You can't bury your past. Or maybe you can, if you've got some big fucking barrels. Full of cash.
But let's rewind, and return to some other cash. This episode begins at the tail end of Jesse's "Santa Pinkman" routine, haphazardly throwing lumps of cash out his car window. Well, no surprised that car ride didn't have a happy existential ending: a man playing Hansel & Gretel with the fat stacks finds Jesse, spinning morosely on a merry-go-round.
Cut to the Breaking Bad intro. So it looks like this may very well be a Jesse-centered episode from first impressions.
Similar to opening the second scene on the outside of the bathroom in the previous episode (Blood Money), Buried opens outside the garage where Hank and Walt just had their staring showdown. Walt walks out in full Heisenberg style, and prepares to get in his car. From there, we might assume that things are relatively calm... Hank closes the garage door, wordlessly. Immediately, Walt rushes breathlessly to his car and jumps on his phone to call Skylar. Hank, assuming Walt left, also calls Skyler and reopens the garage. Walt is still there, and Hank is surprised to see Walt sitting in his car, on his phone. Walt sees Hank and peels off to confront Skyler. Bad luck for him, Skyler has already left for a restaurant to meet with Hank.
Sklyer meets Hank, clearly terrified. She is uncertain at this point what amount of complicity she is going to be liable for in Hank's eyes, and fearfully hears Hank out. Hank gives Skyler an extraordinarily awkward but sincere hug, and immediately dives into his sympathy. He tells her he now understands why she walked into the pool in a half-cocked attempt to drown herself, and why she wanted to keep the kids out of the house. She barely is able to question Hank as to whether Marie knows-- Hank, surprised by the question-- tells her there will be time enough for that soon. Then Hank makes his big mistake with Skyler (although another kind of approach might not have been any better) in trying to get Skyler on record.
Skyler realizes that this meeting, were it not her family, would absolutely be something for which she needs a lawyers. And, of course, it's true, even if it is her family. Hank tries to convince her that getting "out ahead of this thing" and not having a lawyer is in her best interest, and her being on the defensive will put her in a negative light with the DEA. Hank professes his love for Marie and repeats that Skyler is not in jeopardy; he is geared towards capturing Walter, not punishing her. Skyler counters that Hank suggesting that she does not need a lawyer at the moment is an accidental revelation that Hank is not acting in her interests, but in the interest of capturing Walt's actions in a tangible way that will speed prosecution. Hank eventually relents, and suggests that they go get the children. Skyler stays loyal to Walt, whether out of fear or love, who is to say? She asks if she is under arrest, and makes a small scene screaming that question as she escapes from a powerless Hank.
Next we meet up with the awesome comedy-relief B Team-- Huell and Kuby go to the storage facility where Walt keeps his money, where Huell does what any reasonable person would do facing millions and millions of untraceable cash: lie down on it, a la Scrooge McDuck. Kuby is feeling rushed (as he should, because for all they know Skyler and Hank are on their way to confiscate the cash). But he relents, and lies down next to Huell as he suggests "Mexico?" Kuby smartly reminds Huell that Walter White organized the death of ten people, in jail, and all murdered within ten minutes. Uh, yeah, maybe let's not steal this money. It reminds me of The Dark Knight when someone tries to blackmail Bruce Wayne: you don't try to blackmail Batman, and in the universe of Breaking Bad, Walter is the silent, well, not protector (destroyer), of Gotham.
Saul and Walter meet, where Saul suggests "Belize" to Hank, bringing up Mike again, alluding to the fact that he knows that Mike is no longer among the living. Huell and Kuby return with a van full of the money ("close enough" says Walt, and it's clear from the looks Kuby and Huell give that they did suffer from a small case of sticky fingers. The cash supply is so immense, who can blame them? But Walt is satisfied, removes a little extra cash, asks Saul to take his cut with his men, and to save the rest as his for "insurance-- in case he needs them again." The men put the cash in barrels, with the lids off so that Walt can inspect. He drives off with the van-- hell, with the cash he threw around, yes, he paid for that.
