Breaking Bad: Fire and Ice.
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| Ursula Coyote/AMC |
Let's hug it out, bitch. Whether or not using an Entourage reference is morally acceptable, sadly neither Jesse nor Walt uttered this phrase...as much as I wanted them to. As Breaking Bad gets closer and closer to its coda, its final hours are proving to be its finest and the tension has never been higher.
We open with Todd leaving a voice-mail for Walt's explaining complications with Declan and a change in management that has since been "worked out". Todd goes onto to tell his Uncle Jack and Kenny how the Heisenberg Gang pulled off the greatest train robbery in history. No great secret goes untold, right?
"You Killed Me, Marie"---The entire episode, appropriately titled "Confessions", was about secrets unfolding. Hank's known for a few episodes now that Walt is the infamous Heisenberg, but last night left no doubt that Heisenberg killed Walt along time ago. Breaking Bad continues to depict the most uncomfortable of restaurant gatherings and last night was no exception. It shouldn't have been any surprise that Walt blackmails Hank with a semi-feaux confession that turns the table and pins Hank as the mastermind behind the Heisenberg Empire. But oddly enough it was.
Given the flash-forwards, we know Walt's on the lam so by no means was it foolish to assume that Walt hands over a confession (which wasn't a copy of Yeezus) and skips town. A seemigly win-win siutation for everyone. But that just isn't Heisenberg. In his confession tape, Walt still admits playing a role in the operation, but like he's done so many times before, brilliantly and convincingly persuades a would-be audience that he's the true victim. Walt's threat initially seems manageable, until Marie delivers the "nail in the coffin" and admits to Hank that it was funding from the Heisenberg Empire that paid for his recovery. It seems that Hank's Lone-Wolf McQuade efforts, as Marie brilliantly puts it, were bested by a smarter Lone-Wolf.
AHH MORE SECRETS. The loyalty of Jesse Pinkman has always baffled me, and for about 80% of the episode it still did. For the entirety of the series, Jesse Pinkman has always remained loyal to Walt. Jesse is even offered immunity from Hank in exchange for Walt,... which he declines. Right after their desert bro hug, Walt "suggests" to Jesse that he should "probably" leave town and start a new life assisted by Saul's mystery friend. But after a year of driving himself crazy and letting Walt walk all over him, Jesse does what even some viewers are afraid to do, and that's telling Walt to cut the shit. He's still loyal to his Mr. White, but at this point, after all they've been through, he just needs a little honesty. (Note to self...start working on Breaking Bad inspired R&B album with that as the first track). It shouldn't be any secret to the viewer that Jesse's always known deep down that Mike isn't in Belize and that Walt brought Mike to the desert and killed him. Even after their "hug it out" moment, Jesse is no longer buying the act. His tears of rage and demand for honesty has been a long time coming, but he knows leaving town, regardless of Walt's feelings for him, is the best thing he can do.
ALASKA BITCH. They say moving's the most stressful thing one can do in there life, so given Jesse's about to leave everything and everyone he's ever known behind in addition to being a wanted man always having to look over his shoulder...yeah it'd say that takes the cake. So recent graduates, I'm sorry you're not digging rainy Seattle, the killer humidity of Houston, or the loneliness of the Midwest....it could be much worse. It's also no surprise that Jesse would want to move somewhere as random as Alaska. I wish he would've taken Saul's advice about Florida. I couldn't help but think of The Town and Jesse moving to Tangerine, Florida and being neighboors with Doug McCray.
Jesse Pinkman-Sup bitch? Why you here?
Doug McCray: Runnin' from mah fahkin' criminal past. How'z bout you?
Jesse Pinkman: Sick accent yo! I'm doing the same. Wanna be friends?
That's a brilliant spin-off buddy show right there. But it doesn't look like that's happening for a few reasons. First and foremost, Jesse doesn't go away. As Saul's helping him pack up his money, Jesse sparks up a joint, much to Saul's displeasure. Saul tells Jesse that he needs to leave that stuff behind, so his mysterious friend will take Jesse's move seriously. Jesse, being who he is, keeps the bag of pot in his jacket. But then, like Hank's epiphany on the toilet, Jesse had his own last night. As he waits by the highway to start his new life, Jesse notices that Huell had lifted his back of pot from his jacket thus confirming his suspicions about Walt's hand in poisoning Brock. I understand a lot of the complaints about this either not making enough sense, or not being obvious enough to fully convince Jesse of Walt's lies. However, just like he knew deep down that Walt killed Mike, Jesse also knew deep down that Walt poisoned Brock and manipulated him into thinking that it was just Gus trying to get them to turn on each other. It's the one piece of evidence he needed to confirm what little doubt he had. Once again, "secrets" are spilled.
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The epic, heart-pounding climax of last night's episode proved the polarity of Walt and Jesse. They're fire and ice. Once Jesse puts Ricin-Gate together, he returns to Saul's office and gives him a beating that put goosebumps on Tyler Durden. After an armed Jesse leaves Saul's office, Saul informs Walt of the matter. Not having such an "A-1 Day", Walt digs out the icy pistol he hid in the Coke machine. Simultaneously, Jesse goes to Walt's house and begins to pour gasoline throughout the White household, obviously implying he wants to go full David Byrne and burn down the house. Even though it cuts mid-gasoline pour, we know that, for whatever reason, unbeknownst to us, the house doesn't burn down. Thank you flash-forwards. So is it Jesse who vandalizes his house and tags "HEISENBERG" on the wall? Who knows. It wouldn't surprise me that Jesse loves to tag.
But at the end of the day, the fire and ice metaphor may be very important in determining the outcome of the series. It's an old idea, but it was made famous by Robert Frost's 1929 poem, "Fire and Ice" and even more recently by George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the series which Games of Thrones is based on. They all don't match up perfectly, but at the end of the day all three are about opposing forces and their unique ability to destroy each other. We've seen the grim effects resulting from the coldness of Heisenberg, and every attempt to melt his empire has been thwarted. At the end of the day, maybe it's only the fire and rage from Jesse that can destroy the ice monster.
It's becoming more and more clear, that only one will survive. The question is...will it be fire or ice?
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