Last week on Breaking Bad, Saul invoked Old Yeller, Walt had a total pump malfunction, and Hank got to know Jesse. This week, Todd was blinded by science, Walt freaked out, and Hank met the neo-Nazis. Let's talk about the newest episode, "To'hajiilee," below.

To'hajiilee: We have to begin with the ending—the last 20 minutes of the episode are perversely tense and cinematic, a Western showdown with a horrifying twist that could have been filmed by the Coen Brothers. And the whole time, we're filled with overwhelming dread.

After half an episode filled with Hank/Jesse and Walt circling each other ominously, the episode kicks into overdrive when Walt receives the trick call from Jesse. Walt performs a frantic panic-run (he almost hops!) past his family, and suddenly we see a flustered, rage-driven Walt ala Crawl Space.

Yet again, Breaking Bad shocks us with how quickly it advances plot, packing in inevitable, electric confrontations that wouldn't dare happen until penultimate (or final) episodes on other series. There's Walt finally admitting his part in Brock's poisoning to Jesse, Hank taking his sweet time arresting Walt, and Jesse rejecting Walt by spitting on him. These are things the show has been building to over years. Now they're here, and there are still more curveballs to come.

So what appears to be Walt's final comeuppance happens exactly where it had to. Of course Walt would bury his money in the same place where Jesse and Walt had their first cook. It's where he first broke off the shackles of being an average worker bee; it's where he first felt free. At the end of the first half of season five, he visited Jesse to reminisce about the days of taking the RV to the desert—even considering everything that happened with Tuco and Krazy-8, Walt looks back on his first days of being a meth cook fondly. This is where Walt had to have his last stand.

And then the neo-Nazis show up.

"Don't You Touch My Money": How sickening was that frantic phone conversation? Walt was spitting bile as he angrily justified what he did to Brock ("But he's alive isn't he? He's fine just as I planned it.") and tried guilt-tripping Jesse one more time: "I did all of those things to try to save your life as much as mine. Only you're too stupid to know it!"

By the time Walt is ditching his cell phone and kicking dirt in To'hajiilee, he realizes he's been bested by Hank and Jesse with the same sort of strategy Walt used against Gus: find a weakness (greed for Walt, revenge for Gus), throw on a wallop of bullshit, then watch things explode. Walt has never seemed like more of an impotent, cartoon villain then he does during these scenes. Walt has finally lost... until the neo-Nazis ride to the rescue.

Walt's Breaking Point: Walt had some low, low points in this episode, including planning the assassination of "angry, non-rat" Jesse and then drawing Brock and Andrea in his scheme, as if he couldn't twist the knife any further. Even though he's retired from the business, Walt hasn't been able to extricate himself from thinking like Heisenberg—until he reaches the desert.

It's taken 59 episodes to get here, but Walt has finally found a line he can't cross. Cornered behind a rock, hacking up a lung, and one word away from pulling the trigger with the neo-Nazis, Walt decides he can't kill his brother-in-law and his prodigal son (or maybe Gomie is the one who tipped the scales). He takes a moment where he seems to tearfully contemplate all his options, then resigns himself to his fate and calls off the neo-Nazi cavalry.

Crystal Blue Persuasion: The color blue popped up even more than usual—we had the neo-Nazis debating the color of Todd's inferior meth with Lydia, Todd's blue cook gloves, Lydia's blue jacket, the stark blue sky behind Hank as he paces at the start of the episode, there's a blue mist over the neo-Nazi's lair (and a blue stripe on their truck), Brock wearing a blue shirt, a low-angle shot of Hank listening to Andrea's message against blue, Flynn's jean jacket with the blue Car Wash sign hovering nearby, and Walt's cerulean button-down shirt.

Meth Damon In Love: It seems important to acknowledge that there's a great love story brewing under our very noses (well, maybe just left of the camera). the romance of our time isn't between Flynn and breakfast, but rather Todd and his lady Lydia, aka "Darth Vader in Louboutins." As Vince Gilligan told EW, “For Todd, our lovable yet psychopathic Opie, the heart wants what the heart wants, and Todd’s heart wants Lydia.” If she needs the cook to be blue, he'll do whatever it takes to get there—so don't be surprised if Todd turns on Mr. White to help Lydia get the finest meth available. Who says chivalry is dead?

Famous Last Words: After a bulletproof vest-baring Saul makes an impromptu visit to the car wash (and meets Flynn for the first time), Walt has a moment when he catches Skyler and Flynn by the register. He smiles and you can see the gears in his head turning: whatever I did, it was to keep them (and Holly) safe and happy. It feels like the last sweet moment just before everything comes crashing down completely and forever.

And similarly, Hank calls Marie to tell her that they've got their man. It's another echo of Walt, when he called Skyler at the end of season four and said "I won." It's the first time we've seen Hank flash a real smile in a long, long time. And then... that truly could be it for Hank. Is Breaking Bad indulging in an old "last call" TV cliche, or is it a red herring? Will things take an unexpected turn next episode or is it Hank's last stand?

Gunfight At The Nazi Corral: So here's the question: did the big showdown between the neo-Nazis and Hank/Gomie strain credulity? I think it rings true that the neo-Nazis would come even after Walt called it off—as Walt says, "If you want me around to cook for you, you get here right now, as fast as you can." Being in custody is not an option either.

You may question the timeline of events (how did the neo-Nazis get there so quickly...), but the directorial wooziness (ala season three classic "One Minute," which was also helmed by the amazing Michelle MacLaren) is totally effective—you feel like anyone could die any second. It's theatrical and thrilling.

But then no one is hit. A gang of neo-Nazis who previously orchestrated the murder of 10 people in jail and knocked off an armed group of meth distributors suddenly can't hit two lone targets in front of them. Are they purposely missing them because they're cops, or have they forgotten how to aim heavy artillery? Does it bug you that the episode cuts off right in the MIDDLE of a firefight?

Having said that, the cliffhanger works for me: unlike Jesse throwing gas all over the White's house at the end of "Confessions," we don't know what's going to happen next. Okay, we know Walt isn't going to die, but any of the other three characters (who we care deeply about) could. It's a daring, somewhat frustrating, and exceedingly exciting end.

Bryan Cranston Hints At What's To Come: “All plates are spinning,” Cranston told EW for their cover story this week. “Everybody has to be thinking at the top of their game. Walt is dealing with his physical limitations. So all kinds of things come into play. And there’s also an adventure that is very exciting and opens things up. What can I say? It gets badder before it gets baaaaad.”

Next Week: We pick up, presumably, in the middle of the insane firefight next week. The episode is titled "Ozymandias," which has been one of the themes of this final half season (and was part of the promotional campaign as well). The poem is all about how no matter how much power you have or money you accumulate, death will catch up to you—maybe Walt isn't the King anymore, he's the watcher. Which doesn't seem to bode well for Hank (and Gomey!) right about now.

Oh, and Rian Johnson—who previously directed series high points "Fly" and "Fifty-One"—will be back in the chair.