Comments

I figured that they didn't want to take the risk of moving their hands off their weapons for even a second, as that would possibly give the crazy Nazi's with machine guns a better shot

Yeah, there's MILLIONS of dollars in that duffel bag. I think that would definitely get the DEA's interest piqued, especially given Jesse's history with drugs (albeit very small time)

I don't know either - you make a good point about Jesse already hating Hank (he beat his face to a bloody pulp) and in earlier seasons Jesse was always really good at evading pollce questioning. He even got Wendy to do it well too. So I'm not sure how easily he will fall prey to Hank, even in his shaky emotional state. I think if Hank somehow connects Jane, Brock, etc to Walt, then Jesse will be like "OH FUCK YOU MR. WHITE" and go bananas. But just not sure how that would happen. Also, I bet Saul will come in too. I don't know, my money is certainly not on Hank at this point. He's still a step behind Walt.

Think about his investigation of Gus - Hank knew almost the entire season what Gus was up to, but nobody believed him until he had some evidence to back up this story (and even then, no one REALLY believed him until the bomb at the nursing home and meth lab explosion). I just don't think Hank will risk telling his bosses about Walt until he can further prove it. He has nothing right now - the meth lab is blown up, the pest infested houses are no longer being used for cooks, the money is hidden, his enemies are dead. Even if he gets Jesse to talk, it's not going to be enough to put Walt on trial (you know Walt will just deny everything and chalk it up to Jesse being a junkie criminal). I'm really interested to see how/if Hank is ever able to get what he needs to really take down Walt.

I think you're looking at it incorrectly. I took Hank going back to work as a way for him to monitor what is going on at the DEA (including any follow-up on blue meth/Heisenberg) while he continues his own personal investigation of Walt. If you remember in the scene prior with Marie, she warned him that if the DEA finds out before Hank says anything and then realize Hank knew for awhile, he would be even more screwed than if he was the one to bring it to their attention (and that would also largely take away from the view that he was a hero/the one who caught Walt). So when Hank goes back into the office after being gone for a week, I took that as Hank keeping an eye on things to make sure nothing gets past him. The "update call" he asks for with his boss is probably just to be sure he didn't miss anything related to blue meth/Heisenberg investigation in the week he was at home doing his own investigation. I think he's just keeping a pulse on what the DEA knows while he tries to get hard evidence of his own. Like Hank said and Skyler knew, he only has a story right now - no real evidence.

lol "eye cream"

I like what they did was Tom/Ann because everyone knew that was a ridiculous plot line from the start. The glitter stuff was pretty cute.

I agree that the whole BBQ scene was a bit overdone, but I think they were just trying to show how out of his element Ron felt when everyone was complaining about his wonderful BBQ. The beginning and end parts of the Ron story were perfect though, loved the corn stuff.

This storyline really irks me. I get that Andy is now supposed to be the new Michael but seriously, using a teenage wilderness trip as the catalyst? Kinda LOL, but mostly lazy/tired. Being this openly verbally and physically abusive as a boss is just not realistic (although I get Michael was abusive too, but at least it mostly stemmed from his insecurities/loneliness, not because of an anger management problem). Jesus, why am I analyzing this show so much?

WILL! ARE YOU SKINNY BECAUSE YOU'RE SAD? I AM TOO.

Even though this episode was very sad and anxiety ridden, there were still a few standout funny moments. 1. The looks Mike were giving the Declan's Mikes were SO great and very, very Mike. All like, "can you believe this guy?" and "tTank God I am getting out of this shit" 2. The "I wish" Skylar said after "vamanos" was so perfect and so was Jesse's reaction because he clearly didn't get it and Jesse looks so cute when he's confused. 3. The whole opening scene was unintentionally hilarious because Walt's speech was as cheesy as some fucking brie on a hot summer day. But someone made a point that Walt is a cheeseball in general and that his ego is making him extra gooey. And now I'm hungry for some cheese dammit

Also, another big point is that Walt is the one that warned Mike about the DEA, so Mike might have actually trusted that Walt had his back in escaping (if in nothing else, ever). Ultimately, Walt is looking out for himself but in that moment, Mike realized he was losing everything and agreed to basically a last resort type option.

