WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are... We're 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.040 back with another massive stack of sources today. 00:00:06.259 --> 00:00:08.339 Oh, yeah, very heavy stack today. And another 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:11.339 pot of coffee, of course, which is necessary 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:14.339 because honestly, this is a topic I've been itching 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:17.039 to get into. We are looking at Breaking Bad today. 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:19.179 Right. But we should clarify we're not just doing 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:22.100 a general overview of the show. No, not at all. 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:26.280 We are zooming in way in on a very specific, 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:29.679 really pivotal moment in season three. It's episode 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:33.460 eight titled I see you. And, you know, it's interesting 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:35.920 you use the phrase zooming in, because this episode 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.000 is generally remembered for being incredibly 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.179 contained. Yeah. It's claustrophobic. Yeah, totally. 00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:42.679 It's what people in the TV industry call a bottle 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:45.700 episode, or, well, at least a partial one, where 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:47.799 the main characters are just stuck in one single 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.119 location. Right. In this case, a hospital waiting 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:52.939 room. Which brings us to the dreaded hospital 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:55.420 episode trope. Yes, the classic trope. You see 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.659 this in literally every drama on television. 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:00.159 From The Sopranos to Grey's Anatomy, someone 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:02.539 gets hurt, everyone stands around looking sad, 00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:04.400 they're drinking that terrible vending machine 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:07.799 coffee. Pacing the hallways. Exactly. But looking 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.140 at the notes we have here, calling this just 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:13.439 a hospital episode. I mean, it feels like calling 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.099 the Titanic a boat trip. It really does. Yeah. 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:18.140 It's a huge disservice to what's actually happening 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.519 on screen. Yeah. Because while the characters 00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:24.140 are physically sitting still, the tectonic plates 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:27.340 of the show's entire universe are shifting violently 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:29.140 right underneath them. Yeah, it's not just a 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.200 waiting game. Right. This isn't just about waiting 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:33.239 to see if a character lives or dies. It's about 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:37.079 the exact moment the trap snaps shut. Let's start 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:40.359 with that title. ICU. On the surface, it's clever, 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:42.680 right? We are in the ICU. The Intensive Care 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:46.060 Unit. Get it. ICU. It's a very classic Breaking 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:47.920 Bad pun. They love doing that. But there's a 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.319 much darker layer here, isn't there? Because 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.340 when I was reading through the critical analysis 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:55.120 in our packet, a lot of writers pointed out that 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.340 this is the moment of true visibility. That's 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:01.000 the key right there. Visibility. Think about 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.200 the entire series up to the specific point. Walter 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.299 White has been operating completely in the shadows. 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.280 He's a ghost. Exactly. He's Heisenberg, this 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.939 mythical unseen figure. But I see you implies 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:15.800 that the anonymity is completely gone. It's like 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:18.360 a deadly game of tag and someone just got tagged. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:20.419 Yeah. It's about characters who have been hiding 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:22.680 in the dark, suddenly being exposed to these 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.979 harsh fluorescent hospital lights, the reality 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:28.449 of what they've done. It's a game of cat and 00:02:28.449 --> 00:02:30.770 mouse where the players finally lock eyes. And 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:33.310 the stakes, I mean, they couldn't be higher for 00:02:33.310 --> 00:02:36.229 you as the viewer. We are dealing with the immediate 00:02:36.229 --> 00:02:38.330 fallout of the previous episode, One Minute, 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:40.710 which, let's be real, was one of the most stressful 00:02:40.710 --> 00:02:42.449 things ever aired on television. Oh, without 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:45.810 a doubt. The parking lot shootout. Exactly. Hank 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:48.310 Schrader, the DEA agent, was attacked by the 00:02:48.310 --> 00:02:52.110 cousins. Those two completely silent... axe -wielding 00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:54.949 terminators from the cartel. And he survived, 00:02:55.009 --> 00:02:57.469 but he's absolutely shredded. And that's our 00:02:57.469 --> 00:02:59.729 starting point for today. The mission for this 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:02.729 deep dive is to explore exactly how the show 00:03:02.729 --> 00:03:05.389 manages that emotional debris. Emotional debris? 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:08.530 I love that phrase. Right. It's a term one of 00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:11.409 the critics used in our sources. Because we have 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:13.710 the physical violence, which is over in literally 00:03:13.710 --> 00:03:16.949 a minute of screen time. But the emotional debris 00:03:16.949 --> 00:03:20.050 lasts forever. It stains everything. It does. 00:03:20.750 --> 00:03:23.689 So we need to look at how this violence completely 00:03:23.689 --> 00:03:26.509 shifts the power dynamic between Walt and his 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:30.550 boss, Gus Fring, and how a confined setting ratchets 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:33.430 up the tension to just... unbearable levels. 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.050 We have a really great stack of sources to go 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:38.969 through today. We've got plot summaries, production 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:41.389 notes from the original air date back in May 00:03:41.389 --> 00:03:44.150 2010, and some actually very divisive critical 00:03:44.150 --> 00:03:46.009 reception that we'll get into later. Yeah, the 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.000 critics were definitely split on this one. But 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:49.939 before we get to the critics, we really have 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:52.520 to set the stage. The episode was written by 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:54.520 Jennifer Hutchison and directed by Colin Buxy, 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:57.120 and they make a very, very specific choice right 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.599 at the very beginning. They do. It's a fascinating 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:01.939 choice, because they don't start with the ambulance 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:03.840 rushing down the street. They don't start with 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.280 the Weeping family. They start with Jesse Pinkman. