Gus Fring, RIP.

I wanted him to survive, but I’m satisfied with how it turned out.  Great interview with Giancarlo Esposito in AV Club, as well.  Great answer to whether Gus was romantically involved with his original partner:  Great affection between men need not be sexual.  On the other hand…maybe…

I expected the poisoner to be Gus in writing terms, but that frustrated me because I didn’t feel there was a consistent, in-universe way to explain Gus’s knowledge of the ricin cigarette. I wanted it be a random, coincidental illness that fortuitously forced Walt and Jesse together at just the right moment. But this was so, so much better. Mind blown, again, thank you Vince Gilligan.

The only thing is: this is really it, right? Walt has crossed pretty much every moral threshold, such that now they could never really do a plot arc like this again, because we’d know it was Walt. Although, I take that back, actually—there is one moral threshold he has yet to cross. Although I think you, Amanda (as well as other writers) have picked apart the rottenness at the core of Walt’s vision of masculinity (“A man provides”), I think Walt himself has hewed close to this delusion that on some level, he’s doing all this for his family. If Breaking Bad is the exploration of a person’s utter moral destruction, the last barrier Walt has to cross is sacrificing his family—his children—to save his own skin. I think that moment is coming.

Gus Fring as Harvey Dent needs to be a meme like now. INTERNETS PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

Also, what Amanda says = truth. Also, too, SS451.

I think the most honest expression of the whole episode is with Hector Salamanca.  “Need dea…Suck My….Fuc…”  It describes the whole series in a shorthand that is near perfect.

I’m going to miss the hell out of Gus. Also, this finale’s Major Event is so much better than Season 2’s (sure, let’s just collide some planes, that’ll totally be reasonable) and way more fun than Season 3’s (Jessie kills the nice chemist! Jessie nooo!). Also, SS451, I think you’re right on the money as to next season’s even worseness from Walt. Although, you know, we had the near-rape of Skyler already, and you could argue that he’s continually put his own safety/smartmouthing over his family’s lives a whoooole bunch. But yeah. I’m calling it early: he’s gonna shoot Hank toward the end of next season, beat up either Skyler or Walt Jr, and somehow someway destroy Jessie. Again.

loved it! two things: 1) what about Ted? dead or what? 2) the actor who plays Hector should win an Emmy for most genius facial acting.

I didn’t catch why Gus Changes clothes before the meeting. I’m assuming the blue jacket was kevlar lined or something, but was there something else going on there i missed?  Had he worn those duds before?

I was totally wrong in my predictions. I thought the big shocker was going to involve Skyler, but no character (except Mike) was more sidelined than Skyler this week.  I though a secret alliance would be revealed, but there was no such thing aside from the Hank-Hector project which did not pre-exist this episode.

For the final run:
Hank seems back in the saddle “catching bad guys and scumbags”
Walt has crossed a line into indisputable scumbag territory

oops, i mean Walt-Hector project

What’s next for Walt? Is he going to work at the car wash full time? Is he going to hire Jesse to work there? Who was watching Walt at the end of the show? I’m thinking it was Mike. It was just about time for him to get out of the “hospital”. Mike is definitely loyal to Jesse now. Jesse saved his life. What’s that angle? What happened to Skyler’s dead boss? What did Saul’s henchmen do with the body? It should be a great final season.

SS, in terms of writing rules, a coincidental illness would have been awful. Coincidences should not move the plot! That’s fiction 101.

I wasn’t sure anyone was watching Walt at the end of the show.  I thought that was just Walt looking at Gus’ abandoned car still in the parking garage.  But now that i think about it, Gus’ car may not have remained there.  Did Gus or Tyrus show up in that car at the nursing home?

yes, coincidences matter.  So, when a character spins a gun on a table and it comes to rest pointing at a potted plant, I knew it meant SOMETHING.  I thought it had been an ingredient in the explosive cook.

“Q: When you and Vince Gilligan talked about the role four years ago, did you imagine Walt would become quite so dark?

A: What was explained to me was that he wanted to change a man from good to bad. From Mr. Chips to Scarface. And that’s something that has never been done on television. You risk having alienation from an audience to your lead character. And we were talking about it and he said, “Yeah, we don’t care, we are not out to … ” And I get that question a lot, like, “Boy, what is Walt doing now? Do people still really like him?” Well, we are not out to have people like him. We are out to have people understand him, relate to him, and watch his disintegration.”

(from http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/10/bryan_cranston_on_what_to_expe.html)

I heard him mention the Scarface thing in his interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast as well.  I think there is more awful behavior in Walt’s future.  My prediction all season with them concentrating on Skylar’s brains is that she is destined to be the new Gus…

I can’t say when in the show I was suddenly convinced that Walt had been the poisoner, but it was in the middle of the show.  Something between him and Jesse, I think.

