"Buried" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad and the fifty-sixth episode altogether.
Summary[]
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In the early hours of the morning, as an elderly man starts his pickup truck, he discovers a stack of cash on his driveway. Investigating further, the man finds more money scattered across his neighbors' yards. Following the trail, he finds an abandoned car at a park, its driver's door wide open, and a duffel bag in the passenger seat still half-full with cash. He then follows a squeaking sound and finds Jesse, listlessly spinning on a playground merry-go-round, lying on his back, staring into the night sky.
Act I[]
Skyler talking with Hank
Immediately after the confrontation in Hank's garage, Walt tries to call Skyler, only to learn that Hank has called her first. Walt speeds over to the car wash to speak with her in person but finds that she is no longer there, causing him to fear the worst. Skyler meets with Hank at a restaurant, where he places a recorder on the table and asks that she reveal everything she about Walt's criminal activities so that he can arrest Walt, revealing that he doesn't have enough for a surefire conviction at the moment and that he does not want Walt to "run out the clock." When Skyler asks what that means, Hank discloses that Walt told him his cancer returned. Skyler is apprehensive of testifying against Walt and tries to seek a lawyer, although Hank tries to convince her that lawyers would just cause unnecessary hurdles and could prevent Walt from being convicted; Skyler responds that she needs to look out for herself and the kids and therefore needs legal protection, and adds that she believes Hank is trying to get her to forego her legal rights in order to catch Walt at any means necessary.
Hank is confused that she doesn't trust him and tries to convince her again to give up Walt. Skyler asks if she's under arrest and tries to get up, but when she tries to leave, Hank, desperate for her to implicate Walt, grabs her wrist. She asks him again if she's under arrest, and is forced to yell it out loud, gaining the attention of everyone else in the restaurant, forcing Hank to let go of her so that she can leave.
Act II[]
Huell and Kuby are sent to the storage unit to move Walt's money, where Kuby is stunned by the amount of money Walt has. Huell can't resist lying on top of the massive pile, and Kuby eventually joins him. Huell proposes stealing the money and fleeing to Mexico, although Kuby reminds him that Walt had ten men killed across three prisons within two minutes, indicating it would therefore not be wise to rob him.
Walt buries the money
Meanwhile, Walt is at Saul's office, berating Skyler's decision to go see Hank without calling him first. He then receives a call from Skyler, although Saul convinces him not to answer in case she is cooperating with the DEA, claiming that the call could be recorded and that they might trace his location; Walt then breaks his burner phone in two. When Saul suggests sending Hank to "Belize" like he did with Mike — i.e. to have him murdered — Walt is outraged at his proposal and declares that Hank is his family and that his family members are off-limits. Huell and Kuby then arrive with the money, now contained in seven plastic barrels in a van. Walt does a cursory glance to check if the money is all there, but unable to count them all at the moment, merely says "Close enough," as Huell gives Kuby a look. Walt then gives Saul a duffel bag with some cash, ordering him to pay Huell and Kuby their cut and to take his own cut while using the rest as his retainer should he require Saul's services. Walt then drives the van to the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation, where he spends the rest of the day digging a hole that's deep enough; he finishes digging by nightfall, and thus spends his night burying the barrels. He then take stock of the GPS coordinates of the barrels before leaving, and stops on his way back to acquire a lottery ticket, where he uses the coordinates as his numbers.
Meanwhile, at the White residence, Marie arrives, demanding to speak to her. Noticing Hank standing outside, Skyler reluctantly agrees to speak to Marie, but under the condition that Hank remains outside. Retreating to her bedroom, Marie questions Skyler about how long she has known about Walt's meth activities. She mentions that while Hank is under the belief that she learned the truth on Walt's birthday and thus was the reason she tried to drown herself, she suspects it was earlier. She inquires as to whether Skyler knew before the gambling cover story and then asks her if she had known before Hank was shot. When Skyler tearfully apologizes, Marie slaps her and berates her apology before storming out of the room. Skyler continues crying until she realizes Marie is trying to take Holly; getting up, she makes her way to the living room just in time to stop Marie from walking out of the door. Skyler demands that Marie return her baby, but Marie refuses. With the door blocked, Marie makes her way to the window and raps on it to gain Hank's attention. Hank then bursts in as Skyler yells for Marie to return Holly, with Marie refusing. Hank then yells at Marie to return Holly, and Marie obliges. Hank then gives Marie a look before leaving the house and returning to his vehicle. Marie then tells Hank to ensure that he stop Walt before they drive away.
Act III[]
A dirty and exhausted Walt arrives home in the middle of the night. Skyler follows him to the bathroom; upon noticing his dirty attire, she correctly surmises that he buried the money. She pleads to know more, adding that she never told Hank anything, while Walt ignores her and undressses in order to take a shower. Before he can remove his underwear, Walt loses consciousness and collapses onto the floor. When he wakes up hours later, he finds Skyler next to him, who has covered him with a blanket and has been dabbing his forehead with a cool napkin, as well as bandaging his wound. As he comes to, Skyler muses that the news is true and that his cancer truly has returned; Walt asks her if she is happy now, since she had wished that his cancer would come back to kill him. Skyler however replies that she does not remember the last time she felt happy. Walt accuses Skyler of having made a deal with Hank and tells her that he will surrender himself under the condition that she ensure that the authorities do not seize his money, asking her to promise him that the money will go to their children so that everything he did wasn't for nothing. Skyler reminds Walt that they cannot keep the money if he surrenders but informs him that Hank does not have anything definitive, and therefore their best course of action would be to remain silent.
