Author Archives | Eder Campuzano

Social media reactions: There’s no day like a snow day at the University of Oregon

In case you missed it — and you’d either have to be out of town or completely shut inside without a window — it’s been snowing here in Eugene. And you’ve got plenty to say about it on Twitter and Instagram. Here’s a taste:

For more coverage of today’s snowfall, check out our topics page.

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Campuzano: Waiting in line sucks, but it doesn’t have to

I’ll never forget the evening of Nov. 18, 2006.

After camping outside of the Fred Meyer on West 11th Avenue for nearly 30 hours, a crowd of 52 waited with bated breath as the store manager walked out of the double doors next to the in-store Starbucks. He approached us, handed me a list of names and I started reading them aloud, starting with mine.

The crowd formed an orderly queue, falling in line as I recited their names. This ragged piece of notebook paper was handed throughout a makeshift camp near the parking lot where we each arrived over the course of the last day and a half with one goal in mind: To pick up Nintendo’s Wii console at midnight on launch day.

I arrived with my roommates at 6 p.m. on Nov. 17. At 10 p.m., we got nervous that somebody else would be first in line — we left the car and plunked down in front of the store.

The next customer didn’t show up until 1 a.m.

As the night wore on, more joined us including one man at 3 a.m. and a small family at 5 a.m. As our ranks grew, we made room for each other. We pulled out our Nintendo DS’s and played “Pokémon” and “Mario Kart” together. At around 5 p.m., with seven hours to go, the trouble started. The manager told us he only had 53 consoles in stock. There were 56 of us in line.

At around 5 p.m., with seven hours to go, the trouble started. The manager told us he only had 53 consoles in stock. There were 56 of us in line.

If there’s one thing I’m glad I learned while working at Old Navy for four years, it’s the value of stock checks. I asked the manager how many consoles the Florence store had.

Twelve.

Nobody on the coast was waiting outside the Fred Meyer there. Nor was there a line at the Albany store, where eight consoles sat unclaimed.

So we started the list. We also started directing people elsewhere.

“There’s six left in Florence and it’s three hours to midnight,” I remember telling somebody. “You can still make it if you go now.”

At the end of the night, there were 53 people in line on West 11th Avenue waiting for 53 Wii consoles.

In exactly three weeks, on Nov. 15, the same scene will play out all across the country upon the release of the Playstation 4 and again seven days later for the release of Microsoft’s Xbox One.

At least I hope it does.

When you wait outside a store in the cold, whether it’s for the next big Apple product or a video game console — hell, even for ESPN’s College GameDay — things can get ugly. People get grumpy and pushy. Passersby stare and make fun. But it can also be a memory you’ll never forget.

If you’re waiting in line somewhere on the evenings of Nov. 14 and 21, take a cue from the folks who camped outside of Fred Meyer on West 11th Avenue seven years ago.

Talk to people. Go in on a pizza. Make it a night you won’t forget.

 

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‘Breaking Bad’ recap: And with ‘Felina,’ we bid farewell to six years of amazing television

Editor’s Note: It should go without saying, but there are MAJOR spoilers ahead for the Breaking Bad series finale, “Felina.”

I’ll never forget the moment I discovered Breaking Bad. I popped open a friend’s laptop in the middle of July in 2009 to see Bryan Cranston, his head shaved and a grim smile on his face, staring at me while he held two fists full of cash. The foreground of the laptop’s wallpaper was a dryer. And I guess you could say this was the moment I was told about Breaking Bad.

This was when I only knew Cranston as Hal, the goofy and physically limber father from Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle. When I heard the show’s synopsis, I shook my head in disbelief. Could the man I once watched roller skate through an elementary school playground in sequins play a convincing wannabe crime lord?

It’s been four years and I’m finding it more difficult to imagine Walter White as a flawed but ultimately well-meaning father. Sure, he may have started the series that way. The man who flicked lit matches dismayingly at his dirty backyard pool absolutely had his family’s best interest at heart. But as the series went on, his pride and greed won over. After all of the terrible things that he’s done over the years and all the scores he’s got to settle, the one Walt sees fit to finish off is the one that he’s most at fault for.

When he walks into Elliot and Gretchen’s house in the first few minutes of tonight’s episode, we see where his priorities are. He hasn’t returned to New Mexico to kill off the people whose multi-billion-dollar company he co-founded. Instead, he wants them to help him embezzle the money he illicitly earned to a fund for his family.

