It’s here. The final 8.
Open spoilers for the episode discussion and all previous Breaking Bad episodes of course. No actual spoilers (using knowledge gained from outside the show to reveal plot elements from upcoming episodes)
If you haven’t started watching the series, don’t start here - go back and watch it from the beginning. Won’t get into anything specific, but some critics have seen this episode already and the reaction is quite positive.
And a reminder to stay tuned to AMC for the premiere of TALKING BAD (by the same crew as TALKING BAD) later tonight.
I’m halfway through and the promo for The Walking Dead just said they’re going to discus (very minor potential spoiler that I could be wrong about)
What Walt’s going to do with the ricin…so I guess he’s not going to use it in this episode
Nice of them to let me know.
ETA, I guess it’s not the Walking Dead, but it’s the same guy and I wasn’t paying attention to the name so that’s just where my mind went.
To clear up the confusion of the last couple of posts: The crew behind “Talking Dead” are doing a similar show for Breaking Bad, called “Talking Bad”.
And “Talking Dead” is what I [incorrectly] meant to say in my post when I wrote “Walking Dead”. That was just a mess of a post all the way around. I really didn’t catch that it was called Talking Bad.
I am, however, pretty sure they’re given away plot points in the middle of episodes for The Walking Dead by doing promos and telling us what they’re going to talk about. Saying things like “We’ll discuss if you think [character] is going to die” so then you know they’re not going to die in the the next half hour.
HOLY SHIT!
Did Walt just threaten Hank?!
I can’t believe Hank didn’t punch him again after that.
I would’ve changed that line to “If you don’t know who I am then you best tread lightly because you don’t know what I’m capable of”, I also would have said “you and I both know I’ll never see the inside of jail…because I’m much smarter then you”
But I really liked the way Walt didn’t say these things, he left them open to interpretation and didn’t say anything incriminating. The things he said could have been said by anyone that’s just been beaten up by a BIL that they never really got along that well with. Hank has always been the bully in that relationship and Walt has always been one push away from pushing back, but he can’t because it’s that little coward/pussy facade that he puts on that keeps the spotlight off of him. I firmly believe and have said it in other threads that Hank has never even kinda sort of suspected him, but that just reassured it.
I expected that Hank would have left the book in the bathroom and quietly investigate Walt. I didn’t expect him to take the book and for Walt to realize almost immediately that he’d done so. But I suppose the confrontation ups the drama for the next seven episodes.
And in the flashforward, was Walt wearing a wig, or did his hair grow back? (And I liked the different reactions on the part of the neighbor Carol to seeing Walt.)
Wow.
I loved how they got right to it. Hank knows. Walt knows that Hank knows. We know about the ricin. Now let’s get to the action.
And the opening scene! “Hello, Carol”. Classic.
Whooo.
Such a perfectly balanced episode and a great kickoff for these last 8 (now, 7) episodes.
The tension throughout was palpable, and the way the writers/director/actors handled Hank digesting the revelation and the ultimate confrontation was better than I could have hoped for.
Hank’s disillusionment about Walt being a milquetoast dud, Walt clearly picking up on that, then Walt’s insinuation that Hank truly has no idea what sort of nitroglycerin plant Hank is about to tiptoe around in was perfection.
And this show still keeps proving how good it really is…
p.s. That was single-handedly the funniest and greatest pot-inspired Star Trek discussion of all time.
“Hello, Carol.”
Hank needed to be sure, the first thing he did was compare the writing to Gale’s notes.
I just think it’s bullshit Walt checked for the book while he was puking. It would have made more sense if he noticed it missing because he was periodically reading it while shitting.
He didn’t check for it, exactly–it just happened to be that the top of the toilet was at eye-level, and he noticed it missing.
And… wow. Hell of an episode. When we got to the confrontation in the garage, all I could think was, “Shit, I’m going to have to wait a week for the resolution.” Not quite, but I’m still feeling that week I’ll have to wait for the next episode.
He was reeling and not thinking too clearly.
How? The reading material was in a short basket and the Forbes magazines were on top when Hank discovered the book. Walt just checked because.
I suspect that he (and probably Skyler and Walt) took off or used Saul’s disappearing trick to, well, disappear. I’m assuming his hair has just grown back on it’s own as he’s adapted a ‘normal’ lifestyle.
I’m also assuming he’s out of money, for whatever reason, I don’t know. I mean, Walt is smart enough to live within his means for the rest of his life, but he could at least afford a new Honda or Toyota.
Oh, dear God. Are my eyes deceiving me? Let me check that again… yup, it’s there.
They finally, FINALLY…
…fixed the mistake with the electron shells in the title sequence! Way to go, it only took you four and a half seasons, guys.I think I can die happy now.
Oh, yeah, and the rest of the episode was pretty awesome, too. 
Gawt Dayum!!!
That was one helluva premiere. The way he lied to Jesse about Mike, and the way he confronted Hank about the GPS. “You wouldn’t know anything about this, would you?” Wow. Just wow.
The flash forward at the beginning - the White house - OMG WTF happened?
If Walt truly has no money left (I suspected when he gave his last $100 to the Denny’s waitress) then I can only think it’s because Skyler testified against him and the DEA took all the cash from the storage unit.
No idea where this is going but I can’t wait to get there.
No doubt that Walt is got the ricin and the machine gun because he just doesn’t give a shit any more and he is going to take at least one person out. He went back the house in broad day light so he doesn’t care if he is spotted (and, of course, he was.)
He had ME convinced. I really had to think about whether or not Mike was still alive. Then he called Jesse ‘son’ and I remembered how much he manipulated him in the past.
I assume the DEA ransacked it and/or the bank repo’d it and it’s fallen into disrepair. It’s been, what, 8 months. As I recall ‘this season’ opened with his 53rd birthday with the big bushy beard at the Denny’s and then they went back and showed his 52nd. I might be somewhat off on that, but we should be not too long (say, a few days or weeks or even the same day) after his 53rd birthday, but his 52nd I think kicked off the season…right?