In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
If you're into looking for episode themes, this one's not hard to find -- everyone's feeling like a powerless bag of shit, whether they were witness to last week's, er, throaty events or not. Hank, looking like hell, continues to treat his rocks…er, minerals far better than he treats his wife, and despite the fact that he reaches a big milestone in his physio, he eventually refuses even to suffer her presence, although he is willing to have her check the dozens of boxes of geodes he keeps ordering for damage. With such an attitude directed her way, you can hardly be surprised at Marie for raising an interested eyebrow toward her husband's hot new PT.
Skyler calls Walt to try to get his ass in gear about the car wash, not realizing that both he and Saul (absent from the episode except for one of his TV spots, heh) have far more pressing things on their minds. Undeterred, she observes customers and does research on the place before going to make the owner an offer -- the owner who just so happens to be the dude Walt worked for at the beginning of the series. Heh. The guy does not share my amusement, however, as he quotes Skyler a ridiculous price out of spite for the way Walt quit on him. I believe the theme of the episode called for Skyler to leave impotently, but I think week she'll return to bash him over the head with her baby's car seat.
Jesse has Skinny Pete and Badger over, and after some lip service to the Steps and mention of Andrea (sister, as you'll remember, of the late young, Combo-killing Tomas), the three of them are snorting up, and soon they're having a kicking bash. The day, the place looks like Jonestown, but Jesse tells his boys to keep the party rocking while he goes to cook, and they oblige. Eventually, with her name having been dropped in the first act, Andrea turns up, and we learn that she's been calling Jesse because she figured out that he left her a ton of cash anonymously. He encourages her to take it and get her and her son out of their horrible neighborhood, and although she doesn't make any promises, we can hope for the best on that front. In less uplifting news, however, when the party stops due to people's limited tolerance for drugs, alcohol, and massive amounts of bass, Jesse's face does that thing where it cracks into a million pieces under the weight of his life. Still gets me every time, of course.
Finally, Walt, with protection understandably on the brain, seeks advice from a gun expert and settles on a thirty-eight snub, complete with holster (and excised serial number), as the best option to conceal a deadly weapon from a trained eye. The expert warns him about the responsibilities and possible consequences attendant to the use of such a piece, but Walt heeds this advice as much as he heeds any other advice, which is to say not at all. Well, that's not fair -- he does take the guy's suggestion that he practice his drawing skills to heart. His newfound prowess, however, does him no good when Mike informs him he's never going to be laying eyes on Gus again. Despite acting like his usual steely self in front of Walt, though, Mike is not doing so well in the wake of the unexpected and brutal murder we all witnessed last week -- at least so it seems from the fact that Mike is spending daylight hours sitting pensively and morosely in a bar. For his part, once he learns that he won't have a shot at him at work, Walt takes his new weapon straight to Gus's house, Heisenberg hat and deadly grimace in tow -- only, yards from the door, to get a call from Mike telling him to go home. You saw it coming in light of the fact that this is only Episode Two, but still: CREEPY. Walt then goes to see Mike and tries to win him over to his side, and it says something about how shaken Mike was by the Victor murder that he doesn't laugh at how obvious Walt is being -- although he does call him out for the new piece he's sporting. However, when Walt explicitly presses Mike to get him in a room with Gus so he can kill him, Mike replies with a little physical violence. Honestly, though, Mike's demeanor through that whole scene (and the fact that he didn't rough Walt up worse) seemed more than anything like a message for Walt to toughen up and play this smarter. Whatever may have been going on there, anyway, it seems pretty clear, as Joe R said last week, that a big ball is in Mike's court this season. I cannot wait to see how he plays it.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Hi there! Joe R is on vacation this week, and since he took a Mad Men for me last season when the situation was reversed, I am doing him the extreme favor of subbing in for him in return. I mean, it's not like I just did a series rewatch in anticipation of the new season, or that I still look back on Aaron Paul's Emmy win with unmitigated hands-rubbing-together glee. It's not at all like that.
