Breaking Bad Countdown: Ep. 14, "Ozymandias"

Breaking Bad Countdown: Season 5, Ep. 14, “Ozymandias”

This is a Breaking Bad episode recap by Thought Pollution writer Colin Neagle. Spoiler alert.

Before this week’s episode, many people thought Hank would survive that shootout. Even worse, everybody else acknowledged that it was possible.

That speaks to the quality of Breaking Bad and the crew’s penchant for writing characters out of seemingly inescapable corners. From the episode when Hank tracked down the RV to the one when Walt murdered every prisoner who could’ve brought him down, we’ve seen our hero manufacture new ways to keep himself out of Hank’s reach.

We’ve spent the time between episodes and seasons imagining how Walt could possibly evade Hank, and suddenly it’s the other way around. Everyone outside of #teamwalt has abandoned Walt since the fourth season, and we’ve insisted since then that we can watch the show without rooting for its protagonist. But it’s only human to latch onto one side of a battle. As we questioned why we were still watching Walter White, Breaking Bad quietly nudged us onto Hank’s side. No matter how blurry the lines between just and unjust became in the show, we can’t shake what we know in reality – Walt’s a bad guy, and Hank is a good one.

So it was easy for many Breaking Bad fans to suspend disbelief after Hank was left with a single pistol behind a bullet-ridden SUV last week. This is Breaking Bad, a show where a 51-year-old cancer patient, Bill Burr, and two idiot 20-somethings can pull off the biggest train heist in American history. If Walter was able to escape Hank’s wrath every time we wanted him to in the past, why couldn’t Hank survive Walter just this once?

Because it’s all over, that’s why. We should have seen this coming. Plot-wise, giving Walter a DEA brother-in-law was a strong device, making every close brush with the law that much more suspenseful. Thematically, though, it’s the show’s greatest irony – a man throwing morality to the wind for the well-being of his family can’t do so without tearing his family apart. “There’s no scenario where this guy lives,” Jack says minutes before killing Hank, standing in the same place where Walter and Jesse first made crystal meth.

That execution, with Walter standing by, powerless offering up everything he had done this for in a last-ditch effort to undo it, was the only way Hank could have died. (At least he went out like a badass. Dean Norris later said that AMC allows one blanked-out “fuck” from Breaking Bad per season. This one was well-used. LONG LIVE A$AC SCHRADER.)

So Hank died and Walter broke down, having successfully decimated family and fortune in one fell swoop. If Heisenberg stood for success and Walter for family, the crying clown laying face-down in the dirt stood to accept the punishment for squandering both.

Enter Jack, whose hand Walter shook as the first in the series of events that led to all this. He could have just left Walter there, handcuffed and penniless, likely to die a painful death somewhere between success and salvation. But he offered Walter a choice – he could shake Jack’s hand once more and accept enough money to justify it all, like before, or he could refuse it and accept the death that his remaining family members (or at least Marie and Skyler) had wanted from him.

Walter chose the latter, because he’s never been able to see the difference between the two. Walter has always viewed the money he’s earned, regardless of its source, as the well-being of his family. So he shakes Jack’s hand and is banished to push a barrel full of his own delusions all alone across the desert, knowing that he’d brought about exactly what he hoped to avoid.

“Whatever you think is supposed to happen, the exact reverse opposite of that is gonna happen,” Jesse once said about Walter’s plans.

In last week’s recap, I predicted that Walter would protect Jesse in the desert out of remorse for failing to save Hank. He called Jesse “family” an episode ago even as he ordered his surrogate son’s murder, and I thought he would save him to redeem himself, if given the chance.

But that Walt died when he shook hands with Jack the second time. What remains is Heisenberg, the man who has to justify the means by which he’s obtained his money. Walt can’t just walk away from the scene with that $11 million if he feels fully responsible for Hank’s death. Walt didn’t order Jack’s crew to shoot Hank in the first place; when they got there, he tried to stop them. Jesse brought Hank to the scene of the murder, and therefore Jesse must accept the blame that Walter needs to deflect. “I tried to save him!” Walter blurted after Skyler accused him of murdering Hank, to no avail. Jesse turned Walter into a murderer of a family member. For that, Walter had to draw even, and informed Jesse that he was more responsible for Jane’s death than Jesse was for Hank’s.

With these ties cut, Walt scrambled to reclaim the remnants of his money and family. Although no one saw it coming, myself included, it made sense for Walter to take Holly hostage as his family forced him out of his home. She’s the one person who couldn’t verbally object or physically fight him, when he said he’d buy “a new start” for his family. Still in disbelief that his family couldn’t see his side of things, Walter grabbed whatever sign of hope he could.

Then we had Holly’s big break. Walter clearly didn’t plan on making that phone call when he abducted Holly. He knew the police were there, listening in – he saw Walter Jr. call them. What better way for Walter to realize his defeat than for his last remaining ally to abandon him? Holly doesn’t reason like Skyler or Walter Jr. She just needs her mother. The one person in Walter’s life impervious to his manipulation makes him realize he has no one left to manipulate.

That call between Walter and Skyler was Heisenberg declaring dominion over Walter. Holly made him realize he could no longer be Walter White. So Heisenberg deals the final blow on Walt’s behalf, calling Skyler to put on a misogyny-fueled, enraged performance for the police, heaping responsibility onto Walter. His first (unofficial) act as Heisenberg was lying to Skyler about staying late at the car wash because Bogdan had a “bug up his butt.” At the time, he planned to leave money behind for Skyler and the kids, and he lied to protect her from knowing the source of it. Now, when it’s become clear he could never leave her that money, he lies to protect her from it all.

This could have been the end of the series – a perverted version of Walter White leaving his family to fend for themselves in the mess he made as he rides off to die alone with his money, a stray dog forever lingering in the rear-view mirror. On its own, it would make a strong statement about the modern American family. For exploiting his family to justify his own raging ambition, Walter is doomed to live with nothing but his money

Odds & Ends

I’ve decided to abandon our “theories” section, partially because I was so consistently, horribly wrong many times, and partly because I don’t want to ruin it for myself.

There’s still tons to talk about. I’m interested in the wider world of Breaking Bad. Given that Huell was the key to Hank’s capture of Walt and his murder, and that Walter Jr. was key to Walter’s final separation from his family, it’s a reminder that there are more people involved in this, directly or indirectly. (Next episode I expect Louis and Flynn to take over for Walter and Jesse.)

This was clearly the darkest episode of Breaking Bad yet – that’s saying something in a show that’s shown Jesse in drug-infested flophouses and had Todd murder an innocent child. Jesse’s last scene, with Buffalo Todd and the dog run and that photo of Andrea and Brock, was physically painful to watch. Hank’s death was sad, but in this episode it paled in comparison to everything else.

But “Ozymandias” did find room for humor – impressive in an episode that didn’t feature Bob Odenkirk, Matt Jones or Bill Burr. Todd’s seemingly sincere “Sorry for your loss” made me laugh out loud. The negotiated purchase of that truck was funny, and we even learned the fate of Walt’s missing pants from the pilot.

I can’t tell if I should be happy or concerned about how difficult it is to guess what’ll happen. I don’t want to be a wet blanket here, but I’m going to, because it very well might be difficult to predict the end because it might not be that good. Although my money’s on it being great, because the show’s been so great so far and I don’t think I could handle it, otherwise.