Original Air Date: March 29,2009

Director: John Dahl      Writer: Sam Catlin

Breaking Bad Season Two  Episode Four “Down” Spoilers

So Jesse (Aaron Paul) is broke now since the DEA took his money, so he hits up his partner Walt (Bryan Cranston) for some of his cash but only gets about 600 bucks.

Back at the White house, Walt still tries to convince Skyler (Anna Gunn) that he does not have another cell phone. While his back is to her, she slips out the house.

Meanwhile, Jesse has problems of his own as his parents give him 72 hours to vacate his aunt’s house. He refuses to leave but that doesn’t last long. No place to go, he asks a few friends for a place to crash, but that fails. He then sneaks into the junkyard where the RV is stored, falls into a porta-potty, and passes out in the RV covered in blue goo.

The next morning, Clovis finds Jesse in the RV and wants his money. Refusing to pony up the dough, Clovis threatens to sell the RV and when he disappears, Jesse drives the RV straight through the gate and to Walt’s house.

Skyler keeps taking off on Walt, giving him no explanation to where she is going. They get into an argument in the driveway. She takes off and he attempts to follow but sees the RV parked up the street. Inside, he and Jesse get into a fight where Jesse gets the upper hand, grabbing Walt by the throat. Walt tells his young partner to go ahead and do it, but Jesse refuses. They both head into his house where Walt gives him a share of their money and they have breakfast together.

Place your comments about Season Two below.

Original Air Date: March 22, 2009

Director:  Terry McDonough Writer: Peter Gould

Breaking Bad Season Two  Episode Three “Bit by a Dead Bee” Spoilers

So Walt’s big plan to explain his disappearance is to get naked and walk through a grocery store. Hospitalized, Walt tells  Skyler (Anna Gunn) and Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) that he doesn’t remember a thing about the last few days.

Meanwhile, Jesse (Aaron Paul) sits in front of his house and watches as the police look at his property. He hatches a plan with his homeboy to get rid of the meth lab and the RV by having Badger’s cousin tow it away. Jesse puts himself in a motel room with a jnki and has Badger drop a dime on him so that the DEA arrest him, but he now has an alibi and denies knowing anything about his car’s whereabouts and the money inside.

Hank (Dean Norris) tries to get Jesse to confess that he was out in the desert with Tuco, but Wendy, the prostitute in his motel room backs up his story. Hank tries to get the old man in the desert to recognize the young drug dealer but he refuses to cooperate. Having no choice, Hank releases Jesse.

Walt and Jesse touch base and Walt remembers the gun and the money sitting in the diaper box. He sneaks back home to hide the money and then catches a bus back to the hospital.

At the DEA”s office, Hank begins to link the warehouse burglary to the blue-colored dope found in Tuco’s shack. As a gift, his friends give him tuco’s glittering grill which he shows to Walt.

Place your comments about Season Two below.

Original Air Date: March 8, 2009

Director:  Bryan Cranston    Writer: J Roberts

Breaking Bad Season Two  Episode One “Seven Thirty-Seven” Spoilers

Season Two starts off by showing us the drug deal between Walt (Bryan Cranston), Jesse (Aaron Paul) and Tuco (Raymond Cruz). We get a recap of what went down and the brutal beating Tuco gave to his henchman. As walt and Jesse try to leave, Tuco comes back and wants Walt to perform some miracle operation to try to revive the dead henchman, but nothing they can do helps. The duo leave the junkyard on uneasy terms with the psychotic drug dealer and Walt heads home to his pregnant wife.

At the White residence, Skyler (Anna Gunn) continues to ignore her sister Marie (Betsy Brandt) after their fallout over the stolen tiara Maria gave to her pregnant sister.  Maria seems to have anger management issues as she drives away from her husband, Hank (Dean Norris) and runs over the neighbor’s toy car. Hank, working with his partner Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada), watch a grainy video of Walt and Jesse’s robbery of chemicals last season and put together that there is a new force in the ABQ for crystal meth.

With Tuco on their tail, Walt and Jesse come up with a plan to deal with the crazed dealer by giving him some ricin-laced crystal meth. Before they can hatch this plan, Tuco kidnaps Jesse ad shows up at Walt’s house, forcing the chemistry into the car while his pregnant wife waits inside for him to respond to her questions.

