4.03 Open House

Summary and Spoilers

Walter’s back at work in the lab, sporting a lovely shiner courtesy of Mike. Despite this, he is almost smug. He thinks he’s gotten to Mike and that his plan is taking shape. He’s not too happy to discover that motion-tracking cameras have been installed in the lab and are following his every move.

Skyler drops by Walt’s place to talk about the car wash. He tries to get rid of her, but she insists on coming in when she sees his damaged face. Egged on by Skyler, Walt gives a typical Walt-speak of the incident, downplaying everything. Skyler accepts it as usual, and there’s no sign that she suspects that he is not telling the truth.

Speaking of lies, Marie is off looking at a house with a separate small studio that would suit grumpy Hank. She has fabricated her own divorce and created a child for herself too. I’m not sure why she is going to such extremes of fable-creation, but she’s very good at it.

Jesse and Walt get through another day at work. Walt prods Jesse about his health and well-being, since it’s obvious that Jesse is a little out of it. Jesse prods back about Walt’s eye bruise. Neither gets anything in return.

Saul tries to get Skyler to drop the idea of buying the car wash and purchase a nail salon, but she’s not willing to give up just yet. For some reason, Skyler will not budge. She wants to buy out Bogdon because she does not like him or his attitude.

Marie is at another open house, with a new name and a new story. When she leaves, the realtor notices one of the collectible spoons is missing from a display. Why she decided to take one from the middle and not from the end, I don’t know.

After mindlessly racing a go-cart around an indoor track, Jesse returns to his home. There, the people he has left to continue partying are trashing the place. Some are having violent and sweaty sex in full view; others are fighting and drawing blood; while others are busy graffiti-ing the walls. In a terrifying scene, Jesse walks in, sits down, and lights a cigarette – he seems totally numb to the violence and destruction.

So now we see what Marie has been doing at each house – stealing meaningless items – and now she has been caught and arrested. It’s obviously the only way she can get Hank to pay any attention to her. Lucky for her, Hank, although upset, consoles her and makes a call. None of the homeowners press charges and she is free to go, but this does not cheer her up – rather, it sends her into a crying jag.

Skyler’s solution to the car wash standoff is to hire a very convincing actor to pose as an EPA agent accusing the owner of dumping noxious waste into the groundwater. This will require hundreds of thousands of dollars in new filtering equipment, he says. Skyler sits nearby in her car, feeding specific law texts to him via Bluetooth.

Hank is visited by the detective that helped free Marie. The detective is on the Gayle murder case and has brought over Gale’s detailed meth notebook. He wants Hank to have a look and tell him what he’s found. Hank resists but lets him leave the notebook, then goes back to watching ten pin bowling.

Skyler has successfully talked Bogdon down to 800 thousand for the car wash, demonstrating her business acumen. While Jesse’s party keeps going, fueled by Jesse tossing cash to the masses, Skyler and Walt toast with champagne while two suspicious guys wait outside in a car. Skyler gets upset that Walt has purchased $320. Champagne, but she still thinks they should finish the bottle.

Hank has finally exhausted his appetite for Court TV and has picked up Gale’s notes. It seems to immediately grab his full attention.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Saul: Alright, how about an ICE raid? You know he's got illegals working over there. I mean, he just has to.
Skyler: We're not getting a bunch of poor innocent people in trouble, no.
Saul: Yeah, and also you're gonna need them after you take over.

 

4.02 Thirty Eight Snub

Summary and Spoilers

Walt shops for the perfect concealable gun, and practices his stilted quick draw, in preparation for shooting Gus before Gus shoots him. Before long, Walt has increased his speed, practicing specifically from a sitting position. He even sets up an empty Gus chair across from him.

Mike is still perhaps the most effected by Gus’s coldblooded slaying of Victor. The appearance of a small dried blood stain on his sleeve almost causes him to lose it in a diner.

Jesse has purchased the type of high-woofer sound system that would make me (as his neighbor) want to move somewhere else. He shows it off to Badger and Skinny Pete. It doesn’t take much urging from Jesse to get both of these guys off their 12 step program and back into having a ‘little’ bump – and soon they are arguing about which shoot-em-up video game is the best.

