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

otm

however this is the last time the writers get to use that "walt blurts out incriminating shit while incapacitated" trick

Astoundingly Cranston is still getting better.

If this show falls apart it won't be because of the acting which is pretty much universally great.

skylar telling dumb guy where the money came from was kinda a bombshell

So many good parts this episode! I like how Walt's face is looking more and more like faces of meth. Nice parallel.
Ted is totally gonna die -- I can see him blowing a bit of IRS cash on blue crystal and hookers too.

Great cliffhanger at the end. As usual, can't wait til next week.

most uncomfortable touch of realism in this ep: walt tugs scab-affixed bedsheet away from his forhead. ach!

SPOILER no baby in this week's eps
but they did reference it! pump and bouncy chair in skyler's office! take that, josh! it's about as much as that baby warrants.

so this ep. wowwwwww.

also i wanted to punch skyler for telling ted the money came from her.

yeah she really shouldve explored some other avenues to get ted on track first

but i mean once again, walt and skylar are v inept criminals

yeah that was completely dumb, except I think the point was this sort of Greek tragedy "everybody is corrupted by this" thing. like at some point I guess somebody will get their hands on The Meth Money and it'll, like, drip blood or burn their hands or something.

Walt's emotions were real. He was all fucked up on painkillers. Makes one emote, it does. But yeah, it was great that Walt was expressing real emotions but lying about why.

If Mike dies I'm going to be so sad. That murdering motherfucker is precious to me.

walt's emotions did seem real, but it was more about being scared and the realization that he'd fucked things up w/ jesse than about anything else. i still don't think he realizes he's his own worst enemy right now.

Totally.

Oh, poisoned Gus yelling threats at any remaining cartel thugs was awesome.

Dag, great episode. Sort of don't like them painting Skyler as some sort of idiot - giving money to that other idiot, really? - but then, she's desperate. She knows if Ted goes down, she goes down, and then Walt will go down, too. So basically, Ted is going to die. The question is, who will do it, Skyler or Walt? Probably Walt, since he'd want nothing more than to kill Ted.

Walt's emotions were totally real, but OTM re: no more drug-induced honesty from that guy.

Gus will be OK once he gets out from under the glare of the Mexico filter. How did the Don's right hand man survive a Mike garroting?

Oh, also, Jesse's "Rage" playing pays off!

How did the Don's right hand man survive a Mike garroting?

I thought that was a different guy.

man thinking abt it what fn risky plan by gus there eh

Per a comment from a person named Mark on What's Alan Watching:

"Definitely cyanide poisoning. What he took before in the form of the pill was more than likely sodium thiosulfate, a well known antidote for cyanide poisoning.

The side effects are rough but the survival rate is good so more than likely Gus will make it through."

Other things I loved: Gus and Mike's subtle proud beaming at Jesse when he stood up to the cartel chemist. Saul's fucking suit, tie, and shirt and pocket square.

So, wait - Gus just took out an entire cartel?

Oh, also, Jesse's "Rage" playing pays off!
exactly my response to the bf when he verbalized his amazement at jesse's badass skillz!

and yes! the proudness! it was amazing - so subtle, like the finger twitching in elevator - but so big at the same time. i was really scared for a min gus was gonna sell out jesse... until mike said 'either we all leave, or none of us leaves.'

Which kind of suggests maybe Gus isn't full of shit re: his feelings about Jesse. He might actually see something in him after all, making his fucked up brand of parental affection more sincere than Walt's.

btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22mFl_pDaVE

awesome

i'm no longer so upset by gus and mike on a weekly basis. in fact i view them as very important, and quite sympathetic. i mean, we've spent so much time with mike and if gus hadn't done that thing with the boxcutter he'd still be OK in everyone's books. those taco munchers though, what a bunch of generic baddies. that was kind of lame.

The poisoning is sort of dumber the more you think about it. Like how did gus know everyone would drink some? I guess one guy didn't. But also in a fairly small bottle, how could you have enough poison to ensure everyone was taken out? Like without it tasting weird?

it was really good poison

The poisoning is sort of dumber the more you think about it. Like how did gus know everyone would drink some? I guess one guy didn't. But also in a fairly small bottle, how could you have enough poison to ensure everyone was taken out? Like without it tasting weird?

― When a German communicates, you listen (LocalGarda), Tuesday, September 20, 2011 6:41 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah.... it's a reach. what did he think would happen if just the don drank it?

I think there was no way that would happen. The don wouldn't drink it unless Gus drank it, and he couldn't make Gus drink it unless he offered it around to everyone because it would just be him saying he didn't trust Gus. What else could they have done, really? It was an all or nothing shot and it happened to work.

