Walt pulled a brilliant maneuver on Skyler, he made sure he was completely on the right side of the law (save for the meth-elephant in the room), moved back into his own house, AND used the leverage he already had with Jr. to make sure he would stay. Although it was very manipulative I don't think that Walt is as insane (yet) as some people think he is. I saw the scene with the duffel bag full of cash out in the open as really earnest. He was finally able to explain everything he wanted to say to Skyler since he started dealing with drug lords bigger than Jesse. His demeanor after he told her about his motives didn't seem pathological at all to me, it really looked like he finally had a clear conscience. ...and she fucked Ted, which is understandable but I still think she's going to be bloated with self righteousness for the rest of the season. I was confused about the opening scene. I thought that white guy was Tortuga's DEA handler but then he lead him straight to Tuco's terminator cousins. Was he actually a corrupt agent or was he some other guy who hasn't been introduced yet? I'm surprised that Gus showed up to that meeting with the cartel representative. He seems like the sort of guy who would rather do all of his business through other people so he can never be implicated in anything illegal. On the other hand, that may illustrate how important that meeting was, Gus couldn't send someone else for fear of offending some very dangerous people. Also, I'm half expecting the next episode to open with Jesse running away from a burning winnebago. I don't think he could ever learn enough chemistry by osmosis (ha!) to produce the level of product that Walt can.
I completely disagree with you. Everything about what Walt did was sociopathic. He didn't give a fuck about what anybody but himself wanted. Strong-arming his way back into the house shows he doesn't actually love Skylar. If he did, he would understand how betrayed she feels and would leave her alone. It was such an aggressive act. No, she's an object to him. If he was feeling genuine remorse, he would lay everything on the table for Walt Jr., instead of using him passive-aggressively to get what he wants. He doesn't feel guilty about any of it -- he feels shame that he was caught. This is exactly the type of person The Last Psychiatrist talks about. Source Walt enjoyed making drugs. He enjoyed the power he felt when he was being a badass, the way it made him feel in control again. It wasn't until he got caught that he got all twisted up about it. What Skylar did was horrible, but at least she doesn't pretend that there's anything between them anymore. To her, Walt's an evil psychopath, she's just passing time until he dies. Walt still thinks he has a family. Would Walt Jr. still be on his side if he knew what his father did? If Walt really believes what he did was right, why not come clean to Walt Jr.? At least let the kid make up his own mind. It's kind of terrifying that anyone is sympathizing with Walt at this point.
I think I said in an earlier post that I keep trying to root for Walt against my better judgment because I didn't know the show was supposed to be about his descent into villainy and madness before I saw the first two seasons. That changed when I read an interview with Vince Gilligan after the end of the second season but I still can't help but hope that Walt will find some peace and stability eventually. I guess part of me is massively misinterpreting this episode in hopes of finding a happy ending.
It was good to see actor Danny Trejo still getting work. He was Tortuga. Off topic, in real life Danny is a pretty interesting guy. When I was in a rehab facility for alcoholism, we watched an old video he had starred and produced where he visit jails and shared his real life story of violence, drug trafficking, addiction, recovery, and how he was discovered by Hollywood. He plays the villian in most of his roles great because he actually lived and breathed it.
Lil late to the party here. I just watched seasons 1 and 2 this past week. I'll download this seasons and catch up this week. All I got to say is, as far as season 2's finale, guess Q lost his omnipotence.
His interest in how long Walt has to live makes me suspect that I was right about Gus taking action against the Brothers. Walt is definitely into the power and ego of making the best meth on the planet. The way he dressed down Jesse in the car was hilarious. I think Walt keeps the cash because it's his formula but he'll get restless sitting at home and the fact that an inferior version of his product is being sold will drive him nuts. Is it just me or is the Hank storyline dragging ass? I love the character but this shell shock/running in circles nonsense has to resolve itself soon.
I'm hoping that Hank passing up El Paso and focusing on tracking the meth sets up a cat-and-mouse with Walt as Hank gets closer to the source. I also like how Vince Gilligan is showing the pathos each character is going through while they deal with their respective trials and tribulations. I'm interested to see how the revenge fucking Schuyler is doing ultimately plays out because it's hard to tell who's side she's ultimately on: Walt or Hank
I felt the same way through the first two seasons, but I am loving that this season they are just trying to make you hate everyone on the show. Not one character is remotely sympathetic at this point. Even Walt Jr alienated me when he and his friend sat there watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force without laughing a single time. Walt’s stuff falling off of Jesse’s car after he bitched him out just to fuel his ridiculous narcissism was one of my favorite little things in the series thus far. Last night’s episode seemed way too short. I am not sure how I would feel about Gus beefing too heavily with the Cartels over just Walt when I am sure meth isn’t that hard to come by, but I definitely want to see the twins back. I’m hoping Ted starts to get into some legal trouble over the book cooking and seeing what the fall out from that might be. It shouldn’t take Hank too long to find Jesse, but he should know he’s not Heisenberg almost immediately. With his PTSD and the way they are moving his character, there is really no predicting what he will do once he finds out about Walt though.
