The cold opening this week wastes no time getting down to business. We have Walt in the back seat while Mike and Jesse sit up front, and it looks like they’re meeting with the guy from Phoenix again. Walt needs distribution, and needs the man from Phoenix to ditch his cook and move the blue meth. He also feels compelled to mock the man from Phoenix’s product which is dyed blue to fool people into thinking it‘s Walt‘s. The levels of arrogance are reaching peak levels when once again Walt almost says he’s the greatest meth cook in America, before catching himself, pointing to Jesse and saying “We.” At the end of this scene he asks the man from Phoenix to “Say my name”, to which the man replies he doesn’t know who he is, to which Walt replies “I am the man who killed Gus Fring,” and compels the man to say his name one more time. The man finally complies with “you’re Heisenberg,” and “you’re goddamn right” is Walt’s reply.

For a penultimate episode, the bar can’t be raised much higher than this cold open. Walt is firing at the peak of hubris by fronting with the Heisenberg alter ego, but sadly he isn’t wearing the hat. This is the second time I’ve noticed that Walt has slipped saying “I” before catching himself and saying “We” when talking to or about Jesse’s part in the meth partnership.

After the cold open the Phoenix crew drives off and Mike’s trunk is full of money. Jesse, touched that Walt would acknowledge his awesomeness still wants out, and now would also like his money. Walk deflects as hard as possible telling him that he’ll need some time to get it together.  Mike shoots Jesse a knowing look, it seems that some things never change.

It seems that Skyler has the car wash closed for the day, as she has been the one tasked with housing the tank of methylamine. Now she’s curious as to want is in the giant tank, and Walt asks her if she really wants to know what it is, then starts Heisenberging her to mind her own business and get back to her office.

At some bank, a man tempts a woman with a tub of bacon cookies, before they proceed to a safety deposit box room where the man starts filling the boxes full of money to some jaunty swing background music. Finally he fills a giants safety deposit box full of cash, and drops an envelope on top “To Kaylee on her 18th birthday” Awww, how sweet of Mike. Later, he’s seen listening in on the DEA bug for a final time, before dropping the laptop and a whole bunch of guns in to a well. He drops off a car at the airport then takes a cab, pours a cup of coffee in his home. Then the DEA comes for a visit, along with a search warrant.

At the current cook site, Jesse drops in on Walt, seeming to want to put his foot down on leaving the partnership. Walt seems to be intuiting this, and suggests that they double down, with Jesse cooking on his own. When Jesse balks at this, Walt goes in on some mindfucking with a ferocity not seen in a while, and certainly not this season. Walt asks Jesse why he insists on throwing away his “gift”, and what does he plan to do once he walks away. Start using again? Be all alone? It looks like Jesse has reached the end of his rope, he’s not buying the big Walt sell. Walt then asks him, why he wants the money, it’s blood money, it’s dirty. He pushes Jesse on the double down again, to which he literally just walks away from. Jesse says he doesn’t need it, and it’s all on Walt. Some really great scene work between Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston.

Hank is seen getting reamed out over the search of Mike’s place, and is made aware that the budget for surveillance on Mike and the like is now zero.

Looks like Landry is now the new member of the partnership. They have a nice little meth making montage, where Walt is shown learning Landry some meth cooking. Landry seems to be a tad out of his element, and confused if he’s actually helping. Amazingly, when it comes to talking money Landry doesn’t want to talk about it until he gets it right. Perhaps this new team member is worth it after all?

The bank deposit box man is caught doing his thing by the DEA. Bummer for Kaylee...robbed of a college education...again!

Next we have the White’s enjoying a frozen dinner meal. Walt starts talking about the new guy, and Skyler, expressionless as always, gets up and walks away from the table. Back at the DEA office, Walt is crying his eyes out trying to talk to Hank about his failing marriage, which is yet another attempt to get the bugs out of the office. He succeeds in getting the bugs out, and overhears that the bank deposit man is going to flip on Mike.

Mike is at the park with Kaylee, when he gets a phone call from bank deposit box man asking to meet him. Walt then calls Mike next telling him that the police are coming for him. The police show up sure enough, looking for Mike. In the next scene Walt and Jesse are seen meeting with Saul about Mike’s current situation. Saul seems determined that Mike will flip on the “brain trust” or at the very least that Mike will flip on them. Mike then calls Saul on one the myriad of cell phones in his desk drawer and asks him to bring a “go bag” which has passports, money and a gun for mike to use in emergency situations. Walt volunteers to get this bag for him after Saul refuse and Mike won’t let Jesse do it for him.

 Before he hands Mike the bag he asks him for the nine names of the men who work for him. Mike takes his bag from Walt, and suggests that maybe everyone just leave. He then blames Walt for all the nonsense going down. For blowing everything up, killing Fring, trying to be the top dog. Everything could’ve been fine, Walt would’ve made all the money he ever needed. Mike attempts to drive off when Walt comes up to the side of the car and shoots him. The car careens off, hitting some rocks, Walt gives chase, and finds the drivers side door open, with no Mike inside. Next to a small creek he finds a wounded, dazed Mike holding a gun, but not using it on Walt. He realizes that he could’ve gotten the names from Lydia, instead of attacking Mike. Mike tells him to shut the fuck up and let him die in peace. The scene ends with the sunset reflecting off the creek, then the sound of a body slumping to the ground.

Next episode: The Heisenberg hat returns! Lydia looks concerned! A jailhouse shiv gets wet in the shower!