WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are picking 00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:04.639 up right where the tension broke. Right where 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.099 it shattered, really? Yeah, exactly. If you were 00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:09.099 with us for the last session, you know the garage 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:12.519 door went down. That sound, that literal metallic 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.140 slam, was effectively the starting gun for the 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.420 end of the series. Today, we are dissecting Season 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:23.820 5, Episode 10, titled Buried. Buried. It's such 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:26.800 a heavy word. It is. And if the previous Deep 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.300 Dive covered the explosion, You know, the moment 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:31.620 Hank confronts Walt. The fallout is what we get 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:33.619 today. Right, this is the fallout. It's the absolute 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:36.679 scramble for survival. And buried is just a perfect 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:39.679 title for this hour of television. It's literal, 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:41.820 obviously. Right, there's a lot of actual digging 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:44.060 in this one. A ton of digging. But it's also 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:46.719 deeply psychological. Everyone is burying something 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.460 here. You have Walt burying the money, Skyler 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:51.939 burying the truth. I'm Hank. Yeah, Hank tries 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:54.439 to bury his own conflict of interest. Which we 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:58.070 will definitely get into. Because usually, In 00:00:58.070 --> 00:01:00.570 a crime drama, when the detective finally catches 00:01:00.570 --> 00:01:03.070 the criminal... The aha moment. Right, when the 00:01:03.070 --> 00:01:05.689 aha moment happens, that's the climax. That is 00:01:05.689 --> 00:01:08.329 the end of the movie. But here... Here, it's 00:01:08.329 --> 00:01:10.909 just the beginning of the end. Exactly. Hank, 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:13.810 knowing the truth, is just the inciting incident 00:01:13.810 --> 00:01:15.849 for a completely different kind of show. We aren't 00:01:15.849 --> 00:01:18.409 watching a cat and mouse game about meth cooking 00:01:18.409 --> 00:01:21.109 anymore. No. We are watching a domestic war. 00:01:21.629 --> 00:01:24.549 A family tearing itself apart. And the game has 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:26.650 fundamentally changed from, you know, how do 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:28.709 we cook to how do we survive each other? Which 00:01:28.709 --> 00:01:31.290 brings us to our mission for today. What we have 00:01:31.290 --> 00:01:34.290 in front of us is a stack of sources. We've got 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:37.069 the detailed plot breakdown from Wikipedia, some 00:01:37.069 --> 00:01:39.430 great production notes about locations and music, 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:42.530 and the critical reception from back when it 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:46.299 aired in 2013. So our goal is to unpack how this 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:49.180 specific hour of television shifts that dynamic. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.540 Yeah. We're going to look at the strategic errors. 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.760 And there's so many of them. So many. Errors 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:57.359 made by literally every major player on the board. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:59.920 It's basically a comedy of errors, but with life 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.760 in prison consequences. Let's jump right into 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:05.939 that cold open, or rather the immediate aftermath 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.460 of that garage confrontation. Yeah. Because the 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:10.800 core conflict is set. The secret is out. The 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.740 secret is out. At least to Hank. And Walt is 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:17.039 in his car and he is frantic. Which is so rare 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.039 to see. He's trying to call Skyler dialing and 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:22.259 dialing. This is one of those rare moments where 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:24.960 we see Heisenberg completely on the back foot. 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:27.919 Right. Usually Walt controls the flow of information. 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.020 Always. He manipulates the narrative. He's the 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:33.759 one knocking, right? But here, he's dialing and 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.060 he can't get through. He has totally lost the 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:37.740 initiative. And the reason he can't get through 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:41.180 is because Hank beat him to it. Yes. Hank is 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:43.439 already on the phone with Skyler. Which is a 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.439 crucial detail for you to keep in mind. Hank... 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.039 did not hesitate. Not for a second. He left that 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:51.780 garage probably still reeling from the shock 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:54.680 and immediately made the move to secure the witness. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.340 He's moving with intense speed. But not necessarily 00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:00.199 with precision as we are going to see very shortly. 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:03.699 So they agree to meet and the location they choose 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:06.379 is fascinating to me. They don't meet at the 00:03:06.379 --> 00:03:08.259 police station. No. They don't meet at a safe 00:03:08.259 --> 00:03:11.189 house. They meet at a diner. A public diner. 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:15.250 Bright lights, laminated menus, waitresses pouring 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:17.689 coffee in the background. It's such a distinct 00:03:17.689 --> 00:03:21.270 setting for this show. Why do you think the writers 00:03:21.270 --> 00:03:23.830 chose a public diner for this specific conversation? 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.099 I think it creates a pressure cooker environment. 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:31.039 You have the most volatile, private, life -destroying 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:34.039 conversation imaginable. Literally, my husband 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:36.180 is a drug lord. Exactly. And you have to have 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:38.460 it in whispers. You can't scream. You can't make 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:41.000 a scene. It forces both of them to suppress their 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.639 emotions, which just cranks the tension so much 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:45.759 higher for the viewer. So Hank is sitting there 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.340 in a booth. Let's analyze his approach here, 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:50.520 because this is the first time he is seeing Schuyler 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.419 since he found the poetry book in the bathroom. 