Buried Bad

Walter White's ascent on Breaking Bad took four and a half seasons, but his descent has been swift.  Two episodes in on the final eight and he's on the run.

In "Buried," the noose is tightening.  We start where we left off.  We see the aftermath of Jesse tossing out millions.  And Jesse himself is found by a beneficiary.  That's not good. The lesson is, as Homer Simpson once said, "never help anyone."

But it's Walt and Hank we want to kow about.  Last we saw they had a confrontation in Hank's garage, and we pick up from there.  Walt is leaving and he calls Skyler, but too late, Hank is already on the phone with her. By the time he gets to the car wash, she's gone.  She meets Hank in yet another ABQ diner--just how many have we seen over the years?  Hank talks about helping her and her family, and he probably believes it, but down deep he's still an agent who wants to crack this case--before Walt dies of his recurring cancer, as he notes--so he wants Skyler to talk right away. Let's not get lawyers involved and all that messy stuff.  But Skyler isn't ready and has a scene with him before she leaves.

Meanwhile, Walt has gone to Saul.  Definitely time for a lawyer.  Saul sends the A-Team to retrieve the hundreds of millions Skyler has hidden--it's the only real evidence Hank might be able to find.  Walt knows Skyler has gone to Hank and thinks she might be talking.  Saul's even more sure.  Walt--after assuring Saul he won't kill Hank (funny where he draws the line)--takes the barrels of money and buries them in a portion of the desert only he knows about, one of those parts of the deserts where you can work with a pickaxe all day long and not have anyone notice. (Too bad he killed Mike, who had a bunch of spots in the desert where you could hide things).

While Walt is out Marie pays a visit to Skyler.  Hank, waiting outside, has told her his suspicions and now she knows. It's not pretty. She even wants to take the baby, though Hank breaks that up.   She now wants to get Walt as much as Hank.

Walt returns home after a long day of digging and hiding.  Skyler waits at home and wants to know where he's been. He collapses. So the cancer has come back.  Walt believes she's made a deal, but she goes full on Lady MacBeth and says Hank probably doesn't have enough so they should keep their mouths shut.  Even if turns himself in, as he suggested, there's no way anyone is getting that money.

Back in the business, the meth has to keep flowing. Lydia, who failed to get Walt back last week, visits her partners and their substandard lab--in the desert, where everything seems to happen.  She's brought in blindfolded to keep the location secret, but it's no secret she's losing Czech business because of their weak stuff.  They fired Todd, who was no Walt but was still better than these guys.  Turns out Todd and his awful family followed Lydia and wipe everyone out.  Guess they're taking back the business.   In a show full of psychopaths, Lydia and Todd may be to two with the least conscience.  (At least Walt stops at killing relatives--not sure if these two would.) Still, Lydia is squeamish and has to close her eyes as she walks amongst the corpses.

Next day, Hank, stymied, is still working on the case.  He wants it airtight before he brings it in.  Marie helps convince him to tell the office about Walt.  Hank knows it's the end of his career, having a brother-in-law under his nose all along, but it's time (and if they find him without Hank he might be under suspicion).  He returns to the office and is ready to start talking when who should turn up but Jesse Pinkman.  His old friends, the Feds, are interrogating him about driving along tossing money.  They're willing to give an even older friend, Hank, his chance to loosen Jesse up.  And the show ends.

So is Jesse going to be the weak link that ends this game? Perhaps.  Though it was a pretty dumb move on his part.  Walt tells Skyler he blew it, and perhaps he did, but keeping Leaves Of Grass with an inscription in his bathroom I can buy.  Jesse has just stopped thinking.

It's good the show is ending soon.  We're still wondering how it'll play out, but before, there were always secrets.  The more everyting is out in the open, the harder it is to keep up the tension.

PS  I caught Talking Bad, the AMC show where they talk about the most recent episode of Breaking Bad.  This week featured Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn. It was weird, because if it were fans speculating, you could speculate right along.  Instead, we've got two stars from the show who know exactly what's going to happen over the next six weeks, but they've got to keep their mouths shut.