Review: Breaking Bad ‘Say My Name’ – You’re Goddamn Right

During ‘Fifty One’, Walter White sat in Saul’s dim office with his Heisenberg hat in his lap. He was examining it, staring at this tiny little thread poking out of the corner. But who worries about a loose thread, right? It’s just one, and with a simple snip, it’s gone with nary of a memory. And that’s kind of how Walt’s looked at many of his problems this season: need to destroy some evidence, grab a massive magnet. Run out of methylmine, rip a shitload off a big truck. Quick solutions to obvious problems – but anyone can cut off the loose threads they see. Problem is, cutting a loose thread will only bring more, until a beautiful piece of fabric is nothing but shreds and tatters on the floor.

So far this season, Breaking Bad‘s spent a lot of time on the small things: episodes have centered around single events, be it a train heist, magnet adventure, or Mike trying to rein in Lydia. And to a degree, the pacing of ‘Say My Name’ throws a massive wrench into the slow build of the season, throwing a flurry of major developments into 42 minutes of anxiety-inducing drama. The amount of plot crammed in leaves some of the scenes feeling a little bit rushed, and many of the connective threads in the main plot arc feeling half-baked and contrived.

‘Say My Name’ is constructed around Mike and his death at the end of the episode, and for this, other pieces of the plot need to move. Walter needs to meet the new distributor for his network, who he emasculates in front of his own security guards and reminds him that yes, he killed Gus Fring (and is probably batshit crazy), so he’s going to be the one giving percentages and handing out product. He gets Mike his five million, which means Mike can finally ride off into the sunset, reading his newspapers and filling his granddaughter’s safety deposit box until he dies.

Before he can do that however, he’s got to dump his arsenal and drop the surveillance equipment for Hank’s office. Without that, he can’t hear when his chubby lawyer gets busted by Mr. Not In The Field, and thus only has a ten second heads up from Walt when the police are swooping in on him. All these convenient moments and shortcuts lead us to the end: Mike needs his money and passports to get the hell out of dodge, and the only person he trusts to get them is Saul.

But Saul’s probably being watched by the police, and when Jesse is all too eager to step up and help Mike, Walt steps in. Now, to get to this point, the show has to skip a devastatingly large number of plot points: Jesse has to walk away from Walt (which he does, telling him to pay him or not, whatever works for him), Walt’s got to be in Hank’s office to see the poster and hear Gomez talk about it, Hank’s got to be on the last rope of his case for the fourteenth time… and then when Walt insists on helping Mike, Jesse (who’s suddenly shown the ability to think on his feet this season) has to step back without question and let a sociopath go “help” a man he’s been feuding with since season three.

And because we have to go through all those hoops to get to Walt and Mike in the woods, their conversation doesn’t feel as strong as it should. Mike makes a great point: when Gus was in charge and Walt wasn’t being a prick in everyone’s side, they had a good thing. Feds in Fring’s pocket, a super lab, and all the distribution one could want. But his wide-eyed ignorance and insane desire to claim the fortune and power he’s clamored over for twenty years (which he talked about at length with Jesse talk with last week) have driven him mad, and pushed everyone and everything he ever wanted and loved far, far away.

What does a man like that do? Some get depressed, others embrace the anger they feel for those they feel slighted by; Walter White is definitely eating off of both those plates. He doesn’t just kill Mike because he wouldn’t give him the information – he killed him because he was right. More importantly, he kills him because he’s driving a wedge between himself and Jesse, the one relationship Walt’s desperate to save in his life. Screw his wife – he wants the person who can make him the most amount of money, no matter how many delusions he’s got to have to forget all the killing he’s put Jesse through. Like Walt says: “It’s tragic, but what am I supposed to do, just lay down and die?”

Killing Mike off makes sense for the show, but with the speed in which the event was led up to was a bit alarming. Sure, the show’s been a little heavy on talking about the money for Gus’s crew and Mike’s granddaughter, but was one episode enough to take Mike down from hardened, calculating mastermind to rickety, retired old man whose instincts fail him at the most opportune moment? I’m not sure of that, especially when it involves every other character essentially laying back so Walt can take him out.

I have other thoughts on what happened in ‘Say My Name’ (which will be below), but it was pretty clear early on that tonight’s episode was his farewell (I even tweeted this thought during the episode), and for a man as badass as him, it was a gentle death, and handled with great care visually. Unfortunately, with all the coincidences it had to rely on to get to its ending point, it felt a little less powerful than it should.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

– Todd was taking notes on everything Walt was teaching him. Never a good thing in this business. Plus, did anyone catch Walt’s face when he made a comment about needing a few more cooks before he knew it? Walter forgets his chemistry is what keeps him alive.

– Best shot of the episode: Walt walks into the dark garage, and the door closes on the background image of Mike and Jesse talking in the light. Walt’s going to a dark place, and there’s no doubt that he’s doing it alone.

– The horror on Walt’s face when he realized that Lydia had the list of people in prison was terrific. As much posing as a drug kingpin and mastermind Walt’s done this season, he’s still just a scared chemistry teacher when shit hits the fan. Plus, it brought about Mike’s last line (and one of his best): “Just shut the fuck up and let me die in peace.”

– That shot of the revolver in Mike’s bag and the look on Walt’s face also made things very obvious as to where they were headed.

– There are times where Walt’s manipulative arguments rest on some very weak points, and tonight’s conversation with Jesse was one of them. For the first time though, Jesse actually say through it – but there he was again at the end, in the office with Saul. It appears the only thing to get oneself away from Walter White is death.

– Skylar and Jesse exchange multiple looks: more to follow in this in coming weeks, I’d assume. Also note the shot of Skylar pausing in the darkness of the car wash hallway to look back at Jesse; there are many evils tempting poor ol’ Pinkman.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments below, and join me next week while I live tweet the season finale. Just follow me @ProcessedMedia and join in the conversation!