WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Picture this if you can. You are standing on 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:06.740 a quiet, typical suburban street in Albuquerque. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:09.460 New Mexico. Right, New Mexico. Yeah. The sun 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:12.199 is just, it's beating down with that harsh high 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:15.099 desert glare. Oh, yeah. You look up at a standard 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:19.719 beige ranch style house. And there, sitting right 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:21.500 on the roof, right in that little valley where 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:24.579 the garage meets the main house, is a pizza. 00:00:24.699 --> 00:00:27.859 A massive reach. An extra large uncut pepperoni 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:30.980 pizza. Yeah. baking in the sun. The cheese is 00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:33.060 probably bubbling by now. The grease is seeping 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:35.439 right into the asphalt shingles. It is without 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.780 a doubt one of the most absurd images in television 00:00:37.780 --> 00:00:40.719 history. It's completely visually arresting. 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:43.310 and hilarious. It's iconic. I mean, you see it 00:00:43.310 --> 00:00:45.170 on T -shirts. It's constantly used in GIFs. You 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:47.850 even see other shows referencing it. It has totally 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:50.090 taken on a life of its own in Internet culture. 00:00:50.170 --> 00:00:52.149 Oh, absolutely. It's basically the Mona Lisa 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:55.130 of food based memes. But and this is exactly 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:57.189 why we're doing this deep dive today. If you 00:00:57.189 --> 00:00:59.229 strip away the meme status, if you stop laughing 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:01.530 for just a second and look at the actual context 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.189 of that pizza, it is incredibly depressing. It 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:07.670 really is. It's a monument to a man's total failure, 00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:10.329 a total breakdown of communication. It represents 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:13.129 a who has completely lost the ability to connect 00:01:13.129 --> 00:01:16.450 with his family using words so he resorts to 00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:20.370 this this pathetic grease -soaked offering of 00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:22.250 fast food. Just to try and bridge a gap that 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:25.329 he created. Created with murder and lies. Yeah, 00:01:25.609 --> 00:01:28.890 it's tragic comedy at its absolute peak. And 00:01:28.890 --> 00:01:31.150 that is exactly what we are unpacking for you 00:01:31.150 --> 00:01:34.109 today. We are cracking open season three, episode 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:37.489 two of our favorite Albuquerque saga, the episode 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:40.250 titled Caballo Sin Nombre. Which, for those who 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:43.150 don't speak Spanish, translates to horse with 00:01:43.150 --> 00:01:45.409 no name. We are going to go incredibly deep on 00:01:45.409 --> 00:01:48.090 this one. We're not just skimming a Wikipedia 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.150 plot summary. We brought the receipts today. 00:01:50.269 --> 00:01:52.250 We have a massive stack of sources to go through. 00:01:52.349 --> 00:01:54.530 We do. We've got the original production notes. 00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:56.750 We pulled critical reception data from Vulture 00:01:56.750 --> 00:01:59.430 and the Ringer. We're diving into the actual 00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:02.129 legal mechanics of real estate fraud. That part 00:02:02.129 --> 00:02:04.459 is fascinating. It is. And we have some truly 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:06.819 wild behind the scenes accounts regarding the 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.879 filming locations, the fans and the actual physics 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:12.180 of that pizza throw. So our mission today is 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:16.080 to really understand how this specific hour of 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.479 television acts as a critical bridge. Because 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.180 think about it, we are coming right off the absolute 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:24.780 chaos of the season two finale. The mid -air 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.139 collision. Right. The debris raining down from 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:29.479 the sky, the pink teddy bear floating in the 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:31.960 pool. It was explosive. Yeah. But now we're moving 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:34.400 into the much tighter, more suffocating grip 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.759 of season three. It's a major transition. We're 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:39.360 going from accidental chaos to organized crime. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:41.659 Exactly. And we're going to track three distinct 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:44.099 threads to show how that happens. First, Walt's 00:02:44.099 --> 00:02:46.639 personal life, which is just loud, messy, and 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:49.400 humiliatingly out of control. mildly. Second, 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.740 Jesse Pinkman's surprising and very quiet strategic 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:55.780 power play. And third, the silent, creeping horror 00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:58.479 of the Salamanca Cousins. The Cousins, just walking 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.680 sharks, closing in on the protagonist. Sharks 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.240 in shiny suits. So folks, strap in. This is going 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:05.639 to be a wild ride. We are talking about the chemical 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:07.500 composition of pepper spray. We are talking about 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:09.740 stigmatized property laws. We are talking about 00:03:09.740 --> 00:03:12.539 incredibly shiny axes. And yes, we will break 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:15.400 down the physics of a pizza throw. Let's start 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.289 at the very top, the title. Right. It's such 00:03:20.289 --> 00:03:22.729 a deliberate, specific choice by the writer. 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:25.289 Obviously, it connects immediately to the soundtrack. 00:03:25.909 --> 00:03:28.090 The episode is bookended at the very beginning 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:30.490 and the very end by the song A Horse with No 00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:33.560 Name. by the band America. And that song is such 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:35.780 a classic earworm, isn't it? You hear those opening 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:37.860 acoustic chords and you're instantly transported. 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:40.680 You're on a road trip in 1972. Exactly. I've 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:42.840 been through the desert on a horse with no name. 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:45.599 It feels so breezy. It feels like this chill, 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.639 soft rock, easy listening anthem. It feels breezy 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.080 on the surface, sure. But have you ever actually 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.900 sat down and deconstructed those lyrics? Because 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:57.250 Peter Gould... the writer of this episode, he 00:03:57.250 --> 00:04:00.030 certainly did. Okay, lay it on me. The song isn't 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:03.030 just about a nice sunny ride in the sand. It 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:06.110 is about negation. It's about the complete erasure 00:04:06.110 --> 00:04:09.050 of the self. How so? Like literally what in the 00:04:09.050 --> 00:04:11.030 lyrics points to that? Look at the core lines. 00:04:11.569 --> 00:04:13.629 In the desert, you can remember your name, because 00:04:13.629 --> 00:04:16.170 there ain't no one for to give you no pain. The 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:19.089 song is suggesting that your identity, your name, 00:04:19.550 --> 00:04:21.850 who you are to other people, your relationships, 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:25.420 that is the source of your pain. The civilized 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:28.139 world brings pain, so to escape it, you have 00:04:28.139 --> 00:04:30.639 to go into the desert and become totally anonymous. 00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:34.139 You have to be the horse with no name. Wow, that's 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:36.839 actually incredibly bleak. Very bleak. But it 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:39.759 fits Walter perfectly at this exact moment in 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.339 the story. It fits him like a glove. Think about 00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:45.620 his status in this episode. He is in this profound 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:47.680 state of limbo. He's been kicked out of his own 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.759 house. So he's not really dad or husband in any 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:53.279 functional way anymore. Schuyler stripped those 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:55.779 labels right off him. Right. But he's also not 00:04:55.779 --> 00:04:58.879 fully Heisenberg yet, at least not openly to 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.259 the public or the law. He's just this guy living 00:05:01.259 --> 00:05:04.800 in a sad furnished condo, drifting. He's just 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.379 floating in the wreckage of his own life. He's 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:09.660 separated from the moral anchors that kept him 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:11.779 somewhat human, but he hasn't completely embraced 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:15.279 the monster role yet either. Precisely. He is 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.180 wandering through a desert of his own making. 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.819 The title underscores that total loss of identity. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:24.120 He's trying to figure out who he is, if he isn't 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:26.920 a father and isn't a teacher. Is he just a criminal? 00:05:27.339 --> 00:05:30.379 Is he a victim? Right now he's nameless. And 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:32.279 we should definitely mention the pedigree behind 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.819 this script because the credits here are significant. 00:05:35.050 --> 00:05:38.189 written by Peter Gould, directed by Adam Bernstein. 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:41.970 It originally aired on March 28th, 2010. It's 00:05:41.970 --> 00:05:44.490 the 22nd episode overall. And Peter Gould is 00:05:44.490 --> 00:05:46.970 a name that every fan should venerate. He is 00:05:46.970 --> 00:05:49.009 the writer who really developed the Saul Goodman 00:05:49.009 --> 00:05:51.129 character. He eventually co -created the spinoff, 00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:53.449 of course. Exactly. And you can see his fingerprints 00:05:53.449 --> 00:05:56.149 all over this script, particularly in the legal 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:57.730 maneuvering we're going to discuss later with 00:05:57.730 --> 00:06:00.269 Jesse. Gould just loves that intersection of 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:02.689 the hilarious and the terrifying. He totally 00:06:02.689 --> 00:06:05.079 masters that specific tone. where you're sitting 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:07.040 there and you don't know if you should laugh 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.300 or scream. Which is basically the sweet spot 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:11.660 of his entire franchise. It really is. Okay, 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.019 let's get right into the action. Segment two. 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.459 Walt's spiraling lack of control. The episode 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.199 opens with Walt driving his Pontiac Aztec, and 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:23.319 immediately the visual language of the scene 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:25.899 tells you something is deeply wrong. It's the 00:06:25.899 --> 00:06:28.819 windshield. That blue tape? Right. The director 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:31.120 of photography, Michael Slovis, makes a very 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.160 specific, deliberate choice here. He shoots Walt 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.939 through the windshield repeatedly. We keep seeing 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:39.939 that jagged awful spiderweb crack with the bright 00:06:39.939 --> 00:06:42.279 blue painter's tape struggling to hold it together. 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:45.779 It's literally obstructing Walt's face. And for 00:06:45.779 --> 00:06:47.459 anyone who might have forgotten between seasons, 00:06:47.540 --> 00:06:49.920 that crack isn't just from a stray rock on the 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.189 highway. Oh no, that crack is debris. It is a 00:06:53.189 --> 00:06:56.009 direct result of the Wayfarer 515 plane crash 00:06:56.009 --> 00:06:58.930 from the Season 2 finale. The crash he indirectly 00:06:58.930 --> 00:07:01.290 caused. Exactly. That is a literal piece of the 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:03.569 wreckage caused by his inaction regarding Jane's 00:07:03.569 --> 00:07:06.230 death. So metaphorically, every single time he 00:07:06.230 --> 00:07:08.129 looks at the road, he is looking straight through 00:07:08.129 --> 00:07:10.949 the consequences of his own sins. He is viewing 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:13.529 the world through a fractured lens of his own 00:07:13.529 --> 00:07:15.730 making. And the fact that he hasn't fixed it 00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:18.250 yet, that speaks volumes. I mean, he is driving 00:07:18.250 --> 00:07:21.550 around with a giant, I am guilty sign plastered 00:07:21.550 --> 00:07:24.209 to his car, but he's too stubborn or maybe too 00:07:24.209 --> 00:07:26.870 depressed to just call an auto glass repair shop. 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:28.930 So he's driving, he's drifting along, he's singing 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:32.060 along to America on the radio. And then the red 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:34.180 and blue lights flash. He gets pulled over. Just 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:36.519 a standard routine traffic stop. The officer 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:38.920 sees the windshield, which is a massive safety 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:42.379 hazard. He pulls Walt over. Now, any normal person 00:07:42.379 --> 00:07:44.660 in this situation, even a normal criminal, would 00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:46.579 think, OK, keep your head down. Be polite. Take 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:48.699 the ticket. Do not draw attention to the fact 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:50.620 that you are the region's top meth cook. Right. 00:07:50.819 --> 00:07:53.120 The survival instinct should be screaming, yes, 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.480 officer. Sorry, officer. I'll get it fixed first 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:59.639 thing tomorrow. But Walt, Walt chooses violence, 00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:03.860 not fi - violence but this intense verbal violence. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:07.100 This is a massive flare -up of his ego. It's 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:10.019 what the ancient Greeks would call hubris. Walt 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:12.720 is sitting in that driver's seat and in his own 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:16.899 head he is a kingpin. He's a big deal. He survived 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:19.459 Tuco Salamanca. He has half a million dollars 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:22.759 in cash sitting in a duffel bag. He feels untouchable. 00:08:23.259 --> 00:08:25.839 So when this officer, this normal civilian cop, 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:28.019 tries to tell him what to do, Walt just snaps. 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:31.160 He feels insulted. He completely tries to big 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.220 league the cop. He starts arguing about the ticket, 00:08:33.379 --> 00:08:36.100 getting highly technical, saying it's ridiculous, 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:39.200 citing regulations. It's a full blown masculinity 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.980 crisis. Look at his life. Schuyler has completely 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:44.480 stripped him of his power at home. He feels utterly 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.100 impotent there. So he's trying to assert dominance 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:49.539 here on the side of the road. He gets out of 00:08:49.539 --> 00:08:51.659 the car, which, by the way, is the absolute number 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:53.659 one rule of things you do not do during a traffic 00:08:53.659 --> 00:08:55.360 stop. Never get out of the car. And he gets right 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.480 up in the officer's face. He's shouting. He's 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:00.019 pointing his finger. It is so cringy to watch 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:03.000 because we the audience know he has zero actual 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.840 leverage in this situation. He expects the universe 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:08.340 to bend to him. just because of his intellect. 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:11.480 He thinks, I am vastly smarter than this cop, 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:15.120 therefore I should win this argument. But the 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.700 street doesn't run on IQ points, it runs on force. 00:09:17.940 --> 00:09:19.960 And the force arrives very quickly in the form 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:22.559 of pepper spray. The great equalizer. Talk to 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.559 me about that moment, because it isn't like a 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.720 clean movie punch where a guy just gets knocked 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.980 out. It's incredibly messy. It is deeply visceral. 00:09:30.190 --> 00:09:33.330 Pepper spray or OC spray, it causes the immediate 00:09:33.330 --> 00:09:36.190 involuntary closure of the eyes. You get difficulty 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:38.269 breathing, your nose starts running uncontrollably, 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:41.450 and there is this intense blinding burning sensation. 00:09:42.029 --> 00:09:44.769 It completely incapacitates him in seconds. We 00:09:44.769 --> 00:09:47.610 see Walter White, the great and powerful Heisenberg, 00:09:47.889 --> 00:09:50.029 literally writhing on the asphalt, snot pouring 00:09:50.029 --> 00:09:52.789 down his face, just screaming in agony. It's 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:55.809 a total complete humiliation. It violently strips 00:09:55.809 --> 00:09:57.649 away all that fake kingpin armor he thought he 00:09:57.649 --> 00:09:59.710 was wearing. It reminds us, and it certainly 00:09:59.710 --> 00:10:01.830 reminds him, that underneath the hat and the 00:10:01.830 --> 00:10:04.669 sunglasses, he is just a frail man in his 50s. 00:10:04.929 --> 00:10:06.809 He has no army behind him. He has no physical 00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:08.730 protection. If he acts out in the real world, 00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:11.669 the system will just crush him like a bug. So 00:10:11.669 --> 00:10:14.690 he gets arrested. He's sitting in the station, 00:10:14.990 --> 00:10:17.870 eyes all red and puffy. And who is the one who 00:10:17.870 --> 00:10:21.730 comes to pick him up? Hank Schrader. And the 00:10:21.730 --> 00:10:23.409 irony in this scene is so thick you could choke 00:10:23.409 --> 00:10:26.190 on it. The head of the local DEA task force is 00:10:26.190 --> 00:10:28.190 personally picking up the region's biggest meth 00:10:28.190 --> 00:10:30.850 manufacturer from the drunk tank. Hank is such 00:10:30.850 --> 00:10:33.590 a genuinely good guy in this scene, too. He's 00:10:33.590 --> 00:10:35.889 worried. He sees Walt looking like an absolute 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:38.350 wreck. His eyes are swollen. He looks entirely 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:41.149 defeated. And this is exactly where Walt shows 00:10:41.149 --> 00:10:43.850 his manipulative brilliance. He knows he needs 00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:46.110 to explain away why he's acting like a lunatic. 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:48.309 He obviously can't say, well, I cook meth and 00:10:48.309 --> 00:10:50.629 the stress is getting to me. So he tells Hank 00:10:50.629 --> 00:10:53.649 the truth, but just a very specific curated slice 00:10:53.649 --> 00:10:56.269 of the truth. He tells him Skyler wants a divorce. 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:59.370 He essentially uses Hank's natural sympathy for 00:10:59.370 --> 00:11:01.649 a marital breakup to camouflage the criminal 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:04.549 behavior. Exactly. He weaponizes his own domestic 00:11:04.549 --> 00:11:07.029 misery. He knows Hank is a traditional guy who 00:11:07.029 --> 00:11:08.850 will attribute all this erratic behavior, the 00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:11.509 fighting with the cop, moving into a sad condo 00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:14.009 purely to the stress of a separation. It's a 00:11:14.009 --> 00:11:16.230 perfect cover story. Hank is patting him on the 00:11:16.230 --> 00:11:18.610 back, feeling so sorry for him, completely unaware 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:20.629 that he is literally comforting the villain he's 00:11:20.629 --> 00:11:23.169 been hunting. It's brilliant and it's sickening. 00:11:23.549 --> 00:11:26.029 But after this whole ordeal, Walt realizes he 00:11:26.029 --> 00:11:29.330 needs actual legal advice, not for the traffic 00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:31.850 ticket, but to figure out his exposure with Skyler. 00:11:32.370 --> 00:11:34.730 So he goes to see Saul Goodman. And I just love 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:37.850 the visual and tonal contrast here. Walt is emotional. 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:40.990 He's messy. He's romanticizing his family and 00:11:40.990 --> 00:11:44.190 his role as a provider. And Saul, Saul is cold. 00:11:44.429 --> 00:11:47.809 hard and strictly pragmatic. Saul hears about 00:11:47.809 --> 00:11:49.610 the separation and he's basically just like, 00:11:49.929 --> 00:11:52.549 great, good riddance. Saul is the ultimate realist. 00:11:52.870 --> 00:11:55.750 He sits whilst down and explains the spousal 00:11:55.750 --> 00:11:58.970 privilege dynamic. He tells Walt that, legally 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:01.710 speaking, Skyler cannot be forced to testify 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:03.389 against him in a criminal court. Right, they 00:12:03.389 --> 00:12:05.070 can't compel a wife to take the stand against 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:07.730 her husband. Exactly. But Saul goes a crucial 00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:10.970 step further. He analyzes Skyler's underlying 00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:13.960 psychology. He tells Walt that she won't go to 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:16.279 the police voluntarily either because she is 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:18.360 terrified of the fallout. She doesn't want Walt 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:20.399 Jr. to find out his dad is a drug dealer. He 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.100 doesn't want the house and the bank accounts 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:24.960 seized by the government. Right. Saul correctly 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.679 identifies that in this situation, fear is a 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.019 much stronger silencer than love or loyalty. 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.919 He tells Walt point blank, she's bluffing. She 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:36.240 will not blow up her own family just to get you." 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.279 And then he pivots and gives Walt some very classic 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.580 Saul Goodman advice. Go find a new woman. Find 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:45.120 someone who appreciates the bad boy vibe. He 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.159 literally suggests Thai women. He suggests just 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:51.059 moving on entirely. Saul sees Walt purely as 00:12:51.059 --> 00:12:53.759 a money -making machine. To Saul, a wife is nothing 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.480 more than a liability that slows down meth production. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.379 He wants Walt to just embrace the bachelor life 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:02.340 of a wealthy, unencumbered criminal. But Walt 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:04.860 flat out refuses. He is so stubborn. He says, 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:07.620 I am not leaving my family. He absolutely refuses 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:09.279 to accept that he has already burned that place 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:12.879 to the ground. And that stubborn refusal forces 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:15.620 Saul to take out an insurance policy. Because 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:18.299 Walt is acting highly irrational and emotional, 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:21.080 Saul decides he needs a professional to monitor 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:24.659 the situation. So he hires Mike Ehrmantraff. 