"Abiquiu" Review
There are a lot of important revelations in “Abiquiu.” A key change is Walt and Skyler’s relationship. Skyler is becoming more involved in Walt’s drug manufacturing as the series progresses. Her motivations are completely in touch with her character. She doesn’t want to be doing this - she’s looking out for her family. It’s similar to Walt’s involvement, too. He started cooking meth to provide for his family. Skyler is doing the same thing. It’ll be interesting to see if she ends up in the same place as Walt: enjoying the power.
One of the best scenes of the episode is Skyler at Saul’s office. Walt is obviously embarrassed by Saul, and Skyler is always direct with him. She doesn’t feed into all Saul’s “charm.” I love how he tried to demonstrate money laundering in the exact same way he did with Jesse. He obviously had that demonstration rehearsed.
Skyler’s quick thinking is present again, as she comes up with the idea to use Walt’s old job at the car wash to launder his money. I like that the boss with the bushy eyebrows made an appearance. I hope we get to see the encounter when Walt buys the business from him - that’ll be a great scene.
By the end of “Abiquiu” Skyler asks to become the “Danny” - or the inside man who looks the other way. Naturally, Walt is against Skyler’s involvement, but she’s been doing this for Ted all season: she’s a pro at doctoring the books. Through Walt and Skyler’s negotiations, we learn that Skyler never filled the divorce papers. I thought that was the case, since we’ve never gotten closure on the whole divorced or not divorced thing.
Jesse’s story is pretty interesting this week. The episode opens with a flashback teaser with Jane. I’m glad she’s back this season, too (even if only through a flashback). She was one of my favorite characters last season, and her loss on the show is still evident. Last week we saw Jesse eyeing the cigarette from Jane. Opening “Abiquiu” with her is appropriate because the episode deals with Jesse starting a new relationship.
It’s not clear if Jesse’s relationship with Andrea will pan out to anything further… I doubt it will. It seems her character was only a plot device to get Jesse to interact with Tomas. The whole thing was a freak coincidence, reminiscent of Walt’s encounter with Donald in the bar. Jesse is likely taking this all as a sign… that he has to avenge Combo’s death. Imagine how he’d react if he found out what Walt did (though indirectly) to Jane. Jesse was a hell of a lot closer to Jane than he was to Combo.
One scene that I found really strange was the whole encounter between Gus and Walt. I’m sure that was intentional, and we’re not supposed to know exactly what it means, but please comment if you have any thoughts. Am I missing something - what is the mistake that Walt’s making twice? Letting close friends or relatives get involved? I’m not sure…
Also, before I wrap this up, I just want to mention how bad I feel for Hank. He’s in such pain, and I don’t blame him for not wanting to go home to a hospital bed. I hope he’s able to make a quick recovery. He deserves it.
There’s only two episodes left for season three. As usual, I have no idea what’ll happen, but I suspect that Jesse’s going to be in a lot of trouble when he seeks out revenge. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
-MP