What’s so interesting about Walter White is how, no matter how deep he seems to get into the drug game, he’s always going to hold on to the part of him that’s the completely awkward and obsessive-compulsive high school chemistry teacher. As I’ve noted before, supposedly the plan for this series is to see Walter White’s journey to become a drug lord. Yet here we see a guy who passes out in his tighty-whities on the floor of a cheap hotel and stops to fish a bandaid out of a shared pool. I guess nobody ever said up-and-coming drug lords are supposed to be without quirks.
What I do wonder, though, is whether Walter will ultimately cut ties with his family. Well, obviously I don’t mean soon, as it’s his family that’s his sole reason for living right now. But things can’t really go on this way, with his dirty laundry out in the open. Skyler isn’t even close to just allowing Walter’s new job into her life or the lives of her children, and she’s going all out to stop him from continuing to be a part of her life at all, short of turning him in. Could Walter, at some point, just give up and move on? And would he continue making the blue glass if he was to start anew?
You would think that Skyler would perhaps have a little understanding for what Walter has done, now that she’s discovered her own boss is skimming off the top for his family. Obviously I don’t mean it’s right to do what they’re doing, but should she at least listen to Walt? I wonder if this is the sort of thing wives of members of the mob have to endure, knowing full well what their husbands do but having to turn a blind eye toward it because they’ve either grown to accept it or are simply in denial.
Now let’s get to Jesse. Why is he screwing over his family, even after his dad was at least a little courteous to him? If Jesse has already accepted who he is, with 45 days of cleanliness behind him, could it be that he’s working to become the new badass of the blue meth business? It sure feels a lot to me like that’s the direction he’s taking, trying to show he doesn’t have to rely on anyone in life anymore. He’s going to be a challenge for Walter — you just watch.
Now we know that the two mysterious Mexican dudes are working in real-time to locate Walter, and what we see is not what will happen in the future. And then we see who they’re working for: Mr. “Ding!” himself, Tuco’s sort-of mentor from last season. Seeing Walter saved at the last second by the “pollos” text message (which, in case you didn’t know, means “chickens” in Spanish), was one of the tensest moments of the series. But how long will that save Walter from seeing the sharp end of that shiny axe in the future?
One last note: I loved how the folks who shoot this show used the pizza on the roof in several shots and as a story device, when it sure seemed that it was a complete accident that it landed on the roof in the first place. It couldn’t have been the plan all along to have it land there, could it? If so, that must have taken some serious patience to get the shot just right.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Mar 28, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time until there is a reconciliation and we see Skylar embrace the “family business.” It looks like she will get some good experience laundering money at her current job.
*POST AUTHOR*
Not sure if she’s really laundering money — there’s no need for that in what her boss is doing. She’s just put in a position to have to “hide” it. Laundering money is what one does to remove traces on cash.
If she’s headed toward accepting it completely, THAT will certainly make for an interesting show. She seems so far away from that at the moment that that kind of transformation would be remarkable.
I am thinking that Skylar is going to let that horny boss of hers tap tap her like the Zohan.
I think Walter made a massive mistake when he told the Chicken Drug King that his family was the only thing that mattered. Pretty much guarantees that she is getting kidnapped to force him to cook more meth. Should have taken the 2 million.
Los Pollos Hermanos is Gustavo’s (Guy) restaurant. When the assassins get the text “Pollos” it’s a reference to him, probably suggesting that they cease and desist or just to visit the Senior Drug Lord…. now. I’m sure Tuco’s Tio (that’s uncle, by the way) doesn’t hold as much clout as Guy, although that bell ringing does grab your attention. SEGWAY ~~ The scene with the “hombres” crawling in the dirt as part of some Mexican voodoo was spectacular! ~~
Also, Guy’s offer was $3,000,000 for 3 months of cooking, not $2M and in “hind sight” it might appear that Walt should have accepted that deal given the current turn of events. That course, however, would just guarantee his disassociation with his family, especially the baby. I think it’s greatly more realistic from a father’s perspective to take the road he has. For being as smart as he is, Mr. White didn’t see all the heat coming down on his family when he decided to confide in certain people that he was having marital trouble. Saul??? Come on, there had to be some red flags there.
Jesse’s motives in purchasing his parents house are still a bit alluding to me. It may be just to “stick it to ‘em”, but I would like to give him more credit, given his character’s growth. I still don’t think he could pull off the manufacturing flying solo, but maybe he thinks he can. Either way, the explosions of events are greatly anticipated in these next few episodes. Kudos to this awesome series!
“Why is he screwing over his family, even after his dad was at least a little courteous to him?”
I kinda understand Jesse. Cmon – his dad didn’t even let him into the house. I’d say offering the son you haven’t seen in months something to drink is not too much to ask. And that maybe-later-dinner-invitation sounded to me more like “when hell freezes over”. Sure, he didn’t say that but did you really believe he meant it?
Of course what he did won’t help their relationship very much. I hope they still can find back together.
Btw – I also loved the pizza. I bet they did that on purpose. I guess they didn’t really throw it up there though. Those little details are what I love most about the show – and the beautiful shots of the dessert. I loved the scene where they blew up that truck last episode.
The look on Walter’s face when the pizza went up there told me it was an accident. It is great that they built that into the episode. It seems like the show is moving so fast, that the whole situation will have to change. This may be a good thing. Most shows stick to the same theme and it gets boring. This show is on the edge, quirky, and interesting. I just find it hard that a straight up kind of guy would lose his soul so quick. The letting the girl die, then the airplane crash was a little much. Then Walter rationalizing the crash shows that he is capible of going to the point of no return without much of a push. The DEA brother-in-law clueless,,,,just annoys me.