WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.919 You know that specific feeling in your chest 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:04.879 when you're on a really serious roller coaster? 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:07.019 Oh yeah. The anticipation. Right. But I'm not 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:09.259 talking about the drop itself. The drop is just 00:00:09.259 --> 00:00:11.900 pure adrenaline. I mean, that that click click 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:15.119 of the chain lift. You're inching up this impossibly 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:17.739 steep hill. The gears are just grinding underneath 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:20.199 you and you look down and see the entire park 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.539 laid out below. Everyone looks like tiny ants. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.440 Exactly. It's so quiet up there. You feel like 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.379 a god just looking down at the world. You are 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:32.259 for this fleeting, terrifying moment gliding 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:35.770 over all of it. And then, well, gravity remembers 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:38.170 you exist. That is honestly it's the perfect 00:00:38.170 --> 00:00:40.789 metaphor. That is exactly the sensation we are 00:00:40.789 --> 00:00:42.689 dealing with today. We aren't just talking about 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:45.630 a television show here. We are dissecting the 00:00:45.630 --> 00:00:48.750 precise moment of apex in this universe. That 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:51.329 split second of weightlessness right before the 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:53.609 screaming starts. Welcome back to the deep dive. 00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:56.090 Today we are opening the file on gliding overall. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.179 This is the mid -season finale of Season 5, the 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:01.700 eighth episode. It aired back on September 2, 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:04.680 2012. And if you were watching live, you probably 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:06.859 remember the sound of your own jaw hitting the 00:01:06.859 --> 00:01:09.980 floor in those final seconds. It is a massive, 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:13.040 pivotal piece of television history. And honestly, 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:15.140 it's a really difficult thing to watch in some 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:18.049 ways because it's so cold. Our mission today 00:01:18.049 --> 00:01:21.609 is to figure out why this specific 47 minutes 00:01:21.609 --> 00:01:24.250 works the way it does. We're going to look at 00:01:24.250 --> 00:01:26.709 the ruthless consolidation of power. You know, 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:29.569 the transition from a desperate cook to a legitimate 00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:31.420 kingpin. Yeah, and we're going to dig into the 00:01:31.420 --> 00:01:33.980 production notes regarding that famous pile of 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:36.219 money. And I mean, we are going to get into the 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:38.400 actual physics of that money. We have this fascinating 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.079 debate between the creator and the prop master 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.420 about whether that much cash is even physically 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:46.079 possible to accumulate in that time frame. And 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.819 we're going to break down the irony. The central 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:50.140 irony of the entire story really culminates right 00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:52.340 here. You have a criminal mastermind who uses 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:55.680 high tech surveillance, complex chemistry, international 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.299 logistics, and yet He's undone by a bathroom 00:01:58.299 --> 00:02:01.019 book. Exactly. He's ultimately undone by something 00:02:01.019 --> 00:02:03.640 as analog as a book of poetry in a bathroom. 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.079 It's the ultimate pivot point. We've got plot 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:08.159 summaries. We have critical reception data from 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.120 2012 and some very specific production notes 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:12.979 on the callbacks hidden in the background that 00:02:12.979 --> 00:02:15.780 you definitely missed on the first watch. So 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:17.939 let's get into the weeds. Let's do it. We have 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:19.620 to start with the cleanup. It doesn't start with 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:22.379 a bang. It starts with a hum. We're at Vimono's 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:25.409 pest and immediately. The narrative is forcing 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:27.930 you to remember where we started. We see Walter 00:02:27.930 --> 00:02:30.509 White and Todd Awquist disposing of Mike Ermentrott's 00:02:30.509 --> 00:02:32.789 body. They're using the hydrofluoric acid barrel 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:35.710 method. Which is a massive callback to the second 00:02:35.710 --> 00:02:38.289 ever episode, Cats in the Bag. Yeah. But the 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.330 vibe here is completely different. Think back 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:42.870 to that first season. Jesse and Walt were panicking. 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:45.629 They didn't know which plastic to use. The bathtub 00:02:45.629 --> 00:02:48.430 literally fell through the ceiling. It was visceral, 00:02:48.689 --> 00:02:51.349 grotesque, and totally amateur. It was a trauma. 