Sure he loses SOME of the risk on the violence side of it, but jesus 88 lbs would have been enough for multiple life sentences. Even if he is a hired gun for the mastermind, producing that much meth has to carry a mind boggling jail sentence, that is unless he turns state witness and cuts a deal.
There's always some risk but... HE'S COOKING IN A FREAKING TOP SECRET UNDERGROUND SUPER LAB! Cooking in there is far less risky than cooking in the RV in the middle of the desert. Does anyone else think something is going to happen to Ted? He's in the show too much to just be "the guy Skyler is bangin".
It might be a stretch but he could be using the embezzled funds at his job to fund similar drug organizations like Gus, if not in league with Gus already. The guy owns an accounting firm, he could be laundering money for them as well (how much did Skyler say when she was auditing the books?). Though I think this show would be above a connection like that.
I agree that something's going to happen with Ted, but I definitely think that the show is above a connection like that. It would be way too cheap and gimmicky. I think Walt is going to do something to him. He's always gotten off on the power that comes with cooking meth, so now I think he's really going to start going crazy. He's in the big leagues now, that has to boost his ego. Maybe after being a (the) integral part of a multi-million dollar, professional meth operation, he'll start to wonder why he's letting Ted steal his wife--the wife that he did all this for in the first place. Now, obviously Ted didn't start any of this and things would still be fucked up without him, but he'll be an easy target for Walt to blame.
Ted is going to die. Absolutely without a doubt, the dude is going to be underground by the end of the season. The question is how does he get there. I love how seemingly effortlessly Craston switches between crying about being able to hold his baby to being a bad ass in the lawyer's office. The dude just nails this role all the way through. Is Hank going to remember Jesse? And would Jesse roll on Walt now that they're in competition? And would anyone even believe him if he did? Exciting times!
I find it hard to believe Gus isn't going to have Jesse taken out if he does anything, to fuck with Walt. He's already deeply connected to Walt and he's gone to great lengths to keep him safe already. I see this all heading down a path where everyone, Hank, Ted, Jesse, die and Walt is left standing but everyone hates him and his facade of respectability is stripped away.
Agreed. Come to think of it, Hank picking up Jesse might just save his life (from Gus.) As to if Jesse would rat out Walt, I think no way. Jesse is kind of a pussy but I think he knows the game well enough not to go out like that. This whole episode just put everything is high gear from here on out. Jesse is in trouble, something HAS to happen with Hank with the roller coaster that he has been on, and Walt has snapped again. Come on Sunday...
I started watching this show on DVD after Season 1, and then watched Season 2 this year right before Season 3 started...so I got caught up right at the start of this season. Breaking Bad is the best show on TV, hands down. You guys are right - Ted is in deep shit. Jesse isn't going to rat Walt out though, and Hank isn't going to die any time soon. The Walk/Hank dynamic is what is going to drive this show for quite a while. And yes, Skylar is a bitch. I've never liked her character since the show started.
Just when I think I've got the plot lines pegged they go and pull a fast one on me. I was a little disappointed when Hank fell for the "wife in trouble" call. Seemed like a rather weak way to get Walt and Jesse out of the situation. I would have preferred if the junk yard owner ran Hank off the property (which he could have done) and then crushed the Winne as Hand watched through the fence. Walt could have slipped out the back or something. What happens to Jesse now? With the Winne gone he's out of the game. There's no way he'll keep cooking now that the DEA is all over him. Since Gus didn't lay the blame on Jesse like I thought he would it leaves Jesse out in the cold. Does anyone think Hank will actually get killed? Or will Gus pull a little end-around and give the DEA a heads up that the psycho brothers are gunning for them? Love this fucking show.
I love the subtlety of Gus's character. The way they showed him handling such a bizarre situation with threatening twin Mexican henchmen occupying a table in his fast food joint while he teaches a young fast food employee how to work the microwave.
If Gus really does intend to put a expiration date on his business arrangement with Walt by having someone learn his formula he's doing it a lot better than I expected. I thought that Walt's lab assistant was going to be that guy who threw the bag of cash through the window of his minivan a couple of episodes ago. Instead, I think Gus hand picked a BFF for Walt so he lets his guard down completely. This guy, Gale, is perfect; he looks just as unassuming as Walt, he has all the right motivations (he "respects the chemistry" as well), and you can tell right after that scene where Gale recites the Whitman poem that Walt starts thinking that he's found the first intellectual equal since leaving academia. I daresay that watching the beginnings of their relationship was kind of cute. It's going to be sad when Gale shows his true colors. It seems like that junkyard owner might have been a constitutional lawyer in a past life. I know that if you're in his kind of business you have to learn your rights and how to exercise them pretty quickly but that guy spoke with the eloquence of someone a lot more intelligent than the average for his profession. I doubt they'll explore that, though. I don't think Hank is going to die in the next episode, if at all. The quick cut to his bloody hand in the preview was probably a scene from a flashback to the tortoise mine that injured the Los Alamos crew. Maybe they're going to expand the narrative of what happened after the explosion in the same way that they finally explained how Tortuga's head ended up on the tortoise mine in the first place. Also, I'll be surprised if Jesse doesn't fall of the wagon within the next episode. He might have been able to stay clean if he was running something with Badger and Skinny Pete but now he's got nothing better to do than sit in his empty house with all that meth he can't move and listen to Jane's voicemail message over and over again.
