WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Welcome back to another deep dive. Today we are, 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.179 we're not just scratching the surface here. No, 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.500 definitely not. We are grabbing a sledgehammer 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:09.759 and just breaking right through the concrete. 00:00:09.779 --> 00:00:11.539 That's a great way to put it. Yeah, because we're 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:14.460 looking at what is arguably one of the most pivotal, 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:17.239 heart -stopping moments in television history. 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.600 We're talking about Breaking Bad, specifically 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:24.460 the episode titled Blood Money. And honestly, 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.219 if you were to pick a single episode that serves 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.539 as the... the absolute fulcrum for the entire 00:00:31.539 --> 00:00:34.039 series. Right, the turning point. Exactly. The 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:36.600 moment where the door just slams shut on the 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:38.939 fun, caper aspect of the show and opens onto 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:43.140 this chaotic, tragic finale, this is it. It's 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:45.000 the beginning of the end. It really is. So we're 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:46.880 breaking down Blood Money, which is the ninth 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.299 episode of the fifth season. But before we get 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:52.020 into all the heavy stuff, let's set the stage 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:54.500 a little bit. Good idea. Because... For those 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:56.719 of us who were watching this live back in 2013, 00:00:57.340 --> 00:00:59.780 the context was just everything. This wasn't 00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:02.000 just next week's episode. No, not at all. This 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:03.920 was the mid -season premiere. I mean, it aired 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:08.159 on August 11th, 2013. And fans had been waiting. 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.840 Agonizing, really. Agonizing for months. Just 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.840 waiting to see the fallout of that massive cliffhanger 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:16.959 from the previous half season. Hank on the toilet. 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:20.640 Exactly. And we're talking about the 55th episode 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.290 overall here. The anticipation was just... It 00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:27.989 felt less like a TV show returning and more like, 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:30.349 I don't know, a cultural event. Yeah, everybody 00:01:30.349 --> 00:01:33.629 was talking about it. And the creative team clearly 00:01:33.629 --> 00:01:36.090 knew the weight of this hour. They definitely 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:38.590 did. The episode was written by Peter Gold, who's 00:01:38.590 --> 00:01:41.430 obviously a legend in this universe, having created 00:01:41.430 --> 00:01:44.269 Saul Goodman. But what I find most interesting 00:01:44.269 --> 00:01:46.209 is the director. Oh, this is a great detail. 00:01:46.409 --> 00:01:48.430 Right. It was directed by none other than the 00:01:48.430 --> 00:01:51.239 man himself, Bryan Cranston. Which I think adds 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:55.140 a really fascinating layer of meta -textual authority 00:01:55.140 --> 00:01:57.340 to the episode. How do you mean? Well, you have 00:01:57.340 --> 00:01:59.640 the leading man, the person who embodies Walter 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:02.159 White actually stepping behind the camera. He's 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:04.420 framing the shots. He's controlling the pacing. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.379 It creates this sense that Walter White isn't 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:09.439 just controlling the drug trade. He's controlling 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:11.759 the narrative of his own destruction. Precisely. 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:14.840 It feels claustrophobic in the best way possible. 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:17.560 That is such a compelling way to view it. It's 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:20.259 almost like we are trapped in his head space 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:22.659 because he is literally the one calling the shots 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:26.280 behind the scenes. Literally. So our mission 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:29.219 for this deep dive is pretty clear. We want to 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:32.180 unpack how this single hour of television pivots 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:35.099 the entire series from a secret double life drama 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:37.879 into a full blown confrontation thriller. We're 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:40.060 going to analyze the plot mechanics, sure. Right. 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:42.000 But we're also going to look at the heavy symbolism. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.340 I mean, we've got oranges. We've got graffiti. 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:47.159 We've got these distinct color palettes. So much 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:49.539 to dig into. And we need to talk about the acting 00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:52.539 choices that turn small moments into absolute 00:02:52.539 --> 00:02:54.780 monuments. And we really want to make a promise 00:02:54.780 --> 00:02:57.000 to you, the listener. By the time we're done 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:59.560 here, you're going to understand exactly why 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:02.080 the phrase, tread lightly, became one of the 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.560 most iconic lines in the history of the medium. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.479 It's not just a cool line. No, it's a thesis 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.620 statement for the final season. Absolutely. It's 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.319 the moment the mask falls off completely. So 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.439 let's not waste any time. Let's jump right into 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.159 the cold open because Breaking Bad is famous 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:19.919 for its cold opens, right? Oh, yeah. Usually 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:22.680 they're weird or funny or, you know, abstract. 