9/15/13
View Logs: Breaking Bad S5.2 Episode 6
Episode Title: OzymandiusSo ok. This seems like me flip flopping on myself. But I stand by my assessment that Walt slowly was becoming "normal" from the beginning of this split season until the last episode. I knew something was going to take that away and he was going to turn back into his true vile hateful self. I just didn't know how far back the pendulum he'd actually swing. Ratting out Jesse to the Todd's associates? Confessing that he did nothing to prevent Jane from dying? I would have loved to take a baseball bat to Walt's face if I was in that desert. See, this is one of the reasons why I never got the whole "Walter White is awesome and badass" thing (atleast in the later seasons). Walt pretty much hasn't owned up to any of his mistakes and short comings. He's always blamed someone else no matter the circumstance.
Walter's recent dealings got Hank killed. Jesse just made it a little sooner. But really, it was Walt's ego driven decision to "build his empire" that doomed himself and his family. Yet, Walt never owns up to it. This isn't really a complaint about the character but it is a complaint against people who are still apparently madly in love with Walt. I guess you can like the dude all you want (even if that is a little creepy...) But Walt hasn't been a bad ass for a very long time so people who are still waving that flag are just wrong. A bad ass doesn't look for scapegoats on issues that he caused on himself. A bad ass owns up and deals with it. Honestly, a better example of a bad ass is right next door in Hell on Wheels. No idea why Breaking Bad is getting all that love when there are quite a few characters in Hell on Wheels that fit that bill better. Although, personally speaking, I think most of AMC's major characters across all it's 4 shows are simpler than broad labels such as that (Yes, even The Killing). But that's for another time.
Anyways, back to this episode. I'm unsure how I feel about the actual finale. Hank's death represented a point of no return for Walt. Even if, again, Walt's fate was kind of sealed a long time ago. Walt is now more Heisenbergian than ever but that dialogue at the end with Skylar seemed a little forced to me. I don't mean that Bryan Cranston did a poor job delivering the line. I mean it seems Walt was trying to be the worse guy ever just so the police could hear all that. It was almost like a confession so the police wouldn't think about digging into Skylar's past? Cause remember, Skylar laundered drug money. And she also suggested a hit on Jesse, which is conspiracy to commit murder. (Hard to get evidence on that I know, but still). So it seemed that Walt still deeply cared for his family? I mean he was crying his eyes out when he made that supervillain rant and he did end up returning the baby before leaving himself. But I'm not entirely sure. I know Walt loves to always blame everyone else for his problems and he, very clearly, was sincere about being spiteful to Jesse. He might have stopped himself just short of completely believing himself when he made that rant while wanting to believe it.
Well, I guess we'll just have to see. Really this almost feels like an ending for Walter White's character. He's lost so much in this episode. But I suppose there's just quite a few loose ends that need to be addressed and that's what the final two episodes are for. Lydia hasn't been in this episode. I think, after that Jane confession to Jesse, Vince has gotta have plans for Jesse because that just leaves things completely unresolved. Which sometimes can be a good ending (like in No Country for Old Men). But I just hope, for the sake of my own emotional well-being, that Vince doesn't go that route. Walter White cannot be an Anton Chigurh. Actually, thematically, he kinda shouldn't. Chigurh represented an unstoppable evil fate that just can't be even delayed no matter how much good you try to do. White's character is a little more complex then that and really represents how ego is your own greatest weakness. It'll send a pretty bad messege for Walter White to just keep getting away because Breaking Bad just never really seemed to be that kind of story. There always seems to be a reckoning brewing for Mr. White.
As Jesse said in "Rabid Dog". "He can't keep getting away with it." I certainly hope he won't. I also hope Jesse will find a way out of his prison. It seems Jesse is just in a perpetual hell since Season 5. He's either emotionally destroyed or forced into situations he has no control over. It's ironic when you think about it. Jesse's only alternative option to death is to get back into the meth business. Which is something he now deeply despises and regrets getting into. Now he's forced into making the meth that he and his junkie friends would dream of at the beginning of the show. This show has a very dark but poetic sense of humor. I would like to see more of Walt's hell now. Hmmm but something tells me that Walt might get off a little easy.
Shame... that'd be too easy for you Walt.
