WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 Welcome back to the deep dive. Today, we are 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:04.839 doing something a little different. We aren't 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.580 just looking at a topic. We are stepping into 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:10.019 a time machine. Yeah, we really are. We are going 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:14.339 back to 2013 to a Sunday night that I think legitimately 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:17.039 gave half the viewing public an absolute panic 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:20.850 attack. We are talking. about Breaking Bad. And 00:00:20.850 --> 00:00:23.589 not just Breaking Bad in general, you know. We 00:00:23.589 --> 00:00:26.289 are zeroing in on the episode that basically 00:00:26.289 --> 00:00:28.750 lit the fuse for the grand finale. Right. This 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:33.289 is season five, episode 13. Taji Lee. Just saying 00:00:33.289 --> 00:00:36.520 that name. Uh, Tohaji Lee. It sounds almost mythical, 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:38.780 doesn't it? Like, a place where legends go to 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:40.960 die. It really does. And in this show, that is 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:42.719 pretty much exactly what it is. You know, when 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.619 we talk about television history, there are episodes 00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:46.399 that function as set up, and there are episodes 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:48.679 that function as payoff. Like, the big, explosive 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.979 ones. Exactly. But Tohaji Lee is this incredible, 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:55.399 high -velocity hybrid. It starts as a careful, 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.600 strategic chess match, and it ends as a complete 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:00.840 demolition derby of literally everything Walter 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:02.659 White has built. It is the tipping point. Oh, 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:04.700 absolutely. And the source material we are looking 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:07.500 at today for this deep dive, which is based on 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:10.200 the incredibly comprehensive Wikipedia entry 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.319 for the episode, covers the plot, break down 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:15.219 the production notes, and the critical reception. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:17.859 Yeah. It is a wealth of information. It really 00:01:17.859 --> 00:01:21.120 is. And all of it points to this specific 47 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.319 minutes as the precise moment the Empire business 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.680 model officially fails. It is the exact moment 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.180 chaos just completely takes the wheel. So here 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:32.079 is the mission statement for everyone listening. 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:35.400 We are going to unpack this thing scene by scene, 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:37.280 beat by beat. Because you already know the plot. 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.140 Exactly. You know the plot. You know Walt gets 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:43.500 in a car. You know guns are drawn. But we want 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:46.159 to understand the why. The mechanics behind the 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.760 trap. Right. Why did the writer George Mastra 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:51.359 structure it this way? Why did the director Michelle 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.849 McLaren choose those specific wide angles? And 00:01:54.849 --> 00:01:57.049 why, for the love of God, did Walt make that 00:01:57.049 --> 00:01:58.810 phone call? That phone call is gonna take up 00:01:58.810 --> 00:02:01.090 a very significant portion of our brain power 00:02:01.090 --> 00:02:02.989 today, I can promise you that. Good, because 00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:05.549 I, um, I still have nightmares about it, honestly. 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:09.110 It is deeply stressful television. Very. But 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:10.949 before we get to the panic attack in the desert, 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:13.270 let us start with segment one, the architecture 00:02:13.270 --> 00:02:15.710 of the episode. Who exactly built this trap? 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:17.659 Well, you mentioned George Masters as the writer. 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:21.000 He has been with the show a long time and handled 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.039 some of the grittier, more plot -heavy episodes. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.099 Right. He knows these characters inside and out. 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:29.280 He does. But the real headline here, from a production 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.479 standpoint, is Michelle McLaren in the director's 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:36.000 chair. The absolute queen of tension. Unquestionably. 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:38.360 If you look at her track record on Breaking Bad, 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.560 she directed One Minute, which is that incredible 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:43.139 shootout with the cousins in the parking lot. 00:02:43.219 --> 00:02:45.840 Oh, wow, yeah. She also did Salude, which was 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.900 the massacre at Don Aladio's pool. She knows 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:51.280 exactly how to stage action, but more importantly, 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:53.800 she knows how to stage the dread before the action. 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.080 That is such a good distinction. Because Tohaji 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:59.300 Lee isn't an action movie for the first 40 minutes. 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:02.539 It is a western. It is a slow burn standoff. 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:05.780 It is pure Sergio Leone. And having her pair 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:07.840 up with Michael Slovis, the cinematographer, 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:10.219 and Kelly Dixon, the editor. That is basically 00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:13.530 the A -Team right there. It really is. The visual 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:16.930 language of this episode is stark. It is wide 00:03:16.930 --> 00:03:20.349 and it is unforgiving. They use the landscape 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:22.669 of New Mexico as a character in a way that feels 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:25.789 very, very final. Speaking of the landscape, 00:03:25.969 --> 00:03:29.270 let us talk about the title, Tohaji Lee. It refers 00:03:29.270 --> 00:03:31.789 to the Tohaji Lee Indian Reservation west of 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:35.050 Albuquerque. But for the characters, this is 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:37.479 not just a spot on a map. No, it is not. And 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:39.060 this is where the writing gets really elegant. 