Blood Money (Breaking Bad)

"Blood Money" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 55th overall episode of the series. Written by Peter Gould and directed by Bryan Cranston, it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on August 11, 2013 as the mid-season premiere.

"Blood Money"
Breaking Bad episode
In a flashforward, Walt visits the abandoned White home.
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 9
Directed byBryan Cranston
Written byPeter Gould
Featured music"Wordmule" by Jim White
"If I Didn't Love You" by
Squeeze
Cinematography byMichael Slovis
Editing byKelley Dixon
Original air dateAugust 11, 2013 (2013-08-11)
Running time47 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

The episode received high critical acclaim, with critics praising the flashforward scene in the beginning, the ending scene and the performances from Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris. For his performance in the episode, Norris was called "Performer of the Week" by TVLine.

Plot

In a flashforward, a 52-year-old Walter White arrives at his abandoned and fenced-off house, following the events of "Live Free or Die". Walt enters and sees "HEISENBERG" spray-painted on the living room wall. Observing the house's dilapidated state, which includes a group of teenagers using his emptied pool to skateboard, he retrieves the hidden vial of ricin from his bedroom. As he leaves, he greets his former neighbor, Carol, who is terrified by his presence.

In the present, Hank Schrader reels from finding Gale Boetticher's handwritten dedication found in Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass, finally realizing that Walt, his brother-in-law, was Heisenberg all along. After excusing himself and his wife Marie from the party at Walt's house, Hank swerves his car off the road on the way home while suffering a panic attack, crashing in a yard. Hank feigns an illness to work from home and takes the opportunity to review case files on Heisenberg and Gus Fring. Hank links people, events, and circumstances, as well as matching the handwriting in the Leaves of Grass dedication with that of the bullet points from Gale's lab notebook, to confirm that Walt is Heisenberg.

Walt, who has left the meth business, discusses ways to launder his drug money faster with Skyler, with expansion of their car wash business as an aim. Lydia shows up at the car wash looking distressed and pleads for Walt to return, as the quality of the meth since his retirement has fallen below acceptable standards, jeopardizing their deal. However, Walt dismisses her, and Skyler firmly warns her never to come back. It is later revealed that Walt's cancer has returned, but he keeps this from his family and undergoes chemotherapy again.

Meanwhile, Jesse Pinkman feels guilty over his role in Walt's meth business, and is particularly distraught over the deaths of Drew Sharp and (he assumes) Mike Ehrmantraut. He gives all the money he received from Walt to Saul Goodman and asks him to deliver it to Mike's granddaughter and Drew's family. Saul refuses, advising it would raise suspicions, and reports this to Walt. Walt visits Jesse to return his money and lies to him, telling him that Mike is probably still alive somewhere and does not need help taking care of his granddaughter. Jesse is still distressed and later gives a $10,000 bundle to a homeless man. He then drives through a neighborhood, throwing more bundles of cash onto front lawns.

In his bathroom, Walt finds his copy of Leaves of Grass missing. Alarmed at the coincidental timing of Hank's apparent illness, his suspicions are deepened when he discovers a GPS tracker on his car. He shows up at Hank's garage and eventually asks him about the tracker; an enraged Hank punches Walt and accuses him of being Heisenberg, which Walt neither confirms nor denies. Walt tells Hank that he would have difficulty proving he is Heisenberg, and even if he did his cancer will probably kill him before he can be jailed. Hank demands Walt leave his children in Hank's care before he will consider Walt's argument, but is refused. Hank utters that he does not know him anymore, to which Walt replies, "If that's true, if you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly."

Production

Dedication

The episode is dedicated to Kevin Cordasco, a sixteen-year-old fan of Breaking Bad who had met several members of the series' cast and crew; Cordasco died earlier in 2013 from neuroblastoma. This was the fourth dedication over the course of the series.[1][2][3]

Title reference

The term "blood money" has two meanings; it means money obtained at the cost of another's life, as well as money paid to the family of a person who has been killed, usually by the killer or the killer's clan.[4]

References to other media

In the opening flashforward scene, Walt is seen by his former neighbor Carol, who drops a bag of oranges (which spill and roll across the ground) in fear. Some critics interpret this as a reference to The Godfather, in which oranges represent death. For example, in one scene of The Godfather, after Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is shot, he drops a bag of oranges, which subsequently roll across the ground.[5][6][7]

References to past episodes

"Blood Money" contains several other continuity references to past episodes. Hank's montage, in which he investigates the revelation that Walt is Heisenberg, sees him looking through old case files and pictures. These reference Gus Fring, Gale Boetticher and his notebook ("Bullet Points"), Dennis Markowski, Jesse's car in Seasons 1 and 2, the bullet-ridden car from his shoot-out with Tuco Salamanca ("Grilled"), Hector Salamanca, Mike Ehrmantraut, Duane Chow ("Full Measure"/"Madrigal"), Ron Forenall, Tyrus Kitt, Gonzo and No-Doze's corpses ("Grilled"), the gas mask Walt took from the school he worked at, Walt and Jesse stealing a barrel of methylamine ("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal"), the burned lab ("Live Free or Die"), and finally, the Heisenberg drawing ("No Más"). When Hank confronts Walt about his identity, he mentions Walt's purposefully crashing the car on their way to Fring's laundromat ("Crawl Space"), killing the imprisoned members of Fring's drug empire ("Gliding Over All"), calling him about Marie to distract him from Jesse and the RV ("Sunset"), and bombing a nursing home ("Face Off").

