Breaking Bad -To'hajiilee (and a few other things)

Before I get to the Breaking Bad stuff, is anyone else watching this season of Boardwalk Empire as it airs? The first episode was last night, and it was great, but I won’t worry about recapping and discussing if no one else is watching yet. But if at least one person speaks up, I’m down.

Wow. That was a lot handle. I watched last night's episode with five other people, and there was a lot of leg shaking, face covering, and head shaking last night, not to mention a plethora of "oh shit oh shit oh shit"s going on.

The recap I linked to as a placeholder is great, so check it out if you want a more in depth summary. Despite it's pretty stupid name, Bad Ass Digest offers a lot of really great articles on TV, movies, and other pop culture stuff. They're usually my go-to for Breaking Bad recaps and discussion, as well as "genre" movie reviews.

While we're on the subject of Breaking Bad coverage, and actually TV talk in general, I'm also really into Dan Feinberg and Alan Sepinwall's Firewall & Iceberg Podcast. These guys know their TV, and while they can have some pretty annoying banter, they often offer some really good insight to the shows. If you subscribe in iTunes and look at the podcast info, they tell you the timestamp of each show they talk about, which is nice. That way you can skip past the stuff you don’t care about and get right to the good stuff.

A few thoughts on To'hajiilee, after the jump.

1. I find it hard to believe a leader of a bunch of Neo Nazis would wear so many fitted, long sleeve, v-neck tees. Maybe he has a connection at Express or something.
2. I know he’s probably a sociopath, but I can’t help but like Todd. I think there’s just too much residual love for Landry. Still, his interaction with Lydia was pretty creepy. That scene seemed a little superfluous, so I wonder if they were just trying to really up the uneasy feelings between he and Lydia, or if we can expect a conflict between Todd, Uncle Jack and Lydia.
3. Okay, it’s becoming harder and harder to defend Hank. Trying to get a testimony from Skylar before she has the chance to speak to a lawyer? I’m okay with that. Tricking Jesse into working with him? A little fucked up, but fine. But straight-up lying to poor Huell? That’s just too far, man. What has Huell ever done to anyone? Besides pickpocket them? And maybe murder them? Dude just wants chill on a giant pile of money. That’s not too much to ask, is it? Seriously though, I felt bad for Huel.
4. I also felt bad for Andrea and Brock. She is so so unaware of what’s happening (and what has happened). And was it just me, or was Brock channeling his inner Danny Torrence? Also a little cute and sad that Jesse called a few weeks ago to check up on Brock.
5. Man, Hank is getting smarter, and Walter is getting dumber. The amount of information he disclosed during his frantic phone call with Jesse is enough to close the case, I would think. Hopefully they recorded it, and hopefully they did it legally. It’d be a shame if that kind of evidence had to be thrown out because they didn’t go through the proper channels.
6. Of course, that might not even matter. The idea of anyone making it out of that gunfight alive is crazy. I want to watch that scene again, because to me it looked an awful lot like Todd, Uncle Jack and his crew were purposefully shooting up the vehicle that they knew Walt was in. They had high ground, more men, and more firepower, and it seems like if they wanted to hit Hank and Gomey, it would have happened. I know we don’t really know what’s happened, and what will happen, and who will survive, but to me it seemed like they were intent on getting rid of Walt. I don’t know why they would do that, other than they’re just tired of his wishy-washiness, and they know that if he’s not around, Lydia can’t expect them to cook as good him.
7. Was anyone else terrified that Hank was gonna get sniped while he was on the phone to Marie? It felt like the last time they would talk (and it very well may be) and I was so nervous he’d take one through the head before they ended the call. Glad that didn’t happen.

So what do you think? Predictions on the outcome of that showdown?