Jesse is looking paranoid and unwell, but rather than visiting a doctor, he decides a massive party is what he needs – noise, and lots of it. Now I’m really moving away from this guy.

Hank is sort of numb and depressed at the same time. He spends his late nights examining his mineral collection while Marie tries to sleep. Hank is trying to push Marie away, but she’s not that easy to push. I think he’s fighting a losing battle here.

Its next morning at Jesse’s party – and everyone looks wiped out on the floor, ready to be vacuumed up by the auto-vac. But Jesse has other ideas. He tasks Badger and Skinny Pete with restocking the booze, and tells the sleepy people to start partying again. Then he head off to work at the lab.

Walt is edgy, packing and fondling his gun, especially when Victor’s replacement shows up. Walt asks Mike for a meeting with Gus to clear the air, but Mike just laughs quietly and says that Walt will never see Gus again.

Hank has again made great strides in his rehabilitation. He responds with enthusiasm to his personal therapist, but as soon as the man leaves, he grows somber and shuts Marie out.

Jesse is confronted by Andrea, who has come to find out why a huge wad of cash was played in her mailbox, and who left it. Jesse doesn’t say anything, proving he did it. He also promises that it is hers to keep.

Walt has really changed, as has Breaking Bad. He has gone from being a guy in survival mode to a cold-blooded killer. Yes, you could say that he is defending himself, but he is pro-active now. When Gus will not see him, he shows up at Gus’s door – or at least he intends to, until he is interrupted by a cell phone call from Gus, who intercepts him before he finishes crossing the street and tells him to go home.

Marie takes delivery of numerous boxes of rocks – I mean, minerals – delivered to Hank. Marie is almost jealous of these lumps. They invoke so much more passion in Hank than she does. Protective of them in the way that men can be protective of their lady, Hank begs Marie to check the boxes carefully for damage.

Skyler makes a considered, generous offer of 879 thousand dollars for the car wash, but the heavily eyebrowed owner, still smarting from the way Walter quit, says he will only sell it for 20 million.

Mike just hangs out in the bar, drinking and watching tacky Saul Goodman TV ads and waiting for the pain to go away. Walt visits, specifically to try to convince Mike that his life is also hanging by a thread, and to get Mike to arrange a Gus/Walt private meeting so Walt can "…do the rest." Mike listens patiently and then punches Walt to the floor, kicking him a couple of times to finish his reply.

After three days, the partiers are leaving, and Jesse is looking very scared to see them go. Alone, Jesse turns up the stereo and tries not to lose his mind.

Comments

Fantastic episode from start to finish. It took one episode to immerse myself in these characters, but it’s all coming back now.

Memorable Moments

• Automated vacuum-cam, cleaning up after the party
• Overhead night shot, with elongated shadows, of Walter outside Gus’s house

Breaking Bad Quotes

"It’s for defence…defence. I’ll take it."
- Walt, rationalizing his purchase of a snub-nosed revolver

"Get me in a room with him. Mike – just get me in a room, and I’ll do the rest."
- Walt

 

4.01 Box Cutter

Summary and Spoilers

Jesse has shot Gale dead. Victor easily captures the catatonic Jesse and brings him to the lab at gunpoint. Now they all wait for Gus to arrive and pass judgment.

Meanwhile, Marie has dropped in to thank Skyler for paying all those bills and to drop off a few newer, bigger ones. She notices Walt’s car parked in the driveway and expresses how happy she is that Skyler and Walt are back together – that is, if they really are back together. Skyler doesn’t volunteer any information, and immediately after, she parks Walt’s car a few blocks away so Walt Jr. does not see it and start asking questions.

Skyler calls Saul to try to get some information, but he is less than useless. He assures her Walt is okay, although he has no information, and after she hangs up he goes back to worrying about whether or not his office is bugged.

Skyler convinces a locksmith to pick the lock on Walter’s unit, but it takes a full-on Oscar-worthy performance to do so. Inside, she finds nothing that has any meaning to her – just a glass eye.