Lydia is driven blindfolded to a meeting with Declan at a remote junkyard in order to visit his meth lab, which is located in a bus buried beneath them. She complains about the low quality of Declan's meth and demands to know how he plans to fix it. He tells her that it's fine for his clientele, but she counters that the Czech market isn't satisfied. She suggests they use Todd as a cook, as his first two batches had a purity level above 70%, but Declan scoffs at the suggestion since Todd set the lab on fire during his third cook and that he prefers using his own people. Upon his refusal to work with Todd, she surreptitiously presses a button on her watch. Declan and his cook are then called above-ground due to approaching vehicles and a skirmish; Lydia then hides in a corner of the bus while gunfire breaks out on the surface.
Jack kills Declan
The gunfire comes to an end and she hears Todd's voice calling out to her. As she makes her way up the ladder, she tells Todd that she does not want to see the dead bodies, so Todd tells her to close her eyes and offers to guide her back to her vehicle. It is revealed that Jack and his Aryan Brotherhood members were the ones whom Lydia had signaled to kill Declan and his men, and Jack's gang laughs at Lydia needing to be escorted with her eyes shut. Declan, who survived, crawls across the ground briefly before Jack executes him with a single gunshot.
Act IV[]
At the Schrader residence, Marie urges Hank to take his evidence against Walt to the DEA immediately. Hank tells her that the minute his superiors find out that "Heisenberg" is Hank's own brother-in-law, his career will be over; as a result, he needs concrete evidence to provide to the DEA before he can inform them so that his career can end with the satisfaction he brought down Heisenberg. However, Marie worries that if the DEA finds out about Walt first and then discover that Hank knew but didn't report it, he would get in trouble as they would assume he was covering for Walt. Convinced, Hank makes his way to the Albuquerque field office, intending to disclose his findings. However, as he requests a private meeting with SAC Ramey, Gomez tells him that Jesse has been arrested after he was found tossing money. The news intrigues Hank, as he is aware that Jesse worked with Heisenberg, and realizes that he has a new avenue to gain a testimony against Walt.
In an interrogation room, Kalanchoe and Munn, the two detectives who questioned Jesse earlier about the ricin, ask him how he acquired over a million dollars in cash and why he was throwing it away on the streets. Jesse remains unresponsive, merely staring ahead, and the detectives decide to leave the room. Hank, who had made his way to the station, notifies the detectives that Jesse may be of some help with an ongoing DEA investigation and asks for permission to interrogate him, promising to share anything Jesse reveals. The detectives agree and step outside as Hank enters the interrogation room.
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
- Walter buries his money in the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation in New Mexico, which is the same place he had his first cooking session with Jesse. ("Pilot")[1]
- The GPS coordinates Walt mentions (+34° 59' 20.00", -106° 36' 52.00") correlate in reality to the Albuquerque Studios lot, where Breaking Bad is filmed. There is a DEA office about a mile up the road from the lot.
- Aaron Paul (Jesse) has no lines in this episode despite appearing, which makes Bryan Cranston (Walter) and Anna Gunn (Skyler) the only actors to have speaking lines in every episode of the series.
- Ironically, Paul and Gunn have inverse stats when it comes to physically appearing and having their voice heard. While Paul appears in every episode, he has no lines in this one; Gunn is in every episode except for "Fly", although that episode used a recording of her voice from a previous episode. Therefore, Paul was in every episode but was not heard in every episode, whereas Gunn was not in every episode but was heard in every episode.
- According to director Michelle MacLaren in the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast, this episode was planned to have a gunfight other than Jack Welker's Gang massacre in Arizona, but did not make it past the end of the writer's room for unspecified reasons.
- This episode was dedicated to Thomas Schnauz Sr., the writer's father.
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
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Guest Starring
Co-Starring
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Featured Music[]
- "Loving You (aka Being with You)" by The Country Six Stringers (in the restaurant where Hank meets Skyler)
- "Tomorrow's Gone" by Floyd Cramer (in the restaurant where Hank meets Skyler)
- "(These Are) The Young Years" by Floyd Cramer (in the restaurant where Hank meets Skyler)
- "Quimey Neuquén (Chancha Via Circuito Remix)" by José Larralde (when Walter is burying the money)
Errors[]
- When Jesse is spinning on the merry-go-round, it shows two shots. One that follows Jesse as he spins around and another where it is fixed on his face. In both of these shots he is lying down in a different position, even though the scene doesn't really establish any meaningful passage of time. This leads to the assumption that both shots were done at different times in production.
Memorable Quotes[]
- Skyler: "Am I under arrest?"
- Hank: "No. Sky– sh."
- Skyler: "Hank, are you arresting me?"
- Hank: "Sky..."
- Skyler: "Am I under arrest?!"
- ―Hank and Skyler at the restaurant
- "Jesus. Send him to Belize. I’ll send you to Belize."
- ―Walt furious after Saul had speculated to send Hank to Belize, meaning to kill him.
- Walter: "How–how long was I out?"
- Skyler: "Oh, about four or five hours. How are you feeling? It’s true. The cancer’s back. Is this it?"
- Walter: "Does that make you happy?"
- Skyler: "I can’t remember the last time I was happy."
- ―Walter and Skyler after Walt collapsed in the bathroom.
- Walter: "No, no one talked. It was me. I screwed up."
- Skyler: "The way Hank talks he’s got his suspicions–not much else. You can’t give yourself up without giving up the money. It’s the way this works, Walt. So maybe our best move here is to stay quiet."
- ―Walter and Skyler about Hank's discovery.
- "Look, the day I go in with this, it's the last day of my career, Marie. I'm going to have to walk in there, look those people in the eye and admit that the person I've been chasing the past year is my own brother-in-law. It's over for me. Ten seconds after I tell this story, I'm a civilian. Then how can we help Skyler when she comes to her senses? When I go in there, I'm bringing proof. Not suspicion. I can be the man who caught him, at least."
- ―Hank talking to Marie.