Sunset

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It all starts so well for Walt. He's got the new job at Gus's meth lab, a fancy new apartment and an eager and nerdly apprentice who makes a damn fine cup of coffee. But Jesse's moving on up, too. He's putting the band back together, so to speak, and commissions Badger to retrieve the RV. But Hank is staking out Jesse's house in order to track down that very RV, and after Marie suggests Hank ask Walt about his old pal Jesse Pinkman, Walt knows the jig may well be up. Walt springs into action and he and Badger's cousin Clovis find a guy to make the RV disappear. But Jesse catches wind of Walt sniffing around his RV and beats a path to the junkyard... and thus leads Hank right to it.

So with Walt and Jesse trapped inside, they have a standoff, with their RV cleaner telling Hank he needs to get a warrant and Walt trying to stay out of sight. He ultimately calls Saul, who fakes an emergency call about Marie in a car accident to get Hank off the lot. Once he's gone, the RV gets crushed and sent away, and Jesse and Walt live to bicker another day. But maybe not longer than that.

Meanwhile, Les Cousines Dangereuses stake out El Pollo Knockoffo until Gus is forced to deal with them. They want Walt, and they want him now, but Gus (showing admirable guts) stands his ground and says not 'till his business with Walt is done. Instead, he offers them the man who actually pulled the trigger on Tuco: his name is Hank Schraeder.

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This week's cold open is a doozy. We're in the amber-hued desert, and a reservation cop has been dispatched to check in on a Mrs. Peketeeywah (spelling of my own damn making), who hasn't checked in with her daughter in a while. The hypersaturation in the color palette already has us thinking it's the Cousins. This won't be a "whodunit" so much as a "how are they going to do it?" and possibly a "will I need to shield my eyes while they do it?" The answer to that last one is likely "yes." Anyway, Res Cop pulls up to this shabby little adobe box and starts calling around for the old lady. The cop peers in a side window and spots a statue of Santa Muerte (remember? From the season premiere?); we can tell it's likely the same statue because it's got the photo of "Heisenberg" stuck to it. And then we see someone pass through the frame. Our friend the cop spots two jackets hanging on the line, which makes it two callbacks to the Cousins' behavior in the season premiere.

A knock on the door produces nothing, and then I'm not sure if it's a smell or the sound of buzzing flies that's been cranked up on the soundtrack, but Res Cop ventures out behind the shed and spots the half-covered yet fully dead body of who we all must assume is Mrs. Peketeeywah. She dead, y'all. Res Cop draws his gun, radios for backup at his truck, and hollers for whoever's in the house to show themselves. Cousin #1 appears at the door, silent, unafraid (duh), and with a peach in one hand. That's a nice touch. Res cop keeps yelling for him to get on his knees, but Cousin One doesn't have any inclination towards doing that. And with good reason, too, since his brother strides into the frame behind Res Cop carrying an ax. No doubt the impossibly shiny ax he wielded in Walt's bedroom earlier this season. This time it gets to be buried in the back of a poor reservation cop who just wanted to check in on an old lady.

Credits. Elements. Smoke.

The pulsating reds of the desert are now traded for the watercolor reds of a landscape painting in the model apartment Walter is picking out for himself. He fields a call from Skyler while he waits. She tells him she saw the signed divorce papers, and it seems to me she's looking to pick a fight. She's certainly allowed Walt to regain the upper hand in this emotional tug of war. Now she's the one forever on the brink of tears while he gets to shrug his shoulders and be all "that's the way it is, babe." She asks how they're supposed to break this to Flynn, and Walt's like, "He can see what's been going on. Your unhappiness." In other words, Walt is just fine letting Flynn continue to blame Skyler for everything, since she can't exactly set the record straight. Once again, Skyler is galled but powerless. Anna Gunn's had to play that note quite a bit this season. She also notes that, in the paperwork, Walt declared his intentions to pay for pretty much everything concerning their children. Skyler doesn't want to accept his drug money, or be accessories after the fact. Walt counters by asking what she thinks she's been living off of for the last six months.

He hangs up just as the realtor returns. He offers to show him any of the three actual apartments for sale with this very floorplan. But Walt has decided playing by the rules is for suckers. He doesn't care that this is the model. He wants this place. As is. "Name one thing in this world that's not negotiable," Walt says, with the confidence of a man who's being backed by a ruthless and well-connected drug dealer.

