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canyonwalkerI'm treating season 5 episodes 13-14 of Breaking Bad as one long episode. The break between the two episodes as aired is in the middle of a big gunfight. What a frustrating spot to have to wait another week to see what happens! I'm so glad I'm streaming it after the series is finished so I can just keep watching. That said, ep. 5.14 is widely considered by critics the best episode in the series. Many call it the best hour of TV aired that year. Some say it's the finest TV episode of the 21st century.
Anyway, this pair of episodes together are where the story goes totally Shakespearean Act V. As in, tragedy. People die. Good people die. And Walt sees everything he's built, the empire he failed to build earlier in his life, crumble and fall.
In S5E13, Walt and Jesse are both trying to flush each other out to hurt the other. Jesse threatens to destroy Walt's trove of cash, now hidden. And Walt has now decided it's time to kill Jesse. He hires the Aryan Brotherhood gang to do it. What Walt doesn't know, though, is that Jesse is currently hard to find because he's working with the DEA. ...Or not with the DEA, per se, but with two agents, Hank and his long-time partner, Gomey, who are pursuing Walt "off the books" for now.
At the climax of 5.13,Jesse lures Walt to the desert site of his hidden cash stash by convincing him he's already there and torching it. Except it's a clever ruse helped along by Hank. Nobody's there, but they are tracking Walt via GPS in his phone as he leads them to the location. Walt hurries to the site, throwing all caution to the wind. In his panic he admits to a number of crimes over the phone with Jesse... while, unknown to him, the cops are listening. Walt realizes he's been played when he arrives at the site and finds nobody there.
A minute later Walt spots that Jesse is with Hank— his brother-in-law— and tells the gang, "Don't come. It's off." He does not tell them it's because cops are there. The gang decides to ignore Walt's change in orders as they figure (a) Walt is in serious jeopardy and (b) Walt is worth a lot of money to them, so they need to protect him from anyone who'd hurt him.
Hank and Gomey find Walt lurking near his parked car. They arrest him. Hank revels in the moment. It's the height of his career in law enforcement. He calls his wife to boast about it. (She later goes and taunts Skyler about it.) They delay long enough that the gang catches up to them.
Six or seven gang members with guns, some of them fully automatic, jump out of two vehicles. Hank and Gomey are outnumbered. They shout that they are law enforcement and demand the gang drop their weapons. The gang members all pause for a tense moment, then one opens fire. When one fires, they all start firing.
Here the episode breaks. When the scene resumes in 5.14, the shooting has stopped. Gomey is lying on the ground, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Hank is injured from a gunshot to the leg, is out of ammo, and can barely crawl. The gang apprehends him.
The whole time Walt has been screaming for the shooting to stop. Nobody heard him, of course. Or particularly cared. The gang leader does make a show of letting Walt plead for Hank's life. Walt tells them he has $80 million buried here and will give it all to them if they let Hank go. He's family. Of course, why would a violent gang that just killed a cop let the other cop-witness go?
Hank's last line is, "Walt, you're the smartest person I've ever met, but you're too stupid to realize they decided my fate 10 minutes ago."
The gang kills Hank.
Walt falls to the ground in anguish.
The gang sets about finding Walt's buried treasure. They leave 1 of the 7 barrels of money for Walt. Before they go, Walt points out that Jesse— whom they thought escaped into the desert— has been hiding under his car the whole time. The gang drags Jesse out, and the gang leader is prepared to shoot him on the spot, but Todd— the young gang member who apprenticed to Walt on cooking meth and wants to learn more— says they should keep Jesse for questioning as he'd know useful things, like how much info the cops had.
Skyler comes home with their kids while he's packing. They've heard from Marie's gloating that Walt was arrested... and now he's here and demanding they all flee. They basically figure out that he's been involved in killing Hank and refuse to go with him. Skyler grabs a kitchen knife to threaten Walt. She, Walt, and Walt Jr. end up in a three-way wrestling match to take away the knife. Walt Jr. calls 911 and says his father attacked him and his mom. While Skyler is feeling all morally superior about finally refusing to go along with Walt's criminal ways, Walt quickly leaves the house— and takes baby Holly with him. Skyler screams and chases after him, but is just one step too many behind him. Walt speeds off in a car.
Fans seem divided about what Walt's very hateful screed means. Some take it at close to literal value, indicating that Walt hates Skyler for betraying him and lambastes how stupid she's being. Others point out that Walt clearly would've known she had police listening in on the call and was setting up a cover story for her. In the call Walt admits to several awful crimes, but describes each of them as things he did on his own without her knowledge or support after the fact.
At the end of this scene, the camera focuses on Walt and then pans wide as he ends the call. Walt's standing near a fire station on the outskirts of town. He leaves Holly in the station and triggers a signal so the first responders find her. It would seem that while Walt took Holly solely to punish Sklyer— I mean, really, what's a guy on the lam, and dying of cancer, going to do with an 8 month old baby?— he sobers up once his rush of adrenaline is over and realizes that if he does anything to hurt Holly he's reneged on his stated reason for everything else he's done. It's for his family.
Walt's life, his empire, is a shambles. He's watched friends and relatives be killed or dragged off by thugs. He's alienated from his family. Everything he did for his family, they likely won't benefit from now. In fact they'll probably spend the rest of their lives picking up the pieces of the wreckage he's created.
Anyway, this pair of episodes together are where the story goes totally Shakespearean Act V. As in, tragedy. People die. Good people die. And Walt sees everything he's built, the empire he failed to build earlier in his life, crumble and fall.