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.099 And this scene really threw me. You have Jesse, 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:11.379 who is leaving the hospital. He's been there 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:13.199 recovering from the brutal beating Hank gave 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:16.120 him a few episodes back. And as he's being wheeled 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:18.240 out, he sees Hank being wheeled in on a gurney. 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:21.240 It's a completely chaotic scene. We know from 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:23.759 the medical notes in the script that Hank has 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.550 four gunshot wounds. Four. He's in absolutely 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:30.449 critical condition. It's blood everywhere, people 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:32.689 shouting, paramedics running. And Jesse just 00:04:32.689 --> 00:04:35.649 watches this. Now, normally, if you see a guy 00:04:35.649 --> 00:04:37.529 you know, even a guy you really hate bleeding 00:04:37.529 --> 00:04:39.990 out like that, you feel something, right? Shock. 00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:43.310 Horror. Maybe just basic human empathy. You think 00:04:43.310 --> 00:04:46.470 so? But Jesse... Jesse smiles. He smiles. I couldn't 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:48.529 believe it. It's this little, quiet, private 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:51.149 smirk. He gets into the car with Skinny Pete. 00:04:51.750 --> 00:04:54.350 And he looks, I don't know, he looks happy. I 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.490 wouldn't say happy exactly. I'd say he feels 00:04:56.490 --> 00:04:59.589 validated. You really have to unpack the psychology 00:04:59.589 --> 00:05:02.230 of Jesse Pinkman in this exact second, because 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:04.870 to the listener, to you and me, Hank is a hero. 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.269 He just took down two heavily armed assassins. 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:09.589 Right, he's the good guy. But to Jesse, Hank 00:05:09.589 --> 00:05:11.490 is the monster who broke into his house and beat 00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:14.569 him unconscious. So when Jesse sees Hank physically 00:05:14.569 --> 00:05:17.750 broken on that stretcher, he isn't seeing a tragedy 00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:20.329 at all. No. Not even a little bit. He's seeing 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:22.709 the universe balancing the books. The source 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:25.670 material actually refers to this as karmic justice. 00:05:26.250 --> 00:05:28.810 And it's a very dangerous moment for Jesse's 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:30.730 soul, if you think about it. Because he's enjoying 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:34.009 the suffering. Exactly. He's looking at extreme, 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:36.310 life -threatening violence, and his internal 00:05:36.310 --> 00:05:38.910 monologue is basically saying, good. It creates 00:05:38.910 --> 00:05:42.629 this wild contrast. You have... The intense gravity 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:45.629 of Hank fighting for his life literally seconds 00:05:45.629 --> 00:05:48.149 from death. And then you have Jesse just bouncing 00:05:48.149 --> 00:05:51.509 around in Skinny Pete's car, acting almost buoyant. 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:53.649 It's like a massive weight has been lifted right 00:05:53.649 --> 00:05:55.949 off his shoulders. It really reinforces the idea 00:05:55.949 --> 00:05:58.129 that Jesse is drifting further and further away 00:05:58.129 --> 00:06:00.850 from normal society. He's becoming desensitized 00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:02.970 to the violence. He's accepting that this is 00:06:02.970 --> 00:06:05.829 just how the world works now. You hurt me. The 00:06:05.829 --> 00:06:08.009 universe hurts you. Speaking of a world of hurt, 00:06:08.170 --> 00:06:10.920 let's pivot to the workplace. Because while Hank 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.839 is bleeding out in the ER, the meth still must 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.959 flow. We go down into the super lab. And things 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:18.879 are getting really awkward. Awkward is putting 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.879 it mildly. Walt is right in the middle of firing 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:25.279 Gale Boettcher. Oh, poor Gale. I have such a 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.199 soft spot for Gale. The guy is a genius chemist. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.560 He makes incredible coffee. He recites poetry. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.360 And Walt is just mercilessly kicking him to the 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:36.740 curb. And you have to look at why he's doing 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:39.240 it. Walt claims they aren't working well together. 00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:42.889 Which is such a flimsy, corporate -speak excuse. 00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:45.689 It makes no sense to Gale. Right. Gale is standing 00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:47.550 there looking at the data, looking at the purity 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:50.350 of their product, and he's just deeply confused. 00:06:50.970 --> 00:06:53.470 Because he's a scientist. To him, the objective 00:06:53.470 --> 00:06:55.430 results are the only things that matter, and 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:57.730 the results are absolutely perfect. So why is 00:06:57.730 --> 00:07:00.509 he being fired? It's purely ego, isn't it? Or 00:07:00.509 --> 00:07:03.209 is it strategy? It's pure survival. Walt knows 00:07:03.209 --> 00:07:05.310 he desperately needs to bring Jesse back into 00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:07.750 the fold. Jesse is actively threatening to press 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:10.610 charges against Hank for the beating. Walt needs 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:12.470 to buy Jesse's silence to protect his brother 00:07:12.470 --> 00:07:15.129 -in -law. And the only currency Walt has left 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:18.350 is a job. He has to make Jesse a full partner 00:07:18.350 --> 00:07:20.750 again. So Gale is basically just the collateral 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:24.009 damage of Walt's messy family drama. Precisely. 