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Breaking Bad 5.14 Ozymandias
Courtesy of the blessed Itunes, I and my trusty Ipad are now in the proud possession of the latest Breaking Bad episode, which was put up last night (German time) for sale. And verily, it is as awesome (in a devastating way, naturally, given what this show is) as everyone led me to expect.
The flashback at the start, showing Walter White in full teacher lecturing student mode with Jesse during that earliest cooking, then calling his pregnant wife who is still full of trust and love for him, were a rather heavy clue as to the remnants of which relationships would be destroyed at last. It's also a remarkable acting showcase, especially for Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn, who sell you on being those earliest incarnations of their characters we were first introduced to, in fact far more relaxed with each other than they were during most early s1 scenes, with Skyler joking about her success in selling the hideous figurine and both of them fondly debating "Holly" as a baby name, while Skyler doesn't even doubt for a second Walt's story about why he can't come home in time tonight is true. This phonecall at the start of the episode is in utter contrast to the phonecall between them at the end of it (more about that that fantastic scene later), and yet both bookend the episode perfectly, in a way summing up all that Walt did on this show and what and who he became, as well as his nearest and dearerst.
After the opening flashback, we're back to the shootout we left at the end of the last episode, and despite my desperate hope Hank gets his final scene. While my fondness for the character makes me grieve, I can't say it was the wrong storytelling choice: it truly rips apart the last and most precious of Walt's self delusions, that "I did it all to protect my family" and that his family would always remain safe from the drug world. Plus that last scene was a good one: Hank's refusal to beg for his life didn't come across as macho bravado or stupidity, but clear sightedness. As he tells Walt with his last line: "You're the smartest man I ever knew, and yet you can't figure out he made up his mind ten minutes ago." If you can't do anything else but fall, as Richard says to Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter, then it does matter how you fall. Hank knew he was dead, and refused to play any games for Uncle Jack's benefit. Walt's desperation and fervent attempt to keep Hank alive and his devastation afterwards made for a chilling contrast to his behaviour once Jack & Co. have taken his money and are about to leave. "Pinkman. You still owe me Pinkman" might just be the coldest and most chilling line ever spoken on this show, and yet it's also burning with hate.
Now you can interpret what Walt does - because of course he's figured out where Jesse is hiding - in various ways: you can say that with Hank died the last bit of Walter White, and all is left is Heisenberg, but that's too comic book for this show, if you ask me; you can say that he wants payback for Jesse's "betrayal" (Walt's need to punish comes into play with Skyler later, too), and that's part of it; imo he also wants to wipe out the fact he just humiliated himself and begged, because he hates people seeing him as weak that much. What what you can't argue is that he didn't really want Jesse dead. It was Todd the well mannered sociopath (whose "I'm sorry for your loss" re: Hank to Walt was just another reminder of that combination of manners and complete sociopathy) who saved Jesse from getting shot right then and there. Walt would have let it happen. And once he sees immediate death isn't on the menu for Jesse anymore, he promptly reaches for the next best thing, the one emotional devastation he hasn't yet inflicted on Jesse, the one secret he's kept closest of all - the truth about Jane's death. And he tells him.
(Mind you: just as in Blake's 7 fandom, there are still stories written about how Avon didn't really intend to throw Vila overboard in order to survive in Orbit, I bet there will be stories in which Walt totally has figured out Todd would intervene in order to have another meth cook helping him and what not. Because that's how fandom works.)
