Breaking Bad 5.2 - Madrigal

Hey there loyal readers.  We made it through 2 episodes!  That's amazing consistency.  In case you missed it, here's what happened on episode 2, Madrigal:

A Madrigal man committed suicide after trying "Franch".  Walt hid Chekhov's ricin in his bedroom and psychologically terrorized Jesse, Skylar and Saul.  Walt's magnet plan from last week created  huge new problems for Mike which led to two people dying and an unfortunate partnership with a snooty tea drinker named Lydia.  Oh, and kids continued to be everyone's Achilles' heel.  Let's discuss. 

1. Where will they cook?

Steven: The car wash.  I feel like they've been setting this up ever since episode one where you see Walt working with various chemicals in his second job.  They really ramped it up when they introduced Gus and his laundromat.  By the time Skylar purchases the car wash to launder money, I was screaming, "They've got their own lab!" in my mind.

Susan: The car wash seems like the most thuddingly obvious place.  So I really really hope it won't be the car wash.  But if it's not the car wash... where would they possibly go?  Back to Jesse's?  Walt's apartment?  Saul's office?  I'm hoping to be surprised and delighted.

2. Will Mike last the season?

Steven: I think Mike or Jesse will be the only character to make it out alive by the end.  I see one of the two of them boarding a bus out of Albuquerque with nothing but a duffel bag full of money and never looking back. 

Susan: I always worry when they have a supporting character carry an episode.  Any time you start to get back story on the supporting cast, you know they're not long for this world.  Plus Mike coughed all through last season, and so far this season we've taken time out to notice that his bullet wound is still bleeding, he's old enough to have a fake hip and he drinks Ensure with his beer.  Mike's not a healthy guy, and now that his financial health is in jeopardy, things are going to get a lot worse for everyone involved.  Fearless prediction - Mike doesn't end up dead at the end of this season.  He ends up in jail.  And it's Lydia's fault.

3. What does Hank know?  

Steven: What doesn't Hank know?  Here you have a gifted detective, able to see through people from afar, able to put connections together that even his department can't.  Enter Walt and Skylar.  Skylar has a ridiculous story to make sense of Walt's new cash flow.  Walt not only never talks about his gambling, hasn't had any warning signs up until now, and he keeps dropping hints for Hank to pick up.  One character has a bad lie, while the other wants to get caught.  If Jesse represents "addiction" and "half-measured recovery," and Skylar represents "the devastation of addiction on the family," then Hank is "denial" all the way.  When ASAC Merkert tells his story about grilling out with Gus, I think we see Hank have a moment of clarity, where his understanding cuts through the cloud he put up around this brother-in-law of his.

What does Walt represent, you ask?  An idiot.

Susan: That scene with his boss is oh-so-tricky.  I think Hank has been on to Walt for quite some time.  Why else would he keep feeding Walt top secret info about his investigation?  I think what we're seeing in that scene is not Hank figuring it out, but Hank wondering if everyone else has figured it out too.  I think Hank is trying to find a way to catch Walt on his own, so that he can either turn him in and act shocked, or convince him to get out and never come back.  Hank knows that he's all tied up in it and his reputation will be ruined and that he'll be an accomplice after the fact since his PT is funded by the drug money.  He sees his boss thrown under the bus because of his friendship with Gus and knows that his career will absolutely be over if Walt ever gets caught.  So what's the best scenario for Hank?  Can anyone escape the Walter White poison? 

4. What other illegal operations is Madrigal Electromotive running?

Steven: For some reason I feel like one of the other restaurants is a money laundering front for the Mob, maybe in Jersey or Miami.  If there were more than 14 episodes left, I'd predict that we'd get to see the affect this Peter Schuler's illegal fast food operations have had on the towns these other chains are in.  Maybe a plane crash situation like in season 2 where we saw the devastating repercussions of Walt's actions...  However, with just this much time left, I think they'll just be side notes, but I think there will still be plenty of other illegal activity.

Susan: It sure seems like a massive front for other drugs, doesn't it?  Why else do we get a look at all the other signs in the building?  Does each business correspond with a different drug market?  Will we ever find out more about it?  What's more interesting to me is how Gus got involved with a German company in the first place.  I don't know if the series really has enough time to go down that road, but it'll be interesting to find out just how big Gus' empire was.  It also makes it impossible to guess at this point which piece will end up bringing them all down. 

