Breaking Bad - Buried Recap

In the ABQ, the early bird is about to get very lucky.  An older bearded man leaves his house before sunrise and goes to crank up his old cherry red Ford truck. He spies something on his driveway.  It’s not the morning paper, that’s for sure.  Beardy gingerly picks up the stack of cash.  He spies another stack, and another, and just as he accrues enough to never need to wake up before the crack of dawn ever again, he spies a red light.  He tentatively makes his way down the hill and finds the owner of the car.  Jesse is slowly pushing himself in circles on a merry go round in desperate need of some WD-40.  He appears to have lost his mind grapes.

Back to the Schrader household.  Walt slowly backs out of Hanks garage.  He gets into his car and peels away, almost smashing into the neighbor kids yellow remote control car.  (Once again, WTF is up with this yellow car?  Is there symbolism here or am I just reaching?)  Walt gets on the phone to reach Skyler, but Hank has already beaten him to it.    

Skyler meets Hank at a diner, and they share a super awkward hug.  Once seated, Hank leans across the table, arms outstretched, and Skyler huddles on her side of the booth. In all likelihood she’s probably still creeped out by that hug.   Hank is way too excited and moves too fast into ASAC Schrader mode, whipping out a tape recorder to make it all official-like.  Skyler asks for a lawyer, which throws Hank off guard, and then shocks him by throwing a tantrum.  She repeatedly shrieks “Am I under arrest?!?!?!?!” with increasing intensity until Hank releases her.  I love the height disparity in this scene, with Skyler having not only the crafty bitch advantage over Hank, but the height advantage to boot.

Meanwhile, Huell and Kuby go to the storage locker, picking the lock easily.  With a ‘woosh’  the sheet is off, and the lackeys are treated to an eyeball popping view of the money bed.  It takes Huell less than three seconds to decide he wants to snuggle up on the cash, moaning with satisfaction.  Kuby quickly follows suit.  It’s an impressive pile of cash that can support two grown men, especially if one of them is Huell.  I adore these moments of levity in BB.  The guys are there to move the cash for their client, but Huell tosses out “Mexico” as an option.  Kuby won’t hear of it.  Heisenberg is everywhere.  

Back at the Parthenon of shady law practices, Walt and Saul commiserate over what their next move should be.  Walt listens to Saul.  He needs Saul.  And when he responds to Saul’s comment that they should send Hank “on a trip to Belize”, Walt almost playfully retorts “I’ll send you to Belize”.  (Side note – With the exception of Jesse, it seems of very little consequence to Walt that everyone knows he offed Mike.  It’s almost as if he counts it as another notch in the ole Heisenberg belt, another reason for people to fear and respect him.  But where would he be without Saul?  No one to launder his money or do his dirty paperwork.  Even without the potential spin off rumors, I give Saul a fighting chance at surviving through the series finale.)

Huell and Kuby arrive with the cash, and exchange a giddy glance as Walt notes that the piles are “close enough”.  Walt takes the keys to the van and gives one last directive: “Find Jesse”. 

(Side note – Why does Walt want Jesse at this point?  To save his own hide, or to save Jesses?  A bit of both?  Walt certainly must feel a sense of responsibility, as it was his hubris that led to Hank’s discovery of the book.  Yet on the other hand Walt’s instinct has been leaning more towards self-preservation than rectifying wrongs, so what could he possibly want Saul to do with Jesse once he locates him?)

Walt travels to the scorching desert, a van stuffed with fortune gently bobbing among the cacti.  He stops at a bare patch of land and begins to dig.

While her husband toils in the desert, Skyler paces at home.  This time, Marie gets to be the one who knocks.  Skyler lets her in, and they sit down in the bedroom to talk.  The room is tense, and Marie does most of the talking.  She slowly recalls every questionable story from the past year, reading the answers clearly on her sisters stricken face.  When she gets to the part where she realizes Skyler knew about the money for Hank’s health care, it’s just all too much.  Marie wings her palm at Skylers crumpled face, and makes a grand exit.  But not before she snatches the baby. Marie pounds on the window for Hank’s help, but he ends up siding with Skyler, aware that they have no grounds to take Holly. 

