Another great episode tonight, as the countdown and nail-biting continues. The cold open is an old man coming out of his house to find a wad of cash in front of his car, and then another down the driveway, on the sidewalk, and so on. He journeys across the street to find more cash, along with Jesse's empty car, and Jesse himself lying on his back on the playground wheel, spinning mindlessly, wracked with guilt and misery.
When we get back from the break we see Hank's garage door slowly lift open, and Walt come cruising out of it, looking fairly cool and collected. When he gets to his car he turns around to face Hank one last time as Hank shuts the door on him, and then suddenly Walt bolts into action, peeling out of the driveway and calling Skyler immediately- he pulls over when he can't get her on the line, only to find that she's already on the phone, and when he looks over his shoulder Hank is already outside his house and on the cell, pointedly staring at him. Walt races to the office, but we see Skyler on the phone with Hank, nervously agreeing to meet with him and by the time Walt gets back to the car wash she's already gone.
Skyler meets Hank at a diner, where he hugs her and expresses sock and sympathy over Walt's actions, telling her how it all makes sense to him now. Skyler seems at first relieved and nervous, but as Hank pretty quickly goes from coddling her to demanding she tell him right there and then everything she knows so he can go after Walt with all his might, Skyler's attitude slowly shifts. She tries to say she might need a lawyer and Hank's immediate reaction is to tell her not to because it will only delay his ability to go after Walt. Skyler grows visibly more uneasy at his lack of concern for her and when Hank tells her the cancer is back, this is what seems to cement her change of heart. She refuses to talk and runs out of the diner in a panic, leaving Hank in a haze of disappointment and frustration, having revealed what little evidence he actually has to put Walt away.
Meanwhile, Saul's goons Huell and Kuby are sent to collect the money pile hidden away in the garage, but not before taking the opportunity to hilariously roll in it, like "Scrooge McDuck" as Kuby puts it (and who wouldn't, really?). Saul and Walt are barricaded in Saul's office, trying aimlessly to get a hold of Jesse, while Saul tells Walt not to answer Skyler's calls, as she's now presumed to have cut a deal with Hank and is likely bugging her phone. Walt is dismayed that Skyler went straight to Hank, but nonetheless balks at Saul's suggestion of offing Hank, claiming "family" is off-limits. Walt then takes off in a van with the barrels of money Huell and Kuby bring back, and heads into the desert alone to start burying it (hence the episode title).
Back at the White household, Skyler is trying to call both Walt and Saul, having seemingly decided stand by her man, but Marie knocks on her door, demanding to see her. Hank's standing outside, but Skyler will only talk to Marie, and then goes on to tearfully and wordlessly confess that she knew everything about Walt's activities. Marie is stunned and after learning Skyler knew as far back as Hank getting shot she slaps her sister in the face (physical violence is the Schrader's gut reaction to this betrayal, apparently) and then tries to take baby Holly with her as she thinks Skyler won't talk because she's trying to help Walt get away with it. Hank comes in to stop the sister's fight and order Marie to give the baby back, but as Hank and Marie leave, Marie is as determined as Hank to put Walt away.
After Walt buries the six barrels of money, he memorizes the location, and puts it into lottery numbers stapled to the fridge when he goes home. Skyler is waiting for him and insists she hasn't told Hank anything, but Walt simply collapses in the bathroom from the exhaustion of exerting himself. When he comes to, Skyler is sitting with him, wanting to know if his cancer's really back. Walt confirms it and asks if she's happy about it, but Skyler simply says she can't remember the last time she was happy. Walt offers to turn himself in as long as she promises to keep the money and pass it down to the kids, but Skyler says Hank doesn't have any proof and they should just stay quiet.
Lydia is escorted to the location of the meth production, supposedly to find out what the problem in quality is, but as we soon learn, really to have Todd and his crew show up and blow all the workers away so that Todd can take over operations again himself. Lydia hides while the shooting takes place but doesn't want to see the bodies as Todd casually leads her through the corpses with her eyes closed. Todd of course, as you will remember, seems to have no reaction whatsoever to killing and death, and it'll be interesting to see what part he plays as the series wraps up, now in just 6 episodes.
In the final scenes of the episode, Hank tells Marie he can't go to the DEA with the Walt situation, since he has no real proof and when they find out the guy he's been chasing all this time is his own brother-in-law his career is finished. But he at least wants to be the guy who caught him as his final victory lap, and so it looks like Hank is on his own as he heads into the office. But in a last minute development, none other than Jesse Pinkman has been brought in for tossing money all over the neighborhood, and though he's not talking and simply staring into space in his typical depressed funk, Hank seizes the chance to talk to him alone, and we end on him heading in to confront Jesse...to be continued next week.
Another great episode, with another great cliffhanger, and of course AMC had to force you to stick around for half an hour to see the previews yet again- I had a sinking feeling this was going to be the new norm when it started last week. Of course, the previews seem to have taken a cue from the Mad Men peeps, as when you finally do see them, it's nothing but a quick few shots of random images, with unrelated lines of dialogue being spoken over it and no way to tell what's happening. Not that I blame them of course, with just 6 more to go, why ruin it?
Character Notes:
Skyler- She's never been that popular with fans, but I now find her to be among the show's more interesting characters, as she veers between wild emotional decisions in this episode, all taking place internally, as she goes from fearing and despising Walt to firmly deciding to stand by him in reaction to Hank's attitude and the fact that his cancer has returned. We've seen her be terrified of Walt before, yet obviously there is something that keeps her standing beside him, even willingly colluding with him on the money laundering. It's perhaps a deep-seated belief that he really has done all this for his family's future, but of course she's still naive to the extent of his murders.
Hank and Marie- despite their justified reactions to all this finally being revealed, the show can't help but place you on Walt's side, no matter what he does, and their vow to take him down only solidifies the audience's desire to see him get away with it. Hank and Marie are now the antagonists in the eyes of the audience, no matter how right they might be in their newfound hatred of the Whites.
Pointless Prediction #2: My one from last week seems to be right on track, as Jesse very well could collude with Hank to take Walt down, but I'm going to say that Walt will renege on his no kill policy re: family members, and recruit the murderous Todd to help him get rid of Hank after all.