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:53.770 Right. In the beginning, the disposal of a body 00:02:53.770 --> 00:02:56.150 was the moment he realized he was in hell. He 00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:59.449 was retching. He was crying here. It's just a 00:02:59.449 --> 00:03:02.449 chore. It's a Tuesday. The direction here really 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.389 emphasizes the mechanical nature of it all. They 00:03:05.389 --> 00:03:08.430 are breaking down the body of a man who is essentially 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:11.090 the third lead, a character the audience really 00:03:11.090 --> 00:03:13.370 loved, and they are treating him like hazardous 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:15.849 waste. They are checking their watches. They 00:03:15.849 --> 00:03:18.810 are just rolling barrels. It's so sanitized. 00:03:18.849 --> 00:03:21.300 And then Jesse walks in. This interaction really 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:23.819 struck me in the source notes. Jesse's the only 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:26.159 one acting like a human being in this room. He's 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:29.020 rattled. He asks, did you do it? And notice the 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:31.400 language used in response. He doesn't say I killed 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:34.419 him. He doesn't say Mike is dead. He says he's 00:03:34.419 --> 00:03:37.219 gone. Gone. It's such a soft word. It's a very 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:39.460 soft word for a bullet to the stomach. It's a 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:42.159 politician's word. It is entirely passive voice. 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:45.780 It removes the agency. If Muck is gone, it sounds 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:47.840 like he moved to Florida or retired to a golf 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:49.659 course. Doesn't sound like he was murdered by 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:52.360 a river. This is really the first clear indicator 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.400 in this specific deep dive of his psychological 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.039 state. He has completely compartmentalized the 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.379 violence. He has separated the physical act from 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:02.819 the reality of it. And the dynamic between them 00:04:02.819 --> 00:04:06.180 has shifted so much. Jesse isn't just asking 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:08.379 about Mike as a friend. He brings up a legitimate 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:11.629 business problem. Mike had nine guys in prison. 00:04:11.870 --> 00:04:13.889 They were being paid hazard pay to keep their 00:04:13.889 --> 00:04:17.069 mouths shut about the operation. No Mike means 00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:19.889 no payments. No payments means that they talk. 00:04:20.610 --> 00:04:23.170 Jesse is spiraling, asking, how do we handle 00:04:23.170 --> 00:04:26.189 this? And look at the reaction. He doesn't panic. 00:04:26.370 --> 00:04:28.649 In previous seasons, this would have been a sky 00:04:28.649 --> 00:04:30.290 is falling moment. He would be in his underwear 00:04:30.290 --> 00:04:32.490 in the living room, hyperventilating, asking 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:35.310 Jesse what to do. Here, he's just dismissive. 00:04:35.589 --> 00:04:37.980 He tells Jesse, effectively, you're out. I'll 00:04:37.980 --> 00:04:40.079 handle it. It feels exactly like a corporate 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.220 firing. It feels like he's laying off a mid -level 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:45.060 employee. That's because he is. He is the CEO 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:48.420 now. Jesse is the redundancy. He dismisses him 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:50.759 not to protect him, but because Jesse's conscience 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:53.300 is a massive liability. He has a solution in 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:55.639 mind that he knows Jesse absolutely won't stomach. 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:57.360 He doesn't want the argument. He just wants the 00:04:57.360 --> 00:04:59.699 execution. Which brings us to the cafe scene. 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.459 The meeting with Lydia Rodarte Coyle. Now Lydia 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:05.980 is a character who usually vibrates with anxiety. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.399 She's always frantic, but here she's sitting 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.360 across the table and the tension is different. 00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:12.920 It's not just anxiety. It's terror. It's the 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.019 tension of a prey animal sitting right across 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:17.360 from a creditor. She knows what happened to Mike. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:20.459 Yeah. She is not stupid. She knows that house 00:05:20.459 --> 00:05:22.920 is being cleaned. When he asked for the list 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.740 of the nine prisoners, she knows that list is 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:28.319 her death warrant. She understands the transaction. 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:31.310 perfectly. Once she hands over that piece of 00:05:31.310 --> 00:05:34.670 paper, she has absolutely zero value. And in 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:37.170 this new world order, things without value are 00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:39.209 discarded. So she pivots. And this is where the 00:05:39.209 --> 00:05:41.709 empire aspect really kicks in. She appeals to 00:05:41.709 --> 00:05:44.189 the one thing she knows he loves more than power, 00:05:44.350 --> 00:05:46.670 which is expansion. She pitches the Czech Republic, 00:05:46.769 --> 00:05:49.069 which seems so random at first glance. Why the 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:52.029 Czech Republic? Why not Mexico or Canada? It's 00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:53.930 actually a brilliant piece of world building. 