Facing the Endgame of "Breaking Bad"

Spoilers ahead for all episodes of "Breaking Bad" that have aired so far.

This has certainly been the showiest season, or half-season of "Breaking Bad," with the train robbery, the magnet heist, and giant piles of money. There have also been several major, ambitious transitions, from Walt being Gus Fring's employee and rival, to a shaky partnership with Mike and Jesse, to a new arrangement with Lydia and Todd after the prior situation implodes. While it's certainly been a lot of fun week to week, and watching Walter White go full Heisenberg at last has been satisfying, there have also been some aspects of this run of episodes I've found worrisome.

The most obvious change in this year has been the pacing, which has picked up significantly from the slow burns of seasons three and four. Suddenly major developments were happening every week, character arcs were being accelerated, and some of the show's biggest constants were no longer there. This meant that events felt increasingly orchestrated, and sometimes weren't as logically sound as they'd been in the past. Several developments concerning Mike Ehrmantraut and his downfall undercut the image of the cool, collected, smart professional we'd gotten to know. While he certainly went out on a high note, shouldn't he have known better than to make the stupid mistakes that ultimately cost him his life?

Walt's ascension to the meth kingpin of Albuquerque was also accompanied by a lot of foolhardy risk taking and displays of arrogance, though it was more believable behavior from him. I was concerned during some of the earlier episodes that they were making Walt into too much of an over-the-top villain. The plot clearly needed Skyler and Jesse to break away from him, and to tease that Walt was inviting his own destruction, but I wish it didn't require Walt having to become quite so obviously unpleasant so quickly. I was glad that in last night's episode, Walt did learn for himself that success wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and come back down to earth. He's still terrifying, but has become sympathetic enough to root for again.

And I think it's going to be necessary to want to root for Walter White in the next set of episodes, because the show is pushing past the "Scarface" phase of his career, and seeing what might lie beyond it. We still haven't caught up with the flash-forward from the season premiere, where Walt was heading back into town after a long absence, under a different name and heavily armed. I think it's very possible that he could be going up against Declan or Todd for some skirmish, but the in the long term, Walt's final opponent will almost certainly be Hank. Good old Agent Schrader has often been overshadowed by the show's flashier villains, including Gus Fring, Tio Salamanca, and Mike, but we've seen Hank slowly but surely come into his own as a major figure in this universe. And in the last episode, his beef with Walter has gotten very, very personal.

It was probably the best season so far for Skyler, and the way the series is going, I’m worried that this is going to be as good as it gets. Since Walt has decided to quit the meth business and Skyler seems willing to patch things up, all the interesting tensions between them may end up buried for good. I was expecting that she or Jesse would have to take down Walt if he got really monstrous, but this is looking less likely. Walt has backed off from the abyss himself, after proving that he could be just as ruthless and successful as he always wanted. This was also a very good year for the advancement of Jesse's character. He got fed up enough with Walt's tactics to break off their partnership for good, in some of the best scenes of the season. I'm sure he'll end up involved in the finale, but how it will happen remains a mystery.

Plus, we have a few new players on the board who have to be factored in. Laura Fraser's twitchy, high strung Lydia Rodarte-Quayle is the most entertaining female character "Breaking Bad" has come up with so far, a baddie who enables Walt and clearly cannot be trusted. Then there's Todd, played by Jesse Plemons, who has mostly remained a question mark so far. Everything about him points to trouble, but how much trouble? Someone who could shoot a child without a thought surely wouldn't hesitate to resort to blackmail, extortion, or worse if Walt crosses him.

Best of all, I have no idea what's going to happen next. Most of the predictions and theories I came up with at the beginning of the season have been subverted. I didn't think Walt would survive without Jesse and Mike. I didn't think Skyler would stay long enough to consider reconciliation. Of course, the brief taste of success is surely just setting Walt up for the final fall, but the tantalizing hope that he could get away with everything – that's what the season needed and what the last episode provided.

It's going to be a long wait for next year.
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