Vince Gilligan’scrime-dramaseriesBreaking Badwas a break-out sensation when it first began airing onAMC. The anti-hero figure of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a beleaguered high school chemistry teacher whose discovery that he has cancer is the catalyst for his descent into the criminal underworld of the drug trade,struck a chord with audiences that had a difficult time accepting the man whose success they were rooting for was slipping further into depravity. As the series wound towards its inevitable conclusions, Walt stood as both tragic hero and unspeakablevillain, which is clearly established in Season 5, Episode 14’s “Ozymandias.”
The episode is consistently numbered among the series' best, and for good reason.From the resolve it brings to several storylines, its literary pedigree, and its direction, screenwriting, and editing, there are many reasons the episode ranks among the best in the series. But these reasons also reveal whyBreaking Badnumbers among the greatest TV seriesto ever air. Here are the reasons “Ozymandias” is a perfect episode of TV.
Breaking Bad
7Hank’s Final Ride
The resolution of Hank’s investigation.
At the conclusion of the previous episode, “To’hajiilee,” it was clear that things weren’t looking great for DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). Hank discovered, finally, that his suspicions that the “Heisenberg” he had been searching for in relation to the drug trade in Albuquerque was his brother-in-law, Walter White (Bryan Cranston). As he honed in on Walt’s trail, he crossed paths with a distraught Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), who flipped on his once partner and confessed everything to Hank in a recorded video.Jesse agrees to lure Walt to the place where his fortune was buried, only for him to be ambushed by Hank and his partner Steve Gomez(Steven Michael Quezada).
Hank tells Walt in his final moments: “You’re the smartest man I’ve ever met, and you’re too stupid to see he made up his mind 10 minutes ago.”
It seemed, momentarily, that Hank might finally get his white hat hero moment. Until the neo-Nazi gang that Walter had ordered to come deal with Jesse showed up on the scene and threw everyone’s plans into chaos. Although Walt tried desperately to spin a web of lies that would somehow see Hank walk free,the finality of the momentis clear to everyone but him. Even Hank knows how his story will end as the leader of the gang, Jack Welker (Michael Bowen), towers over him with his gun drawn. Hank tells Walt in his final moments: “You’re the smartest man I’ve ever met, and you’re too stupid to see he made up his mind 10 minutes ago.” Hank deserved better, and his death is the catalyst for Walt’s final revenge. Just as Walt once used his family as an excuse for his continued work in the meth trade,Hank’s death becomes Walt’s final guiding force as he winds toward his inevitable downfall.
6Western Tropes
Walt’s world is filled with outlaws.
From Heisenberg’s iconic black hat, to the musical tracks and sound editing choices, anda literal train robbery,Breaking Badis aWestern. As he adapts to the criminal underground of Albuquerque’s meth trade, Walt’s world is populated with outlaws who skirt the law and live by an independent code. The moment his alter-ego donned the black hat,Western tropes became a notable elementinBreaking Bad.
…Walt’s world is populated with outlaws who skirt the law and live by an independent code.
“Ozymandias” continues this tradition. Hank’s final face-off with the outlaw neo-Nazi gang feels like it is ripped right out of a tale from the Old West. When Walt was left with only one barrel filled with cash from the massive fortune he had hidden in the desert, and his car broke down, leaving him rolling his only asset in the world clumsily toward a nearby home, the scene was set to the classic American folk song byThe Limeliters' “Take My True Love By The Hand,” whose lyrics speak about taking a lover by the hand and leaving behind everything to start over elsewhere. Even though Walt made his “true love” out to be his family throughout the narrative, his pride took over and this song, playing over Walt alone in the desert with his barrel full of ill-gotten money, truly speaks to what his one “true love” had become.These narrative and musical cues occur throughout the series, signaling the parallels between Walt’s world and the classic tropes of love, loss, law, order, and outlawsthat are found in these songs, and in the Western genre overall.
5The Literary Tie-Ins
The words of Walt Whitman and Percy Bysshe Shelley have a haunting effect.
Walt Whitman’s book of poemsLeaves of Grassis a foundational text in American literature. The book as a physical object also plays a role inBreaking Bad, as it haunts Walt as the sole evidence that ties him to Gale Boetticher (David Costabile), the chemist he had Jesse murder.Hank’s discovery of the inscription by Gale in Walt’s copy ofLeaves of Grassis what sets him on his final mad efforts to arrest the drug king pin he has been hounding for years.
The allusion in the title “Ozymandias” refers to the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem of the same name, and deliberately subverts the sense of gliding triumph Walt had so recently felt.
The thematic elements of certain poems fromLeaves of Grassalso make their way into the narrative, as in the episode “Gliding Over All.” This allusion to Whitman’s poem “Gliding O’er All” ties in with themes of transcending over any obstacles, as in this episode Walt is finally feeling safe in the fortune he has amassed, allowing him to “glide” over the stressors he once faced. It is also notable that although Walt may have felt this momentary safety, with his flight comes an expeditious fall. The allusion in the title “Ozymandias” refers to thePercy Bysshe Shelleypoem of the same name, and deliberately subverts the sense of gliding triumph Walt had so recently felt. In the Shelley poem, a traveler comes across a weather-beaten statue of a once-great pharaoh, with an inscription boasting of his might, but the desolate state of its surrounding environment speaks instead to the ephemeral nature of such power,themes that gorgeously tie in with Walt’s complex descent into criminal enterprise.
4The End of Walt and Jesse
No doubt remains, the partnership is truly over.
Walt and Jesse had several breaking points in their fractured partnership. But after Jesse discovered it was Walt who poisoned his girlfriend’s child, not Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) as he had been led to believe,the breach between the former partners was beyond repair. Jesse’s rampage against Walt, involving dousing his home in gasoline in a bid to set his world ablaze, was interrupted by Hank, who took Jesse into custody and had him confess to everything he and Walt had done together.
