Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 13: "To Hajiilee" Review

Tweet

This review contains MASSIVE spoilers, yes I used all caps because having this episode spoiled would make you hate life. You have been warned

Is it even possible to write a coherent review about this episode? After watching it would you care what happened for the first 40 or so minutes? I would personally skim past everything and try to analyze the way this episode finished for hours. So let's do that. Let me start off by saying that the ending absolutely sucked. Not that it was bad or anything, but when it spawns tweets like this, this, and this and also causes one of my friends (the one who tweeted that last bit of genius) to say things like: "That episode was a half-measure" you know that they fucked up. You absolutely cannot leave us with a cliffhanger in this specific situation and I am about to go into detail as to why.

First of all, assuming Hank and Gomie meet their end, their deaths would be WAY less meaningful and/or shocking because we will have had a full week from the airing of this episode to deal with it and think about it. On the other hand, if they somehow survive (my beacon of hope is that Hank is two for two in shootouts and situations like these) it would be an incredible reach by the writers, very "Hollywood" if you will. Worse yet, they could opt to just skip the shoot out and show us the aftermath and move on. I think that last option would cause riots. Its a no-win situation. We are either heavily disappointed, or are rolling our eyes at a miraculous escape. Sigh. Despite the ending of "To Hajiilee" I must say that it is an absolute gem of an episode, a true Breaking Bad classic that had all the aspects of what made this show so good over the years.

We had Walt being his despicable self with his ploy to lure Jesse to Andria's house. We had Hank finally displaying the type of police work that we saw him display when he was on the hunt for Gus. Taking Jesse's phone, figuring out that Walt buried his money, and fleecing Huel were all really good moments and were very fun to watch. The cream of the crop however, was tricking Walt into revealing the location of his buried treasure. Hank created a way in which Walt would have absolutely no chance to call for back-up or see the trap coming. Really good stuff.

Next week literally can not come fast enough. Only. Three. Left.



Overall Rating For This Episode: The tension in this episode was unbearable, the plot was fantastic, and as we round the corner and come into the home stretch; I could not imagine a better way (despite the ending). There is absolutely no doubt that this episode receives a 10/10.

Note: The Ending itself received a -092138120983/10 but it really could not ruin the overall brilliance. 

Best Scene: Everything from the point that Walt saw the picture which he thought was his money all the way through to the gunfight. Absolutely the most dramatic moment of the series to date.

Best Quote: "Walter White... You are under arrest" In what may be some of his last words, there can only be one choice
                                                                                                                                        -Hank

Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 12: "Rabid Dog" Review

Tweet

As always, this review will contain spoilers. If you have not seen the episode yet and do not wish to have it ruined, stop reading now and come back once you have seen it. You have been warned

"Rabid Dog" the title of this episode is a nice homage to "Problem Dog" (season four, episode seven) in the sense that it is all about Jesse and how his actions have stirred the pot once again. Last week we ended with Jesse pouring gasoline all over the White residence. Unlike the previous few episodes, this one did not pick up right at that point (although it easily could have once we saw where Jesse disappeared to) but rather at the point where Walt got to his house and noticed Jesse's car. The events that followed were a bit too "Hollywood" for my liking.

What do I mean by Hollywood? Its when a TV show sacrifices an established premise (in Breaking Bad's case its: meticulous and realistic situations) in favor of more flashy scenes that only serve to either a): advance the plot towards a desired direction quickly so that no one questions it, or b): to have a spectacular scene (think "One Minute") that has fans talking for a while. In one case I accept it and enjoy the fireworks, in the other I am bitterly disappointed and feel that the show can do better. In this episode's case some such events stand out: Walt arriving literally one second after Hank and Jesse leave his house, and the last scene. Man I hated the last scene. What are the odds that a guy who, looks like an absolute thug, is standing at a perfect distance from Walt to make it seem like he is on orders to kill the first person to approach, mean-mugs the entire time, and picks up his daughter three seconds after Jesse threatens Walt? That is pure Hollywood and this show is better than that. I could think of nine different ways that they could have done that scene better.