But his pride is still getting in the way.

Any lawyers fees associated with the transaction is to come from Walt’s stash of more than $9 million. And to ensure his family gets that money? He’s hired the two most dangerous hitmen west of the Mississippi to take care of Gretchen and Elliot. Or so he tells them. Leave it to Vince Gilligan to re-introduce Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Badger and Skinny Pete for a bit of comedic relief in one of the most tense series finales in television history.

From the moment we see Jesse daydreaming of carpentry to the flashback of Hank’s offer to take Walt on a ride-along, it’s just heartbreak after heartbreak. But none of that is more painful than watching Todd try to court Lydia. Thank goodness Walt walks in when he does, otherwise the awkwardness would have killed somebody.

Minutes later when Marie calls Skyler and lists off the multiple scenarios she’s either heard or imagined — he’s coming after you and the kids, he’s going to blow up city hall, he’s coming after me — and we catch up with Walt and his  wife in her “new” kitchen, you can’t help but wonder the same thing: Why is he there?

It’s to give her an out. Aside from all we heard last episode about Skyler’s life post-Heisenberg, we never get the full impact of how bad it gets for her and the kids. The tiny apartment. The return of the smoking habit. The room shared by mother and daughter because a part-time job just won’t cut it.

Things seem even more bleak when we see Walt Jr. walk off the school bus instead of driving himself home in his Dodge Challenger. My, how the mighty have fallen.

And just like Walt, Uncle Jack has some warped sense of pride that won’t let him stand by as Walt calls Jesse his “partner.” It’s as volatile a word in the man’s presence as the term “chicken” is in Marty McFly’s. And again, it’s a man who’s let emotion get the best of him that changes the course of the show’s history.

Just as Gus reacted hastily to Hector’s supposed betrayal and Walt sped off into the New Mexico wastes under the belief that his cash was in jeopardy, Uncle Jack took his eyes off his prisoners just long enough to sign his own death warrant.

Now it’s down to Walt, Jesse and Meth Damon Todd. I don’t think I’ve rooted for a character’s death as much as I did Todd’s. And watching Walt pull the trigger on Jack is also right up there as one of the show’s most satisfying moments.

It’s become somewhat of a ritual for Walt and Jesse at this point: Nearly every season, the latter’s gotta have a gun pointed at the former’s head. And what happens next? A couple of reveals and Walt walks silently into Jesse’s prison to die alone on the floor as his former partner drives off into freedom.

And there it is. We end where we began, in a makeshift meth lab sporting a pair of khakis and a dark green, long-sleeved shirt. Breaking Bad will doubtlessly go down in the annals of television history as one of the best series ever, right up there with The SopranosM*A*S*H* and countless others. Is this the finale you were hoping for? I might still need a few hours, if not days, to decide for myself.

One thing’s for sure, Walter got more than he deserved in the end. More on that tomorrow.

Stray observations:

How fitting that Walt start his final trip in a Volvo? Gus Fring, the man whose empire he toppled one season — two years — prior, drove a black Volvo wagon while Walt’s ride is a white sedan. Even after gunning down the king, Heisenberg still can’t maintain the status.

– “If we’re going to go that way, you’ll need a bigger knife.” That line of dialogue is all the more impactful when you know just how much heat Walt’s packing in the trunk of that white Volvo later during the showdown against the Nazis.

-”My children are blameless victims of their monstrous father.” Did Walt finally come to terms with what he actually is or was he just selling Gretchen and Elliot on that elaborate piece of fiction he’s drummed up? Can it be both?

-10 a.m. every Tuesday morning. Lydia’s uptight demeanor is ultimately what led to her demise. Who’da thunk it?

– How did that busboy not recognize the most wanted man in the American Southwest? Kids these days …

– “All the things that I did …” Finally, Walt’s admitting to Skyler and himself that he’s done everything for the wrong reasons.

– Heisenberg = Scarface + science.

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Move-In Day: Where were you when the Oregon first years started unpacking the quack?

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Back to the Books: These are the shows you have to binge watch before the first day of school

Okay, so you’ve watched every episode of “Doctor Who,” “Gossip Girl” and “Sons of Anarchy” that Netflix has to offer. But there’s a whole world out there of old and off-beat television that you haven’t even touched. If you’re looking for a way to kill the last week before classes start but remain in your Snuggie all the while, check out these digital offerings to satiate your Netflix needs.

