Fist of Doom

Synopsis:


Episode 2 of 13.

silentbob007

I felt sorry for the Roomba.

aktick

Figured Walt would try to get Mike...and figured Mike would at least initially put him in his place. I'd imagine Walt will keep working on him and eventually win him over - or Gus will piss Mike off enough to eventually make him want to work with Walt.

kstublen

The opening scene with Walt and the gun dealer was great. I especially loved the gun dealer's dialogue; felt very Coen-esque.

Badger and Skinny Pete's discussion about zombies

Jesse listening to M.O.P.

It was really sad to see Jesse like that. I'm still not sure exactly what's going on with him, but it seems like he's just lonely and maybe realizing there's more to life than money and drugs.

Skyler was awesome during the scene with the car wash owner, but it was nice to see that guy stand his ground and not be bought off. She's definitely embracing the criminal lifestyle and doing her homework, but what's the next move if the car wash isn't for sale? The arcade definitely didn't seem like a good idea.

It sucks to see Hank doing so well with the Physical Therapist and then treating Marie so poorly. Seriously though, wtf is with Hank and those minerals?

Mike was definitely shaken after Gus killed Victor, but he had to know Gus was going to kill Victor or have Mike kill him. It feels like there's a history and some loyalty between Gus and Mike, so I don't see him turning on Gus that easily, but seeing Mike in the bar at the beginning makes it look like he's at least trying to figure out what he's going to do moving forward. Definitely seems a possibility that he'll end up helping Walt take down Gus.

Walt's definitely desperate, and he's making decisions, and poor ones at that, on the fly; will be interesting to see what his next move is, since Gus is obviously the smarter and more calculated of the two. It's nice to see that if he is going to get rid of Gus, it isn't going to be as easy as going to his house or asking for a meeting. But that's just another example of Walt not thinking long-term, because how is he going to make money if he kills his boss?

Not to mention the Cartel has to come back at some point this season; I doubt Gus having all those guys killed is just going to be forgotten. So perhaps Walt will align with the Cartel at some point, but that seems awfully dangerous as well. And that's assuming they don't still want him dead too.

silentbob007

A simmer episode ... the last 3 episodes have been very busy, and now the characters stew a bit. I know Walt feels threatened, but he's acting like a moron ... the frontal assault (especially when Gus knew his residence was not a secret) was incredibly dumb and truly tipped Walt's hand.

bluetoast

Awesome episode....was hoping for some Saul, but if he wasn't there in person, at least we got his commercial. Felt great to see Badger and Skinny Pete again, that ending with them having to leave was well done...really showed that Jesse really wants to keep himself occupied, he definitely seems alone right now. And yeah I'm pretty curious about Hanks minerals now! His physical trainer was pretty cool too.

As for the guest stars:

Great to see Jim Beaver as the gun dealer. And his dialogue towards the end was very Deadwoodesque.

And the new guy working for Gus....I think that's the guy who played Kleavon Gardner in The Shield...hope he gets some good stuff to do, he was great on that. Edit: It is, his name is Ray Campbell.

Dubya

It seems like Jesse is reeling from having finally crossed the line into being a murderer.

As for Hank and the minerals, my guess would be he's trying to figure out what makes the meth blue?

Anubis2005X

Heisenberg's approach to Gus's house was just awesome. Totally put me on edge...

Sernov

Jesse's demons are catching up to him. He's paranoid about being alone after seeing Gus' wrath. Not a whole lot of action, but it made up for it in tension, Jesse, Walt, even the way Mike was contemplating his moves. Oh and Hank telling Marie to get out LOL

Fist of Doom

Badger: "I think, like, I've got this cat. I think I'm supposed to feed it."

There was really a sense of separation & isolation of all the main characters this episode, highlighted by Hank lashing out at Marie. Walt, Jesse and Hank seem especially lost right now.

Poor little guy. I kept thinking that bit was a shoutout to DJ Roomba.

Mike86

Great episode as usual. I really feel bad for Jesse right now the murder seems to have really gotten to him. Walt making his intentions known about getting Gus out of the picture and trying to go up to his house I assume to try assassinating him seemed dumb. Although I suppose at this point he's figuring he doesn't have much to lose since if he doesn't get rid of him himself sooner or later Gus will take care of him and Jesse both. Hank's story line is interesting too, I'm not really sure I fully understand his sudden obsession with minerals and why he's so bitter towards Marie.

Osiris3657

I also don't understand why Walt would ask Mike to betray Gus when it's clear he's very loyal to him.

Dr Mabuse

Fantastic as usual.

As someone who is familiar with firearms, it was very refreshing to have the dealer at the beginning being so dead on and accurate with what he said. That's so rare, even in the best movies, much less TV. Vince obviously took steps to see to it that stuff was accurate and the actor delivered it so well.

Mike reflecting on the blood on his cuff, man Jonathan Banks is delivering in spades on this show. He was fantastic. Said so much with minor facial expressions. He's thinking about Gus and their future, he knows things have changed and probably irrevocably. When Walt said it out loud he reacted violently against what he already knew in his own mind. Just terrific.

Jesse trying to party away the pain and worry. That Roomba camera work was fantastic stuff. I still say this is the best show that's ever been on television. No one has ever taken it to this level in every aspect.

"Walt, go home." That was awesome.

