Editor’s Note: It should go without saying, but there are MAJOR spoilers ahead for the fifth-season episode of Breaking Bad, “To’hajilee.”
The guns are out and there’s no turning back.
With only three hours standing between us and the end of Breaking Bad as we know it, all the cards are on the table and there’s no telling who’s going to come out on top. By the end of tonight’s episode, “To’hajiilee,” Hank and Gomez are squaring off against Todd and his Nazi uncles as Jesse and Walt look on helplessly.
Things would have been boxed up and wrapped in a neat little package had Jesse not experienced a moment of Prince Hamlet-esque paranoia at the climax of “Rabbid Dog.” If he just walked up to Walt, started a dialogue and played along with Hank’s plan, who knows where we’d be right now? At the very least we wouldn’t be in the middle of the desert in a firefight. Jesse Pinkman had an opportunity to put this whole thing to rest and instead opted for the more cinematic end. But just as Claudius wasn’t really repenting when Hamlet comes upon him in the Shakespeare classic, Walt didn’t have a bodyguard while he waited for Jesse in the middle of the plaza.
Now, with the thought of a rogue Jesse waging a war on Walt’s mind like a fly in a superlab, he releases the real rabid dog hinted at in last week’s episode title. He calls the Nazis, who, as it turns out, need a bit of help improving the product for their Czech clients. Once again, all that stands between Walter and his freedom is one more cook. But this time, instead of cash, instead of stability for his family once he’s gone, Walt’s last cook is an exchange for somebody’s life. And, whereas the last time Walt reluctantly agreed to cook it was to save two lives — his and Jesse’s — this time it’s simply to end one. That’s what’s truly heart-wrenching about the last half of this episode of Breaking Bad.
Even as late as the final minutes of last week’s episode, Walt was doing what he could in order to save Jesse Pinkman’s life. Like it or not, Walt was the one person who cared about Jesse. Hell, he still does, insisting to Uncle Jack that Jesse’s execution be painless. It’s that dedication to Jesse that’s gotten Walt into the most severe predicaments he’s experienced throughout the series, from the murder of two rival dealers to the delivery of $5 million to sever ties with Pinkman once and for all. And why? As he tells Uncle Jack, “Jesse is like family” to him. And to Walter White, there’s nothing more important than family, not even breakfast, as his son might have you believe.
All of that culminates in the final minutes of this week’s episode. We’re out in the middle of the desert with two DEA agents on one side and a group of armed Nazis on the other. And, of course, Hank’s got Jesse’s conversation with Walt on the way to the reservation recorded. The question is: Will he survive long enough to use it to his advantage? Somebody’s leaving that standoff in a body bag, and I’m willing to wager there will be casualties on both sides.
With that, we’re left with three hours. At the most, three more hours and we’ll know just where Walt’s going on his 52nd birthday with that M-60.
Stray observations
– We all know what Todd was thinking the moment he took a sip of Lydia’s tea: “It’s almost like we kissed today!” Too bad he’ll probably never get much closer to Ms. Quayle.
– Jesse is incredibly fired up about Walt poisoning Brock — it’s all he ever brings up when he goes on a tirade and Walt’s listening. But will he ever find out about Jane?
– We’ve come a long way since the days when Walt’s accomplices wanted to spice the product up with chili powder. But now it’s food coloring. Nothing comes close to a true Heisenberg cook, it seems.
– The last time Walt stood out in this desert with a gun in his hand, he was in his underwear filming a confession. Tonight for a few minutes we saw him just as vulnerable as he was in the pilot. Full circle, right?