00:07:24.509 --> 00:07:26.589 And the transition between the two chemists is 00:07:26.589 --> 00:07:30.470 just brutal to watch. Gale, the consummate, polite 00:07:30.470 --> 00:07:34.180 professional, is quietly ushered out. And right 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:37.060 on cue, in walks Jesse. The source notes describe 00:07:37.060 --> 00:07:40.720 Jesse here as uncouth and unprofessional, which 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:44.180 is honestly hilarious. He walks into this multi 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:46.439 -million dollar state -of -the -art pristine 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:48.699 laboratory, and he's acting like a little kid 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:51.139 in a candy store. He really is. He's spinning 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:53.019 around in the expensive chairs, touching all 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:55.560 the calibrated equipment. There's this great 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:58.220 moment where Gale looks at Jesse, this kid in 00:07:58.220 --> 00:08:00.779 the oversized baggy hoodie, who clearly doesn't 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.500 know a volumetric flask from a bong, and Gale 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:06.879 realizes, wait, this is my replacement. It's 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.199 incredibly insulting. It is deeply insulting 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.139 to Gale's entire professional life, but it also 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:13.500 signals to us, the audience, that the whole operation 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:15.980 is actively degrading. They are trading pure 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.959 competence for loyalty. Or, well. more accurately 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.500 trading it for blackmail. But the operation has 00:08:21.500 --> 00:08:23.920 rules. And this is where we get a really stark 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.139 reminder that this isn't just Walt's fun little 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:29.779 playground. Victor Gus' absolutely terrifying 00:08:29.779 --> 00:08:32.179 henchman steps in. He doesn't care about the 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:34.500 personnel changes or the drama. He cares about 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:37.330 one thing. The quota. We have a schedule. That's 00:08:37.330 --> 00:08:40.610 what he says. It's such a mundane, almost middle 00:08:40.610 --> 00:08:43.289 management thing to say while standing in a massive 00:08:43.289 --> 00:08:47.129 illegal meth lab, but it establishes a very real 00:08:47.129 --> 00:08:49.529 ticking clock. It's the heartbeat of the criminal 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:52.549 underworld. You can have all the family tragedies 00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:54.710 you want. You can have petty personnel disputes, 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:57.889 but the product absolutely has to move. If you 00:08:57.889 --> 00:09:00.570 miss the weekly quota, you become a liability 00:09:00.570 --> 00:09:02.269 to the business. And we know what happens to 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:04.590 liability. Right. In Gus Fring's organization, 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:06.919 Liabilities don't get fired. They get buried 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.000 in the desert. So that pressure is really building 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.320 down in the lab. And then the two worlds finally 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.679 collide. Jesse gets the news about Hank being 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:16.659 in the hospital, and he casually tells Walt. 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:20.039 And this is where Walt has to do that specific 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:22.980 thing he does so well. He has to switch masks. 00:09:23.179 --> 00:09:26.379 In a split second. Yes. Down in the lab, he's 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:28.809 Heisenberg. He's in control. But the second he 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:30.990 hears about Hank, he has to instantly put on 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:33.309 the concerned brother -in -law mask. He has to 00:09:33.309 --> 00:09:35.110 rush out and get to the hospital. Which brings 00:09:35.110 --> 00:09:38.250 us to the main setting of the episode. The waiting 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:41.450 room. Walt arrives, and it's just a complete 00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:44.629 nightmare scenario for him. You have the entire 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:46.769 DEA presence there, you have his whole family 00:09:46.769 --> 00:09:49.470 there, and you have the story being told. The 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:52.169 official story. Steve Gomez and George Merkert, 00:09:52.210 --> 00:09:55.190 the big boss at the DEA office, they fill Walt 00:09:55.190 --> 00:09:58.799 in on what happened. And they are visibly shaken. 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:01.679 You have to remember these are hardened veteran 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.200 law enforcement officers, but they're describing 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:06.559 this attack by the Cousins with a real sense 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.059 of awe. Gomez says something like he didn't even 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:11.820 have his gun. Right. He took down two cartel 00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:14.759 assassins without his gun. It completely elevates 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:17.139 Hank to this mythical status among his peers. 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:19.860 He's not just an agent to them anymore. He's 00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:22.120 a warrior who survived an impossible ambush. 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:24.399 But not everyone in that waiting room is ready 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.049 to build a bronze statue for Hank. We definitely 00:10:27.049 --> 00:10:29.330 have to talk about Marie. Oh Marie, she is a 00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:31.450 force of nature in this episode. If you look 00:10:31.450 --> 00:10:33.370 at that emotional debris theme we brought up 00:10:33.370 --> 00:10:36.950 earlier, Marie is absolute ground zero. She is 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:39.350 sitting in that waiting room, utterly terrified. 00:10:39.610 --> 00:10:42.169 and she is lashing out at everything that moves. 00:10:42.529 --> 00:10:45.190 She desperately needs someone to blame. Because 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:49.370 extreme fear very often manifests as anger. It's 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:52.009 a basic psychological defense mechanism. She 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:54.649 can't fight the literal bullets that are inside 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:56.870 her husband, so she fights the living people 00:10:56.870 --> 00:10:58.950 standing around in the room. First she goes right 00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:01.659 after the DEA. She starts yelling at Merkert 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:04.059 and Gomez. She completely blames them for taking 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:06.000 Hank's gun away in the first place. Which, to 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.460 be fair, is a totally valid emotional reaction 00:11:08.460 --> 00:11:11.159 for a spouse to have, even if it's not logically 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:14.440 fair. Hank lost his badge and gun because he 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:16.679 brutally beat a private citizen half to death. 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:19.879 The DEA simply followed their standard protocol. 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:22.129 Yeah, they had to suspend him. But a grieving 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:24.330 wife doesn't care about HR protocol when her 00:11:24.330 --> 00:11:26.690 husband is dying on an operating table. But then, 00:11:26.710 --> 00:11:29.870 and this is crazy, she turns and she looks right 00:11:29.870 --> 00:11:31.629 at Walt. This is the moment where all the air 00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:34.009 just violently leaves the room. She blames Walt. 00:11:34.169 --> 00:11:35.929 She points a finger directly at him and says, 00:11:36.009 --> 00:11:38.990 essentially, this is all your fault. Just imagine 00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:41.190 being Walt in that exact split second. Your heart 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:44.000 must completely stop. You think. She knows. It's 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.080 all over. I'm caught. But then she explains why 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.840 she blames him. And it is arguably the most incredible 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.460 piece of dramatic irony in the entire series. 00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:54.379 She blames him because he bought marijuana from 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:56.500 Jesse Pinkman. It's almost funny, isn't it? In 00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:59.460 a really dark, twisted way. It's pure tragic 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:01.580 comedy. She connects these invisible dots out 00:12:01.580 --> 00:12:04.620 loud. Walt bought pot from Jesse. Therefore, 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.019 Jesse got Hank's phone number. Therefore, Hank 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:09.799 investigated Jesse. Therefore, Hank got suspended. 