I could have torn apart the rest of your posts, but it wouldn't have been nearly as witty, just dickish. Someone will, though.

wooooow. i absolutely love this show. i said mad men was better than breaking bad even though breaking bad was more entertaining but I might have to eat those words up. breaking bad is just as deep as mad men if not more so. this show is so good on so many levels.

"you're never too old for balloons"

also,

OH MY GOD

that might have been the most heart-stopping episode of television i've ever seen

shortest hour of my life... while watching tv

kinda surprised how easy it was for walt be ok with taking out gayle but given the progression of killing in self defense to the girl blackmailing him and now someone who's completely innocent it makes sense

i still think gus ordered the hit on the kid

SINCE LAST WEEK

Did anyone else think the opening scene was supposed to deceive you into thinking that was in the future when everything has been taken by the state/DEA/IRS whatever?

man, i just rewatched the last 10 minutes and it's just crazy how walt managed to squirm out of that extremely narrow situation. it wasn't like it was his first time though but damn, love how the writers create these almost impossible to get out of situations and have walt, brilliantly and realistically get out of them unscathed.

and lol @ people bagging on the fly episode. it was absolutely necessary for the past few episodes to flow so nicely.

I'm a huge breaking bad fan, and I loved season 3, but I really think that the episode 12 ending ("Run") was sooooo much more exciting than Jesse squirming to pull the trigger on Gayle.

I think episode 12 being the finale and 13 being episode 1 of season 4 would have been much more exciting.

Gus is going to get murdered within the first 5 episodes of season 4.

I think it's just a reminder of what Walt once was and once had, and how far down a dark hole he's fallen since he made this decision.

It's also worth noting that he calls it a "starter home" back then, anticipating they'll move out in a year or two, which never happens. Even then, Walter dreamed big.
No.

that was the greatest thing ive ever seen

okay one stupid question from me:

when walt told gus that he would "never ask that" when confronted about the child killing was he

A. Implying that Walt knew Gus ordered it and wouldn't have to ask

or

B. He believed Gus would never do it.

or

C. He was just saving his ass at the moment.

That was so goddamn good.

At one point, I was thinking that Mike was taking the BB BAMF title from Walt, who took it from Gus last week. Gus got that sh*t back like a mofo.

Looking back, everything that was going to happen was obvious. But during, I kept searching for a insanely shocking twist. Had there not been an apartment # for Gale place, I was almost thinking it might have been Gus. I kind of almost did anyway because of how quick Vincent bolted and the look on Mike's face. I also thought that maybe Jesse was going to turn the gun on himself because of his with the meth pipe in the scene before he took off. Both of these are stupid, yeah, but I was almost expecting something like that. I'm so much more satisfied with what they did instead.

This show is absolutely hitting The Wire level of greatness. And if it does end next season, I'll be more then happy comparing the first 4 of TW and all 4 of BB rather then have to consider TW season 5 in it.

Sepinwall's review of "Full Measure" and interview with Vince Gilligan are definitely must reads. Some highlights from the interview:

I'd love to be able to say that everything is pre-figured. I'd love to tell you I'm Bobby Fischer and I'm playing this game 20 moves ahead, but it's just not true...It's the exhilarating thing about this job and it's the terrifying thing about this job: We actively try to paint ourselves into corners at the end of episodes - at the end of seasons, at the end of scenes sometimes - and then we try to extricate ourselves from those corners. So far, so good. But one of these days, we'll probably paint ourselves into a corner we can't escape from...

...We're actively moving these chess pieces around, not so much playing 10 or 15 or 20 moves ahead, but we are kind of running for our lives. It's scary. I don't want it to sound like it's a slapdash operation. It doesn't feel that way when we're doing it. We put a lot of thought into everything, and we try to play the game several moves ahead. But we're only human, and it's tricky sometime. All of this is a long-winded way of saying this was not pre-planned from the get-go. It was kind of a living, breathing thing that took on a life of its own as the season went along.

...I don't intend for there to be any ambiguity. Let me start this by saying I always am reluctant to tell the audience afterward what to think or how to feel. I really prefer it when the audience comes to their own conclusions. But in honest answer to your question, I never really intended for there to be any ambiguity. But it's funny: in the editing room, my editor and some other people were saying that the way it counter-dollies around, it looks like he's changing his point of aim before he pulls the trigger. For what it's worth, I did not intend for it to feel that way. I've been hearing from the people who've already seen it that it looks like he's changing where he's aiming. That is not intentional. I did not see it that way when I was directing. It's not wrong for you to think he shot this guy.

[notice he doesn't say killed or murdered, but shot...is that intentional? lol]

...All of this is to say, in my typical long-winded way, this is a huge deal for Jesse. That's why the future worries me. We know Jesse, and we know he is a sensitive soul - which is surprising, that he's much more sensitive than Walt, we wouldn't have guessed that from the pilot episode - but Jesse very much is, and he's very much not a murderer, and yet here he is, having shot an innocent man, for all intents and purposes, in cold blood. And he's done it for the best of reasons. And yet in so many ways it's not defensible. We will definitely be playing this out for every bit of drama and every bit of understanding as the show progresses. But if we're going to be honest about it, I don't know where this is going to leave Jesse. We'll come to grips with that as the series progresses. It may ruin him. It may crush him. He may never be the same guy again after this moment. It's worrisome. It's a big moment. But the flip side of scary is exciting, so it's exciting for us, too...

