Breaking Bad Recap: 'Rabid Dog' Jesse is on the Warpath, Walt Makes an Important Choice

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If you haven't watched this week's episode of "Breaking Bad" you really shouldn't read any further. This recap is bursting at the seams with spoilers. I know, you're shaking like Skinny Pete after a week off of the blue, but you really should wait until you've seen the episode before reading this. You've been warned.

Thanks to the show's history and the flash-forwards that have accompanied some of the episodes in the final season it appeared clear that "Breaking Bad" would wrap up its run after some definitive action from one of the main characters. Possibly Hank would go off the rails and cross the boundaries of the law in pursuit of Walt, maybe Walt would finally consider eliminating some of his family to protect the rest of his family or perhaps Todd and his uncle's crew would eliminate any possible threats. These were all viable theories until a crushed pack of cigarettes and a stolen Hello Kitty cell phone woke up a sleeping dragon.

Jesse Pinkman is on the warpath. Once Hank showed up and prevented him from burning the house down, which we all knew wasn't going to happen because of the flash-forwards, things felt wrong with the way things were looking for Jesse. Sure, he could tell his story to Hank, as he did, but having everything get resolved in courtroom with Jesse's word against Walt's word is not how this show was intended to end.

Once Jesse backed out of going to talk to Walt in the civic plaza, in part because of a scary looking guy waiting for his daughter, is when Jesse's revenge plot really begins. Going to burn down the house was pure emotion, telling the whole sad tale to Hank was Jesse at his weakest being manipulated. It appears now that Jesse has processed everything and gotten his head clear he has a plan to bring Walt down, whether or not his plan involves saving himself remains to be seen.

For the entire last season Jesse has seemed to be fading into the background. He says less and less while he often seems to be completely detached from the world. Once the train heist ends badly Jesse seems to have lost all potential for being a dangerous person.

Some of the best moments of this show are when Jesse has ideas. Since he is thought of by many of the characters to be nothing but a burnout his ideas often fall on deaf ears at first, plus it doesn't help get the point across by just saying "Yo" over and over, but usually they end up working out pretty well. I, for one, am excited to see what exactly Mr. Pinkman has up his sleeve.

This may be a bit nitpicky but last week's cliffhanger felt a little bit empty and unnecessary. Sure, seeing Jesse consumed with rage and on the verge of burning down Walt's house would have been a great way to end an episode but there was a problem; viewers already knew the house wasn't going to be burned down. Walt returns to the house in the first flash-forward of the season and it's still standing.

Knowing that the house wasn't going to catch aflame took a bit of the excitement out of the scene when Walt is trying to catch Jesse in his house. Adding the twist of Hank showing up just before Jesse set the fire later in the episode worked there wasn't any real tension in their standoff, you knew Hank didn't have time to kill Jesse and that the house didn't burn so there wasn't really any other option than Hank taking Jesse away from the scene.

Now that Jesse is gunning for Walt the other main development of the episode is that through the actions of Jesse and the prodding of Saul and Skyler Walt appears to finally be prepared to kill Jesse. Despite the impressive body count to Walt's name he has always been reluctant to turn on the one person who could do the most damage to him. Of course, we don't know exactly what sort of job Walt has in mind for Todd's uncle, so he may have not made that step yet.

Saul's speech comparing Jesse to Old Yeller was yet another classic moment Bob Odenkirk has added to the series. I'm sure that many people had their doubts about Saul when he was first added to the show, at the time adding the character plus having him played by Odenkirk made it seem like a quick attempt at comedic relief that would last an episode or two at most, but Odenkirk has become one of the brightest stars of the show.

It will be interesting to see how Saul responds to the beating he received at the hands of Jesse. He was already showing a bit more backbone than usual by trying to convince Walt to do away with Jesse, something tells me that Saul is going to end up playing a bigger role in the future of the show than many had previously thought.

There are only four episodes left and a slew of unanswered questions that need to be resolved in those episodes. Feel free to throw out any thoughts and theories you might have about the show in the comments section. As always, don't forget to come back to HNGN next Monday for another "Breaking Bad" recap.