If you don't start watching this show, a kind of... countdown will begin
SPOILERS Breaking Bad is my favorite television show of all time.
I know, colossal shock. But it's been my favorite show for several years now, long before it hit the zeitgeist and became everyone's favorite show, culminating in Sunday's finale raking in over 10 million viewers, unheard of ratings for a cable network. As much as I like to have been one of the people onboard before the show arrived on Netflix, that's what really gave Breaking Bad an audience. And as I posted after last year's midseason finale, Vince Gilligan and his team of writers had done so well after 54 episodes. However, many a series falters in its final stretch of episodes, as the writers occasionally struggle to deliver a fully satisfying conclusion. There's a reason why the ending of The Sopranos is so controversial, as is the polarizing ending of Lost. There's always that possibility that even the best team of writers (and with Breaking Bad, you're getting the very best) will overdo it in their attempt to deliver, give an ending fitting to the series but ends up alienating the core audience, or simply drop the ball and not stick the landing (case in point: the Dexter finale of a few weeks ago, or even the final season as a whole, which just plain sucked). So, even with only 8 episodes left, all the way down to Sunday night, that inevitable feeling was there that this might be the moment where Breaking Bad falters after years of success.
Thankfully, this wasn't the case. The last eight episodes of Breaking Bad may constitute the best final season in the history of television, and also reveals the show for what it always really was: a modern Shakespearean tragedy. Though I have some small issues with the very last episode, that Shakespearean structure generally makes up for them.
Give that Shakespeare idea a thought. There are 5 seasons in Breaking Bad, which may well constitute 5 Shakespeare acts. Act I establishes the characters and sets the wheels in motion for the tragedy to come. At the end of the first season, Walt, despite killing several adversaries and rejecting an opportunity to make an early exit from the meth game, is still a relatively sympathetic figure who we've come to know and root for up to that point. He's essentially an inverted Macbeth figure, as instead of a promise of future glory in kinghood, he's given a portent of doom in his inoperable lung cancer, driving him into a dark corner where he feels that the criminal life is the only escape. Act II pushes the story forward, as Walt slips deeper and deeper into darkness and his lies gradually grow larger, while his bad decisions begin to damage the lives of those around him. Jesse is first forced out of his family's lives, and then loses the love he found as a replacement in Jane. As Walt rises to a more prominent position in the meth world, his family life begins to crash to the bottom. Act III is the climax, where as a result of Walt's actions, Skyler becomes embroiled in his criminal life, Hank becomes a victim of his collateral damage, and he and Jesse are forced into a barely inescapable corner, where only yet another evil act can save them (to continue the Macbeth comparison, Gale acts as a sort of Banquo figure). Act IV begins the falling action, where Walt finally makes his true descent into evil by, as Macbeth does, conspiring to kill the king (in this case, Gus), but doing it by manipulating his closest ally. Act V, is the resolution, where all the remaining characters and conflicts come together to conclude the story, features Walt's realization of what he has become, as well as his self-actualization that his motives were far more selfish than he himself had wanted to believe.
However, I find that the Shakespeare comparison applies even more to this final half-season. Consider Act I beginning with Hank emerging from the bathroom, fresh from the revelation that his brother-in-law is the Heisenberg he's been searching for all along and move forward from there. And now, I'm going to get onto the analysis, episode-by-episode, after the jump. Again, FULL SPOILERS for the entire series may lie ahead.
Act I (The Establishment)
"Blood Money"
Me after 5 hours of Badger and Skinny Pete babbling about Star Trek... bitch.
I must say, I was expecting a far slower beginning to this final stretch than what we got. I thought Hank would go deeper into investigating his hunch on Walt over the first few episodes, culminating in Hank truly revealing himself to Walt around the halfway point. This is just how television usually does it, drawing it out and building suspense for the big reveal, so when it finally happens it feels like an earned shock to the system. However, this can also lead to some shows drawing it out unnecessarily for the big twist (case in point, the "twist" from season 6 of Dexter). So, having Hank and Walt's first confrontation occur at the end of the FIRST DAMN EPISODE made it an immensely satisfying beginning of the end. The rest of the episode (as much as I enjoyed Badger's Star Trek monologue) was exactly the pace I expected from the first four episodes, as Jesse's aimless remorse for his actions and Walt's attempts at future anonymity slowly setting things in motion. But when Hank closed the garage door, everything got cranked up to 11. "Tread lightly" may already be one of the most iconic closing lines to an episode of television, and that haunting last shot (this episode was wonderfully directed and acted by Bryan Cranston, by the way) perfectly whets the appetite for the events to come.
"Blood Money" gets a 9 out of 10.
"Buried"
As much as I'm excited for Better Call Saul, I want these guys' spinoff
"Buried" is probably the least of these last 8 installments, but that's more of an observation than an active criticism. It's a table setter, giving hints towards the lines of battle and alliances that will come to fruition in later episodes, while also providing the poetic battleground of the To'hajiilee reservation where Walt and Jesse first cooked in the pilot. It also reintroduces us to Todd, his uncle Jack, and the gang of unscrupulous Neo-Nazis that will ultimately serve as this final season's antagonists. Also, we get the amazing above shot of Huell and Kuby having a rest on Walt's giant $80,000,000 pile of money, the latest installment of "Walt hastily scrambling to protect his life/money", and that tantalizing last shot of Hank entering Jesse's interrogation room.
"Buried" gets an 8.5 out of 10.
Act II (The Building Tension)
"Confessions"
I'm putting laser pointers on the waiter next...
As Act II of this 8-episode tragedy begins, we get our first real classic episode of this final stretch. "Confessions" is a powerhouse, featuring one of Walt's most overtly evil moments of deception in the form of his spectacularly performative "confession" video. The scene where Hank and Marie watch the video features utterly breathtaking work by director Michael Slovis, as it becomes clear how far Walt is willing to go to shield himself from his enemies. The Schraders are completely and utterly shocked by how deeply their own family has screwed them over, and it's almost matched by the restaurant scene where (jovial waiter notwithstanding) family tensions come to a boil, and Marie even suggests Walt kill himself to spare his family pain. And then there's Jesse's begging for truth, as he simply asks Walt to stop bullshitting him, in the very last scene where these two will meet while still on the same terms. And that's due to his (long due) revelation about Walt's poisoning of Brock, leading him to abandon his exit from his old life in the pursuit of vengeance, with this season giving us a tantalizing cliffhanger for the third straight week as Jesse ragingly pours gasoline onto the White homestead. Whatever status quo this show had is all falling apart now.
"Confessions" gets a 9.5 out of 10.
"Rabid Dog"
Now, how do I dispatch my surrogate son and brother-in-law without killing them? Hmm...
More than anything, "Rabid Dog" is one of the best episodes for Aaron Paul. After watching Jesse be subdued, depressed, and generally devoid of all emotion for three episodes, here he is a volcano, filled with rage as he finally snaps on the realization that, to Walter White, he has never been more than a pawn, despite Walt's fatherly feelings for him. The episode is exquisitely structured, first showing us the events from Walt's perspective as Jesse has suddenly disappeared from the premises after dumping a tank of gasoline on the White home floor. Skyler and Marie both begin to ease into Lady Macbeth roles for their spouses, as Skyler suggests Walt could kill Jesse, while Marie is willing to do almost anything to allow Hank to bring Walt to justice. After showing Walt in the hotel, it abruptly cuts back to the cliffhanger, and brings the beginning of Jesse and Hank's alliance. In particular, the line "HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!" is so simultaneously riveting and heartbreaking, and may be the single best bit of acting Paul has delivered in the show's history. As Hank manipulates Jesse and Walt manipulates his son, there are few sympathetic characters left now. Jesse, damaged and vengeful as he is, is the only real character left worth rooting for at this point. Everyone else has their own agenda, their own plan, and they are more than willing to have deaths along the way. Hank was willing to sacrifice Jesse to catch Walt, going full Ahab, and Walt suddenly becomes more willing to allow Jesse to die at the hands of the Neo-Nazis. Jesse just wants Walt to get what he deserves.
"Rabid Dog" gets a 9 out of 10.
Act III (The Climax)
"To'hajiilee"
Dammit, I can't die! I've got a Cinnabon and a spinoff to manage!
Despite being the fourth-to-last episode of the series, "To'hajiilee" has many elements that would not have been out of place in a series finale. Hank successfully catches and arrests Walt, multiple different characters and plotlines converge on the titular location (with post-commercial break establishing shots echoing some from the opening of the pilot), and Walt gives himself up in a manner not unlike when Gus threw himself in the paths of the sniper back in season 4 (echoing Walt taking on the traits of his felled enemies). However, when Hank gives an overly self-congratulatory phone call to Marie following his success, coupled with Walt's earlier delivery of the money coordinates to Jack and the Neo-Nazis, you know that the show will continue. And continue it does, as the climax reaches the tension and imagery of a Leone film. Hank and Gomez's Mexican standoff with the Neo-Nazis promises to forever change the landscape of the series, and once again, this final season gives us a cliffhanger to have us chomping at the bit for an entire week. "To'hajiilee" is another all-time classic produced by this final season, and it represents some of the most nail-biting tension that Breaking Bad has ever had to offer.
"To'hajiilee" gets a 9.5 out of 10.
"Ozymandias"
Just a note: during this episode I briefly forgot I existed.
