YMMV / Breaking Bad S3E13 "Full Measure"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Gustavo frames Walt's impending dismissal as a natural occurrence, telling Gale that Walt will sooner or later be leaving his service voluntarily due to his illness. All very above the belt, nothing unsavoury afoot here, just planning for the worst. It's not entirely clear if Gale sees the writing on the wall, but he does quickly amend his estimates and ensure Gus that he can very, very quickly take over the lab if, heaven forbid, something were to happen to Walt...
    • For that matter, how clearly does Gale understand the overall realities of the business he's in and the people he's working for? He takes no precautions for his own safety, but is that because he truly believes he's not in danger or that Gustavo has him well protected? He also seems genuinely fond of Gus as a mentor or even a kind of father figure, yet both in this episode and a scene in Better Call Saul, he seems able to detect at times that there's something off about him. Has he given any real thought to that or just brushed it off?
  • Was Walt genuinely terrified that Mike and Victor were about to kill him and begged for a phone call to Jesse in a desperate, last ditch attempt to have Gale's assassination carried out and save his own hide, or was it all an act and he played up the "pathetic victim angle" to drop Mike and Victor's guard so he can get Jesse on the phone?
• Epileptic Trees: During the thirteenth months between seasons, quite a few fans insisted the final shot showed Jesse pointing the gun away from Gale before he fired. Vince Gilligan constantly maintained that he didn't move and it was an illusion caused by the camera's movement, which ultimately proved to be the truth.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • From what we later see in Better Call Saul, Gustavo likely sees Gale as a Replacement Goldfish for his deceased former business partner, Max. Considering the circumstances of Max's own death, having Gale killed was about the worst thing possible that Walt could have done to anger Gus, likely explaining why their business relationship ultimately ends in Gustavo threatening to slaughter Walter's entire family if he even so much as orders takeout from Los Pollos Hermanos.
  • Better Call Saul also casts a harsh lens on the scene where Mike is ready to kill Walter, as watching Winner reveals quite a few parallels between Mike's situation with Werner Ziegler about 4 years prior.
  • Thirdly, Mike threatening to break Saul's legs and leave him in a hole in the desert is more of a Kick the Dog moment, as he knows full well the PTSD Jimmy suffered from that episode, and Jimmy seems to drop the Saul act for a second, looking heartbroken as well as afraid. Mike's contempt for Saul is given another angle with the reveal that he was forced to help obscure the innocent Howard Hamlin's death because of Jimmy/Saul's scam putting him in the wrong place at the wrong time and also that he warned Saul about approaching Walt precisely because he could tell he was bad for their business, despite his impressive chemistry skills.