Next we see that Hank has told Marie, yet again showing how brilliantly brisk this season is treating its advancement. With only six more episodes to go, why waste time? I feared that Marie's learning the truth of Walter White would be a slightly dull affair, but the show skipped ahead to the next step, because that's how fearless Breaking Bad is. What's more, some crazy drama: Marie tries to leave the house with the GODDAMN BABY, Holly! Hank has to interject after seeing Marie at the window-- it's unclear whether she was trying to escape out the window or just get Hank's attention, which ultimately backfired for her. But Hank knows they can't go kidnapping the White children until they've brought this case forward. And... why haven't they done that yet? Because of the personal relationship Hank has with Walt, even though he's made it clear that he's got no sympathy for Walt even as he dies of his returned cancer. Hell no. Breaking Bad has a way better explanation than that, and it of course makes perfect sense.
Hank's career will be over. OVER, when the truth comes out about Walter White. Hell, they foreshadowed that plenty with the friendship between his predecessor and Gus Fring. Knowing that, Hank wants to go in with proof that Walter White is the mysterious Heisenberg: at least he can be the guy who caught him.
Walter, meanwhile, still under the impression that Skyler gave him up but knowing that her only real knowledge was about the money, buries the money in a giant, GIANT hole, records the GPS coordinates, and buys the coordinates as a lottery ticket, just as a piece of insurance for his memory. Brilliant, again-- unless someone figures it out.
It turns out digging that giant hole exhausted the man going through Chemo and fighting lung cancer-- he collapses in the bathroom for four hours. He doesn't immediately believe that Skyler has kept faith with him, asking her to keep silent on the money and to give it to the children so he "did not do this all for nothing". But she seems to convince him eventually when she suggests they "keep quiet" since they do not have much on him-- and that is the surest way to protect the money. She is going to remain complicit.
As this happens, Lydia, clearly rather stressed, is blindfolded and taken to the Operation site where Mike had set up the earliest meetings with the team Walt used for distribution. Lydia is severely unhappy with their product, and inspects the lab, suggesting that Todd take over, since he worked with Walter. (It's revealed that Todd started a fire on accident, but he also performed much better than their team as well). They reject this offer, not trusting Todd. Which, Lydia regrets, because then Todd and his prison-death-planning uncle and his henchmen kill the living shit out them. Lydia has Todd guide her out with her eyes closed, because "she does not want to see". There goes that theory of the Distribution guys being the ones that Walter goes to war with later. Extra points to the episode for the cook site that Walt set up being RIGHT UNDER THE FEET of where they first met.
Meanwhile, what turns out not to have been a very heavy Jesse episode tail ends with an important, and nail-biting development: he is currently in jail, talking to the exact same cops who interviewed him about the ricin incident (which turned out to be Lily of the Valley). Hank, outside, suggests to them that since Jesse HATES him, he might get riled up and susceptible to letting things slip. The cops agree, and leave Hank alone to go into the interrogation room with Jesse......
And then we fade to black.
GOOD GRIEF, THE SUSPENSE.
Parting Thoughts
1. Lydia was in perfect form: she closes her eyes and has Todd lead her out after she orchestrated the murder of a group of-- ten? Twenty men? She wants to keep herself clean but is also insanely ruthless.
2. Now we are seriously lacking cooks in the meth business. Jesse is out and in police custody, and on the verge of a breakdown. Todd is not the brightest tool in the shed, and would need a great deal more hand-holding. So maybe the prison guys (Todd's uncle) want to take over the meth business, and it's them that Walter goes to war with later?
3. Todd is hilariously mild-mannered and sweet to Lydia, while meanwhile ruthless. My theory is that Todd is too stupid and slightly crazy to have a moral compass of any kind. But his dog-like stupidity makes him like a conscienceless Jesse, which is a big difference in the characters as it turns out.
4. I forgot to mention, Team Uncle gathered up all the meth equipment. So yeah, they're going to be the new force to be reckoned with in the Meth Business. But lets face it-- they're not going to be able to cook like Walter White, and Lydia's Czech Republic market has high expectations of quality.
