This week’s episode recap of Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 11, entitled Confessions, is a long one. Josh provides the summary this week, and provides his opinion along with Violet. What happens with Jesse’s interrogation? How close is Hank getting? What is Walt’s next move? Find out after the jump!
Don’t need a refresher? Click here to jump directly to Josh’s thoughts on this episode!
To see Violet’s thoughts on Breaking Bad‘s episode Confessions, click here to get directly there!
Breaking Bad Episode 11 Confessions Overview
Here is a brief overview of the events of this week’s episode Confessions for season 5 of Breaking Bad. To get a detailed description of a section, simply click the link to go to a more detailed outline!
- Todd informs Walt of new management and brags to buds about working with Heisenberg
- Jesse is interrogated by Hank, but Saul shows up, gets him out on bail
- Walt tells Walt Junior about cancer return–for ulterior motives
- Walt, Skyler, Hank and Marie almost have dinner–Walt provides a DVD confession
- Hank reacts to the confession–angrily to Marie about the medical bills Walt paid
- Meeting in the desert–Walt convinces Jesse to get a (new) life–with Saul‘s help
- Jesse‘s full realization of Saul‘s deceit and Walt‘s motives, subsequent breakdown
Full Episode Recap: Breaking Bad episode 11, Confessions
Under New Management
This episode of Breaking Bad titled Confessions begins with Todd giving a call to Walt. He informs Walt on his voicemail, that there is a change in management, as there were “problems” with the previous people, and that he would be taking over. Todd then proceeds to head into a diner with his two “business partners”. Todd tells the two cohorts all about the train heist Walt organized, telling these two how it was done. Todd is very excited to explain the story, and seems proud of the work he had done. The older man asks Todd if he is ready to cook, and Todd confirms that he is. The two men then go to use the restroom. They do their business, and we see the older man examine his boot. He uses a paper towel to wipe it, and what looks like blood is wiped off. He throws the paper towel into the toilet and flushes it. We do not actually see the paper flush completely however…
Jesse’s Lack of Interrogation
Last week’s episode ended with Jesse in custody, being interrogated by two detectives. Jesse is not talking still. We then see Hank enter the cell. Hank shuts the camera off, and begins talking to Jesse. Hank offers him potential immunity, as he figures Heisenberg/Walt must be the mastermind behind the operation. Hank is also able to determine by their current situation that there must be something wrong between Walt and Jesse, or Jesse wouldn’t be in lock up. Jesse finally talks, and essentially tells Hank to beat a confession out of him. Hank then tries to play a sympathy card, telling Jesse that Walt really did a number on him. Hank tries to relate to Jesse through his not suspecting of Walt for a long time.
Before Jesse has any further chance to speak, we get Saul bursting into the room with the two detectives that were previously interrogating Jesse. Saul comes in, threatening civil rights violations, and law suits, ushering Hank out. Saul then tells the other two officers to get out so he can speak to his client alone. Saul proceeds to yell at Jesse about his carelessness, and “philanthropy”. He also asks why Jesse didn’t call him as soon as he was arrested.
Saul then calls Walt, who is at home. Walt tells Saul to use the money to get him bailed out. Saul seems to protest the money being used based on Walt’s reaction, but we do not hear Saul’s side of the conversation. Meanwhile, we overhear Walt Jr. saying that he is going to go help Aunt Marie with something. Walt is worried that Junior will see his wounds, so he uses some of Skyler’s make up to hide it as much as possible. Walt visually shows viewers his distress with Walt Jr going to Marie’s, but he seems ok with it to Walt Jr. Walt then rushes to stop him, and tells Walt Jr. that he wants to be truthful with him. Walt tells Junior about his cancer being back, but that he is back on chemo, and that he has hopes of beating it again. He tells Junior to not worry, and to stay positive. Walt Junior seems sad, while Walt tries to remain calm. Walt then tells his son to go ahead and help Aunt Marie, but Walt Jr says he isn’t leaving. Mission accomplished for dad.
