Breaking Bad Season 5 Thread

Via Alan Sepinwall

 

Sneak, Marie mentioned to Skyler it had been three months since she and Hank took the kids and I believe that was before all the Czech money started rolling in.

 

Yeah, this was apparently one of the biggest jump forwards we've had in the show's history. We know his 52nd birthday is coming next season though I think that opening scene from this year's show open is from one of the last episodes.

 

Hank had to figure things out eventually. There was just too much evidence out there and sooner or later, it would make sense to him and we'd get to see the face that we saw at the end.

The first episode next year will be 60 minutes of Hank walking around talking to himself about what a fool he has been.

What is funny is that the only reason the book was there was because Walt desperately has no way to get credit for all of the things he has done and he desperately wants it. He talked Hank out of dropping the case when Gale dies, indicating the Gale couldn't have been Heisenberg and as he has grown more powerful, his ego has grown as well.

Remember back to the line at the start of this season. . . "it will work because I said it would"

Or how about. . ."Say my name.". . . he is just begging for attention.

In the end, Walt will be his own worst enemy. He should have gotten rid of the book, but because of the inscription, his ego told him to keep it.

Can't wait for the final eight episodes.

 

Is Hank too connected to Walt to prosecute him without being dragged into it? If his rehab was paid for by Walt, and they've been keeping the kids while the new distribution plan is in play, it might look like he was helping.

He may be so closely intertwined that "I didn't know, it was all accidental!" wouldn't matter.

 

The only way I see Hank being able to prosecute this is off the books. He investigates Walt, gathers all the evidence and then turns him in when the time is right.

I've got to imagine any other situation other than that turns into Hank losing his job for such a big screw up. Hell, he only got the job he has now because the former captain didn't recognize Gus as a threat soon enough. How would it look for Hank to have chased Heisenburg for all this time and spent all those resources and the whole time the guy was his freakin' brother in law?

 

Hank was willing to trash his career when it could've been easily avoided, when he told the DEA disciplinary board the truth of going to beat the shit out of Jesse for no reason. And he thought Jesse was just a low-life scumbag and that his doing so served no real purpose other than it being what he thought was right. I think he'd be willing to see his own career end if it meant Heisenberg was put away, especially after the jail massacre. He thinks this guy's a monster, and he's basically right.

The only thing I can see giving him pause is the inevitable blowback on Marie and Walter Junior. Skyler much less so, especially when it becomes clear the car wash is a money laundering op. I think at most he'd help her structure a deal to avoid prison time and try to take care of her kids.

 

Interesting thought - Why was Marie wearing yellow in that penultimate scene? She's always been in purple, I believe.

 

A thought I had for a possible solution: in the real world when things like this come down, there's always a trail of money that leads to something bigger than just the drug "kingpin." In this case, considering the ties with Hank and the fact that Hank's rehab was funded by Walt's drug money, is it possible Walt turns state's evidence on Madrigal/Lydia? Wouldn't it be a bigger get for the DEA to bring down a multinational corportation full of corruption than just Walt himself? Is it possible that Walt goes this route and then he goes into witness protection? Then we see him come back at the end from New Hampshire because someone (Todd and the Nazis, the Arizona group, whoever) have threatened his family and him and he knows the only way it will ever end is to just shoot it out? I have a hard time believing that Walt gets that big gun for a shootout with the DEA.

 

Or he uses that contact of Saul's to disappear into a new identity, the New Hampshire guy, and comes back when things blow up in ABQ with his former blue meth organization.

I have a hard time picturing Walt, even with what he's become, using that gigantor machine gun against Hank or Jesse. But they're the only two logical endgame adversaries he has. I can't imagine the show getting much emotional heft out of a confrontation with the AZ meth crew or the largely faceless Madrigal operation, though they'll certainly resist Walt getting out. I have no idea what the "Scarface" setup the Denny's flash-forward was eluding to might shape up to be.

I am very amped for the back 8, basically.

 

Guys, I don't believe Walt was in New Hampshire in that flash-forward. He was in New Mexico. That was a New Hampshire fake ID and car plate, yes, but it was part of his faux identity. The guy he met for the machine gun was the same guy he met to purchase that revolver in that New Mexico hotel room in season 4. Plus, there was a line of dialogue from the gun seller - "I got your word this won't wind up crossing the border?" I'm guessing that's Mexico.

 

Yeah, he was back in the Denny's in ABQ, with a New Hampshire driver's license and New Hampshire plates on his car, for some undefined reason. He was also in a pseudo-disguise with hair and thick hipster glasses. My presumption is he goes into hiding for some period for some reason before he gets the machine gun, but something entirely different may well be going on.