Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 14 Recap: All Good Things Must Come to an End

The cliffhanger from last week’s Breaking Bad gets answered in quick order in this episode as well as Walt finally coming to terms with his family for all the things he’s done…
By Curt Heinrichs — Staff Writer

Remember last week when the episode ended with a serious shootout? After a flashback of better (read:calmer, less bullet-riddled) times, we find Hank shot through the leg and Agent Gomez laying lifeless on the ground. After a stand-off in which Walt tries to convince Todd’s Uncle Jack to spare Hank’s life, Jack and Friends find Walt’s barrels of cash. In case I wasn’t perfectly clear, the Aryan Amigos killed Gomez and then Hank from point blank range.

After digging up the cash, Jack’s henchmen bury the DEA(d) agents in the hole and take off. They leave a barrel of cash for Walt, who is now reeling after the loss of his brother-in-law. When Jack asks Walt if they’re all square, Walt points out that he still hasn’t killed Jesse, who is hiding under a nearby car.

In a flash of brilliance, Todd notes that Jesse was at the site with a pair of DEA agents and they should find out what Jesse told the agents before they kill him. Before a kicking Jesse I hauled away, Walt tells Jesse that he watched Jesse’s girlfriend Jane overdose and Walt didn’t save her. Low blow, Walt.

Walt’s car is riddled with bullets and eventually comes to a halt. Walt rolls his drum of cash through the desert, eventually giving a stack of $100s to an old Native American for his run-down truck.

Marie confronts Skyler at the car wash and tells Skyler that Walt is going down thanks to Hank arresting him. Marie presents this information in a gloating sense. Marie demands all of the copies of the DVD that point the finger at Hank before she demands Walt Jr. (aka Flynn, or as I refer to him, Flynn the Eskimo) be told of all of his father’s misadventures.

Todd drags a battered Jesse out of a cell and makes him cook. After being changed up to make sure he’s not going anywhere, a bloodied Jesse steps forward far enough to notice a picture hanging up of Andrea and Brock just in case he was planning on an escape. It’s a subtle reminder that Todd holds all the cards in this new found relationship.

Flynn is really upset about his parents lying to him. When Skyler, Junior, and Holly return home, they find Walt packing feverishly. He proposes a fresh start to Skyler and the kids with his $11 million in cash. Skyler attacks Walt with a kitchen knife, slicing his palm. Walt Junior dives in and saves his mom and calls the police. With that, Walt grabs Holly and splits.

An Amber Alert is put out for Holly and Walt unknowingly incriminates himself with the police, who have a tap on the White’s land line. Walt leaves Skyler and Marie with some cryptic threats about the status of Hank and what happens when people cross him. It’s obvious that Walt is trying to absolve Skyler in her part of his life of crime. It’s the last gift he can give her after literally tearing their family apart.

In the only other decent thing he’s done this episode, Walt leaves his daughter at a fire department where she’ll presumably be returned to Skyler.

The episode closes with Walt sitting beside the same stretch of road where Jesse was waiting for his new life. Walt jumps into a van and drives off with his money.

This episode was almost presented with a certain degree of finality; in a way, Walt’s transformation from friendly family man to cold-hearted revenge artist is complete. He’s Hell-bent on torching anyone that’s ever crossed him, including Jesse.

Up until this episode, I viewed Walt as a kind of anti-hero. I looked at Walt as a bad guy who was doing illegal things for the betterment of the lives of his family members. I found myself wanting to see Walter White succeed because he seemed like a compassionate character. When Walt tells Jesse how he witnessed Jane’s death, I lost all respect for him. The feeling of disgust for Walt multiplied by roughly a million times when he snatched his own daughter from her mother.

Up to this point, I wanted Walt to succeed and stay one step ahead of the law. While he had his flaws (most notably his frequency for walking around in his tighty whities), Walt was an all-around decent guy who did some bad things. Now, Walt seems to have completely spiraled out of control. I found parts of this episode difficult to watch, especially as a parent.

While we are lead to believe Walt is now off of the grid in Saul’s contact’s witness protection program of sorts, we have been given a glimpse into his not-so-triumphant return when he goes back to his home (remember the 1st episode when Carol sees him in the driveway and drops her groceries?). Walt’s story inevitably gets out that he abducted his own daughter, but I’m unsure the extent of the information that got out regarding Heisenberg.

With only 2 episodes remaining, it’ll be interesting to see how Vince Gilligan draws the curtain on this series.

If you’ve got thoughts or theories on tonight’s episode or the last few episodes, leave them in the comments below.