Funnily enough, though, while he and I clearly built a bit of a bond as a result of his conversation with myself and my daughter, we’d never actually met until earlier this month, when he attended the Television Critics Association Awards with some of his fellow “Breaking Bad” cast and crew members. I was giddy when I spotted him at the event, and I strolled over and said, “You and I have never met, but you’ve chatted with my daughter…”

His jaw dropped, and he said, “Son of a bitch.” Then a smile appeared on his face, he stuck out his hand, and he said, “How are you, brother? And how’s that little girl of yours doing? Oh, man, it is so good to finally meet you. Is your wife here? I need to say ‘hello’ to her, too!”

Yep. Jonathan Banks is awesome. Indeed, he’s so awesome that, although I couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t be up for doing a quick interview in the wake of Mike’s storyline coming to a conclusion on “Breaking Bad,” I still felt obliged to go through the proper channels to chat with him. As such, I sent a formal request to his manager, even as I admitted, “I realize there’s a pretty strong chance that he’s just going to say, ‘Well, if he knows how to get in touch with me, then tell him to get in touch with me, for chrissakes, but even so.”

Within 24 hours, I had a direct email from Mr. Banks, simply saying, “Call anytime.” And when I asked if he had a preferred time, explaining that I’d have an empty house from 8:30 AM EST onward because of my wife and daughter heading out to get their hair done, he said to call him at 8:30 AM EST…which was a little surprising, given that I knew he lived in California, but damned if he didn’t answer the phone right away.

Bullz-Eye: Well, aren’t you the early riser…

Jonathan Banks: Got a golf game to get to, brother. [Laughs.]

BE: Oh, sure, you’ve got all the time in the world to golf now.

JB: [Dreamily.] All the time in the world…

BE: And on that note, as far as the last hurrah of Mike Ehrmantraut goes, it was a hell of a way to go out, that’s for sure.

JB: Yeah, it was done well. It was done really well.

BE: Did Vince (Gilligan) give you at least a little bit of advance warning that your end on the series was near?

JB: Oh, yeah. Vince told me nine months ago, so I definitely had notice.

BE: The way things were going, it seemed almost inevitable that a showdown between Mike and Walt was destined to happen. Did you have that feeling even before Vince told you?

JB: Well, you know, there’s no other way to say it: Mike broke a lot – a lot – of his own rules in the end, so you knew damned well it was not going to come to a good end. [Laughs.]

BE: In truth, it seemed that we started to see a different Mike than the one we first met once Walt started to flex his muscles against Gus early last season.

JB: Yeah, but, you know, I don’t know what to say other than that the wonderful writers – and I do mean wonderful writers – what they give me, that’s what I do.

BE: They certainly gave you a lot this season. We learned more about Mike than we ever had before, including, at long last, his last name. Do you happen to know the story behind where Ehrmantraut came from?

JB: Absolutely. Vince’s love, Holly, who’s also a friend of mine, it’s the last name of one of Holly’s girlfriends in Virginia.

BE: In the midst of all of the new info we got on your character, we also got to see you interact with Dean Norris for a change.

JB: Oh, God, and weren’t those some fun scenes? [Laughs.] I’m telling you, Dean’s good. He’s good.

BE: As far as this past week’s episode, it was a sure sign of just how worried Mike was that he was willing to leave his granddaughter behind.

JB: Oh, yeah. And that, for me, was…I really, really, really… [Hesitates.] That was one I thought I just…I mean, leaving her in the park? The only way I can justify that as an actor, or that Mike could justify it through me, is that they are the police, it is a safe spot that’s…y’know, she’s not being abandoned by a railroad track somewhere. And he must take the leap that she’ll be taken care of and be safe and be put back with her mother.

BE: For your final scene with Aaron Paul, did you actually receive the instruction that you were to look like you were on the verge of hugging him? Because not that Mike’s really what you’d call a hugger, but it looked like you were on the verge of that.

JB: Yeah, y’know, that’s…well, first of all, Will, getting down to those last days, that was some tough duty, because I love li’l Aaron, and I truly… [Hesitates.] That was an emotional parting. When we were running lines, it was all of a sudden for the first time when I realized, “As far as the show, this is it. This is the last time we’re ever gonna see each other.” So that was tough. That was tough.

BE: Understandably so. The bond that you guys built, particularly over the course of last season, was pretty profound.

JB: Well, you know, and that’s on the screen. And the funny thing – or not so funny – is that Aaron and I are really dear friends, and we had such a good time riding around in that car together that all the stuff began to come easy. The protection of the character, Mike’s protection of Jesse…all the lines began to blur because of the emotional feelings I had for Aaron, you know? [Laughs.]

BE: I’ve read that everyone wore black armbands for your last day of filming.

JB: Yeah.

BE: You really scored a perfect parting line.

JB: Yeah, y’know, offhand, when I first saw the word “fuck,” I thought, “Aw, I don’t know, would Mike use the word ‘fuck’ there?” I mean, they get one “fuck” a season and they gave it to me, so it was such an honor, but at the same time… “Would he really say that?” And then, of course, because Mike doesn’t actually say “fuck” – it’s bleeped – so it becomes even more profound, I thought.

BE: And the sun was just gorgeous for that final shot. Just a beautiful shot.

JB: [Sighs.] I know. That’s Slovis. Look at Michael Slovis. And Steve Litecky, who does the lighting and makes sure that everything’s perfect. But, you know, it was the end of the day. We were running out of light, Will. There was no more light. It was done. It was toast.

BE: How difficult was it for you to sit on the knowledge that your time on the show was coming to an end?

JB: I don’t know. And that’s as good an answer as I can give you. I don’t know. I have such mixed feelings, because from the time I knew… [Hesitates.] I guess the biggest reaction I had was, “What a great role this has been. What a wonderful gift that Vince Gilligan gave to me.” And that’s truly how I looked at it. Now, as time got closer, it was hard! It was hard going through the season and knowing that…I have a good time when I go to work, so I’m going to work, having a good time, having a good time…and all of a sudden, that day is there. And it was an emotional day out there, my friend.

BE: It’s pretty much universally accepted that your “No Half Measures” speech is one of Mike’s greatest moments, but are there any other such moments that you hold up as personal favorites?

JB: No. Not off the top of my head. [Hesitates.] No, y’know, here are my favorite moments: from the time I came on the show in the last episode of Season 2 to the time I fell over and died. Those are my favorite moments. But, yes, the “Half Measures” speech really, really sticks out. Will, I can’t tell you what a joy this has been to do. A joy.

BE: So what do you have on the horizon, aside from golf?

JB: Well, I’m memorizing lines this morning for a film, and I just did a small film for a friend. You know, my life is what it’s always been for 45 years: “Where’s the next job coming from?” [Laughs.]

BE: Any talk to you returning to “Modern Family”?

JB: Nah. I mean, y’know, what am I gonna do? I was dying of cancer the last time, so if you see me again, I’ll be probably be dead.

BE: Hey, look how many seasons Walter White’s gone with cancer.

JB: [Laughs.] That’s true. Were it only that way in the real world…

Regrettably, it’s unlikely that I’m going to be blogging each and every episode of this season I have over the course of the past couple of years, but that’s not to say that I won’t still be offering up the occasional piece about the show. I mean, after all, I meant it when I said – repeatedly – that it’s the best show on television, so I’m rarely without something to say about it. Indeed, having been fortunate enough to check out a screener of the Season 5 premiere, I thought I’d devote this week’s column to desperately avoiding saying too much about what goes on while still giving you as many reasons as possible to make you want to tune in.

But first, AMC’s official look at what’s ahead:

Now that you’ve watched that, prepare yourself for a list of 20 things that you probably won’t want to read if you want to go into the episode being as surprised as possible. Trust me, though: although arguably all 20 things qualify as spoilers on some level, I really haven’t told you much of anything…which you’ll realize after you’ve watched the Season 5 premiere on Sunday night. Once you have, I hope you’ll check back in. I’m curious to know what you think.

1. Walt spends the pre-credits teaser in a Denny’s, looking like he hasn’t had to deal with chemo in quite some time.

2. The only other familiar face in the pre-credits scene is someone we’ve only seen once before on “Breaking Bad,” but we’ve seen him plenty of times on other Bullz-Eye-friendly shows. Hint: during my chat with Cranston for the AV Club, I dropped this person’s name as someone who did outstanding work in Season 4, and Cranston admitted that we might be seeing him again in Season 5. I just didn’t expect it would be so fast!

3. Despite what our friend Mr. Cranston claims, the episode does not pick up right where we left off. Mostly it does, yes, but not entirely.