Speaking of whom, let's take a trip to El Pollo Knockoffo. Gus is shepherding his troops through another day in the grease-vat trenches, when Les Cousines Dangereuses enter, freshly re-suited. They catch Gus's eye, then silently (duh) take a booth near the door. They sit on the same side of the booth, too. Les Cousines Dangereuses indeed.

At Jesse's house, our man has convened his security council -- uh, that'd be Badger and Skinny Pete -- to check out his latest product. Badger grins like a goof at one particularly fat crystal. While Skinny Pete sings the praises of Jesse's new quality of product, Jesse practices looking proud and magnanimous. He offers to let Badger sample, though Badger feels bad about snorting in front of drug-free Jesse. Jesse assures him he can watch ... and he can cook. I remain dubious. Badger crushes the crystal, takes a big ol' snort, and proceeds to hoot and holler and give a little soft shoe. A soft shoe, Badger! How can you resist? "That is awesome, Jesse!" is Badger's response. At least before he starts fumbling around with "someone scooped my brain out" metaphors.

Jesse wants to talk business, which naturally makes Skinny and Badger nervous, what with Badger getting popped by Detective DJ Qualls last season, and Combo getting iced by Dora the Explorer and all. Jesse promises it's "not gonna be like it was." They're gonna sell it safe and smart. "We don't get greedy like before." I'm uneasy seeing Jesse operate purely from a position of sticking it to Walt, but the truth is, Walt did get greedy, and he did push things past where it was safe. Which meant Combo got popped, Jesse got depressed and turned to drugs, Jane got back on the heroin, chocked in her sleep, leaving her dad distraught and unable to keep two airplanes from colliding. On and on we go. "Still," Badger philosophizes, "a man's gotta make his money." He and Skinny eventually talk themselves into it. Step 1, says Jesse, is to build up inventory. He sends Badger off to retrieve the RV from Clovis and make sure it's in tip-top shape. Oil change, brake lights, and whatnot. Cops always pull you over for broken taillights. Also, get a "buzzer thing" for when you leave your keys in the ignition by accident. Heh. I love how Jesse's concerns come from a mixture of his own real-life screwups and every movie he's ever seen.

Jesse commissions Skinny to get supplies, then adjourns this meeting of the minds. As Badger and Skinny walk out, we've switch to the POV of someone outside. Down the street, even. Of course, it's Hank, following up on the lead he got from Combo's mom. Now, okay, Hank may need to be institutionalized and studied by optometrists of the future. Because not only did he recognize Jesse in that photo with the strippers last week, but he now pegs a be-hatted Brendan Mahew (i.e. Badger) through the rearview mirror from about 50 yards away. Skill.

After the break, Walt wakes up at 6AM to happily go through his morning routine, all to the tune of peppy '50s music. He makes himself a PB&J (no crusts), wraps it up in a paper bag, and writes "WALT" on it in Sharpie. And then he sits and waits 'til it's time to pick up Flynn.

The car ride with Flynn is no picnic. In a bit of a departure from what Walt had been used to (and was hoping would continue, no doubt), Flynn doesn't seem to be seeing Walt as entirely the beleaguered victim anymore. When Walt promises to take Flynn to and from school every day, Flynn smarts back about how he won't get to drive with his friends just because his dad's feeling guilty. Take a taste of equal treatment, Walt. "I am the man that I am, son," Walt says, by way of some cryptic apology. "There's plenty that I would change about that but...here we are. And this is just what it is." Okay, then! Good, non-specific talk! Walt expresses some more completely unearned optimism about the future.

Gus shows up for work at El Pollo and sees that the Cousins have already staked out their same table from yesterday. When he gets to the front counter, one of his teen employees ruefully drones "They're baaaack." Gus puts on the happy face and tells her they're fine and not doing anything wrong. But he eyes them warily nonetheless.

Walt shows up for work at the laundry facility looking unsettlingly like my dad. He gets one of the employees to pull the secret lever that allows him access behind one of the large machines, and he descends into his own personal circle of hell. Below, he looks admiringly across his industrial strength cook's paradise. America's Meth Kitchen.