The X-Files

Remember when this show was still on the air and you only ever caught the last five minutes in anticipation of a new episode of “The Simpsons”? Of course you don’t. But that’s all the more reason you should give the show that inspired the Cigarette Smoking Man line in the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week” a chance. Not only is the writing excellent, but the performances by a Gillian Anderson and a pre-”Californication” David Duchovny are great. And then there’s the sexual tension — it’s like watching Ross and Rachel against a sci-fi, crime procedural backdrop.

The Magic School Bus

In mid-August, Netflix began streaming the first season of “The Magic School Bus.” Everyone was bummed. Sure, we got to see Ms. Frizzle and the gang go into outer space and inside of Ralphie, but where are the dinosaurs? The soundwaves? The journeys into the center of the Earth? Well, now there are four seasons available for your viewing pleasure, complete with all of the antics you could possibly expect from the learningest show there ever was. Remember how stoked you would get in elementary school when your teacher announced it was “Magic School Bus” time? Now you can relive it in glorious 480p.

Childrens Hospital

Rob Corddry had a pretty unremarkable career following his departure from “The Daily Show.” But “Childrens Hospital” is probably one of the best things you can find on Netflix or YouTube right now. Every episode is split into two five-minute segments — this is probably the least intense binge-watching commitment you can possibly make. At 11 minutes per episode, going through both seasons will take a little more than three hours. And the zany antics and awesome guest stars, from Jason Sudekis to Nick Offerman, really make the show shine. Oh, and that title isn’t a typo. The hospital featured on the show is named after Dr. Arthur Childrens. Expect a lot more of that.

Malcolm in the Middle

As one of the most under-appreciated shows by the suits at FOX (yes, even moreso than “Arrested Development,”) “Malcolm in the Middle” was unceremoniously removed from the network’s Sunday night lineup and shuffled around until it just couldn’t take it anymore. Fortunately, all seven seasons of the comedy are available for streaming on Netflix. Because of copyright issues some of the music has been changed, but Malcolm and his family still provide plenty of family dysfunction to keep you interested for the show’s seven-season run. This show was also the first to prominently feature Bryan Cranston, which brings us to:

Breaking Bad

Of course, the holy grail of Netflix binges these days is one of the most acclaimed series currently on television. The story of a mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned drug lord finishes this weekend, but all 54 episodes of the first four seasons and the first half of the second season are available for streaming on Netflix. It’s also one of the few shows I’d advocate buying a season pass for on iTunes. “Breaking Bad” is probably the most meticulously produced show in television history — nearly every minute detail is either integral to the episode you watch or comes back later. Creator Vince Gilligan has a knack for visual storytelling and creating robust characters. If there’s any reason you should lock yourself up for 51 hours in the week before school starts, this is probably it.

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Back to the Books: Like a good neighbor, don’t have 100-person ragers at your house on a Monday night

Duck fans are known for getting rowdy after a home game. Walk down any street in the West University Neighborhood after Oregon routs an opponent and it’s pretty obvious that people love football, sometimes loudly and obnoxiously.

When you combine a Duck win with the last weekend of the summer, things get a bit hairy. That’s easily when the Eugene and University of Oregon police departments are at their busiest. In 2010, things got so bad around Ferry Street that more than 50 police officers from Eugene and beyond had to respond to a myriad of parties that had converged and gone wrong — approximately 400 partygoers got so rowdy that tear gas had to be used to subdue them.

“It was definitely out of control, and I’m not surprised by what happened with the police,” political science major Colin Larie told The Emerald shortly after the incident.

Earlier this year, the Eugene City Council voted to institute the Ordinance on Unruly Gatherings, known among students as the Social Host Ordinance. For the new or uninitiated, that means that antics that once earned you a noise complaint and a stern finger-wagging from the police can now result in fees of up to $1,000 and a bill from the city, complete with line items for police and emergency response.

On April 8, one week after EPD began enforcing the policy in earnest, seven students were cited for Social Host Ordinance violations near 18th Avenue and Mill Street. The offense? Hosting a party where attendance topped 100 while underage drinking ran rampant and a minor was rushed to the hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning.

The Office of the Dean of Students offers the following tips in order to avoid similar predicaments:

• Verify the age of your guests

• Control the access to and quantity of alcohol at your party

• Get to know your neighbors and let them know before you have people over

• Keep the noise down

• Is someone you don’t know trying to get into your party? Keep them out.

Additionally, students have found success calling EPD on their own parties when things get out of hand or even hiring private security to keep things under control.

