Breaking Bad – “Bug”

Hey, Breaking Bad, step your gaaaaame up! Man, everyone on this show is playing hardball. It’s gone completely nutso. I love it, but I’m wary, because even though it makes for some good TV, there’s this small voice I can’t shake saying that all everyone’s really doing is banging their heads against a wall, and when all is said and done they’re going to find themselves in the exact same place they were before.

“We’re both dead men, anyway,” Walt tells Jesse after asking him questions about what he likes to do after work, what his hopes and dreams are. Now, there are two ways to take this scene. Maybe Walt’s acting all smiles and small talk just to get in Jesse’s face, remind him that every minute he’s sitting at home watching Ice Road Truckers is a minute he’s not out killing Gus. Maybe the whole thing was a not-so-friendly reminder that there’s a ticking clock hanging over both of their heads. The other way is that maybe Walt was being genuine. Maybe he was trying to put work behind them and connect to Jesse on a personal level. I’m not very inclined to believe that, however, because if Walt were serious about all that “we’re dead men” defeatist toilet water talk, then he certainly seems eager to move things along, calling the cops on Mike’s guy and getting in his face when he and Jesse bring another dead body into the lab. No, I think Walt was giving Jesse a push in his typically annoying, subtle-as-a-sledgehammer fashion.

But was it calculated? After the text Walt got a look at in last week’s episode, he’s pretty sure Jesse isn’t on the up and up. So maybe he’s just trying to gauge loyalty. At this point in the episode, Walt hadn’t bugged Jesse’s car, so he didn’t know about him going to Gus’ house. But once he does, and then gets the message from Jesse asking him to come over, he confronts him with it, and gets the piss knocked out of him (although he gives as good as he gets) for his troubles. I honestly don’t know what to think about that. It was a great scene, and probably long overdue. And on the outside, it looks like a pretty definitive end to the Walt/Jesse relationship, but during the whole thing I was reminded too much of Don Draper in “Seven Twenty Three,” telling Cooper that he didn’t want any more contact with Roger after that whole contract snafu. That seemed like a break, too, but it didn’t last. And I wonder if we’ll see something similar here.

Besides, things kind of went from 0 to 80 in this episode, and I don’t know if the show’s going to be able to keep them apart for too long. After losing one single henchman (who was killed while arbitrarily turning knobs), Gus has caved in to the cartel’s demands, which amount to one half of all his business and the recipe to Walt’s blue meth. And Jesse’s the man they’re going to send to Mexico to set things up. How’s that going to change things? I doubt we’re going to be watching two shows (for too long, at least), and those circumstances seem far too big to keep them apart forever. Now I can’t say for certain, but I’m betting that things will slowly escalate week after week until they finally culminate in an explosive finale! Remember, you heard it here first.

“Bug” marked the long-awaited return of fan favorite (no he’s not) Ted Beneke. He’s broke and being investigated for tax fraud, and just happens to think that, hey, maybe Skyler could help get him out of a jam. Now, I thought Skyler all gussied up as Ted’s ex-accountant was moderately funny, but on the whole I didn’t really know what to make of it (I’m obviously having a lot of problems with this episode). To me, it seemed more like the show was just trying to find something for Skyler to do, and Ted’s tax mess from last season kind of provided that. He’s more than half a million in the hole, and with all this money just sitting around under their floorboards, it isn’t too big of a jump to see Skyler wanting to hand a chunk of it over to save Ted’s business or his home or buy him a better car or whatever the hell it is. It all feels kind of expected in a show that’s constantly surprised me. But I’m no fortune teller (except for the explosive finale thing), so maybe we’ll all be surprised.

One thing I was a little surprised to see actually turned up in “Hermanos,” when Walt Jr. asked Walt what the result of his scan were. Then, Walt gave him a half-hearted, “Yeah, I’m fine.” This week, when Skyler said that the car wash was close to making a profit and that maybe it was time for Walt to start thinking up an exit strategy from Gus’ operation, he told her he was “working on it.” Do you think it’s possible that Walt’s cancer is back? This entire time I’ve always kind of half-expected him to climb to the top, depose Gus and either get knicked by Hank or killed by Jesse. But what if he gets to the top only to be felled by his cancer? Oh, irony of ironies! I’d say that, at that point, what would Walt have to live for, and he’ll have undoubtedly pushed everyone close to him away. But he seems to be moving in that direction right now and having an easy enough time with it.

