by The Professor
SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!
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WARNING! SPOILERS!
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* SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!
It's 'Breaking Bad' Week here at The Web and first up we're serving up back-to-back reviews of the penultimate and ultimate episodes, "Granite State" and "Felina".But first, let me walk you through the method to my madness. You guys remember the insanity that happened a couple weeks back in "Ozymandias" right? That episode was such a game changer, and it affected so much in Vince Gilligan's universe that I considered it to be an extremely tragic, quasi-series finale. In fact, if it wasn't for the flash forwards, I would have had to check Wikipedia to make sure there were more episodes on the way.
So, when a story ends, what comes next? In this case, an Epilogue of sorts. In the last two episodes we see how Mr. Lambert deals with his exile, and more importantly how he handles the aftermath of outing himself.
First up, let's go over the events in "Granite State" shall we?
Walt becomes Mr. Lambert and heads to "The Shire" (New Hampshire). No, he doesn't meet Bilbo and Frodo at Bag End, but he does freeze his ass off. For those who aren't familiar with state mottoes and whatnot, just like New Jersey is the Garden State and New York is the Empire State, New Hampshire is the Granite State (the episode's namesake) and it's state motto is "Live Free or Die" which lends itself to the title of the very first episode of the season. I bring this up because this show has been all about identifying and appreciating the little details, and even the names of the episodes are carefully chosen to supplement the intricacy of this show.
New Hampshire is, in climactic terms, the polar opposite of the ABQ. You can see it in Walt's face. He hates it, it's cold, it's dry and its desolate. He might as well be a prisoner out there. He's alive and he's free, technically, but he really isn't either. Walter White is dead, and Mr. Lambert is slowly withering away despite the continuation of his cancer treatments. This becomes really apparent when Walt's wedding ring falls off his finger, which sparks a really humanizing moment where he takes the ring and makes a makeshift necklace with it. Keeping what's left of his family's memory (literally) near his heart.
Meanwhile, in the ABQ, the status is the furthest thing from quo. Skyler is being questioned by the Feds, Marie is trying to find her husband and Junior isn't eating breakfast. Really, not too much on the familial front, they pretty much checked in on them to see how much their lives have changed and reminded the audience what needs to be mended during the "Felina".
Oh, they also threw in Jesse's attempted escape. And despite his failure he did succeed in deepening our sympathy for him, and by the end of the episode I was convinced he'd be granted a happy ending come series end. Also, fuck you Todd Alquist.
And yes, for those wondering, I do mean that kind of happy ending (I don't). Jesse Pinkman, me love you long time.
The last scene we were left with (before the series finale made the next 7 days extremely hard to bear) started off with another painful phone call; one where Walt begged his son to take his money, and Junior stubbornly refusing anything from his monstrous father. Completely crushed that all of his work was for naught, he turns himself in and orders one last drink. Again, thanks to the flash forwards, we know that Walt doesn't turn himself in and he comes back home, so what could possibly happen in such a short time frame?
...Enter Gretchen and Elliot via the TV at the local bar. Walt is brought up in the interview due to his involvement with "Grey Matter Technologies", to which Elliot responds by telling the guy that the only contribution that Walter had made was to the name of the company.
OUCH.
For years Walter felt cheated out of the fortune that "Grey Matter Technologies" had made (for reasons never thoroughly explained), but he always was recognized as a key contributor towards the foundation of the company. Without him there would be no "Grey Matter" and he was proud of that, it validated his worth in a field that he was so passionate about. For Elliot and Gretchen to downplay his contribution to being only partially responsible for the name, was enough to drive Walt out of his despair and straight back to Albuquerque.
And sadly, the second part of last review I'll ever do for 'Breaking Bad', I give you "Felina"
Not only is "Felina" an anagram of "Finale", but it also can be interpreted chemically. The "Fe" stands for the mineral Iron which is necessary for hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells, to carry Oxygen. "Li" stands for Lithium which is apparently used for making Methamphetamine (I don't know from experience). And finally we have "Na" which stands for Sodium, which is found in a certain form of tears.
Put them all together and "Felina" could mean...Blood. Meth. Tears, which is nerdy as hell and I love it.
The episode gives us immediate gratification and doesn't start with the flash forwards we were teased with throughout the season, like I thought they would. Instead, we get a chilling scene with Walt lurking in the shadows of Elliot and Gretchen's home. The way "Granite State" left off, you'd think that Walt would want to off these people, and with him creeping through their hallways it added to that notion. I expected both of them to be dead by the end of the scene. But in a surprising turn of events, Walter takes the high road...sort of. By threatening them into taking what's left of his money he secured his family's financial future. But not before scaring the shit out of his former colleagues with laser pointers.
This leads me to my only gripe of the episode. Considering the ambiguity of the "Grey Matter Technologies" fallout, I thought their reunion would provide some definitive answers. From Season 1 we know that Walt felt as if Elliot and Gretchen cheated him out of his shares of the company, but then Gretchen claims that he sold his shares and left without any explanation. The true story was never told, and it's just gonna have to stay up in the air.
Walt made sure no one would profit from something that he started ever again when he slipped Lydia the ricin. Equipped with knowledge of Lydia's habits and a small vial of poison he was effectively able to topple his own empire, presumably ending the distribution of his signature crystal blue persuasion. Loose end, tied.
The rest of the episode served up some pretty satisfying, and untypically heartwarming scenes that managed to shift the tone, bringing 'Breaking Bad' to a happier place. We got Walt admitting that he stayed in the meth business "for him" right before giving his wife and daughter a proper goodbye.
The ending was as perfect as it possibly could have been. Walt took out Uncle Jack and his crew using his brain, saving Jesse in the process. Jesse strangled Todd with his shackles and Walt gave Jesse a shot at revenge giving Jesse an opportunity to finally say no to his former mentor, thereby freeing himself physically and metaphorically from his meth-based prison.
And then the screen went black.
Just kidding folks, this final scene was actually a satisfying one. With a smile on his face, and a triumphant upbeat song playing in the background, Walt takes a stroll through a meth lab one last time. Leaving us with the image of him laying there, dead, in the place where he believed he belonged.
All in all the epilogue of 'Breaking Bad' was fantastic, "Granite State" gave us every reason for us to believe that Walt was going to come back and raise absolute hell, setting us up for the dark ending we all anticipated. Instead, "Felina" delivered an unexpected jubilant ending leaving us with almost no loose ends.
We have witnessed TV history ladies and gents. 'Breaking Bad' gave us a satisfying ride, each season more hard hitting than the next. It has been one of the most unpredictable shows that I have ever watched and it actually ended on a good note. 'Breaking Bad' you will be missed and will not be forgotten.
Score: 10
