lionelhutz123

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Chao returns! Just like the fake Cosmo Kramer (junkyard man) from last episode, another character from season 3 makes a reappearance. Unfortunately because of the manipulative Lydia, waving money in front of a vulnerable hitman's face, Chao takes more than just a bullet to the hand this time. As brief as he has been around, he really is one of the better one-time characters, in my opinion. Other than that, I loved Mike's clever plan to throw hitman Chris off using Kaylee's toy pig to distract him. It felt welcomably reminiscent to Mike using her balloons to infiltrate the chemical warehouse (to rescue Chao, of course). Overall, you could really feel how much pressure people like Mike, Dennis (from the laundry), Chao, Chris, and the rest of men on the list are under now that the feds are taking all their money or worse. Desperate times.

Finally, lets talk about Walt. Geez, remember when he was the protagonist of this show? I mean, we still follow him and like his character from a creative standpoint because we want to continue to witness his metamorphosis, but those badass moments from him that many would cheer at whenever underdog Walt found himself in a corner, feel like a thing of recent past. Now that he's on top, every scene with him this season just feels disturbingly dark and creepy, and it all primarily stems back to his choice to continue cooking with his misguided, manipulated partner Jesse.

Poor Jesse is caught by the deluded tentacles that is Heisenberg, and Walt takes advantage of Jesse in the beginning by planting a dummy ricin cigarette in the roomba. Walt even goes as far as actually mock-searching for something that isn't there to begin with, which definitely looks like it took hours to do, just to confirm that Jesse is under his wing. The scene with Jesse breaking down over almost killing Walt (great acting), only for Walt to take complete advantage of that by convincing him that they should move forward with the cook, is just chilling. He literally has him in the palm of his hands, working the gears in his favor. I loved how they didn't even show us that conversation and by the time they arrive at Mike's house, Jesse is absolutely on board, which is something Mike notices. You can even see Jesse looking back at Mike, as if he knows Mike is aware of something, but he just can't understand what because Walt has practically warped his mind with manipulation.

As for Skyler... wow. I feel so bad for her right now. She's like paralyzed with fear for what her life is like now, living with Walt. As Mike described, he's a ticking time bomb and Skyler really doesn't want to be the one who sets it off now by questioning his actions. At the same time, she knows this is a dangerous road if she keeps quiet. It's almost like she's coming to realize that one way or another, shit is most likely going to end up bad. Walt is very different domestically than he used to be. He used to tip-toe around the house trying not to make Skyler upset, but now it doesn't seem to phase him. He's too far gone now. When Walt Jr. tells his father to say hello to mom, Walt assertively replies, "I will". He knows Skyler feels bothered, but that doesn't stop him from nudging her to wake up. That scene where you don't even see his face and Skyler just goes along with his suggestions is just so unsettling.

As if the "I forgive you" ending wasn't strange enough, this time we get an ending that is like 10x more creepy. It honeslty felt like a monster full of delusion, repeating "it's for the family, it's for the family" was just wrapping itself around a frightened Skyler, squeezing tighter and tighter. This is the new type of heisenberg that quite frankly I seriously hate, and for the show to accomplish that so far, only in it's second episode, you have to appreciate the art in that. If they can make me feel for Gus as much as they did in "Hermanos", then I have full confidence that they could make me actually hate Walt to the point where it's beyond fun to watch him change.

I feel like the only ties that need to be cut left in order to make him completely unrelatable is his partnership with Jesse (which you can imagine how that can end badly), and most importantly his ties to his family. Despite the fact that his dangerous lifestyle has gone beyond his lying justification that it's for the family, there's still that shred of fact that he still would protect them if certain circumstances unfolded. I wonder if Skyler ever finally speaks up and things escalate as these 16 episodes unfold. Walt could possibly for selfish reasons of establishing his current power-position, physically hurt Skyler to send a message. It sounds far-fetched, but we also thought the idea of him going through the steps of poisoning a child was something he was uncapable of. I feel like with the right development, something like that could happen and it would be the perfect way to make it more clear that he's a full on unlikable antagonist. That's just a wild prediction from me for now though.

Random Question: Which non-main characters are you looking forward to seeing again this season? Badger, Skinny Pete, Huel? Any one-time or two-time characters from the past that you would like to see before the show is all said and done?