(Warning: SPOILERS THROUGHOUT)
“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The long and level sands stretch far away.”
In a recently released teaser trailer for the forthcoming second half of the fifth and final season of AMC’s “Breaking Bad,”these closing lines from Percy Shelley’s 1818 sonnet titled “Ozymandias” emanate from the hoarse but magisterial throat of the series’ protagonist Walter White, accompanied by striking visuals of the vast and desolate landscapes that surround the shows’ Albuquerque, New Mexico setting. It’s as effective as advertising gets, and only serves to add to the already feverish anticipation for the series’ final eight episodes, which premiere Sunday, Aug. 11.
The rumored spin-off focusing on the series’ stand-out sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman notwithstanding, this date will mark the beginning of the end of one of television history’s most unique journeys. Previous seasons make up a rich and colorful tapestry, one that began with the seemingly simple premise of a high school chemistry teacher whose sudden diagnosis of terminal lung cancer leads him to manufacture and sell crystal methamphetamine in order to ensure his family’s financial security. However, this brief synopsis does nothing in the way of illustrating the development of the series into the modern day Odyssey that it is; an experience that is at turns both hilarious and harrowing, but always entirely immersive.
Since its opening moments, the center of the show’s kaleidoscope of often morally ambiguous characters has been Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston in a magnetic performance that has earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor. Over the course of 54 episodes, we have witnessed Walter’s slow but steady transformation from a meek and mild man making profound moral compromises to a ruthless, calculating villain.
“So many shows have had truly evil characters,” Noah O’Brien, 22, New York City native and series fan, said. “But I can’t think of one that has had one turn from a good guy caught up in bad circumstances, trying to maintain a grip of his morality, into evil incarnate, a man with no remorse or regret for his actions, who will manipulate and kill and take whatever steps he deems necessary to prosper.”
When Walter’s partner Jesse Pinkman, with whom he has a complicated and often contentious relationship, asked him last season if he was in “the meth business or the money business,” he flatly stated that he was in neither. “I am in the empire building business.” From there, we witnessed him commit some of the most egregious offenses of his criminal career in the interest of meeting this goal, and by season’s end, Walter’s operation had amassed an illicit fortune greater than any he had ever envisioned. However, if anything can be inferred from the recent trailer’s prominent use of “Ozymandias,” a poem whose main theme is the inevitable downfall of empires and their leaders, it is that Walter’s attempt at exiting the methamphetamine trade ahead of its repercussions may very well be in vain.
We have already received glimpses and warnings of Walter’s decline, the eventual comeuppance for his twisted machinations. His Drug Enforcement Administration agent brother-in-law Hank’s shocking realization of his true nature will certainly figure prominently in the plot of the final episodes.
“I’m really not sure what is going to happen, but I know that there are certain questions that have to be answered,” Meaghan Roberts, 21, DePaul senior, said. “I can tell you that I hope Hank confronts Walter, and I’m sure he will, but I’m really interested to see what the outcome of it is going to be. Also, we obviously need an explanation for Walter’s bearded appearance on his 52nd birthday from the beginning of Season 5.”
This flash-forward scene not only featured a disheveled and solitary Walter clandestinely purchasing a sub-machine gun in order to deal with unknown but obviously unfavorable circumstances, but also showing a fake driver’s license from New Hampshire. As AMC has released the titles of the final episodes, one of which is “Granite State,” it is safe to assume that the season’s events will return us to what looks like it could very well be Walter’s lowest and most desperate point.
In spite of this sort of rampant speculation, however, “Breaking Bad” has proved itself time and time again to be one of television’s most unpredictable series. As the show closes in on its finale and virtually everything is at stake for its characters, viewers should expect the unexpected more than ever before. The cast has remained characteristically cryptic and conservative in revealing details on the upcoming final episodes. Series creator and producer Vince Gilligan recently told Vulture Magazine that the finale is “going to be polarizing no matter how you slice it.”
In this sprawling work of art filled with endless unexpected turns and climactic moments that continuously managed to outdo those that came before them, the momentum and intensity simply increased with each passing episode, and now we find ourselves at the mercy of a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that must, at some point, conclude. One is free to speculate as to how that may happen, but all we can do is bear witness as everything that has been set in motion over the course of the preceding seasons finally comes to a head.
Whether or not he realized it at the time, Gilligan spoke to what I know to be my own feelings and what I imagine to be many others’ on the end of the show exactly in a 2011 interview with the New York Times.
“I’m going to miss the show when it’s over, but on some level, it’ll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore,” Gilligan said.