now, for a couple of points I have to make after reading the last few page.
Gomez definitely had his character scaled back and barely talked in the last few episodes. I thought at first that maybe they did that because of the "strained" relationship Hank has with the rest of his office, but after reading some of your guys' speculation that he was pissed off about his character's impending death, I can see that it did affect his acting. The writers were probably like "ok, he's pissed? why not just make him pissed in each episode?" all he has to do is stare jesse down anyway. It's too bad because Hank and Gomez's back and forth banter was perfect for their cop relationship, and definitely balanced out Hank's seriousness. Needless to say, opening up the episode with Gomez just being dead was definitely anti-climactic for his character, but good for the show.
Also, I too, at first thought Walt was dumb as fuck, two-fold, for bargaining for Hank's life with that money. The first part was that telling them about the money, they would just kill Hank and take it anyway. Secondly, Walt had to know that the AB guys were looking to save their own asses, and so killing Jesse, with the two DEA agents he was working with, was a double bonus. Money or not, they would have killed Hank. But that's not bad writing, that's to show that Walt isn't still in it for the money, and feels some responsibility for Hank potentially (at the time) being killed. It more importantly shows that Walt is human, and is subject to making mistakes, and isn't just the ruthless person we come to assume he is at the end of every episode. that instead makes it GREAT writing, because it keeps us on our toes and makes the show what it is, unpredictable.