REVIEW: Breaking Bad 5.9 – “Blood Money”

These weekly observations will not be spoiler free.

 

The top half of season five opened on a haggard Walter on his 52nd birthday, alone save for his arms dealer (who I sometimes like to pretend is a Supernatural crossover – to make ends meet Bobby Singer sells guns to meth lords, but that’s neither here nor there). It was a heavy suggestion that Walt was on the lam, and by the wrap of the first eight episodes it was a pretty solid assumption. The how and who of Heisenberg’s defeat were left for the bottom half.

“Blood Money” opened with the same haggard Walt in his clunker, returning to his family home. It’s now roped off and in ruin, the emptied pool is a secret skate park, and the word “Heisenberg” is spray painted in the family living room. Walter returns to recover his ricin cigarette. A question or two answered – yes, the empire has fallen, but more than a few are now raised. We then return to right where we were left hanging almost an entire year ago – with Hank on the crapper. He’s discovered Gale’s love letter to “W.W.” and soon gathers all the old info to compile a pretty solid case. Meanwhile, poor Jesse is so steeped in anguish that he can’t even participate in the brilliant discussion between Badger and Piano Pete (yeah, I know, but he’s Piano Pete for me now) regarding a pie eating contest on the Starship Enterprise.

Yes. I say poor Jesse. Jesse’s takeover as the moral compass of this show was swift and severe. The burden of his morals are now cracking the exterior and I do not see a return to normalcy – even as he defines it – for Jesse Pinkman. He is now being foiled at every right (correct) turn he takes to alleviate his conscious by Walter and it is breaking him.

I want more than anything for Jesse to have a happy ending. The running interwebber joke is that Heisenberg gets busted but Jesse goes on to teach high school chemistry and they all, minus Walter, live happily ever after. But a redemption for Jesse would equal a reprieve for Walt, and he doesn’t deserve it. I don’t think the writers will give it to him because this is not a tale that teaches a lesson via happy endings.

The episode ended in a standoff between Hank and Walter that had me wide-eyed and gape jawed. Walter remained in character at the start, but his true self – he is Heisenberg now – showed teeth at the end, and Hank is getting a reach on exactly what kind of monster he is dealing with.

There is no longer a question of Walter’s phoenix moment. It’s simply not going to happen. All that’s left to tell is who will fall, who will walk away, and which bullet is the one that finally shoots Heisenberg out of the game. I have every faith that this creative team will make it hurt for the next seven episodes, and even though we know the theme of the story we’re about to finish we don’t know how it will hit.

I have a theory. It’s an odd ball of a thought, and I was poo-pooed on reddit, but I’m still putting it here for posterity’s sake. If I’m wrong I’m wrong, but if I’m right I get to scream “I KNEW IT!!!!” and I never get to do that. Once upon a flash back, Gus Fring and his former partner visited Don Eladio in Mexico. Gus’s partner didn’t survive the meeting, and the Don told Gus that the only reason he wasn’t full of bullets was because “I know who you are, but this isn’t Chile.” The implication is that Gus is a pretty big deal, and his person and business undertakings are protected by folks that even the Don of a Mexican cartel will not cross.

But Walter did. Walter, with no criminal knowledge beyond his own city limits, killed a major international player. And nothing on this show happens without reason. Remember when Ted tripped on the rug? I refuse to believe that this was throwaway dialogue, and instead choose to believe that maybe Hank isn’t the only one gunning for Heisenberg.

Tune in next week folks, you can witness the steady decline in my levity as we watch the final descent.