Having said all that, the episode did have some nice positives. Hank revealing to his partner that he could care less if Jesse dies as long as he gets Walt in the end, Marie (best season for her by far) having very realistic and emotional scenes, Skylar throwing out the suggestion to kill Jesse (at this point I do not think there is a single fan who wants her alive), and lastly, Walt making the call to our old friend Todd (also known as child murderer). This Jesse situation (can we get a clarification from the writers? Lily of the Valley poisoned Brock, not the Ricin! This is a really fristrating plot flaw) has escalated to the point where Walt is asking from help from a dangerous party. Considering the fact that we know (to some extent) what happens a year from now, I am really excited to see how things fall apart. Only four episodes to go.

Overall Rating for this episode: 7.7/10 An underwhelming episode, fueled by unrealistic plot progression that will probably wind up being the worst episode of this season. Let's just get to next week already.

Best Scene: The show runners really want people to say stuff like "OH WOW, IF JESSE ONLY WAITED ONE SECOND" yeah that is not happening. I am going with the scene where Hank convinces Jesse to help him bring down Walt.

Best Quote: "He can't keep getting away with this" - Jesse

Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 11: "Confessions" Review

Tweet

As always, this review will contain spoilers. If you have not seen the episode yet and do not wish to have it ruined, stop reading now and come back once you have seen it. You have been warned.


How good was this episode? It was so good that the last few scenes made you forget about the one that the title is about! That's how good.

The formula of the last three or so episodes has stayed the same: A quick scene of characters not central to the main story at the time, followed by things picking up exactly where last episode left off. In this case it was Todd explaining the train heist to his Nazi crew (leaving out the part where he shot a kid) and said crew asking him if he can handle the Meth cooking load. A ho-hum scene just to keep the story of the empire Walt left behind going so that we can focus on the truly good stuff, the battle between Walt and Hank. After realizing that Hank and Marie would not stop their pursuit of their children, Walter and Skylar decide that the best course of action would be to make a confession tape... with a twist!

Realizing that Hank had no real evidence against him, Walt completely turned the tables on him with his confession tape, which was not really a confession, but rather it was a bunch of intricate lies that painted Hank as the bad guy of the series and Walt as a victim. Amazing. It was the equivalent of Walt adding two random queens to this ongoing chess game between him and Hank. Hank and Marie's reactions also just added to the fun. There have been moments this series where Walt has been an absolute Boss in weaseling out of a jam and this was no exception. Heck, it might have been his best one yet. Poor Hank was so defeated that he did not even try to continue investigating, almost looking like he accepted defeat. Almost.

We expected that confession tape to be the highlight of the episode, with things winding down at the end. This is not the breaking bad style however. Instead of a calm ending to an episode I would have chalked up as further "set-up", we got fireworks. Jesse, all but forced to hit the reset button on his life by Walt and get a new identity with Saul's guy had the sort of revelation that we have been waiting for for almost two years. After meeting with Saul and agreeing to the disappearance, the seemingly minor detail of having Huel lift some marijuana off of Jesse to ensure nothing goes wrong turned into a cataclysmic mistake by Saul. It took the sudden disappearance of his drugs combined with Huel bumping into him when he did not have to, mixed in with a feeling of deja vu for Jesse to connect all of the dots and for the truth to hit him like a train. Walt. Poisoned. Brock. Now, I discussed whether or not the fact that Brock was poisoned by the Lily of the Valley (and NOT ricin) represented a massive plot flaw in the series and we came to a modest conclusion. Jesse knows that ricin was not used, but he also knows that Walt for sure poisoned Brock and that it was not an accident or Gus doing so. This realization was really cleverly foreshadowed earlier in the episode when Jesse broke down and exposed Walt for constantly manipulating things.