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:58.120 based on real drug trade logistics. Lydia explains 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:00.800 that the domestic market is stable, maybe even 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.459 a bit saturated, but the Czech Republic has a 00:06:03.459 --> 00:06:07.060 remarkably high percentage of meth users. Historically, 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:10.139 this is actually true. Pervitin, which was a 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:13.240 methamphetamine brand, was huge in that region 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.610 during the 20th century. It's a massive, untapped 00:06:16.610 --> 00:06:19.370 market for a high -purity product like the Blue 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:21.870 Sky. She's offering him a global franchise. And 00:06:21.870 --> 00:06:23.730 you can see his eyes light up. He's not just 00:06:23.730 --> 00:06:25.949 a local kingpin anymore. He's an international, 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:28.750 distinct brand. He's Coca -Cola. Precisely. And 00:06:28.750 --> 00:06:30.629 that appeals to his ego in a way nothing else 00:06:30.629 --> 00:06:32.889 could. But here is the detail from the production 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:35.110 notes that genuinely gave me chills. The hat. 00:06:35.269 --> 00:06:37.449 The hat on the table? We've seen that pork pie 00:06:37.449 --> 00:06:39.810 hat a million times. It's a symbol. Yeah. But 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:42.129 in this scene, it's a hiding spot. After Lydia 00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:44.509 leaves, having successfully pitched the check 00:06:44.509 --> 00:06:46.569 deal and saved her own life, he picks up the 00:06:46.569 --> 00:06:49.569 hat. And what is underneath it? The vial of ricin. 00:06:49.769 --> 00:06:52.589 The ricin he had already. That is the blink and 00:06:52.589 --> 00:06:55.110 you'll miss it horror of this scene. He didn't 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:57.589 go to that coffee shop to negotiate. He went 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:01.319 there to execute her. public place. If she hadn't 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.680 come up with that check distribution scheme in 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.860 that exact moment, she would have been dead within 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:09.240 24 hours. He would have slipped it right into 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:12.069 her stevia. It really underscores how far he's 00:07:12.069 --> 00:07:14.290 fallen. Murder isn't the last resort anymore. 00:07:14.389 --> 00:07:17.449 It's his opening move. It's just a tool in the 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:20.050 toolbox, as mundane as a wrench. And speaking 00:07:20.050 --> 00:07:22.370 of murder as a business strategy, we have to 00:07:22.370 --> 00:07:25.230 talk about the prison hits. This sequence, this 00:07:25.230 --> 00:07:27.970 is arguably the darkest point of his entire career. 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:30.850 He has the list now. He takes it to Uncle Jack 00:07:30.850 --> 00:07:33.149 and the Aryan Brotherhood. This is a significant 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:35.310 downgrade in the quality of his associates, isn't 00:07:35.310 --> 00:07:38.269 it? He went from Gus Fring, who was this buttoned 00:07:38.269 --> 00:07:41.069 up terrifyingly polite businessman, a real pillar 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:44.430 of the community, to Jack Welker, who is, well, 00:07:44.610 --> 00:07:46.889 he's a Nazi thug. It shows his desperation or 00:07:46.889 --> 00:07:48.970 perhaps just his complete apathy. He doesn't 00:07:48.970 --> 00:07:50.970 care about the ideology or the optics anymore. 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:53.730 He just needs a blunt instrument. He tells Jack 00:07:53.730 --> 00:07:56.370 he wants all 10 men, the nine prisoners plus 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:59.410 their lawyer, Dan Wachsberger, taken out. And 00:07:59.410 --> 00:08:02.709 the logistical demand is insane. He wants them 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:05.790 all killed within a two minute window. across 00:08:05.790 --> 00:08:08.649 three different prisons. Even Uncle Jack, who 00:08:08.649 --> 00:08:11.149 literally kills people for a living, says, that's 00:08:11.149 --> 00:08:14.430 hard. That's really hard. He tries to explain 00:08:14.430 --> 00:08:16.610 the sheer complexity of it. And this is the line 00:08:16.610 --> 00:08:19.189 that defines this era of the character. He looks 00:08:19.189 --> 00:08:22.050 at Jack and says, figure it out. Figure it out. 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:25.410 It's pure arrogance. It's the manager who sets 00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:27.750 an impossible deadline and leaves the engineers 00:08:27.750 --> 00:08:30.689 to suffer. He takes absolutely no responsibility 00:08:30.689 --> 00:08:33.580 for the how, only the result. He's buying a service 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:36.639 and he expects delivery. And the result is brutal. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.960 The montage that follows is set to this upbeat 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.799 music, but the imagery is horrific. Stabbings, 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.159 burnings, beatings. The source notes say this 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:46.500 entire montage takes less than two minutes of 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:48.539 screen time. Which perfectly matches the window 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:50.779 of the murders. It's rhythmic. It's incredibly 00:08:50.779 --> 00:08:52.919 efficient. But the most important shot isn't 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:55.179 the stabbings. It's what he is doing while this 00:08:55.179 --> 00:08:57.240 is happening. He's at home. He's looking at a 00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:59.980 painting. Right. And this is a deep cut for the 00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:03.370 super fans. The painting he's staring at, it 00:09:03.370 --> 00:09:05.590 shows a woman in a rowboat leaving a larger ship, 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:08.269 is the exact same painting from the season two 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:11.049 episode bit by a deadbeat. Oh, wow. I totally 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:14.590 missed that on the rewatch. What is the significance 00:09:14.590 --> 00:09:16.950 of that specific painting? Why bring it back 00:09:16.950 --> 00:09:20.809 now? Context is everything here. In season two, 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:24.450 he was in the hospital. He was faking a fugue 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:26.990 state to explain why he had been missing when 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:30.440 he was actually kidnapped by Tuco. He was staring 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:32.419 at that painting, feeling trapped, powerless 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:35.299 and terrified. He was lying to his family just 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:37.720 to survive another day. And now? Now he's standing 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:39.639 in his own living room, holding a glass of something 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.120 nice, staring at the exact same painting while 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:44.259 he orchestrates the simultaneous murder of ten 00:09:44.259 --> 00:09:46.529 people. He's looking at the same image, but the 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:48.370 man looking at it has completely transformed. 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:50.389 He's no longer the victim in the boat. He's the 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:52.929 storm. Really measures the distance he has traveled. 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.710 From a desperate man in a hospital gown to a 00:09:55.710 --> 00:09:57.769 kingpin ordering a massacre from the comfort 00:09:57.769 --> 00:10:00.509 of his home. Exactly. And the massacre is completely 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:03.590 successful. The lawyers killed. The nine henchmen 00:10:03.590 --> 00:10:06.389 are killed. The threat of exposure from Mike's 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:08.970 crew is neutralized. And with the threat gone. 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:11.840 The business just explodes. This is where we 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.019 enter the empire business phase of our outline. 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.639 We get another montage, this time set to Crystal 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.399 Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondels, 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:23.000 which can I just say is a perfect music choice. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:26.879 It is iconic, but it's also deceptive. The song 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:29.820 is dreamy, almost psychedelic. It's about peace 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:32.460 and love and higher consciousness. Look over 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:35.330 yonder. What do you see? The sun is rising. Most 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:37.990 definitely. But on screen, we are seeing the 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:40.889 industrial scale manufacturing of a deadly narcotic. 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:43.769 We see the vats, the blue crystals, the shipping 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:47.190 crates. It suggests a smooth, easy ride. And 00:10:47.190 --> 00:10:48.850 the source notes highlight the passage of time 00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:51.370 here. This is crucial. The script indicates the 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:53.789 next few months past during this song. That time 00:10:53.789 --> 00:10:56.250 jump is huge. We often think of this story as 00:10:56.250 --> 00:10:58.370 happening over a very compressed timeline. The 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:00.389 whole narrative is only about two years of his 00:11:00.389 --> 00:11:21.980 life. But here, months pass in a blink. boring, 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:24.620 highly profitable success. And the money, oh 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:26.860 my god, the money is just rolling in. Billions 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:29.100 of dollars. Which leads to the scene that I think 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:31.259 absolutely everyone remembers from this deep 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.139 dive, the storage unit. Skyler brings him to 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:36.100 the storage unit to show him the reality of his 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:38.159 success. She pulls back that tarp and there it 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.460 is, a pile of money. The source notes estimate 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:42.960 it to be roughly six feet long, three feet wide, 00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:45.519 and two feet deep. It is a physical manifestation 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:49.179 of too much. It looks like a solid block of masonry, 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:52.100 but made entirely of cash. Skyler admits she 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:53.860 can't launder it anymore. It's too much for the 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:55.440 car wash. She can't weigh it. She can't count 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.659 it. She says, I stopped counting. I just waited. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:00.620 It's fascinating. Skyler reaches a breaking point, 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:04.159 not because of immediate physical danger, but 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.100 because of logistics. The sheer volume of cash 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.600 has become a burden she simply cannot manage. 00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:12.700 It's no longer an asset. It's a storage problem. 00:12:12.809 --> 00:12:14.730 Now, here is where it gets really interesting, 00:12:14.830 --> 00:12:16.509 and this is why I love digging into these sources. 00:12:17.110 --> 00:12:19.250 There is a production fact in the notes about 00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:21.750 a debate regarding exactly how much money was 00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:24.690 actually in that pile. Yes. This is fantastic 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:27.909 detail. In the later episode, Ozymandias, it's 00:12:27.909 --> 00:12:31.509 claimed the pile was $80 million. $80 million. 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:33.750 That is a staggering amount of cash. However, 00:12:34.169 --> 00:12:36.250 Vince Gilligan actually expressed doubts about 00:12:36.250 --> 00:12:38.809 this figure in a podcast later on. Really? So 00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:40.389 the creator himself didn't think it was that 00:12:40.389 --> 00:12:42.789 much. Well, he asked the prop master, Mark Hanson, 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:45.789 he said, is this realistic? Does that physical 00:12:45.789 --> 00:12:48.289 pile look like 80 million? Hanson and his team 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:50.389 actually did the math. They calculated the volume 00:12:50.389 --> 00:12:52.850 of the bills. They figured if it was a mix of 00:12:52.850 --> 00:12:55.909 20s, 50s, and hundreds, the volume shown on screen 00:12:55.909 --> 00:12:58.309 would indeed be somewhere in the vicinity of 00:12:58.309 --> 00:13:00.830 80 to 90 million dollars. OK, so the math works 00:13:00.830 --> 00:13:02.980 out for the volume. The math of the physical 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:06.059 pile works perfectly, but Gilgen admitted they 00:13:06.059 --> 00:13:08.179 might have, and I quote from the source here, 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.460 erred on the side of showmanship regarding whether 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:12.559 he could actually earn that much that quickly. 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:16.370 Even with the check deal. Netting $80 million 00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:19.529 in three months is incredibly optimistic. Ah, 00:13:19.549 --> 00:13:21.889 I see. So the pile accurately represents $80 00:13:21.889 --> 00:13:23.730 million, but the timeline might be a bit of a 00:13:23.730 --> 00:13:26.450 stretch, even for a high -tech operation. Exactly. 00:13:26.870 --> 00:13:29.450 But visually, it serves its absolute purpose. 00:13:29.830 --> 00:13:32.090 It answers the question he has been asking himself 00:13:32.090 --> 00:13:35.110 since day one. How do I provide for my family? 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:38.730 The answer is lying there under a tarp, and it 00:13:38.730 --> 00:13:40.950 is more than they could spend in 10 lifetimes. 00:13:41.309 --> 00:13:44.090 It's monstrous. And that leads to Skyler's question, 00:13:44.230 --> 00:13:46.230 the question that finally breaks the spell. She 00:13:46.230 --> 00:13:48.870 asks him, how much is enough? She wants her life 00:13:48.870 --> 00:13:51.350 back. She wants her children back. And she presents 00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:54.289 the pile not as a trophy, but as a dead end. 00:13:54.649 --> 00:13:57.309 She's asking for a metric. How big does the pile 00:13:57.309 --> 00:13:59.330 have to be before we can go back to being human 00:13:59.330 --> 00:14:02.190 beings? And surprisingly, he listens. He eventually 00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:04.649 tells Skyler he is out. If you compare this to 00:14:04.649 --> 00:14:06.909 the earlier situations, where he was struggling 00:14:06.909 --> 00:14:09.490 for pennies, negotiating with Tuco for a few 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:11.850 thousand dollars, frantically digging under the 00:14:11.850 --> 00:14:15.690 floorboards, the contrast is stark. He has climbed 00:14:15.690 --> 00:14:19.470 the mountain, he has the view, and now he decides 00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:21.950 to walk back down. But you don't just walk away 00:14:21.950 --> 00:14:24.250 from this life, do you? You have to make amends. 00:14:24.570 --> 00:14:27.129 Or at least, he thinks he does. Section 3 of 00:14:27.129 --> 00:14:29.129 our outline covers these reconciliations and 00:14:29.129 --> 00:14:32.309 callbacks, and the first stop is Jesse. He visits 00:14:32.309 --> 00:14:35.809 Jesse. And the vibe is, well, it's strange. Imagine 00:14:35.809 --> 00:14:38.090 being Jesse right now. Your former partner knocks 00:14:38.090 --> 00:14:40.509 on your door. The last time you saw him, he was 00:14:40.509 --> 00:14:43.370 talking about handling Mike's guys. You're terrified. 00:14:43.450 --> 00:14:45.990 It's a very tense scene. Jesse has a gun concealed. 00:14:46.450 --> 00:14:48.870 We have to remember, Jesse is genuinely terrified 00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:51.070 of him at this point. He thinks he is there to 00:14:51.070 --> 00:14:53.570 tie up another loose end, just like Mike's guys. 00:14:53.929 --> 00:14:56.210 He thinks he is about to be handled. But he isn't 00:14:56.210 --> 00:14:59.090 there to kill him. He's there to pay him. He 00:14:59.090 --> 00:15:02.059 leaves two bags on the porch. When Jesse unzips 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:04.740 them, he finds cash. It's the money Jesse was 00:15:04.740 --> 00:15:07.179 owed. Plus, maybe more. It's the five million 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:09.919 he was owed. It's a peace offering. Or perhaps 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.740 a severance package. He's closing the book. He's 00:15:12.740 --> 00:15:15.620 paying his debts. But look at Jesse's reaction. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.740 He doesn't count it. He doesn't cheer. He slumps 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:23.080 against the wall. His relief is palpable. Not 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.159 because he's rich, but because he realizes he 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:27.220 isn't going to die today. He throws the gun away. 00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:29.840 That's the real tragedy of Jesse's character 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.559 here. His greatest victory is simply surviving 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.559 his mentor. And then the family reunites, the 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:38.019 kids move back in, the sources, the family seems 00:15:38.019 --> 00:15:41.460 to be in repair. It does. On the surface, everything 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:44.340 is returning to normal. But the production is 00:15:44.340 --> 00:15:47.360 very clever about reminding us of the past. The 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.419 notes list several specific callbacks in this 00:15:49.419 --> 00:15:51.580 section that are designed to trigger our memory. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.000 to remind us that the rot is still very much 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.159 there. Oh, I love catching these. Let's run through 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.360 them. First, the fly. Right at the beginning 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:01.139 of the runtime, we see a fly buzzing in the Vamanos 00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:04.059 pest office. This is a direct reference to the 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:06.840 highly polarizing episode, Fly, from season three. 00:16:06.940 --> 00:16:09.340 Which was all about contamination and the obsession 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:12.519 with control. Exactly. Seeing it here suggests 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:14.940 that the contamination is still present. Even 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:17.120 if he thinks he's cleaning it all up, you can't 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:19.379 just swat it away. Then there's the paper towel 00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:21.799 dispenser. in the restroom of the cancer clinic. 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:25.159 He goes for a scan and he sees the metal dispenser 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:27.519 is damaged. It's dented. This is a reference 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:31.019 to the episode four days out in season two. He 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:33.200 punched it back then. Why did he punch it again? 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:35.399 Remind me. Because he found out his cancer was 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:38.019 in remission. Back then that was actually bad 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:41.120 news because he fully expected to die and leave 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.620 the money, not live and had to deal with the 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:46.559 terrifying consequences of his crimes. Now he 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:48.860 sees the dent and it's a reminder of his own 00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:51.879 survival. A reminder that he is still here, for 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:54.799 better or worse. That is such a deep cut. I love 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.059 that detail. And then the dialogue callbacks. 00:16:57.460 --> 00:16:59.100 Lydia says, we're going to make a lot of money 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:02.240 together. Which directly echoes Tuco Salamanca 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.200 from the season one finale. It links the corporate, 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:08.920 nervous Lydia to the erratic, violent Tuco. It's 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:10.940 the exact same business, just a different dress 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:13.440 code. And he tells Lydia, learn to take yes for 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:15.819 an answer. Which is exactly what Mike told him 00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:19.279 in the bar in 38 Snub. He is now adopting the 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:22.079 wisdom of the men he has killed. That is fascinating. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.579 He's absorbing them. He wears the traits of his 00:17:24.579 --> 00:17:27.539 defeated enemies almost like trophies. Precisely. 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.380 Now, there's one more detail in this section 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.200 from the notes that I find very interesting. 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:36.759 A cut scene. Oh, right. Peter Gould, one of the 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.680 writers and producers, revealed this. Apparently, 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.440 there was a scene written where the doctor explicitly 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:45.660 tells him his cancer is still in remission. But... 00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:47.640 They cut it out completely. They cut it. They 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:50.500 wanted to keep his health status entirely ambiguous 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:52.740 for the audience. Why do you think that is? What 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:55.460 does that ambiguity add? Well, think about it. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:57.900 If we know for sure he's healthy, his retirement 00:17:57.900 --> 00:18:01.059 feels safe. It feels calculated. By leaving it 00:18:01.059 --> 00:18:03.640 ambiguous, there's a lingering question. Is he 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.299 quitting because he finally won? Or is he quitting 00:18:06.299 --> 00:18:08.960 because he feels the cancer coming back? Did 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:12.140 he get bad news off screen? It adds a complex 00:18:12.140 --> 00:18:14.480 layer of uncertainty to his sudden contentment. 