Hey, everybody, Gale’s okay! Gee, I guess Jesse’s bullet missed him after all, so…

Oh. Never mind. It’s a flashback. But, hey, at least now we know how the superlab first came into being. And we also know the sad irony that Gale is directly responsible for Gus bringing Walt into the business in the first place. So obsessive was he with his concern about the quality of the meth he was making – more concerned, even, than Gus himself – that he simply couldn’t comprehend that Gus wouldn’t want to work with someone like that, even risking the possibility of talking himself out of a job by saying of Walt, “If he’s not (a professional), I don’t know what that makes me.”

Well, as it turns out, Gale, what is makes you is dead. But, then, I think we all pretty much knew that when Season 3 faded to black. Some of us just didn’t want to admit it.

…and just like that, Jesse’s a killer. He’s also deep in shock, as evidenced by the fact that, although he makes a mad dash out of the apartment building, he only makes it as far as the driver’s seat of his car, where he remains when Victor – Gus’s right-hand man – runs into him. But, of course, by that point, Victor’s already been inside and gotten himself seen by Gale’s neighbors, thereby sealing his fate. (Not that we know that at the time, of course.) When Victor drags Jesse into the lab, Walt’s expression is one of pure horror, clearly believing that Jesse had been caught before he’d done the deed, but the look slips from his face onto Mike’s when it becomes clear that, indeed, Jesse did succeed. You can also see a very distinct “uh-oh” expression when Mike absorbs the information that Victor was witnessed at the scene of the crime. “Better get this over with,” sighs Mike. Hey, don’t pretend you wouldn’t be scared shitless, too…

Hey, it’s Marie! She’s just woken Skyler to give her the latest bunch of bills for Hank, which are clearly sizable enough to get anyone’s adrenaline pumping, but Skyler’s understandably more concerned about the fact that Walt’s vehicle is in the driveway…and Walt ain’t home. The fact that her first instinct is to move it a few blocks away to avoid too many questions certainly strikes me as a sign that she’s starting to get the hang of this new lifestyle, but this becomes even more obvious when she cons a locksmith to let her into Walt’s condo so that she can try to figure out what the hell’s going on. Really, though, what were her options? It’s clear that Saul Goodman’s primary interest is getting the hell out of ABQ before Gus realizes the part he played in the preceding evening’s events. (“You’ve got a passport, right?”)

Having seen Marie momentarily back at the White house, we also check in briefly with Hank, who has apparently found himself a new hobby: buying minerals online. Hey, whatever gets you through your recovery, right? Although he’s home, has a new therapist, and has reportedly “broke new ground” in his efforts to get back on his feet again, he’s clearly still in just as shitty a mood now as he was when we left him at the end of Season 3. It’s obvious that Marie’s doing everything humanly possible to make his life livable, but he’s clearly just bitter as hell. And, frankly, who can blame him, y’know?

Meanwhile, back in the superlab, Walt tries to point out to Mike that no matter how angry Gus may be about what’s happened to Gale, someone still needs to get cooking to stay on schedule. But Victor’s majorly pissed and decides to prove that he’s just as capable as Walt, snapping, “That’s right, genius, watch me: we ain’t missin’ no cook.” Walt’s ego won’t allow him to accept the possibility that Victor’s learned the process simply from watching him do it over and over again…until, that is, he remembers the aluminum. That’s the point when his tune changes from “you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, do you?” to “son of a bitch…”

Enter Gus.

Oh, man, is he mad. He’s not saying a word, of course, but, then, that’s often par for the course when it comes to Gus. Victor’s grinning from ear to ear with pride in his work, as if to say, “Everything’s copacetic,” but Gus has nothing to say to him, either, instead walking silently past everyone and putting on a protective suit. Walt, proving once again that he is incapable of letting a room sit in silence when he can instead fill it with a rambling monologue, attempts to explain his actions, basically saying, “Great guy, that Gale, but if it’s him versus me or him versus me and Jesse, it’s gonna be Gale doing down every time.” After daring to blame Gus for Gale’s death, he sneers as he describes Victor as the meth-maker equivalent of a short-order cook, whipping out a barrage of chemist-speak to show Victor just how stupid he truly thinks he is.