The episode ended with Jesse storming into the White residence pouring gasoline all over the place. Like I said, fireworks. Only five episodes remain.

Overall Rating for this episode: 9.4/10 Beautifully acted, beautifully executed, left us wanting more, classic breaking bad right there.

Best Scene (tie) Hank and Marie watching the confession tape, and everything after Jesse realizes that Huel lifted the drugs off of him.

Best Quote: "Can you for once just ask me to do something without trying to manipulate me?" 
                                                                                                                                           -Jesse

Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 10: "Buried" Review

Tweet

As Always, these reviews will contain spoilers. So if you have not gotten the chance to watch this episode and do not wish to have anything ruined, stop reading now and come back once you are caught up. You have been warned.

It was always going to be hard to top "Blood Money" (The episode preceding this one) and I feel like a lot of episodes would seem worse when the bar had been raised so high the week before. Having said that, I probably liked this episode more than most of the people I discussed it with after watching it. In every sense, "Buried" is a set up episode that needs to exist to string us along to the next major event of the series. It contained a lot of substance with very little flash.

After a brief scene of a lucky individual finding the cash Jesse was distributing, Robin Hood style, across Albuquerque, and seeing Jesse in his patented 'down on the world' state, the episode picked up literally where it left off last week. Now, I do not know if they plan on having all of the episodes this season directly pick up where the last one ended, but I will say that I really enjoyed it and the way in which it was done. Hank wastes no time in trying to gather the evidence against Walt and immediately calls a shell-shocked Skylar to recruit her to testify against Walt's crimes. Fearing for her own freedom, Skylar refuses to be interrogated and creates great tension between herself and Marie (who is obviously upset that Skylar wont help close the case on why Hank was shot, although I think trying to take the baby was a but much).

The rest of the episode is a classic Walt-scrambles-to-cover-his-tracks episode that was a staple of the early seasons. He recruits Saul's 'security' to transport the money over to him in a van so that Walt can bury it in the desert. After that, he and Skylar agree that the best course of action would be to stay quiet, as Hank does not have concrete evidence against Walt. Problem solved right? Not if Lydia (dime) and Todd (child murderer) have anything to say about it. Lydia takes the meth quality problem into her own hands and visits Declan's meth enclave in the middle of nowhere. Now, even though Declan's crew was smart enough to blind-fold her, they were not smart enough to make sure she did not have anything else on her, say a tracking device, that could cause their enclave to be found out. So Lydia's solution to the poor meth quality? Kill everyone on this side of the business in an attempt to re-instate Todd as the main cook, so that her Czech Republic buyer will continue to buy the meth from her.

This is where we could have gotten an awesome scene of Todd and his crew having a gunfight against Declan's crew. Sadly, we got no such scene. The scene we did get was: Lydia cowering in a corner of the underground Meth lab and then refusing to open her eyes for the carnage once it was over (might be time to rethink your life choices Lydia). Yeah, can't really blame anyone for being disappointed here. We did get an amazing cliff-hanger at the end of the episode however, as Hank entered an interrogation room that was holding Jesse. What happens from this point is anyone's guess, I would really like next episode to open with Jesse and Hank in the interrogation room, which would continue the trend of an immediate continuation that we have seen over the last three episodes. One final thing: There is a very cool theory circulating on the internet that points out that Walt takes on the traits of people he has killed (cutting the crust off his sandwiches like Crazy-8, Driving a Volvo like Gus, taking his hard liquor on the rocks like Mike used to). I will just leave you with the fact that in the flash-forward scene from last week's episode he was wearing Jesse's jacket and using an ID with Skylar's maiden name. Six episodes left.

Overall score for this episode: 7.9/10 Nothing spectacular, something tells me this will be the lowest rated episode of the season.

Best Scene: Let's go with Lydia orchestrating the desert massacre

Best Quote: "Please don't let all I have done... be for nothing" - Walt