Tonight’s episode of Breaking Bad is aptly titled “Buried.” Whether we are talking about physically buried items (such as the barrels of money that Walt buries or the lab equipment that Todd and his uncle’s crew go down to uncover) or, on the more metaphorical side (the information that Skyler tries to keep hidden or the kept details about Walt that Hank hopes that Jesse can divulge), everyone is trying to cover something up or get something that they do not already have, and the constant, heart-pounding tension caused by every character’s actions is making for one amazing final season of Breaking Bad so far.
No scene in “Buried” felt wasted. From the opening scene, where an older man finds a trail of money leading to Jesse, looking completely numb, twirling by himself on a merry-go-round, to the closing scene of the episode, where Hank shuts the door to the interrogation room, ready to see what information Jesse can provide him on Walt, every moment from tonight’s Breaking Bad felt crucially important, as we began to see the fallout of Walt’s actions affect not only himself but his entire family.
The fantastic pace of “Buried” started with the unbearably tense conversation between Hank and Skyler in the diner. Expertly portrayed by both Dean Norris and Anna Gunn, we were able to clearly see both Hank and Skyler’s intentions throughout the scene. Hank, still reeling from his discovery of Walt’s true identity as Heisenberg, has an almost dazed look in his eyes, but the tone of his voice is filled with desperation and conviction; as Skyler says near the end of the scene, Hank’s main goal before anything else is to put Walt away for the crimes that he has committed. Skyler, on the other hand, is not sure of what to do at first. We watch as her mind begins to race, trying to figure out exactly how to answer Hank’s unanswerable questions, and the pressure and stress that Skyler feels manifests itself into rage, as she loudly yells at Hank in front of the entire diner, asking him, “Am I under arrest?” This conversation between Hank and Skyler was one of the most uncomfortable scenes that Breaking Bad has ever produced, and every component of it, from the writing to the acting to the directing, was executed perfectly.
The intensity between the Whites and the Schraders only continued to grow as the episode progressed, and while Hank had difficulty discovering any of Skyler’s buried information, Marie was able to tell what Skyler knew simply by the look on her sister’s face. After Marie slowly unraveled the painful lies that Skyler had been feeding her for over the past year, she slapped her sister across the face and tried to take her infant niece, Holly, out of Walt and Skyler’s house. Even though Hank ultimately intervened and forced Marie to leave the screaming and crying Holly behind with Skyler, Marie’s actions, along with her declaration to Hank that “We have to get him,” referring to Walt, creates a pretty irreversible schism between her and Skyler and gives Marie’s character, who had in the past only really been known for being a kleptomaniac, some real, clear, defining purpose as Breaking Bad, nears its conclusion.
And while all of this crazy family fallout occurs, where is Walt? He’s doing what Walt does best: covering his tracks and saving his own neck. He gets Saul’s cronies, Huell and Kuby, to gather his enormous amount of money and separate into barrels that he then buries out in the desert (in pretty remarkable time for a man of his age and health, but, hey, I’m not going to nitpick), which can only be found by GPS coordinates that Walt has printed onto a lottery ticket.
However, his depleting health and the realization of all the pain that he has caused weakens Heisenberg, and for at least a few brief moments, we see the Walter White from Breaking Bad‘s first episode, the desperate man who would was doing everything he could to leave something behind for his family. “Please don’t have let me done all of this for nothing,” Walt begs to Skyler, as he promises to turn himself in if she’ll keep the money for their kids. She asks Walt how this happened; how could Hank possibly find out? “No one talked. It was me,” he tells her. “I screwed up.” Walt, physically and emotionally damaged, appears to be a defeated man. He knew what his involvement in the meth business would cost him, and he didn’t care; actually, he thrived under the pressure and lusted for the power that he now possesses. Yet Walt, at least when the series began, and now even somewhere deep inside himself, underneath all of his enormous ego, never wanted to harm any member of his family, and seeing the destruction and turmoil that he has caused flips the switch back from almighty drug lord to lowly high school chemistry teacher.
Even though Skyler convinces Walt that it is better for them to “keep quiet,” hoping that they can get away with everything or at least wait it out until Walt passes away from the cancer, the main takeaway for me about Walt from tonight’s episode of Breaking Bad is that the man with earnest intentions is still somewhere inside Heisenberg. This man, the old, innocent, and weak Walter White, could check his ego and admit when it was his fault. And if Hank is able to walk into that interrogation room and somehow convince Jesse to turn on Walt, a man that Jesse may even hate more than he detests Hank, then Walt will need to embrace that older version of himself again, because if Jesse decides to go against him, it will be Walt’s own greed, pride, and lust that will have cost not only him, but also his family, everything.
Other thoughts:
– Amazing directing tonight by Michelle McLaren. She is one of television’s best directors and proved it again tonight. “Buried” was one of Breaking Bad‘s most gorgeously shot episodes ever. I especially loved the Western-inspired shot of Walt and Hank starring at each other as the garage closed down between them and both desert sequences, first featuring Walt, and then Lydia, Todd, and his gang.
– Speaking of Lydia, I like how she and Todd are now teamed up together. For me, neither of them really clicked as characters last summer on Breaking Bad, but putting the two of them together, along with Todd’s uncle’s crew, could be a nice additional threat to Walt. And possibly a threat that he may need a machine gun and ricin to deal with?
– Tuell’s “I gotta do it, man” followed by his and Kuby’s rolling around in the bed of money was the funniest part of this dark and intense episode. Just like Badger and Skinny Pete stole the show last week with their Star Trek discussion, I love that Breaking Bad continues to have at least one humorous moment in each of its episodes, no matter how crazy things are, and Tuell and Kuby were definitely a highlight tonight.
– I really hope we pick right up with Jesse and Hank at the start of next week’s Breaking Bad. That is a scene that I literally cannot wait to watch.
What did everyone else think about tonight’s Breaking Bad?
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