Bad Arguments

It's been painful, this season of Breaking Bad. Not the show, but the three commentators on Slate who are charged with discussing each episode.  Week in week out they have complaints that are either missing the point or just odd.

For instance, this week's "Dead Freight" brings up certain objections that seem to be easily disposed of. (Spoilers ahead.)  First, Emily Bazelon comments:

The Three Musketeers find out their bug works and test Lydia’s explanation for the tracker on the barrel of methylamine. Only Jesse believes Lydia, and he’s right. But for some reason (not a plausible one I could think of), it’s Walt who questions Lydia about how they could tap into the ocean of methylamine she says could replace their boosted barrels.

Why would Jesse's belief--which all now share--have anything to do with who talks to her next?  Walt is the master chef and it makes sense that he'd be the one to interrogate Lydia on all things chemical.  It made sense to me, but Bazelon can't even come up with a "plausible" explanation.

Her commentary is followed by June Thomas:

One thing that kind of bothered me about this episode was everyone’s sudden acquisition of extraordinarily specific skills. Jesse is now well-versed in wireless wiretapping technology? [....] Jesse and Todd suddenly know how to do all that coupling and uncoupling in incredibly stressful conditions?

Let's forget these guys are now hardened criminals who have pulled off heists and so on.  Just what was Jesse's wiretapping knowlege?  Walt tapped Hank's office and Jesse listens to the results on his laptop, like any ten-year-old could.  As for the train job, two guys were required and it made sense to get the two youngest, most vigorous ones available.  The skill set asked for, which they no doubt practiced, was screwing and unscrewing things, for the most part.

Thomas isn't done:

Oh, and to return to Walt’s bugging of Hank’s office for a moment: Surely that was a bad idea? It did—miraculously—clue them in that Lydia wasn’t responsible for planting the tracking devices on the barrels, but the bugs are bound to be found at some point. The DEA might not be able to pin it on Walt—presumably Hank will have other visitors—but it’s another clue that Hank is still being targeted, and it should encourage them to maintain their vigilance.

The main reason they bugged Hank, apparently, was to find out about Lydia's story.  In fact, it saved them a lot of trouble discovering all the barrels were tapped. It wasn't "miraculous" they discovered this information. It was the outcome of a detailed plan that included kidnaping Lydia and having her make a phone call to the DEA.  Why are the bugs bound to be found?  Does the DEA normally have bug sweeps?  One is behind a photo of Marie and the other looks like a normal part of a computer connection.  Perhaps they'll be found eventually, but there's no reason they'll be found any time soon (though it could be an interesting plot point), and if they are they're not certain to be able to trace them.  In any case, Walt's band has to temporize to get things done and, at least for a while, they can track the DEA's moves, which is highly valuable to them, and, if necessary, Walt can return and figure out how to remove the bugs.

Next we get Matthew Yglesias, moonlighting on entertainment, discussing the big moment in the show, shooting the kid, which will no doubt have major reverberations:

A kid disappearing is going to raise a lot more law enforcement eyebrows than a kid’s uncorroborated and implausible story about what he saw out in the desert.

Let's leave aside that it was a spur of the moment thing from a gangster who'd been told to leave no witnesses. THE KID SAW THE OPERATION. Yes, he didn't know what they were doing, but he saw something that he can blab to anyone, including the specific place where huge tanks are buried--that's what's known as corroboration--which also happens to be the same place where a train was stopped for a while.  Yes, the kid's disappearance will raise questions, but not regarding the theft of methylamine.  They can handle (physically) the disappearance of the kid quite easily--dump his body many miles from where he was shot in a place where he'll be discovered. What they cannot handle is people discovering anything about the train heist.  Perhaps they could have dealt with the kid better, but as Mike noted, the only heists that work are those that leave no witnesses.