Breaking Bad - Season 5

[Dorian Thompson]

There's even a chance there will be a wild contortion of the plot so that Walt's effort to protect someone in the flashforward is foreshadowing his makeshift redemption.

Jesse? He'd come back from witness protection/fleeing from a rival drug manufactuer/hiding from the law to protect Jesse, maybe? That's the only scenario I can envision that makes even the slightest bit of sense character wise. Question is, does Walter give enough of a shit about Jesse anymore? At this point, I wonder if he'd let Jesse take the fall for the whole enterprise if it would help Walter escape prosecution.

I keep thinking even Walter wouldn't stoop quite that low, but if he's keeping that ricin around behind the bedroom's electrical outlet, (possibly to use against Skyler) maybe he would. Another alternative--having killed Skyler, lost his children and having to run from the law--or his cancer has returned after all this has happened....maybe a dying Walter wants to commit one last, non heinous act and decides to get Jesse out of danger and/or trouble? Too schmaltzy, or do you buy it because of the great, twisted chemistry of Cranston and Paul? What was the point of Walt's freudian slip mumbling, "Bye, Jesse" to Walter Jr. when he left his beaten father in his bedroom? On some extremely selfish level, perhaps Walter still gives a damn about Jesse? Walter seems to evolve and mutate every week. I can't tell about him anymore.

[Tom]

Wow what a great episode! Lot of tension with the train. Walter is getting more evil. Poor kid on the dirt bike.

[Agent Richard07]

^ Yeah, a real bona fide train heist. Absolutely fantastic television. It was a well put together episode overall. We got ourselves another one of their cryptic intros that only made sense later and they wouldn't let things end without consequence. Poor kid indeed.

What happens when those devices in Hank's office are discovered? Putting a bug in the pic and a wire right on the computer seemed like a dumb move. There had to have been an easier way. And what was the computer hook-up for? I didn't notice them making use of it.

[sidious618]

Okay, now that was really dark. I kept thinking that Walt would try to off Todd and then... Shit.

[Agent Richard07]

^ I thought the same thing.

InklingStar wrote:

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Never forget.

Never forget indeed...

[stj]

It's just a little bit of a cheat to have Todd to step up to the plate unasked and shoot the kid. Will Walter think Todd's a tradeup on Jesse?

Not making it necessary for Walter to give the order is at least defensible. I don't understand how Skylar could possibly think she can keep Junior/Flynn away from Walt when she won't even bother to give the kid a reason. She has to know that all she's doing is leaving Walt the opportunity to paint her as the villain. If she really wants to keep Junior away she has to say something.

The recap included Walt saying the melamine must flow. This is to my ears a blatant allusion to Dune, and Baron Harkonnen. (Ian Macniece or Kenneth MacMillan, take your pick.) Who knew Walt was an SF fan?

[Snaploud]

I don't think Walter would trade Jesse for Todd. Todd's a bit of a wild card, and Jesse is the one who keeps coming up with ideas. In fact, I think there's a good chance Jesse becomes kingpin (and/or kills Walt) at the end of the show.

Regarding the wiretap: I'm surprised Walt wasn't worried about fingerprints. It's at least somewhat possible that the police chief's office is checked for bugs on a regular basis.

[Dorian Thompson]

Walt could always revisit his good old brother-in-law at the office and take the bug out. Great episode. I can't believe I didn't see it coming with the kid. I knew Todd was going to do something awful thanks to that asshole reviewer at TV Guide who stated that Todd was going to be "pure evil" but claimed she wouldn't give spoilers. That'll teach me to read an advance preview. I'm so mad at myself for that. I thought that Todd would shoot the train's crew.

Loved that Jesse came up with the idea; I don't think Walter is looking to trade up. He knows Jesse and trusts him. There's also the arrogance that he has Jesse in the palm of his hand with his own manipulations--that satisfaction that he was able to "change Jesse's mind about him," even though it was all his bullshit lies.

