Meth cook/drug kingpin/high school science teacher Walter (Bryant Cranston) AKA Heisenberg, back in class teaching again as we catch up on the narrative has had no contact from Jesse (), his trafficker/underboss/former student for several days. The two had argued yet again after Walter had uncharacteristically given Jesse a gun and told him to "take care of it" in relation to the matter of one of their dealers getting robbed in an exchange gone wrong.
Confronting Jesse at his new apartment Walter is handed the missing money from the deal as well an added $3600 which came from Jesse's attempt to "take care of it" in the previous episode. Jesse's showdown with emaciated methheads at their dilapidated house resulted in the bizarre event of one of them having his head crushed like a watermelon by his wife, whom he had referred to as a "skank" a few times too often.
The improbable weapon was a stolen ATM machine the couple had liberated from a convenience store after slitting the throat of the proprietor. Jesse, knocked unconscious by the wife in a moment of distraction could only watch as she murdered her husband.
Jesse, whose habit of falling upwards has been his trademark after a streak of bad luck had the presence of mind to snatch the money from the stolen ATM retrieving the lost investment as well as a surprise dividend. Walter is initially disappointed yet again in Jesse's failings as pusher/enforcer and naturally aghast at the brutal events arising from the house confrontation with the methheads.
When he notices the reaction on the street to the events related to him by Jesse's crew of dealers Walter is pleasantly surprised. Jesse is now legend having evidently displaced maniac former associate Tuco (from whom Walter and Jesse narrowly escaped death) then wasting a methhead by crushing his skull with a stolen ATM acquired in a brutal convenience store heist. Scrawny slacker Jesse is considered more lethal, mean and warped than Tuco.
The trail of blood created merely by their own survival in a violent subculture has created carved out street cred not only as purveyors of particularly potent and pure meth shards and enforcers of swift, certain and severe reprisal when it comes to getting burned on deals. Walter looks to capitalize on all this by expanding the operation into different territories currently occupied by other meth pushers.
Exposing Walter's actions to scrutiny is revealing. His actions have involved him in mass murder committed by others but on the level of a kind of tourist. Nevertheless he is successful and likens Jesse's presence on the street as enforcer to that of a blowfish in that it can inflate itself to ward off predators.
Midway through the second season one notes the distance Walt's arc has gone - from superior-minded yet meek science teacher working part-time at a carwash to unlikely brutal drug-lord ordering his underboss to "take care of it" resulting in bloody circumstances is a long reach. His inadequacies, his DEA agent brother-in-law and the tumultuous nature of the trade mean that it will have come to an end sometime.
But his luck and ingenuity are taking him a long way. Much longer than they logically should.
Confronting Jesse at his new apartment Walter is handed the missing money from the deal as well an added $3600 which came from Jesse's attempt to "take care of it" in the previous episode. Jesse's showdown with emaciated methheads at their dilapidated house resulted in the bizarre event of one of them having his head crushed like a watermelon by his wife, whom he had referred to as a "skank" a few times too often.
The improbable weapon was a stolen ATM machine the couple had liberated from a convenience store after slitting the throat of the proprietor. Jesse, knocked unconscious by the wife in a moment of distraction could only watch as she murdered her husband.
Jesse, whose habit of falling upwards has been his trademark after a streak of bad luck had the presence of mind to snatch the money from the stolen ATM retrieving the lost investment as well as a surprise dividend. Walter is initially disappointed yet again in Jesse's failings as pusher/enforcer and naturally aghast at the brutal events arising from the house confrontation with the methheads.
When he notices the reaction on the street to the events related to him by Jesse's crew of dealers Walter is pleasantly surprised. Jesse is now legend having evidently displaced maniac former associate Tuco (from whom Walter and Jesse narrowly escaped death) then wasting a methhead by crushing his skull with a stolen ATM acquired in a brutal convenience store heist. Scrawny slacker Jesse is considered more lethal, mean and warped than Tuco.
The trail of blood created merely by their own survival in a violent subculture has created carved out street cred not only as purveyors of particularly potent and pure meth shards and enforcers of swift, certain and severe reprisal when it comes to getting burned on deals. Walter looks to capitalize on all this by expanding the operation into different territories currently occupied by other meth pushers.
Exposing Walter's actions to scrutiny is revealing. His actions have involved him in mass murder committed by others but on the level of a kind of tourist. Nevertheless he is successful and likens Jesse's presence on the street as enforcer to that of a blowfish in that it can inflate itself to ward off predators.
Midway through the second season one notes the distance Walt's arc has gone - from superior-minded yet meek science teacher working part-time at a carwash to unlikely brutal drug-lord ordering his underboss to "take care of it" resulting in bloody circumstances is a long reach. His inadequacies, his DEA agent brother-in-law and the tumultuous nature of the trade mean that it will have come to an end sometime.
But his luck and ingenuity are taking him a long way. Much longer than they logically should.