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Walt returns home expecting a shootout with Jesse, but he's gone, having left without igniting all that gasoline he poured over Walt's house. After a protracted and rather pathetic job on Walt's part of trying to first remove and then explain the gasoline smell, he moves the family into a hotel while he tries to get in touch with Jesse and sort this thing out.
Tellingly, he once again rebuffs Saul's suggestion that they send Jesse to Belize, but when he finally gets around to (more or less) telling the truth to Skyler about what Jesse did, Skyler makes the somewhat narratively unsupportable and certainly surprising suggestion that Walt eliminate Jesse in order to keep the family safe. Still, Walt resists.
But wait! Step back several hours to Jesse poised to light the White house on fire, until he's stopped by Hank, of all people, who begs him to destroy Walt another way. His way. So Hank takes the Littlest Houseguest to stay at the Purple Palace, where Marie makes lasagna and coffee, and Gomez (who's now in the loop) and Hank take Jesse's deposition video. All three of them figure Jesse's account of the way things went isn't enough. They need evidence. Or...a confession.
Hank decides to take advantage of Walt's voice-mail messages asking Jesse for a meetup, planning to wire Jesse up and nail down a confession. Jesse thinks this meeting could well be a thin ruse designed to kill him. Hank, to his discredit, doesn't so much care so long as Walt kills him while they're recording. He doesn't tell Jesse that part, though.
When it comes time for the summit, however, Jesse gets super paranoid (not that he doesn't have good reason) and mistakes a thuggish looking musclehead for a hired assassin. So he bolts before Walt even sees him and instead calls him from a pay phone, saying that instead of a peaceful meeting, he's just going to come after Walt again. When Hank picks Jesse up and asks him WTF that was, Jesse says he has another plan. Meanwhile, Walt calls up Todd and says he's got another job for his uncle's crew. IS IT WEEK YET??
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Jesse finally put it together that Walt had poisoned Brock after all, and after thrashing the shit out of Saul Goodman (Better Call Saul… an ambulance), he made a beeline for Walt’s home and started dousing it with gasoline.
Of course, as I mentioned last week, we know from the flash forward that Walt’s house doesn’t get burned down, so there’s no real suspense here. I suppose the suspense is finding out what stops Jesse? On that issue, our breath will have to remain bated, as we instead begin with Walt pulling his car to a stop down the road from his house. He can see Jesse’s car (well, Saul’s car) in the driveway, driver’s side door still open, so he assumes Jesse’s there. He clutches his unfrozen gun and girds himself to enter what may well be a turkey shoot. After ninja-rolling through his hedges and entering the back door, Walt storms the Bastille. Can’t see Jesse. Spots the gas can. Smells the gas. No Jesse. Frankly, the second he saw the gas can, he should have booked it, but hindsight proves Walt’s recklessness correct, so what do I know? His poor shag carpeting, though. Soaked through with gas. Walt hollers for Jesse to show himself, but he gets no answer. He points his gun as he traverses the hallway, peeking into bedrooms and finding nothing. He's left with one final doorknob to turn, but nobody’s inside his bedroom either. Jesse’s not there. So where is he?
Well, Jesse may not be there, but that gasoline surely is. As is Saul’s car, beeping that door-ajar beep. Walt checks inside and sees what appears to be a CD with coke residue on it. At a loss to explain where Jesse might be, Walt simply shuts the door and takes us into the credits and elements.After the break, we see that Huell has dropped by along with a locksmith and an industrial cleaning service to deal with the gasoline carpets. There’s also the matter of finding Jesse (Huell says they’re looking for him) and keeping Walt’s family safe. Huell’s going to swing by the high school to look after Junior, while Kuby is watching Skyler at the car wash. Huell is very reassuring to Walt. That must be nice in this time of crisis and gas fumes. Walt then places a call to Jesse and of course only gets his voicemail. He leaves a message, which, Jesus, Walt… the guy’s already mad enough at you as it is. Now you want to make him menu through and listen to a voice mail? Send a text! Get with the times!
