WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.919 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're not 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.099 just watching a television episode. We are witnessing 00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:09.599 an excavation. Oh, absolutely. We're strapping 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:11.859 in to look at the beginning of the end for what 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:15.519 is arguably the most culturally significant drama 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.140 of the last 20 years. We are talking about Breaking 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.920 Bad. And specifically, we are dissecting the 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:23.679 season five premiere, the episode titled Live 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.679 Free or Die. It is a massive episode. This is 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:30.280 the pivot point. It is the moment the show shifts 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.939 its entire gravitational pull, really. We've 00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:35.859 spent four years watching Walter White try to 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:39.259 survive the chaos of the drug trade, specifically, 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:42.039 you know, surviving the looming threat of Gus 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:44.799 Fring. The chicken man. Right, exactly. And now 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.159 we are entering a totally new era. The student 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.460 has killed the master. The king is dead. Long 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:52.439 live the king. Precisely. And our mission today, 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:55.420 for you, the listener, is to unpack exactly how 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.719 this single episode sets up the final tragedy 00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:59.759 of the series. We are moving from the Gus Fring 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.439 era straight into a Walter White empire. And 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:04.719 we have a stack of notes here that are just, 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.299 they're fascinating. We're gonna cover the plot 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:10.579 mechanics, which include one of the craziest 00:01:10.579 --> 00:01:13.019 heists in the show's history. The magnet. The 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:17.019 giant magnet, yes. But we also have deep dives 00:01:17.019 --> 00:01:20.560 into... the production drama because, you know, 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:22.760 this season almost didn't happen the way we know 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:25.019 it. I saw that in the notes. There were some 00:01:25.019 --> 00:01:28.920 really serious boardroom battles behind the scenes 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:32.099 regarding the episode count and the budget. We 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:34.519 will definitely get to that. We also have the 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:36.299 critical reception from the time, which really 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:38.939 helps contextualize just how big this was when 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:41.459 it aired back in 2012. But before we get into 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:43.939 the magnets and the machine guns and the boardroom 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:45.500 politics, we really have to start with the title 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.560 itself, Live Free or Die. It's punchy. Yeah. 00:01:48.739 --> 00:01:50.900 It sounds like an action movie tagline. It does, 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:53.319 but it's actually very specific geography. Yeah. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:55.340 Live Free or Die is the official state motto 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:57.879 of New Hampshire. Oh, right. And that isn't just 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.980 a cool sounding phrase. It thematically frames 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:03.519 the struggle of this entire final season. It 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.319 is the choice Walt is ultimately left with. And 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.840 the show doesn't wait to hit you with it. It's 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.539 right there in the opening sequence. So let's 00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:11.780 get into it. Section one, the flash forward. 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:14.919 Because we hit play on the season five premiere 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:17.860 and we aren't in the meth lab, we aren't at the 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:20.840 White House in Albuquerque. We are in a Denny's. 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:25.050 A Denny's. And the atmosphere is all wrong. immediately. 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:28.349 It feels totally off. It's quiet. It's drab. 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:30.729 The source material points out the date specifically. 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:33.889 We see Walt arranging his bacon into the number 00:02:33.889 --> 00:02:37.349 52, which is a huge signal for the audience. 