Breaking Bad – “Hermanos”

Aside from all the money he’s made, the people he’s killed, and being one of the best meth cooks in the world (probably, right?), the thing that surprises me the most about Walter White is what an angry person he’s become. He does a moderate job at keeping it under control,  but it seems like it’s always there, just below the surface. And if it’s not anger, it’s a complete lack of patience with those around him. Whether it’s Saul (a lot), Skyler (mostly) or Jesse (near always), Walt comes across as a man who just can’t be bothered.

And it’s not because Walt isn’t a caring person. He cares for his family. And as much as they’re at each other’s throats, he’s gone to the mat for Jesse several times. No, it’s because Walt believes his problems are more important than everyone else’s. Now, when getting his throat cut open with a box cutter is a conceivable possibility on any given day, there’s a little bit of truth to that, but I don’t think anyone will deny what a selfish person he’s become, or his general lack of empathy. Even now, waiting for his PET scan, Walt can’t take a moment to console the man sitting next to him, still trying to come to terms with the fact that he’s got cancer. Instead, Walt chooses to hit him with some knowledge about how skewed his worldview is. ”Every life comes with a death sentence,” Walt says. His scans are showing that he’s still in remission, but he knows all that can change and the cancer could come back. “But until then, who’s in charge? Me. That’s how I live my life.” Walt’s in control. Walt’s the man.

But is he really? It seems like Walt’s constantly having to fight to maintain control over the events unfolding around him. And when Hank fools him into driving by their local Los Pollos Hermanos (Where something delicious is always cooking!) to stick a tracking device underneath Gus’ car, it’s all Walt can do to not fall on his knees and beg Gus not to kill him. It’s a reminder that, yeah, he’s in control, but he’s really not in control.

And for all the differences between them, Gus is in the same boat. Kind of. Gus is in what Michael Gambon might call that “rarefied atmosphere” where he’s forgotten what sh*t even looks like. But “Hermanos” showed us that he and Walt are cut from the same cloth. They’re both men in this business who maybe never should have been, and who have had the threat of violence lorded over them. The thing is that Gus has years on Walt, and is finally in the position where he can begin paying some of that back. In a lengthy flashback sequence we were shown Gus’ entry into the narcotics trade, his first meeting with Don Eladio, the head of the Juarez cartel, and a young Juan Bolsa and Hector Salamanca. We’re also shown the fate that befell Max Arciniega — Gus’ partner and the other Chicken Brother — for perceived disrespect toward Eladio. And through this we were able to make sense of what the episode had been teasing up to that point. Blood in the water. Gus hinting to Hector that he was the one warned Hank before the Cousins got to him. That smile as he pats Hector on the knee and tells him that this is what comes from blood for blood. Damn. And not just damn, but dayuuum. Gus is a cold motherf***er. Maybe he’ll never kill Hector. But he likes stopping by every now and then just to let him know he can. This is what powerful men do. Jay Leno collects cars. Rupert Murdoch collects the souls of children who died before being baptized. Gus terrorizes old men who pull their dicks out in front of him, urinate in swimming pools and shoot his best friend in the head. We’ve all got our things, I guess.

I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learned here, or maybe the show is trying to illustrate some sort of metaphor about Walt’s physical cancer versus the figurative cancer eating his soul. But I keep going back to my theory that what we’re seeing with Gus is Walt’s future. One day Gus will be gone, Jesse will be out there taking care of business, and it’ll be Walt visiting some poor bastard in a nursing home (maybe Gus?), smiling like an a**hole and patting his knee.

Or not. Walt heads over to Jesse’s house after the thing at Los Pollos Hermanos to tell Jesse that they need to move things up, that if at all possible he needs to meet with Gus and kill him TONIGHT, because that’s a thing that could probably happen. It’s nice to see Jesse keeping his temper in check with Walt these days, treating him like a kid who’s throwing a tantrum. He gets a text from Mike, which Walt sneaks a peek at while Jesse’s in the bathroom. The text only says that Gus got hung up and their meet’s been canceled. Now what sorts of crazy thoughts are swirling around in Walt’s head? Why didn’t Jesse say anything about this? How many times have he and Gus really seen each other? If Jesse gets a chance to take Gus out, is he going to take it? And if Jesse’s allegiances have shifted, how long will it be before Jesse comes after Walt? Maybe Walt’s future doesn’t involve car washes that make millions of dollars and sit downs where he makes the new guys sweat. Maybe he’s the guy who ends up face-down in a pool of his own brains.