Anyway, Walt begins by thanking Jesse for thinking better of his whole "burn the house down" plan. "I know you’re angry," he continues. "I want to fix this, okay? Whatever it takes, we’ll talk, and we will fix this. Until then, just sleep it off. And then call me. Be safe." I am endlessly fascinated by what Walt’s feelings towards Jesse are. They’ve been all over the map over the course of the series, from paternal to jealous to dismissive. At this point, Walt seems willing to overlook the direct threat of harm -- not only to him but to his family -- in order to smooth things over. Maybe he’s trying to lure Jesse in? Maybe it’s all deception? There's really no part of Walt’s life that isn’t theater on some level. But I think there’s also a big part of him that wants to hold onto his old identity as Jesse’s teacher. Aside from Junior and Holly, it’s the only part of him that’s still pure and it’s maybe more important because (in Walt’s warped mind, at least), it’s the part of him that stayed pure while in the meth game. I honestly think he compartmentalizes it that much, that he excludes Gale and Jane and Brock and still finds ways to think of himself as Jesse’s caring mentor.
The locksmith comes over to chat up Walt about fixing the door Jesse broke into. Walt is adamant that the locks not change, the better to pretend that none of this happened once the family comes home, it seems. That’s going to be harder when it comes to the gas-soaked carpeting. Because, um, it’s GASOLINE. The carpet cleaners explain that they’ve done all they can, but unless Walt’s willing to basically replace everything in his house with new things, it’s still going to smell like gasoline. BECAUSE IT’S GASOLINE. No amount of cash is going to change the reality of fumes.
So Walt, as he’s done so many times on this show, strips down to his tighty-whities, with the gun still tucked into the waistband. This time, it’s so he can soak his clothes in gasoline. Naturally. He then disposes of the gas can in the neighbor’s garbage (no wonder Carol hates him) and then runs back and retrieves it, because he forgot to douse his car. What’s all this in service of? He can’t possibly -- well, yes, of course he can. Of course he believes he can sell an alternate explanation as to why the house smells like gas. Eventually, Skyler returns home and sees a box fan airing out Walt’s car. Inside the house, the airing-out continues. She smells gas right away and Junior’s like, "Ask dad about it." Walt’s on his hands and knees, scrubbing at the carpet. He produces an utterly preposterous (but pedestrian as hell) story about how he was at the gas station and the nozzle jammed up or something or other and it soaked him. And the car. Walt makes sure to be very indignant about it.
While this is going on, Skyler places baby Holly in her bedroom, safely away from the fumes, then returns to the kitchen and gives Walt SUCH side-eye. She’s not about to press things with Junior in the room, which is okay, because Junior presses for her. He delivers that "please tell the truth" line to Walt -- you know, the one that was in all the previews and tried to make us think Flynn was on to Walt at last? No, he just means that he thinks Walt is lying to cover up the fact that he passed out again, due to the chemo. Walt manages to take that ball and run with it without seeming like that’s what he’s doing. He plays the part of the father-who-doth-protest-too-much to perfection. Say what you will about this devil of a human being, but he has it in him to improvise. He then allows himself to admit that maybe he got a little woozy and maybe passed out. Either way, he doesn’t think the family can stay here with all the fumes. He and Skyler gently deflect Flynn’s suggestion of Hank and Marie’s place as a temporary crash pad. Guess it’ll be hotel living for the time being! Flynn’s down with that, especially if it’s a nice hotel. Skyler seems… dubious.
A short while later, Walt is meeting with Saul in his car in a darkened parking lot. Saul is bemoaning the sorry state of his face, and Walt is actually quite shocked at the extent of the damage Jesse did. He asks where Jesse is, and Saul and Kuby run down the list of all the places they’ve checked that Jesse is not, from his parents’ house, to Brock’s mom’s house, to various strip clubs. Walt asks about his friends, "Beaver and what’s his name…" I’d get offended on Badger and Skinny Pete’s behalf, but half the time I call him "Beaver," too. Kuby also checked with his source at the Albuquerque police department, so at least they know the cops don’t have him. Saul thinks that could change at any time. Walt advances the notion that maybe Jesse just changed his mind about changing his identity and skipping town, but Saul says his guy doesn’t exactly grant second chances.
