Is It Safe?

"Problem Dog" is the seventh out of thirteen episodes in this season's Breaking Bad.  And things seem to be finally heating up.  The net is tightening, everyone's on edge, and the situation is ready to explode.  At the same time, a lot of callbacks to previous incidents.

The season so far has had some fine moments, but too often seemed to be churning.  Sometimes it made sense.  Walt wants to kill Gus before he himself is killed, but he's not ready and his early attempts are easily rebuffed.  But why did Jesse's hell house last three episodes?  How long did Hank moon around?  And just how tough should it be for Skyler to buy that damn car wash?  But now the pieces are in place.

We start with Jesse holding a fake gun, playing a video game.  It brings him flashbacks of Gale. For a guy who died last season, it's amazing how often that actor keeps popping up.  Vince Gilligan must like him.  Jesse, with his new sobriety and position, seems to be dealing with his problem, even if he's hardly cured.

At the car wash, Skyler tells Walt to bring Junior's Challenger back to the car lot.  Walt isn't thrilled with being bossed around and, being the nuevo-jerk, decides to go out to an empty parking--looks like the one where he taught Junior to drive (sure is a lot of empty space in New Mexico)--and do some donuts.  He gets the car stuck on a parking curb.  In the first season, he saw a rich jerk and blew up his car.  Now he's the rich jerk so he'll blow up his own car.

While he does all this, we get to here The Pretenders.  They've always got fun music on this show:



Anyway, better call Saul.  When you're Heisenberg, you can't worry about little things like losing a car.  Saul cleans up the problem, keeping it out of the system, and all it costs is a paltry mid-five figures.  Not that Walt/Heisenberg is grateful.  That's what he pays Saul for, don't bore him with the details. (Good to see Saul back.  I missed him.  And though he's still a little spooked by Mike, it seems to be back to business as usual.)

He gives Saul the money, and we see it go in the safe full of cold cash.  Meanwhile, Walt brings up Gus again.  Walt still knows he'll be killed eventually.  I like this--it makes Walt a bit less of a jerk, and makes it easier to excuse his foolish excess.  Jesse (who's been seeing Saul as well) is right--Gus can't do it now when he needs Walt so much.  But the question is still when, not if.  Walt knows the full frontal assault won't work, so he talks hit man with Saul.  Saul lays it on the line.  It won't work for a number of reasons (most ending with the word "Mike") but hey, doesn't he know an inside man by the name of Pinkman?

Good idea.  Walt goes to Jesse, who's repainting--a sign that he's cleaning up his life?  The two still have a relationship.  Walt keeps noting all the things Gus has done (hey, just plotting to kill them is enough) and saying there's no way that Jesse is so stupid as to believe in the syrup he's spreading.  Jesse doesn't need the sales pitch.  He's still with Walt enough to agree to kill Gus when he gets the chance.  Good to know.  These two have the central relationship in the show and I'd hate to think Gus turned his head so easily. (We've had a number of scenes where these two discuss killing a third party.  They're generally better at talking about it than doing it.)

Back at the car wash, Marie looks around.  Skyler asks about Hank.  Hank is much better (now that Heisenberg is back in his life).  Skyler is probably concerned, but perhaps wants to know if Hank is on the trail that could lead to Walt.  Then Walt walks in with a hand cart full of pop cans.  The two kiss, unconvincingly, and go into the office.  Hidden among the cans are $274,000 in fifties--might have been more if he didn't have to pay Saul to take care of the car.  So we get another shot of a ton of money going into a safe.  Walt will drop off same every two weeks.  That means Walt makes $7.5 million a year (and that's after he and Jesse split it down the middle).  Skyler had no idea.  She can't launder all that--especially in 50s--so quickly.  I think Walt is actually pretty happy to give her a problem she has to deal with because he makes so much.  Anyway, sounds like a high class problem to me. (Skyler should find a place to hid the cash--safe deposit boxes?--and launder it for years and years.)

At the lab, the camera now follows Walt around.  He goes into the other room and does some cooking of his own.  Guess he's teaching Gus a lesson.  He's making his favorite recipe, ricin.  Kills in a few days, looks like a natural death, can't be traced. He hands it over to Jesse (at Jesse's place--Walt is only so reckless), who hides it in a cigarette pack. Jesse will carry it and wait for the right moment.  (Gunplay would get Jesse killed.)