In “Ozymandias,” as Hank was being murdered by the neo-Nazi gang, Jesse had slipped out of his seat in order to hide underneath the vehicle. After Walt was over his immediate shock at the loss of his brother-in-law, he spied Jesse hiding beneath the car and was reminded of the role his former partner played in arranging for Hank and Steve to attempt his arrest in the desert.Seeming to blame Jesse for Hank’s death, Walt insisted that Jack owed him what he originally called him out there for, which was to deal with Jesse. As the gang dragged Jesse to their vehicles, Walt had them pause, just so he could brutally confess, finally, that he had witnessed the death of Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter), who was Jesse’s girlfriend at the time of her death. Walt allowing Jane to die in his presence without intervening when he could have saved her was one of the darkest moments in his gradual spiral from grace, andthis confession to Jesse was meant to finally sever any lingering ties his young apprentice may have held to him.
3The Direction, Editing, and Screenwriting
A collaboration for the ages to create a perfect 47 minutes of TV.
In 2012,Rian Johnsonwas preparing for the release of his blockbuster film,Looper. But he was also busy directing the third episode ofBreaking Badthat he would helm, after having directed the controversial “The Fly” episode in Season 3 and the fourth episode of Season 5, “Fifty-One.” With “Ozymandias,“Rian was able to tie together many complex intersecting storylines, resolving some and kicking off others, while toeing the line of revealing too much or too little about what Walt’s ultimate fate would be. It was a challenging episode to film, sinceevery moment of screen-time was explosive. When Walt witnessed Hank’s murder, the sound of the shot ricocheted off the canyon walls, and he was shown crumbling to the ground; as his face hit the earth below, the mud artfully cracked away, a practical effect that symbolized Walt’s world shattering around him. It’s artful directorial choices like these that always separatedBreaking Badfrom other drama series of its day.
…As his face hit the earth below, the mud artfully cracked away, a practical effect that symbolized Walt’s world shattering around him.
The screenwriting inBreaking Badalways set it apart from other scripted TV shows of the era, as the narrative of Walt’s rise and fall in the criminal underworld always rode a fine line of seeming to go off the rails, only to rein everything artfully in. Sometimes elements of fate intervened, however, like when the Writer’s Strike paused the production in 2008, which caused the series' creators to reconsider the direction of the second season, especially in slowing down the pace and saving Jesse’s character from being killed off inthe original planned conclusion for Season 1. ForMoira Walley-Beckettto be able to walk into the intensely complex web of deceit and betrayal that Walt has spun for himself by the end of Season 5, and to perfectly realize so many of the series' payoffs inthe screenplay for “Ozymandias,“is a feat. Another element that always set the series apart was the editing, especially the way the series editors cut together scenes, uniting the writer’s, director’s, and series creator’s vision into perfectly paced episodes that always paid off.
2Walt’s Tragic Fall
What was the point when Walter White went too far? Was it when he poisoned a child to serve his own ends? When he allowed a girl to die because she was an obstacle in his path? Or was it when he turned to cooking meth in the very first place? The vision for Walt’s character was always for viewers' allegiances to shift away from what was once a good man as he commits one deplorable act after another, under the guise of providing for his family. As a complex anti-hero, a slowly developing monster hiding in plain sight as a cancer-ridden family man whose genius was never truly appreciated,Walt proved such an appealing character that Gilligan had a difficult time convincing his audience to turn away from him.
The vision for Walt’s character was always for viewers' allegiances to shift away from what was once a good man as he commits one deplorable act after another…
In “Ozymandias,” after he gave Jesse over to the gang to be tortured and killed, Walt returned home with his barrel full of money, intent on convincing his family to flee with him. Walt was so intent on his plan that he couldn’t fathom it when his wife, Skylar White (Anna Gunn), refuses to leave with him, pulling a knife from the block on the counter and slicing his hand as he attempts to force her out of the house. His son, Flynn “Walter” White Jr. (RJ Mitte) intervened in the scuffle, and Walt was truly at his lowest moment during this scene of family strife, when his son phoned the police to report his violence. For five seasons, viewers heard Walt use his family as an excuse for his continued prideful presence in the drug underworld,so this moment of family strife was when that delusion was violently ripped away. Although Walt kidnaps his daughter as part of a ploy to hide Skylar’s participation in his criminal enterprise, it isn’t exactly a redeeming moment for the fallen anti-hero.
1The Set-Up For Revenge
The finality of “Ozymandias” was just a set-up for revenge.
After Walt kidnapped Holly and the “Ozymandias” draws to a close, the action-packed episode leaves viewers in a breathless state of confusion. Where is Walt heading now? What possible plan can the fallen anti-hero have to get himself out of the mess he is in? Loyal viewers caught on to Walt’s plan to shift blame away from Skylar in the police-recorded phone call where he berated her over her supposed blindness to his criminal enterprise, when he explained he had kidnapped their child as a form of punishment, to make the bid believable.So, viewers knew Walt, as ever, had a plan.
…Every element that drew the series to a close was beautifully set-up in the fatal conclusions that arose in “Ozymandias.”
But everything that unfolds after “Ozymandias” was artfully set-up in the narrative that came before. From the revenge plot against the neo-Nazi gang that murdered Hank, to Walt’s ploy to coerce his former partners at Gray Matter Technology to set up a fund for his family, to his final goodbye with Skylar and Jesse, every element that drew the series to a close was beautifully set-up in the fatal conclusions that arose in “Ozymandias.” That is what makes the episode the best of the series, and one of the best examples of a scripted TV episode in history.