Breaking Bad – “Problem Dog”

It took a while for Breaking Bad to evolve into the show it is today. Its visual style. How dark the story’s become. Even the vignettes which play before the episode proper. Now these can be pretty good, and often illuminate some aspect of the story we may not have seen otherwise. Some people have gone so far as to call them mini-masterpieces. Like I said, they can be pretty good, although masterpieces may be overstating things a bit. This week we saw Jesse in an empty house — his empty house — the junkies and prostitutes all gone home (or wherever it is they go), while he plays some Silent Hill/Resident Evil ripoff the show won’t have to pay royalties on. As Jesse’s character is taken out by some demented sewer creature, he’s returned to the main menu and presented with a question: Quit or Reset? Just as he’s about to put the game away, we see defiance fill his eyes and he chooses to reset. Now let’s paint the walls! Anyway. On the nose much? Much like Walt Jr., the show flew a bit too close to the sun with that one.

But Jesse does seem to be on the mend, relatively speaking, anyway. He’s cleared all the riffraff out of his house and is cleaning the place up a bit. He’s keeping off the junk. And — if his conversation with Walt is to be believed — he’s completely aware that Gus and Mike are playing him and will eventually kill him. And just when Walt thinks he’s going to have to make the hard sell, make Jesse believe that he’s being taken for an idiot by repeating the same damn thing over and over again, Jesse surprises him by agreeing to kill Gus. Wasn’t expecting that, huh? Well, as long as Jesse’s on the same page, Walt’s got the perfect way to do it: that powder stuff! Well, not exactly new or exciting, but old tricks are the best tricks, I guess.

So Jesse takes Walt’s poison when he’s summoned to the “summit” at Gus’ chicken ranch, but like the best laid plans of mice and men, things go south and he’s ushered outside the help guard the place before he can get moving. Before the cartel man showed up, I appreciated that quick shot the show gave us of Gus sitting inside with his cup of coffee, telling us that if Jesse had been just a little quicker all of their problems (well, a good chunk, anyway) would have been taken care of. As long as we’re talking about Walt’s and Jesse’s problems, let’s talk about Gus’, because it seems like he’s got more than a few. The cartel man didn’t come up to negotiate, he came to tell Gus that he was going to play ball, or else. Obviously Gus isn’t going to do that, and it seems like he’s kind of got the upper hand anyway, so something wicked this way comes I guess.

But forget all of that for a second, because Jesse’s the one Gus needs to be worrying about, amirite? Well, maybe not. Sure, Jesse seems to slowly be getting back on track, but the business with Gale isn’t going away. As a matter of fact, it all comes crashing back when Jesse pays a visit to his old rehab group and pours out his heart with a thinly-veiled story about putting down the episode’s titular problem dog. Seriously, I think we can skip the fanfare and just hand Aaron Paul his bag of Emmys, because there is nothing this guy can’t do. I’m over here watching Roger Sterling have his stroke, starting up with the fake crying when he sees Mona at the hospital. But when I look at Jesse, those are real tears! And before I know it, I’m crying real tears! And then my wife hits me and tells me to be an effing man already and I’m sleeping on the couch because that is grief I don’t need. Anyway, it’s kind of amazing to watch. And it makes me think that even though Walt and Jesse can sit down and rationally discuss what needs to be done with Gus, there may be something much different playing itself out inside Jesse’s head. There’s resentment there, and it obviously can’t be painted over like Jesse’s graffitied walls.

Like several episodes this season, Walt really isn’t the major player this week, but we do get to spend some time with him. He and Skyler have finally got the car wash up and running, but Skyler’s concerned that their operation isn’t big enough to funnel the amount of money Walt’s more nefarious business dealings are bringing in. Well, concerned nothing. It’s not big enough to fool anyone, much less the IRS, into believing they’re clearing upwards of 7 million dollars a year. Even when Skyler had her big boner for the car wash, it was obvious to everyone that there were other business the Whites could invest their money in, so I wonder if the show will explore that at all.

The big revelation this week was how effing much Hank has pieced together about Gus and what he’s been investing his money in. That’s quite a jump from what we’ve seen these past few weeks. And when you saw the little stunt he pulled in Pollos de Hermanos — asking Gus for a Diet Coke and then holding onto the cup for the fingerprints — you have to admit, that’s a damn fine bit of detective work. And if all that help’s Hank along in his physical therapy, then great. If it helps his relationship with Marie, fantastic. If it gets him out of the house and back to the DEA, awesome. But I will have no satisfaction until the show pays off all those  rocks minerals he spent so much time with. If a block of Bixbyite doesn’t single-handedly bring down the Gus Fring empire (or as I like to call it, the Fring Dynasty BOOM!), well, I may not be back for season 5.