Anyway, we get an uncharacteristic cold open in that it (a) appears not to be screwing with the episode's timeline and (b) actually involves our protagonist, as Walt is asking a grizzled man whom we've never met before, "Can you see it?" Considering the guy seems to be training his eyes on Walt's pants, you can be forgiven for wondering what new directions this scene may be exploring, but it turns out that Walt is modeling concealed weapons, so apparently the idea is not for a bulge to be visible. Unfortunately, the guy opines that "any lawman worth his salt" would spot his piece through his jacket, and goes on that if stealth is something Walt is after, he'd be wise to pick something more compact, such as the small black job he sticks in Walt's hand. ".38 special, snub nose. Got a concealed hammer so it doesn't catch on your belt when you draw." That does sound like a selling feature. After we learn that Walt will only have five shots before he has to reload, the guy gives him a stylish leather holster and tells him the snub will conceal nicely in his waistband, and while it may be a bit harder to draw, it's the best option for "foolin' a vigilant eye." After a bit of discussion over the possibility of drawing the thing across his body (dude is against it except when the shooter is seated, for the record), the guy counsels Walt to spend significant time practicing his draw before explaining that the high price of this particular ware of his is attributable to the fact that the serial number has been filed off, making the weapon untraceable. I assume there's more to this removal process than just scraping metal on metal, but then again it might take a really long time. Walt supposes that the obvious conclusion is that he doesn't want to be caught with this particular weapon on his person, and after the guy most assuredly agrees and lets us know that he's come to Walt through Saul, he asks if Walt is "strictly talking defense" as far as his intentions with the gun go, and Walt assures him the yes, absolutely that's the case, and why would he even ask? But even though the guy isn't quite familiar with Walt's slightly-higher pitched, too-casual voice of LIES LIES LIES, he does point out that if the issue is merely personal protection, Walt might want to opt for a legal weapon (i.e., one with a legible serial number), given that in matters of self-defense, New Mexico law is very liberal in allowing the use of handguns, so why risk a "felony two-spot"? In response, Walt takes a long moment before simply reiterating that it's for defense. He zips up his jacket and repeats, "Defense," and given how much he sounds like he's trying to convince himself I'm surprised the guy doesn't ask if he wants to be alone. Walt then tells the guy, "I'll take it," and of all the questions I might have thought were in doubt in that scene, that was not one of them. Credits.
When we return, we get a long shot of the interior of a bar, light streaming in from the open windows and door, and the only person visible besides the bartender being a burly bald man seated at a table. Of course, that wouldn't completely clarify his identity, were it not for the fact that he's a bit big to be Walt, and we can be pretty sure Hank is still laid up at home. If you're still confused, it's Mike, as a close-up reveals... HOLY SHIT! I just realized where I know the actor from - he was Victor Maitland's henchman, Zack, in Beverly Hills Cop! He had (thinning) hair back then, but the intimidating face and eyes were the same. I cannot believe I just placed that after all this time. Anyway, Mike, as well he might, looks pretty tortured, at least for him. You don't get an image like Victor's slit throat out of your head all that quickly, although I will say that Mike is probably taking the whole thing better than some other people in this episode who may or may not own very large speakers. Someone comes over to refill Mike's coffee, but after Mike absently thanks him, we see him focus on his right jacket sleeve and scrape something off it that looks like it just might be blood. Can't imagine how that got on there. He wets a napkin and gets the rest of the offending stuff off before giving it a good long look, and I wonder if he's just generally bothered by what he witnessed last week or if he's feeling some specific guilt over blabbing to Gus about Victor being seen at the site of Gale's death. (Of course we don't know that Mike even said anything, but given his chagrin at Victor over that point, it's certainly a possibility.) Anyway, Mike looks more and more upset, and I'm sure the idle chatter of the bar employees isn't exactly helping...
