Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 9: "Blood Money" Review

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As always, these reviews will contain major spoilers so from this point on its on you.

Well that was one hell of a way to kick off the last eight episodes of the series wasn't it?

For starters, I really enjoyed the fact that, following another flash-forward scene, "Blood Money" picked up literally moments after the end of last year's mid-season finale. The writers produced a truly intriguing sequence that was all kinds of fun to watch. From Hank hiding the book in his bag, to the awkward getaway from the lunch, to his episode (of what I am assuming is his post traumatic stress disorder acting up again) in the car, everything about the scene reminded me of why I missed this show so much. The episode only got better from there.

We quickly saw that Walter could never truly be out, and that his 'Heisenberg' persona would always weigh heavily on his life. First it was Lydia coming to the car-wash in an attempt to get Walter back into the game, something Skylar (was this her first truly great moment of the series?) was having none of. Then it was Jesse attempting to give money to the families who have been affected by Walter White's rampage of evil, something that Walter quickly tried to stop by visiting Jesse again. Following those events, Walter realized that Hank is onto him which culminated in their tense confrontation at the end of the episode (something I will discuss in more detail shortly). So now we see that things were not so neatly tied up as we thought. A particularly intriguing aspect of this episode was Jesse spiraling down into an endless pool of guilt. He knows Walt well enough at this point to correctly assume that he took care of Mike. The way Aaron Paul acted out the scene where Walter "needed" him to believe tells me that Jesse did not in fact believe him, but rather Walt's lies only confirmed Jesse's suspicions. I am really interested in seeing how Jesse will (if at all) snap out of his latest funk and how it will impact the final seven episodes.

"Blood Money" was filled with many small scenes that only served to add to the entertainment of the episode. Jesse smoking in Saul's waiting room, Walter discussing expanding his car-wash empire with an indifferent Skylar, Skinny Pete and Badger having baked discussions about star trek, Hank re-opening the W.W. investigation were all small scenes that felt way bigger in the grand scheme of things just because of the way they were shot and acted. Without bogging this review down with too much details, lets get to the jewel of this episode: the match-up we have been waiting for all series: Walt vs. Hank (suffice to say round one did not disappoint at all). The beauty of Breaking Bad is that you never exactly know what is about to happen. When Walt found the tracker on his car and asked Hank about it, all bets were off. Was Hank about to arrest him? Would Walt kill him in cold blood and go on the run? Was the tracker maybe Lydia's? Well some of those questions were answered right away and some still linger. Bottom line, the face to face discussion between the brothers in-law was not only one of the most tense moments of the episode, but of the series as well. Once the scene ended and credits started rolling, there was an ominous silence in the room (I viewed the episode with a couple of friends) basically everyone trying to wrap their mind around how awesome that moment was.

That silence after an episode is when you know that it is a great one. Only seven left.

Overall score for this episode: 9/10 A fantastic opener to the final eight which added even more great moments to an already fantastic show.

Best Scene: Come on. Can it really be anything other than the immediate aftermath of Hank closing the garage leaving him and Walter isolated for one of the best lines of the series? Speaking of which.

Best Quote: "If you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly"

That is it for this week, man it is good to be back.

Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 4: 'Fifty-One' Review

Tweet One of the really good things about writing reviews about shows you love, is that you get to watch some episodes multiple times. In the case of breaking bad, second (and sometimes even third) viewings of the same episode will often enable the viewer to spot something that he or she may have missed initially. 'Fifty-One' was definitely one of those episodes you had to watch multiple times in order to catch all the details. The episode itself was significantly slower and less explosive than the ones preceding it, making it easily the worst episode of this season so far. However, being the worst episode in this season is not a bad thing at all. In fact, the episode was actually really good, its only 'flaw' is that it was not as good as the three that came before it. One of the reasons that breaking bad is such a good show is that it is remarkably consistent. Yes, some episodes like 'Problem Dog', or 'One Minute' leave us in shock and awe at how brilliant they are, but the set up leading to those episodes is just as good. Breaking bad rarely has bad episodes, just ones that are not spectacular.