Walt tells them to keep looking, but Saul’s more interested in what happens once they find him. Walt seems to think that he just needs to sit Jesse down and talk him through his reasons why "the thing with the kid" had to happen. Saul, God bless him, asks what happens if Jesse isn’t down for "a nuanced discussion of the virtues of child-poisoning." Not to put too fine a point on it or anything, Saul then wonders if maybe this is an "Old Yeller-type situation." I kind of don’t believe Walt wouldn’t know what that’s referring to, but I guess someone somewhere figured the audience would need context, so Walt asks Saul to explain, and of course Saul means that sometimes you have a pet you love, and sometimes that pet goes rabid, and sometimes that means you have to take that pet out behind the shed and shoot it for the good of everyone. Once again, Walt says that is completely out of the question. He snarks that between Belize and Old Yeller, Saul is just full of metaphorical ways to suggest that Walt murder the people closest to him. I continue to find it fascinating that Walt still thinks he has moral absolutes somehow. "Do not float that idea again," he says, darkly. "Find him." Walt exits the car and we see they’re in the parking lot of whatever passes for Albuquerque’s fanciest hotel. No, it’s not a Sheridan.
Walt returns to the room with a bucket of ice and an excuse about his room key not letting him into the ice room. As if his wife literally has bruises on her from falling off the turnip truck. She’s pouring herself a drink from the tiny vodka bottles at the mini-bar, though. And she is in no mood. "How’s Saul doing?" she asks. You know, because she saw Walt out in his car in the parking lot. Walt has the gall to be offended that Skyler would spy on him. He even gets that dark glower back in his face that he hasn’t used on Skyler since before he quit the business. She’s like, "Yeah, I feel just awful about it. So what’s going on really?" Obviously, she didn’t buy Walt’s gas-pump story for a second. Now that Junior’s out of the room, she wants the truth. I fully expect Walt to come up with another story, but instead he just tries to explain what Jesse did -- actually identifying Jesse, the guy who they had over for that awkward dinner with the giant wine glasses, remember? -- in the most benign light possible. Just a misunderstanding! Interestingly, though he obviously doesn’t say what he did that set Jesse off, though he does admit that he did do that thing for "good reasons." Skyler doesn’t care about that. She cares that a drug associate of Walt came to their doorstep and tried to burn their house down, which is kind of exactly what Skyler told him would happen last season. (And, not for nothing, this is kind of why she maybe should have given more thought to throwing in with Hank a couple episodes ago. Just saying.)
You can see why Walt’s assurances that Jesse "changed his mind" don’t do much to put Skyler at ease. You can also see why Walt’s attempts to frame the whole picture of Jesse -- his personal issues, his drug abuse issues, his long and winding history with Walt -- don’t do much to put her at ease. Her home and her kids have now been threatened. I get that. And when she asks Walt to assure her that Jesse "has never hurt anybody," he is obviously lying when he says no. I guess we’re mostly supposed to think of Saul, but I’m also thinking of when Walt made him go kill Gale and killed that part of his soul for good. So, honestly, I get all the story-based reasons why Skyler gets to where she’s about to get to. There’s a threat out there, and she doesn’t believe Walt when he says it’s not that much of a threat anymore. We’ve seen countless TV shows where the women end up doing evil things to "protect [their] children." But right now, as Skyler begins to subtly -- and then not very subtly -- suggest that Walt needs to "take care of" this Jesse situation, I can’t help but be disappointed that the show has ultimately taken Skyler in this direction. Lady Macbeth is such a trope. And I was so excited by where she was last season, that desperate determination in her eyes as she pledged to wait out Walt’s death from cancer to get away from him. I don’t necessarily need every character to be out to take Walt down.
