My guess is that he wasn't thinking much ahead of taking Holly -- it was sheer panic, to grab a bargaining chip.

That was what I saw, though clearly by the time he made the phone call he knew about the Amber Alert and was depending on the call being recorded by the police.

Guesses as to what the sniper gear and ricin are for 8 months down the line? DH thinks he's going to free Jesse from the Nazi meth lab, and I wonder if the ricin is a suicide pill.

Walt (the character) has periods of thinking and planning as well as periods of acting in a panic. The man who took Holly is the same man who drove screaming into the desert toward his $$.

This is not a man who has his shit together.

Yeah, I think he changed his mind because of seeing Holly's distress.

Guesses as to what the sniper gear and ricin are for 8 months down the line? DH thinks he's going to free Jesse from the Nazi meth lab, and I wonder if the ricin is a suicide pill.

I've seen that theory, and I've also seen suggestions he's going to poison Lydia. I guess because she's the one who got Uncle Jack involved in the business, and now he's on a Hank vendetta? All the weaponry to free Jesse sounds about right, though. But then Jesse kills him. Right? Riiiiight?

Wait. There's a Nazi meth lab?

Neo-Nazi meth lab -- that Tod is running, mostly. The Neos killed off the last meth lab crew while Lydia hid nearby.

Wow. I don't watch, but the reactions have been so dramatic, I had to see what was going on.

Interview with writer of BB ep. [link]

Huh. I don't buy it, but ok.

(Or rather, I believe that the actual baby said "Mama" on set; I do not believe that the shots of her saying "Mama" in the ep were captured live, because actual babies' mouths do not look like that.)

The blurb for next week's ep is "A conclusion closes in from events set in motion long ago."

That's a shocking concept for a series finale--Breaking Bad breaking ground!