A slower hour of Breaking Bad where there is one major plot development. Despite the fact that I pretty much predicted it, I don't know exactly how I feel about the Jesse & Hank tag team.
- Breaking Bad, somewhere between the introduction of Gus, changed from being a brilliantly plodding buddy drama to a minutely constructed frantic chase. The show has always spent hours and hours detailing the minutiae of everything from breakfast to catching a fly in a lab to cooking meth. It still does delve into the dreary minute-by-minute existence of Walt and Co.'s lives, that is now the breaks between the madness. This was the break, and because of the shortened season, probably the last break we get. There was nothing frantic in this episode. There was no cliffhanger (there was, but it wasn't close to the previous three). There was no argumentative confrontation other than a brief phone conversation. It was classic Breaking Bad, in the way that made it a classic and not the way it made it brilliant.
- I'll start last first, I have a couple of theories of what Walt could use Todd's Uncle for other than offing Jesse. The first is the other obvious target: Hank. It comes down to who Walt feels slightly more connection to: Hank or Jesse, and since I think Walt is smart enough to know that Hank is behind Jesse finally flipping on him, he might go for Hank. The other is a little more out there: himself, to fake his death. I still believe that when he comes back to Albuquerque in the flash-forward (the infamous 'Hello, Carol' scene) the city believes he is dead. That's why he's been outed. I don't know why Walt would use that card now, so it is less likely, but I just don't want Walt to use the Neo-Nazi to kill Jesse.
- As for Jesse, the most revealing part of his interrogation with Hank is that he still respects the intelligence of Walter White. Although he knows how reckless Walt is, he still respects him enough to warn Hank that Walt is smarter than Hank, and still refers to Walt as 'Mr. White'. This respect is the only reason he reacts to the brooding bald guy enough to run away and essentially give himself up. All roads are leading to Jesse getting killed. I don't want to see it, but I have to think there is about an 80% chance of it happening.
- I don't think Skylar's immersion into being as cold and calculating as Walt himself hasn't been investigated enough. Wasn't it only the first half of Season 5 where Skylar is cavalierly smoking in the house, telling Walt that she is 'waiting for the cancer to die', and just about four or five months later (in BB world), she is upset that Walt didn't kill Jesse? Seems a little bit fast, especially since three of those months were glossed over in the Season 5.1 finale. Either way, seeing Skylar coldly telling Walt to 'deal' with Jesse was about as stunning as seeing Marie telling Walt to repeatedly kill himself.
- I have to think that the various chemicals that Marie has researched plays some sort of role down the line. That was too big and too odd of a scene to be used only in isolation. Also, I was wondering what the legal position the therapist would be in if Marie admitted that Walt was a meth cook and a murderer?
