Fifty-One Pickup

We started this season with Walt's supposed 52nd birthday, but we travel a year back this week to his 51st. Since it all started with his 50th, that means that everything we've seen so far has happened in a year. It's the duty of TV shows to have action, but just think of all Walt has been through in a mere twelve months. This being about his birthday, it's also a more domestic episode than a business one.  Fans might not be thrilled, but not every episode can be shoot 'em up.  It's also a big one for Skyler--on this show, you only get to be catatonic for so long before you start up again.

We start with Walt picking up his Aztek which once again needed shop work.  He and Junior are there and Walt says the hell with it.  He all but gives the car away and Walt picks up a sleek new car for himself as well as one for Jr.  It's a sign of how he's changed, since when he tried this sort of thing earlier Skyler put the kibosh on it.  Drug lord Walt won't stand for that.

At Madrigal, Lydia is still going nuts (in two languages). Mike gives her a quick heads up (though not as valuable as the one Hank got in "One Minute"), warning her the DEA is coming in right now.  There's Hank and gang dropping in. Lydia points out her guy in the warehouse who's been giving away methylamine.  They pick him up as Lydia freaks out.  She calls Mike again and he assures her the guy won't talk, and he'll send in another guy.

Back at the White's, Skyler comes home to discover the new cars.  She doesn't quite have the fighting spirit any more.  Inside, Walt and Junior joke around.  There's a lot of the "old Walt" in this episode, but is it really him, or has a psychopath taken over and he just knows how to act the same way?  Maybe there was never any difference, just a side of him that was always there has completely taken over.

Later, he explains to Skyler the cars are okay--they're leased, people will believe it.  And now he wants a nice birthday party like last year, this time with chocolate cake.  However, Skyler wants the kids out of the house, especially when she finds out Walt is cooking again. She's stuck in this--she had no idea how deep Walt was in, and how dangerous he'd become, but she can't leave now.  But maybe Junior can go to boarding school.  Odd, when you think he's in his last year of high school, and his dad's got terminal cancer.  But she's looking for any way out. He says she perfectly safe, as is the family, but she feels polluted, and wants the kids out of there.

Breakfast, next morning.  Skyler has forgotten to write "51" in bacon, so she fulfills the request without much vigor.  Meanwhile, at the DEA, Hank and Gomie (isn't he supposed to be in El Paso?)are trying to wrap up the Fring case. Hank suspects there's more going on--that the German company needs a middleman, or middlewoman, like that neurotic Lydia, to keep the Methylamine flowing.  Hank is brilliant at his job, his instincts unerring, always ahead of everyone--except for the one giant blind spot that will some day destroy him.

The new boss comes in.  The guys note the reappearance of blue meth.  Could the chefs be cooking again?  Is Heisenberg still out there?  They can certainly see no one is cracking--Hank correctly suspects Mike is keeping them in line. The new boss is moving on and suggests if Hanks applies he'll become chief. (So, once again, beating up a suspect has been completely forgiven.) Will this mean Hank is off the case?  How can that be?

At a tented house, Walt and Jesse are finishing up.  Walt rushes home, expecting a birthday party awaiting him.  He arrives home and it's nothing special.  Skyler notes Marie and Hank are coming over.  Walt is deflated, but hey, 51 isn't as big as 50.

On the way over, Hank says Marie has been moping--not even his big promotion gets a rise out of her. (After a whole season of Hank moping it's a nice change of pace.) Of course, she's got some gossip she's dying to tell, but she promised Walt. With almost no prompting, she tells Hank about Skyler and Ted.  So another intervention at the White's, looks like.

It's a pleasant enough party, though almost no one is talking about what they're thinking. Walt makes a nice big emotional speech looking back on his year of cancer (Marie says it feels like it's been longer--nice meta-joke). It's the kind of speech he specializes in--the question is does he even feel anything any more when he says it?  Meanwhile, Skyler slowly walks into the pool and goes underwater. She's been suffocating, but  this is her taking action.

At Madrigal, Lydia turns off the cameras and Jesse comes in to pick up the methylamine--if it comes with a Bee on the container you know it's high quality.  She doesn't trust this new guy and he has to prove himself.  He gets a forklift to get the barrel and she's sees something stuck to the bottom--a tracking device from the DEA, no doubt.

Now Walt and Hank are talking about this new development in the Skyler/Walt saga. Marie comes back in from talking to her sister. She suggests they take the kids for a few days while Walt and Skyler sort things out. Walt, correctly, suspects this was Skyler's idea. So there is a method to her madness--she's at least got the kids out of there for a bit.

Walt confronts Skyler and they have it out. .She's not exactly feisty, but it's good to see her up and about again, and these two putting their cards on the table.  She won't put up with his "bullshit" rationalizations, even as he tries to handle her. She admits she's part of this now--she's made her choice. But there's no need to endanger or compromise the kids.  He pushes her, trying to pin her down on just what sort of long-range plan she has? She admits she's got nothing, she's improvising. She might hurt herself, or pretend he's a wife-beater, whatever it takes.  Ultimately, she admits, all she has is a waiting game--eventually, the cancer will get him.

Walt wakes up the next morning, shaves his head (a little blood), eats his cereal. So that's where he stands, he must be thinking. His wife is hoping he'll die.  Jesse calls. Time for a meeting.  Once there, Jesse explains the DEA has ruined their connection.  A few quick questions and Mike figures Lydia's behind it--she did this to end their business connection.  Mike is ready to kill her (again). They can get a new connection, they can't trust her. Jesse, who's become the moral center of the show, stops him and demands a vote.  Walt thinks about it and says no matter what else, there'll be no ramping down of business. The flow continues.

As Walter is leaving, Jesse gives him a birthday present.  A nice watch. It gets Walt thinking. He returns home where Skyler is openly smoking.  He's stopped at Hank and Marie's to make sure the kids are okay. She's not very communicative.  He tells her about someone who not so long ago was pointing a gun at his head, someone who just gave him a beautiful present. Wanting Walt dead today doesn't mean you'll be back on his side before you know it.

In a way, we saw a lot of the old Walt, joking with his kid, being emotional with his family, arguing with Skyler.  He may be coming from a different place, but it doesn't seem like Heisenberg has completely snuffed him out.  This was episode four.  Hard to believe this half season is half over.