By the time Walt manages to get himself out of that cabin, he is so weak and frail he can only carry with him that little box of money, a tiny slice of the criminal empire he built in the name of his family, and can only make a half-hearted, poorly planned attempt to get the money to Walt Jr. What he is looking for on that phone call, of course, is not a way to help his son and wife; he knows he is on the verge of death, and he just wants some semblance of absolution, some recognition that this wasn’t all for naught, before he passes away. And when that road is forcefully closed (in a scene that once again demonstrates how good R.J. Mitte can be when called upon to deliver), Walt finally decides to do the right thing – even if it comes from a place of total defeat – by calling the cops to his location.
And this next part, to me, is where Breaking Bad may have just secured its legacy.
Walt sits down at the bar, ready for the end, when he sees Gretchen and Elliot being interviewed about a charitable donation on the TV. For those who need a refresher, Gretchen and Elliot are old friends of Walter White from his college days – people he formed a company, Grey Matter, with, only to extricate himself from the organization out of pride right before it became wildly successful. Gretchen and Elliot are the symbol of Walter White’s true motivations – the trigger, if you will, for the birth of Heisenberg. His pride stopped him from staying the course with them when he was much younger, and that same pride, and sense of spite, convinced him to continue cooking meth rather than accept Elliot’s generous offer to pay for his cancer treatments.
I love this scene more than I can possibly describe. Not only do Gretchen and Elliot dismiss Walter White unequivocally, both in his creation of the company and as a human being, but they claim the American southwest as under their financial protection – in essence, stepping in on Heisenberg’s territory. And just as in the pilot, Walter White is ‘awakened,’ shaken out of apathy and called to action to make sure his life means something. Because he cannot die with this as his reputation, with these people he hates so much writing his history for the public. Walter White is not nothing – Walter White is, in his own mind, a ‘great’ man, and even if that greatness comes from unspeakable transgressions, he earned that greatness. It is his. It deserves to be recognized, not dismissed, just as the Southwest cannot be given over to Gretchen and Elliot in Walt’s absence. That is his territory, dammit. Not Tuco Salamanca’s. Not Gus Fring’s. Not Mike Ehrmentraut’s, nor Declan’s, nor Uncle Jack. And it damn well isn’t Gretchen or Elliot’s. It belongs to Heisenberg, and Heisenberg will rise again to make sure the world remembers that.
And so the pieces are put in place for the endgame, as the full Breaking Bad theme song – released on the soundtrack, but never played in an episode – rolls over the final minute of footage. Walt is heading back to Albuquerque to wage all out war, and it isn’t for any of the reasons we may have previously anticipated. He is not returning to reclaim his money and secure his family’s fiscal future. He is not returning to put down the neo-Nazis out of some warped sense of moral obligation. He has not had a change of heart about Jesse, and is not rushing to his surrogate son’s rescue. He is not returning to turn himself in, or clean up his messes, or right the wrongs of his past.
He is returning for himself, because that territory is his, and his enemies have stolen his reputation, and he will not die without reclaiming every ounce of it. Walter White has once again given way to Heisenberg, in mind, body, and spirit, and Heisenberg is out for blood (if the Ricin isn’t for Gretchen and Elliot, I would be severely disappointed).
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