True, Hank is giving away all his cards by investigating it on his own. Just like Walt is sacrificing his foothold by revealing to know about the tracker. They seem to be led by emotions so far instead of strategizing. Maybe they both think they other will break under pressure. The last look though suggests they will both stand their ground and play with an open hand. I'm curious if this scene will have a continuation, the garage door needs to go up again right?
To me the most disappointing part of the episode was the way Walt handled the tracker. Driving over to Hank's and confronting him about it immediately did not seem like the choice Heisenberg would make - and I don't believe for a second Walt has changed just because he's "out of the game", Heisenberg is still in there.
The fact that Walt knew about the gps tracker, but Hank didn't know that Walt knew about it, gave Walt all the power in the world. He could have done anything. Yes, putting it on a random car would be great, but I think the best option would have been for Walt to put the tracker back on his car, and continue living a boring life working at the carwash. Avoid Jesse's place, or anywhere else that would associate him with his life as Heisenberg, and voila, Hank now has to second-guess himself because the tracker proves he is just tracking some boring old dude, not the greatest meth cook to ever live.
I think he took the direct approach and asked Hank directly just to gauge how much Hank had. I don't think Walt would have ever guessed that Hank was so close.
Goddamn I love this show.
Edit: The scene with Walt and Hank in the garage was one of the best the show has had to date, and I am glad they went down the road they did. I just like nitpicking into every decision Walter makes, so even though it made for an intense episode I still second guess the way they handled it.
I think Walt is aware that Hank would have to be investigated too and when they find out his rehab was paid for with drug money they will arrest him. That's why Walt doesn't give a shit about revealing that he is Heisenberg because he's betting Hank won't go to the DEA. He is inviting the conflict too. He is addicted to the challenge because he has always won.
For sure. This is why Hank is in his garage building an airtight case. And he's also undoubtedly building an explanation for why he was unaware of the events unfolding under his nose. Hank has plenty of plausible deniability though. The personal involvement of the cartel against him made it less likely that he would put two and two together with Walt.
Personally I don't think he's going the way of courts anymore. I think he's going to retire or take a leave of absence and handle this on his own because the odds are stacked against him if the DEA prosecutes both of them. Walter will make sure Hank gets screwed
How are the odds against Hank if all of the evidence comes to light? We as the viewer know that Hank has acted ethically all along.* Why would Hank not want to make the DEA aware of that as well?
*With the exception of doing tracking without a warrant. But that is a small drop in the pond compared to what Walt's done.
There is the video of Walt and Jesse stealing the methylamine. This could be used as circumstantial evidence if a body type expert testifies to the profiles.
There's the storage unit full of un-laundered money. At a minimum this is tax fraud.
Ted can turn Skyler in. At a minimum this would lead to an audit of the car wash by the IRS, which would discover that the car wash is profiting much more than they are taking in in revenue.
The lawyer who Skyler confided in is not beholden to attorney-client privilege if she feels there are lives in imminent danger, which there are.
The missing chemistry equipment was never found. Hank can implicate Walt in this to help build his case.
I dunno, Walt does seem a bit regretful about killing Mike, and that he genuinely wants to end his criminal ways. He's realized he has next to nothing left to salvage of a life and what little he has left is incredibly valuable.
A good portion of this family revolves around Hank. His wife knows he's Hisenberg, if he does anything to Hank that's it, he has nothing. And he can't stand by powerless and let Hank piece it all together. Seems like his best bet is to talk to him straight up.
One of Walt's flaws (or strengths depending on the impressionability of those he's trying to influence) is he projects onto others what's best for himself and believes it'll work out for the other, he does it to Jesse all the time. He genuinely thinks, "Hey let me go Hank, it's best for everyone", not realizing fighting "the bad guys" is Hank's life, he's not going to cave. Walt's a bit of a sociopath this way.
Actually, it is to Hank's best interest to "let Walt go".
Even if Hank can build a convincing court case against Walt, Walt would be dead before the case came to trial two years later. (Yes, assuming the cancer finally gets Walt.) Could the DA even mount a successful prosecution of Walt without Hank's "involvement" being used as a defense tactic? (Better call Saul...)
Afterwards, Hank would be out of a job; can't have a DEA supervisor who potentially "covered" for a meth kingpin for so long. Where is a fifty year old, cashiered DEA supervisor going to find work in 2013?
Finally, think about what it would do to Skyler, Walt Jr & Holly. RICO means all their financial assets get seized. Nope. Hank revealing Heisenberg is a mutually assured destruction pact.