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.140 It makes us wonder if he knows the clock is ticking 00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:20.440 again. That makes total sense. So he is retired, 00:18:20.779 --> 00:18:24.559 the kids are home, money is hidden. We get to 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:28.519 section four of our deep dive, the fall. And 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.039 it happens in the most mundane setting imaginable. 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:33.960 Lunch by the pool. The Schraders, Hank and Marie 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.180 are over. Everyone is eating, laughing. The sun 00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:39.220 is shining. It feels safe. It feels like the 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:41.720 whole story could just end right here. It is 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:44.160 the domestic bliss he claimed he was fighting 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:45.880 for from the very beginning. It's the ultimate 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:48.599 American dream tableau. And then nature calls. 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:51.319 Hank has to use the bathroom. And he needs reading 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:54.259 material. This is the moment, the absolute pivot 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:57.359 point of the entire saga. He rummages around 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.420 and finds a book hidden under some magazines. 00:18:59.539 --> 00:19:02.059 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Now, you and 00:19:02.059 --> 00:19:03.779 I know this book. We've seen it before. Yale 00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:06.440 Boetticher gave it to him. Gale, the brilliant 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.079 chemist he replaced, and ultimately ordered Jesse 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.759 to kill. Gale, who practically worshipped him. 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.440 Hank opens the book. He's literally just killing 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.559 time on the toilet. And he sees the inscription. 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:20.460 To my other favorite, WW. Sand Q the flashback. 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:23.460 Hank immediately remembers the case file. The 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:26.440 Gale Boetticher investigation. He remembers the 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:28.740 notebook with the exact same handwriting. He 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:31.140 remembers joking around about who WW could be. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.980 Woodrow Wilson. Willy Wonka. Walter White. And 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:38.099 in that moment, in the bathroom, staring at the 00:19:38.099 --> 00:19:40.859 handwriting, the realization just hits him. The 00:19:40.859 --> 00:19:43.000 source notes point out that he matches the handwriting 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000 in the initials. Perfectly. It's undeniable. 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:48.400 The monster he's been chasing for a year is his 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:50.960 own brother -in -law. Vince Gilligan called this 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.700 poetic justice from beyond the grave for Gale. 00:19:54.019 --> 00:19:57.259 It really is. Gale, the gentle vegan chemist, 00:19:57.380 --> 00:20:00.019 brings down the massive drug lord from the afterlife. 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:02.559 And there's a profound tragic irony here for 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:05.299 Hank, too. Earlier in the day, Hank was reminiscing 00:20:05.299 --> 00:20:07.980 about a summer job he had tagging trees. He said 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:09.519 he wished he had a job where he didn't have to 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:11.680 chase monsters anymore. He was so tired of the 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:13.480 chase. And then he goes to the bathroom and finds 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:15.799 the monster. Right, in his own family. Sitting 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:18.119 at his patio table, under his nose the entire 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.039 time. The betrayal is total. The title of this 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.920 section, Gliding Overall, is actually from that 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:26.640 book, right? It is. It's poem 271 in Leaves of 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.140 Grass. The poem speaks of death and the soul 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:32.059 gliding over all things, over life, over death, 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:35.359 over the entire universe. It reads, gliding o 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:37.680 'er all, through all, through nature, time, and 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.380 space, as a ship on the waters advancing, the 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:43.240 voyage of the soul, not life alone. Death, many 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:45.559 deaths I'll sing. Death, many deaths I'll sing. 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:48.200 That is incredibly ominous. It suggests a sense 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.799 of finality. of seeing the whole picture. Just 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:52.420 like the rollercoaster view we talked about at 00:20:52.420 --> 00:20:54.460 the start, he thought he was gliding over everything. 00:20:55.019 --> 00:20:58.019 Untouchable, above the law, above basic morality. 