00:02:37.629 --> 00:02:40.289 The show started on his 50th birthday. Seasons 00:02:40.289 --> 00:02:42.270 one through four happened over the course of 00:02:42.270 --> 00:02:45.389 one extremely intense year. Right. So now suddenly 00:02:45.389 --> 00:02:47.650 we are jump cutting another full year into the 00:02:47.650 --> 00:02:49.969 future. Exactly. We are looking at a man who 00:02:49.969 --> 00:02:52.789 has lived another year of this crazy life. But 00:02:52.789 --> 00:02:55.830 look at him. The notes describe him as disheveled. 00:02:56.229 --> 00:02:58.610 He has a full head of hair, which is shocking 00:02:58.610 --> 00:03:00.930 after years of the bald Heisenberg look. Yeah, 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:03.150 the hair changes everything. He has a thick, 00:03:03.770 --> 00:03:07.370 unkempt beard, giant nerdy glasses. He doesn't 00:03:07.370 --> 00:03:09.330 look like the Heisenberg who just defeated Gus 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.349 Fring. He looks like a man on the run. And he's 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:14.710 celebrating alone. That is the part that got 00:03:14.710 --> 00:03:18.849 me. No Skyler, no Jesse, no Junior, just a waitress 00:03:18.849 --> 00:03:21.289 and a plate of bacon. That isolation is key. 00:03:21.689 --> 00:03:24.550 And he's using a fake name. The waitress asks 00:03:24.550 --> 00:03:27.370 for his ID for the free birthday meal, and he 00:03:27.370 --> 00:03:30.069 produces a New Hampshire driver's license. There 00:03:30.069 --> 00:03:31.990 is the New Hampshire connection. Right there. 00:03:32.289 --> 00:03:34.030 And later in this sequence, we see a vehicle 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:36.389 with New Hampshire plates. And right there on 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:38.710 the metal stamped into the license plate is, 00:03:38.770 --> 00:03:42.090 live free or die. Wow. It implies he has been 00:03:42.090 --> 00:03:44.569 hiding out there. He has escaped Albuquerque. 00:03:44.830 --> 00:03:48.409 He is free in the literal sense. But looking 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:50.909 at him, coughing, taking pills in the bathroom, 00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:53.469 constantly looking over his shoulder, You have 00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:55.370 to ask yourself, is he really free? He's back 00:03:55.370 --> 00:03:57.449 in town for business, though. He isn't just there 00:03:57.449 --> 00:03:59.389 for the Grand Slime breakfast. He goes out to 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:02.009 the parking lot and meets a guy. He meets Lawson, 00:04:02.289 --> 00:04:04.270 played by the incredible character actor Jim 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:08.069 Beaver. I love Jim Beaver. He brings such a gravitas 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:11.250 to everything he's in. He's great. And this meeting 00:04:11.250 --> 00:04:14.629 is an illegal arms deal. But Walt isn't buying 00:04:14.629 --> 00:04:17.310 a snub -nosed revolver for protection. He isn't 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:19.810 buying a pistol to put under his pillow. He pops 00:04:19.810 --> 00:04:22.750 the trunk of the car. And inside is an M60 machine 00:04:22.750 --> 00:04:25.670 gun. A literal weapon of war. This is a massive 00:04:25.670 --> 00:04:28.209 escalation in the hardware of the show. The notes 00:04:28.209 --> 00:04:31.629 emphasize this heavily. An M60 isn't for a robbery. 00:04:32.230 --> 00:04:35.009 It isn't for a hit on one guy. It is for a war. 00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:38.329 It is for mowing down an army. It raises so many 00:04:38.329 --> 00:04:40.610 questions for you as the viewer. Who is he fighting? 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:43.730 Why does he need that much firepower? Is he planning 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:47.050 to storm a fortress? The analysis in our documents 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:49.730 points out that this is a classic flash -forward 00:04:49.730 --> 00:04:52.610 narrative device. It foreshadows the final episode, 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:55.149 Felina, and it creates a burning mystery. We 00:04:55.149 --> 00:04:56.889 just saw Walt win at the end of season four. 00:04:56.930 --> 00:04:59.209 He is the conqueror. He blew up his enemy. Yeah. 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:02.189 So how do we get from I -1 to this broken, lonely 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:05.329 man in a Denny's blinding? Buy your machine gun 00:05:05.329 --> 00:05:07.740 to fight a war we don't understand yet. It completely 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:09.800 changes how you watch the rest of the episode. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.639 Because no matter how arrogant Walt gets in the 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:15.060 present timeline, and oh boy does he get arrogant, 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:18.379 we know this is where he ends up. It hangs over 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:20.860 the episode like a dark cloud. It's the Sword 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:23.579 of Damocles. You know the tragedy's coming, you 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:25.819 just don't know the route yet. The writers are 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:27.879 showing us the destination to color the journey. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.730 So let's snap back to the present. The flash 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:33.170 forward ends, the title card hits, and we are 00:05:33.170 --> 00:05:35.509 back in the immediate aftermath of the season 00:05:35.509 --> 00:05:38.449 four finale. Section two, clean up on aisle four. 