2 interesting lines in the episode I haven't seen anyone discuss here yet (quoting based on memory, so might be a bit off):

1. Mike (to Jesse) -- Anyone can be Meryl Streep with a gun pointed at his head.

This, together with Skyler's reminder that Walt had Jesse's gun to his head earlier, leads me to think that Jesse might start to put 2 and 2 together and re-think whether Walt was lying when in that situation. Walt's reaction to the kid-shooting, to be seen next week, might push Jesse further along that line of thinking.

2. Hank (to Walt) -- Being the boss isn't all that its cracked up to be.

A sentiment Walt isn't yet considering, but which he'll soon learn, it seems based on the season-opening scene.

One more question -- Is Houston DEA under the same regional umbrella run by the guy from El Paso who seemed to want Hank to cut off the Fring case? Not sure where I'm going with this, but would the Houston DEA really be that sloppy?

shooting the kid from a close distance is far from the most implausible thing in this episode...

I agree it would be more difficult. But if Todd pulled the gun, the kid is just going to stand there frozen.


To make a better point, it's not far fetched to think this guy is ex military, or has had some kind of gun training in his past. There is no reason to think that isn't the case.

Next time im driving a train i aint stopping for ****

but if you do, please be a little suspicious if there's a car blocking the way of your train while you carry millions of dollars in liquid form.
I mean, at least take a look at the back wagons to see if they are ok

Average freight train stopping distance at 55 mph is over a mile, so no real point in trying.

Train scene felt like red dead redemption

That is actually my point-- not that "oh geez Todd being so good a shot is unbelievable wtf Breaking Bad," but that Todd has a darker / more sinister background than we know about. (In case insta-whipping out the gun and dropping the kid didn't already suggest that.)

More sinister than being a professional criminal?

Yey!

kinda obvious considering Heat is a well-known movie, but..

While we're nitting about the train setup, do we have any engineers here that could speak to this whole dark territory business? Of course I'd heard of it through the awesome Steven Seagal movie, but is it really as described? Wikipedia says it's just stretches of track with no regular signals. There's no mention that all electronics/cellphones/alarms don't work in DT (the wiki says that because there's no regular signals, dispatchers actually use radio communication for trains in DT) So is that just a made up thing from a crappy action movie that the writers decided to borrow so this plot could work? I'll take it, though, because the heist was good stuff.

If this season's about Walt turning into Gus, he'll figure out a way to justify the kid's death, even if outwarldy he tells Todd he went too far.

has the protocol changed? Its not a spoiler, just part of the typical series preshow hype.

Missing kid is obviously going to lead to a search of the desert since he seems to be there a lot. Chances are they end up near that area if they follow tracks and all. Isn't there a good possibility that they find the containers in the ground? Also when the missing kid story comes up on the news that theyre searching in the desert by some railroad tracks, I feel like Schyzlaaar is going to see this and put 2 and 2 together, right? If not the irony of "burying bodies" was worth it.

Is this even going to be a story in Albuquerque though? Something they said in the planning made me think it happened somewhere in West Texas, which is multiple hundreds of miles from Albuquerque.

Ultimately it being described as 'dark territory' doesn't matter - they robbed the train such that it didn't appear like a heist. I do imagine it was either a lazy writer shorthand (fine), or Lydia being creative to get herself out of being killed.

Hank's line to Walt at the end of their scene: "It's always darkest just before the dawn." Nice double entendre, an authorial wink at Walt's true nature eventually dawning on Hank. Also, it was a nice (irrelevant) touch that after this line, the sequence of scenes went as such: underground scene (dark) → brightly lit scene where a baby (dawn of life) is the initial focus.

Speaking of resemblances, the dialogue in the second half of the underground scene felt like either crappy network dramas' pet hackish device, Expository Babble, or the writers subtly having fun with this device.

Yeah, I imagine it was chosen in part because it does the job very well without being a loose end. A random kid riding around in his moped for the length of a teaser would've been boring. The tarantula gives the kid a small goal we can follow, big-ass spiders elicit emotions in viewers, and in a crazy-****-filled show like BB, it adds suspense even though we know tarantulas aren't dangerous.

The tarantula will probably recur in an emotionally fraught scene with Jesse, after they scrub the jar for prints, maybe after Jesse angrily resists their wishes to dispose of it altogether. The simple act of him looking at it while showing some negative emotion is enough to further convey his regret for the kid's death, and this might be used as a scene open or something.

imo they got plenty of time to remove the containers, move the truck, hide the kid and get out. nobody except for maybe the kids parents will be looking for him within a few hours, and that's all they need. always possible they left something behind, like one of those seals on the train's hatches. but even if the dea discovers the heist, it doesn't really give them much information unless they can link it to lydia.

I mean, there's a big difference between being a thief-- even a professional one-- and quick-drawing to gun down a kid without hesitation.

I would have to think even most professional criminals would have a moment's pause about what to do there.

Using spoiler tag because it spoils the ending of Heat:

It was NW of Albuquerque not all that far according to Lydia and the map. Also if they get word of the Heist, Lydia is definitely suspect #1 I would think. She logs on to view the itinerary for the train in the middle of the night right before it got busted.

Spoken like someone who's knowledge of shooting guns comes from watching television and movies.

Man that was intense.

I love how the kid's presence is made known by the fact that even after Walt turned their motor off, you could still hear a motor, the kid's motor. Such a simple and subtle way to create a moment of confusion right before the shock of seeing the kid there.

And how the episode starts with the little kid riding around trapping a tarantula. Such a brilliant use of foreshadowing. I love how it even provides that closing shot of the tarantula struggling against the inside of the jar. It forces you to think, what character in this show is that tarantula a metaphor for? What is the significance of that tarantula?

The tarantula was going to be taken care of by the kid, but now the kid is gone. And the jar, though the kid's intention was for it to keep the spider safe, might now be the source of the spider's demise.

Maybe the kid represents Walt's paternity, the tarantula represents Walt's children, and the jar represents Walt's promise that the drug trade will provide for them after he's passed.

It's probably nothing. It's probably just imagery that's supposed to make us feel panicked or uneasy, but I love how all these little details they put in always keep you thinking.

also, jessie was intently staring at Walt when Mike was explaining going through with the heist meant killing two innocents. we all know walt would have no problem with that, but i think jessie was studying walt's reaction to this line.

I thought the more heavy-handed, reminded-me-I'm-watching-a-TV-show exposition was when they're setting up the tanks, with Todd asking what's going on so Walt/Jesse could explain for him (and the viewers) about replacing the meth with water with the right ratio etc. Shouldn't Todd know the basics of the plan before they get there and start setting up?

Maybe a stretch but the kid catching the spider could also be foreshadowing the kid's fate. The spider's just minding its own business and because of wrong place/wrong time it ends up screwed, and the same thing ends up happening to the kid.