4. Walt, Jr. reflects on the death of Gus Fring.

5. At one point, Walt says, “Oh, shit.” And with good reason.

6. While exploring the rubble that once was the Super Lab, Gomez offers Hank the chance to say “I told you so.”

7. Mike probably isn’t completely back up to full strength after the season finale, but his reaction to the news of Gus’s death will absolutely have you believe otherwise.

8. Mike and Walt spend a fair amount of time arguing over semantics.

9. Jesse has a good idea.

10. We also see the return of a one-off guest star from Season 3.

11. The car wash is continuing to kick ass.

12. Saul gets Skyler riled up.

13. We find out Ted’s fate.

14. Walt executes Jesse’s aforementioned good idea with decidedly strong results.

15. There’s at least one moment where you will laugh even as your heart skips a beat…or, in another words, a good old-fashioned “holy shit” moment.

16. Jesse says, “Yeah, bitch!”

17. Gus might be gone, but his storyline nonetheless rages on.

18. At one point, Saul says to Walt, “I’m your Huckleberry.” He’s probably being sarcastic, though.

19. No, seriously, Walt really no longer needs the hat to channel Heisenberg.

20. Walt’s last line of the episode would’ve been poignant if he’d said it last season. Now it’ll just make you yell, “I can’t believe he just fucking said that!”

Ahem.

When we first see Walt this evening, he’s making a mad dash through the parking garage to remove the bomb from the underside of Gus’s car, which he promptly carries into the hospital and up to the waiting area. It’s an unabashedly slapstick moment when the magnet on the bomb sticks to the elevator door, followed by a hilarious back-and-forth between Walt and Jesse about the decision to bring the bomb with him (“What, was I supposed to leave it on his car?”), but things get serious immediately thereafter, with the ABQ police showing up and requesting an audience with Jesse about his statement. As the boys with badges walk away with Mr. Pinkman, Walt looks positively pale. Is it just from being in close proximity to the cops?

The conversation between Jesse and his new friends is predictably tense. “We’re just talking.” “So if I get tired of talking, I can get up and leave?” Sure, that’s how it always works. Jesse’s being seriously grilled over the fact that he offered up a very specific poison as what was causing Brock’s illness. His explanation? “I musta seen it on ‘House’ or something.” Awesome. Time to call Saul, but there’s so much shredding going on that his secretary can’t hear the phone when he calls…or when Walt calls, for that matter, as we discover when he busts through the bottom pane of the front door in a desperate effort to find Saul. It’s an unexpectedly hilarious scene between Walt and H.T. (as Saul dubbed her last week), particularly when Walt is initially completely oblivious to the fact that the $20K pricetag for the repairs ain’t nothing to do with repairs. Okay, so it was a little slapstick-y when Walt left the office the same way he came in, but that didn’t keep me from laughing, anyway.

Walt heads home to find the $20K, but he approaches slowly and cautiously (as one might when they think there’s a good chance that they’re being watched), checking out the joint with spyglasses first. I didn’t recognize the name Becky Simmons – is this the first time we’ve ever heard her name mentioned? – but once I realized she was his neighbor, I all but laughed out loud at his plan. As I’m watching, I was thinking, “Why do I feel like we’re going to see a gun go off from a distance? Or see the house blow up when she walks in the door?” But, no, it’s just a couple of goons who slip out the side door when Becky comes in. It was a potentially cruel tactic, but you can’t deny its effectiveness. Still, things go awry when Walt slips in to retrieve the money and the goons pop back in. (Nice shot of their feet gliding past the window, btw.) Thank God the crawl space offers an escape route, eh?

Jumping back to Jesse, our Mr. Pinkman still has nothing to say about his poison suggestion except that he was “trying to be helpful.” Amazingly, Saul comes through for his client, swooping in to save the day, and in their discussion, Saul tells Jesse about Walt’s near-miss, and in turn Jesse steers Walt toward Casa Tranquila, where Hector resides. “They’re enemies, not friends,” muses Walt, and, man, you can just hear the wheels turning…

Walt blows into Bingo to see Hector and offers him the opportunity for revenge. I’ve got to say, it’s a brilliant plan, and damned if Walt isn’t right: the odds are looking good that Hector hates Gus more than him…until, following Hector’s laborious process of getting a message through to his nurse, he offers up two words that I didn’t see coming: “Need DEA.” Seriously? Is he really going to play the narc? I don’t believe it…but with this show, you just never fucking know.

Time for the obligatory check-in call from the family, with Junior demanding to know when Walt’s going to join them and Marie continuing to pile on the guilt, but Hank’s oblivious to it all, and when Gomez pops by the safe house, we find out it’s because he’s been focusing on the excess electrical units at the laundry. But Hank’s mind goes elsewhere as soon as he learns that Hector’s suddenly of a mind to talk to him, and although Marie unsurprisingly views it as a ploy to get Hank out in the open, you knew damned well that as soon as she said, “There’s no way you’re going to do it, end of story,” there’d be a quick cut to Hank in the office…and so there was. What I didn’t expect was that Hector’s only reason to take a trip to the DEA was to ultimately lure Gus to Casa Tranquila…well, and perhaps to offer one final “fuck you” to Hank in the process.

Nice family portrait in Hector’s room, huh? Boy, those Cousins sure were cute once upon a time. It looked for a moment like Tyrus was going to do the dirty work and take out Hector himself, but, no, he’s only here to check the place for anything suspicious…and there isn’t, unless you count Walt, who’s hovering right outside the window and beats a hasty retreat.

Hey, what do you know? Brock wasn’t poisoned with Ricin. Jesse claims he isn’t surprised, but he clearly is. He’s even more surprised, however, when he walks out of the police station and is promptly tasered by a couple of Gus’s goons…as if anyone else’s goons would be quite so brazen. (Gus really gets off on his goons tasering people on his behalf, doesn’t he?) Whether Gus knows for a fact that Jesse is involved in this whole Hector mess or not, he’s clearly not taking any chances.

Tyrus gives Gus the go-ahead to come down to Casa Tranquila, and although he offers to take care of Hector himself, Gus unsurprisingly declines this kind offer (“I do this”) and gets all spiffed up to head over and take care of business. After one more sweep by Tyrus for good measure, Mr. Fring allows himself the tiniest bit of excitement that the time has finally come to extract his final revenge Hector…but will he even make it in the door? I really wasn’t sure. But, yes, he makes his way into Hector’s room, shuts the door, and immediately gets dramatic, asking, “What kind of man talks to the DEA? No man. No man at all.” Suddenly, it’s starting to look worse for Hector than it is for Gus, but we know something’s going to happen…and when Hector can no longer resist making final eye contact with Gus, we realize that the end has come for Gustavo Fring. Or has it? Damned if it didn’t look like he’d managed to survive for a second…until we saw the other side of his face. Biggest “holy shit” moment in “Breaking Bad” history? Certainly the most bad-ass, anyway. Leave it to the Chicken Man to spend his final moments of existence straightening his tie. Goodbye, Gus…

Walt, of course, cannot resist the opportunity to look smug when he hears the news on the radio. But there’s still five minutes left. What’s going to happen? Well, first of all, we’ve got to check in on Jesse, who’s back to making meth – someone’s got to do it, right? – and not looking at all happy about it. Fortunately, he’s moments away from being out of that line of work. Walt blows in, blows away Gus’s underling, and tells Jesse, “Gus is dead. We’ve got work to do.” So long, SuperLab. You’ll be missed.

I was convinced they were going to walk out of the laundry and right into Hank and/or Gomez, but, no, they got away scott free. It seemed like too happy an ending when Jesse found out that Brock was going to make it, but I admit that I was still convinced that the poison wasn’t Walt’s doing. The look on his face sold me as well as it did Jesse, as it implied to me that he wasn’t 100% certain that Gus actually did have to go. I was wrong wrong wrong. I admit it. But how long will it take Jesse to figure it out?

It’s always an excruciating wait between seasons of “Breaking Bad,” but while Season 4 doesn’t end with the sort of scream-inducing cliffhanger that we’ve been handed in the past, it does close with tremendous possibilities for what Season 5 might bring. As ever, Vince Gilligan delivered a fantastic 13-episode run this go-round. Only a few episodes ago, I was complaining about how the whole Mr.-Chips-to-Scarface transition seemed to have fallen apart, with Walt having become a pathetic mess, but damned if things didn’t turn around…as I should’ve suspected they would all along, obviously. So what can we expect from Season 5? For one, I have to believe that Gus’s Chilean connections will turn up to avenge his death. I don’t believe the destruction of the SuperLab is so complete as to negate the possibility of the DEA finding their way back to Walt…and if even if it is, then there’s certainly still his office at Los Pollos Hermanos to explore. And what of poor Mike, last seen recovering in Mexico? Bet on Jonathan Banks’ name in the credits of Season 5.

