First things first. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow Jim is going to try to claim that Meat Eating Man (Saul’s bodyguard) having to take a dump at the White residence scores a point for his prediction that he’d fail him in a moment of need. If he does, help me smack him down on the show feedback, will you? I don’t ask for much (other than iTunes reviews and Facebook likes) but I am asking for this. We need to pre-emptively head off this miscarriage of justice. On the plus side; one of his predictions definitively went down in flames. Muahahaha! Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first tighty whitey sighting of the season. I repeat, the Fruit of the Loom has landed.
I was actually way more into this week’s episode than last week’s. For one thing, it’s nice to see a bit of the old Breaking Bad humor back. There were several things to chuckle about; Skyler’s PsyOp campaign against Eyebrows Man, Hank’s furtive porn watching, the aforementioned shot of Walt in his underwear, Jesse’s “yeah, bitch!” while playing human beer bong with wads of money. But thank god for that, because otherwise this episode was ugly. It had a clear theme, to me, which is lies on top of lies.
Where to begin? How about with Marie? I really wish I’d made some of my thoughts on her actual predicitons, cause I would have been cleaning up. I’m not a psychologist, but I have to assume what we’re seeing here is really damaging. It’s nice to see Betsy Brandt flex some acting muscles, but the scene where Hank’s old buddy showed up to spring her was tough to watch. I was torn between sympathy for the woman and feeling like I was staring into the maw of madness. Not only does she appear to be a klepto, but she’s a pathalogical liar too.
Hank’s world is pretty dishonest too. I’m leaning more toward my theory that he is just fronting to everyone who’s name is not Marie. The man faked an apetite to seem normal to his old friend, for God’s sake.
Walt, despite everything he and Skyler have been through, still can’t be honest with her about the dangerous game he’s playing, nor his partner, Jesse. He’s obviously afraid for Jesse, but not concerned enough to do some mutual sharing, which is actually what Jesse probably needs most. Skyler, for her part, is both funny and impressive as she shows Walt a thing or two in the deception game. Hell, up until the reveal of her in the car, I assumed the “EPA Agent” was legit. I know a thing or two about environmental remediation, and it wouldn’t suprise me if an operation like Bogdon’s was improperly disposing of waste. But it was nice to see Skyler being more involved than just whistleblowing.
Speaking of Skyler, it appears it’s her turn to wear the tinfoil hat. After chiding Walt for being paranoid about discussing the car wash over the phone, now she’s chiding him for buying expensive champagn? I want to explore this on the cast, but help me out here… did they or did they not just buy a carwash for eight hundred THOUSAND dollars? That I suppose they are claiming were gambling winnings? And Skyler things that buying the primo champagne under the circumstances would be fishy? I love this show, but stuff like this kind of drives me crazy. I guess Skyler could just be busting Walt’s balls for old time’s sake, but come on. The funny thing, Ominous Man in the car reminds us of the old adage, “you’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.”
Wheels within wheels on this show, man. Wheels with in wheels.
Other thoughts:
- Cameras in the Waltcave?! Not surprising, actually, but what I really wanted to mention was how creepy the scene was. Walt making deadman’s brew, then smiling about it? I dunno, he and Jesse are coming along nicely in the psychopath routine.
- Speaking of which, Jesse is a few brainwashed coeds from going Helter Skelter on us. Sidenote: I don’t see how rich people can ever get bored. Lose their sanity and morals, sure, but bored? Never.
- Predictions aside, I did love Meat Eating Man’s dramatic entrance.
- Hank’s a Shiner Bock man? Not bad, but since he’s a craft beersman, I was hoping for him to have a very local preference. You know, so some Albuquerque brewpub could just explode from web traffic and orders.
- Dean Norris is a beast playing Hank. In the past two seasons, he’s been asked to play some really tricky stuff, and the part here where he picks up the phone to take the call from Marie in jail was amazing. Shock, grief, the beginnings of rage, then genuine hurt and caring for Marie (that we haven’t seen in a long time), done in close up, and almost completely non-verbally.
- Little Holly should get baby of the year. Not only is she adorable, but she only fusses at dramatically appropriate and/or advantageous times.
- Did anyone get a look at the denominations Jesse was using to make it rain? I couldn’t quite make it out. I’ll have to check the high def copy when it comes out on iTunes tomorrow.