Review: Breaking Bad "Confessions"

Just a few quick words on the opening scene: I Hate Todd… That is all. Really though, after last week’s cliffhanger, (Hank preparing to interrogate Jesse for the first time since nearly beating him to death,) why do we have to have a Todd scene first? And he’s so stupid! Telling these random drug dealers about the train heist, using names, he just has no clue. And the idea of him running a meth lab on his own is just scary.

 So Hank and Jessie. Hank just drops it, “I know my brother-in-law is Heisenberg.” Jessie is surprised, but keeps up the silent treatment. Maybe Jessie does want to talk, but he won’t talk to Hank today. Before long, Saul busts in and Jessie is released.

You have to feel bad for Walt Jr. Marie trying to lure him over to her house, Walt dropping the cancer bomb to get him to stay, and besides the baby, he’s now the most clueless person around.

Walt is confessing, yay! Or not. But first, the Worst Family Lunch Ever. Really, all my sympathy here was for the waiter. Hank and Marie Vs. Walt and Skyler. Walt tries to sell Hank on keeping quiet for the sake of Walt Jr., but Hank isn’t buying. He even mentions kicking in Walt’s door to arrest him. And that makes sense. Hank is a cop first and a husband second, and I really can’t see him letting Walt get away with it. Marie has a simple solution, Walt should kill himself. Thanks Marie, that was helpful. Ssshhhh. Adults are talking. So anyway, Hank wants a confession, so Walt leaves him one, in DVD form. His story is simple, Hank is a meth kingpin who has been forcing Walt to cook for him. Hank engineered the death of Gustavo Fring, forcing Walt to build the bomb. The confession by itself is sobering and believable, but the real clincher is when Walt mentions paying Hank’s medical bills. Of course, Marie then has to explain to Hank that she accepted “gambling money” from  Skyler and Walt. And yeah, that looks bad. In fact, it looks like Hank accepted almost two hundred grand in drug money. So now Hank knows he can’t come forward until he has something concrete about Walt.

Walt and Jessie. Ugh. They meet out in the desert (with Saul) and Walt suggests that maybe Jessie needs a change of pace. Maybe he should give Saul’s new-identity guy a call. Hell, Walt wishes he could switch places with Jessie, blah blah.  The whole father-son manipulation thing finally gets to Jessie and he calls Walt on it. “Just tell me you don’t give a shit about me. Tell me it’s this or you’ll kill me, like you killed Mike!”  And just when we think Walt can’t mess Jessie’s head up any more, he gives him a big hug.

Why is Hank going to work? Why is he using work resources to tail Jessie? If he’s determined to catch Walt without the DEA’s help, he needs to take some time off.

Jessie prepares to disappear, deciding on Alaska as a final destination. As he leaves, he bumps into Hewell, who steals the weed from his pocket. Jessie realizes this a little later, and makes the connection to the pack of cigarettes that held the ricin poison. So sorry, Team Walt, Jessie isn’t going anywhere.

Mixed feelings here. I was kind of rooting for Jessie to get out of town, but I like the idea of him learning just how evil Walt is before he goes, From poisoning Brock, to letting Jane die, Walt has a lot to answer for.

So Jessie smacks Saul around until he admits stealing the ricin at Walt’s request. Jessie leaves, and Saul calls Walt. Cut to Walt dropping by the car wash to pick up his Really Cold Gun. (He’s been keeping it in the soda machine.) Meanwhile, Jessie kicks in Walt’s front door and douses the house in gasoline. No sign of the kids, day care and school, maybe? And…credits. Gotta love these cliffhanger endings.

Overall, great episode. The thing that I think is interesting is how your loyalties change over time. Personally, I no longer have any sympathy for Walt, and very little for Skyler. I feel bad for Jessie, since he’s been mostly a pawn, but his hands aren’t clean either. No, I’m Team Hank now, and we took a big hit with Walt’s confession, but between Jessie, Todd, Skyler, and Lydia, someone is bound to talk soon. For the record, my money is on Jessie.