Below Walt's feet, he hears a cheerful "Hello there!" This would be Gale, Walt's lab assistant. Gale is played by David Costabile, and the fact that I'm not incredibly freaked out by him despite him having played the creepiest, scariest, murderiest guy on Damages for two seasons (in fact, I think I dubbed him "Creepico" in one of those recaps) is a testament to either the power of his acting or the fact that shaving one's beard off works wonders. Gale could not seem more like a harmless, sweet, eager to please guy. Who will apparently be helping Walt cook massive amounts of methamphetamine. Gale endears himself to Walt by showing him his bunson-burner-y method of making coffee. It's actually a really clever scene that makes it look like he's showing Walt some meth-making procedure until he pours Walt a cup of the most perfect coffee he's ever tasted. He says so, and while Gale shares credit with the beans and the grind, he thanks him. "Why the hell are we making meth?" Walt muses as he takes another sip. Why indeed!

What follows is a rather delightful montage set to music that definitely sounds Peanuts-inspired, though I can't place it. Like Walt's getting-ready-for-work montage, the cheerfulness of the soundtrack makes no mistake: Walt is happy-go-lucky to be working again. And clearly he and Gale have a perfect working relationship. It's not hard to guess that this is the kind of workaday life Walt had planned for when he was in college with Gretchen and Elliott. Complete with the millions in compensation.

After a hard day's work, Gale pours some wine and talks some more shop. Walt's more interested in how a bright guy like Gale ended up cooking meth. In a rare moment of self-awareness, Walt acknowledges that he often wonders the same about himself. After all, neither of them appear outwardly like the criminal type. "There's crime and then there's crime," says Gale, displaying the kind of libertarian moral relativism that answers half of Walt's question right there. Gale also talks of his frustrations with academia, the hoop-jumping and "ass-kissing." Sometimes known as the part where you interact with other human beings. Gale "loves the lab," said with a giant goofy grin on his face that says he also loves porn magazines and waking up alone. Walt definitely shares Gale's contention that chemistry is "magic," at its essence. Gale quotes a Whitman poem, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." The gist of which is: "Enough of yer fancy-talkin'. Lemme do it fer myself!" After reciting the poem in full, Gale faux-pridefully says, "Yes! I am a nerd!" I like how Costabile is playing Gale. Like he should be the lovable lab geek that every procedural show has, only there's a little something that's not sitting quite right. As with everyone in Gus's organization, you can't quite embrace him at face value.

Hank is still parked down the road from Jesse's house, waiting for him to do something that gives Hank an opening. By the looks of the mountain of food wrappers and associated debris on his passenger seat, he's been here a while. And in fact, a phone call from Marie reveals that he hasn't been home in quite some time. And Marie, for being a super-intense and single-minded busybody, is actually pretty admirable in her restraint here. She wonders if, given that it's "the Pinkman kid" we're talking about, Hank might want to talk to "someone" they know who "might know something." See, I think even if Marie doesn't know she's knows, there's some part of her, deep in her bone marrow, that knows what Walt's up to. It's too bad her bone marrow ain't talking to her brain, because what she just suggested is about to lead Hank down a path right to Walt.

Hank does place the call. Walt's in his fancy new apartment reading a book. Hank lays it out for Walt: Remember that student of yours, Jesse Pinkman, who we tracked down when you went off the reservation last year? I totally don't care if he was selling you weed, but I think he's moved on to selling meth, and I'm trying to track down the RV he's using as a movable lab. Would you happen to know anything about Jesse and an RV? Walt perks up at the mention of the RV, and at the mention of Jesse graduating to meth. He goes white as a sheet and deadly silent. From the other end of the line, Hank can only ask, "...Walt?" Yeah, PROBLEM.

After the break, Walt places a frantic phone call to Jesse that he just as frantically hangs up on -- before even saying a word -- because he realizes if Hank's investigating Jesse, maybe Jesse's land line isn't the safest haven for conversation. I should mention, because I didn't before, that I'm happy to see Jesse got himself a futon for his otherwise barren house. One piece at a time! The call goes to Saul, who is busy lying on the floor of his office, his legs on a massaging apparatus. What happened to his Asian chiropractor/hand-job artist? Anyway, Saul laughs off Walt's paranoia about needing a secure line, but he hops to attention when Walt says the DEA is closing in their RV."The one that contains a meth lab!" Saul says Walt needs to get rid of it. Better yet, have Jesse get rid of it (boy, Saul sure did turn on the kid, huh?). Walt explains that Hank is surveilling Jesse's house as we speak, so Saul says Walt will have to take care of it. Walt's at a bit of a loss as to what that means, exactly. How does he just "get rid of" something that big. "Where do I go to make an RV disappear?" he freaks. "I'm not David Copperfield!" Heh. We haven't seen Walt this flustered in a minute. Not altogether unpleasant. Saul is equally baffled. "Did you not plan for this contingency?" Saul asks. Walt did not. Saul says time he should have one. "The Starship Enterprise had a self-destruct button!" That's about enough for Walt, who angrily dumps the call and rushes out.

