After being mostly catatonic the first 3 episodes, Skyler softly suggests sending Walt JR to a boarding school in Arizona. Walt's reaction is just like ours - WTF? She says "a new environment might be good for them". And, now we see where this is going... but she doesn't really push the issue and Walt figures she'll sleep-off the idea.
We know what's-her-face the sister in law can't keep a secret for more than 15 minutes, and of course she tells Hank that Skyler was having an affair recently with Ted. This might actually go to help the Whites' cause, given the infidelity situation justifies Skyler's odd behavior.
We don't get to see a meth cook this episode, although it does go down. Upon wrapping up the supplies at a colorfully-tented, soon-to-be insecticide-bombed house, Walt asks Jesse to finish the bitch-work so he can head home early for his birthday party. The party is lackluster, and full of tension. Walt JR takes off, leaving the adults alone. Skyler finally makes her move, and acts out strangely - setting off events she had evidently planned. She gets Hank and what's-her-face to take the kids overnight, or maybe a few days.
With the kids gone, Skyler finally speaks. She admits that she wants the children out of the house permanently, which she claims is a poor atmosphere for them, and unsafe. She admits she can't get away from Walt and feels trapped, blah blah. It's actually the first fight she's had with Walt that seemed real, well acted, and was pretty emotional to even watch. As I said before, Skyler is a contender now, and we see that as she faces off against Walt. I think it's clear now that Walt's ultimate nemesis is Skyler - even if it's seasons away before they kill each other.
Walt and Skyler's battle in this episode is the climax. As much as we want to root for Walt, Skyler's argument is valid. Walt is only safe until he isn't safe again. One excellent point Skyler made in the argument is she's just 'normal'. Or as she puts it "a coward". In comparison to Walt who seems magical and fearless to cooking meth and murdering people, she's relegated to being a coward for taking a 'normal' person's perspective. She can't help but be rattled - not totally for Walt's evils - but also for the fact that she's caused pain to a paralyzed Ted.
Well, in earlier episodes it seemed Skyler was transforming into the accomplice-wife. But, now we find out that she can't take it. She's barely gotten her hands dirty and she's losing her mind over it. She's a pussy-ass weakling, WEAK LINK. But, as much as I want to tell her to suck it up, be a man - in as many words as Walt tried to say - she has a right to be upset about these things going on. We want to believe that Walt is desensitized to plotting evil, cooking drugs, and committing murder - especially now that he's done it a few times - but the reality of the case might be that Walt is actually a criminal, and always was a criminal, but never realized his niche until now. Obviously the producers are trying to show us something there - that Skyler may represent normal people being subjected to harsh things and her reactions are such and suitable... and then there's Walt and Hank that almost live for that action. This isn't to say that women are typically the weaklings that take the cowardly stance. I'm sure there are plenty men that wouldn't be okay committing the same crimes that Walt does.
Lydia is interviewed by the DEA, and for some reason or another, she rats out the warehouse guy that's been helping her steal methylamine. I guess he's set for hazard pay if he does jail time. This leaves Lydia shorthanded, and in a hilarious scene, she has to learn the way the warehouse works. Jesse flies 900 miles out to Madrigal to meet Lydia and cart off a barrel by van. I would have advised against this, as a van with out-of-state plates is a target for highway patrols - and if Jesse got pulled over with a barrel of stolen methylmine he would be stuck in prison for a while.
Luckily, Jesse can't take the barrel for good reason. He flies back home to report to Mike that the Madrigal methylmine supply may be compromised. Mike and Jesse deliver the best scene in the show as they discuss what happened at the warehouse at Madrigal. I have to admit, I did not realize what Mike realized right away - and I should have. Upon further review, the director purposely made no clues toward what actually happened, making it realistically difficult, so we get the perspective that Mike, Jesse, and Walt have. I laughed uncontrollably as Mike figured out the problem and summed up the situation. Good writing always makes me laugh. He admits Lydia is difficult to deal with, to say the least. I have to admit - she's pretty slick, and she's pretty gutsy, but she also is serially amateur at crime. I'd like to see her stay around a while, but she's so goofy... who knows.
There are scenes in this episode which are just simple quiet dialogue, but it's so quiet you can hear the clock ticking. Ominously, the clocks are ticking now, also Jesse gets Walt a new wristwatch as a gift for his birthday. Earlier, Mike mentioned that Walt is a ticking bomb. The walls are closing in, as usual.
