What is ‘Breaking Bad’ About: Season 5, Part 2 Preview (Part 2)
One thing is certain:
Walt must die.
After all, the man spent his 52nd birthday buying a trunk full of firearms. He’s preparing for battle. And, after everything he’s done, he deserves it.
It It only remains to be seen who will kill him. And at this point in the series, it could literally be anyone.
Jesse. He’s seen Walt’s brute force up close and has been the one most affected by it. If any one of the number of betrayals Walt has delivered to Jesse in past seasons were revealed, Jesse would have ample reason to murder Walt. After all, we already saw him hold a gun on his partner when he thought he’d poisoned Brock. Just think what he’d do if he found out Walt could have saved Jane and didn’t. But Jesse’s heart is pure–all this violence has only weighed him down, made him less of a criminal. I think, when it comes down to it, he doesn’t have the hard heart. Jesse’s no Mike.
Skyler. Though she’s shown herself to be savvy, manipulative and certainly full of enough hatred for Walt to want him dead, in the end, Skyler is no killer. She’s had plenty of opportunity to take care of him and hasn’t. She’s too smart for that—she’ll continue to bide her time because she knows Walt will eventually take himself down.
Any of Walt’s myriad associates and business partners. From Todd to Declan, all these guys are wild cards. Walt hasn’t proved to be a particularly easy person to do business with—in fact, all his business partners have ended up dead. At this point, it’s kill or be killed when getting in bed with Heisenberg. Though it may make sense, it wouldn’t be a very satisfying ending. No–we had episodes and episodes of build up before Fring met his end, and with only 8 left to go, I think Walt’s maker is already large on the scene.
That leaves Hank. Frankly, I think this was the plan from the get go. A DEA agent whose brother in law starts a meth manufacturing business? It’s Greek in its simplicity. Brothers on opposite sides of law, a showdown between the two of them must come to pass. And now that Hank has discovered Heisenberg’s true identity (thanks to a thoughtful gift presented to Walt from Gale), it’s surely coming down the pike.
But what will Hank do with this information? Surely he’ll realize how many times Walt managed to save his life—and how many times Walt put his life in danger. It’s been clear that Hank has fallen in love with Walt’s kids: from bailing out Junior following a bad attempt to buy beer, to bouncing Holly on his knee for six months as Walt and Skyler “worked on their marriage.” He’ll be just as offended by the betrayals to Skyler and Marie as to himself.
Will Hank storm Walt with the DEA in tow? Or will he end up facing off against him, mano a mano? Will Hank try to talk sense into his brother in law, tell him to get out of the business, or just attempt to arrest him with no warning?
Or maybe Saul will be the one to get Walt in the end. You never know.
For more on the first half of Breaking Bad’s final season, check out my recaps on Fansided: