Well, we knew this day had to come. Our three guys would have to make the inevitable split and last week Walt told Jesse and Mike that he had a plan where "Everybody wins." But if we know nothing else about Walter White, we should know that his definition of "everybody" is just him. This week's episode of Breaking Bad was entitled "Say My Name" for a specific reason. This episode was topically about the end of the Vamonos Pests partnership. It was only tangentially about the death of Mike Ehrmantraut. This episode was really about Walt's next power grab and his subsequent desperation to manage it.
The opening sets the table for the rest of the episode. The first intelligible words are, "Your play, Walter. You're on your own." Walt then gets in a pissing match with the meth dealers from Phoenix. All he has is 1000 gallons of methylamine and his name. His new name--Heisenberg. Invoking the mythical "power of the name" is a great touch, and highlights how powerful Walt thinks he is. He is the New York Yankees and Classic Coca-Cola. But even while mastering the rubes from Phoenix, he starts his manipulations of Jesse by including him as a part of the deal in a seeming slip of the tongue.
After the deal is struck, Mike is ready to take his five million dollar pay out and hit the road, but he takes care of some final pieces of business. He confirms that he will pay the final legacy costs out of his take; he insists that Walt gets rid of the bug in Hank's office; and, he tells Jesse, "Kid, just look out for yourself." Mike has long felt that Walt was a loose cannon and would undoubtedly be the end of all three of them, but his genuine feelings for the boy have kept him around much longer than prudence would allow. While I have long thought that his enduring feelings for Jesse would be the end of Mike, it turns out that it was merely the perception of those feelings that will seal his fate. As soon as Walter spies a close moment between Mike and Jesse, he sees a final pest he needs to eliminate.
Mike has what he wants out of the dissolution: his five million dollars. Walt mostly has what he wants: the opportunity to build an empire, the money and Jesse. Walt's intentions are clear he plans to keep cooking with Jesse. This is in obvious conflict to what Jesse wants, which is out. Jesse's confrontation with Walt provides much of the dramatic meat of this episode, and we get to see Walt at his most desperate this season. Jesse needs Walt to understand in no uncertain terms that he is walking away for good. Walt cannot have this. He has lost one family, and he will not lose the other. Jesse isn't necessary to the operation (as we will soon see when Todd takes Jesse's place in a cook) in the least, but Walt cannot let him simply walk away. He can't let Jesse be like Mike.
Compare this scene to the thematically similar one in the bedroom with Skyler from a few weeks back, and the differences in Walt are startling. Walt uses many of the same tactics (befriending, belittling, intimidation, guilt, temptation, indignation) with both Skyler and Jesse, but here Walt's desperation is palpable. His power with Skyler is absolute (at least in his mind), but with his surrogate son, Walt struggles to keep in control. Jesse will walk away not because his conscience is greater, but because the moral prerogative is. Morality is no longer an issue for Walt, only power and in greater affect pride are. To Walt, Jesse walking away mistakenly threatens his power, which he will take out on Jesse's other father.
As a side note, Anna Gunn may not have had a lot to do in this episode, but it was all spot on. Skyler needs to be the constant representation of that to which Walt cannot return. He must move "forward" from them, and I fear this means bad things for Walt Jr. The die with his legitimate family is cast; she would rather drink her wine in the other room than listen to him blather while eating his microwaved dinner.
Later, as Walt is removing the bug from Hank's office (complete with another brilliantly uncomfortable expression of shock and disgust as Hank listens to Walt cry), Walt overhears that Mike's lawyer is flipping. Walt calls Mike to give him a last minute warning that the DEA is coming, allowing Ehrmantraut just enough time to abandon his granddaughter. What a gloriously deep moment for Jonathan Banks to play; still so subtle, and yet so emotionally rich. Later, Walt volunteers to get Mike his "go-bag" from the airport. Walt's volunteering for this dangerous task could be seen as alruistic, but he is only motivated to do so after seeing the closeness that Mike and Jesse share even over the phone. Walt will be the last man Mike will see before he leaves Albuquerque, and as it turns out, the last man that Mike will ever see.
This final scene is beautifully shot and written (major props to episode writer and director Thomas Schnauz) and expertly played by Bryan Cranston and Banks. Mike never one to mince words lays it out perfectly for Walt. All of this is Walt's fault: Walt screwed up a perfectly good thing. He spits at Walt, "You just had to blow it up! You...and your pride...and your ego! You just had to be the man. If you'd done your job and known your place, we'd all been fine right now." Of course this would set Walt off, not because it's true, but because it's an attack on the self-perceived greatness that is Walter White. Walt, in his mind, has no choice. He has to kill this man who was secretly close to Jesse and has the audacity to verbalize Walt's faults. Don't think for an instant though this was a heat of the moment shooting. Walt removed the gun after finding it in the go-bag with the intention of killing Mike. There can be no other way to slice it. He may not have had the balls to go through with it, but that was his intent. Mike badgering him merely confirmed in Walt's mind that them that don't bow down to me must go. Even Walt's apology after he shoots Mike is just a delaying tactic to give him the position of continued strength. Mike is done and cuts him off with a tired, "Shut the fuck up, and let me die in peace."
Breaking Bad Color Wheel or better Storytelling Through Color
--Everyone in the teaser and first act is wearing black, the color of business and no-nonsense. And none of these characters, Skyler included, have the time, energy or wherewithal to pussy foot around. However, Walt has a blue shirt showing how he is trapped in this situation, Mike has a grey shirt showing his inherent weakness in this situation and Skyler has a tan or nude-colored shirt signifying her inability to mask her intent. This is Skyler raw and laid bare.--The bank employee Dot is the first signature burst of Breaking Bad color. She's wearing a bright blue suit with an even brighter yellow blouse. Even if you didn't recognize Mike's lawyer Daniel Waxberger (and I didn't), the yellow shirt tipped me off that this had something to do with meth, and the blue said that the other guy was going to get caught here eventually.
--In the great scene between Walt and Jesse, Walt is wearing the orange jump suit, which I've recently settled on this being the color of danger. As he tries to get Jesse to work with him on the equipment, he hands Jesse the blue gloves of entrapment. As the shot widens at the end of the scene, with Walt bellowing, "Jesse" as the boy leaves, the blue work tarps form the background of the shot, showing Walt trapped by his own actions essentially.
--Also trapped by his own actions? Hank, who shoves the photos of Mike in a big blue folder after he is forcibly drawn back into the video conference call.
--In the second bank scene, Dottie is in blue again, and Waxberger is sporting a blue shirt and bright yellow tie. But smiling Gomez is in an orange golf shirt. He definitely represents danger to Waxberger.
--Mike is wearing a lot of green and cream colors in the park. He has put the business and business black behind him, and is enjoying time with his granddaughter, richer and fuller for it.
--How do you know Mike is trapped at the park, even before the police show up? The prominent use of blue in the shots of the sky, the swing set and even the park bench Mike is sitting on.
--Innocent Kaylee, swinging on her swing, is again in pink. Color choice here only highlights the price the innocents must pay, and makes Mike's abandonment of her even harder to watch.
--In the final scene with Mike and Walt, Walt is wearing all tan, or nude colors. He has nothing to mask. This is his character laid bare. And that character is petulant, greedy and prideful.
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