Breaking Bad: Tread Lightly

By Marshall Weber

H'es back. Walter White. Heisenberg. The second half of Breaking Bad's last season returned last night in tremendous fashion. 

In "Blood Money", we open up with bunch of skateboarding teenagers using Walt's now vacant pool for their own private X-Games.  Once again, we're seeing Walt a year down the road just after his 52nd birthday. Walt's still bearded and toting around a machine gun that looks like something out of Terminator 2. 

As he walks through his now ransacked house while the young Tony Hawk crew perfect their gnarly moves, the viewer is once again left with many unanswered questions. First, who spray-painted "Heisenberg" in yellow? Second, why's Walt getting the ricin and who's it for? As Walt exits his house, he runs into his old neighbor, Carol. She freezes in complete terror and drops her groceries. It's clear now that everyone has learned Walt's secret. Everyone knows of The Heisenberg. 

From here on out all cliff-hangers need to come from the toilet.

What if we had to guess whether or not Leo's totum in Inception were to fall while he was on the crapper? Would he see his family again or would he be stuck in-limbo forever playing "Words With Friends"? What if Empire ended with Luke Skywalker taking a break in Cloud City and receiving a text from Vader that said "Oh, btw...I'm your father. Lolz". Lucas is always down to shoot new scenes and put them in the original movies. After a year of anticpating what Hank was going to do after he finally got off the shitter was finally revealed last night. 

First comes denial...Much like me at the bar or sandwich line, Hank had that same uncomfortable denial. You're positive you're right, but you just can't admit it to yourself...yet. 

Vince Gilligan must be a master of the sexual arts, because after building up the Hank-Walt tension for five years...it finally came. Too gross for Monday? (Apologies) 

But there's still no denying Gilligan's genius. In fact, just about every moving part in the show is genius. Last night Dean Norris busted out his finest acting chops and gave us what was perhaps his best performance as Hank Schrader. As he and Marie leave Walt's house, Hank is both distant and focused. Sort of like a sorority girl who's spent the whole night strung out on adderall only to fail her test. Heisenberg is Hank's failed test. Crashing his car in the process, he goes full Tony Soprano and has a panic attack. 

Luckily Hank is fine. For now. But a startling piece of evidence may indicate that one of the few heroes of the show might not make it out alive. 

Oranges, Marie. In the character rankings, I pointed out how Ted's unfortunate situation was foreshadowed by the oranges on his table. So when I saw oranges in the bowl next to Hank after his realization that Walt was Heisenberg all along, didn't leave me feeling so great. For those who don't know, The Godfather used oranges as a motif for death. Right before he's shot, Vito Correlone is picking out oranges at a market. Since then, oranges in television and film have been used to foreshadow death or something very close to it. 

Hank reopens the case and compares Gale's handwriting in his handbook to the one left in the copy of Leaves of Grass in Walt's bathroom. Perfect match. Also...was Gale perhaps a little too obsessed Walt? Even though it was right under his nose the entire time, Hank shows us what a great DEA agent/detective he really is as he sets up shop in his garage to take Walt down. The dead giveaway for him is the Heisenberg sketch...which I'm surprised few people have compared its similarity to the "amateur sketch" of the Alabama Leprechaun.  

 

Good to see you, Jesse. One of Gilligan's greatest writing strengths has been the psyche and morality of Jesse Pinkman. Feeling guilty about both Mike and the young boy who they killed during the Great Train Robbery Pt. II, Jesse goes to Saul and tells him that he wants to give all his money away to their respective families. 

But don't do anything and expect Walt not to know. We've long seen Walt's terrifying manipulation and Jesse's sad naivety to all of Walt's bullshit, but last night was a defining moment in their dynamic. 

Jesse may still be oblivious to Walt's hand in both letting Jane die and poisoning Brock, but he's starting to not buy Walt's bullshit anymore. Just like any great magician, the illusion has to come to an end and Walt's false regard for his well-being is finally starting to become more apparent to Jesse.

This being said, the weariness of Jesse Pinkman is starting to become a bit tiresome. By no means am I endorsing becoming a drug kingpin and killing dozens in the process. But clearly that life requires a stomach that Jesse clearly doesn't have. Monsters like Tony Montana and Walter White are evil through and through and their sociopathic nature prevents them from having any sort of remorse for their crimes. But even those like Tony Soprano or Breaking Bad's own morally ambiguous character, Mike, can stomach it. Maybe there isn't even any moral ambiguity with Tony or Mike. Maybe they're both good deep down. But they're also great at what they do and like any successful professional...they realize that you save your sanity by separating your personal life and business. Jesse doesn't realize this and as long as Walt's alive, he may never escape with constant hell he's living in. 

It's back. Walt's cancer that is. Many saw this coming, but since it really hasn't been a storyline for quite some time, Walt's cancer returning in the last season has brought the series full circle. 

A garage lowers. 

In what was one of the most intense moments of the series, Hank knocks Walt in the face and says everything you've wanted him to say for quite some time. If it were Jesse writing the dialogue he would've said "I got you, bitch." 

Rightfully so, Hank has no sympathy for Walt. Even when Walt tells him that his cancer is back, Hank is pleased with the news. One of the most brilliant parts of Cranston's portrayal of Walt is that look he gets right as someone is threatening him. The brilliance is all in the eyes eyes as The Heisenberg beast slowly starts to unfold before Hank...cancelling any shred of doubt that he's in the presence of a monster. With his cancer back, Walt tells Hank that he will never see a jail cell and that arresting him is essentially pointless. This hopefully is a set-up to an epic Western-style shootout between these two dynamic forces of good and evil. 

The Eyes of Walt are Upon You. (See Texas fans...I'm balanced) 

Hank then says something that the viewer has also been thinking for six years and may be the most defining thing to ever be spoken in the show. He says something to the extent of "I don't have any idea who you are". Neither do we, Hank. Neither do we. But us and Hank do know one thing, ....Walt's a force that needs to be taken down. 

But that doesn't shake him, if anything... it excites him. Walt, now in full Heisenberg, coldly replies "tread lightly". 

Breaking Bad is a lot of things; drama, black-comedy, thriller...but it's also very much a western. Heisenberg is the great outlaw and Hank is the Sheriff looking to take him out. 

The stage has been beautifully set for an epic finish.