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:42.110 Right. The Gus Fring is dead timeline. Walt returns 00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:44.810 home. And this is where the domestic horror really 00:05:44.810 --> 00:05:47.629 sets in. You would think, logically, the threat 00:05:47.629 --> 00:05:50.009 is gone. Gus is gone. They should be popping 00:05:50.009 --> 00:05:52.529 champagne. Or at least breathing a sigh of relief. 00:05:52.790 --> 00:05:55.509 But Skyler isn't popping anything. No. Skylar 00:05:55.509 --> 00:05:58.449 White is terrified. The notes describe her reaction 00:05:58.449 --> 00:06:01.170 vividly. Walt comes in, maybe expecting a hero's 00:06:01.170 --> 00:06:02.970 welcome or at least relief that they survived, 00:06:03.250 --> 00:06:05.490 but she is paralyzed. There is that scene in 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:07.529 the bedroom. He tries to talk to her, just a 00:06:07.529 --> 00:06:09.470 normal conversation, and she barely responds. 00:06:09.709 --> 00:06:13.269 She explicitly tells him, I am scared of you. 00:06:13.790 --> 00:06:16.329 Not scared for you, scared of you. That preposition 00:06:16.329 --> 00:06:18.949 shift is everything. It is the thesis statement 00:06:18.949 --> 00:06:22.170 of her character arc for this season. She realizes 00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:25.040 that the monster wasn't Gus Fring. The monster 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.360 is sleeping in her bed. She knows he killed Gus. 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:31.079 She suspects he's behind the bomb at the nursing 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:34.439 home. She knows he is capable of mass violence. 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:37.519 But Walt. Walt is too busy to process her feelings. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.279 He brushes it off because he has a sudden oh 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:43.519 god moment. The loose end. The realization hits 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.560 him like a freight train. The super lab. The 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:49.839 lab. He just burned down with Jessie. Yes. But 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:51.819 you remember something crucial about Gus Fring. 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:55.079 Gus was control freak. Gus watched everything. 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:56.819 The cameras. There were surveillance cameras 00:06:56.819 --> 00:06:59.620 in the lab. And while the lab burned, the footage 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.879 wasn't stored in the lab. It was sent remotely. 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:04.360 To a laptop. A laptop that was in Gus Fring's 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:06.740 office. And where is that laptop now? Well, the 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:08.560 police are swarming everything connected to Gus. 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.360 The notes tell us the laptop has been seized 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.860 as evidence. It's sitting inside the Albuquerque 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:15.879 Police Department evidence locker. This is a 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.959 disaster. If the police decrypt that hard drive, 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:21.800 they have high -definition video of Walter White 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.519 and Jesse Pinkman cooking meth for months. It's 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:27.660 game over. Instant life sentence. Okay. Maybe 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:29.399 the death penalty, depending on what else they 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:31.860 find on there. There is no lawyer in the world 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:34.800 who can talk you out of video evidence of you 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.519 manufacturing schedule -I narcotics. So they 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:40.699 need to get it back or destroy it? Which brings 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:44.339 us to section three, the magnet caper. They can't 00:07:44.339 --> 00:07:46.959 do it alone. They need the third leg of the tripod. 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:50.040 They need Mike. Mike Ermentrop. The clean -up 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:52.500 guy. The professional. But Mike isn't exactly 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:54.620 happy to see them. That's an understatement. 00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:56.860 Remember, Mike was shot in Mexico during the 00:07:56.860 --> 00:07:59.060 salute episode. He has been recovering. He drives 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:01.339 back to New Mexico, hears Gus is dead, and he 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:03.660 knows exactly who did it. He finds Walt and Jesse 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:06.300 in the desert, and he puts a gun to Walt's head. 