In Abiquiu (pronounced abba-cue), Skyler hatches a plan to launder money, Walt is invited to dinner with Gus, Hank treads a painful road to recovery and Jesse gets a shot at avenging Combo's murder.
'Til now, I still don't see the significance of the title, Abiquiu. It's a place in Mexico with beautiful sunsets, that much I gained from Google, but how it is related to the episode, I'm still pretty much on a blank slate. Abiquiu pales in comparison to last week's Fly (which involves Walt and Jesse hunting down a fly in their lab), but to be fair, most of the episodes do. Fly simply flew to the top, with the portrayal of Walt at his most vulnerable moment, where he divulges his deepest, darkest secrets to Jesse. I never wrote a review because it was too good to be destroyed by my unworthy hands.
As Hank suffers through his physical therapy (courtesy of Skyler and Walt), Marie stands strong beside him, encouraging Hank every step of the way. However, when Marie wants him to continue therapy at home, Hank snaps, thinking that she's forcing him out of the hospital due to financial difficulties. He insists that Marie get rid of the hospital bed she has installed in his bedroom, because he didn't want to bring the hospital back to where he lived.
Skyler, concerned about the apparent illegitimacy of Walt's money, insists on meeting the person who is providing the money laundering service to ensure that the whole process is watertight and will not inflict any damage on Hank and Marie in any way. So Walt takes her to Saul, which results in a hilarious exchange between the two. Saul tries to explain the process to Skyler the way he did with Jesse (this time using pencils and a bottle of sweets instead), but Skyler coldly informs him that as a bookkeeper, she knew everything about money laundering.
Saul proposes that Walt invest his money in something called 'Laser Tag', a funfair with lasers, thinking that as a scientist, Walt would love anything science-related, hence the lasers. Skyler tells him that it would be extremely far-fetched for Walt to invest in anything like that, and insists that Walt buy the car wash place he worked at for the past four years, because that would seem more like him. Through this, Skyler shows how well she knows Walt, compared to Saul who sees Walt as a mere scientist who loves lasers.
Without Skyler present, Saul explains the complicated role of a person called a 'danny', who owns the place and does what he is asked to without asking questions. With the car wash, they had no 'dannies' available, because it was extremely hard to find a person trustworthy enough. When Walt relates this to Skyler, she volunteers for the job, saying that as a bookkeeper, she is more than qualified. And they aren't actually divorced, she only wanted Walt to think so, so they could never testify against each other in court. Walt is shocked by the revelation, but finally relents. Looks like Skyler is following in Ted's footsteps!
At his weekly addicts meeting, Jesse discovers that Badger and Skinny P aren't selling much of his smuggled meth, and gets pissed off. Badger explains that trying to destroy people who genuinely wanted to change was like shooting a baby in the face, and frankly, I agree, although Jesse doesn't. So he decides to demonstrate how heartless he could be by trying to get close to one of the newer addicts and selling her some meth. However, he ended up deeper than he imagined he would, when he fell for her.
Jesse's plans to sell his new girlfriend meth falls apart even further when he discovers that she has a 5-year-old son, Brock. Jesse has seen enough of what stoned parents could do to their children (think 'ATM Skank') and doesn't want to destroy the little kid's life for some extra cash. Then she reveals that she has a younger brother who fell in with the bad crowd, and murdered somebody. She doesn't want Brock to end up that way. With further digging, Jesse discovers that the person her brother murdered was Combo.
So Jesse goes on a recon mission to find out the truth for himself, by purchasing some meth from the kid. After seeing the two druggies in the car (and losing 300 bucks), Jesse has found out enough. He leaves, wth malice burning in his eyes. Looks like he's going to go after them on his own, so watch out Jesse. You're gonna get your ass kicked again, and this time Walt won't be there to save you.
While working in the lab, Walt gets a call. It turns out to be an invitation from Gus to dine at his house. Walt approaches the entire thing cautiously, up to the part where Gus hands him a knife and requests for his assistance in preparing the meal. As usual, Gus is unfathomable (he reminds me of a more cheerful version of Ben in Lost) and he tells Walt that he would like to give hime some advice. "Don't make the same mistake twice." He says this without batting an eye, and leaves me wondering, what is he talking about? Is it Jesse's thieving havits, or Skyler's involvement, or financing Hank's therapy, or something else entirely?
That's the end of the episode. With two more remaining, I can only wonder how all these seemingly unrelated events would culminate towards an explosive ending. However, here I would like to point out something interesting I just realised about some of the scenes in Breaking Bad, in particular Walt's dinner scenes with his family.
Don't you think the above image is a triptych?
From Wikipedia : A triptych (pronounced /ˈtrɪptɪk/ TRIP-tik, from the Greek τρίπτυχο, from tri- "three" + ptychē "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and folded. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels.
The two panels on either sides are usually related to each other by the middle one ,in this case, Walt and Skyler are connected by Walter Jr. Interesting how Vince Gilligan inserts scenes like these into his work, which most people would fail to notice. It shows how great a writer he is, and how Breaking Bad has deeper meanings than what we see on screen (think 'Fly').
Well, another week to wait before the penultimate episode. With the ending of 24, Lost and House, I'm left with only Breaking Bad to entertain myself with. I'm not complaining though, Breaking Bad completely defeats two of the above in terms of writing. I'm still catching up on old Malcolm in the Middle episodes, just to see how versatile Bryan Cranston is!
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