This show is going through one of those periods where you hate to call any episode out as being the best of the season, not because it wasn’t…because, brother, you’d better believe it was…but because you find yourself saying it so many times during the season that it feels like you’re damning it with faint praise. I mean, in essence, what I’m saying is, “Holy shit, that was the best episode since last week!” Which it was, but…oh, never mind, let’s just get started.
It was funny to start the episode with that flashback, seeing that one of the cousins was a crybaby back in the day. I knew the whole “I wish he was dead” comment was going to come back into play; I just didn’t think it would happen quite so quickly. Say, does anyone know if Tuco’s uncle has written a text on child rearing? I feel like he may have a couple of lessons to teach me beyond what we saw tonight.
But let’s get serious, shall we? Holy shit, I knew Hank was going to go ballistic on Jesse, but…wow. To say that that scene was everything I expected would be a lie, because it never occurred to me that he’d give him quite that level of beatdown. That was a full-fledged, no-holds-barred pummeling, with absolutely no restraint whatsoever. Whew. You better believe Internal Affairs is going to want a word with him…
Of course Saul is going to be at Jesse’s bedside, taking pictures and trying to get the money shot. The Rocky joke was good, but the Beatle quip when Walt walked into the room was better: “You’re now officially the cute one of the group. Paul, meet Ringo. Ringo, meet Paul.” It was absolutely stupid for Walt to sneak in to see Jesse, even if he was concerned about his condition. Yeah, he could’ve explained his presence away with the old “he’s my former student” line, but that’s got to be getting pretty hoary by now. I have to admit that I didn’t expect Walt to express guilt over the situation, but once he did, I certainly wasn’t surprised that it lasted for only a couple of seconds before he had to remind Jesse, “But the plan did work…” Personally, I thought Jesse’s speech was a little long, but, shit, you couldn’t really argue with much of it…which is why I didn’t expect Saul to flip and suggest that Jesse might actually want to go a different direction. Nor did I expect Jesse to be quite so bitter toward Walt. (“You’re my free pass…bitch.”) I did agree with Walt’s theory that if Jesse didn’t give up the ghost during Hank’s “interrogation,” he probably never will, but I certainly couldn’t ignore Saul’s ominous suggestion about “options.”