Keeping a courteous, if not friendly, relationship with your neighbors goes a long way, too. If you haven’t moved into your new digs yet — or, alternately, if you’re moving into a new house or apartment — knock on your neighbors’ door and get to know each other a little. Share a six pack of Mountain Dew if you’re marathoning Halo together, Blue Moon if you’re sitting on a porch and shooting the shit, or Capri Suns if you’re  really children at heart (aren’t we all?)

But this is probably the easiest tactic to avoid a visit from the police and maintain a reputation as a good neighbor: Don’t host 100-person ragers in a residential neighborhood on a Monday night. Do the opposite of what the first students charged with Social Host Ordinance violations did and you’ll be sitting pretty.

 

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‘Breaking Bad’ recap: Walter White takes a hesitant vacation in the ‘Granite State’

Editor’s Note: It should go without saying, but there are MAJOR spoilers ahead for the fifth-season episode of Breaking Bad, “Granite State.”

Okay, so who’s Walter White going after? Is it the Aryans who killed his brother-in-law and are holding his former assistant? Or will it be his former business partners who just badmouthed him to the national press?

We’ll get there in due time, but first let’s find out how we got there.

Everything’s in shambles and all of the show’s characters are just trying to piece everything back together. Walt’s trying to plot his comeback and revenge from a remote cabin in New Hampshire, the show’s titular Granite State. Skyler is working a part-time job in an effort to stabilize her family in any small way she can. And Jesse’s just trying to escape the Aryans.

From this episode’s outset, Walt’s still deluding himself into thinking that what he’s doing is all for his family. Although revenge

Just like the .38 snub dealer, the vacuum specialist is making exceptions for Walt. If you leave this place, you will get caught. For once, Walt heeds a solid piece of advice. Rather than leave the reservation he’s on and risk getting caught by the feds, he slinks back to his cabin to warm up.

Is it the unrelenting, snowy wasteland that beats him back or the threat of handcuffs and national headlines that have him warming up by the end of that scene? It could be a combination of both but, if nothing else, the sequence illustrates that no matter how high he was once, Heisenberg has everything working against him now.

“I understand I’m in terrible trouble.”

Skyler’s position with the feds confirms every suspicion that Saul had and reinforces the fact that Walt isn’t doing anything for the family by going into hiding and exacting revenge. Even the following scene, the one in which Todd threatens Skyler against ratting on Lydia, proves just how far from the truth Walt had everything — nobody came knocking at the door, but both Skyler and her children were in grave danger.

It’s sickening just how casually Todd brushes off even the worst acts and suggestions. But he’s doing it all for love, so at least he’s got that going for him. On another note, have we ever seen him in anything that’s not flannel or a T-shirt? Yet here he is, all buttoned up and combed for his date with Lydia Rodarte-Quayle.

Todd’s sympathetic demeanor and nonchalant attitude are the most puzzling thing Vince Gilligan and the show’s writers have ever presented us. He knows what he’s doing, but at the same time he’s oblivious to the way everyone can read and interpret his own motivations.

As soon as he leads Andrea onto her front porch, you know what’s about to happen. And the moment he pulls the trigger and Jesse’s former flame falls to the ground, the stakes for Pinkman have been set: He’s got nothing to lose.

Just how much time has elapsed since Walt was dropped off? Skyler’s got a new job, the White house is already a shrine to Heisenberg by the sounds of it and Walt’s going through a backwoods chemotherapy routine that would make anyone wince. And every time you think Walt’s hit rock bottom — last week it was lying in the dirt to watch as Hank was shot in the head — there’s always something else.

Just as Hank said last week, Walt’s probably the smartest (fictional) character you’ve ever met, but he’s incredibly deluded. He still operates under the philosophy that money can solve any problem.

This week he’s paying $10,000 for a stranger to play cards with him with no guarantee that, should he die in that cabin in New Hampshire, his family would see a cent that was earned by the Heisenberg empire.

And when he tries to smuggle cash to his son, he gets quite an earful. Almost immediately afterward, here are Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz visibly trying to distance themselves from Walt as much as possible in front of Charlie Rose.

Heisenberg has now seen the extent to which his empire has shattered and is being burned to the ground. As the sheriffs deputies swarm around the New Hampshire tavern, one question remains: just who’s higher on Walt’s hit list as we head into the final episode?

