Shall we anticpate the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

oh yeah jackshit my bad

yeah the mexican mercedes twins were embarassingly comic book even before they walked away from the explosion without looking back at it

also noticed that the front of the rehab clinic where walt picked jesse up looked suspiciously similar to the front of the airport where jesse picked walt up

thought it was a brilliant episode...even if the mexicans are a bit clichéd. was trying to suspend disbelief. find it interesting how walt's attempts at being normal now become this sort of deranged parody of who he was at the start, the sort of geeky "1960s technology" stuff that just isn't him anymore.

"i'm the bad guy" is some serious scarface shit. i was expecting it from Hank, not Pinkman.

Loved it. I wonder what mr chickens offer would have been. Maybe putting him up in this sweet meth cooking resort so he could cook for 3 months.

i'm gonna bet we're gonna find out

Also, I wonder how long the stuffed toy eyeball is going to be around. Sitting under Walt's bed right now.

Since they did the thing last season with the black and white teasers and episode titles (Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ), I'm really looking for clues as to what is going to happen this season.

Might be a waste of time. Vince Gilligan said at the PaleyFest panel the other week that they weren't going to repeat themselves in that manner, one and done.

I have to believe that eyeball is going to witness something very untoward happening at ground-level in Walt's room at the Beachcomber.

I was astonished that Walt let the cat out of the bag to Skyler! His lies to her sustained the entire previous three seasons..!! It's like Sam just finally getting together with Diane, or something... I'm really glad they had the guts to find another source of tension, another plot mechanism, though. And even if it becomes a catastrophe I'm proud of Walt for finally - if grudgingly - coming clean.

The assembly scene - Jesus.. I literally covered my eyes for the entirety of Walt's speech. Just could not look.

Or entire previous two seasons.. I can't keep track - feels like this show's been on longer than it has

And yes the whole "I'm not a criminal" convo with Gus seemed unbelievably naive and stupid... these are the words of someone who will flip and cop a plea, give up all the names to the police if caught... bad move. Gus may put on a friendly face but I don't think he rose to his position by being a nice guy.

agreed. i think Gus could be more trouble even than those two absurd mexican dudes.

esposito is really dope in that role

Q: that composite sketch of Hank that the two mexi-gangsters pinned next to the shrine - where did that come from? I know it stems from an earlier point in the series, but I can't remember under what circumstances it originated.

loving this already, btw.

er.. Walt, not Hank

isn't the composite sketch from badger's description when he gets busted

http://blog.nj.com/entertainment_impact_tv/2009/04/large_breaking-bad-negro-y-azul.jpg

that sounds about right, but still I can't recall. I'm thinking about reviewing the series maybe - only 19 eps b/w ssn 1&2, so not such a huge time commitment.

Possible S3 plot prediction: Skyler knowing Walt's secret will lead, directly or indirectly, to Hank finding out & putting the pieces together to discover that Walt = Heisenberg. Hank will be conflicted about what to do about this, but greed & opportunism will ultimately drive him to pressure Walt into cooking more product & sharing the profits. This will lead to Walt reconsidering Gus's offer, tho Gus will eventually find out Hank's involvement & a shitstorm will ensue. Somehow the mexi-gangsters will be involved in all of this.

WHAT ABOUT HUGO

lol

i'm f'in serious

f'in hugo, man

The assembly scene - Jesus.. I literally covered my eyes for the entirety of Walt's speech. Just could not look.

this whole scene was SO goddam hard to watch. It must have taken me 15 min to do so b/c I kept pausing & looking at something online etc. b/c it was just that uncomfortable. tho brilliantly done, obv.

i dunno - i enjoyed the scene lots, but didn't have nearly half the reaction all you guys are describing.

Admittedly, I am esp susceptible to "uncomfortable moments" in film/TV. I have the same kind of reaction to scenes in The Office, etc.

walt jr. learns to cook

how did skyler actually find out? did she find the money at the end of s2 or something? i didn't think so.

i can totally see gus just blackmailing walt into working for him now.

