Mother Of Mercy

Last week's Breaking Bad ended with Walt saying "Everybody Wins." We know when Walt says that, something bad is about to happen.  And it happened with a surprising swiftness in this week's episode "Say My Name."

We start where we left off.  Walt's plan, not that far off from what we expected, was to take over the rival gang. They'll be his distributors, but it's his business.  Mike and Jesse ride out to the desert with Walt for the meet where he throws out this proposition. (Mike has 24 hours with no tails thanks to Saul's TRO.)  The other leader says why not just kill you here?  And we get the full-bore Heisenberg.  No methylamine, I'm in charge, you're product is a joke, I make the best stuff, I killed Gus Fring, etc.  Walter White isn't thinking about his wife, his kids, his cancer or anything--he's Heisenberg, living the life he was always meant to live. (I question the meth math, though--will 35% of the new take be as big as they'd make on their own inferior product but with no blue meth competition?) Heisenberg can be a convincing fellow and it appears the new crew accepts.  But not before they say his name, as he demands.

So they hand over $5 million to pay off Mike for what amounts to a finder's fee.  Can Mike truly be out?  No one gets to leave with Heisenberg around.  Not alive, anyway.  Jesse says he's out too, but Walt doesn't seem done with him (whereas he was finding Mike annoying).

Back at HQ, Mike says goodbye.  He'll never see Jesse again--when you're out, you're out.  He'll take his money and pay the legacy costs.  He also reminds Walt to take care of the bug before the DEA does a sweep. (Thus answering a question that's bothered many fans--I guess the bug was only meant to be there a few days when they needed to know what was going on.  I admit I generally don't like these kind of scenes where something is discussed that must be done.  It sets up the need for the scene where either the plan works, so there's no dramatic point, or something fails, which is no fun.  Turns out the scene goes in a direction I didn't expect.  Good for them.)

The car wash is closed.  Skyler lets Walt in. So that's where he hid the methylamine. (Some guess it filled his pool.)  Smart.  Jesse drive in the pest truck to pick it up.  He and Mrs. White now know each other a bit better, but their meeting is still ticklish.  She wants to know what's going on but Walt/Heisenberg isn't going to tell his wife what's going on.  Not her business.  (It is true the less she knows the better for her, but she's in now, and doesn't like the uncertainty--it's good to know if someone wants to kill you for something.)  Jesse observes Walt freezing her out.  He's in the same position.

Next scene, a guy we're not sure of walks into a place of business and gives a woman we don't know some cookies.  Turns out he's Mike's lawyer, the one we saw in a previous episode representing the nine crew members..  She works for the bank and opens up the safe deposit boxes.  So here's where the money changes hands.  I had guessed out of the $5 million, $2 million goes to Mike's granddaughter and the rest is split among the Nine.  So about, say, a quarter mill per once expenses are removed?  Anyway, as far as I could tell, the lawyer puts $15,000 per box (not including Kaylee's--shouldn't Mike have to pay a gift tax?).  He goes to the parking lot and gets in Mike's car.  These are drops.  The families comes by to pick up the money.

Next we see Mike listening in on Hank with his laptop.  The TRO is done, they've got a search warrant.   Mike drops the laptop and a bunch of guns down an old, abandoned well.  (He knows all these great drops.)  Then he goes to the airport and has a car ready with money in the trunk and a key nearby.  (I recognized the airport area since I was there recently.  I also drove by the car wash.) Mike is making good use of his free day.

Back home, the DEA knocks, but unlike Walt knocking, this doesn't scare Mike.  Big boss Hank serves the warrant personally, but, of course, there's nothing to be found.

Jesse drops by to see Walt, who's thrilled to start cooking again. Jesse reminds him he's out, and they have a big talk, where Walt used every trick he's got.  He brings up the dead kid, and how he's broken up about it, though Jesse finds it hard to believe.   He brings up the trail of dead they've left behind.  He brings up the many millions Jesse'll make.  He also asks Jesse what would he do if he had the money now and walked away--videogames, go karts, drugs? (Just like back in season two, when a more caring Walt said If I give you think money, you'll be dead within the week.) I think Walt likes Jesse, and he certainly needs a good cook--says he cooks as good as anyone, and offers him his own kitchen.  But even if he doesn't care about Jesse any more, Walt's invested a lot in training and he wants to get going.  Ultimately, it ends with Walt shouting he won't pay him and Jesse walking away. (It's possible Mike could leave the show this way, but never Jesse.)

