...And the Bag's in the River

Plot

Walt and Jesse clean up the bloody remains of Emilio while Krazy-8 regains consciousness in the basement.

Skyler tells her sister, Marie, that she is working on a new short story with a stoner character in it and she asks her about marijuana. Marie thinks that Skyler thinks Walter Jr. smokes pot, but Skyler insists that she was just talking about her story, but Marie doesn't believe it. Marie asks her husband to scare him straight. Hank brings Walter Jr. to a motel to show how meth has corroded the teeth of a prostitute there, a prostitute whom Jesse then has sex with.

Walt phones Skyler to apologise for being late, saying that he's working over at the carwash. Skyler informs Walt that he was sacked from the carwash two weeks ago and angrily states he should sleep over wherever he is now.

Walt sits on the toilet in Jesse's bathroom, reviewing the pros and cons of killing Krazy-8. He makes a sandwich for Krazy-8, but collapses on the basement floor while bringing it, shattering the plate. After he has regained consciousness, he tells Krazy-8 he has lung cancer. Then he cleans the shards of the plate and leaves to make a new sandwich for him. After that, he talks to Krazy-8, who advises that this doesn't make killing him any easier.

After talking extensively with Krazy-8, Walt decides to go get the key. Upstairs however, Walt realizes there was one missing shard from the broken plate when he threw it in the trash.

Back downstairs, Walt now hesitates to unlock Krazy-8. After telling Walt to unlock him, he asks Krazy-8 if he is going to stab him with the missing shard once he is unlocked. Krazy-8 stabs backward in Walt's leg, while Walt garrottes him in self-defence. Walt goes back to home to find Skyler sitting on the bed, crying. He says he has something to tell her.

Production

The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, and directed by Adam Bernstein; it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on February 10, 2008.

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim. Seth Amitin of IGN gave the episode a rating of 8.9 out of 10 commenting: "If you put every episode of every TV show in existence and rolled it up into one giant ball, we doubt you'd come out with anything as intense as that one minute of television where Walt killed Crazy-8." Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A-", saying: "All the heavy stuff I loved so much and described above -- yet this was also an episode full of hilarious lines."

Title meaning

The episode title is a part of a line from the 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success, in which a character reports that he resolved an issue. It means that Walt kills Krazy-8.

J.J. Hunsecker: That means you've got a plan. Can you deliver?
Sidney Falco: Tonight, before you go to bed. The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river.