Open House (Breaking Bad)

In the episode, Walter and Skyler advance their plans to buy a car wash as a front organization, while Jesse holds increasingly darker parties to distract from his guilt for having killed Gale.

Meanwhile, Marie starts stealing to cope with the difficult recovery of her husband Hank, who is asked to offer his advice regarding Gale's murder investigation.

She devises a plan to trick Bogdan into selling by having Saul's con artist acquaintance Patrick Kuby pretend to be a United States Environmental Protection Agency representative who is shutting down the business out of concern over contaminants.

After a series of thefts from real-estate open houses, during which she also makes up elaborate stories about her background, she is caught by a real estate agent who recognizes her from a previous incident.

"[6] Stand-up comedian Lavell Crawford reprised his recurring role as Huell, Saul's bodyguard, and Jennifer Hasty also made a guest appearance as Stephanie Doswell, the realtor who exposes Marie's thefts.

[2] The idea of Jesse riding go-karts by himself to relax was inspired by Aaron Paul and other crew members who often went kart racing between the filming of Breaking Bad episodes in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[14] The scenes in Jesse's house were shot on a set in a sound stage built by production designer Mark Freeborn and construction coordinator William Gilpin.

[15] The party scenes sought to illustrate Jesse's internal guilt and self-hatred for having murdered Gale Boetticher in the third season finale, "Full Measure".

Originally he tried using variations of punk rock, hip hop and dubstep, but felt it was inappropriate and wanted something that delved "deeper into Jesse's headspace".

Golubić said he liked the "muted loud sort of feel" of the song, which he felt matched Jesse's frame of mind and the "full, heavy darkness" of the party.

[22] Entertainment Weekly writer Melissa Maerz praised the development of Skyler's character and said the episode touched upon a common theme in Breaking Bad about masculinity.

With Skyler asserting herself in Walter's work, and Hank taking out his insecurities about being disabled on Marie, Maerz said the script raises the question, "What does it mean to be a strong man?

"[23] Los Angeles Times writer Emily St. James called it "one of the best episodes this show has ever done", despite diverting the attention from Walter to the support cast members.

[25] New York magazine writer Logan Hill praised Brandt's performance and said it was interesting to see an episode so focused on Skyler and Marie on a show usually dominated by the male characters.