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:40.979 We have to go all the way back to the beginning, 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:43.960 the pilot episode. Oh, the cow house. Cow house, 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:45.659 exactly. For those who might have forgotten the 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:48.639 deep lore, explain the connection here. So in 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:51.539 the very first episode, when Walt and Jesse need 00:03:51.539 --> 00:03:53.960 a place to cook meth in the RV where they won't 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.419 be disturbed, they drive out into the middle 00:03:56.419 --> 00:03:59.039 of nowhere. Into the desert. Right. And that 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:01.520 location, specifically that cluster of red rock 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.199 formations, is Tohaji Lee. It is the birthplace 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:06.400 of their entire enterprise. Which makes it so 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:08.280 poetic that it becomes the burial ground, right? 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:10.840 It is a brilliant full circle moment, a narrative 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.930 bookend. You have the Alpha and the Omega. Walt 00:04:13.930 --> 00:04:16.610 started his journey as a criminal in this exact 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:19.129 dirt, wearing nothing but his underwear and a 00:04:19.129 --> 00:04:21.709 gas mask terrified of the sirens he thought he 00:04:21.709 --> 00:04:23.930 heard coming for him. Just a panicked amateur. 00:04:24.129 --> 00:04:26.649 Exactly. And now two years later in the show's 00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:29.670 timeline, he returns to the exact same spot to 00:04:29.670 --> 00:04:32.290 defend his massive fortune. It is interesting 00:04:32.290 --> 00:04:34.949 because usually when a show brings you back to 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:38.430 the start, It is for nostalgia. It is a look 00:04:38.430 --> 00:04:40.829 how far we have come kind of moment. Right, a 00:04:40.829 --> 00:04:43.509 victory lap. Yeah, a victory lap. But here it 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:45.509 feels like a trap. It feels like the desert has 00:04:45.509 --> 00:04:47.110 just been waiting for him to come back so it 00:04:47.110 --> 00:04:49.350 can swallow him whole. That is a really beautiful 00:04:49.350 --> 00:04:52.029 way to put it. The desert is completely indifferent 00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:54.550 to him. In the pilot, the desert offered him 00:04:54.550 --> 00:04:57.750 freedom and isolation. Now it offers him absolutely 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:00.740 no cover. Just dead space. It is just open space 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:03.339 where he can be seen from miles away. And that 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:05.860 visual openness is crucial to the tension of 00:05:05.860 --> 00:05:08.579 the final act. There is literally nowhere to 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:11.300 hide. Before we get to the heavy thematic stuff, 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:13.959 I found a detail in the production notes that 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:16.420 I actually didn't know before, and it kind of 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.100 blew my mind. Oh, yeah. What was that? It is 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:22.339 about the driving scene. Filming began on February 00:05:22.339 --> 00:05:27.970 4th, 2013, and later in the episode... Walt is 00:05:27.970 --> 00:05:30.709 driving like a maniac to get to the money. Ah, 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:32.529 yes, the panic drive. Yeah, the panic drive. 00:05:32.930 --> 00:05:35.410 He is weaving through traffic, running red lights, 00:05:35.730 --> 00:05:38.430 screaming into his burner phone. And it turns 00:05:38.430 --> 00:05:40.850 out Bryan Cranston wasn't actually driving. Not 00:05:40.850 --> 00:05:42.649 at all. In fact, he wasn't even on the road. 00:05:43.110 --> 00:05:45.269 Right, that entire sequence inside the car was 00:05:45.269 --> 00:05:47.769 filmed on a green screen? Which is wild to me. 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:50.910 Because Breaking Bad prides itself on being practical. 00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:53.290 They shoot on 35 millimeter film. They shoot 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:56.610 on location. They love that gritty tactile texture. 00:05:56.810 --> 00:05:59.769 Why go green screen here? It was purely logistical. 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:02.430 To get the exact shots they needed with Walt 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:04.629 swerving into oncoming lanes and blowing through 00:06:04.629 --> 00:06:06.370 intersections, they would have had to shut down 00:06:06.370 --> 00:06:09.389 major arteries in Albuquerque for days. Oh, right, 00:06:09.449 --> 00:06:11.759 the traffic. Yeah, the budget and the city permits 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.800 just wouldn't allow it. It was too massive of 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.259 an undertaking for a television schedule. Now, 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:18.759 here is where it gets really interesting to me. 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:22.680 I have seen people. Criticize that scene online. 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:25.060 They say the the lighting looks a little fake 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:26.980 or the background looks detached from the car 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:29.660 But honestly, I think it works better. I agree 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:31.639 with you completely really Why do you think so 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:34.560 because of Walt's mental state in that moment 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:38.139 Walter White has fully dissociated He is in a 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:40.720 fugue state of pure terror. He's not granted 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.699 in reality at all Exactly the world outside the 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:46.439 car should feel blurry and artificial He is trapped 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:48.740 in this metal box with his own voice and the 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.920 voice of his enemy on the phone. The slight uncanniness 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.300 of the green screen actually enhances the nightmare 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:57.519 quality of the sequence. He's like a fever dream. 00:06:57.939 --> 00:07:00.139 The background is just whizzing by like a cheap 00:07:00.139 --> 00:07:01.839 video game and all that matters is the phone. 