Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 11

Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 11, “Confessions”

This week’s episode of Breaking Bad was another example of how the show’s writers have manage so many times to lead their characters into apparent dead end situations before climaxing with another twist that raises the tension and the stakes even higher for next week’s episode.

After the conclusion of last week’s episode with Walt & Skyler agreeing to lay low and find a way out of there seemly inescapable situation, this week’s ‘confessions’ saw Walt trying to find a way to achieve this. Walt’s desperate need of an exit strategy by this point means that he has no problem manipulating anyone close to him if it gives him what he wants. The list of people given this Walter White treatment now includes Walter Junior. After realizing that Marie is trying to keep Junior away from him and the house inviting him round to ‘help her with her computer’ Walt responds by using his returning cancer into guilt tripping his son to stay with him.

Following this was a great restaurant confrontation between the White and the Schraders as they discussed the solutions to the situation. In this confrontation Walt uses the fact that his son has just learnt about his returning cancer as a reason for Hank to back off showing brilliantly the levels of manipulation Walt is prepared to go to.

I had always wondered how Hank would deal with Walt if he ever found and it’s great to see that he is in no way sentimental to the motives of his brother in law, with his anger and sheer desire to put Walt behind bars not relenting. Walt’s initial suggestions that his guilt cannot be proved and that he will die before he can prove anything seems to have given Hank even greater incentive to catch him. Hank quickly rejects this idea that Walt’s criminal empire (which he still denies) can die with him. Hanks only solution is voiced when he states, “Step up, be a man, and admit what you’ve done. That’s it. There is no other option.”

Well as it turns out there is. Walt slides over a disc containing his confession; his confession that he was involved in cooking crystal meth under the influence and instruction of a Mr. Hank Schrader in partnership with Gus Fring until a recent fall out which had led to an attempt on Hank’s life and the subsequent murder of Gus under Hanks orders. This was a great scene as Walt has constantly justified his actions as being for his families protection and we had assumed up until now that Hank & Marie had always at least been partially included in that bracket. Here however, Walt is prepared to blackmail Hank with the threat of sending him to prison and ruining both his and Marie life just to protect his immediate families lives. He is now only concerned with himself, Skylar and his children, anyone else it seems is expendable, which doesn’t bode well for Jessie’s future.

Walt meets with Jessie and Saul to ‘suggest’ that Jessie makes a fresh start, that he moves away and starts a new life because it will be good for him. Jessie for once doesn’t buy into Walt’s ‘concerned dad’ offering advice ploy with him realising that to Walt he is nothing more than a lose end and the only options are for Walt to kill him or send him away. This was nice to see Jessie realizing the motive behind Walt’s advice and it is hard not to think back sadly to how many times Jessie has been convinced by a similar ‘concerned Walt’ before and done what he has wanted. We know that Jessie is a major lose end for Walt but you have to think there is some genuine sentiment from Walt that will protect him. Whether there is or not it leaves Jessie’s fate approaching the end of the show in troubling position and makes you ask can it really end well for him?

The show climaxed in a way it so often does, suddenly picking up speed in the final 10 minutes as Jessie, with his bags packed ready to take Saul’s magic disappearing trick, comes to the realisation that it was Mr. White that poisoned Brock all along. The realisation is done very smartly and sets the show up for a fascinating next episode as Jessie bursts into Walt’s home spraying gasoline preparing to burn it to the ground in anger.

These last eight episodes have started at truly great standard with a high intensity and at this rate show no signs of slowing down in its final 5 episodes. If the standard remains this high this final season you can bet it is likely going to down as one of the best conclusion to a show in recent memory.