Breaking Bad: "To'hajiilee"

Let's start with the obvious, To'hajiilee, is the Navajo Indian Reservation where the money is buried, the initial cook was, and the huge gunfight took place. I know that obscure reference is what everyone was talking about after that episode. And by the way, the next episode is called Ozymandias after a Percy Shelley poem.

I actually want to wait a second before I discuss the heart-pounding climax because there's another point I want to make. I touched on this briefly last week: everyone else is taking on Walt's traits, and he is losing them.

Last week everyone wanted to kill someone, except Walt who wanted to spare Jesse. Usually it is Walt who comes up with the genius schemes to get out of sticky situations (the gas in the very first episode, the Tuco explosion, the Hector bomb and many more) but this time it was Hank using the "brains" to manipulate Huell, and then using the info from Huell to concoct a scheme to get Walt to lead them to the money. And it is Walt who failed to consider all the options, acted rashly and got himself in trouble.

Now we know through 5 seasons that the hallmark of the show if for characters to get themselves into and out of trouble. And usually their escapes are organic and clever not cheesy, contrived or ridiculous. If that holds, Hank and Gomey have to die. There is just no way they could survive being as outgunned as they are. And I don't see any way the Aryans simply back off at Walt's urging. Jesse would likely have to die as well, were there any realism at play, but I can totally see him making a run for it and in the confusion, escaping into the desert.

And Walt will have three episodes to chase him, perhaps with the series ending on a final confrontation. Maybe Jesse kills Walt. He called him Walt for the first time all series, a clear sign he has lost all respect for his former mentor.

I have the feeling this is the episode where Walt finally goes on the run, answering those questions about the diner breakfast on his 52nd birthday, the New Hampshire ID, the defaced house and whether his cancer is really back (we do see him with a full head of hair and a beard).

This may very well be one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, hopefully it ends better than "who shot JR?"