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:01.140 But the poem reminds us that gliding inherently 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:04.880 includes death. You can't glide forever. Eventually 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:08.720 you land. And usually you land hard. Wow. Just 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.579 wow. It's such a powerful ending. Let's talk 00:21:10.579 --> 00:21:12.259 about how the world reacted to this. Section 00:21:12.259 --> 00:21:14.980 five. Reception and legacy. The reviews were 00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:17.579 understandably glowing. This was a massive culture 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:19.920 -stopping cliffhanger. Matt Richenthal from TV 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.759 Fanatic gave it 4 .8 out of 5 stars. He specifically 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:25.960 noted the shock of seeing him find contentment. 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:29.259 That was the real twist. We all expected a shootout 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:31.740 or a fiery disaster. We didn't expect him to 00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:34.660 just be happy. Richenthal wrote about the satisfaction 00:21:34.660 --> 00:21:38.119 over a job well done, an emperor who no longer 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.920 needed an empire. We were lulled into a false 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.019 sense of security, just like the characters. 00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:45.900 And Alan Sepinwall from HitFix called it an absolutely 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:48.740 gorgeous piece of work. He praised it visually 00:21:48.740 --> 00:21:51.960 and narratively. It really set the stage for 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:54.700 the final run of episodes. And remember, the 00:21:54.700 --> 00:21:56.799 audience had to wait a year or nearly a full 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:58.839 year to see what happened next. The ratings were 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:02.500 solid too. 2 .78 million viewers. Which, for 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:05.420 cable television in 2012, was a very strong number. 00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:08.400 And crucially, the word of mouth from this specific 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:11.140 cliffhanger is what caused the ratings to practically 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:13.759 double when the show finally came back. Everyone 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:15.480 spent that entire year telling their friends, 00:22:15.740 --> 00:22:17.740 you have to watch this. You won't believe how 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:19.799 it ends. And we absolutely have to mention the 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:22.160 awards. Kelly Dixon won the Emmy for single camera 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.960 picture editing. Well deserved. That prison montage 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.299 alone is a masterclass. And the crystal blue 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.890 persuasion montage. The editing was truly the 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:33.309 heartbeat of this entire narrative. Michelle 00:22:33.309 --> 00:22:35.650 McLaren was also nominated for directing and 00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:38.390 Michael Slovis for cinematography. It's a visual 00:22:38.390 --> 00:22:41.049 stunning piece of work. The shadows, the framing 00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:43.589 of the money pile, the painting. The Ringer ranked 00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:47.450 it the 13th best out of all 62, which places 00:22:47.450 --> 00:22:50.950 it firmly in the absolute top tier. So what does 00:22:50.950 --> 00:22:53.640 this all mean for us? We've gone from the sheer 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.180 brutality of prison murders to the height of 00:22:56.180 --> 00:22:59.359 financial success, only to be completely undone 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.019 by a book of poetry left in a bathroom. It brings 00:23:02.019 --> 00:23:04.460 up that central question of enough. Schuyler 00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:07.500 asked it directly. How much is enough? He thought 00:23:07.500 --> 00:23:09.339 he had found the answer. He thought he could 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:12.039 just stop. But the universe has a way of balancing 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:15.019 the scales, doesn't it? It really does. The final 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:16.799 thought I want the listener to consider is this. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.039 Would he actually have stayed retired if Hank 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.609 hadn't found that book? That is the ultimate 00:23:21.609 --> 00:23:24.410 what -if. Was the contentment real? Or was it 00:23:24.410 --> 00:23:26.329 just another passing phase? Was he getting bored 00:23:26.329 --> 00:23:28.990 yet? We'll never know for sure. I strongly suspect 00:23:28.990 --> 00:23:31.170 the boredom would have crept back in. He loved 00:23:31.170 --> 00:23:33.630 the game too much. But because the book was found, 00:23:34.049 --> 00:23:36.789 we get the collapse instead of the drift. The 00:23:36.789 --> 00:23:40.150 past is never truly gone. It's always there, 00:23:40.450 --> 00:23:43.289 gliding over all. I want you, the listener, to 00:23:43.289 --> 00:23:46.440 go back and watch that final scene. Look at Hank's 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:48.940 face. Look at the mixture of confusion, betrayal, 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.880 and absolute horror. That is the exact moment 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:54.019 the world changed. It's the moment the gliding 00:23:54.019 --> 00:23:56.319 stopped and the fall began. Thanks for listening 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.319 to this deep dive. We'll see you next time.