Meanwhile, Hank and Walt Jr. drop by Los Pollos Hermanos.  (It's a franchise, but everyone goes to the same place.) Is this a coincidence?  Anyway, Junior talks about his Challenger being returned.  Will Hank get suspicious?  I guess not with his blind spot for Walt (and all that gambling money).

Manager Gus Fring walks over and says hello, all smiles.  They know each other from the past, of course.  But is Hank suspicious?  He knows there's a general connection.  Has he done more research?  Hank asks for a refill on his diet Coke and that's when I knew he was going for fingerprints.  Sure enough he bags the cup back in the car. (Did we need this information?) Hank is officially back in the game.

Mike is driving Jesse to a big event.  They've got a veggie tray--almost too good an opportunity.  They're out at Gus's meeting place.  No doubt this is the sitdown with the cartel.  Once inside, Jesse's asked to make coffee.  An even better opportunity.  He doesn't take advantage of it. Is he scared?  Does he not fully get the chance?  Is he reconsidering, enjoying his new position?  Mike interrupts him and hands him a loaded gun. Wow!  Is this still part of the game, or do they really trust him?

Jesse waits outside, eyes open, mouth shut, while the sitdown takes place.  The cartel doesn't seem to send a major player. They're not showing Gus any respect.  He may have taken over the meth production and distribution north of the border, but they don't think he can keep it up.  At the meeting, Gus offers $50 million flat to be left alone.  The guy sweeps the offer aside and simply asks Gus Yes or No, no negotiation.  They've got nothing but contempt for Gus, it would appear.

The meeting ends and there only seems to be violence in the future.  Meanwhile, as the car drives away, Jesse has an easy head shot, but won't take it (not that we'd expect him to).  But is he starting to side with Gus, even knowing it's a game?  Mike and Jesse drive away and Mike explains (still part of the game?) that what Gus saw in Jesse was loyalty--maybe to the wrong person, but loyalty.  Hey, Victor was the most loyal of all.  How far did that get him?  Jesse's wondering which way to turn--maybe he should remember that the only guy who actually put something on the line for him, more than once, was that stupid, annoying genius Walt.

Jesse returns to the meth addiction group.  A bit strange, but he needs to talk.  He tells the story of how he killed Gale. In code, of course.  He says he killed a dog--a problem dog, ahem. (Reminds me a bit of the intervention in The Sopranos.) Jere Burns, who heads the group, doesn't believe in judging, but his group sure does.  And Jesse says he only joined the group at first to sell meth, now will you judge that? Jesse is clearly at a crossroads, though it's not clear where he's going next.

At the lab, impatient jerk Walt quietly asks Jesse what's going on--how come he hasn't killed Gus yet, he's had a week. Jesse lies and says he hasn't been near him.  This isn't good.  (Some fans are suggesting there'll be a showdown between Jesse and Walt.  I don't like how that sounds, but who knows?)

Walt is back at DEA HQ, with Gomie (who's going places) and the chief.  He presents his latest research.  Gale got murdered.  He also was a major meth cook.  And there's a connection with the chicken place.  He's also tracked some of the fancy equipment that Gale signed for but no one seemed to pay for. (Would have been interesting if Walt signed for it--does Hank even suspect anything on that end yet? That's another showdown waiting to happen). It also ties in, in a roundabout way, to the chicken place.  So maybe, just maybe, Gus Fring, that benevolent, police-loving community leader, is the mastermind behind the blue stuff.

The guys think he's nuts.  But then Hank pulls out his piece de resistance--the print they pulled from Gale's apartment matches Gus's on the cup.

So things are closing in, but especially on Gus. The cool guy who's got it all under control has maybe bit off more than he can chew.  People who work with Walt tend to die, though it's more than that.  Walt wants to kill him. Jesse may want to kill him.  The play against the cartel isn't exactly working out.  And now bulldog Hank is on his trail.  He doesn't have too many outs. Maybe he'll have to take advantage of Saul's witness relocation program.

A fine episode, one of the best of the season.  And it looks like the show is back on track.