Blood Money (Breaking Bad)

"Blood Money" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 55th overall episode of the series. Written by Peter Gould and directed by Bryan Cranston, it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on August 11, 2013 as the mid-season premiere.

The episode received high critical acclaim, with critics praising the flashforward scene in the beginning, the ending scene and the performances from Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris. For his performance in the episode, Norris was called "Performer of the Week" by TVLine.

Plot

In a flashforward, a 52-year-old Walter White (Bryan Cranston) arrives at his abandoned and fenced off house, following the events of "Live Free or Die". Walt enters and sees "HEISENBERG" spray-painted on the living room wall. Observing the house's dilapidated state, which includes a group of teenagers using his emptied pool to skateboard, he retrieves the hidden vial of ricin from his bedroom. As he leaves he greets his former neighbor, Carol, who is shocked by his presence.

In the present, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) reels from Gale Boetticher's handwritten dedication found in Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass, as a result realizing that Walt, his brother-in-law, has been Heisenberg all along. After excusing himself and his wife Marie (Betsy Brandt) from the party at Walt's house, Hank swerves his car off the road on the way home while suffering a panic attack. Hank feigns an illness to work from home and not at the DEA field office, taking the opportunity to review case files on Heisenberg and Gus Fring. Hank links people, events, and circumstances, as well as matching the handwriting in the Leaves of Grass dedication with that of the bullet points found in Gale Boetticher's notebook, to confirm that Walt is Heisenberg.

Walt, who has left the meth business, discusses ways to launder the money faster with Skyler (Anna Gunn), with expansion of their car wash business as an aim. Lydia (Laura Fraser) shows up at the car wash looking distressed and pleads for Walt to return, as the quality of the meth has fallen below acceptable standards, jeopardizing their deal. However, Walt dismisses her, and Skyler warns her to never come back. It is later revealed that Walt's cancer has returned, but he keeps this from his family and undergoes chemotherapy again.

Meanwhile, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) feels guilty over his role in Walt's meth business. He gives all the money he received from Walt to Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and asks him to deliver it to Mike Ehrmantraut's granddaughter and Drew Sharp's family. Saul refuses, advising it would raise suspicions, and reports this to Walt. Walt visits Jesse to return his money and lies to him, telling him that Mike is probably still alive somewhere and doesn't need help taking care of his granddaughter. However, Jesse is still distressed and later gives a $10,000 bundle to a homeless man. He then drives through a neighborhood throwing more bundles onto front lawns.

In his bathroom, Walt finds his copy of Leaves of Grass missing. Alarmed at the coincidental timing of Hank's apparent illness, his suspicions are deepened when he discovers a GPS tracker on his car. He shows up at Hank's garage to ask about his health and the tracker. An enraged Hank punches Walt and accuses him of being Heisenberg, which Walt denies. Walt tells Hank that he would have difficulty proving he is Heisenberg and even if he did, the cancer will probably kill Walt before he can be sentenced. Hank demands Walt leave his children in Hank’s care before he will consider Walt's argument, but is refused. Hank utters that he does not know him anymore, to which Walt warns him to "tread lightly".

Production

Dedication

The episode is dedicated to Kevin Cordasco, a sixteen-year-old fan of Breaking Bad who had a poignant relationship with the series' cast and crew; Cordasco died earlier in 2013 from neuroblastoma. This was the fourth dedication in the history of the series.^[1][2][3]

Title reference

The term "blood money" is a double entendre: it means money obtained at the cost of another's life as well as money paid to the family of a person who has been killed, usually by the killer or the killer's clan.^[4]

References to other media

In the opening flashforward scene, Walt is seen by his former neighbor Carol, who drops a bag of oranges (which spill and roll across the ground) in fear. Some critics interpret this as a reference to The Godfather, in which oranges represent death. For example, in one scene of The Godfather, after Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is shot, he drops a bag of oranges, which subsequently roll across the ground.^[5][6][7]

References to past episodes

"Blood Money" contains several other continuity references to past episodes. Hank's montage, in which he investigates the revelation that Walt is Heisenberg, sees him looking through old case files and pictures. These reference Gus Fring, Gale Boetticher and his notebook ("Bullet Points"), Dennis Markowski, Jesse's car in Seasons 1 and 2, the bullet-ridden car from his shoot-out with Tuco Salamanca ("Grilled"), Hector Salamanca, Mike Ehrmantraut, Duane Chow ("Full Measure"/"Madrigal"), Ron Forenall, Tyrus Kitt, Gonzo and No-Doze's corpses ("Grilled"), the gas mask Walt took from the school he worked at, Walt and Jesse stealing a barrel of methylamine ("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal"), the burned lab ("Live Free or Die"), and finally, the Heisenberg drawing ("No Más"). When Hank confronts Walt about his identity, he mentions Walt's purposefully crashing the car on their way to Fring's laundromat ("Crawl Space"), killing the imprisoned members of Fring's drug empire ("Gliding Over All"), calling him about Marie to distract him from Jesse and the RV ("Sunset"), and bombing a nursing home ("Face Off").