Stray observations

-“She just seems like a nice lady watching out for her kids.” Seriously, Todd is the most pants-shittingly scary character the show has ever seen. Even Gus, with his two-steps-ahead methods, was never this intimidating. Todd has the coldest eyes — the devil’s eyes.

-“It’s not over until …” Again, Walt has hit rock bottom. He doesn’t even have the clout to bully Saul into doing his bidding anymore.

-For all of the slimeball things that Saul has done, he’s probably given Walt the best advice he’s ever doled out: Stay.

-“Call it in — get her out of here.” Right off the bat, everyone’s in danger.

-“Is this pussy crying throughout the entire thing?” Jeez, those Aryans are pretty heartless. And did you see the total lack of emotion on Todd’s face when he listened to Jesse’s confession? But kudos to the man for trying to help his nephew in the game of love.

-“It’s an actual store.” Did anyone else expect Saul to walk out of that red van? I’m also struggling to figure out what’s in Nebraska.

-I wonder if Walt makes a friend named Leif when he’s out in New Hampshire. Ten bucks to anyone who connects those dots.

 

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Back to the Books: Welcome to the best years of your life

I’ve been to a sorority house on three occasions, and each was accompanied by copious amounts of pie and a serenade by On the Rocks. I’ve never lived in the residence halls. And I’ve certainly never experienced what it’s like to share a house with five other guys.

Sure, we have a lot of shared experiences during our time at the University of Oregon: Indecisive treks down 13th Avenue on an empty stomach (It all smells so good!); the high that comes with your first walk across the Autzen footbridge (Or utter bewilderment that anybody could be that excited over something as trivial as a football game); and the Friday and Saturday night wait for an Uli’s taco or a Dough Co. calzone.

But the places we call home are all vastly different. Where one guy would hang a 24×20 poster of former Oregon footballer Kenjon Barner, another hangs a colorful tapestry from Lazar’s Bazar while another still nails a framed “Legend of Zelda” poster.

Whether we’re there for nine months or all four years of our careers at the UO, our homes are what define us. That’s why it’s important to not only make sure you individualize your home decor, but also treat your pad with respect.

Ladies and gents: Do you really want your apartment or house to look like Pinterest threw up in it? No? Then leave the melted crayon art pieces at home.

Freshmen: Before you move into your dorm, heed our reporters’ advice on how to save your meal points and be a good roommate.

If you’re considering rushing a sorority during your time here, be wary of a little something they call a sleeping porch — it’s kind of like the sorority version of the owlery in “Harry Potter” — and the fact that you can’t have boys over after 1 a.m. But when you have man-servants and a good chef, what more would you want?

And before you plan that rager in your house on the corner of 13th and Ferry Street that will inevitably put you in danger of a Social Host Ordinance citation, remember that a friendly knock on your neighbor’s door may help you avoid all sorts of unnecessary confrontation.

Those are just some of the tips we can offer you in this, the first housing guide of the academic year (there’ll be more to come. Trust me.)

Our special sections serve to fulfill our motto as both a student service and as a modern media company: We want to make your college experience better.

In the coming weeks, months and years, we’ll be here to offer you the newest in everything from fashion to dining, nightlife to arts and culture and everything in between.

Whether you’re starting your first year at the UO or returning for your last, don’t forget to do the following at least once a term:

Wake up at 7 a.m. on a Sunday and take a walk through your neighborhood or across campus.

Invite all of your friends over for an hours-long feast, complete with a good bottle of wine (if you’re of age) and board games.

Clean your apartment or dorm room with your favorite artist blaring and the windows open, especially in the middle of winter.

Lock yourself up at home for a full day and binge watch your favorite series on Netflix, curl up with your favorite book or play through all of “Donkey Kong Country 2” for the seventh time — the rainier it is outside, the better.

After all, these are going to be some of the best years of your life.

Cheers.

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SEIU Local 503 and supporters sit in at Johnson Hall amid strike

Members of SEIU Local 503, along with supporters from across the state that included students, staff and faculty from the University of Oregon, sat in the reception area of the president’s office in Johnson Hall Wednesday afternoon.

“You’re one paycheck away from being homeless,” one supporter said during a break in the chanting.

After a round of chants in support of the classified employees strike scheduled for Sept. 30, supporters from the crowd spoke up.

“This is an environment we all create together,” said one faculty member. “We’ve gotta make sure you get a living wage.”

“This university can afford it, this state can afford it,” another faculty member said. “We’ve all gotta fight this fight.”