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:04.620 Exactly. Sometimes production limitations force 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:06.819 a creative choice that ends up perfectly serving 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:09.180 the psychology of the character. Whether it was 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:12.040 intentional or not, it puts us right inside Walt's 00:07:12.040 --> 00:07:14.620 claustrophobia. OK, let us unpack the setup, 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:17.519 because before Walt gets in the car, he has to 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.699 make a deal. And this, to me, is the darkest 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:23.379 move he makes in the entire series. It really 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:26.180 is the crossing of the Rubicon, or perhaps the 00:07:26.180 --> 00:07:27.800 second or third crossing, depending on how you 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:30.519 count. But this one feels totally irreversible. 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:33.620 We open segment two with Walt meeting with Todd 00:07:33.620 --> 00:07:36.920 and the Uncle Jack crew. And the contrast is 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:39.519 just so icky. Walt is trying to be the professional 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:41.939 and these guys are just casually wiping their 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.600 glasses and drinking tea. Walt is desperate. 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:47.199 He feels the walls closing in on him. Jesse has 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.420 gone rogue. Jesse tried to burn down his house. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.300 Right, the gasoline everywhere. Yeah. Walt realizes 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:55.319 he cannot talk Jesse down anymore. The rabid 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:57.339 dog metaphor they used in the previous episode, 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.680 that is now his actual reality. So he puts a 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.060 hit out on Jesse Penkin. He does, and notice 00:08:02.060 --> 00:08:03.959 how much trouble he has just saying the words 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:06.819 out loud. He dances around it. He wants the result, 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.300 but he does not want to articulate the crime. 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:11.980 He is still trying to maintain that thin veneer 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:15.000 of moral security. Like, I am not a murderer. 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:17.480 I am just a man doing what has to be done to 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.420 protect my family. Precisely. He asks Jack to 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:22.209 handle it. But Jack, and this is why Jack is 00:08:22.209 --> 00:08:25.110 such a terrifying villain, Jack isn't motivated 00:08:25.110 --> 00:08:27.949 by cash. Walt offers to pay him and Jack basically 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:30.410 just waves it off. Jack wants the legacy. He 00:08:30.410 --> 00:08:33.409 wants the blue. Jack knows that the blue meth 00:08:33.409 --> 00:08:36.549 is a global brand. It is the Coca -Cola of the 00:08:36.549 --> 00:08:39.070 underworld. Right, it is priceless. And he wants 00:08:39.070 --> 00:08:41.629 his nephew Todd to be the heir to that entire 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:43.710 kingdom. So he makes a counter offer. He says, 00:08:43.769 --> 00:08:46.559 I will kill Pinkman for you. But you have to 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:48.379 cook for us. You have to teach Todd how to do 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:50.919 it, right? This is the ultimate deal with the 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:56.519 devil Walt has spent five seasons Violently protecting 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:59.299 his formula. It is his art is the only thing 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:01.899 that proves He's a genius and not just a petty 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:04.639 criminal. Yeah, and now he is willing to just 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:07.580 trade it away He is commodifying his life's work 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:10.460 to pay for the death of his surrogate son. That 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:12.600 is the equation happening here. It is tragic, 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:15.379 and it is horrifying. And the worst part is he 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:17.740 agrees. He agrees reluctantly, but he agrees. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.259 He says one cook. That is what he tells himself 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:23.100 to make it OK. I will do one cook. He thinks 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.559 he can dip his toe back in, get the dirty job 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:27.720 done, and get out. He still truly believes he 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:30.960 has control over these men. And that is the fatal 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:34.279 flaw, isn't it? The sheer arrogance. He looks 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:36.980 at Jack and sees a blunt tool he can use. He 00:09:36.980 --> 00:09:39.480 doesn't see a pack of rabid wolves that he is 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:41.759 casually inviting into his living room. He underestimates 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:43.299 them because they look like roughnecks. They 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:45.679 don't have his education. He thinks his intellect 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.340 makes him the alpha in the room. But bullets 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:51.200 do not care about your IQ. So the hit is on. 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:53.720 Walt goes home probably thinking he has neatly 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.820 solved the problem. But meanwhile, across town, 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.080 the good guys, if we could even call them that, 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.620 are cooking up a plan of their own. Which brings 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:04.940 us to segment three, The Trap and the Alliance. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:09.120 Hank Gomez and Jesse, the most awkward road trip 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.840 group imaginable. It is a fascinating dynamic 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.960 to watch. You have the straight -laced DEA agent, 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.820 his fiercely loyal partner, and the junkie informant 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:20.559 they both completely despise but currently really 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.679 need. Yeah, they're not friends. Not at all. 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:24.919 But Jesse brings the one thing Hank has been 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.080 missing for a year, insight. Hank has the evidence, 00:10:28.299 --> 00:10:30.480 or at least he has the trail of evidence, but 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:32.379 he doesn't actually understand Walt. He thinks 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:34.279 Walt is a monster, but he doesn't understand 00:10:34.279 --> 00:10:36.700 the specific type of monster he is dealing with. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.440 Right. Hank wants to catch Walt with physical 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.399 evidence of drugs. Or with murder weapons, you 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.200 know, standard police work. By the book. Exactly. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.039 But Jesse stops him. Jesse says, you are looking 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.379 at it all wrong. You cannot get him on evidence. 00:10:51.539 --> 00:10:53.960 He is too smart. He scrubbed everything. You 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.590 have to get him where he lives. His money. Jessie 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:58.330 understands that for Walter White, the money 00:10:58.330 --> 00:11:01.330 isn't just currency to buy things. It is the 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:02.889 scorecard. Oh, that is a great way to look at 00:11:02.889 --> 00:11:05.629 it. It is the proof that he existed and mattered. 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:08.610 It is the core justification for all the cancer, 00:11:08.789 --> 00:11:11.230 all the lies, and all the death. If you take 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:13.409 the money, you kill Heisenberg. That there is 00:11:13.409 --> 00:11:15.629 a massive problem. They do not know where the 00:11:15.629 --> 00:11:17.789 money is. They know it exists. They know it is 00:11:17.789 --> 00:11:20.440 hidden in barrels. But the New Mexico desert 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:22.799 is incredibly big, so they need a weak link. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.019 They need someone who knows something but is 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.220 fragile enough to actually break under pressure. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:30.139 Enter Huell Babineau. Poor Huell. I really love 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:33.720 this character. He is Saul's bodyguard. He is 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:37.279 huge. He looks super imposing. But inside, he 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.519 is just a guy who wants to go home and lay on 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:43.460 his pile of money. He is a mercenary, but a very 00:11:43.460 --> 00:11:46.500 low stakes one. He is not a cartel guy. So Hank 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:48.779 and Gomez pick him up and take him to a DEA safe 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:51.080 house. And the scene, this interrogation, is 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.059 a master class in psychological manipulation 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:55.740 by Hank. It's purely performative police work. 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:58.620 Hank knows he has absolutely nothing on Huell, 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.940 really. Not enough to hold him in his cell forever. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:03.399 So he has to utterly terrify him. And he does 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:05.899 it by weaponizing Huell's own ignorance against 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:08.700 him. Huell knows that people around Walt tend 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.659 to just disappear. He knows about Mike. He knows 00:12:11.659 --> 00:12:14.000 about the brutal prison killings. He knows Walt 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.519 is dangerous. Right. So when Hank says Walt is 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:18.320 tying up loose ends and you are a loose end, 00:12:18.539 --> 00:12:21.000 Huell completely believes it. And then Hank drops 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.000 the hammer. The prop. The staged photo. Can we 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.039 talk about how intensely gruesome that photo 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.860 is? Yeah. Hank pulls out his phone and casually 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:31.059 shows Huell a picture of Jesse Pinkman lying 00:12:31.059 --> 00:12:33.820 on a floor with his brain seemingly blown out. 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:36.679 It is incredibly graphic. And to the audience 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.019 for a split second, it is genuinely shocking. 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:41.700 But we know Jesse is alive because we literally 00:12:41.700 --> 00:12:44.299 just saw him in the previous scene. For Huell 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:46.940 though, this is immediate confirmation of his 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:49.600 absolute worst nightmare. Why does this specific 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:53.259 tactic work so well on Huell? Because Huell isn't 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:55.919 a hardened killer like Jack. As you said, he's 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:58.720 a facilitator. He picks pockets. He stands guard 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.059 at a door. He doesn't do wet work. It is out 00:13:01.059 --> 00:13:03.879 of his league. Way out of his league. Seeing 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.940 that photo creates a visceral, immediate panic 00:13:06.940 --> 00:13:09.899 response. It totally bypasses his logic centers. 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:12.580 He doesn't stop to ask, well, when did this happen 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:15.100 or where is the official police report? He just 00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:17.039 thinks, I am next on the chopping block. And 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:19.100 LaVille Crawford, the actor playing Kuehl, plays 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:21.759 this so perfectly. That little widening of the 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.179 eyes, the nervous sweat, he cracks like an egg. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.120 He spills literally everything he knows. He confesses 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.179 that he and Kubi stored the money in barrels. 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:31.940 He tells them Walt rented a van. He tells them 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:33.879 about the shovel. But, and this is the crucial 00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:37.120 limitation of the entire plan, he does not know 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.299 the actual GPS coordinates. Right. He knows Walt 00:13:40.299 --> 00:13:41.700 moved the money, but he doesn't know where it 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:45.340 was taken. So Hank has the method, but not the 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:47.860 location. I feel like most cops would be totally 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:49.779 stuck right there. They would hit a wall. Yeah. 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:54.759 But Hank, completely energized by Jesse, Jesse 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:57.840 realizes they can use this partial information 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:01.500 to aggressively bluff Walt. They have enough 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:04.480 very specific details, the rental van, the barrels, 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.480 the shovel, to make Walt genuinely believe they 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:11.480 know everything. It is a classic confidence game. 