Damn, that was a good season. Hope you folks agree. See you back here next year, okay?

Wait, scratch that: Walt’s not going.

“All that matters is that the rest of you are safe,” Walt tells Skyler. “And that’s why I’m not going with you. I’m the real target.” Ever the naïve one, she can’t quite grasp that being under the watchful eye of the DEA isn’t enough to keep everyone protected, but Walt knows better, just as he knows that he and his family are only being included in the DEA’s protective of Hank because Marie has demanded it.

“There’s got to be another way,” sobs Skyler.

“There isn’t,” Walt says, matter-of-factly. “There was. But now there isn’t.”

And so Walt steps outside and calls Hank, playing his brother-in-law like a fiddle with the suggestion that Marie has a history of overreacting, and assures him that somebody’s got to keep the car wash up and running. Hank isn’t thrilled, but he doesn’t sound suspicious, even when Walt’s voice cracks with emotion as he tells him to keep his head down. The look on Walt’s face as he says goodbye to his infant daughter is heartbreaking, if only because we know that, in his mind, he believes this could well be the last time he ever sees her…but, y’know, you can’t really blame the guy for thinking that, can ya?

Walt sits poolside, a location where we’ve seen him more than a few times before, and when he’s there, it invariably results in a dramatic and/or traumatic moment, ranging anywhere from Walt Jr. puking from too many tequila shots to Walt digging an eyeball out of the drain or, lest we forget, Walt having to jump into the water to extinguish his flaming bathrobe. This time, however, we see a man who’s spinning both his firearm and his wheels, waiting to figure out how little future he has left. When the pistol spins toward one of the potted plants, however, it’s clear that Walt has gotten an idea. I’ll freely admit, however, that I didn’t know what the hell it was at the time.

Meanwhile, over at Casa de Schrader, Walt Jr. has quickly shifted out of the respect he’d started to give his father for being honest with him (or at least sounding like it, anyway) during their discussion at the apartment and has gotten pissed off at him again for ostensibly sticking with the car wash when his life could be in danger. Predictably, Marie’s pissed about it, too, and wants to know why they didn’t just haul Walt’s ass into custody. Hank briefly tries to calm everybody down, but then he proceeds to get everybody right back up in arms again when he starts up with his theories about Gus Fring. Gomez is still as skeptical as ever, but Hank finally talks Gomez into checking out the laundry by roughing up his ego, suggesting that he was never any good at the ol’ knock-and-talk routine.

What a surprise: the next shot is of Gomez at the laundry.

First and foremost, it’s nice to finally see Steven Michael Quezada get a nice, meaty scene for a change. The guy’s been a consistently dependable player, turning in solid work since the early days of the series, but he rarely gets the opportunity to be the star of a scene, so this was a pleasant treat…for us and for him, I’d expect. I can’t say as I really expected the dogs to find anything during their sweep of the facilities, but when the camera went between the machinery, down through the floor, and into the SuperLab, I admit that my pulse quickened a bit, and it only got quicker when Jesse got the phone call from Gus. “This is all the result of your former partner,” snaps Gus. “Do you understand now? Do you see why this can’t continue?” Jesse still isn’t willing to sign off on Walt’s death, however, and when he asks Gus what he plans to do as an alternative to killing Mr. White, Gus offers six painfully ambiguous words in response:

“There will be an appropriate response.”

Shuddering as we take in the possible ramifications of this statement, we see Gomez drive away without having found anything to back up Hank’s theories, followed by Jesse being dropped off at his car at a location which is, presumably, a significant distance away from the laundry. It’s a move which further shows how well prepared Gus is, but it also reminds us just how frustrated he must be with the way his empire now seems perpetually on the verge of collapse as a result of one man. (Well, you know, it’s technically two, but Gus clearly would’ve knocked off Hank by now if it wasn’t for Walt, so there’s little question that all of the blame lies first and foremost on Walt’s shoulders.) You know things are bad if Jesse’s actually trying to get in touch with Walt, but there’s a momentary bit of comic relief when, after failing to reach Walt, he checks his messages and receives a series of increasingly frantic voicemails from Saul Goodman, and the humor continues into Goodman’s office, particularly with the line, “‘Sugar tits’: I say it’s endearing.” But as their conversation continues, Saul’s dialogue becomes less punctuated with punch lines, and Bob Odenkirk’s delivery grows increasingly nervous. If Saul makes it out of Season 4 alive, I have to wonder just how much we’ll be seeing of him in Season 5, because this is clearly a man who fears for his life and has no intention of sticking around ABQ any longer than he absolutely has to.

As Hank continues to ponder Gus’s guilt, Skyler is, as one might expect of someone in her situation, increasingly twitchy. Like Jesse, she finds herself unable to get in touch with Walt, her anxiety reaching a point where she steps outside to enjoy the smooth, refreshing taste of smoldering tobacco. (I know we’ve seen Skyler smoke before, but I’m blanking on the last time it happened. Was it in 2.10, a.k.a. the same episode where Walt, Jr. puked in the pool?) Further emphasizing that she and Jesse are in the same boat, we get that nice cut to Jesse fiddling with his lighter, which in turn takes us into a development which I didn’t see coming in the slightest and which leaves us seriously wondering whether Gus is as evil here as we know he can be, if Walt’s being as paranoid as we know he can be, or if Walt’s reached such a point of desperation that he’s decided, “Well, if it takes the possible death of a child to get Jesse back on my side, then so be it”…and I’ll be damned if I can tell which it is.

Either way, I didn’t immediately think that someone had gone after Brock, but I did initially think, “Wow, this seems kind of out of nowhere,” and when Jesse pulled out his cigarette pack, I believe I actually did say out loud, “Oh, no…” But when Jesse showed up at Walt’s house, I didn’t expect him to suddenly turn on Walt the way he did. Frankly, when Jesse saw that the cigarette was missing, I figured he thought that Brock had decided to try a cigarette and accidentally picked the wild card in the pack, so from my point of view, it seemed like a hell of a leap of logic to think that Walt had somehow been involved in giving the poison to Brock. Even after Jesse explained away my theory, I still don’t think I would’ve figured, “Oh, Walt’s responsible.” I know Jesse isn’t exactly the Mr. Spock of “Breaking Bad,” but even after having survived the bloodbath down Mexico way with Gus and Mike, I still would’ve probably wondered if perhaps Tyrus might’ve had something to do with it…which, of course, is what Walt theorizes. I obviously didn’t believe for a second that Jesse was going to kill Walt, but given Jesse’s skewed theory of what had happened, nor did I necessarily know for sure if he was going to accept the possibility that Gus might be guilty of the charges Walt was making against him.

Quick side note that I was reminded of when Jesse made one more visit to see Brock in the hospital: this was a rare TV portrayal of a nurse who wasn’t being a complete and total bitch. You get so used to seeing nurses getting shitty about the whole “only spouse and family” rule that it was actually somewhat shocking earlier in the episode when this young lady seemed almost sympathetic about not being able to let Jesse go back with Andrea, and she kept her same general tone here even when threatening to call security. It’s the little things on this show that really stand out, and this – which had absolutely nothing to do with the plot – was one that really caught my eye.

Okay, back to business. I can’t believe Tyrus got so pissed off with Jesse for not going back to work that he actually committed a bit of laying-of-hands in the middle of a hospital. Dude ain’t no Mike, that’s for sure. Clearly, Gus knows that, too, or else he wouldn’t have deigned to come to the hospital himself and “suggest” that Jesse come back and finish up the batch of meth before it goes bad. After hearing about Brock, however, Gus assures Jesse that he needn’t come back until the boy’s situation is more stable…as long as he gets stable by next week. (That was a perfect Gus moment.) The fact that their meeting took place in a chapel cannot be ignored, though I’m not sure what we’re supposed to take from it.

Can you smell what Walt’s cooking? It’s an explosive of some sort, obviously, not entirely unlike a pipe bomb. I’ve no doubt that the chemistry of the explosive is spot-on, but as for the mechanics of blowing it up, that’s not Walt’s field, so when it took more than a few tries to get any sort of reaction from the detonator, I knew there was at least a 50% chance that it wouldn’t work when the time came. I did not, however, expect the hairs on the back of Gus’s neck to suddenly stand on end, as if he somehow sensed that Walt had placed a bomb on his vehicle, and send him out of the parking garage and out of harm’s way. Not that Gus doesn’t have the tendency to plan for every possible eventuality, and not that he wouldn’t be continuing to expect Walt to try and take him down, but if we’re really supposed to believe that he sensed a disturbance in the force or whatever, I’ll be really depressed, so here’s hoping that next week will reveal that he hesitated because he had a brainstorm and turned around so that he could put it into action.

