Before the house burns down. Some bullet points on the newest “Breaking Bad” titled “Rabid Dog”…

• The teaser picks up shortly from where we left off last episode, this time from Walt’s perspective. Walt sees Saul’s car parked in his driveway/front yard, and sneaks into his house through the backyard. Where is Jesse? Nowhere to be found. The show did a fine job of letting this scene breathe allowing the potential reveal of Jesse to build up. It was almost like a horror movie where a character is scared for what’s around the corner. The scene also benefited from the great score.

• Walt still sounds like a concerned dad on the voicemail he leaves for Jesse.

• Walt’s goals after not finding Jesse at his house – find Jesse, try to not alarm Skyler and the family that Jesse broke in and soaked part of the house in gasoline

• Skyler comes home to the smell of gasoline. What proceeds is about the worst (in terms of believability/effectiveness) lie Walt has told in some time. Who is really going to believe he got soaked in gasoline at the gas station? Thankfully Skyler and Walt Jr. aren’t buying his bulls**t. I mean when Walt Jr. is calling you out on your lies they must be pretty bad even if he thinks it’s because of Walt’s cancer. I suppose at that point Walt had to do what he could to not scare his family and to get them out of the house until the problem dog is neutralized.

• Saul isn’t his normal jovial self in the meet with Walt in the car is he? He seems to see the writing on the wall when it comes to Walt and Jesse’s relationship as he thinks it may be an, “Old Yeller type situation.” I’ll give Walt this much credit. He’ll try to salvage a relationship until there doesn’t seem to be another course. Notice how stern he gets with Saul at the possibility of sending Jesse on his own trip to Belize. He’s not having any of it (for the moment).

• What do we get after Walt’s meeting with Saul? Another horrendous lie from Walt about how his room key wouldn’t give him access to the ice room. C’mon man. Seriously? At least try to come up with something better. Anyway, Skyler asks Walt point-blank, “How’s Saul doing?” To which Walt lies again about his whereabouts saying he doesn’t have any idea how Saul is doing. Skyler, again not beating around the bush says she just saw Walt in the car with him. She’s clearly getting further fed up with Walt. Like with Saul, Walt gets hard-nosed with Skyler. She demands to know why they needed to go to the hotel. Walt attempts to downplay what Jesse did. Skyler, about as chillingly as I can imagine, insinuates that Walt should dispose of Jesse. The truth is that Skyler, as guilty as she feels about what she’s done, is probably right. The obvious solution to protect their family and what they have built is to have Jesse silenced for good. Mrs. White has broken bad too.

• Next up is a slight flashback to the events of last episode. Jesse (after snorting cocaine?) breaks into the White residence and is getting close to burning it to the ground when…Hank shows up at the front door and talks him out of it. Oh sh*t! Jesse learning about Walt poisoning Brock really was the breaking point for him. After showing no sign of wanting to help Hank as recently as the previous episode he’s now on board.

• The reveal that Walt is Heisenberg has really done a number on Marie. She’s gone to the point of researching untraceable poisons. At times during the scene with Dave, the therapist, she almost seems paralyzed.

• You know who else doesn’t do a great job of downplaying in this episode? Hank. He has two of Marie’s bags waiting for her at the front door so she can leave the house while Jesse is over.

• There’s a lot of double meaning in Walt’s conversations with his son these days.

• Hank has finally let “Gomie” in on Walt as Heisenberg. If Hank’s and Gomez’s conversation on the balcony is any indication Jesse spilled a lot of information on video about his dealings with Walt. Gomez references Lydia, Vamonos Pest, and the murder of Drew Sharp.

• Walt leaves another voicemail for Jesse on the Hello Kitty line. This time he wants to meet Jesse in a public place to, “talk through everything once and for all.” Walt even says that Jesse is in his hands. Jesse’s not buying the meet. It doesn’t pass his smell test which is understandable. We get further hints that Jesse spilled a lot of information as Hank then references that Walt paid for Jesse’s rehab, ran over two drug dealers with his car, and made him a 50/50 partner. After stating his reservations about the meet Jesse exits the room. Gomez seems to think there is at least a possibility that it could go bad too. Hank on the other hand doesn’t care if Jesse is harmed at all. He is using Jesse just as Walt has so many times. Skyler was right. Hank is out to get Walt at all costs. Hank’s pride might be getting the better of him.

• We come back to the potential meet in the public square between Walt and Jesse. This show does such a good job of letting things build and giving scenes room to play out. Jesse’s walk across the street towards Walt was an example of this as it just builds and builds with tension. Anyway, Jesse is getting close to the bench Walt is sitting on and sees a man who he seems to suspect is watching over the meet to protect Walt. Is it a setup? Jesse calls an audible and goes to a nearby payphone and gives Walt a call. Jesse seems to have had an epiphany. In a much more confident tone Jesse lets Walt know he’s coming for him and walks away. Walt slowly moves away from the bench, somewhat in defeat, and passes the man who spooked Jesse. It doesn’t seem it was a setup as the man embraces his daughter as Walt walks by.

