This is gonna be a shorter review guys, because honestly this episode was some of the best viewing I’ve ever seen on television, and I don’t want to spoil the magic by analyzing things too much. So much intense shit went down, I don’t even really know where to start.
Obviously if you’re reading this, you’ve already seen the episode and you know that Hank is dead (also Gomez, but we’ll get to that in a minute). Let me just say that Hank went out like a total badass. As I said in my review last week, it was getting harder and harder for me to root for Hank, because his obsession with catching Walt was turning him into a less likable character. In the end though, he redeems all of that by being unwilling to compromise his integrity and his position with the DEA. I was a little disappointed by how Gomez went out though. He was never more than an ancillary character, but he still deserved more than to just die off screen.
And let me just say, it was damn powerful watching Walt collapse after Hank was shot, and it brought to the fore Walt’s biggest “weakness” in his climb to meth empire domination. He’d do anything for his family. He was ready to face going to prison for the rest of his life if it meant Hank surviving. And that just made the turn towards Jesse that much more intense. Walt had spent the last several seasons doing what he thought was best for Jesse. He wasn’t always right, but he pretty much always had Jesse’s best interests at heart. Even when Jesse was running wild a couple episodes ago, Walt refused to consider killing him. It wasn’t until Jesse’s actions threatened Walt’s life that he changed his mind, and even then only did so grudgingly. But when Walt saw that Jesse had turned rat and was working with the DEA, all bets were off. I’m still not sure whether Jesse will live or die by the end, but if he does live, it won’t be because Walt spared him.
One other moment worth mentioning before we get to the real meat and potatoes of this episode was Flynn (man, that name is so dumb) finding out the truth about Walt. And…I don’t know you guys, but RJ Mitte is just not a good actor. At all. It constantly took me out of the scene with Skylar and Marie to see him pretending to cry and giving super awkward line readings. It ruined the scene for me. But later on when Walt and Skylar were wrestling with the knife I was too busy holding my breath and tensing every damn muscle in my body to worry about his terrible performance.
And finally, on to what was possibly the most selfless thing Walt has ever done. He took the entirety of the blame for every misdeed, even things he didn’t do, like killing Hank. Skylar and Flynn are now in the clear, free to live their lives without fear of going to prison. And he even gave back the only family too innocent to despise him, his daughter, Holly. Ugh, it was a rough one. I changed sides so many times this episode, I have no idea where I stand anymore. At the end of last episode, I was with Hank and Jesse, not wanting them to die by the hands of the Neo-Nazis. With the death of Hank and the theft of most of Walt’s money, I was firmly in Walt’s camp and wanting the Neo-Nazis to die a worse death than Gus Fring. The Walt admitted to Jesse that he watched Jane die and did nothing to save her. Woof. I guess I’m on Jesse’s side now. But when Walt goes home to get his family out of town and they blame him for Hank’s death (something he very clearly did everything he could to prevent), I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Then he kidnapped his daughter. Double Woof. Walt is a terrible person. But then after his sacrifice to clear the name of Skylar, I’m back with him. I don’t know what I want to outcome of this show to be. Does Jesse really deserve a second chance after everything he’s done? I don’t know. I mean, he probably doesn’t deserve to be tortured and forced to cook with Meth Damon, but I’m also not sure he deserves to start over. And Walt? Is it really fair that Walt take all the blame when Skylar was helping him? She’s definitely not an innocent in all of this. It’s a tough one, guys. I’m just glad I’m not the one making all of these decisions. We’re just lucky enough to watch it all unfold.
And, of course, this review ended up a lot longer than I anticipated it being, but hey, this was an episode worth writing about. I can’t wait to see where we end up in the next one.
Positives:
-Walt’s ultimate sacrifice
-Hank went out like a champ
-clear connection to the “future” scenes from earlier in the season
Negatives:
-Gomez’s unsatisfying end
-RJ Mitte’s acting
-Please show us Madrigal Electromotive before the end
Score:
10/10