Reviews! First of all, don’t miss me and Jim’s review. Mine is here, and Jim’s is over there.
I’m putting Melissa Maerz up top, because of this fantastic theory I haven’t personally seen elsewhere: Gus is interested in Jesse as a lover. “He seems to care more about Jesse. “You need protection, Gustavo?” the doctor asks him, right before Gus leaves to go back to the U.S., and Gus laughs. Looking at Jesse, the doctor says, “I wouldn’t have guessed.” Now, he could just be joking that skinny, black-eyed Jesse is an unlikely bodyguard for Gus. But there’s also a wink hidden in that comment, as if the doctor’s implying that Jesse’s only been spared for two reasons: he’s the chemist, and Gus might want to be his lover.” Obviously you have to buy into the theory that Gus is gay for this to make sense, but if you combine that with the cryptic “I think I see things in people”… I’m intrigued.
Here’s Alan Sepinwall’s take. I think he nailed this regarding BrBa’s sense of urgency: “While we all know that Walt will get out of this somehow, because he’s got 18 episodes to go after this one, in the moment the show and its cast and crew do such an exceptional job of making us forget about that. Bryan Cranston is so anguished and regretful and terrified as Walt goes to see Saul, and then goes sprinting to pack up his life in an hour, that suddenly it doesn’t matter what I know objectively as a TV viewer: what Waltknows is that he’s going to be dead in a hurry if he doesn’t get that cash in a hurry, and his performance is so powerful and frayed that that becomes all that I’m aware of as well.”
I like James Poniewozik’s review as well. He asks us: “Is the ricin cigarette — still, as far as we know, in Jesse’s pocket — the Chekhov’s gun of this season? Or will it fail to smoke anyone? For that matter — I almost forgot — is Walt’s actual gun a Chekhov’s gun? That stage is crowded with weapons to go off.” I almost forgot Walt’s unregistered firearm! Maybe both will be used?
The official site has a powerhouse preview for next episode, 413, “End Times”. Kelly Dixon has the new podcast for episode 411, and don’t miss the Inside video for “Crawl Space” either. They also have a sort of so-so interview with Christopher (Ted) Cousins.
Email us your thoughts about the show, any links or news we might have missed, or any original takes you want to get out of your system. Tonight, we cast! We’ll use as much feedback as we can by the time we start, which is usually about 7pm EST. See you tomorrow!