And it’s not out of character exactly. The show has built good backstory for what led Skyler to reconcile with Walt, to stay quiet about Walt, to side with Walt against Hank and now to actively advocate murder. As she says to Walt right here, they’ve already made that awful tape to blackmail Hank and Marie. You get the feeling that something inside Skyler broke when they did that. Some sense of her own moral standing burned and bubbled away like acid. They’ve already gone this far. What’s one more dead body on her husband’s conscience. She’s already betrayed the only family she has. What’s it to her if this dangerous tweaker gets thrown under the bus too? It makes sense. It just could have been more interesting. And I can’t say it doesn’t bother me that this show that has not always done right by the Skyler character has now positioned her as the more bloodthirsty of her marital pair. She’s the one who wants to kill our beloved Jesse, while Walt hops up and down trying to convince her that this kid is not just some "rabid dog." What a bitch, right?
After the commercial break, we’ve gone back in time to Jesse pulling up to Walt’s house, full of righteous anger (and meth). Gas can. Broken door. Splash-splash-splash. POV-cam of the rug (ahhhh, Breaking Bad, I have missed your POV cams). Jesse rolls up a magazine and prepares to light it when who should storm the house with his guns drawn but Hank mothereffing Schrader. He yells at Jesse to put the lighter down and turn around. Jesse, in tears and still unhinged, yells at Hank about what Walt did. How he poisoned an 8-year-old kid "just as a move." Hank calmly tells Jesse that he doesn’t have to convince him that Walt’s a bastard. He begs Jesse to put the lighter out, lest he have to shoot him. Despairingly, Jesse just hollers, "HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT!" Hank promises that they can burn him down, legally, metaphorically, together.
Guess that worked, because thing we see, Hank is leading Jesse to his car. Jesse’s out of it enough that Hank has to buckle his seatbelt for him, but they manage to drive away juuust before we see Walt’s car pull up down the block. As they drive, Jesse asks what’s . Hank says they’re headed to the DEA offices downtown. Much as with Skyler earlier, Hank doesn’t seem to understand how much the justice system scares the shit out of anybody who doesn’t work for it. So he’s like, "Yeah, you’ll be arrested, you'll cooperate with us, we’ll take care of you.” Jesse mostly thinks that hanging around the DEA waiting to be a witness against Walter White should go super-great for him.
This scene is just incredible. It’s Marie with her heretofore unseen therapist. All she’s told him is that a "close family friend" has betrayed her and her husband. He keeps trying to get her to tell him more, but she says she can’t. She does kind of rant at odd angles, leaving breadcrumbs of a story behind as she mentions the "little movie" their friend left for them, or his poor kids, or that preposterous story about gambling winnings. You can see why Dr. Cardigan would be quite intrigued and frustrated that he can’t hear the whole story. But Marie would prefer they focus on her feelings. Mostly how she’s not sleeping or eating, and how she stays up late at night researching undetectable but lethal poisons. I should also note the stark absence of purple anywhere in this scene. Marie is no longer safe. Doctor Cardigan then attempts to move the conversation to other things. Like how Marie was complaining about parking spots at work. But Marie still wants to talk about toxins that could paralyze a person but keep them conscious while they suffocate to death. Doctor Cardigan gently points out that violence would not be beneficial to her. She’s finally like, "Oh don’t worry -- I would never actually do it. It just feels good to think about it."
As if sensing our anxiety at seeing Marie without her purple, we cut to the Schrader home where Hank has backed Marie’s matching purple luggage and left it for her in the foyer. She gets home and asks him what’s going on, and he says he figures this might be a good few days for her to spend at a spa somewhere. She’s confused, and he won’t explain to her what’s happening. He says it’s a "development" with Walt, but he’s vague. Unsurprisingly, Marie wants to know exactly what’s happening immediately. Hank relents and points her towards their houseguest, as Jesse is passed out face-down in their guest bedroom. Marie kind of stalks back down the hall as Hank sputters to explain how he figured he can’t put Jesse in the system in any way, not even in a safe house, for fear that Walt will get to him. So this is really the only way. Obviously, Hank thinks he’s going to get this huge push-back from Marie, but she just looks at him and asks, "Is this bad for Walt?" Han says it is. "Good," she says. "I’m staying. I’ll heat up lasagna." MARIE!