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:55.400 How does he treat her? This is where Hank makes 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:59.219 his very first major strategic error. Okay, break 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:01.400 that down. He looks at Skyler across that table 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.900 and he doesn't see an accomplice. He sees a victim. 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:07.360 He sees a victim. He assumes, based entirely 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.159 on his profile of Walt as this absolute monster, 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:13.520 that Skyler has been trapped in a hostage situation 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.319 for the last year. He literally reaches across 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.689 the table and grabs her hand. He's gentle. He's 00:04:19.689 --> 00:04:21.670 trying to be the comforting, protective brother 00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:23.649 -in -law. He's playing the white knight. He really 00:04:23.649 --> 00:04:26.370 thinks he's there to rescue her. He says, I know, 00:04:26.629 --> 00:04:29.629 it's over. You're safe now. But then? But then 00:04:29.629 --> 00:04:32.370 he drops a piece of information that completely 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:35.370 destabilizes the entire situation. Oh man, this 00:04:35.370 --> 00:04:37.470 part is so hard to watch. He tells her, I know 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:39.629 the cancer is back. He assumes she already knows. 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:42.949 Right. He thinks he's giving her, in a twisted 00:04:42.949 --> 00:04:45.730 way, good news. Like, don't worry, the bad man 00:04:45.730 --> 00:04:48.180 is dying anyway. But Skyler didn't know. She 00:04:48.180 --> 00:04:50.740 had no idea. So in the span of maybe 30 seconds, 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:53.899 she finds out that her DEA brother -in -law knows 00:04:53.899 --> 00:04:56.620 their massive meth secret and that her husband 00:04:56.620 --> 00:04:59.019 is likely dying again. Her world just collapses 00:04:59.019 --> 00:05:01.120 from two totally different directions at once. 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:03.500 And you can see it on her face. Anna Gunn's acting 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:06.160 in this scene is just incredible. She physically 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.279 crumbles in the booth. But Hank doesn't give 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.879 her any time to process it. Not at all. This 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.480 is where he pivots hard from concerned brother 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.259 to beat cop. He pulls out the tape recorder. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:19.439 And that right there is the exact moment he loses 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.839 her. It happens so fast. He just plunks the recorder 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:24.800 on the diner table and says, we need to get this 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.560 on the record before he lawyers up. It's a massive 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.339 tactical failure. Huge. He treats her like a 00:05:30.339 --> 00:05:32.459 witness he needs to lock down right this second. 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.269 Not a family member he needs to comfort. He's 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:37.509 thinking about the case. He's thinking about 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.410 admissible evidence. Exactly. He's rushing her 00:05:40.410 --> 00:05:43.529 because he is terrified. Walt is going to outmaneuver 00:05:43.529 --> 00:05:46.449 him again. But by rushing, he scares her off. 00:05:46.649 --> 00:05:49.370 Because Skyler is incredibly smart. She picks 00:05:49.370 --> 00:05:51.750 up on something in his tone red -higher. She 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:54.610 realizes this isn't just about justice. No, it's 00:05:54.610 --> 00:05:56.870 deeply personal. She looks at him and sees that 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:59.439 he is on a crusade. He doesn't just want to arrest 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.399 Walt, he wants to destroy him. And Skylar realizes 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:04.819 that Hank's protection is entirely conditional. 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:07.939 Right, he's not offering her immunity. No, he's 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.860 offering her a confession booth. If she talks 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:13.279 into that little black box, she is admitting 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:17.000 to money laundering, conspiracy, racketeering, 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:20.360 everything. She goes to prison and she loses 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:23.040 the kids. She realizes she's not a victim in 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.579 his eyes? Not really. She's a tool to get Walt. 00:06:26.750 --> 00:06:29.509 So she panics. But it's a very specific, weird 00:06:29.509 --> 00:06:32.430 panic. She doesn't just say no. She starts chanting. 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:35.470 Am I under arrest? Well, before that, she starts 00:06:35.470 --> 00:06:37.670 saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Right, 00:06:37.810 --> 00:06:40.129 the chanting. Over and over again. What is she 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:42.759 doing there? Is she confessing? It's brilliant 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.379 writing. It's an admission of guilt without actually 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:47.860 admitting to a specific crime. Oh, that's interesting. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.019 Is she sorry for leaving the diner? Is she sorry 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:51.879 she didn't tell him sooner? Is she sorry for 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:54.220 being a meth dealer's wife? Right. It's ambiguous 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.120 enough that it can't be easily used against her 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:59.500 in a court of law. But it conveys her total absolute 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:01.500 desperation to Hank. And then she starts yelling, 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:04.600 am I under arrest? Am I under arrest? Which forces 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:07.560 Hank's hand in public. Because he can't say yes. 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:10.740 He has no warrant. So she flees. She literally 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:13.000 runs out of the diner and drives away. And I 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.980 think we need to pause here and really ask you, 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:18.800 the listener, to reflect on that specific choice. 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:24.319 Why does she run? Is it just raw fear of Walt? 