Place your comments about Season Two below.

Original Air Date: March 15,2009

Director: Charles Haid       Writer:  George Mastras

Breaking Bad Season Two  Episode Two  “Grilled” Spoilers

Hank (Dean Norris) briefs his DEA team about the upcoming raid on Tuco’s headquarters after they find his dead henchmen in the junkyard., but Tuco (Raymond Cruz) is not there. He is out in the desert with Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul).

Over at the White residence, Skyler (Anna Gunn) talks to detectives about the disappearance of her husband. She and her sister, Marie (Betsy Brandt) start to pass out flyers. Marie starts to explain about the tiara, but Skyler tells her now is not the time.

In a ramshackle shed out in the desert, Tuco holds the duo at his uncle Tio’s place. He finds the ricin-laced meth and Jesse tries to convince him that it is the bomb ass meth, but Tuco stays away from the poison. His plan is to kill Jesse and smuggle Walt into Mexico to become a full time cook and they are just waiting for his cousins to show up.

Hank gets a tip about Jesse from Marie about Walt’s second cell phone and the fact that Jesse is his weed dealer. Hank tracks down Jesse’s mother and she tells him what kind of car he drives. Hank gets an idea to track it down through the LoJack system.

Out in the desert, Walt tries to poison Tuco’s food, but his mute uncle gets involved. Things get out of hand, where Tuco drags Walt outside and Jesse clubs the dealer on the back of the head. The duo end up with the dealer’s guns and end up shooting him in the side. As a vehicle approaches from the distance, Walt and Jesse fear it is the cousins, so they split.  Tuco heads towards Jesse’s car where he is met by an approaching Hank. The two end up in a gunfight where Tuco is fatally shot.

Walt and Jesse take off into the desert.

Place your comments about Season Two below.

Original Air Date: April 12, 2009

Director: Peter Medak         Writer:  J Roberts and Vince Gilligan

Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Six “Peekaboo” Spoilers

Upon Walt’s commands, Jesse (Aaron Paul) decides to handle the situation with the robbery of Skinny Pete. Waiting patiently , Jesse waits for Pete to show up with the name and address of the robbers. They are a couple of junkies who live in a ramshackle house. Outside the house, Jesse takes out the pistol and psyches himself up for what he has to do. The junkies aren’t home, so he breaks a window and enters the garbage-strewn, ripped furniture hovel of the dope fiends. He quickly finds that they are not home but instead finds a small half-dressed dirty boy who sits on the couch and watches the shopping channel with Jesse.

At the White residence, Walter (Bryan Cranston) returns to school as Skyler (Anna Gunn) calls Gretchen to thank her for paying the hospital bills. Gretchen decides that she needs to come down and talk to Skyler that afternoon. Walt finds his first day back a little difficult due to everyone in the school knowing about his fugue state and loss of pants, while the assistant principal comes to him and offers help if he ever needs it. Leaving school, he finds a flyer on his car about him “Missing”, except it now reads “I’m MISSING My Pants!”

Inside the junkie’s house, Jesse finds some food for the child and plays peekaboo with the boy. When the addicts finally come home, Jesse hides the child before he confronts the junkies  about his missing meth. To prove his point, he bashes the male, Spooge, in the head with the gun.

After arriving home, Walt finds a surprise as Gretchen has driven down to talk directly to Skyler who has thanked Gretchen for her generosity. Walt escorts er out to her car where she drives away without saying anything.

Back at the junkies’ house, Jesse gets the meth heads to hand over what is left of his drugs. they have no money but can get him some as soon as they can break into an ATM that they boosted. While trying to break into the ATM, the junkies turn the table on Jesse as he plays with the boy. With Jesse knocked out, the female takes his gun. Later, as Spooge tries to break into the ATM while arguing with his women, she gets mad and crushes his skull by dropping the heavy machine on him. Jesse wakes up to the female passed out and Spooge dead. He gathers his gun, clears his prints, and takes the boy outside to wait for the police as he calls 911 and leaves.

Place your comments about Season Two below.

