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

I also did not get the impression Walt was genuinely enthused about rocks. I felt like he was happily playing along, almost too enthusiastically, even nervously.

That's true as well, but I just don't think Gus is that arsed about getting dragged into revenge spirals when he could be making $$$$$.

Sorry, many xposts there.

Just curious, I googled information about the Chilean drug trade. I found it interesting that the country was conspicuously not terribly beset by drug problems until relatively recently, and even then it's largely consumption and, in some parts of the country, trafficking, not production. Gives Gus an extra layer of alibi.

But again, Gus arsed at least to a degree. He killed his competition in a backhanded sort of way, and his "look at me" exchange with Hector indicated a certain degree of "in your face."

And not a coincidence that Gus, in the show's chronologically, only finally built the super lab he and his partner pitched all those years before, before he was run out of Mexico. Gus has clearly been waiting for this moment.

@Josh in Chicago, re. Walt and the rocks -- Don't disagree here; it's not like he was all, "A mineral show? Sweet!" But as he talked about the minerals he owned as a kid, it didn't seem artificial to me. Seemed in some way like he was trying to communicate the language of a shared passion, something that predated his descent into hell. But when Hank was like, "Dude enough about the rocks -- we're gonna do some surveillance on this Gus Fring," it was like even in that fleeting moment, Walt could not (and understood he could not) escape the grave he has dug for himself -- in fact it just got deeper.

One thing this week's Gus revelations have left me curious about (and I don't mean to bring up old business but): Can anyone tell me why Gus allowed Walt to fire Gale and bring in Jesse in the first place? As far as I can tell, he always intended for the lab to be Gale's; he groomed the kid over many years, it seems; he may have even been in love with him. Walt was always intended to be collateral damage in Gus' mind, no? Someone who would act as an instructor to Gale and eventually (somehow) die? That Gus would just give in to Walt's whims seemed questionable to me when it occurred, and now, given what we know about Gus, it seems almost impossible that he would have EVER believed Gale was fucking up the calibrations on the lab equipment or whatever (at least to the extent that he would be so quickly and unceremoniously dismissed). I mean, the entire arc of the series hinges on that decision, but it rang false to me at the time and now it seems almost completely disingenuous and out of place.

gale took shortcuts

gus found gale's karaoke youtubez & was rightly appalled

lol gus was in love with gale? taking this "gus is gay" thing too far.

He has to settle for Mike now but doesn't really like them rough.

Really annoyed at Walt because he had to waste that sweet young thing Victor.

@jim in glasgow -- That wasn't my observation; I saw it kicked around in a couple different places. But it's not crazy, is it? If we accept (for the moment) that Gus was in love with Maximino Arciniega, a brilliant, soft-spoken chemist -- who was murdered in front of Gus, which probably traumatized him -- is it that hard to accept that he might also develop feelings for Gale, a person with very similar qualities? Admittedly, the "Gus is gay" thing hasn't been explored on the show, and as such this theory may indeed be taking it too far, but it's not taking it to ridiculous ends.

I suspect that Gus isn't gay and that the Mexican drug guys were just trying to intimidate them by making fun of them for being a bit effete.

Like I think they deliberately made both of them look ridiculously green in order to show how out of their depth they were.

Homophobic insult humor among violent thugs, why I never

FWIW, a quick Google search revealed this: This week's Breaking Bad podcast did address the subject. The question of whether Gus and Max are lovers comes up starting at about the 40:30 mark. When asked about it being "alluded" to, Gilligan says "It's open to interpretation. It's whatever the audience wants it to be." Both Steven Bauer, the actor who plays Don Eladio, and the episode's editor, Kelly Dixon, saw Gus as gay, to which Gilligan says "It's okay to infer that." (via AfterElton.com)

(Not sure if that was posted already. My apologies if so.)

That's his response to pretty much every controversy

But it's not crazy, is it? If we accept (for the moment) that Gus was in love with Maximino Arciniega, a brilliant, soft-spoken chemist -- who was murdered in front of Gus, which probably traumatized him -- is it that hard to accept that he might also develop feelings for Gale, a person with very similar qualities?

welll the actor playing max was really handsome tho

the right response too. Keeps those message boards ticking over

xxp: I'm not sure -- Gilligan is often pretty straightforward with his info. He flatly stated that Jesse killed Gale at the end of S. 3, when everyone was wondering where that gun was pointed. Of course, this comment says nothing at all. (FWIW I personally didn't read it as "Gus is gay" on first viewing, but have been swayed somewhat by the Internet chatter.) Either way, the show is going to some lengths to make Gus' sexuality ambiguous, I think, and I do believe it will pay off more than Rawls at the gay bar on The Wire.

a gay sex scene in the lab

I think it's deft in that you can see it either way, and it will almost certainly not impact the plot whatsoever, which is pretty much the way life works.