More digging from Walt.  Montage time!  Walt is creating a ginormous hole.  Usually people bury bodies in the desert, but this is a way larger hole, with at least eight tubs full of money to stash.  For some odd reason, he doesn’t seem to have brought any water.  Guess he didn’t learn his lesson from the RV days.  Walt is meticulous about covering his tracks and then finds the coordinates with a GPS.   He memorizes the numbers, not even bothering to write them down, and then smashes the device. 

Returning home, Walt hangs a lotto ticket with the coordinates on the fridge.  Wouldn’t it be a hoot if they won? Walt slowly goes into the bedroom.  Skyler is worried, concerned.  Walt gets undressed, showcasing those tighty whities for the second time in as many episodes.  Then he promptly collapses on the floor. 

Time passes, and when Walt comes to Skyler is doting on him with a washcloth compress.  I feel like it’s of note that Walt is still wearing his wedding ring while Skyler is not.  It’s clear that Walt still loves Skyler.  And when she says “The cancers back”, he confronts the reality that he might lose her, asking “Does that make you happy?”.  Her answer is not great, but it’s what Walt needs to continue.  He opens up emotionally to Skyler, and admits that Hank finding out was solely his fault.  Walt appears to be genuine and serious when he tells Skyler to turn him in, but keep the money.  Surprising the men in her life for the second time that day, Skyler responds to Walt’s request with her own calculated move.  This time she’s the one who refuses to give in.  She tells Walt that Hank has no definitive proof, and tastes her words carefully as she says “Maybe our best move here would be to stay quiet”.  Ladies and Gentlemen please join me in welcoming for the first time, as a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Heisenberg. 

We are then treated to the answer of the age-old question - Who wears Louboutins to a meth lab?  Answer - It’s Lydia! She meets up with Declan and makes her case to see the lab, which is ‘buried’ (hey, that’s the name of this episode!)  and it’s filthy.  Lydia rolls her eyes at Declan’s lack of Heisenbergness (Heisenbergity?) and asserts herself.  Why didn’t they use Todd?  Because Todd started a fire.  Whoops.  Still, potential exploding meth labs appear to be a risk Lydia’s willing to take if it bumps up the purity of her product a few percentage points.  Declan’s guys spot a car, and Lydia goes to her phone, beeping in a message.  She hunkers down as men above are massacred on what appears to be her command. Todd carefully and politely extracts her from the lab, guiding her around the maze of felled bodies.  For a drug lord, Lydia certainly has her hang ups. 

Hank and Marie talk in the kitchen.  We find out why Hank doesn’t want to go back to work.  Marie ends up making a solid point, convincing Hank to return. (Side note – Hank’s comment “At least I can be the guy who caught him” recalls a moment from a few seasons ago where Junior shows Walt a book Hank had given him about the man who caught Pablo Escobar.  Walt unwittingly handed Hank this glory, to be the man who caught a drug king pin.  Yet Hank still knows that Walt will get the recognition and live in infamy if he is apprehended.)

Hank goes back to work and gamely banters with his old friend. He requests to set up a conference call with his boss to “get back up to speed”.  But then good ole Gomie drops the bombshell -“you hear about that money thing?” 

Jesse doesn’t speak at all in this episode.  The cops have him in custody, but he isn’t offering any explanations, and isn’t requesting anything.  Hank goes down, almost jumping out of his skin with excitement and gets the cops to agree to let him “keep an eye on their suspect”.  Hank walks in and…..

YEEEARRRGHHHH!!! NOOOOOO!!!  WHHYYYY???? 

This is why I love you BB.  Always keeping me on my toes.  Six episodes remaining.