Breaking Bad, "Mas": Til meth do us part

A review of tonight's "Breaking Bad" coming up just as soon as the chemistry is respected...

"I can't tell what he wants. He won't talk to me, he hardly even comes home. He works all day, all night, barely eats, barely speaks to me. It's like something's eating him away from inside. He's just not the same. He's not. Facing death, it changes a person. It has to, don't you think?" -Marie

The White marriage comes to an end in "Mas," as Walt finally signs the divorce papers and moves out, apparently to go work in Gus Frings' diabolical underground meth bunker. But before he leaves, we get to see that, for all their irreconcilable differences, Walt and Skyler both have a capacity for denial and self-rationalization in common.

In Walt's talk with Gus, and then in Skyler's talk with her divorce lawyer, we see them adamantly denying what they're so obviously feeling: that Walt is both jealous and offended that Jesse was able to duplicate the Heisenberg formula on his own, and that Skyler would love to be able to justify keeping Walt's drug money after all that his career as Heisenberg has cost her emotionally.

In the end, Gus effectively plays to both Walt's vanity and his belief in himself as a good father, and Skyler in turn unwittingly gives Walt the final nudge out the door. Walter White will do many things out of spite - will, in fact, destroy his own life out of spite if he has to - and had Skyler remained cold to him and kept him from doing anything with the baby, perhaps he would have continued his squatting campaign. But Skyler's quiet offer to let him comfort the crying baby(*) - and the implication that she'd again allow him to be father to his children, if not husband to his wife - played perfectly into Gus's speech about redefining "family" as "children," and gave him the peace of mind to leave the house and, presumably, go to work in the Walt-Cave.

(*) And here is where having someone as talented and versatile as Bryan Cranston comes in especially handy. I think a lot of actors could play the monster that Walt actually is, and that others could play the loving family man he believes himself to be, but very few could play both and make them seem like two sides of the same character. The look of complete vulnerability and sorrow and gratefulness and love in Walt's eyes as Skyler tells him to pick up Holly is worlds away from the man who will later be so cold and arrogant in muscling Jesse Pinkman out of the meth business, but Cranston sells them both.

Walt, of course, doesn't realize that Gus is only giving him a temporary reprieve before the Cousins come calling - that his plan is, I'm guessing, to take those three months to let his own people learn the Heisenberg formula until they have no need of Walt himself - nor does Skyler know that she's tentatively letting Walt back into her life at a moment when his life is becoming more dangerous than ever. All she knows is that she's miserable, has no support system other than Ted Beneke, and would just like to let the conflict die a little bit.

And just as Skyler goes from loving the feel of Ted's heated bathroom floor to becoming uncomfortable with it, I suspect Walt's love of Gus's pimped-out lab will fade over time as he begins to recognize just how dangerous a man he's working for. Walt goes into his meeting with Gus convinced that he's outsmarted him, when in fact the only way to do that would have been to just hand Jesse his half of the money and walk away without ever seeing Gus. Gus played him, and Walt's too arrogant and crazy to see that yet. But he's not stupid, even if he has blind spots, and day after day spent under the laundry facility is going to wear on him, especially without Jesse around to teach and/or bully.

And either way, what happens when the three months are up? At least Skyler should be thankful that Walt's not living in the house anymore, given what the Cousins might do to anyone else they find when they come for their target.

Some other thoughts:

• Skyler with the lawyer reminded me very much of Carmela Soprano going to see the elderly therapist who told her in no uncertain terms to take the kids and walk out on Tony and his "blood money." And, just like Carmela, Skyler didn't want to hear that.

• We open with a hilarious flashback to what Jesse was up to in the pilot in between when Walt gave him the money and when he turned up with the RV. Not only does it give Aaron Paul a chance to slip back into Jesse's clueless but happy old skin, it temporarily brings Combo back to life, and shows how Combo caused his own death a few times over. Not only did he agree to become one of Jesse's dealers, but had he not gotten Jesse the RV in the first place, the White/Pinkman partnership would have been stillborn, and Combo wouldn't have become high-profile enough to attract a hit from a rival crew.

• On another show, Hank's discovery that Jesse (whom he knows is connected to Walt) is connected to the RV that carried the blue meth would ultimately lead to Hank again coming thisclose, but no closer, to discovering Heisenberg's identity. On "Breaking Bad," given that we're in season three of what was conceived of as a four-season series (though it could always run a bit longer), I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Hank keep working his way up the food chain - which would not be a good thing for him, methinks. In the end, maybe going to El Paso instead of Gomey would have been the safer move.

• Love the contrast of Walt using the closet in the nursery as an office - complete with a tiny chair that stuck to his behind when he stood up - to Walt being shown the wonders of the Walt-Cave. Walt's a genius, but he's an amateur. Gus Frings is no amateur.

• Saul Goodman, shameless as always: completely on Jesse's side when it looks like that's where the meth money is coming from, then tosses him over immediately when Walt turns out to be the real cash cow - and caves on his exorbitant fees when Walt finally realizes Saul needs him as much or more than he needs Saul.

• That Aztek windshield is just taking a beating, isn't it? It's like the forces of karma just don't want it to remain intact.

What did everybody else think?