If anyone were to get clipped, I wish it were Jesse. I like Walt's character, I think he's the best on the show. Not to mention, I've liked Brian Cranston since he played Hal on Malcolm In The Middle. I just fail to see what is redeemable about Jesse, at all. He doesn't even make a good fucking assistant. Pouring the drinking water on the engine in the desert, Getting fucked up and nodding out on H when Walt needed the meth, leading hank to the RV etc etc etc. He just makes me so fucking angry and I wish he would just die.
Also, everyone has to remember that there would be no reason for Hank to suspect that the wife-in-trouble call was a fake. Think about it, Hank doesn't know that Walt was inside that RV. Yes, the timing was suspect. But there would be little reason for him to believe that these drug dealers knew anything about his wife and knew his personal cell phone number. If I were Hank that's what I would be worried about right now. We'll see right now. (9:59 pm Sunday)
That episode tonight was beyond awesome. My heart was racing at the end when Hank was in the shootout. I think the preview showed the twin that got crushed between the cars still alive in the hospital though. Did anyone else catch that? Jesse has no redeeming qualities and fucks everything up, but that is the best part of his character. He's a total screw up, but Walt needs him on his side.
As soon as Hank's boss asked for his gun all I kept thinking was "Oh shit he's going to be fucking defenseless now". Luckily he was able to get one of the twin's guns. I have this feeling this whole shooting thing will bring Hank's character the new lease on life cliche and bring him out of his depression. Maybe not though, breaking bad usually doesn't use canned plot lines. Maybe it will just make him worse. Yes, the one of the twins was seen getting out of the hospital bed (why he wasn't cuffed and guarded by cops I don't know). I don't think it's impossible to rule out Hank getting murdered either. He's an important secondary character. But it could be like Dexter season 4 spoiler: Spoiler the Rita thing
Very intense episode and probably my second favorite so far (the episode where Walt took the exploding crystals to confront Tuco was my favorite). I was a little pissed when they ran an advertisement for next week's episode at about the 3/4 mark of the show. It showed one of the Twins in Jesse's hospital room, getting out of the bed and then clearly showed Hank with a bunch of tubes coming out of him. Kinda spoiled the final minutes of the show. I think having Hank shot up sets Walt in a different direction. He's slowly getting backed into a corner by Jesse, his wife, and even Gus (though he doesn't know it yet) and will have to push back. I don't think Hank dies but this will take him out of his prominent roll in the show for now. I disagree about Jesse. I found his speech to Walt to be a little moving, and though Jesse isn't blameless in his "shit luck" Walt played a HUGE part in where he is now. For as much as Walt has helped Jesse with money and whatnot he's also fucked him over on a macro level. Walt never really considers what his actions will do to Jesse. He's completely abandoned him or pushed him out on numerous occasions and only brings him back into the fold for purely selfish reasons (self preservation). I'm waiting for Jesse to smarten up and maybe start to figure out Gustavos end game. A long shot, but really the only thing that would redeem his character for me.
Jesse had a couple strong moments in the episode. Over all his character really has to move away from the bumbling street level dealer in order for me to ever except him. Over all this is probably one of the best episodes start to finish. I'd have to say Hank has become my second favorite character on the show behind Walt. He started off as one of those over the top gung ho cops but they have given him some serious stuff that I think the actor, Dean Norris, deserves much credit for.
