BREAKING BAD: finale ramble

SO glad they brought the Blue (Meth) and the Gray (Matter) back in to fan the waning embers of Walt's mania, just as I'd predict-o-hoped! =)

Also nice and horrible to see that Todd and Uncle Jack and co. continue to prove that they are soulless homunculi. Perfectly nuts that Todd is motivated by a crush on Lydia. And that Lydia recognizes (or perhaps instigated) it and works it. Y'know, it's funny… with all the Wrong that's going/gone on in the show recently, I actually find this weirdness to be sketchiest and creepiest. There's a teacher-student sex scandal smell to it, y'know?

No? Just me? Well, allrighty then!

Gotta say, tho, her goofy greedy Wile E. Coyote lip-smacking drooling-over-the-roadrunner look, her reaction to hearing "92%," is pretty frickin awesome. =)

In any case, the neo-Nazi posse is a pretty ingenious device, hell hounds unleashed upon the BREAKING BAD landscape to wipe it clean of every trace of Walt and Jesse's great works. Langoliers.

Someone should write that on a bit of pottery…or poetry, whichever.

With news of Blue Sky, Heisenberg's trademark product, being back on the market, Walt has yet another reason to want Uncle Jack dead. No one fecks with his legacy, right? And, if he cares anymore, the Blue means that Jesse's still alive (and cooking), probably at Nazi camp. So, I'd have Walt case the camp, realize he's going to need help, and given the observed chained state of Pinkman, figure out a way to turn him into an asset and maybe an inside man.

Who's left to help Walt? (Cuz I really do not want to see Walt even think of going in all Rambo'd up, right?)

I'll tell you who—Badger and Skinny Pete! Who else is gonna stand up for Jesse, and thusly, stand by Walt in an assault on Uncle Jack?

(Maybe on the way cross country he'll stop in Omaha to track down Cinnabon manager Saul Overman, too. If only for the name of a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy who's got an M-60 for sale. =)

That would be a nice explanation for where/how Walt acquires his Big Frickin Gun, altho I suppose it wouldn't be THAT difficult, right? He did leave home with a $100,000 box of Ensure, right? So, he's got a machine gun, he's got a couple of foot soldiers. How about the return of the mega magnet? Oh! That would be SO much fun! If he can figure out how to break it out of police impound, it would be a great opening move in an attack, right? One of the boys could cut loose w the machine gun and the other could drive-by magnetize the place, yank apart the camp, and the lab, even take out a lot of their weapons in one electromagnetic stroke.

How much you wanna bet a Native American sells Walt an RV that he uses as part of his assault? =)

But before it all finally blows up, I'd like for something like the following to unfold…

Walt makes it into the Nazi's meth lab and starts to free/unchain Jesse. But they start getting into it, having words, and a quick getaway stops being a priority as anger and despair take over. I mean, if Jesse isn't too bloody a tortured pulp again, or completely paranoid after Walt left him to be tortured and killed, or completely cracked after Andrea's execution, he *might* find it in him to take a swing at Walt. And then he might have to pause when Walt doesn't get back up and starts coughing blood onto the floor. Then of course Todd gets the drop on them. Todd calls the other Nazi cowboys in to figure out what's going on, when Jesse notices some particular materials that happen to be within desperate reach. He drops some not-too-clever comment, "something something poison, bitch," cluing Walt in to grabbing a nearby gas mask just as Jesse simultaneously grabs the other mask and smashes a beaker of something into a jar of something else, creating a flash bang and filling the lab with phosphene gas.

Todd's quick, tho, and maybe he's been studying, (or paid close attention to Jesse's confession tape), and he's just able to cover his mouth and keep from breathing a debilitating lungful of poison. The rest of the crew choke and gasp and die or get most of the way there. With one hand, Walt grabs a duffel from the lab, full of ziplocs with latest blue cook product. With the other, he drags the twitching Uncle Jack into the open air. He delivers a few choice words to the blinded, gagging $hitkicker…

On top of selling my product—a knock-off of my product actually, you are using the young man that I contracted you to kill to do it. So, please, understand that this is business, and don't take this personally.

Then something about Jack being lucky that he caught him in a good mood. Jack then commences with the Nazi charm, which Walt then interrupts with the satisfying swing of a tire iron. Todd staggers out of the lab just in time to see this and calls out to Walt, gun pointed at him. He approaches Walt, and even tho he just saw him bludgeon his uncle, cold bastard that he is, sees this as an opportunity, to parley with the man he respects, discuss some business, perhaps improve his skills, the better to impress the lovely Lydia. Walt engages w Todd. Or rather, Heisenberg engages w him. In a play to impress his potential loyalty to Walt, Todd shoots his semi-conscious burbling Uncle Jack in the head. All the while responding to Walt's talk of setting up a new lab, perhaps relocating, pondering a new color for the product based on select impurities he's identified (Kryptonite, anyone? The inspiration for the Lex Luthor rumors? =). Walt finally engineers a moment that inspires Todd to lower his gun and offer his hand to Walt…

Which is the same moment that Jesse (who made his own way out of the choke-smokey lab a while ago) chooses to whack Todd's legs out from under him—with a shovel, or no, the chain!—crumpling him to the ground. Jesse might have the presence of mind to explain to Walt that he has some unfinished business with Todd as he kicks Todd's weapon away. Walt graciously steps back, giving Jesse room to tenderize Todd viciously, delivering a eulogy featuring his merciless inhuman acts, his f'd up excuse for a life, and his laughable attachment to both Walt and Lydia.