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.879 He is ready to execute Walt right there. In Mike's 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:11.939 eyes, Walt is a chaotic amateur who just blew 00:08:11.939 --> 00:08:14.439 up the best job they ever had. Mike liked the 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:16.519 order of Gus's operation. It was safe. It was 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.660 profitable. Wart is entropy. Walt is chaos. You 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:22.740 are a time bomb. Tick, tick, tick. Exactly. But 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:26.540 Jesse, Jesse steps in between them, and they 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:28.699 manage to convince Mike that they have a mutual 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:31.879 problem. The laptop? If Walt goes down, Mike 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:34.039 is on that camera too. Mike's guys are on that 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:37.879 camera. Everyone falls. So they form this uneasy 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:41.500 alliance. And they start brainstorming. I love 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:44.179 this scene because it shows the different worldviews. 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:46.399 Mike, the seasoned criminal, says, we leave. 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:48.899 We skip town. Mike knows when the heat is too 00:08:48.899 --> 00:08:52.980 hot. He is pragmatic. Live to fight another day, 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.759 disappear, get new identities. But Walt refuses. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:58.179 He just won the crown. He is not going to abdicate 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:00.419 and live in a hole. Walt's ego is driving the 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:02.820 bus now. He demands a solution that lets him 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:06.019 stay. And they go back and forth. Walt suggests 00:09:06.019 --> 00:09:07.960 bombing the police station or raiding it like 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:09.899 a commando. Mike shoots all of these down as 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:12.460 suicidal. Until Jesse Pinkman, the guy they always 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:13.879 underestimate, looks at the problem differently. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:16.600 Magnet. Magnets. The idea is brilliant in its 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.440 simplicity. Why try to steal the physical object? 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:21.779 The object doesn't matter. The data matters. 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:24.220 If you can wipe the hard drive, the laptop is 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:26.080 just a paperweight. So they go to the jinkyard. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.279 They meet old Joe. Old Joe is such a great minor 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.519 character. He's this legally savvy junkyard owner 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:34.919 who knows way too much about Fourth Amendment 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.600 rights and electromagnets. They acquire an industrial 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:39.700 electromagnet. This isn't a fridge magnet. This 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:42.399 is used for lifting cars into shredders. It requires 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:45.600 massive amounts of power. And the plan is audacious. 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.059 They're going to put this thing in a box truck, 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.740 drive it right up against the wall of the police 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:53.120 evidence locker, which they have located on the 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.830 blueprints, and turn it on. They test it at the 00:09:55.830 --> 00:09:58.389 junkyard first, and the visual of the laptop 00:09:58.389 --> 00:10:00.690 flying across the room and smashing into the 00:10:00.690 --> 00:10:03.350 truck wall. It sells the power of this thing. 00:10:03.649 --> 00:10:06.230 It creates a sense of believable physics, even 00:10:06.230 --> 00:10:08.710 if it is a bit heightened. You see the sheer 00:10:08.710 --> 00:10:12.090 force involved. So they do it. Night time. Outside 00:10:12.090 --> 00:10:14.370 the police station. Mike is driving the getaway 00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:17.370 car. Walt is at the controls. Jesse is in the 00:10:17.370 --> 00:10:19.950 truck. The tension is incredible. They crank 00:10:19.950 --> 00:10:22.990 the dial. And inside the evidence room, we see 00:10:22.990 --> 00:10:25.649 the chaos. It's almost like a poltergeist. The 00:10:25.649 --> 00:10:28.350 metal shelves start bending. Guns fly off the 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:30.429 racks and stick to the wall. And the laptop. 00:10:30.710 --> 00:10:32.649 We see it in the evidence bag. It slides across 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:35.169 the shelf and slams into the wall. The hard drive 00:10:35.169 --> 00:10:37.929 is being scrambled. It's working. But Walt gets 00:10:37.929 --> 00:10:41.029 greedy. He cranks it to the max. He pushes it 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:43.370 too far. The truck tips over onto the wall because 00:10:43.370 --> 00:10:45.710 the magnet is pulling it. The battery short out. 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:48.980 The noise is deafening. They have to bail? And 00:10:48.980 --> 00:10:51.120 because the truck tipped, they can't drive it 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.159 away. I have to leave the truck behind. They 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:55.779 pile into the getaway car with Mike and speed 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:58.360 off just as the cops come running out. It is 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:00.860 a success, technically. The lap hop is destroyed. 