Jesse popped up in Walt's life an awful lot.. the second cellphone.. I think she did find out about dome of the money too but I can't remember the details

but how did jesse popping up make any diff? i'm just surprised they've seemed to make it like she basically guessed, when did she suddenly become suspicious or smart enough to do that? i'm not sure it works well as a plot, it's too hard to put a finger on what changed to make her think "drug dealer" and also she specifically asked about "that kind of money", how does she know? the whole not taking money from gretchin thing?

ya. basically how he paid for everything himself with no explanation at all.

but how did jesse popping up make any diff?

she knew jesse was involved in drugs in some way, so mysterious money source + 2nd phone + connection to jesse + all-around secrecy

She thought he was dealing pot to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, so though she was able to figure out the basics, she wasn't entirely clear.

dome of the money

SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT THE DOME OF MONEY

Guess I'll need to re-watch the last few eps of S2 when I get the discs, but wasn't one of the two big catalysts for her leaving him finding out that he had lied about taking money for so long? That was hundreds of thousands of dollars of treatment, no?

I liked the episode. The twins are straight up Coen brothers shit, which I'm pretty okay with. They aren't the first characters or humor in this to remind me of Coen-style crime movies. I hope very much that they build them up only to meet a sudden and hilarious end. Highlight of the episode for me was definitely Jesse's "I'm the bad guy" talk. Sent chills up my spine. Really excited to follow his story this season.

recognize the guy playing weird al? looooool (also the bartender)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl3yX9cWuFo

xp Yeah, I really liked that. I'm glad they didn't overplay it too much with the direction or music, either, since it's just the first inkling of where ever they're going with him this season. Also a great contrast to Walt's path of getting more insanely in denial and self-justification, "I'm just not a criminal", "amphetamine manufacturer", the assembly speech, and so on.

ok that video was pretty funny i have to admit, just for the cameos

I really, really wonder if these twin dudes are going to talk at all. They're sort of the opposite of Tuco, in a way, who was so aggressive and loud that it was almost over the top. Maybe they're mutes?

I can see why skyler found out, sort of, it just seems to be timed a bit awkwardly. Like she suspected drugs v v early on, then she didn't for a while, then she decides it is that quite a few episodes after things like finding out he wasn't taking the handouts or had the second phone. It's a minor quibble, it just does seem a leap to me for her to convince herself he's a drug dealer.

I mean a leap from not thinking that or denying it. It doesn't seem like anything specific was final straw.

i think the separation was the final straw - until then she didn't have the courage to "go there" in her own mind but once she got cold-hearted enough to just shut him out she could think about things a little more clearly

well - she'd obviously made up her mind about leaving him before he was well - but made sure he was going to be ok before she did the deed. there was that scene in the doctors office where she was v. clearly making sure he'd be ok and then next thing she does is pack her shit.
kind of made me respect her character alot more for that one, tbh.

yeah i guess i mean that i can understand not wanting to believe the worst when you're still under the same roof as someone but once you separate, and once you decide you want a divorce, and once your divorce attorney says to leave no stone unturned and that she's seen all manner of crazy shit spouses have hidden from each other.. well i can easily see the ebayin, internet sleuthin part of skyler's brain kick up a gear

It would have been nice if they would have thrown us a bone and given us a hint about where her thoughts were going, I guess. I don't think it's a huge leap to make for a person in real life, but you don't see it a lot in TV shows/movies that depend on the deception being successful to maintain the tension. In my experience, once someone gives you a reason to be suspicious of them, their antenna stays up, and it's not hard to piece together the lies. I loved that she thought he was dealing pot with Jesse - that made a lot of sense. He was crazy to admit the meth thing.

See, this is the season where I'm going to be constantly frustrated with Walt, because his conscience and naivety is going to him and his family in mortal danger.

another Jesse moment I loved was when he first gets in the car after months of rehab, and simply states, "Your windshield is broken."

i think the separation was the final straw -

that plus baby getting born and cancer going into remission leaves more time for her to focus on what his deal is. i mean say what u want about the show but the writers have the plot details tuned pretty tight, moreso than any show i can remember

no overall it's really tight, I agree. I think richie otm above, it's v unusual in a tv show not to have a moment where she finally realises. I mean even if that moment isn't going to be some dumb cheesey eureka instance of her finding the wads of cash etc, you'd think they'd have shown her becoming certain of it. cos she was pretty certain when she called around to walt.

i agree the lack of "moment of realization" is unusual but it also didn't really bother me. i don't think she was certain so much as "what else could it be if its not this, this or this." like she just wanted to throw something at him and see if it sticks, gauge his reaction, and sure enough he was visibly flustered even with his initial denial of it.

was it her sister that planted the seed of doubt early on about drug dealing, and skyler just laughed it off? need to rewatch season 1

"it's v unusual in a tv show not to have a moment where she finally realises"

Isn't the moment where she realizes that he actually does have 2nd cell phone, that moment?

that only confirms he's hiding something, not that he's dealing

But everything else flows from that.