But let's rewind, and return to some other cash. This episode begins at the tail end of Jesse's "Santa Pinkman" routine, haphazardly throwing lumps of cash out his car window. Well, no surprised that car ride didn't have a happy existential ending: a man playing Hansel & Gretel with the fat stacks finds Jesse, spinning morosely on a merry-go-round.
Cut to the Breaking Bad intro. So it looks like this may very well be a Jesse-centered episode from first impressions.
Similar to opening the second scene on the outside of the bathroom in the previous episode (Blood Money), Buried opens outside the garage where Hank and Walt just had their staring showdown. Walt walks out in full Heisenberg style, and prepares to get in his car. From there, we might assume that things are relatively calm... Hank closes the garage door, wordlessly. Immediately, Walt rushes breathlessly to his car and jumps on his phone to call Skylar. Hank, assuming Walt left, also calls Skyler and reopens the garage. Walt is still there, and Hank is surprised to see Walt sitting in his car, on his phone. Walt sees Hank and peels off to confront Skyler. Bad luck for him, Skyler has already left for a restaurant to meet with Hank.
Sklyer meets Hank, clearly terrified. She is uncertain at this point what amount of complicity she is going to be liable for in Hank's eyes, and fearfully hears Hank out. Hank gives Skyler an extraordinarily awkward but sincere hug, and immediately dives into his sympathy. He tells her he now understands why she walked into the pool in a half-cocked attempt to drown herself, and why she wanted to keep the kids out of the house. She barely is able to question Hank as to whether Marie knows-- Hank, surprised by the question-- tells her there will be time enough for that soon. Then Hank makes his big mistake with Skyler (although another kind of approach might not have been any better) in trying to get Skyler on record.
Skyler realizes that this meeting, were it not her family, would absolutely be something for which she needs a lawyers. And, of course, it's true, even if it is her family. Hank tries to convince her that getting "out ahead of this thing" and not having a lawyer is in her best interest, and her being on the defensive will put her in a negative light with the DEA. Hank professes his love for Marie and repeats that Skyler is not in jeopardy; he is geared towards capturing Walter, not punishing her. Skyler counters that Hank suggesting that she does not need a lawyer at the moment is an accidental revelation that Hank is not acting in her interests, but in the interest of capturing Walt's actions in a tangible way that will speed prosecution. Hank eventually relents, and suggests that they go get the children. Skyler stays loyal to Walt, whether out of fear or love, who is to say? She asks if she is under arrest, and makes a small scene screaming that question as she escapes from a powerless Hank.
Next we meet up with the awesome comedy-relief B Team-- Huell and Kuby go to the storage facility where Walt keeps his money, where Huell does what any reasonable person would do facing millions and millions of untraceable cash: lie down on it, a la Scrooge McDuck. Kuby is feeling rushed (as he should, because for all they know Skyler and Hank are on their way to confiscate the cash). But he relents, and lies down next to Huell as he suggests "Mexico?" Kuby smartly reminds Huell that Walter White organized the death of ten people, in jail, and all murdered within ten minutes. Uh, yeah, maybe let's not steal this money. It reminds me of The Dark Knight when someone tries to blackmail Bruce Wayne: you don't try to blackmail Batman, and in the universe of Breaking Bad, Walter is the silent, well, not protector (destroyer), of Gotham.
Saul and Walter meet, where Saul suggests "Belize" to Hank, bringing up Mike again, alluding to the fact that he knows that Mike is no longer among the living. Huell and Kuby return with a van full of the money ("close enough" says Walt, and it's clear from the looks Kuby and Huell give that they did suffer from a small case of sticky fingers. The cash supply is so immense, who can blame them? But Walt is satisfied, removes a little extra cash, asks Saul to take his cut with his men, and to save the rest as his for "insurance-- in case he needs them again." The men put the cash in barrels, with the lids off so that Walt can inspect. He drives off with the van-- hell, with the cash he threw around, yes, he paid for that.
