Breaking Bad: Confessions Rewatch
January 28, 2015 9:27 AM - Season 5, Episode 11 - Subscribe
Jesse decides to make a change, while Walt and Skyler try to deal with an unexpected demand.
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Alan Sepinwall, HitFix:
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Alan Sepinwall, HitFix:
"Confessions" is an hour in which Walt is lying so spectacularly, and so frequently, that you don't even need an entire hand to count the moments where he's completely honest.Kevin McFarland, Boing Boing:
Jesse can finally verbalize to Walt that he can see right through all the bullshit. This is a moment I’ve been waiting for at least for the past two years, when Jesse not only physically overpowers Walt and keeps his guard up at all times, but breaks down Walt’s pompous Heisenberg image, the doting father act that’s been going on since Walt dragged Jesse back into the game after Jane’s death.Maureen Ryan, HuffPo:
Skyler and Jesse are the characters whose fates I truly care about at this point, and Jesse was so close, so damn close to getting out. Aaron Paul has had very few lines this season, but that hasn't limited his effectiveness at all. In this hour (as is so often the case), every look, every gesture told a heartbreaking story. What I can't get out of my mind is the look on his face as he decided to accept Saul's offer and get a new identity. He felt hope for the first time in a very long time, and it terrified him.Writer Gennifer Hutchison interviewed by Vulture:
There was a lot of talk about the metric of "What’s the Worst Revelation? Mike, Brock, or Jane?" The general feeling is that Jane is the worst revelation, and it feels like Jesse at this point has figured out what happened to Mike, but Brock was always something we wanted Jesse to find out. That was something we’d been talking about since Walt poisoned him. It was just a matter of placing it. When is the worst possible time this could be realized? How about the time when Jesse is actually, maybe going to be okay? Let’s do it then and ruin everything!and by the Hollywood Reporter:
THR: Do you have any guilt about putting Jesse through all this?Aaron Paul won the 2014 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Emmy for his performance in this episode.
Hutchison: Absolutely. He’s been so broken at this point, you kind of want to give him a hug. Aaron is so amazing. He’s playing these scenes, and afterward I would go up to him and say, "I feel so terrible." But he’d be like "I’m fine!" It's difficult being on set. I do get emotional seeing these actors play these scenes.
This was a hell of an episode. When I first saw it, I remember feeling this repulsed horror at the "confession," mixed with this sick admiration for the utter audacity and cleverness of the lie. Walt is such a bastard.
And that ending--I was binging on Season 5/6, usually watching one episode before work and two after. I watched this one over breakfast, then spent all day at work distracted, wondering what happened next. I remembered the scene at the beginning of the season, with "Heisenberg" written on the wall, so I doubted that Jesse ever lit a match, but still....
These last eight, really, are just wonderful. I love seeing Walt's plans fall apart, the people he cares for turning on him one by one.
posted by johnofjack at 6:53 AM on January 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
And that ending--I was binging on Season 5/6, usually watching one episode before work and two after. I watched this one over breakfast, then spent all day at work distracted, wondering what happened next. I remembered the scene at the beginning of the season, with "Heisenberg" written on the wall, so I doubted that Jesse ever lit a match, but still....
These last eight, really, are just wonderful. I love seeing Walt's plans fall apart, the people he cares for turning on him one by one.
posted by johnofjack at 6:53 AM on January 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
When I first saw it, I remember feeling this repulsed horror at the "confession," mixed with this sick admiration for the utter audacity and cleverness of the lie.
I was watching it with my SO, who dropped in and out of paying attention to the show as I was bingeing on the seasons up to this point; when we saw the "confession," he turned to me, mouth agape, and was like "We. Need. To. See. How. This. Ends."
posted by psoas at 10:44 AM on February 2, 2015
I was watching it with my SO, who dropped in and out of paying attention to the show as I was bingeing on the seasons up to this point; when we saw the "confession," he turned to me, mouth agape, and was like "We. Need. To. See. How. This. Ends."
posted by psoas at 10:44 AM on February 2, 2015
(so to confess: the DVR overflowed, so I'm only rewatching these last few episodes now, after the Monday AMC rebroadcast.)
The confession: so, so cleverly written to recast all the events that both we and Hank know to be true with Hank as the villain. Hank and Marie's stricken expressions; the slow zoom into the TV screen.
Some lovely physical acting. The restaurant: Walt in the meekest possible blue cardigan; Hank all clenched jaw, leaning in, forearms on the table, like he's about to explode.
The triptych in the desert: Saul and Walt on the outside, calm and stationary; Jesse in the middle, nervous and constantly shuffling his feet.
The dreadful Heisenhug.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:59 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
The confession: so, so cleverly written to recast all the events that both we and Hank know to be true with Hank as the villain. Hank and Marie's stricken expressions; the slow zoom into the TV screen.