Meanwhile, Marie does what I predicted she'd do and, believing Walt is arrested, goes to Skyler so Skyler can tell Junior the truth herself. Betsy Brandt has been increasingly awesome in these last few eps, and the scene between the sisters was wonderful. (In a way also a bookend - complete reverse - to the scene in late s1 or very early s2 when Skyler (not yet knowing the truth about Walt or anything that's to come) tells Marie, apropos Marie's refusal to admit she's stolen the tiara and her theft related lies, that what she can't stand is not the stealing but the lying and that if Marie admits the truth, they're okay again, but if Marie insists on the lie she will never talk to her again. Since then, so much has happened, and the emotional balance between the sisters has become completely reversed. That Marie, angry as she is with Skyler, still reaches out to her one last time (and successfully) gives me hope that this relationship isn't damaged beyond repair. (A bit more about that later.) Of course, next we get what's been in the making for many a season: Walt Jr. aka Flynn learns the truth. And again, fantastic acting all around. It figures thath Junior would go into denial at first. But here's why, despite all the dark things Skyler herself has done, she's still morally ambiguous rather than a villain and still has that quality I've always respected her for: at no point does she rationalize her behaviour or try to justify herself to Junior. When he moves on from denial to maybe-it's-true and says "if this is true, and you knew about it, then you're as bad as he is", and Skyler doesn't launch into a "no, I'm not!" speech, or reminds Junior of the time she called the cops (shortly after learning the truth in early as s3) and he simply saw her as "bitch Mom", or anything like that. Instead, she accepts the condemnation. Because she does know what she's done, and even though it's actually not nearly as bad as Walt's track record, it still includes enough to make her culpable of aiding and abetting (and in one recent instant suggesting) murder.
(Sidenote: that Skyler in the middle of that family devastation reminds Junior to fasten his seat belt is one of those traits she shares with Walt in its positive form and probably the only instance of dark humour in this episode.)
The showdown between Skyler, Walt and Junior which then ensues as Walt (with his remaining 1 million arrives nearly at the same time as Skyler and Jr. continues the emotional onslaught. I had an inkling there would be at least one more scene between Walt and his son last episode because I couldn't imagine Gilligan wouldn't give us one with a Junior who's finally learned the truth, but I hadn't imagined it to be a three ways scene, which made it even better. Now there's an irony that the thing that pushes Skyler over the point of no return where she takes up a knife against Walt rather than go with him (and the money, and their kids) is Hank's death, which Walt did try to stop, but it's a fitting one, because ultimately Walt Is culpable of that death - Hank would never have been there if he hadn't called Jack & Co. and if he hadn't cooked meth to begin with. Similarly, the combination of Hank's fate and seeing Walt and Skyler wrestle for the knife finally pushes Junior into siding with his mother over his father. But if that is an emergency reaction, Walt later unwittingly ensures it will be a permanent one. Walt's second phone call to Skyler, overheard by the police, Junior and Marie, shows Walt at his worst, his full viciousness unleashed, that side that Junior only ever got one glimpse of (when Walt made him drink), and a very short one at that.
Several revelations from this phone call: in case Skyler didn't destroy all the copies of Walt's framing-Hank-dvd (though I expect she did), and Todd & friends got Jesse's confession from the Schrader's house, this police taped call proves once and for all Walt was the main culprit of the Heisenberg meth production. Also, he unwittingly gives Skyler's future lawyer a great defense by insisting she never appreciated his efforts and tried to stop them, not to mention that he directly threatens her life by insinuating the fate Hank had will be hers. And in a parallel to his behaviour re: Jesse, he says taking Holly was meant as punishment for Skyler's "betrayal". Incidentally, I think it was, but I also think Walt didn't think this through while he was doing it - he grabbed Holly because of the sight of Junior and Skyler both being against him and afraid of him, destroying every self justication ever, and went for the baby who couldn't reject him, plus he also knew this was the worst thing he could do to Skyler, just as he knew the worst thing he could tell Jesse was the truth about Jane's death.
The final image - of Walt taking that dissappearing ride out of town that Jesse rejected - also brings us presumably up to speed with the flash forwards, or nearly so, as in them he has his fake identity. The waiting place for that ride out of town is in front of a cemetary. It was fitting for Jesse, it was fitting for Walt. The truth was finally out there, and it left devastation in its wake.
Speculation: I do hope that Marie and Skyler will manage to repair their relationship enough to help each other, and Junior, and there were glimpses of that hope in this episode.
Jesse as the meth producing slave: was to be expected and as many have speculated, though what I didn't expect was Todd to have paid attention and put Walt's non-working ploy with Andrea and Brock to creative use in order to ensure Jesse doesn't just sink into another stupor and/or kills himself.
At this point, it looks like the finale will be a showdown between a returned Walt and Jack, Todd & Co., but I expect there will be another twist to make it less predictable.