00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:26.460 Well, this is a great milestone, too. This is 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:28.139 the first time we really get to see Mike doing 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:31.019 his primary thing, right? In a pure surveillance 00:13:31.019 --> 00:13:34.720 capacity, yes. Saul hires Mike to bug the White 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.980 residents, to keep a close eye on Skyler and 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:41.039 on Walt. It's a really crucial plot point because 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.740 it firmly establishes Mike as the all -seeing 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.299 eye of the Albuquerque underworld. Which perfectly 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:48.440 sets the stage for the moment everyone has been 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.720 waiting for. Segment three. The pizza on the 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:53.919 roof, the deepest dive of the episode. Yeah, 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.500 the main event. So Walt completely ignores Saul's 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:58.519 advice. He decides he's going to force a romantic 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:00.620 reconciliation. He shows up at the family house. 00:14:00.980 --> 00:14:03.360 But Skyler has changed the locks. He literally 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.379 cannot get his key to turn. But he brought a 00:14:05.379 --> 00:14:08.139 peace offering, the pizza. And not just the pizza. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:10.799 He specifically mentions he brought dipping sticks. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.879 Oh, that detail just kills me. It is so pathetic. 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:17.110 Yeah. He honestly thinks. I have destroyed the 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:19.730 moral fabric of our entire lives. I have lied 00:14:19.730 --> 00:14:22.070 to your face for months. I have directly endangered 00:14:22.070 --> 00:14:25.029 our children. But hey, maybe these breadsticks 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:27.149 with little marinara sauce will smooth things 00:14:27.149 --> 00:14:29.649 over. It really highlights how deeply delusional 00:14:29.649 --> 00:14:32.029 he is at this. Now we really need to stop right 00:14:32.029 --> 00:14:34.110 here and talk about the physical reality and 00:14:34.110 --> 00:14:36.769 the production of this specific moment because 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:41.570 what we actually see on the screen seems mathematically 00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:45.450 impossible. It's a giant floppy heavy disk of 00:14:45.450 --> 00:14:48.509 dough, sauce, and cheese. Right. If you or I 00:14:48.509 --> 00:14:50.509 walked outside right now and tried to throw an 00:14:50.509 --> 00:14:53.169 extra large uncut pizza at a cardboard box onto 00:14:53.169 --> 00:14:55.690 a roof, what would happen? It would be a disaster. 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:58.070 The box would catch the wind and fly one way, 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:00.029 the pizza would slide out and fly the other way, 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:02.289 the cheese would immediately separate from the 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:04.710 crust, it would just land in a greasy heap on 00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:08.759 the lawn. Exactly. Basic centrifugal force dictates 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:10.980 that the pizza should have been destroyed midair. 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:13.460 And the prop department on the show fully knew 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:15.980 this. They were reportedly terrified of filming 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:18.639 this shot. They had a massive stack of backup 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.500 pizzas, some production counts say 10, some say 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:24.080 up to 20, just sitting in a truck ready to go. 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:26.740 They assumed this one shot would take all afternoon 00:15:26.740 --> 00:15:28.460 to get right. They're ready to rig it, right? 00:15:28.700 --> 00:15:30.019 Yeah. They figured they would eventually have 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:32.200 to wire the pizza together, maybe glue the cheese 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.019 down, or even use CGI in post -production. They 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:37.840 were braced for a long frustrating day of wasted 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.200 pepperoni. And then Bryan Cranston steps up to 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:42.860 the mark. Adam Bernstein, the director, calls 00:15:42.860 --> 00:15:45.580 action. Cranston swings his arms in this fit 00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:49.080 of rage, releases the box, and the laws of physics 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.580 just decided to take a coffee break. That's magical. 00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:54.080 The pizza perfectly slides out of the cardboard 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:56.799 box midair. It somehow maintains total structural 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.659 integrity. It spins horizontally like a heavy 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:02.100 frisbee, and it lands perfectly flat on the roof. 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:04.659 Crust down, cheese up. Even the landing was flawless. 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:07.559 It didn't bounce, didn't slide slowly down into 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.950 the gutter. It just... And if you watch Cranston's 00:16:10.950 --> 00:16:13.149 reaction in the clip, he barely even flinches. 00:16:13.289 --> 00:16:15.970 That is the absolute genius of his acting. He 00:16:15.970 --> 00:16:18.730 does this tiny, almost imperceptible double take, 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:21.070 which was real. That was actually Bryan Cranston, 00:16:21.190 --> 00:16:23.490 the actor, being shocked that it worked. But 00:16:23.490 --> 00:16:25.669 he immediately stays in character. He just angrily 00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:27.830 gets into the Aztec and drives away. If they 00:16:27.830 --> 00:16:29.370 had cut the scene right when it landed, it would 00:16:29.370 --> 00:16:31.669 have been amazing. But the fact that they held 00:16:31.669 --> 00:16:35.629 the wide shot and kept his reaction, pure serendipity. 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.279 It's one of those rare cinematic moments where 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:40.600 reality is just fundamentally better than anything 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:42.899 you could have scripted or animated. If they 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:45.779 had used CGI, our brains would have subconsciously 00:16:45.779 --> 00:16:49.019 flagged it as fake. The fact that is a real physical 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:51.360 object behaving so bizarrely is what makes it 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.539 so memorable. It's perfect. But we do have to 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:57.340 talk about the real -world fallout because this 00:16:57.340 --> 00:17:00.620 scene eventually became entirely too popular. 00:17:00.779 --> 00:17:03.840 The dark side of meme culture. Exactly. because 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.619 this house is a real physical residence. It's 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:09.559 not a set built on a Hollywood backlot. A real 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:11.640 woman named Frances Padilla lives there with 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:14.220 her family. And the fans. They really didn't 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:16.240 respect that boundary, did they? Not at all. 00:17:16.339 --> 00:17:19.440 As the show exploded in popularity, people started 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.900 making pilgrimages to the house in Albuquerque, 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.240 which, you know, is fine, usually taking a picture 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:26.779 from the sidewalk. But they wanted to recreate 00:17:26.779 --> 00:17:28.579 the moment. Meaning they're actually throwing 00:17:28.579 --> 00:17:31.960 real pizzas onto this poor woman's roof. Constantly. 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:35.920 Frances Padilla actually told NPR in a 2015 interview 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.259 that it had become a total nightmare. She said, 00:17:39.539 --> 00:17:41.440 we've had pizzas on our roof, we've had pizzas 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:43.839 on our driveway, pizzas until we're sick of looking 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.410 at pizzas. Just imagine that. Imagine waking 00:17:46.410 --> 00:17:48.569 up, walking outside in your bathrobe to get the 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:51.130 morning newspaper, and finding a giant sun -baked 00:17:51.130 --> 00:17:53.630 pepperoni pizza melting all over your roof shingles. 