So this is up a little late, and for that I apologize to the five of you that actually read this. Things have been a little busy around here at Storyverse Central and I haven't gotten around to writing a complete review. But without further adieu, here it is.
The more we come along through season five, the more unsettling that Walter White makes me feel. I never cease to be amazed by the changes that this character has gone through and will most certainly continue to go through. And despite the fact that for the most part this was essentially a set-up episode, putting plot points into motion that need to pay off down the road, for me, the episode was nothing less than captivating.
The overall plot in this episode is relatively simple. The episode begins as Mike is visiting his former compatriots in Gus' empire to let them know that their hazard pay, which was taken away by the government, will be returned to them. Someway. That way being the reluctant business arrangement with Mr. White.
Walter, Jesse, and Saul are actually discussing the idea of bringing in Mike (who is being guarded by the Return of Huell in the lobby). Saul's concerns notwithstanding, Walt has no issue recruiting him to manage the business end of this new organization. Because once again, in his mind, who can conquer Walt?
Saul proceeds to take them to a number of different locations that could be used to cook their new batches, none of which seem sufficient. Until they arrive at Vamanos Pest. The location itself doesn't work as a cook site, but Walt has an ingenious idea behind it: use the homes that are being fumigated as cover. Homes that are already being pumped full of chemicals that it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for weird smells to result. Sure, there will be more legwork involved since they'll have to tear down and set up after every cook, but given that they're constantly on the move, it will make it more difficult for them to be pinned down. (Of course, given what we know about what's going to happen at some point in the next year, this will inevitably go sour.)
Once the terms are agreed to, Mike lays down the ground rules for the Vamanos Pest employees. Walt and Jesse are not to be spoken to unless in response to a question of theirs. Their names, for all intents and purposes, are "Yes, sir" and "No, sir". Yet, despite this declaration, the man formerly known as Landry, Jesse Plemons, here playing a character named Todd, warns Walt and Jesse of a nanny cam that he had disabled for them at the first cook site. Clearly he's going to play a more pivotal role in this season, and I'm curious to see where it will all end up. (Unless he's secretly playing Landry and is trying to recruit Jesse to a new and improved Crucifctorious.)
After their cook, Walt and Jesse sit down and have a beer discussing their lives. Walt craftily plants the seed in Jesse's head that what he is doing endangers Andrea and Brock, despite outwardly expressing support for Jesse's choice in his new surrogate family. It's truly in scenes like this where the show reveals so much of its greatness. In most other shows, they wouldn't take the time to just have the characters have, on the face of it, a standard conversation for such a long period of time with almost no action whatsoever. But looking deeper, there is a manipulation at play, albeit a small one, that masquerades as a sense of concern.
In the meantime, Skyler is losing her sh*t. She looks perpetually terrified, no respite from the danger that Walt poses to the family. And when Marie goes off on the way Skyler runs the car wash, and the fact that Skyler has once again taken up smoking, Skyler just loses it in a barrage of "SHUT UP!"s that are repeated again and again until Marie does just that.
So Marie takes Skyler home and waits for Walt. She refuses to leave until Walt tells the truth. I must admit that I was curious as to what new lie would come out of Walt's mouth to cover for this reaction. But surprisingly, Walt sprung for the truth. There was no lie. And of course he made himself look sympathetic and placed Skyler as the bad guy. He revealed the "affair" she had with Ted Beneke and that her subsequent meltdown has been a result of the accident he suffered, resulting with possibly a permanent paralysis.
When Skyler finally wakes up, she is treated to an on-the-nose parallel by watching Walt, Junior, and Holly sit in front of the TV taking in a viewing of "Scarface".
"Everybody dies in this movie." seems to be quite the foreshadowing for this show. The fact that Sony shelled out what I would assume is extensive amounts of money to Universal in order to get the rights to a clip from "Scarface" shows the importance of that film in the overall arc of the show. Either that or they were able to obtain the rights at a bargain, and since Gilligan has always described this show (and I hesitate to repeat it here for the millionth time) as "Mr. Chips turns into Scarface", that it just happened to be a convenient time to show this particular clip.
The real meat of the show happens at the end when Mike decides to cut the earnings of everyone in order to pay out that hazard pay that was taken away from all of his guys. A decision that Walt is not very amenable to. Jesse on the other hand is completely indifferent. He has no problem giving away his cash if it prevents a war between his two surrogate fathers. But, Walt relents and hands over a hefty portion of his share to Mike.
Except not really.
Walt recounts to Jesse, directly after Jesse reveals that he broke up with Andrea in order to protect her and is immediately dismissed, the situation in which Gus slit the throat of his trusted man Victor. Walt thought it was a message. But in retrospect, he now sees it as just something that had to be done to keep people in line. Victor had taken measures into his own hands; cooking in Jesse's absence, taking control over situations that weren't his to control. And in Walt's eyes, this must have been the reason that he was disposed of. (Not that he was seen at the scene of Gale's murder. Why go with the obvious answer?) And now that Mike is currently taking matters into his own hands in regards to the monetary cut of each new business participant, Walt feels maybe he should be taken out too.
And so, even though there wasn't a whole lot of action in this episode, the pieces are falling into place for the endgame. And unlike other shows that began questionable moves into their own endgames (I'm thinking of "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" in particular), the changes and machinations here feel entirely organic. There's always so much to take in with this show that you can't help but wonder when it's all going to fall apart.
Next week's episode is titled "Fifty one" and, as Marie had mentioned in this episode, it will have been one year since Walt was diagnosed with cancer and one year in the world of this man who has changed so completely. I hope it involves more numbers made out of bacon. Maybe a graduation to turkey bacon this year?
Also, if anyone can make me a Vamanos Pest t-shirt, I will forever be in your debt.
Episode Grade: B+
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