The Calm Before the Storm

Well, if you watched Episode Two, then you know that Walt (Bryan Cranston) was spared the ax, literally. A last minute text message from Gus with the simple word of “Pollo”, let the brothers from Juarez know that hey must call off their plans of vengeance, at least for the moment. Walt has worked his way back in this home without Skyler’s (Anna Gunn) permission and Jesse (Aaron Paul) straight out bought back his aunt’s house. Everything has seemed to get back to some sense of normalcy as we wait to see where the rest of the season is heading.

Spoiler Warning for Episode Three “I.F.T.”

So what does I.F.T. stand for? We all know the writer’s of Breaking Bad love to have some hidden tricks in the name and this episode is no different.  for those watching, they will probably miss the significance of these letters even when they are finally revealed at the end of the episode. Walt is now scraping the pizza off the roof in an attempt at domestic bliss while he waits to drop the bomb on Skyler.  Jesse lays on the floor of his aunt’s phone and calls his dead girlfriend’s cell phone number over and over again to listen to her voicemail. We see this image over and over again throughout the episode while we focus on the White family. Hank has been given the word that he is going back to El Paso, but the post traumatic stress from Tortuga’s head blowing up has left him shaking under his macho veneer. In a flashback, we see how Tortuga’s head ended up on the tortoise as the Cousins from Juarez were instrumental in the beheading. A meeting between the Salamanca cartel and Gus has been set up with Uncle Tio showing up with his bell and wheelchair. Everything goes polite, but Gus is warned that Salamanca has very little control over the Cousins and he needs to get business over with Heisenberg soon.

Skyler is not to happy to find Walt in her home and makes good on her threat to call the cops. Well, this doesn’t go as planned, as Walt plays the cards that Saul advised him on, knowing that Skyler won’t spill the beans to the police on his illegal activity. Since he hasn’t beat her, since there is no legal separation, and no restraining order, the police can’t do a damn thing about Walt being home.

Hank still wrestles with the thoughts of going to El Paso and ends up in a biker bar with his partner. He sees a meth deal going down, but his partner tells him to leave it alone. While on the way out, he does a double turn and goes back in and starts a fight with the dope dealers. This action puts him up for investigation.

Skyler, not to happy with her domestic situation, decides to change things between her and her boss and asks him, “Is anybody at his place?”. When she arrives back home, Walt has cooked dinner for Walt Jr. and his friend. Skyler comes into the kitchen and tells Walt that she “I.F.T.”

(Figure it out…. the first part is I, the third the boss’s name, and the second can be done in so many different ways!)

Walt does not look to happy with this news.

Meanwhile, Jesse still calls the cell phone and finally gets a disconnect. His last connection with his dead girlfriend is gone.

The Fate Of Jesse Pinkman and the Rule of the Third Season

Jesse, having mentored under Walt, will now start making the infamous “Blue Meth” that Gus wants and Hank wants to catch. Unlike Walt, Jesse doesn’t have the general instinct to watch his back and he is going to fall under the radar of Hank’s DEA posse. I believe that Walt is going to have no choice but to get back in the game. Also, Skyler is being watched by Saul’s pet detective who will eventually bring the dirt to the surface. Another issue that everyone has seen coming is Walt’s eventual involvement with the sexy principal at his school. How can anyone resist that fine piece of tail, lol.

With shows like Breaking Bad, we have to follow the models of shows before them. The ante has to increase and somebody major has to die. In Sopranos, that seemed to happen every year and Dexter, it happened majorly at the end of Season Four with the shocking death of Rita. Since Breaking bad might only go four seasons according to Vince Gilligan, then this is the season where somebody dies. I have bets that it will either be Walt Jr. (an easy one considering he is almost useless to the storyline) or Jesse (which would be one of those holy crap moments).

Whoever it is, somebody is going to die.

Sneak Preview for Breaking Bad Season Three Episode Four “Green Light”

Main Characters of Breaking Bad

Skyler White (Anna Gunn)

Skyler White is the moral compass missing in her husband, Walter White (Bryan Cranston). As Walt sinks deeper and deeper into the monster he is becoming, Skyler can no longer lie to herself and think everything is alright with her husband.