Walt’s Confession
Moving to Marie and Hank. Hank comes home from working. Marie asks if Hank told the DEA. Hank says that he has not done so yet. Hank seems mentally elsewhere. Marie begins arguing with Hank telling him that he needs to get this out before someone finds out that Hank knew what was going on and Walt is caught another way. Hank tells her that he has some other “leads” to follow up on, but doesn’t elaborate on what they are.
Back home, Skyler has a camera set up. Skyler asks Walt if he is sure about something. This something is revealed rather shockingly. He begins the video recording with stating his name, address, and that he has a confession to make. We do not see the end of this videotape…Yet.
After the commercial break (which felt like forever!) we see Walt and Skyler sitting in a Mexican restaurant. Walt spots Hank and Marie. A cozy make-up dinner?
Of course not. Walt says he will start the conversation, but the waiter provides some “comedic relief”, interrupting with annoying waiter stuff. Walt shoos him away, saying they need time to look at the menus. Hank then asks if Walt is there to confess. Walt continues his act of obliviousness with Hank. Walt also says that he is concerned about his children. Marie tries to insist that Walt Jr should live with them. Walt tells Marie to leave the kids out of their conflict.
Hank then threatens with Junior finding out the secret when Walt is arrested. Walt tells Hank he has no evidence to prove anything. The annoying waiter comes back talking about homemade guacamole used in their food, but he sees the expressions on everyone’s face and opts to leave them with the menus a little longer.
Marie then tries to plead with Skyler about the children’s safety. Skyler then tells Marie that whatever she “thinks” is going on, is not going on any longer. Walt tries to hush Sklyer, who wants to tell Marie that the “thing” is over, and not an issue anymore. Marie isn’t satisfied with that answer however. Walt then tries to play a sympathy card, telling both Marie and Hank that Junior knows about the return if his cancer and he can’t take any more stress. Hank lashes out though at Walt, not buying what Walt is selling.
Marie then comes up with a solution for Walt–Walt should kill himself. Walt and Skyler seemed puzzled, but Marie offers a “logical” explanation. If Walt is simply running out the clock with his cancer anyway, she suggests that Walt should simply hurry the process along. Walt nor Hank find this a good solution. Why doesn’t Hank? Hank does not want Walt left off so easily. Hank promises that he will not let up on Walt and Skyler if she continues to side with Walt. Hank tells Walt to “be a man” and confess.
Walt decides it is time to leave. As they leave, Walt slides a burned DVD to Hank without saying a word.
Back home, Hank and Marie watch the DVD. The confession. The confession of Walt working with Hank. In this confession, Walt says that this video would only be seen in the event of Walt’s death. Death at the hands of Hank. Walt’s confession then proceeds to have Walt explain the intricate plan of Hank being a meth ring leader, with Walt as the chemist, while Hank sells the product. He blames Hank for seducing him when he fell under hard times, and provides a convincing argument, looping Gus, Hank’s medical bills, Walt’s fresh punch wound from Hank, and Walt’s children staying with Hank as all “evidence” of Hank’s crime.
Hank and Marie are dumbfounded. Marie asks Hank if Walt sent this to anyone else. Hank correctly deduces that this was a threat to Hank, and that no one has seen it. Hank then realizes something he had not quite figured out yet. The medical bills. Marie tries to explain that she thought it was gambling money. Hank is still appalled that Marie would have hid the fact that Walt paid for them though. Hank is in disbelief, and says, “This is the last nail in the coffin!”
Walt and Jesse’s Desert Meeting
Saul has managed to bail Pinkman out of jail, and they seem to be waiting in the desert for someone. Saul tells Jesse that he should probably be more nervous than he currently looks. We then see a car approach, which turns out to be Walt’s. Walt checks Jesse’s car for GPS trackers or devices. Saul says that he checked it already, and makes a recommendation to Walt to use a radio signal jammer.
Jesse proceeds to explain what Hank knows, which Jesse deduces is not much other than that Walt is Heisenberg. Jesse admits that Hank wants him to be an informant on Walt. Jesse also correctly assumes that Hank has not told anyone in the DEA about Walt. Walt asks how he would know that, to which Jesse explains he feels that way because of the nature of Hank’s interrogation, and his “shady” behavior.