Skyler is such a stupid bitch. The worst kind of stupid, she thinks she's smart. Blundering in to that car wash thinking she'd wow the guy with her little proposal, blabbing on the phone, what a complete idiot.

kstublen

Eh, I disagree. I don't like her or anything, but I don't think she's stupid. She was an accountant, right? Last season she pretty quickly figured out that Ted was lying on his books and I thought her whole breakdown of the value of the car wash was pretty cool. The guy didn't accept the offer on principle; not only was it his business that he built from the ground up, but he just doesn't like Walt. Obviously she hadn't anticipated such a refusal, but I don't think that makes her stupid; it makes her foolish or arrogant, but not stupid.

And unless I missed something, all she said on the phone was that they needed to make an offer on the car wash; what's so stupid about that? If that's all she said (correct me if I'm wrong), then I don't see the big deal of her mentioning that over the phone, especially if he is going to actually own the place officially, on the books. That he couldn't at all talk about it seems a bit silly.

windom

I couldn't tell who called Walt when he was approaching Gus' house. Was it Gus or Mike?

This episode really gave my subwoofer a workout.

Is there any chance that Walt would ever cut a deal for himself and Jesse in exchange for turning Gus over? I guess there is still the fear of retribution if he did that.

kstublen

I wasn't sure at first, but after the meeting in the bar and hearing Mike call him Walter, I'm pretty sure it was Mike on the phone.

I think that's always an option, but only as a last possible resort, no other alternative, Hail Mary type of option.

Fandango

I don't think he ever said anything about owning it on the books. The reason its stupid is because they have no history of being able to afford anything like that so it might get looked at by the authorities, especially if the phones are bugged which is what Walt is worried about I think.

Tracer Bullet

People like to hate on Skyler and call her a bitch. It's misogyny. If it was a man doing these things no one would bat an eye.

I watched the first three seasons again in preparation for the new one, and watching them all in a short time span, you really get a renewed sense of Skyler's motivations for her actions and attitude. It's obvious that Walt had a history of lying to her, probably about his relationship with Gretchen, and she reacted the way she did when he first started disappearing to cook meth because of that.

Also keep in mind that I think she's supposed to be a good 10-15 years younger than Walt.

bluetoast

In that case he would also need witness protection for his family as well as Hank and Marie...which would suck for them!

Dr Mabuse

Yeah you missed and forgot some things.

The reason she's stupid is she has been a reactionary idiot of the worst sort in quite a few situations in the show.

In this specific case, the plan was for her to be the beneficiary of Walt's money, the entire plan from the start of the show. But now she's in on it, and they are trying to launder the money so if it WAS ever investigated, no evidence could be found that she had any idea where the money came from, therefore the authorities could/would not indict her and it may prevent seizure of the assets, and as she pointed out, they could not be compelled to testify against each other. There were discussions in previous seasons covering all of this in detail. So the whole car wash thing was to be the way they laundered the money. It was Skylar's idea to do the car wash over the laser tag place that Saul wanted if you recall, and use that to launder and explain the source of the money for her to keep. Remember we spent a lot of time on that? Several episodes IIRC, with Saul involved and recommending businesses, and trying to tell Walt and Skyler to let him handle the money laundering since neither of them knew a thing about it?

All of that planning is blown by some moron blabbing on the phone while it's tapped. Which Walt explained, not sure how you missed that. Taps which in the modern America can be just about any phone at any time. Anyone listening would have proof positive she was in on it, and guess what? She goes to prison for like 20 years minimum in the bust. The entire plan would go down the tubes, much less her getting directly involved in it when it's not ready to go by pulling that stupidity at the car wash, thinking she was on some 'empowered' little victory charge and blowing it like she did instead of listening to direct advice from Walt, who probably knew they would have to come up with some 'buyer' for the place when it was time, but was going to let Saul deal with it, as Walt knew the owner and the history of the place. Much less the other incident of Skyler blabbing about cooking meth in a meth lab on the phone with Saul like a moron, she 'knew' what she was doing there too like a fool. Vince is moving her character in a certain direction, and quite obviously doing so I might add.

One of the main reasons why I like this show so much is they don't spoon feed everything to the audience, beating you over the head with exposition and explanation, you have to think a little, and remember things for context from time to time. It's an intelligent show and you have to pay attention to get what's going on.

Gunde

Jesus Christ how much shitty music can you cram into one episode!? It was almost painful.

Other than that it was a good episode.

anomynous

I do have to say I like the sync of that shitty dubstep song when Jesse's (ex?) girlfriend walked in and it did that generic dubstep slow-down abooooosh

Tracer Bullet

Well I guess when you don't have a rebuttal...

Tracer Bullet

That was the original plan when Walt thought he was going to be dead in six months. Now that he's got another couple of years left in him and Skyler has found out about Walt's money-making activities, the money-laundering has moved from a way for Skyler and the kids to get a windfall after Walt's death, to having a way to spend the money he's making while he's still alive.

Also don't forget that they are still married.

Yes, it was stupid for Skyler to talk about the car wash on the phone. But it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Supermallet

The rest of his post wasn't a rebuttal?

Another excellent episode. I hope they bring back the gun dealer (who was in Deadwood and plays Bobby Singer on Supernatural) because he's a favorite of mine. If not, that was still a great one-off scene. Also loved the roomba-cam.

I was rather shocked that Walt intended to do a frontal assault. Sloppy.