Breaking Bad

[Andre Jurieu]

Presumably Walt chose to be with Skyler at some point, and they chose to have children as well.

Of course, but my point was more that the relationship between Walt and Jesse has no reason to actually function and exist outside of them making money together. Yet, it's honestly the relationship that I think the show asks us to invest the most in, because there is really no justification for these two men to be loyal to one another when there is no income to be created, and they still have some form of a twisted bond with one-another. At present, that bond has been broken, but I think the means to salvation for Walt has always been his ability to care for Jesse when he has no reason to do so. It's the one way that we know that Walt has no completely become a sociopath, despite all other indications. In the past, Walt cares for his family out of a sense of obligation and also out of a sense of pride - almost like it a signal of his masculinity and success that his family is stable and provided for. Walt has cared for Jesse sometimes out of a sense of self-preservation to protect his own business interests, and he's also slowly destroyed Jesse's mental-health, but Walt's best displays of humanity have usually been during his interactions with Jesse.

[swo17]

Fine, but my point is that I don't find the breakdown of his actual family any less harrowing. He may not have involved them in the business to anywhere near the extent that he did Jesse, but note that for pretty much all of his criminal actions, Walt justifies that he's doing it for his family. He's always looked out for Jesse and given him more than his fair share of the profits, but he cooks meth to preserve his family. (Or at least that's what he tells himself, and I think he believes it.)

[mfunk9786]

I don't know that the final two episodes can keep this level of urgency going, now that we've seen everything we've been dreading for so long, but one of the things that has me incredibly interested is how, if at all (we do hear Saul in the preview for the next episode), Walt will try to get money to his family. Since I think that's still his main objective, especially since they've been left with very little (unless the car wash is profitable enough, I guess... though I'd imagine pretty much everything they own will be seized by the government). I don't think Walt is through with his family, even if they are beyond through with him. Even with all the difficult moments in this episode, it did a better job at showing how close knit the White family was before all of this. In the first season, I always thought that Anna Gunn played Skyler as a bit... detached... from the emotions of Walt when he revealed that he was ill. The cold open in this week's episode was a fantastic way of reminding us what Walt has lost.

MORE THOUGHTS: To hell with Saul, why couldn't they spin off the "vacuum cleaner repair" service into a show? The mystery surrounding the process involved is almost too much for me to bear at this point, and I'm really hoping we get a glimpse into Walt being placed in New Hampshire next weekend. I realize how witness protection works through the government, but a show centered around an underground relocation business? That'd get a big thumbs up from me.

[Andre Jurieu]

Fine, but my point is that I don't find the breakdown of his actual family any less harrowing. He may not have involved them in the business to anywhere near the extent that he did Jesse, but note that for pretty much all of his criminal actions, Walt justifies that he's doing it for his family. He's always looked out for Jesse and given him more than his fair share of the profits, but he cooks meth to preserve his family. (Or at least that's what he tells himself, and I think he believes it.)

Yeah, I guess the difference is that, even if it's the justification Walt presents for his choices and actions, I've never believed that it's the real reason he cooks meth. The show has always excelled at blurring the motivations for why Walt has made his decisions, mixing necessity, provision, and obligation with ego, arrogance, and pride so that we think we know when he's being manipulative, but there are also moments of genuine emotional attachment with the characters that orbit around him. Yet in the scenes when he's dealing with his family, I always found that his sense of superiority betrayed whatever sincere connection he felt with his family, and that his only underlying motivation to provide from his family's long-term financial health was so that he wouldn't consider himself to be a failure within society. So, while I never doubted his honesty during his bathroom floor scene with Skyler earlier this season, I still believe that Walt is not really worried about the emotional well-being of his family so much as he's motivated by the idea that is masculinity will be eroded if he cannot guarantee their financial security once he's shuffled-off.

[Roger Ryan]

I got the impression that Walt's phone call to Skyler was a deliberate performance to make her and Walt, Jr. hate him enough to not yearn for his return once he vanishes. It was a complicated scene that Cranston pulled off beautifully. At the same time, Walt is certainly deluded enough to believe Jesse solely responsible for getting Hank killed.

