Breaking Bad Episode 412 Review

I didn’t know where Breaking Bad was going to take us in End Times after Walt ended the previous episode psychotically laughing from the crawlspace. Conventional television wisdom tells us that Walt and his family will be fine. That, somehow, he will get out of this and the real bad guy Gus will get his comeuppance. Jesse and Walt will fully reconcile and they’ll go back to the way things were.

As we’ve come to expect from Breaking Bad over the years, though, you can crack conventional wisdom with a rock hammer, grind it up, and snort it. The rules do not apply here.

Skyler, Walt Jr., and Holly are all swept away to safety by the DEA while Walt stays behind in an effort to draw focus away from his family. This is a great scene as Skyler and Walter verbally go toe-to-toe with Skyler pleading with Walt to come with them. She realizes the gravity of the situation and the finality that is in the air. Walt holds his ground and concocts a story to sell to Hank. He holes himself in his house with a pistol in his hand, his anxiousness and paranoia coming to an all time high.

The laundry is raided by the DEA, sort of. Gomez doesn’t really take Hank’s theory all that seriously, but brings a partner and a drug sniffing dog, just in case.

While he comes up empty handed, below ground Jesse and Tyrus play the waiting game and Jesse gets pressured by Gus, yet again, to give the go ahead and eliminate Walt which he does not. Gus gives a completely vague response and then hangs up.

The camera work was the major player during this sequence. The cinematography is sharp throughout the entire episode, but the framing of each shot during this whole sequence is beautifully done. I especially loved the pan into the bird’s eye view.

When Jesse gets a phone call about Brock ending up in the emergency room, it takes a glance at his cigarette pack for his mind to realize what has happened. He confronts Walt over the ricin, crazily claiming that he must have gotten to the pack somehow and poisoned Brock. Walt goes from trying to reason with Jesse to begging him to kill him to laughing his ass off.

Bryan Cranston nails this scene without going overboard. It didn’t run like a showcase for an acting class, which I was afraid would happen given the scene’s complexity.

Overall ‘End Times’ is another great episode from the Breaking Bad crew. The acting is solid and the writing, of course, spot on. Gus’ near sixth sense is starting be borderline creepy and Jesse and Walt’s desperation, I have a feeling, is leading to an epic finale.

One thing I do hope happens is somebody cracks Tyrus in the face. It isn’t that Ray Campbell is bothering me or I find something wrong with the character.