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:14.720 Which leads us directly into segment four, The 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.980 Phone Call. This is Psychological Warfare. This 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:19.200 entire sequence, it is just pure adrenaline. 00:14:19.539 --> 00:14:21.899 Jesse sends the beat. A photo of a barrel full 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:23.820 of cash sitting open in the dirt. Now the notes 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:25.659 tell us this was actually staged in Hank's backyard. 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:28.399 It is completely fake. But to Walt. To Walt, 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.139 it looks totally real. And then the phone rings. 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:31.860 And this is a crucial character moment. Walt 00:14:31.860 --> 00:14:33.700 actually answers it. Why does he answer it, though? 00:14:34.220 --> 00:14:36.100 He usually ignores unknown numbers when he's 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:38.860 being careful. Because the threat is existential. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:41.480 Jesse leaves a voicemail or sends a text saying, 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:45.330 I found it. Walt's curiosity and his deep -seated 00:14:45.330 --> 00:14:48.889 fear just completely override his usual caution. 00:14:49.149 --> 00:14:51.690 He has to know. He has to. And once he is on 00:14:51.690 --> 00:14:54.909 the line, Jesse starts the countdown. He says, 00:14:55.029 --> 00:14:58.769 I am going to burn it. $10 ,000 a minute. He 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:00.769 literally puts the sound of the lighter flicking 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:05.669 right in Walt's ear. Click. That sound, it triggers 00:15:05.669 --> 00:15:08.110 a deeply primal panic in Walt. And this is where 00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:09.669 we see the green screen drive we talked about 00:15:09.669 --> 00:15:12.179 earlier. Walt tears out of the car wash parking 00:15:12.179 --> 00:15:14.259 lot. He is screaming at Jesse. Don't do it. You're 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:15.879 an idiot. You're burning your own money. And 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:17.700 Jesse just keeps poking the bear. He says, I 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:19.360 don't care about the money, Mr. White. I care 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.919 about hurting you. And in his sheer desperation 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.000 to stop the burning, Walt starts confessing. 00:15:25.289 --> 00:15:28.029 And this is so fascinating to me. He isn't confessing 00:15:28.029 --> 00:15:31.370 to the police, or so he thinks. He is confessing 00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:33.509 to Jesse just to try and win a twisted argument. 00:15:33.809 --> 00:15:35.929 Exactly. He is desperately trying to rationalize 00:15:35.929 --> 00:15:38.450 his atrocious behavior. He brings up Brock. The 00:15:38.450 --> 00:15:40.570 poisoning. He screams, I poisoned Brock, but 00:15:40.570 --> 00:15:43.169 I ensured his survival. I calculated the dose. 00:15:43.570 --> 00:15:45.710 What actually goes through a man's head to think 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:48.570 that is a valid defense? That is the ultimate 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:51.769 narcissism of Walter White. He genuinely deeply 00:15:51.769 --> 00:15:54.240 believes he should be thanked for it. Thank for 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.820 poisoning a kid. Yes. In his mind, he made a 00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:00.460 hard executive decision to poison a child to 00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:03.379 manipulate Jesse against Gus Fring. But because 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:05.879 he was quote unquote smart enough to not actually 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:09.559 kill the boy, he sees actions as somewhat benevolent. 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:12.299 I didn't kill him. I just almost killed him to 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:14.940 save you. It is incredibly twisted logic. But 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:17.559 in that car with the siren blaring in the background, 00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:19.860 which is actually just the sound of his own internal 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:22.740 panic, he thinks if he can just. Calmly explain 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.539 the overarching strategy Jesse will finally understand. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.220 He also confesses to the murders of the dealers. 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.019 He confesses to basically everything. And completely 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:33.659 unbeknownst to him, Hank and Gomez are recording 00:16:33.659 --> 00:16:36.000 every single word. He is handing them the entire 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.220 federal case on a silver platter. The irony is 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:40.120 just so thick you could cut it with a knife. 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:42.919 Walt, the man who covers his tracks better than 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.820 literally anyone, is loudly shouting his crimes 00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:48.179 into a recording device because he is simply 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:51.870 too greedy to let his money burn. Greed? and 00:16:51.870 --> 00:16:53.970 massive arrogance. He cannot imagine a world 00:16:53.970 --> 00:16:56.250 where Jesse Pinkman outsmarts him. Right. He 00:16:56.250 --> 00:16:59.309 thinks Jesse is beneath him. Exactly. He assumes 00:16:59.309 --> 00:17:02.629 Jesse stumbled upon the money by sheer dumb luck. 00:17:03.250 --> 00:17:05.849 It never once occurs to him that this is an elaborate 00:17:05.849 --> 00:17:08.750 trap set by Hank. So he arrives at Togy Lee. 00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:13.109 The coordinates are 34, 59, 20. He screeches 00:17:13.109 --> 00:17:16.200 to a halt. The dust settles. And it is completely 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:19.339 empty. Just the wind howling. No Jesse. No van. 00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:22.059 No fire. And the horrible realization just washes 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:24.539 over him. You can actually see the gears turning 00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:27.339 in Bryan Cranston's eyes. He looks down at the 00:17:27.339 --> 00:17:29.900 dirt. It is totally undisturbed. He has been 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:32.740 had. And in that singular moment of extreme vulnerability, 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:35.660 he spots a car on the horizon. Now this is a 00:17:35.660 --> 00:17:38.099 highly critical decision point for Walt. He is 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:40.339 panicked. He thinks Jesse is coming to kill him 00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:43.039 right then and there. Maybe Jesse hired hitmen. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.019 So what does he do? He immediately goes back 00:17:45.019 --> 00:17:46.859 to the deal with the devil. He grabs his phone 00:17:46.859 --> 00:17:48.700 and calls Jack. He gives him the GPS coordinates. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:51.519 He says, I am pinned down. Get here now. He is 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.460 literally calling in an airstrike. He wants the 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:57.079 neo -Nazis to come out and completely wipe out 00:17:57.079 --> 00:17:58.839 whoever is in that approaching car. But then 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.680 the car gets a little closer. Yeah. And he sees 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.500 who is actually in it. He sees Jesse. But Jesse 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:07.359 is not driving. Hank is driving, and Gomez is 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:08.960 right there in the passenger seat. And everything 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:12.599 just violently stops. This is segment five, the 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:15.160 showdown. This is the moment that completely 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.079 defines the rest of the series. Walt realizes 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.059 his enemy isn't a rival cartel gang or a hired 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:24.279 hit band. It is his actual family. It is Hank. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.460 And Walt has one rule, the one single rule he 00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:30.220 has never ever broken. You do not kill family. 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:32.660 He can mentally justify killing Gail. He can 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:35.079 justify killing Mike. He can justify having all 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:37.599 those prison witnesses brutally stabbed. But 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:40.259 Hank, Hank is completely off limits. So he yells 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:42.960 into the phone, don't come call it off. He desperately 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.720 tries to put the terrible genie back in the bottle. 00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:46.779 Forget I called, do not come. But Jack, well 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:49.220 Jack is already on the move. And the cell connection 00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:51.740 is really spotty out there. Did Jack actually 00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:54.079 hear him? Did he even care if he did hear him? 00:18:54.569 --> 00:18:57.710 Walt just drops the phone. He realizes in that 00:18:57.710 --> 00:19:00.650 moment he is completely checkmated. The surrender 00:19:00.650 --> 00:19:04.069 scene. This felt so incredibly surreal when I 00:19:04.069 --> 00:19:06.369 first watched it on television. Walter White, 00:19:06.450 --> 00:19:09.509 the great Heisenberg, just slowly walks out from 00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:12.150 behind a red rock and puts his hands up. It is 00:19:12.150 --> 00:19:15.029 a picture of total absolute defeat. He takes 00:19:15.029 --> 00:19:17.710 off his glasses. Oh, the glasses. That gesture 00:19:17.710 --> 00:19:20.289 is so incredibly significant. The glasses are 00:19:20.289 --> 00:19:22.950 a key part of the Heisenberg mask. Taking them 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.890 off reveals the tired, weak, dying man underneath 00:19:25.890 --> 00:19:28.910 the myth. Hank gets out of the car. He has his 00:19:28.910 --> 00:19:31.950 gun drawn. Police drop it. Walt just freezes. 00:19:31.990 --> 00:19:33.769 He drops the gun in the dirt. And Hank walks 00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:35.970 up and handcuffs him. He reads him his Miranda 00:19:35.970 --> 00:19:39.089 rights. Walter White, you have the right to remain 00:19:39.089 --> 00:19:41.680 silent. Hearing those specific words spoken to 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.900 the main character after five long seasons of 00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:45.339 watching him get away with everything, it felt 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:47.259 like the show was literally ending right there. 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.059 It felt like, okay, they finally got him. That 00:19:49.059 --> 00:19:51.839 is the end of the story. It is a moment of immense, 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:55.160 profound catharsis for Hank. He finally, after 00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:57.420 all this time, got his man. He looks at Walton 00:19:57.420 --> 00:20:00.660 and says, hey, I got you. And for a very brief 00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:02.619 fleeting moment, the world makes sense again. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.519 The bad guy is in cuffs. The good guy won the 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:07.740 day. But then the emotional temperature violently 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:11.309 spikes again. Jesse walks up. Jesse is physically 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:15.029 shaking. He is looking at the man who repeatedly 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.430 manipulated him, abused him, and poisoned his 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:21.930 girlfriend's young son. And Walt is finally completely 00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:24.769 powerless now. So Jesse spits on him. Right in 00:20:24.769 --> 00:20:27.569 the face. A huge moment of humiliation. And Walt, 00:20:27.690 --> 00:20:30.049 even while in cuffs, even totally defeated his 00:20:30.049 --> 00:20:33.400 massive ego. simply cannot handle that level 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.140 of disrespect. He lunges at Jesse. He tries to 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:38.720 headbutt him or bite him. It is just purely animalistic. 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:40.920 Gomez and Hank have to quickly pull them apart. 00:20:41.299 --> 00:20:43.019 They're yelling, hey, hey, cut it out. It is 00:20:43.019 --> 00:20:45.700 really messy. It is not a dignified mastermind 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:48.279 villain defeat at all. It is a pathetic, ugly 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:50.400 scuffle in the dirt. It totally strips away the 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:52.460 Heisenberg myth. Walt isn't an evil genius here. 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:55.059 He is just a nasty, angry old man getting forcefully 00:20:55.059 --> 00:20:57.720 shoved into the backseat of a police SUV. So 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.859 Walt is locked in Gomez's car. Jesse's put in 00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:03.660 Wall's car, and Hank makes a phone call to Marie. 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.559 Which brings us to segment six, the false ending 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.339 and the cliffhanger. The writers give us one 00:21:09.339 --> 00:21:11.779 collective breath. Hank calls Marie Schrader 00:21:11.779 --> 00:21:15.019 and delivers the line, I have him. It is without 00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:17.359 a doubt the happiest Hank has been in years. 