The Nazis have been called, deals have been made and Hank is ready to end his long chase of Heisenberg. Breaking Bad is coming to an end and this week’s episode sets the stage for a shoot out of an ending. Your Major SPOILERS review of To’hajiilee is just after the jump.
SUMMARY
Pros
Walt isn’t the smartest
Hank’s brief moment of success
Walt Jr.
Cons
Lydia storyline?
YOU CAN”T END A SHOW RIGHT THERE!!
READER RATING!
[ratings]Previously on Breaking Bad: Jesse learned of Walt’s involvement of Brock’s poisoning and was ready to set his house on fire when Hank stepped in and offered him a better way to take down the man responsible for ruining both of their lives. Marie has thought about ways of killing Walt, while everyone else is planning on how Jesse will meet his end.
TOO MANY SAVAGES OUT THERE
To’hajiilee opens with the classic Breaking Bad shot of uncrystalized meth being poured into a sheet. Unlike the meth that we have seen throughout the series, this meth lacks the trademark Heisenberg blue tint. We quickly realize that this meth is being cooked by Todd, with his Nazi uncle and Lydia looking over his every move to determine the purity of the product. The purity is a couple of percentage points higher than that of the meth cook that was killed off, but nowhere near the 99% purity that Walt can achieve; a number that Lydia’s buyers want across the seas. The relationship between Todd and Lydia hits another weird point again this episode as Todd’s fond feelings towards Lydia surface more than they have previously, leaving him wide open to be manipulated by Lydia.
Todd continues to be somewhat of a mirror of Jesse as we have seen Todd learn the cook process from Walt and now strike out on his own, but he is still being completely controlled by others (Lydia and Walt) so that they may benefit from what he has to offer. Could Todd be a character designed to show us how Jesse could have possibly turned out if certain events would have happened differently? I’m not ready to put my full weight behind that idea, but it is an idea to ponder about.
In all actuality, To’hajiilee is all about mirror images of characters. This concept is no more clear than in the battle of wits happening between Hank and Walt. During this episode both devise schemes in an attempt to make the other fall into their hands; the surprising twist though is that Walt either fails or puts a stop to plans before than can be successful. Hank shows a Heisenberg level of manipulating people with his plot to extract information from Huell. Even more impressive is that Hank is constantly two steps ahead of Walt by smelling out Walt’s plans and by using his brother-in-law’s pride and greed against him to get him right where he wanted him: in handcuffs.
COWARD
So, remember how Walt told Todd that he had another job for his Uncle and how that job was to kill Jesse? Well, after Walt is fooled into leading Jesse directly to where he has buried his millions, he calls the Nazis to hurry out to where he is and carry out the plan. However, he quickly calls them off as Walt, for the first time, realizes Jesse is working with Hank and he doesn’t want Hank to be murdered. Maybe he is feeling a little guilt about the Cartel almost doing that in a previous season. Or, maybe he doesn’t want to beat Hank by murder due to how everyone in his family (besides poor Walt Jr.) will know that it was him.
After Walt surrenders himself to his brother-in-law and Hank gets his satisfaction by slapping cuffs on Walt and reading him his rights, we learn two important lessons. The first: Hank is equally as prideful as Walt as the first person he calls after arresting Hank was, not the DEA, but his wife Marie, so that they can booth toot Hank’s horn. Second lesson: Nazis don’t listen when you tell them not to come kill. Breaking Bad ends, in an infuriating fashion, this week in the middle of a high bullet count shoot out between two trucks of Nazis and Hank and Gomez leaving the fates of all involved up in the air till next week. Let us all scream it at once: GILLLLLLLLIGANNNNNNNNN!
BOTTOM LINE: IS WALT GETTING SOFT?
The fascinating moments of this week’s episode were the back-and-forth of plans between Jesse/Hank and Walt. Walt made a fantastic move to try to draw out Jesse by going to little Brock’s home, but Hank is too much on point right now to not sniff that out for what it was. Walt, on the other-hand, is scared, running for his life and falls right into Hank’s plan. Side note: if Hank simply would have recorded Walt and Jesse’s phone conversation they would have him confessing to multiple murders. It almost appears that Walt is truly concerned for his family’s future after the cancer kills him and that he is no longer in Heisenberg-destroy-everyone mode but protect that which has meant the most to him. With multiple story-lines yet to be resolved and an ending happening in the middle of a shoot out, I have no idea how Breaking Bad is going to wrap up in the next three episodes, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
1 Comment
Theendong was a cheap cop-out though. I realise they’re not exactly military specialists but I’ve seen Storm Troopers with better aim.