Breaking Bad Recap - "Confessions" (Season 5 Episode 11)

Previously on Breaking Bad, Hank slugged Walt after realizing he was a monster, Walt advised Hank to tread lightly, Skyler threw a shit fit in the diner in front of Hank, Nervous Lydia pulled off a coup d'etat on Dec's operation, even though she didn't want to see the bloody aftermath, Jesse played Santa and was left awaiting a stare down in the interrogation room with his old buddy Agent Schrader.

Dim Bulb Todd stands outside a diner in the middle of nowhere, and rings up his old mentor Mr. White to give him the latest news re: the"difference of opinion" between him and Dec.  Back inside with his Nazi buddies, he retells the amazing Train Heist story, in great detail but for the notable exception of that little flare up with Drew Sharp he was forced to deal with in the aftermath.  When talking you can tell he has a great amount of respect for Mr. White, and also drops Jesse's name in for good measure.  After the waitress delivers the check, they get down to brass tacks - Uncle Jack asks if Todd is ready to start cooking, and run his own lab.  Todd is ready, and probably won't start a fire until at least his 5th or 6th cook, at least.   That settled, Uncle Jack and his pal hit the head, where a telling conversation ensues about the Nanny State and how everyone is just too damn careful these days.  As he laments the wussification of America, Uncle Jack casually wipes a blob of blood - likely from Dec - off his shoe.  The three amigos had toward ABQ, towing the big ass barrel of chemical behind their pickup.  This should end well.

Back in the police station, we see a hazy Jesse, then get his POV of the previous interrogation from Tweedledee and Dum, which goes by at lightning speed to indicate he didn't hear a damn thing they said.  Too bad, those guys were using some of their "A" material there.  Back to now, Hank is in the room and starts slowly, saying he can help Jesse.  Mr. Pinkman gives no response until Hank drops the bomb that he knows Walt = Heisenberg.  Offer time: tell Hank about the whole meth thing and maybe he can make this mess about the money storm go away.  I didn't hear anything about immunity for working with Heisenberg, and wait until they connect the dots about who shot Gale.   Moreover, Hank hints that given recent events, things aren't exactly copacetic between Jesse and Walt.  "I'm right, aren't I?', he says.  Jesse: "Eat me."
Hank does a nice job keeping his cool, even after Jesse suggests he beat the info out of him, alluding back to their last encounter.  He stays at it, indicating that Walt must have really screwed up the kid, which is basically correct, and suggests a parallel between his being lied to by his own bro-in-law and also betraying Jesse.  Looks like he might get him to open up, right?  Help me out Jesse, I wanna nail this bastard.  Don't you wanna talk? Jesse slowly glares at him and quietly says, "Not to you."

No time to process that, because in bursts Saul Goodman!  He clears the room like only he can, dispatching Hank and the detectives with threats of multiple civil suits, etc.  Once they're gone, he focuses on his client with a barrage of questions - why didn't he call Saul, why is he tossing his cash around, didja hear about Hank's discovery? Jesse eases the pain somewhat when he reveals that he told Hank nothing, but it's going to be a while before Saul can describe himself as "chill".

Walt's bedroom, where he is engaged in a call with Saul and implores him to do whatever he can to get Jesse sprung.  Upon hanging up, he hears Flynn come home.  Flynn wonders why Walt didn't go to work, and also remarks how late he was out last night (digging big holes).  Let the lies begin - first, Walt starts to apply make up to cover the nice shiner Hank gave him.  When he catches word that Flynn is heading over to Aunt Marie's to "fix a computer problem", he realizes he can't let that happen, and thinks quickly by removing the makeup he just applied.  Summoning the boy before he leaves, they meet in the living room where Flynn asks about the eye, which allows Walt to sit him down and start the bullshit train.  He passed out, hit the floor, and did this to his eye.  He reveals the cancer has returned, and Flynn gets more and more concerned.  This kid could use some breakfast, stat.  Walt puts on the brave face and tells him that the family will just go on, and that he is ready to face this and beat it again, and it would really be super awesome if we all just stayed positive.  Now, why don't you go on over to help Aunt Marie?  "No, I'm staying" says the boy, and Walt smiles the smile of a guy who really understands how easily he can manipulate just about anyone at this point.

Casa Schrader, where a frantic Marie wonders where the hell Flynn is.  She had a perfect ruse to get him to the house, where we can assume she would come up with more excuses to keep him there indefinitely as part of her Operation: Kid Grab plan.  Hank's home and she, assuming that this would be the day he told the office about his bro-in-law, asks how it went.  Well, it didn't Marie, since he spent the day getting diddly squat from Jesse.  Not that he tells her that.  Finally he shuts her down by telling her to stop telling him how to do his job.

Back in the White bedroom. Walt paces as we hear Skyler ask if he is "sure about this".  He replies that this is the only way, and we see she is manning a video camera mounted on a tripod.  As he begins to speak, we are reminded of the pilot episode where he also began to confess on video, only this time he's a lot calmer and not in his underwear.  "My name is Walter Hartwell White, I live at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104.  This is my confession......"

A crowded restaurant, where smack dab in the middle we see Walt and Skyler sitting at a table which has room for two more.  They both look like they're dreading this, particularly Skyler, as Walt grabs her hand and tells here "they're here".  Who?  Why it's the Schraders!  This should be fun.  After an awkward pause, Walt thanks them for coming.  More awkward pausing.  Walt gets ready to start when the server shows up with all his "Welcome to Garduno's" enthusiasm, which is met with stone faces and no responses. Want some table side guacamole?  Walt tells him they need more time and that gets rid of him for now.

After Hank spits out the only question he would like Walt to answer - is he here to confess - Walt starts in, focusing on the children. Leave them out of this, and hey Marie, it would be wonderful if you could not try to kidnap or lure my kids to you house, mmkay?  Hank again threatens to knock down Walt's door and arrest him, kids be damned.  While Skyler says nothing, Walt reminds Hank that he has no hard evidence to support his claims, and why tear apart the family with this?  Just then, waiter boy returns with the water, tries again to  upsell the guac, then finally gets the mood of the table and leaves.  Marie starts right in on Sky, wondering how she can sit there quietly through all this.  The kids are in danger if they stay with this man, and after all, you sent them to our house yourself, remember?  Sky gets her footing, firmly states that she took them back on her own terms and that all the issues on the table here are in the past.  Move on, people.  Marie, correctly, wonders how she can believe anything these two say anymore, and even brings up the affair with Ted.  Walt steps in to remind them again that Junior has had a rough year, and just found out that Walt's cancer is back, so why pile more crap onto his plate.  It's not right.  At this, Hank starts to lose it, though since they're in the middle of the restaurant he spits all his words through clenched teeth.  Was it right to run a meth empire?  Walt balks at this and asks what does he have to do to make Hank believe him?  Marie is all over this one: "You could kill yourself, Walt."  Boom.  The whole thing dies with him, sooooo whaddya say Walt?  Skyler: "That is not a solution".  Hank isn't down with that plan either, since it would deprive him of capturing the White Whale.  You two are not walking away from this thing, or negotiate your way out, capice?  Step up, be a man, and confess.

At this, Walt and Sky share a weary look, Walt gets up and slides a DVD case on the table toward Hank.  The Whites depart.  And they never had the damn guacamole.

We hear the intro Walt recorded earlier, and as the scene changes we are now watching what he and Skyler recorded, on the Schrader television.  Hank and Marie are standing while watching, and it's amazing that neither on of them hit the floor after the opening line.  Walt goes on to say that if you're watching this, then he is probably dead.......murdered by his brother-in-law Hank Schrader ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!  Oh.  My.  God.. He goes on to basically implicate Hank as Heisenberg, peppering real facts (he took Walt on a ride along) interspersed with bullshit (Hank was working with Gus, Walt was forced to be the cook due to his chemistry knowledge, Hank forced Walt to build the bomb that killed Gus, etc).  It is an amazing performance, and Marie is looking at Hank like "can you believe this shit?"  When Walt drops that he ended up paying Hank's medical bills, it begins to unravel for her, since this is the first Hank has heard of that.  The video finally ends with Walt choking back tears, and they turn it off.  Han recognizes it for what it is, a threat, and is pretty sure nobody else will ever see it.  Get out ahead of this, Marie says, it's all lies and if you show it to your boys at work you can expose them.  All Hank can focus on is the $177,000 spent on his rehab - didn't our insurance cover that?  Marie explains that it was gambling money, which she now knows is a lie, and tells him that without that money they never would have been able to get the treatment he needed.  She knew he would refuse the money if he knew the truth, and Hank sinks as he realizes this is the final nail in their coffin as far as the investigation goes.  Once the DEA knows that the dirty money payed for his rehab, he's got nothing.  Checkmate, Agent Schrader.

Desert.  Saul and Jesse are waiting, and we see a tarantula slowly crawl in the foreground.  the reminders of Drew Sharp continue.  Walt pulls up, gets out ans starts checking Saul's car (license plate: LWYRUP) for tracking devices.  Paranoid, much?  He starts right in on Jesse, quizzing him on what Hank knows.  Jesse pretty much has it sussed out and tells him that though Hank knows Walt = Heisenberg and wants Jesse to spill his guts, he hasn't told anyone else since he seemed to be acting weird and on edge.

After getting Saul to go stand in the corner, Walt starts to work Jesse.  He doesn't like to see him hurting like this, maybe a change is in order.  Can;t really tell if Walt is being sincere.  Jesse wonders what kind of change and Walt brings up Saul's pal who runs his own witness protection type deal.  He waxes poetic about the chance for a new start, the chance to meet a girl, start a family, and after all what is left here for you anyway?  All good points, but Jesse slowly begins to realize that him splitting benefits Walter above anyone else.  He moves away from Walt and asks that he, for once, stop working him.  Kid knows he's being played, though I'm still not sure. Jesse goes on, asking, no begging Walt to just ask him for a favor, tell him you need this.  He knows that he has to go because if he doesn't  Hank will not give up, and if he doesn't leave Walt will just kill him like he killed Mike.  Jesse starts to break down as Walt, saying nothing, walks up a hugs him.  Jesse breaks down further, but does not hug him back as we go to commercial.  Very powerful scene, and I wanted to climb into my TV and hug Jesse myself....

Back at the car wash, Walt helps a customer then nervously checks his watch as he heads into the office.  We see Skyler at her desk in the foreground with Walt shown in silhouette near the doorway.  It worked, he tells her, we're fine.  She lets out a sigh of relief.

Hank's in his office when Gomie comes in, but this ain't no social call.  He finds out that two of his guys are staking our Saul's office keeping an eye on Jesse, which is a big no-no since that is APD's problem.  Hank bitchily says he will pull the guys, then takes off for the day.  Wonder where he's going?

Saul's office, where we see that Jesse has accepted the offer to get out of Dodge.  Saul makes the call, humorously asking to fix a vacuum as some kind of code, and is told the exchange will happen in one hour.  While he gathers up some cash for Jesse to take to start his new life, Jesse pulls out his weed and torches up a joint, which sets Saul off.  After getting him to put the joint out, he demands the bag, at which Jesse scoffs and puts it in his pocket.  Hmmmm.