Meanwhile, the RV in question is being worked on by Clovis, who has to also deal with whatever inanity Badger is currently going on about (in this case: water-powered cars). Clovis is busy barely tolerating his cousin when Walt comes screaming into the lot in his Aztec. He starts ranting at them about having the RV out in the open like this, and Badger has to tell Clovis that this is Heisenberg. Walt tells Clovis to finish changing the oil, then they'll take it out to the desert and "wipe it clean." Clovis wants to know just what the fuck is going on, and Walt tersely tells them the DEA knows

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about the RV and is looking for it. Immediately, Clovis wants the thing off his lot and out of his life. Walt stresses that he needs Clovis's help, or else they all go down with the ship. Clovis snaps to it and says he knows a guy who can "wipe this off the planet." That sounds better than Walt's plan, and to Walt's credit, he actually trusts someone else. He and Clovis head off to call the guy. "What about Jesse?" calls Badger, who has been clearly left out of the decision-making committee. "What about him?" Walt dismisses. And if you guessed Walt's arrogant disregard for those "beneath" him would come back and bite him, well, congratulations. Because instead of explaining to Badger why they can't really contact Jesse right now, he just stomps off and leaves Badger to call Jesse and tell him what just happened. Jesse, understandably, goes apoplectic and barges out of his house, headed for the lot. Which means Hank's headed there too. Well strategized, Walter.

Back at El Pollo Knockoffo, the Cousins continue to freak Gus's employees -- and customers -- out. And now Gus is forced to make a choice: do nothing and risk someone calling the cops -- or suspecting that Gus is up to something shady -- or confront these two creepily silent thugs. Gus reluctantly chooses the latter. Weirdly, I don't think it's that he's afraid, though God knows he should be. I think he is pathologically averse to making a scene. This is a guy who's gotten good at not getting noticed. In Spanish, he asks what they want. They say he knows. Gus's reply is one word: "Sunset."

At the lot, Walt pays the demolition guy and reiterates about a dozen times that he needs the RV to be "beyond recovery." In another little Hey! It's That Guy! Moment, the demolition guy is played by Larry Hankin, who was, among other things, the actor playing "Kramer" when Seinfeld did that sitcom-within-a-sitcom. He assures Walt that they'll be crushing this thing into a cube, then shipping it off to China. After Fake Kramer ducks out, Walt scours the RV for anything he doesn't want to leave behind. He discovers a bag of Funyuns, probably from his and Jesse's disastrous last trip out to the desert. The misty, water-color Funyuns look like they're making Walt reminisce about the ... well, if not good times at least the times that he and Jesse were in this together. Of course, if those onion-flavored snacks conjured up any residual warm feelings for Jesse, odds are they cooled right about when Jesse comes bounding into the RV.

Jesse's all finger-pointing and yelling about how the RV is just as much his as it is Walt's. Walt doesn't even have time to argue back before it dawns on him. He races to the window and has it confirmed: Hank's pulling into the lot. Walt scrambles to lock all the windows and pull all the curtains shut. "He's here," he gasps at Jesse. He's too scared to be properly angry, despite an accusation that Jesse "led him right to us."

Hank disembarks and makes sure his sidearm is at the ready. He creeps up on the RV; he knows Jesse's in there. He doesn't know if Jesse's, for example, armed. Inside, Walt and Jesse silently follow his movements, at an utter loss as to what else to do. This is already marvelously tense. Hank calls out that this is Jesse's last chance to surrender himself before he adds "resisting arrest" to the charges. Walt makes sure Jesse doesn't respond.

Hank then comes at the door with a tire iron, trying to wedge it open. Inside, Walt is hilariously trying to hold the door shut. Before anyone has to do anything more drastic, Fake Kramer comes upon the scene and asks for a warrant. As the owner of the lot, he tells Hank he can't come breaking into vehicles on his property without a warrant. Hank decides he'll humor this rube who thinks he knows the law; says he's got probable cause. Ah, but this is clearly not Fake Kramer's first rodeo. He says probable cause only applies to vehicles. Hank sarcastically points out the wheels on the RV. Fake Kramer points at the RV and says, "This is a domicile. A residence." You know, I guess I never appreciated the legal gray area occupied by RVs and mobile homes. Fake Kramer continues to pepper Hank with questions, while inside, Walt and Jesse alternate looks of being impressed and trying to figure out a plan. Fake Kramer concludes that Hank is just fishing with no real cause for suspicion. Hank turns to the RV door which is dotted with duct tape. Hank rips each piece off individually, revealing a bullet hole underneath. Inside, as every piece of tape is removed, a beam of light shoots in and lands on Walt's person, with all the swiftness and silence of a sniper rifle. It's an amazing shot in an hour full of them.

