It is no twist of fate that Breaking Bad is told in five seasons, the fifth one elongated to span two years instead of one. For six seasons wouldn’t be very Shakespearean. In the climax of Act III, Jesse murders Gale, Walt’s fungible replacement and successor. Jesse pulls the trigger with such reluctance and with teary eyed decomposition that we feel sorry for him, not Gale. At this point, we celebrate Gale’s death so Walt may live. Walt is still the tragic hero whose cancerous outgrowth is a physical manifestation of his disheveled socioeconomic status and paraplegic son.
The audience’s sympathy for Walt flips in Act IV with the hero’s downfall. Walt succeeds to eliminate Gus from the equation but devolves and is dehumanized down to the last scene when he is revealed to have poisoned the child of Jesse’s love interest. The fourth season ends with a full cast of unlikeable characters, none of whom the viewer can feel the least bit sorry for (with the exception of Jesse). Walt’s dehumanization continues into the fifth and final season as Walt’s ego is further developed. In the third installment, Walt orchestrates Jesse’s breakup with his girlfriend, using the departed Gale remorselessly as leverage.
Jesse, who is best described as Walt’s antithesis was stupid when Walt was smart and now the two have their roles reversed. It was Jesse who thought of using magnets to erase Gus’s incriminating computer and it was Jesse who offered to pay for Mike’s “legacy payments” (to keep imprisoned past-associates’ mouths shut). Walt, who is uncomfortable letting Jesse take the higher moral ground, capitulates and offers to pay his share too.
Walt’s finishing speech about how pawns overreach might be construed to be directed at Mike, who he later kills. But the warning is actually directed at Jesse. The final episode will have a final encounter between the antitheses and probably some final show-down. Walt will die, as any tragic hero does, either at the hands of Jesse or himself (or Skylar, though since her guilt has already been sealed, is an unlikely hero).
Breaking Bad is certainly not a feel-good TV series. It is a dark comedy that reveals the worst in everyone. It is overwhelmingly defeatist. But the poor viewers who have watched the deadly spiral for six years will be happy to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I believe it is called Catharsis.
Adapted from the July 31, 2012 post