Breaking Bad #5.14 “Ozymandias” Review

Summary: Everything happens, and it happens in the best and worst and most devastating way possible. It’s basically the series finale, except it’s not.

If you have not seen this episode yet and don’t wish to be spoiled, tread lightly.

Review

How do you review an episode like this?

Amateur question, obviously. “Ozymandias” is a beautiful monster of an episode, cramming in developments that are simultaneously horrifying and cathartic. It probably doesn’t work that effectively for someone who hasn’t been following the show; the emotion is only that high because it’s been earned over the years. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s part of Breaking Bad‘s larger, terrifyingly-close-to-complete story. And in that scope, it’s as close to a perfect episode as we’ll get. It’s completely devastating, yet immensely satisfying. Aside from a couple of loose ends, the large portion of the episode would have made up a relatively satisfying series finale, or at least what we’d have expected to get in it. We got the culmination of and conclusion to a whole slew of threads running since day one. I mean, let’s take a look here:

• Hank (and Gomez) are killed.
• Walt tells Jesse about Jane.
• Walter Jr. finds out Walt’s secret.
• Walt and Skyler have a knife fight.
• Skyler finally stands up to Walt for real, and Walt leaves the family presumably for good.
• Everyone is in the know. They called the police, they have the confession, and Walt even confirmed it to the police with Skyler if the confession Hank recorded was destroyed.

That’s not even everything that happens this week, those are just things we would have never expected to happen at this point. Where is there to go from here?

In any case, what does happen this week is every part of the show firing on all cylinders. A no-way-out situation was created for Hank and Jesse–there’s no one left to save either of them, and as such, no one does. And while plenty of lines have been spoken in the realm of media where someone says “There’s no way he’s getting out alive,” Breaking Bad is one of very few that delivers on that promise. It gets continually worse for both until Hank is dead and Jesse is tortured off-screen, and forced to cook now while chained to the ceiling.  And for Jesse, there’s no discernible way for him to get out of this.

The entire episode is a testament to Walt’s overarching horribleness, really, in the sense that he poisons absolutely everything he touches. The idea that he still has his family is utterly fabricated, as his pleas to save Hank or start a new life with his wife and kids only lead to more devastation. And yes, Walt was being earnest when pleading for Hank–his reaction made that obvious–but he immediately un-redeems himself when he goes back to make sure Jesse is killed. He blames Jesse’s disloyalty for Hank’s death, and uses that to make himself feel better and ignore his responsibility in the situation. And he twists in the knife by finally, after three years, revealing his part in Jane’s death. For every earnest moment we get from Walt, we get Heisenberg’s vengeance popping up right after to recoup. It’s a dichotomy that starts with Hank/Jesse at the beginning, and then repeats when he throws out the “I did this for my family” excuse, only to lay it all out on Skyler at the end. Walt may still be convinced that everything he was doing was for the good of his family–which, by the way, he considered Jesse to be just last week when he put a hit out on him–but the money will always be tainted. It’s at the point where his entire existence in their world only causes harm and horror, even if indirectly.

After quite a long time making mistakes, Skyler finally got it laid out by her son that, by participating in Walt’s activities, she’s as bad as Walt. The difference is that for much of the show she’s been backed into a corner and victimized. She was given a perfect opportunity to get out, and took the wrong route. She finally has another opportunity to make a choice, and this time she’s fighting back. And along these lines, whether it was intended or not, there’s a certain meta-brilliance to Walt’s rant to Skyler at the end of the episode. Walt ultimately spouts much of the internet’s vitriol for Skyler verbatim, deriding her for “whining and complaining,” “disrespecting” him, and “teaching her a lesson” in a strongly misogynistic way, and worse. It’s something a good number of people have wanted Walt to express, but putting it into words from Walt’s perspective–that she’s been a terrible wife for fighting against him while he formed his drug empire–definitely shined a damning light on the perspective.

There’s also a beauty in all the things handled off-screen. It’s easy to be angry to miss, say, Skyler relaying everything to Walter Jr., because it would be interesting to see how things are phrased or the real-time reactions. But as this season has proven, those reactions aren’t as important as they’re often made out to be. We skip the incessant recapping–the show surely isn’t interested in making itself accessible by recapping the plot–and go straight to the fullest raw reaction. It takes a second for a person to process something this gigantic, and we jump in right as the process is at its highest emotional beat. It must be insane for the actors to have to jump into that climax of emotion for the cameras without having scripted build-up (surely that’s part of an actor’s job to build up emotion on their own, but not having the script as a guide just makes it harder.)

Speaking of acting…wow. So, just to name a few moments: Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn on that last phone call, Cranston especially going through a range of emotions fluidly. RJ Mitte in pretty much every scene he’s in. And special acknowledgement of Betsy Brandt’s devastating, heartwrenching reaction to the confirmation of Hank’s death. This is a dark episode, and the emotions are amped accordingly.

In general, there’s far too much to talk about here, really. It’s one of the most dense, fastest-paced episodes of the show, and it’s impossible to watch without feeling your own insides twisting and ripping apart with every second. Even if the acting and production values were somehow terrible (and they absolutely are not) this would still be a top 5 episode based on the writing alone. I have no clue what can happen, what could top this, or what I even want to expect. And that’s fantastic…and in this context, horrible.

Odds & Ends

• The flashback to how things used to be in the pilot episode–and the slow fade of each piece–was an inspired teaser. In an episode already as dark as this, the comparative lightness and fun of the first episode only makes this all-the-darker, which is impressive.
• The season 1 make-up and RV set design for Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul was so good that I wondered if I was watching an actual scene from the pilot that I just hadn’t remembered. Anna Gunn, however, was not as spot-on, but that’s more likely because of how much more Gunn’s face has changed over the years. Cranston’s got it easy, since he can just slap on a wig and shave down to a mustache.
• In non-White family news, it’s worth mentioning Todd’s creepy “I’m sorry for your loss” and that Unle Jack has a swastika tattoo on his hand.
• Before Walter Jr. pulls Walt off of Skyler, Walt is holding her down and has the knife pointing right at her, ready to attack. What would he have done if his son hadn’t pulled him off? It’s a horrible thought.
• Walt had to know the police were behind Skyler’s phonecall, right? Her “no” wasn’t even that convincing. If not, and he didn’t think his death threat would be recorded…man, Walt. You big dummy.
• “Ozymandias” follows season 4’s “Crawl Space” for “antipenultimate episode that’s one of the best ever and feels like the finale.”