In the beginning, we are introduced to Skyler as a soon-to-be mother who learns that her husband is starting to keep things from her. She tracks down a mysterious phone which leads her to Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), a former student of Walt’s who she learns sells drugs to her husband. At least this is what he tells her.

As Walt gets deeper into his world of making crystal meth, Skyler finds herself more and more isolated from her husband. She is constantly worried about the mounting medical bills and at the same time is curious at how they keep getting paid. She eventually learns that Walt has a second cell phone which he keeps denying right up until his surgery where he lets slip that he has two phones.

No longer blind to her husband actions, Skyler wakes up from the web of lies thrown over her and begins to piece together all the holes in his stories, from his disappearances to where all the money is coming from. She confronts Walt with everything and he finally admits that he has been lying. Skyler decides to leave him and Walt asks her if he tells her the truth will she stay.

“Whatever it is,” she says. “I’m afraid to know.” Skyler drives away with the baby.

About the Actress

Growing up in Sante Fe, New Mexico, Anna Gunn is right at home working in the ABQ. She has had a very successful career which has traveled between television, film, and theater. Her first breakout performance came when she played Martha Bullock on HBO’s hit show Deadwood. Her extensive television credits include The Practice, Six Feet Under, ER, and Seinfeld.

Gunn has also appeared in several movies, including Nobody’s Baby, Without Evidence, and Enemy of the State. While she is known as the tough mother Skyler White, Anna Gunn is highly regarded stage actress where she has starred and created several roles for the theater. Her theater credits include Chicago, Peacekeeper, Measure for Measure, and The Beggar’s Opera.

Getting Reacquainted with Breaking Bad: Season Three Returns Sunday, March 21

For those that have been wondering what’s been going on with our favorite drug dealer, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), then the wait will be over this Sunday as AMC brings back the Emmy award-winning series that has broke serious ground for quality television that is not on a Pay TV network. It used to be that you would have to have a subscription to HBO (Sopranos) or Showtime (Dexter) to see some of the best dramas available outside of the movies screen. Normal television, while having some interesting shows like CSI or Bones, tends to stick to formulaic cop dramas that while living on the edge of society’s norms, never really show us inside the human psyche. HBO’s Sopranos was probably the first series to not only break some serious ground with its subject matter, but it also offered us the closest realistic portrayal of the way the mafia works in America. Even though the major networks applauded this great series, nothing was done to bridge the gap between great television and the same old, same old cop procedurals.  Cable networks continued to bring outstanding shows like Sleeper Cell, Queer as Folk, Deadwood, Weeds, Californication, The L Word, and my favorite, Dexter which is probably the best scripted show on television today. So when AMC took a chance and gave us Breaking Bad, a small little show about a middle aged chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and decides to change his life by becoming a drug dealer, they took the safe formulas and threw them out a mobile meth lab.

The realness of what goes on in Breaking Bad is astounding. what happens to Walt can happen in any home in America, especially now in the economy. That is what makes the AMC original series so ground breaking. If you have not watched Breaking bad, I would suggest going and getting the first two seasons and have a nice marathon while waiting for the new episode to premiere on Sunday.

A Six-Minute Recap of Breaking Bad Seasons One and Two

AMCTV.com has a lot of cool stuff for those who are fans of this series. They have interviews, recaps, and special footage that can help anyone get acquainted with this series. I have included a six-minute recap of Breaking Bad Season One and Two.

If you want a recap of Breaking Bad Season One, follow this link.

If you want a recap of Breaking Bad Season Two, follow this link.

What’s to Come in Season Three of Breaking Bad: A Look at the Cast

Season Two left off with Walter White having to deal with a heroin-addicted Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and the fact that his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) wants to leave him if he doesn’t come clean.  I believe Season Three will be the biggest and most dramatic season yet. The great thing about shows like Breaking Bad and Showtime’s Dexter, is, as much as we love the characters, in the end, nothing good can ever come from their actions. The writers know that they can’t cheat us, so we always sit on the edge of our chairs wondering if this is the year that they get caught. I have included sneak peeks of footage of the cast and scenes from Season Three’s first episode “No Mas”. Enjoy!!

