Breaking Bad 4x05 Review

Episode Title: Shotgun
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A

FINALLY, far less time is spent talking about the car wash, and Jesse is the focus of the episode. This episode really went back to the things that made the show amazing during the past couple seasons. We have Jesse and Walt doing their thing, and Hank getting ever closer to figuring out his brother-in-law's secret. I loved seeing Jesse and Mike on the road, and was totally surprised about the true reason for the journey. I really think this was one of those moments of the show that will have an impact for a very long time.

There is some talk about the Car Wash, and yes, I was frustrated that they once again are having Skylar be all worried and talk about it like it's the most important moment in human history. You own a car wash, not a nuclear missile silo, calm down. She also knows that Walt has been in some pretty sticky and dangerous situations, he is not going to be phased by a car wash, sorry dear. Walt's "gambling" addiction was mentioned again, and I love that the two other guys in the family think it's cool, and Marie is all protective and worried. Maybe that's a little sexist, but I also think it's true. Hank seems like the kind of guy who would find it pretty bad ass to be a brilliant gambler, and Walt Jr. always has looked up to his dad so it makes sense that he thinks this is cool.

Walt's story this week was about first being afraid of Jesse's fate once he learns he's not at his house, although I have a problem with the timeline here. It seems like Jesse's story began directly following last week, but there seemed to be several hours for Walt. I might be forgetting something from last week though. Walt being at Los Pollos Hermanos now definitely carries a different tone. With Hank finding a connection between it, and Gale, I'm sure he'll start leading an investigation into it, and I'm sure they'll look at security camera footage. It's a bit suspicious that on this day the cameras held on Walt, and that he clearly is carrying a gun. DUN DUN DUUUN!

Speaking of Hank, I love that he said that he would be surprised if Jesse was the shooter. I wonder if this has to do with what Saul was talking about in Season three. That now Jesse has leverage over Hank, and if Hank does anything against him he can destroy him. Love it. Walt then get annoyed in the lab cause he's all alone, and he's then joined by a new guy. I find it interesting that there seems to be someone watching him 100% of the time on those cameras, and I wonder if it's Gus himself. There also is the scene with Walt and Skylar having some nice drug lord sex, but other than a sex scene I didn't really see the point. I mean in previous sex scenes it was more about Walt showing off his feelings of power, but here it was just regular "I love you" sex. That's so...regular TV show. Actually, I thought it was a nice moment, and showed that Skylar is no longer disgusted by him, but in fact finds him quite attractive. It also shows us that it's helpful to tell your wife you love them.

Jesse's story this week was the best aspect of the episode for me. As I said earlier, I loved their journey together. At first you think Mike is bringing him somewhere to kill him, and the shovel most definitely gave this theory legs. However, as it turns out, Gus has asked Mike to take Jesse along with him on his rounds to pick up dead drop money. That other dude used to be the guy, but now it's Jesse. Midway through the episode, I wondered, "they don't have another guy they can send? Something else has to be up." Something else, was indeed up. On their final drop two guys attempt to rob them and Jesse saves the day. Turns out Gus set this up too, and everything turned out how he wanted.

I'm thinking one of two things is happening here, and maybe a little of both. First, I think Gus wanted to get Jesse out of his funk. The worst possible thing to happen for him would be for a depressed and dead to the World Jesse to get arrested, and have him lead police back to his drug empire. He doesn't like to have junkies work for him, and Jesse was going down a very scary path. The second thing is that I really think Gus wants to try and separate Jesse's loyalty from Walt. In this episode we see Jesse boast a little bit about having a second job within Gus' empire. If Gus can manage to pull Jesse away from Walt, then dealing with Walt will be much easier. Whether this will lead to them killing Walt I don't know, but separation makes each of them weaker, and it makes Gus stronger.

The episode ends with another couple amazing scenes. Walt Jr brings up the "crazy singing man" and Hank starts talking about Gale's genius. You can see Walt getting pissed that Gale of all people is getting all the credit for his "perfect" meth, and he speaks up. Walt has had a little to much to drink, and if there wasn't a whole other season coming I would have thought he'd say everything right there. Instead, he says that from what he saw of the notes it's clear that Gale simply copied from someone else, from the real genius. Last week I stated that I think Hank has a small suspicion of Walt based on the way they were speaking, and I think this furthered that suspicion. If it is there, it's not a "I know what you did" suspicion, but more of a "could it be? no...but maybe" kind.

As I stated earlier, Hank's connection of Los Pollos Hermanos is huge. This isn't a private investigation anymore, the Albuquerque PD is behind him this time, and if he tells them this is an important connection they will listen. Gus has power, and perhaps has a defense ready to go, but this is bad news for our meth chefs. I can't wait to see where this goes because once Hank is on the case, baddies have go to start worrying.