Hank doesn’t want to talk about his PE session. The PE may be encouraged, but Hank isn’t that thrilled that he walked 16 feet in 20 minutes.

Victor starts cooking, saying Walt is not needed, and he seems to be doing a pretty good job. Then Gus arrives. While Gus slowly, and without a word, dons full protective gear and brandishes neon blue box cutters, Walt makes one more impassioned desperate plea for his life and Jesse’s. Of course, we know where this is leading. Victor was sighted at Gale’s. Mike would have told Gus this. Gus kills Victor right in front of Walt, Jesse, and Mike. This is a lesson for them all, and the first sign that Gus is not just a godfather order giver. He is also a ruthless killer if required. He then gets back into his street clothes and ascends the stairs. Just before leaving, Gus says his first, last, and only words: "Well…get back to work."

Walt and Jesse’s first job is to dispose of the body, using their old favorite – hydrofluoric acid.

Later, Jesse eats a big breakfast and Walt sips a coffee. You would think Jesse would be distraught after his last 24 hours, but he eats big and talks big. He’s gone over the edge and seems bothered by none of what has happened.

Walt returns to Skyler’s house to find his car gone. Skyler points him in the right direction.

Finally, we see a quick view of Gale’s apartment as investigators pore over it. On the coffee table is a book titled ‘Lab Notes.’

Comments

Ah…finally it is back. I waited so long. And it is still good – and very shocking to reacquaint myself with this violence after a long time.

Memorable Moments

Gus’s quiet and horrific scene.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Alright, let's talk about Gale Boetticher. He was a good man and a good chemist. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He didn't deserve it at all. But I'd shoot him again and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. When you make it Gale versus me, or Gale versus Jesse, Gale loses! Simple as that. This is on you, Gus, not me, not Jesse. I mean really, what'd you expect me to do? Just simply roll over and allow you to murder us? That I wouldn't take measures - extreme measures - to defend myself? Wrong! Think again."
- Walt

 

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.

3.12 Half Measures

Summary and Spoilers

A complex negotiation between Walt and Skylar is a win-win. Skylar gets her preferred money laundering situation – the car wash with her as bookkeeper – and Walt gets a key to the house and dinner four nights a week.

Meanwhile Marie has devised a down and dirty way to get Hank to come home. She bets him that if she can produce an erection, he will leave. Hank takes the bet, sure that she will fail…but soon after, we see Hank being wheeled from the ward, a disgusted expression on his face.

Jesse wants revenge on the two dealers who ordered the death of Kombo. He shares his plan with Walt and requests some more ricin, but Walt wants no part of it. Jesse swears that he will do it anyway. He makes his own poison from a website recipe and enlists his hooker friend to deliver the good via hamburgers to the dealers.

Walt is concerned about Jesse’s plan and tells Saul. Walt suggests that they get Jesse incarcerated for a month until he cools off. Saul agrees and contacts Mike, his PI. But Mike visits Walt on his own to tell him that his employer (Gus) would not that kind of response. Mike tells a long story from his beat cop days about a wife beater whom he tried to scare into leaving his wife alone. The result was that it seemed to work, but soon after the man killed his wife. Mike says no more half measures.

Jesse is just about to go ahead with his plan when he is intercepted by Mike and brought to a meeting with Gus, Walt, and the two dealers. Gus is incensed and tells Jesse that not for Walt, he would have had Jesse killed. Jesse does not back down, insisting that he is in the right for wanting to do away with these dealers that use kids. Gus’s priority is keeping the peace. He tells the dealer to stop using kids, and make Jesse shake hands with them. Jesse goes through with it.

Later, Jesse is at Andrea’s house when she receives the news that Tomas is dead. He has been executed by the two dealers. Jesse gets a gun and fuels his courage with a meth bump. At the same time, Walt has received the news of Tomas’ death via a TV broadcast he receives while having dinner with Skylar and Walt Jr. Walt leaves immediately.

Jesse walks toward the dealers, who also have guns ready. All pull their weapons, ready to fire, when suddenly Walt speeds up and run over the two dealers. When one is still alive, reaching for his gun, Walt picks up the piece and executes him. With a scary, steely glare, he looks at the shocked Jesse and simply says, "Run!"