 Saul goes out to get a bag for the money, then comes back in with Huell, who will be escorting Jesse to the pickup spot.  Saul goes over the details once more, and Jesse asks if he gets to choose his destination.  Saul thinks he might have a say, and suggests Florida - get tan, meet the bikini team, etc.  Jesse, still full of guilt and self-hatred, suggests Alaska instead. Damn, dude, don't punish yourself that much.  As he leaves, Huell doesn;t really move out of the doorway, so as Jesse slides past him, we can subtly see him make a motion towards Jesse's jacket pocket, after which he exchanges a knowing glance with Saul.  I'm not going to lie, I did not pick this up on the first viewing, and re-watched it several times on the DVR before catching it.  It's obviously a huge thing based on what we see shortly...

Here's Jesse, waiting for his ride and a ticket to a new life.  It was remarked upon by many that he is standing in front of what looks like rows of tombstones, perhaps foreshadowing his "death" and new life.  See:

While standing there, Jesse fidgets a bit and eventually starts to look for his bag of weed.  He checks every pocket, but it's not there.  His search gets a bit more frantic before he pulls out his pack of cigarettes, and slowly the dots get connected - Huell picked his pocket to remove the ricin cigarette which somehow traces back to Mr. White poisoning Little Brock and holy shit now he knows and all hell is going to break loose.  As the van pulls up, he doesn't get in, but checks the cigarettes once more before heading back, presumably toward Saul and/or Walt.  The van pulls away, so Alaska will just have to wait.

Back at Saul's where Huell looks to be sleeping just outside the office door.  Jesse storms in, blows right past the sleeping giant, and enters the office, where he proceeds to lock the door and kick the living shit out of the lawyer.  Saul screams "CODE RED!" enough times before Huell eventually gets in, but not before Jesse gets the gun from Saul's drawer and keeps him at bay.  He lays it out to Saul, how he had Huell steal the ricing cigarette to help "that asshole Mr. White" who then poisoned Brock, etc.  Saul cops to it, but says he had no idea what was going to transpire and thought that he was helping Jesse.   Jesse takes Saul's keys, leaves, gun drawn, and Huell rushes to help Saul.  Saul's in no mood, and wonders why he pays the big lug.  He can;t call the cops, obviously, but we have a pretty good idea who he dials when he says "it's me.  We got a big problem!"

Car Wash, where Walt pulls in like his car is on fire, then casually enters to see Sky working the register.  He comes up with some nonsense story about the soda machine not latching, and heads down to "fix" it.  It's amazing that in an episode where he so convincingly lied to everyone else, he sounds like an absolute tool when telling smaller lies to his wife.  Anyway, he gets the machine open, and feels around int he back to find a .38, loaded and frozen.  He makes up another story about picking up a prescription, and leaves.

Negra Arroyo Lane, where a car come flying over the crest of the hill at a pretty good clip.  It's Jesse, and he pulls into the White's driveway with such force that he smashes into the garage.  He jumps out, pops the trunk, and pulls out a very large gas can.  Smashing through the door since nobody is home, he begins to maniacally splash the liquid throughout the house, getting more and more crazed as he goes.  Credits.

• Holy crap.
• The house doesn't burn, we know, but how the hell will this get resolved?  The White's can;t go back now.
• Amazing that through three shows we only have one dead person, Dec.  I don't count his associates.

Breaking Bad Recap - "Buried" (Season 5 Episode 10)

Previously on Breaking Bad, Nervous Lydia found herself having less than an A1 Day, what with the quality of the product slipping to an ugly 68%, Walt reiterated to her that he was out since he left all his know-how to Declean and his crew, got slugged by Hank, then dropped the bomb on him that the cancer was back, Jesse gave a mad stack to a homeless guy, then made it rain in the neighborhood.

We open in the middle of the night on a house which we have never seen.  An older gentleman steps out, likely heading to work. Panning back, we can see that this looks a bit like the area where Jesse was tossing bundles of cash, and sure enough when Old Man starts up his trusty old truck and turns on the headlights, he pauses to get out and see what was in his driveway.  Ain't no newspaper, but rather one of the Pinkman provided money bundles.  He looks around to see if he's on Candid Camera, and slowly realizes that these stacks are all over the place, and starts collecting.  Further along he sees a glowing, flashing light just over the crest of a hill in what looks like a park, and heads toward it.  This is like the beginning of every space alien movie, so Old Man would then be the first one to die, right?  Alas, as he comes over the hill he sees Jesse's car, with the hazards on.  The big bag of cash, with plenty still left in it, sits on the front seat.  He scans the area and hears a creaking sound, which is our boy Pinkman, on his back on one of those old school merry-go-rounds - the kind that would be banned today - just slowly going around.  An overhead shot slowly zooms in on our detached, distant anti-hero, as we go to titles....

Cul-de-sac, where that damn remote controlled car keeps racing around the street, oblivious to what's just gone down in the Schrader garage.  We're in the immediate aftermath of the whole "tread lightly" episode, and the door opens, and out comes Walt, in full Heisenberg attitude.He pauses to turn back as Hank walks toward the door, and the two have a staredown for what seems like an hour before Hank hits the clicker to shut the door.  Posturing complete, Walt screeches out of the driveway, nearly crushing the RC car in the process, then jams on the brakes and whips out his cell.  He's trying to reach Skyler, but he can't - she won't get off the phone.  Sensing trouble, he checks his rear view just in time to see Hank opening the door and coming out, cell phone pressed to his ear.  Walt asks Mariano (the car wash guy on the phone) who Skyler is on the phone with, but he probably has already figured that out. He peels out and makes a beeline for A1.

Cut to Skyler, in her office, on the phone and looking very, very upset as she keeps saying "ok, ok, ok" to who we've figured out is Hank.  Her cell phone vibrates on the desk, unanswered.  Ruh roh.

Walt reaches the car wash and flies in to Skyler's office, but she is gone.  He asks the man at the desk where Skyler is, and he replies that she "just kinda left" and didn't say where she was going.  Walt's panic begins to set in as he realizes that he has no idea where she went, but knows exactly who she went to see.

Skyler cautiously enters what looks like a diner type restaurant, and stops when she sees Hank at a booth in the far corner.  He gets up to greet her with a tentative wave as she takes a breath and makes her way over, and he says nothing as he gives her a long hug.  He does all the talking as Skyler looks downward, a million things racing through her head.  From the way he tells it, and it's clear he's not using cop tactics just yet, he's pretty sure that she is a victim here.  Nothing more than a pawn in the Monster Walt's game.  He's not even sure the extent of her knowledge of the whole thing.  He lays it out for her: you and the kids move back in with the Schrader's, where they will be safe.  Skyler interjects to ask if Marie knows and Hank says they'll get to that soon enough.  Then he shows his hand by pulling out a recorder, asking Skyler to make a statement.  Insert needle scratch sound effect here.   Here?  Now? she wonders.  Hank suggests that her doing so would go a long way toward her being shown a degree of leniency when the courts get involved, and also worries that Walt will "run out the clock" before justice can be served.  This perks Sky right up -  what does Hank mean by that?  He reveals that the cancer has returned, as if Skyler didn't have enough shit to worry about this morning. Hank goes on to say that maybe the cancer stuff isn't even true, and besides, he's got lots of bits of evidence floating around, but needs Skyler to help fill in the gaps which will allow him to have Walt in lockup by sundown. Sensing trouble, Sky haltingly suggests that she should get a lawyer, and Hank is all "no, no", since lawyers would put up roadblocks which would prevent him from controlling the situation.  He wants to bring in the white whale on his own, you see, and Sky pretty much tells him so.  Busted, Hank changes tack a bit, slows it down, and lays out what "we're gonna do": gather the kids and bring them to Casa Schrader, talk to a lawyer at some future unspecified time, then help each other "put that animal away".  Sky isn't down with that, and as Hank gets up to start the action, she quietly asks if she is under arrest.  Hank has no idea why she would ask such a thing, and doesn't respond, so she asks again, this time a bit more urgently.  He's shaken up, tells her she's not thinking straight, but Sky get louder as she continues to press the point, screams it one last time and then leaves the diner in tears.  So much for subtlety.  Hank: "D'oh!"

Back at the storage facility, it's Saul's guys, Huell and Kuby.  They get a first hand look at the hot tub sized pile of cash we first saw back at the end of last season.  Huell takes a look and decides he "has to do it", "it" being laying on the pile like Scrooge McDuck.  Kuby joins him after a bit of hesitation, and as they lay there Huell says "Mexico.  That's all I'm saying", e.g. let's take a bit of this booty and high tail it out of here.  Kuby reminds him that the owner of this pile had ten people in two prisons killed within a two minute window, and that idea is officially squashed.

Better Call Saul, who is in his office with Walt while leaving yet another voice mail for Jesse re: the bags of cash.  Walt's cell rings and it's Sky, but Saul (wisely) tells him not only to not answer since it might be tapped by Hank, but to pull the damn battery out in the event he's setup a triangulation of some kind.  Walt is then left with the mistaken impression that Sky ran right to Hank and blabbed, but Saul reminds him that she really only has hearsay type evidence other than the money, which is being taken care of as they speak.  Yeah, but what about the little fact that Hank Knows.  He's not exactly going to turn the other cheek.  Quietly, Saul suggests a possible solution to the Hank problem, by indicating he could perhaps, maybe, oh you know, take a "trip to Belize".....where Mike went.  Gotta hand it to him, that option has worked out pretty well for Walt in the past.  Walt turns even more stone cold serious at this - Hank is family and that is off limits. He's ready to send Saul to Belize when there is a knock at the door - it's Huell and Kuby, and they're come back with the cash, which is now in big barrels in the back of a van.  They may have skimmed a bit off the top, but Walt isn't about to quibble about a few lost bucks.  He grabs a bag to pay the three of them, orders Saul to find Jesse, and speeds off.  Where?  To the desert, to a spot which looks a lot like where he and Jesse first cooked in the Crystal Ship way back when. He pulls out a pick axe and shovel and starts digging.

Casa White, where Sky is trying to reach Saul and by extension, Walter.  Getting no love there, which doesn't matter because Marie is knocking st the door and says she ain't leaving.  Great, now she knows. Deep breaths, people, this is going to be big.  She begs Sky to tell her that Hank is loony tunes, but the lack of response tells her that he's not.  Now the bigger question: how long have you known?  Speculation by Hank says it was right about the time Sky went for he dip in the pool,  but Skyler's subtle head shake says, "go back further".  Since Gus Fring?  Noope.  The gambling story was bullshit?  Yep.  Now, the biggie - did you know before Hank was shot?  More sobs from Sky which lead to a "I'm so sorry" finally cause Marie to lose it, and she smacks her right in the face.  Before storming off, she flat out tells her that she won't talk since she thinks Walt is going to get away with this.  But wait, she's not done, and the recovering klepto makes her biggest attempted heist yet - Baby Holly. They go back and forth, Marie summons Hank, before he finally has to yell at Marie to give the kid back and go.  Sky tries to sooth the kid as Hank leaves.  Back in the car, Marie stares straight ahead and says "We have to get him".  The battle lines have been drawn, people.