Bitch.

Todd's skull now crushed, Jesse turns to Walt. Walt hands him Todd's gun. I feel like they should be sitting, side-by-side, when they have their final conversation, so maybe they make their way to the RV, maybe they sit inside, maybe they sit on the ground in the shade against the vehicle. No, make it inside, cuz this RV is a better model in better shape than their first lab, inspiring Walt and Jesse to walk halfheartedly down memory lane for a short short way. Walt takes this to be a softening on Jesse's part, and he turns to his other, adopted, son now, to tell his story, for confession, forgiveness, and maybe to sell Jesse on carrying on his legacy as Heisenberg. I don't have the wordsmithing for it, but I'd have Walt deliver a speech about Heisenberg and how people get his principle wrong and what it really means. Part of him is still Mr. White, so of course he makes of it a teaching moment as well as a metaphor for their relationship, history, survival, and loyalty.

JP: I. Don't. Care. I only want to know two things. You watched Jane die?
WW: Yes.
JP: You poisoned Brock?
WW: Yes.
Jesse raises the gun.
WW: Do it. Yes. I deserve it and you deserve to do it. I *want* you to ki—
*BLAM*
JP: I don't give a $hit about what you want.

Jesse throws Walt's body out of the RV. He throws the duffel out after him.

Wouldn't want to forget your legacy…

It hits Walt's body, knocking the cigarette pack w a new ricin cig (how else would he carry it, right?) out of his inside jacket pocket. Skinny Pete calls out to Jesse from across the compound. He's got Badger half-leaning on him, hopping on his now one good leg and attempting to use an M-60 as a crutch. They took some hits in the initial attack (which allowed Walt to sneak into the lab for Jesse) and then managed to hide out until the smoke cleared (maybe in the hole where Jesse was kept prisoner).

Badger! Pete! No f-in way! My boys! Wait there, I'll come get you!

Jesse gets back in the RV and starts it up. He guns it of course, and the ruckus shakes Walt's body, causing the cigarette pack to fall and flip down the front of his body and into the open duffel.

Jesse and Badger help Pete into the RV and Jesse tells Badger he needs a hand with a few things. They roll the money barrels out of an office over to the RV and load them in. Badger asks about the barrels and if they mean that he's gonna go back to cooking. Jesse drops himself into the driver's seat, takes the photo of Andrea and Brock out of his pocket and fixes it to the flip-down shade, and starts the RV up again…

A couple of those barrels are ours. The others I'm gonna have to hold for some people. But no, I'm never gonna cook again.

Back to the camp. Shots of the bodies, tire tracks and footprints, ammunition and debris. Quiet for a minute except for the wind. Then a building door swings open. It's Lydia. She was at the camp to pick up the latest mega batch of product and was told to stay put once the shooting started. She steps out and surveys the scene. She makes a beeline for Walt. She's been watching, and knows that her goods are in the duffel. She takes the time to put on an oversized work glove she carried with her from the office, then picks up the bag and proceeds directly to a garage. She gets into her car, puts the bag in the passenger seat, starts the car, and turns onto the road. Maybe she checks some messages on her phone, or is calling someone to update them on the situation, using her naively coded terms. She is rooting around the glove box and top of the dashboard for something. When she explains to someone via speakerphone—Yes, I've got the product—she glances at the duffel and sees the cigarette pack and looks just a little bit relieved. She extracts a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long draw, and continues w the convo. She takes another puff, and starts coughing, but continues. And we see her car drive away.

COULD the ricin, in its capsule, stuffed into a cigarette, actually poison someone who lit the cigarette and took a draw or three? Where it *really* belongs is in Lydia's tea, but I don't see an easy way to get there. Maybe Heisenberg gets an audience with her, but the best play would be to have Lydia poison herself, right? Walt doesn't know about Lydia's Stevia habit, tho, does he? Todd knows, tho. Hrm… Maybe he kills her when she does something to disrespect him, cuz the power of a crush only goes so far, right?

I dunno. I'll think on it. Cuz I kinda can't not. Blerg.

Keep on keepin on~

P.S. REALLY didn't mean for this to turn into a chunk of fan fic, but I couldn't stop. I think my BB finale/resolution ideas end up being better in the abstract than with too much detail. Honestly, the M-60 and the magnet seem like too much fun given the descent-into-hell tone so far. But maybe something like that happens to set us up for a horrific turn. Y'know, get our hopes up that this crazy assault could succeed, right up until the moment that the $hitkickers open fire and perforate the RV, the magnetruck, and their drivers. Until we hear Todd tell Lydia that the last batch, that came in at 90%, was one that he did without Jesse, so we don't need him anymore. And he escorts Lydia out of the lab and we hear a gunshot behind them. Lydia rides off w the duffel of product. Todd looks on after her. Sees Heisenberg's porkpie on the ground, blown out of the RV apparently, and just leaves it there. The Ricin capsule is cracked and the powder blows away in the desert wind.

Maybe I'll get around to pulling back and writing another post before Felina arrives.

Maybe. =)