So what of next week? Will Brock pull through? Will we see Mike make his triumphant return to some semblance of good health? Will we finally get definitive confirmation that Ted is dead? (Every other critic seems to think he is, but I need someone on the show to actually say it before I can believe it…and nobody’s actually said it.) Will Saul Goodman successfully make it out of town, or will he take his final bow on “Breaking Bad”? And will we want to scream at Vince Gilligan for offering up a flurry of cliffhangers that we’ll have to wait for many long months to see resolved? I think the only one we can definitively answer with a “yes” is that last one, but I’m resigned to that, so I’ll be back here next week no matter what…and here’s hoping you will be, too.

Ah, I’m just kidding. I know you’ll be here. Hell, if you’ve made it this far, there’s really no reason to think you’d be anywhere else. See you then!

This is not hyperbole. This is fact.

And with this having been said, let’s get to talking about the proceedings, shall we?

What’s going down ‘round the hospital? Oh, wait, this isn’t a hospital: these are some of Gus’s guys, a rag-tag team of doctors who were clearly prepared for the eventuality that his preventative measures might not do the trick. Unfortunately, they’re not nearly as interested in helping out poor Mike, as evidence by when Jesse says, “This man needs help,” and the lead physician replies matter-of-factly, “This man pays my salary.”

Meanwhile, back at the SuperLab, Walt’s continuing to make with the meth under the watchful eye of Gus’s right-hand man, but as Walt reminds him for what must surely be the hundredth time, “If Pinkman’s gone, I’m done.” So what’s up with Walt’s figures being off? Is he just frazzled and not paying attention? If so, you have to admit that’s a little understandable, what with everything going on in his world…like, for instance, teaming up with Hank on a stakeout of the Los Pollos Hermanos warehouse. Walt’s less than subtle when asking about the status of the cartel, but it works: Hank’s heard rumblings that a major massacre went down, big even by cartel standards. In return, Hank starts asking about the bruises on his face, once again offering him a friendly ear, but Walt stiffens and snaps, “I’m done explaining myself.”

Looks like they found time to help Mike after all. Jesse discovers just how much advance planning Gus put into the goings-on in Mexico, and it’s clear that, although he’s shocked, he has considerable respect for the man. Moments later, the man himself emerges, looking tired but on his way to recovery. Unfortunately, Mike’s still going to be laid up for a week or more, but Gus assures Jesse that he’ll send for their friend as soon as he’s well enough to travel. The lead doc smiles and prescribes water and rest to Gus, and I swear, I think this was the most human I think we’ve ever seen Gus look. I don’t know how far they go back, but it’s got to be pretty damned far. And speaking of far, it’s a hell of a stroll back to the border, and it’s even longer once Gus casually comments that Jesse can run the lab himself. Jesse understands the implications…and he does not appreciate them.

Is the White’s daughter making an effort to rival the kid in “Raising Hope” for Cutest Baby on TV? If so, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. This show could use a bit of lightening-up right about now. The discussion between Ted and Skyler is horribly tense, and it only gets worse when Ted writes Skyler a check for $617K, refusing to pay off his debt with gambling-won funds. She argues that it’s no less wrong than her book-cooking. He disagrees. They reach an impasse when he won’t accept her theory that everybody’s going to prison if he doesn’t use her money to pay his debt. “So what you’re saying is that you can’t accept the money I gave you but you could accept a larger amount?” No, no, it’s about doing the right thing. She thinks he’s blackmailing her. Yes, this has gone horribly, horribly wrong, which is the only way it ever could have gone. So now what? Better call Saul!

There’s got to be some significance to Hector watching “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” but all I could identify on the spur of the moment was the unabashed joy in Gus’s voice when he greeted his old “friend.” I actually laughed out loud when I heard the jangling of the Don’s necklace, but it was more than a little bit disconcerting to see Gus so unabashedly using Jesse as a prop. Say goodbye to the Salamanca name. “Look at me, Hector.” For a second, I actually wondered if Gus was going to hit Hector over the head with the folding chair. Jesse clearly doesn’t understand what’s just happened, but the impact is in no way lost on us.

Gus’s right-hand man is hanging out by Hank’s house again, eh? Well, that’s another case of “you can’t blame him.” Once Hank’s in the car, Walt continues to press his brother-in-law for details on the cartel situation, which – given Walt’s lack of subtlety – is tense enough, but when Hank wants to swing by the industrial laundry that serves as the front for the SuperLab, you can see the sweat beading on Walt’s brow even as Hank’s grinning from ear to ear about his discoveries and musing on how his life is turning into “Three Days of the Condor.” When Walt completely freaked out and not only intentionally missed the turn into the laundry but, indeed, veered into an oncoming car, my blood pressure was through the roof. Things are getting RIDICULOUS.

So Hank can barely walk, and now he’s in a neck brace, but he’s still looking suspiciously calm, calling Walt “Mr. Magoo.” Walt claims the other driver came out of nowhere, Hank points out that he absolutely did not, but the end result of their disagreement is that Marie orders Hank to stop having Walt drive him around…which is fine with Hank, since he’s ordered himself a “Gimp-Mobile.” It’s only a few moments after that when Skyler gets a callback from Saul, who’s sending some of his boys over to Ted’s place to threaten him into writing a check to the IRS. Ted’s freaking out, whining, “Skyler would never do this to me.” But, then, Ted doesn’t know Skyler nearly as well as he thinks he does. Sure, Saul’s muscle gets Ted to write the check to the IRS, but even as I was saying to myself, “There’s going to be repercussions, no doubt about it,” Ted made a break for it, tripped on the rug, and, uh, ow. Also, can I get a “holy shit”? You know, swear to God, when Ted tripped on the rug earlier in the episode, I thought, “Ha, that’s funny, I bet that was an accident that they decided to keep in because it felt real.” After almost four full seasons of this show, you’d think I’d know better by now than to think that anything in “Breaking Bad” is ever accidental.

Now that Hank’s got his eye on the laundry, Walt’s got to slip into the place under cover, resulting in a quick but classic exchange: “Does the laundry have to be dirty?” “Nope.” But if Walt’s grumpy about this, then you can imagine how pissed he is when he realizes that Jesse’s been making meth without him.

Cue the fast-forward to Jesse’s place, and…my God, it’s a whole new Jesse! He’s actually hanging out with his girl and her son. Unsurprisingly, given their previous encounter, Jesse has nothing to say to Walt, but Walt won’t give up. He’s desperate to apologize, and he wants to find out what’s going to happen now that Jesse’s cooking in his absence. Jesse snaps back, “The time I asked for your help, you said, ‘I hope you end up buried in a barrel in the Mexican desert.’” That’s got to hurt. Maybe not quite as much as being tasered and taken down by Gus’s boys, but, still, ow.

Cue another flash-forward. Walt’s in the desert, his hands are tied behind him, and he’s got a bag over his head. Gus, looking ever dapper and more than a little bit crazed, rips off the the bag and whips out a rapid-fire warning: “You are done. Fired. Do not show your face at the laundry again. Stay away from Pinkman. Do not go near him. Ever.”

Fucking Walt. He had to ask, “Or else you’ll do what?” But the man’s got a point: if Gus could kill him, he already would have, which means that Jesse, no matter how much hatred he may still have for Walt in his heart, still doesn’t want to see Walt dead…at least for now. “He’ll come around,” Gus says ominously, then proceeds to clarify exactly what’s going to go down. In a nutshell, Hank’s going to be taken out, and Walt’s not going to do a damned thing about it, because if he does…well, I’ll let Gus’s clarification speak for itself:

“If you try to interfere, this becomes a much simpler matter: I will kill your wife, I will kill your son, I will kill your infant daughter.”

FUCK.

That’s what I’m saying, mind you. But it’s probably what was going through Walt’s mind, too. And Saul’s, for that matter, after Walt blew into his office and screamed, “Gus is going to murder my whole family!” Understandably, Walt’s decided that it’s time to move forward on the whole identity-wiping thing. God bless Saul Goodman: I wouldn’t have thought anything could break the tension, but damned if he didn’t get a laugh out of me when he asked, “What’d you expect? Hadji’s Quick Vanish?” My anxieties all came rushing back, however, at the horror on Saul’s face at the thought of having to narc on Gus to the DEA. Of course, we know from later events that he makes the call, but the bigger question is whether or not there’ll be any repercussions for our favorite ambulance chaser. Maybe Gus will figure Walt’s the one who made the call, as well he might, but given the way this season has gone down to date, I find myself fearing the worst for Mr. Goodman.