Some lovely physical acting. The restaurant: Walt in the meekest possible blue cardigan; Hank all clenched jaw, leaning in, forearms on the table, like he's about to explode.
The triptych in the desert: Saul and Walt on the outside, calm and stationary; Jesse in the middle, nervous and constantly shuffling his feet.
The dreadful Heisenhug.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:59 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Walt tells Jr about his cancer just to keep Jr in the house with him.
That was awful, and a nice foreshadowing of the confession in a way: that Walt's become really good at using partial truths to manipulate people.
I wonder about Skyler in these episodes. I don't quite know what's driving her at this point; I feel like it's maybe inertia, that she made some bad choices and feels stuck with them.
It often feels like they're very good at writing individual scenes for Skyler; less good at writing her as a complete character with consistent motivation.
Part of me thinks that at this point she's mostly about trying to protect Junior from the truth; part of me thinks that she's traveled far enough down the road with Walt that "what about the kids?" is simply the angle she believes will play best with Hank and Marie.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:09 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was awful, and a nice foreshadowing of the confession in a way: that Walt's become really good at using partial truths to manipulate people.
I wonder about Skyler in these episodes. I don't quite know what's driving her at this point; I feel like it's maybe inertia, that she made some bad choices and feels stuck with them.
It often feels like they're very good at writing individual scenes for Skyler; less good at writing her as a complete character with consistent motivation.
Part of me thinks that at this point she's mostly about trying to protect Junior from the truth; part of me thinks that she's traveled far enough down the road with Walt that "what about the kids?" is simply the angle she believes will play best with Hank and Marie.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:09 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
The way Walt pulls a screeching halt outside the carwash, runs to the door, and just before he opens it slows down and composes himself to "all normal nothing untoward happening here" mode.
The way Skyler doesn't even bother acknowledging his lies any more: checking the catch on the soda machine, "great"; running back out to get a prescription, "okay".
What's the purpose of the cold open here, with Todd telling the story about the train heist?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:09 PM on January 30, 2018
The way Skyler doesn't even bother acknowledging his lies any more: checking the catch on the soda machine, "great"; running back out to get a prescription, "okay".
What's the purpose of the cold open here, with Todd telling the story about the train heist?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:09 PM on January 30, 2018
What's the purpose of the cold open here, with Todd telling the story about the train heist?
Its another confession, as per the episode title, I guess. And just like Walt's confession later, it is a careful edit on the part of Todd: we hear how he and the rest of the team pull off the tricky robbery against long odds. But nothing about how Todd shoots the dirt bike kid.
In a very crowded field, I would rank Walt's "confession" recording as the most evil stroke of brilliance he comes up with on the show. At this stage Walt has actually created the possibility of recording a true confession - to be delivered after he vanishes - maybe even along with Skyler and his children. Marie and Hank are not only the couple's family - but they have also been their closest friends. Walt's story runs through every part of that apparent friendship that we have witnessed and turns it against Hank. The blackmail here seems to pre-suppose a future where the Whites stick around just as they were before and where Hank and Marie have no option but to shut up - or one where Walter vanishes or dies - but Hank can still not reveal his story. The confession does appear to have been drawn together with the help of Saul - and it is also one of the darkest projects he gets involved with.
I love the Mexican restaurant scene: an icy confrontation between the 4 characters delivered against a super-cheerful musical background and with a waiter who seems intent of selling a table-delivered celebrational guacamole to the group.
posted by rongorongo at 10:43 PM on September 21, 2022
Its another confession, as per the episode title, I guess. And just like Walt's confession later, it is a careful edit on the part of Todd: we hear how he and the rest of the team pull off the tricky robbery against long odds. But nothing about how Todd shoots the dirt bike kid.
In a very crowded field, I would rank Walt's "confession" recording as the most evil stroke of brilliance he comes up with on the show. At this stage Walt has actually created the possibility of recording a true confession - to be delivered after he vanishes - maybe even along with Skyler and his children. Marie and Hank are not only the couple's family - but they have also been their closest friends. Walt's story runs through every part of that apparent friendship that we have witnessed and turns it against Hank. The blackmail here seems to pre-suppose a future where the Whites stick around just as they were before and where Hank and Marie have no option but to shut up - or one where Walter vanishes or dies - but Hank can still not reveal his story. The confession does appear to have been drawn together with the help of Saul - and it is also one of the darkest projects he gets involved with.
I love the Mexican restaurant scene: an icy confrontation between the 4 characters delivered against a super-cheerful musical background and with a waiter who seems intent of selling a table-delivered celebrational guacamole to the group.
posted by rongorongo at 10:43 PM on September 21, 2022
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Then of course we have Jesse finally realising that Walt stole the ricin, that it was Walt all along. These episodes are kind of a joy to watch, in that we finally get the pay off for all these little bits of deception that have been in play falling apart. Now almost everyone knows who Walt is, what he is like.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 5:12 AM on January 29, 2015 [1 favorite]