'Breaking Bad' Season 4, Episode 6 'Cornered' Recap

For a second, I thought this was a re-run: "Cornered" opens with a shot that's almost identical to the beginning of "Bullet Holes": a condensated breath of air in a refrigerated truck. But this time when the cartel attacks, they're much cleaner and more precise...in fact, their plan to pipe the truck's own exhaust back into the compartment seems like something gus or Mike might do. Boy, good thing Mike wasn't in there, eh?

No, Mike was busy eating with Jesse, who is now officially back off the meth and going through some harsh withdrawal. Mike's offering of food shows that this relationship is becoming less of an assignment for Mike and more of a mentorship.

Or perhaps it's a partnership? When the two go on Jesse's first stakeout later, the younger of the duo decides he doesn't want to just wait in the car. Mike humors Jesse, assuming (correctly, at first) that the two armed meth heads inside the house that have the stolen blue meth won't let him in.

But Jesse brings up a good point as to how he can be helpful in this new job: "I know meth heads," he says before walking into their yard with a shovel and digging, bringing the paranoid meth head outside.

Two things here: one, you have to love seeing Jesse using his head and being in his element, thinking up something that even Mike would have never thought of. And two, the camera attached to the head of the shovel is yet another example of the brilliant cinematography on this show, and a nice companion to the camera inside Walt's mask last week.

Thing actually go pretty well for Jesse this episode. Gus actually encounters him at the end and, in so many words, congratulates him on his good work. He says he sees something in Jesse, and that's why he chose him.

But Walt is less convinced that Jesse's there for his own good. Walt correctly figures out that the robbery was a set-up, though it's tough to say at this point whether he's correct in the aim to drive a wedge between him and Jesse. For now, all we know for certain is that Mike and Gus wanted to stabilize Jesse and make him less of a risk. That makes Walt sound a bit like a self-centered, condescending asshole, which actually does drive a wedge between him and Jesse. Maybe that was the plan all along and Gus is just that smart.

You want to know who isn't smart? Walt. The guy is taking increased risks and is bordering on delusion in terms of how in control he is. He states the theme of the season (which so far has turned out to be false) when Skyler confronts him about Gale and the question of Walt's safety: "I am the danger," Walt growls.

But at this point, the idea that Walt would be dangerous to Gus at all is laughable. It's even more painfully obvious that Walt is severely lacking in the badass department when he takes the car wash over from Bogdan aka Mr. Eyebrows. Bogdan gives Walt a speech that is more poignant than he knows, as he tells him "Boss must be tough." Walt wants to hear none of it, and we see his defiance in turning a box on the counter that Bogdan straightened crooked again, and taking Bogdan's first dollar and spending it on a Coke in the vending machine. These aren't the moves of a badass. These are the moves of a rebellious child.

We again see that Walt doesn't seem to have any idea what he's dealing with as he hires on three of the laundry ladies to help him clean the lab. It's a hilarious scene, but one that also reminds us that Walt's childish acts of rebellion hurt others: the ladies are soon deported back to Honduras by Gus' men.

In fact, Walt's delusions (or just plain carelessness) is putting the family in trouble already as well. Skyler almost flees the state with Holly, and her deciding coin flip at the Four Corners monuments would have sent her away to Colorado. But we see that she's not quite ready to give up on Walt yet. It must be getting tough to justify it for her.

And Walt isn't making any easier either, buying a brand-new fancy muscle car for Junior in order to "buy him off." If the expensive bottle of champagne was bad, this is a catastrophe.

But the car strengthens an interesting trend of this season: the use of the color red. Did you notice that Walt's shirt when he mouthed off to Hank last week was a deep red? We saw that he was wearing a red undershirt underneath it this week. A top-down shot of the lab reminds us that the floor there has always been red, and now Walt bought Junior a red car. It seems that wherever there is danger, there is the color red...that could bode poorly for Jesse, who is currently driving a red car. Watch out, kid.