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"Open House" is the third episode from the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the thirty-sixth episode altogether.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

Fuckyou Gus

While preparing for another cook in the superlab, Walt hears a whirring sound. He looks up to see that a surveillance camera has been installed above the lab, allowing Gus to track his every move. Furious, Walt walks up to the camera and gives it the middle finger.

Act I[]

Frustrated that Walt won't return her calls, Skyler visits his apartment and bangs on the door incessantly. When she calls his cell phone, she hears it ringing from inside the apartment. She demands that they discuss buying the car wash; Walt replies that he's facing far more pressing matters. Noticing the bruise on Walt's face from Mike's beating, she tells him to go to the police. When she presses for details, Walt admits he got into a minor disagreement with a colleague over a "business strategy," and refuses to turn to the authorities. Skyler makes Walt promise she'll be informed if he's ever in danger.

Marie attends a residential open house, giving a fake name and conjured life details. After she arrives home, Marie unpacks her shopping, along with a figurine she stole from the open house; her kleptomania is resurfacing.

Act II[]

Walt's second Apartment -10

In the superlab, Walt complains about the surveillance camera to Jesse, who just shrugs it off. He asks if Walt would like to race go-karts with him after work. Walt, confused and uninterested, says he has other plans. He then asks Jesse how he's doing and if there's anything he should know. Jesse denies the request to discuss openly, then points to Walt's bruised eye and asks Walt the same question.

After work at Walt's apartment, Saul pitches the prospect of using the Zen Nail Spa as their front for laundering Walt's money. Walt thinks that the nail spa is the safer option, believing that the car wash is a bad idea. However, Skyler mentions her previous visit to the car wash, during which how Bodgan questioned Walt's manhood. Offended, Walt changes his mind and insists to Saul that they buy the car wash.

4x3 OpenHouse

Marie visits another open house, presenting another persona, and admires the owner's collection of souvenir spoons. After Marie leaves, the agent, Stephanie, notices that one of the spoons is missing. That evening, Jesse races go-karts alone, shouting at the top of his lungs as he takes a curve. He arrives home to a meth party that's spiraling out of control, with people fighting, having sex, stealing items, and vandalizing the house. Jesse sits down, lights a cigarette, and impassively watches the chaos.

Act III[]

MarieCrying

Marie attends another open house with yet another life story, but tries to exit quickly when Stephanie recognizes her. Stephanie confronts Marie outside and they tussle over Marie's purse, the agent already having called the police. The purse falls to the ground, dumping the contents, including a silver picture frame that Marie taken from the house. Marie is arrested, and calls Hank from the police station. There, she is told by Sgt. Tim Roberts that the homeowners are not pressing charges. When asked if she's ready to go home, Marie begins to tearfully sob.

640px-4x03 - Open House 9

While giving Holly a bubble bath, Skyler is struck by an idea and calls Saul. Soon after, a government environmental inspector, Patrick Kuby, talks with Bogdan outside the car wash. Kuby presents Bogdan with multiple water samples that he claims are full of contaminants. An associate of Saul, Kuby has Skyler coaching him through a Bluetooth earpiece, where he cites multiple environmental statutes being violated and that the car wash must be shut down until the filtration system can be replaced, a $200,000 job. He is told that the alternative is a hefty daily fine. Bogdan is left frustrated.

Act IV[]

Hank is visited by Tim, who solicits his help in the Gale Boetticher case. Showing Hank a copy of Gale's notebook, Tim speculates that it pertains to a methamphetamine superlab. Hank dismisses Tim's overture but halfheartedly agrees to review the notebook. As Tim leaves the Schrader residence, Hank tosses the notes on a pile of minerals and begins to watch TV.

At the White residence, Walt and Skyler wait anxiously to see if Bogdan will call to offer the car was sale deal. When the phone finally rings, Bogdan offers to sell the car wash for Skyler's original $879,000 price. Against Walt's objections, Skyler reduces her offer to $800,000, citing market changes and other details. She refuses to budge on the price when Bogdan balks and ends the call. To Walt's astonishment, a few moments later Bogdan calls back and accepts the counteroffer, much to Skyler's satisfaction.

