Breaking Bad: ‘Ozymandias’

Walt at the end of his rope.

Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

I think it says a lot about a show when you have no idea how to begin discussing what you just witnessed. There are no words that initially come into one’s brain after watching something that makes you simultaneously feel glee, hate, nausea, twisted comedy, and guilt. That’s what ‘Ozymandias’ did. That’s what 6 years of fantastic story-telling was able to build towards. Brilliance.

So instead of delving directly into what transpired, let’s first examine the sonnet that gave this episode its name. ‘Ozymandias’ was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and initially published in 1818. The poem fits, beyond perfectly, for this episode as it represents stories we’ve seen throughout history, both real and fictional, about kings and empires who are unstoppable forces at their peaks and revered throughout all the lands. However, every empire falls and their king falls down with them, leaving nothing behind but ruins of what they once were.

Which is why the first scene here takes us back to where it all began, their first cook. This was the first time Walt created his army that would topple over every other army the world had seen, coming in at 99.3% efficiency. The first time Walt had to deceive Skyler, back when lying was a difficult task for him. And it was a time when Walt thought his aspirations of domination would be short-lived and not even require any causalities. Just a guy and his former student sticking it to “the man” to make a quick buck and pay for some medical expenses.

Oh how naïve we all were.

When it rains, it pours in the world of Breaking Bad and Walter White’s meth empire/life are crumbling at exponential rates here. There is no beating around the bush with the standoff, we overhear the sound of bullets being exchanged as we fade in and Gomie is already laying dead and Hank has been shot in the leg, out of ammo in his gun. Hank is done. He knows it, Uncle Jack knows it, Walt doesn’t. In a beautiful escalation of bad-ass word play, Hank comes to terms with the fact that Uncle Jack decided that he was dead long before Walt offered money in exchange for his life(*). The job Dean Norris was able to do with this character was incredible. Hank Schraeder started out as a one-dimensional, comic relief type who was there to help move along slower moments. As the series progressed, though, the writers discovered his acting talents and fully embraced them by sending this guy to hell and back, and hell again. In order for Breaking Bad to work the way it has, it needed everything to come together in terms of acting, writing, and directing; but getting Dean Norris for as cheap as they did went a long way to developing this story and he will surely be missed with just two episodes to go.

(*) I don’t think Walt was thinking this at the time but if Uncle Jack had actually accepted that deal to take all of Walt’s money and leave Hank alone it would have solved his problem with Hank too because that was Hank’s only evidence against him. But that was, of course, far from the actual result.

And all of this transpires within the first 8 minutes. The moment Uncle Jack pulls the trigger Walt’s life officially falls apart. The Nazis have taken everything from him: his family, his money, and any hopes or justifications he had left of being a “clean drug dealer” where no one really has to get hurt. With nothing left to lose Walt’s immediate response is vengeance. Since there’s nothing he can do at this stage to take action on those truly responsible for Hank’s death, he figures the next best thing is to get back at Jesse for bringing them all here in the first place. Before Uncle Jack can put another one of our friends in the ground, though, Todd quickly remembers that it’s possible Jesse may have told the DEA about their little operation and advises Uncle Jack that they kill him after he tortures some information out of him(**). Walt goes along with this plan, which is contrary to his original request last week when he insisted that Jesse not receive any pain, but prior to Jesse being dragged away for good he can’t help but twist the knife he’s already plunged into his former protégé. “I watched Jane die” he coldly tells Jesse. Man, you got to hand it to Breaking Bad, no plot or character is wasted and every loose end is tied up, in this case in a devastating manor as Walt tells Jesse the truth purely out of spite.

(**) I wonder if Todd figured out immediately that Jesse could cook for them or if his initial reaction was to simply get a nice torturing out of this. I don’t know how they continually make us feel worse and worse for Jesse but I have to assume that him being bludgeoned by a psychopath and forced to cook meth while being locked to a factory hook is officially the lowest this poor character will fall. Is there any salvation for Jesse at this point?

While Walt is busy sending his “adopted” son to his death, his actual son is in the middle of having his world completely shattered as Skyler and Marie begin to tell him about the horrific deeds his father has committed. After questioning his Mom’s moral compass in all of this as well, Walt Jr. and Skyler return home with baby Holly and to their astonishment Walt is loading up an old pick-up truck telling them they have to leave immediately. Skyler, now an expert at knowing when Walt is feeding them bullshit, quickly deduces that something is seriously wrong for Hank not to have him in custody. This begins a chain reaction I like to refer to as: “Breaking Bad wins everything”. Skyler has two choices sitting on her kitchen counter: one is a phone to call the police on him, the other a carving knife. She knows that anything that would allow Walt any more opportunities to talk may just dig her family into an even deeper hole so she decides to finally take action into her own hands and pulls a knife on the man she once knew as her husband.

During the Walt/Skyler/Walt Jr. fight the rest of the world stopped. I don’t think I would have noticed Miley Cyrus crashing through my wall on a wrecking ball during that three minute sequence. A man at the peak of desperation begs an answer to the question: “what the hell is wrong with you? We’re a family.” He’s oblivious to the fact that he’s poisoned his loved one’s lives too much for them to consider him family anymore. His perfectly calculated life went by the wayside the moment he picked up that phone out in the desert to tell his wife that his boss “was forcing him to stay late.” The only person who he cares about, who could still potentially love him again, is his 18 month year-old daughter, Holly. He doesn’t have an end-game when he grabs her; there was no elaborate plan to use her to bail him out of this situation. It was literally his last move he had left before he had to yield to defeat.

Do those desert pants look familiar?

There’s no denying that Walter White is truly a monster. Before Hank is executed he tells Walt that he’s “the smartest guy he ever met,” which makes it that much worse that he’s used his gifted intelligence to ruin so many lives, especially his own. There’s really no redemption for Walt at this point. With two episodes to go all he can do is get vengeance and do what he can to not make things worse for the people he cares about. After Holly so tragically asks for her Mama in the changing room Walt accept that he lost. In what has been his first selfless act in quite some time he calls Skyler, fully anticipating that their phone call will be overheard by the police, and makes it very clear that she had no knowledge of any of his criminal activity and he forced her to cooperate. She catches on about midway through and tells him “I’m sorry,” possibly the only part of that conversation that wasn’t an act. And boy, this episode removed any doubt of who will win best lead actor and actress at the Emmy’s next year.

The episode ends with Walt being picked up by Saul’s guy who will give him a new identity and a new life. I wonder if the start of the penultimate will pick-up where the flash-forward left off, or if there is some more filler story to tell before we get to machine guns and ricin pills. Two hours left, brace yourselves.

Other moments of note:

• In the midst of all the other things going on here it’s easy to overlook how awful this must be for poor Walt Jr. In a matter of a couple of hours he learns that his father is the kingpin drug dealer of the Southwest, that his mother knew this whole time, that his uncle has died because of his father, and has to stand by helplessly when his mother attacks his father with a knife. Oh and then his Dad abducts his baby sister for a little icing on his misery cake. This kid is going to need some serious therapy.
• Well, at least Uncle Jack was nice enough to give Walt one barrel. Weird that $11 million dollars is a “small” token for destroying what was left of his life.
• “Flynn. Could you put your seat belt on please?”
• Rian Johnson directed this masterpiece and there were two fantastic parts of the episode that only showed up on screen for a second. The first was Walt’s pants that he lost in the very first episode as they flew off the RV were lying in the desert as he pushed his barrel through it. The second was the firemen playing chess right before he alerted them that Holly was there. The “white” pieces were about to lose as all they had left were a couple of pawns (his family), a knight (Jesse) and, of course, the king.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.