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:27.339 It's the flight response in its purest form. 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:30.399 But psychologically, I think she runs because 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:33.100 if she stays and speaks into that recorder, the 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:35.079 nightmare becomes permanent. It becomes concrete. 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:37.420 Exactly. As long as she stays silent, as long 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:39.740 as she runs away, there is still some ambiguity. 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:42.540 She can still pretend, maybe, that there is a 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:45.399 way out of this without going to jail. Silence 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:48.139 is her only shield left. And she holds up that 00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:50.519 shield tight. So while Skyler is running from 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.240 the law... Walt is running to the lawyer. He 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:55.579 heads straight to Saul Goodman's office. Right. 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.639 And Walt is furious. He's completely enraged. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.079 He feels like he is losing control of his soldiers. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.519 He's mad that Skyler went to meet Hank before 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:06.360 talking to him first. He feels scooped. He's 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:08.819 betrayed. And Saul is looking at this entire 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:11.899 situation with his usual sleazy pragmatism. He 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:15.079 sees the board very clearly. He does. And he 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.560 drops one of the most famous lines of the entire 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:21.089 season. He looks at Walt and asks if he's considered 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:24.910 sending Hank to Belize. Belize. It sounds so 00:08:24.910 --> 00:08:27.230 lovely. A tropical vacation. I'll send you to 00:08:27.230 --> 00:08:30.189 Belize. But we know what he means, and Saul clarifies 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:33.850 it just in case. He says, like Mike. That is 00:08:33.850 --> 00:08:36.490 a chilling moment. It really is. Because it confirms 00:08:36.490 --> 00:08:39.309 that Saul knows, or at least strongly suspects, 00:08:39.850 --> 00:08:42.169 that Mike Ehrmantraut didn't just skip town on 00:08:42.169 --> 00:08:44.590 a bus. Right. He knows Walt killed him. And he's 00:08:44.590 --> 00:08:46.559 looking at Walt, essentially saying, You killed 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:48.580 your partner when he became a problem. Why is 00:08:48.580 --> 00:08:50.419 your brother -in -law any different? He's a threat. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.820 Eliminate the threat. To Saul is just a math 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:56.399 problem. Hank equals danger. Danger must be removed. 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.240 But Walt pushes back hard on this. He admonishes 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:01.820 Saul. He gets right in his face and says, Hank 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:05.179 is family. Which is the absolute core of Walter 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:07.480 White's delusion. Explain that. We are talking 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:09.840 about a man who has poisoned a child. He has 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.519 blown up a nursing home. He has put his own family 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:15.879 in mortal danger repeatedly. But he draws a hard 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:18.580 line at directly murdering a blood relative. 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:21.340 It's wildly hypocritical, isn't it? It's like, 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.720 I can ruin his career. I can lie to his face 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.120 for a year. I can pay for his physical therapy 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:28.700 with drug money. But I won't shoot him. Exactly. 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:31.529 It's all about his self -image. Walt desperately 00:09:31.529 --> 00:09:34.570 needs to believe he is the patriarch, the provider. 00:09:34.750 --> 00:09:37.429 The good guy deep down. Right. He needs to believe 00:09:37.429 --> 00:09:40.070 that everything he has done, all the horrific 00:09:40.070 --> 00:09:42.929 violence and manipulation, was strictly for the 00:09:42.929 --> 00:09:46.049 family. So if he kills Hank... If he kills Hank, 00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:49.009 he destroys that entire justification. If he 00:09:49.009 --> 00:09:51.389 kills Hank, he has to finally admit that he is 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:53.830 the villain, that he is a destroyer of families, 00:09:53.889 --> 00:09:56.289 not a protector. He can't kill Hank because he 00:09:56.289 --> 00:09:58.549 can't handle the truth about himself. Precisely. 00:09:58.929 --> 00:10:01.190 So murder is off the table. at least for now. 00:10:01.370 --> 00:10:04.629 Right. But the money, the money is the immediate 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:07.629 priority. He has to secure the legacy. We aren't 00:10:07.629 --> 00:10:09.730 talking about a shoe box of cash tucked under 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:11.669 a bed. No, we are talking about an industrial 00:10:11.669 --> 00:10:14.049 comical amount of currency. The logistics here 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:16.350 are staggering. He brings in Huell and Kubi, 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:19.289 who are essentially Saul's B team, to help him 00:10:19.289 --> 00:10:22.769 move it. And they literally load the cash into 00:10:22.769 --> 00:10:27.639 seven 55 gallon drums. Seven massive drums. Just 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:29.460 think about the physical weight of that. It's 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:31.539 got to be thousands of pounds. It's no longer 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:33.639 an asset at this point. It's a physical burden. 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:36.539 It's a massive liability. So Walt rents a van, 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:40.039 loads up the drums, and drives way out into the 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:43.299 desert. He goes to the Tohajili Indian Reservation. 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:45.940 And our source material points out a massive, 00:10:46.059 --> 00:10:48.600 beautiful callback here. Yes. For the super fans, 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:52.059 this specific geography is sacred. This is the 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:55.100 exact same spot where Walt and Jesse cook their 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:58.059 very first batch of crystal meth in the RV in 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:00.179 the pilot episode. It is a total full circle 00:11:00.179 --> 00:11:03.039 moment. Narrative symmetry at its absolute finest. 