Meanwhile, trying to breathe some life into the very unsavory and lethargic crowd in his living room, Jesse tosses his drug money into the air and watches his guests scramble after it. In a nearby car, Tyrus Kitt, a henchman of Gus, watches Jesse's house.

Back at the White residence, Walt toasts the success of Skyler's scheme with a $320 bottle of champagne. This bothers Skyler, as it would raise questions about how an unemployed teacher could make such a purchase and undermine their story. Walt insists that she's being paranoid.

Later that night, a bored and sleepless Hank watches a meeting conference on TV. Hank is unable to sleep, out of boredom and curiosity, he begins to reach for Gale's notebook and begins reading.

Official Photos[]

Trivia[]

  • The footage shown from the first-person perspective of Gus' camera at the start of the episode is actual footage from the real security camera.
  • The title of this episode refers to Marie's visits to multiple selling houses and taking articles on display; her kleptomania has returned. Additionally, the title refers to Jesse leaving his house's doors open to strangers and junkies, even allowing them to take his possessions and destroying his house.
  • Marie's theft of a Hummel figurines was also perpetrated by Jimmy McGill in "Something Beautiful", incidentally also the third episode of the fourth season of Better Call Saul.
  • The Go-Kart facility shown was often used by Aaron Paul and crew in their off time. The location is Albuquerque Indoor Karting.
  • The junkie's monologue starting from "thousands of them all over the world coming right for us" is describing a zombie attack. On S4E02 of The Walking Dead, there is a scene of zombies pushing each other through a chain link fence.
  • The Watergate Scandal that Skyler refers to when speaking to Walt about the champagne, is a scandal where President Nixon and his administration in 1974 were accused of covering up a break-in at the Watergate Office Building in Washington D.C.
  • The champagne enjoyed by Walt and Skyler after sealing the car wash deal is a bottle of vintage Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, produced by the expensive label Pol Roger.

Production[]

Credits[]

Co-Starring

  • Delana Michaels as Female Homeowner
  • Jonathan Richards as Male Homeowner
  • Stephen Braddock as Partygoer

Featured Music[]

  • "Spasm" by Dave's True Story (at the first open house we see Marie attend)
  • "If I Had A Heart" by Fever Ray (as the realtor notices the missing spoon, Jesse go-karts & then returns home) 

Memorable Quotes[]

Skyler: "I don't accept that. I don't accept that he won't sell. I think he just lacks the proper...motivation."
Saul: "Motivation? Uh, as in motivation motivation? Just so we're on the same page here, you're saying we'll make him an offer he can't refuse?"
Skyler: "Nothing so dramatic as that, no. Motivation. Attitude adjustment."
Saul: "Ho ho ho ho! This one, she's a keeper."
―Skyler and Saul on how to push Bogdan to sell his business.

Saul: "Look, there's always, "You gotta real nice place here. It'd be a shame if something happened to it." That angle."
Skyler: "What are you talking about? Violence?"
Saul: "Attitude adjustment."
Skyler: "Oh no, that, no. That is not at all what I meant. We do not do that. That is not who we are, right?"
Walter: "[slight pause] Yeah, no, no, no. She's right."
―Skyler, Saul, and Walter about "Attitude adjustment".

Skyler: "I don't like him. Bogdan. He was condescending to me, he was rude about you, and I do not like him. Simple as that."
Saul: "Hey, nobody appreciates a passionate woman more than I do, but in this business – and Walt can back me up on this – the number one rule is, "Don't take things personal."
Walter: "What do you mean rude about me?"
Skyler: "Something along the lines of you weren't man enough to face him yourself."
Walter: "What?"
Skyler: "That you had to send your woman to do your business for you."
Saul: "OK, uh, speaking as your lawyer, I'm gonna go on record and say this is a bad idea. Now I advise against–"
Walter: "It's this one."
―Skyler, Saul, and Walter on the choice of Bogdan's car wash.
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