Breaking Bad: Blood Money, Review

The long wait for the beginning of the end of Breaking Bad is finally over. All of your burning questions from last summer just begging to be answered have hopefully been satisfied, or at least intensified. How will Hank react? How angry will he get? Will he wash his hands? We have answers for all, and the latter of which, ewwww. Regardless, Breaking Bad roared back into our lives this evening at breakneck speed promising a concluding chapter that is sure to blow our hair back like Heisenberg’s special brand or a pint of Schraderbräu.

We start off the end of our saga in that bizarre near future where Walt sort of looks like the Dad from Malcolm in the Middle with a beard. Scraggily Walt has returned to his derelict former home to collect his little vile of ricin, last seen almost spilt in Lidia’s hot lemon water. The fanatics are already abuzz about who the ricin could be meant for, but I’m not too concerned. It could be meant for anyone at this point, even Walt himself, so I’m not going to get ahead of myself when there are much more pressing issues to deal with in the present, like ol’ Hanky on the john.

Yes, Hank made it off of the toilet. Not sure if he wiped and I know I didn’t hear any water. That’s gross, man. Anyway, Hank was close to barreling outside like a foam-mouthed mad man, but instead feigned illness, flew the scene, then actually got ill with anger, and crashed his car. If you were expecting Hank to confront Walt on the spot, you were probably disappointed, but if you were expecting this confrontation to simmer throughout the final episodes, you were probably more upset.

I knew that Hank wasn’t going to build a giant case behind Walt’s back, but I didn’t expect a scene like tonight’s garage scene for at least another episode or two. What we got was fiery and explosive, with Dean Norris really portraying so many layers of anger, hurt, and betrayal. I loved the two finally clashing, but I wasn’t so fond of what stopped their sparring. Calling a truce on Walt’s cancer felt like a cop out to me. I envisioned the cancer returning but it felt too convenient for me. The reveal makes Walt’s decision to leave his empire more plausible, but I just would have liked to see Walt deal with Hank in a different way, maybe with some of that killer “tread lightly” tough talk that he sported at the end.

Speaking of not liking Walt, I hated the way he spoon-fed Jesse more lies tonight. Walt has manipulated and deceived Jesse at every turn, and like other writers on this site, all I want is for Jesse to get his revenge and ride off into the sunset. Until then, we get to watch Jesse’s conscience eat him alive. Aaron Paul does a great job showcasing the despair he feels, but this was Jesse’s demeanor much of last season. I would like to see Jesse have some more action, something more to do, something that will light a fire under him that will propel him through the finale so we don’t have to watch him sad-limp his way to the finish line. My thoughts are that maybe with Walt out of bounds, he might set his sights on Jesse, which could mean trouble for our favorite drug slinger.

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