And we continue right where we left off, no stopping this train now. Hank opens the garage door for Walt, and he confidently strides out, Heisenberging it all over the place, only breaking character once Hank is out of sight. He frantically calls Skyler, but Hank has gotten to her first. Skyler agrees to meet with Hank, and doesn’t answer her cell when Walt calls. It looks like it’s all over for Heisenberg.
Skyler assumes it’s all over for her, too. But Hank’s got it all wrong. He assumes she’s the innocent housewife, forced to keep quiet under threat of physical and mental abuse. He blindly admits to having no evidence to convict or even arrest Walt without Skyler’s testimony, which he wants right now. Skyler has a great opportunity here to play the innocent housewife, to play the part Hank has already cast her in and sell Walt down the river. But she doesn’t. She asks if she should have a lawyer. Hank insists she doesn’t need one, which is a huge red flag. Hank is half out of his mind, and playing all of this exactly wrong. He casually reveals Walt has cancer again. That’s it for Skyler. She makes a scene and gets the hell out of there.
Walt can’t get ahold of Skyler, so he goes to Saul for help. Saul sends Huell and Bill Burr to retrieve Walt’s 20 bajillion dollars, and they do (after taking a nice Scrooge McDuck nap) and Walt buries it out in the desert, where it will be completely and totally safe forever.
And then comes the good stuff. A scene that is equally as powerful as the men having it out last week. This time it’s Marie and Skyler in the ring. Marie quickly susses out that Skyler is not so innocent, and in fact has known for a very long time, even before Hank was shot. It’s seriously Betsy Brandt’s finest moment in the series. She is phenomenal here, even when reverting back to her klepto ways while attempting to steal Holly. I’m slack-jawed the whole time, even tearing up a bit. What have you done to this family, Walt?
And then there’s a great scene where Lydia comes straight from the latest Coen Brothers movie and tricks Declan andhis crew into being slaughtered by Todd and the Nazis. But she doesn’t want to look at the dead bodies, so the world’s most polite psychopath, Todd, gingerly takes her by the hand as she covers her eyes, all “careful where you step, ma’am. The brain matter will muss your shoes”. Goddamn, how awesome are Lydia and Todd? So sad they’ll be very dead soon. So what does this scene even have to do with the rest of the story at this point? My guess is that Walt will sic Hank onto them as part of some deal, and Hank will wind up getting killed.
Meanwhile, Walt returns home from the desert and promptly passes out. He awakens, swaddled up lovingly by Skyler. (And where is Junior, anyway? Absent from all of this. I guess he lives with Louis, now? I kind of want Junior to have a Big Announcement for his parents that Louis is more than just a friend, only to find they have a much bigger announcement).
Walt tells Skyler he’ll turn himself in and pleads with her to pass the money onto the kids. But Skyler has a different idea. She knows Hank’s got nothin’. She knows that if Walt turns himself in, they’ll lose everything, including possibly her freedom and definitely their reputation and Junior’s respect. Keeping Junior from finding out was her primary motivation for keeping quiet in the first place. So she suggests Walt keep say nothing and ride it out. Lady Heisenberg has risen. Long may she reign. (It’s not going to be for very long).
The episode ends with Jesse arrested after giving up halfway through throwing out his millions. And Hank, still hiding what he knows from his co-workers (BIG MISTAKE, Hank!) enters the interrogation room. And just like that, the hour is over. DAMMIT SO MUCH. When is it Sunday again?!