Breaking Bad – “Cornered”

We already know that Walt’s a prideful guy. And maybe he deserves to be. I think that anyone who goes from being a terminally ill chemistry teacher and part-time car wash cashier to the linchpin of a narcotics business that’s pulling in enough money to be listed on the Nasdaq would earn anyone their bragging rights. And we already know that however Breaking Bad ends, things will not turn out well for Walt. But even taking all these things into account, can we still recognize that Walt’s crossed a line? This isn’t dropping subtle hints that maybe Heisenberg’s still out there after drinking a little too much wine. This isn’t walking up to two street toughs in a Home Depot parking lot and telling them to stay out of your territory. This is Walt relishing in the pure evil of what he’s become. Let’s kick it old school…

The malice of the act was base and I loved it — that is to say I loved my own undoing, I loved the evil in me — not the thing for which I did the evil, simply the evil.

Boom. I just dropped some St. Augustine on you. And I’ll admit that it may be a little extreme, but in the middle of Walt’s “I AM the danger!” speech to Skyler, you see that this is the territory he’s moved into. Walt doesn’t consider himself a victim of circumstance. He doesn’t see things as having spiraled beyond his control. He isn’t Tony Soprano. Like he tells Walt Jr., everything that’s happening is a direct result of the decisions he’s made. He won’t admit it to Skyler, but yes, he’s in danger. And yes, it’s making him sweat. But I think he kind of likes it that way.

Now, whether this way of looking at things is good or bad, I’m still a little split. I have to admit, I was kind of happy to hear Walt tell Skyler to stop being so naive. And from the perspective of someone who sits on his couch and watches TV, I like seeing Walt’s situation escalate, and then escalate again. But for him, I suppose it’s a pretty bad piece of business. Sure, it comes with it’s ups. Walt’s a millionaire. He was able to take the car wash away from the boss he hated. So it’s done wonderful things for his self image. But the lows — the state of his marriage, all dead bodies stacking up — are of course much more devastating.

And let’s take a moment to talk about that scene in the car wash with Bogdan, because I think it marks another milestone (Benchmark? Notch in the belt? Pencil mark on the living room wall that dads make when they measure how tall their kids are getting in the movies?) in Walt’s slow transformation into the devil. Maybe meeting with Bogdan alone wasn’t the thing Walt was most looking forward to that evening. He didn’t want to be lectured on the hard decisions bosses sometimes have to make. Not when he’s running over drug dealers and shooting them in the head. But when Bogdan took his Lucky #1 $1 (not to be confused with that number one hit he bought for a dollar, otherwise known as hi Lucky $1 #1) down from the wall, Walt relished in taking that one memento, which was probably representative of quite a lot for the guy, away from him. Again, Walt proves to be the proverbial Rick James, telling Bogdan’s Charlie Murphy that he’s rich and can go buy another couch. Such a tragedy.

Walt’s right about one thing, though. Although things down the road may change and Gus may find great worth in Jesse, right now, that entire side of things is all about Walt. Jesse’s road trips with Mike are all about driving a wedge between him and Walt. And I’m watching the entire thing like it’s an 18-wheeler headed right for me because I think it’s going to work. Look, the story of Walter White has another 23 episodes in which to tell itself, and while I don’t claim to be a fortune-teller I think there’s a good chance that once all is said and done, we’ll look back at this period in the show and say that this was the transition into its third act. Well, no, that’s probably not true. This is the rising action after the inciting incident but before the turnaround whatever. What I’m trying to say is that, if Walt wasn’t on a downward spiral before, he definitely is now. He knew that eventually Gus was going to come after him, and this is it. This is the move. But Walt’s future isn’t written in stone. Remember, he IS the danger! And if he had the chutzpah to go after Gale, I’m guessing he’ll muster up the courage to go after Gus. I have a feeling it’s just Walt Jr.’s Mustang, but this could be something else, right? Something cool?

