At what point do you think Walt realized he would have been
better off swallowing his pride, accepting Gretchen Schwartz’s offer of money
for his cancer treatments and staying away from meth? Did he realize this while
stuck 2,000 miles from home in an isolated cabin, getting chemo from a guy who
learned how to give it by watching You Tube videos and paying the man for his
company at a rate of $10,000 an hour? Do you think he has yet to realize it?
The penultimate episode “Granite State” showed that Walter “Mr.
Lambert” White is surely suffering in exile in the titular state. He is a total
bastard, sure, but it’s never pleasant watching anybody waste away from cancer,
losing so much weight that his wedding ring no longer fits. The irony is that
the disease would have gotten to him anyway but if Walt had made different
choices, he would have at least been able to live out his last days in the care
of his family. What a hellish punishment for Walt: all he has left in the world
is $11 million in a barrel and he can’t spend it or give it to his family.
Everyone in the Breaking
Bad universe is suffering. Skyler, far from being exonerated by Walt’s rant
last week, is under legal investigation and under pressure to give up the
location of her husband, which she doesn’t know. The Aryans break into her home
and threaten her not to reveal Lydia’s involvement in the meth scheme.
(Before I go any further, we need to talk again about that
phone call between Walt and Skyler during “Ozymandias.” I wrote last week’srecap in haste and there are a few things I realized upon further reflection.
At first, I didn’t get what Walt was doing since I was so shocked by the venom
in what he said [Steve recalls me audibly gasping when he called Skyler a
“stupid bitch”] and my mind was mush by that point after 45 minutes of horror.
It’s clear that he was exonerating his wife by taking blame for the meth
operation and its ensuing murders and obviously very pained by having to talk
to her that way. Still, I wonder how much of what Walt said sprung from a real
place of resentment, as if the “you never believed in me” comments might be
true but exaggerated for effect. Anyway, what threw me was hearing Skyler say
“I’m sorry” during the rant. At first, I thought maybe it was her buried fear
of her husband surfacing; that she’d been a little afraid of him all along and
when his true ugliness surfaced, she started to cower. Now I realize Skyler
caught on to how Walt was giving her freedom — in its way a tender act clothed
in hate. Her apology was tenderness cloaked in fear. Skyler realized she would
never see Walt again so she used a code to tell him goodbye, that she loved him
and that she was sorry it didn’t work out between them. It was the only
response she could give in the context of the call. I think the call works on
another level as Vince Gilligan held a mirror up to the ugliness of the hate some
people feel toward Skyler, namely that she is a “stupid bitch” holding back
Walt’s murderous meth business. In any case, what an absolutely stunning scene that
was in terms of writing and acting. There is always so much more going on
beneath the surface of every scene and that’s what makes Breaking Bad my favorite show ever. But I digress.)
There were tantalizing hints at what’s happened during the
time skip: Skyler is living outside her house and working some menial job under
her maiden name. Newspaper clippings on Walt’s cabin walls hinted at her legal
saga. What I would give to read those headlines or get more details on what
happened in the intervening months.
Speaking of suffering, the hits just keep coming for poor
Jesse Pinkman. It was heartbreaking to see him screaming, his face as red and
distorted as a rotten tomato, when Todd shot Andrea. At this point, Jesse
either needs to escape and inflict some horrible revenge or just die. He is a
broken person now and I can’t imagine he can come back from all the damage he’s
suffered. If he does get revenge, I would love to see Jesse eviscerate Todd. He
straight-up murdered a little kid and now he’s killed a mother just as a
punishment. He’s a scarily blank sociopath who needs to go.
The opening sequence was appalling and hilarious. It was
appalling to see Walt rant and rave and plot revenge. Does he really not know
that the jig is up? It was hilarious to see Saul pretty much say “I’m out”
after witnessing Walt’s irrationality. As clownish as he is, Saul’s legal
advice has been surprisingly common sense throughout the series.
Walt was at his lowest point on the phone with Flynn. It was
just pathetic to watch him sob and heartbreaking to see his son so broken and
traumatized by what his father did. Nothing can save his family now and he
prepares to surrender.
That is, until this show provides another example of why
happenstance and small decisions affect our fate. Had Gretchen and Elliott not
appeared on TV at the right time (I called it months ago that Gray Matter would
factor into the ending), Walt might have turned himself in and stopped a little
of the bleeding. But the (understandable) way the Schwartzes distanced
themselves from Walt inflamed Heisenberg’s ego and in a sick way, gave him one
last thing to live for. Now we wait and see who gets a hail of machine gun
bullets and who gets a puff of a ricin cigarette.
There are a few things I’d like to see addressed in the
finale:
·
I need closure on Hank and Marie. I need to know
whether they found Hank’s body and how Marie is handling it. Did she reconcile
with Skyler, considering the two really have nobody but their sister now?
·
Please give Jesse some measure of peace, through
death or redemption.
·
Why did Walt leave Gray Matter?
·
I need to know that Holly is safe. The show has
had a few close calls, with Walt kidnapping her and the neo Nazis standing over
her crib. Please get that baby somewhere far away from all this.
Finally, I am thrilled that Breaking Bad finally won an Emmy for best drama and that Anna Gunn
won. As many actors as possible need to win Emmys for this show. Next year, I
predict a Lord of the Rings-style
sweep. As great as the first half of season five was, the second half has been
superlative and needs recognition.
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