And so we venture into the crawlspace…and, holy shit, what can I possibly say about this scene? Any sentence beginning with the words “if Bryan Cranston doesn’t win an Emmy” is pointless, as at this point I cannot imagine a scenario where he would not earn one for Season 4 of “Breaking Bad.” Vince Gilligan has spent ages telling us how he was taking Walter White from Mr. Chips to Scarface, but what we’ve got on our hands now is one of the most pathetic individuals I’ve ever seen in my life…and his wife is nipping at his heels. Skyler may have started the season strong, but her actions in the past few episodes have only served to confirm my theory that it’s never a good thing to find one’s inner Heisenberg. (Maybe I shouldn’t have bought that pork pie hat after all…) The sight and sound of Walt’s laughter in the crawlspace is one of the creepiest things I’ve seen since Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise in “Stephen King’s ‘It.’” It’s nothing short of horrifying…and it’s going to be haunting me for quite some time.

So what do you say? Do you agree with me? Was this one of the best “Breaking Bad” episodes of all time? Discuss. And after that (or possibly during), please enjoy this possible new theme song for Walt…

Things kick off with Gus, Mike, and Jesse loitering in a field, but their loitering is short-lived, as a candy apple red airplane flies down and waits for them to embark. Gus and Mike do so without hesitation. Jesse…? Not so much. He does indeed step aboard, however, and after Mike closes the door, they’re off the ground and into the wild blue yonder. You can practically hear Jesse’s jangling nerves, which is no doubt why Gus offers him four words delivered quietly but with certainty: “You can do this.” What are we to make of the look on Mike’s face? Is he less confident of Jesse, or does he perhaps think the whole thing is a bad idea? We shall see…

“You have reached Walter White. At the tone, please state your name, number, and the reason for your call. Thank you.” No, thank you, Walt…but where the hell are you? Not with your wife and child, anyway, that’s for sure. As a result, he’s not there to see Junior’s face when Skyler presents him with his birthday present…which, all things being equal, Skyler probably wishes she’d missed, too. Clearly, her efforts to pick out a car that was actually in a price range that they could afford have only served to remind him of the car that his dad bought him that he wasn’t allowed to keep. You can kind of understand his reaction, but you can see the hurt it’s caused Skyler, and it’s pretty depressing, actually.

Saul Goodman looks nervous and antsy. We’ve seen him look like this when he’s getting twitchy about Gus or Mike, but why would Ted Beneke inspire such a reaction? Possibly because he’s been tasked with selling an incredibly ridiculous story: that the monetary holdings of Ted’s late great aunt from Luxembourg, who died eight years ago, are now his. Of course, this is a relative Ted’s been completely unaware of up to this point – possibly (but not definitely) because she doesn’t actually exist…although if this is Skyler’s plan, I have to believe she’s done the research and can at least back up the genealogy – but that doesn’t stop him from getting a big, fat smile on his face when he hears how much money he’s come into. Will he grow suspicious of the timing? We’ll see…

Back on solid ground, Gus, Mike, and Jesse are blindfolded and in a humvee, heading to the Mexican cartel’s translation of the SuperLab. Unsurprisingly, Jesse looks a little nervous about the fact that he’s surrounded by guys with guns, and he’d probably be even more nervous if he’d realized that the head chemist had, upon learning which of them would be teaching him the meth formula, said, “Is this a joke?” Clearly, the cartel doesn’t do things quite the way Walt’s been doing them, which Jesse discovers when he learns that, rather than bringing in pre-prepared henylacetic acid, they make their own in-house. Although Jesse doesn’t habla Espanol, he does habla the tone of someone speaking insultingly of him, and he doesn’t take kindly to it, which is why, as soon as he realizes that the head chemist comprehends English, he’s off and running with more self-confidence than…y’know, I think this might be the most we’ve ever seen in him. I have to admit that I was either smiling or laughing throughout Jesse’s taking control, but never more so than when they cut to the expressions of Gus and Mike. Suddenly, I could hear the voice of Trent from “Swingers”: “Our little baby’s all grown up.” Which is only appropriate, because the smile on Gus’s face at the end of the scene? That was money…and more than a little bit paternal, unless I miss my guess.

Oh, right, that’s why Walt didn’t answer the phone: because Jesse beat the living shit out of him last week. (How soon we forget…) I was left dumbfounded by this scene, although when you consider how much has gone on in the past 3+ seasons and how much Walt’s had to keep from Junior, it’s no wonder that he finally lost his shit when, in the wake of his ass-beating from someone he’d come at various times to see almost as a surrogate son, he’d missed his real son’s 16th birthday party. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s just the father in me speaking. But I really do think that that’s what led to the emotion on Walt’s part as well as the closest he’s come to touching on what he’s being doing behind Junior’s back. He begs Junior not to tell Skyler that he’s been in a fight, but given his emotional breakdown and the look on Junior’s face at the end of the scene, you know that if he doesn’t tell his mother about it, he’s sure as hell going to tell his uncle Hank.

Meanwhile, back at Laboratorio Estupendo, they’re filming Jesse’s every move as he goes through the motions and makes the meth precisely as Walt has trained him to do. Hooray! It’s a success! Decidedly less hooray-worthy: when success inspires the words, “You belong to the cartel now.” I reckon my jaw would’ve dropped at that news, too.

Thank you, Saul Goodman, for relieving a little bit of the tension with the laughter from your suggestion that celebrities need their cars washed, too. As we sensed earlier, Saul’s of the belief that the Ted’s-dead-aunt scheme has been brought to you by Bad Idea Jeans, but Skyler’s comfortable that she’s helped a pal out of a tough spot. Except, uh, not so much. Rather than paying off his tax debt, Ted went and bought himself a new Mercedes. Well, okay, he’s only leasing it, but you can’t blame Saul for being unable to completely hide his cheery demeanor when telling Skyler, “I told you so!”

When Walt rouses himself and crawls out of bed, he finds that Junior has opted to stick around and have a siesta on the couch. First Walt’s concerned that Skyler’s going to be worried sick that Junior didn’t come home, then when Junior tells him that he called her, Walt gets worried on a whole other level. He needn’t have been concerned, however: Junior didn’t narc on his dad. What follows when Walt begins to talk to Junior is the sort of scene that gets sent to Emmy voters as a reason to nominate someone for the Best Actor Emmy, and although Bryan Cranston generally has these kinds of moments throughout any given season of “Breaking Bad,” this is definitely his tour de force for Season 4. Maybe it’ll topped sometime over the next couple of weeks, but I’m not holding my breath. Between Walt’s speech here and Jesse’s speech in the lab, this whole episode has got Emmy written all over it…oh, but, wait, we’re not even done talking about the scene. First of all, you can see the wheels turning in Walt’s head when Junior makes the comment about how he seemed more “real” last night than he’d seen at any point in the previous year. Is he going to tell his son what’s going on? Surely not…but then again, you never know with Walt. Then, after Walt drives off, Gus’s right-hand man pulls up and asks, “Somewhere you should be…?” I couldn’t quite read the look on Walt’s face, but I can’t imagine that even the prospect of making meth for Gus is enough to bring him down from the high he’s gotten from this chat with Junior.

Watching Skyler’s encounter with Ted was one of the most painful scenes I’ve had to endure in quite some time. Seriously, it was agonizing. Ted just wasn’t going to concede that she was right about what he should do with the money, letting his ego get in the way of his common sense, and in the end, Skyler’s ego took her down as well, forcing her to effectively say, “Look, you dumbass, who the hell do you think gave you the money in the first place?” I admit that it was almost predictable that it ended that way, which is something that “Breaking Bad” almost never is, but it’s also the only way it really could have ended. Skyler was never, ever going to let Ted get away with that.

The expression on Gus’s face as he stood beside the Don’s pool might’ve been inscrutable to anyone who hadn’t seen Episode 4.8, but for us, it was obvious what memories were at the forefront of his mind. For all of tonight’s great speeches, Mike got the best one-liner of the night when telling Jesse the status quo as far as his having to stay in Mexico: “Either we’re all going home or none of us are.” Funny how the Don actually looked older 20 years ago that he does today…but, then, he’s probably been able to afford a considerable amount of plastic surgery, what with his ever-growing criminal empire. Gus’s stiffness during the Don’s embrace is apparent, as is the look on his face when the Don makes the comment about how Jesse will have plenty of time to learn Spanish. When the Don spotted the gift, I couldn’t imagine it was a bomb, just because I knew that the guy had way too many people on hand for anyone to have been able to slip in an explosive device. Indeed, it was…a bottle of tequila? Well, fair enough. Nothing wrong with a little tequila. Poisoned? If so, it’s got to be something that Gus has got an antidote for…but, no, it seems to be fine and dandy.

