As for Walt himself, “Blood Money” is filled with story beats we have been waiting to see, and none of them disappoint, starting with an exploration of how a retired Walter White operates. Bryan Cranston’s performance has always had to be extraordinarily dynamic to make this character work, and he debuts yet another version of Walt here, playing a domesticated, but no less fierce, Heisenberg. I think the reading that the original, human Walter White died laughing in the crawlspace back in season 4, broken by the stress of having all his criminal efforts collapse in on him at once, still stands, as the character we see here – laughing with his family, amiably doing business at the car wash, etc. – is the same monster who dominated last year’s batch of episodes, putting on a ‘human’ face when necessary and letting it slip away whenever he feels threatened. This man has long since lost his soul, and the criminal persona he spent five seasons forging is still in command. Notice how, even though he is no longer cooking meth, Walt still wants to make sure that giant pile of money we saw last year is laundered, and how much of an intense flair for business he still has in suggesting ideas for the car wash. Heisenberg always wants more, and that remains true, even outside of the meth trade.
More importantly, it is revealed here that Walt’s cancer has indeed returned, which is something many fans, myself included, had predicted at the end of last season. Walt’s decision to leave meth behind in “Gliding Over All” felt abrupt – intentionally so, I think – and learning that his cancer is back does a nice job to fill in the gaps. I do not think a healthy, physically able Walter White would ever step away from his meth empire, no matter how much money he had accumulated, but Heisenberg might be brought back to earth by the knowledge of his own impending mortality – not so much to spend time with his family, perhaps, as to enjoy the fruits of his ‘legendary’ works while he still can.
In any case, the most interesting element of Walt’s cancer here is the intriguing contrast it establishes between the events of this episode and the last time Walt went through all this, back in the first two seasons. Back then, there was so much danger and uncertainty encircling his treatment; Walt, still fundamentally human, did not know whether or not he even wanted chemo, and a major part of why he chose to continue cooking meth was to make sure he earned those treatments, rather than receiving them by way of what he viewed as fiscal ‘charity.’ As such, Walt’s original bout of cancer was surrounded by lies, deceit, and increasing instability, whereas here, roughly one year later, everything is theoretically ‘easy.’ Walt has the money for treatment, he is not technically doing anything nefarious on the side, and he can go home to a family unit that is as stable as it can be after everything that has happened. Everything is ‘clean’ this time around, and my reading of Cranston’s performance, during the chemotherapy scene and other quiet moments, is that Walt does not mind dying so much, because he has achieved much of what he always wanted: A solid, stress-free environment in which to do so, where he controls the circumstances of his dying days.
Which is exactly why learning Hank is on his trail would set Walt off as much as it does, leading us back to that spectacular final scene. Each Breaking Bad viewer has surely spent the last year imagining what this confrontation would look like, and once again, the actual execution is so much more than we could have imagined. Writer Peter Gould crafts the scene perfectly, in a fashion that builds off everything we know to be true about these characters – Walt reveals himself to Hank out of pride (and a mistaken belief that he is impervious), while Hank puts all his cards on the table in an outburst of pure, uncontrollable emotion – and pits them against each other in a direction unlike anything we have seen before.
I especially love how much the episode itself builds to this moment. Gould is wise to keep us from seeing exactly how much Hank has pieced together until the character starts delivering that furious monologue listing all of Walt’s various wrongdoings; it both completes Hank’s arc of emotional confusion within the episode, and maximizes the pay-off we feel seeing Walt attacked by someone who knows everything he has done. And in the same fashion, it feels only appropriate that for all of Walt’s attempts to find power working at the car wash or dealing with cancer, he cannot resist this opportunity to express his villainous dominance over the man who finally uncovered him. This is what Walter White truly lives for now, if he lives for anything, and he does not so much mind Hank’s physical beating if it gives him an opportunity to demonstrate the extent of his machinations, and to mock Hank with the knowledge that he will never be put behind bars.
Dean Norris is once again the episode’s MVP, expressing such a deep feeling of hurt and betrayal as he looks upon this man he truly loved and cared for, now revealed to be an absolute monster living in human skin. Breaking Bad has spent a lot of time over the years establishing just how much Hank really does care for Walt and his family – even if he sometimes has a hard time showing it – and the look on Norris’ face as he says “I don’t even know who I’m talking to” is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series’ history. It is not just the betrayal of his friend and family member having turned to evil that cuts through Hank, but the knowledge that so many of the moments he shared with this man were falsehoods – and that this horrible confrontation they are now engaged in is one of their only genuine moments together in over a year.
That is what pay-off is all about: Taking everything we have experienced up to now and bringing it together in a moment that bears the collective weight of a long, complex series’ worth of experiences. Breaking Bad obviously has a lot of balls in the air coming into this final season, in terms of both narrative and character-based material, and we still have seven episodes left to see if they all come back down in a completely satisfying arrangement. But so far? Gilligan and company could not be doing any more to make sure those balls matter, and to be putting each one in place to maximize the immediate and eventual pay-off. As someone who felt last year’s episodes were a tad disappointing, good but not great entries in one of the all-time great television dramas, I could not be happier to see Breaking Bad return at the top of its game, tackling the beginning of the end with the same inventive, emotional spirit that defined the show during its greatest, most legendary periods.
Other Thoughts
- Skyler’s involvement in this episode was brief, but crucial. Just as I have wondered about how Walt or Jesse might live outside of the meth trade, I watched most of last season wondering exactly how Skyler could ever live a normal life once all this was theoretically ‘over.’ The answer? Not well. She is still obviously (and justifiably) terrified of Walt, even when he’s suggesting something as simple as rearranging air fresheners at the car wash, and when Lydia arrives insisting Walt come back to ‘work,’ Skyler has none of it – she just regained a semblance of family stability, and she isn’t going to let a pushover like Lydia ruin it. A very nice beat for Anna Gunn, who plays it excellently, as always.
- Speaking of Lydia, her presence also helps to address one of the loose ends from last season. Namely, how Walt could walk away from such a massive, complex meth operation without consequence. Turns out there is consequence, in one form or another – and I suspect Lydia begging Walt to come back is only the beginning. Walt isn’t going to get out of this cleanly.
- Bryan Cranston directed this episode, as he has several season premieres, and this is easily his most impressive work to date behind the camera. I especially love the shot in the opening of Walt looking at himself in the broken mirror, only to see a distorted reflection where his face is split in two, but there are other great or clever visual moments as well, including the slow zoom in on the bathroom door at the beginning or framing Walt and Jesse during their confrontation with the two giant bags of money literally in between them.
- Badger and Skinny Pete talking Star Trek is a minor comic masterpiece. I just love the intricacy of Badger’s Trek story – he clearly put a lot of thought into it, even in his own addle-brained way – and how completely off-brand it is for the series, even as he seems to have a relative grasp on the characters. I would put that scene toe to toe with Patton Oswalt’s epic Star Wars/Marvel Universe crossover improve bit from Parks and Recreation. In any case, that’s the kind of silly, relaxed scene Breaking Bad is assumedly going to have much less time for over the next seven hours, so I am glad we got this one in advance.
Follow author Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack.