A few other thoughts:

• I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when Skyler took off after her confrontation with Walt. I just kept flashing back to season 2 and how annoying her character had become. Her showdown at the Four Corners Monument was more symbolic than anything else, because while Walt sees himself as the one protecting the family, Skyler sees herself as the one protecting from the protector.
• I guess all Jesse needed was someone to believe in him. Whether he’s being used as Gus’ pawn or not, he’s certainly proving useful. Digging that hole in the middle of those junkies’ yard was kind of genius. And Dewey Crowe gracing my TV screen is always welcome.

Breaking Bad – “Shotgun”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this, guys. The only reason Walt and Jesse are still alive is because Gus’ operation can’t afford to go without a cook, even for a few weeks. But even though Walt and Jesse work as a team, Gus and Mike probably realize that if it weren’t for Walt, Gale would still be alive. That’s no good. Walt crossed a line. But for now they need him, so what can they do? Well, JESSE ALSO KNOWS HOW TO COOK. Jesse’s in things pretty deep, but not as deep as Walt. He doesn’t have a family to lose. Philip II taught us to divide and conquer. WILL JESSE PROVE TO BE THE CHINK IN WALT’S ARMOR?! IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END?!

Maybe. This week, it was announced that AMC had picked up Breaking Bad for a 16-episode final season. So don’t expect any clever reset between where we are now and the end of the show. Gus is a problem and will continue to be a problem, and things between he and Walt are only going to get worse. And I’m surprised I didn’t think about this before, but driving a wedge between Walt and Jesse is kind of a perfect “oh no please not that” way to go about things.

But how do they go about things? Well, ever since shooting Gale, Jesse’s gotten careless. His house has turned into some sort of 8MM-esque nightmare. He’s using again. He’s eating pizza for breakfast. It’s just bad. So Gus and Mike give him a job to do. He’s going to ride around with Mike, visiting abandoned warehouses and dilapidated windmills all over the state picking up dead drops. But that’s not enough. If all he’s doing is keeping Mike company, he’s not involved, and if he’s not involved, then the entire thing is just a chore. So while Mike is poking around inside a warehouse, a mean-looking street tough sneaks up on Jesse and… well, he doesn’t get very far, because Jesse spots him coming, throws the car in reverse and speeds off. Later, once he’s lost the would-be stickup man and collected Mike, Mike gives him the proverbial pat on the back and tells him to smoke a cigarette. And that’s it. Jesse’s validated. He’s been recognized. He’s back! It’ll only be a matter of time before he’s reading to blind kids and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

Anyway, none of this is good for Walt. Because on one side you’ve got Mike who didn’t want to be paired with Jesse in the first place, but is giving him his begrudging “respect” for a job well done. And on the other side you’ve got Walt, who’s never had an easy time recognizing Jesse’s talents (and he’s got a few), and an even harder time letting Jesse know when he does recognize them. So if Walt has to scramble to get Jesse back on his side, he’s really got no one but himself to blame. And when you’ve got these two people pulling you in opposite directions, well, I have to ask if Jesse’s relationship with Walt is going to be stuff to keep him on his side. That may be a really stupid thing to be unsure of, but Jesse’s got plenty of reasons to not like him. I’m just saying it’s a possibility.

But things aren’t so dark and dreary everywhere in the episode. Well, I guess they kind of are. Walt and Skyler are finally signing all the contracts, making them the official owners of Bogdan’s car wash (maybe that’s what they should name it?). And, as estranged couples are wont to do, all that i-dotting and t-crossing has gotten them so hot that they can’t help but rip each other’s clothes off and take each other as soon as the notary public’s walked out the door. After they’ve finished, and are lying there admiring their dexterity, Skyler brings up the possibility of Walt moving back in. This had to happen eventually. I’ve always seen Skyler as the Carmella Soprano of the show, so no matter how repulsive she finds the cooking and the dealing and all that, there will come a point at which she forgives Walt. Ultimately, that may not be where the two of them end up, but for a while at least these two will have some semblance of a normal life.

But not yet, apparently. I was kind of surprised to see Walt give her the brush off. But at least he threw a kiss her way before strutting naked into the bathroom. Anyway, Skyler lets Walt know that they’re having ANOTHER dinner over at Hank and Marie’s. And that’s where the cracks begin to show. It’s everything. Working for Gus, Jesse missing from the lab and the heartache he had to go through trying to find out where he was. And now there’s Hank, who believes that Gale was the Heisenberg he was looking for all that time. Walt, his body filled with goat meat, can’t help but throw it out there. No, Gale was only the understudy. In Walt’s humble opinion — and he doesn’t mean to tell Hank his business — the real Heisenberg is still out there. And just when Hank had given up the ghost. When he had given back the case file. Just when he thought he was out, Walt puuulls him back in! And that’s good, right? Because Walt needs more danger in his life.

