but Walt made 400 lbs. the following week

Kinda OT, but whenever I see these kind of situations fictionalized, I wonder why murder is always the option they go for.

I mean, if I was in that spot (Jesse or Gayle) I would've offered a choice: take my ability to use my hands, and spare my life.

Wouldn't blowing off his fingers (or his index/thumb etc), or even temporarily removing his ability to use them (burning them, shooting them through palm) just as effectively accomplish their goal (or making them indispensable to Gus)? Or even just his strong hand would certainly remove his ability to perform complex tasks.

But then I realize that in some ways, just killing the person is "easier" than the alternatives, even though it shouldn't be on a relativistic scale.

Alternatively, if I was in Gayle's spot, I would be thinking up solutions, and would prob. go so far as to offer to chop off my own hand (as would David Sklansky, whose DUCY I just read, obv).

The crux of course is that if the physical task of cooking meth is simple enough that it could be accomplished by directing an "assistant", then I guess death is the better option.

I think its obvious that ghale is smart but not the mental giant Walt is

Yes but the way it was presented this week was that Gus cannot survive missing even one week's production. So in that case making 400 lbs the next week does not resolve the situation.

well, to be fair, gus took over the cartel territory after the hank incident, didnt he?

The impression I got is that he was at minimum an adequate chemist. One at least capable of copycating Walt's formula. However, if your point is correct, that makes him even more appealing to Gus. Gale will always be content just being the cook, he is even more naive to the chess game going on outside the lab than Walt is, and wants nothing to do with that side of the business.

If we tell you that this was the last episode of the series, do you promise not to post during season 4 ?

Did you not read in my OP when I said exactly that?


Let's see if you can wrap your tiny little mind around the fact that anticipating uninterrupted production on an ongoing basis seems a little unrealistic?

If, at some point this season, they had shown Gus stockpiling product for a rainy day, you could at least make a case for Gus being able to survive until he finds a new chemist, but to not have anything in reserve in case of a production stoppage seems a bit foolish on Gus' part and out of character for him the way he was presented in episodes 301-311.

Of course it was done to give Walt some leverage in the situation he ends up in, but it seems a bit out of character for Gus to make such a glaring business mistake.

lol, i actually didnt, sorry.

IIRC the lab was quite expensive to build (and probably to maintain as well), so Gus' need for continued production may well stem from a need to defray those costs. Gus has a pretty wide distribution network, too. It wouldn't surprise me if those 200 pounds got moved every week.

We also don't know how long it takes the product to move, how long it takes the money to get back to Gus, etc. He wanted Walt for three months, which Jesse calculated would bring in $96 million street level, but I doubt it's like Gus sends out the fresh batch each week and gets $8 million handed to him in return.

On a snarkier note, "Saving some meth for a rainy day" doesn't sound like something anyone, anywhere, does, ever. (I do see your point tho)

maybe OT, but what is the optimal temperature for tea?

depends on the tea of course

Oh yeah, meant to ask, was that some sort of laser thing for checking the temperature of the kettle??

Season 3 of BB on par with season 1 of The Wire imo.

they really shoulda stuck one or two minutes of hank in this episode

Inser answear here:

red:
black:
green:

it's an infra-red thermometer sometimes called "thermometer gun"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_thermometer

Doesn't really seem effective in the slightest given that Gale's value is the information inside his brain. He could very easily take over the cooking with two assistants doing the hands on work while he simply leads by instruction. Him having no hands wouldn't stop Gus from killing Walt and simply using Gale to teach two new guys or something similar.

Why?

Seeing how I'm an electrician, and work with overhead wires a few times a week. LOL, yes.

Silencers that screw onto the end of a gun, perfectly muffle, and are reusable don't exist either.

artistic license ftw

Still no. Most overhead power lines are bare aluminum or steel reinforced aluminum.

Unless you work in an area that has different code standards it's very common in the US and I'm sure also in New Mexico to use bare lines

I could walk outside and take some pictures of the bare power lines but you obviously know better.

Gus can't afford to miss a week of meth production because he has cornered the market. He has a virtual monopoly since he squeezed the Mexican cartel out. Gus sells the highest quality product and probably sells it at very good price. All of the wholesalers and mid-level dealers want his blue meth. If the blue meth stops flowing, even for a week or two, these wholesalers and mid-level dealers would end up buying Mexican meth, and the cartel would be right back in business in the U.S., and Gus would have go to war to get rid of them. The only reason Gus has been able to hold the Mexicans at bay thus far is because there's no one out there that wants to buy their 2nd rate meth. If they manage to get a foothold, Gus could have big problems.

Maybe the States have different code. But in Ontario it's generally insulated aluminum wire, with a steel supporting cable, and bare high voltage seems extremly high dangerous to me.

Not that I have a reason to think so, but I'm not thoroughly convinced the "Who killed Tomas and was it ordered and by whom?" is finished within the show. I think it's going to be similar to Jesse finding out about Walt's involvement (or lack of) with Jane's death. Both of those are huge direction changers and could really spice things up.

Now that Jesse has killed, I'm starting to think he'll be the one to finish off Walt in the series finale.

Cuz Hank is awesome