I posted this on Google+, and it was good so I decided to post it here as well. What follows is a straight-up cut & paste.
Obviously, spoilers here. I'd normally wait a couple of days to do this, but this episode was just too good! I'm going to skip past the more boring storylines here and skip right to the good stuff. First, it was awesome to see Jesse take control like that in the Cartel's meth lab. That was badass. Gus once again shows how badass he is, murdering the entire Cartel and avenging the death of his friend from so long ago. Fighting the effects of the same poison that killed them, he still shouts to anyone that may still be in the house, basically saying, "Bring it!!!"
Freaking sweet.
All this speculation about Mike trying to shoot Jesse is all well and good (for the record, I think people are reading too deeply into it; this is Breaking Bad, not Lost), but there's a far more interesting question.
Jesse, right now, has the power to end all of this. The two people who wanted him and Walt dead at the end of the last season are, right now, alone with him in Mexico. Gus is fighting the effects of the same poison that he used to wipe out the Cartel, Mike is wounded from a GSW, and Jesse is armed.
He could kill both of them. Easily. So, rather than discuss three frames of last night's show, let's look at the far more interesting question here. Where do Jesse's loyalties lie? By killing them both, Jesse ends forever the threat of them killing Walt and avenges the death of Tomas, Andrea's little brother. However, he has more respect from them than he EVER got from Walt; it was impossible to miss the pride on the faces of Gus and Mike when Jesse asserted control and dominance at the Cartel meth lab. He's a valuable member of the team.
Walt cares about Jesse, we all know that. That fact hasn't stopped Walt from treating Jesse like a tool, though. From the beginning, Walt has used Jesse to get what he wants. If Walt wasn't so money hungry, Jesse would have never had to expand the territory in season two, and Combo would still be alive. Jesse got his ass royally kicked by both Tuco and Hank, both for Walt. Jesse killed. in cold blood, for Walt. Right after that, as Jesse was struggling with his emotional aftermath of that murder, Walt, with no thought of Jesse's emotional state whatsoever, demands that he kill again for Walt. And then gets increasingly pissed when Jesse hasn't done it yet! After Walt revealed that he had bugged Jesse's car with a GPS tracker and Jesse, in disbelief and shock, says, "After everything I've done for you," he EARNED that. He had the right to say that.
Next week, Jesse has a choice to make. The line is clearly drawn in the sand. Whose side is he on?
Thoughts?
