Saturday, November 12, 2011

4.05 Shotgun

Summary and Spoilers

Walt drives more than recklessly to try to save Jesse, calling Saul enroute to tell him to get all the money to Skyler, and leaving a goodbye message to Skyler on the White answering machine. His gun is loaded and ready. His Jihad has begun. His destination is the chicken shop; despite Gus’s car parked outside, the woman behind the counter says Gus is not there. Walt just waits, watching the cameras watching him. Eventually, Mike calls to say Jesse is with him and is fine. Jesse says the same things, and seems unconcerned with his own fate or destination. Walt walks straight into Gus’s office without permission, ostensibly to shoot him, but it’s true – Gus really is not in the building.

Mike drives Jesse to a remote location. Jesse grips his keys as a makeshift weapon. But they are not required; Mike is there to dig up a satchel of money. He tells Jesse that they have six more stops to make, and they get back in the car.

Hank briefs his policeman buddy about the belief that Gale was Heisenberg. Despite a few leads on the shooter, Hank says he is no longer interested in being briefed on the case, so Tim gathers up his paperwork.

Mike and Jesse continue their pilgrimage. Jesse seems to think he is there as backup, but Mike angrily straightens him out about that. It seems that Mike was ordered to bring Jesse – even he doesn’t know why – and he’s not happy about it.

Walt rushes back to do what he was told – continue the cook on his own – then rushes out to attend the signing of the car wash purchase. Skyler signs but has now gotten nervous, and once again asks Walt to promise that there be no more secrets. In the middle of this vulnerable moment, Skyler plays Walt’s loving goodbye message, but she doesn’t recognize it as such. Soon, they are in bed.

Later, after Walt Jr. comes home, Skyler sort of asks Walt to move back in. His alarm watch beeps, saving him from answering that question, and he rushes back to the lab. When he experiences some forklift issues, he quits working, demanding that Jesse be brought back. Instead, an unknown guy comes down and works the forklift.

Mike and Jesse reach their final stop. While Jesse is waiting in the car, he sees a shotgun-carrying guy approaching. Jesse floors the car and is soon being pursued at high speed by the shotgun guy and his partner. When Mike comes back outside and sees no car, he calls for alternate ride. Soon after, Jesse drives up, having lost the assailants. Mike is so impressed that he allows Jesse to smoke in the car for the first time.

Walt and Walt Jr. meet one fine morning in the kitchen and drink a cup of coffee together. There Walt learns that Skyler thinks that he is moving back in next Tuesday.

Back at the lab, Walt is surprised to find Jesse working away, and more surprised to hear his story about saving the stash. He’s right to be wary; over at the chicken shop, a meeting between Gus and Mike reveals that the shotgun dudes were hired by Mike at Gus’s request to make Jesse look like a hero. Why? Mike wonders but does not ask. Maybe they are planning on killing Jesse but they do not want Walt to think they did it.

Perhaps the burden of the pressure of knowing he is being pressured into getting back with Skyler has skewed Walt. He drinks too much at the Hank and Marie dinner. When Hank says that Gale was a genius, Walt blurts out that, in his humble opinion, the notebook was merely rote copying, and that maybe this Heisenberg is still out there. Skyler seems to know that is going on here, and she is very unhappy about it.

Finally, Hank has rediscovered his love of detecting, armed now with the thought that Heisenberg may still be at large. He wonders about the Los Pollos Hermanos logo that he has found in staunch vegan Gale’s effects.

Comments

This episode slowly builds tension and keeps it ratcheted until we can find out what is going to happen to Jesse – and Hank’s pursuit of Walt -  and Walt and Skyler’s relationship.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Hank: This guy Gale Boetticher, he was eccentric. Real character, y' know? He's, uh, he's dead now.
Skyler: Who was he?
Walter Jr.: He was a meth cook.
Hank: Uh, he was a meth chef. We're talking 5-stars, candles, and white tablecloth, y'know. I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but he was a genius, plain and simple. I mean, uh, boy, if he applied that big brain of his to something good, I dunno, who knows? He could've helped humanity or something like that. I mean, how many actual geniuses are there in the world? If he'd have taken his life in a different direction, who knows?
Walter: Hank, not to tell you your business, but I'm not sure I agree.
Hank: What do you mean?
Walter: Well, you showed me that notebook and from what I saw - and this is just my humble opinion - from what I saw on those papers...genius? Not so much. I mean, there was no reasoning, no deductions in those pages, so to my eye, all this brilliance looks like nothing more than just simple rote copying, probably of someone else's work. Believe me, I have been around enough students to know. So this genius of yours, maybe he's still out there.

"Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?"
- Hank, wondering about the Los Pollos Hermanos logo found in Gale’s effects (closing line)

 

No comments:

Post a Comment