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:24.520 But this one. This one feels like a punch in 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.500 the gut. It really does. It's a flash forward. 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:29.900 It is. It's a glimpse of absolute ruin. We see 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:34.180 this car pull up and out steps a disheveled Walter 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:37.030 White. Looking totally different. Yeah, he's 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:39.770 got a full head of hair a thick beard dirty glasses 00:03:39.770 --> 00:03:42.330 He looks like a drifter. Yeah, and he's arriving 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:46.889 at his own house on Negra Arroyo Lane But it's 00:03:46.889 --> 00:03:49.169 not the house. We know the visual storytelling 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:52.520 here is just stark I mean, the house is abandoned. 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:55.300 It's dilapidated. There's a chain link fence 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:57.780 around it, which is the universal symbol for 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:00.120 a condemned or crime scene. Exactly. It looks 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:01.740 like a place where something terrible happened, 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:03.900 and the world just decided to fence it off and 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:06.099 forget about it. It's a haunted house. That's 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:08.199 essentially what Cranston and the cinematographer 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:11.159 Michael Slovis are showing us. Wow, yeah. The 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:13.139 American dream that Walt was supposedly fighting 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:17.240 for. It's rotting. The landscaping is dead. The 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:20.029 paint is peeling. And the detail that really 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:22.269 sells it for me is the swimming pool. Oh, the 00:04:22.269 --> 00:04:25.250 pool. We've spent so much time in that backyard 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:27.230 throughout the series. So much time. We've seen 00:04:27.230 --> 00:04:30.750 family BBQs. We've seen Walt sitting there contemplating 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:33.209 his life. We've seen matches tossed into the 00:04:33.209 --> 00:04:35.649 water. It was the center of their domestic life. 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:38.350 And now it's empty. It's full of debris and dirt. 00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:41.170 And you have these teenagers skateboarding in 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:43.790 it. The classic symbol of suburban decay. Right. 00:04:43.980 --> 00:04:46.220 It tells you immediately that the white family 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:49.699 is gone. The domestic life is over. The pool, 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.899 which used to be this symbol of status and leisure, 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:55.660 has just been reclaimed by the chaos of the street. 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.259 And that wasn't subtle enough. We walk inside 00:04:58.259 --> 00:05:01.600 with Walt. The house is stripped bare. But then 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:04.519 the camera pans to the living room wall. Massive 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:06.959 yellow spray paint. Heisenberg. It's jarring. 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:09.899 It's like a brand. The secret identity has literally 00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:12.790 been graffiti tagged onto his home. The separation 00:05:12.790 --> 00:05:15.430 between Walter White, the mild -mannered teacher, 00:05:15.889 --> 00:05:18.970 and Heisenberg, the drug lord, has completely 00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:22.189 collapsed. Yeah. The outside world knows. Precisely. 00:05:22.509 --> 00:05:25.850 The house is physically marked by his sins. And 00:05:25.850 --> 00:05:28.509 in the middle of this ruin, Walt is on a mission. 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:31.629 He's not just there to reminisce. No, he's looking 00:05:31.629 --> 00:05:34.089 for something specific. He goes to the bedroom, 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:37.329 finds the outlet plate, unscrews it, and retrieves 00:05:37.329 --> 00:05:40.029 that tiny vial of ricin. The MacGuffin returns. 00:05:40.389 --> 00:05:43.050 Yes. That ricin vial has been a lingering threat 00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:45.490 for seasons. It's been in a cigarette, it's been 00:05:45.490 --> 00:05:48.339 in a frantic search, and now it's back. And let's 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:50.699 define that for a second. A MacGuffin is usually 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:52.779 an object that drives the plot, but doesn't matter 00:05:52.779 --> 00:05:54.980 much itself. Right. But in Breaking Bad, the 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:58.079 ricin is more like Chekhov's gun. If you show 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.639 a vial of poison in season two, someone has to 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:02.339 take it by season five. That's a great point. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:04.720 While retrieving it signals unfinished business. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.879 You don't retrieve a lethal poison unless you 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.379 intend to use it. It sets a tone of calculated 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:11.939 violence right from the start. But before he 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:15.420 leaves this ruin, we get this incredible tense 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:19.389 and slightly darkly comic interaction with a 00:06:19.389 --> 00:06:22.350 neighbor, Carol. Oh, poor Carol. Yeah, she's 00:06:22.350 --> 00:06:24.009 just carrying her groceries, probably thinking 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:26.829 about her day. She sees this drifter, realizes 00:06:26.829 --> 00:06:29.810 it's Walt. Who she clearly thinks shouldn't be 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:32.370 there. Right, and she just freezes. And this 00:06:32.370 --> 00:06:34.350 is where the show loves to play with cinema history. 00:06:34.949 --> 00:06:37.959 Carol drops a bag of oranges in fear. They spill 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:40.660 and roll across the driveway. It's such a specific 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:43.540 visual. It is, and it's almost certainly intentional. 