Saul, meanwhile, seems perplexed that Walt hasn’t gotten angry with Jesse’s negligence and verbally says so to Walt. Walt asks Saul to “take a walk”, and Saul steps a few feet away. Walt then tells Jesse what he needs: a fresh start. He says a change would be good. Jesse asks what kind, and Walt says maybe to get out of town, and be who he wants to be. Walt tells Jesse that Saul can get him a new identity, and he can make a new life. Walt even says he wishes he could trade places with him, and would like a “reset” button for himself.
Jesse calls him out though. He accuses Walt of simply playing him to protect Walt’s own self. He says to Walt, “Stop working me for 10 seconds straight?” Walt doesn’t acknowledge this. Jesse demands for Walt to tell him the truth–that Hank isn’t going to let up. That Walt needs Jesse gone. Walt doesn’t care about him, and that he only reason that Walt and Jesse are meeting in the desert is so Walt can kill him if he doesn’t agree. Walt says nothing, walks slowly to Jesse, and hugs him. Jesse cries in his arms.
Back at work, Hank is going through some paperwork, and Gomez demands to know what Hank was thinking talking to Jesse. Gomez warns Hank of the potential lawsuits, and asks Hank to explain himself. Hank doesn’t, and tells Gomez to pull his agents off of Jesse, but doesn’t give an explanation as to why.
Jesse’s Not So Fresh Start
Inside Saul’s office, he warns Jesse that there is no going back once the call is made. The call to change his identity we soon learn. Saul makes the call, and he tells Jesse it will be 1 hour. Jesse lights up a joint, to which Saul demands he put out, and warns Jesse the “guy” won’t take him if he is high. Saul demands the rest of his dope as well.
Saul gives Jesse a new phone since the cops took his (Hello Kitty case cover if that means anything). Jesse complains about the anime character on the phone, but Saul reminds him that it is free. Saul also provides Jesse with some “getting started” money, the rest of what was in his safe from Walt. Huell will be taking Jesse to the drop point. Jesse asks Saul if he gets to choose his destination. Saul says he imagines so, and recommends Florida. Jesse doesn’t seem to like that idea though, and comes up with…Alaska…? Saul wishes him well wherever he goes though. On Jesse’s way out, Huell bumps into Jesse, which seems like nothing at the time, but…
Jesse makes it to his drop point. He is waiting on the side of the road, and looks for his dope in his jacket pocket. But he realizes it’s missing. He searches all of his pockets, but can’t find it. As he’s looking for the dope, he pulls out his cigarette box and has a sudden realization…Meanwhile, the van pulls up to pick Jesse up. Jesse isn’t going anywhere now though. He walks away from the van, and the van takes off without him.
Jesse’s and Walt’s Drastic Measures Taken
Jesse bursts into Saul’s office, causing a panic. Jesse reaches for Saul’s gun stored in his desk, and decks Saul right in the nose. Saul calls a “code red” to Huell, but Jesse is already armed. Jesse accuses Saul of taking “it” right out of his pocket. Saul admits he took his dope, so he would stay clean for his pick up. Jesse says he’s talking about before, when they took the Ricin cigarette. Saul says it is true, that Walt said to take it for his own good. Jesse then leaves in a hurry.
Saul warns Walt of the current predicament. We see Walt run to the car wash, but then casually enter it so that Skyler isn’t suspicious. Walt asks if everything is going well, to which Skyler says everything is fine. Walt then says he needs to inspect the soda machine for a malfunction, and we learn it was a ruse to get a gun that is stored in there. Walt then tells Skyler that he has a prescription to pick up, and hurriedly leaves.
Our final scene: Jesse drives a car violently onto Walt’s lawn. He exits the vehicle with a bucket of gasoline. He enters the house, and begins dumping it all throughout the entrance way. We see his face full of frantic-ness and anger, and the episode ends.
