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

But Walt has an idea. He spots a rolled up fumigation tent like you’d drape over an infested house. Bingo…

ACT TWO

A HOUSE SOMEWHERE

Our four heroes sit outside a house that is being fumigated right now. Walt lays out his plan…

They will work in conjunction with the extermination company. The company usually fumigates three or four houses a week. So, every week, the meth operation will move into one of these tented houses, cook a batch, and leave for the exterminators to bug-bomb it. Nobody pays attention to a fumigated house, so they’ll be able to operate practically in plain sight.

Jesse sees some problems. Won’t it be difficult to set up and take down the meth lab over and over? Walt sees this as a challenge, but not a deal-breaker.

Saul gives them the rundown of the extermination business. When he said earlier the owner was amenable, he meant it, because the owner is a criminal himself. Saul points to one of the exterminators, a man named Ira who has a ponytail. (Also, one of the employees, Todd, is introduced. This is Landry). Ira runs a “second story” burglary operation out of the extermination front…meaning, they go into a house and kill the pests, but they also take note of where the valuable are and then sell this information to other burglars. Saul’s had dealings with them for years and he knows they’re not only reliable but also trustworthy. Mike will still have to vet them, but Saul assures them Ira and his men won’t ever snitch.

Mike is sold but he wants to put it to a vote. To Walt, that’s unnecessary. Walt’s mind is made up.

GUITAR STORE

Know who we haven’t seen for a while? Badger and Skinny Pete! Dudes!

They’re in a music store right now. Badger is dicking around with a double-necked guitar and actually looks like he knows what he’s doing. Surprised? Me neither. However, Skinny Pete is playing on a Yamaha keyboard and looks and sounds like he’s had some classical training. Bitchin’!

But they’re not here to look at instruments. They talk to a sales rep and ask for some roadie cases, the biggest ones they have. Skinny Pete wants four of them. And this is how Walt’s meth operation will be getting the equipment into the fumigated houses.

They’ll be paying cash and the salesman offers some free stenciling to put their band name on the cases.

VAMANOS PESTS

And cut to them wheeling the cases into the extermination business. Badger and Skinny Pete had the sales rep put “Vamanos Pests”, which it turns out is the name of the pest control business and not some shit they made up for fun.

Jesse is in the process of setting up the mobile cooking equipment. He’s got a container of methylamine ready and slaps a sticker for pesticide over the label to hide it. Then Jesse accepts the cases and pays his buddies for the job.

We get a sad little moment here next…Badger and Pete can tell Jesse is back in the meth business, and they want to help out any way they can. However, Jesse knows they’re not the caliber of operative they need any more. Mike looks on in the doorway and gives Jesse a “get them out of here” look, and Jesse evades their question.

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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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