Video Night

Very near the end of Breaking Bad: at the end of the last episode, there was a stand-off out in the desert, Hank and Gomez against Todd, his Uncle Jack and a bunch of other armed men. I spent the week hoping that Hank would survive or at least his death would be referred to but not seen on screen. Poor Hank. Walt did try to save him, by offering his money, but I guess Jack had already decided it was his (surprisingly, he leaves a share for Walt). Then there's Jesse - who scrambled away but it turns out not so far. Although Walt gives the nod for him to be shot, Jack has a problem with the quality of his product and Jesse is the solution, as he well knows. So Jesse is taken back to their lab, and chained up so he can be put to work.

The rest of the episode is really about Walt and his family. Marie has convinced Skyler that Hank has arrested Walt and must tell Walt Jr - this is what Walt walks into when he gets home. Of course, his arrival makes it clear Hank's arrest did not take - "where is Hank" doesn't really need answering. He wants them all to go on the run with him, and when they refuse, he takes off with Holly - he's not really thinking very straight by now (as suggested by the episode title, Ozymandias). To his credit, when he phones, he does make an attempt to shift all the blame to himself. I'm not sure how long he planned to keep Holly, but when she keeps saying Mama (and not Dada), it seems to get to him and he leaves her somewhere safe.

Then we come to the penultimate episode: Walt uses the same identity change bloke they were going to use for Jesse. In an odd twist, Saul and Walt are put up together for a bit - I think Saul is well and truly over Walt by now, as he has been the destruction of his life and career (not that Saul is all pure and the like!). Walt has mad schemes to get hitmen to go after Jack so he can get his money back - thanks to a flash-forward or two, we kind of know this is not going to happen - which tends to make him appear a bit demented on the topic.

It has become clear Todd has a bit of a thing for Lydia, which is why he wants Jesse, so he can keep dealing with her - the appeal of getting a supply of high quality product means she's OK about doing more business with him. Jack tidies up a couple of loose ends - taking Jesse's confession from Hank's house, threatening Skyler so she won't identify Lydia. When Jesse escapes, they shoot his (former?) girlfriend so he gets the message that her boy, Brock, is next - this boy is an odd vulnerability for Jesse (was also the source of problems with Walt).

Poor old Walt - he's taken to a remote cabin up in New Hampshire and told to stay there, that he'll get monthly supplies until some other arrangement can be made. He sticks it out for a bit, but seems to have a death wish - he tries to convince Walt Jr to accept some money and then phones the DEA so they can trace the call. 

Picket Fences had a proper crime to solve, but resolved it in typical unorthodox fashion. There's a serial killer on the loose, who responds to lonely hearts adds in the newspaper. Max works out the kind of message that will appeal, and runs an add, suggesting a meet in a restaurant on Valentines Day. What she didn't count on was the number of lonely men in Rome - she is kept very busy (including with Carter). Were any of these men the killer? With the evening over, an FBI agent identifies himself, profiles the killer. One of the dates might be the man. Max and the FBI man work out a plot in which Max will date the man, take him back to her place (because that's how he operates) and the FBI man will rescue her.

But is the FBI man all that he seems? His wife was murdered and he was thrown out of the service. Jimmy becomes convinced that he's the man they're after and reluctantly sets Max up with a wire to catch him. But have they got it right? Things get very tense in Max's apartment at the end: it is not secret or surprise that she's fine, but I didn't quite anticipate how things were resolved with the serial killer. 

For comic relief, there's also a bloke going round shooting arrows at guys, hitting them in the bum - including Jimmy.