00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:20.400 He is absolutely beaming. He tells her it is 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.900 finally over. He says it may be a while before 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.259 I am home, but baby, I am coming home. Oh God, 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.500 that line, I am coming home. In the language 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:33.240 of cinema, that is basically signing your own 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:35.859 tragic death warrant. It is the ultimate retiree 00:21:35.859 --> 00:21:38.220 trope. You know the cop who is exactly one day 00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:40.799 away from retirement, or the soldier in the trench 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.740 who shows his buddy a picture of his girl back 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:45.339 home. It is a curse. It is. Whatever character 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:47.559 in a tense drama says it is over, I am safe, 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:49.460 you know, the heavy axe is about to fall. And 00:21:49.460 --> 00:21:51.799 fall, it absolutely does. Because Walt is sitting 00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:54.119 in the back of the SUV, and he looks in the rear 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:56.299 view mirror. And he sees the dust kicking up 00:21:56.299 --> 00:21:59.250 on the horizon. Not just one car either. Two 00:21:59.250 --> 00:22:01.809 heavy trucks. Jack and the Brotherhood have arrived. 00:22:01.990 --> 00:22:03.970 They completely ignored the cancellation order. 00:22:04.309 --> 00:22:05.930 Or maybe they didn't hear it. Or more likely 00:22:05.930 --> 00:22:08.410 they saw the GPS coordinates and realized that 00:22:08.410 --> 00:22:10.410 is exactly where the millions of dollars are 00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:13.769 buried. Walt's face in that precise moment, it 00:22:13.769 --> 00:22:16.970 is pure unadulterated horror. He starts violently 00:22:16.970 --> 00:22:19.490 screaming again, Jack, Jack don't do it. But 00:22:19.490 --> 00:22:22.049 he is completely trapped inside the soundproof 00:22:22.049 --> 00:22:24.430 glass of the SUV. No one outside can hear a word 00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:28.009 he is saying. He is literally a helpless spectator 00:22:28.009 --> 00:22:30.849 at his own family's funeral. The trucks aggressively 00:22:30.849 --> 00:22:33.890 pull up. And the blocking here by McLaren is 00:22:33.890 --> 00:22:36.190 so incredibly intimidating. These guys... pile 00:22:36.190 --> 00:22:38.069 out of the vehicles, they have tactical vests 00:22:38.069 --> 00:22:40.730 on, they are holding automatic rifles, they slowly 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:43.710 line up. And Hank and Gomez? They are horribly 00:22:43.710 --> 00:22:45.849 outgunned. They have standard -issue pistols 00:22:45.849 --> 00:22:48.009 and one shotgun. They are standing out in the 00:22:48.009 --> 00:22:50.910 wide open desert. The Nazis have the heavy vehicles 00:22:50.910 --> 00:22:54.849 for solid cover. The standoff ensues. It is classic 00:22:54.849 --> 00:22:57.230 high noon western tension. You hear the desert 00:22:57.230 --> 00:22:59.390 wind whistling. You get these tight close -ups 00:22:59.390 --> 00:23:01.710 on everyone's eyes. Hank is yelling, please drop 00:23:01.710 --> 00:23:04.490 your weapons, identify yourselves. And Jack is 00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:07.049 just casually chewing his gum. Kenny is calmly 00:23:07.049 --> 00:23:09.289 polishing his glasses. They do not respect the 00:23:09.289 --> 00:23:12.549 badge at all. They just see two minor obstacles 00:23:12.549 --> 00:23:15.430 standing between them and a massive winning lottery 00:23:15.430 --> 00:23:17.910 ticket. Walt is frantically banging his head 00:23:17.910 --> 00:23:20.210 and hands on the window. No, no. He knows exactly 00:23:20.210 --> 00:23:22.109 what is about to happen. And then the tension 00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:25.670 finally snaps. Kenny abruptly opens fire and 00:23:25.670 --> 00:23:28.349 the whole world just violently explodes. It is 00:23:28.349 --> 00:23:30.730 not a beautifully choreographed cinematic slow 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:33.890 motion gunfight either. It is incredibly loud, 00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:37.049 chaotic and totally overwhelming. Bullets are 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:39.930 absolutely shredding the SUV. Glass is flying 00:23:39.930 --> 00:23:42.750 everywhere. Gomez and Hank are pinned down almost 00:23:42.750 --> 00:23:45.289 instantly. They are desperately taking cover 00:23:45.289 --> 00:23:47.410 behind the thin car door, which offers almost 00:23:47.410 --> 00:23:50.269 absolutely no real protection against high caliber 00:23:50.269 --> 00:23:53.309 automatic rounds. Jesse is terrified and cowering 00:23:53.309 --> 00:23:56.230 under the dashboard of Walt's car. Walt is curled 00:23:56.230 --> 00:23:58.970 up in a tight ball on the floor of the SUV trying 00:23:58.970 --> 00:24:01.150 to avoid the hail of bullets. And the editing 00:24:01.150 --> 00:24:04.150 here by Kelly Dixon is incredibly frantic. It 00:24:04.150 --> 00:24:06.549 rapidly cuts from the bright muzzle flashes to 00:24:06.549 --> 00:24:09.109 Walt's terrified screaming face to Hank bravely 00:24:09.109 --> 00:24:12.089 firing back with his pistol. And then right in 00:24:12.089 --> 00:24:16.059 the middle of the deafening battle, Black. Cut 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:18.619 to Black, executive producer Vince Gilligan. 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:21.319 The sheer audacity of the creative team to end 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:23.619 the episode right there in that exact second. 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:26.759 It was the ultimate television cliffhanger. You 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:29.259 have the lives of literally every major character 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:30.859 hanging completely in the balance. The screen 00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:33.539 goes totally dark. And you are just left sitting 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:36.289 in your living room. in total silence with your 00:24:36.289 --> 00:24:38.309 heart pounding out of your chest. I remember 00:24:38.309 --> 00:24:40.930 vividly throwing a couch pillow at my TV screen. 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:43.769 I physically needed to know what happened next 00:24:43.769 --> 00:24:47.349 right then. It was a wildly brilliant strategic 00:24:47.349 --> 00:24:50.509 move by AMC and the creators. It completely ensured 00:24:50.509 --> 00:24:52.829 that everyone, and I mean everyone, would be 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:55.190 frantically tuning in for the next episode, Ozymandias. 00:24:55.329 --> 00:24:57.390 Let us talk about the reception in segment seven, 00:24:57.890 --> 00:25:00.829 because obviously an episode this intense... 00:25:00.890 --> 00:25:03.930 made massive waves. It was a cultural phenomenon. 