**** realism.
that last scene was the greatest 10 seconds of entertainment i've ever seen. no exaggeration. i just kept saying "holy ****" outloud, and i've never done that.

I mean, they are gang members/drug dealers; foresight isn't exactly a prerequisite. Maybe they figured the kid was only going to cause problems if they stopped using him and didnt realize how royally stupid it would be to kill him.

would gus taking out the cartel dude have anything to do with his need to get more involved at lower levels?

he's supposed to be super cautious, i don't understand him exposing himself to street dealers that can easily get busted and roll on him

It's out of character for Gus but he's probably never had cash cow like Walt. The guy is manufacturing superb product resulting in massive profits for Gus. I can only assume Gus is willing to gamble a little to keep the money rolling in. I'm sure he'd like to ice Jesse but he would lose Walt in the process.

Besides if Jesse was arrested and a risk to roll Gus would simply hand the problem over to Mike. He was a former cop so I'm sure he's got a guy or two on the inside who could take care of the problem. It isn't like he strolled into the Mexican's hospital room with a needle without someone turning a blind eye.

awesome episode

i meant the two guys walt ran over. were they supposed to be "OG" never-help-the-feds gangstas like tio?

On Gus, a "reasonable business man/man of his word":

Technically, Jesse kept the peace and lived up to his word that he gave to Gus that he would do so. Walt had no obligation to do so, notwithstanding any issues that there will be with him whacking fellow employees. A lessor offense, imo.

this makes a lot of sense and walt probably realized it too

at first i was thinking the kid knew too much but there is no benefit to him talking to the cops

who cares man, watch that **** in slo mo, they even have the guys bandana floating down lol

No, the Cartel was the supply side which has been replaced by Walt.

Also, is it just me or is Gus' hispanic accent getting more and more pronounced. I felt like in his first appearances he spoke almost entirely accentless and now he's just getting more and more hispanic. I could just be going crazy though : /

HOly ****

wow still can't believe i'm the only one that didn't like the ending

thisssssssssss for one thing

OH YEAH WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE BLUE METH SHOWING UP EVERYWHERE IN THE SOUTHWEST BUT THE ABQ?????

i would have loved this episode (even with gus meeting up with some street level thugs) if it would have ended with jesse getting shot down by those guys

i mean i know that 'walt gets paid millions of dollars to quietly cook meth in the basement of a laundromat for years on end' doesn't exactly make compelling TV, but come on, that's what realistically should have happened

so what i guess i'm saying is the high point of this show was walt telling jessie to go **** himself in saul's office earlier this season

thats not a nice thing to hope for

GODDAMN!! That was so sick. Best ending ever.

"RUN"

Walt is in crazy over his head. Can't wait to see how the writers get him out of it. I guess Gus will ignore whoever that replacement Jessie guy was, thus overvaluing Walt's cooking ability, and just yell at him and dock his pay or something, but still having him cooking under him, except now he is a hat wearing thug firecracker like Jessie.

I mean how is Walt supposed to all of the sudden turn into a Gus rival? He doesn't have the men or the money. Or the state of the art high volume lab.

Another great episode, too bad its gonna end in a week and we'll have to wait so long for the awesomeness to come back.

I always wait until I'm at work Monday to check out this thread... I couldn't wait even 15 seconds after watching the ending this week.

The ending was so sweet that there has been no love for the 80s sitcom opening to "Wendy."

But hot damn -- no hesitation on the shot, then just, "Run."

Damn.

-d

This. When Gus had Jesse brought in to the shack and those two dealers were waiting there, I thought Gus or the P.I. guy was just going shoot both the dealers in the head in front of Walt and Jesse. Low level gang bangers are pretty damn insignificant compared to the guys who provide Gus with 200 lbs. of meth a week. I figure the only reason Gus would possibly care about or want to stop Jesse from killing the guys in the street is because Jesse is an idiot and would possibly **** it up and draw attention to himself and/or the cooking operation.

Walt/Jesse make Gus hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Those two dealers probably make him a few grand a week at most and can be replaced at the drop of a hat.

My favorite thing about this episode was how they set up the Aztek as the main character in the climactic scene, in a classic 1, 2, 3 piece of foreshadowing:

1) Junior drives the Aztek to prepare for driver license test. He asks Walt permission to use the Aztec over Skyler's car. Something about "the brakes" on Skyler's car.

2) Jesse is dragged by Mike & assoc. to Gus's office in the desert. He thinks he might get killed, he's totally confused -- then he rounds the corner and sees the Aztek quietly parked. Walt's here.

3) Jesse draws his gun at the two dealers, then... enter Aztek, stage right.

So awesome. Great, great, great storytelling -- the writing, the acting, the editing... I am in love love love.

The only thing I can nitpicky complain about is in the (amazing) scene where Mike tells the "half-measures" story to Walt -- great monologue, delivered beautifuly, and the goddam director has the bright idea to shoot Mike handheld. Tons of handheld in the show, I know, and usually it works great because it adds tension and makes the show feel more raw and real. But in that scene, of all scenes, just put the goddam thing on sticks, please. Let it sit there and capture that performance. I don't want to get distracted from this monologue by a jittery camera that can't sit still, especially because the handheld adds absolutely nothing to the content of the story.

Other than that, though, A+++ episode.

Oh yeah also:

"Run."

pj,

it's an AZTEK, not a PRIUS ffs!