I agree, but I think that's exactly what the show is already doing. In seasons 1 Jesse was an amateur (if that) meth dealer with no real strategy, just trying to make easy money. Walt needed him as an in to the drug world, and as they started working together, Jesse proved to be - predictably - in over his head (ie he was always screwing up, Walt was always saving their asses, etc.) Because of Jesse's constant fucking up, Walt's impression of him as an essentially worthless criminal was constantly validated. Like Jesse said in this episode, Walt has never really cared about Jesse. Sure, he visits him in the hospital when he gets the shit beat out of him, but Walt has really only ever worked with Jesse because he had to. Now, I think Jesse is starting to mature and learn. Breaking Bad is a fucking brilliant show, so Jesse didn't just show up in season 3 a changed man who was suddenly clever and intelligent. He's still the same person he always was, but now he's starting to understand that there is a certain amount of strategy involved in what he does. Buying the house from his parents for cheap, insisting on staying sober (won't even take pain meds), etc., tells me that he's not as dumb as he once was. I'm interested to see how Jesse and Walt 2.0 turns out. I think if Walt (and Gus and Saul) continue to see and treat Jesse as the harmless fuck up that he once was, Jesse might surprise them. (Again, obviously he's not suddenly a mastermind criminal, but I don't think he's going to allow himself to be walked all over anymore.) And holy fuck - Hank's gun fight at the end of the episode was something else. Incredible suspense/action scene. This show is simply in a league of its own, I don't know how else to say it.
Just quickly, from here on out, wrap anything in an ad in spoiler tags. I know I watch online and don't see the ads ever (which is the way I like it), and I'm sure there are others in the same boat.
I'm not sure if I some how missed it. Do we know for sure who called Hank to warn him that the brothers were 1 minute away? Was it Gus?
Agreed it makes sense that it was Gus. What better way to kill the brothers than send them against a DEA agent who knows they're coming? If he's lucky, all three die in the shootout and he's rid of both the brothers and the agent who most endangers his operation. Gus is playing chess while the rest of these fools play checkers.
I think it was Mike who made the call. The previous episode showed that Saul gets Hank's cell phone number from Walt when he's in the bind. Mike works for both Saul and Gus and has great tracking ability. Mike had probably been tracking the twins. He would also readily have a voice changing tool on the phone with him handy. That would be twice that Mike has foiled a twins hit, if it's true.
What I'm curious about (well, one of like 14 things) is how Hank's injuries (death? no...) are going to affect Skyler. She probably thinks Jesse had something to do with this, and she knows Jesse and Walt have some sort of connection. She's fine(ish) with keeping quiet when she thinks Walt is just off dealing with faceless criminals doing things that don't affect her directly, but now that Hank got attacked, she may rethink her stance. With regards to who made the warning call to Hank about the brothers coming... fuck, I have no idea. Whoever made the call must have known that any combination of the three (brothers + Hank) could have been killed, so it seems to me that the caller's motivation must have been to try and keep Hank alive. Why would Gus want to give Hank that chance? Unless he REALLY wanted those brothers dead... who knows. Or maybe since the brothers are from a Mexican cartel (right?) it could throw the DEA off of Gus' trail. I've kind of stopped trying to predict where this show is going, I never get it right - which is awesome.
I know we have heaped plenty of hyperbole about this show already, but seriously how the hell do they manage to make every episode so fucking exciting over and over. There is literally zero filler in this show. You can't even take a piss break without missing something huge. I hope everyone realizes we are watching one of the best written shows of all time here. I feel bad for the people who aren't watching. And it's on basic fucking cable!
We talk a lot about the writing, but the cinematography/film editing is incredible too. Every single shot is masterfully calculated. I'm not a photography guy, but even I can appreciate how much work goes into each second of filming these scenes.
Yeah, this show is just sick... Spoiler I really loved the shot of Gus outside his burrito joint at night in the parking lot while speaking to the the Cartel boss getting murdered on his cell phone. It's such a surreal situation---but with a background(visual) of a realistic everyday Americana image. Just to expound on this point, since I'm a little buzzed. This is what great writers do. They put us in real-life situations we've all been in, but then take it to the next level of adventure that never happenned. How many of us have been in a parking lot in the middle of a nowhere mexican food joint talking on our cell phone. Probably most of us. But were we witnessing our plan of a cartel leader get killed by Federales.
Great episode. Cranston should be up for another Emmy for the scene describing driving to the Hospital before his surgery. Spoiler Gus really did have everything clocked. Had Mike in to make sure the second assassin didn't make it. Knew the blow back from the shooting would lead to his south of the boarder rival's demise. What a bad ass.