And then, Gus – still silent – stumbles upon the box cutter.

In retrospect, it’s heartbreaking that Victor should smile at the sound of Gus clicking open the cutter. Clearly, he believes that he’s about to witness the last moments of Walt and Jesse…and so, for that matter, does Walt, judging from the increasingly frantic delivery of his defense. I think a lot of us probably knew from the moment Gus walked past Walt and Jesse and over to Victor that poor Victor was going to be the one to get it, but that didn’t make the unabashed violence of the act any less horrific. It’s pretty clear that Mike was taken aback…and we never see that guy shocked. This is what I got from the look between Gus and Jesse: Gus’s eyes were saying, “It’s your fault this had to happen,” and Jesse’s were replying, “Bring it, bitch.” Walt might’ve been horrified, but Jesse was clearly pissed. Jesse had better watch out, though, because he’s not likely to find a more formidable opponent than Gus. After he calmly washed up, stripped away the safety attire, cleaned his glasses, and walked up the stairway without saying so much as a word about anything whatsoever, he finally reaches the catwalk, where he speaks his only words of the episode:

“Well…? Get back to work!”

My God, that was chilling.

In a perfect “Breaking Bad” bit of dark comedy, Walt and Jesse attempt to dispose of Victor’s body like they’re Laurel and Hardy, with Walt finally turning toward Mike and cutting him a look that says, “You know damned well you could do this better than we can…” Of course, a much needed moment of levity came when Jesse grabbed the hydrofluoric acid and, after Mike admitted to a lack of experience with the stuff and asked if they were sure it’d do the job, Jesse replied with a deadpan, “Trust us.” The bathtub from Season One has never seemed so far away…

After a kickass cutaway from mopping up blood to mopping up ketchup, we had the scene with Walt and Jesse enjoying a nice breakfast at Denny’s in their brand new Kenny Rogers t-shirts. (Attention, AMC: please send me one in XXL, along with a “Breaking Bad” box cutter.) Walt’s trying to be all fatherly for a moment, but then we get a feel for what I think is perhaps going to be the thrust of the season: Walt’s paranoid about Gus, which I’m sure is only going to get worse as the season progresses, while Jesse doesn’t see Gus’s revenge as anything imminent. Of course, again, Jesse’s clearly still in shock, but there’s something to be said for his theory about the lot of them all being on the same page: “If I can’t kill you, you’ll sure as shit wish you were dead.”

Last moments: Walt assures Skyler that’s he’s right as rain, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and we see a shot of the crime scene at Gale’s apartment, focusing in on his lab notes. What do you want to be that those end up in Hank’s hands somewhere down the line? Just sayin’…

Closing comments:

* I never would’ve thought that a bullet-pierced teapot could stir such emotions in me, but, damn, Gale was such a nice guy, not to mention a dedicated employee, a fact further underlined by the flashback that opened the episode.

* Saul’s paranoia was hysterical, especially the cutaway to him calling Skyler back on a payphone because he was so concerned that Gus might’ve bugged his office.

* Okay, I think we can officially call the eyeball a season-premiere tradition at this point. This is three years running, correct?

* Seriously, how disgusting was the shot of Victor’s slowly disintegrating body parts within the translucent plastic container? Pretty gross even by “Breaking Bad” standards. Which is to say that it was pretty awesome.

NOTE: Henceforth, you’ll be able to find the “Breaking Bad” blog over at the Bullz-Eye blog, or you can just visit Bullz-Eye’s “Breaking Bad” fan hub, where the latest entry can always be found.

Season Four of the acclaimed series arrives just on the heels of the network having received countless complaints from irate viewers who felt cheated when “The Killing” didn’t resolve the mystery of who killed Rosie Larsen, but if you’re one of those folks, fear not: while the answer to the question “is Gale dead?” isn’t definitely answered at the precise instant the season premiere begins (although you would be forgiven for thinking that it has been), you’ll have clarification of Gale’s state of existence mere moments after the opening credits conclude.

