And it was all going so well. Courtesy AMC.

If Mike's latest half measure pays off, Walt just might deliver a scenario in which everyone wins. A tall order. It turns out his plan is a simple one: Walt cooks the methylamine himself, with Declan handling the distribution end of things for 35 percent of the profits. Understandably, Declan sees no reason why he should take the offer until Walt pulls out all the stops and plays up every last bit of the reputation he's earned for himself over the past four and a half seasons.

He likens the gulf between his product and the competition to t-ball vs. the Yankees. Off brand cola vs. Classic Coke. He's not exaggerating that much either—Declan's meth is dyed blue to evoke Walt's formula, so he might as well just sell the real thing.

At this staggering display of arrogance, Declan can't help but ask who Walt thinks he is. But Walt just tells him that he already knows. "Say my name." Declan acts confused, but Walt keeps going. He's the cook. The man who killed Fring. "Say my name." Declan finally admits that he must be talking to the one and only Heisenberg.

Walt grits his teeth, satisfied. "You're goddamn right."

With the deal done, Mike commends Walt on a job well done, considering he got his $5 million retirement fund out of the arrangement. Jesse still wants out, but Walt isn't too eager to pay him his share just yet.

Back at Vamanos, Mike parts ways with Walt and Jesse, issuing a final warning to remove the bug from Hank's office before the DEA notices it. Jesse says he'll see him around, but Mike makes it clear that's pretty unlikely. When he's out, he's out. Jesse says he's out too, but Mike isn't convinced.

Skyler keeps watch over the carwash when Walt arrives with Jesse to recover the methylamine. Oh, come on now, Mike could have reasoned that it was stashed there. Skyler wants to know what's going on, but Walt tells her not to worry, and more or less orders her to go back in her office.

We're then reintroduced to the lawyer with whom Mike visited his imprisoned associates in the opening to "Hazard Pay" as he brings sweets (bacon banana cookies? Would they taste good with Franch?) to a bank employee much in the same vein as Dexter Morgan bringing donuts for Miami Metro's homicide division. But he's no serial killer, just a run of the mill white collar criminal responsible for distributing the legacy costs to Mike's guys and, in a one time special delivery, all the money Mike has made for his granddaughter, to be received on her eighteenth birthday.

With that taken care of, Mike sheds his old life. He dumps his laptop and miniature arsenal into a hole in the desert, takes care of something at the airport, and goes home to wait for the DEA. Hank arrives with the search warrant personally, but of course they can't find anything.

Walt's cleaning up the lab equipment when Jesse arrives, just in time to help. Before he can object, Walt proposes that Jesse start running a lab of his own, going so far as to say he's just as good a cook as Walt. But nothing's changed; he still wants out. Walt asks what he has in his life besides being one of the world's best meth cooks. If Jesse gives it up he has nothing to fall back on except his drug habit. Once again, Walt claims the boy's death is tearing him apart, but that he's willing to move on regardless. They've done plenty of bad things themselves, and to stop now would be lying down. Jesse wants to know how many more will die, and as always Walt says no one, but Jesse calls him on it this time. It's always a lie. Jesse just wants his cut of the money, but Walt argues that if he's leaving for moral reasons then he shouldn't take the $5 million. If he wants the money, he might as well keep cooking and make even more. Jesse leaves all the same, even as Walt shouts after him that he'll get nothing.

At the DEA, Hank's boss chews him out (via webcam) for focusing too much on the Fring case. He's explicitly forbidden to surveil Mike, so instead he orders Gomez to find out more about the lawyer representing Mike's guys.

And now it's time for Walt to train Jesse's replacement: Todd. It's the obvious choice, and easily the most upsetting one possible. With not even hazy memories of high school chemistry, Todd is starting at square one. At least Jesse was already making meth of his own when he and Walt got together. Anyway, they make it through the cook. Todd freely admits this will take him a while to get used to. He did fine, though, and at the very least he applied himself. To give Todd his due, he doesn't want to talk money until he gets the hang of it.

The lawyer returns to the bank to make his safety deposit box drops, but the second he starts, Gomez catches him in the act and flashes a giant grin.

At dinner, Walt starts to tell Skyler that he's working with a new guy, but she just walks out with her wine. Oh, marital troubles. If only Walt had someone to talk to…

And once again, Walt he pretends to confide in Hank, weeping in his office and asking for some coffee so that he can remove the bug. It works (apparently) when at that very moment Walt overhears Gomez and Hank discussing some good news: the lawyer is going to flip on Mike.

In the park with his granddaughter, Mike gets a call from said legal professional asking to meet and then requesting his location. After he gives specifics, the lawyer asks him to sit tight. Mike hangs up and immediately gets another call. His sigh can only mean one thing. Sure enough, Walt is on the line. He tells Mike that the police are coming for him, and provides enough pertinent information to make it clear that the lawyer flipped. For the first time, Mike is visibly afraid. He abandons his granddaughter, even though it's clearly the last thing in the world he wants to do.

At Saul's, Jesse and Walt wait for word from Mike while Saul himself is upset that Mike involved this other lawyer in the first place. He should have been consulted. A cellphone rings, and Saul opens a desk drawer to reveal dozens of handhelds before answering the one that Mike is calling. He has a bag with everything he needs to disappear packed at the airport, but he can't get to it. He needs someone to deliver the goods. The DEA is probably watching Saul, and though Jesse offers, Mike doesn't want him to do it. Walt says he'll get the bag—Jesse is out, after all.

Walt retrieves Mike's emergency supplies, stopping to look inside and see the gun on top.

Mike skips rocks on a lake when Walt pulls up in his car. Before he turns over the bag, he wants the names of Mike's nine guys. Mike won't give him anything, and goes to leave. Walt doesn't stop. He thinks he's owed the names. Mike says everything that's gone wrong is Walt's fault, and when Walt argues that Mike is the one who screwed up, it's the final straw. Mike yells at him, saying they had a perfect thing going with Fring. If Walt had shut up and cooked he would have had all the money he ever needed, but because of his pride and his ego he went and blew it all up. They'd all be fine if Walt had known his place. With that, Mike gets in his car. After a moment it looks like Walt is going to leave, but he changes his mind and storms back.

Mike opens the bag to see the gun is missing, but before he can do anything Walt shoots him through the car window. Mike drives off and crashes. For once, Walt genuinely looks shocked at what he's done, and follows the trail of footprints and blood to find Mike sitting at the edge of the lake. To add the final insult to injury, Walt picks that moment to remember that Lydia has the names. Mike's death is pointless—the first time Walt has committed a 100% unjustifiable murder, with no motive other than childish anger in response to Mike telling him the truths that he didn't want to hear.

"Shut the f--k up and let me die in peace," Mike tells him. And with the sun reflected beautifully on the lake before them, he does just that.

Follow Michael on twitter, check out his blog Story is God for more on all things fictional, or reach him at mchasin@usc.edu.