Mike86

My guess with the cold open is either the Cartel has taken out Walt's family and possibly Jesse and Mike as well for taking out Gus or that Jesse found out about Walt poisoning Brock with the ricin and recruits Mike to try and take out Walt but somehow they mess up and end up taking out Walt's family and Walt survives and goes on the run to save himself. After being on the run for some time and finding out the cancer is returning and he'll be dead soon anyways he purchases the gun and returns back to Albuquerque as a last ditch effort to get revenge.

DJLinus

I don't know why Walt kept his birthday, either, but Don stole another man's identity. He'd have to adopt that man's birthday to match up with official documentation, I'd think.

bluetoast

I agree, what I'm saying is the situation may be similar in that Walt has a false birthday that is close to his actual one, like Don and Dick did (although the real Don seemed a bit older than "Don" if I remember, even though he turned 40 only a few months before).

RichC2

Despite the conflict with Dish, last nights episode was the most watched episode of Breaking Bad (2.9m viewers (3.5m with the repeat), 1.5 demo), funny that one of the best shows I've ever seen has such a low viewer base.

bootsy

That is usually the case with shows like this, The Shield, The Wire, Six Feet Under. Shows I consider great don't have a high viewership but shows like The Walking Dead which I like but not as much as those shows has such a high viewership. The slow pace of those shows to me has to be a factor. We live in an impatient world.

Raul3

Great season premiere. I actually expected a few "bad" reviews from people here, since there are a lot watching "live" for the first time.

Breaking Bad always starts "slow", although this episode wasn't that slow. I can only think what will happen by episode 6.

I'm not sure if I liked that they were able to "get" Mike that easy. But it's just the first episode, so we really don't know the full story yet.

silentbob007

There's also the leftover from last season ... the don didn't kill Gus because he "knew who he was" from Chile ... perhaps reprisals could be coming from South America?

JayDerek

as pissed as Mike was, he knew Walt had a great point in that they NEEDED to do something about that laptop.

Jack Straw

Not really...Mike's first choice was just to skip town, not go after the laptop. I think he went along because Jesse talked him into it. Also, it would have been nice if Walter caught a bit of the news coverage of the bomb explosion to see just how much the media knew about Gus's drug connections. I can't wait to see how the connect the storyline lead us to to the cold open.

xVladx

The thing is, there's how much he'd have to lose by "skipping town" vs how likely the evidence could be destroyed. Given the heat that would have been on him if he could be identified (remember, he's an ex-cop, so I imagine he'd be pretty identifiable) would most likely have required him to leave the country, not just move one town over. Given that he's got a daughter and granddaughter in Albuquerque (and it's amazing how 4+ years of discussing this show has gotten me to remember the spelling), it's not unlikely that he'd grasp onto a likely opportunity to be able to hang around.

Deftones

wow, intense and just as awesome as ever. god i love this show. jesse's magnets bitch line was classic.

mhg83

That was so fucking awesome premiere! I wonder what the note under the photograph means? Anyone have a screencap of that shot?

Deftones

looked like to me it was bank account numbers. maybe swiss ones.

devynal

Yeah, as soon as they started discussing destroying the laptop, I immediately thought of The Big Easy and the arbitrary throwing of the heavy-duty magnet through a window just so it would be booked into evidence and placed next to the videotapes that needed erasing.

bluetoast

Yeah I thought back to my 10th grade chem class where the teacher talked about magnets and computers.

The Cow

@ Mike...

"Keys, scumbag. It's the universal symbol for give me the keys"

JayDerek

flashburn

The junkyard guy was cracking me up. Especially his expressions while standing behind Walt.

DJLinus

Ah. Gotcha.

Yeah, I believe I read the word "Cayman" there with the numbers, but I could be wrong.

But I was wondering, with absence of knowledge of the paper behind the photo, what exactly was that framed photo supposed be evidence of? I guess the cops just seized everything in his office, useful or not.

Coral

God I love this fucking show!

I had an issue with the video recording remaining at the end of last season, and I loved that they addressed it this season. The writers are always thinking, I love that. As much as I like Dexter, there are so many loose ends and plot holes that really frustrate me. It's few and far between that it happens in BB.

I'm pretty sure the cancer is back (ie. at the beginning of this episode). Many suspected last season that he hid the true diagnosis from the family.

Yes, that was an account in the Caymans - that's what was written behind the picture.

I'm dreading the huge break in-between this season. It'll feel like a total tease. Talk about milking it.

bluetoast

People are positing that the bank accounts will tie into the Madrigal German company, since Madrigal is the name of the next ep.

As for taking the pic into evidence I assume they also wanted to ID the guy that was in the pic with Gus.

Nausicaa

Unreal, this show. This episode had everything that makes it great. Just awesome. I wonder how many takes they did of the 'Yeah bitch! Magnets!' scene, because it was perfect. And the junkyard guy fist pumping to Walt's plan was hilarious.

I was really curious how they were going to bring the show back. It was really a blank slate, and they took it in just the right direction. I can't wait to see how this goes. Teasing with the cold open was utterly brilliant.

AVP77

Something nobody seems to have mentioned yet, I really loved the scene of Hank wandering through the burnt-up lab on his cane in that protective suit, great atmosphere, felt like an astronaut exploring an alien environment.

The magnet scheme, while pretty cool, kind of took me out of the show a bit, because I know that most modern hard drives are not anywhere near as unstable as some magnetic tape. It kind of bothered me that they didn't even test it to see that the hard drive data was damaged at all, just that the screen started getting screwy? (nevermind that data recovery is pretty good at accessing stuff that a regular OS wouldn't be able to read)

Just a nitpick, but at least they didn't show that the scheme succeeded.

edit: pretty good article about it: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407192,00.asp

conscience

Loved when Mike went all Barry White worrying if the laptop was taken care of. Was that him or a bad dub?

Very interested to see what was behind the photo

Sound design was awesome tonight.

StephenX

Incredible premiere. The opening was fantastic, and we know at one point there is going to be a massacre involving Walt...what a tease.

For those who are watching this show on AMC for the first time, every season there are a few who are like "This is good, but slow and not as exciting as previous seasons.."

It's normal, this show is a slow burn then usually goes off the rails halfway through the season. And when you watch it week-to-week and not dvd/bd, it does feel slower. However, since this season is broken up, I'm curious as to whether that will happen. Regardless, just keep paying attention, these little minute details really stick out when you're not flying through it and are forced to wait between episodes.

The year hiatus is going to be miserable.