"Breaking Bad" recap: Walt faces new woes in "Blood Money"
"It was you! All along, it was you!"
The confrontation we'd been waiting years to see finally unfolded Sunday night on the latest episode of "Breaking Bad," making its return from an 11-month-long mid-season hiatus.
DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) came to blows with Bryan Cranston's Walter White after Hank had at last put two-and-two together in the previous episode, "Gliding Over All."
In this mid-season premiere, Hank held nothing back while accusing his brother-in-law of running one of the biggest meth operations in the southwestern U.S. and by episode's end, the stage was certainly set for an epic showdown during thefinal installmentsof the AMC series.
Titled "Blood Money," Sunday night's episode kicked off with a pack of local teen skaters in an empty swimming pool, a location fans of the show will instantly recognize. In a scene set in the show's near-future, a wide shot reveals the White residence to be long-since condemned.
The opening scene takes place after Walt was shown cryptically dining at an Albuquerque Denny's and carrying a fake New Hampshire license on his 52nd birthday in the season 5 premiere, "Live Free or Die," in an opening scene also set several months ahead of the normal events of the series.
In the "Blood Money" opening, Walt breaks into his dilapidated house to see the word "Heisenberg" spray-painted across his living room wall. Everyone now knows the former chemistry teacher's dark secret.
Walt goes into his bedroom, where we see a mirror has been shattered, foreshadowing upcoming tragic events. In the scene, White also extracts a small vial of ricin he had previously hidden behind an electric outlet. What is he going to use it for? We'll have to wait to find out, as the rest of the episode takes place in the series' present-day.
"Blood Money" then shifts back to the small family get-together at the Whites' -- previously seen in "Gliding Over All." Hank has just discovered the Walt Whitman book "Leaves of Grass," containing a vital clue to Heisenberg's identity. The DEA agent soon faces a panic attack as his world starts to crash around him.
As Hank and Marie quickly leave the backyard gathering, a humorous scene develops when Walt gets the chance to say hello to his neighbor, Carol, who will have a very different reaction to the cancer patient as time goes by.
Hank takes several days off from work following a small car accident and spends all his time inside his garage going over evidence in the Heisenberg case. His suspicions about his brother-in-law are quickly confirmed. Walt isn't stupid either, and soon realizes what Hank is up to, especially after discovering a tracking device hidden under his car -- the same type of bug Hank had once hidden under Gus' car parked at Los Pollos Hermanos.
And Hank isn't Walt's only problem.
Former associate Lydia shows up unexpectedly at the car wash business, insisting that Walt return to cooking meth since the product has become less pure lately. Skyler (Anna Gunn) realizes what's going on and confronts Lydia, threatening her and telling her to leave her husband alone. This is certainly not the last we've seen of Lydia, and she seems poised to seek retaliation for Walt's refusal.
Walt's old partner, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) is trying to give $2.5M to the family of one of their young victims, Drew Sharp, and another $2.5M to the granddaughter of "missing" associate Mike Ehrmantraut. Attorney Saul Goodman realizes the suspicions such large donations will create and quickly informs Walt, who tries to have a heart-to-heart with Pinkman. It's also at this point when it's revealed that Walt's cancer has returned, although he doesn't immediately inform his family.
Walt's true nature is on full display when he talks to Jesse, swearing off any knowledge of Mike's whereabouts, even though he knows full well of their former drug partner's fate. Walt also reminds Jesse that they must move on from the past.
"You're out [of the meth business], and so am I," White reminds his former protege in a scene harkening back to Michael Corleone in "The Godfather Part III" ("Just when I thought I was out..."). Jesse doesn't believe him.
"Blood Money" ends with the incredibly-tense garage confrontation between Hank and Walt.
"I don't know who you are, I don't even know who I'm talking to," Hank tells the man he's been searching for incessantly over the years, who was all the while right under his nose.
If Hank really doesn't know his true nature, Walt points out that perhaps Hank's "best course of action would be to tread lightly."
Yikes!
So tell us "Breaking Bad" fans, what did you think of "Blood Money"? Are you Team Hank or Team Walter? What are your predictions for the final episodes? Is Skyler doomed? Will Jesse exact revenge on Walt? What is Walt going to do with the ricin? What was with the extra-long conversation about "Star Trek"?
Let us know what you think in the comment section and "have an A1 day."
"Breaking Bad" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
