MovieChat Forums > Breaking Bad (2008) Discussion > Hank mad at gomez for taking elpaso job

Hank mad at gomez for taking elpaso job

posted 7 years ago by cmpresador
7 replies | jump to latest

What a bich move he acted like a punk over it plus his arrogance ultimately led to gomez being killed

[–] kjm20005 7 years ago

I never understood why he was mad when he didn't want the job himself. Also was confused why he told Gomez to take his hand off his shoulder earlier episode and then said BRO sarcastically. Why did he become a dick to his own partner?

[–] cmpresador 7 years ago

Yes I agree I'm guessing hank felt gomy betrayed him by taking a job he didn't want either way hank was acting pathetic,I was pissed when hank had Walt in custody in ending and his tone of voice changed when he told Walt walk backwards,lMao I liked hank but he had some issues

[–] kjm20005 7 years ago

Not sure how Hank would feel betrayed though if it wasn't a job he himself even wanted. Is he one of those psychopaths that have the mentality if he has a girlfriend that leaves him he will threaten and kill her by saying, "if I can't have you, then no one can!"?

The tone change when he tells Walt to walk backwards to me shows he is one of those corrupt cops and this was interesting this preceded all the black lives matter stuff with corruption within the police force. We also see Hank slip a few times showing he is corrupt like when he tries to get Wendy to scare straight his nephew Walt Jr., and also when he is talking to Walt at a party and I forget exactly, but he was basically saying he could get away with it, and then Walt challenges him with the story about if it were back in prohibition times they would both be arrested for drinking alcohol and now they are perfectly fine.

EDIT: Now I remember it was when Hank gives Walt a Cuban cigar which is ILLEGAL but Hank shrugs it off since he is a cop then he is ABOVE THE LAW. This is the attitude of his that made me laugh when he was killed off.

[–] mgreen9715 7 years ago

Hank was egotistical and a dick towards Gomez for the majority of the series so his reaction to Gomez wasn't all that surprising, to me anyways.

[–] kjm20005 7 years ago

Also in the scene at the office party Hank comes out of his office to "congratulate" Gomez but then in a demeaning tone makes a reference to him being good for the job since he has "bean speak" after Gomez tells him if he knows the Spanish word for GET BENT. Then Hank gives him the head of the drug lord doll that someone in El Paso gave to him, and you could see the hatred in Gomez' eyes for Hank as he was belittling him at this point.

[–] VanWhack 7 years ago

I interpreted that scene a lot differently.

I don't think Hank so much didn't want the job as he was worried he just wasn't cut out for it, and that made him feel useless so he took his frustrations out on Gomez, in the same way that he treated Marie like crap while he was recovering from getting shot and couldn't work.

He was also obviously suffering from PTSD since the Tuco incident and what happened in El Paso made it worse but he refused to seek help, even though he badly needed it, since he thought that if anybody in the office knew he was seeing a psychiatrist he would be stigmatised and it would negatively affect his career prospects.

Basically, he was too concerned about seeming strong and manly to get help dealing with his problems so instead took out his frustrations on the people he cared about most, an interesting parallel to Walt's pride preventing him from accepting financial help from Gretchen and Elliot and instead putting his family in danger by getting mixed up in the business.

As for the office party scene, I saw that as Hank and Gomez starting to get back on good terms by returning to the politically incorrect banter they shared before the tension between them began, though a little bit of tension still existed.

I felt that Hank's congratulations seemed sincere and heartfelt and he had only good intentions in giving Gomez the doll, since even if Gomez didn't understand the gesture at the time he would probably understand when he arrived in El Paso, got settled in and learned what the significance of the doll was to the agents there (as established in the scene where Hank arrived at the office there) that it was Hank's way of putting his own frustrations aside and saying that Gomez was the better man for the job, which he would probably be too macho to ever tell him directly.

Just a thought anyway, I love how this show's writing leaves it so open to interpretation, I haven't been to this board much but it's been great reading about all the different points of view over the last few days.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"

[–] noone1647 7 years ago

VanWhack has the correct answer.

Hank wasn't necessarily angry at Gomez for taking the job. He was angry at himself for not being man enough to take the job. He wasn't man enough to blame himself for his bitterness so his anger was directed at Gomez.