WORDS: ALEX BALL

(Spoilers up until ‘To’Hajiilee to follow.)

With many TV shows, such as Lost, it has seemed that the writers barely knew what the next episode would bring. With Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan gives us the impression that he has known from day one every step of the way. The first four and a half seasons have built up to these final eight episodes. This is it: all the pieces are in place, and from here on out, we are in freefall, clueless as to what is in store for us.

 

Gilligan has maintained a constant climax ever since we flashed forward (yet again) to see Walt, dirty and desperate, casually uttering “Hello, Carol” to his old neighbour. We are teased with inklings of the future (the ricin, the hint towards Walt’s crimes being public knowledge, or the harrowing sight of him wearing a coat that looks a little too similar to Jesse’s). But these hints are not enough for us to fathom what might come to pass in the final three episodes.

 

One thing we can postulate is that either Jesse or Walt will die. Their relationship was always heading for disaster, and now Jesse is done with Walt’s manipulation. He very nearly leaves, before (remarkably and somewhat unbelievably) realising that Walt was the one to poison Brock. And here in the past few episodes, we see their raw animal hatred for one another as they rush to violence. This is far from when Walt fatherly cradles Jesse upon the death of Jane, only a year before. Jesse will see Walter pay, and will die before he lets him escape justice.

 

Through this relationship we see just how everything has changed. Since Breaking Bad returned in August, we have seen the culmination of Walter’s actions and how they have affected those he loves. Skyler, who all the way back in season one was concerned with the mere thought of her husband smoking marijuana, is now encouraging him to murder Jesse. As she says, “What’s one more?”. Marie might have been a thief, but until now she would not for a second have demanded that a family member commit suicide. Hank becomes darker with each episode, breaking bad in his own way. His actions in finding Walt are entirely illegal, and it seems as if he would go to any length to catch Heisenberg. These characters have changed utterly in the past few episodes, and as Breaking Bad hurtles towards the finale, we have no idea what anyone is capable of.

 

But we do know what Walt is capable of. Even now, after all his crimes, some people (including myself) cannot help but root for him to succeed. There are others who want nothing more than to see Walt rot. For them, he is, as Jesse says, “the devil.” But the morality of Breaking Bad is confused even further in ‘To’haijiilee’ when Walt tells Uncle Jack and his family not to come to his rescue. When they inevitably do come, Walt screams with an emotion we have never seen before. He has been caught, the infamous Heisenberg, and though with this development he could escape, his first thought is the safety of his family. Gilligan achieves a perfect balance between protagonist and antagonist, with many of the audience rooting for Heisenberg’s downfall, and the rest hoping that he escapes.

 

Then again, perhaps he wants to be caught. After all, Walt begins the show as a sad, pathetic man, regretting his past with nothing but death in his future. With his cancer now back, he is sure he will soon die. Perhaps now, more than anything, all Walt wants is recognition, and to go down in history as Heisenberg, the greatest meth cook to ever live. Thankfully, we only have three weeks to wait.

Breaking Bad airs on Netflix at 12pm every Monday, with the finale on the 30th September.