Shall we anticpate the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

purple kettle

The fixers I've employed have been nowhere neat as adept as Mike. I'd kill for a fixer that good.

My new (based on nothing) prediction: At some point Walt, having renewed Hank's dogged interest, will have to kill Hank. Later, Marie, finding purpose in life after going through Hank's stuff, will be the one to ultimately bust Walt, setting up a showdown between her and her sister. (That would be a true jump the shark moment, of course).

last season's warehouse scene was enough to establish mike's black ops cred

Screw the warehouse. How about hunkering down in a cold trailer, waiting to ambush cartel dudes, not flinching when he gets his ear blown off by a machine gun, then popping out of the trailer to get the job done with just a couple of shots?

Wondering when Mike left the police actually. He's the only player who Hank hasn't come face-to-face with, to my knowledge. It's possible they might actually have met.

Good point. I bet they're saving that connection in their back pocket for later.

Was it Mike who put the call in that saved Hank? Can't quite remember, or remember why they cared whether Hank died or not.

We haven't seen any evidence that Mike gives a shit about the dead guy have we?

When Jesse was going on about how he should get a gun to help 'guard' Mike because he was 'that guy' or something, Mike kind of snapped 'you're not that guy, I had a guy but I dont any more', and he seemed kind of pissed off or upset. I assumed he was talking about Victor.

Maybe, I assumed Jesse was just annoying the fuck out of him.

being a bit pissed off about losing the guy bc of jesse and walt is not the same as 'giving a shit' rly

I dunno if you noticed but Mike isn't exactly the most expressive character. I think it qualifies as giving a shit

The fact that he said 'I had a guy, you're not that guy' rather than just 'you're not that guy', just made me think that he was pissed off about it, rather than just pissed off with Jesse.

Surely if he didn't give a shit he wouldn't be pissed off? I'm not saying he's going to turn on Gus or anything, we saw them chatting later on and he was totally normal, I just think he is maybe a little more unsettled than we have seen him up to now.

Well it's pretty obvious Mike is pissed off about something, he punched Walt in the face. I think it's maybe more than Mike doesn't like being punked, and Walt managed it.

Well Mike essentially knowingly had Victor killed when he spoke with Gus on the phone after Victor had gone to get Jesse, maybe seeing it done so brutally right in front of him has made him feel remorse?

i think it's more him questioning his own loyalty to gus than anything else.

yeah i found the dinner scene excruciating (not bad tho) but rather than what actually happened i was expecting the fall out to be skyler finding out that this chemistry genius meth cook was shot dead in his home and thus finally realising the level of danger walt and his family are really in. this show is not gonna have a happy ending.

That might still happen.

i'm assuming she will make the connection next episode yeah

not reading the thread, because of spoilers, so won't really be able to make much of a contribution, but i just finished the second series. jesus christ this show is dark. also i don't really have any sympathy for walt anymore whatsoever. no idea how they're going to go from here.

xpost Skyler is already pretty far down the River Denial.

They can't stop now anyway unless the inexplicably cut off Hank's medical bills. But Skylar is enjoying every minute of it so far.

Was it Mike who put the call in that saved Hank? Can't quite remember, or remember why they cared whether Hank died or not.

There was a voice changer on the line but it sounded like Mike.

Gus arranged the call to "make a scene" that would put the heat on the Mexican cartel. It was never revealed who actually made the call but I always assumed it was Gus.

The weird thing about Walt drunkenly debunking Hank's Gale-as-Heisenberg theory is, if it were to occur like that IRL, it should actually work in Walt's favor. Think about it: The market will continue to be flooded with blue meth, so it wouldn't take long for Hank to figure out that Gale wasn't Heisenberg anyway. That's a given. Meanwhile, Walt's insight would seem to Hank (presumably) like the exact opposite of a confession -- "Hey bud, are you sure you've got your guy? I gotta tell you, I'm a chemistry expert, and I kind of know what to look for here, and frankly, this is not the work of a genius, these are just some cribbed notes." Because if Walt were Heisenberg (and why would Hank suspect that AT ALL?), why would he poke the sleeping dog here? At that point, Hank might actually look to Walt for further insight, maybe provide him with important details of the investigation, because Walt has proven here to be an asset -- in that he correctly predicted Gale was not Heisenberg simply by looking over his notes with an expert's eye -- not a suspect. I don't think the show will play it that way, but that seems to be the more "logical" conclusion of those events. (More importantly: Why does Hank give a fuck about Heisenberg anyway? Gus should be his target, not the ineffectual egghead in his employ. If Heisenberg were to be jailed, the market would merely be saturated with shittier meth. To catch Gus would be to shut down a criminal empire.)

At this point, the ONLY reason Hank might suspect Walt is his "I won a fortune at the casino" story. But (A) Walt has the receipts to back that up (thanks to Saul), and (B) if you're a cop, what's the more reasonable conclusion? That your nerdy, awkward, cancer-recovering brother-in-law figured out how to count cards? Or that your nerdy, awkward, cancer-recovering brother-in-law is actually the criminal supervillain you have been obsessively chasing, who has flooded the entire Southwest with thousands of pounds of meth?

he's after Heisenberg because he has leads to Heisenberg - he hasn't had any leads to Gus (until now)

Well right -- but when he saw Gale's tidy lab notes and cozy apartment and karaoke video, didn't he maybe think, "Hmm...not sure this particular dude has the wherewithal to pump this volume of drugs into this massive a region...maybe he's just a low-level drudge and the DEA should be investigating the obviously MUCH-larger operation here"? At this point, frankly, for Hank, Gus IS Heisenberg, in that Gus is the guy he really wants, the BIG bad guy. Even if he were to ID Walt as the cook, after fainting from shock, Hank's ONLY course of action would be to get Walt to flip on Gus, right?

feel like hanks been suspecting walt for a while now just on an instinctive level but doesnt want to admit it to himself

To be honest, in that regard, Walt's insight was pretty inconsequential. Sure, Gale MIGHT not be the genius chemist who created the blue meth...but he's DEFINITELY not the criminal mastermind supplying the entire Southwest with product, knocking out the cartel, dropping bodies all over the region... And neither is Walt.