While Hank tells Fake Kramer that these bullet holes are probably all he'll need to make probable cause, Walt turns to Jesse and whispers, "How could you have known that they were there before you took off the tape?" Jesse doesn't get it. Walt repeats himself, then tells Jesse to say it. Jesse does, leading Fake Kramer to note that the voice makes a good point. Adding, with much surprise, "There's a person in there!" Hee. Walt then has Jesse say, "This is my own private domicile, and I will not be harassed!" Jesse pauses, then adds, " ... bitch!" Jesse Pinkman, I could hug you. Walt gives Jesse one of his patented "...the fuck is wrong with you?" shrugs, but whatever. It's great to have the band back together.

Hank grins the grin of a man who's been bested by annoying lowlifes ... for the moment. He's still gonna get the warrant. And he's prepared to wait right here until he does. This is still a problem, for Walt especially. So he does what is clearly a last resort: he places a phone call. "It's me," is all he says. "We need your help." Show of hands who thought it was Gus on the other end of that line?

Moments later, Hank gets a phone call. The woman on the line identifies herself as an Albuquerque police officer with an urgent message about one Marie Schrader. She's been in a car accident and has been airlifted to the hospital. Hank's face immediately breaks down into panic and concern. He presses for more information about Marie's condition, but the woman doesn't have anything further, just telling him he'll want to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Hank, to his credit, doesn't hesitate to hop into the car and speed off. As single-minded and maniacal as his devotion to the case has been, he didn't hesitate to throw it overboard for his wife. And so, Walt took advantage of a good man in order to keep from being punished for his actions. Because, yes, it's no surprise that the woman on the phone is not a cop. She's Saul's secretary. She grouses to Saul that she doesn't get paid enough to do this. Saul smiles at her nervously and breaks the phone she used in half.

Cut to the hospital, and Hank barreling through the hallways towards the front desk. The soundtrack is oppressive ambient noise, like we're underwater, so we can't hear what's being said. We don't need to, of course. Hank's demanding to know where his wife is. The nurse is trying to tell him there's no patient by that name here. Hank starts raging in all directions, until the one sound we hear -- his ringtone -- becomes loud enough for him to notice too. He answers, and it's Marie. She's just checking in about dinner. Hank can barely croak the words out: "Are you okay?" Um, obvi. Hank drops the phone to his waist. Somebody's gonna get fucked up for this one.

Back at the lot, in yet another intentionally strange marriage of old-timey (this time Spanish) music to the action, we see the old RV get systematically crushed into a tiny cube. We had some good times in that ol' deathtrap, huh? Walt and Jesse watch with the awed fascination one usually reserves for watching a giant behemoth made of metal get demolished and crushed into flat hunks of steel. Walt spares one sidelong glance at Jesse, and it's the only indication we get that these two are feeling the same kind of nostalgia for the ol' horse as I am. But I believe they are.

Out in the desert -- where it's deep ambe

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r, just like in the opening segment -- Gus rides out to meet the Cousins at sunset, just like he promised. Their demands remain as unchanged as their demeanor. They want to kill Walt and kill him soon. Gus stands firm: not until he's done with his business with Walt. I've gotta give him credit for standing up to these pants-wettingly scary mofos. He asks why they want him dead so bad. After all, while Walt betrayed Tuco, a DEA agent was the one who actually killed their cousin. One Cousin says Juan Bolsa (remember Juanny Sack?) says that DEA agents are off limits. Gus is all, "Bolsa is not the boss of my territory." He gives them permission to basically terminate this DEA agent with extreme prejudice, in order to satisfy their bloodlust (and get them out of his hair).

"The agent's name," says Gus, with all the finality of a judge and jury, "is Hank Schrader." We cut to a dazzling longshot of the setting sun behind three bad men planning the murder of a good man. Gus adds, "May his death satisfy you." Yikes.

Joe R is pretty sure Hank's death would not satisfy him at all. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.

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