Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
All empires fall. That's the lesson of the poem "Ozymandias", a poem Bryan Cranston used to tease for Breaking Bad season 5 part 2. And boy, have things crumbled.
Ozymandias, the episode, begins with a strange flashback-- Walter and Jesse cooking, way back when they were in the RV. It's unclear exactly when this cook took place; Walt lies on the phone to an unsuspecting Skyler, who is naive to his having quit. There are no bullet holes in the RV. And, to be honest, Walt and Jesse are showing their age, even if their hair is more or less what it was int he early episodes. It's possible it's not meant to be a ;literal flashback, but a corrupted memory of Walter's, where he remembers people half as they are and half as they were. Who knows. The RV, Walt and Jesse disappear, replaced by the trucks and cars in the shootout confrontation from last week's episode.
Cue the Breaking Bad intro.
We find ourselves at the end of the shootout now, and Hank has been hit in the leg. Gomez, it turns out, didn't live to see this episode-- he's been shot dead. His shotgun is nearby, and Hank begins crawling towards it, but it is entirely in vain. Uncle Jack stops him, and prepares to shoot him. Walt objects, of course. He lets Jack know that Hank is his brother-in-law, that he is family, and that he will even pay him an immense amount of money just to not kill him. But no, no such luck. Hank is defiant to the end, correctly reading that Uncle Jack decided to kill him ten minutes ago; Jack is a man who is long past his dilemmas in the basement, deciding whether or not to kill Crazy-8. So is Walt, for that matter, but Walt thinks he can talk his way out of almost any situation. He failed, and he's truly distraught by Hank's dramatic death. Meanwhile, Jesse has gone missing-- but not for long. He is hiding under Walt's car, somehow evading being seen right away.
Jack, after having killed Hank, is naturally still interested in digging up the money, so he does this pretty quickly with his gang of Aryan thugs. They even brought a shovel, as luck would have it. Due to Todd's respect for Walt, and the fact that they want to end things there, they decide to leave Walt one barrel-- something around 11 million dollars, which is enough, right? This is going to make them "square" for the time being-- Walt is ordered to get in the car and drive away. Before he does, he points out Jesse, and reminds them that they never carried out the hit. Todd suggests they take Jesse back with them for all MANNER of unpleasantness and torture, to find out what exactly he told the DEA. Walt consents, but before Jesse can be carted off, he looks at him almost sympathetically. Then he tells him, stone cold, that he watched Jane die, and chose not to save her, even though he could have. Stone fucking cold, man.
In what's clearly a little bit further in the future (and after some beatings and torture, since Jesse let them know everything he had) Jesse is dragged out of the pit he was being kept in. He is unshackled but tied to a makeshift leash that follows a tract on the ceiling in a lab-- he's going to be cooking again, similar to how we was cooking for Gus Fring at the end of that venture.
Walter Jr. has been informed about the crimes of Walter White through the actions of a smug yet sympathizing Marie. Marie demands Skyler erase all tapes that she has of Walt's "confession" framing Hank; she then forces Skyler to tell Walter Jr. everything. He, of course, is upset with everybody. MArie is in the position to do this because, of course, last she knew, Walt was in handcuffs and being taken into custody.
But no, Hank's dead. Shot by the Aryans. We know this, and so it's all the more tragic to watch.
Walt, on his drive home, runs out of gas. This would be a sillier plot point until it's revealed that in the blaze of gunfire, a bullet hit the gas tank, which is now leaking. It didn't explode, it just is leaking; good work, Breaking Bad, the Mythbusters will be happier for a sequel episode. So opening the trunk, Walt realizes he needs to roll the barrel through the desert, where he finally meets a Native American from whom he can buy a truck that's not really for sale. After all, if you can't do that with a barrel full of money, what's the point of having one at all?
At the behest of Marie, Skyler and Walter Jr. drive home, to find a strange car parked there; it's Walt. Walt is packing for them, telling them that they need to get the hell out of town. With everything on the table and Walt's last known whereabouts being in Hank's custody, it's quickly assumed that Hank was murdered by Walt. Walt objects, and asks that they simply, just now, trust him. Skyler grabs a knife, which is a true Chekov knife after being shown in the flashback from the beginning of the episode next to the phone. She tells Walt to get the hell out.
Walt thinks this is a bluff, until she cuts his hand. Then it gets a bit violent, and before we know it they're tumbling in a life-or death fight, until Walter Jr. interjects, protecting his mother and calling the police-- telling them it was WALT who attacked with the knife and that he's gone crazy and may have killed someone. Yikes.
'Walt is angry and defeated-- but not entirely. He grabs Holly before Skyler can realize what he's done, and he drives off with her in the car. Skyler calls the police, since this is now a kidnapping situation. Holly misses her mommy-- blurting out the words "mamma" to break Walt's heart. Walt calls Skyler, and probably knowing that police are there, is absurdly intimidating and threatens to kill her like he killed Hank-- all a show, but probably to keep them safe from legal problems he's caused them all. Eventually Walt decides to sneak into a fire station, star an alarm light and reveal his baby, tucked worriedly in a new car seat. Walt then is shown getting in the van of the mysterious vacuum guy, changing his identity as we knew he would.
Closing Thoughts:
1. Will we EVER see the guy driving that pick-up van, for all the times someone has almost/actually "disappeared" themselves?
2. We knew Hank was toast after he called Marie. Never celebrate too early. But seriously... let's all pour some Schraderbrau on the curb. Respect.
3. Todd is an interesting guy. "I'm sorry about your loss." he says to Walt, after having just orchestrated the execution. Man, don't get in Todd's way. He's not brilliant, he's even courteous, but he's numb to sympathy when you get in his way. He's come a long way from a "B&E" guy at Vamonos Pest.
4. Gomez, we hardly knew thee. But we love you, buddy.
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