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<p>Jesse was already cooking under the alias “captain cook” in the pilot, his partner Emilio (?) was caught while he was sleeping with a girl across the street.</p>
<p>^Damn, you’re right. My bad. :)</p>
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<p>I agree with that, but it also made no sense for Walt to grab the baby – my first reaction when I saw that was that he he was ensuring that an Amber alert would go out, and then everybody in town would be looking for a bald guy with a baby. So grabbing Holly made no sense to me unless he had some sort of plan in mind – because there simply was no way that he would get anywhere with a baby. I doubt that that the vacuum cleaner guy would be doing any transportation of children, either – that’s a rather huge complicating factor. </p>
<p>Walt knew how Skylar had reacted when Marie tried to take the baby, so the only benefit to him to grabbing Holly was to create some sort of distraction or serve some ulterior purpose. And Walt’s a master schemer & manipulator. Also, Walt hasn’t been all that attentive a father in past episodes, so I don’t think he’s all that attached emotionally to his daughter – not enough to want to complicate his chances of self-preservation by saddling himself with the responsibility of tending to a baby. </p>
<p>I do think it’s hard to imagine the whole scheme of the abusive-husband phone call was conceived in that instant… but the alternative just doesn’t make sense either, unless Walt has gone into such a full blown panic at that point that he’s entirely lost his ability to think rationally.</p>
<p>I don’t think that Walt expected Skyler & Flynn to be coming home at that point – why should he? So I am guessing that his initial plan when he went to the house was to gather all the stuff, with the idea that he would contact the family later to tell them where they could come to meet him – not pack everything up in a huge hurry, and then tarry around waiting for wife and son to show up. So maybe he already had a half-baked idea in mind that he would go somewhere on his own, and then be calling back, and grabbing Holly somehow seemed to fit that plan, maybe just as a way to guarantee that Skyler would have to pick up the phone down the line. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it seems like Walt is losing it anyway… he seems to have made a series of particularly stupid choices over the past two episodes. But grabbing the baby with the intent to keep her with him just seems like it is far too dumb for even a panicky Walt to do. On the other hand, taking the baby with the intent that he would subsequently leave her in a place where she was safe and sure to be found, as a way to keep the police busy looking for the baby instead of looking for him, is a simple variation on run of the mill hostage-taking, so perhaps that was the first idea that popped into his head.</p>
<p>It was my impression that Walt was laying on his side for a long time. Wasn’t there a shot of the shadows moving across a mesa? Certainly it took a few hours to uncover all the barrels.</p>
<p>I assumed he had a long time to make decisions and plans while he was laying there.</p>
<p>Walt would not have anticipated Skylar pulling a knife on him. I think Walt grabbing the baby was one of the few moments on the show when he acted on pure emotion with no thought as to what his next move would be.</p>
<p>I agree, mimk6. He saw Skyler and Walt Jr cowering in fear of him, he saw the blood, he realized that the family is shattered, and that it was he who destroyed it. So he grabbed the one tiny part of that family that could still love him unconditionally. And when he hugged her at the end, it was the very last time he could give someone pure familial love.</p>
<p>If you watch the scene where Walt was packing, he was grabbing baby clothes too. He was packing for all of them and intended what he said - for the family to leave together. Hank’s murder meant their lives in Albuquerque were over.</p>
<p>I do think his grabbing Holly was in a moment of panic and the need to have someone in his family come with him. He realized once they were alone together it wouldn’t work. There is no way he came up with a scheme to drive off with Holly on his lap in order to trigger an Amber alert (why?) while fighting Skyler with a knife.</p>
<p>Here’s a great interview with the writer and director of “Ozymandias.” <a href=“http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/rian-johnson-moira-walley-beckett-breaking-bad-ozymandius-interview.html[/url]”>http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/rian-johnson-moira-walley-beckett-breaking-bad-ozymandius-interview.html</a>
The writer states clearly that the phone conversation between Walt and Skyler was Walt’s attempt to exonerate her by playing up his Heisenberg side. Moira Walley-Beckett, who also wrote “Fly,” among other great episodes, seems surprised that people should consider the scene open to interpretation. </p>
<p>I’ve read elsewhere (what am I gonna read online when this show is over?) that the scene also slyly refers to all the Skyler hate out there amongst certain viewers. Walt’s awful monologue contains the worst things he’s ever said about Skyler, another indication that he’s performing. I have never understood why some fans are actually still rooting for Walt to prevail, and why they see Skyler, Jesse, etc., as mere impediments to his success. Takes all kinds.</p>
