“Hello, Carol.”
What a triumphant return for Vince Gilligan’s brilliant series, Breaking Bad. We are looking at the finish line of this amazing series, with only 8 episodes left, the end is almost neigh for the series, and likely for our anti-hero, Walter White. Obviously, since this a recap, it’s best not to read this if you haven’t watched the first episode of the 2nd half of Season 5: “Blood Money.”
The episode once again starts in the future, with a ragged looking Walt looking dirtier and grimier than ever. Only this time he isn’t at Denny’s. He returns to his home which is now abandoned and left in ruin, with skateboarders now using his empty pool as their wrecking ground. He wanders through what used to be the familiar comfort of his home, which is pretty much unrecognizable. Heisenberg has been etched on the walls in spray paint, leaving us to wonder just what the hell happened in the months in between the present storyline and this future one, making us sure that all does go bad for Walt, to the point of public notoriety. Walt steps outside and sees neighbor Carol stuck in her tracks, scared shitless at the sight of Walt. He delivers the simple line “Hello, Carol.” perfectly, which results in her dropping her groceries, oranges flying everywhere (clever reference to The Godfather, which doesn’t spell well for Walter.)
It was a brilliant opening sequence that sets the mood bleak, and makes us curious how things get to this ultimate breaking point. The episode is deftly directed by Mr. White himself, Bryan Cranston. It’s not his first foray behind the lens (his 3rd time directing a Breaking Bad episode), but it may be his best work yet. He creates some masterful shots that enhance the storyline and show without telling, as any great director should.
Just as brilliant is the scene that we’ve been waiting almost a year for: Hank’s reaction to the most startling realization that anyone has made on the toilet. Dean Norris nails the scene acting confused but scarily assured at what he saw. He crashes his car after suffering a scary panic attack that is totally understandable. In an awesome sequence we see him take the evidence from his file on Gale and compare it to the note he discovers in Walt’s copy of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves Of Grass.” As Hank goes through all his old cases in a sequence that acts like Heisenbers Greatest Hits, we see him come closer to the truth, that his brother in law is clearly the man he’s been hunting for all this time.
We see Skylar and Walt taking care of business at the car-wash (“Have An A1 Day!”) and all seems to be going well, until our new friend Lydia pops in for a visit. She catches Skylar’s attention foolishly as she brings a rental car to the wash, which alerts Skylar right away that she is here for alternative motives. Lydia not so subtly begs Walt to come back as her product has begun to suffer severely since Walt’s departure. Walt responds to her business inquiries in a way that cleverly reminds us of how Gus would handle Walt at Los Pollos Hermanos. Skylar has none of this and wastes no time getting rid of Lydia from the premises. We will be seeing her soon of course, and it’s a safe guess to say that she will come back to hurt Walt soon, just as Mike had warned him about.
Jesse isn’t doing well. He’s still heartbroken about the killing of Drew Sharp, the innocent kid that Todd gunned down in ‘Dead Freight.’ He can barely sit through Badger/SKinny Pete’s conversation about Star Trek, no matter how awesome it is. By the way, it’s amazingly awesome that these two have made it through all 5 seasons of the show (so far). He goes to Saul, guilt ridden by all of the ghosts surrounding him, telling Saul to give his $5 million of earnings to the family of Drew Sharp, and Kaylee Ehrmantraut, Mike’s granddaughter.
Saul alerts Walter of this, which leads us to the first meeting between Walt and Jesse of this season. Walt tries to rid Jessie of the guilt about all these actions, telling him that he’s earned this money. Jesse turns Walt’s use of the term “blood money” against him, citing it as something he can’t live with. This conversation eventually leads to why Jesse is offering it to Mike’s granddaughter, which brings up Mike. Jesse has finally smartened up, and he is well aware that Mike is probably dead because of Walt. In typical Walt fashion, Walt lies through his teeth and continues his scheme. Jesse finally drops it, but it seems like he has finally caught on to Walt just like Hank, and now Walt’s cancer.
Yeah, Walt’s cancer has made its nasty return. He’s back getting chemotherapy but tells no one. We see another callback to Gus Fring as Walter runs the faucet and folds a towel neatly for his knees as he throws up from the treatments. It’s in this reverse toilet bowl interaction where Walt realizes his book is missing. He connects the dots with this and Hank’s recent odd behavior, which only makes him that much more nauseous. He soon finds a bug on his car, all too familiar to the one that Hank used on Gus Fring when he was spying on him with Walt.
The show moves quickly into both Hank and Walt realizing things about the other. What I suspected would take a few episodes they bring to formation in this first hour, and I’m all for it. Walt drives up to Hank’s place and Hank looks like he has seen a ghost. Their conversation is erratic and frantic, helped by the ambient noise that the kid with the toy car (nice callback). To call this scene tense would be an understatement.
When Walt has the nerve to show his discovery of Hank’s bug, Hank closes the garage door on Walt, signifying the end of this little game. Hank gloriously lands a punch on Walt and finally lets loose on him physically and verbally. He’s disgusted by Walt, as he should be, and tells him that he will “bury him underneath the jail” and is glad to hear that Walt’s cancer is back when Walt tries to use it to worm his way out of Hank’s wrath. Hank gives Walt one chance to possibly handle things reasonably, by demanding that Walt bring Skylar and the kids to his place, out of concern for their safety. We all know that Walt’s ego is far too large to satisfy this request, and this brings out Heisenberg once again, for the first time in a while, as he denies this request. Hank softly and hurtfully tells Walt that he doesn’t know who he is, that he doesn’t even know who he is talking to. At this moment Walt truly transforms back into the Heisenberg suit, threatening Hank with a chilling line that will be the echo of the rest of this season: “”If that’s true, if you really don’t know who I am, maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.
Straight chills.
I never expected Hank vs. Walt to go this far so fast, but I’m all for it. Instead of stringing us along they jumped right into it, leaving us with plenty of time to explore the rest of the story. Cranston captured this episode gracefully, especially with the way he captured the tension between Hank and Walt. What else can be talked about than the excellent acting between Cranston and Dean Norris, who is on his way of capturing his first and long overdue Emmy nomination for his work as Hank. Norris is absolutely brilliant in this episode, nailing the wide range of emotions that Hank goes through in this episode. Aaron Paul was also great, tugging the heartstrings as he looked helpless and defeated having to listen to Walt’s ruthless lies. This was as rock solid of a table setting episode as one could ask for, with all the pieces coming together at a rapid fire pace. With only 7 episodes left, it’s going to be an exciting ride. I’m already counting down the days until this Sunday.
Random Notes:
- I was surprised at Lydia’s sloppy mistake of bringing a rental car to a car wash. For someone who is as worried and careful as her, it seemed unlike her to be so careless.
- When Hank comes out to the table outside after realizing everything, you can hear Marie calling Walt the devil in mid-convo. This was a nice little catch. Clearly, not an accident.
- So Walt has basically become Gus Fring from his handling of Lydia at the car wash, to his placement of the towel at his knees while throwing up. Lydia, seems to have become Walt, coming to his place of work in desperate need of help, and seemingly willing to stop at no ends to get it. If they have indeed taken on these roles, then it’s likely that Lydia will play a role in the demise of Walt, just like Walt did to Gus. Just a theory.
- Did anyone else spot the Hello Kitty phone is Saul’s desk? Classic.
- Watching Jessee get rid of that money was painful to watch, even though its fake. Who didn’t cringe when it went down the sewer drain?
- The contrast of Walt’s friendly “Hello” from Carol in the present was just golden when compared to what we saw in the opening.
- Theories that the show has always been about Hank, which seem like where the show is headed possibly hinted at in Season 3?:
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