Breaking Bad continues its run of having amazing prologues with the chicken truck getting raked with bullets while Mike chills inside. Amazing and a cold, badass performance there from Jonathan Banks. The episode then puts on the brakes for a solid 20 minutes. In this time Skyler researches gambling addicts and runs through Walt’s dramatic confessional for Marie and Hank – to Walt’s dismay. “Terribly?” And just when the episode began to tread water a bit for me (which I’ve never complained about in this series) Gale appears on screen performing karaoke to “Major Tom.” It was like a punch in the gut – something it looks like Walt felt as well.

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“Open House” is a perfect example of why Breaking Bad is so strong and why the writers should remain so damn confident. Bryan Cranston is barely in this one – we open with his furious reaction to the CCTV cameras in the lab, he bickers a bit with Skyler and Saul, and then finally celebrates the purchase of the car wash with a $370 bottle of champagne. All in all I think it makes up five minutes of the episode. The rest is given to Skyler, Hank, and kleptomaniac Marie.

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The day after Walter, Jesse, and Mike watched the life bleed out of Victor finds them trying to get their shit together. Walter, who is 100 percent certain Gus is going to kill him, tries to be proactive and buys a gun. Mike goes to a bar and blurs the memory with booze. Jesse moves back into his old place with the gaudiest stereo on earth. Gus decides it’s best to not hang around the lab anymore. He was checkmated by Walter and Jesse shot his hopeful chemist, Gale. Probably a good idea to let those boys cool off and get back to work.

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