What an episode. What a show.
The flashback at the start, showing Walter White in full teacher lecturing student mode with Jesse during that earliest cooking, then calling his pregnant wife who is still full of trust and love for him, were a rather heavy clue as to the remnants of which relationships would be destroyed at last. It's also a remarkable acting showcase, especially for Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn, who sell you on being those earliest incarnations of their characters we were first introduced to, in fact far more relaxed with each other than they were during most early s1 scenes, with Skyler joking about her success in selling the hideous figurine and both of them fondly debating "Holly" as a baby name, while Skyler doesn't even doubt for a second Walt's story about why he can't come home in time tonight is true. This phonecall at the start of the episode is in utter contrast to the phonecall between them at the end of it (more about that that fantastic scene later), and yet both bookend the episode perfectly, in a way summing up all that Walt did on this show and what and who he became, as well as his nearest and dearerst.
After the opening flashback, we're back to the shootout we left at the end of the last episode, and despite my desperate hope Hank gets his final scene. While my fondness for the character makes me grieve, I can't say it was the wrong storytelling choice: it truly rips apart the last and most precious of Walt's self delusions, that "I did it all to protect my family" and that his family would always remain safe from the drug world. Plus that last scene was a good one: Hank's refusal to beg for his life didn't come across as macho bravado or stupidity, but clear sightedness. As he tells Walt with his last line: "You're the smartest man I ever knew, and yet you can't figure out he made up his mind ten minutes ago." If you can't do anything else but fall, as Richard says to Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter, then it does matter how you fall. Hank knew he was dead, and refused to play any games for Uncle Jack's benefit. Walt's desperation and fervent attempt to keep Hank alive and his devastation afterwards made for a chilling contrast to his behaviour once Jack & Co. have taken his money and are about to leave. "Pinkman. You still owe me Pinkman" might just be the coldest and most chilling line ever spoken on this show, and yet it's also burning with hate.
Now you can interpret what Walt does - because of course he's figured out where Jesse is hiding - in various ways: you can say that with Hank died the last bit of Walter White, and all is left is Heisenberg, but that's too comic book for this show, if you ask me; you can say that he wants payback for Jesse's "betrayal" (Walt's need to punish comes into play with Skyler later, too), and that's part of it; imo he also wants to wipe out the fact he just humiliated himself and begged, because he hates people seeing him as weak that much. What what you can't argue is that he didn't really want Jesse dead. It was Todd the well mannered sociopath (whose "I'm sorry for your loss" re: Hank to Walt was just another reminder of that combination of manners and complete sociopathy) who saved Jesse from getting shot right then and there. Walt would have let it happen. And once he sees immediate death isn't on the menu for Jesse anymore, he promptly reaches for the next best thing, the one emotional devastation he hasn't yet inflicted on Jesse, the one secret he's kept closest of all - the truth about Jane's death. And he tells him.
(Mind you: just as in Blake's 7 fandom, there are still stories written about how Avon didn't really intend to throw Vila overboard in order to survive in Orbit, I bet there will be stories in which Walt totally has figured out Todd would intervene in order to have another meth cook helping him and what not. Because that's how fandom works.)
Meanwhile, Marie does what I predicted she'd do and, believing Walt is arrested, goes to Skyler so Skyler can tell Junior the truth herself. Betsy Brandt has been increasingly awesome in these last few eps, and the scene between the sisters was wonderful. (In a way also a bookend - complete reverse - to the scene in late s1 or very early s2 when Skyler (not yet knowing the truth about Walt or anything that's to come) tells Marie, apropos Marie's refusal to admit she's stolen the tiara and her theft related lies, that what she can't stand is not the stealing but the lying and that if Marie admits the truth, they're okay again, but if Marie insists on the lie she will never talk to her again. Since then, so much has happened, and the emotional balance between the sisters has become completely reversed. That Marie, angry as she is with Skyler, still reaches out to her one last time (and successfully) gives me hope that this relationship isn't damaged beyond repair. (A bit more about that later.) Of course, next we get what's been in the making for many a season: Walt Jr. aka Flynn learns the truth. And again, fantastic acting all around. It figures thath Junior would go into denial at first. But here's why, despite all the dark things Skyler herself has done, she's still morally ambiguous rather than a villain and still has that quality I've always respected her for: at no point does she rationalize her behaviour or try to justify herself to Junior. When he moves on from denial to maybe-it's-true and says "if this is true, and you knew about it, then you're as bad as he is", and Skyler doesn't launch into a "no, I'm not!" speech, or reminds Junior of the time she called the cops (shortly after learning the truth in early as s3) and he simply saw her as "bitch Mom", or anything like that. Instead, she accepts the condemnation. Because she does know what she's done, and even though it's actually not nearly as bad as Walt's track record, it still includes enough to make her culpable of aiding and abetting (and in one recent instant suggesting) murder.