00:17:53.769 --> 00:17:56.190 That is maddening. Not to mention the mess. It 00:17:56.190 --> 00:17:58.269 attracts ants. It ruins the roofing material. 00:17:58.430 --> 00:18:00.890 It smells terrible in the desert heat. It's pure 00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:04.089 vandalism. Plain and simple. And it got so entirely 00:18:04.089 --> 00:18:06.569 out of hand that Vince Gilligan, the creator 00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:08.529 of the show, actually had to intervene personally. 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:10.980 He went on the Better Call Saul Insider podcast 00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:14.019 and issued a very stern public warning to the 00:18:14.019 --> 00:18:16.359 fan base. He called the people doing it, jag 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:18.819 -offs. He said directly into the mic, there is 00:18:18.819 --> 00:18:21.279 nothing funny or original or cool about throwing 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:24.000 a pizza on this lady's roof. Ms. Padilla even 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:25.619 mentioned to reporters that she started sitting 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:27.839 outside in her driveway with a shotgun at one 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.380 point. She did. She said she felt like granny 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:32.720 from the Beverly Hillbillies. Just sitting there 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:35.369 trying to protect her own property. It really 00:18:35.369 --> 00:18:38.710 highlights a deeply toxic element of modern fandom, 00:18:39.049 --> 00:18:41.490 this bizarre entitlement where people think that 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:43.730 because they saw a place on your television screen, 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.490 they somehow own a piece of it. They completely 00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:49.309 forget that real, ordinary people live inside 00:18:49.309 --> 00:18:52.130 those walls. It actually changed how the television 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:54.069 industry operates in New Mexico, didn't it? It 00:18:54.069 --> 00:18:56.970 really did. The pizza incident became a major 00:18:56.970 --> 00:18:59.789 cautionary tale for location scouts across the 00:18:59.789 --> 00:19:02.240 industry. When they later filmed the movie El 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:05.160 Camino and the series Better Call Saul, the production 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:07.880 teams became vastly more wary of using highly 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.440 visible occupied homes for iconic character locations. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:14.220 They started building more fake facades or they 00:19:14.220 --> 00:19:16.099 made sure to use houses that were set much deeper 00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:19.549 on private property behind gates. that one single 00:19:19.549 --> 00:19:21.950 pizza throw completely changed the logistical 00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:24.369 protocols for filming in Albuquerque. That is 00:19:24.369 --> 00:19:27.730 just wild. A literal one -in -a -million miraculous 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:30.269 throw that ended up causing a million real -world 00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:32.190 headaches. It really is the butterfly effect 00:19:32.190 --> 00:19:35.509 in action. Okay, let's pivot away from Walt's 00:19:35.509 --> 00:19:38.210 failures. Because while Walt is striking out 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:41.970 with dipping sticks, Jesse Pinkman. Jesse is 00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:45.289 actually quietly getting a massive win. Segment 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:48.680 four. The real estate revenge. Oh, this is easily 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:50.619 one of the most satisfying storylines in the 00:19:50.619 --> 00:19:53.539 entire series. It operates like a heist movie, 00:19:53.900 --> 00:19:56.700 but it's a completely legal heist. So let's set 00:19:56.700 --> 00:19:59.460 the stage. Jesse desperately wants to move back 00:19:59.460 --> 00:20:02.079 into his aunt's house. This is the house he painstakingly 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.160 took care of her in before she died, and it's 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:06.339 the house he lived in during season one. But 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.599 his parents legally evicted him and kicked him 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:11.329 out. Since then, they've completely renovated 00:20:11.329 --> 00:20:13.609 it. They're flipping it. They put in high end 00:20:13.609 --> 00:20:16.190 new countertops, fresh paint, new floors. They 00:20:16.190 --> 00:20:18.730 are methodically trying to erase every single 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:20.789 memory of Jesse. And more importantly, they're 00:20:20.789 --> 00:20:23.190 trying to erase the fact that there was a functioning 00:20:23.190 --> 00:20:25.470 meth lab in the basement. They listed the property 00:20:25.470 --> 00:20:28.109 for eight hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, 00:20:28.390 --> 00:20:30.849 which. If you're looking at the 2010 Albuquerque 00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:33.809 housing market is a very very nice chunk of change. 00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:36.269 It's a premium listing. Jesse tries to go visit 00:20:36.269 --> 00:20:38.769 the property just to see it and his dad literally 00:20:38.769 --> 00:20:41.289 blocks the front door. He won't even let his 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:43.670 own son step inside the foyer. It's incredibly 00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:46.349 cold. The parents look at Jesse like he's an 00:20:46.349 --> 00:20:48.769 infectious disease. So Jesse feeling completely 00:20:48.769 --> 00:20:51.410 alienated goes to see Saul Goodman and this is 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:53.980 exactly where we see that brilliant Peter Gould 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:57.119 legal writing shine through. They hatch a scheme. 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:00.039 Jesse wants to buy the house outright, but he 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:02.799 knows for a fact his parents will never ever 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:05.799 sell it to him. So Saul steps in to represent 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:08.900 an anonymous buyer and Saul confidently walks 00:21:08.900 --> 00:21:10.960 into the closing meeting with Jesse's parents 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.339 and their high priced lawyer. And Saul just low 00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:16.039 balls them hard. The house is listed at eight 00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:18.460 hundred and seventy five thousand. Saul slides 00:21:18.460 --> 00:21:20.180 a piece of paper over and offers four hundred 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:23.279 thousand. The parents are instantly insulted. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.279 They are practically laughing in Saul's face. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.099 They say, is this some kind of joke? We have 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:29.119 multiple offers right near our asking price. 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:31.779 And this is exactly the moment where Saul drops 00:21:31.779 --> 00:21:34.940 the hammer. He very casually mentions that he 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:36.960 happens to know the detailed history of the house. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.619 He knows for a fact that it was a meth lab. No, 00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:43.160 help me out here with the actual legal side of 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:45.180 this. Why does that matter so much? Can't the 00:21:45.180 --> 00:21:47.619 parents just invoke buyer beware and wash their 00:21:47.619 --> 00:21:50.809 hands of it? Not in real estate law, no. This 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:53.390 specific situation falls under the legal concept 00:21:53.390 --> 00:21:56.190 of stigmatized property and material defects. 