So…at least he got to keep one barrel? Bullet points on the latest “Breaking Bad” titled Granite State…

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT

• The Previa Walt got into last episode stops at the aforementioned vacuum cleaner shop. The driver gets out and it’s Robert Forster! (that’s a big name to bring in this late in the game). Let’s just refer to him as “the cleaner” for now. Anyway, the sliding door to the van opens and out comes…Saul. I’d argue one of Saul’s more prominent characteristics is his survival instinct. He’s been put in some hairy situations and somehow always finds a way to ensure he makes it out relatively unscathed. And it’s that instinct that’s led him to play the new identity card just like Walt. Saul’s far too implicated in Walt’s activities to stick around and inevitably go down for his involvement. Saul will be off to Nebraska for a new life once it’s safe enough for him to travel out of Albuquerque. Until then he has a “bunk mate” in one Walter White who looks very antsy as he waits for his own transport out of town.

• Next we see Marie, sadness all over her face, being driven back home. As the feds drive up to her house we see that it has been broken into by Uncle Jack’s crew presumably to get the confession tape Jesse made at the Schrader household. I must say, I was terrified about what might happen to Marie when the neo-Nazis came for the tape. I’m so very relieved that she wasn’t home for the break in. I guess it’s not all doom and gloom.

• Jesse’s confession to murdering Gale is being watched by the neo-Nazis who have a cooler full of beer to further assist in their enjoyment. Everything that has tormented Jesse through the life of the series is being watched as entertainment for Uncle Jack and the rest of the goons. Uncle Jack charmingly says, “Does this pussy cry through the entire thing?” Kenny fast-forwards the video to Jesse talking about the train heist in which Drew Sharp was murdered by Todd. As Jesse tells the story on tape Todd stands in the back of the room with a gleeful, proud grin. Man, I hate this guy.

• Uncle Jack comes out of the room gun in hand to shoot Jesse for ratting on his nephew. This Uncle Jack really is all about family, huh? Todd tries to put a stop to it pointing out how much money will potentially be lost if Jesse isn’t around to cook. Uncle Jack on the other hand sees that Todd has a bit of a crush on Lydia and wants to be in business, in at least some part, because of that. The rest of the gang ridicules Todd a bit which he noticeably doesn’t appreciate. They all head back in to watch more of Jesse’s taped confession.

• Jesse is still living in the pit, now with the photo of Andrea and Brock with him. And the photo for some reason has a paper clip attached to it which Jesse takes off and attempts to use to unlock his cuffs.

• Walt and Saul are under the vacuum cleaner shop. Walt is writing something down feverishly and eventually asks Goodman to be “useful” and write down a list of “hitters, mercenaries.” Walt needs five for “the job.” Saul doesn’t know who Walt wants to “hit” which gets a surprised reaction out of Walt. It seems Walt thinks it’s pretty clear that he intends to take out Uncle Jack for murdering Hank and taking the bulk of his money. But Saul wants out and offers Walt a piece of advice. If Walt really wants to help his family he should face the music and potentially save his family from losing everything they have because the feds are going to go after it all if Skyler doesn’t have anything to trade to help the investigation. We all know Walt is too stubborn to follow his lawyer’s advice. He also can’t see the state of affairs for what they are. The cleaner walks in and interrupts their talk because it’s time for Saul to get moving out of town. Walt says there’s a change of plans and Saul’s going with him, an idea Saul isn’t so hot on. The cleaner let’s them talk it over and Saul is standing firm that it’s over. Heisenberg comes out and tries to intimidate Saul into going with the plan, but has a coughing attack mid-speech. Saul’s not so scared of Walt anymore, exits the room and is off to his new life in Nebraska as Miguel Sanchez. My guess is that this is probably a wrap on Saul on this series.

• Skyler is sitting across a large conference room table from a group of DEA agents. It’s a blur to her. She knows if she doesn’t give up Walt the DEA will take away everything they possibly can. But she truly doesn’t know where Heisenberg is. She’s really in a horrible place.

• We next see Skyler in the house at night smoking and looking out at the cops across the street keeping watch on the house. Holly is crying in the bedroom so Skyler gets up to tend to her. When she turns the corner to the bedroom there are three men dressed in black waiting for her. This admittedly totally caught me off guard and was terrifying. Todd is one of those men in black. He calmly explains to Skyler that she can talk to the police but cannot say anything about, “the lady who came into the car wash” AKA Lydia. Skyler agrees she won’t say anything about Lydia to the cops. Skyler spilling info about Lydia hadn’t crossed my mind and I’m not sure if it would have crossed Skyler’s if not for Todd’s invasion into her home. Sure, Skyler saw Lydia and knew she was connected with Walt in some way, but I don’t think she had any other information. Mrs. White takes Holly out of the crib and embraces her. The volume of Skyler’s breath is heightened as the scene cuts away. Chilling.

