Buried (Breaking Bad)

"Buried" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 56th overall episode of the series. Written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Michelle MacLaren, it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on August 18, 2013.

Plot

An elderly man, while collecting Jesse's (Aaron Paul) thrown money, discovers him parked in a playground and absentmindedly spinning on a roundabout. Meanwhile, after his confrontation with Hank (Dean Norris), Walt (Bryan Cranston) frantically tries phoning Skyler (Anna Gunn), but the call is engaged as Hank has already reached her. Walt rushes to the car wash, but Skyler has already left to meet Hank at a diner. Hank, believing Skyler to be a victim, inadvertently reveals that Walt's cancer has returned and unsuccessfully tries seeking her help in building up a case against him while he still lives. Sensing that Hank has his own aims to control the case and have Walt swiftly brought to justice, Skyler storms off.

Walt goes to Saul Goodman's (Bob Odenkirk) office. He receives a call from Skyler, but Saul advises him not to answer as it may be tapped. Walt is angered that Skyler went to Hank before him, believing she may have confessed. When Saul asks whether Walt has considered having Hank killed, Walt sternly admonishes him, reminding him that Hank is family.

Rushing to hide the money he has amassed, Walt has Kuby (Bill Burr) and Huell (Lavell Crawford) deliver it to him in container drums. He then drives to the desert and spends the whole day burying it. Meanwhile, Marie (Betsy Brandt) has found out about Walt's criminality from Hank and visits Skyler. After learning that Skyler knew about Walt’s activities prior to Hank being shot, Marie slaps her, despite a tearful Skyler's attempts to apologize. Marie accuses Skyler of wanting Walt to remain free and attempts to leave with Skyler’s baby daughter Holly in a heated confrontation. Hank enters and tells Marie to give Holly back, before they leave. In the car, Marie tells Hank that he must get Walt.

Walt encodes the GPS coordinates of the buried drums with a lottery ticket, which he posts on the refrigerator door upon his late return home. Unresponsive to Skyler's questioning, an exhausted Walt collapses. When he awakens, Walt offers to surrender himself on the condition that the money be kept for their children. Skyler instead shows her true stance on the situation when, as Hank possesses suspicions only, she tells Walt that they should simply keep quiet.

Lydia (Laura Fraser) confronts Declan (Louis Ferreira), now in charge of cooking and supplying meth, at his desert lab. Lydia addresses the falling standards of their operations since Walt left and is critical of the filthy working conditions, but Declan is not concerned and rejects her suggestion to hire Todd (Jesse Plemons), Walt's former protégé who she claims can cook his formula. Lydia then puts her plan into motion. Todd and his uncle Jack (Michael Bowen), with their white supremacist associates, arrive and massacre Declan and his men in a one-sided shootout, before retrieving her as they takeover.

Believing his career with the DEA will end when he reveals that Heisenberg has been his brother-in-law the entire time, Hank needs evidence to apprehend Walt while supporting his own position. Marie insists on putting the whole DEA on the case but expresses concern over how they might respond when learning that Hank did not share his revelation with them immediately. Hank returns to work, where Agent Steven Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) reveals that Jesse is currently detained and under questioning by Detectives Kalanchoe and Munn (Gonzalo Menendez and Jason Douglas). Hank, realizing Jesse's connection to Walt, negotiates with them for time with Jesse alone, before entering the interrogation room.

Production

Walt’s dramatic burial scene is on Navajo land, the same spot where Walt and Jesse did their first batch in the RV.^[1] The GPS coordinates 34°59′20″N 106°36′52″W / 34.98889°N 106.61444°W / 34.98889; -106.61444 displayed on Walt's device and hiding in plain sight on the Lotto ticket are in fact the coordinates of the Albuquerque studio location where Breaking Bad is filmed.^[1]

Dedication

The episode is dedicated to Thomas Schnauz, Sr., father of the writer of this episode.^[2]

Music

• The song played over Walt's digging is Chancha Vía Circuito's remix of Argentine José Larralde's "Quimey Neuquén".^[3]

Reception

Viewership

The episodes was watched by 4.77 million people on its original broadcast,^[4] down from the series-high 5.92 million of the previous episode.

Reviews

The episode received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.^[5] TVLine named Anna Gunn the "Performer of the Week", in the honorable mention section, for her performance in this episode.^[6]

Accolades

Thomas Schnauz was nominated for the 2014 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama for this episode.^[7]

References

External links

• "Buried" at the official Breaking Bad site
• "Buried" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Buried" at TV.com

v t e Breaking Bad Created by: Vince Gilligan Characters Walter White Skyler White Jesse Pinkman Hank Schrader Saul Goodman Gus Fring Todd Alquist Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Related articles Awards and nominations Better Call Saul Metástasis AMC "to break bad" Quotations Media Database entry Category