This show really likes the random cold opens, doesn't it? The scene showing a child finding a tarantula in the desert and putting it in a jar doesn't seem to have any bearing on the plot, but it does come into play at the episode's end and does make for a rather peculiar bookend. Truth be told, I was expecting the kid to get bitten, but he doesn't.
On more obviously relevant fronts, Walt goes to visit Hank and unload about his worries about his marriage. You'd think that this would be genuine remorse on Walt's part, but the instant Hank leaves the room to go get coffee, Walt uses the opportunity to plant a bug on Hank's phone.
The purpose is to determine whether or not Lydia planted the GPS unit on that barrel of Methylamine herself or not. They force Lydia to call Hank to make an innocent inquiry about it, with Mike emphasizing that any sort of mishap will result in her getting her head blown off. There's a nice misdirect as neither Hank nor Gomez know of any sort of devices being planted, but it turns out that a different branch did, in fact, plant the trackers.
One would think that this is good news, but Mike still thinks that Lydia needs to die. She does call him on it and it's clear that it's more vindictiveness over her putting a hit out on him, but when it's revealed that the DEA planted devices on all of the barrels at the warehouse, Lydia's worth once again gets called into question.
While those barrels are obviously not an option, Lydia does offer them access to "an ocean" of the stuff by giving them information about a transport freighter that ships the chemical through a "dead zone". No cell service, no security checks, and no surveillance.
Mike still isn't convinced (as it would be logistically challenging, not to mention the witnesses that would have to be dealt with) and proposes going back to the original cooking formula. He's not wrong in saying that making less money is better than making no money, but Walt is adamantly against it as they invested in lab equipment designed specifically for using Methylamine and he notes that Mike is likely more concerned about keeping Gus' men quiet.
Luckily, Jesse is there to, once again, mitigate a tense confrontation by presenting a third option. He suggests siphoning off some of the Methylamine and replacing it with water so that no one ever knew there was a heist in the first place. While the dilution will be noticed at some point, Walt later says that it would be chalked up to the Chinese trying to pass off an inferior product.
So, yes, this episode is a heist plot. At first, I was excited as heists can be fun to watch, but then my brain remembered that they have pulled heists a few times in this show. Now, granted, this is a more elaborate one. It's a huge step up from the early days when Walt and Jesse broke into a warehouse wearing ski masks and dragged the barrel out by hand. It makes for a very entertaining watch.
Given this show, you would expect something to go horribly awry, but all things considered, the heist goes rather well. The closest thing to a snag comes when a good samaritan comes along and offers to push the truck that they used to stop the train out of the way. It gives the episode a "down to the wire" feel as Walt wants to get as much as they can before the train leaves.
You almost think that the episode is going to break tradition and end on a high note for the group. They're all celebrating their big score when it suddenly comes to their attention that the kid from the opening scene is standing there. We don't know how long he was standing there, or if he even knew what they were doing, but it doesn't matter as one of the men they hired to help pulls out his gun and shoots the kid. Walt did emphatically say there weren't to be any witnesses, so yeah. It's the sort of "wham" moment you would expect an episode to end on, but I was kind of hoping it would have ended on a more triumphant note.
On the domestic front, Skyler compromises and says that she'll keep laundering money and keeping Walt's secret, but she still doesn't want the kids near him. She notes that he brought up the fact that a gun was held to his head rather casually and doesn't want anyone knocking on their door. Walt agrees, though given the fact that Hank was more than willing to let Walt stop by and visit the kids whenever he wanted, he probably didn't see it as much of a concession on his part.
Meanwhile, Walt Jr. throws another temper tantrum because he doesn't know what's going on. Again, this is a scenario where I should feel sorry for him, but I really don't. Even Hank refers to him as "emo" at one point in the episode. Skyler's scene with Walt was nothing noteworthy, but it was at least something that needed to be seen in terms of the show's plot. This, not so much.
Even the opening scene with Hank resonated more. Not just because we saw Walt being manipulative, but because Hank was being a good brother (in law). He was there for Walt and offered what help he could. Yeah, Walt didn't really need the help, but it was still heartwarming.
Really good episode overall. I enjoy elaborate heist plots, so this was a fun watch for me. Walt Jr. kind of dragged the episode down, but there was enough good to more than make up for that.
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