...But before we can see if he bursts into tears, starts taking his frustrations out on the furniture, or both, we cut to the Pinkman residence, inside which Jesse is blasting music from some stereo equipment that is in no danger of having any kind of Napoleon complex. Jesse is also smoking and ashing liberally on the floor, relying on a sleek, vigilant Roomba to clean up after him. Well, at least he cares. Florescent lights from the stereo tower play over Jesse's tortured face, and so focused on the machine is he that he doesn't notice the knocking on his window at first. Eventually, though, the insistent rapping (the one coming from outside, I mean) gets his attention, and when he turns his head he sees Badger grinning at him through the window. When Badger heads around to, presumably, the door, you can see Jesse struggle to bring himself to a halfway-social place, and after he pitches his butt onto a pile of them that the overworked Roomba apparently hasn't gotten to yet, he opens the door to find not just Badger but Skinny Pete as well. I almost wrote in the recaplet that he had them over "for old times' sake" until I realized that it's probably been a couple weeks, at most, in the show's timeline since their paths crossed. Damn show being off for over a year HEY I'M NOT COMPLAINING IT'S WORTH THE WAIT. After the usual shoulder-hugs and exchange of "yo"s, Badger compliments Jesse's new "bodacious subwoofers," and truly, only Badger could sell a line like that. Much like Jesse just was, Skinny Pete then gets somewhat hypnotized by the colors coming off the main box, while Jesse does that in-character thing where he rattles off the specs of the system to a degree that would make any floor salesman at Best Buy proud. Jesse then cranks the volume, and the three of them sway to the beat...
...But Skinny Pete and Badger seem less enthusiastic about the development, given that Jesse is cutting up enough lines for the three of them and the Roomba. The underlings cast each other a nervous side-eye before Pete volunteers that they saw Andrea at a meeting the day before, and she asked about him. Jesse looks stricken at the mention of her name, but gets back to divvying up the white stuff. However, when Jesse sticks a rolled-up bill in his face, Pete balks, invoking the Twelve Steps, to Jesse's disbelief. When it's his turn, however, Badger goes with the less-publicized but often-used Step Thirteen, which involves "forgetting about all those other steps and snorting up." He leans down and sniffs, and apparently Pete has no defense against Badger's backsliding, as in a hilarious transition, it's his tweaked face that pops back up into frame. The boys use their coked-up state to discuss how hot the effects, violence, and girls are in certain of their favorite video games, and it's pretty hilarious (the motivations of Nazi zombies are expounded on at length) but I'm a few years past the last time I played any of these things regularly, so I'll just focus on Jesse, who in turn is using the kind of focus only blow can give you to... parcel out the seemingly unending amount of blow he has on his table. Well, it makes a certain amount of sense. After Badger exhausts himself arguing, he flops down in a chair with his head hanging back, after which the Roomba demonstrates exquisite comic timing by whizzing past his flummoxed ass. Jesse, however, isn't paying attention, as he manages, between shallow breaths and racing heartbeats, to ask if they know what the place needs. Well, it's either one more subwoofer to really balance out the bass in the corner...
...Or a PAAAAARTY, yo! Yes, we cut to a montage that includes drugs, booze, and girls, with many fast-motion and blurring effects. Through it all, though, Jesse keeps looking up at the ceiling, barely more aware of all the people around him than he is of the Roomba that's undoubtedly bumping up against his feet in frustration.
Meanwhile, in places that are not looking quite as trashed, Walt sits opposite an empty chair in which he's undoubtedly visualizing Gus, and practices his drawing. I'm no expert, but while he doesn't seem half bad at it, I'd imagine it'd probably be a good idea to try it with actual ammunition before the real event. I mean, not in the house or anything.
With a florescent light on that does a good job of suggesting this is not the hour for such activities, Hank uses a grabbing claw to, well, grab a geode off a nearby table and examine it, and look, I'm sure insomnia combined with whatever PTSD with which Hank is currently suffering is terrible, but you make passive-aggressive banging noises as part of the bargain and you lose my sympathy fairly quickly. Of course, the resultant wake-the-dead-level motor that eventually raises Marie's sleep-masked head into frame to him could make the whole thing worth it. Marie, to her credit, asks him if he's okay, but when she follows by inquiring if he can't sleep and receives a snotty retort in reply, I can hardly blame her for pointing out that he's looking at a rock at two twenty-four in the morning. Of course, he gets all defensive about her calling it a rock instead of a mineral (I'm choosing to believe she did that on purpose) and snots off some more, and when she starts to ask if he might be able to do this at a more appropriate hour, he points out that they have four bedrooms in the house. Obviously hurt by his unflagging ill-treatment but also unwilling to deal with what leaving their bed might mean, she takes the only step available to her, which is to put the sleep mask back on and ride that cacophonous motor back down to, hopefully, Dreamland. Once she's out of sight, Hank looks a bit chastened at what a raging asshole he knows he's being, so maybe he'll at least not intentionally make any banging sounds for a few minutes.