Marie then informs Hank that his phone’s ringing, but it’s not his phone -- it’s Jesse’s. Han finds it and plays the voicemail message from Walt (no PIN code??), the apologetic one that we saw Walt leave earlier. Hank looks intrigued at the idea that Walt is so apologetic to Jesse. So willing to do "whatever it takes" to fix things. Hello Kitty, we might just have a plan here!
After the break, Walt’s at the hotel pool in the middle of the night, so we get that great nighttime pool lighting that just always looks gorgeous. Junior joins his dad, and they have another one of their heart-to-hearts that’s sad for a billion reasons, but primarily because Walt is being so dishonest with his son. Like, Junior has to just assume that Walt is deep in thought over car-wash business, and of course Walt lets him. If Junior doesn’t die by the end of the season, he’s going to need just a lifetime of therapy, won’t he? He ultimately gets up and hugs Walt for no real reason other than that he’s his dad and he’s got cancer and how many chances do you really get to hug your dad? This poor kid. On top of all of it, he has to be reduced to a reason for Walt to consider murdering Jesse, since it’d be all to protect his family. Sad. Walt places another call to Jesse after Junior leaves.
Back at the Schraders’ (the morning? Or I guess this could still be happening while Walt was busy carpet-cleaning yesterday), Jesse wakes up and takes in his surroundings. He sees a framed photograph of Skyler and Walt dressed up like Santa. Remember when I thought that if Jesse and Skyler could ever just get together and compare notes, they’d be the ones to topple Walt? Remember? Anyway. Oh, also, remember how everybody suddenly just whispers all the time on this show now? So it is when Jesse ventures out of his room and Marie near-silently offers him some coffee.
In the living room, I am heartened to see that Hank has brought Agent Gomez in on the investigation. Good. He needs backup. Hank is busy setting up a tripod to take Jesse’s statement. Jesse looks pretty weary, even with Marie’s coffee in his system, but at least he’s not high anymore. He busies himself checking out the books on Hank and Marie’s shelves, upon which -- among other things -- is the complete series box set of Deadwood. I bet Hank and Marie really like that show. I wonder what they think of that Martha Bullock? After Marie takes her leave to run some errands, Jesse expresses his incredulity that a simple deposition is what Hank had in mind hen he promised they’d burn Walt down. "I got stories that will make your toes curl," he says, "but it’s just my word against his word stuff." Hank kind of semi-pays attention to Jesse and blithely assures him that this is the first step to catching him. Jesse is anxious as hell, but he sits down for the camera and begins his story: "I first met Mr. White -- Walter White -- in junior year chemistry. He was my teacher.”
Cut to post-deposition, Gomez is hanging out on Hank’s back porch. Hank joins him and asks him what he thinks. For one thing, Gomez believes Jesse’s story. For another, he agrees with Jesse that it won’t be enough to bring Walt down. No evidence, for one thing. Gomez wonders if they should work the Lydia Rodarte-Quayle angle (always work the Lydia Rodarte-Quayle angle) or the pest-control front or the Drew Sharpe killing. Instead, Hank produces the Hello Kitty phone and plays Walt’s message for Gomez. A close-up on the phone transitions us back to indoors, where Hank is playing the voicemail for Jesse. It’s a second voicemail, left by Walt, I guess after Junior talked to him. So I guess this is the morning. Walt wants to set up a meeting with Jesse. Pacific Plaza, at noon. Walt will be "alone and unarmed." They can talk things out. So Hank’s plan is to send Jesse to that meeting with a wire. They get Walt to admit what he’s done. They nail him. Which is a super idea, except for how Jesse points out that the odds are 5-1 odds that Walt is trying to lure him out of hiding so he can kill him. Hank, however, has a really confident expression. He seems to think he’s figured Walt out. He’s ruthless as hell… except when it comes to Jesse.