(Sidenote: that Skyler in the middle of that family devastation reminds Junior to fasten his seat belt is one of those traits she shares with Walt in its positive form and probably the only instance of dark humour in this episode.)
The showdown between Skyler, Walt and Junior which then ensues as Walt (with his remaining 1 million arrives nearly at the same time as Skyler and Jr. continues the emotional onslaught. I had an inkling there would be at least one more scene between Walt and his son last episode because I couldn't imagine Gilligan wouldn't give us one with a Junior who's finally learned the truth, but I hadn't imagined it to be a three ways scene, which made it even better. Now there's an irony that the thing that pushes Skyler over the point of no return where she takes up a knife against Walt rather than go with him (and the money, and their kids) is Hank's death, which Walt did try to stop, but it's a fitting one, because ultimately Walt Is culpable of that death - Hank would never have been there if he hadn't called Jack & Co. and if he hadn't cooked meth to begin with. Similarly, the combination of Hank's fate and seeing Walt and Skyler wrestle for the knife finally pushes Junior into siding with his mother over his father. But if that is an emergency reaction, Walt later unwittingly ensures it will be a permanent one. Walt's second phone call to Skyler, overheard by the police, Junior and Marie, shows Walt at his worst, his full viciousness unleashed, that side that Junior only ever got one glimpse of (when Walt made him drink), and a very short one at that.
Several revelations from this phone call: in case Skyler didn't destroy all the copies of Walt's framing-Hank-dvd (though I expect she did), and Todd & friends got Jesse's confession from the Schrader's house, this police taped call proves once and for all Walt was the main culprit of the Heisenberg meth production. Also, he unwittingly gives Skyler's future lawyer a great defense by insisting she never appreciated his efforts and tried to stop them, not to mention that he directly threatens her life by insinuating the fate Hank had will be hers. And in a parallel to his behaviour re: Jesse, he says taking Holly was meant as punishment for Skyler's "betrayal". Incidentally, I think it was, but I also think Walt didn't think this through while he was doing it - he grabbed Holly because of the sight of Junior and Skyler both being against him and afraid of him, destroying every self justication ever, and went for the baby who couldn't reject him, plus he also knew this was the worst thing he could do to Skyler, just as he knew the worst thing he could tell Jesse was the truth about Jane's death.
The final image - of Walt taking that dissappearing ride out of town that Jesse rejected - also brings us presumably up to speed with the flash forwards, or nearly so, as in them he has his fake identity. The waiting place for that ride out of town is in front of a cemetary. It was fitting for Jesse, it was fitting for Walt. The truth was finally out there, and it left devastation in its wake.
Speculation: I do hope that Marie and Skyler will manage to repair their relationship enough to help each other, and Junior, and there were glimpses of that hope in this episode.
Jesse as the meth producing slave: was to be expected and as many have speculated, though what I didn't expect was Todd to have paid attention and put Walt's non-working ploy with Andrea and Brock to creative use in order to ensure Jesse doesn't just sink into another stupor and/or kills himself.
At this point, it looks like the finale will be a showdown between a returned Walt and Jack, Todd & Co., but I expect there will be another twist to make it less predictable.
What an episode. What a show.
no subject
Re: the other Onzymandias - absolutely. If both the scriptwriter and Vince Gilligan don't know their Alan Moore, I'll eat my hat.
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