Josh’s Thoughts on This week’s episode of Breaking Bad, Confessions
Wow. another explosively awesome episode. Just when you think Walt has everything all figured out, one small thing goes wrong and his whole life is in peril again. Now why is Jesse so distraught about the Ricin? Breaking Bad fans should remember that Jesse was a wreck when he thought it was his fault that the little boy was sick. Jesse, now realizing that Walt took the Ricin, has made him realize another thing: Walt likely poisoned the kid. I think that it has spun Jesse out of control. Jesse will probably never believe that Walt has his interest in mind ever again, even if Walt really does.
Now, does Walt not care for Jesse or anyone else for that matter? Is he only out for self preservation? It is tough to say. I personally feel that he does still have a moral compass (although very skewed) because of his refusal last week to send Hank to “Belize”, and quite frankly, he could easily have Jesse killed, eliminating this “loose end”. One could argue that Jesse’s death could be linked back to Walt, therefore making it a liability for Walt to kill Jesse, but given Jesse’s drug use, a simple staged OD would seem easy for Walt to fake if he wanted to.
As for Hank, he is certainly in a box now. Walt’s confession has so many false pieces of logical evidence, it would be hard for Hank to convince even his good friends in the DEA otherwise. I think Hank will still pursue the investigation, but I think he knows that he needs to keep it quiet. However now that Jesse is spinning out of control, Hank could potential reel him in, and have a witness against Walt.
So what’s next? We know the house is not burned down, considering we have the future scene with Walt walking in the house. What stops him? My best guess would be seeing Walt Junior in the house, and Jesse not wanting to kill him. Perhaps Walt finds another way to talk him down, but that would seem very unlikely. Is now the time Jesse flips on Walt with Hank? Is the Ricin in the future for Jesse? It would seem a little late to kill Jesse that far in the future, but Jesse has not testified yet since Walt is not arrested or gone to trial that we know of, therefore killing him with solve many problems for Walt.
Also, what is the significance of the bloody boot/paper towel from the beginning? Will either the paper towel or boot be taken for evidence? Will this be beginning of the trail to Heisenberg? Perhaps the murdering of Lydia’s former producers will lead back to Todd which will eventually lead to Heisenberg. Regardless, I can’t wait to find out the answers to all of these questions! This has been another amazing episode of Breaking Bad and I can’t wait for next week!
Violets’s Thoughts on This week’s episode of Breaking Bad, Confessions
Wow, lots of good stuff happening in this episode. This show is starting to kick into high gear, with only 5 episodes of the series remaining! First, Walt Jr. returns! Where’s he been anyway? So of course, he’s oblivious to the big tiff going on between his parents and his aunt and uncle, so going over to help Aunt Marie is no big deal to him. But it is to Walt, who picks this moment to tell Jr. that his cancer is back. Somehow, this knowledge prevents Jr. from going over to her house, just as Walt wanted, which I thought was kind of odd, because Jr. was only planning on being gone a few hours. What’s the point of Jr. staying home, especially if Walt himself goes out and about? And what was Marie planning on doing once he got over there anyway, holding him hostage? Or telling him the whole truth?
Then the “confession.” That was definitely reminiscent of the very first episode, when Walt is videotaping himself out in the desert. Or at least started out that way. Everything he says makes so much sense, and as usual, Walt plays it just perfect with his emotions. With this confession DVD as collateral, I don’t see how Hank could try to bring anything to the DEA at this point. But… that was before Jesse’s epiphany.