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:12.830 Therefore, Hank was unarmed. when the cartel 00:12:12.830 --> 00:12:16.289 showed up. In her mind, the absolute root cause 00:12:16.289 --> 00:12:19.730 of this massive international cartel hit is a 00:12:19.730 --> 00:12:22.289 tiny bag of weed. It highlights just how little 00:12:22.289 --> 00:12:24.309 she actually knows about the monster standing 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:26.049 right in front of her. She's screaming about 00:12:26.049 --> 00:12:28.269 marijuana while the man taking the abuse is the 00:12:28.269 --> 00:12:30.529 literal reason the cartel is even looking north 00:12:30.529 --> 00:12:32.960 of the border. It's a brilliant writing choice 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:36.759 by Jennifer Hutchison because it gives Walt a 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.720 plausible way out of the accusation, but it also 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.240 violently twists the knife. He has to just keep 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.019 it. He has to stand there and take all this vitriol, 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:47.700 knowing that he's 100 % guilty, but for crimes 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:50.320 a thousand times worse than she can even imagine. 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:53.039 He can't defend himself without revealing the 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:55.399 terrible truth. So he just has to absorb her 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:57.759 hatred. But he can't stay comfortable in that 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.929 victim role for long. Because just down the hallway, 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:03.529 there is a loose end, a very, very dangerous 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:06.330 loose end. Leonel Salamaca. One of the cousins. 00:13:06.669 --> 00:13:09.269 The other one, Marco, is dead from the shootout. 00:13:09.629 --> 00:13:12.370 But Leonel survived. Barely. He's had his legs 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:14.970 amputated, but he is alive and he is being treated 00:13:14.970 --> 00:13:17.269 in the exact same hospital. Just think about 00:13:17.269 --> 00:13:19.529 the sheer logistics of that for a second. The 00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:21.669 man who tried to axe murder your brother -in 00:13:21.669 --> 00:13:23.529 -law is recovering three doors down the hall. 00:13:23.769 --> 00:13:26.629 It's a recipe for absolute disaster. So Gomez 00:13:26.629 --> 00:13:28.629 and Walt go down the hall to view him. They stand 00:13:28.629 --> 00:13:30.450 outside his room just looking through the little 00:13:30.450 --> 00:13:32.330 glass window in the door. And this scene, man, 00:13:32.429 --> 00:13:34.129 this scene is straight out of a horror movie. 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:37.190 It really breaks the standard genre conventions. 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:41.120 Usually in a police procedural or a crime drama, 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:43.399 the surviving suspect is handcuffed to the bed 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:45.860 rails, maybe unconscious, hooked up to a million 00:13:45.860 --> 00:13:49.200 machines. But here, we have a literal monster. 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:53.039 Lena wakes up and he sees Walt through the glass. 00:13:53.299 --> 00:13:56.500 And this is the ultimate I see you moment of 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:59.320 the episode. The silent recognition between them. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.259 Describe what happens next because the production 00:14:01.259 --> 00:14:03.720 notes here really emphasize how incredibly physical 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.379 this acting performance is. Lena doesn't scream. 00:14:06.649 --> 00:14:08.730 He doesn't call out for a lawyer. He doesn't 00:14:08.730 --> 00:14:11.830 point and shout, that's the guy. Instead, he 00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:14.269 violently rips the IV lines right out of his 00:14:14.269 --> 00:14:16.789 arms. And despite having no legs, these are freshly 00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.230 amputated bleeding stumps, he throws himself 00:14:19.230 --> 00:14:21.370 out of the hospital bed. And he crawls. He crawls 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:24.100 across the floor toward the door. directly toward 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:26.740 Walt. Post speaker. Here's where it gets really 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:28.899 interesting. That image of him dragging his upper 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:31.840 body, leaving a thick trail of blood on the pristine 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.139 hospital tiles with that look of pure, concentrated, 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:37.539 silent hatred on his face. That's absolutely 00:14:37.539 --> 00:14:40.179 terrifying. It's primal. It's like watching The 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:43.220 Terminator. It shows the audience that the cartel's 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:47.480 rage completely transcends basic physical limitation. 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:50.299 He is willing to bleed to death on that floor 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.179 just to get his hands around Heisenberg's throat. 00:14:52.269 --> 00:14:55.070 And for Walt, this is the massive pivot point 00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:57.649 of the season. Up until now, standing in that 00:14:57.649 --> 00:14:59.710 hallway, he might have been able to convince 00:14:59.710 --> 00:15:02.509 his own ego that this was just random cartel 00:15:02.509 --> 00:15:05.149 violence. You know, oh, Hank is a prominent DEA 00:15:05.149 --> 00:15:07.429 agent. He may have bust. These things happen. 00:15:07.529 --> 00:15:10.309 He could rationalize it away. But when Lee now 00:15:10.309 --> 00:15:12.629 locks eyes with him through that glass and starts 00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:15.629 furiously crawling, the illusion completely shatters 00:15:15.629 --> 00:15:18.730 into a million pieces. Walt realizes they didn't 00:15:18.730 --> 00:15:21.340 come for Hank. They came for me. The walls are 00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:23.500 rapidly closing in. He realizes that Hank was 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:26.080 just unfortunate collateral damage. The real 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.980 target was Heisenberg all along. And that shifts 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:31.559 the entire dynamic of the episode moving forward. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.259 Now, Walt isn't just a sad, grieving family member 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:37.840 drinking bad coffee. He is a man under active 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.480 siege. He knows that as long as Lienel is drawing 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.080 breath down the hall, he is in mortal danger. 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:46.419 If Lienel talks to the DEA or if Lienel manages 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:49.039 to write down a single name on a notepad, it's 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.929 over. So while Walt is practically hyperventilating 00:15:51.929 --> 00:15:54.129 in the hospital hallway, the show does something 00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:57.490 really interesting structurally. It zooms out. 00:15:57.929 --> 00:16:00.610 Way, way out. We leave the claustrophobia of 00:16:00.610 --> 00:16:02.509 the Albuquerque hospital and we go all the way 00:16:02.509 --> 00:16:05.429 down to Mexico. This is a really crucial expansion 00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:07.480 of the show's world. Up to this point in the 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.639 series, the cartel has been this vague, menacing, 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.460 almost faceless force. But now we get to see 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:15.960 the actual boardroom politics of it. We meet 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:18.639 Juan Bolsa. Bolsa is a very high -ranking boss. 