I think in some ways this episode was a little rough - Walt decided to get out of the business very quickly even though he was so totally committed to it all through this season, and maybe it was too fast - but the way the events played out was very true to form. Walt finally regained a little of his humanity in this episode, chose his family over his meth empire for the first time in ages, and of course right after he did that, Hank finally figures out the truth. I can’t help hearing that watch again: tick tick tick tick tick tick…
We’ve had a lot of discussion over whether or not Walt could redeem himself or whether he would continue to grow more and more cruel and ruthless. I don’t think he can necessarily redeem himself - even if he were really and truly sorry, he’s still directly responsible for something like 20 deaths and that doesn’t take into account his partial responsibility for the plane crash in season two, and no one could make amends for all that - but like I said, just after ordering 10 more murders in one amazing stroke, Walt did seem to get his humanity back somewhat. He went to play with his baby at Hank and Marie’s house, Skyler showed him what his work had amounted to, and I did think he was supposed to be wounded when Hank called him a monster. (I remember Tony Soprano was deeply hurt by a similar comment.) So after all of that, he pulled back. The critic at the AV Club thought there was another element to that decision: Walt had won and all of a sudden the job wasn’t so exhilarating anymore. I think I said last week that he’d come to see his own life as sort of an action movie, and just after his big success, it turned back into a job. Not so great after all.
As soon as Walt said he was out my girlfriend said something like “Do you think he means it?” and I’m guessing about half the audience said the exact same thing. I think we were supposed to take Walt’s “I’m out” as sincere. It’s no longer possible to take the man at his word and I was certainly ready for an even worse betrayal of Skyler, but in context I think he was ready to walk away. Maybe that wasn’t literally his last day on the job, but I felt he did mean that he was getting out. Maybe Declan and Lydia would have been unhappy, but they both made a bunch of money off Walt and Declan would no longer have to compete with the blue meth, so I suspect he would have let it go. (I agree the fact that they didn’t clarify any of this was confusing.) But by then - even though I’d said a bunch of times that I didn’t think Hank was going to figure it out until the middle of the 2013 season - you could tell what was coming because this is Breaking Bad, and whenever the characters think they’ve got the world at their fingers, some horribly ironic new complication appears. The poolside scene was amazingly suspenseful in its own way. It echoed a lot of scenes from the first couple of seasons and let them come to the viewer’s mind without doing anything showy. It was almost like all the terrible events of the last few seasons never happened. Walt finally did the quote-unquote right thing, and you could tell it was going to collapse. I’d noticed the copy of Leaves of Grass earlier in the episode and didn’t remember Walt reading the book, but when Hank reached for it I knew it was going to turn out to be Gale’s. What an ending. Flashbacks are usually clumsy, I agree, but seeing Walt in that dark blue room and the last words of the season being “You got me!”
I think that scene only works, only matters, if Hank understands that Walt is Heisenberg. Its impact would evaporate if the next episode starts and Hank thinks Walt is just a cook rather than the man he’s been chasing for most of the series. Hank knows Gus was in charge of the meth ring, he knows Gus is dead, he knows the Mexican cartel is in chaos, and he knows Heisenberg is still in business and that someone just eliminated all the prisoners who knew about Gus’ operation. The book also provides an implied link between Walt and Gale’s murder, not just the meth operation. Hank doesn’t have proof, but if he knows Walt is Heisenberg is then it will be much easier to find real evidence to confirm it. A lot of hints were floating around in his mind and now he can connect many of them. Knowing how many people Walt has harmed, I have trouble believing Hank would let him get away. I do think it’s possible that even if Hank takes down Walt, there will be enough of a cloud of suspicion around Hank that it would ruin his career anyway, and his success would also bring about his undoing. That’s the general way of the BB world.
That last scene between Walt and Jesse was terrific. The relief on Jesse’s face and the gun came out of nowhere and they completely changed the meaning of the scene. For Walt it was restitution and some awkward small talk; Jesse feared for his life. Interesting too that Walt did not understand why they kept the shitty RV, because I thought I got it - it was attachment, not inertia. They kept the RV because represented their dreams and their early successes. That scene was also a remind of how shellshocked Jesse is: he’s not getting high as far as we can see, but he’s still sitting around the house alone with all the blinds drawn and the phone unplugged.
Here’s a thought: now that Hank knows, might he talk to Skyler about it? Will he assume she’s an innocent and try to get her to help him catch Walt? And if he does, what will Skyler do? Once the Whites find out that Hank is onto them, they have little hope of escape. I do think the ricin will find itself near Hank’s coffee at some point next year, maybe in Skyler’s hand.
Man, only eight episodes to go! And nothing until next year!
!