Review: Breaking Bad ‘Granite State’ – You Be The Judge

Despite being an obvious hint to where Walter White would end up in this episode (New Hampshire), ‘Granite State’ succinctly describes the situation most characters find themselves in. Whether it’s Jesse literally surrounded by concrete, Walt alone in the woods, or Skylar facing all the public pressure and scrutiny Walt ran away from, the characters of Breaking Bad find themselves against a wall they can’t push back against. Cancer, murder, psychotic neo-Nazis… whatever the case may be, there isn’t a “free” person left in this world: the cancer has spread to each and every corner of this universe, a stinking, raw infection that sits on the surface of ‘Granite State’, reminding us what exactly Walter’s “contribution” to the world ended up being.

Of course, there’s no way ‘Granite State’ would be able to compete with the mind and heart-fuck known as ‘Ozymandias’ – double that sentiment when considering that this is the penultimate episode of the show, trying to narrow the focus of a year-long narrative in a mere 50-something minutes (and you might as well triple it, given that the writers wrote the opening scene with no idea how Walt would get there). Knowing all this, it’s easy to forgive some of the temporal displacement going on in the episode, where we see brief glimpses of Jesse experiencing more personal horrors (Todd murders Andrea while he watches, gagged on in the car, after trying to escape) and hear in passing of Skylar’s new life, working at a taxi dispatch part-time, letting the neighbor watch Holly while she is gone.

While time passes, Walt sits alone in the cabin (surrounded by snow: certainly a device used to define the time of year, but also a very fitting landscape for Mr. White to be surrounded in, being a ghost and all), begging the man who smuggled him across the country (Robert Forster, in a nice cameo) $10,000 to hang out for two hours (he gets one, with an amateur execution of dispensing cancer medication, as well). Finally, Walter White is alone: he has reaped what he sowed, alone with his dwindling stack of money (thanks to the $50,000 price tag of a trip to Costco). He’s got no internet, no phone, no cable – and most importantly, no family.

Predictably, it’s an acting showcase for Cranston, even with the limited scope each scene is given: Walt’s desperation grows in a matter of a scene change, without a lot of focus on the time he actually spends alone. Is that what we wanted to watch? I suppose it isn’t: and it reinforces the idea that Walt has reached absolute zero, the place where the only thing left of his all-important legacy is some back-page news, and a flippant dismissal of his presence or contribution to the world by Gretchen, the woman who spurned him and his bitterness, taking the billion-dollar company known as Gray Matter with her.

Now, it takes a lot for the show to get to that moment: the deconstruction of Walter White must be complete, a glass man broken down into so many shards (probably tinged blue from the cold, for full effect). First, it’s his home; then, it’s his money and his life; then, it’s his family. He calls Walter Jr. to warn him that a package of money is coming, to keep them from being destitute thanks to the DEA and FBI jumping on every bank account and dollar they have. And Walt Jr. rejects him, asking him why he’s still alive.

It’s a fair question: a question we can also ask about Jesse, taken to his own darkest place when the woman he ran away from to protect, gets killed by dead-eyed Todd (“sorry, it’s nothing personal”). With the angel of death looming over his shoulder, Todd puts a bullet in the back of Andrea’s head, a chilling reminder to the scene earlier in the episode, when the “respect” Todd and his crew have for Walter keep them from killing Skylar and Holly after sneaking into their apartment early in the episode. Like Jesse’s scene trying to escape his cell, Skylar’s conversation with them reveals how well-written they’ve been for bad guys (even though we’ve learned nothing personal about any of them): those two scenes are the most frightening, terrifying moments in ‘Granite State’, enhanced by the presence of the violent brigade who are celebrating “early retirement” by torturing Jesse Pinkman and expanding their business with Lydia (said angel of death, who keeps trying to push Todd into killing Skylar).

As a whole, ‘Granite State’ is a little too jumbled narratively to be super effective at any one point: there are moments that hit, but they are among a sea of disconnected characters, all living out their own personal Hell, even after the evil of Heisenberg has left their town once and for all (at least we think, especially after he dons the hat and can’t bring himself to leave the camp, a nice cowardly move on his move), replaced by an evil exponentially worse than White’s, despite hints of the same naivety that led Walt to this point (Jack can’t turn down more money, even with a pot of gold in his back pocket). But in the end, what drives Walt to act is his son and his ex-girlfriend: two people who Walt has loved unconditionally at some point in his life, the representation of everything that could’ve been (Gretchen) and everything that was (Walt Jr., who only goes by Flynn now, though he kept the family name, unlike Skylar).

Both his son and ex dismiss him as an afterthought: a deadly insult to one of the biggest egos television has ever seen, reawakening the beast for one last time and promising to leave a rampage in his wake (unless he collapses dead with that massive gun in his hands, a perfectly realistic ending for this show). The package for the family is gone, and all that remains of Walter White’s ghost (Walter White died in the desert in ‘Ozymandias’, twice if you count the flashback scene), a half-finished drink and a crumpled tip for the bartender.

The end is here, folks: are you ready for the final hour of Breaking Bad?

Grade: A-

Other thoughts/observations:

– season five as a whole has suffered from not enough Jesse. I fear for him in the finale: there’s no way this ends well for Pinkman.

– Walter: “It’s over when (breaks out into coughing fit)”. Saul: “It’s over.”

– Marie can’t even go home: it’s been destroyed by some local hoodlums (or maybe Todd’s people paying a visit).

– Jack laughing at Jesse’s confession made me die a little inside.

– Saul: “Define good.”

-Lydia: “92 percent.” Even she can’t turn down that number (which is up to 96% by the second batch, a sign Jesse won’t live for much longer, even if Todd likes having a pet). Will Todd’s attraction to Lydia be his downfall, however?

– there are two copies of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium in Walter’s cabin. If you’re not watching that film this week, you’re missing out on an important connection between the two, which I’ll place below for the lazy types. Warning: there’s potentially a big spoiler inside the parentheses below.

(Spoiler: in the film, Mr. Magorium – who is dying – notes that one of the greatest pieces of literature – King Lear, a story about the importance of living a full life – ends with the simple line “He dies.” Anyone think Breaking Bad ends any other way?)

– Todd brings Jesse ice cream because he “did a good job”: gotta give the dog a treat sometimes.

– Skylar’s public defender sounds… green: “I’ve got socks older than him.”

– while playing cards, Walt’s handler pronounces: “A king. Two kings!”

– Walt’s become so thin, his wedding ring doesn’t fit – another hint this man may be on the edge of death (he can’t even lift his damn arms above his head anymore to make Jesus pose!)

– congratulations to Anna Gunn on her Emmy win tonight, by the way.

– Walt, pleading with his son: “It will all be for nothing!!!”

– hearing the Breaking Bad theme in its full glory as the episode closed was a nice touch to a slightly underwhelming episode.

– stop by next week for an extended review of the finale!