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:03.940 But this leads to the aftermath conversation, 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:05.860 which I think is crucial for the character dynamics. 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:09.259 It is. They are driving away. Adrenaline is pumping. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:14.039 Jesse is ecstatic. But Mike, Mike is looking 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:16.539 in the rearview mirror. Mike says. I don't think 00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:18.059 we're out of the woods. He is thinking about 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:20.419 the truck. He is thinking about the serial numbers, 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:23.679 the trail. He knows police work. And Walt turns 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:27.440 to him. And this is the new Walt. He doesn't 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.919 offer reassurance. He offers arrogance. He says, 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:33.240 because I said so. He believes he can dictate 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.940 reality. The notes highlight this as hubris. 00:11:36.740 --> 00:11:39.980 He thinks because he beat Gus, he can beat physics, 00:11:40.179 --> 00:11:42.740 he can beat the police, he can beat logic. He 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:45.899 is high in his own supply of power. He dismisses 00:11:45.899 --> 00:11:48.080 the professional's concern because he feels invincible. 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.600 And that hubris is terrifying because we know 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:52.639 about the flash forward. We know this confidence 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.460 is a bubble that is gonna burst. But for now, 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:58.059 the laptop is dead. However, that wasn't the 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:00.480 only loose end from season four. We have to talk 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.879 about section four, the human loose ends. Ted 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.500 Benicki. The Ted situation. This is dark comedy 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:09.840 that turns into just straight horror. So refresh 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.539 the listeners. Skyler gave Ted money to pay the 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:15.100 IRS so her own tax fraud wouldn't be exposed. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:19.480 Ted refused to pay the IRS. Skyler sent Saul's 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.480 goons, Huell and Cooby, to convince him. Ted 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.779 tried to run, tripped on a rug, and smashed his 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.120 head. We all thought he was dead or paralyzed. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.519 The last we saw of him, he was twitching on the 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:31.740 floor. But Saul Goodman approaches Skyler at 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:34.659 the car wash and drops the bomb. Ted is alive. 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.080 Skylo has to go to the hospital to see him. And 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.860 the visual reveal of Ted McKee here is it's haunting. 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.029 He's in that halo brace. Bolts screwed directly 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:45.690 into his skull to keep his neck straight. His 00:12:45.690 --> 00:12:47.950 head is shaved. He looks broken. Physically, 00:12:47.950 --> 00:12:50.350 he is a wreck. And Skyler expects him to be angry. 00:12:50.470 --> 00:12:52.929 She expects him to scream, you did this to me. 00:12:53.169 --> 00:12:56.190 Instead, he cowers. He's utterly terrified of 00:12:56.190 --> 00:12:58.570 her. He promises he won't say a word. I won't 00:12:58.570 --> 00:13:00.789 tell the IRS. I won't tell the police. He thinks 00:13:00.789 --> 00:13:03.710 she is the godfather. It's tragic, really. Skyler 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:05.929 is just a suburban mom who made bad choices. 00:13:06.049 --> 00:13:08.649 But in Ted's eyes, she is a monster who sends 00:13:08.649 --> 00:13:11.029 hitmen to break necks. And Skyler real... is 00:13:11.029 --> 00:13:13.129 she is trapped in that role now. She doesn't 00:13:13.129 --> 00:13:16.389 correct him. She just says, good. She accepts 00:13:16.389 --> 00:13:18.970 the mask of the villain because it is the only 00:13:18.970 --> 00:13:21.009 thing that keeps them safe. It's a parallel to 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:23.529 Walt. Walt chooses to be the villain. Skyler 00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:25.549 is forced into it. That is a great distinction. 