I wasn’t sure anyone was watching Walt at the end of the show.  I thought that was just Walt looking at Gus’ abandoned car still in the parking garage.  But now that i think about it, Gus’ car may not have remained there.  Did Gus or Tyrus show up in that car at the nursing home?
Comment #11: cargocult on 10/10 at 08:06 AM

At the very end of the show, just before Walt looks at Gus’ car, after Jesse goes down the stairwell, there was a shot of Walt, alone, from the POV of the next level down.  I too was wondering if it indicated a person watching.  Maybe it represents more generally that he’s being watched from below, by Gus’ subordinates for example.

I loved the slapstick comedy elements of the show—Walt hiding just outside the window with the lady in the next room saying ‘hello hello,’ Walt coming in the bottom of the glass door breaking it into shards (crystals) and going out that way too.

The scene where they all meet at the DEA had so many cameras it looked like a news conference.  Hank pulled off the neck brace and came in looking large and in charge.  He can spell and everything!

My prediction all season with them concentrating on Skylar’s brains is that she is destined to be the new Gus…
Comment #13: ctyoung on 10/10 at 09:25 AM

Yes, good insight!  I am reminded of her “chop chop!” when she had her bossypants on when speaking to Walt, and her directing him in presenting the lies for the rest of the family about his “gambling addiction,” and so on.  She is a natural organizer as well as a smart person, but she’s an authoritarian and doesn’t take insubordination well.

Funny how she started out the good girl and Marie the ditzy shoplifter, and now Marie is trying to be a patient wife for Hank through his troubles, bad as she is at it, and Skyler has fallen from the heavens with a pretty big thud into adultery, fraud, abetting Walt’s cook and laundering the money and even (unintentional) contract murder.

It gets easier after the first, as Walt can tell you.

I loved the finale and am really enjoying how Vince Gillian tells the story he and his writers want to tell, network and advertisers be damned. Though I agree starting off with an evil character isn’t really palatable for most audiences the show has been fascinating to watch in terms of a “good” man going bad. But as Amanda has pointed out in her recaps before, Walter’s always had a bit of bitter asshole in him, this was just what he needed to go full hog.

One question/theory I had for next season was that whomever Gus was in Columbia (Chile?) is going to now come back and bite Walter in the ass. In the flashback episode they made a deal about the cartel lord telling Gus he killed his partner instead of him because he knew “who he was”, and when Hank attempted his interrogation of Gus he said that there wasn’t really a record of Gus before Mexico. I find this veerrry interesting.  And while it will be sad that BB will only have one (probably broken into two) season(s) left, I’m excited because that gives the writers time to craft a story they can end, which I think is good for everyone.

Walt’s, “I won.” was very chilling. I think next season will be a departure from the last 2 and will focus on Skylar and Jesse understanding and dealing with what a monster Walt has become.  Skylar is already there, Jesse will require just a bit more convincing.

I’m just hoping this means Saul Goodman will stay in town. Because how unfair would it be that they reveal how made of awesome his secretary is just when they’re both about to disappear !

Then again… She revealed her awesomeness to Walt just before he got rid of his main obstacle in life. With what we know now, here’s hoping he doesn’t go after her next.

SS451 :

If Breaking Bad is the exploration of a person’s utter moral destruction, the last barrier Walt has to cross is sacrificing his family—his children—to save his own skin. I think that moment is coming.

Good call. I don’t want to see it happen, but now that Walt’s won I’m betting he’ll be even less tolerant of Skyler having even a bit of control. And Skyler will want more than a bit of control. This is going to end in tears.

ctyoung :

My prediction all season with them concentrating on Skylar’s brains is that she is destined to be the new Gus…

Dunno. On the one hand, it would be over Walt’s dead body. And on the other, once Walt was dead I don’t really see Skyler staying in such a crazy dangerous business. Her talking to Walt about getting out so many times isn’t necessarily an indicator because it’s different once it’s you who’s in control, but still. She strikes me as a person for whom a prerequisite of being in control is not having to worry about going to prison.

Was I the only one who had a sad moment when they panned to the Pollos Hermanos air freshener ? Those two chickens look so upbeat and happy together, and now there’s nobody left to remember what they represented.

I wanted it be a random, coincidental illness that fortuitously forced Walt and Jesse together at just the right moment. But this was so, so much better. Mind blown, again, thank you Vince Gilligan.

