**SPOILERS HEREIN!**
One thing about starting the show late in its run was
that through the first four seasons, I could watch as many episodes at a time as I
wanted. That was a good thing, too, because I couldn’t imagine having to wait
to find out stuff like, say, whether or not Hank (Dean Norris) survived the
hit by the Salamanca Cousins (and many other plot turns).
Now, I finally know how that feels. And it’s just torture.
After a few episodes of nothing but buildup, finally we get some
payoff in an ever-growing Mexican standoff that explodes into Heat-like chaos in the desert. Yet,
while the shootout was definitely something big, the results of the finale are
still held from us. I’m struggling to name another episode of this
show or any other that offered such a feeling of satisfaction, while at the
same time, fury from lack of closure. I mean, couldn’t there have been just another
fraction of a minute to show who got hit? NO!
Leading into the shootout on the eponymous Indian reservation,
the episode was a masterful construction of plotting, utilizing seemingly every
remaining thread of the show’s mythology to make us just wonder how they’re
going to come in to play. Or even if
they’ll come into play. Like Andrea (Emily Rios) and Brock (Ian Posada), whose reappearance got me thinking they were about to enter the crossfire, and
that Walt (Bryan Cranston) had reached the point of not batting an eye about
risking innocents to get the job done. I can’t say for sure about Walt in that capacity, but the
Cantillos turned out to be a brilliantly used red herring, completely separated from the mayhem. Other parties that were involved—like Hank, Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada), and Jesse
(Aaron Paul), the neo-Nazis, and of course Walt—had me wondering just as much.
This one will be remembered for the big shootout, but I
think the second most notable moment came just before, when Walt, cornered in
the desert, just stares off-screen. His face looks like he’s in several states
of mind all at once: acceptance, rage, sadness (I thought I saw the start of a
tear)…and the full Heisenberg. It looked to me a little like a less chaotic
(and much less haunting) repeat of his sanity snapping in the crawl space, like
Heisenberg was about to take over. I thought for sure that Walt would cross his
last line and kill a family member.
Except he didn’t. He just surrendered. As he was
excruciatingly getting cuffed, I kept thinking he must have some ace in the
whole that 's going to take out Hank. But he just let himself get taken in. And when the Nazis
show up, he tries his best to ward them off while subdued in the car (to no avail).
What does this mean? For one, my prediction from last week
about him targeting Hank was flat-out wrong (which was revealed before the opening
titles). But also, Walt might actually be trying to atone, as much as he can,
anyway. I mean, he freely admits that he doesn’t have much time left on Earth
because of his resurgent cancer. Maybe in his twisted mind, providing for and not going after his family is good enough to save his soul. And
because of this prospect, I’m torn on whether or not I want Hank and Jesse to survive.
On one hand, I kind of hope they both make it, Hank because he’s one of
the few uncompromised characters left, and Jesse because he’s a generally
decent soul who’s been manipulated by Walt, and at least more capable of
redemption. On the other hand, after all Walt’s done, I’d be very satisfied to
see him denied the only salvation in his mind.
Whichever happens, I hate having to wait to see it. But then,
this type of anger, that which stems from having to wait to find out what happens, is sort of a measure of how good a program is. Judging by what I feel right
now, I’d say this episode was the best so far this season.
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