Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn are near-locks to win Emmys again next year, and if they didn’t also have an entire half season of knockout moments to their credit already, they could have potentially won statues based solely on the merits of their final scene together in this episode. The scene seemed to fly by the first time I watched it; only on AMC’s lovely second airing of the episode a couple hours later did I realize how much silence fills the scene, and how much of our attention is transfixed on the faces of these two superb actors.
The most talked about moment from this scene, rightly so most likely, is Walt’s admission to Skyler, which she almost disregards as a lie. She expects him to spin his story the way he has this entire time, and has lost all trust in him. Walt’s last ditch effort at redemption with Skyler, though, is one final honest moment, where he admits that his meth cooking was not to benefit his family, but for his own ego. The last couple of seasons have featured Walt lying with success to just about everyone, but he’s painfully obvious when he lies to Skyler. His earnest admission in this moment takes a second, but once she realizes he’s simply being honest with her for the first time in a long while, it’s devastating. This is punctuated by a goodbye between Walter and baby Holly, and a distance, silent goodbye to Walter Jr. Sad, but beautiful.