Back to the desert, where a weary Walt works until darkness falls, after which he has to unload the heavy barrels of cash int the hole.  He finally manages to get all of them buried and cover his work nicely before making sure to capture the GPS coordinates, memorize then, and destroy the device.

Cut to him pinning a fresh lottery ticket to the fridge, showing that he has played those numbers not cause he feels lucky, but to have them hidden in plain sight for future reference.  Skyler hears him and has sooo much to say to him, but he's not really in any condition to respond.  As he prepares to shower, wearily shedding his clothes, she stresses that she didn't tell Hank anything, and after imploring Walt to respond, gasps as he collapses to the floor in exhaustion.

Time passes, and we see a close of of Walt as he starts to wake up.  She's propped his head under a pillow and covered him with a blanket on the bathroom floor.  Her only question is about the return of the cancer, to which  Walt asks if that would make her happy.  He has no memory of what happened just before he fell, and figures she made a deal with Hank to save herself.  He offers to give himself up in order to save the kids and allow them to eventually get the money he just buried.  Don't let him have done all of this for nothing.  Sky wonders how Hank found out, and Walt cops to it without providing any details.  She then reasons that Hank has suspicions, but no real solid evidence without the money, and suggests that their best course of action is to just stay quiet.  It's a nice parallel to the whole "tread lightly" speech from last week.

Middle of nowhere, with a few junk cars strewn about.  A pickup trunk pulls in to the heavily guarded compound, and as it comes to a stop the driver instructs the passenger to take off the blindfold.  It's Nervous Lydia, of course, in the passenger seat, and she has come to what is now the cook site.  She's greeted, less than warmly, by Declean, who wonders what was so important that she has to pay them a visit.  She's bringing in lots of dough, and wants to see up close what is going so wrong re: the diminishing quality of the product.  Where is Dim Bulb Todd?  Isn't he the new Master Cook in this outfit?   They dispense with the pleasantries and bring her to the lab, which is nothing mire than a bus, buried in the ground.  Walt would go ape shit if he saw this place, and Nervous Lydia invokes him indirectly while giving this dump the white glove test.  Why not use Todd, she suggests, and we find out why that isn't such a good idea.  Seems that our boy, even though his first two cooks were at 74% purity, nearly burned the whole place to the ground on Cook #3, thus was relieved of his duties.  No deal, says Dec, since he doesn't trust Todd and wants to stay with his guys.  At this, Lydia sighs and turns away, says she wished Dec would have given Todd another chance as she presses a button on her watch.  What's that.  Well, it must be some kind of bat signal because right away the boys above indicate that there is a developing situation.  Dec leaves and tells Lydia to stay put while he checks it out, and within seconds we hear an exchange of several rounds of gunfire.  The hatch opens and down comes none other than Dim Bulb Todd, who escorts Lydia out of the hole and walks her through the carnage she just orchestrated, which she simply can't bear to look at.  She's sensitive, you know.

We see what went down:  Dec and his men are down, and Todd's White Supremacist uncle and his crew are the folks responsible.  Scratch that, Dec wasn't dead just yet, so Uncle Jack pumps another one into him to finish the job.  Once confirmed, Jack tells the boys to take it all.  So, Lydia doesn't need to try and recruit Walt now that she has her boy Todd back on the job, right?  Whew, glad that's taken care of.

Back to Hank, who is working through more piles of old evidence, searching for anything that will help tie things back to Walter.  Marie comes out, and implores Hank to tell his colleagues what he knows.  Tell Gomie, at least, but tell somebody.  Nope, says Hank.  The day he goes in with this is the say his career is over, done, caput.  Imagine, going in, looking these guys in the eye and admitting that the person he has been chasing for the better part of a year has been right under his nose the entire time?  It's as much about pride and ego for Hank as it is about justice, maybe more so.  He cannot go in there without concrete proof, nothing less.  Yes, but...Marie counters, what if they find out anyway and then realize you were sitting on all this evidence?  No answer, but instead a scene transition....

....to the DEA, where Hank, dressed in a suit, returns to work.  Gomie comes in, and the two exchange some typical macho crap before working out some office details.  Gomie goes to leave and provides an oh-by-the-way, did you hear about that money thing with our boy Jesse Pinkman?

Smash cut to an interrogation room, where TweedleDee and Dum are amusing each other, speculating how and why Jesse would 1) have millions of dollars to toss around and 2) toss it out at all.  Hank shows up and convinces the cops to let him have a minute or two, since he and Jesse have a long, rich history together.  Maybe he can soften the kid up and if anything of value comes out he would be more than happy to share it.  Deal?  The cops come up with a flimsy reason to abandon their detail and allow Hank to have at Jesse. He opens the door, it closes behind him, and we're out.

• Aaron Paul did not have one line of dialogue this entire episode.
• Emmy reels for all - Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, Dean Norris.  Submit this one, and you'll all win.
• Is Jesse the missing link Hank needs to tie everything back to Walt?
• The body count is underway:  Declean, though a minor character, is the first one down.  More to come.

Breaking Bad Recap - "Blood Money" (Season 5 Episode 9)

Previously on Breaking Bad, Walt hid the ricin vial in the wall outlet, shot and killed Mike, and was ready to take out Nervous Lydia before her Czech Republic plan, Hank got promoted, Walt left Jesse his big bag o' cash, then told Skyler he was "out"of the meth biz, which tied things into a nice pretty bow until Hank decided to drop the kids off at the pool and connected the "W.W." dots......

We open with skate punks working what appears to be a cement half pipe of some kind, but since we are in extreme close-up it's hard to tell. As the shots get wider we see exactly where we are - it's Casa White, and it looks like it's gone completely to shit - abandoned, boarded up and tagged.  Clearly, we are back to the Flash Forward zone as in the first episode of last season.  Right on cue, the old junker pulls up to the front of the house, and out steps bearded, bedraggled Walter White.  He pops the trunk where we see the (recently) purchased M60, but that's not what he's after this time - it's just a crowbar, which he doesn't really need to get past the fence, which has No Trespassing signs all over the place, surrounding the house.  He does use said crowbar to bust open the front door, and we see the interior is, not surprisingly, a huge mess.  What is surprising, even to Walt, is that someone sprayed HEISENBERG in big letters on the wall, so that cat apparently gets waaaaay out of the bag pretty soon.  I was surprised that some random tagger spelled it right, but maybe there is more to it than we know. He slowly walks through the place, noticing the skate punks in the back yard, before heading down the hallway.  We quickly realize what he's after - the infamous, often accessed but never used as yet vial of Ricin, which has managed to survive all of whatever the hell went down at this house.  Vial secured, he heads out, but not before catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and perhaps for the first time realizing that he looks like crap.  Dying slowly will do that to you I suppose.  He closes the trunk to the junker and the camera pulls back to see his neighbor frozen in stunned disbelief, like she's seeing a ghost.  Walt looks for a moment before saying "Hello, Carol" at which point Carol drops her grocery bag, spilling the oranges into the road.  Titles.....

Back to where we left off, in the White's master bedroom, we slowly zoom towards the bathroom door where Hank has just made his stunning discovery:  not that people actually read poetry while dumping, though that is rather odd, but that W.W. is actually his nebbish of a brother-in-law.  Hank emerges, book in hand, and slowly ambles down the hallway.  Dean Norris really does a nice job here - all of what we've come to know about Hank is not evident anymore, the swagger, the cockiness - all of it, gone.  He slips the book into Marie's purple (naturally) bag and peeks out at Walt through the blinds.  With Holly on his lap, he's engaged in conversation with Marie, who lets out a perfectly timed "Walt, you are the Devil" just as Hank slides open the door.  When offered a beer by Walt, Hank declines, feigns a stomach ailment and tells everyone that he and Marie need to shove off.  Hank can't wait to get the hell out of there, but obviously doesn't want to raise any suspicions - he's stunned momentarily after getting into the driver's seat by Walt, who sincerely asks if Hank is okay to drive.  This sincere, nice Walt is going to take some getting used to, but something tells me he won't be this way for very much longer. On the way back inside, while Flynn and Sky have a mock argument about who will do the dishes, Walt throws his hand up and gives a cheerful "Hello Carol!" to his neighbor, who is the same woman from the open, minus the soiled pants.

Cut to the Schrader mobile, where Marie is incredulously talking about Walt and Sky's planned trip to Europe.  Being Marie, she goes on and on, while Hank throws her a terse "yeah" every few seconds.  He's not really invested in this convo, as you might guess, and the tense music builds while Marie becomes background noise. The shot gets tighter on Hank and the tension builds, his breathing gets heavier, and he doesn't answer when Marie finally realizes something is wrong.  The car veers as she yells "HANK!" but by the time he tries to correct the turn he's already in someone's front yard.  He practically falls out of the car, eyes wide and breathing labored, looking like he's about to either collapse or explode.  As the owner of the house comes out, Marie tells him to call for help as Hank slowly begins to come around.

Three hours later, the Schrader's have returned home.  As Hank cuts off his hospital bracelet, Marie is still quite concerned that although they have ruled out that it was a heart attack, there is no guarantee it won't recur.  Hank is all "don't worry, it's under control" as he pulls the book from the bag.  He's got that bug in his ear now and won't stop until he can start putting the pieces together.  Oh, and he tells her not to say anything about this episode to Skyler.

In his garage, Hank pulls down the Gale file, which you just knew he wasn't ever going to get rid of.  Going through the contents is like a trip through the past 4 1/2 seasons in pictures, and he spends considerable time comparing the handwriting from Gale's notebook and the Leaves of Grass inscription.

At the car wash, the doors open to begin a new business day.  Right there to greet each of his employees by name is Happy Walter - he even remembered that it was Enrique's birthday!  I bet Ol' Caterpillar Eyebrows Bagdhan never did that.  Skyler comes in and she is all business, leaving us with the impression that she is the one really running this place.  In a great scene to show just how much Walt has distanced himself from his former life, he engages her in a discussion about Air Fresheners, their margin, and how best to display them.  He then pulls her aside to sell the idea on expanding the car wash empire in order to make their cover story more plausible, given how much money they are in the process of laundering.  Sky will think about it, Walt leaves and who should arrive but Nervous Lydia, looking as jittery as ever while she refuses Sky's attempt at upselling.  Skyler takes the keys and lingers over the vehicle for juuuust a extra second as Lydia heads inside......

......where Walt is fresh off of wishing a customer to "Have an A-1 Day" when he turns and sees Lydia come through the door.  His expression turns immediately to a mixture of anger and disgust, all the while doing his best job of trying to conceal both emotions.  She starts right in - "68 percent" - we figure that is the purity level of the product as currently produced, which is a far cry from the Heisenberg standard of 98%.  Wait, you mean to tell me that Dim Bulb Todd isn't producing the same quality product?  Shocker.  While she expected a slight drop in quality, she never figured it would be this drastic.  Walt replies that he left a viable operation in place, and reiterates that he is, in fact, out.  Lydia only wants a few days of his time to help get things back on track, but Walt ain't buying, and he keeps up with her car wash transaction.  Lydia gets progressively more urgent in tone, and tells Walt that she is being put inside a box.  By whom, we still do not know.  Skyler catches the end of the exchange and comes over after Walt moves Lydia through (while wishing her an "A1 Day").  Not being a dummy, she wonders aloud who would bother to wash a rental car, then asks Walt directly who the customer was.  To his credit, he doesn't try to bullshit her, and spills it: "She is a former business associate who wants me to go back.....and I won't."

Lydia's car rolls off the line, but here comes a very determined Skyler, who tells Enrique that she will handle the towel dry on this one.  Happy Birthday, Enrique!  She confronts Lydia directly - tells her to get out, now, and never come back.  Lydia, who never needs a lot of help to reach peak jittery, quickly hops in the car a speeds away.  Sky fires eye lasers at her the whole time as Walt emerges from the building just in time to see Lydia bolt.

Back at the Schrader's, Marie meets Hank out on the terrace and asks if he's going to work, to whihc he replies "no".  He's barely making eye contact, which Marie is probably chalking up to the panic attack.  She pecks him on the cheek and heads off as we hear the doorbell ring.  It's a couple of Hank's underlings from the DEA, and they come bearing box after box of items relating to the Heisenberg case, which were probably retrieved from cold storage.  He shuts the door and dives in, and it's a trpi[ down memory lane: a smiling Gus Fring headshot, a Pollos Hermanos napkin, Gale's death scene photos, dead Combo, Cartel guys, etc.  Nothing which could implicate Walt, until he pulls that famous Heisenberg sketch, which is unmistakably Mr. White.  Dots, they are now connected.

Jesse's house, where Badger and Skinny Pete are hanging out.  Jesse is in a chair looking like he would rather be anywhere but where he is while the other two debate the functionality of the transport system.  It's amazing and I would probably have enjoyed it even more if I were a big Trek fan.  This leads to Badger's story pitch - which centers on a pie-eating contest on the Enterprise and is pretty awesome.  Jesse is not at all invested in this and walks out mid-story, returning a moment later with the aforementioned bags of cash, which he takes with him as he leaves.

Saul's waiting room, where a collection of damage seeking hopefuls wait to meet with the Great Saul Goodman.  Jesse can't get any special treatment despite his intimate history with Saul, so he pulls out his pack if cigs and torches up a bone.  This draws a quick reprimand from Huell, but does get the desired result, and gets Jesse and his bags in to see Saul. After a quick crack calling Jesse "Woddy Harrleson", he asks about Walt, and Jesse replies he hasn't seen him.  It's been All Quiet on the Meth Front, apparently. Mr. Pinkman has a simple request: one of his bags is to go to Kaylee Ermantraut, the other to the parents of Drew Sharp - who you might recall as the nice kid on the motorbike who was gunned down by Dim Bulb Todd after the train heist.  Saul realizes that these bags are full of cash ($2.5 million each, to be exact) and promptly locks the door.  He doesn't immediately realize who the Sharp's are, and after a few seconds makes it known that he doesn't want to know why Jesse would suddenly want to bestow this gift upon them.  However, he correctly assumes that the parents want answers as to their boy's whereabouts, and a big pile of cash would create more questions that it would answer.As for Kaylee, Jesse wants to give her this money, which he affirms is his, not Mike's, since that is what Mike wanted.  Saul has no idea what became of Mike, and asks if Jesse has seen him.  Nope.  Well, since the feds have already seized money earmarked for Kaylee twice, Saul tells Jesse that this would be no different.  Jesse is tired of the bullshit, and implores Saul to just get it done, and leaves.  Saul goes into the drawer full of cell phones, picks out the one he wants, and punches in a number.  After imploring the other party not to hangup, he confirms that yes, there are problems.  About five million of them.

We see the other end of the call, and it's Walter, of course, who tells him not to deliver the cash as instructed, and to calm down.  He will handle it.  We pull back to see that Walt is getting chemo again, so we have confirmed that the cancer is back.  Yikes.

Jesse is home, under his glass coffee table contentedly watching a roach crawl across the top, when he hears a knock.  It's Walt, bags in hand, who asks him to talk him through what he was thinking with his request of Saul.  Mumbly Jesse mumbles that, like Walt said, this is blood money. He says he only said that because he was trying to win an argument, and that he was wrong.  He even tries a "Buck up little camper" gesture to Jesse, patting him on the shoulder while telling him that it's his money, he earned it!  He mentions Drew Sharp, and says it was perhaps the worst part of everything that happened, but somehow we can;t shake the memory of him whistling while he worked shortly after wards.  He presses on: don;t live in the past, what's done is done, you're out, I'm out too.  At this, Jesse gives him a look of "For real?"  Yes, Walt tells him, he's been out for about a month, and it's all good.  Walt then asks why Kaylee for the other bag, and Jesse tears up while he tells him that she needs someone looking out for her.  Walt bullshits that Mike is capable of handling that.  Jesse didn't just fall off of the turnip truck, and pieces together that after Walt did what he did - offing all of Mike's guys, Walt would have to constantly be looking over his shoulder, as you know Mike would have quickly dealt with that.  Knowing how Walt operates, Jesse continues, that would not be a loose end that would be allowed to fester.  He's dead, Jesse figures, and Walt knows exactly what happened to him. Walt lies right through his teeth that he doesn't know what happened, he certainly didn't kill him, and will be ready to confront Mike and accept responsibility if and when he comes back.  "I need you to believe me", he tells him, which is very true but for different reasons.  He tells him the same thing again, and they both state that Mike is alive, though there is no way Pinkman is buying it.

Dinner at Casa White, where the conversation is centered on Flynn's buddy Lewis, and college.  Walter is clearly preoccupied with recent events, and excuses himself.  In the bathroom, he goes under the sink to retrieve his meds, so we can confirm that he hasn't told anyone about the recurrence of the cancer.  He can't get the bottle open before he has to quickly head for the toilet to throw up.  He grabs a towel, a la Gus, and places it under his knees since he might be there awhile.  A POV shot from the top of the toilet shows what we already know - Leaves of Grass is missing.  Later, in the bedroom, he asks if Skyler knows where the book is, and she wasn't even aware of its existence.  After eliminating Junior as the culprit, his thoughts turn to Hank.  Sky tells him that Hank still has some kind of stomach bug, and hasn't been to work all week.  Walt's paranoia begins to build as he heads outside, slowly starting to put things together.  Just before heading back inside, he stops and heads toward his car.  Checking the wheel wells, he strikes gold on the rear right side, pulling out what looks like the very same tracking device Hank once asked him to put on Gus' car.  It's Walter's Oh Shit! moment, and the wheels are now in motion.

Garbage can, where a homeless gentleman pulls out a few cans and bottles.  He sees a car nearby and taps on the window asking for some help.  It's Jesse, sleeping in the driver's seat, and he doesn't respond so the man moves along.  Jesse waves him back and hands him a nice, fat stack of bills. The dude is a little gobsmacked, to say the least, and Jesse has to tell him to take it several times before the man finally does. Feeling cathartic, Jesse starts driving through a very depressed neighborhood, tossing a stack into every yard he drives by.  Charity, bitches.

Back to Hank's, where his boys are dropping off more boxes of stuff.  He's got tables of items spread out all over, when who should arrive in the driveway but Walt.  Ruh roh.  Hank starts hastily putting things away as Walt warmly greets the men in the driveway, which buys Hank a few extra precious seconds.  Once ready, Hank yells at the guys to get lost and Walt enters the garage.  Small talk ensues re: Hank's "stomach thing", work, and the car wash. Awkward glances by both guys preface Walt turning to leave with a pat on the arm and a "feel better".  He gets just about to the door when he pauses, and it's time to address the elephant in the room. He starts by framing it as a big misunderstanding, but you can see his tone and demeanor change as he starts describing finding the GPS tracker on his car, and mentioning that it looks a lot like the one they used back in the day on Fring.  Look familiar, Agent Schrader?  He shuts the door with the automatic door thingy.  Walt, not scared, says "You okay?  I gotta say I don't like the way you're looking at me right now."  The door shuts, the two men eye each other, and Hank absolutely cold cocks Walt with a right cross, knocking him to the ground.  Emboldened, and pissed, Hank brings Walt to his feet, grabs his coat while pinning him to the door, and lets it all out.  It was you, the whole time.  The fake car crash to avoid the laundry super lab, Marie in the hospital, the killing of Mike's guys, the bombing of the nursing home, all of it. You are Heisenberg!  Walt, still not copping to it, asks Hank to think about what these "wild accusations" will do to our family, and Hank spits back, literally, that Walt doesn't give a shit about family, and that he will put him under the damn jail.  Seriously, I re-watched it 5 times and Hank has a big wad of spittle fly out of his moth when he delivers that line.  Walt calms down and tells Hank that the cancer is back, and that news does give Hank a slight pause, but he recovers quickly to tell him to "rot".  Walt continues that he will try like hell to beat this, but the truth is he will probably be dead within six months, leaving Hank with nobody to prosecute.  You can see the glint return to his eye as he goes on to say that even if Hank were able to convince anyone that all of this is true, Walt will play the dying guy who runs a car wash card.  Hank insists that Walt have Sky bring the kids to Casa Schrader, and then they can start negotiating.  He is stunned by Walt's balls when he replies that there is no way that will happen, which sets up the best exchange of the episode.  Hank barely audibly says "I don't know who you are.  I don't know who I'm talking to."  Walt replies with the not so thinly veiled threat that if that is so, then "maybe your best course would be to tread lightly...".

Observations:

• "Hello Carol"  Perfect.
• Oranges rolling on the ground, another homage to The Godfather
• I'm guessing the opening scene takes place right after the flash forward from last season, showing Walt gathering supplies for what promises to be a deadly final showdown.
• Walt trying to tell Jesse that he has no idea about Mike is the moment where Walt re-broke bad.
• Kudos to Vince Gilligan and everyone responsible for putting the Hank/Walt confrontation in the first episode - I was certain we would build up and not see that until much later.
• I'll forego the speculation on this one, since this is being posted while the second episode is airing.
• "Tread lightly".  Wow.

Breaking Bad Recap - "Buyout" (Season 5, Episode 6)

Firstly, let me say that this was the only episode thus far this season that I watched live.  In doing so, I used the AMC StorySync, and it was very cool.  If you have a chance to watch the show with this, do it.  It's not intrusive and kinda fun.  On to the recap....

Previously on Breaking Bad, Walt bugged Hank's office and nearly got caught, Lydia mapped out a big plan to help the crew acquire gallons o' methylamine via a good old fashioned train robbery, Hank and Marie took an extra shine to baby Holly while Skyler told Walt that the kids stay away while he tries to be the King,  Walt insisted that any and all "legacy costs" should come from Mike's cut, Jesse made it clear to Bug Guy Todd that nobody could ever know about the train heist, which they managed to pull off by a whisker, then everything hit the fan when Todd took action on the only witness, a kid on a dirt bike.

No mysterious open this week - we're directly in the aftermath of the shooting.  No ambient noise is heard as we see the almost mundane details: the unloading of the truck and the excavation of the dirt bike, which is then taken apart and cut up into little pieces before getting forever forgotten in a tub of hydrofluoric acid, which we know dissolves any and everything without leaving a trace, even bathtubs.  Once that dirty deed is done, the task gets grimmer as the body of Spider Boy is unearthed from the truck. Thankfully, we are spared the details and are only shown his little hand sticking out of the dirt pile, while Walt preps a fresh barrel.  Once they're finished, Jesse heads out back for a smoke and is joined by Bug Guy Todd.  You can tell Jesse is eaten up by witnessing yet another senseless death, and is clearly in no mood for chit chat when Todd sets up next to him and lights one up.  An attempt at small talk regarding the smell of the acid goes unacknowledged.  After an uneasy pause, Todd goes with the "shit happens, eh?" line and is promptly cold cocked by Jesse, who then walks away without a word.  Titles.....
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Back inside the Vamanos Pest HQ, Todd is trying to explain himself, as it appears that no discussion of the shooting has even occurred as yet.  He actually makes some pretty valid points: the kid was on a bike, and could easily have gotten away, so he saw a threat and took care of it.  At this, Jesse perks up - "A threat?  The kid was waving at us!"  Todd's point is that he could not have been sure, and did what he thought was best in light of the mission's objective that nobody could know what went down.  He goes through that move where you keep talking about why you did something, and you start out sort of questioning what you did but by the end, since nobody else is responding, you end up getting more and more confident that what you did was right.  Walt dismisses Todd to allow the crew to talk it over and decide what to do next.  Before he leaves, Todd stresses again how much he wants to be part of this team, and alludes to an uncle's connections in prison which could be a big help.  That seems like too much of a potential plot point to be dismissed, so let's hold on to that one.  As soon as the door shuts, Jesse makes no bones about how he feels: Todd is a whack job.  Walt calmly points out that while Todd was impulsive, there really is no way of knowing what Spider Boy could have potentially said to anyone, even in passing.  Jesse's not hearing it, calls Todd "Rickey Hitler", and asks if that's the way they do business now.  He calls bullshit on the prison connections, but Mike verifies that they are legit (he came across it while vetting Todd), but when asked by Walt if that poses a problem, Mike says no.  Walt cuts to the chase: they have three options,  none of which are very good.  Fire Todd (Jesse nods approvingly), which is risky because he knows way too much and would likely require a major payout to keep his mouth shut.  Walt gets in another dig at Mike regarding adding more legacy costs before moving on to choice number two: "dispose" of Todd, which nobody really has the stomach for at the moment, leaving them only one last choice, keeping him around on the payroll, tenting the houses under a watchful eye. Walt likes this option, as does Mike, and that's enough.  So ordered,  2-1.

Mike goes out to break the news to Todd,  who begins to thank him profusely as Mike grabs him by the lapels and slams him up against the wall.  He warns him that if he ever brings a gun to a job without telling him again, he'll put said gun in a very uncomfortable place in a very uncomfortable position.  Ouch.   We see Todd heading back to his car, an El freaking Camino, no less, and getting in.  Once there, he pulls out the tarantula in a jar that Spider Boy picked up and stares at it as a tiny hint of a smirk crosses his face.  Jesse's right, this guy is freaking batshit.

Stakeout time: a man in a car is writing things in a little notepad and looking through binoculars when Gomez approaches the passenger side and gets in.  It's the Mike surveillance that Hank alluded to just before his promotion.  Mike is sitting on a park bench while Kaylee happily plays in a tree.  He then writes a note of his own, gets up, and very deliberately places it under the trash can before gathering Kaylee and walking away.  Gomez calls it as a "dead drop" and tells the other guy to watch it, thinking that Mike is leaving something for someone else to pick up later.  They wait for a few minutes to see if anyone else comes along to pick up the item, but nobody does.  A break in the case?  Well, not really.  Gomez moves in after a few minutes of inactivity to pick up the item, which is a folded up two word note ("F--- You").  This ain't Mike's first rodeo, fellas.

We're treated to the view of Mike's laptop as he scans the recordings collected by the bug in Hank's office.  After fast-forwarding through some mundane items, including a gem about Hank's hatred of Miracle Whip, he stops when he hears Hank and Gomie talking about him.  Gomie lets on that Mike is a pro who has managed to slip numerous attempts at tailing him, and Hank indicates that Mike, though a pro, is bound to slip up at some point.  They have no intention of stopping this pursuit, and Mike knows it.

Marie, in purple once again, sits down and enjoys a visit from Skyler, who is holding Holly on her lap while they discuss Flynn's moody behavior.  Eventually the talk moves on to Skyler's condition, and the state of her "therapy" with "Peter".  Skyler lies that she's making progress, but begins to break down and sob.  Marie moves in to comfort her and Skyler starts blathering about keeping the kids safe and it looks like she is pretty close to spilling her guts about everything.  Marie acknowledges that even though she sometimes has a big mouth (understatement), she can be trusted, and it really looks like Sky wants to tell her all abut Walt and the meth and everything.and holy shit what if she does?  When Skyler says there are things Marie doesn't know, that if she did know she would never speak to her again, she's obviously referring to the drug empire thing, but Marie runs with this in the opposite direction and figures she's referring to Ted Beneke.  Skyler's mood changes rather abruptly as she now realizes that Walt has poisoned this well too, and she really has nowhere to turn.  Prick.

Another tented house, which means it's cooking time.  Jesse and Walt are watching TV (and a show about simulated caviar made from kelp - what the hell?) as they wrap up their lunch hour and get ready to go back to work.  Just before he can turn off the TV, Jesse stops as a breaking news alert comes on about the missing Spider Boy, whose name, we learn is Drew Sharp.  It's Day 4 of the manhunt, and the search is being expanded.  Jesse sits back down and begins to well up with tears as Walt grabs the remote and turns it off, then begins to comfort Jesse.  Unfortunately, he's been so good at lying lately that we can't tell if anything he says or does is sincere, and when Jesse mentions the kid's parents Walt says he understands and hasn't been able to sleep the past few nights, thinking about them.  However, finally, he says, they have everything they need and no one to answer to.  Eventually, after they burn through this batch of chemical, they will have time for soul searching, but not now.  Until then, he goes on, we run our business our way and make sure "this" never happens again.  This seems to get through to Jesse, but Walt tells him to take the rest of the day off (nice call back here to the birthday episode where Jesse did the same for Walt).  Walt zips himself into the Dexter Kill Room as Jesse gets his jacket upstairs.  As he puts on his hazmat suit, Walt, the son of a bitch, starts whistling.  Whistling while he works, not a care if the damn world.  Jesse gets wind of this, stares incredulously at the tent, takes a phone call and tells the other party that he's leaving, then pauses again to peer at Mr.Happy once more, who's still whistling even as he puts on his gas mask.

We see Walt locking the gate at Vamanos Pest, and unloading a bag from his trunk before heading inside.  He's surprised to see Mike standing in the doorway, and Mike seems equally surprised to see Walt, who says he is delivering the batch.  "We might as well get this over with" Mike sighs and asks Walt to step inside, where Jesse also is waiting.  After putting the batch in the safe, Walt asks what's going on.  Mike tells him that he's already thrown three separate DEA tails since this morning, and that they've been pretty interested in his movements since this whole operation started.  Walt is understandably derailed by this, but Mike assures him that he's got it under control.  This can't go on, Walt spits at him, and Mike is way ahead of him.  "I'm out" he says.  After a pause, Walt tells him that he's sorry to see him go, but it's probably for the best.  He's still got his old friend Jesse on the team, right?  Right?  Jesse?  "Yeah, about that....Mr. White....actually, I'm out too..."  D'oh!  Walt doesn't take this news as easily, and gets in Jesse face about the $300 million potential for the chemical they just risked their lives to steal.  Mike butts in to tell Walt that they're only walking away from the business, and have found a buyer for their share of the methylmine, and this guy is motivated.  Each of them would clear about $5 million, which is a nice chunk of retirement change, while Walt can keep his third and do whatever he wants.   Join us, Jesse tells him.  Pfft, selling out for pennies on the dollar doesn't interest Walter, nor does the fact that his partners are selling out to a competitor.  Besides, Jesse asks, are we in the meth business, or the money business?

Out on a desert road, Mike and Jesse wait, and wait, while a gallon of what we presume is methylmine is perched on the roof of the car.  A black SUV pulls in, and we figure out that this is the motivated buyer.  This gallon is free, but Mike sets the price for the rest (667 gallons) at a cool $10 million.  A steep price, for sure, but it's worth it to this guy since it will get that "blue stuff" off the market.  Ruh roh.  Buyer Guy quickly figures out, based on Mike and Jesse's body language and the math of the number of gallons he's buying, that these guys must have a partner who isn't part of this plan.  Buyer Guy, whose name is Declean, comes up with a new deal - a higher price per gallon, but he needs the entire 1000, thus eliminating his competition and allowing him to expand his market share.  Mike replies that the rest of the stuff is not his to sell, but Declean makes it clear that without it, there is no deal.

The Heisenberg hat sits perched on the nightstand when we hear a cell phone buzzing.  It's Walt's and he's lying in bed when he picks up and tells the person on the other end to come here.  To his house.  Yes, he's serious.  We realize why we heard that line of questioning as we cut to Walter opening the door and letting Jesse into Casa White.  The kid looks a little spooked, as he's never had Walt cross the streams quite like this before. Walt reassures him that nobody is home, so have a seat.  Jesse lets it out right away - Mike's connection wants all 1000 gallons, and Walt immediately shoots him down.  Jesse expected that, but smartly reminds Walt that when he got into this whole thing, he calculated (using math and stuff) that he needed exactly $737,000, which he will now make several times over with the added bonus of having no more dead bodies popping up all around them.  Walt strongly feels that this is selling out, and that he, no, they, have invested too much to pull out now.  This still isn't making sense to Jesse, so Walter breaks it down for him.  Ever heard of a company called Grey Matter, he asks?  We have, via some early flashbacks - it's the company that Walt founded back in Grad school with two of his friends.  They knew this was a potential Big Thing, but "something happened" and Walt left the company by selling his share for $5,000.  The company is now worth, $2.1 billion, with a "B".  He's been kicking himself ever since for selling out his potential just to make a few months rent.  This is a great reveal and callback, and really gets to another layer of his motivation beyond simple ego.  Swirling his scotch, he provides an answer to Jesse's earlier question - meth business or money business?  Neither.  He's in the empire business.  The door opens, and Jesse shoots to his feet, as if he's been busted.  It's Skyler, returning home with a bag of groceries.  I'm reminded that these two have had basically one scene together in five seasons, and that was back in episode two when she told him to stop selling weed to her husband.  No longer concerned with putting on a front, Walt chuckles to himself at the uneasy situation in front of him and does the introductions.  Jesse, bless his heart, calls her Mrs. White and compliments her lovely home as he prepares to get the hell out of there.  Walt won't hear it, and insists that Jesse stay for dinner, which is an idea that both Jesse and Skyler do not like.  Walt is such a bastard right now.

Cut to the most awkward dinner party ever.  Jesse is stuffing his face, presumably so he doesn't have to endure the awkward silence, while Skyler sips from a goblet of white wine.  Seriously, that is the biggest wine glass I've ever seen.  Walt silently eats and we don't care what he's feeling since he orchestrated this whole thing.  Jesse finally breaks the silence by complimenting Skyler's green beans.  He oversells it a bit, and she lets him know these were strictly from the deli at Albertson's, and she tells him this fact as if he were a five year old.  Seeing the need to keep some kind of conversation alive, Jesse then goes into detail about how much frozen food he eats, and how the lasagna looks so good on the box but when nuked produces a scabby like substance.  Walt says nothing while Skyler keeps working the wine bottle.  Once again it's like poor Jesse is the kid stuck between his divorcing parents, only this time it's Walt and Sky.  He brings up the Car Wash, and how Mr. White tells him what a great manager she is.  Intrigued, she asks him to go on - what else does Mr. White tell you about her?  Can of worms now open, she looks directly at her husband and whispers if Jesse's been told about her affair.  Awkward....She eventually can take no more and gets up to leave, bringing the bottle with her, so her night is pretty nicely mapped out.  Once she's gone, Walt tells Jesse that the kids are gone, and not just for tonight - they're gone because she made them go away.  He guilt trips him further by relaying the whole "she's waiting for my cancer to return" angle, and puts the cherry on the guilt sundae with "this business is all I have left, and you want to take it away from me".  Prick.

Cut to the Pest garage, where a ansty Walt opens the door and starts to unlock the chemical tanks.  He's planning to abscond with his portion - how exactly would he pull that off?  not sure, but it doesn't matter since Mike was already one step ahead of him and asks him to step into the office.  Walt declines, but Mike shows his piece and lets him know it's not really optional.  He lays it out form him: the deal is going down no matter what, and to make sure he and Walt are going to spend the night in the office ("like it's my birthday" he deadpans).  Walt wants to cook it, but Mike is not hearing any of it. He sits him down in the chair and keeps an eye on him, as we see night turn into morning outside.  After what looks like a night of very little sleep, Mike informs Walt that before the deal goes down he needs to attend to something.  Not trusting him for some reason, he zip ties him by his wrist to the radiator.  Once Mike is gone, Walt immediately starts looking for a way out, and sees a coffee pot on a file cabinet not too far away.  His attempt to get it fails, but he finds a better way to skin this cat by MacGuyvering his way into making a handy makeshift blowtorch out of a lamp cord.  I swear by the end of this show he'll make a bomb out of a rubber band and two used Kleenex.  Anyway, he frees himself, burning the skin on his wrist in the process.

A conference room at the DEA, where we are privy to an unlikely meeting between Saul and Mike on one side with Hank and Gomez on the other.  The jist? A long shot attempt to buy some time by forcing the DEA to back off on the repeated tailing of Mr. Ehrmantraut.  Saul even compares it to stalking, which is a hoot, and lets on that he has gone so far as to file a temporary restraining order against the DEA.  After they finish, Mike and Saul repair to their car and listen in on the resulting Hank/Gomie convo.  The gamble worked, at least for a while, and they have bought themselves about 24 hours, which Mike deems long enough to do what he needs to do.  It better be, because, as Saul puts it, Hank's hard-on for Mike has just reached "Uncle Miltie proportions".  Love that Saul.

Mike returns to the garage to find the chemical gone, and he freaks.  Walt is there, along with Jesse, and if not for the presence of Mr. Pinkman it's a pretty good bet that Mr. White's gray matter would be decorating the back wall right about now. He really want to shoot him in the head, while Jesse pleadss for him to listen since Mr. White has a great idea.  An idea which allows both Mike and Jesse to get their five mil, and allow Walt to get his methlyamine.  Mike grimaces, keeps the gun to Walt's temple and asks if what Jesse says is true.  Wlat, not the least bit fazed despite the barrel making an imprint on his bald head, says simply "Everybody wins."


Thoughts and bullets

• Marie was tempted to cheat?  With Ted, or someone else?  I had her pegged as taking a run at that physical therapist that showed up at the Schrader house that one time.
• Like how Mike refers to Hank as "your peach of a brother-in-law"
• I too hate scabby lasagna.  Who doesn't?
• Funny how since we know how much Mike really doesn't like Walt, he still manages to say "sorry" after zip tying him.
• Walt's plan - could it involve him working for Declean?  I don't think he wants to work for anybody, so does he think he can somehow take those guys out too?
• Next week looks awesome - they have to remove the bug from Hank's office, Jesse reiterates his desire to quit and Walt's yells at him, and we get a meeting with Walt and Declean.

What do you guys think?

Breaking Bad Recap - "Dead Freight" (Season 5, Episode 5)

Previously on Breaking Bad, Skyler took a dip in the pool, then got Marie to suggest to Walt that the kids stay with her, Hank made a fancy bulletin board with yarn connecting the links in Gus' empire, and put surveillance on Mike, Bug Guy Todd was very helpful in finding and disabling a nanny cam on the first cook, Lydia noticed something was amiss with the barrel of precursor she was about to give to Jesse, but Mike was adamant that she was responsible for planting it. Walt, when pressed for his opinion on the matter, coldly proclaimed that nothing stops this train.

A windy desert scene is interrupted by a noisy dirt bike roaring through the brush and over the rocks.  As the driver slows down and stops, we see he's a kid of about twelve.  He dismounts the bike and walks over to a creepy, large tarantula, which he picks up with zero fear or hesitation.  After letting it crawl on his arm briefly,  he pulls out a jar, gently deposits the spider inside, screws on the lid, and puts it in his jacket pocket.  He puts his helmet back on and we hear a train whistle off in the distance.  Spider Boy looks that way, and heads toward the source of the whistle.  Titles....

Hank is getting settled into his nice new spacious office when Gomie announces a visitor.  It's Walt, who asks Gomie to excuse them.  Gomie comments, as he shakes Walt's hand upon exiting, that somebody has to catch the bad guys.  Don't let go of the hand Gomie, you just caught one!  Hank, true to form, takes notice of Walt's shiny new Rolex and asks if it was a gift.  Walt replies that he bought it for himself, and why is he lying here?  Between this and the new cars, Hank is noticing stuff and will undoubtedly start connecting the dots pretty soon, right?  They make small talk about Skyler, and when Hank asks about her getting some professional help Walt lets on that she's seeing a doctor named Peter......well, he is drawing a blank on the last name.  Smooth, Walt, but let's get to the real reason for your visit, shall we?  He starts by once again thanking Hank and Marie for helping with the kids, but after a pause and some prodding, lets it out that his wife no longer loves him.  Beginning to break down, he relates that she thinks he's a bad influence and a bad father.  Seeing Walt starting to lose it, Hank, who isn't really good with all this touchy/feely stuff, gets up and tries to reassure Walt while he draws the blinds on the office so as to avoid a potential scene.  Needing an out, he offers to get some coffee, and Walt finally agrees.  Knowing Walt like we do, we're still not sure if he's full of it here, and our suspicions are confirmed as soon as Hank leaves.  Walt wipes his eyes and gets down to business, attaching something to the Ethernet cable on Hank's computer, and placing what appears to be a bug right inside the picture of Hank and Marie.  He's not yet finished when Hank returns, but Walt's back is to the door and as he completes the reassembly of the frame he makes it appear that he was wistfully staring at the happy couple, hoping his life could one day be so blissful.  Phew, that was a close one.

Here's Lydia, and she looks panicked.  Again, but with pretty good reason this time, as she's just had her blindfold removed.  She's in a darkened warehouse with Mike, Walt and Jesse, and it's interrogation time.  She chatters about her daughter and where is she and what's going on as Mike handcuffs her to the table and tells her to shut up.  He really doesn't like her, folks, but he does hip her to what's going to happen.  Since Walt and Jesse are big ol' softies and don't want to let Mike whack her just yet, she's getting one last chance.  She will be placing a call to Hank, for which Mike has helpfully provided a script.  Oh, and by the way, if she tries in any way to tip Hank off that there is even the slightest hint of trouble, Mike will pull out his pistol, and shoot her in the head.  He makes her say what will happen, and she repeats it back to him.  Hey Jesse, over there with the laptop, are we ready?  He gives the affirmative, and it's go time.  Mike dials the phone, gives her one last pep talk, and places the phone in front of her.  She speaks with Hank (as we are shown the picture in which Walt has planted the bug, just in case we forgot) and lets him know about the device she found on the barrel of methalymine.  Was that important?  She doesn't want to get in the way of a sting operation or something.  Hank, who appears to be on the up and up, tells her that he will look into it, and to keep this quiet.  Hank summons Gomie and we can see that this convo is being picked up on Jesse's laptop - he asks if Gomie knows anything about this, and he says he doesn't.  This only strengthens Mike's belief that Lydia planted it, but she vehemently denies it.  The boys then plot their next move, which involves trying to get as much of the stuff out of the warehouse before the DEA can get there and confiscate it all.  What about Lydia, asks Jesse.  This time, he's outvoted, and Mike says he will "deal with her".  As she starts to lose her shit yet again, the laptop picks up Hank's next call, which is to the Houston FBI.  Everyone stops to listen as the Houston guys cop to the operation - and they tagged every barrel.  Hank basically calls him an idiot and hangs up.  Lydia is vindicated!  Mike's still a little bitter towards her, despite the fact that Jesse and even Walt acknowledge that she basically saved their asses.  He spits out that she put a hit out on him, and I suppose that's a little harder to forgive.  Walt and Jesse are stunned, while Lydia uses this opportunity to change the subject - they still need methalymine, and she knows how to get more. Walt questions how this is possible when her entire supply of barrels has been tagged and compromised.  Barrels, schmarrels - She's talking about an ocean of the stuff.

After commercials, Walt is now alone with Lydia, who is still handcuffed.  He prompts her to tell him this grand plan, and is visibly skeptical.  She wants to bargain that she won't be killed anyway after revealing this awesome plan, and Walt gives her his word, but it's not very serious.  She must watch a lot of Survivor, since she next asks that he swear on his kids that no harm will come to her.  I've never understood this bargaining tactic - if I lie, does that mean you will take my kids away?  Such an empty gesture, but hey, we're in a alliance and I won't write your name down on the parchment at Tribal Council, so there's that!  Walt refuses to agree to this bullshit bargain, and lets her know that she has absolutely zero leverage right now.  He presses her for detail on the Mike hit, and she lets him know the deal about how she was afraid that the guys in jail might blab, etc.  Satisfied, Walt gets back to this "ocean" - how much are we talking here? "How does 24,000 gallons sound?"

Well, she's uncuffed now and spreading out a map on the table.  It seems that a freight train carrying the stuff eventually makes its way right through New Mexico on its way to Texas. That's where you "do it".  Do what?  Rob the train, "like Jesse James" asks Jesse Pinkman.  Mike quickly points out that stopping a freight train, post 9/11, sets off all kinds of bells and whistles with Homeland Security, etc.  True, says Lydia, but these trains have to pass through a three mile "dead zone" where all communications are temporarily rendered useless, giving them a perfect opportunity to do the job.  Walt wonders how they could determine which car is the right car, but she's got an answer for that too since the manifest is uploaded to her nightly and she will be able to provide a six hour lead time for them to prepare.  Getting a bit too satisfied with herself, she mentions that this is very risky for her and that she expects to be paid.  Seriously.  Mike scoffs and she quickly retreats, saying "we can talk about percentages later".  He brings up another salient point - the train engineers will have to be killed, since they would be able to contact authorities as soon as they leave the dead zone, leaving the bandits with nowhere to run or to hide.  No witnesses can be left - there are two kinds of heist, Mike says.  Those that get away with it, and those who leave witnesses.

Hank is playing with baby Holly, and it's clear he's become pretty attached to the little munchkin.  He even jokes that he's not giving her back when (if) the time comes.  He asks about Junior, who is apparently reverted to his "Flynn" name - must be his Emo alter-ego.  He mopes out of his room and rejects any attempts from the Schraders to involve him with food and DVD's.

We're in Jesse's house, back to the planning for the next great caper, Mike suggests taking it easy and laying low by going back to the old routes for gathering the stuff, and using pseudo to cook with despite the fact that it will restrict output.  Walt's not hearing that, as that means less money.  The pissing contest between these two continues as Jesse sits on the couch between them, playing with a straw by holding his finger on the top end, then releasing it and watching the trapped liquid fall out the bottom.  It's another "magnets" moment as he shuts them both up by suggesting they could rip off the train without anyone even knowing it was robbed.  Score, Pinkman!

Walt's got the Heisenberg hat on again, so you know it's business time.  The three are out in the desert measuring off the distance from the train crossing to the trestle bridge.  It's "814" (feet, I presume), which is perfect.  A backhoe is now digging a pit just off the trestle, enough to deposit two huge empty tanks.  After they're buried, a water tanker truck, driven by Bug Guy Todd, is backed into place.  This water fills one of the tanks, and will be used to offset the weight lost when the chemicals are removed from the train.  He reminds Todd, in no uncertain terms, that doing this is a major, major crime, and that nobody can ever know about it.  Nobody.  Todd responds that he understands, and Walt asks "Are you sure?"  "Yeah, absolutely" he replies.  So we've established that there can be no witnesses then?  Good, let's move on.  The water will be pumped back into the tank as the methalymine is removed.  Todd asks, smartly, that won't people be upset when they discover that the chemicals are watered down?  Correct, says Walt, they will notice, but they will blame the source (China) for providing a bad batch.  Way to start a trade war, Mr. White.  Todd shakes his head in awe. "you guys have really thought of everything!"

Back at Casa White, Walt returns to find Skyler pleading for "Flynn" to come out of his room.  Who let that Emo bastard back into the house?  He's staying, and that's all he has to say.  Walt asks Skyler as he passes her in the hallway what is going on, and even when they are on the same side she still freaking hates him.  "You got what you wanted", she tells him, "congratulations".  Junior demands  to know what is going on, and why can't he come back home.  Walt gets firm and gets him to leave, finally.  Afterwards, he tries to share some of the misery with his wife, but she's having none of it.  Walt won't accept that from his wife, and is immediately corrected - "I'm not your wife, I'm your hostage".  I like this new ballsy Skyler.  She offers him a deal as she lights yet another cigarette - she'll keep laundering the money and keep all of Walt's secrets, but the kids stay at Hank and Marie's.  Remember how you just told her how there was a gun to your head? she reminds him.  Who's to say that won't happen again, and if it does, there is no way that she wants the kids to be anywhere near this place.  Walt has no response other than to shake his head, but he realizes he's got nothing here, and basically concedes the point.  He then informs her that she is seeing a (fictional) therapist named Peter YouFillInTheLastName.  Whatever.  As he walks away she notices the dirt on his jeans and quips "Out burying bodies?"  Zing!  Realizing he has no need to lie to her, he tells her the truth.  "Robbing a train", but neglects to punctuate it with a Pinkman-esque "BITCH!"

Caper Time!  Lydia burns the midnight oil in her office, gets the manifest data, and relays it to Mike.  Later that morning, we're good to go as the crew stands on the trestle awaiting the payload.  A dump truck rolls past Mike and comes to a stop at the railroad crossing.  Hey, it's Kuby, played by comedian Bill Burr.  He's one of Saul's guys so we know he's legit.  We see a  POV shot of the train as it rumbles towards our heroes, and Mike monitors it's progress through his binoculars.  He's stationed by the crossing, and has a walkie-talkie to communicate with Walt, Jesse and Todd back at the trestle.  The train passes over the trestle and one of the engineers notices Kuby standing in the road waving frantically from the crossing.  They hit the brakes hard and manage to stop about ten feet from the truck.  It's go time, as Jesse and Todd rig the generator and connect hoses to it.  Kuby thanks the two engineers, bemoans his bum luck with his truck, and figure that since these guys are engineers they must know a lot about engines, right?  Mike gives the go ahead and they run the other ends of the hoses the top and bottom of the train.  Todd gets the top opened and drops in the hose and Jesse gets the bottom taken care of.  Walt fires up the generator and the chemical flow begins.  Kuby tries to start the truck, but he makes sure that won't work by flicking some kind of switch (I'm not a car guy, shut up).  Mike asks for a status, Walt gives it and the water begins pumping into the train car.  We get shots of every aspect of the operation, and all is going according to plan, until Mike looks behind him and sees another truck pulling up to the crossing.  Seeing Kuby and the train guys trying in vain to push the dump truck, the Good Samaritan offers to push their truck with his. Despite Kuby's reluctance to mess up the guy's shiny new bumper, he eventually caves and lets the helpful man push it off the tracks.  Mike relays to Walt that the mission needs to stop, and right now.  Walt, ever the perfectionist, denies him as they're about 1400 gallons short.  Mike, who would totally punch Walt int he face right now if he could, implores him to get the guys off the train now, since said train will be moving in a matter of minutes.  Walt doesn't respond, and gives the hand signal to Todd to say "hang on, almost there", while the engineers are back inside and getting ready to move out.  They sound the whistle, which gets Jesse's attention.  He screams to Walt, who continues to monitor the meter on the chemical intake tank as it rips past 9400...9500....Walt tells him to hold it steady....then screams NOW as the meter hits 10000.  Jesse works frantically to close off the tank while Todd does the same on his end.  The wheels engage and begin rolling , leaving Jesse no choice but to lay down and let the train pass right over him.  Todd wraps up his end and manages to jump off the train safely before it picks up any speed. Everyone is safe, and the robbery wasn't detected.  Success!  The three share a relived laugh together, and Jesse lets out a celebratory "Yeah bitch!"  Walt turns off the generator, and the three guys notice another, quiter engine sound.  Walt and Jesse, who are facing the source of the sound, both stop and stare silently.  The camera switches to behind them and, as Todd swings around to see what is behind him, we see the source of the noise.  It's Spider Boy, from the opening, sitting there on his little dirt bike, clearly having just seen what went down.  He stares back and waves innocently at the crew.  After a slight pause, Todd waves back, then pulls a pistol from the back of his belt, which Jesse sees and screams "NO!" just before Todd shoots Spider Boy in the chest.  Dude, you said "No witnesses".

Observations:

• Aaron Paul tweeted earlier on Sunday when this aired that shit was going to get crazy in this episode, and man was he right.
• I love how the lighting is so vastly different between the White and Schreader homes.  Every shot inside the White's is like a cave, even in the middle of the day, while Hank and Marie's is the exact opposite.
• Another Jesse James reference this week, which clearly means something.
• The hatred toward the character of Skyler in several forums has been astounding, but she is kicking ass this season.  The preview for next week shows that she might be cracking, and on the verge of spilling to Marie, which would be absolutely fatal.
• Saw an article speculating that Hank might already know about Walt being Heiseneberg.  Interesting theory, but I'm not sure I'm buying it just yet.
• Previews for next week: Now they have to dispose of this body.  Somebody will inevitably come looking for this kid.  Mike says he wants out.  Walt says he's not in the money business, he's in the Empire business.  Holy shit.
• What do you guys think?

Breaking Bad Recap - "Fifty-One" (Season 5, Episode 4)

Previously on Breaking Bad, lots of money was made, Walt moved back into his house, which made Skyler uncomfortable, Nervous Lydia met with Mike and feared that the caged birds would sing, Hank was praised by the outgoing scapegoated ASAC, Sklyer suggested Marie keep quiet, in a loud way, Walt let Marie connect the dots regarding Skyler's I.F.T. moment with Beneke, Mike held off on shooting Lydia since she could provide the missing ingredient to the Blue Gold.

One of the best things about this show are the opening scenes, which never seem to take place somewhere we've already been.  This week is no exception as we open in a garage, where a mechanic marvels about how this certain little car he's bringing down has an amazing amount of staying power.  Of course, it's the Aztec, and the two Walters amble over to check it out.  You'll recall that it was last seen being T-Boned near the laundry last season as Walt and Hank were driving it, and Walt forced the crash rather than let Hank poke his nose around the super secret underground meth kitchen.  The mechanic goes over the list of items he replaced and how he kept it all on the insurance ("nothing beats free", he says) by using after-market parts, then he remarks on the front bumper and the unfortunate run-in Walt had with that "deer", which we know was a couple of hoods who were going to kill Jesse.  After obtaining the signatures he needs, the mechanic wistfully tells Walt how much he likes the car, how sturdy it is.  Walt opens the door and sees his old friend, the Heisenberg Hat!  The magical powers of the hat remind him of what a badass he now has become, and as his eyes get a bit larger and he suggests that he'll sell the Aztec to the man for $100.  After no haggling, he settles for $50, as Junior is all WTF?  Walt dons the hat and fingers the brim in the side mirror, feeling a little frisky.

Cut to the White driveway, where we see Junior pull in driving his PT Cruiser, and Walt screeches in behind the wheel of his new Chrysler 300.  After Junior appears to not be impressed, Walt gives him a "Huh?" look, and we see the scene repeat, only this time both of them are driving Product Placed Penis cars.  In fact, Junior is driving the same model red Charger that Skyler made them get rid of the last time Walt made a stupid purchase.  They rev their respective engines and have a little testosterone party as we go to the titles....

German is being spoken on a conference call as we pan to what we discover is Lydia's glass encased office. She's not engaged in the call topic one pit, and while looking down notices one of her shoes has lost it's little bow.  For someone as tightly wound as her, this is a big deal, especially in light of all the other stress in her life right now.  She bullshits her way, in German, through a question as we hear her cell phone vibrating.  it's in the desk, and it must be the secret MethLine because it's Mike on the line giving her a heads up that some DEA folk are about to pay her a visit.  Cut to thirty seconds later where she's pretending to work on something as Hank, Gomie and a couple of blueshirts arrive.  We don't hear what is said, but within a few moments she is leading them down the hall and to the warehouse, where she helpfully points out the foreman, who shoots a steely look back at her as the DEA takes him away.  She returns to her office, draws the blinds and lets out a healthy scream into a throw pillow.  She picks up the MethLine and tells Mike what happened, and he's okay with it.  She starts freaking, describing the look Ron (the foreman) gave her, and exaggerating that fourteen DEA agents practically broke down her door and screamed and yelled ate her, etc. She seems like the type who catches a cold and thinks it's cancer.  She tells Mike (and us) how important Ron was to the operation - he ran the warehouse, security, inventory, etc., and now that he's gone there is just no way she can handle that responsibility.  Mike says simply that he'll send over a new guy and hangs up.