• Not only is Todd a child murdering asshole, he’s also an extremely creepy fellow. He’s sipping on a drink at Heisenberg/Lydia’s old meeting place. Lydia walks in. Todd, dressed rather Heisenberg-like, has a charmed look about him as Lydia walks by. Lydia sits down behind Todd. He must not be too familiar with meeting about a criminal conspiracy so he gets up and is about to move over to her table before she stops him. Lydia had Todd go to the White house to feel out Skyler regarding turning over any information as it pertained to Lydia. Todd’s confident the scare he put into Skyler worked. Lydia’s not sold and wants to proceed with more caution in terms of the meth business. Todd has some crystal ready to go which he mentions is at 92% purity and is blue. This gets Lydia’s attention. She knows it could be lucrative. Todd’s turned to Lydia’s back as he tries to convince her of doing further business and is seen picking something off the back of her shirt. Not creepy at all. Todd is being influenced by his attraction to Lydia. Lydia is in it for the money.

• From darkness a hatch opens. Walt has been transported inside a propane truck to New Hampshire. We cut to a wide shot and see that Walt’s new life will take place in a cabin in the woods. This is a truly gorgeous setting with the woods and snow. Walt’s new life will consist of little TV reception and a reliance on DVDs including Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, two copies to be exact. The cleaner will do a monthly supply run for the small fee of $50,000 too. There’s also no phone, no internet, no satellite, no cable TV, no car. This scenario could also be called my view of what hell must be like. Walt states that he still has business to tend to. The cleaner says that’s fine, but that’s Walt’s business, not his. Nothing’s keeping Walt from walking out, but once he leaves the cleaner will no longer be of any help because there would be too much risk.

• Walt opens up his barrel and appears to have an epiphany as he sifts through some of his money. He walks over to one of his pieces of luggage, reaches in, pulls out the Heisenberg pork pie hat and puts it on as the Heisenberg theme plays. Heisenberg walks out to the end of the property, stops and turns back for the cabin.

• Jesse has now freed himself from the cuffs and is attempting to escape the pit. He hears Todd coming back and cuffs himself again leaving his attempt to escape for a later time. Todd lifts the tarp up and gives Jesse ice cream, a reward for having cooked a batch that had 96% purity. Jesse requests that Todd leave the tarp off so he can see the stars. Todd obliges, walks away and it’s time for Jesse to try another escape attempt a short time later. Sort of unbelievably Jesse makes it out of the pit and is on the run in the compound. He runs across a field and starts to climb a fence when Uncle Jack’s crew comes out, guns drawn. Jesse may have been caught another way, but we see a surveillance camera that makes it somewhat clear that he was caught on video. Jesse invites them to shoot him dead. He’s had enough. All we see from Uncle Jack’s crew is darkness and flashlights shining on Jesse. Story-wise I must say I’m happy Jesse didn’t escape. It would have been way too stupid and cheap.

• Todd walks across a residential street and rings the door bell to a house. Who comes to the door? Andrea. Todd tells Andrea he’s a friend of Jesse’s. Todd gets Andrea to step out in front of the doorway and onto the porch. He peaks inside the house looking for any sign of another person. There’s a cut to Jesse in the SUV across the street, gagged and beating on the door trying to make as much of a scene as he can, but to no real avail. Todd reaches behind his back and pulls out a handgun. As he raises it at the back of Andrea’s head he says, “Just so you know this isn’t personal.” Todd then fires the gun and Andrea drops. Jesse is more than distraught. Uncle Jack calms him down by reminding him that there’s still the kid (Brock) they can use as leverage. This was absolutely devastating. Andrea wasn’t a character I was ever all that invested in, but this was just a horrific turn for the character. I expected Todd to maybe abduct her, but I didn’t think he’d execute her. Just so devastating. Uncle Jack and Co. are sending a message to Jesse. He better not try to escape again.

• Mr. Lambert is walking towards the gate at the end of the property he stopped at earlier in the episode. Walt is breathing hard and now has a full beard. Time has passed. A jeep approaches the gate. Walt lets the jeep in. Next we’re in Lambert’s cabin with him and the cleaner. Walt is very anxious to look over the newspapers on any news of what is happening back in Albuquerque. The cleaner informs Walt that Skyler seems to be doing OK all things considered. She is going on trial though. Walt’s old house has been put up for auction, but has a fence around it because it had become a bit of a tourist attraction. It’s time for Walt to get chemo, something the cleaner helps him with. Walt is visibly more frail. As Walt gets the treatment he asks, sadly, for the cleaner to stay with him a little longer, just two hours and Walt will give him $10,000. The cleaner counters with an offer to stay for one hour which Walt doesn’t fight. A deck of cards is broken out. Walt starts talking to the cleaner telling him that one of these times he’s on a supply run Walt will be dead and his remaining money will be left in the cabin. Walt wants to know what will happen to his money and asks if the cleaner would give it to his family. The cleaner honestly responds, “If I said yes, would you believe me?” Walt is brought down at least one more notch. The cleaner deals, “A king. (flips) Two kings.”

• Walt has several articles taped to the wall of the cabin about all news Heisenberg. He’s sleeping, rolls over and his fingers point down to the ground. He’s lost so much weight his wedding ring slips right off his finger. Love that small moment right here. Very simple but tells us a lot. Walt turns his wedding ring into a wedding necklace. Maybe realizing his time is near an end, Walt gets an idea. He empties some Ensure boxes and fills them with cash. In daylight we see Walt traveling with the package outside his property.

