Shall we anticipate the FIFTH SEASON of the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

After the cold open I was annoyed at the boring way they got out of last weeks cliffhanger, especially since it was the second week in a row they followed up on a cliffhanger with 'jesse just doesn't do it' Actually, until about half way through I didn't really like this episode at all, thought it removed the foot from the pedal way too much. And then it all changed, and I was kinda in awe at the audacity to structure the fifth to last episode in this way. It was really ballsy, just from a question of craft.

I thought the whole episode ruled

a regular dude would not have treated a pizza the way he did imo

But a thing I've been thinking about this last week: A lot of the ugly, evil stuff Walt has done was because Jesse fucked up to begin with. Especially with Gus/Gale, Jesse really was the one making trouble for a long time, and Walt mainly got in trouble by defending him. Or am I remembering it wrong?

I found it slightly odd that Jesse is pissed off that Walt "keeps getting away with it". What else has Walt done that Jesse would have been better off if he'd been caught?
I think it was more of a "it's not fair" kind of reaction

xp yeah, Walt's shit with Gus only started after he saved Jesse by killing the two dealers, before that he'd been playing the role of respectable level-headed businessman.

Plus Jesse was stealing meth from the cook, right?

Well, if Walt had been caught much earlier, Jesse wouldn't have had to shoot a man in the head, his close friend wouldn't have died, his girlfriend's brother wouldn't have died, her kid wouldn't have been poisoned, another innocent kid wouldn't have been killed, etc. Sure, if they'd been caught early on Jesse would've gone to jail too, but at this point he most likely thinks that would've been a better option.

(xxpost)

Jesse: "all I wanted to do was sell a lil meth, man"

right, but what specific things does Jesse think he shouldn't have 'gotten away with'? all of those are kind of indirect consequences, apart from Brock's poisoning.

both he and walt jr are just fed up with the dude being so obviously full of shit, jesse just also knows there's a body count

and i think brock's poisoning is enough "this time it's personal" to make walt's whole gestalt maddening

do we think Jesse will ever find out about the Walt connection to his late girlfriend? feel like that's an untied end that has a massive wallop, but at this point it doesn't look like Jesse needs any more inspiration, so it feels like they may not.

however slightly untied it is, "REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TWO SEASONS AGO?" is never a good look

between his "funny thing happened at the gas station" story and his trying to shame skylar for being cold-hearted, the degree to which walter buys his own nonsense felt especially hilarious this episode

with the gas can caper and last week's concealer failure we've seen a bit more of the old buffoonish Walt lately. It's never too late for him to put this last year behind him and get back to normal.

another reason not to bring up the dead girlfriend arc is it forces the show that to acknowledge that, despite having waltdrama 24/7, jesse went from hanging out with methwhores to having two soulful relationships with far prettier addicts in a short period of time

"i didn't poison your girlfriend, I poisoned Brock!"

"no the girlfriend BEFORE that!"

last week's two stories at the car wash were better than the gas station naivete imo

except i thought that the idea of the double-reveal, like you confess to one cover-up (hiding fainting from cancer) to get away with another one (dude wants to burn down your house), was pretty well executed, and maybe his plan from the start.

i was wondering that too, but I think Walt didn't even intend to doublesnow his son

Want a vh1 storytellers where Walt just lies about songs he obviously didn't write. Holding an acoustic guitar all like, "well, you see, my buddy maxwell has this silver hammer. He's a geologist and he uses it to break apart samples, you know, of rock and stuff like that. And well one day, it was not max's finest hour, he got distracted and hit one of his students, a poor girl named Joan I believe, on her noggin with his hammer. Ha! Well you just wouldn't believe what followed, and so I wrote this song about it."

he was in a tough spot

not rocks, man. minerals.

Yeah while it was a quick catch by Walt to hop on the fainting thing, the take away is that even Walt jr knows his dad is a lying liar who can't give those around him any credit.

I think Walt even thought or at least hoped skylar was buying it until she called bs in the hotel.

i liked the reveal of hank taking jesse away especially how they left just as walt was pulling up that was fun

xposts
it was also the 3rd straight episode i think with a "when will you just stop with the lies?" scene - jesse in the desert, hank at the restaurant, and walt jr now. setting the stage for badger and skinny pete to finally call walt on his bullshit next week.

thought it was cool too that walt jr. 's theory that he'd fainted was way more plausible and sympathetic than walt's Gas Pumps Gone Wild story - felt like there was a flicker of recognition of this on Cranston's face

Walt refuses to acknowledge his own weaknesses, never occurred to him

Lotta assumptions that Walt called Todd to kill Jesse. I mean, it's likely, or at least not unlikely, but there could be more at work here. Just as Hank has no interest/knowledge in who actually killed those 10 witnesses in jail, maybe no one else really knows about the white power dudes, either, which could give Walt a way to fake his own death.

Cranston seems to be almost gleefully channelling his Malcolm in the Middle dad character in Walt's terrible lying episodes lately.

I've noticed all along that he's clearly decided Walt is a mouth breather.

Just read a great ambitious guess that Jesse's grand plan will be to take credit for all of Walt's work, which would infuriate Walt enough that he'd confess just to get his due.

Jesse: "all I wanted to do was sell a lil meth, man"

"All I wanted in the world was to be a Catholic priest ... live in a monastery ... study ancient Latin ..."

I think you're all missing the most riveting reveal of this episode - WE FINALLY MET DAVE!!!!

wait who is dave

Marie's shrink

wasn't it kinda strangely specific that Hank and Gomie had that conversation about the videocamera's SD card?

also what the hell is Gomie doing here

xp Nah, me and my buds talk about SD cards all the time.

oh I guess it was the phone's card?

I think it was the one from the camera? It did, indeed, seem oddly specific at the time.

yeah it was the videocamera's card. Pretty conspicuous scene.

wasn't it kinda strangely specific that Hank and Gomie had that conversation about the videocamera's SD card?

*could* mean something - but at the time i just thought it mean Jesse had done *a lot* of talking!

Just read a great ambitious guess that Jesse's grand plan will be to take credit for all of Walt's work

this could possibly be it. Walt's ego has been the driving force most of the series. he already let most his family fall apart - his ego is probably the best way to get at him.

Lotta assumptions that Walt called Todd to kill Jesse.

i was thinking this too. but as soon as i think BB will come up with something totally unexpected, they go the obvious route... so who knows. wondering what else he might need them for.

Hank taped over his wedding. He'll have apologize on air during this week's Tool Time. Pretty embarrassing.

I'm certain that this has been posted before, maybe even recently, but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IyY-CHtEC8

Just read a great ambitious guess that Jesse's grand plan will be to take credit for all of Walt's work, which would infuriate Walt enough that he'd confess just to get his due.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, September 2, 2013 8:29 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this came up in a discush today & it's what i'd place money on as of now. it (ideally) forces walt out of retirement, to lydia's delight, but pits him against the aryan nation who now control his equipment & methylamine. the season's even tagged with REMEMBER MY NAME

also what the hell is Gomie doing here

This was my reaction too. I like the character, and Steven Quezada is a good actor, so I think he would've deserved a scene where Hank finally breaks the news about Heisenberg to him, especially since in the previous two episodes we saw he was clearly worried about Hank. But now all we got was "oh yeah, Gomie is there too", which felt a bit rushed.

definitely seems like something that was cut from last episode, maybe it'll be on the dvd