Breaking Bad: Confessions (5×11)
Synopsis: Hank continues to suffer through the realization that his brother-in-law is the man he’s been chasing all along, while Jesse just plain continues to suffer.
Rating: ★★★★★
I really appreciate how there is no wasted time now that the end is upon us and this episode of Breaking Bad had me literally screaming at my television set. In the opening, we see Todd calling Walt and leaving him a message to let him know about the “change in management” when it comes to the meth production with Lydia. He’s in a diner telling his uncle and his uncle’s friend about the train heist and they ask him if he feels good about cooking and running his own lab. He says yes and they’re shown driving their truck into New Mexico.
After the credits roll, Jesse is seen with Hank in the interrogation room. He tries to be cordial with Jesse and explains to him that he can help him out if Jesse can help him with Walt – revealing that he knows Walt to be Heisenberg and he knows that Walt has been using them both. Jesse tells him to eat him and asks him why he doesn’t just try to beat it out of him; obviously the past is still painful for Jesse. Hank tells him that happy people don’t usually go around throwing millions of dollars away, but when Hank tells him that he thinks Jesse wants to talk about it, he says, “Not to you.” And for the first time, I am upset to see Saul burst in to save the day.
He clears out Hank with threats of a lawsuit and then asks Jesse what is up with him. He’s almost as non-responsive as he was with Hank and Saul calls Walt to let him know what’s going on. Walt simply tells him to work his magic and to call him when Jesse gets out. Meanwhile, Walt is putting makeup on his black eye courtesy of Hank when Walt Jr. gets a phone call. He tells Walt that he’s going over to Aunt Marie’s house to help her with her computer and that she wanted him to stay for dinner. Panicked, Walt calls him back to talk to him, revealing that his cancer has returned. It’s the special kind of emotional manipulation that Walt is so good at – Walt Jr. refused to leave for Aunt Marie’s house after that confession.
Hank comes home from work and Marie asks if he told them yet, but he says it’s not time. Marie keeps pushing him to tell them and he keeps resisting. Meanwhile, Skyler is talking to Walt at their home and asks him if he’s sure about what they’re about to do. He claims it is the only way, as he sits on their bed and turns on the video camera. Speaking to the camera, he says his full name and address, claiming that this is his video confession.
Later, Walt and Skyler meet with Hank and Marie at a restaurant. Hank asks if Walt is there to confess, but Walt says there is nothing to confess, they’re only there to talk about Walt Jr. Marie thinks the kids should be living with them, but Walt asks her to leave the kids out of it. Walt asks Hank if he knows what the investigation will do to the kids and Hank counters that they’ll hear about it anyway when he bursts down the door to arrest Walt. Skyler tells them that the meth business is in the past, that there is nothing to go after and no reason to tear the family apart. Marie asks why Walt doesn’t just kill himself and make it easier for everyone, but Hank says he’s not getting off that easy – and neither is Skyler if she continues to support him. Walt and Skyler get up to leave, but before doing so, Walt gives Hank the confession he taped.
When he plays the tape at home, it turns out that Walt’s confession is really an implication of Hank. Everything that Walt did over the last year, he claims that Hank forced him – the tape explicitly says that if the tape was being viewed, he had probably been murdered by his brother in law, Hank Schrader. During this time, I was actually screaming not-very-nice things at my television set and Walter White, that evil genius asshole. Hank realizes it is a threat, but asks Marie what the bit about the $177,000 was about. Marie has to admit that she took money from them, when she thought it was gambling money, for Hank’s physical therapy. Hank tells her it’s the last nail in the coffin and she fearfully asks what they do now.
Jesse and Saul are waiting in the desert to meet with Walt, who just wants to know what Hank knows. Walt learns that Hank doesn’t know much and probably hasn’t told the rest of the DEA about his suspicions. While there, Walt tries to manipulate Jesse into thinking he wants to leave the area, but Jesse confronts him and tells him to stop jerking him around for once. Jesse tells him to drop the act and tell the truth, that he needs Jesse to leave or he’s going to kill him like he killed Mike. Walt hugs him instead and poor, confused Jesse just starts sobbing.
Later, Walt is working at the car wash and Skyler is seen zoning out in the back office when he asks her to cover the register. He tries to reassure her, but she doesn’t look convinced. Elsewhere, Hank is sitting in his office doing desk work when his friend confronts him about putting guys out on surveillance around Saul’s office. They argue about it and Hank says fine, take them off surveillance.
Back in Saul’s office, he’s giving Jesse a warning that there are no take-backs after he makes the phone call for Jesse’s new life. Jesse gets visibly nervous at the phone call, but allows Saul to complete the call anyway. When Jesse starts smoking a joint, Saul tells him to put it out and to give up his dope too, though he puts that back in his pocket stubbornly. Saul gives him a Hello Kitty phone and has Huell drop him off. Jesse asks about getting an opinion on where he ends up – with high hopes for Alaska. At the pickup spot, Jesse can’t find the dope in his pockets and when a red van shows up to pick him up, he runs past the phone and back to Saul’s office.
Jesse gets a few good shots in on Saul and gets him to admit that he was the one who took the ricin cigarette on Walt’s orders. He claims he wouldn’t have helped Walt if he’d known it was going to be used to poison Brock, but Jesse takes a gun and Saul’s keys from the office. As soon as he leaves, Saul calls Walt to warn him. Walt returns to the car wash, where Skyler is still visibly out of it, and makes up an excuse to get in and get the gun from the soda machine and leave once more. In the final shot, Jesse has driven to Walt’s home and started dousing everything in gasoline…
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