...Philosophically, I truly believe it's better to leave the party too early rather than too late. I'd rather leave people wanting more. I want to satisfy the audience as much as I humanly can. But I think it would be more satisfying for people to say, "Jesus, I wish they ran a little longer" than for them to say, "Man, that show used to be good, and then I just lost all interest because it became the same old thing, week in and week out." Of those two possibilities, I'd prefer the first.

Having said that, this show continues to surprise me, and I think it surprises my writers, day in and day out that, knock on wood, we continue to be interested in these characters ourselves. I think that's the root reason the show remains interesting: we, the people creating it, remain interested in the characters we're writing about and the stories we're telling. We continue to be confounded and fascinated by Walter White and why he does the things he does, and is there any good left in him? All these kind of questions continue to fill our days. They continue to consume us.

All of this is to say, four seasons feels pretty good to me, and I have said that in several interviews, but I can't say it with absolute certainty. At the end of every season, we try to end with a big enough bang, in a fashion such that if the whole series ended right then and there, it'd be somewhat satisfying, or at least end with a big enough bang. So if for instance we didn't get a season four, it'd be a bummer of an ending, but it'd be a big ending nonetheless, and it could work as a series ender. Having said all of that, season four might be a good place to end it, possibly we could go to season five. Can't picture anything beyond season five...

Awesome episode, too much to comment, but why does everyone think Walt gets a new assistant? He made it pretty clear, that he wants Jesse back.

Somehow, I don't think Gus is going to be ok with that arrangement. I doubt he admits defeat to Walt, he probably wants them both dead ASAP now. Walt might have bought himself a little time by having Gale killed, an in that time he needs to figure out how he's really going to save his own life.

What? How? Walt and Mike were both more badass this episode than Gus, who suddenly has a lot of things to worry about.

Anyway, two more things--

As far as the end scene goes, Jesse shot Gale. Gale's dead. Anything else would be a cheesy cliffhanger. The whole point is that Jesse has finally killed someone, murdered a (relatively) innocent person-- Walt's dragged him over to the dark side.

I love the specificity of dialogue in certain moments and by certain characters. Mike telling Walt, "the sooner you figure this thing out, the sooner we can all go home" is a perfect example. Slick double meaning implied there to Walter-- "this thing" being that he's about to be killed and will have to "figure out" a way out of it.

While, yeah, I think that's a perfectly reasonable conclusion, the fact is that Gus does need Walt now. Chemists of that caliber who are willing to do this work don't grow on trees, and Walt's right that Gus has to keep the operation going, because maintaining the lab is so expensive, and Gus has severed ties with the Cartel.

And speaking of the Cartel, I expect Gus will have his hands full with them soon enough that he won't have time to find an adequate replacement for Walt.

I just don't understand why Walt and Jesse needs to be killed at this point. Gus gets what he wants with no Jesse and Walt cooking his meth. The writers want you to think that Gus needs to get revenge for 'his guys' getting killed, but there is really no way he would have any interaction with them. He pretty much controls the entire meth distribution on the west coast. The people slinging on the streets are going to be localized gangs that his employees wholesale to.

You don't get that both of these guys have caused tremendous problems for their employer since they were hired?

What? Gus doesn't want to kill Walt because revenge. He wants him dead because he's extremely smart but also very unpredictable. He is not trustworthy and reliable and those are an absolute must for a tidy businessman like Gus. If he lets him live, who knows what Walt is capable of (maybe a takeover). Pinkman is also a liability that needs to be dealt with because police issues. He knows where the lab is and how deeply involved Gus is with the meth business.

I just can't see Gus' ego allowing him to take this lying down, over the long-term. Sure he's a pragmatic man, but there are limits. He despises Jesse, and I doubt he can trust Walt anymore (and vice versa) now that he knows what he is capable of, and is aware that Walt is also playing this high-level chess game.

I could see the cartel angle and/or the law enforcement angle coming back, giving him something bigger to worry about. If The Wire taught me anything, it's that the bodies bring on "the heat". How many are there now, that Mike hasn't cleaned up (assuming he got to the two gangbangers, and cleaned up the cartel mess)? Definite foreshadowing to a war with the cartel, both in the scene when they split ties, and Mike saying that they didn't send their best guys this time. And what if they ever find out that Mike killed the cousin who lived? Nah, that'll never happen.

Should be very interesting to see what happens to Jesse now that's he is indeed a murderer. And it seems inevitable that Walt will tell Jesse what really happened to Jane at some point, that should be about the climax of the series, imo, the fallout from that scene.

could see an argument for the exact opposite barring gus viciously murdering him

I don't think Walt has caused tremendous problems for Gus. All his problems have been in relation to Jesse, and now Jesse would be out of the picture.