<p>Some nice details about the baby in the interview too. She apparently ad-libbed “mama” at just the right time! Everyone in this show is a great actor, it seems.</p>
<p>Just read an article from the directors stating that Holly’s mom was standing 3 feet behind her and Walt during the bathroom scene. Unexpectedly the baby started saying ma ma and Walt went with it. Pretty awesome piece of film.</p>
<p>Also thought the film in the fire truck was great with Holly looking at the fire fighter with trepidation.</p>
<p>Thought the show was great. Still flinched when they shot Hank even when I was sure it would happen.</p>
<p>I also was unnerved by Walt’s vitriol towards Jessie. Giving him up to die and throwing salt in the wound by telling him about Jane.</p>
<p>Thought the scene on the phone was terrific. You could see Skylar start to understand what Walt was doing. The pauses and breaks in the conversation said as much as the dialogue did as Walt tried to take all the blame by acting like a violent abuser while he tried to silently tell Skylar he loved them.</p>
<p>When Walt and Skylar were wrestling on the floor I thought Walt jr. was going to fall into the scuffle and get stabbed by the upright knife.</p>
<p>Terrific stuff…wow. Can’t wait til next week.</p>
<p>Crosspost with frazzled</p>
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<p>I don’t get this either. I love the character of Walt but I hate him as a person (does that even make sense?) I read an interview with Vince Gilligan where he said something similar:</p>
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<p>[‘Breaking</a> Bad’ Final Season Shows Walt As A ‘Villain,’ Creator Says](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>'Breaking Bad' Final Season Shows Walt As A 'Villain,' Creator Says | HuffPost Entertainment)</p>
<p>I also thought Skyler or Walt Jr. could bite the bullet during the knife struggle, but that would be too predictable, I suppose. </p>
<p>When I realized what Walt was doing on the phone with Skyler, I thought he might be using his in the moment decision to take Holly and run as another way to absolve Skyler, implying that he always held the threat to the baby over her head. In other words, he may not have planned to take her, but used the fact that he did.</p>
<p>Also, I thought Walt pretty much told Skyler that Hank was dead when she confronted him at the house and outright asked if Hank were dead. He didn’t deny it, and said he tried to stop it.</p>
<p>My guess (hypothetical spoiler alert! ) as to how this will all end is that Jesse is somehow the last one standing and becomes the new Heisenberg. As the so called moral compass of the show we had high hopes for his redemption, but at this point he’s been too damaged and the cycle repeats. Actually, right up until they shot him I wondered if Hank could be turned and end up to be the new Heisenberg!</p>
<p>One character I find interesting is Todd. He seems like kind of a sweet kid…when he’s not shooting children or torturing former associates!</p>
<p>Todd is a classic psychopath. Knows what the appropriate response is but says it with no affect at all. Totally creepy guy…eewwww. </p>
<p>“He’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a dolls eyes”…</p>
<p>Yeah, Todd clearly has no moral compass whatsoever.</p>
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<p>Jaws! “I’m not going to waste my time arguing with a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch.”</p>
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<p>He does have family values, but what a family.</p>
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I don’t think so. Maybe mostly because I’d hate to see it work out that way, but also because it’s hard to see how Jesse could make that happen. He lacks Walt’s motivation, Walt’s greed, Walt’s daring, Walt’s ability to manipulate people, etc. When last seen, Jesse was as far from an alpha criminal mastermind as it’s possible to be. My bet is that the family is expecting to keep him alive until Todd’s success rate as a cook improves, and no longer. I don’t see them all somehow working for Jesse later on, or allowing him to take over the family business.</p>
<p>I also don’t see Jesse going on as a Heisenberg type because this is a morality play, and I expect Jesse’s fate to be as tied in to his actions as Walt’s fate will be to his. When asked how the show ends, one of the actors (Dean Norris, I think?) said, “Properly.” And I don’t think that Jesse becoming Heisenberg would make for a proper ending.</p>
<p>I do think that a minor character may well become another Heisenberg, but then this is a story about Walt, and to a lesser extent Jesse and Skyler. I don’t think everyone who deserves punishment will get it.</p>
<p>Frazzled, I hope you are right because I’d really hate it to end that way, too. I didn’t see Jesse working for the family, but somehow managing to get rid of them. I know it’s far fetched and with only two more episodes probably not enough time to make it plausible.</p>
<p>I hope the Aryans kill Walt’s whole family (including Marie & Holly) and he comes back for revenge. He dies in a hail of bullets and Jesse becomes the Aryans’ eternal slave.</p>
<p>Good grief, barrk, what ARE you smoking?</p>