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:06.100 Walt returns to the Genesis, the place where 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:08.519 he literally broke bad. To bury the fruits of 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:11.019 his labor. He started with nothing in that desert, 00:11:11.299 --> 00:11:13.820 just a desperate ambition and a terrible cancer 00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:16.879 diagnosis. Now he returns with millions upon 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:19.019 millions of dollars. But he's just as desperate. 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:21.340 Maybe even more desperate. The scene feels like 00:11:21.340 --> 00:11:24.000 a graveyard. He's out there burying his life's 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.580 work. He is, and the way he secures the location 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:29.220 of this graveyard is genuinely clever. Right, 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:31.440 he doesn't draw a pirate map with a red X on 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:34.559 it. No, he uses a lottery ticket. Explain the 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.139 mechanics of that for the listeners who might 00:11:36.139 --> 00:11:38.539 not have caught the detail. How does a lottery 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:42.519 ticket work as a map? So he uses a handheld GPS 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.340 unit to get the exact latitude and longitude 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:48.539 coordinates of the burial site. Okay. Then he 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:51.580 drives back to civilization, goes to a convenience 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:54.419 store, and plays those exact coordinate numbers 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:57.360 on a standard lottery ticket. So if anyone finds 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.379 the ticket, like Skyler or Walter Jr. or even 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:03.940 the police. They just think, oh, sad Walter. 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:06.480 He's dying of cancer and buying a lottery ticket, 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:08.620 hoping to leave a little nest egg for his family. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:11.039 It's brilliant domestic camouflage. Exactly. 00:12:11.139 --> 00:12:14.580 They don't realize the ticket itself is the jackpot. 00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:16.840 It's a personalized encryption key that only 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:19.340 he understands. Now there's a really fun piece 00:12:19.340 --> 00:12:21.399 of trivia in the production notes about those 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:24.139 specific coordinates on the ticket. Yes. If you 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:26.799 are a fan who who likes to plug numbers from 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.019 TV shows into Google Maps. You don't expect to 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:31.240 find barrels of cash out in the desert. No, the 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:33.620 coordinates on the ticket actually point to the 00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:36.919 Q Studios in Albuquerque. That is fantastic. 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:41.090 It's where the show itself is filmed. So metaphorically, 00:12:41.429 --> 00:12:43.830 Walt is burying his money under the actual sound 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:46.389 stage where his story is being told. It's a clever 00:12:46.389 --> 00:12:48.509 little wink from the production team to the audience. 00:12:48.690 --> 00:12:51.090 But I want to talk about the atmosphere of this 00:12:51.090 --> 00:12:53.730 burial scene itself, because it goes on for a 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:56.070 long time. It does. There's almost no dialogue 00:12:56.070 --> 00:12:59.610 for minutes. It's just Walt digging in the dirt. 00:12:59.909 --> 00:13:02.370 And the music. The source material highlights 00:13:02.370 --> 00:13:04.889 the specific track playing. It's called Kwame 00:13:04.889 --> 00:13:08.250 Nukian. Right. It's a remix by Chancha via circuito. 00:13:08.370 --> 00:13:11.889 Right. And it's not your typical tense action 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:14.149 movie score. Not at all. It's not driving strings 00:13:14.149 --> 00:13:16.850 or heavy percussion. It's rhythmic. It's repetitive. 00:13:17.009 --> 00:13:19.470 It's almost hypnotic. It sounds like pure labor. 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:22.110 It really does. It puts the viewer in a trance 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:24.789 alongside Walt. It emphasizes the sheer physical 00:13:24.789 --> 00:13:27.149 exhaustion of the task. Walt isn't a criminal 00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:29.610 mastermind in this scene. He's a manual laborer. 00:13:29.629 --> 00:13:32.059 He is working. himself to the bone under the 00:13:32.059 --> 00:13:34.639 baking desert sun to put this money in the ground. 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:37.539 It strips away all the dark glamour of Heisenberg 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:40.740 and leaves just a sick, dying man digging a hole. 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:43.419 And while Walt is digging holes in the desert 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:46.519 dirt, the family war back in Civilization is 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.259 getting extremely physical. We have to talk about 00:13:49.259 --> 00:13:51.919 the sisters. Marie and Skyler. This is one of 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.399 the most painful scenes in the entire series 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:56.960 to watch. Without a doubt. Because up until now, 00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:01.090 Marie has been Well, she's been Marie. Right. 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:04.110 She's the comic relief. She's the purple -obsessed, 00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:07.529 slightly annoying, kleptomaniac sister. But not 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.889 here. She goes straight to Styler's house. She 00:14:09.889 --> 00:14:12.350 knows the truth now, because Hank told her. But 00:14:12.350 --> 00:14:14.750 she desperately needs to hear it from Skyler's 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:16.889 own mouth. She's looking for a lifeline, isn't 00:14:16.889 --> 00:14:19.269 she? She is. She wants Skyler to say, I don't 00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:21.250 know. I'm a victim. Walt held a gun to my head 00:14:21.250 --> 00:14:22.929 and tricked me. She wants to save her sister. 00:14:23.350 --> 00:14:25.370 But then she asks the critical question. the 00:14:25.370 --> 00:14:27.870 timeline question. She looks at Skyler and asks, 00:14:28.450 --> 00:14:31.669 did you know before Hank was shot? And that is 00:14:31.669 --> 00:14:34.389 the absolute pivot point of their relationship. 00:14:34.570 --> 00:14:36.529 Remember, Hank was shot by the Salamanca cousins 00:14:36.529 --> 00:14:39.450 way back in season three. He nearly died. He 00:14:39.450 --> 00:14:43.110 spent months in grueling physical therapy. Marie 00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:45.990 was emptying his bedpans. She was terrified every 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:48.169 single day. It was the hardest time of her life. 00:14:48.409 --> 00:14:50.690 So if Skyler knew before that happened, then 00:14:50.690 --> 00:14:53.590 Skyler is complicit in Hank's near -death experience. 00:14:53.830 --> 00:14:56.230 And Skyler doesn't deny it. She can't. She just 00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:58.549 tears up and says, I'm so sorry. Which is a full 00:14:58.549 --> 00:15:01.230 confession. And Marie just snaps. She slaps her 00:15:01.230 --> 00:15:03.450 across the face. Hard. It's a shocking moment. 