Breaking Bad Series Blog 5.6: Buyout (Contains Spoilers)

In which a partnership ends and business is discussed.

It all comes down to Grey Matter. It’s been a while since we’ve heard mention of Walter’s old company, but in this episode’s pivotal scene we’re reminded of just how important it is to the formation of Walter White, Heisenberg and the show itself. In a long, talky scene, BREAKING BAD demonstrates that not only are Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul the two best actors on TV, but that it can achieve just as much with a two handed dialogue scene as it can with a high adrenaline train heist. Walter’s rage over his experience with Grey Matter Technologies is one of the most fascinating elements of his character, mostly because we’re still far from knowing the whole story. As far as he’s concerned, he was screwed over, cheated out of the $2.16 billion dollars he considers ‘[his] kids’ birth right’. The personal reasons he cites as the explanation for his abandoning the company are still fairly vague. But that youthful entrepreneurial attempt can be traced as the source of Walt’s rage, bitterness and ambition.

The eponymous ‘Buyout’ also refers to his time with Grey Matter; upon leaving, he sold his shares for $5,000. Now, he’s being offered another buyout, on a much grander scale: his share of the train heist’s methylamine bounty for $5 million. Jesse rightly points out that this is way in excess of the sum Walt had in mind when he first broke bad, but that’s no longer the point for Walt. Jesse asks him if he’s in the meth business or the money business. Neither, Walt says: he’s in ‘the empire business’. This is a man who has bought into his own hype: genius, businessman, kingpin. The Scarface transition looks almost complete as he slouches in his chair, shirt unbuttoned, glass of liquor in his hand. He’s already been a part of one business that turnout out to be incredibly successful – and in his mind, that success was primarily due to his own work. He can’t even grasp the idea that it might not happen again.

Elsewhere, Skyler moves ever closer to an inevitable breaking point as she realises that Walt has been using her fling with Ted as an explanation for her current mental state. Morally, they are both hugely flawed characters, and an important part of their relationship has always been making sure they don’t seem like the worse person of the two. Skyler fears for her children’s safety because her husband is embroiled in a violent, bloody industry – and still manages to come across as the bad guy. In a horrible sequence, Jesse sits through the world’s most awkward dinner, like a family friend watching an ugly breakup, trying to make conversation with Skyler as she swigs from her ludicrously sized wine glass. The White family war has been the best TV family conflict since THE SOPRANOS, and has given Anna Gunn some of the best material she’s had in the show, but good lord is it hard watching. For the time being, though, Skyler is winning – her children are still safe and out of the danger zone, and her husband is fully aware of her distain for him. It’s such a cold and lonely place, is the White residence, that Walt sees the meth business in a certain paternal glow: ‘this business is all I have left’, he tells a bemused and uncomfortable Jesse.

But Mike is dead set on taking it away – or rather, selling it for a cool $5 million per person. The DEA is firmly on his case, and though he’s far too smart to let himself get caught, it’s no way to live. He wants out, and after witnessing the death of another innocent kid, so does Jesse. This is just one gut punch too many, it seems, for a guy who’s not quite cold enough for the world he’s now found himself in. Though Walt tries to pretend it’s business as usual, Jesse just can’t do it anymore, especially after witnessing his partner whistling a merry tune whilst cooking up another batch of meth. Walter tries to hold onto his third of the methylamine, but the deal cannot go through without the full thousand gallons, and so Mike is forced to restrain Walter while the deal goes through. This scene is very funny, with Walter behaving like a grumpy teenager who thinks it’s totally unfair that he’s not allowed to make meth anymore.

Once again, though, Mike underestimates Walt’s A Team-esque ability to turn ordinary household objects into useful science. And knowing full well what the consequences could be, he goes right ahead and steals the meth, after using the power of electricity to burn off his constraints (as well as burning his wrist in the process). Stealing methylamine from a train was a big risk; stealing it from Mike Ehrmantraut is a bigger one, and unsurprisingly, on discovering the deception, Mike’s first response is to shove his gun right in Walter’s face. But Walter doesn’t even flinch, doesn’t even look at the gun. As usual, he has a scheme. And so confident is he in his plan (and/or pitching ability) that he’s willing to risk the wrath of one of the most dangerous men in Albuquerque. If this is an empire, then he is the Emperor.

Other thoughts:

• I liked that Walter took off the watch Jesse got him before zapping the zip tie. I mentioned last week how Walt’s love for his kids is never doubted; the same can be said for his affection towards his partner.
• Todd the kid killer gets away relatively scot free, but in his last appearance this week, we see that he held onto the kid’s spider, which is a pretty weird thing to do. There’ll be more where that came from, without a doubt.
• Good to see the return of Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman, whose schtick about the judge who thinks he’s a snappy dresser was vaguely MR SHOW-esque.
• ‘I would never come to the head quarters of our illegal meth operation dragging a bunch of cops, Walter. It would be unwise.’
• ‘Hell yeah, I’m stoked for this lasagna’.