Pajiba

I think Walt poisoned the kid...
It's the only believable reason for Gus to walk away from his car. He realized that Walt did it to draw him out into the open.

Is the trajectory of the show Walt's stages of grief? Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance (with a lot of movement back and forth)?

Thinking clearly is not Jesse's strong point and all his brain would have been telling hime was, "It's happening again. It's happening again" just as Gus had hoped.

Gus probably saw the glint of Walt's glasses perched on his head. I know I was thinking TAKE YOUR DAMN GLASSES OFF YOUR HEAD. I didn't think it was too much for Gus to figure out. He is very, very alert and always ten steps ahead.

It got so fraught that I had to say to myself, "It's just a TV show".

No, Walt didn't poison Brock. Walt is far enough down the path to hell to allow an innocent person to die, but I don't think he's so far gone he'd actually set out to kill a child.

I don't think Walt actually DID poison Brock, but that's not to say he wouldn't have. Walt had just had his baby daughter threatened. And this season has gone out of it's way to draw the similarities between Gus and Walt, so I don't think it's a stretch to imagine them as both willing to use children as pawns, especially if Walt had thought that Gus might get there (to Brock) first. As for Walt and Jesse's confrontation, yes Walt is a terrible liar when forced to think on his feet, but when he has time to set up a story...he can be frighteningly convincing. All that being said, I bought Walt's surprise at Jesse's accusation. At this point, I honestly have no idea who poisoned Brock, and am leaning toward the kid finding the cancer stick and accidentally poisoning himself. Yeah, Jesse swore that he had it that morning, but that could just be fear and guilt talking, like when you lose your keys ("I KNOW I had them when I left!!") and then find them later on the kitchen table.

To say that Walt poisoned Brock is an insult to the show. They wouldn't just leave out a crucial part of what the main character is up to. They have never been known to do that. You always knew what Jessie or Walt are doing. It's a huge aspect of the show.

I also think that the disconnect with Jessie's conclusion that Walt did it actually worked as Walt had no clue what Jessie could have possibly been upset about. And it helped us come to terms with Jessie's irrationality.

Which is why, aptrapani, they'll cover how and why Walt poisoned him in next week's show.

I personally don't believe that Gus' spider-sense is anything supernatural. Walt, being being somewhat inexperienced as a terrorist, is wearing his glasses on his forehead and rather inexpertly using a set of binoculars. If Gus caught even one tell-tale flash from the nearby rooftop, that alone would be sufficient to catch his eye -- especially with his proven attention to detail. No mystery, just some well-honed powers of observation. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get the see the scene briefly from Gus' perspective next week to put it in context. What's important is that from Walt's perspective, it seems almost super-human.

The thing that bothers me about Gus realizing that the garage was a trap and bugging out was his decision to go to the edge of the garage and just stare/think. If you think it is a trap why are you putting yourself on a tee for a sniper? I think that Gus was genuinely trying to figure out what had just happened with Jesse. I don't think he poisoned Brock, and it took him until he reached the garage to start to fully assess his situation. I won't be surprised if we find that he turned around not because he recognized the trap but because he needed to go somewhere else to get more information (probably back in the hospital to talk to Jesse or the doctors). Otherwise he could have just sent Tyrus over to check out the car to make sure it was clean.

And I can't rule out that Walt poisoned Brock either. First, we've not gotten any confirmation that Brock was poisoned except from Jesse who we don't know even talked to the doctors. Second even if he was poisoned we don't know for sure with which poison or with what kind of dose. We've already seen Gus poison himself and survive. I could believe Walt could poison Brock with something that would make Jesse jump to the Ricin conclusion but would not kill Brock. Third, Saul, at Walt's request, could have had Huell take the cigarette during the pat down at his office that HAD to happen right away. Fourth, if it was Gus's plan to use the Ricin poisoning to turn Jesse on Walt, we have to believe that he knew about the Ricin in the first place, that he is willing to kill a kid, and most importantly that he would develop a plan that he could so easily lose control of. The plan requires Jesse to figure out what happened, to be able to find Walt, to be angry enough to kill him, and be dumb enough not to figure it out in the short or long term. Doesn't seem to me to fit neatly into Gus's MO. When Gus acts, there are immediate consequences (the cartel,twice, and the flunkie in the lab) and a clear message is sent.

I'm not sure that this was the best episode of the season but it seemed to go the quickest. Can't wait for next week.

sorry for my english with register i wanna say pat down...

Okay seriously, nothing happened this episode. I mean sure some things happened, but nothing that couldn't have been accomplished already or has been accomplished already. It didn't move forward. It stood still. Jesse is finally listening to Walt after it's too late? At least Walter is finally in control again. By which I mean he is seeing clearly. He has no choice but to focus and not let his emotions/ego/whatever get the better of him. But really the episode just stretched out(or condensed depending on how you look at it) Jesse choosing Walt over Gus, by making him come to grips with Gus really is an evil guy and Walt at least has lines he won't cross. That was basically the entire episode. An hour of an idea that could have been accomplished in five minutes at any given time. I've enjoyed the season(more so than most) and the series enough but let's call a spade a spade. This episode was just filler to call this a somewhat full season.

I know Walt didn't poison the kid, but I'm not entirely sold that Gus did it either. There's a good chance, even with Jesse's story, that the kid just stole a cigarette from Jesse and smoked it wanting to be cool.

Or maybe it was one of the underlings. Tyrus has been nothing but creepy. I just feel like Gus having the kid poisoned is a little too chancey to be his master plan. Too many conclusions to rely on Jesse to jump to.