In his condo, Walt hilariously has five bullets lined up on the kitchen counter to his just-as-meticulously-laid-out lunch, and the fact that someone who gravitates toward order and neatness as much as Walt does is in the messy meth business with the even messier Jesse Pinkman is one of the many fascinations of this show. The phone rings, but Walt is too busy getting everything ready for lunch and murder to pick up. However, when Skyler mentions the car wash in her message (after referencing the fact that Hank's bills are piling up and she hasn't gotten a check from him in a while), he grabs the phone and chews her out for referencing it on an unsecured line, his lecture made more biting by the fact that he bumped his head in his haste to grab the receiver. Heh. Of course, he goes on to say "car wash" twice in the ensuing conversation, but let's leave that aside, as Flynn has walked into Skyler's kitchen (I think it's in his contract that he has to do that at least once per episode). She brings her voice down, but goes on that if Walt is unwilling to pull the trigger (heh) on this, she's more than happy to call Saul herself, because they always have such lovely, productive, and respectful conversations. Not all of that may actually have been said, and anyway, Walt promises that he'll handle it before hanging up and sticking the gun in his belt. Better put your jacket on, Walt, because I can definitely see that thing from here.
In more visual hilarity that's probably bordering on indulgent but somehow doesn't bother me in the slightest, we get a Roomba-eye view of the party carnage, which essentially looks like the last scene in Kids, only messier. That Roomba needs to unionize, I tell you what. The only person in the living room who seems to be at all awake is some douche who starts trying to pry apart the Roomba with a screwdriver, although at this point the poor thing might actually be okay with that fate rather than having to face cleaning up the living room. Jesse then appears, seemingly not much the worse for wear, and after some thong-wearing trash crosses by him, he wakes up Badger, who passes the favor on to Pete with an ass-slap that results in Pete starting up and punching him in shoulder. Badger: "You're way too sensitive about your zone, bro!" Well, I'd imagine he's spent time in prison. Badger and Pete offer to help clean up, which is damn decent of them if you ask me, but Jesse's got another idea -- he gives them some cash to get everyone breakfast and to restock the liquor to keep the party going. Badger seriously looks at Jesse like he just started speaking in tongues, which is one of many reasons to love that guy, but Jesse's serious: "I want this place kickin' harder than a sensei when I get back." He even starts the music blasting on his way out, and while that's not quite as aggressive an act as we saw from Hank earlier, it's in the same league. Jesse closes the door, and as he does, some old dude in a terrible wig bolts upright with a start. He looks suspiciously like Bryan Cranston, so either the show is having a little fun with us, or there's some soapy separated-at-birth twin story heading down the pike.
Off that image, we cut seamlessly to Jesse blaring the same song from his iPod earbuds as he preps for cooking, unaware what murderous thoughts are going through his partner's mind. Speaking of whom, Walt retrieves the gun and holster from where he'd apparently stashed it underneath one of their protective suits, and, very soon after, the upstairs door opens and a man whom Walt must think is Gus enters. Walt looks panicked at the imminent showdown, but gets himself together; with his back to the stairs, he puts his hand on the gun and starts to turn... only to behold a younger African-American man we've never seen before. Well, glad to see Walt at least doesn't have an itchy trigger finger, and what's more, he stopped his turn just soon enough that he was able to cover up the gun before the guy could see it. Walt uncertainly greets him, but Jesse's less surprised, asking if he's the new guy, and the dude affirms that. He seems pretty psyched to be there, so I'm guessing Gus fudged a bit when this guy asked if his predecessor would be training him. Jesse calls the count as 201.6, but Mike, who's just stepped in upstairs, tells New Victor to double-check it. "New policy." I doubt Jesse's going to be skimming anymore after the crimson fountain he witnessed last week, but I can't see how this can hurt, either. Mike then notices that Walt looks chagrined, and Walt tells him he's like to speak with Gus to try to put, um, the bad blood behind them. Mike, however, can only smirk: "Walter, you're never gonna see him again." It seems possible to view that as a good news/bad news type of situation, but Walt looks like this is the worst development ever. Of course, he did practice his drawing an awful lot.
