Breaking Bad S4
I was actually talking about this earlier today - showrunner Vince Gilligan has said from the beginning that Breaking Bad would be about Walter White’s slow descent into the drug underworld and discovering a hellish morality. I knew from the start that Walt would become a terrible guy by the show’s close. I knew it. Yet, it’s a credit to the show that I am always shocked when Walt becomes that terrible guy. Earlier in the season, when Walt was telling Hank about his gambling, or was telling Skyler that he wasn’t in danger, I was thinking that Walt was a terrible liar. But tonight, Walt’s plan actually worked - maybe the first time in Breaking Bad history. It was shocking, exhilarating, and capped, quite simply, another one of the best seasons I’ve ever seen.
Breaking Bad is a show that does tension better than anyone else. (It does, well, television better too, but we’ll get to that.) I think S4 can accurately be described as a slow burn, but even those early episodes had some great moments that had me pulling my hair out. But things like that are nothing to the scenes we saw tonight, or in “End Times,” or in “Crawl Space.” This isn’t as an insult to those episodes - they were essential to build the characters and themes. Remember S6 of Lost, and how I was scared that they wouldn’t be able to redeem the slow-paced (and occasionally boring) flash-sideways? They didn’t, because they relied on a goofy reveal (essentially, a secret) that tried to revolutionize them. But Breaking Bad completely made those early episodes work better in retrospect thanks to the way they stuck the landing thematically and plot-wise. Knowing those episodes will be paid off later makes them worth watching even more. That’s how good this show is.
And they were good anyway. Breaking Bad does tension well, but it also does character, and themes, and detail. We get a lot of that in the early episodes, and a little in the last few, which allows for the tension and action to shine through. And my god, did it. I’m not sure what episode made me more nervous: “Cat’s in the Bag,” “Crazy Handful of Nothin’,” “ABQ,” “Sunset,” “One Minute,” “Half Measures,” “Full Measure,” or the last few from this season. But I don’t want to decide. It’s amazing I can list all of those episodes and remember every little detail - it’s the power of a show like this. It makes you remember.
Let’s take Gus’s death scene tonight. I think it was pretty clear it was going to happen, especially once we got a close-up on him as he walked into the hospital. And I figured the bomb was in the room somewhere, somehow. It just had to be.
But when it happened, it was no less shocking. It made complete sense as soon as it happened, yet it made me gasp out loud and grab for everything within sight. It was a beautiful scene to end an awesome character. And I’m not sure how the Internet will react, but I loved the seeming touch of magic realism - Gus fixing his clip-on tie, then realizing he is missing half of his face, and slumping to the ground. It’s a directorial flourish, of course, and we’ll talk about that some more as well. But it reminded me of García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, where Santiago brushes the dirt off his intestines before dying. Given Gus’s background, I’d be surprised if this was coincidental.
It was a great end to a great character. I rooted on and off for Gus these last few episodes, but when he snarled that he would be the one to finish Tío, I knew that would be his tragic flaw. Really, going back to “Hermanos,” it was pretty clear this would be the case. But it works completely within Gus Fring. He was all business, but he had one weakness. He wanted his revenge - really, almost everything in his life was motivated by that. And he got it, I suppose. His split-second of anger before the explosion, and his blasé walk out of the room, will be seared into my memory.
Most discussion of the finale will center around the last shot, and what that entails for Walt. We’ll get there. Of course, it was brilliantly foreshadowed last week with the spinning of the gun (revealing Walt wasn’t going by chance - he was going to stay alive, dammit), but a more revealing scene is just before that, with Jesse. Walt is genuinely relieved to see that Brock is alive - I doubt he intended to kill him. He just needed him in the hospital, and critical enough, that Jesse would be forced into action. (I am preparing myself for Walt’s next step, where he willingly wants to see innocents die. I also know I will be shocked when this actually happens.) Also in this scene, I was waiting for a hug. It doesn’t happen. I wonder if Walt would feel shamed, hugging Jesse, knowing he’s attempted murder (and succeeded once) on two of his most important friends. Jesse is clearly supposed to garner the audience’s sympathy, as he has from S2 onward. But there’s something so devious about Walt’s plan, something so brilliantly wicked, that I can’t help but root for him a little too. Maybe I kind of admire his transformation, how he could pull that off straight-faced. Maybe I’m jealous of the writers for tricking me that much. I hope it’s just that.
We’ve seen him turn down plenty of opportunities to get out of the business before, and at the end of “Crawl Space,” I wondered if he was actually done. Although “Face Off” could work as a surprisingly satisfying backdoor series finale, there’s obviously no way the show focuses on the Car Wash and Jesse as Great Father for the final 16 episodes. Walt will return, and do more terrible things. As he said in “End Times,” he has to answer for the things that he’s done. He hasn’t answered yet, and certainly didn’t tonight. Maybe he thinks he has (“I won”), but he hasn’t.
Earlier in the year Walt asserted that he was the one who knocks, and he, through his ego, may have given the final blow to his marriage. Through those two small words to Skyler, she now knows (as she must have suspected) she is married to a murderer, and even then, there’s no way she knows the depths he’s sunk to. Their trajectory in S5 is pretty clear to see, as is Walt’s relationship with his son and Holly. (I know there’s so much more to talk about with the finale and this season as a whole. I’m just coming down from this high on those big two shots. I’ll get to think about the rest of the episode when I’m not hyperventilating by next summer, maybe.)
But as I said, he must get back into the business, and I’d imagine he picks up Gus’s old job. ABQ needs a supplier, and Walt won’t let power slip through his grasp. He’s been living for too long on the edge, from cancer and the cartel and his employer, and needs more. He will always need more. The question is: when Jesse finds out what Walt has really done, the entire time, will he kill him, or will the cancer get to him first? (I’m a firm believer Walt’s coughing in the crawl space was cancer returning, not just dust.)
This brings us back to the final shot, and on my initial reaction I thought it was a little too much. For a show that’s as smart as Breaking Bad, it seems a tad obvious having the name of the plant in bold, sans-serif type. It feels too plot-heavy, a reveal that’s under a show like this. But the more I think about it, the less I see it as Vince Gilligan trying to make sure we understand. I see it as him saying, “Yeah, I just did that,” dropping the mic, and walking off the stage. Maybe he flipped a table on his way out. I don’t know. But it’s the type of audacious move a show like this can pull off when it’s this good.
When I say “this good,” I’m meaning it’s one of the best shows of all-time. It reminds me of The Beatles’ peak-period, or Shakespeare’s production in the early 1600s. (Follow me here.) Breaking Bad right now reminds me of seeing an artist at his peak. But instead of an auteur, it’s a group of people - actors, writers, directors, musicians (man, was the music intense this episode), and everyone else. There’s little I can imagine being better these last few episodes, and that’s heavy praise.
I think back to the moment early in “Face Off,” where Walt makes his neighbor clear the way for him. He’s obviously relieved to get her call, but he still sent her in to a possible death. I said as much out loud. “He is such a jerk,” I told my girlfriend. And still, about 30 minutes later, I saw shocked when he did another morally despicable thing to his friend. We can critique a television show all day, and especially with this show, we could. But it’s ultimately about experiences. My look of shock when Gus walked out of the room, or when the camera zoomed up on the name of the plant, is really why we watch television. It’s to feel something. Vince Gilligan & Co. have made Breaking Bad into a true experience to watch. I just want to tell everyone how awesome it is. It feels almost wrong to analyze something so purely awesome, something that makes me so stimulated. Moments like this are why I watch all of those crappy pilots - to know what excellence really is.
