Breaking Bad is back! The best show on television is in its final eight episodes, which will likely flow forward with the themes of the previous half-season. It has also created a peculiar marketing problem for AMC, now finding themselves advertising "Season 5" while the rest of "Season 5" is sold on DVD. Season 5.1 and Season 5.2? This is the kind of bizarre arrangement the new Netflix model of whole-season release bypasses entirely. But lets face it, we've been waiting with bated breath for more Breaking Bad, and meth-heads can't be choosers.
Tonight was Season 5: Episode 8: Blood Money. And boy did it deliver, at least on the money. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!
We open, in true Bad style, with skateboarders. What? Why? We quickly get our answer as the camera pans out, showing that the skateboarders have found a nice rink in the empty pool, where we last left Walter White (with Hank escaping to the bathroom for some light reading). This quickly implies that these skateboarders exist in the future, aligned with the opening of Season 5 (Episode 1) wherein Walt is living under a false identity in New Hampshire, growing out hair and generously tipping Denny's waitresses. This is confirmed when Walt pulls up in front of his derelict house, future hair in form. Props to the costume department, because Walt simply looks incredibly rugged, and his coat screams that it smells like a wet dog.
Walt silently enters the house, which has "HIESENBERG" scrawled on the wall with yellow paint. The house has been emptied, ransacked, vandalized, and matches the utter disrepair of the outside. Even the tree in the front lawn is dead, and close inspection will show that the roots had been dug at-- possibly searching for buried cash deposits. The house is walled up by cheap wire gates and boarded windows, as if it belongs in Hamsterdam in The Wire. Walt enters, looking unsurprised at the wreckage that used to be his home, removes some change from his pocket, and uses a quarter to open the electricity socket which houses the ricin, which he left there after deciding not to poison Lydia at the end of last season.
He leaves, and encounters his next door neighbor, Carol, to whom he gives a fairly apathetic (although nonetheless ominous) hello. She drops her groceries in both horror and shock-- it's clear she knows who HEISENBERG is. The suspense here is palpable, because he was just at his trunk-- I half expected Walter to grab his M-16 and shoot his neighbor. Cue the Breaking Bad intro.
So, this continues the mystery of future Walt. We know that whatever happens with Jesse or Hank, Walt is going to survive and escape, and not on good terms. But it's very interesting that is gathering both poison, a very passive weapon, and a machine gun, which I think we can agree is an aggressively active weapon. I'm going to make my first big Breaking Bad speculation here, and guess something crazy: Walt could be using the ricin on himself, to commit himself to whatever suicidal course he's going to take. More on that later, but I think it's reasonable that, given his returning cancer (more on that later) he wants to go down shooting, and taking the ricin himself will give him a ticking clock.
Is he going to war with Jesse? Hank? Lydia? His other business partners? It's hard to say, but poison doesn't seem like a Plan A with bullets being the Plan B. Given that he doesn't care about being seen, at this point I think it's fair to say he's planning to die, but not without some sort of purpose or cause. After all, he's back in town "for business". Happy Birthday, Walt.
Then we return to the present, where Hank finishes his year-long bathroom break and finally we see how he's going to react, past the first few seconds. And he's on the verge of a panic attack-- several of the symptoms he experienced after the Tortuga incident are returning, and he can barely feign illness as he hustles Marie out the door. Before Hank leaves, we do get to enjoy a sunny "Hello, Carol!" from Walt, showing the horrible difference one year can make. As Hank begins driving home, he is so wrapped with emotion and distress that he finds himself drifting, and crashes the car into a fence. He exits the car hunched over, his chest clearly tight, and it's immediately unclear whether he is having a panic attack or a full-on heart attack. Of course Hank survives, because we can't leave the task of uncovering Walter White's lies to Marie Schrader.
Hank promptly finds his copy of Gale's old lab notes, and compares them to the message in the Walt Whitman book. And, of course, they match. So begins Hank's home office telecommuting bonanza, as he has more and more of the old files delivered to his garage by his DEA buddies, still taking official time off work.
