Spoiler City ahead.
Poor Jesse. No one cares about him. This makes me really sad. I care about Jesse. Skyler wants him dead, Saul wants him dead, Hank doesn’t care if he’s dead or alive, and Walt just put out a hit on him (it can be assumed the last statement is true). Everyone’s reaction to Jesse throughout the episode is as if he is a “rabid dog”, except for Walt (until the end), and maybe Marie’s gesture of coffee. Hank even points out that Walt cares about Jesse, as proven by Jesse’s confession tape and Jesse responds:
It’s not only funny, but draws back to when Jesse calls Walt gay for stripping down in the RV before cooking the meth. Funny enough, Walt strips down in this episode, too. But instead of stripping down to avoid the toxic smell, he strips down to add the toxic smell. He even has his gun tucked in the back of his whitey tighties like in the Pilot episode. After coming home to find his home broken into and soaked in gasoline, Walt devises a plan. Before I get to that, the beginning teaser was the best scene of the episode. The suspense that was built when Walt is walking through his home with a gun entering the different rooms of his home until he gets to his bedroom was exhilarating.
So Walt devises his plan to cover the gasoline smell. He tries getting the carpet cleaned and when that doesn’t work, he douses his clothes and car in gasoline. Then he tries to pass off the worse lie ever, a gas pump malfunction, on Skyler and Walt Jr. Even Walt Jr. can see through it. Jr. thinks Walt may have passed out while pumping gas. That would have been a better story than a “malfunction.” Why is the lie so bad? Perhaps this is the first time that Walt has really ever been scared of Jesse. He was very close to going through with burning the house down, and Walt thinks he had a “change of heart”, but isn’t sure what that change was. He is still banking on the fact that their partnership means something.
Several times through the episode, Walt proves his love for Jesse. He calls Jesse after he finds his house gassed down and tells him he wants to talk and to fix whatever it is that’s wrong. He calls again and sets up a time and meeting place to hash it out. And when Jesse shows up, it looks like Walt has brought backup, but really Walt did show up to talk. He may actually care about Jesse, in his own sick manipulative way.
What about those keys? Why was Walt so crazy about those keys? It makes sense that he doesn’t want Skyler to know the truth, but in great BrBa fashion, there is a reason that Walt was so bent on the fact the keys had to stay the old set. This will come up again. Along those same lines, when Walt and Jr. are talking by the pool, Walt tells Jr. that cancer will not kill him. I know I’ve thought it before, but what if Walt really does die of cancer? It wouldn’t be the best ending, but ironic, no? And Marie casually mentioning to her therapist that she thinks about poisoning Walt. She has even gone so far as to look up different ways to poison people. Well, at least she’s not stealing anymore.
Because of the carpet ordeal, the Whites go to a hotel. Outside of the hotel, Walt meets with Saul and Kuby in a car. Saul utters the best line of the episode to Kuby, “I never should have let my dojo membership run out.” Yeah that dojo membership would have really helped contain Jesse last week. To Walt’s surprise, Saul’s face is the work of Jesse and Saul says, “Yeah, but you gotta understand that deep down he loves me.” The subject of abuse is used sarcastically here, but everyone is in an abusive relationship, mostly with Walt, a theme that is becoming more and more relevant. It is discussed that Jesse cannot be found, not even with Badger (Beaver?) or Skinny Pete, although they have moved away from Star Trek and have moved on to Babylon 5. Saul then suggests that once they find Jesse, he should be put down like Old Yeller. Later when Skyler goes all Mrs. Heisenberg and suggests that talking to Jesse is not enough, Walt becomes very defensive to both Saul and Skyler. He insists that killing Jesse is not an option, even though they both think it is. His reaction to it suggests he is as loyal to keeping Jesse alive as he is Hank.
When Jesse is in the midst of dousing the White residence down, Hank enters. I gotta say, I knew that Hank was leaving work to go to confront Walt. I am glad I was right, but from here on out, I am not happy with the result. It would have been nice to see Jesse and Walt team back up like the good ole days, but it seems that will not happen again. Jesse goes back to Hank’s house and eventually tells his story to Hank and Gomey, who is now in on the investigation. Jesse being allowed in to a DEA agents home is interesting for two reasons. Its safer for Jesse, but more dangerous for Hank. Not only does Jesse, a meth addict and murderer, know where Hank lives, but Hank could also be fired for harboring a known criminal and not turning that known criminal in. I think what Hank did there was illegal. And he and Gomez both agree with Jesse that there is no physical evidence in Jesse’s account, though Jesse did give them a lot of info. They still have the possibility of Lydia, Saul and Todd. Instead, they decide to wire Jesse. Jesse tells them that wiring is not going to work. He fears that Walt has set up to kill him. He lets Hank and Gomez know that Walt is smarter than they are. He is still a little enchanted by Walt. He calls him The Devil, but makes it clear that Walt is very intelligent, lucky and is capable of anything.
Jesse’s confession isn’t seen on camera, but we do know that he gave up a lot based off things Hank mentions after the taping. But the one thing we do see is Jesse say that Walt was his teacher. Has Jesse finally learned from Walt how to beat Walt? When he goes to the Plaza with the wire to talk with Walt, he thinks he will be killed by a guy who turns out to be a random bystander. Instead, he calls Walt from a pay phone and tells him that next time he is going to go after Walt where he “really lives.”
Where does Walt really live? Is it his family? Is Jesse outsmarting Walt by saying this, or killing himself? When Hank picks him up in the van, Jesse tells Hank he has a “better way” of getting Walt. What is this better way? Hank won’t go for killing the family. It seems a little willy-nilly on Jesse’s part, but I hope he has something fantastical up his sleeve. And of course, Walt has things up his sleeve. The episode closes with Walt calling Todd asking for his uncle to do a job for him. Walt knows that Jesse is threatening his family and as loyal as Walt has been to Jesse, it is clear Jesse is no longer loyal to him.
Little Things
-Jesse drinks his coffee out of a DEA mug.
-Hank calls Jesse “partner” after he puts the wire on Jesse. Jesse pauses for a moment. He will never be Hank’s partner. He’s being used in an even more obvious way than Walt has been working him over.
– Gus Fring also hired other people to do his dirty work, but as we saw in last weeks episode, Todd’s uncle is not the clean killer Victor was. It won’t just go off without a hitch.
– Where is Lydia?
-The Hello Kitty phone. And that awesome ringtone. Is Hello Kitty the mascot of season 5b like the teddy bear was to season 2?
Predictions
I have said that the M-60 has got to be for the Aryan gang and that they aren’t happy with Walt. My new theory is that either Todd or the Uncle come to kill Jesse and Jesse kills them first, leaving the rest of the Aryans to think Walt set them up and now they are after him.
Hush Comics gives Breaking Bad‘s “Rabid Dog” a B+. Too much time was spent on the fake gasoline story and not enough time on what Jesse said to Hank or what he was thinking threatening Walt. Props to the acting, the suspense in the teaser scene, the emergence of Mrs. Heisenberg, and Jesse’s newly discovered leadership.
written by Adrian Puryear
Hush Comics 