9/13/13
View Logs: Breaking Bad S5.2 Episode 5
Episode Title: To'hajiileeI'm unsure if I saw Walter White's development coming or if I just wanted Walter's character to take this direction. Either way, this didn't diminish the dramatic impact of his character's ending decisions for me as I found myself strangely fascinated by Walt's continual reclamation of his humanity. Which is something I haven't seen in a very very long time. Oh sure, the Walter White of Season 1 is forever gone, but the sociopathic egotistical mad men of Seasons 4 and 5 was rage inducing to watch. Atleast for me. I'm aware of all the Walter White fan clubs that seem almost homoerotic for the man and I've always thought that people who were a fan of Walter White were either missing the entire point of the fiction (which happens often... look at Watchmen... oh yes. I went there. Fuck Rorschach.) Or they might be secretly sociopaths themselves. Which is a very scarey thought.
Anyways, I digress. What I'm trying to get to is that I'm so used to hating the character that it seems strange to suddenly see myself empathizing with him in this second half of the split season. He suddenly (although not in a poor writing contrived way) now has lines that he won't cross. He isn't abusive to his wife anymore. He really did care for Jesse and he showed genuine fear and concern for his brother in law when Walter's hit squad showed up. Man it sure has been a while since I've seen that side of Walter White. A side I thought was completely dissolved. That said, I must clarify that I don't think any of this excuses any of his past actions. I still want Walter White to go down in flames but that little bit of empathy has put out the fire of my anger. It's also a bit of a catharsis to see Walt finally realizing his foolishness in Season 4.
Walter White's ego was always gigantic and his successful toppling of those within the crime world has kept feeding a sense of delusion that he was building an unbeatable empire. The final sequence of Walter White handcuffed in the back of Hank's car as he helplessly yell for the chaos to end is the epitome of Walter White's real situation that started at the beginning of season 5. He hasn't been in control of his own destiny for a very long time and it's about time that it blows back in his face.
Walter White is cunning, resourceful, ruthless, and aggressive. But what brought about his current downfall is that Walt thought these attributes were enough to make a god out of a man. And Walter was never anywhere close to being a god. Heck, Light had a shinigami on his side in Death Note and even that didn't end well. Walter White had no chance and it's really the intelligent pen of Vince Gilligan and his talented staff writers that was able to realize this bleak reality of Walter White's ambitions. All that's left now is to see how far the unraveling thread will go.
