3.13 Full Measure

Summary and Spoilers

A quick flashback shows us Walt and Skylar house-hunting as a young couple; Skylar is pregnant with Walt Jr. She has picked out a suitable house that fits their budget, but Walt wants more. Always ambitious, he sees them going higher and higher. You can understand why this man was not satisfied with teaching high school chemistry – and why he turned to crime as a way of reaping top rewards.

Walt meets with Gus to discuss what will happen next. On the surface, Gus accepts Walt’s suggestion that they treat this incident as a blip in what will be a long and fruitful career. Behind the scenes, however, Gus re-hires Gale and, soon after, pays him a personal home visit to ask him if he could take over cooking should Walt’s supposed health problems suddenly worsen. Walt also senses that his lifespan has shortened; he gets Saul to arrange a clandestine meeting with he and Jesse to discuss strategy. Walt feels that the only way to prolong his life is to make himself more valuable – and that means getting rid of Gale. Walt tasks Jesse with finding Gale’s home address – and Jesse comes through. As Walt leaves to do the deed, he is intercepted by Victor and brought to the lab. Mike is waiting, there to perform the execution. Walt pleads for his life, trying everything, including agreeing to give up Jesse. Mike is intrigued by this and allows Walt to call Jesse to set up a meeting. But instead, Walt tells Jesse that he must do ‘it’ – kill Gale. Jesse, stoned and shaken, nonetheless owes Walt his life, and goes to Gale’s home. Gale opens the door and is greeted with Jesse pointing a handgun at his head. Now it is Gale’s turn to plead for his life. Jesse fires one shot – toward the camera – and the episode ends.

Comments

It seemed to me that Jesse moved the gun slightly to the right before firing that shot, so he may have purposely missed Gale. I really don’t know if he could do such – kill an innocent, even if he owed his life to someone.

I didn’t notice an advisory warning on this episode, but it could have used one. I always find it quite unnerving to see someone pleading for their very life – that mental torture and anguish is much more difficult to watch than some of the more graphically violent scenes.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Walt: I’m gonna need some – some kind of assurance.
Mike: I assure you I could kill you from way over here if it makes you feel any better.

"Walter. You’ve been busy."
- Mike

Walt: You’ve always struck me as a very pragmatic man, so if I may I would like to review options with you, of which, it seems to me, you have two. Option A: you kill me right here and now. Apparently I have made that very easy for you. You can kill me, no witnesses, and then spend the next few weeks or months tracking down Jesse Pinkman, and you kill him too. A pointless exercise it seems to me, but that is option A.
Gus: What is option B?
Walt: I continue cooking. You and I both forget about Pinkman. We forget this ever happened. We consider this a...lone hiccup in an otherwise long and fruitful business arrangement. I prefer option B.