Breaking Bad, "Blood Money" / "Buried"

WARNING: This review contains spoilers of the events in each episode.

Season 5 of Breaking Bad ended with the show’s most wild gamble. Sure, Breaking Bad has been known to kill off characters and have unpredictable plot twists, but the series has never had a legitimate game changer quite like Hank’s revelation in the bathroom of Walt’s home. Hank knows Walter is Heisenberg. The very axis that the show runs on is forever changed. There are no more secrets to hide.

“Blood Money” picks up immediately after Hank realizes the truth. The blissful family get-together that ended Season 5 is revisited with a darker tone. Every piece of dialogue Walt speaks feels nauseating coming from Hank’s perspective. Hank secretly steals the incriminating copy of Leaves of Grass from Walt, and races home, but not before suffering a panic attack and crashing his car into a mailbox. Hank keeps the truth to himself as he quietly investigates, but it doesn’t take long for Walt to notice the book is missing. After finding a tracker on his car, Walt’s suspicions are confirmed and he heads over to Hank’s home to confront him.

The most talked about scene from Breaking Bad this year has to be the showdown that occurs between Hank and Walt at the end of “Blood Money”. After Walt confidently questions Hank about the tracker on his car, Hank closes the garage door – isolating the two characters inside Hank’s garage filled with evidence, as he punches Walt. Hank’s disgust and anger is played to perfection by Dean Norris, who has been great for seasons but has never fairly gotten enough attention. Come on folks, give the man an Emmy nomination already!

The scene sets up the primary moral question that the show began with. What exactly is the right course of action for Hank? On one hand, Walt is a dangerous criminal. Heisenberg has been Hank’s target for seasons and finally he has the evidence necessary to bring him down, right? Of course, Hank is quick to note in “Buried” that capturing Walt just might be the end of his career. A DEA agent whose brother-in-law is the biggest meth distributor in the state doesn’t look so good. But will it look even worse is Hank DOESN’T report the truth and just acts naïve about it? Would that make Hank guilty by association for not reporting it? And to add even more weight to the situation, Walter’s cancer is back. There’s a possibility that even if Hank starts to prosecute Walt, that he’ll never actually see the inside of a jail cell before dying.
“Buried” spends most of its running time dealing with the fallout of the iconic garage showdown. Hank’s answer to the moral dilemma about Walt is answered almost immediately – Hank wants to bring down Heisenberg. Hank’s immediate first action is to get a confession out of Walt’s wife, Skyler. The scene plays out intensely, but Hank fails to get any information out of Skyler as she quickly realizes that Hank cares more about bringing down Walt than he actually cares about doing what is best for Skyler. Watching Skyler keep quiet after being confronted by both Marie and Hank was shocking, and her loyalty to Walt is an important development. It was only episodes ago that she was HOPING for Walt’s cancer to come back. Skyler may not be many people’s favorite character, but Anna Gunn’s performance in “Buried” was her best yet. As she consoles a worn down Walt at the end of the episode, her allegiance to her husband is verified.

Meanwhile, Walt spends most of “Buried” scrambling to keep his head above water. Any communication through phones is too risky, which keeps Walt and Skyler without communication throughout the episode, which makes Skyler’s allegiance even more masterful. Walt uses his day to bury the giant, immeasurable pile of money he’s accumulated out in the desert alone. After being consoled by Skyler near the episode’s conclusion, Walt informs Skyler that she has to keep the money, even if he is arrested. “Don’t let this all be for nothing,” Walt laments, sounding like a man whose fate has already been sealed. 

Jesse unfortunately doesn’t get much to do in these first two episodes. He clearly feels guilty of his crimes and spends most of his screen time trying to give away huge sums money and looking sad. However, Jesse’s generosity ultimately raises suspicions, and he is brought in to the police for questioning. And who is the man that is going to sit down and talk with Jesse? Enter DEA agent Hank Schrader – cut to black. Hank questioning Jesse will likely be one of next week’s big scenes and should help give us some sort of idea of where Jesse’s head is at. Also, Jesse isn’t aware yet that Hank knows Walt is Heisenberg. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Hank try to trick Jesse by saying that Walt gave him up. Either way, next week will hopefully catch us up with Jesse, who has been too restrained thus far.

Lastly, I have to mention Lydia and Todd’s apparent partnership, as they will likely have a bigger role in the end game than we are anticipating. Lydia confronts Declan about his less than satisfactory meth, giving him the option of using Todd as their replacement cook. After Declan refuses, Todd and his uncle’s crew gun down Declan’s entire team. It’s safe to assume that Todd will be the new cook for Lydia, but where exactly this partnership is leading is unclear. Todd’s criminal relatives add a whole new level of danger and darkness whenever they’re around. They’re a nice reminder of just how underbelly Walt’s partners have been and they are the show’s wildcard characters coming into this final stretch.

Overall, Breaking Bad is back and as wild as ever. It’s one of the most technically well crafted and shot shows on TV, and the acting is never less than perfect. The dialogue snaps and the storytelling never lingers. It’s rare to find a show where the lengthy scenes of dialogue play more intensely than a wild shootout. One thing’s clear – these final six episodes will be worth the wait and no one is safe.