00:21:56.809 --> 00:21:59.109 In the vast majority of states, and definitely 00:21:59.109 --> 00:22:01.910 in New Mexico, a seller has a strict legal duty 00:22:01.910 --> 00:22:04.670 to disclose any material facts that could significantly 00:22:04.670 --> 00:22:06.990 affect the value or the physical safety of the 00:22:06.990 --> 00:22:08.849 property. And a former meth lab, I mean that 00:22:08.849 --> 00:22:12.490 is a massive safety issue. It's huge. Meth production 00:22:12.490 --> 00:22:16.089 involves highly volatile toxic chemicals, phosphine 00:22:16.089 --> 00:22:19.980 gas, iodine, various acids. These toxic compounds 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:22.720 literally seep into the porous drywall, they 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:25.940 soak into the carpets, they contaminate the HVAC 00:22:25.940 --> 00:22:28.720 ventilation systems. Professional environmental 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.119 remediation for a meth lab costs an absolute 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.460 fortune. So by failing to disclose that the basement 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:36.539 was a chemical lab, the pigments weren't just 00:22:36.539 --> 00:22:39.079 being sneaky, they were actively committing real 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:41.279 estate fraud. They were trying to pass off a 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:44.940 toxic hazard zone as a luxury family home. Exactly. 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:47.759 Saul calmly points out that if this fraudulent 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:50.720 sale went through to, say, a nice young family, 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:52.740 and they found out later, the pigments wouldn't 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:54.960 just be sued in civil court for the full value 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:56.920 of the house, they could easily face serious 00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:59.200 criminal charges for reckless endangerment. So 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.519 Saul isn't even negotiating at this point. straight 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.940 up blackmailing them with their own lie. He is 00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:06.440 holding a giant mirror up to their hypocrisy. 00:23:06.579 --> 00:23:08.700 Think about it. They kicked Jesse out onto the 00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:10.339 street for being a criminal, but here they are 00:23:10.339 --> 00:23:12.500 actively committing a felony real estate fraud 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:15.119 just to make a quick buck on a house flip. Saul 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.640 leverages their fear of exposure perfectly. The 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:19.779 look on their faces when the trap springs shut 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:22.079 and they realize they are completely cornered. 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:24.819 It's just delicious to watch. They have zero 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:26.920 options. They either sell it for the four hundred 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:29.460 thousand or they risk going to prison and losing 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:31.559 everything. And the payoff to all this tension 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.799 is the final scene of this arc. The parents are 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.000 out in the driveway packing up the very last 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.940 boxes into their SUV. They hand over the house 00:23:39.940 --> 00:23:42.420 keys to Saul, who is acting on behalf of the 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:45.599 anonymous buyer. And then who rolls up the street? 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:49.240 It's Jesse. Driving his bright red Monte Carlo. 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:51.819 The hydraulics are bouncing, the bass is thumping. 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.180 He's wearing his signature oversized hoodie. 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:56.819 He walks right at the driveway, right past his 00:23:56.819 --> 00:23:59.220 stunned parents. He reaches out, jingles the 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:01.200 keys, and just says, I bought the place. It is 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.420 the ultimate mic drop. It is a profound reclamation 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:07.240 of his own self. His parents literally tried 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:09.779 to paint over his existence. They tried to erase 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:12.720 his history from that house. And Jesse took the 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:14.440 dirty money he made from the exact thing they 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.240 hate him for, meth, and he weaponized it to buy 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:20.019 his way back into their world. It's a dark paradox, 00:24:20.279 --> 00:24:22.779 sure, but for Jesse as a character, it is a moment 00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:26.579 of immense, undeniable empowerment. He's no longer 00:24:26.579 --> 00:24:29.160 the disappointment sleeping in an RV. He is the 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:31.740 homeowner. He holds the deed. It is such a boss 00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:33.700 move. But, you know, while Jesse is celebrating 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:36.500 his victory, Skyler is dealing with her own increasingly 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:39.480 murky moral gray areas, which brings us to segment 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:43.039 five. The moral dilemma. This specific storyline 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:45.319 often gets overlooked in favor of the pizza or 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:48.119 the cartel assassins, but it is absolutely crucial 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:50.400 for Skyler's character development. She decides 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.440 to go back to work as a bookkeeper for her old 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:54.579 boss, Ted Benike. And pretty quickly, she discovers 00:24:54.579 --> 00:24:56.960 that Ted is cooking the company books. He is 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:00.160 committing massive tax fraud, hiding undeclared 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.519 revenue to avoid the IRS. It's incredibly messy. 00:25:03.859 --> 00:25:06.779 It's highly illegal. And to an auditor as smart 00:25:06.779 --> 00:25:10.259 of Skyler, it's glaringly obvious. Skyler, trying 00:25:10.259 --> 00:25:12.480 to be an honest accountant, flat out refuses 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:14.819 to sign her name to those fraudulent documents. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.940 But I want you to listen closely to Ted's defense 00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:19.900 here. When she confronts him, he tells her, I 00:25:19.900 --> 00:25:22.000 didn't do this for me. I did it for the business. 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:24.539 I did it to save my employees' jobs. I did it 00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:27.799 for my kids. Now, does that rationalization ring 00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:31.440 a bell? It is the exact Exact script Walt uses. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.059 I did it for the family. Word for word. Schuyler 00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:36.880 is essentially hearing Walt's core justification 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:40.000 coming straight out of Ted's mouth. It is a brilliant 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.740 narrative mirror placed right in front of her. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:44.559 She is starting to fully realize that so -called 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:47.720 good men, or maybe just weak men, will effortlessly 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.500 rationalize terrible illegal actions if they 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:52.440 feel financially cornered. And she asks Ted a 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:54.359 question in that office that is very clearly 00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:56.859 meant for Walt. She looks at Ted and asks, What 00:25:56.859 --> 00:25:58.859 would your daughters think if they knew? That 00:25:58.859 --> 00:26:00.980 is the haunting question of the whole series. 00:26:01.660 --> 00:26:03.859 She isn't just asking Ted about his tax fraud. 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:06.599 She is desperately projecting her own waking 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:09.559 nightmare. She is absolutely terrified that one 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:12.380 day Walt Junior will find out his seemingly boring 00:26:12.380 --> 00:26:16.019 dad is actually a violent drug monster. And speaking 00:26:16.019 --> 00:26:18.440 of Walt Junior, he is carrying so much anger 00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:21.359 in this episode. He lashes out at Skyler repeatedly. 