Skyler comes home in the Wagoneer and can't get into the driveway as the Product Placed Penis cars are hogging all the space.She sees the temp plates in the window and sighs to herself, then is subjected to listening to the Walters go on and on about horsepower, donuts, and whose car is faster/better, etc.  As they prepare for bed, Walt rationalizes the car as a birthday present to himself, and since he leased them it won't raise any suspicion.  He then plops twenty grand on the nightstand for Skyler to marinate on, as she realizes that he's back in the drug business.  Sitting on the bed with her back to Walt, she proposes a private school for Junior.  This makes no sense to Walt since Junior's so close to college, but Skyler elaborates about changing the environment and this tweaks Walt's interest.  What's wrong with this environment, he wonders.  She meekly replies "nothing", drops the subject and crawls into bed.  Walt does the creepy cuddle and assures her that despite all the craziness of the past few weeks, the threat is gone.  Gus is dead, remember?  He proposes that they move forward and hey, what better way to do that than to have a little birthday party for him?  Chocolate cake, please.

Breakfast time, and Walt is served with a plate of bacon and eggs.  Junior reminds Skyler of the birthday tradition of spelling out the age in bacon, and she half-heartedly makes the pork fat into a "51", stealing a piece from Junior to make it whole.  At least she won't have to do "52".

Hey, it's a photo of Smilin' Gustavo Fring, as Hank laments how even with half a face, lying in a grave he's still giving them agita.  He's setup a huge bulletin board with all the major players in the Fring Ring, from Madrigal tater tot man Schuler to our newly captured Ron the Foreman.  He's looking for more, and suggests Lydia to Gomie, who dismisses her as too uptight, too together for an operation like this.  Maybe, says Hank, but he noticed her mismatched shoes and wonders how "together" she really is.  Pretty perceptive one, this guy, maybe he should get a promotion.  The new head honcho walks in and asks for an update, and Hank provides some thoughts on why everyone is keeping quiet.  He suggests that none other than Mike is the one holding everything together, so as usual he's on the right track.  Also, the blue meth is making a comeback, which raises a few eyebrows.  Head honcho dismisses Gomie, praises Hank for his stellar work, and suggests that Hank applies for a promotion to be the ASAC in the office.  He notes that Hank would be less involved with the day-to-day, Fring included, and would oversee all the open cases.  Hank accepts, noting that Marie would kill him if he didn't, and shakes head honcho's hand.  Good job, Hank.

At a tented house, Jesse and Walt are wrapping up another cook when Walt asks Jesse to cover for him as it's his birthday.  He's expecting a party of some kind to be awaiting him, and Jesse wishes him a HBD as he boxes up the equipment.  Walt arrives home, checks his reflection in his PPP car, notices no other cars in the area, and goes inside.  No party - Junior is watching TV and Skyler is finishing up dinner. Whats the plan?, he wonders. Turns out it's nothing more than Hank and Marie stopping by, a nice dinner, and the chocolate cake he requested.  Burn!

A great car scene with Hank and Marie ensues.  He's aware that something is bugging her, since she's unusually quiet.  It tales about 15 seconds of prodding before she basically spills the beans about "infidelity".  He assumes Walt, and is surprised to find out it's Skyler.  After dinner the couples gather by the pool for drinks and listen to Junior brag about how fast he drives his new PPP car.  He leaves, and the party grinds to a halt, as Skyler makes no effort to even fake interest.  Hank and Walt small talk about the cars some more, then...crickets.  As Skyler gets up to start cleaning up, Walt begins to reflect on the past year. The cancer diagnosis, the surgery, Hank getting shot, etc.  As he begins to talk about his fear of the treatment, we see Skyler in the background approaching the pool, and grabbing the ladder handles. Walt's speech starts dripping with subtext as he talks about the times he thought he was "done for", but then "someone, or something" would pull him through.  Skyler's dipping her toes in the pool now, and we see just enough of her in the shot to know that we should keep an eye on her.  Just then, he brings it around to her, and speaks about how when he first got the chemo he was a mess and she was the strength he needed to get through it.  He turns around to give some detail to Hank and Marie when Skyler starts eyeballing the water, and begins her descent.  At first it's kind of funny, but once she submerges herself Marie gets scared.  We see Skyler underwater, no expression on her face, her blue dress flowing around so she looks like a jellyfish, floating silently until Walt jumps in and grabs her arm.  Scene...

Back at the warehouse, Lydia struggles with the breaker box, turning off different groups of power until finally getting the correct one which shuts off the surveillance cameras.  Mike's new guy shows up, and it's Jesse, who is forced by Lydia to provide Mike's last name before she finally trusts him.  I was surprised he even knew it.  I loved the fact that she tells him how she had to be careful since he could have been one of "those undercover people they send into High Schools".  Jesse Pinkman in a 21 Jump Street reboot?  I am IN.  She points out the one barrel of chemicals he is to take, from the highest shelf, and he procures a fork lift to get it down.  What's this? Lydia "discovers" some kind of item secured to the bottom of the barrel, and freaks.  At this point we don't know what it is, but it can't be good.

Back to the White house, where Skyler's dress drips dry.  Hank tries his best to get some detail out of Walt, to help, and Walt lets it slip that there are some "issues' in his marriage.  Hank suggests Marie's therapist, but man, doesn't that guy have his hands full with her?  Marie emerges from the bedroom,  and after verifying with the men that Skyler probably wasn't trying to off herself, suggests to Walt that maybe the kids should come and stay with them for a few days, until things settle down.  Walt scoffs at the idea, not really seeing how that is a solution to the problem.  Hank gives his approval of the idea, and Marie oversells it juuuuust a bit more which pings Walt's spidey sense.  He asks her whose idea this was, hers or Skyler's?  She cops that it was, in fact, Skyler's.  Shit's about to go down now....

Bedroom.  Skyler is awake but closes her eyes when Walt comes in. It's later now, as Walt tells her he's provided Marie with supplies for baby Holly, and notified Junior by phone as to what is going on.  You got your way, Skyler, so cheer up!  Finally, after weeks of catatonic silence, she's ready to confront him with her fears.  She doesn;t want the kids in the house anymore, and feels it isn't safe.  Walt scoffs at that suggestion - he got rid of the danger by killing Gus, remember?  Skyler calls back "I thought you were the danger?"  Point to Mrs. White.  Walt, getting a little more on edgy, wonders if the whole pool "stunt" was just a ploy to get the kids out of the house.  Skyler contends that she is part of this, and that her hands are dirty vis a vis Ted.  Walt calmly tells her that she was doing what she had to do to protect her family, and far from making her a bad person, it simply makes her human.  He moves in for a tender leg touch, and she jumps off the bed.  No more bullshit rationales, she says.  She's a part of this whether she likes it or not, but she will not have her kids be anywhere near it.  Walt challeneges her assertion that this is somehow a permanent measure but she puts her foot down that she will not have them back here, end of story.  Walt gets that look in his eyes again, you know the look, where he's cold , calculating and scary as hell.  "What are you going to do to stop it?" he asks.  Taken aback, she starts throwing vague "whatever it takes" talk.  "Specifically," Walt asks, "what is your next move?"  He's calling her bluff and you can see how when he feels smarter than his adversary the smugness gets cranked up to eleven.  She suggests that they'll need more time and are struggling, he counters with no, you're still struggling and I'll have you committed.OK, she counters, maybe I'll have some bruises, and tell everyone that you're beating me after finding out about my lover; he counters with sure, let's get Ted involve, which will surely get the authorities curious and open up that can of worms, not to mention the effect on Junior.  Speaking of Junior, she suggests sending him off to boarding school again, and Walt slams this one right back at her by saying how wonderful it would be to ask him to drop everything with one year left of high school and ship off to some faraway place.  She's getting desperate now and she move to another corner of the room and Walt challenges her once and for all to find a "solution" to this "problem".  He corners her on the bed and starts getting louder as he asks again "You want to take me on, and take away my children? What's the PLAN?"  "I DON'T KNOW" she sobs/screams.  She;s trapped, and she knows it - she can't go to the cops, stop laundering the money, can't keep him out of this house or her bed.  All she can do is wait.  For what, Walt wonders.  "For the cancer to come back".  BOOM.  Game, set, match to Mrs. White.

Back form commercials, we are treated to a rear view of Walt's head shaving session, where blood is drawn.  He eats breakfast, alone, when his cell buzzes.  He tells the other party to relax and says he's coming.  At the Bug HQ, Jesse is all ramped up about the item attached to the barrel, which he helpfully shows a picture of to Mike and Walt.  if the DEA is tracking this, they are done.  Done!  Turns out the device was a GPS, which Mike deftly explains was clearly placed there by an amateur.  After asking who spotted this first and finding out it was Lydia, Mike puts two and two together.  "okay", he says, "she's dead".  He gets up, presumably to go and kill her, when Jesse wonders what's going on.  Mike explains that Lydia set this up to create the (false) impression that the DEA is tracking her stuff, thus forcing the boys to look elsewhere for a methylmine source.  She's right, Mike says, they will need a new source after he leaves her in a ditch.  Jesse implores Mike to cool it - they need her to keep the operation moving.  Mike, the business side of the crew remember, says that if they have to ramp it down for awhile, so be it.  It's worth it to cool it until the heat is off.  Jesse is adamant, and asks that it gets put to a vote.  Walt, who has been silent through all of this, is prompted by Jesse to weigh in.  Holding the magic hat in his hands, looks ominously up and says the methlymine keeps flowing, no ramping down will occur, and that nothing stops this train.  Nothing.  We do not see how Mike responds to this pronouncement.

Outside, Walt, hat now on, heads toward his PPP car when Jesse catches up and compliments him on his idea.  Also, he gives him a birthday present - a freaking Rolex.  Nice taste there, Pinkman.  Considering Walt got nothing from his wife when he was expecting  a party, this is a nice surprise.  

Walt returns home to find Skyler on the couch, puffing away now that no kids are around.  She's also using an Area 51 mug which ties in nicely to the show's title for this week.  He tells her her stopped by to see the kids and that Junior is asking a ton of questions.  He asks how she is, and she says nothing.  "Coming to bed", he asks, and Skyler says nothing as she lights another cigarette.  Walt heads down the hall, but has a second thought and turns around.  He shows her the Rolex, and mentions that the person who gave this to him wanted him dead not very long ago, but changed his mind about Walt, and soon she will too.  Left unsaid is how Walt manipulated the shit out of him to change Jesse's mind, but since when does Walt get bogged down with these kinds of details?  He gets into bed and eye the Rolex as he turns out the light.  We close in on the watch face as it ticks, ticks, ticks past 50, and the last sound we hear is a gun click.

Observations:

• Does anyone else still think there is a mole at the DEA?  I'm thinking the head honcho promoted Hank to get him off the case, since he's been right all along.  Possible?
• So Lydia gets to live, which I can't help but feel will be a bad thing for these guys at some point
• Anna Gunn continues to have a great season, mostly because she's getting a lot more to work with
• Next week: the crew resorts to pulling heists in order to get the precursor.  Sounds like the body count will inevitably rise...
• What do you think?