The tables are turned this week and the mighty Heisenberg is finally captured… at least for a few seconds.
Though not quite as twisty as last week’s timeline-slight-of-hand episode, I really appreciated the way the plot unfolded in To’Hajiilee. Hank has a history of taking pictures of crime scenes on his shitty 90’s flip phone so it made a lot of sense when he started using those pictures to his advantage. It’s those little pieces of Breaking Bad history that the fans appreciate so much and add to the many things that make it more than your standard drama.
All series long, we’ve been surfing this Walter White wave of destruction with Heisenberg curling his toes around the board as tight as he can, just barely hanging on. Now, finally, it seems like he’s about to go head-first into the rocks one way or another (how’s the surfing in Belize?). Either Todd and the Uncles of Anarchy are able to kill Hank and Gomie against Walt’s wishes or they are stopped and Hank hauls Heisenberg off to the slammer. And all of this was caused by Walt’s greed every step of the way. It’s so apparent in his reaction to Jesse “burning the money” that this is what he really cares about. Whether it’s all about his family is still up for debate but certainly the place where Walt “really lives” is in his legacy.
My only complaint this episode, if you can even call it that, is how the Andrea plot really did go absolutely nowhere. It was immediately dismissed by Hank as soon as he heard the message and never even reached Jesse. If you’re feeling generous, you might say that it gave Hank the idea to use Walt’s phone as a weapon or that it helped demarcate the power shift from Walt to Hank / Jesse (as I did in the instant take podcast). If you’re not feeling so generous, you could desperately wish those 5 minutes of Walt, Andrea & Brock were cut in favor of something that actually mattered as we approach the series finale of Breaking Bad. But with the pace of this last half-season – from Hank on the toilet to hank slapping on the cuffs in just 5 episodes – it’s hard to complain about a few wasted minutes.
That’s it for now. Of course we’ll have plenty more on Tuesday with our in-depth recap podcast but if you can’t wait until then, the instant take podcast is already live.