History Recap / BreakingBadS3E9Kafkaesque

* SpottingTheThread: Between Leonel TheDeterminator still trying to kill him in impossible circumstances, and receiving the DeathGlare from Leonel, and hearing Hank describe how a scrambled voice over the phone had warned him of the pending attack, and remembering Tuco's previous reference to "The Cousins", Walt figures out [[TheChessmaster Gus Fring's]] strategy.

Directed by Creator/MichaelSlovis

->''"What's the point of being an outlaw when you got responsibilities?"''

!!This episode contains examples of:

--> '''Jesse:''' What's the point of being an outlaw when you got ''responsibilities''?

* TitleDrop: Jesse's rehab therapist calls Jesse's job, which he describes as a corporate laundromat with jerk bosses and soulless employees, "Kafkaesque." True to form for Jesse, however, is the fact that the situation isn't exactly a real nightmare; he just perceives it as one.

* MatchCut: The episode opens with a Los Pollos Hermanos commercial extolling the signature fried chicken. It ends with a shot of blue salt falling in front of a background, dissolving into Walter and Jesse doing a deal of Blue Sky at the superlab.

Back at the hospital, Marie, cross with their insurance company for refusing to pay for Hank's preferred physical therapy plan, is ready to go to TV news to complain. Skyler, however, offers to pay for Hank's hospital bills and rehab instead, stating that Walt has the money to pay for them. Before Walt can stop her, Skyler explains that Walt had earned over a million dollars while combating a gambling addiction, which started as a way to pay his cancer bills and was the reason for his and Skyler's marital issues. When Walt asks afterwards how she crafted such a masterful lie, Skyler simply tells him "I learned from the best." As far as she's concerned, Walt must be the reason Hank is in the hospital.

Having returned to work, Walt, along with Jesse, gets cracking on making meth for Gus. They end up making a few extra pounds of product during one particularly productive week, and Jesse suggests keeping some on the side to ship later. Walt, however, insists that they give all of their product to Gus. Jesse is displeased: by his own calculations, he believes they are being ripped off as Gus pockets nearly a hundred million dollars to their comparatively measly three million. Walt chastises Jesse for his greed: they were both going to be millionaires, and he's ''complaining''?

A {{Cold Open}} montage shows that to the general public, Los Pollos Hermanos is a wholesome franchise of fried chicken restaurants. What few realize is that it is a front for one of the largest drug empires in the continental United States, with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman cooking industrial quantities of crystal meth, which is then distributed across the country, concealed in buckets of fry batter.

* GilliganCut: Said Los Pollos Hermanos ad gets succeeded by a montage of huge amounts of meth getting parcelled out by Los Pollos employees. It's their ''true'' main product after all.

* MatchCut: The episode opens with a Los Pollos Hermanos commercial extolling the signature fried chicken. It ends with a shot of pieces of fried chicken falling in front of a background, dissolving into Walter and Jesse doing a deal of Blue Sky at the superlab.

* HalfTruth: Skyler reveals to Marie that Walt acquired "up to seven figures" worth of money via ''gambling''. Her lengthy tale incorporates a couple truths (notably that Walt refused Gretchen's payment) but also some clear fibs (such as Walt's fugue state actually being real due to losing his family's life savings to a bad hand.)

As Saul tries (and fails) to talk Jesse into buying a nail salon to launder his money, Walt meets with Gus at his company's chicken farm to "clear the air." Walt tells Gus how he thinks he was at one point the Cousins' target, but somehow, their attention was drawn away from him and to Hank instead. At the same time, someone put in an anonymous call to Hank to warn him of the attempt on his life, as a ploy to play both sides against each other and bring unwanted attention to the cartel from both Mexican and American governments. This would also close off the drug trade across the border, meaning that a domestic meth operation would have a monopoly over the Southwest. "We're both adults," Walt concludes, "I can't pretend I don't know that person is you." When asked what he wants, Walt tells Gus that after his contract with him has concluded, Walt wants his family's security assured.

As Saul tries (and fails) to talk Jesse into buying a nail salon to launder his money, Walt meets with Gus at his company's chicken farm to "clear the air." Walt tells Gus how he thinks he was at one point the Cousins' target, but somehow, their attention was drawn away from him and to Hank instead. At the same time, someone put in an anonymous call to Hank to warn him of the attempt on his life, as a ploy to play both sides against each other and bring unwanted attention to the cartel from both Mexican and American governments. This would also lead to increased scrutiny at the border, meaning that a domestic meth operation would have a monopoly over the Southwest. "We're both adults," Walt concludes, "I can't pretend I don't know that person is you." When asked what he wants, Walt tells Gus that after his contract with him has concluded, Walt wants his family's security assured.

