Breaking Bad Recap: Soggy Birthday

The special burner meth phone in her desk drawer rings. It’s Mike calling to tell her she has visitors.

And their leader is Hank! He introduces himself (calmly, note) and mentions he met Lydia in Albuquerque. His voice catches on “Albuquerque,” where his colleagues got blown up by a turtle carrying Danny Trejo’s head.

Lydia leads Hank, Gomey, and two uniformed DEA guys through a giant warehouse. The camera (and Hank) notice her mismatched shoes again, and she points out the foreman guy that was presumably in charge of that chemical used for blue meth that mysteriously disappeared. They cuff him, and he looks daggers at her.

Or maybe just blunt instruments.

She gets back to her office and screams into a throw pillow. She calls Mike and freaks out about the agents “screaming,” “yelling,” and “swarming,” and the recently arrested guy possibly talking to the cops. Mike tries in vain to reassure her. Also, Mike will get another guy to replace the arrested guy.

White Driveway. Skyler pulls up in her paneled crap carrying wagon and ends up parking it on the street.

The car actually brakes and falls back like, the hell?

She enters the house (which is lit really darkly this whole ep, with the plaid curtains prominent and a really deep field of focus, showing several rooms simultaneously in a few scenes) to Walt and Jr. talking really loud about horsepower and torque and manly car things…
…at dinner, with Skyler (framed tightly) trying like hell to choke down just tiny pieces of food and sips of water. Walt tells Jr. to show him a modicum of respect. In my experience, using “modicum of respect” in an argument rarely gets you one. Walt also mentions he’s done donuts, when he wrecked that other flashy sports car he tried to give Jr. that time. But he doesn’t say the last part. Skyler grimaces.

White Master Bath. Skyler, who doesn’t wear her wedding ring these days, is winding dental floss tightly around her finger as if to cut off the circulation. Walt is rationalizing the car purchases, er, leases, not that she asked him. He then comes around the other side of her with a fat stack of launderable cash. This is why there’s no bathroom in the Tube house big enough for me and the Mr. to fit into together for any significant period of time. All sorts of bad stuff is avoided.

The ep is written by SAm Catlin and directed by Rian JoHnson, who also directed “Fly” and delights me with his shot composition and camera angles. Skyler confirms/exposits/Captain Obviouses that Walt is “back at it,” and Walt pointedly says they have to make up that $600K that led to Ted Benneke doing a head-wall plant having a bunch of oranges fall on him.

The evening ritual continues in the bedroom. How about boarding school for Jr., asks Sky. Walt kiboshes that. We see his wedding ring a lot as he massages her in comfort with his big meaty hands.

He’s all low-voiced and snakey about how they’re going to start looking forward to things again.