"Buried" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad and the fifty-sixth episode altogether.
An elderly man leaves his house in the still dark early hours of the morning and starts his pickup truck, parked in his driveway. He notices something in front of his car and investigates, discovering that the unknown object is actually a stack of cash. After inspecting the money in his headlight, he inspects further and notices there are more stacks scattered across his neighbors' yards. He follows the trail of money, collecting wads of cash as he goes, and finds an abandoned car, driver's door wide open, and a duffle bag in the passenger seat half filled with bundles of cash. Bewildered, half salivating and growing suspicious, he then hears an odd squeaking sound; which he follows and leads him to find Jesse Pinkman, listlessly spinning on a playground merry-go-round, lying on his back, staring up to the stars.
Summary
Skyler talking with Hank.
After leaving Hank's garage, Walter tries to call Skyler but Hank already has her on the line. Walt rushes to the car wash and finds that Skyler has already left. Skyler meets with Hank at Perea's New Mexican Restaurant, where after a brief chat, he slyly asks to record everything she knows about Walt's criminal activities "while it's still fresh in her mind". Uncomfortable by Hank's eagerness she says nothing and reluctantly tells Hank she thinks a lawyer should be present for her protection before she says anything. Hank tells her that their interests are the same — to keep Marie, Skyler, Holly, and Walt Jr. safe. Skyler tries to leave but Hank desperate for her not to leave without first implicating Walt, stops her, grabbing her wrist. Coming to her senses, she begins to repeatedly shout, "Am I under arrest?", attracting attention in the diner. Eventually, accusing Skyler of not thinking straight, Hank regretfully releases his grip and lets her leave.
Huell Babineaux and Patrick Kuby visit the storage locker to move the stash and Huell, eyes as large as saucers, can't resist lying down on the massive pile of cash, savoring the moment and fighting the temptation. Huell suggests 'Mexico' and Kuby reminds him that Walt had 10 men killed - in jail - in under 2 minutes. So, best they not even think it, he suggests as he too does an "Uncle Scrooge." Meanwhile, Walter who's angry and hurt that Skyler went directly to Hank and believing she's talked, is going over his options with Saul Goodman, who asks if Walt has considered sending Hank to "Belize". Walt is outraged Saul would think he'd do that to a family member and rules that out as a possibility. Huell and Kuby soon show up with the many barrels of cash. Walt gives them a duffel bag of cash in return for their services then drives the van out to To'hajiilee, where he spends the rest of the night, alone, burying the cash at the GPS coordinates +34° 59' 20.00", -106° 36' 52.00" - which he then sets to memory.
Marie visits Skyler at the White Residence and questions Skyler about how long she has known about Walt's
Walter buries the money.
criminal activities. Skyler sits and cries, and Marie infers that Skyler had known about Walt's crimes before Hank was shot on duty. When Skyler reluctantly nods that it's true, as she apologises Marie slaps her then attempts to leave with Holly. As the sisters argue and Skyler tries to take back Holly, Hank enters to the commotion of all three screaming; he tells Marie to leave the child with it's mother. In the car, Marie tells Hank "you have to get him."
Walt drives home in the early morning hours, covered in dirt and exhausted, he's surprised to find Skyler home. Skyler follows him into the bathroom pleading he speak to her and telling him that she didn't tell Hank anything. Halfway through undressing Walt collapses to the bathroom floor. Hours later, he wakes up to a worried Skyler wiping his brow. He tells Skyler he will turn himself in if she promises to not give back the money, so as to not make all that he has been through and done meaningless. She tells him that Hank has no evidence and their best course of action is to remain silent.
"Fire in the hole!"
Meanwhile, in the middle of the Arizona desert Lydia Rodarte-Quayle is driven to Declan's gangs meth lab — a buried bus under a make-shift junkyard. She inspects the facility and demands that they improve the quality of their meth because her buyer in the Czech Republic expects a better product. She suggests they take Todd back, but Declan scoffs at her. Lydia looks at her watch, presses a button on it, and soon Declan and his cook are called to the surface. Lydia then looks at her phone and preemptively hides in a corner of the bus while gunfire breaks out. A man calls for her to come out. It is Todd, who suggests she keep her eyes closed while he helps her navigate through Declan's gang's scattered corpses. Todd's uncle's, Jack, and the White Supremacist gang (who previously helped Walt commit the ten prison murders in Gliding Over All) have crushed and raided Declan's own meth operation in order to take over.
Marie takes the next day off from work and urges Hank to take his evidence against Walt to the DEA. Hank tells her that the minute the DEA finds out Walt is Heisenberg, his career is over but that he wants his last act to be the bringing of evidence to light incriminating his brother-in-law. He finally returns to work at the Albuquerque DEA office where Steven Gomez tells him that Pinkman has been tossing out stacks of money from his car and has been pulled in. Hank visits an interrogation chamber and asks the officers questioning a silent Jesse to give him a couple of minutes with him. He then walks into the interrogation room alone...
Credits
Main Cast
- Bryan Cranston as Walter White
- Anna Gunn as Skyler White
- Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
- Dean Norris as Hank Schrader
- Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
- RJ Mitte as Walter White Jr. (credit only)
- Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman
- Laura Fraser as Lydia Rodarte-Quayle
- Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist
Supporting Cast
- Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez
- Bill Burr as Patrick Kuby
- Lavell Crawford as Huell Babineaux
- Louis Ferreira as Declan
- Michael Bowen as Jack Welker
- Kevin Rankin as Kenny
- Gonzalo Menendez as Detective Kalanchoe
- Jason Douglas as Detective Munn
- Morse Bicknell as Declan's Driver
- Pedro García as Mariano
- Victoria Lease as DEA Agent
- Patrick Sane as Frankie
- Tait Fletcher as Lester
- Matthew T. Metzler as Matt
- Mark Vasconcellos as Jack's Henchman
- Michael Davis as Old Man
- Kevin Owen McDonald as Declan's Cook
Trivia
- Walt buries his money in "To'hajiilee", a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and the site of his first cooking session with Jesse. ("Pilot")[1]
- As Skyler enters the diner to meet with Hank, the word "Alibi" can be read on the magazine rack.
- The Alibi is an alternative weekly newspaper that's been running in Albuquerque since the early-to-mid '90s. Shots showing the Alibi have been visible in previous episodes, as well.
- The GPS coordinates +34° 59' 20.00", -106° 36' 52.00" point to the Albuquerque Studios lot. There is a D.E.A. office about a mile up the road from the lot.
- The lottery ticket in the kitchen has these numbers disguised as lottery number selections, with zeros in front of the less-than-one-hundred numbers.
- A shot in the montage where Walt buries the drums bears resemblance to the closing shot from "Crawl Space". In both shots, Walt is framed by props, he looks exasperatedly to the camera, which is a long distance away, and he's on a backdrop of dirt.
- Saul suggests sending Hank to 'Belize'. In the movie "Drive" Bryan Cranston's character Shannon is asked where the protagonist is hiding. He suggests Mexico or Belize.
- According to director Michelle MacLaren in the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast, this episode was planned to have a gunfight other than the white supremacists massacre in Arizona, but did not make it past the end of the writer's room for unspecified reasons.
- The shot of Jesse shown spinning on the merry-go-round resembles Walt getting his CAT scan in "Gliding Over All".
Production
- RJ Mitte (Walter White Jr.) does not appear in this episode.
- Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) has no lines in this episode despite appearing, which makes Bryan Cranston (Walter White) the only actor to have lines in every episode of the series.
- This episode was dedicated to Thomas Schnauz Sr., the writer's father.
Videos
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)
References
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