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:21.000 He's the guy who reports directly to the big, 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:23.360 unseen leaders of the cartel. And he is on the 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:26.139 phone with Gus Fring. And Bolsa is panicking. 00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:29.159 Which is very strange to see. High -level cartel 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:32.500 bosses don't usually panic. But Bolsa is totally 00:16:32.500 --> 00:16:35.899 freaking out. Why? because the brazen attack 00:16:35.899 --> 00:16:39.360 on Hank has triggered a massive nuclear -level 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.490 response from the U .S. government. This is something 00:16:41.490 --> 00:16:43.350 I really wanted to ask you about, actually. We 00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:45.429 always hear these terms like political pressure 00:16:45.429 --> 00:16:48.250 and border crackdowns and shows, but what does 00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:50.789 that actually mean in the reality of this criminal 00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:54.570 world? Why does shooting one single cop in Albuquerque 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:57.389 matter so much to a billionaire in a mansion 00:16:57.389 --> 00:16:59.830 down in Mexico? It's the butterfly effect of 00:16:59.830 --> 00:17:02.389 the global drug trade. When a U .S. federation 00:17:02.389 --> 00:17:04.529 is attacked, especially by foreign nationals, 00:17:04.890 --> 00:17:06.230 the U .S. government doesn't just send a couple 00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:07.910 of detectives to investigate the crime scene. 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:11.000 They shut down the entire border. Everything 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.559 stops. The source notes mention that the Mexican 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.119 government, acting under immense political pressure 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.289 from the U .S., has launched a massive coordinated 00:17:20.289 --> 00:17:22.809 crackdown. They are kicking indoors. They are 00:17:22.809 --> 00:17:25.690 raiding key stash houses. They are intensely 00:17:25.690 --> 00:17:28.390 manning every border checkpoint. For a massive 00:17:28.390 --> 00:17:31.269 logistical business like the cartel, which entirely 00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:34.029 relies on the seamless, uninterrupted flow of 00:17:34.029 --> 00:17:37.109 product going north and cash coming south, this 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:39.430 is a complete catastrophe. If we connect this 00:17:39.430 --> 00:17:41.369 to the bigger picture, it's like closing the 00:17:41.369 --> 00:17:43.269 Suez Canal for global shipping. They are losing 00:17:43.269 --> 00:17:45.089 millions and millions of dollars every single 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:47.230 day. So Bolsa is looking at his ledgers and just 00:17:47.230 --> 00:17:50.250 seeing red everywhere. and he immediately suspects 00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:53.329 foul play. He's a smart guy. He knows the cousin's 00:17:53.329 --> 00:17:56.029 person. He tells Gus on the phone, Marco and 00:17:56.029 --> 00:17:58.490 Lionel would never attack a DEA agent without 00:17:58.490 --> 00:18:01.009 explicit upper level approval. They are disciplined 00:18:01.009 --> 00:18:03.529 soldiers. They follow orders to the letter. So 00:18:03.529 --> 00:18:05.849 Bolsa is asking the extremely dangerous question, 00:18:06.190 --> 00:18:09.210 who exactly gave the order? He suspects Gus, 00:18:09.529 --> 00:18:11.890 or at least he strongly suspects Gus is somehow 00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:14.450 involved in pulling the strings. And Bolsa has 00:18:14.450 --> 00:18:17.210 a plan to figure it out. He tells Gus, I'm gonna 00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:19.509 get the truth. I'm gonna send someone to interrogate 00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:22.490 Lionel. And that statement right there is the 00:18:22.490 --> 00:18:24.789 absolute death knell. Because if Bolsa talks 00:18:24.789 --> 00:18:27.730 to Lionel... he instantly finds out that Gus 00:18:27.730 --> 00:18:29.609 was the one who gave the green light for the 00:18:29.609 --> 00:18:32.970 hit. If that happens, the entire might of the 00:18:32.970 --> 00:18:36.250 cartel turns directly on Gus. It's total war. 00:18:36.430 --> 00:18:38.910 So Gus is in an incredibly tight bind. He has 00:18:38.910 --> 00:18:41.329 the Mexican cartel breathing down his neck from 00:18:41.329 --> 00:18:44.150 the south, and he has the U .S. DEA investigating 00:18:44.150 --> 00:18:46.769 the aftermath in Albuquerque. It's a 4D chess 00:18:46.769 --> 00:18:49.529 game. And Gus is just about to make his master 00:18:49.529 --> 00:18:52.210 move. Meanwhile, back in the US, Walt is just 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:54.390 desperately trying to stall. He's spending all 00:18:54.390 --> 00:18:56.369 his time physically at the hospital, completely 00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:59.109 ignoring the super lab. But he knows he can't 00:18:59.109 --> 00:19:01.829 ignore Gus Fring forever. Gus calls him. And 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:03.869 the tension in this particular phone call is 00:19:03.869 --> 00:19:06.970 just palpable. Walt is trapped in a lie. He can't 00:19:06.970 --> 00:19:09.269 simply tell Gus, hey, I'm stuck at the hospital 00:19:09.269 --> 00:19:11.750 because the DEA agent you just tried to have 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:14.039 murdered happens to be my brother -in -law. He 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.099 desperately wants to keep those two worlds entirely 00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:18.859 separate. So he lies through his teeth. He tells 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:21.440 Gus that the meth production is delayed. And 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.279 going all the way back to our earlier point about 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.859 the lab, he blames Gale. He throws Gale right 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:29.140 under the bus again. He tells Gus that Gale made 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:31.140 a huge mistake, set the whole cookback. It's 00:19:31.140 --> 00:19:34.759 such an incredibly slimy move by Walt. But to 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:37.440 buy his own life, to buy some temporary patients 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:40.430 from a drug lord, Walt makes a massive promise. 00:19:40.569 --> 00:19:42.410 And this is where the math gets really, really 00:19:42.410 --> 00:19:45.910 scary. He promises Gus 400 pounds of meth. Let's 00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:47.490 pause and reflect on that number for a second. 00:19:47.730 --> 00:19:51.269 400 pounds. That's about 180 kilograms of pure 00:19:51.269 --> 00:19:53.410 methamphetamine. Think back to the early days 00:19:53.410 --> 00:19:55.869 in the broken down RV. They were celebrating, 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:57.589 high -fiving each other when they managed to 00:19:57.589 --> 00:20:00.509 make, what, 40 pounds over a long weekend. This 00:20:00.509 --> 00:20:03.029 new number is industrial scale. This is heavy 00:20:03.029 --> 00:20:06.059 factory work. and he promises to deliver it by 00:20:06.059 --> 00:20:08.619 next week. It's physically impossible for two 00:20:08.619 --> 00:20:11.759 men to cook that much without working 24 hours 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.799 a day, seven days a week. It completely changes 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:17.500 the fundamental nature of the job. Walt isn't 00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:20.200 a proud artisan anymore. He's a sweatshop worker. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.579 He is promising to literally enslave himself 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:26.480 to the lab equipment just to keep Gus from asking 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:29.220 too many questions. He's cooking purely for survival 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:31.940 now, not for his family's financial profit. Exactly. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:33.660 The millions of dollars don't matter anymore. 00:20:33.859 --> 00:20:36.420 The meth is just the weekly rent he has to pay 00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:38.740 to stay breathing. So Walt makes the desperate 00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:41.480 promise. He hangs up. He thinks he's bought himself 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:43.890 some breathing room. and then the doors to the 00:20:43.890 --> 00:20:46.529 hospital waiting room slide open and in walks 00:20:46.529 --> 00:20:49.150 the absolute last person on earth Walt wants 00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:51.990 to see right now. Gus Fring himself. Host speaker. 00:20:52.190 --> 00:20:54.190 Here's where it gets really interesting. Gus 00:20:54.190 --> 00:20:56.529 isn't wearing his intimidating dark suit. He's 00:20:56.529 --> 00:20:58.509 not acting like a ruthless cartel distributor. 00:20:58.950 --> 00:21:01.309 He's wearing his bright yellow manager shirt. 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:03.859 And he's carrying, is that a giant bucket of 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.279 chicken? It is. He literally brings fresh food 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:08.279 from Los Polos Hermanos for the grieving family 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:10.259 and the police officers. I have to ask about 00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:12.859 the chicken detail. It seems almost comical when 00:21:12.859 --> 00:21:15.500 you watch it. It's totally absurd. He brings 00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:18.400 a bucket of fast food fried chicken to a bloody 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.940 trauma ward. It definitely seems funny to us 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:23.440 sitting on the couch, but think about the psychological 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.900 power move happening here. The chicken is a prop. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.109 It... instantly disarms every single person in 00:21:29.109 --> 00:21:32.609 that room. You fundamentally cannot be terrified 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:35.329 of the polite guy handing you a crispy drumstick 00:21:35.329 --> 00:21:38.150 and some napkins. It effectively renders him 00:21:38.150 --> 00:21:41.089 completely invisible to the hardened cops. To 00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:43.789 them, he's just a nice civic -minded local business 00:21:43.789 --> 00:21:45.710 owner showing a little support for law enforcement. 00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:48.329 It's camouflage. It's absolutely perfect camouflage. 00:21:48.730 --> 00:21:50.730 He is casually walking straight into the lion's 00:21:50.730 --> 00:21:53.329 den, surrounded by the very federal agents whose 00:21:53.329 --> 00:21:55.349 sole job is to hunt him down, and he is hand 00:21:55.349 --> 00:21:58.789 -feeding them lunch. It creates this wild cognitive 00:21:58.789 --> 00:22:01.359 dissonance for the viewer. The man who personally 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.000 ordered the brutal hit is gently comforting the 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.240 sobbing wife of the victim. It's chilling to 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.000 watch. And he methodically meets everyone. He 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.640 politely shakes Merkert's hand. He formally meets 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:15.240 Marie. And then he slowly corners Walt. He tells 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:17.420 everyone this polite little anecdote about meeting 00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:20.819 Hank previously at the DEA office. And tucked 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:23.680 right inside that friendly story, he drops a 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.579 massive bomb on Walt. He lets Walt know without 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:29.640 ever saying it directly out loud. I know exactly 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:32.440 who Hank is. I knew he was DEA the whole time. 00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:36.160 I know everything about you. It strips Walt totally 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:38.819 naked, metaphorically speaking. Yeah. He really 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:41.539 thought he had this one safe secret, this one 00:22:41.539 --> 00:22:44.180 impenetrable firewall between his dark criminal 00:22:44.180 --> 00:22:47.240 life and his innocent family. And Gus just smiled 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:49.579 and walked right through it with a side of Coleslaw. 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:52.339 And then they step aside for a brief private 00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:55.230 moment. Walt, who is just visibly terrified, 00:22:55.650 --> 00:22:57.849 tries to assure Gus that Hank won't ever be a 00:22:57.849 --> 00:22:59.349 problem for their business. He's begging for 00:22:59.349 --> 00:23:00.990 Hank's life, essentially, right there in the 00:23:00.990 --> 00:23:02.910 hallway. And Gus just looks at him with those 00:23:02.910 --> 00:23:05.390 completely dead calm eyes and says something 00:23:05.390 --> 00:23:08.029 very cryptic. He says, I see that you are concerned. 00:23:08.309 --> 00:23:10.329 And then he says something specific about Lionel. 00:23:10.589 --> 00:23:12.809 He softly implies that Lionel will not be a problem 00:23:12.809 --> 00:23:14.809 anymore. Will not be a problem. That is a very 00:23:14.809 --> 00:23:17.490 specific corporate passive voice way of saying, 00:23:17.549 --> 00:23:19.950 I'm going to have this man murdered today. And 00:23:19.950 --> 00:23:22.170 that threat leads us right into the climax of 00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:24.690 the episode. the violent silencing of the loose 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:26.930 ends. Because we suddenly realized that Gus's 00:23:26.930 --> 00:23:29.470 friendly visit wasn't just a PR move or a social 00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:32.569 call, it was a calculated distraction. While 00:23:32.569 --> 00:23:34.990 everyone is happily eating chicken and loudly 00:23:34.990 --> 00:23:37.690 praising Mr. Fring's incredible generosity in 00:23:37.690 --> 00:23:40.190 the waiting room, we see another familiar figure 00:23:40.190 --> 00:23:42.089 moving through the background of the hospital, 00:23:42.970 --> 00:23:46.150 Mike Ermentrout. The ultimate fixer, the grandpa 00:23:46.150 --> 00:23:48.869 assassin. He quietly slips right into Lienel's 00:23:48.869 --> 00:23:51.160 guarded room. And no one notices him at all because 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:53.599 the hospital is naturally chaotic and the police 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:55.420 guards outside the door are totally distracted 00:23:55.420 --> 00:23:57.799 by the free food Gus just handed them. We just 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:00.839 see Mike calmly disposing of a used syringe into 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:04.160 a sharps container and mere moments later, crash. 00:24:04.380 --> 00:24:06.920 The medical alarms start blaring. Leon goes into 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:10.319 sudden cardiac arrest. The doctors rush in and 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.940 he dies. Just like that, the unstoppable crawling 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:15.279 monster, the only witness to Walt's identity, 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:19.289 the massive loose end just gone. And you really 00:24:19.289 --> 00:24:21.369 have to look at their reaction to this death 00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:24.349 because this is the bitter pill of the episode. 