Comments

This episode was prefixed by a special viewer discretion warning due to the explicit violence in the closing scene.

The episode opens with a montage of Jesse’s hooker friend going through her normal work day, all set to the background music of the song ‘Windy’. Probably the best scene is the woman’s head disappearing beneath the dashboard of a car as she performs oral sex, while The Association sing, "Who’s bending down to give me a rainbow? Everyone knows it’s Windy."

Oh yes, one more thing. Best. Episode. Ever.

Memorable Moments

This is a fantastic episode from start to finish, but I just wanted to give special credit to Aaron Paul (Jesse), whose impassioned performance should be used as a textbook model of naturalistic, sincere acting.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Walt: But I’m noting a little hole in your plot, though. Why would your estranged husband be doing all this for you?
Skylar: Because he loves his family, and desperately wants reconciliation, though it may be hopeless and futile. Then again, he’d try anything.
Walt: I’m just not buying it. You know, I think it would be better if the husband were no longer estranged. Maybe if he were back sleeping in his own bed.
Skylar: Wow! It's suddenly a fantasy story!
Walt: I am at least gonna be a part of this household! Dinner with the family every night of the week.
Skylar: Not every night, no.
Walt: Six nights a week; you get one night off.
Skylar: Dinner two nights, not weekends, with 24 hours notice.
Walt: Five nights a week, with no notice.
Skylar: Three. Six hours notice.
Walt: Five nights a week with two hours notice.
Skylar: Four. Don’t…push it.
Walt: And I want my own key to the house.
Skylar: No.
Walt: For emergencies and appearances, yes. I am going to babysit my own daughter; I am going to help my son with his homework. I am going to be a part of this family. And that is how we’ll sell your little fiction.

"I bought it from the two guys who killed Kombo. They had Kombo shot down in the streets, and now it’s our product they’re selling. Which means they work for our guy, right?"
- Jesse

"No more half measures, Walter."
- Mike

Gus: Listen to me. You have one friend in this room: this man. Those men outside are my trusted employees. And when I learned what you intended to do. If it wasn’t for this man and the respect I have for him, I would be dealing with this in a very different way. Don’t look at him, you look at me! This is what happens now: my men will come back inside, and you will shake their hands and you will make peace, and that will be the end of this.
Jesse: No.
Walt: Jesse!
Gus: Pardon me?
Jesse: They use kids! These assholes of yours, they got an 11 year old kid killing for them. You’re supposed to be some kind of reasonable businessman? This how you do business? [looks at Walt] You okay with this? You got anything to say here?

Marie: I tell you what: if I can get the groundhog to see his shadow –
Hank: It’s not gonna happen, I’m sorry.
Marie: I’m betting it will. And if he does, you check outta here.

Andrea: Bad day?
Jesse: I don’t even know.

"Run!"
- Walt’s one word of advice to Jesse

3.11 Abiquiu

Summary and Spoilers

Through flashback, we are made aware of the rough yet touching synergy between Jesse and Jane. Jane is gone, and Jesse, perhaps yearning for love again, takes up with Andrea, a new girl in the recovering addicts therapy circle. It might be yearning, or it might be the more obvious reason: Jesse is disgusted with Badger and Pete’s inability to move any meth. In fact, Badger has only manager to sell a tiny amount – and that was to Pete. Jesse seduces Andrea, and his motives seem purely evil, but he stops bringing up the idea of selling meth to her when he finds out she has a 6 year old son. In a most bizarre coincidence, Andrea’s kid brother is the drug mule who shot Kombo. Jesse is also getting quite attached to Andrea, and he is interacting beautifully with her son Brock.

