Michael Corvin

Fantastic episode. I love the new direction of the "company." So their back to a mobile lab, of sorts. I think that was just a stroke of genius. Cooking at other peoples houses means there is no single lab that Hank is looking for. I guess storing supplies at the Pest place is still considered a "home base" but it's definitely the right fit for the operation.

I didn't see it mentioned but the look Walt gave Brock said to me that he had no intention of the kid living. He just had that look of disgust about him and looked at Brock like he was a loose end.

I'm surprised you're the first and only to mention this. Out of the entire episode I think that line may be the most important in regards to the future. At least that's what I took away from this episode.

I thought his deal was $3 mil for 3 months and after that it essentially doubled. $6-7mil for 3 months. I'm sure someone else can pull up a chart or something though.

Me007gold

No its not. The Challanger hasnt been out for 5 years. Its only been out for about 3 years

CaptainMarvel

You're right. Schooner was sort of fun last season when she was getting her toes into the game (and it almost seemed like Walt had unleashed a monster at certain points). But she's just wretched to watch now.

I guess it's just really, really hard to portray wives the right way and have them still be entertaining TV. The Shield had a similar problem... despite Vic Mackey being an utter creep and murderer, his wife was even more unlikeable than he was.

CaptainMarvel

From Wikipedia:
By February 2012, they were 4 years old. By now, they're close to 4.5 years.

Me007gold

5 > 4.5

uteotw

Tracer Bullet

Oh for the love of Christ, it's a TV show, sometimes they take creative license.

Tracer Bullet

Walt doesn't respect anyone. He keeps Jesse around at this point because he knows he has Jesse wrapped around his little finger.

Of course, he might be wrong about that. Walt isn't smart.

CaptainMarvel

I think he was kidding...

slop101

I think she could easily do it if she really wanted to - she's like twice Walt's size!

Dan

I think that's a good prediction, but I think it'll be a coincidence, not part of Walt's plan/scheming.

Meaning, Hank & Marie's house will just happen to be infested... they'll call the exterminators, and for one reason or another, their house will be the only one that Walt & Jesse can actually cook in. It's a bit of a stretch, but possible... and it'd be incredibly entertaining.

bluetoast

Hank getting taken down in such a manner wouldn't be fitting of how smart his character is. He'll have to figure out Walt is Heisenberg via some detective work, he can't get taken down like that. Besides, this series has already used up it's huge coincidence with the airplane in season 2!

Goat3001

I personally think it was a red herring. I think if any scene foreshadows the end it'll be the one where Gus poisons all his partners and takes over the business. I can see the series ending with Walt taking out Jesse and/or Mike for full control of the business.

I wouldn't be surprised if Walt didn't die at all. In the end, I think we'll look back on this as the coming of age story of a drug kingpin... not the rise and fall of a meth cook.

I think the last thing he needs to do to get there is to 'earn' Mike's fear. While Mike and Gus seemed to have a nice working relationship, you knew at the end of the day Mike feared and respected Gus. There are a few ways for Walt to earn that respect, one way would be by killing Jesse in cold blood.

The Cow

Who are the cigarette smokers still around? Jesse and Skymore, anyone else?

Since we still have the cigarette insert around, I could see either of them end up with it, especially with the mild emphasis and mentions of Skylab smoking again.

An interesting turn would be the end with Jesse being the only one around, or survives whatever is coming, and sits down on the couch with a 'was it, or wasn't it' a deadly cig ending.

But all signs seem to point to the wife, this show is pretty deliberate with its clues.

Mike86

I had kind of a mixed reaction in that scene. It did seem like he was uncomfortable with being there in the same room with him. It looked like he could either be viewing Brock as a loose end that will ultimately lead to fallout between him and Jesse, or the scene could be that Walt was actually feeling a bit disgusted with himself for trying to kill a child.

CharlieK

But in the flash forward in ep1 this season it seems like his cancer has returned, I don't think he'd be a kingpin for very long if that's the case. Dramatically, I'm more interested in a rise & fall story, than just a scorched earth rise story. I think that line about watching Scarface is absolute foreshadowing, although I hope Jesse gets spared.

Why do these house tents for fumigating need to be such eyesores in the neighborhood?

dave94

Like someone said before, the ricin was never intended to be administered via smoking a cigarette. That was just a method of keeping it concealed, and even now the drug is just in a vial behind the electrical outlet.

Dan

I don't think Hank will get taken down. I think, continuing with the thought that his house ends up in the hands of the exterminators, he'll finally suspect Walt and put all the pieces together. But I think Walt will run (as implied by the beginning of episode 1 of this season) and Jesse will take an immunity deal with the DEA to bring Walt down for good.

bluetoast

Yeah, it definitely looks like Hank is putting the pieces together, he seems to be the smartest one on the show (probably always was).

PacMan2006

I don't really understand Skylar's fear of Walt. Granted, my memory for how some of the final episodes of season 4 is a bit hazy...

But...Skylar found out about Walt's meth making, and decided to help him with it (on the business side). Now...I know on the S4 finale, she and the family were at Hank's house due to the perceived threat of violence against Hank.

Did Skylar know about Gus specifically, and who he was? I'm trying to remember or figure out how Walt proactively killing a man who threatened the entire White family (Gus dragged Walt out in the desert and told him that he would kill everyone he knew, including his infant daughter) is somehow reason for her to be scared of *Walt*.

I could more understand it if she said she's concerned with potential retaliation from whoever Gus works for. But she specifically told Walt "I'm scared...of you."

Walt's not a good guy by any stretch, but killing Gus (at least in the short term) keeps their family safer, so what's with her overflowing fear?

The Cow

I need to go back and watch a lot of this again.. But to the Hank point did we ever get anything out of the rock/mineral collecting he was doing? Or is that something that may still payoff?

Dan

I think, prior to that, she kind of ignored the fact that Walt was capable of killing people if he had to. She was going along with it all because, in a way, it wasn't REAL to her. I think Gus' death represented reality finally setting in for Skittles. That, and Ted's accident, which never would have happened if Walt wasn't cooking meth.

dave94

I think it started with the whole "I'm the one who knocks" conversation, seeing that he was no longer the sad sack guy she knew before...and then when the explosion happened and she realized he was capable of that, yeah, I can see why she has no clue how far he'll take things/is he crazy now?

bluetoast

At first I thought he was trying to understand the science behind it and maybe it had a similarity in crystalline structure to meth or something, but looking back it's just something he did to pass the time, he was bored as hell laying in bed all day. I'm sure he'd rather have been working on Schraderbrau.

CaptainMarvel

Maybe that's what the machine gun is for?

I actually agree, but I think it's going to be Jesse. I'd almost put money on it at this point.