SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for viewers who have seen Breaking Bad series five, episode 12 – Rabid Dog.
Click here to view Richard's season five, episode 11 blogpost
'What's one more?'
Marie is researching poisons. Skyler is the staycation Lady Macbeth. Hank has dragged Gomie into his rogue surveillance operation. Is Junior the only character left who hasn't been corrupted by the Heisenberg logic? Even he's not convinced by Walt's goofy "pump malfunction" explanation for the carpet being covered in gasoline ("Dad, can you just tell the truth?").
Does Walt still care about Jesse? That's the main current running through this episode. Walt still seems to believe that there's a way out that doesn't involve "sending him to Belize", or reacting to "an Old Yeller type situation", as Saul offers. He's willing to ignore how close Jesse came to torching his house, and still try to "talk to him, make him see reason" – that's the message he leaves for Jesse, that's what he tells Saul, and that's what he tries to convince Skyler.
Of course, he doesn't know that Hank talked Jesse out of burning down the house at the last minute – instead choosing to read the situation (empty house covered in gasoline) as evidence of Jesse having changed his mind. Even the way he signs off his phone message to Jesse – "be safe" – still feels genuine to some extent, especially compared to the way that Hank sees him ("the junkie murderer that's dribbling all over my guest bathroom floor"). Neither Saul nor Skyler are convinced that Jesse can be talked back round – but Walt holds on to the idea that he can control the situation (and not have to kill him). It's a curious combination of arrogance and parental concern, the "we can fix this" mentality looking out for his protege, versus the cold, killer logic of the meth world. In the White household, it's Skyler who is fully committed to the protect-at-all-cost course of action: "what's one more?"
'Just the word of a meth-head nut job against Mr Rogers who has a lung tumour'
It's not often you get to see TV characters offering their account of events that we've seen over a whole series. In these final episodes, we've already had Walt's warped version, flipping the story to tell the rise of Hank "Heisenberg" Schrader, and Todd's cheerful breakfast story about the fun he had that one time when he helped out on a great train robbery (leaving out the odd detail like child murder). In this episode, it's Hank's turn to break down the bare bones of the Pinkman-White relationship. He borrows Walt's video confession tactic, getting Jesse to relax on his sofa (under the watchful gaze of that slightly disturbing portrait of Marie in her bridal gown), and tell them everything he can remember. Hank, ever the lawman, builds a story from the evidence in front of him: Walt paid for Jesse's rehab, ran over two drug dealers with his car ("sounds like he saved your life") and made Jesse a 50-50 partner. His analysis? "Walt's ruthless, he'll do anything to protect his interests – except when it comes to you." Jesse isn't convinced, dismissing Hank and Gomie: "You two guys are just guys, OK? Mr White – he's the devil."
Overall, something of a holding episode this week. The "twist" that the scary bald dude in black in the plaza wasn't one of Walt's stooges waiting for Jesse with a ticket to Belize didn't quite have the impact that we've come to expect. On the other hand, perhaps they just wanted to throw something straightforward and simple into the mix – to remind us of the everyday, outside world where people who haven't been corrupted by Walt's Heisenberg devilry are still walking around waiting for their children. A banal moment, and one that was enough to push a (justifiably) paranoid Jesse into action, breaking free from both Hank's wire plan and Walt's grip. "Nice try, asshole … Next time I'm going to get you where you really live." So where – or what – did Jesse mean? The money? The desert? His family? His reputation?
Four down, four to go…
Notes, observations and lines of the week
• "So, that was my day, how was yours?" Walt's mild-mannered bluffs aren't fooling anyone these days.
• "I never should have let my dojo membership run out." Anyone else have a vision of Saul high-kicking like a karate Elvis here?
• A good selection in this episode of the unusual camera angles that have been such a strong part of the visual language of Breaking Bad: under the door handle, inside the carpet, looking out from a hotel ice machine.
• Marie's been looking up poison methods on the internet? Surely that's not a great move for the wife of a DEA agent who could be under investigation at any moment? Hopefully we'll be back with her therapist Dave next week to uncover why she was so upset with the "new parking rules" at work.
• This week's pop culture references: Hank's turn to pick up the Hello Kitty phone; Saul's reference to an "Old Yeller type situation"; and Gomie remembering one of the less fruitful moments in DEA surveillance history: "For three hours, all he talked about was something called Babylon 5."
• Good to see Hank maintaining car safety, helping Jesse with his seat belt.
• Walt's classic Y-fronts/handgun combo from the very first episode make a brief comeback. More apparel choices – Marie seems to be the woman in black at the moment, and is it a coincidence that Junior was wearing a Jesse-style oversized hoodie in the scene by the swimming pool where he hugged Walt? I might have missed something, but are Jesse and Junior (his two "sons", as it were) the two last major characters to meet?
• "So your plan is to do his plan?" Pinkman is not impressed with Hank.
• "I'm not sure he wants to hear a nuanced version of the benefits of child poisoning." Saul nails it again.
• Marie may have filled the Schrader house with purple, but Hank gets to choose the novelty DEA coffee mugs. Anyone get a good look at the books on Hank's bookshelf?
