...Before Walt and Jesse come over to Mike's house, Mike is watching The Caine Mutiny, wherein a U.S. Navy ship's crew revolts against its increasingly petty, paranoid and unhinged skipper, Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart). This is a wonderful film reference because it refracts in so many different directions. "Madrigal" is itself about a corporate mutiny, with employees who were paid to be silent breaking their agreement when their money is frozen by the DEA. Walt, of course, led his own mutiny last season against his dictatorial boss, Gus Fring. Walt is now about to become the captain of his own meth manufacture/distribution cartel. I would not be terribly surprised if he ended up going out like Captain Queeg, succumbing to paranoia and arrogance and driving his men to turn against him. If it comes to that, Mike would be his deadliest adversary. There's a reason why every other name on tonight's hit list was valued at $10,000, while Mike's was valued at three times that amount.

Michelle MacLaren's direction is a master class in moving the camera to reveal information. There are many functional yet beautiful shots in this episode. The closeup of the gunman realizing, too late, that Mike is behind him, pointing a gun at his skull; the wider shot of the gunman's back, and the camera moving to reveal Mike pointing a pistol at him; the slow pull-back revealing the murdered Chow on the couch, his bloodied head positioned center-frame; the tracking shot revealing Mike hiding in the rear of Lydia's house; the split-screen image showing Mike terrorizing Lydia screen-left and her daughter and nanny in the background, screen-right.

Speaking of intelligent direction, the compositions in this episode go a long way toward making Walt seem like a monster by dehumanizing him, practically turning him to a horror movie stalker-figure. The scene where he tries to wake Skyler up is played entirely in a medium wide shot that cuts off the top of Walt's head. The closing scene where he crawls in bed with Skyler is similarly framed. The moment is truly unnerving. She's his captive now, a slave to his malevolence.