00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:28.590 Meanwhile, Walt is cleaning up his own loose 00:13:28.590 --> 00:13:31.490 ends with Saul. And we finally get the answer 00:13:31.490 --> 00:13:33.909 to the biggest mystery of the season four finale, 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:36.690 the Ricin's cigarette. This was the question 00:13:36.690 --> 00:13:38.669 on every fan's mind during the break between 00:13:38.669 --> 00:13:41.690 seasons. Jesse had a cigarette with ricin in 00:13:41.690 --> 00:13:44.950 it, intended for Gus. It went missing. Jesse 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:47.850 thought he lost it, or that Gus took it. He saw 00:13:47.850 --> 00:13:50.409 Gus poison Brock with it. Which was the catalyst 00:13:50.409 --> 00:13:54.070 for Jesse helping Walt kill Gus. Right. But here, 00:13:54.230 --> 00:13:57.850 in Saul's office, the truth comes out. Saul is 00:13:57.850 --> 00:14:00.990 furious. He reveals that he had Hewlett pickpocket 00:14:00.990 --> 00:14:03.230 the cigarette off Jesse. So Walt ordered it. 00:14:03.309 --> 00:14:05.990 Walt orchestrated the whole thing. He needed 00:14:05.990 --> 00:14:09.350 the cigarette gone so Jesse would panic. He needed 00:14:09.350 --> 00:14:11.649 Jesse to believe Gus was killing kids so that 00:14:11.649 --> 00:14:13.789 Jesse would agree to kill Gus. It's four -day 00:14:13.789 --> 00:14:16.789 chess, but it is incredibly evil. He used a child 00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.350 as a pawn. He manipulated his partner's worst 00:14:19.350 --> 00:14:22.009 fears. And even Saul Goodman, who has a very 00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:25.500 flexible moral compass, is disgusted. The notes 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:27.720 describe Saul trying to fire Walt as a client. 00:14:28.100 --> 00:14:29.740 He pulls out the cigarette, which is in a plastic 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:31.980 bag, and says, I'm done. I didn't know you were 00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:34.559 going to poison a kid. Saul has a line. Who knew? 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:37.259 Apparently, poisoning children is the line. But 00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:40.559 you don't fire Walter White. Not anymore. This 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.779 is the scene, the power shift. Saul tries to 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:47.279 leave. Walt steps into his space. He backs him 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.679 up against the desk. And he delivers the line. 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:53.080 We're done when I say we're done. Chills every 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.730 time. The notes highlight this as the definitive 00:14:55.730 --> 00:14:59.009 transition. Before this, Walt manipulated people 00:14:59.009 --> 00:15:01.950 by playing the victim or by using logic. Now. 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:05.649 He uses pure intimidation. He is acting like 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:09.029 Gus Fring. He owns Saul now. It really cements 00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:12.210 the idea of the Walter White Empire. He is conscripting 00:15:12.210 --> 00:15:14.370 soldiers. Exactly. He is not a partner. He is 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:16.470 a commander. Now, I want to take a breather from 00:15:16.470 --> 00:15:18.350 the plot for a second and look at section five, 00:15:18.409 --> 00:15:20.230 the production context, because reading these 00:15:20.230 --> 00:15:21.970 notes, it seems like season five was almost a 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:24.250 disaster before it even started. It was a very 00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:26.250 rocky road. We assume Breaking Bad was always 00:15:26.250 --> 00:15:28.789 this juggernaut. But back in 2011, during the 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.070 negotiations for the season, things got ugly. 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:33.870 The notes mention AMC wanted to cut costs. AMC 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:36.169 proposed a shortened fifth season. They wanted 00:15:36.169 --> 00:15:38.350 to wrap up the entire series in six to eight 00:15:38.350 --> 00:15:41.529 episodes. Six to eight episodes? That is insane. 00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:43.350 We just spent all this time talking about one 00:15:43.350 --> 00:15:46.110 episode. Imagine trying to cram the ending of 00:15:46.110 --> 00:15:48.330 the whole show into six hours. It would have 00:15:48.330 --> 00:15:51.250 been a creative disaster, a rushed ending that 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:54.570 would have ruined the legacy. But Sony Pictures 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:57.529 Television, who produces the show, played hardball. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:59.840 They essentially said, fine, if you won't pay 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.039 for a full season, we will take the show to another 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:04.559 network. Can you imagine Breaking Bad airing 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.820 on FX or HBO for the final season? It was a real 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:10.419 possibility. They shopped it around. And that 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:15.179 threat worked. AMC blinked. In August 2011, they 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:17.700 agreed to the 16 episode order that we got. Thank 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:20.240 goodness. But they split it into two parts, airing 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.759 a year apart, which is a compromise. But it gave 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:24.620 the writers a breathing room. There was also 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:26.860 that drama with Dish Network, right? Oh, right. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.679 In July 2012, right when this premiere was dropping, 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:34.519 Dish Network dropped AMC due to a contract dispute. 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:36.679 So millions of people couldn't watch the premiere 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:39.799 on their TVs. It was a crisis. AMC actually streamed 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.940 this episode, Live Free or Die, online for Dish 00:16:42.940 --> 00:16:45.659 customers. They knew they couldn't alienate the 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:47.919 fan base at this critical moment. That is smart. 