"Don't you know me by now?"- Walter White
A day in the life of Todd: watch your puke-colored, milky meth drizzle out in front of your Neo-Nazi uncle and his perpetually-stuck-in-1982-henchman. Get psyched about the marginal increase in quality over the "dude who looked like Wolverine" you just helped murder. Stammer sheepishly when questioned. Say nothing while the bankroll of the operation is failingly assuaged about the quality of your quality. Admit that you "might have just cooked the color right out of it." Let said bankroll, Lydia, know that perhaps you could have your uncle "smoothe things over" with her buyers while you bring her tea. Touch her shoulder and creep her out while doing this. Creepily watch Lydia leave and wipe the residue of her lipstick off with your thumb, also creepily. Answer your cellphone when your awesome ringtone goes off (Lydia obviously blinds Todd with something a little simpler than science, but it works). Listen to Walt anchor this scene in the timeline when he tells you that he has another job for your uncle.
Post intro, we jump in with Hank and Gomez meeting up at an underpass to discuss what's next after their failed scheme with Jesse. Gomey supposes that all they can do now is book Jesse and hope Walt doesn't take him out. Hank retorts that the kid has an idea, and convinces his partner to hear him out. Jesse's plan is to go after the one piece of evidence Walt will never get rid of completely: his money. He doesn't know where Walt's keeping it, but he knows someone who might. Cut again to Hank's house, where Gomez returns talking about an asset he picked up, one who they have in a safehouse without actually filling in the rest of the DEA. Gomez expresses reservations that their as yet un-revealed friend will lawyer up, and Hank assures him that it won't happen, and then opens what appears to be the brain of some animal bought from a meat market, splashes it on his floor, smears it around and tells Jesse that "he's up."
Cut to Huell (whose last name is apparently Babineaux), our newly revealed friend in hiding, being met by Hank and being told he's under protection from Walt, who has gone on a loose-end tightening spree. Hank tells a nervous but still unsure Huell that Saul rolled on him and that Kuby (whose first name is Patrick!) has gone missing and that Jesse Pinkman is already dead, which he proves with a cell phone picture of Jesse with his brains blown out (or Jesse laying next to a pile of brains on Hank's kitchen floor). Huell freaks out and tells them everything he knows, which isn't all that much, aside from the fact that he and Kuby rented a van for Walt, filled it up with his money, and washed it when he brought it back and it was covered with dirt. Hank goes to leave, and a still incredulous Huell asks how long it'll be. "As long as it takes to keep you safe," smirks pretend hero cop Hank, who leaves just as quickly as he came.
Now, we're with Walt, who is meeting with Uncle Jack, Kenny, and Todd to discuss killing Jesse Pinkman. Jack assumes that Jesse has flipped on him, to which Walt flatly denies, saying yet again that Jesse "won't listen to reason," and that he's angry. Jack asks if this isn't something Walter would do himself, to which Mr. White again responds that Jesse is like family. He might have changed his mind about killing Jesse, but he's still vouching for his former protege's character. Walt wants it to be quick and painless, which Jack says he respects, saying that there's "too many savages out there." When Walt asks about a price, Jack laughs and says that their price is for him to cook for them, mainly to help Todd get his feet under him. Walt vehemently denies, and Jack, seeing that he's starting to push the right buttons, pushes harder. Walt relents to one cook, after the job is done. They quickly shake hands, Walt clearly uncomfortable with the caliber of men he's dealing with, still apparently believing that he's morally above working with men like Jack. When Jack asks where to find Mr. Pinkman, Walt doesn't know, but he knows how to find him (paralleling what Jesse said about Walt's money. They know one another too well).
Back from the break, we see, even if we already knew, just how Walt means to draw Jesse out, picking up in Andrea and Brock's kitchen when a knock comes on the door. It's Jesse's friend, Mr. White, here to talk about Jesse! Andrea welcomes him inside. He says hello to Brock, who is either stereotypically uninterested or curiously distant from his surrogate father's surrogate father. Walt tells Andrea that he hasn't heard from Jesse in a while, that Jesse's using, and that he has a bad feeling about it. Saul Goodman was able to verify that Jesse wasn't in prison. He eventually convinces her that since they recently had an argument and to call Jesse (at his new number which Walt conveniently has) to leave a message for him, which she does. Walt thanks her, says his goodbyes and leaves, where two of Jack's men are waiting for Jesse to take the bait.
Thankfully, Hank is still in possession of Jesse's swag Hello Kitty phone, and when he listens to the message, he sees it for what it is (while also using Jesse's "nice try, asshole"). He heads inside to tell Gomez and Jesse his findings at the rental place, which are disappointing. There is no GPS on their cars after it was removed six months before after a suit from the ACLU. While Gomez is ready to give up, Hank is not so sure Walt knows that there was no GPS on his van (I was thinking that this would surely be something he asked about before I remembered that Huell said he and Kuby were the ones who rented it).
After a brief but hilarious interlude with Flynn taking his turn giving everyone an A-1 day and meeting local celebrity Saul Goodman, Walt commiserates with his lawyer about the sudden disappearance of Huell. Saul, bracketed by a giant billboard with his face on it, tells Walt that he thinks Jesse is killing the whole gang, and that Jesse's not as stupid as Walt thinks he is. Walt asserts that it's him Jesse wants. "It's just me, " he says, echoing similar concerns he had with Gus in Season 4. As Walt surveys his A-1 kingdom, he gets a message on his phone, a picture of an uncovered barrel filled with money. A call follows. "Got my photo, bitch?" Jesse asks, saying he has six more just like it. Walt tears out of the carwash without a single word to Skyler or Junior.
