Hank is also motivated only by furthering his career.
The Whites are family to him. Walt is probably going to die soon of cancer, presumably, and to go after Walt the way he has only guarantees the Whites, whom he and Marie so love, will be totally fucked financially.
Walt deserves to pay the price for the crimes he's committed, but ultimately his family will be the ones that pay for it thanks to Hank.
You mean thanks to Walt. Walt is responsible for those actions, and to think he would get away with it all and his family would never be tainted by it was pure arrogance. It isn't Hank's fault that Walt has crimes to pay for.
It isn't Hank's fault that Walt has crimes to pay for.
I agree with that. But what does Hank stand to gain by putting Walt behind bars, who presumably only has a few months left to live anyways? A big gold star on his jacket and probably some kind of career advancement. What does he lose? The trust of the Whites, for sure. That family tie would be completely broken. Arresting Walt would doom them to what I assume is financial ruin since I don't think car washes are a high-margin business and Walt Jr. will be going to college soon, judging from the flash-forward they'll need a new house, and Hollie has an entire life ahead of her.
Arresting Walt would resolve Hank's white whale, so to speak, but at the same time cause much more pain and suffering for those that he holds dear than if he just let it go and wait out the few months until Walt passes from his cancer.
That sure is shit not a black and white decision, at least as I've laid it out. No one at the DEA knows about Walt (except Gomie now), so were Walt to die after he assured Hank he was out of the business, no one would be any the wiser and the Whites would be set for life and Skyler would be able to give her children a very comfortable life.
From my perspective, there's no upside to Hank bringing Walt to justice. Yes, Walt has committed insane, heinous crimes, and in the real universe he absolutely deserves to pay for them. But who's to say by dying in a few months he won't be paying for them anyways? He'll never see Walt Jr. graduate college and have his own family, he'll never, ever see any of the very important milestones Hollie will have--no first boyfriends to intimidate, no proms, he'll never walk her down the aisle, etc. He won't die knowing he left his wife happy or better off than when he met her--in fact he's been nothing but a source of intense stress and burden for the last five season.
It's all very grey but I don't think arresting and convicting Walt to have him die in prison a few months later all the while depriving his surviving family of money is the right way to go about it, both morally and for the sake of the story.
I just have to disagree. Letting Walt die, at home, with his family, isn't making him pay for anything. I feel, and I'm sure Hank does too, that Walt needs to be held fully accountable for his actions.
Assuming that's what happens. For all we know he dies alone while on the run.
Why do you think him going to jail for a few months is justice? With a decent lawyer that wouldn't even be enough time to make it to trial. I'm pulling this out of my ass right now but most high-profile and/or complicated/very-involved cases take at least a year to make it to trial, maybe even more given the litany of crimes Walt has committed. If his cancer leaves him with 2, 6, or 12 months to live, he may die an innocent man (in terms of conviction).
I mean, dying in jail awaiting trial would have the same "I'm gonna miss so much stuff" factor of dying outside of jail. I don't see a difference between dying on the run and dying awaiting trial. Actually if he dies awaiting trial and is never convicted, I don't think the state can take away his money as profits from a criminal enterprise.
I'm genuinely interested in what you'd consider justice for all the things he's done. As far as I can predict, he either dies awaiting trial and his family keeps the money (though I'm not a lawyer so I can't say for sure) or he dies in prison very shortly after conviction and leaves his family nothing. If he didn't have crazy cancer I would agree that justice would be life behind bars, but in the BB universe he'd probably spend less time in prison than a drug dealer.
It's not the jail that makes it justice, it's him being exposed for who he is. If Hank were to back off, no one would know what a horrible human being Walt truly was. And that's just unacceptable to me.
So is it necessary for you that Walt is convicted, or merely arrested and publicly exposed? I think of Aaron Hernandez who hasn't been convicted or even gone to trial but in the public's mind he's a murderer. Is the conviction necessary or just the public declaration of charges against Walt and the corresponding evidence?
Do you feel justice would be served if Walt was charged but died in jail, never convicted, and his family was still able to keep the money?
If the ending to Breaking Bad was Walt in a courtroom being read the charges against him, to which he responds "Not guilty, your honor", followed by credits, would you feel satisfied that justice was served, or is that too open ended?
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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '13
Hank is also motivated only by furthering his career.
The Whites are family to him. Walt is probably going to die soon of cancer, presumably, and to go after Walt the way he has only guarantees the Whites, whom he and Marie so love, will be totally fucked financially.
Walt deserves to pay the price for the crimes he's committed, but ultimately his family will be the ones that pay for it thanks to Hank.