Recap: Breaking Bad Season 5, Episode 3: “Hazard Pay”

(Song from episode where Walt and Jessie cook meth inside new, makeshift lab. Exquisite attention to detail in the direction of the meth making process during this scene)

In a rare guest post in this blog, you are all in for another huge treat this week. With the success of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” (Sundays at 10PM EST), every major–and minor–media outlet seems to be running a recap of each episode. Well, 12631 member @a_bh_a has generously offered his thorough and highly entertaining thoughts on last evening’s second episode of season five.

Enjoy the top shelf recap and analysis, and be sure to follow @a_bh_a on Twitter. 

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I begin writing this recap with my Crystal Meth laced chicken nuggets from KFC with my own homemade batch of Franch Dressing. We open in a penitentiary, with a poor man’s Saul Goodman filling out the entry sheet. He makes mention of breaking along a new paralegal, who happens to be our beloved grandfather hitman Mike Ehrmantraut. As a former henchman of the Madrigal/Los Pollos Hermanos operation is brought in, he realizes that this is not a “Hey how are things going in prison” type visit. Rather, Mike has come to inform this individual that the Chow assassination was merely a mistake and that all loose ends have been resolved. The more pressing matter is what to do about the “Cayman Islands hush money” which has now been frozen by the DEA and has made a lot of people scared and nervous.

The man states rather nervously I knew the risks. We all did….It’s not gonna be me, but sooner or later, absent the hazard pay, someone’s gonna flip.” Mike assures him that he will be made whole and that everyone is still obligated to keep their mouth shut. Mike also mentions that he’s got a new thing starting up and that everyone of Mike’s guys will be “made whole”.  Just goes to show you that despite his dark side, Mike is loyal to his people down to his last dying breath. We’ll come back to this scenario in a bit, but you get the sense that there will be friction between the ownership partners on this absorption of Fring’s former employees.

I’m not going to spend too much time talking about the C plots in the episode because they are a waste of time, and most involve Skylar who I absolutely detest. Walt moves back in, without asking anyone and just smugly declaring that “the time is right”. I also like how he just pushes aside Skylar’s things in her drawer and puts his stuff in. Skylar is most definitely not a fan of this, but at this point she is merely relegated to second rate status.

We return from commercials to find Mike sitting in Sol’s office with that Huell falling asleep standing up. Say what you will about Huell, but Saul is still alive and well, so he obviously earns his pay.  Saul is within the offices making a reference to the Three Amigos. He argues that we don’t need a “Fourth Amigo”. It is clear that Saul is still apprehensive about being threatened by Mike, but Walt correctly points out “Mike threatened me,” Walt says. “He threatened Jesse. He probably threatened someone before breakfast. It’s what he does. Grow a pair.” It’s interesting that Mike is telling anyone else on the planet to grow a pair, considering his cowardice from just a short while ago. Remember that the entire sequence of events from Season 1 – 5 has taken place in less than a year.

Mike is brought in and he cuts right to the heart of the matter. He handles the business, Walt & Jesse handle the cooks & Saul just sits back and protects the operation from curious inquirers. Everyone agrees to this, but Saul asks Walt if he’s okay and Walt indicates he is, by saying that Mike “handles the business and I handle him”. A bit of foreshadowing going on here, but we’ll come back to that as well. The four amigos visit a few locations including a cardboard printing press & a tortilla factory which are deemed inadequate before Walt comes up with his next brilliant plan; to create mobile labs that move from house to house under the guise of a pest control fumigation operation.