Walt also acts like Gus in some scenes. His conversation with Lydia at the car wash references Walt and Gus' earlier conversations at Los Pollos Hermanos, with Walt's role being reversed.[8] In another scene, Walt goes to the bathroom to vomit, turning the sink on to mask the noise and laying a towel down on the floor to kneel on, just as Gus had done in "Salud". Hank's neighbor's son's remote-controlled car ("Seven Thirty-Seven") also makes an appearance.[9] The GPS tracker Hank places under Walt's car is the same one he planted on Gus' car in the fourth season. When Jesse opens a pack of cigarettes in front of Huell, Huell seems to remember the ricin-filled cigarette he stole from Jesse in "End Times".[10][11]

Reception

Ratings

The episode originally aired on August 11, 2013, in the United States and Canada on AMC. It aired the next day in the United Kingdom on the web streaming service Netflix.[12] According to the Nielsen ratings system, "Blood Money" was watched in the United States by an estimated 5.92 million viewers, the most in series history at the time.[13][14]

Reviews

The episode received widespread critical acclaim, with extensive praise for the performances of Dean Norris and Bryan Cranston.[15] For his performance, Norris was named "Performer of the Week" by TVLine."[16]

Seth Amitin of IGN called the episode a satisfying preparation and set-up for the endgame of the series. Amitin also praised the confrontation at the end between Walt and Hank and the tense dialogue that fueled it. "Blood Money was an amalgamation of a bunch of little things to love."[17]

Mark Berman of The Washington Post said the episode paid off plot points set up in previous episodes while simultaneously laying groundwork for future episodes. Berman was also surprised at how much ground was covered in Hank's plotline in just one episode.[5]

David Berry of National Post called Walt and Hank's showdown abrupt, menacing and cathartic without relieving any of the tension of the storyline. He also praised the acting.[18]

After reading other critics' reviews, Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy wrote that "['Blood Money'] exceeded the hype and reached new heights."[19]

In 2019, The Ringer ranked "Blood Money" as the 21st best out of the 62 total Breaking Bad episodes.[20]

References
  1. Sepinwall, Alan (August 11, 2013). "Season premiere review: 'Breaking Bad' – 'Blood Money': Better call, Saul". HitFix. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  2. Pascal, Susan (August 14, 2013). "'Breaking Bad' Episode Dedicated to Kevin Cordasco". Calabasas Patch. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  3. "Breaking Bad Dedicates Premiere To Kevin Cordasco, 16-Year-Old Who Lost Battle With Cancer (PHOTO)". Huff Post Good News. August 14, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  4. "blood money". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  5. Berman, Mark (August 12, 2013). "'Breaking Bad' – Take the blood money and run". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  6. Thomas, June (August 11, 2013). "Breaking Season 5, Part 2". Slate. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  7. Meslow, Scott (August 11, 2013). "Breaking Bad premiere recap: 'Blood Money'". The Week. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  8. Keene, Allison (August 12, 2013). "BREAKING BAD Recap: "Blood Money"". Collider. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  9. "Breaking Bad Round Table: "Blood Money"". TV Fanatic. August 12, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  10. Poniewozik, James (August 11, 2013). "Breaking Bad Watch: I Am the One Who Gets Knocked Out". TIME. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  11. Bowman, Donna (August 11, 2013). "Blood Money review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  12. Lazarus, Susanna (August 12, 2013). "Breaking Bad new series 5b episode now available on Netflix". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  13. Bibel, Sara (August 13, 2013). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Breaking Bad' Wins Night, 'True Blood', 'Low Winter Sun', 'Devious Maids', 'Dexter', 'The Newsroom' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on August 16, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  14. Bibel, Sara (August 12, 2013). "'Breaking Bad' Returns With Series High 5.9 Million Viewers; 'Low Winter Sun' Debuts to 2.5 Million Viewers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on August 14, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  15. "Episode Review: Breaking Bad, "Blood Money"". Metacritic. August 11, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  16. "TVLine's Performer of the Week: Dean Norris". TVLine. August 16, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  17. Amitin, Seth (August 11, 2013). "Breaking Bad "Blood Money" Review "Hello, Carol."". IGN. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  18. Berry, David (August 12, 2013). "Tread lightly: The final season premiere of Breaking Bad, 'Blood Money' recapped". National Post. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  19. Fletcher, Alex (August 12, 2013). "'Breaking Bad': First 'Blood Money' reviews – What the critics said". Digital Spy. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  20. John Gonzalez (September 30, 2019). "The Ringer's Definitive 'Breaking Bad' Episodes Ranking". The Ringer.
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