Of course, Jesse went off the deep end after having to kill Gale to save good ole Walt. I wonder what the boy dying as a result of his idea is going to do to him. Even Walter had the decency to look shocked. Perhaps he was. This is going to cause ripples between Jesse, Walt, and Mike. Sooner or later Jesse's going to have to own his own responsibility in all this. Big time problems times one hundred. Also, Walter Jr. is going to be a fly in the ointment. You can't just turn a teenager's life around and give zero explanation like that. They aren't children even if they aren't financially self sufficient enough to live on their own. Yes, they need to respect their parents, but parents need to realize that having your life changed through no fault of your own brings emotional turmoil to a mind not yet fully mature. Still, Walter Jr. bugs me because he looks 30. How old is the actor now, playing a kid who's supposed to be 16? I keep thinking, "Move out of the house! You're a grown man you fool!" He looks Jesse's age. RJ Mitte is probably close to Aaron Paul's age.

In fact, I think there's a good chance Jesse becomes kingpin (and/or kills Walt) at the end of the show.

I don't think Jesse has it in him morally to be a kingpin, but this incident could be the catalyst for his eventually turning against Walter. This is going to eat Jesse alive.

[Guy Gardener]

i spent he whole episode thinking that Todd was an undercover cop.

Well.

That seems unlikely now.

[Harvey]

Dorian Thompson wrote:

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Still, Walter Jr. bugs me because he looks 30. How old is the actor now, playing a kid who's supposed to be 16? I keep thinking, "Move out of the house! You're a grown man you fool!" He looks Jesse's age. RJ Mitte is probably close to Aaron Paul's age.

RJ Mitte is 19, and will be turning 20 this month.

Aaron Paul is 32, and will be turning 33 this month.

[davejames]

Great episode. I was wondering how the hell they would pull off the train heist, but the solution was actually pretty simple and ingenious. Although it does seem a bit far-fetched that the engineers wouldn't still have SOME way to contact someone anytime they have to stop the train. Or that the wouldn't see or hear anything going on in the back.

But oh well. The whole sequence was still intense as hell.

And wow, Walt is really pushing his luck with Hank. Not only by planting a couple of bugs (which you would think a suspicious cop like Hank would be on the lookout for), but talking about how much Skyler "hates" him and considers him a "bad influence" on the kids.

That, combined with Skyler's depressed and traumatized behavior around Walt, should be setting off alarm bells in Hank's head by now. Because her behavior isn't consistent at all with the story he's being told.

Not to mention the new cars and expensive watch Walt is buying himself...

[Harvey]

Hank is a good cop, but he has no reason to suspect his new office in the DEA's secured building would be bugged. One would expect the room to be locked, and the building to be well-guarded and monitored. He also has no reason to suspect Walter of any wrongdoing at this point (or, at least, is letting his personal feelings cloud his judgment). I give that element a pass.

I'm surprised this "season" is more than half-over at this point; it feels like it just began.

[davejames]

Harvey wrote:

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Hank is a good cop, but he has no reason to suspect his new office in the DEA's secured building would be bugged. One would expect the room to be locked, and the building to be well-guarded and monitored. He also has no reason to suspect Walter of any wrongdoing at this point (or, at least, is letting his personal feelings cloud his judgment). I give that element a pass.

I agree he has to reason to think Walt is the elusive "master cook" he's chasing after just yet, but he should still think something strange is going on with Walt.

Especially once Skyler started acting the way she has. Something clearly drove her to want to cheat, and to start acting all shaky and afraid all the time, and to want to get the kids out of the house so desperately.

Any halfway experienced cop would have to realize it was something the husband was doing.

[Harvey]

I'm sure if Walt was anyone other than his brother in law, Hank would be on to him, but his personal feelings are still clouding his judgment, I think. Plus, he bought the infidelity story.

[Jonas Grumby]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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i spent he whole episode thinking that Todd was an undercover cop.

That's what I was thinking, too.

(Heh! There's a phone call I'd love to have listened in on. "Hey, Todd, how's your undercover investigation of that burglary ring going?" "Oh, Lieutenant, you're not gonna believe what I just stumbled onto!" )

But, like you said, by the end of the episode, I was pretty much disabused of that theory.

Does anyone else think the safest way to have handled the kid on the bike would have been to just pack up and walk away, maybe with some comment like, "Hey, kid, I bet you'd like to be a railroad repairman when you grow up to, eh? See ya around, sport!"? Even if the kid mentioned it to someone, it would have generated a lot less unwanted attention than a dead, or even just missing, child. I suspect even Mike would have called it that way. (At this point, I've no idea how Walt would have called it.)