I don't know that the final two episodes can keep this level of urgency going, now that we've seen everything we've been dreading for so long, but one of the things that has me incredibly interested is how, if at all (we do hear Saul in the preview for the next episode), Walt will try to get money to his family...

My guess is that the Saul scene will be a flashback conversation with Walt just before he makes the call to the "vacuum cleaner repair shop". As you say, the discussion of money may come up here, but once Walt is gone, he won't have any contact with the other main cast members until he returns with the trunk full of guns.

[cinemartin]

I understood the phone call from Walt as a way of making Skyler seem like she was not involved in the business at all (or if so it was under fear of being killed by her husband). I think Walt knew there was police listening in and that phone call was for them to hear Walt's "confession" in a last ditch attempt to make his family not pay for his crimes.

[swo17]

And to redeem Skyler in Walt Jr.'s eyes?

[Roger Ryan]

I understood the phone call from Walt as a way of making Skyler seem like she was not involved in the business at all (or if so it was under fear of being killed by her husband). I think Walt knew there was police listening in and that phone call was for them to hear Walt's "confession" in a last ditch attempt to make his family not pay for his crimes.

Good point - that's yet another layer of stuff going on here!

[cinemartin]

Yes, another good point. The scene is really complex and totally earned after 5 seasons of emotion. I also think it's a testament to have the scenes of Walt trying to do the right thing (calling Skyler, trying to buy Hank's life) bookend Walt doing the truly horrible act of condemning Jesse to death (and telling him about Jane). In a lesser show, Walt would be all bad or completely redeemed, but Breaking Bad is never black and white.

[knives]

He does phrase things in a way to ensure she doesn't get arrested. It's pretty clear with the Holly returning he had a slight change of heart once he got his head together.

[Black Hat]

One thing I haven't seen discussed is what was Todd's motivation to save Jesse? Seemed to me especially after his reaction to Hank being killed that he did it out of compassion. Then when he put Jesse on his leash I thought to impress Lydia with his cooking and I also thought about Jesse punching him. In any event they've gone out of their way the last couple of weeks to somewhat humanize Todd, establishing he has a conscious and being that he's a mirror to Jesse I wonder if he goes to the cops once his uncle and their friends cross his moral line? I'm guessing that with Jesse spending that much time alone with him that he'd help Todd find that line. The pic of Brock with his mom there had to mean something significant and we know Jesse's bound to get out of there so I'm fairly confident that it will be with Todd's help.

[swo17]

I don't know if Todd figured this out initially or later on, but Jesse will be a much better cook than he is. I think he was just out to preserve the business, and with Walt out of the picture, he won't have to worry about Jesse staying alive against Walt's wishes. The picture of Brock is a pretty menacing threat, i.e. be a good slave or we'll hurt the ones you love.

[Andre Jurieu]

The pic of Brock with his mom there had to mean something significant ...

Wasn't that basically an implied threat to Jesse that they would off them if he attempts to escape or cause problems for them? I thought it was just another way to emphasize to Jesse that he should accept his circumstances of basically being a slave and give in to his despair. It pretty much made my stomach twist into a knot.

I really do think Todd has turned into quite an interesting character, in that he's kind of the polar opposite to Walt and Jesse - he's been raised within an genuinely evil atmosphere and yet he seems to have developed a warped sense of morality.

[cinemartin]

I also feel that Todd has some weird crush on Lydia and he sees Jesse's pure meth as a way of impressing her, as well as preserving the business.

[warren oates]

Agree with swo about Todd. Btw, Black Hat, don't you find that every instance of Todd's supposed humanizing (e.g. last night's "Sorry for your loss.") at one and the same time makes him seem even creepier?

