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.

It’s pretty clear that most of what Walt knows about guns came from watching TV westerns, because every time he draws his weapon, he looks desperately like he’s trying to be the fastest gun in the west. Lawson offers up a lot of helpful advice, including a beautifully delivered line explaining why Walt should stick with a .38 special over an automatic: “If you can’t get it done with five, then you’re into spray-and-pray, in which case I wouldn’t count on another six sealing the deal.” Lawson tries to be the gun dealer with the heart of gold, recognizing Walt’s handicap as a marksman (“You’re gonna want to practice your draw…a lot“) even pointing out the merits of buying legally over illegally, but when Walt refuses to concede that the gun will be used for anything other than defense, he has little choice but to shrug and say, “I’m happy to take your money.” The next time we see Walt, it’s clear that he’s taken Lawson’s advice about practicing his draw to heart…as well he should’ve. You know, I think you have to wonder just how much of Lawson was on the pages of George Mastras’s script and how much was turned into gold simply by Beaver’s pitch-perfect delivery, but either way, Lawson = awesome.

Last week, Mike looked legitimately shocked and horrified at Gus’s actions. This week, it’s clear that he hasn’t moved terribly far away from that emotional state. Seeing him sitting at the bar, quietly having a cup of coffee and reading the paper, it first looks as though he’s just kind of winding down, but if that’s the case, then the discovery of flecks of Victor’s blood clearly wind him right back up again. He’s very much giving off an “I didn’t sign up for this shit” vibe. Can’t say as I blame him for that.

Hey, everybody, it’s Badger and Skinny Pete! God bless Vince Gilligan for knowing just how much of those guys is enough without ever veering into the territory of too much. Jesse’s into showing off his new kick-ass sound system – complete with flashing colored lights! – and getting back on drugs in a big, big way, but in regards to the latter, you have to admit that Badger’s kind of on the money with his assessment of the stereo: “It totally makes me want to crank old Sabbath and blaze one.” Listening to Jesse ramble on about the technical specifications of the system made me realize once again just how a smart a guy he can be if he wants to be, but after the events of the Season Three finale and last week’s Season Four premiere, it’s no wonder that he’s following his worst possible instincts and deciding to start doping it up again. The back-and-forth between Badger and So-Much-for-12-Steps Pete was hysterical (“They’re not just zombies, they’re Nazi zombies”), but Jesse’s atypical silence was suspicious – not coincidentally, it more or less started right about the time Pete brought up Andrea – and when it was finally broken by his suggestion that a party was in order, there was little question that the party would prove to be a poor decision indeed. And yet the havoc it wreaks the first night isn’t enough for Jesse: even as he leaves for another hard day’s work at the old meth factory, he’s whipping out a wad of cash and telling the boys to not only keep the party going in his absence but, indeed, to make sure the joint’s still jumpin’ when he gets home.

If Jesse still more or less in denial about everything that’s happened over the past couple of days, Walt’s nerves are jangling worse than ever, which is precisely the wrong time for him to be wanting to be whipping out a .38. He needn’t worry, though: the man he’s looking to shoot – Gus, of course – is nowhere to be seen. Nor, according to Mike, is Walter ever going to see him again. But…who’s this new guy? Any relation to Gus? Surely not…and, yet, is it just me, or does he look a little bit like him?

The scene with Jesse and Andrea was pretty rough going, not only with her uncertainty about his attempt to be charitable to her and Brock, but with his going out of his way to point out that she could spend all the money he’s given her on drugs. When Brock waved goodbye to Jesse…? Broke my heart a little bit, it did…and Jesse’s, too, I suspect. Meanwhile, Walt’s staking out Gus’s place, trying to muster up the courage to make a move. You’ve got to love the way the strength courses through his veins the second he puts on his porkpie hat: the action of setting it upon his head quite literally transforms him…not that it gets him anywhere. Hat or no hat, if I got a call from the man I wanted to kill, saying, “Go home,” I’d damned well go home, too. Especially given the way we’ve seen him wield a box cutter.

At a loss, Walt decides to meet up with Mike and try to talk with him man to man about what’s gone down recently, why he did it, and so forth. The problem, unfortunately, is that Walt has completely misread the relationship between himself and Mike. True, Mike’s pretty upset about the events of the other night. We could see that earlier in the episode. But there’s a big difference between “I didn’t sign on for this shit” and “I’m going to kill my employer,” and although Walt might have made that jump, Mike’s not there yet…and based on the punching and kicking that Walt receives, it may be awhile before he is.