00:15:03.649 --> 00:15:05.830 We have never seen physical violence between 00:15:05.830 --> 00:15:08.269 these two women. It's the literal sound of their 00:15:08.269 --> 00:15:11.549 sister. breaking in half. But Marie doesn't just 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:15.750 stop at a slap. She escalates the situation drastically. 00:15:15.750 --> 00:15:17.690 She tries to take the baby. She marches into 00:15:17.690 --> 00:15:20.929 the nursery and goes for Holly. This is Marie's 00:15:20.929 --> 00:15:24.049 psychology completely spiraling out of control. 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:26.409 She looks around that house, she looks at Skyler, 00:15:26.789 --> 00:15:29.450 and she just sees total contamination. A house 00:15:29.450 --> 00:15:32.769 of lies. Exactly. She thinks this is a criminal 00:15:32.769 --> 00:15:35.529 enterprise. This is not a home. It's a cartel 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:37.730 front. It is not safe for an innocent child. 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:41.169 She genuinely deeply believes she is rescuing 00:15:41.169 --> 00:15:44.149 Holly. But legally speaking, it's an attempted 00:15:44.149 --> 00:15:47.740 kidnapping, right? 100%. Skylar is fighting her 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:50.879 in the hallway, screaming, give me my baby. It's 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.059 utter chaos. And who steps in to stop it? Hank. 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:56.799 Hank enters the house. And this is so interesting 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:00.179 to me because back in the diner, Hank was the 00:16:00.179 --> 00:16:02.919 pure aggressor. He was pushing Skylar hard. Here, 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.940 he's the de -escalator. He forces Marie to give 00:16:05.940 --> 00:16:09.779 the baby back. Why the shift? Because at the 00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:12.570 end of the day, Hank is a cop. He knows the law 00:16:12.570 --> 00:16:14.830 inside and out. Right. You can't just steal a 00:16:14.830 --> 00:16:16.330 baby because you don't agree with the parents' 00:16:16.690 --> 00:16:18.610 ethics. He knows that if they walk out that door 00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:21.129 with Holly, Skyler immediately calls the real 00:16:21.129 --> 00:16:23.350 police. If Skyler calls the police on them. Hank 00:16:23.350 --> 00:16:26.090 looks like the unstable aggressor. He completely 00:16:26.090 --> 00:16:29.610 loses the moral high ground. And way more importantly, 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:32.769 he potentially ruins his entire legal case against 00:16:32.769 --> 00:16:35.210 Walt. That makes total sense. He has to do this 00:16:35.210 --> 00:16:37.309 strictly by the book from here on out. He's protecting 00:16:37.309 --> 00:16:39.529 the investigation at all costs, so they leave 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:42.419 without the baby. But that car ride home. Oh, 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.840 Marie has completely changed. She is a different 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:47.259 person. She's staring out the passenger window. 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:51.200 Just see them with rage. She turns to Hank and 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:53.879 simply says, you have to get him. It gave me 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:57.940 chills. Me too. Her allegiance has shifted completely. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:01.580 It's no longer about safety or family. It's about 00:17:01.580 --> 00:17:04.920 pure vengeance. She wants Walt to pay for what 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:07.529 he did to them. The family unit isn't just fractured 00:17:07.529 --> 00:17:10.309 at this point. It's at full scale war. So while 00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:12.569 the White and Trader family is imploding in the 00:17:12.569 --> 00:17:16.130 suburbs, the actual business, the physical mechanism 00:17:16.130 --> 00:17:18.789 of the meth empire, is still running out in the 00:17:18.789 --> 00:17:22.250 desert. The spice must flow. Exactly. But middle 00:17:22.250 --> 00:17:24.170 management is changing. We really have to look 00:17:24.170 --> 00:17:26.789 at the scene with Lydia and Declan. Right. Because 00:17:26.789 --> 00:17:29.710 remember, Walt is out. He formally retired. But 00:17:29.710 --> 00:17:32.450 the machine he built is incredibly hungry. It 00:17:32.450 --> 00:17:35.130 needs to be fed constantly. And Lydia Radar -Quail 00:17:35.130 --> 00:17:37.430 is the corporate face of that machine. She's 00:17:37.430 --> 00:17:39.509 the one supplying the precursor, the methylamine. 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:41.829 But she is not happy with the current state of 00:17:41.829 --> 00:17:45.109 affairs. She visits Declan's desert lab, which, 00:17:45.289 --> 00:17:47.329 by the way, is literally a school bus buried 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:49.470 in the dirt. And she sounds like a disgruntled 00:17:49.470 --> 00:17:51.630 health inspector. She's complaining about the 00:17:51.630 --> 00:17:53.730 working conditions, the lack of ventilation, 00:17:53.730 --> 00:17:56.970 and most importantly, the product quality. It's 00:17:56.970 --> 00:18:00.490 classic Lydia. She brings this frantic corporate 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:04.109 HR energy to a violent drug cartel. She's down 00:18:04.109 --> 00:18:06.170 there in her designer heels, worried about purity 00:18:06.170 --> 00:18:09.230 percentages and cleanliness in a dirty underground 00:18:09.230 --> 00:18:11.549 bunker. She wants the product to be Heisenberg 00:18:11.549 --> 00:18:14.549 level. Yeah. But Declan's crew just can't deliver 00:18:14.549 --> 00:18:17.150 that blue magic. So she proposes a very corporate 00:18:17.150 --> 00:18:19.910 solution. She wants to bring in an outside consultant. 00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:23.710 Todd. Todd, Walt's former protege. Because Todd 00:18:23.710 --> 00:18:27.339 learned directly from the master. Lydia thinks 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:29.420 Tide can come in and bring the purity back up 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:32.329 to standard, but Declan... Declan is not hearing 00:18:32.329 --> 00:18:34.809 a word of it. He's got massive ego. He refuses 00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:37.509 to step aside. He absolutely refuses to hire 00:18:37.509 --> 00:18:40.009 some polite kid to teach his hardened guys how 00:18:40.009 --> 00:18:42.390 to cook meth. And this right here is Declan's 00:18:42.390 --> 00:18:45.369 fatal error. Yeah. He vastly underestimates Lydia. 00:18:45.630 --> 00:18:47.589 Everyone underestimates Lydia. He thinks she's 00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:49.809 just a nervous business lady who doesn't understand 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.029 how the streets work. He doesn't realize she 00:18:52.029 --> 00:18:54.410 has already made alternative arrangement. The 00:18:54.410 --> 00:18:57.529 ambush. It's so brutal. Todd's Uncle Jack. and 00:18:57.529 --> 00:19:00.690 his heavily armed neo -Nazi gang are lying in 00:19:00.690 --> 00:19:03.769 wait right above them. When Declan refuses to 00:19:03.769 --> 00:19:06.109 play ball, the shooting starts. It's a total 00:19:06.109 --> 00:19:09.130 massacre. Jack's crew wipes out Declan and his 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:11.609 entire team in a matter of seconds. It's highly 00:19:11.609 --> 00:19:14.549 efficient, violent, and incredibly decisive. 