As always, there will be spoilers in this review, you have been warned.
Now that was a really good episode. The pacing, tone, story, and acting (acting has never actually been in question with this series, but it still warrants mentioning) were all top notch. I don't think that it is merely coincidence that the formula: less Skyler = better episode came into play here. As I have stated before, Skyler's story-lines only seem to get in the way of the main plot, while at the same time managing to be horrendously boring and uninteresting. Less Skyler means more Mike, a really under-rated character in my opinion, I get that what he does is popular among breaking bad fans, but his actual character might be the best one on the show. I will touch on that point as I go through the episode in more detail.
When I reviewed the opening episode of season 5, I stated that I liked how the writers were covering up all of the logical loose ends that season 4 had left open. This episode continued to do just that. For the second episode in a row, the opening scene had nothing to do with the present-day "main" characters, yet it had everything to do with them. The company that supplied Gustavo Fring's drug empire with equipment for the meth lab (the one in Germany) is being investigated. Sensing the end, the owner/accomplice of the company commits suicide (via electrocution with a defibrillator) only adding to the ongoing investigation led by our favorite cop Hank. After the DEA meets with the rest of the company, we find out that Hank's boss is apparently being forced to resign. The resignation itself is not interesting to talk about, but its the speech that comes with it that really made me smile. Hank's boss reminisces about how Gus was under his nose the whole time and how he would never have suspected him of being a drug lord. Directly paralleling Hank and Walt! Breaking bad has foreshadowed many times before, but this one might have been the best yet.
Elsewhere, Walter has seemingly finished covering up all of his loose ends (he does this by finally 'letting' Jesse find the Risen cigarette) while still holding on to the risen, which he hides in a very good place (behind an electrical outlet). Despite "winning the lottery" as Saul tells him, Walter decides to do something that a person who wins the lottery almost never does, and that is "buy another lottery ticket" (this episode had some awesome quotes). That's right, we are going back to cooking meth! Walt's motivation is the fact that he is $40,000 under and sees a huge market that he can fill. Interestingly enough, with his chilling quote to Skyler at the end of the episode, about how it "gets easier" it really does seem that the streak of evil will not come to a stop so easily for Walter White. Jesse, being ever so loyal to Walt, decides to cook with him again, a curious decision until you realize that cooking meth is about the only thing Jesse is good at in his life. Of course, they can't do it alone so they tried (and initially failed) to recruit Mike to help them out.
Now, this is where we get to dig a little deeper into Mike's character, whose development throughout the series has been a joy to watch. In this episode he is more than content to retire from criminal activities, even giving us another great speech (the ticking time bomb one to Walt) in the process. Why is he willing to retire? Because he has secured his granddaughter's future by putting over two million dollars to her name. That's it. That was his whole motivation for being the muscle in Gustavo Fring's operation, and unlike Walt (who also was in it just to help his family out initially) Mike was seemingly happy with just ending it and living out his days peacefully. Unfortunately for Mike, others in the organization are not so willing. First he gets approached by a very paranoid woman who asks him to kill "the eleven people who can sink us", he then foils an attempt to kill him, and shares a great scene with Hank once he is brought in for questioning (talking about that scene wont do it justice, just go and watch it again) about his involvement in Gus's empire. At the end of the episode however, Mike has a change of heart (because the police have effectively taken all of the money that is in his granddaughter's name) and decides to accept Walt's offer to be partners.
Episodes like this are rare. It was meant to be a slow-paced 'building-up' type of episode, but the way in which it was done made it fly by. The character motivations are clear and well established, the story progression made sense, and the episode did not try to be too flashy. In one episode, the writers have managed to string together a solid plot for season 5: police investigation closing in, while Walt gets closer to exploding. Just who will be in the blast radius remains to be seen.
Overall rating for this episode 9/10 - Well executed, no wasted scenes, and sets the season off on the right track.
Best Scene: Hank and his partner interrogating Mike, with the back and forth between the two being really fun.
Check back later for a review of 'The Dark Knight Rises'
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