I am surprised how much I want Walt to fail and how angry/sad I am when he doesn't. The only reason I do want him to succeed is just for Jesse's sake because you know once Walt goes down, he's bringing Jesse down even harder.

Sorry this is really long and really only part of my explanation, but I'll leave it at that for now.

I don't think it was out of character for Mike, but I can agree that it was a bit rushed. Maybe one more episode of buildup or some small writing choices would have helped quiet some of the criticisms, but overall I think it made sense. Why not have someone else do it? For me, this was laid out pretty clearly. Mike makes a point to say they were closing in on all sides, which could either mean he suspected they had actual tails on all people connected to him OR that they are at the very least looking into everyone he's associated with. So these are his options: a. Saul: too much of a risk because the DEA knows Saul is on Mike's payroll, so they are probably already looking into him (one point you could argue here is if they had a tail at Saul's office, then they should have known about Walt/Jesse too, but since Walt got to Mike without any problems, you can just assume they did not have anyone watching yet). Also, you know Saul is deathly afraid of Mike and probably just didn't want to do it anyway. b. Next option is Jesse. Mike knows that there is some risk that the DEA could find him before he gets the bag, and Mike would rather not put Jesse in that danger. I think the relationship they've established between Mike and Jesse explains this. I also think Mike truly just wants to stay out of it as much as possible. c. Another one of Mike's "guys": First off, the ones we all know about are all in jail. Second off, the only other "guys" we know about are the pest company employees, and in that case Todd is the only one who knows enough to act quickly and not ask a bunch of questions. But Mike threatened Todd last episode. And if you really think about it, would you trust a bunch of thieves with a bag of money? One more argument you could make here is Saul could have had Bill Burr do it, and for that I do not have an explanation because it wasn't even presented as an option. d. That leaves Walt. Mike clearly doesn't WANT Walt to do it, but I guess if there is some risk attached to this (which it seems there very much is), then he'd rather throw Walt under the bus than Jesse (which, duh). Mike was also armed when Walt came, meaning that he might have already been taking some precautions about the possibility of violence ensuring when Walt arrived. The one problem I truly thought was out of character was that Mike didn't look in the bag right when he took it from Walt. However, you could even argue that would have been too risky in case his worst fears were realized and he wouldn't have enough time to react while holding the bag. But I think the fact that Mike was already armed shows that he at least thought about the possibilty.

and by "did it" I mean bring up Lydia. I have no doubt in my mind that Walt would have killed Mike at some point anyway. He made that decision a long time ago.

If Mike had died in the car and not escaped, I don't think Walt would have had any sliver of regret for what he did. But you could see on his face that as soon as Mike sped off, Walt was in panic mode, and sort of back to his old "holy shit I'm in over my head" Mr. White. Just for a moment there. Which is why I think he brought up the Lydia thing. OR I'm totally wrong and he just did it to get back at Mike for ripping him a new one. Probably more likely the latter.

I rewound it a couple times and didn't see anything in the picture. I think it was more just to emphasize how preoccupied Hank is with this case.

Good point about Hank. I have never been in the camp that believes he knows about Walt. His resilience in the Fring case should be evidence enough of how passionate he is about his job / how blind he is to the real identity of Heisenberg. I was thinking last night, "what will Hank do when he figures it out?" and drawing a lot of blanks, but I agree suicide may be his choice. :( Poor Hank. He is just trying to get the bad guys!

I've seen various criticisms about the believability of Mike letting Walt get the bag, but I think it made sense for a lot of different reasons, which I can list if you care to argue. I think you also has to remember that the plot of this show thrives on coincidence/chance moments, but I think overall the writers put enough clues in the episodes to make it believable. I mean, everyone was pissed about Gus's "spidey" sense in last season's penultimate episode, but to me it wasn't unbelievable (Jesse unintentionally tipped him off). That is just one example of many.