00:26:21.460 --> 00:26:23.779 He yells at her, why are you doing this to dad? 00:26:23.859 --> 00:26:26.480 Why won't you let him come home? He has no idea 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.380 about the meth. He doesn't know the truth. And 00:26:28.380 --> 00:26:30.660 Skyler just takes it. She eats all of that venom 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:33.259 from her own son. This is the underlying tragedy 00:26:33.259 --> 00:26:35.920 of Skyler White throughout season three. In order 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:38.519 to protect her teenage son's innocence, she has 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.299 to allow him to openly hate her. If she sits 00:26:41.299 --> 00:26:43.319 him down and tells him the truth, hey, your dad 00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:45.519 is a major manufacturer of crystal meth, she 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:47.680 completely destroys his worldview and ruins his 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:50.319 life. But if she keeps quiet, she has to play 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:52.779 the role of the cold, irrational villain who 00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:54.920 broke up their happy family for seemingly no 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:57.700 reason at all. And she actively chooses to be 00:26:57.700 --> 00:27:00.599 the villain. It is an incredibly selfless, incredibly 00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:03.559 painful sacrifice. She even threatens Walt with 00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:05.940 a formal restraining order later in the episode, 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:08.259 just desperately trying to build some kind of 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:10.460 legal wall around the house. But the emotional 00:27:10.460 --> 00:27:12.700 damage to the family is already done. But, you 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:14.400 know, while Skyler is sitting there worried about 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:17.180 IRS audits and restraining orders, there is a 00:27:17.180 --> 00:27:19.680 physical threat coming to Albuquerque that a 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.200 piece of paper absolutely cannot stop. Segment 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:26.740 six. The cousins we really have to talk about 00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:29.579 these guys Leonel and Marco Salamanca They step 00:27:29.579 --> 00:27:31.740 straight out of a horror movie into the desert. 00:27:31.819 --> 00:27:34.759 They literally do not speak. They just move They 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:36.839 were those perfectly tailored metallic silver 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:39.279 suits the boots with the silver skull tips on 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.500 the toes They are basically walking land sharks 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:45.099 and they are systematically tracking the mythical 00:27:45.099 --> 00:27:48.339 Heisenberg To find him they go visit their uncle 00:27:48.339 --> 00:27:50.720 Hector Salamanca at his nursing home and that 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.960 scene with Hector is genuinely chilling Because 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.500 Hector can't speak either, right? He just has 00:27:54.500 --> 00:27:57.059 that bell on his wheelchair. But using a Ouija 00:27:57.059 --> 00:27:59.160 board -style letter chart, he spells out the 00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:04.079 name for them. W -A -L -T -E -R. W -H -I -T -E. 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:07.019 That right there is the pivotal moment where 00:28:07.019 --> 00:28:09.920 the abstract threat becomes terrifyingly specific. 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:13.079 Before this, they were hunting a ghost. They 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.579 were hunting a street legend named Heisenberg. 00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:18.599 But the second Hector rings that bell, They are 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:20.779 hunting a flesh and blood man who has a home 00:28:20.779 --> 00:28:22.920 address. And they drive straight to that address. 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.160 This sequence, honestly, has got to be one of 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.900 the most unbearable tense sequences in the entire 00:28:29.900 --> 00:28:32.339 show up to this point. Adam Bernstein directs 00:28:32.339 --> 00:28:35.319 it exactly like a slasher film. All the ambient 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:37.339 background sound design just drops out entirely. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.619 There's no swelling musical score. It's just 00:28:39.619 --> 00:28:42.660 the eerie sound of the desert wind outside and 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:45.519 the slow heavy creaking of the wooden floorboards 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.380 inside. Meanwhile, Walt is completely oblivious. 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:50.319 He's actually broken into his own house through 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:52.700 the crawl space to fix a patch of dry rot in 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:55.299 the floorboards. He has absolutely no idea they 00:28:55.299 --> 00:28:57.440 are walking up the driveway. The cousins just 00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:59.180 silently let themselves in through the front 00:28:59.180 --> 00:29:02.099 door and they are carrying that axe. That axe. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.259 It is so incredibly shiny. It looks like they 00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:06.700 spent six hours just polishing the steel. It's 00:29:06.700 --> 00:29:08.700 deeply ritualistic for them. To the cousins, 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:11.640 this isn't just a mob hit. It's a blood sacrifice. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.400 It's an offering to Santa Muerte. The shine on 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.839 that axe shows that to them, this is a religious 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:19.440 act. So Walt, completely unaware, decides to 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.619 take a shower. He's standing under the water, 00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:23.799 singing a horse with no name to himself again. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.019 He is butt naked, scrubbing his back with his 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:29.279 eyes closed. It is the ultimate deployment of 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:31.519 traumatic irony. The audience is sitting on their 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:33.880 couches, literally screaming at the screen, turn 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.420 around, look behind you. We see the cousins walk 00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:38.759 down the hall. They sit down side by side on 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.410 Walton Schuyler's bed, just waiting. One of them 00:29:42.410 --> 00:29:44.430 picks up the shiny axe and rest is on his knee. 00:29:44.869 --> 00:29:47.049 They can hear the shower water running. They 00:29:47.049 --> 00:29:49.730 slowly stand up. They walk right up to the frosted 00:29:49.730 --> 00:29:51.990 glass of the bathroom door. They stand there 00:29:51.990 --> 00:29:54.390 just watching Walt's blurry shadow move around 00:29:54.390 --> 00:29:58.789 inside. This is it. Walt is a hundred percent 00:29:58.789 --> 00:30:01.109 dead. There is no secret weapon. There is no 00:30:01.109 --> 00:30:03.769 chemical explosion he can rig up. He is trapped 00:30:03.769 --> 00:30:06.849 in a glass box, unarmed and naked. And then just 00:30:06.849 --> 00:30:09.509 as the hand goes to the door, the VIGRATION, 00:30:09.630 --> 00:30:11.990 a single text message arrives on one of the cousin's 00:30:11.990 --> 00:30:14.269 burner phones. They open it up and look at the 00:30:14.269 --> 00:30:17.980 screen. It's just one single word. Palos. and 00:30:17.980 --> 00:30:20.000 instantly everything just stops. The tension 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:22.400 in the room just completely snaps. The cousins 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:24.440 look at the phone screen, they look back at the 00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:27.380 frosted glass door, and they just turn around 00:30:27.380 --> 00:30:30.380 and quietly walk right out of the house. This 00:30:30.380 --> 00:30:33.119 specific moment is so critical for understanding 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.400 the actual power structure of the Breaking Bad 00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.359 universe, because you have to ask, who sent that 00:30:38.359 --> 00:30:41.490 text message? Gus Fring. The Chicken Man. But 00:30:41.490 --> 00:30:44.029 how did Gus possibly know that the cousins were 00:30:44.029 --> 00:30:46.549 standing inside Walter White's bedroom at that 00:30:46.549 --> 00:30:49.630 exact second? Because of Mike. Mike had literally 00:30:49.630 --> 00:30:51.930 just bugged the house earlier that day for Saul. 00:30:52.190 --> 00:30:55.670 Exactly. Mike is acting as this invisible, highly 00:30:55.670 --> 00:30:58.210 competent guardian angel. He was sitting in his 00:30:58.210 --> 00:31:00.289 car down the street, watching the cousins on 00:31:00.289 --> 00:31:03.130 his wiretap video feed. He immediately called 00:31:03.130 --> 00:31:06.380 Gus. Gus immediately sent the text. It perfectly 00:31:06.380 --> 00:31:09.180 illustrates that Gus Fring has absolute godlike 00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:11.819 control over this territory. Gus isn't even in 00:31:11.819 --> 00:31:13.720 the room. He might not even be in the same zip 00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:16.339 code, but one single six -letter text message 00:31:16.339 --> 00:31:19.599 from him is enough to stop two psychopathic cartel 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:22.799 hitmen dead in their tracks. It also starkly 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.160 highlights Walt's utter vulnerability. I mean, 00:31:26.299 --> 00:31:28.680 Walt eventually builds this mythology where he 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:30.420 thinks he's the one who knocks. He thinks he 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:34.900 is the danger. But in this scene, He is just 00:31:34.900 --> 00:31:37.180 cattle. He was literally five seconds away from 00:31:37.180 --> 00:31:39.440 being slaughtered in his own shower, and he was 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:42.240 only saved by a kingpin he barely knows, acting 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:43.940 through a henchman he doesn't even trust yet. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.880 He's just a tiny pawn on a chessboard that is 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:49.200 much, much bigger than his own ego allows him 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:52.400 to realize. He owes his continued existence entirely 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.539 to the corporate bureaucratic structure of the 00:31:54.539 --> 00:31:56.940 drug trade, not to his own scientific genius. 00:31:57.339 --> 00:31:59.720 That is a deeply humbling reality, even if Walt 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:02.240 himself doesn't know it happened yet. So Walt 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:04.920 unknowingly survives the axe, the pizza remains 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.839 on the roof, Jesse gets his childhood home back. 00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:10.920 Let's wrap all this up with segment 7, Reception 00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:13.400 and Legacy. When this episode first aired back 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.960 in 2010, it was generally well received by critics, 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.160 but it wasn't immediately hailed as an all -time 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:20.500 classic the way later episodes like Ozymandias 00:32:20.500 --> 00:32:23.230 or Crawl Space were. Right. Donna Bowman writing 00:32:23.230 --> 00:32:25.750 for the A .V. club gave it a solid B plus stage. 00:32:25.990 --> 00:32:29.089 She praised the tension, specifically that incredibly 00:32:29.089 --> 00:32:31.450 stressful final five minutes with the axe. But 00:32:31.450 --> 00:32:34.210 if you look at modern retrospective series rankings, 00:32:34.869 --> 00:32:36.549 it usually sits somewhere in the bottom tier. 00:32:36.730 --> 00:32:40.329 The Ringer ranked it 55th out of 62 total episodes. 00:32:40.750 --> 00:32:43.269 Vulture put it at 48th overall. Why do you think 00:32:43.269 --> 00:32:45.930 it ranks so low, comparatively? Is it just because 00:32:45.930 --> 00:32:49.430 nothing literally explodes? I think that's a 00:32:49.430 --> 00:32:51.849 big part of it. Structurally, it is very much 00:32:51.849 --> 00:32:54.289 a table -setting episode. It is doing all the 00:32:54.289 --> 00:32:56.910 heavy narrative lifting required to set up the 00:32:56.910 --> 00:32:59.329 back half of the season. It has to maneuver Jesse 00:32:59.329 --> 00:33:01.970 into the new house. It has to logically establish 00:33:01.970 --> 00:33:04.130 Mike's surveillance capabilities. And it has 00:33:04.130 --> 00:33:06.329 to firmly introduce the physical threat of the 00:33:06.329 --> 00:33:09.170 cousins. It is all set up with very little immediate 00:33:09.170 --> 00:33:10.930 resolution. It's eating your vegetables before 00:33:10.930 --> 00:33:13.849 you get to the dessert. Exactly. But without 00:33:13.849 --> 00:33:16.109 the foundation built in this episode, the rest 00:33:16.109 --> 00:33:19.150 of the season completely falls apart. You absolutely 00:33:19.150 --> 00:33:21.509 need to see Walt's pathetic humiliation with 00:33:21.509 --> 00:33:24.369 the police and the pizza to fully understand 00:33:24.369 --> 00:33:27.380 his explosive rage later on. You need to see 00:33:27.380 --> 00:33:29.700 Jesse's real estate victory to understand why 00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:31.920 he eventually feels confident enough to challenge 00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:34.160 the business hierarchy. And the viewership numbers 00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:35.960 actually dipped a little bit for this one, too. 00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.819 It drew 1 .55 million viewers, which was down 00:33:39.819 --> 00:33:41.960 from the season three premiere. That's a pretty 00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:44.680 standard week two drop off for cable at the time. 00:33:45.460 --> 00:33:47.559 But the fans who stayed tuned in were heavily 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:50.039 rewarded with some incredibly deep character 00:33:50.039 --> 00:33:52.779 psychology. So bringing this all back home, what 00:33:52.779 --> 00:33:56.119 is the grand overarching takeaway from Caballos 00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:58.579 and Nombre? For me, it all circles right back 00:33:58.579 --> 00:34:01.500 to the title itself. Identity. Every single major 00:34:01.500 --> 00:34:04.140 character in this hour of television is actively 00:34:04.140 --> 00:34:06.000 struggling with their name and their place in 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.260 the world. Walt is desperately trying to play 00:34:08.260 --> 00:34:10.800 the family man while having literally no family 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.639 to go home to. Jesse is trying to play the respectable 00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:15.940 homeowner despite being a traumatized criminal. 00:34:16.090 --> 00:34:18.530 And the cousins. They are the only people in 00:34:18.530 --> 00:34:20.530 the episode who seem to know exactly who they 00:34:20.530 --> 00:34:22.730 are and what their purpose is. And that clarity 00:34:22.730 --> 00:34:25.389 is exactly why they are so utterly terrifying. 00:34:26.090 --> 00:34:28.929 But consider the dark irony of it all. By the 00:34:28.929 --> 00:34:31.130 end of the episode, Walt has completely lost 00:34:31.130 --> 00:34:35.130 his good name with his wife and son. He is essentially 00:34:35.130 --> 00:34:39.130 a nobody in his own suburban home, but to the 00:34:39.130 --> 00:34:42.610 cartel. to the deadly cousins. He is definitively 00:34:42.610 --> 00:34:45.010 Walter White. He is the prime target. He lost 00:34:45.010 --> 00:34:46.969 the wholesome identity he desperately wanted 00:34:46.969 --> 00:34:49.190 to keep, and he gained the dangerous identity 00:34:49.190 --> 00:34:51.309 that is actively trying to kill him. That is 00:34:51.309 --> 00:34:53.570 the core tragedy. In trying to be somebody of 00:34:53.570 --> 00:34:55.670 importance, he just became a mark. And he lost 00:34:55.670 --> 00:34:58.289 a perfectly good uncut pepperoni pizza in the 00:34:58.289 --> 00:35:01.260 process. A profound tragedy on all fronts. Well, 00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:03.119 before we sign off, I want to leave you with 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:05.639 one final thought to mull over. We've spent this 00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:08.099 whole time talking about Walt's namelessness 00:35:08.099 --> 00:35:10.860 and the cousins hunting down his real name. But 00:35:10.860 --> 00:35:12.860 I want you to think about the house Jesse just 00:35:12.860 --> 00:35:15.300 bought. It isn't just a piece of real estate. 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:18.539 By aggressively weaponizing the trauma of the 00:35:18.539 --> 00:35:21.820 basement meth lab to extort his parents, Jesse 00:35:21.820 --> 00:35:24.539 has fundamentally tethered his new sanctuary 00:35:24.989 --> 00:35:27.789 to the exact same poison that ruined his life 00:35:27.789 --> 00:35:30.909 in the first place. So you have to ask yourself, 00:35:31.289 --> 00:35:33.349 can a home that was bought using the leverage 00:35:33.349 --> 00:35:36.730 of toxic history ever truly be a safe haven? 00:35:37.010 --> 00:35:38.789 That's a great question. You can't just paint 00:35:38.789 --> 00:35:41.210 over that kind of stain. You really can. Well, 00:35:41.230 --> 00:35:43.230 there you have it, a complete deep dive into 00:35:43.230 --> 00:35:46.210 the desert of Caballo Sin Nombre. If you go back 00:35:46.210 --> 00:35:48.989 and rewatch this episode tonight, Pay close attention 00:35:48.989 --> 00:35:51.510 to that blue tape on the windshield. Pay attention 00:35:51.510 --> 00:35:54.289 to the terrifying way the cousins move. And please, 00:35:54.369 --> 00:35:56.590 for the love of all that is good, do not ever 00:35:56.590 --> 00:35:59.409 throw a pizza on anyone's roof. Please, leave 00:35:59.409 --> 00:36:01.349 the pizza eating to the professionals on your 00:36:01.349 --> 00:36:03.210 couch. Thanks for listening. We will catch you 00:36:03.210 --> 00:36:04.769 on the next Deep Dive. Stay curious.