Mind you, despite all of the discussion about whether or not Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) successfully shot and killed Gale Boetticher (David Costabile) at the end of Season Three, series creator Vince Gilligan has said outright that “it’s not actually meant to be ambiguous. It’s meant to be, ‘Oh my God, Jesse shot poor Gale.” Not that he couldn’t have changed his mind in the interim between seasons, of course, but given Gilligan’s steadfast vision for the series over the course of 33 episodes, there’s little reason to think that he has.

Okay, so everyone remembers that Gale probably got shot by Jesse, since that was the last moment of the Season Three finale, but do you remember where everyone else was at the end of the season? Let’s play a little bit of catch-up, just in case.

When we last left Walt, he (probably) was on the verge of being shot and killed by Mike (Jonathan Banks), as order by fried-chicken impresario / meth kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), but the stay of execution was temporarily rescinded upon the realization that Jesse might well be in the process of murdering the only other person capable of maintaining the manufacturing of the meth. (Did I ever mention how much I love alliteration?) Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui), another one of Gus’s main men, makes a mad dash toward Gale’s apartment, but as it stands right now, we don’t officially know whether or not he made it in time…except, y’know, we probably do know, which is to say that he almost certainly didn’t.

But I digress.

Elsewhere, Walt’s wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), now knows of her husband’s goings-on (even if she isn’t nearly as much in the know as she thinks she is) and is trying to incorporate her own business acumen into the operation. Utterly in the dark, however, is their teenage son, Walt, Jr. (R.J. Mitte), who spent much of Season Three trying to figure out just what the hell was up with his parents. And can you blame him? After all, he watched his mom kick his father out of the house, demand a divorce, and even call the cops in order to have him arrested, only to see her backpedal. You’d be confused, too.

You’ve also got Skyler’s sister, Marie (Betsy Brandt), whose DEA-agent husband, Hank (Dean Norris), was left a paraplegic after an attack by two very violent gentlemen on a quest to avenge their cousin. When last we saw Hank and Marie, she had just successfully managed to make his groundhog see its shadow…by which, of course, I mean that she gave him a hand job and made his penis stand at attention. Sure, it seems like an easy enough trick, but it was the first time he’d managed it since incurring his injuries, and the fact that Marie made it happen meant that he had to make good on his promise that he’d leave the hospital, head home, and begin further physical therapy. Once Hank’s back on his feet, it’s only a matter of time before he’s also back on the trail of the mysterious blue meth and the man responsible for manufacturing it.

Obviously, we know where Jesse was when we last left him, but prior to that, he’d had a hell of third season. He started off in rehab, and once he got out, he initially managed to stay clean while still continuing to make meth, but after spending a little too long lingering on his conviction that he had become “the bad guy,” he soon began to backslide. In addition to his chemical dependency, Jesse also had his fair share of emotional turmoil, dealing with the death of his girlfriend, Jane (Krysten Ritter) by seeking solace in Andrea, a girl from his drug counseling sessions, only to learn that her 11-year-old brother had been responsible for the murder of his friend and fellow dealer, Combo. Dude can’t catch a break.

The relationship between Walt and Jesse hit some serious highs and lows during the course of the third season, but by the end of the next-to-last episode, it became clear that the two of them have a bond which cannot be broken. What remains to be seen, however, is how Gus is going to handle their continued partnership, not simply because of his lack of respect for Jesse, but also because of the way Walt has transitioned from being a mere manufacturer into someone who clearly has an interest in working his way up the corporate ladder, as it were.

So that’s where we stand with “Breaking Bad” as we enter into the show’s fourth season. Tensions were sky high when we last left the series, and I can assure you that by the time the credits roll on the season premiere, you will feel the same way Giancarlo Esposito felt after he read the script for the episode: a little bit stunned and a little bit shaken.

True, that’s generally how most viewers feel at the end of every episode of “Breaking Bad,” but having already seen this one, I’m going to lay it on the line: the show delivers the “holy shit” moment to end all “holy shit” moments to date.

See you on Sunday, kids.

P.S. Don’t forget to visit Bullz-Eye’s “Breaking Bad” blog right after the season premiere to join in on the post-show discussion. Trust me, there’s definitely going to be a lot to talk about. In the meantime, be sure to head over to our “Breaking Bad” Fan Hub for all the interviews, reviews, and features about the show that you can stand.