I don't see why Gus would try and stop the Mexicans from killing Hank. He knows he is the brother in law of his head cook, seems like taking care of that aspect would be a HUGE priority of a super careful Meth Kingpin (something I thought he'd immediately handle as soon as he found out in the DEA offices) . Of coarse I thought the new scientist seemed like the obvious replacement for Walt in the case of him getting killed by the assassins but then Gus went and let them have free access to kill Hank. I think something is going to end up happening with Saul. He's been getting sloppy and it couldn't be that hard to trace the phone call to his broken cell phone. I don't get how most you guys are so dead set on Ted being murdered or killed. So far he has been a background character in Walts life and there isn't really much of a reason, yet, for him to even be in trouble. Walt flipped out that one day but seems to have totally forgotten and doesn't seemed concerned anymore who is fucking his wife, let alone enough for him to want Ted dead.
I don't know if Ted is going to be murdered but it would make sense if he had an "accident" at some point this season. Gus might grant Walt a favor for producing even more than expected in a week or something and Walt might seize that opportunity to get some revenge on the guy who's been fucking his wife.
I disagree because killing a DEA agent will set off the mother of all shit storms and put the super meth under the microscope again. The Albuquerque office seems to be on to other things right now with only Hank chasing down the blue meth. His boss told him to wrap it up quick and now that he lost his only lead (the Winne) he doesn't have anything legitimate to bring back to his boss. Hank had to beg for time just to follow up on the Winne... I can't see his boss letting him stay on this any longer unless he does it in his spare time (which he will). Plus the timing doesn't add up. Walt will freak if Hank dies and it's too soon to let that happen. Absolutely. His new assistant is just too nice of a guy to come across Gus' radar without having some serious baggage. I bet he's a devious motherfucker who has pulled some serious shit, like murdering someone with poison or something. Got caught, did some time, and Gus reached out and protected him. Something just ain't right about that guy. He'll fall off the wagon but her cell message is dead. In an earlier episode he called it and the number was disconnected.
A retribution killing like this is about as far out of character for Walt as you could dream up. Aside from some random collateral damage incident, I don't see why he would be killed off, or why so many here are certain he will be. From what the series has given us so far I really don't see that many avenues for him to be a certain kill by seasons end. Hell it took Christopher Moltasanti until the last part of the final season of the Sopranos to get killed and he was a main character that gave a million reasons to be killed. I think a couple of Cartel Assassins would bring a shit ton more heat on the Mexican cartels by killing a DEA agent than it would on Gus, which is probably why Gus gave them the information in the first place. If they kill Hank, Gus can just claim to Walt that they had been after Hank because of Tuco's killing and thus turn Walt against the cartels as well. Gus doesn't have to tell Walt about the killers being after him...
Wow, great episode, I thought. I get the feeling that Gus is playing everyone like fiddles; he just seems like he's two steps ahead of everybody. He's the kind of guy that always has a back up plan, and I bet all the pieces (giving permission to kill Hank, finding Walt the apparently mild-mannered lab assistant) will come together in his favour. I'm on board with the theory that the assistant is a persona created by Gus for Walt. I thought the use of that poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" was absolutely genius - it's exactly the kind of thing that would resonate with Walt, and if Gus picked it out, it shows that he can read Walt (/anybody) like a book. Walt has been having an identity struggle since episode 1 about how he's somewhere between chemist and criminal, and the poem kind of validates stepping away from the established group and going off on your own, experiencing the world for yourself. (How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; / Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,) I think Gus knew that poem would really hit home with Walt, and I think he chose it to help put Walt at ease by making him think that he's found a friend who is actually going through the same thing as him. And how great was the scene where Walt and Hank were having a tug o war with the RV door? Just awesome. This show is fucking amazing.
Best. Show. Ever. The look on Hank's face when he realized he was played was priceless. I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Either Hank is going down, or something is going to happen to save Hank and the cousins somehow go down. Btw, I loved the opening shot of the rear view mirror of the Indian's cop car. "Homeland security. "Fighting terrorism since 1492" with the picture of the group of Indians.