Breaking Bad

[kostgard]

Well, it isn't Breaking Bad if something horrible doesn't happen to Jesse, I guess.

I'm beginning to think that Hank knows that Walt is Heisenberg. At least, that would be far more interesting than him being so blithely ignorant. I think he is playing dumb until he has absolute proof.

[Deleted]

That scene with Walt and Jesse with the gun, I didn't realize I was holding my breath until the commercial break came and I exhaled. So tense.

[xyzzy]

Well, it isn't Breaking Bad if something horrible doesn't happen to Jesse, I guess.[/block]
I used to think Chief Miles O'Brien was the most tortured man in the universe, but I think Jesse is sort of kicking his ass.

I was completely flummoxed by Jesse's appearance with a gun at Walt's place--I just assumed that the kid had gotten into Jesse's smokes and put them in his mouth. I know Gus plays a deep, scary game, but poisoning a toddler with ricin and hoping that Jesse will add two and two is kind of stretchy.

Can't wait for next week.

[hikertrash]

Oct 3, 2011 15:24:53 GMT -4 kostgard said:

Well, it isn't Breaking Bad if something horrible doesn't happen to Jesse, I guess.

I'm beginning to think that Hank knows that Walt is Heisenberg. At least, that would be far more interesting than him being so blithely ignorant. I think he is playing dumb until he has absolute proof.

I've been coming around to that, too. Hank has always been written as a smart, capable DEA agent, and there have been a lot of clues pointing to Walt that someone like him would see.

I wouldn't mind Hank ultimately being the one to take Gus down.

[Smilla]

I just assumed that the kid had gotten into Jesse's smokes and put them in his mouth. I know Gus plays a deep, scary game, but poisoning a toddler with ricin and hoping that Jesse will add two and two is kind of stretchy.

That's what I was thinking. But then I thought--is there something there? What are the odds the child just accidentally popped the poisoned cigarette in his mouth? And if it wasn't an accident and wasn't Gus, was it Walt? Did Walt pull that theory about Gus doing it out of his ass to stop Jesse from killing him, or did he have some bizarre reason for wanting the child dead?

Then again, it's possible that what we're supposed to assume is that the scene at Walt's house is just a reflection of how steep the rift between Jesse and Walt has become, how paranoid they are, and how much self loathing they are living with.

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2011 3:44:33 GMT -4 Smilla said:

I just assumed that the kid had gotten into Jesse's smokes and put them in his mouth. I know Gus plays a deep, scary game, but poisoning a toddler with ricin and hoping that Jesse will add two and two is kind of stretchy.

That's what I was thinking. But then I thought--is there something there? What are the odds the child just accidentally popped the poisoned cigarette in his mouth? And if it wasn't an accident and wasn't Gus, was it Walt? Did Walt pull that theory about Gus doing it out of his ass to stop Jesse from killing him, or did he have some bizarre reason for wanting the child dead?

Then again, it's possible that what we're supposed to assume is that the scene at Walt's house is just a reflection of how steep the rift between Jesse and Walt has become, how paranoid they are, and how much self loathing they are living with.

I thought that too at first but the riacin was actually in a glass vial in the cigarette. So the kid would have actually had to dig the vial out of the cigarette, open it and eat it, or roll it back in and smoke it. Or the cigarette would have been so hot that it melted the glass which is impossible. I am wondering it it wasn't Gus or Walt but rather something else entirely that made the boy sick. And then Jesse and Walt just being extremely paranoid. We never actually heard the doctors or anyone say he had been poisoned by riacin. I just think having Gus or Walt do this to make Jesse turn is pretty convoluted. Not to mention the logistics would be extremely tricky.

[kostgard]

I'm wondering if it wasn't something else too. Yes, ricin can work in hours and it stands to reason that it would work faster on a little kid, but Walt was always banging the drum about how it is a slow-working poison. That they could poison Gus with it and he wouldn't drop dead until something like 36 hours later -- way too late to realize that he was poisoned. Jesse said he saw the cigarette that morning, and Brock was in the hospital that evening. And as pointed out above, we never saw a doctor confirm that it was ricin poisoning.

I hope we find out what happened to Mike. I've been kinda worried about him.

[Smilla]

Something else I wanted to throw out there, as it was mentioned upthread. Re: the purple in the series' decor, at least at Hank and Marie's house. In the world of color symbolism, purple is often associated with spiritual enlightenment, individuality and, ahem, emotional extremes. Occasionally, it's affiliated with altered states, including those induced by drug use. Interesting for a DEA agent's wife (I think we can assume Marie did most of the decorating.)

I think that the show has used color to heighten the contrast between Hank/Marie and Walt/Skyler--the White household is done up in sand and beige earth tones, very drab, while the Schrader household is brighter, cleaner and more colorful. I think we're supposed to infer that the Schrader home is neat, tidy and pretty because they're not leading the proverbial life of crime.

[Deleted]

I've always loved that purple is Marie's signature color, and I agree that it's gotten much more prominent in recent episodes. I'm not sure if it's entirely symbolic or if the set designers are having way too much fun with it. Last episode I spotted a purple coffeemaker and purple bags of coffee beans next to it which made me crack up.

I might argue that part of the purple symbolizes Marie's desire to project a confident, attractive face to the world despite whatever turmoil she's facing privately. We've seen her turn to shoplifting, stealing, and pretending to be someone else to fill the void in her life... but hey, at least she and her home always look perfectly put together!

[Deleted]

That had the feeling of a series finale and not a season finale.