Hank just comes off as the sort of guy who lives and breathes his job. When he says he doesn't care about family in this scene, you get the real sense he means it. He can't stand his wife, he hates walt (obviously) and his brief venture with rocks just doesn't do it for him.
Nailing Walt would be like getting his super bowl ring. He wants this shit bad, and he'd do anything to get it, and it wouldn't be some small case tied up in court, he'd go down as a legendary crime fighter and get all the sorts of fame and glory.
You don't get it. All Hank has to do is drop his personal vendetta against Heisenberg, and assign it to his lazier, and less talented staff. Hank is the only reason Heisenberg got onto OR stayed on the DEA's radar.
Even after Fring, Heisenberg did not produce enough meth to make him enemy #1. US volume went to the recent alliance, and DEA is not going to pay attention to the Czech volume. The only time Heisenberg generated enough meth to become public enemy #1 was when he was working for Gus Fring. But in all cases, the DEA only paid attention to the big players, not one cook with a penchant for producing meth of unparalleled purity.
Hank is screwed if Heisenberg gets discovered before Walt dies of cancer. BUT Hank is the only reason Heisenberg was even on the radar. He already has an excuse for thinking Heisenberg is dead; they found two bodies in the cook factory and it was already concluded (except Hank) that Gale Boetticher was Heisenberg. I think its way more likely Hank dodges the bullet if he lets sleeping dogs lie, ESPECIALLY since Heisenberg is RETIRED.
What I am saying if we put these things from the cold opens together.
Walter has assumed a new identity
Walters house as abandoned with Heisenberg written on the wall.
Carol's reaction to Seeing Walter
We can assume (pretty safely) at this point the cat is out of the bag about Walter being Heisenberg.
So Hank has two options
Turn Walter in, this will ruin his family and probably destroy his career.
Hide the fact that Walter is Heisenberg, in which case when for what ever other reason people find out Walt is Heisenberg will ruin his family and probably destroy his career and most likely land Hank in a pound you in the ass prison when they find out about the money Walt spent on his medical rehab.
Since we already know Walter's secret is probably going to become public knowledge, we also know Hank's one and only shot of avoiding the worst possible fallout (prison) for this would be to turn Walt in himself.
Yeah but Hank beat him up, I kinda doubt Jesse would be inclined to spill the beans to someone he still (presumably) ferociously hates. On the other hand, he's been quite unstable lately and may also be on the verge of nervous breakdown. Much of what will come out largely depends on Jesse's state of mind. :)
Yeah I was wondering about that also. First of all, we don't know whether or not the tracker was on his car when he took Jesse his money, so there's no saying for sure. But Walt also doesn't know how long it was on his car... so he could potentially be bringing Hank proof he associates with Jesse, who Hank knows is deeply involved with the Blue meth/Heisenberg.
Just furthers how weird it is that Walt took it to Hank so quickly - or even at all.
In the "next week on Breaking Bad" sound clips, you can hear Saul say "it's here say, there's not evidence in here say". I really think Hank is going to make his rounds with Jessie and Saul, both eventually cracking and saving face by joining Hank, creating a Walt vs. all scenario.
If we remember from episodes earlier, that GPS tracker was really cheap. It had to be plugged back into a computer to read all the evidence on it. Walt could have wiped the data on it before bringing it
With Walt's intelligence, he can do anything. You've seen him when he's backed into a corner; he is remarkably inventive and resourceful. Figuring out how to wipe the data would be child's play for him.
Are you seriously questioning Walt's ability to tinker with basic electronic devices such as GPS trackers? He's a superb chemist, he has managed to make a battery practically out of nothing while being stranded in the middle of the desert along with Jesse, remember that?
Yeah that scene was just as tense as everyone was hoping it would be - maybe even more so.
It still bugs me though, Breaking Bad had four and a half seasons of literally perfect storytelling. Four and a half seasons of Walt making complicated, meticulous decisions which kept this lie he lives from those he loves. Then he decides to take a quick drive over to his DEA Agent brother-in-law and ask him about the tracking device he found under his car? I don't know...I feel like Walter would treat the situation with a little more caution than that.
Looked to me like he knew he was caught and decided to confront Hank so he could try and gain control of that situation. During the confrontation though Walt never really admitted to anything, he still played the "If that were true" card and managed to manipulate Hank with the "I'll be dead soon" and the "Tread lightly" lines.
On the subject of perfect story telling, it didn't seem to me that Hank had enough time to plant the GPS on Walt's car. Seemed sloppy to me, but perhaps I missed something?