So here’s a breakdown of how Jesse goes from looking at a box of cigarettes to realizing that Walt poisoned the kid. It’s a bit of a stretch, and I was a little skeptical at first, considering that Ricin wasn’t what was used to poison the kid, but I can see it. This goes back to Season 4 Episode 12, End Times, where Brock, the son of Jesse’s girlfriend, gets very sick and has to go to the hospital. Jesse had been keeping a cigarette in his cigarette box with a vial of Ricin in it, waiting for a good time to slip the Ricin to Gus to kill him. But he realizes that the Ricin cigarette has gone missing and thinks that someone poisoned Brock with the Ricin. He goes to Walt’s house and holds him at gunpoint, accusing him of getting the Ricin through Saul, when Huell frisked him at Saul’s office, and poisoning Brock with it. But Walt convinces him that Gus must have done it. In the Season 4 finale, we find out that it wasn’t Ricin, that Brock ate berries from a Lily of the Valley plant, a common occurrence among children. But then it is revealed to the audience that Walt did it. In Season 5 Episode 1, Saul returns the Ricin cigarette to Walt. Then in Season 5 Episode 2, Walt helps Jesse search his house for the missing Ricin cigarette. Walt plants a cigarette with a vial of salt to be found in Jesse’s Roomba vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile, he keeps the real vial of Ricin taped behind the faceplate of an outlet at his house. This is the Ricin he returns to his house for in Season 5 Episode 9.
What happens at the end of this episode is that Jesse realizes his dope is missing, and that Huell must have taken it. Then he looks at his cigarette box and remembers back to when his Ricin cigarette went missing. This triggers his memory of when he initially thought that Huell had taken the Ricin cigarette from him when he frisked him. It never made sense to him that the Ricin cigarette was on the floor in his house. It makes more sense that Huell took it from him, which means that Walt was behind it. Even more so, since Walt helped him “find” the Ricin cigarette. Jesse called Walt out on “working him” this episode, and this is just another example of Walt doing just that. He realized that Walt took the Ricin cigarette to make him think that Gus poisoned Brock with the Ricin. Which means that Walt had to be the one who poisoned Brock. One might argue, why wouldn’t Jesse have jumped to that conclusion when he initially found out that it wasn’t the Ricin that poisoned Brock? Well, back then he was much more trusting of Walt. Now, he is very aware of Walt’s manipulations, plus he knows that Walt killed Mike. If Walt can do that, why wouldn’t he have poisoned a kid too?
So what’s next? It looks like Jesse is finally seeing Walt for who he really is, and this is one loose end that Walt can no longer easily tie up. Jesse just might be Hank’s ticket to proving Walt’s guilt and exonerating himself. And how does Todd fit into this? Can’t wait to see how this all unfolds!
Scenes from Breaking Bad, Episode 12, Rabid Dog
Here are scenes from next weeks Breaking Bad episode titled Rabid Dog:
Yes! Another great episode leading up to the finale. Sad to see it go by so quickly but I can’t wait for the next one.
I was really puzzled by how quickly Jesse put all that together (the ricin cigarette) and I’ve been reading online for days to make sure I understand completely. I think I’m finally there. (but it was still a hell of a jump)
As far as the paper towel:
What is the significance of the bloody boot/paper towel from the beginning? I think it was done to show how quickly they went from killing all those guys at the other operation (in the last episode) to moving the operation. To show where we were in the timeline.
Will either the paper towel or boot be taken for evidence? He flushed the paper towel but you are right, that boot and any other blood are still a link.
Will this be beginning of the trail to Heisenberg? Could Todd have said Mr. White one more time? That kid just won’t shut up about him. This is not a good loose end.
Thanks for your comment Sully! That scene with Jesse on the side of the road was a little weird. I had several discussions with the other half and a couple friends to hash out what happened exactly. I understood the “jist” of it, wanted to understand the whole spark!
Good point on the paper towel! It would suggest that they had just finished up their “management change”, and also shows how emotionless/psychopathic those three are. They’re having a jolly good time after having a huge massacre. This spells trouble for Walt in some way I bet. I probably am reading too much into the paper towel, but I don’t think it ever went down the pipe…I was just over-suspicious I suppose.
Both Todd and Jesse are HUG loose ends for Walt’s almost flawless crime. Todd can’t stop leaving voicemails while Jesse can’t stop…being Jesse. Ahh! I can’t wait for the next episode of Breaking Bad!
This was definitely a turning point for the series. Jesse truly sees Walt for what he is. I do find it hard to believe that such a large man could have deft enough hands to steal anything from someone in that manner, but I’ll let that go.