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"Buried" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 56th overall episode of the series. Written by Thomas Schnauz and directed by Michelle MacLaren, it aired on AMC in the United States on August 18, 2013.

Plot

As an elderly man starts his truck in the early morning, he notices a bundle of cash on the ground. After retrieving the bundle and collecting more bundles of cash lying on the sidewalk and across the street in a park, he sees Jesse’s (Aaron Paul) car crashed into a swing set with its doors opened and a duffel bag full of cash laying on the front passenger’s seat. He then finds Jesse lying on his back and slowly, silently spinning on a roundabout while staring blankly off into space.

After his confrontation with Hank (Dean Norris) in Hank’s garage, Walt (Bryan Cranston) gets into his car, backs out of the driveway, and begins to drive away; however, he immediately stops and frantically telephones Skyler (Anna Gunn) at the car wash. When informed that she is on another phone call and as he spots Hank walking out of his garage and talking on the telephone, Walt immediately drives to the car wash to catch Skyler. By the time he arrives, however, she is not there.

Skyler meets Hank at a diner. After greeting Skyler with an awkward hug, Hank tells her that Walt is a monster forcing her to keep his secrets and she is a victim. Hank formulates a plan in which she and her children move back into his house. Then, in an effort to build a case against Walt before he dies of cancer, he solicits a tape recorded statement from Skyler and expresses his desire to put Walt in lockup before the sun goes down. After listening to Hank and learning of the return of Walt's cancer, she says she needs a lawyer. Hank tries to discourage her from taking this course of action, sensing he will lose his ability to control the case if lawyers are introduced. Hank unsuccessfully tries to persuade Skyler that their interests are the same. Wanting to protect her kids, Hank stands up and seeks Skyler’s assistance with picking them up. Skyler reacts to Hank’s gesture by repeatedly, and increasingly loudly, asking if she is under arrest, causing a scene in the diner before leaving alone.

In his law office, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is desperately trying to get ahold of Jesse when Walt receives an incoming phone call from Skyler. Fearing that his phone has been legally tapped by Hank, Saul advises Walt to not answer the call and remove the phone’s battery. As he hastily removes the battery, Walt expresses his anger with Skyler that she went to Hank without talking to him first. When Saul asks Walt whether he has considered sending Hank “on a trip to Belize” like he sent Mike Ehrmantraut (a veiled reference to Walt’s act of killing Mike), Walt indignantly rebuffs Saul's conjecture because Hank is family and offhandedly says that it should be Saul whom is sent to Belize.

Meanwhile, Kuby (Bill Burr) and Huell (Lavell Crawford) arrive at the storage unit where Skyler has stacked Walt's money. After savoring the opportunity to lie atop the enormous pile of money, they deliver the money to Walt now stored in drums. After hurriedly paying Kuby, Huell, and Saul, Walt drives to the desert and buries the drums. Walt has memorialized the GPS location of the buried drums with a Pick 3 lottery ticket that is posted on the refrigerator door, where the first nine digits printed on the ticket indicate the latitude and the next nine digits indicate the longitude.

While Walt is away, Marie (Betsy Brandt) arrives at Skyler's home. Through a series of questions, Marie gleans that Skyler knew about Walt’s criminal activities prior to Hank being shot. When a tearful Skyler tries to apologize, Marie slaps her. As Marie walks away, she accuses Skyler of wanting Walt to escape from his past crimes, and that this is the reason why she won't talk to Hank. When Marie attempts to leave the house with Skyler’s baby Holly, a passionate and heated argument ensues between the two. When Marie enlists Hank’s assistance, he enters the house. Sizing up the intense situation, Hank tells Marie to leave the baby. Before they drive off, Marie tells Hank that he needs to get Walt.

After arriving home, Walt collapses on the bathroom floor while Skyler is repeatedly asserting to him that she hasn’t told Hank anything. When he wakes up, they discuss the situation. Believing that Skyler has talked with Hank and has made a deal with him, Walt suggests that he surrenders himself on the condition that the money is left with her so that she can pass it along to their children. Believing that any deal will include a loss of the money and that Hank possesses suspicions only, Skyler tells Walt that their best course of action is to stay quiet.

A blindfolded Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Laura Fraser) is driven to a desert site where Declan's (Louis Ferreira) meth lab is located. Lydia has arranged the meeting to address a $50 million shortfall. After convincing Declan to show her his meth cook operation, he reveals a bus buried underground which was made into a meth lab. After entering the lab and observing a filthy working condition, she questions why the quality of Heisenberg’s standards isn’t being employed. Declan responds that those standards don’t matter because he is moving his product. Although Lydia recognizes that the quality of the meth may not matter to some “scabby, Arizona tweakers,” she cannot move a substandard product because quality matters to her buyers in the Czech Republic. When Declan informs Lydia of his failed attempts to retain Heisenberg as their cook, she suggests retaining Todd (Jesse Plemons) as their cook. Declan rejects her suggestion because he does not trust Todd. Declan is then called from above ground to address a problem. After he exits the lab, gunshots are heard. When the shooting stops, Todd opens the door to the lab to retrieve Lydia. With her fingers covering her eyes to avoid seeing the carnage, Todd leads her through a maze of corpses. It is then revealed that Lydia had Todd's white supremacist uncle and his men take out Declan and his men.

Marie suggests that Hank report his findings to the DEA, but Hank says he will be fired when the identity of the drug lord he has been chasing is revealed; therefore, he hopes to present solid evidence against Walt when he turns his brother-in-law in. Hank comes into work after taking some time off to review the relevant case files and cope with the realization of Walt's identity. He catches up with Agent Steven Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) and learns that Jesse is in custody for throwing bundles of cash from his car onto the streets. Hank finds Detectives Kalanchoe and Munn (who had previously interrogated Jesse in "Face Off") questioning an unresponsive Jesse; however, Hank convinces them to give him a shot, offering that he can help with this case and may be able benefit them in a different case, as well. The officers leave, and Hank enters the interrogation room.

Production

The GPS coordinates 34°59′20″N 106°36′52″W / 34.98889°N 106.61444°W / 34.98889; -106.61444 are in fact the Albuquerque studios location.

Music

• The song played over Walt's digging is "Quimey Neuquén" by José Larralde re-edited by Chancha via Circuito.

Reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics.

References

1. Porter, Rick (July 16, 2013). "'Breaking Bad': New pics, episode titles and everything else we know about Season 5b". Zap2It. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
2. Watercutter, Angela (August 19, 2013). "What's the Meaning of Breaking Bad’s Lost-esque Lottery Numbers?". Wired.com. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
3. "Jose Larralde - Quimey Neuquen (Chancha Via Circuito remix)". Soundcloud. August 14, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
4. "Episode Review: Breaking Bad, "Buried"". Metacritic. August 18, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2013.

External links

• "Buried" at the official Breaking Bad site
• "Buried" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode

• Breaking Bad (season 5) episodes
• 2013 television episodes