Like I think they deliberately made both of them look ridiculously green in order to show how out of their depth they were.

I thought that was just the "Mexico" lens filter

gus and max might have been a gay couple but there's nothing to suggest that gus and gale had anything going on, though i would say gale seemed to have a thing for ol' walt.

they never said where in the apartment they found Gus's fingerprints. maybe the headboard?!

bottle of amyl

I was wondering how they officially had Gus's fingerprints on record anyway? Or is it an immigration thing. I know Hank got them off that soda cup but he'd have to have a legit record somewhere?

nope. they used the soda cup.

it's a tv show.

http://nerdmeltla.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/the-more-you-know1.jpg

I think his fingerprints were on a telescope? Can't remember where I got that, though.

What I mean is how come, officially, they'd have had his prints on record to check against? They didn't ask him to give them his prints in connection to this case. (Or did they, that's what I'm asking). He'd know whether they had his prints or not from any criminal record, and if not then it would be clear to him that Hank got them by some 'unofficial' means and it'd get thrown out of court and/or tell him that Hank's gone maverick.
I know they *used* the soda cup and I know it's a TV show, btw.

I just assumed they had all sorts of unidentified prints from Gale's apartment on file (incl. Gus' prints) which Hank compared to the cup.

But there was no way to ID any of those as Gus' prints unless his were on file with some govt agency. Do legal immigrants to the US get fingerprinted?

Nah, they were just going on what Hank had: prints from the cup (which Hank knew belonged to Gus) and the unidentified prints from Gale's apartment (which Hank matched to the prints from the cup). It wouldn't have held up in court, and it's pretty likely cops IRL wouldn't drag in a suspect on something that flimsy, but they weren't arresting him, just asking questions. Gus could have said: "How the hell did you get my prints on file? I want a lawyer!" But that would have been fishy and unlike Gus, especially w/r/t his prior dealings with the DEA. This dude is a major police supporter, not a hostile witness or real suspect -- they want to give him a chance to clear his name and he wants to be as accommodating as possible.

also it's fiction so getting fingerprints off a cup flies. unless you get all ilx about it and overanalyse it all to hell.

I'm pretty sure that cops in real life are legally allowed to obtain prints in exactly the manner that Hank did.

Same with DNA. Wasn't there a scene in the Wire where they offered a dude a glass of water so they could get his DNA off the rim?

not that the Wire = real life, but you know

jim, as I've said and should be obvious, I understand that it's fiction; please stop patronising me. There are lots of minor details in Breaking Bad that come back to bite people in the ass, I was wondering if this was one of them. (There are also lots of major details that are quite sloppy, like the money laundering). I was asking about the details in the actual show, whether they had any bearing or relevance, or whether they'd actually addressed it and I'd missed it.

"Wasn't there a scene in the Wire where they offered a dude a glass of water so they could get his DNA off the rim?"

Weren't they just doing that to claim to the witness that they had his DNA so they could sweat him?

hank matched the prints on the cup to some of the unidentified prints in the apartment. right?

yes, for some reason some people seem to believe that fingerprints voluntarily given by a suspect to a member of law enforcement in the course of an investigation are inadmissable in a court of law.

I think what he's getting at is that if Gus, of all people, was never a suspect, why would Hank even think to match the prints in the apartment to his? They kind of elide over this.

Because Gus owns Pollos Hermanos and why would Gale the vegan go to a chicken restaurant. Also he figured out the part number written on the napkin and connected the shell company that bought the expensive meth making lab equipment with either Gus or Pollos, I don't remember which.

He literally explained the process step by step

OK, say the police tell you your fingerprints were found at a murder scene. They don't ask for your prints at any time. You might wonder how they traced any prints found at the apartment back to you. It doesn't matter how or why anyone decided they *might* be yours - if your prints are not on record, how would they get your name from looking at prints from a murder scene? They would obviously run all prints through the print database, so if you know you're not on this database, you might suspect they had obtained them illegally - especially if they'd been sniffing around your chicken restaurant where something delicious is always cooking - and this might affect how seriously you take being questioned about the crime.

Or, did they genuinely ask for his prints when they brought him in for the informal interview in the most recent episode (I am asking whether I have missed them obviously doing this) - this would still be weird as they claimed the reason they brought him in was because they found his prints etc etc.

I don't think this would affect how Gus acted in the interview (asking to see proof, etc) but in a lot of other shows there's always a big deal made about doing this kind of thing.