More than any episode in the history of Breaking Bad, "Ozymandias" came in with some pre-conceived hype and expectations. It features the return of Looper director Rian Johnson, who previously helmed the polarizing (beloved by me) season 3 episode "Fly, as well as the atmospheric (if a little less noteworthy) season 5 episode "Fifty-One". And then Vince Gilligan stated that he considered "Ozymandias" to be the best episode of the series, which gave it an enormously high bar. And well? It mostly pulls it off. "Ozymandias" is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best episode of this final stretch, and it's the full-blown climax of the series. Is it the best episode of the series? It might not be my absolute favorite (I still have a lot of love for "One Minute", "Face Off", and the aforementioned "Fly"), but it's definitely a top five all-time. As the picture above states, this is where Walt finally must accept the consequences of all of his heinous actions. Beginning with the death of Hank. Hank (and Dean Norris) is given a devastating and perfect final scene, where he refuses to beg Jack for his life, and tells Walt that for all of his brains and schemes, he can't stop a man like Jack from doing what he wants. And the cost of Walt believing he can talk or buy his way out of anything is nearly all of his money. Also, Jesse's life continues its downward spiral, as Walt coldly informs him of his role in Jane's demise, and he becomes Jack and Todd's slave meth cook, with Andrea and Brock's lives serving as his motivation. And then comes the destruction of Walt's ostensible series-long motivation: his family. Before we know it, he's abducting Holly, calling Skyler and absolving her of blame by leading the cops off her, and getting into a van headed for New Hampshire. In many ways, this is the end of Walter White's story, with the final two episodes serving as the epilogue.
"Ozymandias" gets a perfect 10.
Act IV (The Falling Action)
"Granite State"
Walter White is dead. Long live Heisenberg.
Walter White has dropped off the face of the earth, replaced with the nondescript and reclusive Mr. Lambert, who lives in a cabin in the woody boondocks of New Hampshire. "Granite State" represents a visual and emotional departure for the series, trading in the sand and cacti of the New Mexico deserts for the cold, icy snow landscape of New Hampshire (though it was probably actually filmed in northern New Mexico). As Shakespeare's final acts usually become simpler, shorter, and more pointed, so does the storytelling of Breaking Bad. "Granite State" is very much the "Brutus sees Caesar's ghost" episode of the season, as Walt finally comes to grips with how he's lost everything. Sure, he has that $10 million barrel of money, but what can he do with it? His family (exemplified by his phone call to Flynn that echoes an exchange from the first season: "Just die already") wants nothing of it, nothing that connects them to the now very public shame of Heisenberg. He can't really spend it, because he's mostly confined to his middle-of-nowhere cabin, lest he get caught. He can't entrust it to Ed, his vacuum cleaner-selling caretaker (cast perfectly with Robert Forster), as Ed points out that he would only be lying to himself to do that. All he can do is dole out small amounts of it to Ed to keep him alive, as well as paying him $10,000 to stay for an extra hour to receive some small vestige of human contact. And that represents the first sympathy I have felt for Walt in a long time. As much as he has dug his own grave, it doesn't make his fall any less heartbreaking. Walt is all set to give himself up and face the music (as Saul suggested earlier in his final appearance pre-Better Call Saul), when the Schwartzes appear on the bar television, telling Charlie Rose that he gave no contribution to Gray Matter, and that Walter White, the man they knew, is gone. And damn it, I got goosebumps as the theme started playing over the episode's close. Heisenberg now has nothing left to lose. Also, Jesse lost Andrea as his downward spiral of misery continues. Pre-finale, I wasn't sure what hope was left for him, other than my hope that he would get to kill Todd, that slimy, cold, emotionless robot. As the poster at the top says, the theme of this final season is "Remember My Name".
"Granite State" gets a 9.5 out of 10.
Act V (The Resolution)
"Felina"
Walt in the shadows, as Heisenberg ascends.
As I said above, series finales are a tricky thing to pull off. "Felina" has a title with three meanings. One is an obvious example presented within the episode itself: The Marty Robbins song "El Paso", which Walt listens to in the car in the opening, and hums while later assembling his death weapon. Another is that it is simply an anagram for "Finale". And the third and most vague is that it can also be read as "FeLiNa" or "Iron/Lithium/Sodium", which, as many have pointed out, can mean "Blood, Meth and Tears". It is, without a doubt, the perfect title to the series finale of Breaking Bad. But did "Felina" pull it off? Did it fulfill the hype and expectations that come with being one of the most beloved television series of all time?
With one major caveat, yes. Yes it did. "Felina" is a riveting conclusion, one that ties up almost every single loose end left on the series' chain (It does leave a few things to mystery, though, with the primary one being Walt's grudge against the Schwartzes over Gray Matter, but that doesn't matter all that much) and delivers us an emotional and surprisingly cathartic ending to the journey of Walter White. While one might argue that catharsis isn't the right emotion to be feeling at the end of this series, I feel that Walt's change in behavior in this episode justifies it.