Breaking Bad – “Bullet Points”

Last season, we were introduced to the Cousins. Bald-headed, stomach-crawling, ax-toting badasses who prayed to their voodoo gods for Walt’s swift death. They stole a farmer’s clothes. They killed a truckload of illegal immigrants just for giving their boots the stink eye. And from that opening tease we knew we’d be watching their hunt for Walt play out, slowly, excruciatingly, over the course of the season.

Or not. By the end of the second episode they were sitting in Walt’s bedroom. And after that they were going after Hank. And after that one had his brains splattered over the pavement of the QuickSave and the other was a paraplegic. I guess Breaking Bad isn’t really a show to sit on its hands. It gets up and does things! And dammit, so will I! Diet starts tomorrow.

Anyway, for those out there who thought the show was content to spin its wheels for a few episodes yet, to show Walt plotting his next move against Gus or Jesse’s spiral into madness, bad news. And by that I mean great news! “Bullet Points” had so much good stuff packed into it I’m not really sure where to start. For those of you who have enjoyed Skyler’s role this season, we get a long sequence in which she sits down with Walt to go over the story they’re going to be telling Hank and Marie later that night. I thought it was a little weird that the scene went on for as long as it did, but enjoyed the meta-commentary on how the actors prepare for their roles. And Walt’s reaction to Skyler’s over-preparation was pretty funny, what with the eyebrows and looking down at his shoes and all. There are a lot of “funny” dramas out there, but none of them know how to use humor as effectively as this one.

We get to see Hank and Marie, and they’re both looking better than they have these past few weeks. I believe Hank loves Marie, but there are times when he’s seemed so stubborn and defensive that it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to believe that he’d let his current situation tear up their relationship. The fact that they were able to clean up a bit on put on a smile at dinner made me feel better. Maybe you can chalk that up to the fact that Hank’s got something to do now. Hank eventually discovering Walt’s secret is something the show’s toyed with before, so I wonder how hard it’ll be hit this season. I honestly don’t know what to think of it. In a way I’ve always considered Hank to be the Lee Adama of Breaking Bad (yes, I know I’ve made the comparison before) in that the show’s always been a little unsure of how to use him. So while the idea of him chasing Walt — or at least being on his trail — is interesting, I’m not sure it’s something we really need to see. And I’m still waiting to see how Hank’s mineral collection is going to save the day. You know it will. Somehow.

So the episode’s more than half over and you’re still waiting for things to pickup. Wait no longer! Things at Jesse’s place are as bad as they ever were. And now that Walt and Mike have had a chance to look around, they’re beginning to realize what a liability he’s become. I’ve heard people speculate that at the end of the episode, Mike’s not driving Jesse out to some ditch in the middle of the desert, he’s taking him to rehab. I suppose that’s possible, but I’m not sure how much sense it makes. One: We already saw Jesse in rehab at the beginning of season 3. Two: Mike goes to Gus and says he knows that Walt won’t like it, but Jesse’s going off the rails and something’s got to be done about him. Gus gives him that Gus look. The one that says the wheels are turning, figuring out what to do next. My question is, are they really that concerned with upsetting Walt? It seems like after Gale, the understanding was that Walt and Jesse were living on borrowed time, so something like this should have been expected. In any case, I don’t think there’s any reason to worry over the fate of Jesse Pinkman. The show’s got a way to go yet, and they’re not going to get rid of Aaron Paul now. I don’t know what’s coming next, but there was a behind-the-scenes shot in an issue of New York Magazine from a couple of months ago, and if what I saw there is what’s coming up, then these next few episodes are going to be awwwwesome.

Although his f-you attitude with Mike was pretty funny, I don’t like crazy, stuck-inside-his-own-head Jesse. I’ve said before that I like when he and Walt are both on even ground and working together. So while his meth-den house and nasty women give me the willies, I think pushing him there has actually brought his relationship with Walt to the forefront. Walt’s only busting Jesse’s door down because he cares about him. That, and he’s got no one else (Skyler doesn’t count). But he does care about him and has stood up for him repeatedly in front of Gus. So, if what I saw in New York Magazine is anything to go by, that relationship may be about to get pushed to its limit. Awwwwesome.