Breaking Bad Season Three Sneak Peak Episode 301 “No Mas” from AMCTV.com

Check out this preview of the new season!!!

If you have comments about anything to do with Breaking Bad and the new season, leave them below.

Breaking Bad Season Two Recap:

For those that have missed this Emmy award winning AMC series, this is a good time to get caught up before the new season begins March 21. Below is a quick recap of the first season. I would suggest you buy the first two seasons of Breaking Bad and have a late night marathon getting caught up with television’s most realistic bad guy since Tony Soprano.

Just follow this link to order Season One and Two of Breaking Bad on DVD or Blu-Ray.

The Rundown (the official recap from AMCTV.com)

In an abandoned auto junkyard, Tuco buys meth from Jesse and Walt, and then kills his henchman No-Doze for speaking out of turn. Jesse purchases a gun to protect himself from Tuco, but Walt proposes they kill Tuco with poison instead. Hank sends Walt a cell phone photo of No-Doze and Gonzo, Tuco’s other associate, dead in the junkyard. Shortly afterwards, Tuco abducts Walt and Jesse at gunpoint.

Hank briefs his DEA team about a raid on Tuco’s headquarters, and then takes a leave of absence to search for Walt. Marie tells Skyler that Walt might have a second cell phone and suggests Hank visit Jesse’s mother. Mrs. Pinkman tells Hank about Jesse’s low-rider car, which Hank tracks to Tuco’s place using LoJack.

Trapped in a desert hideaway, Walt and Jesse try to slip Tuco the poison, but his ailing uncle, Tio, tips Tuco off. Jesse and Walt escape and are hiding nearby when Hank approaches Tuco and kills him in a shootout.

To cover for their disappearance, Walt fakes amnesia and is hospitalized while Jesse removes meth evidence from his house, persuades Badger’s cousin Clovis to tow away the RV, and gets himself arrested. Hank, interrogating Jesse, accuses him of working with Tuco, but releases Jesse when Tio refuses to ID him. Walt returns home where Skyler quizzes him about the second phone.

A broke Jesse asks Walt for half their remaining money, but Walt refuses. Jesse’s parents, aware of the meth lab, force him to vacate his house. He breaks into Clovis’s repair yard and sleeps in the RV, stealing it back after Clovis threatens to sell the cooking supplies. Walt eventually shares some of his remaining cash with Jesse.

Meanwhile, a suspicious Skyler keeps her distance from Walt and smokes to relieve tension. Walt confronts Skyler about the cigarettes. “This is so unlike you,” he says. “How would you know?” she retorts.

Jesse rents a duplex apartment from Jane (who lives next door), and assembles a meth-dealing crew. All goes well until a junkie couple robs Skinny Pete. Walt demands retribution.

Jesse, lying in wait for the junkies, discovers a small boy at their house. The junkies return some meth and promise Jesse the proceeds of a stolen ATM, but the woman knocks Jesse out. After Spooge, the male junkie, taunts his woman, she crushes his head with the ATM. Jesse grabs some cash, calls 911 and hurries the boy out of the house.

Skyler, meanwhile, thanks a bewildered Gretchen for funding Walt’s chemo; Walt begs Gretchen not to admit the truth. Gretchen calls Skyler to say they’re cutting the money off, so Walt tells Skyler that Elliott is broke.

The news of Spooge’s murder shocks Walt, who takes advantage of Jesse’s newfound street cred to expand their territory.

Skyler returns to Beneke Fabricators, her former employer, where her boss Ted once flirted with her. Skyler assures Marie the incident won’t recur, but the two later share an intimate moment when Skyler opens up about Walt’s cancer.

Hank gets promoted to work part-time in the DEA’s El Paso office, but suffers anxiety attacks over his encounter with Tuco. His anxiety hits new highs during a stakeout in Mexico when a tortoise bearing the head of an informant explodes, maiming several DEA agents. Walt eventually councils Hank to face his fears, and Hank returns to work.

After an undercover cop busts Badger, Walt and Jesse hire a shady attorney named Saul Goodman. Hank tells Badger he’ll go free if he identifies “Heisenberg,” Walt’s drug-world alter ego, so Saul arranges for an ex-con to take the fall for Walt.

