WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.299 Welcome back to the deep dive. Today, we are 00:00:03.299 --> 00:00:05.139 doing something that I have been wanting to do 00:00:05.139 --> 00:00:07.500 for a really long time. Oh, yeah. It's a big 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:10.060 one. It really is. We are freezing the frame. 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:12.220 We're stopping the clock right before the end 00:00:12.220 --> 00:00:15.039 of, well, one of the greatest cultural phenomena 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:16.800 we've ever seen. We're talking about Breaking 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.780 Bad. But not just the show in general, right? 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:21.019 We aren't doing a broad sweep today. We are looking 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:24.920 at a very specific moment in time. The deep breath 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:26.839 before the plunge, I guess you could say. Exactly. 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:32.340 We are diving into Season 5, Episode 15, the 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:35.520 penultimate episode, Granite State. Right. Now, 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.520 for anyone who was watching this live back in 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.100 2013, you remember the atmosphere. It was just 00:00:40.100 --> 00:00:43.240 suffocating. Oh, totally. The tension was unbelievable. 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:46.159 The previous episode, Ozymandias, is widely considered 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:48.659 the best hour of television ever made. And there 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:52.079 was a nuclear bomb, Hank is dead, the money is 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:54.899 stolen, the family is destroyed, and Walt is 00:00:54.899 --> 00:00:57.530 on the run. Yeah, Ozymandias was the crash. I 00:00:57.530 --> 00:00:59.829 mean, it was the screaming, the crying, the blood. 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:04.209 It was this high octane trauma. But Granite State, 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:06.810 this deep dive, is going to explore why this 00:01:06.810 --> 00:01:10.269 episode is actually the more interesting psychological 00:01:10.269 --> 00:01:12.709 study. It's the silence after the crash. Exactly. 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:14.950 It's the fallout. And we have an incredible stack 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:17.129 of sources to help us unpack this for you today. 00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:19.409 We've got the original production notes from 00:01:19.409 --> 00:01:21.590 the writer and director, Peter Gold. Which are 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:23.739 fascinating, by the way. They really are. Plus, 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.180 we've got critical essays from Rolling Stone, 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:29.599 IGN, Vulture, and Slant that were written right 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.780 in the heat of the moment. We're also looking 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:34.400 at viewership data and some retrospective analysis 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.599 that connects this episode to the wider Breaking 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.329 Bad universe. Specifically, Better Call Saul. 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:43.109 Yes, exactly. Because that connection to Better 00:01:43.109 --> 00:01:45.290 Call Saul is going to be a huge part of our discussion 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:48.530 today. Looking back, Granite State isn't just 00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:51.209 the end of Breaking Bad. It's essentially the 00:01:51.209 --> 00:01:54.250 backdoor pilot for the entire prequel series. 00:01:54.390 --> 00:01:56.010 Even if they didn't know it at the time. Right, 00:01:56.129 --> 00:01:58.510 exactly. So here is the mission for this deep 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:01.810 dive. We want to understand how this episode 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.870 systematically dismantles the legend of Heisenberg. 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:08.150 Layer by layer. Right. This isn't an episode 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:11.069 about action. It's an episode about stripping 00:02:11.069 --> 00:02:13.949 a man of his power Until there is absolutely 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:16.949 nothing left, but a dying man in a cabin. It's 00:02:16.949 --> 00:02:19.810 about isolation It's about the difference between 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:23.069 being literally free and actually being alive 00:02:23.069 --> 00:02:25.870 And it's about how you know sometimes the scariest 00:02:25.870 --> 00:02:27.750 thing isn't the guy with the gun Yeah, it's the 00:02:27.750 --> 00:02:29.830 guy with the polite smile who offers you ice 00:02:29.830 --> 00:02:32.590 cream. Oh man Todd We will definitely get to 00:02:32.590 --> 00:02:34.569 Todd. We have to let's set the context first 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:37.479 Ozymandias ends with Walt getting to that red 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:40.340 van. He's leaving Albuquerque. He is leaving 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:43.219 his identity behind. And according to the production 00:02:43.219 --> 00:02:45.599 notes, the writer's room, led by Vince Gilligan 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:48.319 and Peter Gould, they kind of hit a wall here. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:50.039 Yeah, they really did. They didn't know what 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:51.879 to do next. It's a classic writer's dilemma, 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:54.500 right? Yeah. You've just blown up your protagonist's 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:56.759 world. Does he immediately grab a gun and... 