Monday, September 23, 2013

Can Jesse Pinkman build a better box? How will the greatest show on television end?

How will I feel when Breaking Bad finally ends next week? I know I'll be sad, but I think there'll also be some relief. These last few episodes have been hard to watch. Walt's whole family has been swept away by the outreaching effects of being a serial killing drug kingpin, and the one person that he loves the most, his son "Flynn" a.k.a. Walt Jr., absolutely hates him.

So it's been a long journey, but the series finale is now upon us. In fact, Bryan Cranston teased that fans should prepare themselves for a "holocaust" when he chatted with Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Emmy's (as a side note: why does the whole world now revolve around Ryan Seacrest?) I'm also happy that Anna Gunn (who plays Skylar White) won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress. She deserves it. Just watch her performance in last week's magnificently chilling "Ozymandias." I don't think I've ever talked about an episode so much. Why? There was a lot to say regarding the phone conversation. And well, it's shocking to think that Hank is dead. "You are the smartest guy I know," Hank said to Walter, "and you can't see that he made his mind up ten minutes ago." What a way to go.

So what will happen next week? Walt was all set to turn himself into the police when he saw his old pals at Gray Matter (the company he helped found) basically eliminating all of his significant contributions during an interview with Charlie Rose. And this made Walt very angry. When Walt argued with Gretchen in season one he said, "It was my hard work. My research. And you and Elliott made millions off it." Walter has always felt that his work was stolen from him and bitterly blames Elliot and Gretchen for his lot in life. And here's the thing: we never found out what made Walt suddenly leave Gray Matter Technologies and sell his stake in the company for peanuts.

I expect Gray Matter to come full circle in the series finale. Perhaps Elliot and Gretchen will get poisoned by the ricin? Or maybe, we will come to understand a deeper connection between Madrigal (the company which Lydia works for) and Gray Matter.

The title of the last episode is "Felina." This is an anagram for "Finale." It's also the feminine version of the word "feline" in Spanish. I think this is a nod to Lydia who has captured the eye of Todd. Jesse deserves some payback so killing Lydia in front of Todd would be awesome. However, Vince Gilligan in the show "Talking Bad" dropped one clue near the end. He said that "woodworking" had to do with the season finale.

Here's an interesting quote from earlier in the series. It comes from Jesse Pinkman, and it's about woodworking from the episode "kafkaesque":
"I took this vo-tech class in high school, woodworking. I took a lot of vo-tech classes, because it was just big jerk-off, but this one time I had this teacher by the name of... Mr... Mr. Pike. I guess he was like a Marine or something before he got old. He was hard hearing. My project for his class was to make this wooden box. You know, like a small, just like a... like a box, you know, to put stuff in. So I wanted to get the thing done as fast as possible. I figured I could cut classes for the rest of the semester and he couldn't flunk me as long as I, you know, made the thing. So I finished it in a couple days. And it looked pretty lame, but it worked. You know, for putting in or whatnot. So when I showed it to Mr. Pike for my grade, he looked at it and said: "Is that the best you can do?" At first I thought to myself "Hell yeah, bitch. Now give me a D and shut up so I can go blaze one with my boys." I don't know. Maybe it was the way he said it, but... it was like he wasn't exactly saying it sucked. He was just asking me honestly, "Is that all you got?" And for some reason, I thought to myself: "Yeah, man, I can do better." So I started from scratch. I made another, then another. And by the end of the semester, by like box number five, I had built this thing. You should have seen it. It was insane. I mean, I built it out of Peruvian walnut with inlaid zebrawood. It was fitted with pegas, no screws. I sanded it for days, until it was smooth as glass. Then I rubbed all the wood with tung oil so it was rich and dark. It even smelled good. You know, you put nose in it and breathed in, it was... it was perfect."
So the question in my mind is this: is cooking meth the best you can do Jesse Pinkman? No, I don't think it is. I think Jesse's going to use chemistry to destroy Todd and his family. He's going to create a "better box." Wouldn't that be interesting? He's at his best when his loved ones are threatened, and I think he's ready to die himself to make sure that the deed gets done.

A Reddit user pointed out, the word broken into three syllables spells out Fe-Li-Na, which equals Iron-Lithium-Sodium. The show at its most basic is about chemistry, and Walter White says in season one that chemistry is about "transformation." We know Mr. White is armed to the teeth now, so I think he'll go down in a blaze of glory against the people that he hates the most. Whatever happens, it's sure to be a bloodbath.

I'm thoroughly surprised at the saturation of Breaking Bad in the dialogue of Americans. Mad Money's Jim Cramer referred to it last week in his opening discussion on stocks. George R.R. Martin said that after watching the "Ozymandias" episode, "there's no one in Westeros that's as bad as Walter White. I need to fix that."

Do you have any predictions for the end of Breaking Bad? How will the greatest show on television end? I'm on pins and needles here and Sunday seems so very far away.

18 comments:

  1. I'm waiting to watch the series all at once like a great big movie so only skimmed this post, but I have high hopes for the ending. Mind you I also know that most series finales don't live up to their potential, so will be interesting to see how they do it.

    mood

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  2. Don't watch the show but you make me excited.

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  3. At times last night's episode felt like a prequel in that we had to explain the origin of Walt's glasses and crap like that. How is he regrowing hair while still taking chemotherapy? And when did Jesse become James Bond, able to use a paperclip to open handcuffs? (Or maybe MacGuyver is more appropriate.) It didn't really do a great job last night setting up what he's going to do. But like any Greek tragedy I suppose Walt's real problem is his hubris.

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  4. I'm behind two seasons, so i can't read your post.

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  5. I only read the first sentence or two. I'm hoping I can start the show soon. I'll try to avoid spoilers when I can.

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  6. It's been interesting that Walter has had this descent from being a teacher to becoming a killer. But his one constant is wanting to provide for his family. It will be interesting to see if he's been able to do so in the long run in his warped way.

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  7. Wait a minute! Hank died!! Darn it, I should no better than to read posts about series when I'm still a season behind!!

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  8. I just watched the opening episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW! How did you like that new one, Michael? And ATLANTIS starts this weekend at BBC UK :)

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  9. Gaaaaah... another cool Michael show I've never seen! I need to give you complete control over which shows I watch or don't watch. That way I can participate in all the cool conversations. :)

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  10. I'm hoping Breaking Bad becomes available thru "On Demand" so I can see what all the fuss is about.

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  11. I had to only scan your post today because it'd be a spoiler and I STILL haven't watched Breaking Bad. I'm kicking myself because by all accounts it really is a superb series, so now I've got to go way back to the beginning and play catch up.

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  12. I have discovered Netflix and I'm in trouble because now I can begin all these shows you recommend (Like BB) from the beginning. OH NO!!

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  13. It will go in a direction you don't expect. Some will love it. Some will complain bitterly. But it will fit in a weird sort of way.

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  14. Would you believe I haven't seen this show yet? Well, I actually just started so I skim over some of your paragraphs. ;)

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  15. I tried watching it a few times, and I always end up turning it off. It's like one horrific thing after another...which isn't something I like. Yet I know how popular this show is. See how out of touch I am?

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  16. I've only watched a few episodes. Sometime maybe I'll try to watch from the beginning on netflix or something.

    Have a good week Mike.

    ......dhole

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