Breaking Bad Recap: Sunny Skies and Meth

Recaps

By Saint Clare of Assisi | Monday, July 30, 2012 | 8:41 pm | 10 Comments
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Posted in: Breaking Bad, Featured, Recaps

Hello, Breaking Bad boys and Breaking Bad girls. Gonna keep this week’s intro short because, well, to be honest, this is my first day of vacation. And besides, this week is a pretty straightforward episode: Walt and Jesse start setting up their new meth business, and Skyler has a nervous breakdown because of Walt. That’s what we got. Let’s get to it!

PREVIOUSLY ON

-There’s no “Previously On” this week, because since I’m on vacation I could only watching this on iTunes. I’m flying blind! I don’t know what backstory we’re supposed to remember for this week’s episode!  I guess I’ll have to fill us in as we go. Those assholes. Don’t they know I’m on vacation? Side note: why doesn’t iTunes provide us with this? Is it because they assume we can just pause our player and Google stuff we might be confused about? I can do that with my DVR too, dummies. (Yeah, I’m calling you dumb despite not knowing ANYTHING ABOUT THIS. Eat it, iTunes).

COLD OPEN

JAIL

We open in a secure facility somewhere, where a lawyer named Dan has come to see an inmate named Dennis Markowski. Dan has brought his paralegal with him today…Mike.

I’m guessing Mike isn’t trying to move into a new line of work. He and Dan are waved into the facility and wait for Dennis Markowski. Mike and Dan don’t make small talk and they don’t seem to like each other much. Finally, Dennis enters. He’s a prisoner. Dan slips on some headphones and turns up some classic rock to drown out the conversation Mike and Dennis are about to have.

It appears Dennis is one of Mike’s associates, probably one of the eleven names Lydia brought Mike last week, one of the guys who used to work for Gus, whom Mike thoroughly vetted. Mike has come to talk business with Dennis. First, he informs Dennis that Chow is dead. Dennis didn’t know that. All he’d heard was that Chow skipped town. He looks upset.

And second, Mike tells Dennis that their deal with Gus is still in place. By “deal”, Mike is referring to the code of silence everyone took to work in Gus’s enterprise. Mike wants to know if Dennis has snitched on anyone.

Dennis starts to waffle. He says the Feds have taken away his hazard pay. He needs that money to pay his mortgage. The Feds are doing this to everyone involved. Dennis says that even though HE won’t flip, no hazard pay means eventually someone will.

So Mike’s got a situation on his hands. His supposedly strong-willed guys are starting to crack. They all know Gus is dead and the superlab is cinders. But luckily, as we saw last week, Mike has a solution. He tells Dennis that he’s got a new business opportunity. The new cook operation with Walt. Soon the money flow will be turned back on and Dennis and all the rest will be paid. Mike gives Dennis his word that things will be square soon, and then asks, menacingly, if Dennis needs more than that. Dennis knows better. They shake.

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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.

10 Comments

  1. 1
    MrsMiaWallace MrsMiaWallace
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 12:10 am

    Great recap! I especially loved the Ed Wood reference, that part is hilarious.

    I do not believe Andrea is out of Jesse’s life. The poisoning will come back to haunt Walt. It has long been my belief that this series is leading up to a confrontation between him and Jesse.

    Speaking of Walt – do you remember the WW reference Gabe (was that his name-the chemist-in-training) had in his notebook that Walt convinced his b-i-l was about Walt Whitman? I clearly have a terrible memory for seasons gone by, but it makes me wonder if Leaves of Grass isn’t some kind of symbol or even secret book full of info, formulas or emergency money. Or I am getting way too deep here!

    I believe Walt’s genius was revealed when he manipulated Jesse into breaking up with his gf,he knew exactly how to pull the strings on Jesse’s emotions and good intentions and it was scary how smart it was and how perfectly it worked.

    And yes, that Scarface scene was major foreshadowing. His son had clearly seen the movie before and they were having “family fun” but Skylar seeing it form the outside in, it was eerie. Especially when Walt said, “doesn’t everyone die in this?”. Dun dun dunnnnn!

  2. 2
    annie anniedawg25
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Great recap! There’s so many things that can go wrong this season, it’s nerve-racking trying to watch it sometimes.
    I like the sneaky-ness of the fumigation tent also very ballsy! Of course it does have it’s logistical problems, like dealing with the workers of the company, and nosey neighbors and home owners. I mean, right away the large equipment they used raised concerns with the homeowner dude….why couldnt they wait until he left to haul in all that equipment? Also, I am assuming the fumigation process will take double the normal time (cook for a few days first, THEN fumigate) so wouldnt that raise some flags too?