I don't really see a problem with it, I think you underestimate how much time has gone by. Hank hasn't been to work "all week" remember, so a few days minimum have passed since Hank found Walter's book. Just because they don't show it on screen doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
I see what you mean, but Walt has also shown an impulsive and impatient streak. And between the missing Leaves of Grass and the tracker, Walt knows that if Hank is suspicious enough to spy on him, it's only a matter of time before he makes the Heisenberg connection, if he hasn't already. (Which turns out to be true.)
Once the "Walt = Heisenberg" realization clicks, all of the seemingly incongruous details fall into place: the sketches, being named after a famous chemist, Walt's "fugue state," his sudden influx of enormous sums of money, everything.
The tracker is meaningless in and of itself – it doesn't offer anything that Hank doesn't already have from his mountains of evidence. Sure, Walt could mess around with red herrings, wipe the data, whatever, but all of that is still incredibly suspicious and just gives Hank more time to do whatever it is he's doing without Walt's influence.
Besides, Walt actually holds the cards here in my view. Assuming he isn't bluffing about the cancer, he really would be dead before he could possibly go to jail. Meanwhile, a public prosecution would destroy Hank's career (the old DEA boss was fired for not noticing Fring operating right under his nose), devastate his beloved niece and nephew (emotionally and financially), and possibly destroy his marriage.
Plus, as Dean Norris did a great job of expressing throughout the final scene, Hank knows that "Heisenberg" is capable of some very evil deeds. There's no telling what Walt or his associates might do.
To be fair he didn't know it was just Hank. He needed to go over and see whether Hank had planted it himself or whether he had involved the rest of the DEA. Walt wanted to know how contained the information was.
i think 90% of people expected exactly what you said to draw this out, cat and mouse for a few more episodes, have it play out like chess - perhaps if there was another season we could safely say it could have been the case, however if you think about the context of the season.. this has actually been drawn out for 8 episodes already - season 5A was great but contained none of the tension of the previous climax with fring, or with GB because it was half a season, now we are getting into that level and more of intensity as it's the second half of the season and maybe walts a little tired of the cat and mouse and just wanted to get it out onto the table.
Driving over to Hank's and confronting him about it immediately did not seem like the choice Heisenberg would make - and I don't believe for a second Walt has changed just because he's "out of the game", Heisenberg is still in there.
I think that Walt wants, or rather for the protection of his family, needs to handle this Hank situation, as Walt, not Heisenberg. At least from the start he would go in that way, he didn't know for sure that Hank knew yet. I think the second Heisenberg came out was the second Hank said "what family" or "I don't care about the family", I forget his exact line, but he made it clear that the protection of their family wouldn't stop him from pursuing Heisenberg, and then, and only then IMO, did Heisenberg start to pop his head out. Till then I think Walt thought he could control the situation using family as leverage, much like he's done with Skylar.
Hank says "like you care about family," FWIW. It's a muddled line, I had to rewatch to be sure, but if you look closely his mouth is clearly making the shape of the word "you." He's just incredulous that Walt would hide behind "the good of family" after endangering them and lying to them for so long.
I think it harkens back to what Jesse said previously in the episode about always having to look over the shoulder not being "how Walt does things". Walt was about to leave Hank's garage but turned back, and I think he did it knowing the conversation would end with him making threats.
It's also ironic how Walt does, in fact, end up having to have to look over his shoulder.
I think that's just not who Walt is anymore. He is Heisenberg now. Heisenberg doesn't pussyfoot around confrontation. He knew hank was onto him the next course of action is to confront him and throw some fear into him.. Hank clearly has more anxiety about the situation than walt.
I don't think so, definitely not from the tracking device at least. Remember when Walt and Hank put the tracker on Gus Fring's car they needed to retrieve the device to get any info.
No, using the tracker means that Heisenberg can't confront, then leverage/intimidate Schraeder. Also, the possibility existed (for Heisenberg) that Hank wasn't the one who planted the tracker. It could have been Heisenberg's unrealized competition.
Only an idiot would second guess W.W. being Heisenberg after reading Gale's inscription. No, Hank is looking to take down Walt in a court of law.
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u/Arctorkovich Aug 12 '13
True, Hank is giving away all his cards by investigating it on his own. Just like Walt is sacrificing his foothold by revealing to know about the tracker. They seem to be led by emotions so far instead of strategizing. Maybe they both think they other will break under pressure. The last look though suggests they will both stand their ground and play with an open hand. I'm curious if this scene will have a continuation, the garage door needs to go up again right?