What amazed me is how well Gus played off of that. At first he wanted nothing to do with Jesse, until he realized the entirety of the situation with Jesse and Walt, and even after agreeing to the deal he didn't meet with Jesse or let him anywhere near his operation. The entire buy was a mindgame with Walt. The whole point of the "your half" thing was to let Walt know that Jesse was selling his product, and that Walt wasn't special enough to have exclusive rights to Gus if he wasn't cooking. He deliberately wounded Walt's pride in a way that would make him eager to cook, rather than using the protection card to force an recalcitrant Walt to cook.
Now I finally see that Walt's gone fucking nuts. Narcissistic nuts, jealous nuts, controlling nuts, you name it. The faceplam scene of the episode was where Walt tries to seduce that Assistant Principle at his school, it was a painfully obvious and misdirected way of getting back at Skylar for fucking her boss. Like other people have said, Gus demonstrates his chess master skills by buying Jesse's crappy meth to drive Walt even crazier. Likelihood that he'll be cooking again within the next couple of episodes: 100%. Also, it looks like Badger got a job delivering pizzas in New York City. I saw Brian L. Jones playing a small part in the most recent episode of How I Met Your Mother.
I'm almost certainly overthinking this, but....... I though it showed his utter contempt for women, by dis-empowering her and treating her like a sexual object, instead of the authority figure she is supposed to be as his boss. He's totally corrupted by the money, and the freedom it gives him to give everyone the finger, but has yet to realize that by disrespecting everyone, he will lose them, and the protection the facade of respectability affords him. The power has totally superseded his desire to provide for his family anyway. I wonder if it will be enough for him? I guess not since he's forced his way back into the house. He's at the point where he's acting like what he is, rather than hiding it to protect the people he's supposedly doing it for. He's rendered himself pointless by alienating everyone. It was funny when Skyler mentioned that his death would sort out most of the issues. Way to fuck up Walt. The only way I can see him redeeming himself, is to behave like a professional and harden the fuck up. He's no good to anyone behaving like a disturbed child. What a wanker he's turned into!
You are probably right, but they have kind of had a sort of tension in past episodes that I thought the writers would pan out as Walts new love interest at some point.
Awesome episode. Walt gives Skylar the divorce just as she's realizing that he really did do everything for the family. She's getting use to the luxuries of Ted's life and since that prick got most of his money from embezzling how is he all that different from what Walt is doing? I'm insanely curious about which direction the Jesse-Walt breakup is going to take. The way I see it there are two options. 1. Jesse continues to cook and Gus decides to take care of him, ie kill him. Walt gets involved and threatens to stop cooking if Gus hurts Jesse. 2. Jesse gets busted right away by Hank and turns snitch on Walt but because he and Gus are so careful, catching them proves to be harder than expected.
I think he'll be caught pretty soon but I don't think he'll give up Walt's name. Gus will want Jesse dead but like your first one Walt won't want it to happen. To be honest I never liked Jesse as a character at all. Even though they eventually gave him some depth his ghetto white comic relief shit seemed wholly out of place in the series. How many times could they use the, "Why don't you (insert conflict reference) on these (grabs nutz), BITCH!!" lines anyway?. I think his original purpose of being Walts first connection into the drug game has run its course and I wouldn't be too sad if he was clipped. They won't do it though, they'll lead us on with the cartel hitmen, but it'll never happen.
Im trying to figure the logistics of what Gus is asking Walt to do and how much the whole lab set up would be. Didn't Gus pay them 1.2 million for 88 pounds? Three million dollars for producing 200 hundred pounds a week for 3 months seems like a rip off for Walts expertise.
Back then Walt was providing the lab and the chemicals. Now he just has to show up and mix it all up. All supplies to be provided. One would also assume there is a significant reduction in risk for Walt.
Remember all the shit he and Jesse had to go through to steal that barrel of chemicals from the warehouse? Remember how long it took them to cook up those 88lbs in the trailer. Walt is hired help now. No risk of distribution, no risk of getting shot or double crossed (until they learn his recipe), no need to go steal another barrel of chemicals. When he said 200lbs a week my jaw did a little drop.
This was FINALLY the episode that I have been waiting for. I have been slightly disappointed with most of the episodes so far. However, this is probably due to my insanely high expectations for this series. Fawkes, you pretty much summed up my thoughts on the Jesse/Walt scenario. It's finally getting good. I can't wait until next week.