Guess no one really knows what cyanide tastes like anyway. Maybe it's quite nice

Isn't it the one that tastes like almonds?

Smells like almonds i believe. Don't think we have much info on what it tastes like, for obvious reasons

The poisoning is sort of dumber the more you think about it. Like how did gus know everyone would drink some? I guess one guy didn't. But also in a fairly small bottle, how could you have enough poison to ensure everyone was taken out? Like without it tasting weird?

Gus didn't know, he took a calculated risk. Remember the last time we saw him round that swimming pool they were all passing the tequila or whatever round. We know it was a calculated risk because Mike said to Jesse "either we all get out or none of us do". Even then, Gus must have been betting that enough senior henchmen would be taken out to allow the others to panic and fold, or for Mike to be able to take the remainder out. Also we don't know what the poison was or whether it would affect the taste.

Anyway if you want something to mask the taste of poison, some strong alcohol is probably the best thing

Anyway despite all the dispiriting nitpicking I thought this episode was awesome. Jesse channelling Walt in the meth lab is up there with my favourite Jesse scenes.

There's no way Walt was faking all that with Walter Jr. If you're determined to view him is calculating and ammoral at all times then maybe but his character just isn't like that. If Walt was 100% amoral he'd have cut Jesse off and let him die ages ago, probably wouldn't have stuck his neck out for Hank either. Well, maybe he is amoral but that's driven by his colossal capacity for self-delusion and that self-delusion seemed to have been comprehensively wiped away when he broke down. Whether it was starting to reassert itself the next morning, we'll find out, but Jesse was his last lifeline and he knows he's fucked now, or at least he thinks he is.

He's probably fucked it for himself now that he's wrecked it with Jesse, who can now cook for himself and is in an amazing position to kill both Gus and Mike, and probably won't. Kind of all hinges on whether Jesse has any residual loyalty to Walt. Theoretically they could just let Walt keep quiet and walk away now but Walt will probably do something stupid to wreck that.

Ted is so stupid. I really wanted Skylar to punch him repeatedly in the face when he started talking about building up the business again. Kinda weird how Saul is sort of the most dependable person in the show now.

It must be fucking horrible being Walter Jr, and neither of his parents even notice.

for four seasons now nobody has needed a hug more than Walter White and he finally got one, even if it was a kind of half-hug

Also the scene where Walt is telling Junior about his one memory of his own father was fantastic. We know so little about Walt's past life so these little glimpses feel really important, like maybe experiences like that are what impelled him to go into chemistry to actually do some good and it's gone disastrously wrong for reaons we're still unaware of.

Also in the back of his mind throughout that speech must have been that Walter Jr might still one day watch him die like that. Like we understand a bit better how Walt's horror at his own sickness led him into making these disastrous, stupid decisions.

maybe the v rich husband and wife former colleagues of walt who were paying for his treatment are looking after the baby

That speech was verging on Walt's speech about the airplane disaster in the gym auditorium, like basically making his audience as horrified as humanly possible

We know so little about Walt's past life

From an acting nerd point of view, I was wondering if that speech as written grew out of Cranston's own imagined history for Walt (many actors do this)

was shouting "OH SHIT! OH SHIT!" at the TV IRL by the end of this

this is from way back but i just wanted to say i disagree with it, i think this was the moment at which walt DOES take a conscious step towards agency, and he knows it

I think he knows it but lies to himself about it for a good while!

Kinda weird how Saul is sort of the most dependable person in the show now.

I think it's implicit that ol' pro Saul has seen how these things end, again and again. Sticking with my earlier guess that he'll be the one left with the money, like Danny Aiello in "The Professional."

THATNKS FOR RUINING THAT FOR ME I JUST BOUGHT THE DVD

sort of assumed the last scene of the whole series would be walt pulling up to some unknown parking lot, stepping out of his car in silhouette, and as walt shuts his car door we cut to his face, bittersweet yet ineffably pleased, as he tucks a clipboard under his arm, straightens his tie and fishes something from his pocket which he then fixes onto his shirt - a Pollos Hermanos badge - and strides purposefully towards the franchise building as the rising sun just crests its roof

wife is dead in the trunk of course

pretty sure the show will not end with "guy with terminal disease keeps on living, for now"

lol tracer

Jesse channelling Walt in the meth lab is up there with my favourite Jesse scenes.

Walt talking about how Jr will remember him 'when he's gone' - another ambiguous ref to how maybe the cancer is back?

Cancer. Or shot. Or by old age.