Editor’s Note: It should go without saying, but there are MAJOR spoilers ahead for the fifth-season episode of Breaking Bad, “Granite State.”
Okay, so who’s Walter White going after? Is it the Aryans who killed his brother-in-law and are holding his former assistant? Or will it be his former business partners who just badmouthed him to the national press?
We’ll get there in due time, but first let’s find out how we got there.
Everything’s in shambles and all of the show’s characters are just trying to piece everything back together. Walt’s trying to plot his comeback and revenge from a remote cabin in New Hampshire, the show’s titular Granite State. Skyler is working a part-time job in an effort to stabilize her family in any small way she can. And Jesse’s just trying to escape the Aryans.
From this episode’s outset, Walt’s still deluding himself into thinking that what he’s doing is all for his family. Although revenge
Just like the .38 snub dealer, the vacuum specialist is making exceptions for Walt. If you leave this place, you will get caught. For once, Walt heeds a solid piece of advice. Rather than leave the reservation he’s on and risk getting caught by the feds, he slinks back to his cabin to warm up.
Is it the unrelenting, snowy wasteland that beats him back or the threat of handcuffs and national headlines that have him warming up by the end of that scene? It could be a combination of both but, if nothing else, the sequence illustrates that no matter how high he was once, Heisenberg has everything working against him now.
“I understand I’m in terrible trouble.”
Skyler’s position with the feds confirms every suspicion that Saul had and reinforces the fact that Walt isn’t doing anything for the family by going into hiding and exacting revenge. Even the following scene, the one in which Todd threatens Skyler against ratting on Lydia, proves just how far from the truth Walt had everything — nobody came knocking at the door, but both Skyler and her children were in grave danger.
It’s sickening just how casually Todd brushes off even the worst acts and suggestions. But he’s doing it all for love, so at least he’s got that going for him. On another note, have we ever seen him in anything that’s not flannel or a T-shirt? Yet here he is, all buttoned up and combed for his date with Lydia Rodarte-Quayle.
Todd’s sympathetic demeanor and nonchalant attitude are the most puzzling thing Vince Gilligan and the show’s writers have ever presented us. He knows what he’s doing, but at the same time he’s oblivious to the way everyone can read and interpret his own motivations.
As soon as he leads Andrea onto her front porch, you know what’s about to happen. And the moment he pulls the trigger and Jesse’s former flame falls to the ground, the stakes for Pinkman have been set: He’s got nothing to lose.
Just how much time has elapsed since Walt was dropped off? Skyler’s got a new job, the White house is already a shrine to Heisenberg by the sounds of it and Walt’s going through a backwoods chemotherapy routine that would make anyone wince. And every time you think Walt’s hit rock bottom — last week it was lying in the dirt to watch as Hank was shot in the head — there’s always something else.
Just as Hank said last week, Walt’s probably the smartest (fictional) character you’ve ever met, but he’s incredibly deluded. He still operates under the philosophy that money can solve any problem.
This week he’s paying $10,000 for a stranger to play cards with him with no guarantee that, should he die in that cabin in New Hampshire, his family would see a cent that was earned by the Heisenberg empire.
And when he tries to smuggle cash to his son, he gets quite an earful. Almost immediately afterward, here are Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz visibly trying to distance themselves from Walt as much as possible in front of Charlie Rose.
Heisenberg has now seen the extent to which his empire has shattered and is being burned to the ground. As the sheriffs deputies swarm around the New Hampshire tavern, one question remains: just who’s higher on Walt’s hit list as we head into the final episode?
Stray observations
-“She just seems like a nice lady watching out for her kids.” Seriously, Todd is the most pants-shittingly scary character the show has ever seen. Even Gus, with his two-steps-ahead methods, was never this intimidating. Todd has the coldest eyes — the devil’s eyes.
-“It’s not over until …” Again, Walt has hit rock bottom. He doesn’t even have the clout to bully Saul into doing his bidding anymore.
-For all of the slimeball things that Saul has done, he’s probably given Walt the best advice he’s ever doled out: Stay.
-“Call it in — get her out of here.” Right off the bat, everyone’s in danger.
-“Is this pussy crying throughout the entire thing?” Jeez, those Aryans are pretty heartless. And did you see the total lack of emotion on Todd’s face when he listened to Jesse’s confession? But kudos to the man for trying to help his nephew in the game of love.
-“It’s an actual store.” Did anyone else expect Saul to walk out of that red van? I’m also struggling to figure out what’s in Nebraska.
-I wonder if Walt makes a friend named Leif when he’s out in New Hampshire. Ten bucks to anyone who connects those dots.