At a high-level DEA meeting, Hank can't concentrate.  He still wants to finish up the Fring investigation. He's dressed down by his boss.  Fring is done, move on, you've got other work to do.  Certainly no more surveillance of Mike.  Gomie comes in and says no one in Fring's crew is talking.  So either they're impossibly loyal, or still being paid off.  They can't follow Mike, but the Nine have all got the same lawyer--let's follow him, no one told them he was off limits.  Mike has been one step ahead, but Hank knows what he's doing.

At the latest cook, Walt has a new partner.  To no one's surprise, it's Todd.  He doesn't know much, but he's a hard worker. (Though a loose cannon.) Anyway, if Walt could turn Jesse into a great cook, he can probably do it to Todd, who truly wants to be a gangsta.  The CC says "Jazz" starts playing, but it's the Monkees' "Goin' Down."



The lawyer comes in for his latest drop, but the lady he brings candy to is in an odd mood.  She knows something.  He starts making the drop and there's Gomie and the gang.  They've got him.  Will he flip?

Dinner at the White's.  Walt talks like it's all normal--breaking in this new kid--while Skyler just wants to drink and go to bed.  Next scene, Walt is pulling the crying game in Hank's office again.  Suggests Hank go out to get him coffee, and here comes the moment where he pulls out the bugs. It actually works fine, but it's also a chance for Walt to overheard Gomie and Hank confer about getting the lawyer, and after sweating him how he's flipped.

Meanwhile, Mike is doing his favorite thing--watching his granddaughter at the park. Gets a call from his lawyer, who wants to meet.  The lawyer asks for his location.  Strange. Next thing, Mike gets a call from a harried Walt--they're coming for you. The cops pull up and Mike is hiding behind a tree.  What should he do?  Can he abandon Kaylee?

Next thing, we're in Saul's office.  That'll teach Mike to hire a hack, he exclaims.  Jesse and Walt are there.  No time for recriminations.  They're screwed.  If they catch Mike, he may flip. And if he doesn't, his crew is still around, and their pay has been confiscated yet again.  The Nine will tell what they know, and all roads lead to Walt and Jesse, don't they?  Just then, Mike calls.  He's in hiding.  He doesn't think he can get close to his go-bag at the airport with everyone looking for him.  Jesse offers to do it, but Mike, who likes him, says no, and Saul notes he himself can't since the DEA is probably sitting on him.  Walt says Jesse is out anyway, I'll do it.  (Walt is the one guy in this show no one suspects of anything.) He gets to the car, looks in the bag and sees a gun on top of the money.  Hmm.

Walt meets Mike and before he hands over the bag says he needs to know the names of the Nine.  (I'm thinking don't ask Mike, ask Lydia.) Mike won't even consider it. The only thing left for them to do is disappear.  Walt, leading the life he wants, won't consider that deal.  (Will he have to later, according to the first scene this season?)

Before they leave, Mike tells off Walt about how he screwed it all up  They had a good deal with Fring, but Walt got above his station.  This is a bit simplistic, since it started in some ways with Jesse's problems, but it's essentially correct.

Mike goes back to his car to look in the bag.  The gun is out  of the holster.  Walt walks up and shoots at him. (Not the first time Mike's been shot at a car about to make a getaway.) It's point blank, but Mike drives away.  He slams into a rock.  Walt runs over and Mike is out of the vehicle.  Where is he?  Is this Pine Barrens all over?

Walt walks down an incline toward a river and sees Mike sitting there, fatally injured.  Even Walt is shocked by the audacity of what he did.  He also chooses this moment to remember that he could have gone to Lydia.  Mike could have disappeared from his life and everything would have been fine.  Mike tells Walt to "shut the fuck up, let me die in peace."  It's a beautiful setting for a shocking ending.

Vince Gilligan said Walt would do something this season no one could forgive him for.  This was it.  It was impetuous and, ultimately, unnecessary.  It was also chilling.  Even if you saw it coming, it was hard to believe.  Walt has been killing from the start of the show, and has found it easier and easier.  But we've never seen a major character taken out this way.  Yes, last season ended with Gus's death, but that was a long-term cat-and-mouse game and most fans, I believe, were still rooting for Walt.  Anyway, you can argue that was in self-defense, as were his other killings.  This was shooting a beloved character--maybe the most beloved the show's ever had--because he wouldn't help Walt kill others.

The DEA probably won't be surprised to find Mike's corpse (or that he's disappeared).  Getting shot is an occupational hazard in the drug business. (In a different time, perhaps Hank and Mike, two great cops, could have been friends.)  Walt can probably pretend to Jesse that Mike has simply gone.  But how will the fans take it?  Earlier in the show, Walt told Jesse that if he believes in hell, they've both done enough to send them there. Maybe, maybe not, but this was a new line Walt crossed.  There's only one more episode before the show goes on hiatus, but everything that follows will feel different, and this is a new Walt.