    Walt is becoming more and more like Scarface, it’s crazy. Very aggressive, manipulating, scheming, and money hungry. That reminds me…is money REALLY an important factor for him anymore? I mean at first he needed it for medical bills, but at this point he’s gotta be in the clear money wise. At this point, I think Walt is addicted to the business and power….hell, he even gets off on the power he has over his own wife. Yikes!

    I think he’s gonna off Mike at some point (or try to). Mike is the only link between Gus and Walt, so he’s a liability….plus Walt’s going to become more pissed about that “Legacy Pay”.

  3. 3
    MrsMiaWallace MrsMiaWallace
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 9:05 am

    @anniedawg: Seems to me that Walt is ALWAYS in the red. He’s been paying his bills and Hank’s all this time, then his wife paid off the $600k IRS bill for Ted I think.

    So he didn’t even have enough to put in for the startup or pay for the magnet from the season premiere – both times Jesse ponied up. Jessie is the one sitting on a mountain of money with nothing he wants or needs to spend it on. That’s why he didn’t care if they took all the legacy costs out of his pocket.

  4. 4
    BlueCanary
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 9:24 am

    I don’t trust a single thing that comes out of Walt’s mouth anymore. Every word the last couple episodes has been designed to manipulate, and he’s just become completely, stone-cold diabolical. I suspect he brought up Jesse’s obligation to tell Andrea because he knew Jesse wouldn’t, and he’s trying to isolate Jesse in the long run. I have a feeling the Brock thing is going to come back and bite his ass, though. As for Skylar, he knows she’s scared to death of him, and he’s using it to manipulate their situation as much as he can.

    I barely see any sign of the old Walt anymore. He’s almost all Heisenberg at this point.

  5. 5
    sweetblondie
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 10:18 am

    Prediction: Jesse will somehow find out all that Walt is responsible for, and he’ll burn eveything and everyone down by end of season (genius in traning?).

    Also, I love the character arcs of both Walt and Jesse…Jesse was the “bad” kid..and Walt was the upstanding teacher/family man…now they’ve crossed over and their situations are almost completely reversed. Great friggin show…!

  6. 6
    sheesh sheesh
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 10:42 am

    I thought that when Walt was staring at the kid and the kid stared back Walt was trying to “relive” (maybe not the best word) through empathy what the kid went through when he was poisoned.
    I didn’t like the look he gave the kid, it was ugly.

    I am just starting to watch this so forgive me for asking.

    Was Walt’s sociopathy latent ?

  7. 7
    cosmonala
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Cat piss tortillas, followed by Jesse grabbing a hot tortilla, and their names are “yes, sir” and “no, sir”, followed by the looks Jesse and Walt give each other may have been my favorite moments this week.

    There are so many ways this can go to the crapper for our favorite meth manufacturers, but getting to know HOW is so exciting!

  8. 8
    BlueCanary
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 11:09 am

    @sweetblondie, I agree–no way will Jesse stay in the dark forever. That’s going to be what breaks their relationship, no doubt about it.

    @sheesh, if you haven’t watched from the beginning of the series (please do yourself the favor and watch!), you missed a great character transition. It does seem like the sociopath was always just beneath the surface, but it’s such a gradual emergence. Bryan Cranston is stunning in that respect. And honestly, the more I watch, the more we’re theorizing in my living room that “Walt” was the cover persona, and he’s really just been psycho all along. When he was sitting there looking at Brock, I remember thinking that I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he just reached out and slapped him or something, because at this point, I’m almost not surprised by anything. The writing and the performances on this show have been so well-executed that even the most extreme behavior doesn’t seem out of place, because they’ve done such a good job of leading up to it.

  9. 9
    annie anniedawg25
    Posted July 31, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    @miawallace—-DUH you’re right, lol! Already twice this season Walt has borrowed large amounts of money from Jessie for the “business”.

    My prediction for the end of the season / show is Walt is going down in (meth) flames. But who’s gonna do it, and how is the exciting question. He’s making tons of enemies and good ol’ Hank is just a few steps behind him.

    @bluecanary…..awesome point about Walt’s sociopathic side just waiting to emerge all these years. I see him as mad genius “Unabomber” type in a super boring and mundane life as a husband, father, and under-appreciated high school chemistry teacher…..seemed like even before he became Heisenburg’ed out, he was about to snap at any second. Now that I think of it, I dont think I can even recall one good thing Walt has done for anyone.
    Also, excellent point of the slow development of his madness by the writers, it was so subtle….

  10. 10
    timgunnssister timgunnssister
    Posted August 1, 2012 at 8:46 am

    Remember Walt’s fugue state and the ‘Missing’ flyers Skyler made?

    Well, in my opinion, Walt’s still missing. He’s all Heisenberg now.

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