00:19:14.970 --> 00:19:17.690 But let's look at what this signals for the broader 00:19:17.690 --> 00:19:20.809 story. Why do the writers need this specific 00:19:20.809 --> 00:19:23.670 scene in an episode so focused on family drama? 00:19:23.970 --> 00:19:26.289 It signals a massive shift in the nature of the 00:19:26.289 --> 00:19:28.109 antagonist. Right. Think about the progression 00:19:28.109 --> 00:19:30.849 of villains in this show. We started with Tuco, 00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:34.599 who was violent, unpredictable, and crazy. Then 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:37.660 we had Gus Fring. Gus was calculated, professional, 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:39.900 almost corporate in his evil. Then we had Walt 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:42.880 himself. Ego maniacal, brilliant evil. And now 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:45.299 we have Jack. Jack is totally different. Jack 00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:48.180 is just chaotic. He's a sug. He has no underlying 00:19:48.180 --> 00:19:50.500 code. He has no respect for the delicate art 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:52.539 of the cook. He's just brute force with a gun. 00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:54.900 Exactly. It feels like the highly sophisticated 00:19:54.900 --> 00:19:57.700 empire that Walt carefully built is just being 00:19:57.700 --> 00:20:00.259 overrun by barbarians. That is a great way to 00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.799 put it. The vacuum Walt left when he retired 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.720 didn't just stay empty. It sucked in something 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:09.450 so much worse. The business continues, but now 00:20:09.450 --> 00:20:12.809 it's in the hands of totally unpredictable, incredibly 00:20:12.809 --> 00:20:15.569 violent men. Which raises the stakes for everyone 00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:18.549 left alive. Nobody is safe anymore. Let's transition 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:20.990 back to Walt. He's done digging his holes in 00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:23.529 the desert. He finally drives back home. It's 00:20:23.529 --> 00:20:26.089 late at night. And he is absolutely exhausted. 00:20:26.269 --> 00:20:28.589 He walks into his kitchen, and he takes that 00:20:28.589 --> 00:20:30.670 lottery ticket with the coordinates. And he posts 00:20:30.670 --> 00:20:33.009 it right on the fridge with a magnet. Right next 00:20:33.009 --> 00:20:35.730 to the kids' colorful drawings. Again, hiding 00:20:35.730 --> 00:20:39.109 his darkest secret in plain sight. But then the 00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:41.210 adrenaline wears off. He goes into the bathroom 00:20:41.210 --> 00:20:43.809 and he just collapses. He hits the floor hard. 00:20:43.890 --> 00:20:45.750 This is the physical toll finally catching up 00:20:45.750 --> 00:20:47.789 with him, right? It's everything at once. The 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:50.869 cancer is back. The brutal chemotherapy is weakening 00:20:50.869 --> 00:20:53.970 his system. And he just spent a full day doing 00:20:53.970 --> 00:20:57.289 intense, hard labor in the desert heat. His body 00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:00.410 is just failing him. And when he finally wakes 00:21:00.410 --> 00:21:03.369 up hours later, Skyler is sitting there waiting 00:21:03.369 --> 00:21:07.319 for him. And this conversation, this is the conversation 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.559 that defines the entire rest of this series for 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:11.619 the two of them. Walt makes an actual offer here. 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.200 It's a surrender. He looks at her and says, I'll 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:16.869 give myself up. He says he'll turn himself into 00:21:16.869 --> 00:21:19.650 Hank, but on one very specific condition. The 00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:22.109 money stays with the family. The money he just 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:26.089 spent all day burying. He wants to know. He needs 00:21:26.089 --> 00:21:29.130 to know that all of the horror wasn't for absolutely 00:21:29.130 --> 00:21:31.710 nothing. It's basically a plea. Let me go to 00:21:31.710 --> 00:21:33.970 jail. Let me die in a cell. Just please promise 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:36.150 me you'll keep the money for the kids. He's trying 00:21:36.150 --> 00:21:39.130 to salvage the one single thing he thinks gives 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:42.750 his ruined life any meaning. The financial legacy. 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:46.059 And here is where I I really want you, the listener, 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.359 to pay close attention. Because Skylar's reaction 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:51.940 here is shocking. Totally unexpected. You'd think 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.200 she would jump at this offer. Yes, turn yourself 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:56.220 in, take the blame, end the nightmare right now. 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.900 But she doesn't. She doesn't. She looks at him 00:21:58.900 --> 00:22:01.619 totally calm and says, Hank has no evidence. 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:04.400 Hank has no evidence. She actively rejects the 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:07.740 surrender. This is Skylar truly, finally breaking 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:11.200 bad. In this specific moment, She makes a cold, 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:14.599 highly calculated business decision. She realizes 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:17.920 that if Walt turns himself in today, the government 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:21.019 swoops in and seizes everything. The money is 00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:23.799 gone. The house is seized. Their reputation is 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:25.480 permanently destroyed in the community. They 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:27.640 are left with absolutely nothing but public shame. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:30.500 So she decides to bet on the lie. She doubles 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:33.059 down on the criminality. She decides that keeping 00:22:33.059 --> 00:22:36.160 a secret and keeping the buried millions is ultimately 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.500 worth the massive risk. She looks at the chessboard 00:22:39.500 --> 00:22:41.900 and she sees that Hank is currently bluffing. 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:43.759 He doesn't have the hard proof yet. So she tells 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.400 Walt, keep your mouth shut. That is profound. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.880 She consciously chooses the drug money over honesty. 