I’m not sure who looked more awkward: Jesse when the bikini girl sat on his lap and gave him a cigar, or Gus during the Don’s “business is business” speech. The tensions in the scene really started to run high post-tequila. If Mike’s right, we know that Gus has got to be planning something. We just don’t know what, but as far as the when, we know it’s got to be soon. Clearly, the Don is as suspicious as we are when, after getting the verbal “spanking,” Gus’s first reaction is to visit the lavatory…and as soon as Gus puts his finger down his throat, we know that the shit is about to go down. Watching all of the Don’s team go down – with his right-hand man getting a little added assistance on that front from Mike and his piano wire (or whatever the hell the preferred method of strangulation is nowadays) – was awesome, albeit in a really dark kind of way, and I’ve got to say that the seething anger on the Don’s face was fantastic, so kudos to my recent interview subject, Stephen Bauer. And then to follow that with Gus’s scream of warning / cry of victory to everyone within earshot, and an ending which left us uncertain of the ultimate fates of both Gus and Mike…?

I’ve only got nine words for you:

Best goddamned episode of the season…for now, anyway.

I don’t mean that as a spoiler. Indeed, when I wrote that sentence, I didn’t know whether I was being facetious or not. I was just playing the odds, baby…and when the first thing we saw this week after the aforementioned warning was a broken pair of glasses and droplets of blood falling onto a hardwood floor and the toe of a shoe, you’ll forgive me if I felt relatively confident that those odds were in my favor. As it turned out, I was right: someone in Gus’s camp did bite the dust. It just wasn’t anyone we particularly cared about. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Hank is positively giddy at the thought of heading over to Los Pollos Hermanos to pick up the tracking device and see where Gus has been driving for the past week…so giddy, in fact, that he’s crooning Survivor’s signature hit pretty much all the way to the restaurant. Walt, however, is more than a little bit antsy about being on the premises, refusing even to step inside the establishment, telling Hank, “We’ll grab something from the drive-thru.” When they get back to the house and check the device’s history, however, Hank is pissed at the “chicken-slinging son of a bitch,” dismissing Walt’s suggestion that maybe he might be innocent, declaring, “A guy this clean’s got to be dirty.”

Leaving Hank’s house, Walt runs into Gus’s right-hand man and makes the remarkably ballsy decision to call the cops on him right in front of him. Anyone think this is going to come back to bite Walt in the ass? Yeah, me, too. Then when Walt pulls up outside the SuperLab and gets into conversation with Jesse, he endeavors to make small talk, smoking cigarettes and talking “Ice Road Truckers,” though it’s clear the only thing he really wants to know is the status of Operation Fringdown. “Don’t you have enough cancer already?” snaps Jesse. “Look, I said I’d do it. I’ll do it.” “What does it matter?” asks Walt. “We’re both dead men, anyway.”

Skyler’s at the car wash late, doing the books and smiling at the realization that the business is actually on the verge of turning a profit. Calling Walt under the auspices of suggesting that they buy Junior a car for his birthday (this time one that fits more realistic into their present financial scenario), she suggests that maybe he might want to consider an “exit strategy” from his second job. “I’m working on it,” he says. End of conversation. Cue the glance at the tracking device sitting on his bedside table, which, come the morning, is out of its packaging and…well, we’ll get to that. For the moment, let’s just focus on the freakout Walt has when Hank calls him up and asks him to give him a ride over to Los Pollos Hermanos’ distribution center, a.k.a. the home of the SuperLab. It’s a testament to how thrown Walt is that the best excuse he can come up is to follow Hank’s theory and say that, yes, in fact, he is taking a dump. Explosive upset stomach, courtesy of Tex-Mex cuisine. “I get it, you don’t have to paint me a picture,” says Hank, with a cringe in his voice. Panicked, Walt nonetheless manages to talk Hank down from getting another ride, convincing him to wait until his stomach is in better shape, then calls Mike to warn him. He gets hung up on. So that’s how that relationship is going…

Jesse’s found himself on a new task: washing the chicken batter off bags of meth. “Where’s all this going?” he asks, uncertainly. “Elsewhere,” replies the ever-talkative Mike. Fair enough, then. But “elsewhere” is clearly “to the cartel.” Just sayin’.

Meanwhile, Skyler’s continuing to keep up the actual business as well as running through the payment of fake car washes, all the while providing the requisite dialogue as if there were actually customers coming through the line. Whether she’s doing it to make herself feel better or because she thinks she might be bugged, the end result is the same: her ass is more or less covered. But…who’s this walking in the door? Why, as I live and breathe: it’s Ted Beneke! Is this a social call? Far from it: dude’s being audited. Tomorrow. It’s a criminal affair, and he’s looking for help, so who better to ask than the woman whose signature is all over the cooked books? The way she handles the situation is – let’s face it – a little bit sitcom-y, but you can’t argue with success….or the way her breasts were popping out of that top. Where things started to get dodgy, though, was when she learned that Ted couldn’t possibly pay the money he owed the government. Yes, it might keep her out of court to give Ted her ill-begotten funds from the crawlspace, but it’s opening a whole other mess of potential problems.

Jesse’s trying to chat with Mike about whether or not Hank’s going to get whacked, but Jesse won’t shut his mouth and Mike’s just staring blankly at him from the shadows. It honestly sounds like Jesse wants to defend Walt, but in the end, he says, “Who really cares what I think?” As they step outside to start loading up the truck, shit suddenly starts to go down. Time stands still as Jesse realizes that one of his fellow employees has just been shot right in front of him, and he’s literally half a second away from getting shot himself when Mike saves his life with a hard and fast tackle. But just as Mike says, “Get comfortable, kid, we might be here awhile,” Fring steps into the fray, and with bullets zinging by him, he stands fast, staring down the sniper, his eyes ablaze and his arms outstretched, offering a look which can only be described as saying, “You gonna shoot me, motherfucker?” The answer to that question is “no.” The answer to the question that had been asked of Gus by the cartel, however, is “yes.” And what was the question? Well, I wasn’t 100% accurate when I thought that the cartel was after Walt. That was a bit too specific. All they want is the recipe to the meth…and Walt isn’t the only one who has it.

After the nasty incident outside, Mike and Jesse wheel in the body of their deceased co-worker. Walt sneers, “So, what, is this going to be a regular thing now? Meth cooking and corpse disposal?” Mike tells Walt to get a barrel for disposal purposes, adding, “If you ever plan on calling the cops of one of my men again, you go ahead and get two barrels.” D’oh! And Mike’s not done with dispensing advice: to Jesse, he suggests that the next time he’s under fire, he should “move your feet, run and so forth,” and when Jesse asks about Gus’s “Terminator shit” earlier and wants to know if there’s going to be further target practice, Mike’s straightforward response is, “You got questions? Ask ‘em yourself.” So he does, heading over to Gus’s house for dinner, fully prepared with his cigarette of doom. It’s a scene that’s knowingly reminiscent of Walt’s dinner with Gus not so very long ago, except that there is precious little cheer in Gus’s tone tonight. There’s really only one question that Gus has for Jesse: “Can you cook Walter’s formula?” Jesse’s initial claim is that he can’t do it without Walter, and that if he’s going to kill Walt, he’s going to have to kill him, too. That, however, wasn’t exactly what Gus was asking…

As usual, the last few minutes of the episode proved to be wracked with tension. Walt’s been tracking Jesse, so he knows that Jesse’s been to see Gus, and when Jesse calls and asks for a meeting, Walt’s clearly chomping at the bit to nail Jesse for his transgressions. As it happens, however, Jesse’s totally freaking out about this whole cartel situation, now that he’s learned that Gus wants him to go south of the border, down Mexico way, and teach the cartel how to make the meth. Why not send Walt? If you were Gus, would you send Walt? I didn’t think so. As Jesse begs Walt for some sort of assistance, Walt has no concern or remorse, instead just throwing it in Jesse’s face that he knows he’s been to see Gus and has unabashedly chosen not to kill him. Jesse gets pissed that Walt’s been tracking him. Tempers flare. Punches are thrown. It’s an epic battle, one that’s been shaping up all season, but tonight was the night that it finally went down.

“Can you walk?”
“Yeah.”
“Then get the fuck out of here and never come back.”

Is this really the end of the Walt / Jesse partnership? Hard to say with those guys. But the future isn’t exactly looking bright, that’s for sure.

