Gray Matter

There are two different things happening in this episode of breaking bad that eventually come together at the end. One is what is going on with Walter and the other part is what is going on with Jessie.

The beginning of this episode is starting off with Jessie being interviewed for what he thought was a sales job but ended up being a job for a sign holder for the company. Leaving the building, he noticed that his friend Badger is one of the sign holders and they get to talking. They both realize they are in need of money and once Badger finds out that Jessie isn’t in business anymore, he asks him to be his partner and they both decide to cook together. When they try to cook, they can’t seem to the the results they want but Badger is willing to settle for anything. Jessie finally has enough of badger complaining and takes off without him in the RV.

Then the story goes to Walter and Skyler who are on their way to their friend Elliot’s (someone Walter went to school with and also started a business with) birthday party. During the party, Walter notices Skyler talking to Elliot, what seemed to be a serious conversation. After the party, while Elliot and Walter are catching up, Elliot offers Walter a job at his business where Walter knows he will make plenty of money and have a lot of success. Then Elliot brings up the cancer and offers to pay for Walter’s treatment. Walter turns down the opportunity and the money and later gets angry at Skyler because he knew Skyler told Elliot about the cancer. 
Next we see Walter Jr. and his friends trying to get someone at the liquor store to buy beer for them. Coincidentally, the person they ask is a cop and then are caught. Walter Jr. calls Hank, pretending he is Walter Jr’s dad and then he takes him home. While Skyler, Hank, and Marie are talking, the “pot” incident comes up and it was clear that Skyler wasn’t talking about Walter Jr. but was talking about Walt. They realize that he has been acting strange about everything going on so they decide to have a family meeting where everyone in the family can express and voice their feelings on Walter’s decisions, because they effect everyone and not just him.Once they finally get together, everyone expresses how they feel and tell him he should get treatment except for Marie who tells him he should do what ever he wants and he doesn't need people telling him how to live his life or what to do. Walter finally gets the chance to speak and tells them that he never felt like he had a choice and since the cancer came, he doesn’t want it to get to the point where he cant take care of himself because he doesn’t want to be remembered as “artificially alive, just marking time.” So he tells them that he isn’t doing the treatment. 
Walter wakes up the next morning, looks at everything on Skyler’s night stand and walks over to her telling her that he will do the treatment. Then we see them at the doctor’s starting the treatment. The Episode ends with Walter getting a call from Gretchen. She is telling him that he needs to take the money because its partially his anyway and then she brings up something about her and Walter but that isn’t explained. He lies and says that the insurance came through after all and he didn’t need the money. When he gets off the phone, he is actually at Jessie’s house and he approaches Jessie about being partners again. 

One of the themes in this episode that I came across in noticing was the theme of taking care of one another. This was shown specifically with Walter's situation and with the family. Walter was so set on not getting the treatment even though he had people willing to take care of all the medical payments for his treatment. Skyler took the inititive to bring the family together and have a meeting about how everyone felt. There had to be expression about the choices that Walter was making because his choices were affecting everyone in the family as well and that needed to be talked about. They had Walter's best interest at heart and wanted the very best for his life, as well as for themselves. 
There was also a theme that tied into caring for one another, and that was the theme of pride. Throughout this season so far, Walter has carried a lot of pride. This is shown a lot in this episode when he refuses to receive the money that was offered to him for his treatment. He even went as far as lying to get out of it because his pride was so strong. 

Proverbs 14:3 says, " a fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them." I think in this case, Walter had the fool's mouth lashing out with pride, and then their was his family and friends who were his voice of wisdom which convinced him to change his mind in his treatment, but didn't change his mind in taking the money for his treatment.