Granite State," the next-to-last-ever episode of Breaking Bad, is a fiercely unsettling hour of television. That's largely because it doesn't really feel like an episode of Breaking Bad, but rather some mutant version of the show that has been TV's best drama for the last few years. For much of it, the deserts of New Mexico have been replaced by the falling snow of New Hampshire. Old characters turn back up in weird places, as Walt's old Gray Matter business partner, who we haven't seen since season two, suddenly pops up with his wife as guests on the Charlie Rose show. And, until the closing seconds, Walt is no longer capable of being Heisenberg. The hat still fits, but his strength has left him and his options are nil. He tries to put the fear of God into Saul at one point but breaks down into a coughing fit instead. Before long, he's stuck in a cabin, far away from the family he ruined, sick, lonely and feebly offering Robert Forster — a special guest star who plays a major role this week — $15,000 just to sit and play cards with him for a little while. The whole episode feels less like Breaking Bad and more like a dream you might have about Breaking Bad, identifiable but vastly different.
It's a good bet that showrunner Vince Gilligan and producer Peter Gould (who has been with the show since the beginning and wrote and directed this episode) intended "Granite State" to feel this way. Last week's "Ozymandias" was really the emotional climax of the series with Hank's death forcing everything out into the open and ending any possible chance Walt had at a happy ending. In a parallel universe, Walt climbing into that van to speed off to a whole new life could have been the closing moment of the entire series. But in this universe, we still have Future Walt to deal with, and "Granite State" uses its entire run time to fill in the blanks of how Walt got from that van to buying a machine gun in the parking lot of a Denny's on his 52nd birthday.
Doing a lot of the heavy lifting in answering that question is Forster, in what must be the biggest guest-starring turn this show has ever featured. Last week, I thought it was kind of neat that Saul's unidentified relocation expert remained faceless even after Walt got into his van. But I certainly wasn't going to argue when it was revealed the guy is none other than Forster, a great character actor who's been kicking around Hollywood for 40-plus years. (You probably know him from Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown.) Forster's vacuum repairman, which apparently isn't just a cover, moves Walt to New Hampshire, where he stashes him in a remote cabin and brings him supplies and administers his chemotherapy once a month. Back in Albuquerque, Skyler's not having an easy go of it with the DEA, as Walt's phone call at the end of last week's episode didn't work as well as he'd hoped. But Forster's character warns Walt neither to attempt to help nor to even leave the cabin at all, as his face is all over the news nationwide and he'll surely be captured. Walt complies for a while, mostly because his worsening condition prevents him from hiking to the nearest town, but when it becomes clear the vacuum repairman has no intentions of getting what's left of Walt's loot to his family once he dies, Walt concocts a last-ditch effort to send some money to Walt Jr. using his friend's address.
Junior will have none of it though, screaming at his dad when Walt contacts him at his school. "Why are you still alive?" Junior cries into the phone. "Why won't you just die already?! Just die!" It's enough to drive a man past his breaking point, but then something happens to snap Walt back into focus. He sees Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz on a tiny barroom TV, insisting to Charlie Rose that Walt White really had nothing to do with their multi-million-dollar company, that he provided little more than the name. It badly stings Walt's pride, and if there's one thing Breaking Bad has taught us, it is that you do not fuck with Walter White's pride. Seeing his name pissed on, on national TV no less, is what spurs Walt to decide his story can't end like this, so he leaves his drink at the bar and departs for whatever blaze of glory awaits.
Which could end up fairly fortuitous for one Jesse Pinkman, who, despite his best efforts, remains incarcerated by Todd, Jack and the Nazis this week. Add the murder of Andrea to the list of unbearable Breaking Bad moments this season, as Todd shoots her in the head while Jesse watches in retaliation for Jesse's escape attempt. With Jesse's help, Todd has pushed his meth purity up to Heisenberg levels — 96 percent, to be exact — and he's doing everything he can, including terrorizing Skyler in a home invasion, to make sure his operation with Lydia remains unaffected by the now-public Heisenberg drama.
Jesse's situation looks hopeless, but it seems clear that Walt's machine gun is destined for Todd, Jack and their crew. I can't imagine there's much redemption for Walt to find next week, but my guess is he'll end up freeing Jesse from his hellish captivity. That likely wouldn't be enough to earn Jesse's full forgiveness. No doubt Jesse will partially blame Walt for Andrea's death on top of everything else. But it might be enough to allow some understanding to pass between Walt and Jesse, a modicum of compassion. From the beginning, Breaking Bad has been the story of these two men, and it looks very much like it could end that way, as well.
A few more thoughts on "Granite State" …
– Playing the extended version of the show's theme song over the episode's closing moments was a stroke of genius and really set the stage for the final episode next week.
– Last week, I thought Todd's crush on Lydia was just a cute little character quirk. But — surprise! — it now seems that Gilligan and his writing team put it there for plotting purposes. After all, now that Jack's crew has most of Walt's money, why would Todd need to go on cooking meth? Because he's crushing on Lydia, that's why!
– Walt's cabin has no cable and only a small collection of DVDs, which includes two copies of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. No wonder Walt decided this couldn't be his ultimate fate.
– For the second straight week, AMC dropped the sound when a "fuck" was uttered by a key character in a key moment. It's a ridiculous bit of censorship, especially considering the insanely graphic violence Breaking Bad has shown over the years. But remember, this is America, where you can show a guy with his face half blown off on TV but you can't drop f-bombs. I really wish AMC would have just let the cursing fly this year. Breaking Bad is one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time. You can't tell me the network couldn't have warned their advertisers in advance and convinced them it was necessary, even if a few stray complaints came in from up-tight channel-flippers.
– I'll likely be able to live with whatever else happens next week, so long as that Opie dead-eyed piece of shit Todd gets what's coming to him. And it better be long and painful. Todd has surpassed Game of Thrones' Joffrey as TV's most despicable character, and he must be dealt with accordingly before this whole thing ends.
