As always, this review will contain spoilers, you have been warned.
Another solid episode in what is shaping up to be an excellent start to Breaking Bad's final season. This episode featured less action than the ones preceding it, but it more than made up for it with superior storytelling. The other two episodes showed how Walt was covering his tracks, in this one we got to see how Mike would go about covering his now that he is back in the game. What we got was an interesting scene of Mike talking to one of "his guys" about "making him whole" (this episode featured so many great quotes it was hard to count) with hazard pay; hazard pay is basically money provided in return for keeping one's mouth shut about an illegal operation. As far as characters go, you have to appreciate Mike, he is fiercely loyal, intelligent, and careful. You get the sense that, if he wanted to, Mike could be the kingpin of his own empire. What started off as a minor character (at best) has evolved into one of the main figures of the story.
This episode's major focus was on how Walt, Jesse, and Mike would get business started again and the answer is pest control. While questionable (I mean, would this REALLY work!?) the idea is explained with enough logic so that it makes sense. Nobody approaches a house that is being pumped full of poison, the smell can be explained, and they can comfortably cook once a week. Saul sets our new owners up with a crew of professional burglars,who are used to breaking the law, but more importantly wont ask questions. Again, the writers took great care to make this seem like a really good plan, but for some reason it just feels a bit off, I guess we will have to wait and see. This entire sequence had awesome scenes all around. From the trio + Saul going to various places and discussing pros and cons, to Mike's speech to the pest control group ("Their names are Yes Sir, and No sir"), culminating with the incredibly awkward scene of Walter meeting the poor kid (Brock) that he poisoned. Breaking Bad at its finest.
One last thing that should be mentioned before we talk about the ending is Walt's manipulation of Jesse. Walt essentially tells Jesse to break things off with Andrea or tell her everything he has done ("including Gale?"). Jesse, not able to bring himself to it, says that he broke it off with her (I really don't think that things will stay that way). It will be interesting to see if Jesse can figure things out before Walt buries him (and the way its going, it looks like Walt will orchestrate Jesse's demise). At the end of the episode we finally see the profit that the new business has turned out. However, after Mike accounts for Jesse's share in getting them started, Saul's fees, distributor fees, and the "legacy fund" ($117,000 each!) for the hazard pay, Walt is less than impressed with the yield. He openly complains about this, even going as far to mention that "this is less than with Fring", by the way, his share was over $100,000 dollars... for one nights work! I don't really understand his thought process, with that kind of money Walt could live comfortably and even pay off all of the debt he has accumulated. It reminded me of the dinner scene where Hank was ready to close the book on the 'blue meth' case and was convinced to investigate further by Walt, who told him that Gale was not the master cook. For Walt, it appears to be just as much (if not more) about his ego as it is about the money. Reader D-block pointed out that Walt has a legitimate cause to be pissed, as the "legacy fund" is really only covering Mike's tracks, not his or Jesse's. This is likely why Walter referenced the Greek story of Icarus flying too close to the sun in regards to Mike. Mike is flying too close to the sun, and might get burned, a brilliant way to set this new conflict into motion.
Overall score for this episode 9/10 Just an all around great episode, that continues the great start to the season. Yes, I know Skyler freaked out, but I'll discuss that when it gets interesting/I care.
Best scene: The whole process of restarting the business, including bringing Badger and Skinny Pete,and the cooking scene.
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