• Hank drives up and scolds Jesse for screwing up the meet. Jesse has some sort of plan to get Walt. There is a cut to Walt getting in his car and making a phone call. Who’s on the line? Todd. Walt might have another job for his uncle. Walt may have come around to Saul’s and Skyler’s way of thinking about Jesse. Walt’s former partner is now a rabid dog who has to be put down.

• What was Walt’s plan for Jesse in the public meeting? I think Hank was right when he pointed out that Walt really does care about Jesse, even still. I doubt there was any setup in the meeting with Jesse. I imagine Walt felt Jesse would never cut him down in a public place. Furthermore, I think he wanted to make one more appeal to Jesse and see how it went. Now Mr. White appears to have moved on to Plan B. Todd and his uncle. This will end well.

• Jesse tells Hank and Gomez rather bluntly that Walt is smarter and luckier than them. Things just go Walt’s way. When Jesse changes course on the meet with Walt and tells him he’s coming for him it doesn’t seem like a very smart move for him. As confident as Jesse sounds in that moment he doesn’t take his own advice. Granted, we don’t know what his plan is yet, but he’s seen the breaks Walt has gotten, is aware of them, and is now challenging them. Jesse’s plan may very well seem genius, but I have a feeling Walt will somehow get the better of it. I have a bad feeling about how this is going to go for Jesse.

• What is Jesse’s plan for Walt? I’ve given this some thought and I’m having trouble thinking of a plan Jesse could conceive that would be satisfying as a viewer and effective within the story when it comes to taking down Walt and being within the bounds of the law (as Jesse is still teaming with Hank). I’m confident whatever plan Jesse thought up will seem to be a checkmate on Walt. I’ll probably be sitting here a week from now thinking, “of course that’s what he would do.” The smartest thing they could do would be to go after Walt’s money. How? I don’t know.

• Through the first four episodes of this second half season it feels like a pattern has surfaced. An episode that has more pace and plot movement is followed by one that is tamped down to some degree. With only four episodes remaining I don’t think that pattern will hold.

• Walt Jr. really likes the high life. He pushes for a nice hotel when Walt suggests they can’t stay at home and is “in heaven” with PPV and room service at the hotel.

• Skyler is advocating the killing of Jesse to protect what she and Walt have built. Hank is willing to let Jesse be harmed if it means bringing down Walt. These characters are completely fine with people being killed at this point. Another thing at play here is pride. We all know one of Walt’s biggest (if not his biggest) weaknesses is pride. Skyler picked her side. Of course survival plays a big part here, but she’s also prideful in not allowing what she has built with Walt to crumble for nothing. As for Hank, getting Heisenberg is everything. His pride is getting in the way of his work and morals on some level.

• Walt’s lies and manipulations – to his family about how the gasoline got in the house, to Skyler about not meeting with Saul outside the hotel, to Skyler about Jesse never hurting anybody

• I laughed
  • Anytime Walt is in “tighty whities” gets a laugh. When the underwear is used to hold a gun it’s that much funnier.
  • Walt: “His buddies Beaver and what’s his name…?”

• The quotes…
  • Walt: “Do not float that idea again.”
  • Skyler: “Walt. You need to deal with this.”
  • Skyler: “We’ve come this far, for us. What’s one more?”
  • Hank: “You really want to burn him down? Let’s do it together.”
  • Marie: “I know it…don’t worry I wouldn’t hurt anybody. I just…it just feels good to think about it.”
  • Jesse: “Look. Look, you two guys are just guys. OK. Mr. White. He’s the devil. You know, he is, he is smarter than you, he’s luckier than you. Whatever, whatever you think is supposed to happen, I’m telling you the exact reverse opposite of that is going to happen, OK.”
  • Jesse: “No, I’m not doing what you want anymore, OK, asshole. This is just a heads up to let you know I’m coming for you. See, I decided that burning down your house is nothing. Next time I’m going to get you where you really live.”
  • Walt: “I think I might have another job for your uncle.”

• Overall – Another fine, if not explosive, episode in the second half of this final season. This has been an impressive run for this series.

• What’s to come? – Walt Jr. breaks the bank on room service and PPV. Jesse has a plan to take down Mr. White and he’s confident in it. Todd, his uncle, and gang are about to get involved in a major way, it appears. (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the teaser for the next episode is a meeting between Walt, Todd, etc.) Some decisions made in this episode are going to lead to terrible consequences, I’m afraid.