We begin the proceedings with a flashback to Episode 3.8, which took place in the wake of the Cousins’ attack on Hank. What we didn’t see at the time, however, was Gus’s visit to see the Cousins’ uncle, Hector “Tio” Salamanca, and tell him of their fate, saying, “This is what comes of blood for blood, Hector.” And then we get a shot of the viscous red substance in question, floating through a swimming pool. If you’re like me, you were already thinking, “Oh, this is gonna be good,” and if so, then surely you weren’t disappointed by episode’s end.

Hey, what do you know? “Breaking Bad” finally takes time to acknowledge that Walt is still being treated for cancer. This scene really underlined how much he’s changed since his initial diagnosis, however. So Walt’s living his life as if he’s in charge, huh? Yeah, he talks big, instantly dismissing the fears and concerns of the poor bastard who’s sharing the waiting area with him, but the second we see him back in his usual environment, he looks completely lost and mostly hopeless…which is, at least momentarily, a look he shares with Gus when the latter gets a phone call to pop ’round the ABQ police department. With Walt, though, I have to wonder if he got a report on a cancer that he wasn’t expected. But we’ll get back to that.

If Gus looks mildly stricken when he first gets that phone call to come into the station, you can see something approximating horror when his eye lands on the poster of Victor posted on the bulletin board. It appears to be utterly gone from his system when he steps into the office with Hank and the gang, however, and he manages to prove highly convincing with his effortless responses to all of the questions and couched accusations thrown his way. It’s nonetheless an incredibly intense scene, however, because although we can’t really imagine that Gus won’t be able to keep himself afloat, we also know what a pitbull Hank can be, and having seen the way he kicked ass with the police work to place Gus at Gale’s place, it’s equally hard to imagine that he’s going to let this go until he gets his man. It isn’t until we see him in the elevator post-discussion and get the close-up of Gus’s fingers tapping / twitching and the look on his face that we get a feeling of just how upset and angry he is; that such a small gesture says so much about the man’s rage and fury is a testament both to the development of the character and the performance of the actor (Giancarlo Esposito). It’s no wonder that everyone but Hank bought Gus’s stories, but it’s also no surprise that Hank is refusing to accept Gus’s assurances at face value.

This must be the week for “Breaking Bad” to play catch-up with semi-dismissed storylines: in addition to revisiting Walt’s cancer, we also saw Saul pop in to check on the status of Andrea and Brock, who – as we soon discover – are living in a nice pad that Jesse is quietly paying for. In a slightly unexpected moment, Saul proves to have more emotion at the surface than Jesse, asking him why he doesn’t just go and talk to Andrea and Brock if he wants to know how they’re doing. In response, Jesse jumps out of the car to avoid any further discussion. He might be the hero, but that doesn’t mean he’s fully recovered from all of his recent emotional trauma.

Too funny: Skyler tries her best to “launder” the excess money by vacuum-sealing the cash inside some of her clothes and hanging them in the closet, only to find that the cumulative weight of the outfits breaks the bar in the closet. Instead, she throws the bags under the house, which feels like a spontaneous decision doomed to cause problems in the future. But maybe that’s just me. Either way, it’s pretty worth an additional smirk when, moments later, Marie casually says to Skyler, “You’ve really taken to this whole being-your-own-boss thing…” Speaking of “maybe it’s just me” moment, I’m just not entirely confident that Walt’s cancer scan came off as scott-free as he claims during dinner. He looked so hopeless during that first post-scan shot that I can’t just write it off as being the result of his situation at the SuperLab.

Time for another intense scene. Actually, make that several intense scenes back to back. When Hank had Walt pull up in front of Los Pollos Locos and said, “We’re not here for the chicken,” it was a heart-stopping moment, but then things got even crazier, with Hank asking Walt to put a tracking device on Gus’s Volvo station wagon. We can only imagine what sort of emotional storm was going on inside Walt’s head during all of this, first pretending to put the device on the car, then going inside to talk to Gus, only to have Gus tell him to put the device on for real. And to have Mike hovering in his line of sight while he’s trying to decide what he’s going to do? Awesome. But, oh, is Gus pissed…and, oh, is Walt scared shitless. After the speech to the camera, in which Walt desperately tries to save his own ass and avoid throwing Hank under the bus while backpedaling on every bad thing he’s said about Gus since the beginning of the season, Walt runs to Jesse’s place and immediately wants to know where they stand on the whole killing-Gus thing. It’s a rather sad scene, when you get right down to it, because it serves to finally confirm to Walt that Jesse, who he’s arguably done more for in the past few seasons than he’s done for his own son, is now more dedicated to Gus than he is to him. It’s not like it’s not warranted, but it’s still sad, because it’s painfully clear that Walt realizes he no longer has anyone on his side.

Time to jump back to Gus, who gets an update from Mike on the situation with Hank and the ABQ police department. Feeling confident (but not cocky) that Hank won’t be able to do anything if he finds and removes the tracking device from his car, Gus does so, driving off to visit Tio…and, oh, what a visit it turns out to be. Not the visit itself, of course, but the flashback that it inspires. “Is today the day?” Gus asks Tio. Cue the rippling of the water – itself a sly tribute to the rippling effect used as a typical TV trope before bouncing back in time – and a sepia-toned look into Gus’s past which features Steven Bauer, late of “Scarface.” (You know damned well he enjoyed getting to wear the track suit and the jewelry as an old-school coke boss.) Sure, the tension isn’t sky-high when Max gets taken out – given that we haven’t seen him in the present, it was semi-inevitable that he wouldn’t live through the scene – but the whole event helps to underline both how Gus became the man he is today and why there’s so much bad blood – no joke intended – between Gus and Tio. But who is Gus? What does the Don know about him that we don’t? I can’t wait to find out.

Best episode of the season to date? Your mileage may vary, but it’s certainly my favorite.

Yep, Junior’s new car is going back, as was only inevitable once Skyler stepped into the situation, but just because she’s being sensible about the financial goings-on within the White house doesn’t mean that Walt has to like it. The combination of having to pay an $800 restocking fee for the vehicle and his general annoyance at Skyler telling him not to “tangle” with anyone leaves him so pissed off that he decides to take it for a rapid-fire test drive before returning it, but when he manages to fuck up the car in the middle of a goddamned parking lot, he decides to blow the vehicle to kingdom come. A hysterical scene, to be sure, but with some seriously dark undertones: he’s quite literally got money to burn at this point, and he doesn’t care how wasteful he is with his material possessions.

Fortunately, after a quick trip to Saul Goodman’s office, any major charges against Walt for his big bang have been whittled down to “misdemeanor trash burning, but we see a particularly nasty side of Walt at this point, snapping at Saul, “Just tell me it’s done.” Walt remains convinced that Gus wants him dead, even though Jesse’s told Saul that Gus needs him too much to kill him. Saul refuses to help hook Walt up with a hit man, however, explaining that A) anyone he knows also knows Mike, and B) hiring anyone he doesn’t know is risking someone who might not get the job done, and when it comes to Gus, “just winging that guy is not gonna ameliorate your situation. Not by a damned sight.” Saul’s recommendation: talk to Jesse, who’s the only other person besides Mike who’s actually been around Gus recently.

The subsequent conversation between Walt and Jesse was, from an emotional standpoint, about as painful to watch as anything we’ve seen in recent weeks, with Walt unabashedly preying on Jesse’s recent psychological traumas to get him to kill Gus. But then Jesse waved it all away, simply saying, “I’ll do it. I’ll kill him first chance I get.” Maybe it’s because he’s convinced himself he’s got a handle on killing people now, but maybe it’s just to get Walt to shut the hell up. Hard to say.

The short conversation between Skyler and Marie served to show Marie’s excitement about helping Skyler advertise and market her newly-acquired business, but the best line was unquestionably Marie’s description of the car wash’s former owner as “the Eyebrows of Doom.” Best name for a backing band EVER. Marie also confirms that Hank’s suddenly started to get into the swing of getting better, which we saw coming at the end of last week’s episode. After Marie’s departure, Skyler finally gets a feel for just how much money Walt’s pulling in – $7.5 million before expenses – and she’s somewhat horrified about it, as it’s way more than she can explain from the car wash. It’s a double-edged sword of a situation: she says, ‘I never wanted any of this,” but when Walt gives her the opportunity to say, “I want out,” she’s stricken mute.

Walt mixes up a batch of poison in the lab, echoing the way they took down Tuco in Season 2, and hands it off to Jesse, telling him to take out Gus whenever the opportunity presents itself. Jesse promptly slips the poison into one of his cigarettes, and when Walt says, “Whatever you do, don’t smoke it,” there’s a moment when it seems all too likely that Jesse might well consider doing just that.

