Breaking Bad – The kitchen is open

“When you have children, you always have family; they will always be your priority, your responsibility. And a man … a man provides. And he does it, even when he’s not appreciated. Or respected. Or even loved. He simple bears up and he does it … because he’s a man.”

Right off the bat, I loved that the previews totally threw us a fast one. If you watched the previews for this episode, they hinted that Jesse was out partying with his new, big score. But, as it turned out, we got a flashback that related right back to the episode’s conclusion. Not only did the flashback reinforce and remind us of the fact that Jesse was always a complete, disrespectful fuck up, but it brought us to how Hank ultimately tracked down the RV.

Here’s the problem I have with the RV story, though. If it wasn’t legally registered, wouldn’t Walter have noticed that detail almost immediately? We all know how meticulous he is about everything he does, so I would have thought that not having a valid registration would throw him into a panic. I guess it’s possible he did know and his paranoia and thoroughness simply caused him to believe having it registered would be risky. I don’t buy that, though. Inspected, yes. Registered, no.

Skyler seems to be coming around to Walter’s new line of business ever so slightly, whether she wants to admit it or not. There was a scene in her boss’s bathroom when she seemed to express guilt for what she was doing there. She looks down at the cushie, heated floor she was admiring on a previous day, and decides to throw a towel down and stand on that instead.

There are a couple of ways to interpret that move. My initial feeling is that she feels like a hypocrite — how could she stand there and admire and lust for this floor that was probably bought with the dirty money she knowingly let her boss embezzle? Another way to look at it is that she doesn’t want to want something that luxurious, because she knows the only way to get it — besides up and moving in with her boss — is to give in to what Walter’s providing the family. Either way, she doesn’t want to want that heated floor.

Something else about Skyler: we’re getting a lot of hints that she’s turning down the road of becoming an alcoholic soon. In fact, they were almsot too telegraphed, if you ask me. The wine at dinner, as she sat with the family. The talk of needing a drink, with her lawyer. Oh, its coming.

Walter’s meeting with Gustavo was excellent. As Walter went on about how insulted he was over Gustavo’s attempt to coax him into cooking, you could sense the pleasure on Gustavo’s stone face, because he admires Walt and wants this guy to be his go-to cook. So what does he do to sweeten the already sweet three-million-dollar pot? He hands him the keys to Wonka Land (the music playing as he looked around the lab sure seemed reminiscent of Wonka). So, he’s back, and in a big way. It looks like he’s taking the quote at the top of this post to heart, because it’s really all the motivation he has left.

Speaking of the sort-Wonka moment, could it be foreshadowing what I said before about Gustavo wanting to hand over his business to a worthy successor? Hmm….

As for Hank, I have a feeling Gomez will meet his demise in El Paso. It just seems that that part of the story isn’t over yet.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Apr 18, 2010 @ 23:36 EST5EDT