Skyler is sticking a bottle in baby Holly's mouth while writing down research observations about the car wash from nearby, and seriously, maybe the way for Walt to mend fences with Gus is for him to offer to have Skyler do his books from now on.
With his trainer exhorting him, a sweaty Hank grits his teeth and uses his walker to get all the way back to his bed from... wherever he started from. The point is, he seems to have completed the task before him, and even he takes a moment to enjoy the accomplishment as he slaps hands with his trainer. Unfortunately, he's visibly less enthusiastic about celebrating with Marie, but I might as well not get ahead of myself. Marie walks the attractive trainer (I think Hank said his name was Chuck?), to the door, singing his praises all the while. She even invites him to go full-time, adding that they've got a spare bedroom, but the dude just laughs and says he'll see her the day. Well, she may be giving you a harder pitch tomorrow...
...Because when she returns upstairs, it's obvious that whatever euphoria Hank felt about his accomplishment was extremely temporary. Marie tries to plow through this clear development, but she doesn't even get to tell him her idea for dinner before he woodenly and without eye contact orders her out of the room. Marie tries to smile through her onslaught of tears, and I'd say that's definitely the saddest face we'll see in the episode if I hadn't already seen the closing shot.
The party is raging again, with much pizza to boot, but the fly in the ointment is that the stuff isn't sliced -- as Badger "explains," the place doesn't cut their pizza as a matter of policy "so they can pass the savings on to you." Hee. Pete offers to find some scissors and "cut this bitch up good," and then when he goes to get the door, Badger offers an off-the-cuff analysis of the no-cutting business model that, among other hilarities, is based on them making "ten million pizzas a year." I don't know if I could deal with Badger being around all the time, but if someone wanted to sell a talking doll that spouted a Badger-ism whenever I pulled its string, I have some ideas on the price point. Jesse and the coke and pot combination currently working its magic on him are understandably amused, but get less so when they observe Andrea at the door. The good news is that the raised eyebrow Jesse gives in response would make any Vulcan jealous.
Outside, they exchange an awkward greeting, although Jesse is doing a good job of at least not seeming strung out. When he asks after Brock -- as of course he would, given his much-demonstrated love for kids -- Andrea breaks into a smile and points him out in her nearby car. Brock starts to get out, no doubt ready to run straight into Jesse's arms LIKE CAN YOU BLAME HIM, but Andrea tells him to wait in the car while the grown-ups talk. Once he's closed the door, Andrea lets us know that she's been calling Jesse, and Jesse tells her he's been really busy at work, what with catching up on cooking after murders, some committed by him, threw off his schedule and all. She tells him it's fine, she's not there to make him feel guilty, but, as she pulls out an envelope that looks like it contains what I would call a "brick" of cash, she says there's one thing they need to discuss: After Tomas was killed, a couple "bangers" he used to hang with in turn dispatched, and the same night, she got that money in her mailbox. Jeez, I hope he kept watch until he saw her take it, otherwise it could just have been an awesome day for a lucky member of the Postal Service. Jesse's face does not hide anything, so Andrea goes on that she doesn't want to know what he had to do with Tomas's killers, but she would like him to tell her if anyone is going to come looking for the money. Practical girl. I like that. He assures her that no one will, and when she asks what she's supposed to do with the gift, he suggests that she use it to get her and Brock out of her neighborhood. "Or you can go out and spend it on glass and I'd have no way of stopping you. But I gotta believe you won't do that." That's not just an expression, either -- he really needs to believe that right now. After several emotions flicker across her face, Andrea puts the money back in her pocket and wordlessly heads to the car, and despite his earlier enthusiasm, Brock seems to sense that now is not the time to go running over to his friend, although he does wave to him as they drive off, which Jesse reciprocates. You guys remember that Jesse has a little brother, right? Sigh. He takes a moment to exhale, and then heads back inside.