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:46.379 Critics and film buffs immediately jumped on 00:06:46.379 --> 00:06:49.620 this as a nod to The Godfather. Exactly. In The 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:52.279 Godfather trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola used 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:54.779 oranges as a harbinger of death. Remember when 00:06:54.779 --> 00:06:57.519 Vito Corleone gets shot in the street? He's buying 00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:59.959 oranges. Yes, and they roll across the street. 00:07:00.089 --> 00:07:02.329 When he dies later in the garden, he's peeling 00:07:02.329 --> 00:07:04.930 an orange. So by having Carol drop the oranges, 00:07:05.209 --> 00:07:07.769 the show is signaling that death is coming. It's 00:07:07.769 --> 00:07:10.470 not just a grocery accident, it's a visual omen. 00:07:10.730 --> 00:07:13.449 It sets a tone of inevitable doom for the rest 00:07:13.449 --> 00:07:16.790 of the episode. It tells us that despite whatever 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:18.550 happens in the present timeline we're about to 00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:22.449 jump back to, the destination is this. Ruin. 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:25.720 fear, and death. Yeah, it casts a shadow over 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.540 everything that follows. That is so heavy, but 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:31.360 so brilliant. It creates this dramatic irony 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:34.319 where we know the end result, so every move the 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.439 characters make in the present feels futile. 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:38.879 So let's snap back to that present timeline. 00:07:39.339 --> 00:07:42.100 We are picking up exactly, and I mean exactly 00:07:42.100 --> 00:07:44.160 where the previous mid -season finale left off. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:46.680 Right. We are in the bathroom, the most stressful 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.470 bathroom break in TV history. Seriously. Hank 00:07:49.470 --> 00:07:51.430 Schrader is sitting there, and he has just found 00:07:51.430 --> 00:07:53.550 the copy of Leaves of Grass on the back of the 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:55.709 toilet tank. The book that Gale Boyditcher gave 00:07:55.709 --> 00:07:58.730 to Walt. He opens it and sees that handwritten 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:02.629 dedication. To WWU, my star, my perfect silence. 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:04.509 And the handwriting matches the evidence Hank 00:08:04.509 --> 00:08:06.750 has seen in the Gale Boyditcher case file. Talk 00:08:06.750 --> 00:08:09.449 about an oh snap moment. But what I love about 00:08:09.449 --> 00:08:11.550 this episode, and this is where the writing shines, 00:08:12.089 --> 00:08:14.889 is how it handles Hank's reaction. In A Lister 00:08:14.889 --> 00:08:18.560 Show, Hank might storm out, gun -drawn, and arrest 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:22.160 Walt right there at the family BBQ. No, and that's 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.980 the realism of it. He is reeling. This is a physical 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.860 blow. Dean Norris does some of the best acting 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.100 of his career right here without saying a word. 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:34.419 You can see the blood drain from his face. The 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:37.220 realization creates a somatic link between the 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:39.779 knowledge and his physical state. He feels sick. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:41.840 He literally feigns illness to get out of there, 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.269 right? Right. He comes out of the bathroom, clutching 00:08:44.269 --> 00:08:46.429 the book, looking like he's seen a ghost. He 00:08:46.429 --> 00:08:48.870 grabs Marie and says they have to leave. He can't 00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:50.769 look at Walt. He can't be in that house. The 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:53.210 walls are closing in on him. It's visceral. And 00:08:53.210 --> 00:08:55.269 as they are driving home, the weight of it hits 00:08:55.269 --> 00:08:57.649 him. We get this visceral scene where Hank has 00:08:57.649 --> 00:08:59.909 a full -blown panic attack behind the wheel. 00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:02.809 The sound design here is incredible. It's disorienting. 00:09:02.909 --> 00:09:05.070 Everything gets blurry. He's struggling to breathe, 00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:07.409 chest tight. And he actually swerves the car 00:09:07.409 --> 00:09:09.850 off the road into a yard. That scene is terrifying 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:12.570 because Hank is usually the rock. He's the tough 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:14.909 guy. The guy who makes the jokes. Exactly. The 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:17.029 one who makes the jokes, who kicks down the doors. 00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:20.509 Seeing him crumble like that, it shows the magnitude 00:09:20.509 --> 00:09:22.330 of the betrayal. It's not just that he found 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:26.529 a drug lord. No, it's that his entire reality 00:09:26.529 --> 00:09:30.149 has collapsed. His brother -in -law... The man 00:09:30.149 --> 00:09:32.909 he's pitied, the man he's tried to help, the 00:09:32.909 --> 00:09:36.429 man he's had over for Sunday dinner is the monster 00:09:36.429 --> 00:09:38.870 he's been hunting for a year. It's the ultimate 00:09:38.870 --> 00:09:41.950 gaslighting revealed. He realizes every conversation 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:44.590 they've had for the past year was a lie. Exactly. 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:47.950 And once he stabilizes, notice what happens. 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:50.230 The cop brain kicks back in. He goes to work. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:52.179 But he doesn't go to the office. He pretends 00:09:52.179 --> 00:09:54.039 he's still sick so he can work from home. He 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.799 turns his garage into a war room. He brings in 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.000 all the boxes, the DEA case files on Heisenberg, 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.620 on Gus Fring. He's not going on a hunch. He needs 00:10:02.620 --> 00:10:05.399 to be sure. He's connecting the dots. He's reviewing 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.379 everything, the photos, the timelines. But the 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:10.379 smoking gun, the thing that seals it, is the 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:12.500 handwriting. Right, the book. He compares the 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:15.100 dedication in Leaves of Grass directly with a 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:17.679 photocopy of Gale's lab notebook. And the visual 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.129 match is undeniable. The loops of the Y, the 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:22.149 slant of the letters, it's a match. The verdict 00:10:22.149 --> 00:10:25.870 is in. He confirms to his absolute shock and 00:10:25.870 --> 00:10:30.190 dismay that Walt is Heisenberg. There is no ambiguity 00:10:30.190 --> 00:10:33.309 anymore. The blind spot is gone. That is such 00:10:33.309 --> 00:10:36.269 a crucial distinction. Up until now, Hank always 00:10:36.269 --> 00:10:38.750 had a blind spot for Walt because he saw Walt 00:10:38.750 --> 00:10:41.950 as weak. Now he sees the predator. Yeah. But 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:44.990 while Hank is having his world destroyed, what 00:10:44.990 --> 00:10:48.039 is Walt? doing. This is the irony that drives 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.259 the episode. Walt is trying to live in an illusion 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:52.580 of normalcy. He thinks he's out of the game. 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:55.240 He has technically left the meth business. He's 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:59.039 wearing these beige light clothes. Very retired 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.059 suburban dad. He's trying to be the car wash 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:03.659 king of Albuquerque. He really is. Yeah. There's 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:05.440 the scene where he's discussing with Skyler how 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.899 to expand the car wash business. And the goal 00:11:07.899 --> 00:11:10.639 isn't just success. It's logistics. Laundering. 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:12.399 Right. They are talking about getting a second 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.080 location to launder his drug money faster. They 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.299 have There's so much cash, they need a bigger 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:19.840 dryer, metaphorically speaking. It's almost mundane, 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.000 right? They're talking about marketing and location 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:23.700 scouting. It feels like a normal couple talking 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:25.860 about their small business. Until it doesn't. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:28.840 Right, because then the underworld comes knocking. 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:32.220 Literally. Lydia shows up at the car wash. Lydia 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.240 Rodart -Quail. She is the tether to the criminal 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:38.259 world that Walt is trying to cut. She pulls up 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:41.179 in a rental car, looking nervous as always, pleading 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:44.059 for help. Why does she need Walt? I thought the 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:46.340 operation was running smooth with Todd and the 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:49.500 others. Apparently not. She tells him the quality 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:51.899 of the meth has fallen below acceptable standards 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:54.960 since his retirement. It's down to like 68 percent. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.759 Wow. Quite a drop. Yeah. Her buyers, the scary 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.600 guys in the Czech Republic, are unhappy. She 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.019 needs the blue magic bag. She needs the artist. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:06.340 And Walt's reaction here is so arrogant. He's 00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:09.279 scrubbing a car, literally washing a tire, and 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:11.220 he dismisses her without even looking up. He 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:13.559 says, I'm retired. He thinks he can just turn 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:15.679 it off. He thinks he can just be Walter White 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.299 again. But the real power move in this scene 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:20.279 doesn't come from Walt. Oh, it comes from Skylar. 00:12:20.820 --> 00:12:22.580 This is a cheer at the screen moment for me. 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:26.259 Skylar White. She sees Lydia, she realizes who 00:12:26.259 --> 00:12:29.100 she is, this connection to the danger, and she 00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:32.200 stares in. She doesn't hesitate. No. She marches 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:36.200 over and tells Lydia in no uncertain terms to 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:39.320 leave and never come back. It's a chilling moment 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:42.629 because it shows. Skyler isn't just a victim 00:12:42.629 --> 00:12:45.370 anymore. She's not the scared housewife from 00:12:45.370 --> 00:12:48.230 season one. She's an accomplice. Yes. She's protecting 00:12:48.230 --> 00:12:51.049 their clean life with the same ferocity Walt 00:12:51.049 --> 00:12:53.230 used to protect the dirty one. Absolutely. She's 00:12:53.230 --> 00:12:55.669 guarding the perimeter. But just as they fend 00:12:55.669 --> 00:12:58.250 off the external threat of Lydia, the internal 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:00.970 threat re -emerges. And this is where the episode 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:03.730 takes a tragic turn for Walt, the health crisis. 00:13:03.850 --> 00:13:05.470 Yeah, this broke my heart a little, even for 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:07.470 Walt, which says a lot about the writing. The 00:13:07.470 --> 00:13:10.279 cancer is back. It is. We see him in the bathroom 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:13.059 kneeling on a towel vomiting and that visual, 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.179 the towel, is a direct callback to Gus Fring 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:19.269 in the episode Salude. when Gus poisons the cartel 00:13:19.269 --> 00:13:21.830 and then purges the poison. So Walt is mimicking 00:13:21.830 --> 00:13:24.970 Gus again. He's absorbed Gus's traits, the neatness, 00:13:25.070 --> 00:13:28.070 the preparation, but the cancer returning, it 00:13:28.070 --> 00:13:31.129 changes the stakes. True to form, Walt engages 00:13:31.129 --> 00:13:33.210 in deception. Naturally. He keeps this hidden 00:13:33.210 --> 00:13:35.450 from his family. He's undergoing chemotherapy 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.509 again on the sly. Why hide it this time? In the 00:13:38.509 --> 00:13:41.149 beginning, he hid it because he didn't want to 00:13:41.149 --> 00:13:43.610 worry them or cost them money. Why now? Control. 