No fucking kidding!

Damn

Every BrBa epsiode lately, I feel like I turn off the TV with a "Holy Shit!"

This episode really brought me around to Hank. I've always sort of liked him because even though he came across as a dumb lout, he's the only one who has gotten at all close to Heisenberg. His showdown with the Mr. Clean brothers was tense and awesome. And he's finally talking to Marie, which also made me happy. It's weird because, as usual with this show, he was just turning to the corner to peace and they pulled him back in.

I've always liked him, too, he's made some really smart deductions behind that lummox front, but when he decided to just tell the truth about the Jesse incident (and talked to Marie about what he was going to do and why! What a concept) he pretty much became my favorite (which of course made me very worried for him).

That flashback at the beginning was crazy. I wonder if it's important that the uncle (is he their father? Tuco's uncle) was not really interested in working with Pollo Man

I think Tuco's uncle is also the twins' uncle.

Hank's one of the genuinely good people on the show, maybe the only character capable of a truly selfless act and one of the few who they've shown being truly vulnerable. All this made that final scene more terrible, especially since I was convinced it was going to go the other way right up until the end.

That flashback at the beginning was crazy. I wonder if it's important that the uncle (is he their father? Tuco's uncle) was not really interested in working with Pollo Man

I was trying to figure it out and it took me a bit. I recognized the uncle, and I guess the giant phone should have been a clue, but it still took me until they transitioned to the twins to get it.

I'm sure there is some meaning there, although it seems like Gustavo must have continued to rise in the ranks since that conversation. One thing that confuses me a bit - the uncle referred to the Pollo Man as a "South American" but he clearly speaks Spanish with a USian accent.

I do sort of wonder why Jesse isn't pressing charges. I'm guessing because now that he's cooking, he doesn't want the attention, but I think Hank is smart enough to figure out that this is a possibility. I guess the question is whether Hank will be allowed to continue with the DEA or on this case.

One final thought - once again, Jesse is the voice of clarity. He recognized that he was the bad guy and now, he recognizes that since he teamed up with Walt, he has lost everything.

That's interesting about the accent. Gus seemed American to me, but I can't tell Spanish accents from one another at all. Gus would have been pretty young back then, I guess, so maybe the uncle was talking about a previous distributor and Gus kept the Pollo cover when he took over.

I figure Jesse is rightly regarding Walt's partnership as a bribe to not press charges against Hank. I think Hank was on the road to adding some of that up as he was leaving the building - judging by his expression when he was waiting for the elevator after finding out the charges were dropped, he was very thinky. It seemed to me when he was talking to Marie that he was not even wanting to continue working for the DEA, but I do think he still wants to find Heisenberg.

Jesse is so frustrating to me - he can see that his life has gone to shit since Walt but he still thinks cooking meth is best thing for him to do. He's not wrong about anything he said to Walt, but he's got such blinders.

judging by his expression when he was waiting for the elevator after finding out the charges were dropped, he was very thinky.

This was my thought as well. In fact, I sort of thought he was done with the DEA based on his conversation with Marie and his openness with the investigators and I sort of thought that this might be the thing that gets him back in. Or at least wanting to be in.

I'm curious what the after math will be wrt the shooting. I hope he doesn't die. I don't think he will, so assuming he doesn't, will the DEA bring him back into the fold, assuming that he was obviously on to something if he was attacked. Also, what will the consequences be within the cartels if/when the dude back in Mexico finds out that the brothers attacked the DEA directly. I would expect that the DEA would see this as an attack on one of their own, and will now go all out to find them. I also think Jesse may be number one on their list of people to talk to.

Poor Jesse. Although I think Walt is a fool to bring him in to his nice new cooking facility. And Gus is a fool for allowing that, although maybe Gus doesn't know that Jesse was just beat up by Hank.

Oh, yeah, it's an idiotic move by Walt. I'm a little unclear as to why Gus still needs Walt - after his first day with the now fired lab assistant I figured once that guy had the process, they didn't really need Walt. But I guess they want to keep him until the product is entirely produced, and if he wants Jesse, humor him.

You may be right about Hank wanting back in with the DEA to figure this particular case out It's under his skin, I think. I think you're right about the official response, I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but Hank being suspended is not going to keep his coworkers from seeing this as a line of duty thing. The Mexican side of the business that explicitly said hands off the DEA will not be happy, either. And now that I've typed that I wonder if that was part of Gus's strategy - if he's got local meth via Walt, does he need Mexico?

Poor Jesse. Although I think Walt is a fool to bring him in to his nice new cooking facility. And Gus is a fool for allowing that, although maybe Gus doesn't know that Jesse was just beat up by Hank.

I agree, but I'm surprised by how Tony Soprano-ish Walt's call was. By co-opting Jesse, he puts Jesse's threat to expose him in check without jeopardizing his operation, replaces Gale with a lab assistant who will never usurp him, avoids the increasingly distasteful (to him) business of killing people off, and gets the lawsuit against Hank dropped. I'm sure this will backfire on him somehow because, unlike Tony Soprano, Walt is only able to dig himself a deeper hole, but on the surface it appears that buying Jesse off was exactly the right move.

I was actually really stoked when Jesse initially refused him because it was such a nice "you think you have the perfect tactical move? Fuck you, people aren't game pieces". Should've known that Jesse would cave.