Monsters of Television

“I don’t know when or how, all I know is it’s going to happen.”

Good grief, how intense were those last 10 minutes of “Crawl Space”? It was a pretty wild episode, but those last 10 minutes. I had goosebumps, folks, I was unable to sleep for a little while after the episode, with Walter’s laughter ringing in my ears (and that virtuoso shot that closed out the episode).

So that leaves “End Times” to set the stage for the finale. Which is incredibly exciting for me. Nick gave me the option to watch The Good Wife tonight (which is delayed in my market because of the NFL) while he took this week episode, but I declined. For one reason, I just wanted to watch The Good Wife tomorrow (I have nothing else, really, to watch), but for the other reason, well, it’s the penultimate episode of the season, and if Breaking Bad does anything well, it’s the episode before the finale (even in the event of a shortened season).

In essence, I wanted what I suspected would be the craziest episode of the season for myself.

And instead I got this.

This is not a bad episode by any means. But it’s just not…it wasn’t very riveting, I guess, and the flaws of the season, the writers having to contort their way out of a number of corners from last season, felt amplified here. We all know which two instances I’m talking about: Brock’s sudden poisoning and Gus’ spidey-sense/mutant precognition.

The poisoning of Brock is a mystery to everyone on the show, and becomes an inkblot test. If Jesse wants to see that Walter did this, then Walter did it. If Walter wants to see that Gus did it, then Gus did it. It’s a thematic move, one that emphasizes the extreme paranoia that has run throughout this season, and gets ramped up to extreme levels in this episode. But as a plot move, it boggles my brain that no one goes, “Maybe the kid just pilfered the cigarette out of Jesse’s pack at some point.”

I understand, of course, why no one pauses to think of the simplest explanation: they’re all in this pressure cooker of plotting and revenge, so it never occurs to anyone. It’s a well-worn and true narrative turn that character ignore the most obvious (and likeliest) explanation for an event that rattles them to a core, but I guess it just didn’t work for me here. Perhaps the paranoia hasn’t seeped into me enough, perhaps it seemed a little too random an event for the show to spur Jesse to action, or perhaps Andrea and Brock just have always felt like set pieces and not characters, so it’s hard to see them as anything other than just that.

And then there’s the attempt to blow up Gus in the hospital parking deck. This should be taunt and suspenseful, a tension-filled capstone to the episode. Instead, it overplays the scene and oversells Gus’ basassery (walking into sniper fire is cooler than this). After Gus began scanning the skyline, I knew that there would be no explosion, that yet another scheme by Walter to rid himself of an enemy would be botched. In a show where no one ever feels all that safe, everyone felt completely safe in this episode, despite the obvious stakes.

These issues aside, I liked moments of this episode. Anna Gunn, who I really have never been keen on, is strong here. Her scene with Cranson at the start of the episode, as they’re packing, is surprisingly powerful considering the strained nature of the relationship, and Gunn’s performance, helps brings that home. I’m not saying Cranston isn’t good here either, but Walter’s mind is elsewhere, so the connection is all on Gunn, really, to sell it. Likewise, Skyler’s brief visit onto the porch of Marie’s home, and the pawning of a cigarette off the DEA agent, is a quiet, calm moment that I really enjoyed (even the lens flare!).

And then, of course, there’s Walter and Jesse’s showdown in the bunker-ified house. Here, there was some tension. While I didn’t believe that Jesse would actually shoot Walter (where would the show go without Cranston?!) , it felt like it could happen, and it made the scene richer, a scene already enhanced by its claustrophobic darkness, heart-beat soundtrack, and, you know, a dry reprise of Walter’s laughter from last week.

But I remained disappointed with the episode. It’s wasn’t Walter scaring Tuco with a handful of nuthin’ or Walter letting Jane die on her vomit or Walter hitting two dealers with his car. And, yes, this complaint reeks of “They changed it and I hated it (I didn’t hate it) and I didn’t meet my expectations.” And it is. This is not a criticism of the episode (though I find a critical way of justifying it because I’m good at that sort of thing), but I feel like we’re allowed to have that reaction as viewers every once in a while.

There is one last episode to go, of course, and I suspect that they will make me eat every single of the 800 words of I’ve written. And I will gladly do so.