Walt also acts like Gus in some scenes. His conversation with Lydia at the car wash references Walt and Gus' earlier conversations at Los Pollos Hermanos, with Walt's role being reversed.^[8] In another scene, Walt goes to the bathroom to vomit, turning the sink on to mask the noise and laying a towel down on the floor to kneel on, just as Gus had done in "Salud". Hank's neighbor's son's remote controlled car ("Seven Thirty-Seven") also makes an appearance.^[9] The GPS tracker Hank places under Walt's car is the same one he planted on Gus' car in the fourth season. When Jesse opens a pack of cigarettes in front of Huell, Huell seems to remember the ricin-filled cigarette he stole from Jesse in "End Times".^[10][11]

Reception

Ratings

The episode originally aired on August 11, 2013, in the United States and Canada on AMC. It aired the next day in the United Kingdom on the web streaming service Netflix.^[12] According to the Nielsen ratings system, "Blood Money" was watched in the United States by an estimated 5.92 million viewers, the most in series history at the time.^[13][14]

Reviews

The episode received universal critical acclaim, with unanimous praise for Dean Norris and Bryan Cranston's performances. ^[15]

Seth Amitin of IGN called the episode a satisfying preparation and set-up for the endgame of the series. Amitin also praised the confrontation at the end between Walt and Hank and the tense dialogue that fueled it. "Blood Money was an amalgamation of a bunch of little things to love."^[16]

Mark Berman of The Washington Post said the episode paid off plot points set up in previous episodes while simultaneously laying groundwork for future episodes. Berman was also surprised at how much ground was covered in Hank's plotline in just one episode.^[5]

David Berry of National Post called Walt and Hank's showdown abrupt, menacing and cathartic without relieving any of the tension of the storyline. He also praised the acting.^[17]

Robert Bianco of USA Today praised the continually impressive acting of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.^[18]

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club praised the unexpectedly quick pacing, in that she didn't foresee the confrontation coming as soon as this episode. Bowman praises "After all the anticipation about how great this was going to be, I’m frankly astounded about how great it is in ways I wasn't at all imaginative enough to anticipate."^[11]

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter praised Walt and Hank's conversation, noting the payoff that had been set up since the first season. He also noted Jesse's role as a contrast to Walt and his character development.^[19]

Allison Keene of Collider rated "Blood Money" an "A", also praising the confrontation and the build-up to it.^[8]

Brian Lowry of Variety praised the episode, saying it proved the show's home stretch was in the hands of genuinely skilled writers.^[20]

Blair Marnell of CraveOnline noted the episode exemplifies one of Breaking Bad's strength as its pace, but thought that the episode took a shortcut and required "some pretty big leaps in logic" that Walt had to take. However, Marnell praised the episode as effectively setting up the show's final episodes.^[21]

Steve Marsi of TV Fanatic wrote of the climax "Dean Norris' expressions conveyed how dismayed, distraught, vengeful and stunned he was at the same time, while Bryan Cranston seemed perfectly stuck between Walt and Heisenberg, unsure who was confronting Hank at that moment."^[9]

Scott Meslow of The Week called the episode "terrific" and "riveting." He praised Dean Norris' work in the episode, and especially appreciated the emotional layering of the final scene.^[7]

James Poniewozik of TIME also praised the climactic confrontation, writing "Norris and Cranston are both eye magnets here, and the force just arcs between them as your attention is drawn irresistibly to both at once."^[10]

Ryan Reed of Glide thought that the pacing, while moving the narrative along quickly, was also slow enough to organically deliver the dramatic beats. Reed was surprised by the decision to have the confrontation so soon.^[22]

Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgress notes how Walt is continually out of focus through the episode, and contrasts Walt with Jesse's growing moral conscience.^[23]

Kyle Russell of Business Insider enjoyed the scene where Badger discusses his idea for a Star Trek script.^[24]

Kyle Schmidlin of WhatCulture felt the episode's pacing was better and quicker than the first half of the season. Schmidlin praised the "tense" confrontation as the reason the episode was not a normal Breaking Bad episode, but rather a remarkable one. Schmidlin was optimistic about how "Blood Money" set up future episodes.^[25]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix also praised the episode's pacing, noting the writers still have a lot of ground to cover before the series finale. Sepinwall was enthusiastic about the climax. He also praised the showmanship as being "on par with "Box Cutter," "No Mas," or even the series pilot."^[1]

Ryan Shane and Josh Jackson of Paste praised the cinematography. Jackson, contrary to other critics' opinions, thought Hank's revelation plotline was dragged out. However, he still thought the confrontation between Walt and Hank was "beautifully filmed and acted."^[26]

Tim Surette of TV.com called the episode "near-perfect", and said the episode demonstrated how Breaking Bad defied the tired traditions of television.^[27]

June Thomas of Slate thought that the episode moved the show into the beginning of an "era of consequences."^[6]

Richard Vine of The Guardian was pleased about how soon the show got to the climactic confrontation. Vine also noted the recurring use of mirroring themes.^[28]

Kelly West of Cinema Blend said Walt and Hank's conversation might have been the "most heated and emotional moments of the series." She also praised Cranston and Norris, and the quick pacing to get from Hank's discovery to Walt confronting him.^[29]

Kevin Yeoman of Screen Rant writes "Blood Money doesn't just imply the stakes of the season will be high; it delivers on them in an excruciatingly tense confrontation [between Walt and Hank]."^[30]

After reading other critics' reviews, Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy wrote that "[Blood Money] exceeded the hype and reached new heights."^[31]

TVLine named Dean Norris the "Performer of the Week" for his performance in this episode.^[32]

References

External links

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

Breaking Bad Created by Vince Gilligan Characters Walter White Skyler White Jesse Pinkman Hank Schrader Saul Goodman Gustavo Fring Mike Ehrmantraut Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Related shows Talking Bad Metástasis Better Call Saul Related articles Awards and nominations "to break bad" Quotations Media Database entry Travel guide Category