There's only three things which come close to catching Gus off-guard: the cartel, the cops......and Jesse. Jesse had that cross t-shirt on in an earlier episode and in this episode Gus and Jesse had the scene in the hospital chapel with the cross on the wall behind them. The bomb might not have done in Gus, but I think Jesse will.

Which would make a good season-ender. Think how many episodes went past before the Gus character was introduced -- he's expendable, leaving Walt and Jesse to run the show! That would be an interesting turn of events.

And danggit -- where's Mike?! Sheesh, maybe he'll have re-thought his priorities and he will be the one to do in Gus. Then he and Jesse could rule the galaxy as father and son. Hmmm....

Brock did not steal the cigarette. Jesse had seen it since he last saw the boy. I can believe that Saul's minion took it to give the impression that the ricin came from the cigarette. All they had to do was great that possibility for Jesse to go cocobananas. My recent (and entirely limited to Wikipedia) research suggested the ricin could have been administered in any number of ways and over a variable time frame. My guess is that Gus acted through Saul (who has a remarkably well-developed sense of self-preservation) to motivate Jesse.

I'm thinking neither Gus not Walt poisioned the kid. Gus is too smart and forward-thinking to run w/ such a convoluted plan. Walt I don't think has fall that far. Either the kid filched the cig somehow or whatever's wrong w/ him is unrelated to the ricin. I didn't love the scene w/ Jesse and Walt--Why would Jesse think Walt first for the deed? He had just had a conversation w/ Gus about not signing off for Walt's murder, to which Gus replied he would take "approrpriate measueres."

Boom, the kid gets sick via poision and Jesse turns to Walt, even tho Gus has a history of using and ordering the murders of kids? Just didn't wash w/ me. Hoping for a rational explanation next week.

Es vedrad Riles.

Also, Skyler is going to die in the next episode, right? I thought there was a great juxtaposition between Walt hiding like a sniper and Sky being a clear target while she was outside smoking. He will be the reason she dies.

as much as breaking bad is a fascinating noir character study, I think the poisoned boy is simply a bit of clumsy plotting to get Walt and Jesse back on the same page for the last stand. In that sense, it's moot whether it is shoddy or reckless 'planning' for Gus; the story required it--we couldn't just have Walt and Jesse sit down and air out their feelings and then hug each other better

It is likely that Walt poisoned Brock with a lesser chemical. He would certainly know since he is a chemist. Then he got Saul to take the cigarette off Jesse to place the doubt in his head. He needed to somehow get Jesse to help him take down Gus. And Walt is capable of crazy plans like when he went in to Tuco's hideout with the crystal explosives. Walt's back is against the wall. He is desperate for himself and family. Nothing is beyond him at this point.

The episode went somewhere completely unexpected and set up perfectly for the final 'face off'.

Some accounting that has been bothering me -

If we take the BB universe as being a year old (has been stated in so much), that puts Walt working for Gus for about 6 months (seasons 3 and 4).

We know Walt is on 15 million for 2 years work to cook, therefore 7.5 million p.a. This would put Walt's income around the 3.75 million mark thus far, for 6 month work.

Take out the carwash purchase price (approx 1 mill) and the Ted money ($617K). Then account for a reduction as a result of Saul’s fees, and living expenses (and the odd Charger he destroys), this equates to an amount that could not exceed $2 mill.

There was also money they gave Marie for Hank's rehab. This was never really totalled up but it could not have ran up more than a couple hundred grand tops.

Why is Walt short on the 500K Saul quoted him for the ‘Disappear’ guys?

Breaking Bad has done a wonderful job over 4 seasons of taking the viewer and turning us from Walt into Jesse. At the start he's our hero, he's who we identify and sympathize with. Now that's changed; viewers may care about Walt but his character has betrayed us just as many times as Jesse. As Walt fell further down his pit of despair Jesse has strived to rise above despite the manipulations of those around him. And the viewer has been made to feel these manipulations and this pain that Jesse has suffered. Now we are put in the shoes of Jesse again, tossed dead center into his confusion.

There's certainly going to be a great deal of confusion regarding the nature of the poisoning, especially with how little we actually got to see of our two main suspects in this episode. The prolonged screen absence is typical of Gus in any given episode but has been and increasing quality of Walt's as well. These absences cast a disturbing light on the situation as both men are known to be detailed plotters always working towards a goal. Knowing that each man's goal is to destroy the other makes it uneasy to know that their machinations may be largely going on under the radar.

As a final thought I would just say that we shouldn't underestimate either Walt or Gus in this situation. BOTH men, not just Gus have shown that they will go to the ends of the Earth to accomplish their goals. Walt has poisoned, strangeled, threatened, killed; he's done it all and, most importantly, he has repeatedly and intentionally manipluated those around him, those he loves, in order to get what he wants even if it causes them suffering. Walt has always show his desperation to overshadow his remorse, we can't just assume he's changed because he said so.

I don't believe for a second Walt poisoned Brock - what for? Merely to piss off Jesse? Not his style. I also just don't think he has it in him to hurt a small child.

I actually thought Jesse had just been careless with the cigarette and that he couldn't face being indirectly responsible for hurting Brock, so he turned on Walt. The cigarette and Jesse's reticence at using it has been a huge source of tension between the two of them this season, so I'm curious to see what happens.

Not sure what to make of Gus's walking away, but it did illustrate that Walt is book smart, but not necessarily street smart.