Walt, however, is entirely clueless to Hank's realization at this point, and he does in fact seem fully devoted to car wash business. He flies the idea of buying another car wash to Skylar, who seems uncertain but not unwilling on the idea. No sooner does Walt leave, that Lydia makes a fully unexpected arrival at the car wash. She is upset in the drop in meth quality since Walt's departure, and is begging for Walt to return to the business, even if it's just for some Chemistry tutoring. She is clearly desperate, because 1) she says he might be putting her in the box, by which I assume she means a coffin. Silly Lydia, a barrel is more likely and that's no box. and 2) she is getting a rental car washed at a car wash-- seriously, who does that? This is the woman that was concerned on whether ordering coffee would "play well" at a restaurant. So she's definitely in a state of panic, and Skylar smells it. After Walt flatly turns her down, Skylar confronts Lydia and tells her to never come back. It's probably one of the most bad-ass Skylar moments we've had since she figured out Walt was a drug dealer. Well, have an A-1 day, Lydia.
Back to Hank: Marie catches Hank receiving the Gus case files, but it's pretty clear that Hank is spearheading this one by himself alone in the garage. There's some great jazz music with epic bass that sounds like Jaws music had a baby with the soundtrack to Ocean's 11, with some funky vocals on top. Hank realizes more and more how much has gone under his nose.
Then we get to Jesse! Jesse! Well, Bager and Skinny Pete first, not for the first time outing themselves as ENORMOUS nerds, but in fact, the nerdiest kind of nerds: TREKKIES! Badger gives a fan script summary that he wants to write, and, hey, it's actually not half bad. Plus there is some additional geek-service in the arguments they have about using the teleporter, and whether it constitutes a form of suicide (like in the Prestige). Much love.
Jesse isn't feeling the love, and takes the money that Walt gave him to Saul Godman's, where he is forced to wait in the waiting room like a regular customer. So, Jesse being Jesse, he starts smoking a weed cigarette to piss off Uhle and the receptionist enough to speed up his queue time. It turns out Saul was getting a massage-- and it's slightly implied a little something extra to end it. Saul is scared of Walt now since he had another lawyer whacked, and Jesse wants nothing to do with the money, which makes him panic slightly. As usual, Bob Odenkirk is the best.
Jesse wants to send his own money to Mike's daughter and the parent's of the dead child, whom Todd shot during the train heist. He brings up excellent points-- Mike's daughter can't get the money without attention, and giving the money to some parents still looking for their child will raise more questions than need answering. Nonetheless, Jesse is about to leave with the money to deliver it himself like Santa Pinkman, when Saul relents and agrees. He instead lets Walter know what's up immediately.
Walt comes to visit Jesse again with the money, and points out the deja vu of the scene. This time Jesse probably doesn't have his gun on him though, because he knows Walt isn't really interested in killing him. Still, Jesse confronts Walt about killing Mike, which Walt indignantly denies. It's awful to watch, knowing the truth, and knowing that Jesse almost certainly knows the truth as well-- killing ten of Mike's guys without fear of reprisal just doesn't add up. Walt convinces Jesse to keep the bloody money (giving the episode its name), at least for the moment.
Tonight was Season 5: Episode 8: Blood Money. And boy did it deliver, at least on the money. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!
We open, in true Bad style, with skateboarders. What? Why? We quickly get our answer as the camera pans out, showing that the skateboarders have found a nice rink in the empty pool, where we last left Walter White (with Hank escaping to the bathroom for some light reading). This quickly implies that these skateboarders exist in the future, aligned with the opening of Season 5 (Episode 1) wherein Walt is living under a false identity in New Hampshire, growing out hair and generously tipping Denny's waitresses. This is confirmed when Walt pulls up in front of his derelict house, future hair in form. Props to the costume department, because Walt simply looks incredibly rugged, and his coat screams that it smells like a wet dog.
