This week's Breaking Bad episode followed a similar arc to last week's. Most of the episode was devoted to dealing with the aftermath of the last few minutes of the previous episode, with a spurt of violence coming just before the ending credits. While "I See You" wasn't quite as strong as the few previous eps, it certainly had a few moments of brilliance, which we have come to expect from the show.
First, Walt informs Gale that he will be replaced. Gale responds, rather pathetically with, "I thought things were going well, I thought we were kinda simpatico, ya know?", which sounds like something Doug would say to his wife on Flight of the Conchords if she was to leave him for Bret or Jemaine. We are treated to a series of pretty funny scenes that juxtapose Jesse's excitement with his new gig with Gale's disappointment with his firing.
Walt spends most of the episode in the hospital waiting room (fixing wobbly tables), with Skylar, Marie and Walter Jr. I don't know if is the stress or what, but something strange and subtle starts to happen; Skylar actually seems to be reconnecting with Walt, something that I don't think anyone predicted. First, she stands up for Walt when Marie blames him for introducing Jesse into their lives, then she seems genuinely touched by Walt's "I'm not half the man your husband is" speech (the first time this season that Walt makes any reference to his battle with cancer, although I don't think he actually uses the "c-word"), and craziest of all, Skylar rests her head on Walt's shoulder (the first time we have seen them touch in a long time). But even after all that, the status quo returns in full force when Walt tries to explain to Skylar who he was talking to on the hospital courtesy phone and she just turns and walks away, uninterested in hearing any more lies.
While Walt is at the hospital, Jesse (who has just been released from the very same hospital) is hard at work in the lab. And by hard at work, I mean hand-drumming on the lab equipment, sliding around on a rolly-chair and inflating his haz-mat suit with air (think Missy Elliott) while jamming out to a dance-hall version of Old Dirty Bastard's seminal hit Shimmy Shimmy Ya. Eventually Gus' man at the laundry facility checks in on Jesse and notices that nothing is being cooked, setting up what I predict will be the theme next week's episode: a week long cook-a-thon during which Walt and Jesse have to produce 400 pounds of blue meth.
The end of the episode reminds us just exactly how powerful Gus Fring really is. He shows up at the hospital and feeds the entire law enforcement contingent waiting on news about Hank's condition. When he enters the family waiting room, Walt's heart skips like 10 beats. The connections between Fring, himself, the Cousins, Tuco and Hank's shooting are starting to come together in Walt's head.
Gus tells Walt not to worry, as the surviving Cousin is likely dying. What he doesn't tell him is that Mike, the fixer, is also at the hospital making sure the Cousin succumbs to his injuries.
Meanwhile, Juan, the Cartel boss is hip to Gus' plan for the Cousins demise and vows to pay him a visit as soon as the heat from the DEA and the Federales dies down. But he seems to underestimate Fring's reach, because as soon as he hangs up the phone he is gunned down in the foyer of his own home. The identity of the shooter is unknown, but we have to assume that it is someone working with Gus, right? Who knew he had enough juice to take down a Cartel boss...in Mexico?!
Gus' ultimate goal now seems pretty apparent. He wants to completely separate from the Cartel. We know he is a proponent of vertical integration when it comes to his businesses, as evidenced by his chicken farm and his chicken restaurant. Now that he has Walt, he can control the production and distribution of all the meth in his territory, and cut out the middle man, which in this case is the Cartel. The question remains; does Gus have the muscle to hold his territory once the Cartel has a chance to regroup?
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