00:24:24.910 --> 00:24:27.769 Gomez hears the news from the doctors that Leonel 00:24:27.769 --> 00:24:31.470 is dead and he actually cheers. He celebrates 00:24:31.470 --> 00:24:34.170 in the hallway. He literally calls a good riddance 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:36.970 to a monster. He has absolutely no idea that 00:24:36.970 --> 00:24:39.710 a cold blooded murder just took place 50 feet 00:24:39.710 --> 00:24:42.049 away right under his nose. He has no idea that 00:24:42.049 --> 00:24:44.589 he is actively celebrating a massive strategic 00:24:44.589 --> 00:24:49.200 victory for Gus Fring. The DEA is thrilled. The 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.839 bad guy is finally dead. Totally unaware that 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:53.700 his sudden death just helped the much bigger 00:24:53.700 --> 00:24:56.680 bad guy stay safely in business. Gus perfectly 00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:59.559 used the DEA's own blinding hatred of the cartel 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:02.119 assassin to seamlessly cover up his own tracks. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.539 But Gus isn't quite done yet, is he? The spider 00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:06.700 web he's weaving is much bigger than just one 00:25:06.700 --> 00:25:08.980 hospital in New Mexico. We have to cut back to 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:11.420 Mexico one last time. We are back with Juan Bolsa 00:25:11.420 --> 00:25:14.160 at his compound. And remember, Bolsa was the 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.099 one asking all the dangerous questions earlier. 00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.859 He was the one who was going to send men to interrogate 00:25:18.859 --> 00:25:20.680 Liano. But I certainly won't be doing that now. 00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:23.500 No, he won't. Because suddenly, out of nowhere, 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:26.660 his sprawling estate is completely surrounded. 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:29.240 The Federales are heavily armed and at his front 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:32.240 gate. And this is where the genius, the truly 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:35.380 evil genius of Gus's master plan becomes entirely 00:25:35.380 --> 00:25:37.259 clear to the audience. We really need to break 00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:40.019 this sequence down because it's incredibly complex. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:44.079 It's a massive calculated domino effect. Gus 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.440 deliberately allowed the hit on Hank to happen. 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:48.980 He knew it would instantly trigger the U .S. 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:51.200 government's fury. He knew the U .S. would apply 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:53.839 crippling political pressure to Mexico. He knew 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:55.740 the Mexican police would be forced to loudly 00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:59.579 raid the cartel bosses to save face. So he essentially 00:25:59.579 --> 00:26:01.859 used the entire United States government as his 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:05.779 own personal free hit squad. Exactly. He weaponized 00:26:05.779 --> 00:26:09.349 the DEA and the federales. The police raid Bolsa's 00:26:09.349 --> 00:26:11.710 house not because Gus secretly paid them off, 00:26:12.009 --> 00:26:14.509 but because the geopolitical pressure Gus engineered 00:26:14.509 --> 00:26:17.369 demanded a high -profile target. And Bolsa realizes 00:26:17.369 --> 00:26:19.549 this, doesn't he? Right at the very end. In his 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:22.829 absolute final moments on Earth, yes. He's trapped 00:26:22.829 --> 00:26:25.369 in his office. He hears the heavy gunfire outside. 00:26:25.670 --> 00:26:28.670 The phone goes dead. And he suddenly realizes... 00:26:28.650 --> 00:26:31.450 Gus did this. Gus orchestrated all of this from 00:26:31.450 --> 00:26:33.430 the beginning. He screams into the phone that 00:26:33.430 --> 00:26:35.869 the cartel will strike back, but it's just way 00:26:35.869 --> 00:26:38.630 too late. His heavily armed bodyguards are systematically 00:26:38.630 --> 00:26:41.450 shot down. Bolsa tries to desperately run through 00:26:41.450 --> 00:26:44.250 his beautiful courtyard and he is just gunned 00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:46.589 down by the police. And just like that, the biggest 00:26:46.589 --> 00:26:49.029 rival is permanently removed from the board. 00:26:49.410 --> 00:26:52.630 Gus Fring has achieved total flawless victory. 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:55.960 He eliminated the cousins who were chaotic and 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:58.460 dangerous. He eliminated Juan Bolsa, who was 00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:01.079 technically his boss and his biggest rival, and 00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:02.960 he managed to do all of it without ever firing 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:05.500 a single shot himself. He just sat back and let 00:27:05.500 --> 00:27:07.380 everyone else do the messy, dirty work. It's 00:27:07.380 --> 00:27:10.339 incredibly Machiavellian. It's honestly beyond 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.660 Machiavellian. It's total strategic dominance. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.400 He took a wildly chaotic, dangerous situation, 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.180 a bloody personal vendetta against the local 00:27:19.180 --> 00:27:22.630 DEA agent. and he manipulated it into a complete 00:27:22.630 --> 00:27:25.369 corporate restructuring of the cartel. He cleared 00:27:25.369 --> 00:27:28.049 the entire board. Remember we said earlier, while 00:27:28.049 --> 00:27:30.190 everyone else is playing simple checkers, Gus 00:27:30.190 --> 00:27:33.319 Fring is playing 40 chess. So we've covered the 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:35.559 plot mechanics, the terrifying crawling assassin, 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:38.460 the weirdly weaponized fried chicken, and the 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:40.660 geopolitical 4D chess. But let's take a step 00:27:40.660 --> 00:27:43.359 back and look at how this specific episode was 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:45.259 actually received when it aired. Because you 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:47.420 mentioned earlier that it's a bit divisive among 00:27:47.420 --> 00:27:49.700 fans and critics. It really is. When you go back 00:27:49.700 --> 00:27:52.180 and look at the actual reviews from May 2010, 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.859 people were very visibly split on the whole hospital 00:27:55.859 --> 00:27:57.839 drama aspect of the hour. Give me an example 00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.980 of the split. Well, on the positive side, IGN 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:02.930 gave it a 9 .4 out of 10. loved it. They heavily 00:28:02.930 --> 00:28:05.490 focused on that emotional debris aspect we talked 00:28:05.490 --> 00:28:07.250 about at the start. They thought it was incredibly 00:28:07.250 --> 00:28:09.849 brave of the showrunners to purposely slow the 00:28:09.849 --> 00:28:11.890 pace down and just let the character sit and 00:28:11.890 --> 00:28:14.369 suffer with the consequences. But clearly not 00:28:14.369 --> 00:28:16.589 everyone agreed with that take. No, definitely 00:28:16.589 --> 00:28:18.970 not. The AV Club, for instance, was much more 00:28:18.970 --> 00:28:21.210 critical of the writing. Their reviewer felt 00:28:21.210 --> 00:28:23.490 the hospital scenes were just filled with tired 00:28:23.490 --> 00:28:26.269 TV cliches. You know, the standard waiting room 00:28:26.269 --> 00:28:29.410 anxiety, the sudden tearful outbursts they felt, 00:28:29.609 --> 00:28:31.869 it really dragged the overall pacing of this 00:28:31.869 --> 00:28:34.069 season down. I can honestly see that argument. 00:28:34.509 --> 00:28:36.710 If you tune into breaking bad expecting train 00:28:36.710 --> 00:28:39.490 heists and explosive chemistry experiments, a 00:28:39.490 --> 00:28:41.950 40 -minute tense waiting room scene might feel 00:28:41.950 --> 00:28:44.490 a bit slow. And that critical split is actually 00:28:44.490 --> 00:28:47.019 reflected in the modern rankings, too. We pulled 00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:49.000 some data from current retrospective rankings 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.640 of all 62 episodes of the series. The Ringer 00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:54.799 ranked this episode 47th overall. And Vulture, 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.880 they ranked it way down at 61st. 61st out of 00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:01.380 62, that's literally second to last. That seems 00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:03.759 insanely harsh for an episode where a legless 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:06.480 cartel hitman crawls down a bloody hallway to 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.619 try and kill the main protagonist. I think it 00:29:08.619 --> 00:29:11.059 really suffers from what you might call middle 00:29:11.059 --> 00:29:13.880 child syndrome. It's fundamentally a bridge episode. 