Remember what I said about montages? Well, this episode has two of them.
The first, depicting the jail killings Walt (Bryan Cranston) orders, is impressively staged and timed with the two-minute window of the script, but horrific instead of exciting (Walt paying neo-Nazis to do his work is the most unsubtle way of telling us he’s become pure evil). The second, showing Walt’s thriving business as weeks pass, works because the lyrics to the accompanying song (Tommy Davis and the Shondells' “Crystal Blue Persuasion”) are absolutely perfect (really, too perfect), but the easygoing melody is a stark contrast to the illegal activity depicted. Neither sequence is bad, but…they can’t compete with real character drama, especially of the great variety this show gives us.
Worse, the episode segues into wrap-up mode, tying up everything up cleanly and nicely. After becoming a stone cold criminal, Walt abruptly does an about-face. So does Skyler (Anna Gunn), allowing the kids to come home, and seemingly bringing the White household back to normal. It’s like the show’s attempting to emulate those schmaltzy emotional series finales of old sitcoms. The scene where Walt parts ways with Jesse (Aaron Paul) even reeks of the nostalgic “remember-when” moments you might see in such a finale, or a reunion special.
If this were the series finale, it would be very disappointing. But it’s only the mid-season finale, and while the episode as a whole is weak, it at least does its job by dropping some hints about the future. For example, the silent sequence of Walt’s screening at the doctor seems a little somber, and the results are never stated. And afterword, he suddenly just leaves the meth business. I wonder why that could be.
And the last scene is just brilliant. After all the close calls—Hank (Dean Norris) almost getting killed once and targeted a second time, Walt just narrowly avoiding getting caught by his brother-in-law a few times—the show places Hank’s revelation about Walt just when things are looking their calmest. And on the toilet, no less. The episode reveals enough for it to be a surprise, yet still just a sliver of this turn of events, making us wait to see the rest of it
You’ve got to hand it to the show: they know how to toy with us.
With only a week to go until part two of season five, here are a few lingering questions about the final eight episodes, and my final thoughts going in:
How will Hank confront Walt?
The way this episode had Hank find out the truth was very characteristic of the show, punting a plot point down the road and making us wait, letting the implications as well as our anticipation simmer. Only this time, the whole series was building up to it, on top of the near year we had to wait for the conclusion. When the two finally face each other, it has the potential to be explosive (remember, Walt’s dirty money paid for Hank’s physical therapy, a big chip that hasn’t been played yet). Maybe even deadly. And after all the fury Walt hath wrought already, I’m not betting on Hank being the last one standing. Walt’s sunk to some pretty low levels, but can he cross another line and kill his own family?
What will happen to Jesse?
Though he’s managed to retain his humanity unlike Walt, Jesse’s in it just as deep as his former teacher, and it’s a good bet Walt won’t go down without taking his ex-student with him. Jesse seemed a little underutilized so far this season, so I hope his story gets an ending worthy of a character’s whose arc was so emotional and compelling throughout the show. More so, I kind of hope he makes it out alive. I’m past the point of feeling sympathy for anything that might befall Walt, but seeing Jesse’s run end tragically would still hurt.
What was with that flash-forward?
I spent the whole first time I watched this half-season looking for clues as to the meaning of the flash-forward that opened it. Here’s what I’ve hypothesized: He visited the guy he was planning to call in “Crawl Space” and got a new identity, and his cough (combined with the ambiguous doctor visit this episode) means his cancer has returned. But why and how he got to this point, and what he’s going to do with that machine gun, I can only imagine.
Is Walt really out of the woods?
At this point, I’m pretty sure it’ll take more than his brother-in-law to send Walt on the run. I still have my doubts that he's completely in the clear after killing Gus Fring. Surely there are some lieutenants or other members of the Pollos Hermanos organization still out there, right? Or some remnants of the Cartel Gus poisoned? Maybe a shadowy figure from the Pinochet regime, which he was vaguely hinted to be involved with? Maybe I’m just overthinking season four's events, and the show’s moved on from Fring, but there’s got to be some other danger out there than just Hank.
Will the Saul Goodman spinoff happen?
Not that I doubt a show starring Bob Odenkirk’s character would make for a great dark dramedy, but in this age of cross-platform meta-promotion, I can’t help but wonder if this is a red herring, a ruse to make us think Saul’s safe when really he’s not. Latest news indicates that such a series might be a prequel, so I wouldn’t take the target off Saul’s back just yet. Or anyone's back, for that matter.
Thanks for reading me re-watch! Hope you enjoyed it! I'll return next week with reviews of the final eight episodes after each of them air. Stay tuned!
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