Walt silently enters the house, which has "HIESENBERG" scrawled on the wall with yellow paint. The house has been emptied, ransacked, vandalized, and matches the utter disrepair of the outside. Even the tree in the front lawn is dead, and close inspection will show that the roots had been dug at-- possibly searching for buried cash deposits. The house is walled up by cheap wire gates and boarded windows, as if it belongs in Hamsterdam in The Wire. Walt enters, looking unsurprised at the wreckage that used to be his home, removes some change from his pocket, and uses a quarter to open the electricity socket which houses the ricin, which he left there after deciding not to poison Lydia at the end of last season.
He leaves, and encounters his next door neighbor, Carol, to whom he gives a fairly apathetic (although nonetheless ominous) hello. She drops her groceries in both horror and shock-- it's clear she knows who HEISENBERG is. The suspense here is palpable, because he was just at his trunk-- I half expected Walter to grab his M-16 and shoot his neighbor. Cue the Breaking Bad intro.
So, this continues the mystery of future Walt. We know that whatever happens with Jesse or Hank, Walt is going to survive and escape, and not on good terms. But it's very interesting that is gathering both poison, a very passive weapon, and a machine gun, which I think we can agree is an aggressively active weapon. I'm going to make my first big Breaking Bad speculation here, and guess something crazy: Walt could be using the ricin on himself, to commit himself to whatever suicidal course he's going to take. More on that later, but I think it's reasonable that, given his returning cancer (more on that later) he wants to go down shooting, and taking the ricin himself will give him a ticking clock.
Is he going to war with Jesse? Hank? Lydia? His other business partners? It's hard to say, but poison doesn't seem like a Plan A with bullets being the Plan B. Given that he doesn't care about being seen, at this point I think it's fair to say he's planning to die, but not without some sort of purpose or cause. After all, he's back in town "for business". Happy Birthday, Walt.
Then we return to the present, where Hank finishes his year-long bathroom break and finally we see how he's going to react, past the first few seconds. And he's on the verge of a panic attack-- several of the symptoms he experienced after the Tortuga incident are returning, and he can barely feign illness as he hustles Marie out the door. Before Hank leaves, we do get to enjoy a sunny "Hello, Carol!" from Walt, showing the horrible difference one year can make. As Hank begins driving home, he is so wrapped with emotion and distress that he finds himself drifting, and crashes the car into a fence. He exits the car hunched over, his chest clearly tight, and it's immediately unclear whether he is having a panic attack or a full-on heart attack. Of course Hank survives, because we can't leave the task of uncovering Walter White's lies to Marie Schrader.
Hank promptly finds his copy of Gale's old lab notes, and compares them to the message in the Walt Whitman book. And, of course, they match. So begins Hank's home office telecommuting bonanza, as he has more and more of the old files delivered to his garage by his DEA buddies, still taking official time off work.
Walt, however, is entirely clueless to Hank's realization at this point, and he does in fact seem fully devoted to car wash business. He flies the idea of buying another car wash to Skylar, who seems uncertain but not unwilling on the idea. No sooner does Walt leave, that Lydia makes a fully unexpected arrival at the car wash. She is upset in the drop in meth quality since Walt's departure, and is begging for Walt to return to the business, even if it's just for some Chemistry tutoring. She is clearly desperate, because 1) she says he might be putting her in the box, by which I assume she means a coffin. Silly Lydia, a barrel is more likely and that's no box. and 2) she is getting a rental car washed at a car wash-- seriously, who does that? This is the woman that was concerned on whether ordering coffee would "play well" at a restaurant. So she's definitely in a state of panic, and Skylar smells it. After Walt flatly turns her down, Skylar confronts Lydia and tells her to never come back. It's probably one of the most bad-ass Skylar moments we've had since she figured out Walt was a drug dealer. Well, have an A-1 day, Lydia.
Back to Hank: Marie catches Hank receiving the Gus case files, but it's pretty clear that Hank is spearheading this one by himself alone in the garage. There's some great jazz music with epic bass that sounds like Jaws music had a baby with the soundtrack to Ocean's 11, with some funky vocals on top. Hank realizes more and more how much has gone under his nose.