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.080 go full Rambo. Right. Does he start plotting 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.580 revenge right away? That's the standard action 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:04.280 movie. Exactly. But Breaking Bad rarely does 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.180 the standard thing. No, it doesn't. Peter Gold 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:10.340 mentions in these interviews that they debated 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:13.599 having Walt be angry, having him be that cornered 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.960 rat immediately. But they realized that just 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.500 didn't feel true to the trauma of what just happened. 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:21.740 It would have been cheap. Yeah. So they decided 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:23.939 to go with Prussian. They wanted Walt to hit 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:27.180 bottom. And that tonal shift is jarring for the 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:29.719 viewer. If you binge the show now, you go from 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:33.240 the bright, harsh, desert sunlight of Ozymandias 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:36.439 to this dim, cramped, claustrophobic darkness 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:38.919 of the vacuum repair shop basement. Let's talk 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:40.539 about that basement. Because this is the first 00:03:40.539 --> 00:03:43.120 time we actually see where Saul Goodman and Walter 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.530 White end up. when they pull the ripcord. We've 00:03:45.530 --> 00:03:47.909 heard about the disappear for seasons. Right. 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:50.590 We saw the business card. We knew the vacuum 00:03:50.590 --> 00:03:53.389 repair cover story. But now we're actually in 00:03:53.389 --> 00:03:55.469 the belly of the beast. It's a literal purgatory. 00:03:55.689 --> 00:03:58.210 You have these two titans of the Albuquerque 00:03:58.210 --> 00:04:00.370 drug trade. Heisenberg, the kingpin. And Saul 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:03.849 Goodman, the criminal lawyer. And they are bunking 00:04:03.849 --> 00:04:06.710 together like college freshmen in a dorm room. 00:04:06.810 --> 00:04:10.180 A very damp. dusty concrete dorm room. Exactly. 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:12.379 And the production design here is so telling. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.240 It's stripped of all glamour. There are no stacks 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:17.779 of money on the table. There's just the hum of 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:20.399 the ventilation and this ticking clock. And the 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.639 dynamic between them has completely flipped. 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:25.459 Entirely. Think about their relationship up to 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:28.589 this point. Walt has always been the alpha. Always. 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:31.649 He bullies Saul. He shouts. He threatens. He 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.009 grabs him by the lapels. Saul has always been 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:35.970 the terrified jester just trying to keep the 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:39.500 king happy. But in this basement... Walt tries 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:41.620 to play that card one last time. He does. He's 00:04:41.620 --> 00:04:43.920 pacing around the room. He's trying to formulate 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.879 a plan. He wants Saul to give him a list of hitmen. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.500 Right. He wants to hire a crew to go wipe out 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:52.519 Jack Welker's gang and get his money back. He's 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:54.300 trying to conjure up the spirit of Heisenberg, 00:04:54.420 --> 00:04:56.360 is one critic put it. He's literally putting 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.500 on the costume. He puts on the pork pie hat. 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:02.189 He adopts the wide stance. But the reality of 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:05.370 his failing body betrays him. He puffs up his 00:05:05.370 --> 00:05:08.470 chest to intimidate Saul to do the whole I am 00:05:08.470 --> 00:05:10.430 the danger routine and what happens. He doubles 00:05:10.430 --> 00:05:13.050 over coughing. He doubles over. It's pathetic. 00:05:13.329 --> 00:05:16.110 And I mean that in the true literary sense, it 00:05:16.110 --> 00:05:19.920 induces pity. The cancer is back. and it's back 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:23.379 with a vengeance. And Saul's reaction is what 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:25.519 really sells the scene for me. He doesn't flinch. 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:28.360 He doesn't back away like he used to. No. Saul 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:31.019 just looks at him. He looks at this dying man, 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:34.079 breathless and weak, and he realizes the monster 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.819 is gone. The boogeyman is just a sick old guy. 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.199 And Saul delivers what I think is his most serious 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:42.639 line in the entire series up to this point. Yeah. 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:45.560 He says, it's over. It's over. It's such a simple 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:48.160 line, but coming from Saul Goodman, the guy who 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.019 always has a scheme, always has a guy who knows 00:05:50.019 --> 00:05:52.860 a guy, it's devastating. He's telling Walt that 00:05:52.860 --> 00:05:55.040 there are no more moves on the chessboard. The 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.220 game is done. And this is where the two characters 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:00.480 diverge. This is the fork in the road. Saul is 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:03.000 choosing survival. He's choosing to walk away. 00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:05.680 Walt is just unable to accept that the game has 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.040 ended. Now, we have to pause here and talk about 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:10.000 the departure of Saul Goodman. Yes, definitely. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:12.040 Because he leaves the basement, he walks out 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.839 of Walt's life, and he heads toward a black car 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.399 that's going to take him to Nebraska. But before 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:19.740 he goes, he says something that, at the time, 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.160 we all kind of just laughed at. The Cinnabon 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.620 prophecy. The Cinnabon prophecy. He looks at 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:27.139 Walt and says, if I'm lucky, a month from now, 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:29.620 best case scenario, I'm managing a Cinnabon in 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:33.089 Omaha. It is. arguably the most famous throwaway 00:06:33.089 --> 00:06:36.170 line in television history. And I want to emphasize 00:06:36.170 --> 00:06:38.730 that word, throwaway. I was reading an interview 00:06:38.730 --> 00:06:41.970 with Peter Gould, and he admitted that when he 00:06:41.970 --> 00:06:45.220 wrote that line, It was literally just a joke. 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.620 It was just a specific funny detail to illustrate 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:51.660 how incredibly mundane Saul's life was about 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:55.060 to become. They had no concrete plans for a spinoff 00:06:55.060 --> 00:06:57.439 set in Omaha. That is mind -blowing to me, because 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:59.740 if you watch Better Call Saul, that line is the 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:01.980 gospel. The entire black and white timeline of 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:03.759 that show, Gene Tarkovitch, the mustache, the 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.500 mall, it's all built on this one sentence. It 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:08.879 shows the organic nature of storytelling in this 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.759 universe. One's Better Call Saul was greenlit. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.120 They looked back at the scripture breaking band 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.519 and said, well, Saul said he was going to Omaha 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:18.459 to manage a Cinnabon, so I guess we're going 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:20.519 to Omaha. And it goes even deeper than that. 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:22.620 If you look at the timeline, the events we are 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:24.459 seeing in Granite State Wall and Saul in the 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:27.540 basement are happening simultaneously with events 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:30.500 we see years later in Better Call Saul. Specifically, 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:34.149 the episode. Quite a ride. Yes. In quite a ride, 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:37.250 we see the frantic energy of Saul tearing apart 00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:39.870 his office, shredding documents, collecting the 00:07:39.870 --> 00:07:42.370 cash from the ceiling tiles, all while Francesca 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:44.430 is holding down the fort. Right. That is happening 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:46.949 right before he gets to this basement. So when 00:07:46.949 --> 00:07:49.430 Saul is sitting on that bunk bed, staring at 00:07:49.430 --> 00:07:52.569 the ceiling, he's just come from destroying his 00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:55.899 entire life's work. Yeah. He's traumatized, too. 00:07:56.019 --> 00:07:58.339 Exactly. It adds so much weight to his silence. 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:01.699 He's not just annoyed with Walt. He's actively 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:04.240 mourning Saul Goodman. He really is. And when 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.920 he walks out that door, Saul Goodman is dead. 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.899 He is becoming Gene, and Walt is left alone. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:12.939 But while Walt is being shipped off to the snowy 00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:15.480 isolation of New Hampshire, we have to look at 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.339 what he left behind. Because if Walt's story 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:21.639 becomes one of quiet desperation, the story back 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.000 in Albuquerque turns into a straight up horror 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.860 movie. This is the dark timeline. We need to 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:29.240 talk about Jesse, Todd, and the Whites. Yeah. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.740 Because the power vacuum Walt left behind has 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:34.500 been filled by something much, much worse than 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:37.000 Heisenberg. Let's start with the raid on Marie's 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.720 house. We see Jack Welker and his neo -Nazi gang 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.759 breaking in, and they find Jesse's confession 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.320 tape. The one he made for Hank. Right. And this 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.740 is a crucial plot point. Jack watches the tape, 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.139 and his immediate reaction is very old school 00:08:51.139 --> 00:08:53.980 criminal. He says he's a rat. Kill him. Jack 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:56.279 is pragmatic. He doesn't hold grudges. He just 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:58.919 removes loose ends. It's business to him. But 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:02.000 then we have Todd. Todd Alquist. I think Todd 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.759 might be one of the most disturbing villains 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.039 in TV history. Because he's so pleasant. Yes. 