As I said in the photo caption, "Felina" could best be described as "Heisenberg's Ascension". And by that, I mean it is the fulfillment of Walt's character arc. Originally, Walter White was merely a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher. He felt cheated by life, missing out on success and fortune that the Schwartzes received at Gray Matter, working at a job that he is extremely overqualified for and teaching students who couldn't give less of a shit about chemistry (including one Jesse Pinkman), and also working a demeaning second job where he is consistently browbeaten and emasculated by his boss. Couple that with a stable and loving but unfulfilling home life and an also more-successful-than-him brother-in-law, and you've got a recipe for someone on the brink. His lung cancer is simply the final straw that let the beast out of its cage. As Walt finally says to Skyler in one of the key scenes of "Felina": "I did it for me. I liked it, I was good at it. I was alive." I mean, most of us got the idea that by the time Walt was threatening rival dealers to "stay out of my territory", that he was enjoying himself, but it was clearly so Walt could finally have something (namely, money and power) that he had always felt cheated out of before. But with this rebirth as a criminal came some unsavory additions to his personality. He became a man self-obsessed with posturing and stroking his ego (look to the performative douchebaggery from "Confessions" or the bravado-laden speech from the opening of "Say My Name", or even his memorable quotes: "I am the one who knocks." "I'm in the empire business." "Nothing stops this train. Nothing."), and the showiness of his Heisenberg persona and porkpie hat. What "Granite State" taught him is that his shaven head, his hat, and his bravado can ultimately lead to nothing if put in a position with nothing left to lose. So, in "Felina", Walt's entire MO has changed. He's now hiding in the shadows and background of every scene. The Heisenberg legend has preceded him, so he no longer has to impress his enemies. He simply has to quietly intimidate them, or manipulate them into believing he's far weaker than he is.
That caveat I mentioned earlier is that the one fault of "Felina" is its predictability. I myself called numerous things that ended up happening in the episode (Jesse strangling Todd with his chains, Lydia being the ricin victim). But at the same time, it may be one of its strongest selling points. Walt's plan goes off without a hitch, and everything works out so predictably as he's planned because of the way he goes about it. When Gretchen and Elliott arrive home, Walt's sitting there in the shadows, not even immediately noticeable in the frame. He casually strolls into their home, allowing them to startlingly discover his presence there. He uses Badger and Skinny Pete (in one final appearance) to threaten them in a very lackadaisical way. He simply goes back to his old house and casually greets his neighbor Carol (as shown in the flashforward from "Blood Money") instead of hastily approaching the house armed (as he did in the opening of "Rabid Dog"). When Lydia and Todd enter the coffee shop, he's just sitting there at the counter and THEY DON'T EVEN NOTICE HIM. Jack and the Neo-Nazis don't even register him as a threat because of his weak and unkempt appearance. Walt has never tried to remain unseen before, so when he appears before them, they're basically in shock, allowing him to get one over on them quite easily. Gilligan (who wrote and directed this last installment) has Skyler talk to Marie on the phone, not choosing to reveal Walt's presence in the room until after she hangs up, leading to the "I did it for me" line, and an emotional last scene where Walt sees Holly for the last time, and watches Flynn enter the house from afar. Walt does bad things in "Felina", much as he has done in other episodes, but unlike many of the other instances, his reasons are actually altruistic. It's not exactly a full redemption for the character, but it does allow us to root for him in this final Heisenberg plan.
There is one single moment of improvisation in Walt's entire plan, and that is his tackling of Jesse to save him from the M60's bullets. Walt was angry that Jack had seemingly teamed up with Jesse for personal gain, after promising to kill him. But when he sees what Jack and Todd have done to him, he immediately reverts to his old role as Jesse's father figure, and saves him. It's Walt's best moment of the finale, and even manages to allow Jesse to nod at Walt, maybe not forgiving him, but coming to an understanding. And thus, Jesse drives off into the night, unexpectedly re-energized by surviving what seemed to be a hopeless situation. And I can't argue that the closing scene is basically perfect, as Walt admires the meth lab equipment while waiting for his bullet wound to bleed out (the only thing that may have made it better is if Walt tried the product, and said something like "A+, Jesse"). And of course, "Baby Blue" by Badfinger is the perfect song to close the episode.
"Felina" is not the best episode of Breaking Bad (it certainly isn't "Ozymandias", nor maybe even "To'hajiilee" or "Confessions"), but it is an honorable, definitive, cathartic, and oddly, sort of happy conclusion to the series. It doesn't praise or condemn Walt for his actions in the episode or the series as a whole, but it does allow him some small semblance of closure.
"Felina" gets a 9.5 out of 10.
More than anything, the finale ensured that Breaking Bad's legacy will not be tarnished. Its 62 episodes is one of the greatest modern stories, and is an example of television at its best. There may never again be anything like it.
