It’s been a year since AMC’s hit drama Breaking Bad graced our television screens. Viewers were left with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger last year. DEA agent Hank Schrader discovered the identity of the elusive meth kingpin, Heisenberg, while he was on the toilet in Walter White’s house. Making it the number one toilet-related moment in television history, unless Game of Thrones decides to follow the books for season 4. Episode 09 “Blood Money” starts off with a little future flash of a ginger-bearded Walt looking through his former house. The house is now condemned with a chain-link fence surrounding it and it is only home to the various pests and skateboarders who trespass to skate in the empty pool. Walt maneuvers around the ruins of his former home to pick up the ricin he previously hid before retreating back outside where he encounters a former neighbor who looks and acts like she’s just watched a man rise from the grave.
After the title sequence we are taken right back to where last year’s final episode left us. Now that Hank has figured out that Heisenberg is his own brother-in-law, he seems to have experienced a panic attack. He clutches the book Gale gave Walt like it’s his life support and shuffles through Walt’s house. Viewers are treated to a disorientated POV view as Hank wrangles Marie away from the White family all while giving Walt an incredulous look. Driving home, Hank is still disorientated while the purple- clad queen, Marie, chatters in his ear about a trip to Europe that Skyler and Walt plan to take. Hank ends the conversation by crashing into some poor man’s fence and begins to have a conniption and is taken to the emergency room. Luckily it’s discovered that he did not have a heart attack but he still does not want Skyler to be informed of this latest malady, probably as to not tip off Walt that something is up. Hank then wanders off to his personal Heisenberg files and after a quick handwriting analysis he discovers that the writing he has on file matches the writing in the book he took from Walt’s house. Therefore proving that Walt is in fact Heisenberg. Quelle surprise.
Now that Walt claims he’s out of the meth business, he’s diving head first into the car wash he bought to help launder his drug money. While working the register, Lydia, the high-strung Madrigal employee, stops by to inform Walt that the business is failing without him and things aren’t falling into place like they should be. Walt responds by telling her that he doesn’t care and sends her away. Skyler, having witnessed the encounter, tells Lydia off and demands that she never show her face around them again.
Hank took some days off from work but instead of obsessing over minerals he has all the boxes of evidence concerning Heisenberg sent to his house. He goes through a manic period that would make Homeland’s Carrie Mathison proud. He begins to piece together evidence trying to find out if Walt truly tied in as Heisenberg. It’s actually really nice to look through old pieces of evidence and be reminded of past seasons of the show. It was a great way to piece the show together and to see how far the show has really come. Hank comes across the sketch of Heisenberg and realizes what the viewers knew all along- the sketch looks a lot like Walt in sunglasses and a hat. It’s like when people realize Clark Kent was superman all along. Eye-wear goes a long way when it comes to hiding a secret identity.
27 minutes in and we finally get the first spotting of Jesse Pinkman. Jesse has been beating himself up over the death of the young boy in the desert, and not even the comedy stylings of Badger and Skinny Pete can raise his spirits. Their Star Trek discussion causes Jesse to leave his own house with two bags of money. Perhaps he’s more of a Star Wars fan? In any case, Jesse hightails it to Saul Goodman’s office. It’s there that he lays down the two bags of money Walt had given him and informs Saul that the money is to be split. 2.5 million will go to Mike Ehrmantraut’s granddaughter, Kaylee, and the other 2.5 million will go to the parent’s of the boy Todd killed in the desert, Drew Sharp. Saul is flabbergasted by Jesse’s request and calls Walt at a later time, alerting him of Jesse’s decision. Walt informs Saul that Jesse’s idea is a horrible one. As he is talking to Saul we see that Walt is back in chemotherapy. A direct sign that Walt’s cancer has made it’s ugly return.
Walt shows up at Jesse’s house and tries to talk him out of giving away the money. Jesse admits that his guilt is eating him up inside and he wants nothing to do with the blood money they have received. Walt does what he does best and tries to manipulate and lie to Jesse. Jesse believes that Mike is dead and that Walt has something to do with it and Walt shows how low he truly is by lying to Jesse about Mike and the circumstances of his disappearance.
Walt continues his lying streak by pretending that he is a-okay during a family dinner. He manages to make to the bathroom in time to vomit due to the chemotherapy treatment. While in the bathroom Walt realizes that the book Gail gave him is missing. He looks for it around the house and asks Skyler if she had seen it. Sensing that something is wrong, Walt asks after Hank. Realizing that Hank may have seen the book, Walt goes out late at night and checks his car where he finds a shocking discovery. Someone had attached a GPS tracking device to the bottom of his car, Walt takes this as a sign that Hank is indeed on Walt’s trail now.
Jesse, still reeling in guilt, after being persuaded by Walt not to give the money to Mike’s granddaughter and Drew Sharp’s parents, decides to just hand the money out to whomever will take it. He starts by giving money to a homeless man and then he drives to an impoverished neighborhood and throws money out of the window with a pained look on his face.
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Walt drives over to Hank’s house as Hank is talking to fellow coworkers over his disappearance from the workplace. Hank tries to hide the evidence before Walt can get a glimpse of it. The two eye each other and begin a dance filled with awkward small talk. They both try to measure each other up, all the while knowing the truth about each other. Walt ends the mindless conversation by bring up the tracker he found on his car. At this point Hank closes the garage door and delivers a punch onto Walt’s face. Hank pushes Walt up against the garage door and confronts Walt saying that he knows Walt is Heisenberg. Walt tries his best to deflect and deny the truth by confiding in Hank that his cancer has returned, so there may be a chance he’ll never see a jail cell even if Hank is lucky enough to convict him. Hank is admonished at the change in Walt and wonders if he knows who Walt really is. Walt then chillingly, not-so-discretely, threatens Hank that he should tread lightly around Walt from now on.
Wow, this episode was really well done. Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris delivered an amazing performance during the final scene. Hank is like a dog with a bone, he will not let this go and this episode is just setting up the pieces for the final showdown between Hank and Walt. The final episodes of Breaking Bad are no doubt going to be a heart-stopping experience that will no doubt keep viewers on their toes.
Rating: 9/10
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Here’s a promo for next week’s episode “Buried”
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