Hrrm. Credit: AMC
Hrrm.

Hi there. This is Jacob filling in for Steve, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

But don’t worry about all that. Let’s talk about last night’s awesome episode, “Confessions!”

1. THE COLD OPEN. Todd, or “Meth” Damon as some refer to him, misses daddy Walt! On his way back from last week’s massacre, he regales his racist uncle with tales of derring-do from his days with Walt. Clearly made of different stuff than Jesse, Todd is pretty stoked to start cooking meth for the greater Southwest and Eastern Europe. Why Todd is leaving Walt messages is a mystery, but I think he’s just nervous about his important new role. He and his buddies are heading back into New Mexico with the tank of methylamine and a whole heap of trouble.

2. Right away we’re back in the interrogation room where Hank’s sudden appearance rouses Jesse from his stupor. Hank correctly reads the situation and tries to turn Jesse on Walt but, once again, Hank overplays his hand. Jesse sees that Hank has nothing solid to go on, plus he hates Hank even more than Walter, for now at least. Saul finally shows up to rescue Jesse.

3. Now is the time to wrap up some loose ends. The families are at odds with Marie still trying to lure away the kids. Say what you will about Marie, she is determined. So Walt cooks up a new plan and calls a sit down at a Taqueria that I hope really exists because I want to go there someday.

Walt and Skyler insist that Heisenberg is in the past, that there is nothing left to pursue and that Hank and Marie should just leave them alone. But finding an obstinate Hank and Marie insisting that Walt commit suicide, they leave the table, with an ultimatum. Walt made a video confession, insisting that Hank was Heisenberg all along, pulling from his pocket something Hank never knew about, that drug money paid for his recovery. Hank is now completely hamstrung, by all appearances complicit in Walt’s crimes.

The audacity of that video was one of those great Breaking Bad moments that leaves you completely shocked. Not knowing whether you despise Walt or admire his evil genius.

4. But his machinations don’t work on Jesse anymore. When Walt turns on the bullshit at a meeting in the desert, Jesse calls him out. Jesse knows he killed Mike, knows Walt will kill him if he doesn’t disappear like Walt wants. But Jesse is still sympathetic enough to share his suspicions that Hank hasn’t told the DEA yet. Faced with a broken, weeping Jesse, Walt enfolds him in a hug that I almost thought was genuine. But then after a minute it reminded me of the Godfather II kiss or the ending of Blood Meridian. Either way it worked. Jesse is ready to split town and disappear.

5. Skyler feels pretty bad about all the lying and manipulating, that much is obvious. But she is firmly on Walt’s side so long as he’s out of the life. Hank is starting to rouse suspicions at the DEA, and he finally backs off of Saul and Jesse.

6. Jesse, ready to disappear, is getting stoned in Saul’s office. Saul doesn’t like it, so he has Huell lift Jesse’s weed. When Jesse finds the weed missing, he suddenly realizes that THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE. He skips the stylish minivan waiting to escort his to his new life and instead storms into Saul’s office, beating a confession out of him about the poisoning from Season 4.

That leaves us with Walt retrieving his pistol (from a freezer, is that thing gonna work?) And Jesse dousing Walt’s home in gasoline. The end.

Next week on Breaking Bad: characters walk down hallways, all episode.

7 replies on “<i>Breaking Bad </i>Chitty Chat Club”

  1. The hug reminded me of the Stringer Bell/Avon Barkdsdale on the balcony scene. The cordial beginning of the end.

    Trent seemed so nice. Hope some of his other customers took him up on that table-side guac.

  3. Saw another posting that Skyler trying to give away too much change to customers was her attempt to throw the money out the window – dunno that I buy it but I’d like to think the show’s that tight.

  5. Sigh. Jesse’s epiphany as imagined by the definitely-still-trying writing staff of Breaking Bad: “Huell pick-pocketed my weed for a completely believable reason, and therefore that ricin cigarette I lost for a while but then found again — you know, the one that did NOT kill that kid? the one I found in the Roomba? — was similarly lifted by Huell. Therefore Walter and Saul collaborated to use a poisonous plant to not quite kill that kid and make me lose that girlfriend and estrange me from that angelic Gus Fring. THEREFORE, I, Jesse, am now fighting mad at Saul and Walter and will show this by punching Saul on my way to sprinkling gasoline in Walter’s house as part of the best-thought-out revenge plan EVER.”

    English needs a word stronger than “bullshit” to convey the implausibility of this chain of reasoning and the plot it has fed.

  7. pistol wasnt in a freezer, Did you see all the dust on it? Freezers dont have dust. its under the pepsi machine locked inside the door. Watch the show.

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