00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:50.279 And a little piece of trivia from the notes, 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.320 this episode is short. It is the shortest episode 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:56.259 of the entire series, about 43 minutes. It feels 00:16:56.259 --> 00:16:58.600 longer because it is so dense but there is no 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:01.679 fat on it. It moves like a freight train. Vince 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:03.860 Gilligan wrote it and Michael Slovis directed 00:17:03.860 --> 00:17:07.039 it. They kept it tight. They knew they had a 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.400 lot of ground to cover to set up the new status 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:12.180 quo. Let's look at Seption 6, Reception. Did 00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:14.480 people realize what they were watching? Oh, absolutely. 00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:17.160 The hype was off the charts. The viewership was 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.640 a record for the show at that time, almost three 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:22.160 million live viewers. Which for a dark cable 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.500 drama in 2012 is huge. And the critics were on 00:17:25.500 --> 00:17:28.240 board. Brent Cupp from Pace magazine gave it 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.980 a 9 .4. He called it suspenseful and humorous, 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.460 but noted that lingering sense of doom. That 00:17:33.460 --> 00:17:35.880 doom is the secret ingredient. Donna Bowman at 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:38.660 the A .V. club gave it an A minus. And even looking 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:42.059 back, The Ringer ranked it as the 23rd best episode 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:45.230 out of all 62. is a very strong opener. It does 00:17:45.230 --> 00:17:47.569 everything a premiere needs to do. It resolves 00:17:47.569 --> 00:17:49.630 the cliffhanger with the laptop, sets up the 00:17:49.630 --> 00:17:52.049 new threat with the police and Mike, and establishes 00:17:52.049 --> 00:17:54.569 the new character dynamics. And it ends on a 00:17:54.569 --> 00:17:56.990 character beat that is just devastating. The 00:17:56.990 --> 00:17:59.950 hug. We have to talk about the ending. Walt comes 00:17:59.950 --> 00:18:02.430 home. Skyler is there smoking cigarettes in the 00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:05.230 dark, terrified. And Walt approaches her. She 00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:08.369 flinches. And he hugs her. He holds her tight. 00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:11.990 And he whispers. I forgive you. He forgives her 00:18:11.990 --> 00:18:14.809 for giving the money to Ted. Think about the 00:18:14.809 --> 00:18:17.130 psychological warfare in that statement. She 00:18:17.130 --> 00:18:19.250 is scared he might kill her. She wants him out 00:18:19.250 --> 00:18:21.670 of the house. And instead of yelling, instead 00:18:21.670 --> 00:18:23.910 of hitting, he acts like the benevolent saint. 00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:27.470 I forgive you. It negates her feelings. It says, 00:18:27.829 --> 00:18:30.069 we are fine. I am in control. You are the one 00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:33.230 who made a mistake, not me. It traps her. If 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:35.950 you were screaming, she could scream back. But 00:18:35.950 --> 00:18:38.390 how do you fight forgiveness? It normalizes the 00:18:38.390 --> 00:18:40.250 insanity of their life. Yeah. It's the ultimate 00:18:40.250 --> 00:18:42.250 gaslight. It connects back to the king idea. 00:18:43.210 --> 00:18:45.950 A king grants pardons. Exactly. He's benevolent 00:18:45.950 --> 00:18:47.970 to his subjects as long as they know he is the 00:18:47.970 --> 00:18:50.710 king. So we have gone from the flash forward 00:18:50.710 --> 00:18:53.079 of a broken man... through the adrenaline of 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.059 the magnets to the chilling confidence of the 00:18:56.059 --> 00:18:58.799 final scene. It leaves us with a massive question 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.059 to chew on. What is that question? The episode 00:19:01.059 --> 00:19:03.680 starts with live free or die on a license plate 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.819 for a man who has lost everything. But it ends 00:19:06.819 --> 00:19:10.039 with Walt feeling invincible. The question is, 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.819 does the flash forward prove that winning in 00:19:12.819 --> 00:19:15.039 Walter White's world is actually just the first 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.680 step toward losing? Is every victory just digging 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.299 the hole deeper? He thinks he's building an empire. 00:19:20.650 --> 00:19:23.069 But we know he is building that lonely birthday 00:19:23.069 --> 00:19:26.049 at Denny's. That is the tragedy of season five 00:19:26.049 --> 00:19:27.930 and we are going to be here to break it down 00:19:27.930 --> 00:19:30.230 every single detail in our future discussions. 00:19:30.430 --> 00:19:32.910 This has been the deep dive on Live Free or Die. 00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:35.109 Thanks for listening. We will see you next time.