Night. After a close-up on an American-flag mailbox, we pan over to see Walt's car coming down the street, headlights off. He looks at Gus's house, which despite its bright exterior seems to be returning his look with menace. As dark, ominous music plays, Walt checks the gun in his waistband and then closes his eyes, steeling himself for something I'm still not entirely convinced he's ready to do. But he makes a good show of it, as he deliberately places his signature black hat on his head and grits his teeth into an ugly scowl. He exits the car and starts walking deliberately, measuring out the paces... and on his thirty-seventh step (yes, I counted), as he's almost to Gus's property line, his phone rings. Sensing that this probably isn't a coincidence, he opens his phone... and without waiting for a response, a voice on the other end of the line intones, "Go home, Walter." As I said in the recaplet, CREEPY, and what's more, I think I may have been mistaken when I said the voice belonged to Mike. It really doesn't sound like him, although it doesn't really sound like Gus either, who seems like the only other logical candidate. Anyway, let's put a pin in that for now; the point is, Walt is FREAKED as he impotently looks around, and after an overhead shot of him casting a long and lone shadow, we go to commercial.
Marie is emptying her husband's bedpan, the contents of which are probably the most pleasant thing she's received from him all day, when the doorbell rings. Cut to her opening up and looking rather unpsyched to find a courier with a stack of boxes on a dolly; he asks her if the shipment is a ton of bricks, and she quite understandably allows herself to give in to some passive aggression of her own as she replies with irritation: "Rocks." Heh. Later, she's arranging the shipment (seriously, we're talking at least twenty-five boxes) when Hank calls down to ask if she checked them for damage. If I were in Marie's shoes, I would probably not so much "check for" as "inflict" damage, and not just on the boxes, but Marie's a better person than I am. Seriously, I understand that Hank is going through some serious and well-written shit, but it's maddening to watch, so suffice it to say another mention of "rocks" leads to a diatribe about delivery people and their "ass-raping" ways, and get out of here.
Back over to the car wash, at which Skyler feels confident enough in her research to meet with the owner and his caterpillar-like eyebrows. Of course, if you've seen said eyebrows, you probably didn't need the previouslies to remind you that this is the guy, Bogdan, that Walt worked for at the beginning of the series, and as such was on the receiving end of a rather obscene gesture when Walt had his little temper tantrum and quit. Bogdan plays it cool enough to start, asking if Skyler really wants to get involved in such an elbow-greasy business, and Skyler, Mona Lisa smile firmly in place, replies, "I know a thing or two about scrubbing." At this point I half-expect Sterling Archer to come hopping into frame shouting, "Hooray for metaphors!" Skyler goes on that she's serious, but Bogdan tells her he's spent thirty years of backbreaking effort building this business before quoting her a price of ten million dollars. Skyler takes a moment to determine what kind of course correction this reef he's thrown up in her face warrants, but plows on with her offer of $879,000. Bogdan asks where she came up with that number, insolently adding the question of whether there was some sort of rectal operation involved, but Skyler is so happily in "I'm so glad you asked!" territory that she takes no offense. Instead, she pulls out her briefcase and quotes the results of her research at him -- number of cars averaged per hour, extra revenues and expenses, comps -- in an effort to lead him right to the figure she mentioned like a horse to water. Unfortunately, this horse apparently isn't willing to drink her accounting prowess, as he ups the price to twenty million dollars, which, he explains, is the price for Walter White, the man who quit without giving notice, cursed at him, and -- worst of all -- broke his air fresheners. Hey, that last probably had the most lingering unpleasant effect. Anyway, this discussion is over, but from the look Skyler fixes Bogdan with, I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up the morning with a horse's head in his bed. He'll be wanting those air fresheners then.
