In the previous scene Hank spelled it out for us: if the DEA finds out at this point what he knows about Walt, his career is over. The way he dismissed the two agents who were interviewing Jesse suggests that he’s preparing to have a conversation he wants the DEA to know nothing about. I’ll bet Hank sits down and basically tells him “I know everything about you and Walt. Stonewall these other two agents about it and I’ll keep the DEA off your back. Here’s your get out of jail free card.”
Burying all the money in the same hole would be like keeping all your horcruxes in one place. I’d scatter it around, burying at least one in a place so random I didn’t even know where I was going until I got there.
Either way, I have a feeling we’re going to get a Fargo ending with nobody ever finding that hole. Maybe the Lotto ticket ends up a winner (not a huge prize) and Walt Jr cashes it in and buys a hundred bucks worth of Raisin Bran Crunch.
I find it funny that in the “Say My Name” episode, Walt states that Declan’s cook was producing meth at “70% pure, if you’re lucky” and he’s back or below that purity even with (assuming) Walt’s recipe.
I guess I’ve been watching this show way too much, because the first thing I thought of when Declan opened the hatch to their lab and I saw all of that dirt fall into the hole was, “man, with all of that dirt, no wonder their product sucks.”
I’m sure he doesn’t want the DEA to know about it until he’s ready but those weren’t DEA agents interrogating Jesse, they were local Albuquerque police.
Did I miss him buying a ticket or something?
Yep. Those barrels are the legs of Ozymandias.
The call was for Hank to come clean? I thought it was so Hank could find out the status of the Heisenberg investigation, or to get a team together to renew the investigation.
If he wants to be the one who brings Walt down, he needs to know what they’ve got. He couldn’t seem to do squat with what was in those file boxes.
It showed him looking at the lottery ticket on the fridge with the GPS coordinates of the buried money after he returned home.
I agree but he doesn’t exactly have the luxury of time.
Unfortunately, its Methane.
That was my take on it. Marie convinced Hank that ending his career in shame was a better outcome than going to jail because while sitting on his information the DEA caught Walt anyway and it came out then that he knew about it.
While setting up the call to do that, he learns Jesse is in jail and thinks he may have a way to quickly get the confirming information so that he can go to his superiors with enough information for an arrest rather than just the suspicions of a potential co-conspirator that got in too deep and is looking to get out while the getting is good.
I initially thought the same thing, but the money is like a wizard’s power. You not only have to hide it from your enemies, you have to be able to get to it at a moment’s notice. And where’s the only place where the coordinates can be safely hidden? Watching him repeat them over and over, I knew I’d never have to cojones to trust my memory not to transpose a couple of digits and lose the treasure forever.
I thought the episode was a masterpiece. As unexpected as the final fallout is (Walt and Skylar teamed against Hank and Marie? Sister against sister?), the scenes before make it seem not only logical but inevitable. The scene with Anna Gunn and Betsy Brandt in particular was some of the best acting I’ve seen anywhere any time. Breaking Bad is a tragedy is the truest sense of the word, the cancer inexorably corroding all the relationships just as sure as the cancer is attacking Walt.
I’m blown away.
The scene occurred immediately after Marie asked Hank what would happen if the DEA found out about Walt before Hank presented it to them? It’d look like Hank was clearly covering for him. So that seemingly spurred him on to let the DEA know, to prevent that from happening.
One of the things I like a lot about this show is that when they give us a climactic moment to end an episode, the next episode almost always starts with the next moment. That happened this week and you’d have to expect it next week, too. I think we’re meant to believe Hank is going to tell the DEA what he knows about Walt. Will he be able to get something out of Jesse and give them a stronger set of leads, or will it somehow slow him down?
A million times this. Heisenberg has become Hank’s white whale and he’s allowing his obsession to drag him into dangerous, even criminal territory. I loved that scene with Skyler at the diner when he’s trying so hard to play her protector but he can’t stop himself from whipping out the tape recorder. He wants to get Walt so bad that he’s the one breaking bad now.
What are the police holding Jesse for anyway? If he werent clinically depressed he could have called Saul & been out of there already
Great episode. TV so rarely makes my heart pound these days, but there were several moments this episode that did so.
Another interesting thing I don’t think has been touched on yet: Walt actually shows restraint with Hank. When Saul suggested that he eliminate Hank, Walt said that Hank was family and it was out of the question. I certainly expected that he would say that, after risking his life to tip off the DEA about Gus’ plans in Season 4. But still, the show is so filled with moments where we see Walt become more and more of a monster, it was notable to see an example of a line he wouldn’t cross. It will be interesting to see whether Walt sticks to that as things become increasingly more desperate (losing his home, being on the run, eating at Denny’s, etc.).
I laughed.
What makes you think he’s broke? He gave Jim Beaver a stack of cash for a M-60 and ammunition and paid for his Denny’s meal (which was free because it was his brithday) with a $100 bill.
I’m also guessing the car came with the deal (do you really see Walt giving Jim Beaver his keys to open the trunk?) so it’s just part of the disguise.
Walt looked a little rough, but he is on the run. I’m sure he has lots of money at his disposal.
Maybe he should start reading Jack Reacher books?
MtM