Hank’s still more or less bedridden when we first see him this episode, and even though it’s the middle of the night, he’s studying his minerals for all he’s worth. This leads to a nice sight gag of Marie slowly raising her bed up to match where Hank’s is, but it’s arguably the only funny moment in this otherwise sad scene, as Hank is being seriously shitty to Marie when all she’s trying to do is be as considerate as possible. His reminder about the number of bedrooms in the house was awful, but for what it’s worth, he seemed momentarily aware that maybe he’d gone a bit too far. Later, though, when his trainer’s cheering him on and she’s doing the same, he can only just barely stand to meet Marie’s high-five, and when he tells her to get out, it’s pretty clear that she’s at an emotional tipping point. When Hank starts bitching at her from the bedroom about his precious rocks, she’s at another one. At some point, her concern for his well-being is going to be outweighed by being sick of his shit. It’s all a matter of when that’s going to happen.

Skyler continues to not really have a clue about how to be a criminal, mentioning the impending purchase of the car wash during her phone message, although for my money, the funniest thing about the scene when she called him was Walt’s constant waving around of the gun while he was talking to her. Unwilling to put up with his refusal to discuss the car wash, she decided to do a little reconnaissance work and learn about the business herself. When she goes to pitch the idea of purchasing the place, though, she finds that Mr. Bogdan – the current owner of the establishment – is still so pissed off at how Walt left the place that he refuses to sell for anything less than $10 million…which is ridiculous, of course, which is why Skyler counters with an incredibly detailed explanation of her counteroffer. His response? “$20 million.” I don’t get the impression that Skyler’s gonna be giving up, but she’s clearly got a fight on her hands.

Damn, Jesse’s place got trashed. Watching everyone bail out of the party…yes, even the omnipresent Badger and Skinny Pete…it was clear that we were building toward the horrible moment when Jesse was left alone with his thoughts. Man, there sure are a lot of people at an emotional tipping point this week…

Random closing comments:

* The vacuum-cam thing at Jesse’s pad was funny, I guess, but it didn’t really do much for me except for when the one stoner grabbed it and started to try and dismantle it.

* Lots of fantastic Badger quotes tonight, but my favorites…? “I could so use a brain transplant right now” is great, but I’ve got to give it to the moment when he says that he feels like a Sleestak.

* As ever, the music was great this week, but I think this number during Jesse’s non-stop party was my personal favorite:

Oh. Never mind. It’s a flashback. But, hey, at least now we know how the superlab first came into being. And we also know the sad irony that Gale is directly responsible for Gus bringing Walt into the business in the first place. So obsessive was he with his concern about the quality of the meth he was making – more concerned, even, than Gus himself – that he simply couldn’t comprehend that Gus wouldn’t want to work with someone like that, even risking the possibility of talking himself out of a job by saying of Walt, “If he’s not (a professional), I don’t know what that makes me.”

Well, as it turns out, Gale, what is makes you is dead. But, then, I think we all pretty much knew that when Season 3 faded to black. Some of us just didn’t want to admit it.

…and just like that, Jesse’s a killer. He’s also deep in shock, as evidenced by the fact that, although he makes a mad dash out of the apartment building, he only makes it as far as the driver’s seat of his car, where he remains when Victor – Gus’s right-hand man – runs into him. But, of course, by that point, Victor’s already been inside and gotten himself seen by Gale’s neighbors, thereby sealing his fate. (Not that we know that at the time, of course.) When Victor drags Jesse into the lab, Walt’s expression is one of pure horror, clearly believing that Jesse had been caught before he’d done the deed, but the look slips from his face onto Mike’s when it becomes clear that, indeed, Jesse did succeed. You can also see a very distinct “uh-oh” expression when Mike absorbs the information that Victor was witnessed at the scene of the crime. “Better get this over with,” sighs Mike. Hey, don’t pretend you wouldn’t be scared shitless, too…

Hey, it’s Marie! She’s just woken Skyler to give her the latest bunch of bills for Hank, which are clearly sizable enough to get anyone’s adrenaline pumping, but Skyler’s understandably more concerned about the fact that Walt’s vehicle is in the driveway…and Walt ain’t home. The fact that her first instinct is to move it a few blocks away to avoid too many questions certainly strikes me as a sign that she’s starting to get the hang of this new lifestyle, but this becomes even more obvious when she cons a locksmith to let her into Walt’s condo so that she can try to figure out what the hell’s going on. Really, though, what were her options? It’s clear that Saul Goodman’s primary interest is getting the hell out of ABQ before Gus realizes the part he played in the preceding evening’s events. (“You’ve got a passport, right?”)

Having seen Marie momentarily back at the White house, we also check in briefly with Hank, who has apparently found himself a new hobby: buying minerals online. Hey, whatever gets you through your recovery, right? Although he’s home, has a new therapist, and has reportedly “broke new ground” in his efforts to get back on his feet again, he’s clearly still in just as shitty a mood now as he was when we left him at the end of Season 3. It’s obvious that Marie’s doing everything humanly possible to make his life livable, but he’s clearly just bitter as hell. And, frankly, who can blame him, y’know?