We know what's-her-face the sister in law can't keep a secret for more than 15 minutes, and of course she tells Hank that Skyler was having an affair recently with Ted. This might actually go to help the Whites' cause, given the infidelity situation justifies Skyler's odd behavior.
We don't get to see a meth cook this episode, although it does go down. Upon wrapping up the supplies at a colorfully-tented, soon-to-be insecticide-bombed house, Walt asks Jesse to finish the bitch-work so he can head home early for his birthday party. The party is lackluster, and full of tension. Walt JR takes off, leaving the adults alone. Skyler finally makes her move, and acts out strangely - setting off events she had evidently planned. She gets Hank and what's-her-face to take the kids overnight, or maybe a few days.
With the kids gone, Skyler finally speaks. She admits that she wants the children out of the house permanently, which she claims is a poor atmosphere for them, and unsafe. She admits she can't get away from Walt and feels trapped, blah blah. It's actually the first fight she's had with Walt that seemed real, well acted, and was pretty emotional to even watch. As I said before, Skyler is a contender now, and we see that as she faces off against Walt. I think it's clear now that Walt's ultimate nemesis is Skyler - even if it's seasons away before they kill each other.
Walt and Skyler's battle in this episode is the climax. As much as we want to root for Walt, Skyler's argument is valid. Walt is only safe until he isn't safe again. One excellent point Skyler made in the argument is she's just 'normal'. Or as she puts it "a coward". In comparison to Walt who seems magical and fearless to cooking meth and murdering people, she's relegated to being a coward for taking a 'normal' person's perspective. She can't help but be rattled - not totally for Walt's evils - but also for the fact that she's caused pain to a paralyzed Ted.
Well, in earlier episodes it seemed Skyler was transforming into the accomplice-wife. But, now we find out that she can't take it. She's barely gotten her hands dirty and she's losing her mind over it. She's a pussy-ass weakling, WEAK LINK. But, as much as I want to tell her to suck it up, be a man - in as many words as Walt tried to say - she has a right to be upset about these things going on. We want to believe that Walt is desensitized to plotting evil, cooking drugs, and committing murder - especially now that he's done it a few times - but the reality of the case might be that Walt is actually a criminal, and always was a criminal, but never realized his niche until now. Obviously the producers are trying to show us something there - that Skyler may represent normal people being subjected to harsh things and her reactions are such and suitable... and then there's Walt and Hank that almost live for that action. This isn't to say that women are typically the weaklings that take the cowardly stance. I'm sure there are plenty men that wouldn't be okay committing the same crimes that Walt does.
Lydia is interviewed by the DEA, and for some reason or another, she rats out the warehouse guy that's been helping her steal methylamine. I guess he's set for hazard pay if he does jail time. This leaves Lydia shorthanded, and in a hilarious scene, she has to learn the way the warehouse works. Jesse flies 900 miles out to Madrigal to meet Lydia and cart off a barrel by van. I would have advised against this, as a van with out-of-state plates is a target for highway patrols - and if Jesse got pulled over with a barrel of stolen methylmine he would be stuck in prison for a while.
Luckily, Jesse can't take the barrel for good reason. He flies back home to report to Mike that the Madrigal methylmine supply may be compromised. Mike and Jesse deliver the best scene in the show as they discuss what happened at the warehouse at Madrigal. I have to admit, I did not realize what Mike realized right away - and I should have. Upon further review, the director purposely made no clues toward what actually happened, making it realistically difficult, so we get the perspective that Mike, Jesse, and Walt have. I laughed uncontrollably as Mike figured out the problem and summed up the situation. Good writing always makes me laugh. He admits Lydia is difficult to deal with, to say the least. I have to admit - she's pretty slick, and she's pretty gutsy, but she also is serially amateur at crime. I'd like to see her stay around a while, but she's so goofy... who knows.
There are scenes in this episode which are just simple quiet dialogue, but it's so quiet you can hear the clock ticking. Ominously, the clocks are ticking now, also Jesse gets Walt a new wristwatch as a gift for his birthday. Earlier, Mike mentioned that Walt is a ticking bomb. The walls are closing in, as usual.