As Saul tries (and fails) to talk Jesse into buying a nail salon to launder his money, Walt meets with Gus at his company's chicken farm to "clear the air." Walt tells Gus how he thinks he was at one point the Cousins' target, but somehow, their attention was drawn away from him and to Hank instead. At the same time, he suspects Gus had a call put in to Hank to warn him of the attempt on his life, as a ploy to play both sides against each other for Gus' own benefit. When asked what he wants, Walt tells Gus that after his contract with him has concluded, Walt wants his family's security assured.

As Saul tries (and fails) to talk Jesse into buying a nail salon to launder his money, Walt meets with Gus at his company's chicken farm to "clear the air." Walt tells Gus how he thinks he was at one point the Cousins' target, but somehow, their attention was drawn away from him and to Hank instead. At the same time, he suspects Gus had a call put in to Hank to warn him of the attempt on his life, as a ploy to play both sides against each other for Gus' own benefit. When asked what he wants, Walt asks Gus that after his contract with him has concluded, he is given complete severance from Gus's service, in addition to safety for his family.

The offer was too good for Walt to refuse. As he drives home, he feels completely and utterly powerless against Gus, such that for a few brief moments, he contemplates ending his life: flooring the accelerator, he closes his eyes and coasts down the road. He only snaps out of his suicidal ideation mere moments before hitting a semi.

As Skyler begins to reconsider her affair with Ted once and for all, Jesse meets with Badger and Skinny Pete to wax nostalgic on his "outlaw" days of cooking meth out of an RV, and asking what the point of being a criminal was when you have responsibilities. Jesse proposes starting up their own business again: all they would need is the product, of which he could skim some from the superlab. To that end, Skinny Pete and Badger infiltrate Jesse's group therapy, so they could sell their product to the addicts in the group.

Back at the hospital, Marie, cross with the doctors over their dragging their feet to pay their insurance, is ready to go to TV news to complain. Skyler, however, offers to pay for Hank's hospital bills and rehab instead, stating that Walt has the money to pay for them. Before Walt can stop her, Skyler explains that Walt had earned a lot of money while combating his addiction to gambling. When asked afterwards about how she crafted such a masterful lie, Skyler simply tells Walt "I learned from the best." As far as she's concerned, Walt was the reason Hank is/was in the hospital.

To the general public, Los Pollos Hermanos is a wholesome franchise of fried chicken restaurants. What few realize is that it is a front for one of the largest drug empires in the continental United States, with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman cooking industrial quantities of crystal meth, which is then distributed across the country, concealed in buckets of fry batter.

Having returned to work, Walt, along with Jesse, get cracking on making meth for Gus. They end up making a few extra pounds of product during one particularly productive week, and Jesse suggests keeping some on the side to ship later. Walt, however, insists that they give all of their product to Gus. Jesse is displeased: by his own calculations, he believes they are being ripped off as Gus pockets nearly a hundred million dollars to their comparatively measly three million. Walt chastises Jesse for his greed: they were both going to be millionaires, and he's ''complaining''?

The answer is simple for Walt, who visits Hank in the hospital. Having regained consciousness, he tells Gomez of a phone call he received shortly before he was attacked by cartel assassins, which may be the one reason he is alive. This revelation takes Walt aback.

As Jesse talks to his support group about his new job at a laundromat and how his boss is a dick and the job was "Kafkaesque", Walt ensures Skyler that their family is safe. At the same time, due to the injury Hank sustained to his spine, he has been rendered paralyzed from the waist down. Marie asks about his chances of regaining mobility and, displeased with the delays in her insurance paying out, decides to look for her own therapists, against the warnings of the doctors.

As Saul tries (and fails) to talk Jesse into buying a nail salon to launder his money, Walt meets with Gus at his company's chicken farm to clear the air. Walt tells Gus how he thinks he was at one point the Cousins' target, but somehow, their attention was drawn away from him and to Hank instead. At the same time, he suspects Gus had a call put in to Hank to warn him of the attempt on his life, as a ploy to play both sides against each other for his own benefit. When asked what he wants, Walt asks Gus that after his contract with him has concluded, he is given complete severance from Gus's service, in addition to safety for his family.

* CallBack: Jesse is infuriated to hear that Saul is still charging him 17% as opposed to [[Recap/BreakingBadS3E5Mas Walt's 5%]].

Back at the hospital, Marie, cross with the doctors over their dragging their feet to pay their insurance, is ready to go to TV news to complain. Skyler, however, offers to pay for Hank's hospital bills and rehab instead, stating that Walt has the money to pay for them. Before Walt can stop her, Skyler explains that Walt had earned a lot of money while combating his addiction to gambling. When asked afterwards about how she crafted such a masterful lie, Skyler simply tells Walt "I learned from the best." As far as she's concerned, Walt is the reason Hank is still alive.