Hank has started PT but is terrified of taking that first step. He also is upset (upset is a mild way to put it) when he finds out that he can go home, and that Marie has put a hospital bed in their bedroom. He wants it out – and he does not want to go home until he can walk there. Meanwhile, the first of many huge hospital bills has been delivered to Marie; she passes that on to Skylar, who in turn invites Walt over to dinner to discuss how they will pay it. Skylar is unhappy with the money laundering arrangements and gets right involved. She and Walt meet with Saul and Skylar is less than impressed. She does not think the idea of Walt investing in laser tag is a believable scenario. She has a better idea; Walt should buy the car wash, and Skylar will run it. Walt vehemently does not want her to get involved, but she says she is involved. She also has some big news; she never filed the divorce papers, because a husband and wife cannot testify against each other.

Gus invites Walt to a lovely, one on one home cooked dinner and delivers an ominous warning that must relate to missing amounts of meth: never make the same mistake twice.

Finally Jesse makes a drug deal with the two guys who had Kombo murdered. He is visibly seething, not only at coming face to face with Kombo’s executioner, but also, Jesse is good with and cares about kids, and he is appalled to see that Andrea’s kid brother Tomas holds the drugs while the dealers in the car take the money, ensuring that they cannot be caught for possession.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Jesse: You can’t get your nut up to sell? What’s the point of even coming?
Pete: Homey, I’m on like step five.
Badger: Deuce, yo. I’m catching up.
Jesse: Whatever. Later.
Pete: Dude needs to come into the fold.

Walt: It makes a better story than your laser tag.
Saul: Is that you talking, or Yoko Ono?

"C’mon. You can help me cook."
- Gus to Walt

"Never make the same mistake twice."
- Gus to Walt

3.10 Fly

Summary and Spoilers

Walt seems down, depressed, struggling with the grind of work, because for what purpose is he doing all this? His drive to provide for his family is not appreciated. In times of stress, it seems that his drive for perfection dominates his thoughts. It manifests itself here as a lone fly that invades the lab. Most people would push that insect out of their mind, but for Walt, it is a deal breaker. He will not cook while that ‘contaminant’ is in the house.

Walt discovers and attacks the fly after Jesse leaves for the day. While swatting it, he bashes equipment and bangs his head, then goes even further and falls from the second floor. His fall is only partially minimized by a storage tank.

When Jesse arrives the next day, he is made to understand how important it is that they dispose of the bug. Jesse wonders how long Walt has gone without sleep, and even accuses him of sampling some of their product. Together, they unsuccessfully hunt down the bug. Their inability to work together is highlighted. They hit each other with Walt’s hand-made swatter. When Jesse does not dedicate every moment to getting the fly, Walt locks Jesse out of the lab and vows to do it himself. Jesse retaliates by cutting the electricity. Eventually, Jesse is allowed back in. He returns from no-pest strips and various bug sprays. These are either no good, because they are also contaminants, or do not work.

Jesse wants to get on with the cooking, so he drugs Walt’s coffee to put him to sleep. Before dozing off, Walt talks about life and death, musing about what would have been the right time to die. He seems tired of living and toiling and expresses frustration that he has not been able to explain everything to Skylar. He also comes dangerously close to admitting his role in the death of Jane. Jesse gets the fly just after Walt falls asleep.

Walt discovers missing meth but hasn’t figured out Jessie took it. As the show closes, Walt gently warns Jesse that he will not be able to protect him if he has taken it and is discovered.

Breaking Bad Quotes

 "You didn’t happen to maybe try our product, did you?"
- Jesse

"He’s got some skills – yo – give him that."
- Jesse

"I mean I truly believe there exists some combination of words – there must exist certain words in a certain specific order that would explain all of this, but with her I just can’t ever seem to find them."
- Walt

"I should never have left home – never gone to your house. Maybe things would have…oh, god I was, I was at home watching TV. It was some, some nature program about elephants. Skylar and Holly were in the other room. I could hear them on the baby monitor. She was singing a lullaby. Ah…ah, if I had just lived right up to that moment, and not one second more…that would have been perfect."
- Walt

Walt: Jesse…I’m sorry.
Jesse: Sorry for what? Being a lunatic?
Walt: Sorry about Jane.
Jesse: Yeah. Me too.
Walt: I mean I…I was very sorry.
Jesse: It’s not your fault. It’s…not mine either. It’s no one’s fault. Not even hers.