Note: This article contains full spoilers for “Breaking Bad.” If you are a newcomer to the series, refrain from reading.
People line up at Gateway Film Center on High Street for a ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Party the evening of Sept. 29.
Credit: Ritika Shah / Asst. photo editor
The Shakespearean tragedy of Walter White closes with Heisenberg’s final exeunt. Life’s one guarantee was not afraid to answer the one who knocked.
The final act, though, provided one line simultaneously giving meaning to “Breaking Bad’s” existence and a newness to the story.
Standing in the kitchen, facing his estranged wife once more, Walt let slip the method behind the meth madness.
“I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it.”
Walt didn’t break bad for Skyler, Walt Jr. and Holly but to feel alive while dying.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps at first Walt’s actions were sugar-coated with love for his family. Audiences now realize, though, after the first $6 million earned, Walt intentionally put the car on autopilot to hell.
He took pride in his earnings, but it was not for the money.
He wanted to take on Tuco. He found fiddling with Gus’ empire fun. He knew Mike was a liability. He saw Hank’s chase as entertaining. He foresaw what the Nazis were going to do with Jesse.
He thought poisoning a young boy was necessary. He was assured in Jane and Andrea’s deaths.
He knew what he was doing.
However, blood is thicker than water, which is why Walt overcompensated to protect his family in the midst of the badness. But when the blood was finally spilled and his brother-in-law turned victim to the kingpin, pride became heavier.
The final episode of “Breaking Bad” came full circle from the first episode with everything from Walt’s green polo to his birthday breakfast, and Walter White went out in satisfying “Scarface” style by unloading a machine gun on those who stood between him and his two-year’s work.
But who was Walter White?
Not the family man we were led to believe nor Mr. Chips. He was Heisenberg.
One will only understand the character of Walter White after hearing the truth he utters in the kitchen hours before his death in the final act, followed by a thorough re-evaluation of the series.
Meaning we must watch “Breaking Bad” again. And again. And again.
The supply is not dry. Baby blue lives on.
Long live Heisenberg.