Then we get to Jesse! Jesse! Well, Bager and Skinny Pete first, not for the first time outing themselves as ENORMOUS nerds, but in fact, the nerdiest kind of nerds: TREKKIES! Badger gives a fan script summary that he wants to write, and, hey, it's actually not half bad. Plus there is some additional geek-service in the arguments they have about using the teleporter, and whether it constitutes a form of suicide (like in the Prestige). Much love.
Jesse isn't feeling the love, and takes the money that Walt gave him to Saul Godman's, where he is forced to wait in the waiting room like a regular customer. So, Jesse being Jesse, he starts smoking a weed cigarette to piss off Uhle and the receptionist enough to speed up his queue time. It turns out Saul was getting a massage-- and it's slightly implied a little something extra to end it. Saul is scared of Walt now since he had another lawyer whacked, and Jesse wants nothing to do with the money, which makes him panic slightly. As usual, Bob Odenkirk is the best.
Jesse wants to send his own money to Mike's daughter and the parent's of the dead child, whom Todd shot during the train heist. He brings up excellent points-- Mike's daughter can't get the money without attention, and giving the money to some parents still looking for their child will raise more questions than need answering. Nonetheless, Jesse is about to leave with the money to deliver it himself like Santa Pinkman, when Saul relents and agrees. He instead lets Walter know what's up immediately.
Walt comes to visit Jesse again with the money, and points out the deja vu of the scene. This time Jesse probably doesn't have his gun on him though, because he knows Walt isn't really interested in killing him. Still, Jesse confronts Walt about killing Mike, which Walt indignantly denies. It's awful to watch, knowing the truth, and knowing that Jesse almost certainly knows the truth as well-- killing ten of Mike's guys without fear of reprisal just doesn't add up. Walt convinces Jesse to keep the bloody money (giving the episode its name), at least for the moment.
But Jesse, after giving a fat stack to a homeless man, decides to throw money out the car like a newspaper boy delivering the best news a bad neighborhood could ask for. It's a funny parallel to a similar, previous scene with Walter, where Walt begins burning his cash on a grill. It also shows Jesse's inherent moral superiority to Walt-- Jesse gives away the money he doesn't feel right having, whereas Walt would simply destroy it. A few wads get thrown down the literal drain, but its still very "Jesse".
Walt, finally feeling worried about Hank's sudden "illness" and realizing that The Leaves of Grass is gone, impulsively decides to search his car. Underneath, lo and behold, is the GPS tracker Walt himself put on Gus's car previously. Walt comes to "check" on Hank, to Hank's unpleasant surprise, and the interaction begins and ends awkwardly but efficiently. But Walt, being Walt, can't let things go unsaid, and confronts Hank about the tracker. Hank, getting over the uncomfortable shock, closes the garage door, and punches Walt in the face. Hank shoves Walt against the garage door, growling about when Walt crashed the car and feigned a hospital call about Marie, and of course the ten witnesses. Walt reveals that his cancer is back, and asks for mercy since he's "out of the game". Hank asks for him to tell Skylar to bring the kids, and then they will talk: Walt says that will not happen. The episode ends with a bad-ass staredown, Hank "not knowing" who Walt is, and Walt advising to "tread lightly". As if.
And a dedication to Kevin Cordasco, to seal things. We'll see what happens next week.
Final Thoughts:
1. I do miss Mike. He was great at putting Walt in his place without the necessary plot complications Hank brings.
2. Hank's spit at Walter must have been terrible in between takes. Speaking of takes, it's beautiful how smooth Hank's performance is considering there was makeup applied to Walt's injury between different shots.
3. Will it ever become known that Walt was somewhat responsible for Jane's death, and indirectly the airline collision? Only time will tell.
4. Who does Walt really care about anymore, and what is he actually devoted to (other than himself)?
5. Are there easter eggs yet for the Saul Goodman spin-off? An Asian massage clinic fighting prostitution allegations, paying him in trade...?
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