TPG's Chemistry Class: Episode 5 "Shotgun"

For a whole week after last week's episode, I couldn't stop thinking about how Mike The Cleaner got his ear Tysoned by a bullet. That little piece of gore was grosser than the gallons on "True Blood," so when he showed up this week with a Band-Aid, it made me realize if there was something bigger going on here. But more on that later! Hopefully you've recovered from the latin flavored time-lapse of an episode and are healthy enough to dive in!

1. Let's just get into it! Mike the Cleaner is starting to get tired of Gus Fring. We first witnessed this last week was Mike got a chip in his armor (a piece of his ear getting blown off) and now we see it again with his very un-Mike breakdown to Jesse..."You're not the guy!" His line at the end of the episode, "I know better by now to ask questions" indicates he is growing tired of Gus's manipulations and un-predictability. If you go back and watch Victor get throat surgery from Dr. Gus, Mike is totally shocked and afraid. He's starting to make moves to protect himself.

2. At this point there is so much Red & Blue in the show, it could mean a variety of things including. Red States vs. Blue States, the Halo web series of the same name, some type of commentary about Captain America, the difference in what blood looks like with and without oxygen, different color uniforms of the Red Sox, a preference for Airhead flavors. Who knows.

3. So Hank has really got his mojo back huh? I hope everyone noticed that Hank is now rocking his DEA shirt which obviously means he really is back on the hunt now. But he's wearing more than a simple DEA shirt, he's rocking the FUN RUN shirt, a reference back to a season 2 fundraising event for Walt, which just happened to have been partly financed by Gus Fring. Translation = he's just starting getting deep into this web of lies.

4. Besides looking like a combination of Gus and Chris Bosh, we really don't anything about Gus's new henchman who according to the Breaking Bad wiki is named Tyrus Kitt. He's good with a fork lift, rocks a mean leather jacket, will probably get blasted by the end of the season.

 

5. I don't now how to say this without sounding messed up, but I think Skyler is one of the most morally vacant people on the show. Seeing her get turned on by investing in the carwash, hearing Walt say he loves her, manipulating Bogdan, just strikes me as really morally wretched. The zest she has shown for diving into illegal activities is wild and very un-settling.

6. "Breaking Bad" continues to be one of the most experimentally directed shows on television. Last night's director Michelle Maxwell MacLaren had all sorts of crazy time lapses, POV shots, and bizarre angles. I'm digging it, but I know some viewers find it off-putting and to those viewers I say this "Go back to NCIS brahhhh!" On another note, the first person shots of Walt "cooking" were excellent.

7. A lot of the imagery of Mike and Jesse visiting barren fields and burned out factories while wearing all black and carrying shovels really reminded me of the end of freakin' days man. If the end comes and Mike is waiting there with a shovel, I'm just gonna assume, I'm done.

8. WHO ARE YOU ROOTING FOR? This is the ultimate question for anyone watching "Breaking Bad." Walt, the (dying?) family man who's just trying to provide? Jesse, the lost soul who's searching for a way back on track (who thanks to Gus, he found it)? Or is it the heroic cop Hank, who has been injured physically and mentally in his quest for justice and Heisenberg? The genius of the show is that it allows us to pick. As for my pick-----I'm rooting for Jesse yo.