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canyonwalkerI recently finished watching the series Breaking Bad, the final two episodes, after taking a break from watching for a few weeks. Why a break? For one, the holidays were coming up, with travel and stuff. And two, the events of the previous two episodes, 5.13-5.14, marked a shift in tone of the series. We saw the climax where Walt's empire crumbles around him and everyone he cares about turn to hate him. That's the climax in the Shakespearean tragedy sense. What comes next in Shakespearean structure is Act V, the moral, where the story counts the wages of sin. And for all the sinning Walter White has done... well, the count is going to be grim. I took a break before watching.
Indeed, in episode 5.15 the tone of the story switches from action and violence to grief, loss, and impotence, and toothless rage.
Episode 5.15 begins with the vacuum cleaner repair guy in Albuquerque, the one who runs a criminal side business of creating fake identities to help fugitives escape, driving into his shop and telling a person hiding in the back of his car, "It's okay to come out now." But the fugitive who climbs out isn't Walt— whom we saw climb into the guy's minivan at the end of episode 5.14. It's Saul Goodman.
Walt isn't far away, though. He's downstairs in a secret basement bunk room under the shop, waiting while the "disappearer" figures out how to smuggle him out. Walt and Saul briefly share the space. Walt tries to come up with a plan whereby he can stay in town and get his remaining $10 million to his family and demands Saul's help. Saul tells him, "It's over." Walt tries to intimidate Saul, repeating a line he used to threaten him earlier in the series, "It's over when I say it's over," but his time Walt breaks down in a coughing fit while trying to be menacing. Saul just shakes his head and walks away from Walt. That's where it starts to sink in for Walt that his life as a gangster is over. Now he's an impotent, dying man.
The disappearer takes Walt to a cabin in the mountains of New Hampshire. It's remote, 8 miles from the nearest small town. There's no phone, no cable TV, no internet; any of these things could lead to people identifying him and authorities arresting him. There's a propane tank outside, a small generator for electricity, and a TV with an antenna that can occasionally pull in one station from Montreal. Walt's going to live out his final days as a hermit, basically.
Time passes. The disappearer comes back once a month to bring Walt supplies. Walt is going nuts from the isolation, is getting sicker from his untreated cancer, and finally decides to head down into town. He wraps up $100k from his stash in a box with plans to send it to his son via a friend. He calls his son from a payphone at a bar in the small town... but his son repudiates him, accusing him of killing Uncle Hank, and wishes him dead.
At this point Walt basically admits defeat to himself. He places his next call to the DEA office in Albuquerque, identifies himself by name, and leaves the phone hanging while he goes back to the bar to order a drink and await his fate.
But while Walt's waiting, the TV happens to show an interview with his old colleagues at Gray Matter Technologies. The interviewer presses them on their past association with methamphetamine kingpin Walter White. They dismissively say that his only contribution to the company was its name 20 years ago. This enrages Walt, as he considers the multibillion dollar company's technology to be his brainchild. The episode ends with local police storming the bar, only to find Walt seat empty with his half-finished drink sitting in front of it.
Indeed, in episode 5.15 the tone of the story switches from action and violence to grief, loss, and impotence, and toothless rage.
Episode 5.15 begins with the vacuum cleaner repair guy in Albuquerque, the one who runs a criminal side business of creating fake identities to help fugitives escape, driving into his shop and telling a person hiding in the back of his car, "It's okay to come out now." But the fugitive who climbs out isn't Walt— whom we saw climb into the guy's minivan at the end of episode 5.14. It's Saul Goodman.
Walt isn't far away, though. He's downstairs in a secret basement bunk room under the shop, waiting while the "disappearer" figures out how to smuggle him out. Walt and Saul briefly share the space. Walt tries to come up with a plan whereby he can stay in town and get his remaining $10 million to his family and demands Saul's help. Saul tells him, "It's over." Walt tries to intimidate Saul, repeating a line he used to threaten him earlier in the series, "It's over when I say it's over," but his time Walt breaks down in a coughing fit while trying to be menacing. Saul just shakes his head and walks away from Walt. That's where it starts to sink in for Walt that his life as a gangster is over. Now he's an impotent, dying man.
The disappearer takes Walt to a cabin in the mountains of New Hampshire. It's remote, 8 miles from the nearest small town. There's no phone, no cable TV, no internet; any of these things could lead to people identifying him and authorities arresting him. There's a propane tank outside, a small generator for electricity, and a TV with an antenna that can occasionally pull in one station from Montreal. Walt's going to live out his final days as a hermit, basically.
Time passes. The disappearer comes back once a month to bring Walt supplies. Walt is going nuts from the isolation, is getting sicker from his untreated cancer, and finally decides to head down into town. He wraps up $100k from his stash in a box with plans to send it to his son via a friend. He calls his son from a payphone at a bar in the small town... but his son repudiates him, accusing him of killing Uncle Hank, and wishes him dead.
At this point Walt basically admits defeat to himself. He places his next call to the DEA office in Albuquerque, identifies himself by name, and leaves the phone hanging while he goes back to the bar to order a drink and await his fate.
But while Walt's waiting, the TV happens to show an interview with his old colleagues at Gray Matter Technologies. The interviewer presses them on their past association with methamphetamine kingpin Walter White. They dismissively say that his only contribution to the company was its name 20 years ago. This enrages Walt, as he considers the multibillion dollar company's technology to be his brainchild. The episode ends with local police storming the bar, only to find Walt seat empty with his half-finished drink sitting in front of it.