Back at the duplex, Jesse and Jane develop a romance. Jesse suggests he and Jane share a joint, but she tells him she’s been sober for 18 months. Jane later treats Jesse brusquely in front of Donald, her dad, causing Jesse to feel demoralized until she slips him a sketch of a superheroine named “Apology Girl.”

Walt, awaiting test results he’s certain will be discouraging, tricks Jesse into participating in a meth-cooking marathon. It’s successful, but several mishaps leave the RV disabled and the two men stranded without water in the desert heat. Walt cobbles together a working battery and they return to Albuquerque, where Walt is surprised to learn his cancer is in remission.

Skyler hosts a party to celebrate Walt’s good news. Hank and Walt nearly come to blows after Walt pours Walter Jr. tequila shots. After apologizing for his behavior at the party, Walt consumes himself with home improvements.

Combo is shot and killed. Spooked by Combo’s death, Skinny Pete quits dealing and Jesse gets heavy into drugs with Jane, who introduces him to heroin.

Later, Saul offers to put Walt and Jesse in touch with a low-profile narcotics distributor, Gus, who will buy their product in bulk. But Jesse scares Gus off by arriving high for a meeting. Walt persists, and Gus gives Walt an hour to deliver his meth.

Skyler meanwhile discovers accounting irregularities at Beneke. Ted admits to fraud, but Skyler makes the choice to stay anyway — just before going into labor. Walt, rushing to retrieve the meth from his passed-out partner’s apartment, ignores Skyler’s calls and misses his daughter’s birth.

Jesse calls Walt, freaked that their meth has been stolen. When Jesse figures out the truth, Walt says he’ll hold Jesse’s $480,000 share until he’s clean. Saul figures out a way to launder Walt’s take through SaveWalterWhite.com, the website Walter Jr. establishes to raise money for his dad’s surgery.

Jane, who has promised her father Donald she’ll enter rehab the next day, blackmails Walt for Jesse’s money. Walt turns it over, but a coincidental bar chat with Donald inspires him to return to Jesse’s apartment, where he watches as a drugged-up Jane chokes to death on her own vomit.

The next morning, Jesse calls Walt, who arranges for an operative to remove drug evidence from Jesse’s apartment. “I killed her,” Jesse later sobs. Walt checks Jesse into rehab.

Before undergoing surgery, Walt unwittingly reveals to Skyler that he has a second phone. His surgery is successful, but a few weeks later Skyler leaves him. Donald returns to work as an air-traffic controller. Distracted by thoughts of his daughter, he inadvertently causes two planes to collide in the sky over Walt’s house.



Breaking Bad Season One Recap:

For those that have missed this Emmy award winning AMC series, this is a good time to get caught up before the new season begins March 21. Below is a quick recap of the first season. I would suggest you buy the first two seasons of Breaking Bad and have a late night marathon getting caught up with television’s most realistic bad guy since Tony Soprano.

Just follow this link to order Season One and Two of Breaking Bad on DVD or Blu-Ray.

The Rundown (the official recap from AMCTV.com)

Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, learns he has terminal lung cancer. Desperate to secure the financial future of his family — his wife Skyler is pregnant, his son Walter Jr. has cerebral palsy — the 50-year-old leaves his second job at the car wash and teams up with a former student named Jesse to make and sell meth. “You know the business. I know the chemistry,” he tells his new partner, who declares Walt “a damn artist” after sampling the first batch cooked in their Winnebago/mobile-drug-lab.

Jesse takes said sample to Krazy-8, cousin to Jesse’s recently busted drug-dealing partner Emilio. Emilio, out on bail and convinced Jesse ratted him out, sets up a double-cross. When a desert rendezvous with all four turns nasty, Walt creates a chemical explosion that leaves Emilio dead and Krazy-8 struggling to survive. Krazy-8 escapes only to have Walt recapture him then lock him to a pole in Jesse’s basement.

Jesse and Walt then flip a coin to determine who’ll dissolve Emilio’s body in acid (Jesse’s job) and who’ll kill Krazy-8 (Walt’s job). Skyler, meanwhile, uses *69 to trace a suspicious call from Jesse. When Skyler asks who this is, Walt says that Jesse is his pot dealer.