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:10.840 Todd is the banality of evil personified. He 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:12.799 doesn't twirl a mustache. He doesn't scream. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.539 He says sorry and please. And he intervenes to 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:19.179 save Jesse's life here, but not because he cares 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:21.779 about Jesse. No, he wants to learn to cook. Right, 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:23.539 he needs to get the purity up. But let's think 00:09:23.539 --> 00:09:26.000 about why. Why does Todd care about the purity 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.870 of the meth? That's a great question. He's already 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:32.809 rich. They stole Walt's millions. They have literal 00:09:32.809 --> 00:09:35.289 barrels of cash buried in the desert. They don't 00:09:35.289 --> 00:09:37.690 need to cook anymore. It's Lydia, isn't it? It's 00:09:37.690 --> 00:09:40.509 entirely about Lydia Rodarte Quayle. Todd has 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:43.990 this twisted adolescent crush on her. He knows 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:46.950 that Lydia is a perfectionist. She creates chaos 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:49.649 when the product isn't up to standard. Remember, 00:09:49.649 --> 00:09:52.629 she was ready to cut ties completely. Exactly. 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:56.070 Todd keeps Jesse alive as a pet chemist solely 00:09:56.070 --> 00:09:59.419 so he can bring 92 pure meth to Lydia and impress 00:09:59.419 --> 00:10:02.480 her. That is so deeply creepy. He's keeping a 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.899 human being in a concrete cage and torturing 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:06.980 him just so he can flirt with a business associate. 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:10.080 It reduces Jesse's existence to a bargaining 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:13.759 chip and a weird sociopathic courtship. And to 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.000 keep this operation running, they have to secure 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:19.240 the perimeter. That means silencing Skyler. The 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.220 scene where they break into Skyler's house is 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.419 terrifying. It really is. They appear in the 00:10:23.419 --> 00:10:25.769 baby's room, standing over Holly. Yeah. It's 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:28.470 a violation of the highest order. And look at 00:10:28.470 --> 00:10:31.549 the contrast here. Walt tried to control Skyler 00:10:31.549 --> 00:10:34.450 through manipulation and gaslighting. Todd controls 00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:38.029 her through sheer unspoken physical threat. Yeah. 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:40.110 They threatened her to keep quiet about Lydia. 00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:43.330 And Skyler, who stood up to Walt so many times, 00:10:43.570 --> 00:10:46.809 is completely paralyzed by these men. She knows 00:10:46.809 --> 00:10:49.049 they are a different breed of animal entirely. 00:10:49.230 --> 00:10:51.509 But nobody suffers more in this episode, and 00:10:51.509 --> 00:10:53.730 honestly maybe in the whole series, than Jesse 00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:56.340 Pinkman. We have to talk about the escape attempt. 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:58.820 We do. Because for a brief moment, the show gives 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:01.820 us a glimmer of hope. Jesse manages to pick the 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:04.379 lock. He gets out of the concrete pit. He runs 00:11:04.379 --> 00:11:06.919 for the chain link fence. And the directing here 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:10.320 is just masterful. We see the stars. We see the 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.820 wide open sky. You can almost feel the cold night 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:15.460 air. For a second, you really think, he's going 00:11:15.460 --> 00:11:17.259 to make it. And then the floodlights hit him. 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:19.559 It's heartbreaking. He's dragged back down. But 00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:22.320 the punishment isn't a beating. Jack doesn't 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.899 break his legs. They decide to break his mind. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:26.919 They put him in the van and drive him to a residential 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:29.960 street. And when they pull up, my stomach just 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.659 drops. I knew exactly where they were. Andrea's 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:35.980 house. The woman Jessie loved. Brock's mother. 00:11:36.580 --> 00:11:39.559 This scene, it's really hard to watch. They park 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:42.519 the van across the street. Jessie is gagged, 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:44.919 screaming against the window. And Todd walks 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:47.259 up to the porch. Let's analyze Todd's behavior 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:49.659 here, because it's chilling. He knocks on the 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:52.970 door. He smiles. He says, personal thing, really. 00:11:53.490 --> 00:11:55.950 He is so unbelievably polite. He doesn't look 00:11:55.950 --> 00:11:58.029 like a monster. He looks like a friendly neighbor. 00:11:58.090 --> 00:12:00.230 And then he pulls the trigger and shoots her 00:12:00.230 --> 00:12:02.009 in the back of the head. It's the silence that 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:04.710 gets me. He just does it. There's no speech, 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:08.190 no anger, just a pop. And then he turns around 00:12:08.190 --> 00:12:10.629 and walks away. And Jesse, watching from the 00:12:10.629 --> 00:12:12.950 car, the camera just stays on Aaron Paul's face. 00:12:13.029 --> 00:12:15.370 It's the absolute destruction of a human spirit. 00:12:15.769 --> 00:12:18.250 This is the moment Jesse Pinkman ceases to be 00:12:18.250 --> 00:12:20.509 a person and truly becomes a tool. And just to 00:12:20.509 --> 00:12:23.360 twist the knife. Jack threatens Brock. He says 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.299 if Jesse ever tries to escape again, they'll 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.820 kill the boy. That's the luck. That is why Jesse 00:12:27.820 --> 00:12:30.100 stays. It's not the physical cage that holds 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:32.679 him anymore. It's the threat to the one innocent 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.620 thing left in his world. The critics praised 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:38.059 this sequence for how it completely shifted the 00:12:38.059 --> 00:12:40.840 audience's alignment. Up until now, you could 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:43.080 argue Walt was the ultimate villain of the show. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.159 But compared to Jack and Todd, Walt looks like 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.399 a saint. It clarifies the end game. The audience 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.460 needs to want these guys dead. By killing Andrea, 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:54.759 the show makes sure that when Walt eventually 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:56.899 comes back, we aren't asking, is this moral? 00:12:57.379 --> 00:13:00.220 We're just saying, get him. So while Jesse is 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:03.940 living in literal hell, Walt arrives in the Granite 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:06.639 State. New Hampshire. And we finally see the 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.059 disappear in action. Ed Galbraith, played by 00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:11.220 Robert Forster. Robert Forster, what a legend. 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:13.740 I read that he won the Saturn Award for this 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:16.100 role, and he's only in this one episode of Breaking 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:19.039 Bad. He brings such a unique gravitas to the 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:21.580 role. He's a no -nonsense professional. He's 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:24.320 not a criminal in the flashy way Saul is. He's 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.759 a service provider. Yeah. And he drives Walt 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:29.620 all the way across the country in a propane truck 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:32.659 to the secluded cabin. Now a little behind -the 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:34.460 -scenes magic for you, we're supposed to be in 00:13:34.460 --> 00:13:36.080 the snowy mountains of New Hampshire, right? 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:39.080 Yeah. And the wide shots of the snow were actually 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.019 filmed in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire. Right. 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:44.220 But the cabin itself, that was built on a soundstage, 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.700 and the exterior close -ups were shot in the 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:49.000 Sandia Mountains in the Mexico. They had to truck 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 in fake snow for that. But visually, it works 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.980 perfectly. It feels miles away from the desert 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:56.919 of Albuquerque. Let's talk about the deal Ed 00:13:56.919 --> 00:13:59.039 offers Walt, because this is where the theme 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:01.659 of isolation really kicks into high gear. It's 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:05.139 a very stark contract. Ed says, I am your lifeline. 00:14:05.539 --> 00:14:08.080 He will come once a month with food, newspapers 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.940 and chemotherapy supplies. But that's it. No 00:14:10.940 --> 00:14:14.139 phone, no internet, no television reception that 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.639 gets any news from outside the local area. And 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.559 the visuals of the cabin reflect this perfectly. 00:14:18.899 --> 00:14:21.580 It's rustic, sure, but it's essentially a prison 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:24.519 cell. Critics like Seth Amitin from IGN noted 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:27.139 the color palette shift here. We are so used 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:29.519 to the sickly greens and the bright yellows of 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:31.799 Albuquerque. Here, everything is white, gray, 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.860 and brown. It's the white motif. White like his 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:37.679 name. Exactly. It symbolizes a blank slate, but 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.389 also a void. It's a kind of non -existence. And 00:14:41.389 --> 00:14:43.809 Walt has the barrel. He managed to save about 00:14:43.809 --> 00:14:47.029 $11 million, but he takes out a stack of cash, 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:49.929 must be $100 ,000, and he puts it on the table. 00:14:50.690 --> 00:14:52.750 And there's nowhere to spend it. This is the 00:14:52.750 --> 00:14:55.070 central irony of the episode. The Ozymandias 00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:58.330 poem touches on this. Look on my works, ye mighty, 00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:02.149 and despair. Walt has built his massive empire. 00:15:02.570 --> 00:15:05.870 He has his immense fortune, and it is completely 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:08.870 useless. He can't buy a loaf of bread. He can't 00:15:08.870 --> 00:15:11.070 buy a conversation. He is the richest man in 00:15:11.070 --> 00:15:13.389 the graveyard. And then the show does something 00:15:13.389 --> 00:15:15.909 it rarely ever does. It gives us a time jump. 00:15:16.190 --> 00:15:18.610 We see the text on the screen. New Hampshire, 00:15:18.970 --> 00:15:21.210 live free or die. That state motto is doing a 00:15:21.210 --> 00:15:23.509 lot of heavy lifting right there. Live free or 00:15:23.509 --> 00:15:26.450 die. Walt is technically free. He's not in prison. 