5. Who is Lydia exactly?

Steven: Executive in charge of illegal fast food operations.  I feel like she's going to turn out to be Schuler's assistant.  And now that Mike is taking charge of this specific meth-ring, I think she'll become his assistant. As much as the writers may want us to believe that the power play is between Mike and Walt, I think the real money is at Lydia's level, and I think the real struggle will be between her and Mike.

Susan: I feel like she's close to Gus in some way.  We got a good look at Mike and Chao's houses in this episode and Lydia appears to have done much much better for herself than those two.  It's also interesting that her daughter is learning Spanish.  I think she's either related to Gus, or perhaps Gus' bestie who was killed in Mexico by Don Eladio.  It's interesting to me that Gus would choose to do business with her, because she seems very volatile and unprofessional.  She's also not on the secret payroll from the offshore accounts, so she's not one of Mike's people.  Maybe she has cartel connections?  Wouldn't it be great if we get through the whole series without Walt knowing that she exists?  I can't believe how much Walt doesn't know.  He doesn't even know about the great cartel showdown last season!  He just thinks everything is peachy.  He doesn't know that his magnet plan completely backfired.  He doesn't know why Mike reconsidered. He doesn't know that his precious precursor is coming from an extremely dangerous place.  He doesn't even know how many people are going to be on his new payroll!  

6. Why hasn't Skylar left yet?

Steven: It's either greed or cowardice, and I'm leaning towards the prior.  If she loved Walt -- which we know she doesn't -- that might be enough reason to keep her baby girl in such a dangerous situation.  She ran away once, she a moment of rationale thinking, and then she reversed it immediately.  Why?  Does she really think Walt or someone is going to track her and her baby down?  Does she not want to leave Walt Jr.?  She could have always asked Saul to vanish her and the kids.  I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard to leave your life, friends and extended family, but I think there is more to Skylar's motivation than loving her family.  It takes a certain personality to cook someone's books in order to keep a business alive, a certain personality to force someone into selling their car wash in order to keep a meth business running, and I believe Skylar has such a personality.  The kind of woman who loves her family enough to stay, would've never gotten so far in that she'd have to make that decision.  Greed, or at the very least Pride, is running the show here.

Susan: I think she's plotting.  She's like Walt in that respect.  She's not going to run away and let someone win.  She just needs some time to figure out a plan.  Children are constantly used as bargaining chips on this show, so I'm guessing it will come down to that.  She's just coming up with the perfect strategy.  And maybe an overly worked script.

New thought this week: what is Breaking Bad saying about the theme of brotherhood, if anything?  Gus' franchise is Los Pollos Hermanos.  The final battle will be Walt vs. his brother-in-law Hank.  Mike was a cop in the city of brotherly love (Philadelphia) and left on a bad note.  A problem with his brother, perhaps?  Jesse never felt loved by his parents because of his perfect younger brother.  Something there?  Or just Vince exorcising some demons?

Best line: "Ketchup... that one is essentially just ketchup."

Thoughts?  Questions?  Quibbles?

Breaking Bad 5.1 - Live Free or Die

Welcome!  Steven and I are attempting to recap/review/rehash Breaking Bad season 5 episode by episode.  We have crazy schedules and are generally lazy, so don't rely on these for instant morning after analysis.  Our (very ambitious) goal is to post them before the next episode airs.  Can we do it?  Time will tell.  I have my doubts.  But Steven has faith!  We'll see.

Basically we'll do a very, very, very short recap, full of spoilers, and then burning questions, full of spoilers, and then crazy predictions, full of spoilers.  If you don't watch the show, you should.  If you want to read this and follow along without watching the show, check out a fuller recap on Entertainment Weekly, AV Club or Vulture.  All great, all timely, all more impressive.  Then come back and chat with us about our theories.

Okay.  Recap time.  Here it goes.  Walt cleans up the mess after blowing up Gus, talks Mike into helping them, plays with magnets in the junkyard, saves the day with science, and tells everyone that he's the big bad and they better deal with it.  As Mike says, "If Wendell doesn't eat, no one eats."  He was talking about chickens, but it applies.  Oh and the cold open was basically a giant teaser showing us that at some point Walt will have a full head of hair, beard, snazzy glasses, new identity, New Hampshire license plates, 52nd birthday breakfast at Denny's and a shiny new machine gun. All set?  Let's go.

1.  Is Walter White's identity really safe? 

Steven: I'm going to say, Yes.  He's using a fake I.D. probably in order to cover his tracks -- the car he leaves in the parking lot, the clandestine meeting in the bathroom, can all be attributed now to a "Mr. Lambert."  Already we've seen him acting like a professional with the magnetic truck, so I think he's safe.

