Monday, August 29, 2011

Breaking Bad: Problem Dog

Lucky cigarette
Walt hatches a murder plot
Hank's getting closer.

Never have I been so happy to change the channel to Breaking Bad. Side note - I started watching the VMAs and realized: I am old. Through most of the hour I watched I was making a cross between a stink face and a confused face. Needless to say, I was happy to fall into the comfortable world of meth dealing.

I was also sad and complaining about the pile of clothes that need folding on my living room floor...but quickly feel better when the show began and we saw the horror that has become Jesse's house. I don't know how Aaron Paul cannot win the Emmy next year- this season has been all about the crumbling of Jesse. He plays a video game - Rage - you know, a gun one that parents hate. We see flashes of the monsters that he's  shooting, but also see what Jesse saw when killing Gale. It is still vivid in his memory, as I assume all murder would be.


Skylar and Walt are down at the car wash with Walt Jr.'s new car jamming out to old school Pretty Poison. The dealership didn't want to take the car back (it's true what they tell you about the value of a car once you drive off the lot) but Skylar sweet-talked them to take it back. I doubt it was all that sweet.

Walt then decides to exact his own type of revenge and take out some aggression by doing donuts in an empty parking lot. He isn't as careful as he should be (foreshadow!) and his car gets stuck on a parking lot car stop (that happened to me on a date once - embarrassing). He then decides the next logical stop is to blow the car up and call a cab.

Next logical step.
Too bad I didn't think of that. Nine minutes in and this is becoming my favorite episode of the season.

Find out if this episode lives up to the first 10 minutes after the JUMP!

Walt makes a visit to Saul to try and make any legal issues that go along with blowing up a car in a parking lot go away. Just in case you weren't aware as to why Walt has started acting out, he tells Saul, "He will see me dead....and there's nothing I can do about it. All that's left is to wait." That's not what Saul's heard from Jesse - they need Walt too much. Walt then asks Saul, in a very fancy way ("ameliorate the situation"), if he can help him find a hit man. Saul knows people, but so does Mike. Mike is connected to the underworld. Saul suggests Craigslist - and we as Lifetime watchers, know that Craigslist does in fact have killers available:

Saul then suggests Jesse do the deed- after all, he just saw Gus. GASP! This is news to Walt.

Walt goes to see Jesse and he's painting over the graffiti that has lined his walls. There is actual light in his house which makes me happy. I don't think he's healed - nor will he ever be - but this is a step in the right direction. Walt asks about Jesse's last interaction with Gus. "He says he sees something in me," Jesse tells him. Walt once again is suspicious and drags up the past trying to sway Jesse from Team Gus back to Team Walt. Jesse responds:

"Stop the sales pitch. I'll do it."
"Do what?"
"I'll kill him - first chance I get."

Looks like Jesse hasn't forgotten or fallen for Mike and Gus's elaborate plans.

Back at the car wash Marie has taken her car in and talks to Skylar about having a grand opening. Skylar inquires about Hank and is surprised to hear that he's doing better and making an effort. The Whites give a pretty bad impression of a happy couple in front of Marie.

Walt brings in $274,000 in cash from two weeks' work. Skylar does the calculations - that's 7 million dollars a year! That's too much to hide by a car wash sales. What Walt brings in in two weeks in what the car wash is expected to make in the time it makes to make a baby. Walt sees this as a simple thing: I bring in the money, you launder the money. She can get out anytime, but he knows she won't. She also knows she won't.

Back at the lab, Walt goes into the office where he's up to no good with a toaster oven. Turns out he's making  the same poison he concocted when they planned to kill Tuco. He shares the news with Jesse. Jesse is nervous. I am too. It didn't work then, so why would it work now? Jesse decides to hide the poison in a cigarette wrapper - his lucky cigarette he says. Seems like an accident waiting to happen.

Hank and Walt Jr. take a trip to Los Pollos Hermanos to have a lunch. Surely there's no other reason, right? Junior talks about his new car and how it got sent back. Hank raises his eyebrow at the fact that Walt bought him an expensive ass car.
That's chicken for thought.
Walt Jr. admits he got Walt to buy it out of guilt. Gus comes up to talk to Hank. He asks how Hank is doing and turns to Junior. He then offers him part time work - I guess he want to employ the entire White clan (that doesn't sound right). Hank asks for a refill as a guise to get Gus's fingerprints.

Jesse's off with Mike and this time he brought more than just pimento sandwiches.

Nobody puts Jesse in the corner.
The order of the day is, according to Mike, is, "eyes open, mouth shut." They drive into a guarded and gated area in the middle of an open field (no windmill this time) where Jesse carries in the vegetable tray as awkwardly as Baby carried the watermelon.

Turns out Jesse is the caterer for today's event as he is sent off to make some coffee. He's close to putting the poison in the coffee until Mike interrupts him and hands him a loaded gun.

