At some point after last season’s finale, creater Vince Gilligan noted he was surprised at the confusion some viewers had regarding that final scene with Jesse pointing the barrel of his gun at the camera. To some (myself included) it wasn’t clear whether Jesse was aiming straight when the gunshot rang out. In fact, it wasn’t even clear whether he was the one who the gunshot belonged to. Alright, that last bit I wasn’t really on board with, but I did think there was some ambiguity going on.
I do believe, though, that the gunshot being placed below Gale’s eye was in recognition to that ambiguity. It’d be interesting to hear if Gilligan had that in mind with that shot.
In any case, we saw the clear results of that gunshot, and poor Gale is dead. As I said before, I liked the guy and felt sorry for him and his predicament. The opening scenes of this episode made me love the guy even more, with his kid-on-Christmas-like glee at opening a bunch of technology. Hell, I know what that’s like when I’d get a shipment of computer equipment to the IT lab, so I know the feeling.
I still would have liked to have seen maybe a little of what went on with how and why Gus picked Gale for the project in the first place. It was interesting to learn that this lab wasn’t put there for the purpose of serving Walt’s needs, definitely at least not initially. Jesse noted that he thought it must have taken Gus years to find Gale, but could that really be true? How long has Gus known about Walt’s product? If Gale was chosen solely as a way of duplicating or surpassing Walt’s process, how long has it been since the time he noticed Walt’s product til finding Gale?
As far as Skyler goes, what’s interesting is that the official episode description talks about her helping Walt launder money, but I don’t think that was brought up at all in this episode. We know she’s going to be taking a more active role in that department, based on what went down last season, but there wasn’t advancement there this time around. I do believe she’s going to get herself deeper into Walt’s world as time goes on. It’s just a matter of time before she’s so deep down that hole that the two wind up back together. And, if she has to put on a facade to fool anyone into thinking they’re back together, she’s proven in this episode — and other times in the past — that she’s a great actress.
I loved how drawn-out the scenes in the lab were, with Gus slowly working about what he was going to do, then ultimately taking the blade to his lackey. Without saying a word about it, it was clear why he did what he did. He eliminated a potential suspect in Gale’s murder, and he demonstrated an enormous amount of power in front of Walt and Jesse. Clearly Gus isn’t afraid to take matters into his own hands. One big question now is exactly that which Walter presented: what’s Gus’s next move? Another: where will that book of lab notes lead the authorities, and will it mean bringing Hank in as an expert to help?
(One last bit: Did you catch the call-back to the plastic eye from season two?)
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Jul 17, 2011 @ 23:45 EST5EDT
“How long has Gus known about Walt’s product? If Gale was chosen solely as a way of duplicating or surpassing Walt’s process, how long has it been since the time he noticed Walt’s product til finding Gale?”
It’s strongly implied that what you say /isn’t/ the case in this episode. Gale is already in the process of setting up the lab (and therefore has already been hired by Gus as his chemist) when Gus first takes a sample of Walt’s product to him. It was Gale’s insistence on the purity being incredible which encouraged Gus to bring Walt in (which is good storytelling in so far as it gives us an impression the world doesn’t just revolve around our protagonists/the action that we see).
Check out Walt’s reaction shot to the comment though. I think the director wants us to know Walt is as puzzled by how Jessie knew this as we are.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not sure it’s so clear that Gale was working with Gus for very long before that opening scene. It was clear that Gus knew who Walter was, and it was likely sometime after he first talked to Walter and expressed his concerns of “professionalism” having Jesse, a junkie, working with him. What did you mean about Walter being puzzled about Jessie? I took his look as being surprised at how little emotion Jesse seemed to have about having killed Gale.