Susan: Yes?  I think Hank has known, in his gut, about Walt for quite awhile.  He's had too much time to sit around and stew, and then get in that crazy forced accident with Walt last season.  Hank knows, but he doesn't want to see it.  Crazy prediction #1 - the Hank and Walt showdown will happen at the end of these 8 episodes.

2.  Is the machine gun going to be for a specific purpose, or is he just amassing an arsenal?

Steven: Arsenal all the way!  "It's never leaving town," Walt tells the arms dealer.  Leaving town would imply he's on the offensive, so unless he's lying, it seems like he's creating a Scarface-esque fortress of some sort.  And he doesn't seem to have his lie-face on.

Susan: The machine gun kind of bothers me. Walt's plans usually involve some sort of creative science (ricin, magnets, thermite, etc.)  He's certainly used a gun before, but as a supplementary tool.  The fact that the machine gun is the big reveal in the cold open gives me pause.  Maybe it's not a machine gun after all?  Maybe there's some sort of trade involved?  I think it's more deceptive than revealing, like most things in that sneaky teaser.

3.  Is Skylar still on board?

Steven: The way she handles the Ted situation seems to contradict her "I am relieved...and scared."  So far she has shown no hesitation with breaking the law, and though the New Hampshire car might suggest that Walt has taken a Saul vanishing service alone, I don't see Skylar turning back now from anything.

Susan: Poor Skylar.  She just keeps making bad decisions.  As much as I want to root for Skylar and see her as pure and innocent she just keeps falling into the same vices as her husband.  She goes to see Ted to try to fix things, is shocked by his appearance, and then turns again when he pleads with her for his life.  She likes the power, and sure she's scared of Walt, but she's more scared that she might not be in control of her home anymore.  Walt has never been in power in his marriage, and as Skylar starts to see the extent of Walt's transformation, I think she feels her power in the home threatened and that scares her.  Crazy prediction #2: Skylar comes up with a new plan to put Walt back in his place.  And it leads to his escape to New Hampshire.

4. What's in the bag that Walt is carrying in the cold open?

Susan: I hate that I'm obsessed with the cold open, but I am.  I could sort of get past it in season 2 because they made no sense.  But now that we're closer to the end and there's so much at play, I'm hopelessly obsessed.  It also closely mimics the final scene in the Sopranos, another famously overly critiqued television scene.  Hopefully I'll be over it by next week.  But this week, I want to know what's in that damn bag.  Money?  More guns?  The plant?  Bomb equipment?  Does it matter?  Probably not, but we see that bag, and then the first new scene of the current season is Walt stuffing bomb and plant evidence into a bag and putting it in the back of the car.  Coincidence or red herring?  Gah!  I have no idea.

Steven: A sack full of money.  If Walt is really building up a fortress, then perhaps this machine gun is the first purchase of many.

5. Where in the show's timeline is the cold open?

Susan: At first I thought that the cold open was the open from the series finale.  The pilot was set on his 50th birthday, where he had turkey bacon with his family.  Now he's in a Denny's, getting a free meal by himself on his 52nd birthday with real bacon and no wedding ring.  The more I (over)think it though, the more I think it might be the opening of the last season.  Crazy prediction #3: After Hank runs Walt off, he gets in trouble with the cartel and Walt has to come back to save him.  Eh.  I don't like it either.

Steven: This had episode 9 written all over it.  The beginning of the end of the series.  Over the break, I see time passing between the first and second batch of episodes.  I don't think we'll know all of the basic particulars of Walt's situation even when we catch up with this scene.

6. What's with the roofing hammer in evidence?

Susan: More than the open, that hammer has been bugging me.  Why do we get such a close look at it?  Who is Alvin B. Gutierrez?  Will that introduce us to a new character somehow?  I don't remember a roofing hammer being important in any other season.  The only thing I can remember are the axes that the cousins carried around.  Will we meet a crooked cop?  Did Gus/cartel have a mole in the DEA?  Is it just showing us that the evidence was filed alphabetically so that we know all the Fring evidence was destroyed?  Any ideas would be appreciated.  It can't be random.  It's keeping me up at night.

Steven: Alvin B. Gutierrez...  Why is this hammer lumped in with all of Gus's stuff?  There has to be a connection, but I don't have any clue.  My only guess is that it has some of that good Heisenberg Blue on it.  This would give them another direction to start following.  

Best line: "Keys, Scumbag.  It's the universal sign for keys."

Steven's crazy prediction: Walt dies at the end of the series.  But it's cancer that gets him.