After a brief flash forward that lets us know that Walt's secret does, in fact, get released to the public (and that he still has the ricin), we see Hank grapple with the ramifications of his discovery. It was nice that the flash forward wasn't completely forgotten, but there is also a nice juxtaposition as we see Walt say hi to the same neighbor in both time periods with radically different results.
Suffice it to say, Hank is less than pleased and he immediately books it under the pretense of stomach illness. It's too little too late, though, and he ends up having an anxiety attack that leads to a small car crash. It ends up working in his favor, though as he is given time off work, which is what he needs to put the pieces together. It leads to a rather entertaining montage as we see photos of various people tied to Heisenburg over the years and even go back to the days of Tuco and the initial chemical heist once mocked by Hank himself.
It's really bad timing as Walt's claim to be out of the game seems to be on the up and up. Lydia even comes to the car wash to coax Walt into coming back, even temporarily to act as a tutor, but he rebuffs her. Skyler, especially, doesn't take kindly to it and reinforces Walt's answer in rather glorious fashion.
It seems like the Whites are in the legitimate car wash business. Walt does suggest opening another branch to facilitate bringing the money through at a faster clip. It's a good idea, though it may be more of a long term plan as opposed to something immediate.
Jesse, meanwhile, has his own money problems as he doesn't want his cut anymore. He tries to get Saul to give it to Mike's granddaughter and to the Sharp family, but the idea is nixed, both by Saul and by Walt, who comes to have a heart to heart with Jesse.
What's amazing about this scene is the fact that Walt is blatantly lying to Jesse, but he's doing a surprisingly good job of it. Honestly, the way Cranston delivers the lines, you wouldn't believe that he would have killed Mike even though we know for a fact that he did. Granted, it's implied that Jesse doesn't buy it, but it was still a rather impressive effort in its own right. Also, credit to Jesse for deducing what Walt would have done. At first, it seemed like he pulled the "Mike's dead" fact out of thin air, but he knows that Mike wouldn't have been happy about his guys being killed and Walt wouldn't want to be looking over his shoulder all the time in fear of retribution. As such, it would be something filed under "had to be done".
Jesse does, however, come up with a way to get rid of the money. He gives one wad to a homeless guy. Said homeless man is surprisingly reluctant to take it, but at the same time, it isn't often that something like this happens and he could have thought it was a trap of some kind. After that, he proceeds to just drive around, chucking wads of cash into people's lawns. It really does expose all the income equality activists and the wealth redistribution advocates as being completely full of it as there is nothing stopping them from doing this. You really don't need the government to fix the imbalance if you actually put some thought and effort into it.
Back at the home front, Walt suspects that his cover's been blown. Just as Hank found out about Walt by pure happenstance, so too does Walt discover that the book is missing. Between this and seeing that a GPS tracker, similar to the one they used on Gus Fring's car, was placed on his, Walt is sure that Hank knows.
I was expecting more of a cat and mouse game between the two that would play out over the course of the last few episodes, but Hank lets Walt know upfront that he knows; mainly by punching him in the face. His vows of getting justice seem to fall on deaf ears as Walt lets Hank know that he's dying anyway, his cancer's back. Given Walt's ability to lie displayed earlier, one might come to the conclusion that he is putting this ability to use again, but we do see Walt is undergoing treatments again and he does vomit at one point, suggesting that he is actually being honest here. If this is a misdirection, it is a pretty elaborate one.
Overall, this was a strong outing. The tension doesn't really come to the forefront until the final scene between Hank and Walt, but there is plenty of great character fodder to keep you engaged before that. Jesse gets a strong showing here and we get to see Badger and Skinny Pete, which is always a highlight. The two bring some levity to what would otherwise be a pretty heavy episode. Badger's musings on Star Trek were rather funny. He's not the first to suggest that the transporters kill the user and just create a copy, but his idea to use said transporters to cheat in a pie eating contest was inspired. They should make an internet micro-series where the two just sit around and shoot the breeze. It would be a fun watch.
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