Breaking Bad Recap: Pain Train

Recaps

By Saint Clare of Assisi | Tuesday, August 14, 2012 | 4:34 pm | 9 Comments
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Posted in: Breaking Bad, Featured, Recaps

Todd, Jesse, and Walt will wait by the bridge. This is where the methylamine tank will be when the train finally stops. Jesse will drain the methylamine from the train into one of the buried tanks. Then, Todd will replace the stolen methylamine with water from the OTHER tank—this is because the train is frequently weighed along the journey, so this is to ensure the theft goes unnoticed.

But still, replacing the methylamine with water gets you diluted methylamine, which Todd points astutely points out. Won’t someone notice? But Walt thought of that, too: they’ll blame China. See, the methylamine originally comes from China, so whoever notices the diluted chemicals will assume China was trying to give them an inferior product. Done, done, and done.

I’m sure nothing whatsoever will go wrong.

WALT AND SKYLER’S HOUSE

Walt comes home to a mess. Junior has locked himself inside his room and won’t go back to Hank and Marie’s house. Skyler pleads with him to go, but she’s not getting anywhere. It looks like Walt has gotten what he wanted all along. All Walt has to do is shrug and let his son dictate the situation, and the kids stay under his roof.

But, surprise, Walt knocks on Junior’s door and tells him to get going to his aunt and uncle’s. Junior is distraught. The kid wants to know why all of this is going on. Walt COULD blame this on Skyler—“Your mother did some things that she regrets and we’re working through it”—but he won’t even do that. He plays hard ball, tells Junior that he’s the parent and Junior is the son and that’s that. The end.

If Walt was trying to soften Skyler’s resolve it didn’t work, because after Junior leaves, she tells Walt things haven’t changed. She knows she’s trapped in this marriage with Walt, and she’ll continue laundering the money, but she’s not Walt’s wife any longer.

But she’ll pretend to be, as long as Walt agrees to keep the kids at Hank and Marie’s for as long as possible. Those are Skyler’s terms. And when she goes into her reasons for wanting to keep the kids away, they’re pretty compelling. Walt’s secret life naturally attracts danger. One day, someone could come to their door with a gun to kill Walt. (Which is plausible because we’ve already seen this happen with the Twins). At Hank’s house the kids are relatively safe.

Walt has been beaten. He gives in. He’ll take a façade-marriage in exchange for not having his kids at home all the time. Skyler notices the dirt on Walt’s pants and saucily asks him whether he’s been burying bodies all day. Walt just smirks. “Been robbing a train”.

Ahh, spousal bickering. Sometimes Breaking Bad is just like The Jeffersons but with a little more meth

ACT FOUR

THE DESERT/LYDIA’S APARTMENT

It’s go time. Lydia gets the cargo manifest in her email and learns which car the methylamine is in. She passes the info to Mike.

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Saint Clare of Assisi attended Boston University and has written for The Onion.  He took his name from the patron saint of television, who was a virgin and saved a boy from a wolf one time.

9 Comments

  1. 1
    Some guy
    Posted August 14, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Welcome back and hope u feel better. I thought this was one of the better shows this year. I forgot about kid until he showed up at the end . I was wondering how they were going to divide Jessie and Walt. I think this will be the start and Mike will go with Jessie. I can see Walt and Lydia getting together she is just as ruthless as he as long it doesn’t effect her kid.

    Great recap as always and catch way more things in the show that lets me watch again in new light.
    Thanks
    T

  2. 2
    Kammie
    Posted August 14, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    I did not see it coming when the boy showed up. Actually, I had forgotten about him, which is rookie mistake #1. It did make me think that Todd isn’t an undercover agent though, which I have heard a little chatter that possibly he was working for the DEA.

    This show has had me on the edge of my seat many times, and this was definitely one of those episodes! The writing, acting, everything is just so awesome I feel privileged to witness how it’s unfolding. Between Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad, AMC is really getting my vote for best channel EVER!

  3. 3
    nativepeach
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 4:27 am

    After the cold open with the kid, I watched the rest of the episode anticipating his return. I knew when I saw the site of the train robbery that the kid would reappear there. That still didn’t prepare me for the end though. I had two physical reactions when Todd shot the kid, my stomach flipped, and my eyes teared up. I wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction after knowing how brutal this show can be. Jesse isn’t going to take this well at all, and it very well may be what finally severs his loyalty to ‘Mr. White’ if Walt doesn’t measure his response very closely. Good shit!! I jones for it every week…

    Thanks for the awesome recaps, too. I always want to go back and rewatch after reading.

  4. 4
    mjhhawk
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 6:29 am

    I had forgotten about the kid by the time he pulled up at the end. I never it coming – I also thought Todd was a cop. It actually is just like the movie Heat (referenced by Hank earlier in the show), when they bring in a new guy for a job and he ends up killing an innocent.

    I personally think it was done because Gilligan wanted to remind everyone that these are all bad people. By now everyone has turned on Walt as evil, but most seem to have sympathy for Jesse and Mike. You literally forget that their business is selling life ruining meth. This was a brutal reminder that even if Jesse was horrified by the shooting, his actions have devastating collateral effects that ruin lives.

    All in all a great episode and recap (even with the prediction so good it needed a spoiler alert).

  5. 5
    MrsMiaWallace MrsMiaWallace
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 8:13 am

    Great recap!

    I too totally forgot about the kid. Congrats on putting it together so well! This was a great episode and I think you’re right about how it was set up with scant information, but the whole thing was just so… cool.

    I had the same reaction to Walt bugging Hank’s office. He didn’t bother to wipe prints, left a key logger in plain view and was caught holding Hank’s photo. Unless he plans to head back in there in a day or two, he is really risking a lot. I didn’t think of IT guy interfering but Hank doesn’t seem like someone who could fix his own PC!

    I already feel like the final showdown will be Walt v Jesse and I can totally see Walt pairing with Lydia to take out the 9 and Mike. How they get there will be interesting, and if I’m wrong of course that will be interesting too!

    I wonder what the final arc is for Walt and Skylar. I know he is turning megalomaniacal but before the show wraps (and I suspect Walt’s life), I would like to see a glimpse of the old Walt and Skylar for redemption purposes.

    @mjhhawk – you are dead on. This show is so good it is easy to forget what a terrible drug Meth is. Just have to think back to the two junkies ( and their poor kid ) who dropped the ATM… shudder

  6. 6
    sweetblondie
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    I’m crushing hard on Lydia…hope she becomes a regular. Now, back to reading…

  7. 7
    sweetblondie
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    Jesse is getting smarter (and wiser) by the week!

    My prediction stands…Jesse will find out the truth about everything, kill Walt and burn the whole operation down by end of series. And Skyler will be okay with the world.

    And I agree MsMiaWallace, I can totally see Walt and Lydia trying to forge a plan to kill the 9 too.

  8. 8
    SuburBint
    Posted August 15, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    It must be the mom in me, but when that kid pulled out the glass jar for the tarantula, all I could think of was how dangerous it is to ride a dirt bike with something that breaks in to several extremely sharp, stabby pieces in your jacket pocket.

  9. 9
    maryedith
    Posted August 16, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    I am still having trouble with the it’s-only-been-a-year business. Remember all the time spent here working out Walt’s finances? Maybe now we could construct a timeline? For some reason it’s Jesse’s stint in rehab, relapse, etc. that’s bothering me the most. Also the shifts in Hank and Marie’s relationship. I know it can all be explained, but it’s still hard for me!

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