It was the episode we were all dreading, and anticipating.
Aside from the grim comic relief of Walt rolling his lone remaining barrel across the desert, there was no respite in this episode… the climax of the series, with a sequence of events that explained things that puzzled me from last episode (now I know the other reason for Hank’s phone call to Marie) and even the beginning of this one. Â On first viewing, the flashback to Walt and Jesse’s first cook – on the same site as the shootout is happening – seemed like a fairly obvious, ironic touch illustrating how far they had come and fallen. Â But it was more than that. Â The conversation between Walt and the pregnant Skyler was about Holly, and it should have been obvious – but wasn’t at first – that she would play a pivotal role in the events to come. Â But I didn’t see it at the time.
Once the RV disappears and the cold open ends, we are back in the same place, only the shootout has gone on a bit longer. Â Gomez is dead. Hank is wounded, Jesse is missing, and Jack is in control of the situation. Â Walt tries to bargain for Hank’s life, revealing his trump card – his $80 million in buried cash. Â This seems horribly foolish, even for a man accustomed to talking his way out of every situation. Â And it doesn’t help Hank, who dismisses Walt’s attempts to save his life when Hank recognizes he’s a dead man. Â The scene raises questions, of course. Â Why is Walt so foolish? Â Why is he so determined to save Hank? Â We are to believe that he wants to thwart Hank, but never wanted him dead – because Hank is family.
How do we contrast his attitude towards Hank, who wanted Walt locked up, with his attitude towards Jesse – which is pure, venomous hatred. Â After Jack shoots Hank in the head and takes most of Walt’s money, leaving Walt behind with a barrel of it due to Todd’s wishes, Walt still wants Jesse dead and even finds him – hiding underneath his car. Â Todd spares him, to find out what he told Hank and Gomez but more importantly, because Jesse can help him cook and please Lydia. Â Walt wants Jesse dead because Jesse, much to Walt’s surprise, betrayed him and ruined his plans that would have protected him, his family and Hank. Â It’s jarring, though, and Walt – who has been nearly prone in agony over Hank’s death – revives in order to tell Jesse that he let old girlfriend Jane die. Â He’s just doing that to hurt him.
In the meantime, Marie – who only knows that Hank has arrested Walt, and not that he’s dead – roars into action, confronting Skyler at the carwash with her conviction that it’s all over. Â She wants the DVD of Walt’s lies about Hank being the mastermind of the drug empire destroyed, and Walter Jr. told now. Â Skyler resists but goes along. Â Walter Jr. is shocked and angry, at her as much as her father. Â They drive home, only to discover the old pickup Walt bought from the old man on the reservation. Â Walt is packing quickly, and tells them to do the same. Â But Skyler knows immediately what has happened, and she can’t and will not go along anymore. Â In a shocking sequence, Skyler cuts Walt with a knife, and then the two roll around on the floor, with Walter Jr. finally intervening to save his mother. “We’re a family,” Walt insists, more than a little absurdly. Â But his son is already calling the police. Â At this point, Walt grabs baby Holly and races away, pushing Skyler’s car back with the pickup and driving off as Skyler cries in anguish.
In an episode that left Hank dead and Jesse a meth-making slave, it is the final sequence that was its most extraordinary. Â Walt is changing Holly, who starts calling for her mother, and Walt reverts to his former self, the one we saw at the beginning of the episode. Â He leaves Holly at a fire station. Â And then Bryan Cranston does a remarkable bit of acting as he merges Walt and the fearsome Heisenberg, speaking as the latter while tears stream down his cheeks in a telephone call home. Â He is taking the rap and throwing as much blame away from Skyler as possible, knowing the police are listening. Â But some of his anger seems like more than just an act. Â Walt is genuinely enraged at Skyler for telling his son, but he is also playing a part. Â And Skyler, in a subtle bit of acting by Anna Gunn, seems to understand. Â And then, he’s gone, picked up by the same “cleaner” at the same location who almost took Jesse to Alaska. Â He’s off to a new life in New Hampshire, such as it is, with $11 million left and a score to settle.
This may have been the best episode in TV history. It could have been titled “The Family,” because so much of the action was predicated on Walt’s different (and quickly changing) personal definitions of family. Jesse was family, betrayal notwithstanding, right up until Hank died. After that, though, Jesse was irrevocably estranged, the cause in Walt’s mind of his brother-in-law’s death. Redefined as enemy, it’s then very much in keeping with Walt’s mindset to intentionally inflict more pain on Jesse by revealing that Walt could have saved his girlfriend’s life, and didn’t (not to mention allowing Jesse to be taken away for torture).
This motif continues with Marie Skyler and Walt. Jr. at the carwash, and Junior getting the big reveal about Dad’s exploits, which he of course refuses to believe. Until the family is all together back at home, Walt admits to Hank’s death, and then he and Skyler wrestle over the butcher knife. With Junior shielding Skyler from Walt on the floor, baby Holly crying, and a crazed Walt standing over them screaming “Because we’re a family!” Family was very last thing Walt had left to cling to, his justification and motivation, and it too is destroyed, and it’s plain to all of them.
When Walt makes the final call, he’s crying over what is lost, and what he still cares about. I suspect further threats to Skyler et al will be the reason Walt comes back from New Hampshire with his machine gun for the grand finale.
Also, once the Nazis showed up with specific GPS coordinates in hand, they were sure to dig up the money, so I don’t think Walt was giving away the big secret when bargaining for Hank’s life.
I mean, it was unbelievable.
I loved the way they brought so much back (though it would have been twice as impressive if they’d had the foresight to film the opening scene back in the early days, instead of needing to use makeup)
definitely didn’t like jesse’s adult weight when playing the flashback version of himself.
Not only that, it might have been Walt’s first lie to Skyler.
Yeah, my husband was puzzled by Walt’s “rehearsal” just before making the call, until I pointed out “He hadn’t gotten so comfortable with lying yet.”
Or, at least, so reckless.
Bryan Cranston is playing a completely different character now. I wonder how hard it is to find the old Walt.
an english major such as myself can’t help but go here: