tv: And here we are. Its time to set aside the meanings beneath the surface, push away from our minds the significance of camera angles, and let go all the thoughts of what will be. Its time to just relish in the fifth episode of this part of season five: To'hajiilee. This was a significant episode four two reasons. One was that it marked the passing of the halfway point of the final eight episodes, thus making viewers believe that we would begin to careen off a cliff towards the end of the series. The second reason was that this was Michelle Maclaren's, the best of Breaking Bad's fantastic directors, final episode. This recap may read as a love letter to Maclaren, but I'm OK with that. This was certainly her masterpiece.
The first half of the episode was an actually lighter version of Breaking Bad. With the teaser being almost cute. Despite the tension of the other side of the phone call that ended last weeks episode, where Walt puts a hit on Jesse using Todd and his Nazi family to carry it out, the lasting image of scene will be Todd and Lydia sitting at the table as Sherrie played on the radio. Not since last seeing the Lannisters have I been lightened by a scene about a crush between such terrible people. And it really was the radio that made it. Usually those are moments for love songs to swell in the soundtrack. But just having it play in the background actually on the radio almost took you out of the setting they were actually in, until you realized that they were flirting by talking about meth.
From there the episode continued its slower pace. We got to see Hank and Jesse and Gomez continuing their investigation of Walt. Their quest: to find his money. And what better way to do that than question Huell. The fun in watching Hank not even hide the fact that he is just outright lying to him was great. He knew this wasn't Heisenberg, no subtlety was needed. And Huell responded perfectly in turn, giving Hank everything he needed to keep looking for Walt's money without a thought of questioning the good police officer. It has been said in recent episodes that some of Hank's lying might be blurring some lines. But this was not about good and bad. This was just about getting another hilarious moment with Huell amid all the darkness in these characters lives.
We got one more fun moment. Watching Skylar and Flynn at the car wash as she was training him and letting him work was delightful. Not only was Flynn's interaction with Saul priceless as he stared at "the guy on the billboard" like he was a rock star, but watching he and Skylar interact may be the first time since, well I don't know when, that we got to witness the White's as a loving family where there were no secrets being kept or ulterior motives on display.
And then the phone call came. The engine roared. And the trademark tension of Maclaren's episodes kicked into full gear. With Walt racing towards his trap in the desert to save his money, the noise of his engine was almost deafening. In an episode with no music and only light conversation it was enough to jar you into remembering what show you were really watching. And as hearts raced almost as fast as Walt's car while blowing red lights as he tried to save his empire, there couldn't have been another second of that scene that was bearable. And then he arrived.
He turned off the car. And we were enveloped by the desert. And we were back into silence with nothing but the sound of Walt's dusty footsteps as he surveyed the setting of his imminent demise. Suddenly I missed the sound of that car engine. Anything would have been better than nothing. If screaming would have helped I would have. But then things just would have gone silent again when I ran out of breath.
Hiding behind a rock watching his enemies arrive, Walt calls Todd to tell him where to go to find Jesse. And then he stops as both of his weaknesses have been exploited. His greed got him into this mess and his family is going to keep him there as he sees Hank get out of the car and call off the hit. As Walt sighs realizing his defeat, the camera pulls in, giving us a look at the face we have grown to fear now just allowing itself to sadly face defeat(Bryan Cranston got the role of Walt because of an episode of the X-Files that Vince Gilligan wrote. He played an anti-Semite who would die if he didn't keep heading west. Gilligan said it was Cranston's ability to make such a despicable man sympathetic that got him the role of Walt. And in that moment I understood. I have called Walt the devil as much as anyone, but in that moment I felt bad for him. Like, I wanted to cry feeling bad.). Walt then gives himself up, quietly walking to Hank with his hands in the air. He says nothing. Just gets up and walks.
I was hoping to be happy for Hank when he got his moment, when he finally won. But it was just so hard. I started thinking about how far outside the law he had gone to capture Walt. I saw the smiles on Jesse's and Gomez's faces. I watched as Hank was given the honor of reading Walt his rights. And proud of Hank as you could be, there was no way it could be that simple. And then the final stroke fell as Hank called Marie. Their conversation about Hank's victory and how things would get better could be seen as heavy-handed by some, but it was necessary. And also the final blow that let us all know that things were not actually going to get better.
I don't think it is quite fair to try and rehash the brutal intensity of the gun fight in the desert that capped off what has been a western of a season. So let's take a moment to talk about Maclaren. She has been responsible for some the show's best and most tense moments. She directed One Minute, giving us the shootout in the parking lot between Hank and the twins. She directed a personal favorite, Madrigal in season five, which gave me two of my favorite moments of the entire series. Watching the introduction that told the story of the death of Her Schueler was one of the most spellbinding mini-stories I have ever seen on television. That was also the episode where we met Lydia, and Laura Frazier pleaded not for her life but for her child to find her dead body so that she knew her mom wasn't a deadbeat that left. Maclaren's other 2012 credit was for the mid-season finale Gliding Over All, featuring prison murders and the immortal Crystal Blue Persuasion montage and the Hank on the toilet learning about Walt moment. This year she already directed the second episode which featured the fight between Marie and Skylar, a scene that was both so intense and frightening that I almost had to walk away.
And now that we see what moments she has already provided for the show it is no wonder that Maclaren was given this as her final episode. And what a more fitting way for her to walk out than with that ending. As the bullets flew, leaving us no idea of who lived or died, just with our hearts racing and our lungs reaching for breath, the master of the most intense show on television's most intense moments walked away. I have no doubt that Rian Johnson will be more than capable of picking up the rest of that scene in the next episode and taking us further towards whatever Mr. Lambert has in store in his return to Albuquerque. But watching To'hajiilee was the perfect beginning of the end as we didn't careen off that cliff I alluded to earlier. Instead Maclaren hung us off that cliff and then just let a tidal wave hit it.
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