**SPOILERS HEREIN!**
“Tread lightly.”
Not as frightening to Hank (Dean Norris) as “I am the one who knocks” might have been to Skyler (Anna Gunn), but to us the viewers, those two little words Walt (Bryan Cranston) leaves his brother-in-law pack quite the punch. We know what he’s capable of, even if Hank doesn’t.
After how the first part of this season ended last year, the scene we were waiting for was the inevitable one where Hank confronts Walt (Bryan Cranston). Hank’s immediate reaction this episode, a car crash and panic attack, are totally understandable; for Hank, it was just minutes ago he found out, but for us, it was the culmination of nearly 11 months of latent tension. Each scene featuring Hank and Walt is structured almost architecturally—each shot, line, cut, and music cue—to get the utmost level of tension.
Then when the scene finally comes, it’s actually much less explosive than it seemed destined to be.
What, you were expecting a big release tying up every loose end nicely? Please! This is Breaking Bad! You should know the tension will just continue to build, not offering any relief until you’re bordering on hypertension.
Sure, Hank gets a few good punches in, but Walt doesn’t fight back. He doesn’t need too. It’s a stark contrast to the big fight with Jesse (Aaron Paul) in season four. Then, Walt was outmatched completely by Gus Fring’s forces, and getting his clocked cleaned by Jesse burned his last bridge and left him alone in his fight. But here, Walt has such high ground on Hank that the bit of physical punishment he receives doesn’t hurt him in the slightest. It doesn’t even get him to admit to anything, or even change his demeanor. All he offers is this small warning, and that’s enough to mark this as a win for Walt.
He does admit that his cancer has, in fact, returned, but this just makes him more dangerous. Remember the crazy, spontaneous things he did when he first found out about his illness way back in the first season? Then, he was still Walter White, high school teacher. Imagine what Heisenberg would do with nothing to lose!
There was a lot more to this premiere—Lydia (Laura Fraser) reappearing at the car wash asking for help, Jesse using drugs again and giving away his money, the opening flash-forward to a grizzled Walt returning to his now-abandoned house (by the way, I got the feeling that Walt will kill the neighbor lady, because of the way the terrifying greeting he gives her in the pre-credits scene contrasts with his greeting in the episode proper)—and none of it bodes very well.
But Walt and Hank meeting face to face was what we wanted, and it did not disappoint. I have a feeling this conflict might supersede any with other drug dealers these last seven episodes. Whatever comes next, I’m pumped for it after this one.
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