00:25:04.309 --> 00:25:06.750 The original broadcast viewership jumped to 5 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:09.930 .1 million people, which was up significantly 00:25:09.930 --> 00:25:12.849 from the previous week's 4 .41 million. Wow, 00:25:13.029 --> 00:25:15.609 that is a big jump. Yeah, the intense word of 00:25:15.609 --> 00:25:18.150 mouth was spreading rapidly. People were saying, 00:25:18.170 --> 00:25:20.269 you absolutely have to watch this live. You cannot 00:25:20.269 --> 00:25:23.089 wait. And the critics? How did they react? They 00:25:23.089 --> 00:25:25.630 were totally floored by it. Tim Surrett over 00:25:25.630 --> 00:25:28.589 at TV .com called it a direct hit and said it 00:25:28.589 --> 00:25:30.690 was potentially one of the best episodes of the 00:25:30.690 --> 00:25:34.309 entire series. Seth Amidon at IGN gave it a perfect 00:25:34.309 --> 00:25:37.769 10 out of 10 score. A perfect 10 that is rare. 00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:40.779 Deservedly so, though. He highly praised the 00:25:40.779 --> 00:25:43.000 pacing, the shocking twists, and the masterful 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.940 direction. He astutely noted that the show had 00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:48.900 somehow managed to make us root for Hank. Hank 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:51.880 aggressively despised Walt, deeply pity Jesse, 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.460 and utterly fear the Nazis all at the exact same 00:25:54.460 --> 00:25:57.240 time. The Ringer, much later on in 2019, actually 00:25:57.240 --> 00:25:59.740 ranked it as the 11th best episode out of all 00:25:59.740 --> 00:26:02.619 62 episodes of the series, which in a show with 00:26:02.619 --> 00:26:05.539 a baseline caliber this high, is legendary top 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:08.039 -tier status. And we absolutely cannot forget 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:09.880 the editing awards. Kelly Dixon was officially 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:11.940 nominated for Outstanding Single Camera Picture 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:14.240 Editing for a drama series for this specific 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.359 episode. Did she win? She actually lost, but 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:18.660 she only lost to the editor of the series finale, 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:21.619 Felina. So Breaking Bad basically owned that 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:24.240 entire category that year. So as we wrap up this 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:27.480 incredibly tense journey. Yeah. Let us try to 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:30.359 synthesize all of this information. What is the 00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:34.029 big thematic takeaway of Toajali? For me, the 00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:36.089 biggest takeaway is about the dangerous illusion 00:26:36.089 --> 00:26:39.369 of control. Walter White spent five grueling 00:26:39.369 --> 00:26:42.549 seasons, truly believing he could neatly compartmentalize 00:26:42.549 --> 00:26:44.589 his chaotic life. Right, keeping the two lives 00:26:44.589 --> 00:26:47.390 separate. Exactly. He deeply thought he could 00:26:47.390 --> 00:26:49.750 be a ruthless drug lord from nine to five and 00:26:49.750 --> 00:26:52.230 a warm family man on the weekends. He actually 00:26:52.230 --> 00:26:54.369 thought he could hire brutal murderers to do 00:26:54.369 --> 00:26:57.210 his bidding, but somehow keep his own hands perfectly 00:26:57.210 --> 00:27:00.210 clean. And this episode violently smashes that 00:27:00.210 --> 00:27:03.039 entire illusion into pieces. Completely. Separate 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.220 worlds finally forcefully collide out in the 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:07.819 desert. The criminal world represented by Jack 00:27:07.819 --> 00:27:09.960 aggressively arrives to kill the family world 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.900 represented by Hank. And Walt is just hopelessly 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:14.819 stuck right in the middle, handcuffed, entirely 00:27:14.819 --> 00:27:17.680 unable to stop it. It is the ultimate consequence 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.839 of every single dark shortcut he ever took. He 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.579 hired Jack to cleanly solve a problem, and now 00:27:25.579 --> 00:27:27.960 Jack is the absolute worst problem he has ever 00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:30.240 faced. It is the classic Shakespearean tragedy 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.319 structure. The tragic anti -hero creates the 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.180 exact instrument of his own terrible destruction. 00:27:36.660 --> 00:27:38.839 And the poetic irony of the physical location. 00:27:39.779 --> 00:27:42.680 The exact place where he very first broke bad 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:45.640 is the exact place where his life finally breaks 00:27:45.640 --> 00:27:48.180 completely apart. He fully surrendered. That 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:50.240 is the one thing that still really haunts me 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:53.019 about this episode. He actually gave up his empire. 00:27:53.259 --> 00:27:55.420 He was fully willing to go to a federal prison 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:57.440 just to save Hank's life. But it was just way 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.859 too late. Way too late. The dark, violent forces 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:02.519 he originally set in motion were already aggressively 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:04.359 rolling forward. You cannot unring the bell. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.000 You cannot uncall the hit. Well, here's a final 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.359 provocative thought for you, the listener. A 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:12.180 dark little nugget to carefully chew on. Walt 00:28:12.180 --> 00:28:14.759 screams, don't come to Jack on the phone. He 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:17.660 peacefully surrenders to Hank in his own twisted 00:28:17.660 --> 00:28:20.140 mind. He made the right moral choice at the very 00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:22.559 last possible second. But does that actually 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.559 matter? That is the ultimate philosophical question 00:28:25.559 --> 00:28:27.880 of the show. Right. Like if you build a highly 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:30.480 destructive bomb and you purposely light the 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.380 fuse and then you suddenly genuinely regret it 00:28:33.380 --> 00:28:36.539 five seconds before it blows up, are you still 00:28:36.539 --> 00:28:38.900 a bomber? I think the bloody shootout in the 00:28:38.900 --> 00:28:40.940 desert gave us the definitive answer to that. 00:28:41.259 --> 00:28:43.519 The bomb went off regardless of his regrets. 00:28:43.859 --> 00:28:45.880 Indeed it did. And next time we do a deep dive, 00:28:46.180 --> 00:28:49.140 we really have to talk about the toxic radioactive 00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:51.920 fallout of that bomb. Because if you somehow 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.900 thought this week was intense, Ozymandias is 00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:56.720 coming. I am definitely going to need a very 00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:58.420 stiff drink before we sit down to record that 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:01.400 one. Oh, me too. Absolutely. Thank you all so 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:03.740 much for listening to The Deep Dive. Go re -watch 00:29:03.740 --> 00:29:06.299 the episode. Close we look at those wide desert 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:09.220 shots. Look at the sheer terror in Cranston's 00:29:09.220 --> 00:29:11.380 eyes. And we will see you on the other side.