Members of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, a union composed of graduate employees at the UO, also showed up in support of the classified staff, chanting and holding signs as the sit-in went on.

SEIU members voted Sept. 9, 10 and 11 to authorize the strike. The UO chapter held its voting session in Columbia 150.

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‘Breaking Bad’ recap: The empire has finally crumbled in ‘Ozymandias’

Editor’s Note: It should go without saying, but there are MAJOR spoilers ahead for the fifth-season episode of Breaking Bad, “Ozymandias.”

Walter White has completely lost control. The empire he’s worked so hard to build has fractured and crumbled and, just as in the poem that inspired the episode’s title, nothing beside remains. Well, save for $11 million in a barrel.

We saw glimpses Walt losing control last week when he was speeding through Albuquerque en route to his an $80-million cash pile he thought was in jeopardy. He admitted every one of his crimes to Jesse over the phone as he wove through traffic. He sped through nearly every red light on the way there.

Just as an emotional reaction to the thought of Hector Salamanca talking to the DEA led Gus Fring to his demise, so did a fervent response to the threat of losing his hard-earned cash lead Walt to give up all of his secrets, the requisite cash pile included.

So it’s fitting that by the end of this week’s episode of Breaking Bad that Walt, like Gus, lost everything — figuratively speaking of course. Sure, he’s got that $11 million, but his wife, his son, his infant daughter: all gone (again, figuratively.)

The people Walt used as a crutch to justify every horrible thing he’s done have left his side. But first let’s figure out how we got to the end, with Walt riding off into the sunset in a red minivan, Skyler, Marie and Walt Jr. in tears at the White residence and Holly strapped to the passenger seat of a fire engine.

The two Whites and Marie know that Hank’s gone. What they don’t know is the circumstances. And you you’ve got to wonder what’s worse: What they think happened or the truth? Of course, the details Walt omits make it seem like he did Hank in himself, but I’d venture to say what actually transpired in the desert is much worse.

Hank Schrader’s death is when Walt abandoned the family line. Until now, he went to incredible lengths to keep his family safe, but as soon as that bullet hits its mark, all bets are off. Immediately afterward, he’s calling for Jesse’s death, and this time he’s not even asking for a humane execution.

The events that follow are heartbreaking in every sense of the phrase. Jesse is chained up and forced to cook for the Nazis — his only motivation is the fact that they know who Andrea and Brock are and, if I know Uncle Jack — and I think I do — the minute Jesse stops cooking, those two are in grave danger.

All of the lies and deception are completely unraveled in the most tense dialogue exchange in the series (I know, it seems to happen with every new episode this season.) This ultimately ends with Walt and Skyler fighting over a knife, with Junior ending everything by calling the police. And that’s the moment when Walt feels really defeated.

He’s finally lost his family.

After a quick trip to a public restroom to clean up his daughter before leaving her in a fire station, Walt’s finally called Saul’s guy so he can disappear. Now Walt’s headed to New Hampshire (probably) and he says he’s got unfinished business. And with two episodes to go, you’ve got to wonder: What’s left?

Stray observations:

-That opening. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the humble beginnings of the man named Heisenberg. Tighty whities. Playing with sticks in the wild as if they were swords. Such a simpler time.

-“My name is ASAC Schrader. And you can go fuck yourself.” Hank knew the name of the game as soon as that Nazi took his gun. RIP, Mr. Schrader.

-“You’re the smartest guy I ever met and you’re too stupid to see.” One of Hank’s last lines is similar to one of the first we hear him speak in the pilot.

-“I saw Jane die.” The last secret Walt hid from Jesse might have hit Pinkman the hardest. With this small admission, Jesse is fully and totally justified in calling his former teacher the devil.

-The Nazis didn’t have to leave Walt that $11 million. Maybe Uncle Jack isn’t so bad after all. (He is.)

-“Let’s cook.” When Walt says it to Jesse for the first time, it sounds serious, but there’s a fatherly tone to it. But when Todd says it? It’s so nonchalant. There’s such a casual tone to his voice, yet the circumstances under which we hear those two words couldn’t be more different. Here’s Jesse, chained to a rail and forced to make meth with the threat of losing the only two people he cares about.

– Walt Jr.’s life has come crashing down. At least once per season, Walt stresses how much he wants Junior’s memory of his father to remain untarnished.

-My money’s on Marie being the one who defiles the White house and sprays “Heisenberg” on the living room wall. Stranger things have happened.

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