In S5E13, Walt and Jesse are both trying to flush each other out to hurt the other. Jesse threatens to destroy Walt's trove of cash, now hidden. And Walt has now decided it's time to kill Jesse. He hires the Aryan Brotherhood gang to do it. What Walt doesn't know, though, is that Jesse is currently hard to find because he's working with the DEA. ...Or not with the DEA, per se, but with two agents, Hank and his long-time partner, Gomey, who are pursuing Walt "off the books" for now.
At the climax of 5.13,Jesse lures Walt to the desert site of his hidden cash stash by convincing him he's already there and torching it. Except it's a clever ruse helped along by Hank. Nobody's there, but they are tracking Walt via GPS in his phone as he leads them to the location. Walt hurries to the site, throwing all caution to the wind. In his panic he admits to a number of crimes over the phone with Jesse... while, unknown to him, the cops are listening. Walt realizes he's been played when he arrives at the site and finds nobody there.
Shootout in the Desert
Soon Jesse rolls up in a car... being driven by the two DEA agents. But Walt doesn't recognize who's driving the car at first, so he calls up the gang he hired for murder and tells them Jesse's at his location (he gives them GPS coordinates) and is "with 2-3 other men who are probably armed". Half a dozen gang members start loading guns and strapping on body armor.A minute later Walt spots that Jesse is with Hank— his brother-in-law— and tells the gang, "Don't come. It's off." He does not tell them it's because cops are there. The gang decides to ignore Walt's change in orders as they figure (a) Walt is in serious jeopardy and (b) Walt is worth a lot of money to them, so they need to protect him from anyone who'd hurt him.
Hank and Gomey find Walt lurking near his parked car. They arrest him. Hank revels in the moment. It's the height of his career in law enforcement. He calls his wife to boast about it. (She later goes and taunts Skyler about it.) They delay long enough that the gang catches up to them.
Six or seven gang members with guns, some of them fully automatic, jump out of two vehicles. Hank and Gomey are outnumbered. They shout that they are law enforcement and demand the gang drop their weapons. The gang members all pause for a tense moment, then one opens fire. When one fires, they all start firing.
Here the episode breaks. When the scene resumes in 5.14, the shooting has stopped. Gomey is lying on the ground, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Hank is injured from a gunshot to the leg, is out of ammo, and can barely crawl. The gang apprehends him.
The whole time Walt has been screaming for the shooting to stop. Nobody heard him, of course. Or particularly cared. The gang leader does make a show of letting Walt plead for Hank's life. Walt tells them he has $80 million buried here and will give it all to them if they let Hank go. He's family. Of course, why would a violent gang that just killed a cop let the other cop-witness go?
Hank's last line is, "Walt, you're the smartest person I've ever met, but you're too stupid to realize they decided my fate 10 minutes ago."
The gang kills Hank.
Walt falls to the ground in anguish.
The gang sets about finding Walt's buried treasure. They leave 1 of the 7 barrels of money for Walt. Before they go, Walt points out that Jesse— whom they thought escaped into the desert— has been hiding under his car the whole time. The gang drags Jesse out, and the gang leader is prepared to shoot him on the spot, but Todd— the young gang member who apprenticed to Walt on cooking meth and wants to learn more— says they should keep Jesse for questioning as he'd know useful things, like how much info the cops had.
Tense Scene at Home
Walt rushes home with what's left of his money. "What's left" is over $10 million, though! He starts throwing clothes in suitcases for his family to make a quick getaway.Skyler comes home with their kids while he's packing. They've heard from Marie's gloating that Walt was arrested... and now he's here and demanding they all flee. They basically figure out that he's been involved in killing Hank and refuse to go with him. Skyler grabs a kitchen knife to threaten Walt. She, Walt, and Walt Jr. end up in a three-way wrestling match to take away the knife. Walt Jr. calls 911 and says his father attacked him and his mom. While Skyler is feeling all morally superior about finally refusing to go along with Walt's criminal ways, Walt quickly leaves the house— and takes baby Holly with him. Skyler screams and chases after him, but is just one step too many behind him. Walt speeds off in a car.
A Weird Phone Call
Walt is on the lam with baby Holly. He stops sometime later, maybe an hour or two later, and calls Skyler. He asks if she's alone, no police. "Yes," she lies, being encouraged to say so by one of the cops in their literal house is full of police investigating an alleged kidnapping. Walt acts like he believes her and goes on a screed criticizing her.Fans seem divided about what Walt's very hateful screed means. Some take it at close to literal value, indicating that Walt hates Skyler for betraying him and lambastes how stupid she's being. Others point out that Walt clearly would've known she had police listening in on the call and was setting up a cover story for her. In the call Walt admits to several awful crimes, but describes each of them as things he did on his own without her knowledge or support after the fact.
At the end of this scene, the camera focuses on Walt and then pans wide as he ends the call. Walt's standing near a fire station on the outskirts of town. He leaves Holly in the station and triggers a signal so the first responders find her. It would seem that while Walt took Holly solely to punish Sklyer— I mean, really, what's a guy on the lam, and dying of cancer, going to do with an 8 month old baby?— he sobers up once his rush of adrenaline is over and realizes that if he does anything to hurt Holly he's reneged on his stated reason for everything else he's done. It's for his family.
Fallen Empire
The last scene of the episode shows Walt going into hiding. He's hired the local guy who specializes in creating new identifies. He leaves town, presumably for New Hampshire.... Flash-forwards earlier in the season show Walt using an assumed name and saying he's from New Hampshire.Walt's life, his empire, is a shambles. He's watched friends and relatives be killed or dragged off by thugs. He's alienated from his family. Everything he did for his family, they likely won't benefit from now. In fact they'll probably spend the rest of their lives picking up the pieces of the wreckage he's created.