Skyler visits Jesse to tell him to stop selling her husband marijuana. After she leaves, Jesse gets to work on disincorporating Emilio’s body. Because he ignores Walt’s specific instructions to use a certain type of plastic container, opting instead to pour acid on Emilio in the bathtub, the acid completely eats through the tub, which collapses to the floor below leaving Walt and Jesse with a bloody mess to clean up.

At Walt’s house, Skyler poses vague questions about marijuana to her sister Marie, who thinks they’re discussing Walter Jr. Shortly thereafter, Marie persuades her husband, Hank, a DEA agent, to scare the boy straight. Marie is breaking the law herself, however, having stolen a pair of shoes from a store where she felt the sales clerk was ignoring her.

In another part of town, Jesse bolts from his house after Walt berates him for divulging personal information to Krazy-8. Walt says they have more work to do, but Jesse begs to differ: “Coin flip is sacred! Your job is waiting for you in the basement.” A heart-to-heart with Walt leaves Krazy-8 confident that Walt will spare him, but when Walt realizes Krazy-8 is conning him, he strangles the dealer.

At a family barbecue, Walt reveals his illness to Marie, Hank, and Walter Jr. Walt balks at spending $5,000 to see a renowned oncologist. Walter Jr., frustrated by his dad’s lack of emotion, blurts out, “Then why don’t you just f—ing die?” Walt relents, using drug profits to pay the bill.

Jesse, haunted by recent events, flees to his parents’ house. There, the maid discovers a joint. Jesse denies it’s his, but his parents kick him out. As he leaves, his younger brother, Jake, thanks Jesse for not telling on him.

At a birthday party at his fancy home, Elliott, Walt’s Nobel-prize winning former colleague, offers Walt employment, saying his company provides excellent health insurance. Walt declines the offer, later accusing Skyler of putting Elliott up to it.

Jesse attempts to cook meth but can’t match Walt’s quality. At a family pow-wow about Walt’s cancer, Walt tells everyone, “All I have left is how I choose to approach” having cancer; he chooses not to have chemo. The next morning, though, he says he’ll accept treatment and Elliott’s help.

At a chemotherapy clinic, Walt tells Skyler he’s taking Elliott’s money but in fact, he’s using the drug-dealing profits. His chemo bills mounting, Walt tells Jesse they need to sell meth in bulk.

Having discovered a gas mask (labeled property of Walt’s high school) in the desert, Hank inventories the storage room of Walt’s chemistry lab and concludes that “some meth monkey had a feeding frenzy” there.

Jesse finagles an interview with Tuco, Krazy-8′s “badass” replacement as a distributor. Tuco loves Walt’s meth but refuses to pay for it up front, beating up Jesse and swiping the meth. Walt returns to face down Tuco, deceiving him with what looks like meth, but which is actually an explosive compound Walt uses to demolish Tuco’s office. “You got balls,” Tuco allows, and they make a deal for more meth.

Jesse becomes outraged upon learning that Walt is doing business with Tuco. Things turn tenser still when Walt can’t produce Tuco’s meth order. Walt talks Tuco into a loan, albeit at high interest, so that he and Jesse can procure the proper supplies.

Walt tells Skyler he’s going to a sweat lodge but instead heads to Jesse’s house. He congratulates Jesse for scoring the supplies, though a key chemical is missing. Jesse knows thieves who can steal it, but they want ten grand. Walt suggests he and Jesse pinch it themselves.

Meanwhile, Skyler heads to a jewelry store to return a baby-sized diamond tiara Marie gave at her baby shower. When she approaches the owner with the gift she is apprehended and informed it was stolen. Faking labor pains, Skyler avoids arrest and confronts Marie, who is evasive.

Walt and Jesse pull off their heist and cook in Jesse’s basement. At an auto junkyard, Walt delivers the new meth to Tuco, who is ecstatic about the results. When one of Tuco’s henchmen presumes to speak for him, Tuco viciously beats the guy to a pulp. Walt and Jesse look on in shock. Finishing up, Tuco laughs and tells Walt he’ll see him next week.