Forced his hands, my ass. The position he found himself in with Gus was the result of a loooooong chain of events which he set into motion and kept going every step of the way.
Walt goes to destroy the RV and doesn’t tell Jesse, because in that moment, in Walt’s capricious view of Jesse, Jesse was just a peon who didn’t need or deserve to know anything. And that is, indeed, how Walt treats Jesse, except when he’s either feeling emotionally needy (treats him like a son) or he needs him to do something (lavishes him with praise, guarantees equal partnership, etc.). Conclusion: Walt fucked up.
Jesse, lacking the vital information, shows up to the lot where the RV is kept, understandably upset. Walt’s solution for getting out of this situation is specifically designed to keep himself anonymous. Jesse’s ongoing safety doesn’t even cross his mind. Conclusion: Walt fucked up.
Walt has his laboratory gig with Gale, which is a cozy situation. As Mike accurately observes later, they had a good thing going. But Walt can’t stand Gale. Walt can’t stand anybody who can get on his level. Walt needs somebody he can be superior to. Walt wanted to get rid of Gale even before it became necessary to appease Jesse’s rage against Hank, so sacking Gale and bringing Jesse into the superlab operation (with yet another manipulative and empty promise of equal partnership) was satisfying two megalomaniacal urges with one stone. Conclusion: Walt doubly fucked up.
After the fiasco with Jesse and the corner dealers, Gus understandably comes to view Walt as an unstable element. If not for Walt’s hypocritical belief that he could do no wrong, he would absolutely agree with Gus. After all, Walt respects (or professes to respect) Gus’s professionalism. And a professional operation does not tolerate unstable elements. All of Walt’s stupidity, neuroses, self-aggrandizement, contempt for others… if it weren’t for those things, his life would never have been in danger. He could have continued to be the best meth cook in the best meth operation in the country.
But Walt can’t just be the cook. He has to be the chef. Pretty much every problem he’s had ever since his cancer was removed has stemmed directly from that. And that includes blustering his way into an untenable situation in which his solution was to [S]clean up an annoying detail[/S] kill a man.