Flying down the freeway, Walt listens while Jesse tells him about the GPS on the rental van. When Walt, stammering, asks him what his plans are, Jesse calls him Walt and tells him that he has gasoline and a lighter. Jesse tells him to get there as fast as he can, and that if Walt hangs up or loses the call for any reason, he'll burn it all. "Don't you touch my money!" Walt barks, eventually revealing that he's dying, and that the money isn't for him, but for his family. To his children. Jesse scoffs at Walt, that he'd dare talk about children, which sets off Walt's frenzied rationalizations about what he did with Brock. Walt shrieks that he did what he did for Jesse's sake, just like he did when he ran over those gangbangers and killed Emilio and Krazy-8, an awfully forthcoming thing for him to say into a phone line that's very likely being tapped (though Walt has no way of knowing this, I suppose). Soon enough, Jesse stops responding, just as Walt arrives at his destination. Terrified that the call dropped, he quickly gets out and looks around, realizing that there's no one there. Putting the dots together, he stares at his phone and looks mutters under his breath and dismantles his phone.
Walt clambers to the top of a nearby mesa, presumably to watch over the area, and starts hacking up a lung. Soon after, he sees a car approaching. In what we find out later is the very same place he and Jesse cooked at in the Pilot, Walt prepares again for an armed showdown with unknown assailants. Panicking yet again, he slides down the mesa and puts his phone back together, calling Jack for support. Walt tells him that Jesse's coming for him and that he doesn't know how many men he has with him. Walt pulls out Chekhov's lottery ticket and reads off the coordinates. He tells Jack he sees three men. He recognizes them as Hank, Gomez, and Jesse, and starts to have a breakdown. The entire reason he's still in this mess is because he refuses to kill Hank, and now that decision is the only thing standing between him and prison. Agonizing, he eventually calls it off and tells Jack not to come. Leaning against a rock, hidden from sight, Walt loses focus.
After the break, we cut to Hank's perspective, as he calls for Walt and tells him it's over. Soon enough, Walt steps out, holding his gun. Hank tells him to drop it, which he does. Hank tells him to put his hands up, which he does. Hank tells him to walk towards them slowly, then to turn around, then to put his hands behind his head, then to get on his knees, all of which he does. Walt seems to be resigned to his fate. Hank cuffs his man, picks him up, and spins him around, asking Walt if he likes the photo they staged to get his attention. Walt, barely listening, transfixes his glare on Jesse, who confirms that this mesa is the legendary "cow house" from their first cook. Hank reads Walt his Miranda Rights. Jesse stares on, almost in disbelief. Surely, the mighty Heisenberg has something up his sleeve? Walt turns to Jesse and calls him a coward, presumably for going to the police. Or perhaps simply for turning to Hank. Jesse steps up and spits in his tormentor's face, and Hank separates them. Hank sits Walter down in his car and tells Gomez to take Jesse. He calls Marie and tells her that he has Walt "dead to rights." He waves to Walt for her, and tells her that things will be rough for awhile, but they'll get better after that. He tells her that "it may be a while before I get home," an almost unbearably cliche thing for a police man to say to his wife on a show where police men get shot. As he turns to get into his car, the silhouette of three vehicles appears on the horizon.
Gomez wonders if they're the tribal police, but Walt knows. It's Jack and his boys, loaded for bear. Walt begins screaming at Jack not to do it, but Jack's well beyond listening to anyone at this point. He wants to make as much money as he can, and Walt can make him a lot of money. Hank and Gomez tell them to stand down, and Jack retaliates by telling them to show some badges, which they don't do. Jesse's eyes go wide and he slowly opens up the door, trying to sneak away. We don't see him again for the duration. Walt continues screaming. Things go quiet. Jack shares a look with Kenny, who sights up and starts firing. Hank and Gomez, partners til the end, take cover behind Walt's car and start returning fire. Walt dives for cover, getting as low as he can as bullets fly through the car. The camera cuts, back and forth, from Hank to Gomez to Jack to Kenny and even to Todd, mirthlessly firing a pistol. Before anything really happens, Vince Gilligan's name looms out of the darkness.
Rather than pontificate about what might happen in seven day's time, I'll go in depth a little on why I wasn't fully in love with where this episode went. Surely, it's not my least favorite episode ever, and surely I don't mind how predictable the last 15 minutes or so were. One of this show's great strokes is making even the predictable elements nothing short of murderous. The tension that built, more and more, as Hank made his arrest was nearly unbearable. Instead, I'll point my squabbles to what I'm calling "Dexter syndrome," wherein every character is briefly stricken with absolute and unbending stupidity in favor of advancing the plot. This show is too well written for this to be a recurring thing, and in all honesty, even tonight's offense was relatively minor. I don't mean Walt screaming his sins over a telephone. As far as he knows, Jesse is making this a one-mar war. It's Hank and Gomez not immediately leaving, or calling in reinforcements, or doing anything other than gloating for five minutes and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Generally, I try not to judge a character's actions with information I have and they don't, because that's incredibly unfair. This was more like a horror movie, where a pretty white actress goes through a door everyone knows hides a horribly disfigured killer. Granted, this can be very entertaining if executed correctly, which tonight's finale certainly was, but it's something I'm not sure needed to be done. Still, if they had cut when Kenny started to fire, or even right before, it might have been better served.
Still, we've only got three episodes left, and we only know Walt survives, though I imagine Jesse did, too. As for Hank and Gomez, well, at least they went out on top.
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