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:29.710 Right. But he is dying. And the freedom is a 00:15:29.710 --> 00:15:32.529 curse. When we see Walt after the time jump months 00:15:32.529 --> 00:15:35.480 later. He looks awful. The makeup department 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:37.960 deserves an award here. He's gaunt. His glasses 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:39.799 are taped together He is a full head of hair 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.039 and this bushy beard He looks like a hermit who 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:44.820 has completely lost touch with humanity and he's 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:47.500 so desperate for connection When Ed comes for 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:50.480 the monthly supply run Walt practically begs 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.909 him to stay This is one of the most pathetic, 00:15:52.909 --> 00:15:55.789 again, inciting pity moments for Walt. He pays 00:15:55.789 --> 00:15:58.789 Ed. He literally takes a stack of cash, probably 00:15:58.789 --> 00:16:02.110 $10 ,000, and says, I'll give you this if you 00:16:02.110 --> 00:16:04.509 stay for one hour. Just to play cards. Just to 00:16:04.509 --> 00:16:06.750 play cards, just to have another human being 00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:09.269 sit across from him. This is a man who used to 00:16:09.269 --> 00:16:12.289 command rooms. He used to kill people who disrespected 00:16:12.289 --> 00:16:15.110 him. Now he's paying a delivery driver to be 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:17.029 his friend. And Ed gives him the update on his 00:16:17.029 --> 00:16:20.899 family. And it's bleak. Skylar is using her maiden 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:23.399 name. She's working as a taxi dispatcher just 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.779 to make ends meet. She and the kids are in this 00:16:25.779 --> 00:16:29.860 tiny cramped apartment. And the house, the famous 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:31.220 white residence. When I'm mayor of the house. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:34.139 It's abandoned. It's fenced off. Kids are skateboarding 00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:36.639 in the empty pool. It's become a literal tourist 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.820 attraction. That detail about the tourist attraction 00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:41.659 really hit me. It means Walt has passed into 00:16:41.659 --> 00:16:44.059 legend. He's not a real person to Albuquerque 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:46.700 anymore. He's an urban myth. And that hurts him 00:16:46.700 --> 00:16:49.340 more than anything. He wanted to leave a legacy 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:51.559 of provision. He wanted to be the man who saved 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:55.259 his family. Instead, he left a legacy of total 00:16:55.259 --> 00:16:58.340 ruin. His family is struggling and his empire 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:01.840 is a ghost town. The isolation eventually just 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:04.000 breaks him. He decides he can't do it anymore. 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:06.359 He packs up some money into this pathetic little 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:08.579 cardboard box and he starts walking down the 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:11.480 snowy road to town. The music here is incredible. 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:14.619 Dave Porter's score is so sparse, just this lonely, 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:17.559 cold, driving sound. Walt walks out of the woods 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:19.880 and finds a local dive bar. And here we see the 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.279 last flicker of Heisenberg. He needs to talk 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:25.119 to his son. He needs to make things right. But 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:26.980 he knows he can't just call the apartment, so 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:29.619 he pulls a ruse. He's still clever. He pays the 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:32.319 barmaid to call Flynn's school. He has her pretend 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.000 to be Marie. It's a classic Walt manipulation 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:38.400 to get Flynn on the phone. This phone call. It's 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.019 the climax of the episode emotionally. Walt is 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:42.880 pouring his heart out. He's trying to explain 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.140 himself. He says he's sending money to Flynn's 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:47.380 friend, Louis, so Flynn can accept it without 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:49.900 the police knowing. He's desperately trying to 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:52.079 rationalize everything. He's clinging to the 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:54.799 one lie he's told himself since the pilot episode. 00:17:54.900 --> 00:17:57.779 It's for the family. If he can just give them 00:17:57.779 --> 00:18:00.900 the money, then the murders, the meth, the destruction, 00:18:01.579 --> 00:18:04.200 it validates it. It makes it all worth it. But 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:07.740 Flynn destroys that illusion. Flynn is not having 00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:09.839 it. He doesn't hear a provider on the other end 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:12.380 of the line. He hears the man who killed Uncle 00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:15.519 Hank. And Flynn screams at him. He says, you 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.480 killed Uncle Hank. You killed him. And then he 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.799 delivers the line that finally kills Walter White. 