Summary and spoilers
Jesse massages his tender and bruised shoulders and continues to slowly and painfully get dressed in his hospital room. Checkout time means an escorted wheelchair exit to a curbside waiting area. Jesse’s attention is drawn to a passing ambulance. Hank emerges from the back, unconscious and shot in four places. Jesse’s dour mood immediately brightens.
Gale is shocked to find out that Walt is unhappy with his work. Of course Walt has no real reason to fire Gale based on his work – it’s all to make a space for Jesse and to save Hank. Just as Walt is trying to convince Gale that Walt needs someone ‘classical’ and not someone ‘jazz’, Jesse stomps in, bruised and cursing with excitement at his new office. Gale leaves as he must, but he realizes he has been lied to, and I wonder if he will re-emerge in Walt’s life. Walt needs to fill his next 200 pound order in two days. He’s serious about getting started with training Jesse immediately and probably realizes that work is going to harder and production slower with his new lab assistant. Jesse also brings the news of Hank’s injury to Walt, who of course cannot get any cell phone reception within this shielded and secure bunker.
Walt rushes to the hospital and comforts Marie. Marie needs comforting after she finds out that Hank had been suspended just before the incident and did not have his gun. Marie kicks out Gomez and Hank’s boss, and then turns her attack onto Walt for buying marihuana from Jesse long ago. Little does she know the real connection between the two, but Skylar, who is also in the room, does know, and she becomes part of the web of lies.
Back at the lab, Jesse tests the acoustical qualities by yelling and banging on stainless steel equipment. Bored and worried about the cooking deadline, he pages Walt at the hospital. Jesse says he can start cooking on his own. Walt asks Jesse to wait patiently and not to touch any of the equipment. When Skylar walks nearby, Walt acts as if he is talking to a family friend who is expressing condolences.
Marie and gang take a break from worrying about Hank to eat some food. Marie now turns her attack to water spots on a fork, insisting that the silverware in the hospital cafeteria should be submitted to the same strict health standards as the operating room. How can anyone survive in a place like this, Marie wonders. Walt says he survived, and then recaps the story of his lobectomy and the fear that he felt. He convinces Marie that if he could survive this place, Hank could easily do it. The importance of family is also a comfort to Marie.
Juan grills Gus on why the cousins would attack a DEA agent. Gus pleads innocence.
The surgeon can offer no guarantees about Hank’s future. He’s made it through surgery, but the bullet’s proximity to his spine means that the future forecast cannot be determined. Walt volunteers to run home and pick up a few essentials for the vigil keepers. He slows down in the hospital lobby, which is packed with DEA well-wishers. Walt is noticeably squeamish about showing his mug to all these potential investigators. Things get even stranger when Gomez basically insists on bringing Walt upstairs to check out the damage that Hank inflicted on the surviving Salamanca brother. When the brother sees Walt’s face at the door, he drags himself out of bed, despite being a recent double amputee, and drags himself toward the door with hatred and resolve, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He is only halted when two cops physically drag him back to the bed.
Jesse has managed to kill time waiting for Walt by playing with the chairs and lab equipment. When Gus’s lieutenant walks in and sees Jesse playing in an inflated lab coat, he wonders aloud why there is no cooking going on. Soon after, Walt receives another paged call from Jesse. He accepts the call amid a hornet’s nest of DEA agents, so he quickly calls back from outside. While Jesse frets about the missed cooking deadline, Walt pieces together the memory of who Tuco said was coming up to get them – his cousins.
Walt returns to the waiting area. When Skylar and Marie go off to freshen up, Walt and Walt Jr. get some time alone to chat. Walt Jr. is reading about the focuses on the DEA agents that brought down drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Hank gave the book to Walt Jr. so that he could learn about the DEA. Walt’s chat is interrupted by a call from Gus. Gus diplomatically asks about whether cooking is on schedule, knowing full well that it is not. He accepts Walt’s lies about why they are behind schedule, and takes Walt’s word that they will deliver 400 pounds of product by next week.
Walt stops by to look at the Salamanca survivor and to discuss with Gomez the possibility that more assassins will come with. Gomez expresses the desire to walk into that room and shoot Salamanca in the head. Walt says, "Me too," but of course Gomez does not realize that Walt’s motive for this is self-preservation. Its meal time, and, ironically, Gus has arranged to feed every DEA agent in the hospital, and he’s bringing the food himself. Soon, Gus is sitting down with Marie, Skylar, Walt Jr. and Walt, offering a reward for information about the killers. Gus even makes small talk with Walt, just to put him on the spot even more.
Walt corners Gus and asks, quietly as they are standing within a sea of cops, for answers about the attack on Hank, and for assurance about the safety of his family. Gus says he is sure nothing will happen to them. His comment that the surviving Salamanca is gravely injured and is not expected to survive sounds like a death sentence to me. Not surprisingly, the brother goes into cardiac arrest not long after Gus leaves, and dies soon after, causing no end of pleasure to the cops. Moments later, Mike walks by, and we are sure this was no coincidence.
Juan is under siege by cops and now believes that Gus is behind the attacks. Gus smiles with satisfaction and listens as Juan and his men are assassinated, and then he breaks the phone into two and tosses it into a garbage bin.
Hank has finally stabilized, and the doctor grudgingly lets all of them in to visit him. He is still in a coma, and probably could still go either way. In this touching scene, we see Marie touch Hank’s hand, and we hear the machines working hard to keep him alive, but we never really see his face – we just see the pain, concern, and guilt on the faces of his visitors.
Breaking Bad Quotes
Orderly: Sir. If you’d to smoke then you need to be another 20 feet from the door.
Jesse: So roll me further, bitch.
"Hey, tell your douchebag brother-in-law to head towards the light."
- Jesse to Walt
"I survived this place, and I’m not half the man your husband is."
- Walt to Marie
Gomez: I’d love to walk in there and shoot that bastard right in the head.
Walt: Me too.
Walt: being here – is this some sort of message?
Gus: I’m supporting my community. I hide in plain sight, same as you.
No comments:
Post a Comment