BREAKING BAD Brings a Whole New Meaning to Suspense

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Well, that was quite the nail-biter. Right from the start, “End Times” blankets itself in a sense of foreboding that never gets lifted. Not a scene goes by where you’re not panicking a little over the fates of our beloved (or simply tolerated) characters. And no person awaited tragedy more so than Walt. He knows it’s just a matter of time before Gus sends someone to end his tortured existence, and he chooses to sit and wait, to face his executioner with nothing but his arrogance and a 6-shooter. He knows he has zero chance of survival and even toys with the idea of doing the job himself. But Walt is a fighter, and even his little game of spin the revolver isn’t good enough to snuff his will to live.

I’m at the point where I’ve watched enough great television to see where pieces are going, so I realized way before Jesse did that Brock had been poisoned with the ricin. Yet somehow, knowing the answer to the question made my anxiety even worse as I watched the truth dawn on Jesse’s face. It’s just another stone of guilt to add to the scales for Jesse, since this makes the poisoning partially his fault. But he turns his guilt into a fiery rage and goes after the only clear culprit in his mind: Walt. When he gets to Walt’s house, it’s not quite clear why he’s there when you first watch it, and we get distracted from Jesse’s story as Walt whines about his life, which also gives Jesse a chance to grab Walt’s gun. Now we know exactly what Jesse is thinking: kill Walt for hurting Brock.

And so unravels the most brilliantly complicated and diabolical plan in this show’s history. Walt, being the genius he is, quickly figures out Gus was responsible for Brock’s poisoning, all in the hopes of convincing Jesse to kill Walt. It really is perfect. Walt was the only other person to know about the ricin, so logically it would have to be him. By painting Walt as a monster, Jesse will not only allow Gus to kill Walt, but Jesse will want to do it himself. But Gus forgets that not everyone is like him; Walt won’t harm children. Once Jesse is reminded of this (a great scene between Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. Those two never cease to amaze me), the two join forces yet again with the common goal of taking Gus down.

The dynamic duo, together again, quickly devise a plan to get Gus exactly where they want him. Jesse refuses to go to the lab to cook, wanting instead to stay at the hospital. This warrants a personal visit from Gus, giving Walt time to strap a homemade explosive and detonator to Gus’s unoccupied vehicle. As Gus heads to his car (after being extremely kind and understanding toward Jesse) he suddenly stops yards from his vehicle. Walt watches from an adjacent building and for a moment it seems like Gus will notice him. He doesn’t move for so long, just gazing out at the surrounding city. And just like that he turns around and walks away, leaving his car behind. Why did he stop? How could he tell what was about to happen? I have no idea, but I want to find out.

Next week is the finale, and the last few weeks have yielded some of the best episodes from Breaking Bad. Unfortunately this puts a lot of pressure of the finale. I wouldn’t worry too much. This season has given me such pride in this series. Next week will be just as spectacular as we’ve come to expect from Breaking Bad, I can just feel it.

3 Comments

1. 

   blatt

   October 3, 2011 at 12:18 pm

   He knew something was up because he saw the reflection from Walt’s glasses that he was wearing on his head while he was looking through the binoculars. That’s why in the final scene, you see the reflection on the ground when he turns.

   Reply
2. 

   heisenberg

   October 3, 2011 at 11:35 pm

   I don’t think Gus spotted any visual cues that Walt was there. He knew something was up because of a “sixth sense” for danger…

   …or, as many fans are currently speculating, because he wasn’t the one who poisoned Brock.

   Poisoning Brock was not a smart move for Gus. It’s too risky, with too many variables involved for such a meticulous and cautious planner. Just look how comparatively easily it fell apart. Does that really seem like a Gus Fring plan? The guy who waited twenty years for vengeance against the cartel and had it plotted out to the smallest details? No…it makes no sense for Gus.

   But it makes perfect sense for Walt.

   Convince Saul to help swap out the cigarette packs (watch Saul’s bodyguard again- he appears to put something in his pocket when he pats Jesse down). Then administer some sort of poison to Brock. Not necessarily ricin, but enough to get him sick. Note that no one was able to contact Walt during the day.

   In his heart of hearts, Jesse doesn’t believe “Mr White” to be capable of something like that. And that plays exactly into Walt’s hands. He makes out that Gus is manipulating Jesse- but in fact it is Walt who is the manipulator. We’ve seen him inactive and powerless all season. Finally, with his back against the wall and having reached a level of mania (notice the laugh returns) he comes up with something truly desperate. When Walt says “it’s brilliant”, he’s really talking about his own plan. It’s his hubris coming through, like always.

   What swings it for me is the scene where Walt spins the gun. It points to him twice, he spins it again twice. He isn’t ready to die. Then he stops when it settles on the plant. He narrows his eyes. He looks like a man who’s just realised something. If we’ve learned anything about Walt over these seasons it’s that he is prepared to take extreme measures to protect himself and his family. And yet we’re expected to believe that he sat in the house all day waiting for Gus’s assassin? No, that’s misdirection. And the gun scene was the clue that Walt was forming a plan…

   Reply
3. 

   Cat

   October 5, 2011 at 3:40 am

   I would say that Gus was simply putting two and two together as he approached his car. He knew something was up and it didn’t take him long to deduce he might have stepped into a trap. In an earlier episode Walt says that diagnosing Ricin is impossible, but Jessie mentions to Gus that it had been diagnosed, and so early.

   Also remember that Gus is on the hospital’s board so he has connections in there and those connections would have told him that it was Jessie who suggested Ricin poisoning. And the way Jessie told Gus about the poisoning was very accusationary.

   Reply