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:23.140 He says, why don't you just die? Why don't you 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:25.609 just die? You know, the critic Laura Hudson pointed 00:18:25.609 --> 00:18:27.650 out a brilliant parallel with this specific line. 00:18:27.730 --> 00:18:30.750 Oh. What was that? In season one, Flynn asks 00:18:30.750 --> 00:18:33.089 the exact same question, but the context was 00:18:33.089 --> 00:18:35.730 totally different. Back then, Walt was refusing 00:18:35.730 --> 00:18:38.150 treatment for his lung cancer. Flynn was a scared 00:18:38.150 --> 00:18:40.390 kid, angry that his dad was just giving up. He 00:18:40.390 --> 00:18:43.049 asked, why don't you just die, as a way of saying, 00:18:43.190 --> 00:18:46.309 why are you quitting? Fight for us. Wow. And 00:18:46.309 --> 00:18:49.720 now. Now, it's literal. It's the pure rage of 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:52.519 the wronged. He isn't saying don't give up. He's 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:54.460 saying please remove yourself from the earth. 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:57.440 He is actively wishing for his father's death. 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:00.299 That is heartbreaking. It's the exact same words, 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.779 but the meaning is completely inverted over five 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:05.019 seasons. And you can see it on Bryan Cranston's 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:07.319 face. That is the bullet to the heart. The money 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.319 is rejected. The love is rejected. His son hates 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.099 him. And there's a great piece of production 00:19:12.099 --> 00:19:14.619 trivia about this scene. Apparently, while they 00:19:14.619 --> 00:19:17.200 were filming this intense crying phone call, 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.539 an airplane flew right over the set and ruined 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:23.119 the audio. Yes. Can you imagine? You're giving 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:25.000 the emotional performance of your life, snot 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.150 running down your nose in a jet engine. just 00:19:27.150 --> 00:19:29.990 roars overhead. They had to yell, cut. And Bryan 00:19:29.990 --> 00:19:32.710 Cranston, being the pro he is, had to completely 00:19:32.710 --> 00:19:35.349 reset and summon all that pain back up for another 00:19:35.349 --> 00:19:38.089 take. That is unbelievable. So Flynn hangs up, 00:19:38.490 --> 00:19:40.829 and Walt is broken. He drops the phone, leaving 00:19:40.829 --> 00:19:43.670 it dangling. He is totally defeated. He realizes 00:19:43.670 --> 00:19:45.869 that for the family is a lie. The family wants 00:19:45.869 --> 00:19:48.329 him dead. So he does the only thing left to do. 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:51.410 He calls the DEA. He surrenders. He gives them 00:19:51.410 --> 00:19:53.329 the address of the bar, leaves the phone off 00:19:53.329 --> 00:19:55.609 the hook so they can trace him, and goes to sit 00:19:55.609 --> 00:19:58.829 down. He orders a drink, a dimple pinch, neat, 00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:00.809 and he sits there waiting for the handcuffs. 00:20:00.970 --> 00:20:03.470 And he says that line to the bartender, it can't 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:05.470 all have been for nothing. But as the critic 00:20:05.470 --> 00:20:07.910 Tim Goodman noted in his review, the show is 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:10.490 suggesting that at this exact moment, yes, it 00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:12.890 was all for nothing. He has lost everything. 00:20:13.009 --> 00:20:16.039 He's sitting there. A failed kingpin waiting 00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:19.000 to die in a prison hospital. And if the episode 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:21.880 ended right there, it would be a classical tragedy. 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.319 A pure story of hubris and the inevitable fall. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:28.200 But the universe has one last cosmic joke to 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.619 play on Walter White. The TV above the bar. Charlie 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:33.339 Rose. Walt looks up and sees an interview. And 00:20:33.339 --> 00:20:35.299 of all the people in the world, who is on the 00:20:35.299 --> 00:20:38.279 screen? Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz. the founders 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:40.619 of gray matter technologies, his old college 00:20:40.619 --> 00:20:43.660 partners, the people he feels stole his research, 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:45.960 the people who are living the billionaire life 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.740 he always believed he deserved. And the interviewer 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:50.839 asks them about Walter White because, of course, 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.599 the news is all about the blue meth and the nationwide 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.339 manhunt. And Elliott, Elliott twists the knife. 00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:59.740 He doesn't call Walt a monster. He doesn't call 00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:02.579 him a criminal mastermind. No, he trivializes 00:21:02.579 --> 00:21:04.930 him. He says that Walter White had nothing to 00:21:04.930 --> 00:21:07.369 do with the success of gray matter. He says Walt's 00:21:07.369 --> 00:21:09.950 only contribution was the name, the name. That's 00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:13.410 it. This is a direct laser guided attack on Walt's 00:21:13.410 --> 00:21:15.970 ego. And remember, throughout the series, we've 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:18.789 slowly learned that Walt's true drug wasn't meth. 00:21:18.970 --> 00:21:21.990 It was pride. It was getting credit. He left 00:21:21.990 --> 00:21:24.609 gray matter years ago because of his own inferiority 00:21:24.609 --> 00:21:27.470 complex. He built the meth empire to prove he 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:29.670 was the best at something. And here are these 00:21:29.670 --> 00:21:32.750 two people. on national television, erasing him. 00:21:33.009 --> 00:21:35.289 They're rewriting history to say he was a nobody. 