank refuses and is left to continue on the Heisenberg case – with his career severely compromised.

As Walt drives, the radio shares the news that Donald Margolis is in hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Walt stops at a green light, his mood dour. He is somewhat cheered when a bag of money (his half of the Jesse/Gus drug deal) is tossed through his window.

Comments

There’s no denying that the acting and, to some extent, the writing, is still at the same high levels this season. But seasoned television critics are always sniffing around for the first faint sightings of the jumping shark. There’s just a whiff of shark scent in the air this season, driven by the notion that the character’s arcs have now gone as far as they are going to go, and they are now going through some of the same paces again. Jesse uses, cooks, rehabs, and cooks again. Walt is just getting crazier and more aggressive. Hank went to El Paso, went mad, came back, got it together, and is now returning to El Paso. Skyler’s arc is still traveling, but she is not awarded much air time. There is still a good chance that the shark may simply poke its nose above the water’s surface and disappear into the depths, but it may also be ready to jump. I could be wrong. I was wrong about Lost – its shark was halfway airborne early in season 5 before it sank to the bottom, probably never to be seen again.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Walter, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to have someone watching your back."
- Mike

3.03 I.F.T.

Summary and spoilers

We already knew that Tortuga the drug mule was punished for squealing by having his head planted onto a namesake tortoise and exploded as a bomb, but for those of you who just had to know how his head got from being on his neck to being on that exploding tortoise, you get to find out in the opening scene. Just who did the deed (by ‘deed’, I mean hacking Tortuga’s head off while he was still alive)? Well, no other than the two Snake-Boot boys, of course – just in case you felt their moral compass was still possibly tilted into a gray area.

Walt is back at his house, retrieving the pizza he threw onto the garage. Gus’s private dick lets him know that Walt is blissfully unaware that he crossed paths with death.

Skyler returns home appalled to see Walt’s car in the driveway, and even more appalled to see Walt peering at her from inside the house. Walt claims that he has returned home because it is his house too. Walt calls Skyler’s bluff, basically daring her to turn him in, in order to get him out of the house. Skyler does call and asks for an officer to remove Walt from the house. When Walt Jr. comes home and is wildly happy to see his dad, things get a little more tricky for Skyler; she already looks like the bad person. Skyler is about to find out that without a legal separation or a restraining order, Walt cannot be barred from his own house. It’s difficult (and quite amusing) to watch her build her case that Walt is a bad presence in the house while, in the background, he is rushing to soothe the crying baby. The only way she can get rid of him is to implicate him as a meth manufacturer – and she’s not willing to go that far.

After the police leave, I loved the way Skyler gently takes the baby away from Walt, wishes him a cold ‘Welcome home’, and then walks down the hallway and enters her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. That door will stay locked, blocking access to the toilet and forcing Walt to pee in the kitchen sink.

Saul visits Jesse in his new, unfurnished house. Saul is there for only one reason – to prompt Jesse to call Walt and convince him to cook again. Saul promises to bankroll Jesse if he succeeds. Jesse promises to do so, but seems uninterested in that or anything else. After Saul leaves, Jesse does dial the phone, but the number he calls appears to be one he has been calling over and over and that he will continue to call over and over – it’s the message on Jane’s answering machine. He calls all day and all night until, finally, it is disconnected, and he has lost that final strand that connected to her. With nowhere to turn, Jesse finds himself back in the desert, in the meth lab camper, preparing to cook.

Hank receives word that he is going back to El Paso. Outwardly, he appears psyched, but he gives away a couple of telltale clues that he is actually very worried to return to this place that broke him last time. The truth is, Hank is seriously shaken by having to return to El Paso. He goes psycho on a couple of small-time drug dealers in a shady bar, but for what reason? Is he trying to get suspended? His partner covers up his discretion as only cops can do, but he knows that Hank had left his gun in the car before going back inside.

Gus is visited by the Salamanca cartel. They are there to advise him that they must avenge the death of Tuco by killing Walt. In fact, the Snake brothers are nephews of Tuco. Gus treads the line between agreeing with their need for revenge, but also insisting that he complete his business with Walt first before they do so. The cartel boss cannot guarantee that the Snakes will grant Gus or Walt any time.

Skyler tells her story to her lawyer. Like the police, her lawyer is also trying to get Skyler to tell the whole story – to explain what she suspects or knows that Walt has done. Promised confidentiality, she tells the lawyer that Walt is a meth manufacturer. The lawyer advises her to let her tell the police what Skyler just told her, and to get a restraining order. But Skyler refuses – she doesn’t want Walt Jr. to know his father is a criminal.

The following morning, Skyler hides in her locked bedroom until she hears Walt leave; she then emerges with the baby. But Walt has tricked her. He is still there, and he’s left the open big bag of money in the hallway. He again tries to explain that everything he did, he did for his family. He asks her to accept the money that he earned, even though he earned it doing things that he regrets. He gives her until the end of the day to decide what to do. Skyler’s reaction is to interrupt her normal mundane work day to spontaneously seduce Ted.

Comments

I know little about the intricate structure of relationships, but Skyler’s seduction of Ted is probably one step toward her acceptance of what Walt did. I don’t believe it helps her attempt to take the moral high road in the relationship. However, we know that her original instincts were correct. If she wants to protect her family, she should be getting a restraining order against Walt, because when the Snake brothers come looking for him, it would be best that he is living far away from her – collateral damage doesn’t seem to worry those guys.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Skyler: They’re connecting me. Right hand to God, I will tell them.
Walt: Do what you have to do, Skyler. This family is everything to me. Without it, I have nothing to lose.

Skyler: My husband makes meth – methamphetamine.
Lawyer: Your husband’s a drug dealer.
Skyler: A manufacturer, technically – they, um,  they call them ‘cooks’ – I looked it up on the Internet.

"I fucked Ted."
- Skyler to Walt