• Walt Jr. AKA Flynn is called away from class by the principal because his Aunt Marie has an urgent phone call out to him. But it’s not Marie on the other line, it’s his father. Walt Jr. is visibly upset to hear his dad’s voice. Walt breaks down on the phone saying, “It’s so good to hear your voice.” Walt begins to explain what he has done, but changes course and gets down to a big reason for the phone call. He wants to send his family money, but needs to use Walt Jr.’s friend’s house as the address to stay clear of the cops. Flynn seems at least somewhat responsive to the idea at first. Walt breaks down again. At this point he has realized how much he has screwed everything up. Walt Jr. gets angrier and yells at Walt that he killed Hank. Walt Jr. doesn’t want to hear anything more. He’s done with his father. Walt Jr. yells at Walt more and hangs up the phone. Walt has given up. His son wants nothing to do with him. He can’t help his family. He makes another call this time to the DEA. He turns himself in and leaves the phone on the line.

• Walt walks over slowly and defeated to the bar and asks for a drink, potentially his last one. The bartender starts flipping through channels on the television when something catches Walt’s eyes and ears. He asks the bartender to go back to another channel. It’s Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz being interviewed by Charlie Rose. The Schwartz’s are establishing a $28 million grant for drug abuse treatment centers across the southwest United States. Rose points out that the grant could be viewed as a publicity stunt to distance their business from one of its co-founders, Walter White. The Schwartz’s refute that claim outright. Elliott says that Walter had, “virtually nothing to do with the creation of the company and still less to do with growing it into what it is today.” Walter is taken aback. Upon being asked what Walt’s contribution to Gray Matter Technologies was Gretchen responds, “the company name,” which Elliott agrees with. Elliott expounds, “As far as I can recall his contribution begins and ends right there,” as we see Walt clench his hand around a napkin, seething. Rose continues, saying that Heisenberg’s blue meth is still out there which makes some people think Walt is still cooking. Gretchen says that the meth cook Heisenberg may still be out there, but the Walter White they knew is gone. Heisenberg stares straight ahead looking as determined as ever. Elliott and Gretchen have made a colossal mistake. They couldn’t have realistically thought Walt would be watching, but they have just awoken Heisenberg. A stretched out version of title theme song plays as cops ascend on the bar Heisenberg was at, but he’s gone.

• Just about everything this series has introduced has come back and been paid off. So damn impressive.

• One of the big questions that remained in the last two episodes of this series was what was going to bring Walt back to Albuquerque. And in the closing moments of this episode we get the truly brilliant answer. Of course it would be Gretchen and Elliott dismissing the contributions Walt made to Gray Matter Technologies. It’s really perfect. Something so small would be the thing that brings him back, particularly when he had given up. Walt, if he describes it, got into the meth business to provide for his family after he was dead and gone. But a big reason he did it was for pride and ego. On different occasions Walt has talked about taking the buyout from Gray Matter as a regret he wouldn’t let happen again. He helped build the company and didn’t get the recognition he felt he was owed. He has felt resentment towards Elliott and Gretchen about that since they were introduced in the series. Remember, he could have had all of his treatments paid for by the Schwartz’s, but refused. A big part of the promotional material for these final eight episodes has come with the line, “Remember my name.” Next week, I think Walter White is going to do his best to make sure of that.

• I laughed
  • Saul: “Nebraska. What’s in Nebraska?” “The cleaner”: “You from now on.”
  • Saul: “From here on out I’m Mr. Low Profile. Just another douchebag with a job and three pairs of Dockers. If I’m lucky, a month from now, best case scenario, I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.”

• The quotes…
  • Walt: “God, you think I want to run! This is the last thing that I want! This, this changes nothing. What I do, I do for my family. My money goes to my children. Not just this barrel, all of it! I’m going to kill Jack and his entire crew and I’m going to take back what is mine and give it to my children. And then and only then am I through. Do you understand?”
  • Todd: “I just think we work together, good. We make a good team.”
  • The cleaner: “Mr. Lambert, welcome to New Hampshire.”
  • Jesse: “Do it! Just kill me now and get it over with because there’s no way I’m doing one more cook for you psycho fucks!”
  • Walt: “I wanted to give you so much more, but this is all I could do.”
  • Walt: “It can’t all be for nothing.”
  • Walt Jr: “Just leave us alone. You asshole! Why are you still alive?! Why won’t you just die already?! Just die!”

• Overall – This was another fine episode in this final eight. It was going along steadily and hit another gear when Elliott and Gretchen hit the television set. A lot of plot was carefully managed here.

• What’s to come? – Carnage. There’s a machine gun and a ricin capsule that need to be paid off. It’s coming. I’d really be worried if I was in Uncle Jack’s crew or anywhere near Elliott or Gretchen. The most obvious thing would be the machine gun being used to dispose of Uncle Jack and company and the softer ricin to deal with Elliott and Gretchen, but I wouldn’t bet on it. We are also owed one more big scene with Walt and Jesse and Walt and Skyler. One to go.