Peekaboo

From the start, the fear on Breaking Bad was that when Hank finally got close enough, Walt would be in trouble. Turns out that getting too close got Hank in trouble. "I See You" (a good, if obvious, pun) was the aftermath of that trouble. After some action-packed episodes, this one was calmer, full of scenes with people sitting quietly in rooms, not telling each other everything they know.

We start with Jesse, looking worse for the wear, being wheeled out of the hospital. But this won't be his episode. On the way out, he sees Hank being wheeled in, after his confrontation with the Mexicans. Jesse couldn't be happier.

Meanwhile, Walt is having a tearful goodbye with sad sack Gale at the lab. The guy is the perfect assistant, but Walt is working with Jesse. I don't get it. Is it really impossbile to have two guys assist Walt. It's a big lab. For that matter, when Walt has to leave, can't Gale stick around and show Jesse what to do? Gale doesn't get it either, but then no one looking on from the outside would. Jesse, though, is pretty jazzed to be back at work, and in a great new lab. He seems to have put aside his demons.

Walt finds out from Jesse about Hank and rushed over to the hospital. There's Marie and Skyler and Walt, Jr., as well as Hank's DEA buddies. Marie lashes out, especially when she discovers Hank didn't have his gun, since the DEA had it taken away. She wants them out. Then she blames Walt, but only for a misdemeanor--his alleged marijuana connection with Jesse. (By the way, no one seems to think Jesse had anything to do with putting these Mexicans on Hank--they'd be right, but wouldn't Jesse be the first suspect).

Walt knows he's responsible for a lot of this, but he's been getting good at feeling no guilt. Sklyer has also wised up--she knows pretty well what's going on, but has decided to be quiet. Is it to protect Walt, protect Walt Jr., protect herself or protect her money? Probably all those things.

With Hank ont he edge, Marie and the gang sit pre-shiva, which is fine, except Walt owes Gus 200 pounds of meth in a few days. Gus is not the kind of guy you like to keep waiting. Downstairs, Hank's old DEA buddies hang around too, giving blood. Oh yeah, one of the Mexicans survived. Now there's a guy who knows too much.

Jesse plays around in the lab. Nothing to do. Walt won't even let him cook (not that he yet understands the new place). That's always the story of Walt and Jesse--like so many marriaged, when one wants to cook, the other doesn't. (He advises Walt to tell Hank to go for the light--one of the few laughs in the show.)

Hank's family eats at the hospital cafeteria, and Marie is still letting her fears escape by lashing out at whatever is available. Walt tries to calm her down with the story of his lung operation, and how he felt just before. It sounds like the old Walt, but he's had so much more experience since then.

Meanwhile, Gus talks to a powerful Mexican connection about the cousins. Apparently Gus is under suspicion for giving the green light. So we can now see that this is Gus going rogue, and his plan was to take down the Mexicans. Why? Because they were too dangerous, and harmful to his operation, or because he's making a power grab of some sort (the attack on the DEA brings down heat, maybe on the people Gus doesn't like). Still, isn't this a bit chancy for a guy who plays it safe like Gus? It looks like he figured Hank, who killed Tuco, would take the cousins down (though he didn't know Hank wouldn't have his gun), and he must have been behind the warning, but still, aren't there a lot of ways this can go wrong? There's a good chance the Mexicans succeed, and the I guess Gus has to explain the go-ahead, or maybe he had other plans. In any case, he certainly can't leave the survivor alive. But as much as every cop wants him to die, how to get to him?

Marie's not leaving, so Walt can't leave and cook. He does go downstairs and meet all the cops. They take him up to look at the Mexican. Walt shows his face and the living cousin, who's lost his legs, sees from his bed out his door window Heisenberg ("I see you"). He pulls off the IV and crawls toward Walt--what are you going to do, bleed on him? Gotta give it to the Mexicans for their sense of purpose, however.

Gus's cold-blooded aide de camp wants to know why there's nothing cooking in the kitchen. Jesse once again calls Walt at the hospital and reminds him of his responsibilities. Meanwhile, Walt has a make on the Mexican--he's figured the two guys who went for Hank are Tuco's cousins. Walt can be forgetful, but he's pretty good at recognizing threats. Except maybe Gus, whom he believes he can play. He tells Gus the lab is behind schedule due to Gale. Walt knows how careful Gus is, but believes that he has no idea what's going on. Gus decides it's time to make his move.

Walt wants to know from Hank's partner if any more Mexicans might come along. Officer Gomez tells him this was their one shot, and they missed it. (Pretty confident, seems to me. Give him a week in El Paso and he might change his mind.) Then there's food--from the fry cook himself. Gus has sent over free food, and has delivered it himself. Walt, busted!

Next thing you know we're in the waiting room with Walt, Sklyer, Walt Jr., Marie, the DEA head and Gus himself. Everyone with a different level of knowledge. But Walt's gotta feel pretty uncomfortable as everyone else thanks the Fringmeister. He explains how he's even met Hank in the past (a scene we saw) and they even discussed Walt and his illness. Score. Walt now has an idea who he's playing with.

He chases after Gus to have a quite conversation in the middle of a ton of cops. Once again, I'm surprised Walt is surprised that Gus knew Walt's brother-in-law was DEA. I mean, even Jesse figured that out. (Uh, Gus, this may not be a good time, but could you give me an advance on the 3 mil?) Gus seems surprisingly sanguine about the prospects of the Mexican surviving, by the way.

He leaves, and excitement. The Mexican, crawling out of bed when last seen, has suffered a turn for the worse. I guess it was obvious Gus couldn't leave this wild card in the deck. He would never turn state's (though he had enough to make a deal for anything), but once he had a lawyer, all the info would get back to Gus's connection. Anyway, Mike the fixer did whatever it took, and the guy is dead, with no one the wiser.

Except Juan, Gus's partner/enemy. He calls and is suspicious. You're wondering now if he's about to make his play on Gus, but it's the other way around. The Federales are on him, and, in fact, he gets shot. I guess Gus's connections were better than Juan's. (Does he know the DEA boss? Heck, maybe he made the phone call.) Gus smiles and destroys his phone.

Back at the hospital, Hank is stable enough so that his family can see him. But he's not really doing anything. When, and if, he wakes up, I wonder what his next play will be?

Interesting plotting in that, with all the tension, things are probably easier for the main characters now. Who's gonna cause Walt, or Jesse, trouble right now? Gale? The Mexicans are out of the picture, and Gus has wiped out the direction competition. But there are plenty of back-up fears, as always. We'll just have to see who's in trouble next. Meanwhile, start cooking Walt, you've got a double order this week.