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:45.879 It's always about control. He wants to maintain 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.259 this image that everything is fine, that he won. 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:50.759 Admitting the cancer is back is admitting that 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:52.720 he's running out of time. The clock is ticking. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.759 Exactly. And structurally, for the story, this 00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:59.399 adds a ticking clock element parallel to Hank's 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.340 investigation. Walt is dying, and Hank is hunting 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:05.080 him. It's a race to the finish line. So we have 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:07.840 Walt in denial, living his beige lie. We have 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.620 Hank in shock, building his case. But we have 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:12.580 a third player who is in a completely different 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:16.509 headspace. Jesse Pinkman. Jesse is, well, he's 00:14:16.509 --> 00:14:19.669 in hell. He is distraught and consumed by guilt. 00:14:20.289 --> 00:14:22.809 If Walt is the brain of the operation, Jesse 00:14:22.809 --> 00:14:24.889 has always been the heart. And the heart is broken. 00:14:24.929 --> 00:14:27.289 It's shattered. What specifically is triggering 00:14:27.289 --> 00:14:29.690 this spiral for him right now? It's the accumulation 00:14:29.690 --> 00:14:32.929 of blood. Specifically, the death of Mike Ehrmantraut 00:14:32.929 --> 00:14:35.429 and the tragic death of the young boy Drew Sharp 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:38.070 from the train heist. Jesse cannot reconcile 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:40.990 the money he has, literally bags of millions, 00:14:41.389 --> 00:14:43.409 with the innocent lives that were taken to get 00:14:43.409 --> 00:14:45.730 it. So in the outline, this section is titled 00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:48.470 The Weight of Blood Money. And that feels very 00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:50.690 literal for Jesse. He had these double bags of 00:14:50.690 --> 00:14:53.289 cash, but he can't stand to look at them. He 00:14:53.289 --> 00:14:56.250 views the money as contaminated. It's radioactive 00:14:56.250 --> 00:14:59.529 to his soul. So he attempts a form of penance. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.679 He takes all the money he received from Walt, 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.419 five million dollars, and brings it to Saul Goodman. 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:06.740 And he has a very specific request for Saul, 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:09.559 which leads to this incredible scene in Saul's 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:13.059 waiting room. He's smoking, shaking. He wants 00:15:13.059 --> 00:15:15.559 Saul to deliver half to Mike's granddaughter, 00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:17.940 Kaylee, and the other half to Drew Sharp's parents. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.570 He's trying to pay for his sins. He thinks if 00:15:20.570 --> 00:15:23.029 he gives the money to the victims, it balances 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:26.830 the scales. But Saul, Saul is the pragmatic survivor. 00:15:27.210 --> 00:15:29.809 Saul is the reality check. He refuses. He warns 00:15:29.809 --> 00:15:32.289 Jesse that dropping millions of dollars on random 00:15:32.289 --> 00:15:34.470 families will raise immediate suspicions. The 00:15:34.470 --> 00:15:37.330 IRS, the FBI. Exactly. They don't just ignore 00:15:37.330 --> 00:15:39.850 $5 million appearing in a bank account. It's 00:15:39.850 --> 00:15:43.370 a legal nightmare. And being Saul, he immediately 00:15:43.370 --> 00:15:45.649 reports this erratic behavior to Walt. Which 00:15:45.649 --> 00:15:47.629 leads to another manipulation masterclass from 00:15:47.629 --> 00:15:50.350 Walter White. Walt visits Jesse to return the 00:15:50.350 --> 00:15:53.730 money. And this scene is painful to watch. Walt 00:15:53.730 --> 00:15:56.309 brings the money back to Jesse's house. Jesse 00:15:56.309 --> 00:15:59.350 is practically catatonic. And Walt looks Jesse 00:15:59.350 --> 00:16:02.210 in the eye and lies to him. A bald -faced lie. 00:16:02.330 --> 00:16:04.850 He tells Jesse that Mike is still alive. that 00:16:04.850 --> 00:16:07.029 Mike is fine and doesn't need help taking care 00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:09.690 of his granddaughter. Why does he lie? Why not 00:16:09.690 --> 00:16:11.730 just tell him the truth at this point? Or at 00:16:11.730 --> 00:16:14.789 least not lie about Mike? Because if Jesse knows 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:17.990 Walt killed Mike, Jesse turns on Walt. Walt needs 00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:20.490 to control Jesse's reality to keep him pacified. 00:16:20.730 --> 00:16:23.269 Gaslighting again. Total gaslighting. He uses 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:25.549 that father figure voice, Mike is alive, you 00:16:25.549 --> 00:16:28.389 need to believe me. He's banking on Jesse's trust, 00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:31.049 which is rapidly eroding. But does Jesse believe 00:16:31.049 --> 00:16:33.210 him? I don't think he does. Not entirely. He 00:16:33.210 --> 00:16:35.009 looks defeated, but there's a flicker in his 00:16:35.009 --> 00:16:36.970 eyes that says, I know you're lying, but I'm 00:16:36.970 --> 00:16:39.049 too tired to fight you. But he doesn't keep the 00:16:39.049 --> 00:16:43.330 money. The breakdown continues. We see Jesse's 00:16:43.330 --> 00:16:46.149 final act in the episode, which is just tragic 00:16:46.149 --> 00:16:49.350 and surreal. The paperboy scene. Yes. He's driving 00:16:49.350 --> 00:16:51.590 through a low income neighborhood at night. He's 00:16:51.590 --> 00:16:55.139 crying. and he starts grabbing bundles of cash, 00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:58.000 $10 ,000 a pop, and throwing them out the window. 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:00.080 He gives a bundle to a homeless man first, right? 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.259 He does. But then he goes further. He's throwing 00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:06.539 them onto front lawns, into driveways. He stops 00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:09.160 at a playground, spins on the mirror he go around, 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.940 and just watches the world spin while lying on 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:15.000 a bed of money. It's a manic episode. It's a 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.180 breakdown. But it's also, I don't know, it's 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.039 like he's trying to purge the poison. That is 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.200 the literal interpretation of the episode title. 00:17:21.299 --> 00:17:23.420 Yeah. He is purging himself of the blood money. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:25.579 He thinks if he gets rid of the cash, he gets 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:27.940 rid of the guilt. It raises this massive ethical 00:17:27.940 --> 00:17:30.940 question for us as viewers. Is Jesse the most 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:32.980 moral character because he rejects the money? 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:35.480 Or is he just as bad because the money doesn't 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:37.900 actually fix anything? That's the debate, isn't 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:40.920 it? Jesse feels the blood. Walt just calculates 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:45.140 the ROI. It's a stark contrast. So we've got 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:47.980 these three storylines barreling toward a collision. 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:51.279 And that collision happens in the climax, the 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:53.859 garage showdown. This is one of the best scenes 00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:56.000 in the series. It's the scene the entire show 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.920 has been building toward for five years. It really 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:01.500 is. It starts with a discovery. Walt is in his 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:03.319 bathroom, the scene of the crime, so to speak, 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:06.779 and he notices his copy of Leaves of Grass is 00:18:06.779 --> 00:18:09.000 missing. Now, most people would think maybe Skyler 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:10.660 moved it or maybe it fell behind the toilet. 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:14.180 Walt. Never. Walt is a genius, but he's also 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:17.039 a paranoid narcissist. His survival mechanism 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.599 kicks in instantly. He remembers Hank was in 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:22.210 that bathroom. He remembers Hank left. abruptly. 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:24.349 Putting it all together. He connects the missing 00:18:24.349 --> 00:18:26.769 book to the timing of Hank's sudden illness. 00:18:26.930 --> 00:18:29.089 The gears start turning. So he goes outside to 00:18:29.089 --> 00:18:31.410 check his car. It's nighttime. He crawls into 00:18:31.410 --> 00:18:34.329 the vehicle. And there it is. He finds a GPS 00:18:34.329 --> 00:18:37.089 tracker attached to the wheel well. A nice callback 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:40.069 to when they tracked Gus Fring. Exactly. It's 00:18:40.069 --> 00:18:42.569 the same type of device Hank used to track Gus. 00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:46.410 The symbolism is clear. Walt has become the new 00:18:46.410 --> 00:18:50.799 Gus Fring in Hank's eyes. He is the target. So 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.420 now Walt knows that Hank knows. Now, in a traditional 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:56.720 show, this would be the start of a season -long 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.359 cat and mouse game. Walt would try to act normal, 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.559 Hank would try to get evidence, and they would 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:03.480 dance around each other for 10 episodes. Right, 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:06.500 but Breaking Bad is relentless. Peter Gould and 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:09.019 the writers said, no, we're not waiting. Walt 00:19:09.019 --> 00:19:11.259 drives straight to Hank's house. He pulls up, 00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:14.460 he sees Hank in the open garage, and he gets 00:19:14.460 --> 00:19:16.789 out of the car. He still has the beige clothes 00:19:16.789 --> 00:19:18.609 on. He's still playing Walter White. He walks 00:19:18.609 --> 00:19:20.910 up the driveway. Hank looks up. And the look 00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:24.470 on Hank's face, it's pure hatred mixed with disbelief. 00:19:24.869 --> 00:19:27.230 But they play it cool at first. Walt asks about 00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:29.049 the tracker. He holds it up. He tries to play 00:19:29.049 --> 00:19:30.869 it off like, hey buddy, some kids put this on 00:19:30.869 --> 00:19:33.190 my car. Weird, right? He's testing the waters. 00:19:33.390 --> 00:19:35.609 He gives Hank an out. He's hoping Hank will lie. 00:19:35.750 --> 00:19:38.069 But Hank doesn't lie. Hank closes the garage 00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:41.180 door. And that sound, that mechanical whirring 00:19:41.180 --> 00:19:43.460 in the thud as it hits the concrete, it cuts 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:45.980 off the outside world, it creates a cage match. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:48.660 It's just the two of them. And the lighting changes. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:51.180 It gets darker, more claustrophobic. And Hank 00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:53.480 doesn't hold back. He doesn't read him his rights. 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.200 He punches Walt square in the face. It's a messy 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.579 punch, too. It's not a cool action movie punch. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.960 It's an angry, brotherly, desperate punch. Walt 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.660 falls back and the facade drops completely. Hank 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:09.259 accuses him right there. It was you all along. 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:11.619 It was you. He lists the crimes, the bombing 00:20:11.619 --> 00:20:14.039 of the nursing home, killing 10 witnesses in 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.799 prison. He unloads five seasons of trauma onto 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:19.799 Walt. He's shaking with rage. Dean Norris is 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:22.400 just vibrating with intensity here. And Walt's 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.059 defense here is fascinating. He doesn't deny 00:20:24.059 --> 00:20:26.000 it outright in a panic. He gets very logical. 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:28.589 He sees Hank is emotional, so he goes cold. He 00:20:28.589 --> 00:20:31.089 goes into lawyer mode, stands up, wipes the blood 00:20:31.089 --> 00:20:33.650 from his lip and says, if that's true, if I am 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:35.630 who you say I am, it would be hard to prove. 