I was also in the coincidence camp and while it might violate the rules of writing, I thought having Jesse and Walt overreact to Brock’s illness to take Gus out only to find out he had nothing to do with it would be a satisfying way to end it. As it is I have questions about the logistics of Walt managing to poison the boy, both in terms of time and access.

I think that this season was the best of the series so far. Each episode was so well constructed, I watched each one alternately gnawing off my fingernails, whooping with laughter, and shrieking HOLY CRAP! 

I was really really really annoyed at the plane crash season-ender. That plot device just rotted my socks, and I seriously considered breaking up with the show back then. You’ve made it up to me, VG et al!

When Gus first walked out of the room after the explosion I said out loud, (to no one), “He SURVIVED!?” Then that reveal. I thought Giancarlo Esposito would always be Mike Giardello but he is indeed Gus Fring to me now . . .

I think the logical place to go next season is Walt trying to go back to his old life, putting the worms of evil back in the can. Of course, he’ll probably have to kill a few more people, and fuck over a few more, but Walt can do that. The perfect guest star would be Vigo Mortensen, reprising his character from A History of Violence.

I wonder if next season will have the Whites trying to get back to normal and realizing they are happier living like scarface.  The finale was really amazing

I liked Jamie Peck’s take over at Crushable where she pushes all the homoeroticism buttons via old Westerns. (Not the newest concept but worth bringing up again.) I’m hoping they’ll bring back a little reality of actual meth addiction next season. That substance is more evil than Walt.

@benvolio: {season 2 spoiler alert} And the thing about that plane crash season-ender is that it came right after (and dramatically overshadowed) one of the show’s great character moments: Walt letting Jane die in front of him. Yes, the crash turned out to be connected to Jane’s death (thus, I suppose, functioning to underline it in some sort of dramatic—and ironic—sense), but psychologically it drew attention away from it.

The troubling coincidence is that Jesse’s ricin cigarette went missing at the exact moment when Brock got sick. I don’t think it’s a writing flaw if Brock just happened to get sick and Walter seized the opportunity to make a decisive play for Jesse’s allegiance. But unless they explain what happened to the ricin, it feels improbable. Unless of course Walt ordered Saul’s bodyguard to switch out Jesse’s pack, containing the ricin cigarette, during the patdown earlier in the day.

Nothing more needs to happen with Ted. That plot line is wrapped up. The guys who extorted the tax payment from him probably just left the body in the house to be found by his kids, or whoever. After all, he died of natural causes. He fell and hit his head. The writers left themselves the option of bringing back Ted-related problems by having one guy FedEx Ted’s tax check while the other guy stayed behind to guard him. Theoretically, the stranger could have left some record that could later be discovered (i.e. security camera footage, paying for the FedEx with a credit card) if anyone got suspicious about the timeline on the day of Ted’s death. The IRS probably wouldn’t look too carefully at Ted after he paid up and died. But what if investigators start probing Skyler or Saul Goodman? They could find their way back to Ted.

But unless they explain what happened to the ricin, it feels improbable. Unless of course Walt ordered Saul’s bodyguard to switch out Jesse’s pack, containing the ricin cigarette, during the patdown earlier in the day.

In an interview, this is the explanation Vince Gilligan gave for how the ricin cigarette disappeared. It’s not entirely satisfying to me.

Col Bat Guano, do you have a link for that interview? I’d love to hear/read it.

Here you go (not sure how to embed a link):

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-4

Okay, I tried posting this earlier.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-post-mortems-season-4

Sorry, computer glitch.

The plot line with Ted Beneke is pretty well tied up. After all, the man accidentally killed himself. The only thing the two guys need to do is wipe any of their prints from the place, and then leave. When he’s found, it will look like he ran, slipped on the rug, crashed headfirst into the cabinet, and broke his neck. It’s his fault, no one else’s. He was being a dick anyway, what person wouldn’t take the money to pay the IRS to go away permanently, unless they had a massive case of pride ongoing. The seven deadly sins are still as dangerous as ever. Ted: Pride, Greed Jesse: Sloth, Anger, Greed Skyler: Lust, Greed, Walt: Greed, Anger, Pride, Envy, Gus: Pride, Anger, they’ve all been engaging in one or more of them in various ways.
Moderation in all things.

I’m with Col Bat Guano on this one. When would Walt have had the time? As far as we (the viewers) know, Walt didn’t even know Brock existed until the night that Gus’ henchmen kidnapped Walt and dragged him out to the desert. After _that_ meeting (presumably the next morning), Walt rushes home in a panic planning to disappear his whole family, only to discover that he can’t. So _then_ he calmly comes up with this convoluted plan to poison Brock? And he has how long to do it? Does he know where they live? (Okay, yes, Walt tracked Jesse one time, but we don’t know whether Jesse went to their place in that time. Yes, Saul knows where Brock and his mother live, but why would Walt think that Saul would know? Would Saul even go along with something like this? He would have to to get the ricin cigarette from Jesse. I don’t see Saul cooperating with this plan. If Jesse found out, there would be yet another cold-blooded killer after Saul.)

Gus, OTOH…

Why not poison Brock and plant the plant at Walt’s place?

Walt’s theory of events (as explained to Jesse) is still in play, I think. Just because the plant was at Walt’s house doesn’t necessarily mean Walt actually poisoned Brock. And we know from earlier in the season that Jesse was under surveillance. We know that Mike has used listening devices on Walt in the past. It all fits within the shows internal logic to assume Gus new about the ricin.

Besides, that laugh of Walt’s was a little too convincing when Jesse was about to kill him.

It could just be the writers are screwing with our heads on this one.

I could be wrong. But, to assume Walt did it requires a lot of Dues ex Machinas in a show that is known for having none. It would be an odd switch for that to change now.

#33, you think it requires more suspension of disbelief to think that Walt did this to get Jesse on his side than to think that Gus somehow knew about the ricin but didn’t steal it until just before Brock happened to be poisoned, and then poisoned Brock, but with a different poison, and then planted the Lily of the Valley in Walt’s backyard? The Lily of the Valley which, as has been pointed out, Walt was completely unsurprised to see when spinning his gun?

No, that’s insane. Walt poisoned Brock. End of story.

Is it possible that Gus poisoned Brock in a way he thought would point to Walt?  His goons could have planted the plant after Skyler and Walt Jr left for the safe house, so only Walt would ever see it, and he might not be aware of the plant census at the house, or if he did see it, might perplexedly handle it a lot so that he could be implicated.

It’s a stretch, but then the mechanics of any of these is a stretch.

Walt poisoning Brock requires him to find out where Brock is.  Gus already knows, via Mike.

Should have read “It is possible that Gus poisoned Brock”...gah.

#34, In my mind, Gus and Walt had the same motive (get Jesse on their side). Gus has a history of successful poisoning, Walt does not. Gus has a history of killing at least one child (probably, though that isn’t crystal clear). As #35 pointed out, why would Walt be surprised at an unexpected plant? He hasn’t much been living at home, and plants don’t seem to be his thing (are there any in his condo/apartment?).

I’m not sure. It _could_ have been Walt, but motive and method match Gus slightly better, IMO. And opportunity.

Plus, Gus had an army of goons to do his dirty work. All Walt had was Saul, and I gave my reason for not believing that Saul would get involved in a plot like this. _Anything_ goes wrong, and Gus or Jesse come after him.

It could be Walt did the deed. I just don’t see how, and, for me, it is an unusual turn for the show to present us with a locked-room mystery.

Still, what Walt did with his time (other than idly spinning his gun) and the moment he showed up at his apartment is known to us. So, yeah, it could be Walt did it. It just doesn’t seem rock solid to me.

But again, if Gus knew about the Ricin cigarette, why wouldn’t he use it ? And if he didn’t use it why would he lift it ? Why would he use a poison he had no reason to assume Jesse had heard about (and indeed he hadn’t), let alone plant the same plant in Walter’s house, something that would only pay off once Jesse knew what the poison was and then got a chance to get into Walt’s house and happened to read those little plant cards ?

With Walt we know why he’d have used Lily of the Valley instead of the ricin cigarette : he had time to poison Brock, and time to lift the cigarette, but not time to do both.

And Walt had been reminded of Brock’s existence, and Jesse’s affection for him, just a bit earlier when he went to Jesse’s house. As for finding Brock, how long did he have that tracker on Jesse’s car ? Jesse could have gone to see Andrea during that time, we know he does it often enough.

Finally got to see this.

I watch this with my boyfriend, and he totally called that Walt poisoned Brock.  I was skeptical, but the piece of evidence that won me over was when Jesse confronted Walt, and Walt was going on about what a genius Gus was.  When has Walt ever described Gus’ attempts to manipulate Jesse as “genius”?  Every time Walt has argued with Jesse about Gus, he’s said something along the lines of, “How stupid does Gus think we are?  Gus can’t possibly expect us to fall for this!”  But then all of a sudden Gus’ plans are diabolically genius, and Jesse is completely reasonable to be duped by it because Gus is such a smarty pants?  No.  Walt has always been of the opinion that he is way smarter than anyone else.  He couldn’t even swallow his pride long enough to let Hank think that Gale was Heisenberg.

Also, this:  http://i.imgur.com/xgovs.jpg

It didn’t get it completely right, but it was pretty good.