Junior takes Hank over to Los Pollos Hermanos for a little lunch, giving Junior the opportunity to moan about how his dad bought him an expensive car and had to give it back almost immediately. Typically, Hank rationalizes the situation rather than find it in any way suspicious, but maybe that’s because he’s too busy suspecting Gus’s involvement in Gale’s murder. Between Gus’s efforts to seem excited by Hank’s presence and Hank’s seeming appreciation of said efforts, we’re led to presume that Gus didn’t realize that Hank was less interested in a refill than he was in getting Gus’s prints on his cup. This seems quite possible: people tend to underestimate Hank almost as much as they underestimate Walt.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Jesse gets an opportunity to take out Gus almost immediately, courtesy of Mike’s decision – presumably endorsed by Gus – to bring him to a meeting between Gus and the Mexican cartel. Although Jesse’s clearly teetering on the precipice of whether or not to put the poison in the coffee, when Mike entrusts him with a loaded weapon and tells him that he’ll be serving as de facto back-up, it would seem that Jesse finds himself uncertain as to whether he’s chosen the right side in this battle…and reasonably so. As for the meeting itself, it would seem that Gus is no longer in the same position of power that he once found himself, as his offer of $50 million to end any further issues with the Mexican cartel is met with a shrug, a request for a “yes” or “no” answer (“You know what the cartel wants”) and the assurance that this is not in any way, shape, or form a negotiation. So what does the cartel want? Walt? That would seem the most likely. Whatever the case, the meeting ends with Gus offering his usual steely expression, and the drive back finds Mike suggesting to Jesse that what Gus sees in him is loyalty, albeit possibly for the wrong person.

It’s good to see Jere Burns turn up again as Jesse’s counselor, but, wow, what a rough scene this turned out to be. In the end, though, it may prove to be a good thing for Jesse, given how much he gets off his chest. First of all, he’s able to have a partial emotional catharsis, telling the group about having killed Gale while pretending his victim was a dog rather than a human, but then when he’s given shit about it by one of the other group members, he breaks down and admits that the biggest reason he joined the group was to sell meth to the members…which isn’t entirely true, but it’s close enough, especially he mostly says it to spit in Burns’s face, anyway.

We bounce back to the lab one last time, to see Walt ask Jesse the status of Operation Fringdown, but Jesse lies and says that he hasn’t seen Gus all week. So is Jesse really in Gus’s camp now, or is just playing it straight down the middle ‘til he figures out where he wants to land?

We close on a scene which, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I saw filmed when I went out to the “Breaking Bad” set earlier this year. Lemme tell ya, if you thought it was intense to watch on television, imagine how it was for me, given that I hadn’t seen or known anything about the six episodes leading up to it. The mere fact that Hank was in the office was a spoiler, and it was followed by the confirmation that Gale was, in fact, dead, which wasn’t 100% certain as of when the season opened. This was a fantastic scene for Dean Norris, who once again showed that he thoroughly deserves to pull a Best Supporting Actor nod this year, but it was fantastic for Hank Schrader, too, showing that he’s literally back on his feet and doing some of the best police work of his career. (And to think it all started with the serial number to an air cleaner…) It also leaves us chomping at the bit to find out what’s next…but, then, that’s what “Breaking Bad” does best.

After Walt’s wine-fueled eruption at dinner the night before, Skyler’s reflecting on Walt’s “I love you” message on the answering machine and realizing that the words were uttered more out of fear than anything else. He’s got a well-deserved hangover and claims limited recall on the previous evening’s goings-on, but she’s not going to let that stop her from getting some answers about the whole Gale situation. Moreover, she wonders if perhaps his outburst to Hank might not be some sort of subconscious cry for help. The mere idea that she sees him as unable to handle the situation infuriates him. “I am not in danger, Skyler,” he growls. “I am the danger.”

After he takes a quick shower to relax and, apparently, shave his head, Walt finds emerges to find Skyler gone, so he decides to head over to the car wash to take care of the final transition of ownership. The discussion between Walt and Bogdan felt a little heavy-handed, what with the unabashed parallel between being a boss at the car wash and being a boss in the meth operation (or, for that matter, in his own marriage), but the scene was worth it for two things: the nasty little comment by Bogdan to Walt about how “if you can’t be tough, you can always call your wife,” and the way Walt got his revenge by playing the hard-ass and not only refusing to let Bogdan keep the first dollar he ever earned from the car wash but, indeed, spitefully using it to buy a coke. That sucked…yet it was kind of awesome, too.

This week’s scenes with Mike and Jesse would seem to imply that Mike’s finally starting to come around a little bit when it comes to Jesse, seemingly almost like a surrogate father to the kid in their dinner together, asking Jesse if he was okay and then making him eat something. There’s still very much no semblance of equality between them, though, as Mike quickly left after receiving a phone call, telling Jesse that he didn’t need any help. As such, Jesse headed on to work at the SuperLab, where he was met by Walt, demanding clarification about the trips Jesse’s been taking with Mike. Jesse can’t offer much in the way of detail except to say that he’s kinda sorta serving as something between backup and protection, which annoys Walt to the point of asking rhetorical questions like, “Are you a Navy SEAL? Are your hands registered as lethal weapons?” Similarly, Jesse gets pissed when Walt dares to suggest that Jesse’s whole saving-the-day situation may have just been a set-up designed to put a wedge between the two of them. Still, it’s nothing compared to how pissed off Walt gets when Jesse steps out on cleanup duty after getting a call to duty from Mike…but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Let’s talk about the awesome scene with Mike and Jesse trying to get back some ill-begotten product…specifically, the stuff swiped off the truck at the beginning of the episode. Mike assures Jesse that waiting is 99% of the job, but Jesse ain’t having any of it, and he promptly pops up to the front door. The encounter with one of the resident meth heads of the house, a dude named Tucker, goes poorly, leading a smirking Mike to say, “Guess we’ll go with Plan A, then.” Nope, Jesse promptly reveals that when it comes to meth heads, he’s got way more first-hand knowledge of how their minds work, resulting in Jesse using the shovel in the trunk of Mike’s car in a manner I never expected: to dig. The whole bit with Tucker just continuing to dig and dig and dig was hysterical, but the scene inside the house was as intense as all get-out. Not that I really expected Jesse to be taken down by a shotgun blast, but I wouldn’t have put it past this show for him to get shot in some manner. But, no, he saved the day and helped Mike get the message left for them on the Los Pollos Hermanos container by the cartel.

Okay, back to Walt. Skyler’s still nowhere to be found, leaving Walt and Walt, Jr. to enjoy a leisurely meal while Junior once again launches into an attack about what an incredibly bitch his mother is, this time because she’s showing no compassion whatsoever for Walt’s “disease.” Somewhat surprisingly, Walt kinda sorta takes a bit of the blame for the situation, explaining that his situation was less about addiction than about choices. Unfortunately, he then follows this discussion by making a very, very poor choice: buying a car for Junior that’s absolutely, positively not in their income bracket. This may well be the stupidest thing we’ve seen Walt do without being under the influence of alcohol, and it will come back to bite him in the ass, mark my words. So, for that matter, will his decision to draft some of the women from the laundry to do the dirty work in the SuperLab that he usually delegates to Jesse. I have to say, I laughed out loud as he passed out big bills, saying, “Presidente Grant, very important man…” Still, maybe Skyler’s onto something with her suspicions that Walt’s subconscious is crying out for help. Why else would he do something stupid? Surely the desire to feel like he’s a boss to someone doesn’t equate to a death wish, does it?

All that’s clear is that Gus is watching everything that Walt does and keeping score, and based on the meeting between Gus, Mike, and, to a lesser extent, Jesse, it’s clear that, if we’re talking about who’s got the most brownie points, Jesse’s starting to catch up to Walt. Mike offers Gus a suggestion for how they might want to handle the situation with the cartel, but rather than instigating an attack, Gus would rather talk. Hey, it’s worked for him so far. Why mess with a good thing? On the way out the door, Gus tells Jesse, “I hear you can handle yourself,” then assures him, “I like to think I see things in people.” If he’s seen anything in Jesse, it has to have been way back when they had their close encounter about Gus’s guys using kids in their drug dealing. Maybe his work with Mike is showing him that he has more potential than he thought.

Lastly, let’s look at this Skyler situation. I didn’t quite get the whole Four Corners thing. Are we supposed to infer that she’s going to be taking the baby and heading to Colorado if things don’t work out? Either way, she’s pissed at Walt, and the only reason she didn’t tear him a new one in front of Junior about the car is that she didn’t want him to think of her as being an even bigger bitch than he already perceives her to be. She’s not trying to be a bitch, though. In her words, “Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.” Ouch. But she’s right. Walt’s letting his emotions get the best of him, and not only is he putting himself in harm’s way, he’s endangering his family as well…and that ain’t cool.