Maybe last week’s episode was designed to leave us feeling off-kilter and uneasy, and it went just a bit too far. Or maybe in its effort to ask more questions than it answered, it came off as jumbled and slightly directionless. Whatever the case may be, when viewed as the first act of this wholly satisfying finale, it suddenly seems a lot more coherent. Either that, or I was just so blown away by “Face Off” (literal title, anyone?) that I’ve completely forgotten why I had even the tiniest nit-picks regarding its predecessor.
After the awesomely frustrating cliffhanger that ushered out Season 3 – which I respected as a storytelling device probably more than I relished as a viewer who would then have to wait a year for closure – I was really hoping there would be more finality (albeit temporary) to this season’s closing chapter. To put it in plainer terms, as much as I didn’t want to see Gustavo Fring go, I wanted to see him die.
Gus’s death has been presented as an inevitability since the beginning of the season, so it’s not like I thought they weren’t going to kill him off, but this show can throw a mean curveball, so I often fall prey to that back-of-the-brain voice reminding me that things rarely go the way they’re supposed to in the world of Breaking Bad. Still, it would have been a shock if Gus lived to see the closing credits on this one, so it wasn’t really a matter of if he was going to die, but how.
Of course, in my feeble mind, I pictured an old-fashioned showdown that pitted Walt and Jesse against Gus in a very direct – like, in the same room – sort of way. The actual scene was much smarter, equally satisfying, and one of those moments that people will be talking about within Breaking Bad circles for a long time to come. Gus Fring needed and deserved a huge, almost comic-book-like death, and he got it. And the best part about it was we didn’t really know how it was going to happen until he did.
So, yes, this episode will be remembered for that insanely grisly, beautifully brutal scene, but the rest of it was on par with some of the series’ best work as well. It moved quickly, somehow managed to inject humor into a terrifyingly tense set of circumstances (Walt exiting Saul’s office through the broken door was both believable and completely hilarious), and it left us with the impression that, as twisted as it is if you really stop to think about it, the good guys won.
That’s a relative term at this point, obviously, and as that final shot of the flowers in the White’s backyard showed us (a little too explicitly, in my opinion), Walt’s transformation to full-on diabolical drug-lord guy is complete. He’s risking the lives of children to save himself. He’s definitely no longer the “good guy” in the traditional sense, as much as I wanted him to be for some reason. It’s a logical advancement, and it was hammered home by both his putting of his old-lady neighbor in harm’s way and the almost nonchalant method in which he disposed of Gus’s henchmen at the lab.
Yet I still root for Walt, and when he told Skyler that he had “won” during their phone exchange, I felt giddy for his victory. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but this is why I love this show: Walt may no longer be a character I can even remotely identify with, but I still pull for him to come out on top. And after a season in which he was both frustrating and highly unlikeable at times, it was strangely reassuring to share that triumph with him.
What a finish. So much to discuss.
Walt and Jesse in the hospital. Along with Walt’s entry/exit of Saul’s office, the sight of his baby-bag-concealed homemade bomb attaching itself to the doors of the elevator was another unexpectedly comedic moment. Walt and Jesse’s desperate exchange brought things right back to reality, though, and Pinkman’s barely suppressed panic was chilling. And then the cops showed up.
Jesse’s interrogation. First off, those two cops were fantastic, but I was praying for Jesse to lawyer up so Saul would come to his aid. Is there anything better than watching Goodman kick the police out a room? Speaking of Saul, where does this whole turn of events leave him? I’m telling myself we haven’t seen the last of him, but his office was looking pretty gutted.
Hector. The elder Salamanca’s thirst for revenge is all that was keeping him alive, apparently. The scenes in which he was spelling out words for the nurse using the clear letter board were both excruciating and tension-building, and his visit to the DEA not only worked as part of Walt’s diabolical plan, but also gave the old man one last chance to tell the fuzz where they could stick it. I never would have guessed that Tio would have played such an integral part in Fring’s demise, but I thought it totally worked. Though I’m sad to see him go.
Marie’s panic. You knew her vehement protest of Hank’s trip to the DEA office was going to lead to a quick-cut of him being there, but that made it no less enjoyable.
Tyrus. Even his clean sweep of Tio’s room couldn’t account for something being added to the mix after the fact. And how great was that little old lady in the window? After Tryus getting the best of Walt for the better part of the season, I’m sure Walt didn’t have too many reservations about him being a necessary casualty.
The bomb. I thought that blood-curdling scream would be our last look at Gustavo Fring, and I’m sure you were as shocked as I was when he calmly strolled out of the room, adjusting his tie and pulling himself together. As completely improbable and unrealistic as it was (though the special effects were incredible), it was a certifiably huge way for the man to make his exit, and I loved it.
Burning the lab. The end of an era. I’m not sure it’s as simple as just walking away from that huge chemical fire, but for the time being, it worked. But, hey, didn’t Gus leave his laptop sitting on his desk – the one with all the camera feeds on it? Eh, it’s too early to start speculation like that.
Walt did it. Reader JustJen made a comment on last week’s post saying she thought Walt was the one responsible for Brock’s poisoning, along with some info about the plant that his gun spun to in that episode. Her point made complete sense, and it got me thinking that she was probably right. She was. Well played, Jen! As I said before, I didn’t want to think that Walt had sunk that low, but boom: there he was, giving poison to a kid. Yowsa.
As to how he actually did it, we may never know. But that’s something we can look forward to possibly being addressed in the next season. (Along with a few other loose ends that I don’t have the energy to even think about right now.)
I just hope Mike comes back.
Thanks for following along with me during this fantastic season! I had a fun time writing these up, and I really appreciated your comments.
Also: The Onion’s AV Club got Vince Gilligan to break down each episode of Season 4 for them. Check out the first entry here.