00:22:50.089 --> 00:22:52.410 She chooses to maintain the ongoing criminal 00:22:52.410 --> 00:22:55.049 conspiracy because she is essentially the sunk 00:22:55.049 --> 00:22:57.730 -cost fallacy personified. She has sacrificed 00:22:57.730 --> 00:23:00.049 way too much of her soul to turn back now and 00:23:00.049 --> 00:23:02.470 walk away empty -handed. She officially becomes 00:23:02.470 --> 00:23:05.009 a full, willing partner in the cover -up. Not 00:23:05.009 --> 00:23:06.849 out of fear of Walt anymore? No, out of pure 00:23:06.849 --> 00:23:09.390 strategy. So now the lines are drawn. We have 00:23:09.390 --> 00:23:12.970 Walt and Skyler fully aligned in silence. And 00:23:12.970 --> 00:23:15.769 we have Hank on the other side. Knowing the absolute 00:23:15.769 --> 00:23:18.980 truth? but completely lacking the proof. Let's 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:21.380 look at Hank's professional dilemma here. Because 00:23:21.380 --> 00:23:24.039 people wonder, why doesn't he just march into 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.339 the DEA office right now and announce it? He 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:28.559 knows it's Walt. Right. Why not just blow the 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.460 whistle? He can't. Think about his political 00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:33.619 position. He is the ASC, the assistant special 00:23:33.619 --> 00:23:36.680 agent in charge. He has been obsessively chasing 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:39.200 the ghost of Heisenberg for over a year. And 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.259 the guy was literally under his nose the entire 00:23:41.259 --> 00:23:43.940 time. He was pouring him drinks at Sunday family 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:47.140 barbecues. Right. So if he admits that now, without 00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:50.640 a bulletproof case. He looks incredibly incompetent 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.400 at best and actively complicit at worst. His 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:55.240 career is over the second the words leave his 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.220 mouth. He'll be fired in disgrace, stripped of 00:23:57.220 --> 00:23:59.640 his pension, maybe even federally prosecuted 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:01.819 for aiding and abetting. So he's trapped in his 00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:04.579 own investigation. The only way he survives this 00:24:04.579 --> 00:24:07.099 professionally, and really the only way he satisfies 00:24:07.099 --> 00:24:10.380 his own bruised ego, is if he walks into the 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:13.599 DEA office with a slam dunk, unbreakable case. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:16.980 He needs irrefutable proof. He needs to be the 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.299 one to personally put the handcuffs on Walter 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:21.779 White to prove to his bosses he was mirrored 00:24:21.779 --> 00:24:24.880 of it. He desperately needs a massive win to 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:27.460 offset the incoming public embarrassment. Yes. 00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:30.980 But Marie is pushing him hard. She's terrified. 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:33.500 She tells him, you have to tell them at work. 00:24:33.740 --> 00:24:35.619 What if they find out you knew and didn't say 00:24:35.619 --> 00:24:38.519 anything? That's a valid fear. So Hank agrees 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:41.119 to go back to work and act normal. He's walking 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:44.039 an incredibly thin tightrope. But just as he's 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.500 trying to figure out his next move, a massive 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:49.619 gift falls right into his lap. The Jesse Pinkman 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:52.200 twist. The wild card. We have to rewind to the 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:54.180 very beginning of the episode for just a second 00:24:54.180 --> 00:24:57.309 to set this up. The cold open showed an elderly 00:24:57.309 --> 00:24:59.650 man picking up stacks of cash on a neighborhood 00:24:59.650 --> 00:25:02.250 playground, right? Right, because Jesse was driving 00:25:02.250 --> 00:25:04.789 around tossing bundles of money out his car window 00:25:04.789 --> 00:25:07.049 like a sad paperboy in the previous episode. 00:25:07.190 --> 00:25:09.150 He completely cracked under the gill. And we 00:25:09.150 --> 00:25:11.710 finally see where he ended up. He is lying on 00:25:11.710 --> 00:25:13.750 a playground merry -go -round. Just spinning 00:25:13.750 --> 00:25:17.559 in slow circles. It's such a powerful, sad visual 00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:20.539 metaphor for his character. He's dizzy. He's 00:25:20.539 --> 00:25:23.000 sick to his stomach. He's going absolutely nowhere. 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:26.339 He is literally surrounded by millions of dollars 00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:29.119 of blood money that he can't even stand to look 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:32.140 at anymore. So fast forward to the station. Hank's 00:25:32.140 --> 00:25:35.220 partner, Steve Gomez, casually mentions that 00:25:35.220 --> 00:25:38.680 they have Jesse Pinkman detained in an interrogation 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:41.259 room. Because he was throwing millions of dollars 00:25:41.259 --> 00:25:43.430 around a suburb. And you can just see the light 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:45.809 bulb go on over Hank's head. He realizes the 00:25:45.809 --> 00:25:48.269 missing connection. Jesse is the weak link in 00:25:48.269 --> 00:25:51.210 the Heisenberg armor. Jesse is the loose thread. 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:54.690 Hank realizes, if Skylar won't talk to me, maybe 00:25:54.690 --> 00:25:56.730 the broken kid will. Jesse knows everything. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:00.140 The labs, the murders, the money. But Hank does 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:02.640 something very interesting here. He doesn't immediately 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:05.519 tell the DEA. He doesn't tell his trusted partner 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.160 Gomez, hey, that's our Heisenberg guy. No, he 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:10.059 keeps it entirely to himself. He says, let me 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:12.099 talk to him. Leave him to me. He wants to interrogate 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:14.359 Jesse completely alone off the official radar. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.640 And that is the cliffhanger of the episode. Hank 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:20.880 walking into that interrogation room, closing 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:24.170 the door behind him. he sees a golden opportunity 00:26:24.170 --> 00:26:27.190 to get his star witness. And this brilliant setup 00:26:27.190 --> 00:26:30.269 establishes the dynamic for the final phase of 00:26:30.269 --> 00:26:33.630 the show. Hank needs a weapon to fight Walt. 00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:36.509 And Jesse Pinkfin is that weapon. The two people 00:26:36.509 --> 00:26:38.970 Walt has manipulated and hurt the most are about 00:26:38.970 --> 00:26:42.210 to form a very uneasy alliance. It's just incredible 00:26:42.210 --> 00:26:44.309 television writing. All the pieces are actively 00:26:44.309 --> 00:26:47.650 moving into place for the final showdown. Before 00:26:47.650 --> 00:26:49.470 we wrap up the narrative, though, let's quickly 00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:51.970 look at how this episode was received by the 00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:53.710 world. It's interesting to note the viewership 00:26:53.710 --> 00:26:55.809 numbers. Yeah, the viewership actually dipped 00:26:55.809 --> 00:26:58.150 slightly for this one. It did. Four point seven, 00:26:58.369 --> 00:27:01.329 seven million viewers, which to be clear is still 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:05.349 a massive number for a cable drama in 2013. But 00:27:05.349 --> 00:27:07.450 it was down from the previous episode, which 00:27:07.450 --> 00:27:10.009 pulled in almost six million. The midseason premiere, 00:27:10.329 --> 00:27:13.490 Blood Money, had that massive pent up hype. Everyone 00:27:13.490 --> 00:27:15.390 tuned in to see what happened after Hank found 00:27:15.390 --> 00:27:17.319 the book. It's pretty natural to see a little 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:19.420 drop off in the second week as the story settles 00:27:19.420 --> 00:27:21.559 in. But the critical quality certainly didn't 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:24.440 drop. Not at all. The critics loved it. TVLine 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:27.059 specifically gave Anna Gunn, who plays Skyler, 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:29.319 an honorable mention for Performer of the Week. 00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:32.880 Deservedly so, I think. That diner scene alone. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:35.640 The sheer panic in her eyes when she realizes 00:27:35.640 --> 00:27:38.420 she's trapped. It is a masterclass in subtle 00:27:38.420 --> 00:27:41.250 acting. She conveyed so much internal terror 00:27:41.250 --> 00:27:43.849 without barely raising her voice. And Thomas 00:27:43.849 --> 00:27:46.150 Schnauss, the writer of the episode, was nominated 00:27:46.150 --> 00:27:48.789 for a Writers Guild of America Award for this 00:27:48.789 --> 00:27:52.109 specific script. It's an incredibly tightly written 00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:54.809 hour of television. It successfully balances 00:27:54.809 --> 00:27:59.569 so many moving parts. Walt, Skyler, Hank, Marie, 00:28:00.250 --> 00:28:02.950 Lydia, Jessie, without ever feeling cluttered 00:28:02.950 --> 00:28:05.569 or rushed. Every single scene serves a structural 00:28:05.569 --> 00:28:07.920 purpose. There's also a ranking from The Ringer 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:09.779 that caught my eye in our source notes. They 00:28:09.779 --> 00:28:11.940 ranked every single Breaking Bad episode from 00:28:11.940 --> 00:28:14.099 worst to best, and they put buried at number 00:28:14.099 --> 00:28:17.420 52 out of 62. Which seems incredibly low to me. 00:28:17.579 --> 00:28:19.220 It really does. 50 second, that's near the very 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:20.839 bottom of the pack. Why do you think they ranked 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:23.089 it so low? I think it's because Buried is what 00:28:23.089 --> 00:28:25.849 critics often call a bridge episode. It's fundamentally 00:28:25.849 --> 00:28:28.369 a setup episode. It doesn't have the explosive 00:28:28.369 --> 00:28:31.849 train heist sequence or the emotional devastation 00:28:31.849 --> 00:28:33.910 of something like Ozymandias, which is coming 00:28:33.910 --> 00:28:36.950 up. Right. Its primary job is to diligently move 00:28:36.950 --> 00:28:39.890 the pieces around the board so the big checkmate 00:28:39.890 --> 00:28:42.730 can happen later. That's fair. It's doing the 00:28:42.730 --> 00:28:44.849 heavy lifting, the narrative plumbing to get 00:28:44.849 --> 00:28:47.569 us safely to the grand finale. But without this 00:28:47.569 --> 00:28:49.809 episode, the rest of the season just doesn't 00:28:49.809 --> 00:28:52.839 work. Precisely. You absolutely need to bury 00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:54.839 the money in the desert to have the conflict 00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:57.619 over the coordinates later. You need Skyler to 00:28:57.619 --> 00:29:00.039 actively choose a side to heighten the tragedy 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:02.420 of her fall. This is the foundation of the end. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:04.460 So let's summarize what we've learned. What are 00:29:04.460 --> 00:29:07.220 the big takeaways from buried? First, the money 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:09.759 is literally underground. It's off the board 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:13.220 for now, but its location, that specific lottery 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.900 ticket, is the key to everything moving forward. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.900 Second, the family is irrevocably fractured. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.940 Marie and Skyler are now bitter enemies. Hank 00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:24.859 and Walt are circling each other. There is absolutely 00:29:24.859 --> 00:29:27.500 no going back to the happy backyard barbecues. 00:29:27.980 --> 00:29:31.660 And third, the meth business has evolved. Or 00:29:31.660 --> 00:29:33.880 really, it has devolved. It's in the hands of 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.200 Jack and the neo -Nazis now. The danger level 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:39.019 has spiked massively because the new bosses are 00:29:39.019 --> 00:29:42.599 violent and entirely unpredictable. And finally, 00:29:43.180 --> 00:29:45.660 the truth itself. We talked about the title, 00:29:46.059 --> 00:29:49.529 buried. Walt buries the cash. Skyler tries to 00:29:49.529 --> 00:29:51.970 bury the evidence. Hank tries to bury his own 00:29:51.970 --> 00:29:54.190 conflict of interest to save his job. But the 00:29:54.190 --> 00:29:56.730 profound thing about burying things, especially 00:29:56.730 --> 00:29:59.849 dark secrets and literal bodies, is that they 00:29:59.849 --> 00:30:02.900 rarely stay down forever. The truth always works 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:04.920 its way to the surface. It really emphasizes 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.400 the steep cost of keeping those secrets. It does. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:09.539 And it raises a really provocative question for 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:11.920 you, the listener. Right. I want everyone listening 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.380 today to really think about Skyler's ultimate 00:30:14.380 --> 00:30:17.140 choice in the bathroom. It's the pivotal moral 00:30:17.140 --> 00:30:19.859 moment of the episode. Imagine you are standing 00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:22.059 in her shoes. You know your husband's cancer 00:30:22.059 --> 00:30:24.359 is back. You know there are millions of dollars 00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:26.599 buried for your children's future. And you know 00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:29.299 the police have nothing concrete yet. Do you 00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:31.789 take his deal? Do you let him surrender to Hank 00:30:31.789 --> 00:30:33.750 and end the madness right then and there? Or 00:30:33.750 --> 00:30:36.549 do you do exactly what she did? Do you bet everything 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:39.150 on the silence? It's so easy to judge her from 00:30:39.150 --> 00:30:41.509 the safety of our couches, but when you're staring 00:30:41.509 --> 00:30:46.210 at a life of total financial ruin versus a very 00:30:46.210 --> 00:30:48.970 real chance at getting away with it, it's a terrifying 00:30:48.970 --> 00:30:51.630 dilemma. It is. She bet that they could outsmart 00:30:51.630 --> 00:30:54.650 Hank one last time. And that single bet sets 00:30:54.650 --> 00:30:57.150 the stage for all the tragedy that follows. And 00:30:57.150 --> 00:30:59.640 on that heavy note... We're gonna wrap up this 00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:02.380 deep dive. The silence right now is deafening, 00:31:02.539 --> 00:31:04.539 but the storm is definitely coming. And we'll 00:31:04.539 --> 00:31:06.119 be right here to break it down when it hits. 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:07.900 Thanks for listening everyone. We'll catch you 00:31:07.900 --> 00:31:08.900 on the next deep dive.