Yay, a tacky Saul commercial! He references a real event in the show's universe in asking if you might recently have lost a loved one in an aviation disaster, complete with exploding plane effect on the screen. Hee. Mike is watching this in the bar to which he these days apparently pays rent, and at least he's got a gigantic tumbler of whiskey to go with his cup of coffee now. He coughs a few times, which could mean some kind of spin-off for him soon, before languidly toasting the TV on the "Better Call Saul!" conclusion of the ad. The door then opens, and Walt makes his way over to Mike; without turning, Mike announces that Walt might want to learn how to tail better if he's planning on making a habit of it. Well, in Walt's defense, he does have a lot on his plate right now. Walt asks if he can buy Mike a drink, and Mike sighs, "Why not? You make a hell of a lot more than I do." Heh. I found that line kind of stealthily hilarious -- Mike's such a tough guy I always kind of figured he kicked ass and took names for the pure enjoyment of it. After the bartender serves them, Walt essentially tells Mike that he didn't mean for "any of this" to happen. I assume he's mainly referring to Gale, which directly caused Victor, but who knows, he could be on some level apologizing for his entire life since the series started here. Walt gets more specific in saying that he was only protecting Jesse and himself, and tries to create a shared bond between them by saying that he knows that when Mike was going to kill him, he was simply following orders, and he harbors no ill will about it. Of course, you expect Mike to see right through Walt's little bonding effort here, but damn if I didn't really enjoy his bone-dry response of "There's a load off my mind" anyway. Typically undeterred, however, Walt goes on that the last couple weeks have really made "a man" wonder where he stands, and it's some good work from Jonathan Banks to let that one hit him a little despite how INCREDIBLY obvious Walt is being here. Walt mentions Victor by name, and Mike turns to him, but just when Walt thinks he's really getting somewhere, Mike asks, "What's with the piece?" I wouldn't say I particularly like Walt, but I sympathize with him generally; nevertheless, one of the greatest enjoyments I get on this show is seeing his face fall when he realizes someone he's dealing with is a lot smarter than he thought. Mike adds insult to injury when he says he actually first noticed Walt wearing it in the lab, and if it makes him feel better, that's great, "but if push comes to shove it's not gonna help." As I mentioned in the recaplet, I think Mike is obliquely trying to help Walt not get killed here, probably precisely because his loyalties were shaken by the events of last week, but Walt doesn't get the message and presses on that he'll say it explicitly -- what happened to Victor could happen to him, and by the way, what the hell game was Gus playing at there anyway? Mike, patience running thin, tells Walt he won -- he got the job. "Do yourself a favor and learn to take yes for an answer." Heh. Walt, however, will of course never ever do that, and asks Mike to get him in a room with Gus, saying he'll do the rest. After a long pause, Mike asks if he's done, and when Walt affirms that, Mike hauls off and clocks him in the face before kicking him a couple times in the ribs. After watching Walt writhe in pain for a moment, Mike lets out a sigh at the message of his own he was just forced to deliver before thanking Walt for the drink. Heh. But seriously, Walt, do you think Gus got to where he is in life because he's easy to kill?
Chez Pinkman, everyone is finally out of gas, even Badger and Skinny Pete, the former of whom complains that he's been awake for three straight days and is turning into a Sleestak. Heh. Jesse practically starts crying before they're even out the door, but holds it together to tell them everything's cool, and sure, hanging out week sometime would be just peachy. When he retreats back inside, though, he sinks down in front of one of the speakers and starts doing this cry-shiver thing that's totally chilling. I mean, the epic distortion from those massive speakers is a contributing factor, but still. I'd like to tell you it'll be okay, Jesse, but I don't really see how that will be the case. At least not until year's Emmys.
An obvious slowdown from the breakneck pace of the last few episodes, which was probably sorely needed. Joe R will be back for week's full recap (I'm still doing week's recaplet). Stay tuned!
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. He writes about film and television on his blog "Pull Up A Chair," which he would just love for you to visit. Also, you can follow him on Twitter here, or get information about his most recent film "East Fifth Bliss," starring Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu, and Peter Fonda, here.