If Uncle Jack let Walter live and let him go with some money it's not so much because he's feeling especially avuncular toward his sweetly deadpan killer nephew. But he's also smart enough to know that letting Walt go with no money increases the likelihood he'd narc. And killing him right then and there wouldn't just upset Todd but would likely end his willing participation in their current superlab set-up and torpedo the European corporate connection with Lydia that likely makes them all about half a barrel of cash with each new cook transaction.

[mfunk9786]

I don't know, Jesse seemed pretty terrified of Todd. As if Todd was the one torturing him all along. I don't know that this isn't somewhat rivalrous/personal on Todd's part, and he's pretty clearly a psychopath.

[Black Hat]

I don't know if Todd figured this out initially or later on, but Jesse will be a much better cook than he is. I think he was just out to preserve the business

See I don't think Todd is bright enough to think that far ahead on those terms. He is however highly motivated to impress Lydia.

Wasn't that basically an implied threat to Jesse that they would off them if he attempts to escape or cause problems for them?

Certainly but in this show things that we think serve one purpose often serve another. When you think about it showing the picture wasn't really necessary unless they were going to play a more significant role.

I really do think Todd has turned into quite an interesting character, in that he's kind of the polar opposite to Walt and Jesse - he's been raised within an genuinely evil atmosphere and yet he seems to have developed a warped sense of morality.

I could not agree more. They've done a really nice job flushing his character out.

Agree with swo about Todd. Btw, Black Hat, don't you find that every instance of Todd's supposed humanizing (e.g. last night's "Sorry for your loss.") at one and the same time makes him seem even creepier?

Absolutely but I think that as Andre alluded to that's just who Todd is as a result of his environment. Todd clearly is of a different fabric than Uncle Jack and the rest of the gang.

[swo17]

I don't know if Todd figured this out initially or later on, but Jesse will be a much better cook than he is. I think he was just out to preserve the business

See I don't think Todd is bright enough to think that far ahead on those terms. He is however highly motivated to impress Lydia.

Certainly it could have occurred to him at some point after Walt put the hit on Jesse that "Gee, that's one of the two people who know how to cook meth as pure as Lydia wants." I don't think it takes any more smarts to delay Jesse's death for that reason than it does to delay it to find out what he told the DEA.

[Black Hat]

Men have the ability to plot far more sinisterly when motivated by a woman's affection.

[mfunk9786]

I know it's TV, but he sure did wait until the last moment to delay it!

[flyonthewall2983]

I got the impression that Walt's phone call to Skyler was a deliberate performance to make her and Walt, Jr. hate him enough to not yearn for his return once he vanishes. It was a complicated scene that Cranston pulled off beautifully.

While I do believe that, I think Walt meant at least some of what he said. It's easy to forget that Skyler was the more dominant of the two when the series began, and that his explosive and abrasive manner on the phone is partly from the snowball of bottled-up repression that still lingered despite his exploits as Heisenberg.

But to be honest, at the time I thought he meant every word of it.

[solaris72]

I think things are going to get even worse next week. Since Todd extracted the location of the confession tape out of Jesse, I think that Jack and co. are going after that. I think it likely that Walter Jr. and Holly will be staying at Marie's house (maybe Skyler too, maybe not).

Then again, I've been ludicrously wrong in my predictions the last two weeks.

[domino harvey]

I figured the next episode would jump forward in time to where we started the season

[warren oates]

I agree, given its title. Though when I think about how much screentime an episode would even want to devote to Walter White's lonely lost year on the lam, it's just not all that dramatically interesting given everything else we could be seeing. So I'm guessing we'll see a bit of the relocation stuff, but it will be intercut with the year-later flash forward and with what's happening with some of the other characters in the meantime.

[flyonthewall2983]

I think things are going to get even worse next week. Since Todd extracted the location of the confession tape out of Jesse, I think that Jack and co. are going after that. I think it likely that Walter Jr. and Holly will be staying at Marie's house (maybe Skyler too, maybe not).

I would imagine Marie's house will be protected by either police or DEA, but maybe undermanned because they only think they're just dealing with a former Chemistry teacher with the sand slowly running out from his hourglass.