If there has been a more devastating hour of television, I've never seen it. There have been scenes and moments that perhaps come close. The Shield had a couple — a certain murder by grenade and the ultimate fate of the family Vendrell come to mind. Maybe sections of "The Body" episode of Buffy. But never have I witnessed a single episode of TV that piled on its characters so much torment and so much suffering, both physical and emotional, and then afterward left its shattered audience to deal with the fallout. I felt sick at the beginning, seeing Jack put that bullet in Hank's brain. But even that was expected. Even that we could have guessed from how last week's episode played out.
The trouble is it got worse from there. Hank and Gomez's bodies being carelessly rolled into their desert grave. Walt collapsing in agony, no sound but for the desert wind and Walt's eventual cries. Walt turning his rage on Jesse when he knows deep down he has only himself to blame. "I watched Jane die … I could have saved her, but I didn't." I swear, if you look closely at Aaron Paul's face, you can see the last living piece of Jesse Pinkman's heart die. By that point, I was a mess. But showrunner Vince Gilligan, episode writer Moira Walley-Beckett and director Rian Johnson weren't done wrecking every single person watching, not by a long shot. Marie, still thinking Hank has won and looking to offer her sister one last shot at redemption, forces Skyler to tell Walt Jr. everything. That leads to a White family fracas at their house where a wayward knife finds its way into the melee. Oh, dear god, that knife. As soon as it showed up in the forefront of Johnson's lens, you knew even worse things were coming.
Nobody is fatally stabbed, but before you can be thankful, Walt is fleeing the scene with baby Holly in tow. I don't know how many takes Johnson had to do to get the shot of baby Holly staring at her mother through the car window, the look of profound confusion on Holly's face right before she breaks into tears. But that baby crying is one of the most heart-breaking images I've ever seen in fiction. Meanwhile, Jesse gets beaten and thrown into a hot box, off-screen because, you know … how much punishment can we all realistically take? When we do catch up with him, his face is broken and shredded and he's been taken to the lab to become Todd's personal meth-making slave.
It all would likely be unbearable … that is, if it didn't all come in one of the best episodes of one of the best television series of all time. Because even though these events are so terrible, they are also perfectly delivered and feel sickeningly earned. From the moment Walt started breaking bad, there was almost no way for most of these characters to have a happy ending. Such an outcome would risk feeling incredibly false. Instead, this brilliant show has built methodically and hypnotically to this ultimate hour of reckoning, where everything Walt thought he was fighting to preserve is destroyed. It's not the outcome we at home may have wanted, but, for the moment anyway (remember, there are somehow still two episodes left!), it is an outcome that feels proper and in line with what has come before. That's part of the genius of Breaking Bad. It's giving you not what you want, but what you know Walt deserves. His brother-in-law is dead. His son knows the truth and has turned on him. His wife has given up. And he is left with only one way out: to call that number Saul gave him and bail on life as he knows it in an attempt to start over.
But, before he goes, he offers up one good deed in an attempt to atone for his sins. Walt calls Skyler at home and, assuming the police are listening, does everything he can to separate her from the Heisenberg empire, to ensure that she will not pay for his crimes. It's not easy for Skyler or the audience to hear, as Walt lets loose the worst possible version of himself in a fury of threats and vulgarities. By now a master liar, Walt gives what may be his greatest performance, and Bryan Cranston sells every moment. You can see Walt's soul cracking apart in the seconds between his shouts into the phone. And Anna Gunn's work on the other end is nearly as great, as a kind of understanding begins to blend in with the fear and anger. Breaking Bad has reached a number of heights throughout its five seasons. This was among the highest.
A few more thoughts on "Ozymandias" …
– If you think about this episode only from Walt Jr.'s perspective, it's almost funny in its horrificness. One minute, he's learning the ropes at the car wash his parents own. The next, his entire universe has been annihilated. WORST. DAY. EVER.
– "My name is ASAC Schrader, and you can go fuck yourself." Everyone pour out a forty for Hank. Forever shall his grizzled, home-brewing ass be missed.
– Jack finds greediness unattractive. Even in this much darkness, the show offers weird moments of levity.
– In the closing seconds, Walt ensures that baby Holly will be delivered back to her mother and brother. So the question is: Did he take her knowing he was going to have to sell the police a story to get Skyler off the hook? Or did he take her with malice, only to have a change a heart later on? If it's the former, that was some mighty quick thinking.
– I already wanted to punch Todd in his stupid face when he told Walt, "I'm sorry for your loss." But now … after what he's done to Jesse … please, Vince Gilligan I beg you: Let Jesse escape, murder Todd in the worst way possible and then go on to have some semblance of a normal life. Honestly, it's the only thing I have left to root for.
– Although, as much as I want that to happen, Future Walt's machine gun has to be intended for someone. And, right now, Todd, Jack and the Nazis seem like the only reasonable candidates.