Meanwhile, back in the superlab, Walt tries to point out to Mike that no matter how angry Gus may be about what’s happened to Gale, someone still needs to get cooking to stay on schedule. But Victor’s majorly pissed and decides to prove that he’s just as capable as Walt, snapping, “That’s right, genius, watch me: we ain’t missin’ no cook.” Walt’s ego won’t allow him to accept the possibility that Victor’s learned the process simply from watching him do it over and over again…until, that is, he remembers the aluminum. That’s the point when his tune changes from “you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, do you?” to “son of a bitch…”

Enter Gus.

Oh, man, is he mad. He’s not saying a word, of course, but, then, that’s often par for the course when it comes to Gus. Victor’s grinning from ear to ear with pride in his work, as if to say, “Everything’s copacetic,” but Gus has nothing to say to him, either, instead walking silently past everyone and putting on a protective suit. Walt, proving once again that he is incapable of letting a room sit in silence when he can instead fill it with a rambling monologue, attempts to explain his actions, basically saying, “Great guy, that Gale, but if it’s him versus me or him versus me and Jesse, it’s gonna be Gale doing down every time.” After daring to blame Gus for Gale’s death, he sneers as he describes Victor as the meth-maker equivalent of a short-order cook, whipping out a barrage of chemist-speak to show Victor just how stupid he truly thinks he is.

And then, Gus – still silent – stumbles upon the box cutter.

In retrospect, it’s heartbreaking that Victor should smile at the sound of Gus clicking open the cutter. Clearly, he believes that he’s about to witness the last moments of Walt and Jesse…and so, for that matter, does Walt, judging from the increasingly frantic delivery of his defense. I think a lot of us probably knew from the moment Gus walked past Walt and Jesse and over to Victor that poor Victor was going to be the one to get it, but that didn’t make the unabashed violence of the act any less horrific. It’s pretty clear that Mike was taken aback…and we never see that guy shocked. This is what I got from the look between Gus and Jesse: Gus’s eyes were saying, “It’s your fault this had to happen,” and Jesse’s were replying, “Bring it, bitch.” Walt might’ve been horrified, but Jesse was clearly pissed. Jesse had better watch out, though, because he’s not likely to find a more formidable opponent than Gus. After he calmly washed up, stripped away the safety attire, cleaned his glasses, and walked up the stairway without saying so much as a word about anything whatsoever, he finally reaches the catwalk, where he speaks his only words of the episode:

“Well…? Get back to work!”

My God, that was chilling.

In a perfect “Breaking Bad” bit of dark comedy, Walt and Jesse attempt to dispose of Victor’s body like they’re Laurel and Hardy, with Walt finally turning toward Mike and cutting him a look that says, “You know damned well you could do this better than we can…” Of course, a much needed moment of levity came when Jesse grabbed the hydrofluoric acid and, after Mike admitted to a lack of experience with the stuff and asked if they were sure it’d do the job, Jesse replied with a deadpan, “Trust us.” The bathtub from Season One has never seemed so far away…

After a kickass cutaway from mopping up blood to mopping up ketchup, we had the scene with Walt and Jesse enjoying a nice breakfast at Denny’s in their brand new Kenny Rogers t-shirts. (Attention, AMC: please send me one in XXL, along with a “Breaking Bad” box cutter.) Walt’s trying to be all fatherly for a moment, but then we get a feel for what I think is perhaps going to be the thrust of the season: Walt’s paranoid about Gus, which I’m sure is only going to get worse as the season progresses, while Jesse doesn’t see Gus’s revenge as anything imminent. Of course, again, Jesse’s clearly still in shock, but there’s something to be said for his theory about the lot of them all being on the same page: “If I can’t kill you, you’ll sure as shit wish you were dead.”

Last moments: Walt assures Skyler that’s he’s right as rain, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and we see a shot of the crime scene at Gale’s apartment, focusing in on his lab notes. What do you want to be that those end up in Hank’s hands somewhere down the line? Just sayin’…

Closing comments:

* I never would’ve thought that a bullet-pierced teapot could stir such emotions in me, but, damn, Gale was such a nice guy, not to mention a dedicated employee, a fact further underlined by the flashback that opened the episode.

* Saul’s paranoia was hysterical, especially the cutaway to him calling Skyler back on a payphone because he was so concerned that Gus might’ve bugged his office.

* Okay, I think we can officially call the eyeball a season-premiere tradition at this point. This is three years running, correct?

* Seriously, how disgusting was the shot of Victor’s slowly disintegrating body parts within the translucent plastic container? Pretty gross even by “Breaking Bad” standards. Which is to say that it was pretty awesome.