Written by Brendan O’Meara
I watched an interview a few months ago with Matthew Weiner, show runner and creator of Mad Men. In it he spoke of his time writing on The Sopranos and how much he loved the ending. He said something to the effect that the most famous cut-to-black in television history was a big “fuck you” to the viewers. Reason being we had rooted for this monster, Tony Soprano, all these years but as the show reached its climax, we wanted to see the bloodshed. And David Chase was just the guy to make us feel like our cable went out instead. That was our punishment.
If The Sopranos were allowed to go on, we’d see the ripple effect of his death on the family. We’d see everything crumble around him. We’d see “Ozymandias”.
Breaking Bad comes to an end Sunday and I’m exhilarated and sad. But also a little relieved. The last season, more specifically the last seven episodes, was tough television to watch.
For four seasons before, it was more fun and games. How would this milquetoast-chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-cook get out of another situation? What a concept! Yeah, he’s bad, but he’s not that bad (despite the lying, deceit, and murdering, besides all that). He’s us if we broke down certain shackles and claimed what we believed was owed to us. Hence the now-nauseating question: Do you root for Walter White? or When did you stop rooting for Walter White?
[SIDENOTE: I was most unsettled by Walt later than most. When he killed Mike toward the end of Season 5A, that’s when I was most troubled by Walt. “I’ll just get the names from Lydia.”]
These last episodes are the price we are asked to pay. We are living the consequences of Walt’s actions. We aren’t spared them as we were in The Sopranos. We’re asked to live it, agonize with it, stay awake till 2 in the morning with it. “Ozyamandias” illustrates this perfectly with its opening act. We see Walt tell the first lie from the first cook. They fade away and we’re left in the same place as the shootout with Team Schrader vs. Team Nazis. The result of Walt’s first, seemingly innocent lie led to this moment. It was an exothermic chemical reaction, a release of heat.
So this last season was meant to unsettle us. It’s great television and great story telling and we’re paying the price for being with Walt all these years.
People may try to imitate this, but it will never happen again. It’s too hard to pull off and sometimes even harder to watch.
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