So what were the aspects of 'Fifty-One' that made the episode good? For one, it gave us a nice reference point to the show in general. It has been exactly a year since all of this began, as we have come full-circle to Walt's fifty first birthday. Unlike his fiftieth birthday however, things are very different for Walt. His only present came from his meth-cooking partner, his relationship with his wife has deteriorated to a point that is beyond repair, and most disturbingly of all: Walt is doing nothing to change these facts. He is healthy enough to continue his teaching career, he and Skyler own a car-wash that he could manage, and his son is about to graduate high school and go to college. Given the fact that Walter was only given a short time to live the year prior, you would think that he would jump on the chance to be able to lead a normal life again. Breaking bad however, is a show where you slowly deteriorate to the point that you may never be good again, and it looks like Walter White has reached that point. Everything from the arrogance of selling his car for $50 to his chilling conversation with Skyler (where he shot down every single idea she had to stop him) is both a testament to Bryan Cranston's acting (seriously... this was the dad in Malcolm in the middle!) and the fall from grace of Walter White. At this point, everyone who watches this show expects him to die, we are just waiting to see how it will happen.

I also just realized that I am more than halfway through this review and have not even touched on other things about this episode. Lydia planting the GPS tracker on the barrel (and Mike figuring it out in the time it takes you to read this sentence) was a nice twist, although I wish we could have seen what Walt's suggestion was at the end of the episode. It looks like Lydia will be spared (and honestly, Mike broke through with his 'half measure's' speech in season 3, and since then he has done nothing but half measures, he needs to step things up) and with each episode that she stays alive, the more likely it is that she will be the one that eventually leads to Walt's demise. I don't really have much more to add other than to share some theories that I heard while discussing the show with colleagues. The ticking clock at the end of the episode stops at exactly '52', you may remember that the first images of the season was a flash-forward to Walt's fifty-second birthday. Is this the day he will die? Seems like a cool way for the writers to set us up: "We know that you know Walt will die, but do you know how?". Another interesting theory I heard is that Skyler took up smoking again to try and get Walters cancer to return (I love this theory and will discuss it more in the future).

That will be it for this week, next week there will be a more in-depth review. Enjoy your week everybody!

Overall score for this episode: 8/10
Best scene: Walter asking Skyler how she intends to stop him

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 9: Bug Review

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WARNING: Full Spoilers Ahead.

Breaking Bad continues to impress after its slow start to the season. Last week offered us a background episode on the show’s most secretive character, Gus, and gave us insight on why he’s such a badass and why he despises the cartel. In the latest episode, titled “Bug”, we were back on track with the current story. The title may sound familiar to the bottle neck episode (one with a lower budget) in season 3, “Fly”, and whether you hated or loved that episode, you should know that this episode is nothing like it. In that episode, Walt and Jesse were trapped inside their lab for the whole episode trying to catch a fly so that it does not contaminate their product (you can see how that episode could deal with a lower budget). In “Bug”, there is a lot of violence, a lot more blood, and it is overall a much better episode.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 6: "Cornered" Review

Tweet Yes I do realize that this review is a little bit late, but that wont change the fact that there will be some spoilers but I seriously doubt that you have not seen the episode yet.


We opened up with another scene of a 'pollos' truck being attacked, this time the attackers were a bit smarter and the defenders were not Mike.  After a couple of minutes the truck is easily overtaken and the blue meth is stolen.  It took a bit of time to get back to this scene and what it meant due to other plot-lines but it was worth the wait.  The way the entire opening scene was filmed was very entertaining and well done by all parties involved.

Elsewhere, Skyler and Walt discuss Walter's behaviour at last night's dinner where Walt all but told Hank that Gale is not the guy he is trying to catch.  Walter attributed it to the alcohol but Skyler hit on an interesting point.  She theorizes that a small part of Walt wants Hank to catch him, just so all of this could be over.  I found this interesting because it offered up an alternate to the 'Walt wants to be in control' theory I made in the last review.  Could Walter secretly just be wanting this to end?  Another character also gave us something to ponder, Walter Jr.  It was refreshing seeing him get some screen time finally and he did not disappoint.  The scene where he compares Walt's 'gambling' to something he can not control, causing Walter to counter that whatever he is doing he is doing on his own free will was an excellent scene in my opinion.  I know that it is difficult to include Jr. more in these episodes but having him in periodically raises the quality of the show, he is the true voice of innocence and it is important to hear him.

We can't go on in this review without mentioning Skyler.  After seeing Walt's fury she decided to just run away... or at least it looked like she wanted to, but then she decided to head back and had a phenomenal line: "someone has to protect this family from the man protecting it".  At this point she is just like Walt from season one; willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that her loved ones will be safe.  Say what you will about her (and I still despise her as a character) but you have to respect the character (not like but respect) for the way she has grown this season.  Lastly we get to everyone's favorite plot: the growing drug war and Jesse.  Mike tracks down the stolen blue meth, and in a classic 'young gun does something reckless but succeeds causing his older, wiser partner to accept him more' scene Jesse helps Mike retrieve it.  I do find it cool that Jesse is proving himself to Gus and Mike (even receiving some props from Gus!) and that it may ultimately end the tension between them, but I can't help but think Walter's 'driving a wedge between us' theory might be right. We'll see.  On the war front, Gus tells Mike to set up a meeting with the opposing gang(s) so now it will be exciting seeing that unfold.  There are about a million ways the story could unfold, but we now know that Breaking Bad will not go beyond a 5th season.  So the end is coming, we just do not know how.  This was a very good episode and hopefully then remaining ones will be too

rating: 8.4/10
Best scene: The attack on the 'pollos' truck

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 5: "Shotgun" Review

Tweet You probably noticed that episode 4 was not reviewed.  This was due to some circumstances, but had I written a review for it, the episode would have received a 9/10 it was the best episode of this season hands down.  As always, these reviews may (probably will) contain spoilers so if you don't want to be spoiled go watch the episode first.

I have to admit, the last episode left me wanting to see this one quite a bit.  We were left with Jesse and Mike taking a drive to who-knows-where and Walter freaking out.  The writers did not disappoint us here, choosing to pick up right where last episode left off.  We are treated to some GTA style driving from Walt as he is telling Saul to leave all his money to his wife, followed by him leaving a very emotional message to Skyler at their voice machine.  This scene was done really well and more importantly felt realistic.  It was not just Walt weaving in and out of lanes, but cars were actually getting out of his way and pedestrians looked horrified.  The context of him leaving the messages told us that he was going to do something drastic and he did, getting out at the 'pollos' restaurant and demanding to see Gus.  But as we are getting accustomed to it this season, Gus was not there, instead we got the obligatory call from Mike assuring Walter that Jesse was fine and would not be in trouble.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 2: "Thirty-eight Snub" Review

Tweet Sorry this review took a bit of time, with Champions league action underway and The addition of a new staff member (check out his debut article for us here)  I only recently had enough time to put together this review.  As always, there may be spoilers ahead so beware and enjoy!

After the way season three of Breaking Bad ended,  it almost feels awkward watching season four's much slower pace.  The wonderful thing about Breaking Bad is that it can set whatever pace it wants and the quality of the program will not suffer.  'Thirty-eight snub', like 'box cutter' moves slowly, but is developing some key story points for later.  One of these points is Walt's continuing character development.  Remember in season one how all we wanted was for him to succeed?  How bad-ass he looked at times playing the role of his alter-ego 'Heisenberg'?  All of that is gone now.  He has truly broke bad, and at this point it really is tough to root for him like we once did.  Major props have to go to Bryan Cranston for portraying this change of character in Walter White as the series moved along.  It really is unbelievable that this guy was once the dad from 'Malcolm in the Middle'.

In this episode we see how Walter is attempting to cope with his current situation, an uneasy relationship with his employer Gus.  While the logical thing for him to do would be to just keep cooking and leave it at that (after all, he always wanted a professional relationship in the meth business).  However, Walt has his own way of dealing with things and apparently can not co-exist with Gus anymore.  Here we are treated to a nice scene portraying how Walt has changed from a moral stand point.  Back in season one he flat out refused to commit murder, now?  He is buying a gun with no cereal number, intending to use it on Gus.  The Breaking Bad staff as usual does a nice job of making the scene feel realistic.  I do not know much about buying guns illegally, but what I saw in this episode feels accurate enough.  Ultimately Walt does not kill Gus, at least not in this episode, but who knows anymore?  The reasons for this can be summed up in two words: intelligence and Mike.  Gus is far too intelligent to allow him self to be vulnerable at this point as he has correctly guessed Walt's plan. On the other hand, Mike is way too skilled to let Walt even think of getting within 50 feet of Gus.  This combination will make it difficult for Walt to do anything and when he tried to get Mike to betray Gus in this episode, he got a much deserved beating.