@ice cr?m -- I feel like the show has set up that suspicion just in Hank's interactions with Walt (the sidelong glances, etc.) but from any logical point of remove it would be fucking delusional: "You know, I think my impotent dweeb brother-in-law is the Vicious Drug Kingpin I have spent the last year of my career as a DEA agent hunting down." Riiiiight.

He's not an impotent dweeb -- he has seen Walt forcefeed shots to Walt Jr, has seen him move out of his home into an apartment and his wife refused to tell why (for a while) -- he has not been an entirely stable dweeb.

Definitely unstable, but that's a far cry from "supervillain." (Based on your evidence, Hank has greater cause to suspect Walt is a child molester than a drug kingpin.) The thing with Junior was super uncomfortable and horrible but it shouldn't give Hank any reason to suspect Walt as Heisenberg. The thing with Skylar MIGHT HAVE raised his suspicion, but they explained that pretty sufficiently with the gambling story -- as I said a few posts ago:"(A) Walt has the receipts to back that up (thanks to Saul), and (B) if you're a cop, what's the more reasonable conclusion? That your nerdy, awkward, cancer-recovering brother-in-law figured out how to count cards? Or that your nerdy, awkward, cancer-recovering brother-in-law is actually the criminal supervillain you have been obsessively chasing, who has flooded the entire Southwest with thousands of pounds of meth?"

Walt has actually directly challenged Hank a couple times, telling him he was carrying around a few hundred thousand bucks in his duffel, saying, "Ya caught me," or whatever he said in response to the WW thing. But the idea that Hank already suspects Walt is Heisenberg has no basis in logic. This is not that the show hasn't deliberately insinuated this, of course, just that it doesn't really stand up to any scrutiny.

(That last line should read "This is not *TO SAY* that the show hasn't deliberately insinuated this, of course, just that it doesn't really stand up to any scrutiny.")

Nobody, let alone Hank, suspects Walt of anything.

That's actually the best (and most logical) way to read it, but then why put so much emphasis on the "Maybe your Heisenberg is still out there" moment? Just to set off viewers? Again, if I'm Hank and I DON'T suspect Walt, then him saying that makes me trust him MORE, not less. If I'm Hank, I'm thinking, "Wow I've got this great resource who knows chemistry -- maybe he's right, and maybe he can help me FIND Heisenberg." The show seemed to insinuate the opposite, though, and made it appear Walt had overplayed his hand or something. (Or maybe I'm reading it wrong?)

Over thinking it. Just an easy excuse to get Hank back on the case. Violates the rule of "show, don't tell."

OFF TOPIC AND CONFIDENTIAL TO JOSH IN CHICAGO: Did you recently meet ILX's own n/a at a child's first birthday party and if yes, were you also at that child's mother's baby shower last July because if so, you and I have met IRL.

Ha, I can't even remember last week! I don't think so, but I suppose it's within the realm of possibility that you did. But I don't think so. Might have been a different Josh, in Chicago.

Well, if you weren't at the child's birthday party, then it was not you. NEVER MIND CARRY ON.

Is this thread just people expounding their theories about what is going to happen in Breaking Bad?

Well, there's no point talking about what already happened, is there? That's what the show is for.

I still think Walt will kill Hank. Hank is peripheral enough to the action - and more or less paraplegic at this point - that he's expendable. Also, it would be some nice irony, given that a) Walt saved his life and b) doing that is what left his paraplegic.

And then Hank will wake up and it will all have been a dream. In the afterlife. And then it goes black.

I think nobody will kill anyone and something bad will happen to Walt Jr, but he will be ok

Well yeah. Plus the occasional "holy shit I didn't see that coming!"

And then I think the baby will say "dada" at Walt.

And Gus will kill Mike and Jessie will kill Gus for killing Mike and then Hank will kill Jessie for that and then Walt will kill Hank and go to jail, but leave lots of money for his family.

And the car was will do really well and Skyler will open car washes all over the Southwest. And Bob Odenkirk will go to jail/hide out in mexico

But the idea that Hank already suspects Walt is Heisenberg has no basis in logic. This is not that the show hasn't deliberately insinuated this, of course, just that it doesn't really stand up to any scrutiny.

― SonicBum, Friday, August 19, 2011 3:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

imho its possible that hank is already feeling a lil weird abt what walts up to - that is his intuition is telling him something - which if hes a good investigator is he should be p attuned to - intuition is the ability to detect a pattern in v subtle clues - like it could be enough that hank gets weird and hella tense when heisenberg comes up - but there are a bunch of more obvious things too, the money the chemistry background the fugue state the strange behavior etc - irl suspects have been examined based on far less for sure

this seems to be what the show is portraying at this point - in hank and walts two most recent interactions hank is seriously sizing walt up vibing him out asking leading questions hardly breathing when hank speaks just watching him etc - i think at this point hanks not quite sure or cognizant of what hes up to - its just his cop training kicking in - hes like a dog smelling something on the breeze

As I mentioned above, the relationship between Hank and Walt - and Walt and Marie, and Hank and Skyler, etc. - is all a little weird, standard/typical of in-laws thrown together by marriage. Like, might as well make nice and make the most of it, none of them are going anywhere anytime soon.

o rite thx for clearing that up josh in chicago

IMO, of course. Like, I like my bro in law, but the few times we've ever hung out, just the two of us, have always been a little awkward. Like, who is this guy?