00:20:35.890 --> 00:20:38.190 He's analyzing the case against himself in real 00:20:38.190 --> 00:20:41.349 time. Cold as ice. But then he plays the ace 00:20:41.349 --> 00:20:43.750 up his sleeve. He tells Hank that his cancer 00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:46.170 has returned. He says, I'll be dead before you 00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:49.089 can ever get me inside a jail cell. It's a chilling 00:20:49.089 --> 00:20:52.039 calculation. He's essentially saying. Is it worth 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:54.440 destroying your family, destroying Marie, destroying 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.539 the agency's reputation for a man who is already 00:20:57.539 --> 00:21:00.799 a ghost? I'm dying anyway. Let it go. And Hank 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:04.319 looks at him. And this line, I think, sums up 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.500 the tragedy of their relationship. Hank says, 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.160 I don't even know who you are anymore. It's the 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.079 death of their friendship. It's the realization 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:13.839 that Walter White is gone. But then comes the 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.900 response. The line that defined the final season. 00:21:17.109 --> 00:21:19.490 The line that was on all the posters. Walt's 00:21:19.490 --> 00:21:22.849 face changes. The bumbling dad posture disappears. 00:21:23.089 --> 00:21:25.769 He leans in, his voice drops an octave and he 00:21:25.769 --> 00:21:28.849 says, if that's true, if you don't know who I 00:21:28.849 --> 00:21:31.390 am, then maybe your best course would be to tread 00:21:31.390 --> 00:21:33.769 lightly. Tread lightly. It is a threat. It is 00:21:33.769 --> 00:21:36.470 a command. It is Heisenberg surfacing completely. 00:21:36.609 --> 00:21:38.930 He's not pleading for mercy. He's telling the 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:41.210 head of the DEA, you are out of your depth. You 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:43.309 are hunting a predator that is bigger than you. 00:21:43.609 --> 00:21:46.849 Seth Ammann of IGN praised this dialogue specifically. 00:21:47.049 --> 00:21:49.390 He called it a satisfying preparation for the 00:21:49.390 --> 00:21:52.109 end game. And I have to agree, it sent shivers 00:21:52.109 --> 00:21:54.690 down my spine. Oh, definitely. It shifts the 00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:57.210 dynamic instantly. Hank thought he had the upper 00:21:57.210 --> 00:21:59.089 hand because he has the badge and the truth. 00:21:59.589 --> 00:22:02.410 But Walt reminds him, I have the ruthlessness. 00:22:02.730 --> 00:22:05.049 It's the perfect ending to the episode. It leaves 00:22:05.049 --> 00:22:07.410 us breathless. It tells us that the secret identity 00:22:07.410 --> 00:22:11.359 game is over. Now it's war. What a way to end 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.619 the episode. So let's zoom out a bit and talk 00:22:13.619 --> 00:22:15.980 about the production and reception because there's 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:18.519 a lot of interesting detail here. The episode 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:22.299 is incredibly dense with callbacks. Oh, it's 00:22:22.299 --> 00:22:24.220 a treasure trove for fans who pay attention. 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.119 We already mentioned the Leaves of Grass book 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:28.400 and the GPS tracker, but there's more. Let's 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:30.599 run through a few. We have the scene with Lydia 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.440 at the car wash. Right. Walt's conversation with 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.579 Lydia mirrors his earlier conversations with 00:22:35.579 --> 00:22:38.420 Gus Fring at Los Palos Hermanos. Remember how 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:40.660 Walt used to go to Palos, sit in the booth, and 00:22:40.660 --> 00:22:42.519 Gus would come over acting like a polite manager? 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:45.079 Is everything to your satisfaction? Exactly. 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:47.440 Now, Walt is the manager. He's the one scrubbing 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:49.819 the tires, acting polite while the criminal comes 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:53.220 to him. The roles are perfectly reversed. Walt 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.960 has become the figure he destroyed. And we mentioned 00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:59.000 the vomiting scene mirroring Gus and Sal, but 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:00.720 there's a smaller one that I missed the first 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.369 time. The remote -controlled car. Yes. Hank's 00:23:04.369 --> 00:23:07.269 neighbor's kid has an RC car. We see it buzzing 00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:10.170 around the cul -de -sac. This is a direct visual 00:23:10.170 --> 00:23:13.369 callback to the episode 737, way back in the 00:23:13.369 --> 00:23:16.250 early seasons, where we see a similar RC car. 00:23:16.329 --> 00:23:19.029 That's brilliant. It creates the sense of circularity. 00:23:19.130 --> 00:23:20.930 We are back where we started, but everything 00:23:20.930 --> 00:23:23.509 is darker. And one that is really subtle, the 00:23:23.509 --> 00:23:25.930 ricin cigarette. This one is for the deep lore 00:23:25.930 --> 00:23:28.970 fans. When Jesse is in Saul's waiting room, he 00:23:28.970 --> 00:23:31.720 pulls out a pack of cigarettes. Huell, Saul's 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.059 large bodyguard, gives him a look. He stares 00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:36.079 at the cigarettes. Because Huell was the one 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:38.000 who lifted the ricin cigarette off Jesse in Season 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.660 4. Exactly. It's a tiny moment, barely two seconds, 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:43.059 but it builds the tension. It reminds us that 00:23:43.059 --> 00:23:45.960 Huell knows, Saul knows, and Walt knows, but 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.559 Jesse still doesn't know how he was manipulated. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.599 It's a landmine waiting to go off. It's incredible 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.259 how dense the writing is. Every frame matters. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:57.140 Now let's talk numbers. Because people tuned 00:23:57.140 --> 00:23:59.960 in for this. They certainly did. According to 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:03.839 Nielsen, Blood Money was watched by 5 .92 million 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.119 viewers in the US. Which was a record, right? 00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:09.079 At the time, yes. It was the most watched episode 00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:11.460 in the series' history. It showed that the word 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:14.660 of mouth had hit critical mass. People were binging 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:16.579 the show on Netflix during the break and catching 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:19.039 up. By the time this aired, Breaking Bad was 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:20.940 a phenomenon. And the critics were on board, 00:24:21.099 --> 00:24:24.170 too. Unanimously. Dean Norris was named Performer 00:24:24.170 --> 00:24:27.130 of the Week by TV Line, and rightfully so. He 00:24:27.130 --> 00:24:29.390 had to carry the emotional weight of five seasons 00:24:29.390 --> 00:24:32.690 of betrayal in one hour. He had to go from constipated 00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:36.269 comedy to existential dread in 10 seconds. Mark 00:24:36.269 --> 00:24:38.069 Berman of the Washington Post had an interesting 00:24:38.069 --> 00:24:40.269 take. He was surprised at how much ground was 00:24:40.269 --> 00:24:42.829 covered in Hank's plot line. That's a key point. 00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:47.160 We are conditioned by TV to expect delays. Usually, 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:49.359 a show would have Hank find the book, then spend 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:51.539 three episodes suspecting, then two episodes 00:24:51.539 --> 00:24:53.539 investigating. Peter Gould and the team just 00:24:53.539 --> 00:24:57.059 said, no. He knows. He investigates. He confronts. 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:00.119 One hour. It accelerated the storytelling velocity 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.819 to max speed. The Ringer also ranked it pretty 00:25:02.819 --> 00:25:04.920 high later on. Yeah. In 2019, they ranked it 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:08.640 the 21st best episode of the series, which, considering 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.559 how many masterpieces are in the show, Ozymandias, 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:14.099 Krull Space, Face Off, being in the top 25 is 00:25:14.099 --> 00:25:16.589 a huge honor. Before we wrap up the production 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:19.750 side, there's one somber note. The dedication. 00:25:20.349 --> 00:25:22.819 Yes. At the end of the episode, before the credits 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:25.579 roll, there is a title card dedicated to Kevin 00:25:25.579 --> 00:25:28.079 Cordasco. Who was Kevin Cordasco? He was a 16 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.940 -year -old super fan of the Snow. He was battling 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:33.880 neuroblastoma, a very aggressive cancer. He actually 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:36.140 got to meet the cast and crew. Bryan Cranston 00:25:36.140 --> 00:25:38.200 and Vince Gilligan visited him in the hospital. 00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:40.880 That's amazing. Did he get to see the episode? 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:44.839 Sadly, no. He passed away earlier in 2013, before 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:47.519 this episode aired. But, and this is a lovely 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.000 detail, Vince Gilligan actually offered to tell 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:52.759 Kevin how the show ends? He offered to spoil 00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:55.359 the ending just for him. He'd Kevin accept. He 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.339 declined. He said he wanted to see it for himself 00:25:57.339 --> 00:25:58.859 or he didn't want to know if he couldn't watch 00:25:58.859 --> 00:26:02.079 it. He stuck to the integrity of the story. It's 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.240 a heartbreaking but touching tribute to leave 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.180 his name attached to such a monumental episode. 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:10.579 It grounds the show in reality. These stories 00:26:10.579 --> 00:26:13.339 affect real people. That is beautiful. So let's 00:26:13.339 --> 00:26:15.500 bring it all together. We've gone from the flash 00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:17.680 forward of a ruined future to the moment the 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.339 two main antagonists, Hank and Walt, finally 00:26:20.339 --> 00:26:23.259 declared war in a garage. This episode does the 00:26:23.259 --> 00:26:25.460 heavy lifting of dismantling the secret identity 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:27.859 trope. It forces the characters to deal with 00:26:27.859 --> 00:26:30.059 reality immediately rather than dragging it out. 00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:31.960 It's the moment the show stops being about will 00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:34.099 he get caught and starts being about how will 00:26:34.099 --> 00:26:36.640 he fall. It sets the stage for the final run, 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:39.299 which is just a breathless sprint to the finish 00:26:39.299 --> 00:26:41.960 line. And it leaves us with that lingering threat. 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:43.799 Tread lightly. It's a warning to Hank, but it's 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:46.180 also a warning to the audience. Brace yourselves. 00:26:46.180 --> 00:26:48.559 It's going to get ugly. Which brings me to our 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.079 final provocative thought for you, the listener. 00:26:51.779 --> 00:26:53.440 We've been talking about blood money. That's 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:56.240 the title. We saw Jesse try to give it away to 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.839 cleanse his soul. We saw Walt trying to launder 00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:01.299 it to build his legacy. Right. Two completely 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:03.619 different reactions to the same object. The money 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:06.000 is the same, but the meaning changes based on 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:09.769 who holds it. So here is the question. Is the 00:27:09.769 --> 00:27:12.710 blood on the money the only thing keeping Jesse 00:27:12.710 --> 00:27:15.650 human? Because he feels it. He feels the weight 00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:18.569 of it. While the business of the money, treating 00:27:18.569 --> 00:27:20.990 it just as a commodity to be washed and stacked, 00:27:21.549 --> 00:27:23.730 is what finally stripped Walt of his humanity 00:27:23.730 --> 00:27:26.210 completely. That is the tragedy of Breaking Bad. 00:27:26.549 --> 00:27:29.269 Guilt is painful. It tears Jesse apart. But guilt 00:27:29.269 --> 00:27:31.450 is proof of a conscience. It's proof of humanity. 00:27:31.930 --> 00:27:34.130 Walt has lost the ability to feel the weight 00:27:34.130 --> 00:27:37.470 of the cash. He only counts the value. he has 00:27:37.470 --> 00:27:40.430 become a machine. And machines don't have happy 00:27:40.430 --> 00:27:42.650 endings. Something to think about as you rewatch 00:27:42.650 --> 00:27:45.089 this classic. Thanks for listening to this deep 00:27:45.089 --> 00:27:47.450 dive into Breaking Bad. Tread lightly, everyone. 00:27:47.589 --> 00:27:48.170 See you next time.