Next we see that Hank has told Marie, yet again showing how brilliantly brisk this season is treating its advancement. With only six more episodes to go, why waste time? I feared that Marie's learning the truth of Walter White would be a slightly dull affair, but the show skipped ahead to the next step, because that's how fearless Breaking Bad is. What's more, some crazy drama: Marie tries to leave the house with the GODDAMN BABY, Holly! Hank has to interject after seeing Marie at the window-- it's unclear whether she was trying to escape out the window or just get Hank's attention, which ultimately backfired for her. But Hank knows they can't go kidnapping the White children until they've brought this case forward. And... why haven't they done that yet? Because of the personal relationship Hank has with Walt, even though he's made it clear that he's got no sympathy for Walt even as he dies of his returned cancer. Hell no. Breaking Bad has a way better explanation than that, and it of course makes perfect sense.
Hank's career will be over. OVER, when the truth comes out about Walter White. Hell, they foreshadowed that plenty with the friendship between his predecessor and Gus Fring. Knowing that, Hank wants to go in with proof that Walter White is the mysterious Heisenberg: at least he can be the guy who caught him.
Walter, meanwhile, still under the impression that Skyler gave him up but knowing that her only real knowledge was about the money, buries the money in a giant, GIANT hole, records the GPS coordinates, and buys the coordinates as a lottery ticket, just as a piece of insurance for his memory. Brilliant, again-- unless someone figures it out.
It turns out digging that giant hole exhausted the man going through Chemo and fighting lung cancer-- he collapses in the bathroom for four hours. He doesn't immediately believe that Skyler has kept faith with him, asking her to keep silent on the money and to give it to the children so he "did not do this all for nothing". But she seems to convince him eventually when she suggests they "keep quiet" since they do not have much on him-- and that is the surest way to protect the money. She is going to remain complicit.
As this happens, Lydia, clearly rather stressed, is blindfolded and taken to the Operation site where Mike had set up the earliest meetings with the team Walt used for distribution. Lydia is severely unhappy with their product, and inspects the lab, suggesting that Todd take over, since he worked with Walter. (It's revealed that Todd started a fire on accident, but he also performed much better than their team as well). They reject this offer, not trusting Todd. Which, Lydia regrets, because then Todd and his prison-death-planning uncle and his henchmen kill the living shit out them. Lydia has Todd guide her out with her eyes closed, because "she does not want to see". There goes that theory of the Distribution guys being the ones that Walter goes to war with later. Extra points to the episode for the cook site that Walt set up being RIGHT UNDER THE FEET of where they first met.
Meanwhile, what turns out not to have been a very heavy Jesse episode tail ends with an important, and nail-biting development: he is currently in jail, talking to the exact same cops who interviewed him about the ricin incident (which turned out to be Lily of the Valley). Hank, outside, suggests to them that since Jesse HATES him, he might get riled up and susceptible to letting things slip. The cops agree, and leave Hank alone to go into the interrogation room with Jesse......
And then we fade to black.
GOOD GRIEF, THE SUSPENSE.
Parting Thoughts
1. Lydia was in perfect form: she closes her eyes and has Todd lead her out after she orchestrated the murder of a group of-- ten? Twenty men? She wants to keep herself clean but is also insanely ruthless.
2. Now we are seriously lacking cooks in the meth business. Jesse is out and in police custody, and on the verge of a breakdown. Todd is not the brightest tool in the shed, and would need a great deal more hand-holding. So maybe the prison guys (Todd's uncle) want to take over the meth business, and it's them that Walter goes to war with later?
3. Todd is hilariously mild-mannered and sweet to Lydia, while meanwhile ruthless. My theory is that Todd is too stupid and slightly crazy to have a moral compass of any kind. But his dog-like stupidity makes him like a conscienceless Jesse, which is a big difference in the characters as it turns out.
4. I forgot to mention, Team Uncle gathered up all the meth equipment. So yeah, they're going to be the new force to be reckoned with in the Meth Business. But lets face it-- they're not going to be able to cook like Walter White, and Lydia's Czech Republic market has high expectations of quality.
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