00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:18.079 Its primary narrative job is to move all the 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:21.799 complicated plot pieces from the massive chaos 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:24.500 of one minute to set up the grand finale of the 00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:27.559 season. It has to do all the heavy, unglamorous 00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:29.660 lifting of plot mechanics, killing the cousins, 00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:32.259 freeing Gus from the cartel, getting Walt back 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:35.769 in the lab. Sometimes, those necessary utility 00:29:35.769 --> 00:29:37.690 episodes just don't get the critical love they 00:29:37.690 --> 00:29:39.849 actually deserve because they aren't as flashy 00:29:39.849 --> 00:29:42.210 as the ones with the big explosions. That makes 00:29:42.210 --> 00:29:43.890 sense. It's like the offensive linemen of TV 00:29:43.890 --> 00:29:45.650 episodes. It does all the hard blocking in the 00:29:45.650 --> 00:29:47.369 trenches so the quarterback can score the flashy 00:29:47.369 --> 00:29:49.950 touchdown later. Exactly. That's a great analogy. 00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:52.190 But interestingly enough, the actual viewing 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:54.009 audience at the time didn't seem to care about 00:29:54.009 --> 00:29:56.329 the slower pacing at all. The viewership numbers 00:29:56.329 --> 00:29:59.180 actually went up. 1 .78 million people watched 00:29:59.180 --> 00:30:01.880 this episode live, which was a really nice, solid 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.519 bump up from the 1 .52 million for the previous 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:06.980 week. People were absolutely hooked. They just 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:08.920 desperately needed to know if Hank survived the 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:12.079 shootout. And they got their answer. Hank lives, 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:14.940 but the world he lives in has fundamentally changed. 00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:17.740 The world has become much, much darker for everyone 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:20.339 involved. So as we start to wrap up this deep 00:30:20.339 --> 00:30:22.859 dive today, let's try to distill all of this 00:30:22.859 --> 00:30:26.240 down for you. What are the big essential takeaways 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.279 from ICU? I think there are three main things 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:31.660 you need to walk away with. First, the title 00:30:31.660 --> 00:30:34.660 really is the core theme, visibility. The protective 00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:37.740 veil is completely lifted. Walt finally realizes 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:40.519 he is a vulnerable target. The cartel finally 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:43.500 realizes exactly who Walt is. And Gus finally 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:46.339 reveals he knows everything about everyone. In 00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:48.579 this universe, there are no more secrets left. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:50.920 only lies. That's a really great distinction. 00:30:51.180 --> 00:30:53.500 No secrets, only lies. What's the second big 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:56.019 takeaway? The graduation of Gus Fring. This is 00:30:56.019 --> 00:30:58.039 the specific episode where he officially stops 00:30:58.039 --> 00:31:00.680 being just a cautious drug distributor and truly 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.299 becomes a mastermind supervillain. The sheer 00:31:03.299 --> 00:31:05.680 terrifying complexity of his plan manipulating 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.920 the U .S. and Mexican governments as expendable 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:10.579 pawns. It shows a level of ruthless ambition 00:31:10.579 --> 00:31:12.859 that Walt can't even comprehend yet. And the 00:31:12.859 --> 00:31:16.250 third takeaway? The emotional debris. We just 00:31:16.250 --> 00:31:18.730 can't ignore the devastating human cost of this 00:31:18.730 --> 00:31:21.769 lifestyle. Marie is psychologically broken. Jesse 00:31:21.769 --> 00:31:24.910 is rapidly becoming a desensitized sociopath. 00:31:25.410 --> 00:31:28.410 Hank is physically shattered, maybe forever. 00:31:28.769 --> 00:31:31.349 The show is explicitly telling us that you can't 00:31:31.349 --> 00:31:33.309 have this massive amount of violence in your 00:31:33.309 --> 00:31:35.829 life without it completely destroying the innocent 00:31:35.829 --> 00:31:38.670 people around you. It's a toxic blast radius. 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:41.059 I really want to leave you, the listener, with 00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:43.680 a final thought about that blast radius. Think 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:46.180 about Walt's desperate promise to Gus on the 00:31:46.180 --> 00:31:49.180 phone. 400 pounds of meth. The ultimate deal 00:31:49.180 --> 00:31:51.279 with the devil. Because before this episode, 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:53.339 Walt could still lie to himself and say he was 00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:55.220 a free man, he was an entrepreneur, he was the 00:31:55.220 --> 00:31:58.500 boss of his own destiny. But now he has a strict 00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:00.720 quota, he has a terrifying deadline, and he has 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.119 a boss who can easily have people murdered inside 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:05.519 a police guarded intensive care unit. He's definitely 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.940 not a partner anymore. Exactly. So you have to 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:10.640 ask yourself, at what exact point does the supposed 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.819 employee become the prisoner? When you are frantically 00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:16.480 cooking meth just to keep your wife and children 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:18.839 from being hacked to death by the cartel, you 00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:20.660 aren't an emperor building an empire. You're 00:32:20.660 --> 00:32:23.670 just a slave to the lab. And that dark realization 00:32:23.670 --> 00:32:26.569 is the question that is going to aggressively 00:32:26.569 --> 00:32:29.710 drive the entire rest of the series. On that 00:32:29.710 --> 00:32:32.269 incredibly cheerful note. No, really, this episode 00:32:32.269 --> 00:32:34.890 is an absolute masterpiece of slow burn tension. 00:32:35.470 --> 00:32:37.690 I strongly encourage you to go back and just 00:32:37.690 --> 00:32:40.069 rewatch that one scene with Gus in the waiting 00:32:40.069 --> 00:32:42.349 room. Just watch his face. Watch exactly how 00:32:42.349 --> 00:32:44.569 he navigates that physical space with the chicken. 00:32:44.930 --> 00:32:47.430 It is a complete master class and subtle acting 00:32:47.430 --> 00:32:50.509 from Giancarlo Esposito, the terrifying calmness 00:32:50.509 --> 00:32:52.839 of a man who just ordered multiple executions 00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:55.740 while handing out napkins. Absolutely. It is, 00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:57.579 without a doubt, the scariest friendly visit 00:32:57.579 --> 00:32:59.619 in television history. Well, thanks for joining 00:32:59.619 --> 00:33:01.640 us on this deep dive into the hospital pressure 00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:04.299 cooker. We'll be back next time to see exactly 00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:07.380 how Walt manages to cook 400 pounds of meth in 00:33:07.380 --> 00:33:10.500 a week without completely losing his mind. See 00:33:10.500 --> 00:33:11.519 you then. See you then.