The rest of the episode shows just how this new operation works, with a crew of pest control employees setting up the houses with Walt & Jesse conducting their cooks in vacant spaces within the house. Mike trains these employees to not steal a thing and to treat Walt & Jesse as ghosts. It’s nice to see Jesse & Walt getting their dues with underlings as they’ve spent the past four seasons answering to others as lower level employees. I also enjoyed when Mike told the Pest control employees to refer to them as Yes sir & No sir. Jesse also solves another mechanical issue which Walt accepts right away. Jesse is becoming quite the genius himself, with two brilliant ideas this season including the magnets idea from the season opener. In any event, their first cook post Gus Fring super lab is successful with a yield of just less than 50 pounds. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Even though I despite Skylar, I’ll make mention of a nervous breakdown she has with Marie, who makes her season debut this episode. She’s a more likable Skylar but a giant waste of a character too. Hope they die in some mishap soon. She basically screams “Shut up” 50 times before completing her massive mental & emotional breakdown. I take some sick sense of pleasure in seeing her agony, but only because I hate her so much. Marie confronts Walt, who chalks it up to internal guilt Skylar is dealing with from the fallout of Ted’s present condition and their short lived affair. Marie buys it right away and exits, as useless and unnecessary as ever.

The final scene is where this episode really shines. We see the tangible result of the cook with three equal piles of cash resting on a table with Walt, Jesse & Mike nearby. You can see the arrogance and satisfaction exuding from Walt, but Mike quickly puts an end to that. He begins deducting amounts citing variable costs such as mules, security, the pest control employees, Saul, security etc. Needless to say, the piles get smaller and smaller, but the most frustrating expense is saved for the end; the “making whole” fund that Mike has promised the former Los Pollos Hermanos associates.

To say Walt is not pleased would be the biggest understatement of the century. Before things get out of hand, Jesse offers to cover the expenses, further showing just how kindhearted he is. He just wants to continue, drama free and who can blame him after the hellish year he’s had. Walt sizing up the situation temporarily agrees to the arrangement but he is definitely bitter about the realities of the business. Seems, it’s not all fun and games and that Gus Fring spent more than two decades trying to perfect the business. Walt wants that same setup in a few days, which just isn’t going to happen. Jesse as always, points out that relative to their yield, they are actually taking in a larger percentage of the profits being owners rather than employees, but Walt doesn’t appreciate that at all.

I think the most upsetting aspect of this new arrangement Mike has forced Walt and Jesse to absorb is a result of his taking out Gus Fring. As Mike points out “Just because you shot Jesse James, doesn’t make you Jesse James”. As Mike exits, Walt makes an eerily poignant statement about Victor who met his demise via a box cutter last season. Mentions of flying too close to the sun instantly draw comparisons to Icarus but at this point we are not sure just who the Icarus is in this operation. Let’s just say, things are not going to end well. But I think that at the end of every single Breaking Bad episode, so nothing new there.

Key Points to Consider: 

• Does anyone find it strange that for a man who once stopped an entire cook due to a SINGLE FLY now wants to cook in homes filled with an overabundance of pests?
• That scene between Brock & Walt was CREEPY. Walt is way beyond the point of decency at this point.
• This episode was filled with characters from past season. Andrea & Brock, Huell, Skinny Pete & Badger, the guy who owned the Laundromat (was the guy in jail that Mike talked to) & the reappearance of the Lazer Base. Very nostalgic for serious fans.
• Scarface foreshadowing: “Everyone dies at the end.”
• Walter “winning” his chess match against Gus has turned him into an arrogant egomaniac. There’s a scene where Mike asks to take a vote, and Walt shuts him down by asking Why? Moves back into the White household, without consulting Skylar saying the “time is right”. Just not giving a fuck about anyone or anything these days.
• Walt is becoming losing his humanity by the hour. He stopped and ate an apple before checking on his wife after he learned that she was having a nervous breakdown. He conversed with the kid he poisoned, and then sat beside him as they looked at each other without so much as a wince. #Creepy
• Walt clearly does not care about Jesse. He is merely a means to the end. When Jesse updates him on his relationship status, Walt cuts him off by asking about the money instead. You can see Jesse’s look of disgust when he makes mention of Victor and the importance of that encounter with Gus last season.

Questions For You Guys:

What do you make of that Icarus analogy at the end?

Who do you think ends up taking Walt out in the end?

Do you think we get a Scarface moment where everyone dies?

Anyone excited about the return of the Heisenberg hat next week?

Anyone think Brock knows more than he’s letting on at the moment?

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