00:21:35.470 --> 00:21:37.970 And that is what wakes him up. The family rejected 00:21:37.970 --> 00:21:40.470 him and he was ready to surrender. But these 00:21:40.470 --> 00:21:43.369 two people insulting his intelligence that he 00:21:43.369 --> 00:21:45.690 absolutely cannot abide. It's fascinating, isn't 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:48.609 it? He was willing to go to jail for his son's 00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:51.009 hatred, but he's willing to go to war for his 00:21:51.009 --> 00:21:54.519 own pride. It's the return of Heisenberg. The 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:57.960 camera slowly pushes in on his face. The actual 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:00.759 Breaking Bad theme music starts to thump, which 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:03.119 they very rarely use in the show itself. And 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.160 the police arrive, they surround the bar in the 00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:08.119 snow, they come bursting in with guns drawing. 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:11.099 But the stool is empty, the glass of dimple pinch 00:22:11.099 --> 00:22:13.970 is empty. He's gone. It gives me chills every 00:22:13.970 --> 00:22:16.049 single time. It's such a perfect setup for the 00:22:16.049 --> 00:22:18.730 finale. It totally pivots his motivation. He's 00:22:18.730 --> 00:22:20.730 not going back to Albuquerque to save his family, 00:22:21.009 --> 00:22:23.269 not primarily anyway. He's going back to settle 00:22:23.269 --> 00:22:25.670 scores. He's going back to secure his legacy. 00:22:25.950 --> 00:22:28.130 He's going to make sure everyone remembers the 00:22:28.130 --> 00:22:30.769 name Heisenberg. Let's talk about the reception 00:22:30.769 --> 00:22:33.029 of this episode, because Ozymandias gets all 00:22:33.029 --> 00:22:35.849 the glory. But Granite State put up some serious 00:22:35.849 --> 00:22:38.609 numbers. It really did. It actually beat Ozymandias 00:22:38.609 --> 00:22:42.190 in viewership. 6 .6 million people watched this 00:22:42.190 --> 00:22:44.289 live. It was a record high for the series at 00:22:44.289 --> 00:22:46.069 that time. Everyone needed to know what happened 00:22:46.069 --> 00:22:49.390 next. And the critical reception was glowing. 00:22:50.130 --> 00:22:54.390 I mean, it has a 9 .7 out of 10 on IMDb. Chuck 00:22:54.390 --> 00:22:57.549 Bowen from Slant Magazine praised how it coolly 00:22:57.549 --> 00:23:00.390 navigated the shifting tones. It was recognized 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:03.329 as an absolute masterpiece of pacing. And the 00:23:03.329 --> 00:23:05.130 runtime was actually extended for this one, right? 00:23:05.289 --> 00:23:07.930 Yeah, both this episode and the finale ran 75 00:23:07.930 --> 00:23:09.809 minutes with commercials, so you're looking at 00:23:09.809 --> 00:23:12.849 about 53 minutes of actual content. That extra 00:23:12.849 --> 00:23:15.609 time allowed for those long silent depressing 00:23:15.609 --> 00:23:18.230 scenes in the cabin to really breathe. So as 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:20.670 we wrap up this deep dive, what are the big takeaways? 00:23:20.769 --> 00:23:23.380 What is the legacy of Granite State? First, it 00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:25.880 bridges the gap. It closes the book on Saul Goodman 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:28.359 and sets up Better Call Saul. It's essential 00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:30.339 viewing, if you want to understand that spinoff. 00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:33.339 It completes the isolation of Walter White. It 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:35.460 strips him of every single excuse he ever had. 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:38.079 He has no family, no money that works, no friends. 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:40.160 He is forced to just sit there and face himself 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.740 in that cabin. And finally, it sets up the end. 00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:45.980 It clarifies that Walt's final journey is about 00:23:45.980 --> 00:23:49.109 ego. It's about gray matter. It's about, as he 00:23:49.109 --> 00:23:51.809 eventually admits, I did it for me. Which leads 00:23:51.809 --> 00:23:53.789 us to our final thought. And this is something 00:23:53.789 --> 00:23:55.390 I really want you to chew on after listening. 00:23:55.869 --> 00:23:58.130 It's the question of fate versus coincidence. 00:23:58.470 --> 00:24:01.470 Think about that bar scene. Walt was literally 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:04.690 seconds away from being arrested. If the bartender 00:24:04.690 --> 00:24:07.849 had changed the channel to a football game, if 00:24:07.849 --> 00:24:10.269 Gretchen and Elliot had been booked on Letterman 00:24:10.269 --> 00:24:13.339 instead of Charlie Rose, If Walt had sat in a 00:24:13.339 --> 00:24:14.900 booth where he couldn't see the TV, he would 00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:17.059 have just been arrested. The entire show would 00:24:17.059 --> 00:24:19.859 have ended with Walt in handcuffs, crying into 00:24:19.859 --> 00:24:22.339 a scotch in New Hampshire. Exactly. The machine 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:25.000 gun in the trunk, the rescue of Jesse, the ricin 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.099 for Lydia. None of that happens. So was it fate? 00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:31.240 Did the universe conspire to give Heisenberg 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:34.259 one last ride, or is it just the biggest wildest 00:24:34.259 --> 00:24:37.019 coincidence in TV history? Did a random rerun 00:24:37.019 --> 00:24:39.619 of Charlie Rose spark the destruction of a neo 00:24:39.619 --> 00:24:42.490 -Nazi gang? It certainly seems so. Next time 00:24:42.490 --> 00:24:45.089 you watch that scene, look at his eyes. You can 00:24:45.089 --> 00:24:47.410 see the exact moment the surrender turns into 00:24:47.410 --> 00:24:49.950 rage. It's the moment Walter White dies and Heisenberg 00:24:49.950 --> 00:24:51.910 takes the wheel for good. Thank you so much for 00:24:51.910 --> 00:24:54.369 joining us on this deep dive. It's been incredible 00:24:54.369 --> 00:24:57.170 to slow down and really look at the quiet moments 00:24:57.170 --> 00:24:59.630 that make this show a masterpiece. Always a pleasure. 00:24:59.890 --> 00:25:01.829 We'll see you next time. Stay curious.