After hearing Jesse’s story -- everything from cutting him in as partner to running over those drug dealers with his Aztec -- it all tells Agent Schrader that Walt cares about Jesse. He brings up the ricin/Roomba incident as proof that Walt will go to great lengths to have Jesse continue to think the best of him. Jesse still thinks Walt is most likely trying to kill him, despite Hank’s assurances that he and Gomez will be there watching out for him. "You guys are just guys," he says. "Mr. White is the DEVIL. He’s smarter than you. He is luckier than you. Whatever you think is going to happen, I’m telling you the exact reverse opposite of that is going to happen." Hank finally puts the hammer down: this is neither a brainstorm nor a request. This is the plan. Upset, Jesse excuses himself to pee. When he’s gone, Gomez gives Hank a look. What if Jesse’s right? What if it is a trap. Then we get another reminder that nobody on this show is all that good. Hank simply says that the "kid" currently dribbling piss all over Hank’s bathroom is just some junkie murderer in the end. If Walt confesses to him, great. If Walt kills him, on camera, in full view of law enforcement? Either way, they’ve got him. Cold. EVERYBODY STOP TRYING TO KILL JESSE PINKMAN TODAY.
After the break, we’re in the DEA van with Hank and Jesse. Hank is wiring Jesse up and giving him last-minute instructions. (He also tests the sound by signaling Gomez with "Pancho Villa/Salma Hayek. Pancho Villa/Salma Hayek." Drawing him an "idiota" from Gomez.) They have a visual on Walt sitting on a bench in the middle of the plaza. He sends Jesse out into the sunshine, very possible to his death. Don’t give a fuuuuuuck. Jesse starts out striding towards the plaza, in a straight line towards Walt. Can I just repeat the phrase [UNBEARABLE TENSION] over and over and over again? It becomes a bit like a first-person shooter game, where we see Jesse’s POV and everything that crosses his path is a potential threat. Skater kids. Weird homeless can man. I keep expecting a lady with a suspicious-looking baby in a carriage. Jesse does spot one guy. Bald, leather jacket, huge. Easily assassin material. He stops on his tracks as the guy hovers semi-close to Walt. Gomez and Hank fret back in the truck and wonder what’s going on.
Suddenly, Jesse changes course, heading away from Walt, to the fringes of the plaza. He finds a pay phone and calls Walt. With a maniacal look on his face, he delivers the following message: "Nice try, asshole. I’m not doing what you want anymore. This is just a heads-up to let you know that I’m coming for you. See, I’ve decided that burning down your house is nothing. time, I’m gonna get you where you really live." Walt hollers Jesse’s name into the phone, but Jesse’s already hung up. Now it’s Walt’s turn to look around all scared. He heads away to his car, for a moment looking like he’s going to talk to the bald-headed would-be assassin, but at the last minute, that guy’s daughter runs up to him and we see he’s a red herring.
Jesse, meanwhile, strides down the street as Hank speeds around a corner in the van and catches up to him. Irate, Hank demands he get in the car. Jesse is pretty calm about things, though. He gets inside, endures Hank’s curses at him, and finally says that he thinks there’s another way to get Walt. "A better way." So that wasn’t just a frayed wire sparking out on the pay phone over there. That was Jesse with a plan. He’s even smiling a bit. IS IT SUNDAY YET??
Elsewhere, a freaked-the-fuck-out Walt scrambles to his car and places an equally fateful phone call. To Todd. He informs the kid that he may have another job for his uncle’s crew. I have a pretty good feeling Jesse expected Walt to do that. No seriously WHEN IS IT SUNDAY?
Joe R is now shipping Jesse and Marie, obviously. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.
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