Breaking Bad: "Buried" Review

Someone's not treading lightly.

August 18, 2013

Note: Full Spoilers ahead!

We left off with "Tread Lightly," the mild-but-loaded threat Walt laid down on Hank. They both knew. So where did the second episode go?

It dove right back in, again.

I'm liking this. Instead of patiently waiting for the final 10 to 15 minutes of each episode for the next big penny drop to fall, they're dropping their pennies in a nice, neat order. My hope is this is paced perfectly and the first two episodes suggest that.

"Buried" was a great episode from start to end. It didn't lull, but it didn't get too explosive (err, aside from Lydia's hiding during the gunfighting). It had just the right amount of heat to bake the rising tension.

Of all things to happen, Hank cornering Skyler and asking her to turn on Walt was low on the radar. It made sense, though. Hank put the pieces together, recognizing all of her behavior as someone in a desperate situation. He asked her to speak and, in what should've been an opportunity for Skyler, she lawyered up. Skyler's smart. In doing so, she protected herself and Walt, even though Walt has been nothing but awful to her for the last couple of seasons.

That scene was brilliantly written. Hank was just pushy enough to scare off Skyler and Skyler was walking on just enough egg shells to be scared off. Hank's sell was pretty clever, actually, in trying to appeal to her as a victim of the situation. You could see that sort of pitch working, say, a season ago. Instead, she's in too deep and protected herself as well as her husband.

Unfortunately, since Skyler is unliked by a huge part of the audience for some reason, they're making her stand by her man. It's kind of sweet, but inconsistent. The whole Walt-Skyler relationship has been bipolar for a while now and they've had to bend the reality of the show to make her more likable. The scene on the bathroom floor just didn't feel as sincere as it could have without all of the anger, lashing out, power games and even sexual assault between them. Strangely, I don't think this will quell the anger of all of the Skyler haters.

Anna Gunn got a chance to show off in this episode, though, and she's playing a woman confused, deluded, insecure and well-aware of the dangers around her. It is exactly where Skyler is right now. Her reaction in that scene with Hank was disturbed and confused enough to pay off.

And then Marie's kleptomania returned when she attempted to snatch their baby. It's obvious Hank isn't going to be able to count on Skyler to turn.


Lydia also made a big comeback tonight, offering Declan a chance to get higher quality product and Declan snubbing her. Well, so much for Declan.

Lydia's been maybe the best character of Season 5 because she's been the most consistent. Even though she's been a conniving jerk, she's always played it fast and loose, with the constant threat of death looming over her. Now that she's in power, she's still playing it fast and loose, and seems to have some warped view of life and death. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

It's funny to see the parallels. Walt started off this way. He was extremely desperate and we knew he was going to survive because he was the main character, but he kept getting into these really, really awful situations. Because we were so tied to Walt, it was hard to see the forest for the trees and just how close he came to death every turn.

Now we get to watch it more removed with Lydia. For a measly extra 8% on quality, she was willing to kill Declan and everyone around him. I don't imagine these were all of Declan's people -- I mean, it could be, since we're kind of short on time -- so maybe this'll ignite a turf war. A lot of people are going to die and the DEA is a few inches away.

All in all, the moving parts of the episode were beautifully executed. Everything moved just enough to push the plot into another episode. Walt beginning to run from the law, Lydia beginning to consolidate power, Jesse beginning to redeem himself and Hank beginning to figure out how to catch Walt set the pieces in motion to finish the series. In addition, it found a moment to make a good couple of jokes with Huell and Kuby. If you weren't laughing with Huell on the money pile, stop watching this show.

We all know where this is heading - hell, the flash forwards are pretty straight-forward. The question is how it gets there and what happens after that. They've made the transition portions of the main story arcs as interesting and fun to watch as the rest of the series. They've kept us as interested in the lulls between season endings as the explosive scenes.

And to be honest there's nothing quite as beautiful as that in story-telling.

Now for a little theory talk:

-Ever since Jesse didn't look like he believed Walt in "Blood Money" (when they were talking about Mike), I've been wondering if Jesse would flip and become a witness to the DEA. If he does, he goes into witness protection, gets out of Dodge, saves some money for the Sharp family, Lydia takes the fall, the whole empire collapses, Walt goes on the lam and who knows what happens to Skyler/Walt Jr.

-I keep getting the feeling Lydia is going to die, but Todd gets out of this. I don't have anything to go on this except that Todd seems far more business-oriented while Lydia seems more desperate.

-Walt's inevitable end seems to clash with what he and Skyler just talked about on the bathroom floor. It makes you wonder if Skyler gets away clean or not, but this show has done nearly everything except that. There are no clean getaways.

Become a fan of IGN
Buried on TV Episodes
  • +Hank and Walt begin their match.
  • +Huell and Koby lying on the pile of money and their conversation.
  • +The lulls between action are as interesting as the action.
  • Walt-Skyler reconnection seems a little forced.
blog comments powered by Disqus