Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 10 "Buried"

"Buried" is a bit of a transitional episode, largely dealing with the substantial fallout from the events of "Blood Money".  The episode is also significantly Skyler-centric, which has not been cause for great enthusiasm in past seasons of Breaking Bad.  Skyler has never been my favorite character, and while my opinion on that matter is unlikely to change this late in the run of the show, "Buried" doesn't suffer much for having her at the core of events this week.  

The scenes with Skyler are compelling mostly for their ambiguity.  At the start of the episode we, like Walt, don't know if Skyler has betrayed him.  Later, when she meets with Hank at the diner, Anna Gunn does a fine job of masking her character's true intentions.  I found myself wondering to what degree her reactions were a "performance", or legitimate, and whether she would remain loyal to Walt, or was on the verge of giving him up.  That sense of uncertainty lent a real sense of tension to the scenes involving Hank and Skyler that was textbook Breaking Bad.

The exchange between Skyler and Marie at the White household was arguably even better.  Whereas Hank (who obviously sees the value of Skyler to his case and doesn't want to risk offending her) was restrained in his exchange with Skyler, Marie is fiery and emotional.  The scene between the two sisters is the equivalent of the charged confrontation between Hank and Walt in "Blood Money", and Betsy Brandt simply does a fantastic job of letting Skyler have it.

Other than those two scenes, there is a lot of material here setting things into place for the final act of the series.  Todd, a character who has always intrigued me (I'm curious what his final role will be in the endgame of the show), reemerges.  Lydia pulls off a Walter-esque plot to improve her situation. Jesse is largely absent (but still looking not OK) outside of a glorious cliffhanger, and there is a sweet scene between Walter and Skyler at the end that serves to strengthen their relationship.

"Buried" finds Breaking Bad ease off the gas a bit, and perhaps hit cruise control.  Luckily, the show is well-scripted and acted enough to pull off the occasional episode in that vein. This breather may also serve us well in preparation for the surely climactic events soon to come.