Gus waits inside with a spread of....water, coffee and a vegetable tray. I'd expect more from a restaurateur.
The loneliest Last Supper.
The first car drives up. Turns out it's the only car. The negotiations begin. Gus offers to make a one time payment of fifty million US dollars in return he expects any relationship between the two to end. No more communication. Everything is severed.  Cable TV's Eric Bana responds: "This is my response: Yes or No? You know what the Cartel wants. Anything else would be a waste of time. Is it to be yes....or no?"

Don't make him mad, Gus. He'll turn into the Mexican Hulk.
He is clear this is NOT a negotiation. Of course this all takes place in Spanish and sounds lovely. We don't get to see what's decided - or exactly what the Cartel wants (I'm guessing Walt?).

Jesse and Mike head back to town. Jesse asks Mike what it is that Gus sees in him, "I'd guess loyalty - only maybe you've got it for the wrong guy." This makes Jesse look out the window with a sad face. Way to make him think, Mike.

Jesse's back to NA with the guy from Dear John (I still remember that theme song) and Good Morning, Miami. He talks about the trials that people put themselves through and what causes them to repeat the cycle of addiction. Jesse mentions he was on crystal meth and is now sober four days. He tells them working at the laundromat (meth lab) sucks now. He describes the murder of Gale as putting a problem dog down [my eyes are welling up with Aaron Paul's acting.]  Nosy lady keeps asking questions, while beaded Santa steps in to try and make Jesse feel better. Nosy Bitch lady now starts going off of Jesse for killing a helpless dog. Jesse responds: "if you just do stuff and nothing happens....what's the point?"  At this point he begins a speech that I can't even explain because I was crying - you must watch. This is one of the most heart wrenching scenes that Breaking Bad has ever had and now I worry that the lucky cigarette won't be so lucky after all. Going back to what I said earlier about Aaron Paul getting the Emmy - this monologue nailed it.

Emmy'd.
Back at the lab, Walt asks why nothing has happened in a week. Jesse lies and says he hasn't seen Gus.

Marie takes Hank to visit his buddies at the DEA. Everyone is happy about Hank's progress. His asshole self comes out in rare form but I guess some people are happy he's back. I'm sure Marie is happy he's out of the house. He fills in the DEA on the Gale case. The number on the Los Pollos Hermanos's napkin is a model number for a HEPA air filter. Via research he found out that there was a filter sent to ABQ, but there is no record of who paid for it. The company's lawyers intervene as Hank continues to ask questions and Hank gets cut off. He presses on down another path and find out that there's a tie to Los Pollos Hermanos. This all turns back to Gus. Is this a case of keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Sure seems like it. Unfortunately, they don't buy it (or are covering their asses) and he caves or so they think. Then he pulls out extreme evidence: Gus's fingerprints were in Gale's apartment. You can't deny that. High five Hank. High five.

Wow. First, get the 2012 Emmy for Supporting Actor engraved with Aaron Paul's name right now. Second, the fact that that cigarette is sitting in Jesse's pocket worries me. The fact that he called it his lucky ciagrette worries me more. Would they kill off Jesse this season? Especially knowing that the last 16 episodes are supposed to be broken into two more seasons? Did anyone else hear the video game say something like, "don't drink that - it could be poison"? I really liked the fact that Walt Jr. and Hank are spending time together. I remember them hanging out before (to visit that meth ho), but this time I feel like they are both motivators for one another. Why does Hank keep repeating, "clean living and vitamin pills" when we all know it was the magic minerals? Does anyone else feel like they need to take an anxiety pill before these episodes now?

Also - next week this happens:

This can't be good.

5 comments:

  1. Was the best episode of the season thus far.

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  2. Emmy'd is right! He's got my vote here in Vancouver! Great recap!

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  3. "Dear John, dear John, by the time you read these lines, I'll be gone..."

    This was the best episode because it was the most dynamic and because it had the least amount of Skyler. She's a bore.

    I couldn't believe how many people on fbook were watching the VMAs. I wanted to tell everyone they too old to be watching.

    I'm normally pretty good at recognizing when a show or movie uses the "poor man's" version of an actor, but didn't notice the "cable tv" version of Eric Bana. Maybe it's because Eric Bana is already a poor man's version of himself?

    Person 1: "Oh hey, Eric Bana's in that movie."
    Person 2: "Sorry, what's that? I fell asleep when you said Eric Bana."

    Jesse : vegetable tray :: Baby : watermelon = genius

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  4. @jimbo - i loooove eric bana. He was amazing in Munich. And i don't necessarily think it was the poor man's version as much as the Mexican version. I can't wait til they find the Mexican Hugh Jackman

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  5. Ummmmmm, I'm all about the Mexican Hugh Jackman. Find him!

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