Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 14 Recap: Ozymandias

Remember the moment when Hank had that a-ha! moment and saw Walt as the face of the Meth Empire? This episode is the culmination of that very moment. We get a tally of who survived last episode’s explosive finale and a lot more questions are presented.

I wiki’d the title of tonight’s episode and came across a poem that while interesting did not yield much understanding in relation to Breaking Bad. So I asked the comic book nerds and they explained that in Watchmen there was a character who in a scheme to make the heroes seem more heroic set a plan in motion that destroyed a big chunk of new york. A man whose good intentions led to a major disaster… does that sound familiar to anyone?

Let’s see how Mr. White fared after the shootout last episode. Hit the jump for a full re-cap:

Breaking bad likes to bend the timeline and highlight important scenes. So it was not too much of a surprise that this episode began in a flashback to Walt and Jesse’s first cook in their rickety old RV on the very spot where present day Walt buried his $80 million dollars. Their sub-par equipment meant waiting until the batch cooled naturally and this gave Walt time to call home. A pregnant Skylar answers and they talk about dinner plans and naming their baby Holly. The whole time Jesse is in the background cursing and kicking dirt.

Back to present day the shots die down and we see Hank has been wounded in the leg and Agent Gomez is dead. Todd rushes to see if Jesse survived, but Jesse is no longer in the car. Hank was stopped mid crawl in the attempt to get Gomez’s  shotgun. Uncle Jack decides to shoot Hank after realizing that he is indeed a DEA agent as he claimed. Walt stops him and reveals that they are family, but Uncle Jack is less than moved. It doesn’t help that Hank is antagonizing the man who has a gun to his head while Walt tries to keep him alive. Eventually Walt offers Uncle Jack all of his money to keep Hank alive, but Uncle Jack asks Hank if he would take the money and he replies, “My name is ASAC Schraeder, and you can go fuck yourself.”

Walt continues to plead, but Hank tells him that Uncle Jack had made up his mind to kill him when this conversation began. He refuses to beg for his life and without any further discussion he is executed. Walt falls to the ground with his hands still in the cuffs behind his back and weeps openly. He watches as Hank’s body is dragged away and his barrels of money loaded on to their truck. He also spies something else important under his car, Jesse.Uncle Jack decides to leave Walt with one barrel of money (roughly 11 million dollars) because he knows his nephew Todd respects him. He also wants an agreement that they are square after the shootout. Walt shakes his hand, but is still filled with rage and reminds them that they still owe him for Jesse. He tells them where Jesse is hiding and they drag him onto his knees to shoot him like they shot Hank.

This part is really emotional because Walt is so angry that he can’t even speak to answer Uncle Jack. He confirms Jesse’s fate with a single nod of his head and you can feel Heisenberg behind Walt’s cold eyes. Jesse is crying and it seems like we are losing him when Todd, of all people, stops his uncle. He wants to know what Pinkman told the feds and make sure they don’t kill him without the answer.

They tell Walt they will kill Jesse once they have destroyed all the evidence and drag him to their car. Walt takes this opportunity to tell Jesse that he watched Jane die,

I was there and I watched her overdose and choke. I could have saved her, but I didn’t.Jesse is then thrown into the backseat of the car and presumably will die very soon.

Meanwhile…

Skylar and Jr are at the carwash and Skylar is wondering where Walt is. Marie comes in and demands that Skylar sit down with her. She tells Skylar that Hank has arrested Walt dead to rights and that she is willing to help Skylar if she meets two demands.

1. Destroy every copy of the blackmail DVD

2. Skylar must be the one to tell Jr. about Walt.

Skylar is convinced that Marie is telling the truth and gives in. They bring a scared Jr into the office and she tells him everything and Jr. goes through a range of emotion. He can’t believe what he is hearing and he is angry with Skylar because of her lies and deceit.

We get a moment to check in with Jesse. He has been beaten bloody and Todd comes for him. He screams that he told them everything and begs to be let go, but instead of torture Todd takes Jesse to the lab. Jesse is attached to a track on the ceiling and he limps towards a photo posted on the other side of the lab. The photo is of Andrea and her son and Jesse is horrified. Todd walks out in his yellow hazmat suit and says, “let’s cook.” I am not sure how i feel about this. Jesse has been through so much, but i don’t want him to die.

Back in the desert, Walt is driving home, but a stray bullet has drained the gas in his tank and he uses a montage to roll his barrel of money through the desert in the hot mid-day sun. He eventually makes it to a home on the reservation and buys a rickety old truck from a reluctant native American man for $100k.

He drives home and begins throwing his family’s clothing into suitcases. Skylar and Jr arrive home and Jr begins looking for answers from his father. He really wants to get his family out the door, but Skylar starts asking about Hank.  In front of their son she screams, “You killed him. You killed Hank!” This of course makes everything worse and now there is no chance of getting them packed and out of town.

Skylar grabs a knife from the kitchen and tells Walt to leave, he refuses and she slashes at him cutting his palm wide open. He wrestles the knife away from her, but Jr. tackles him and calls the police. He tells them that Walt grabbed the knife from the kitchen and attacked his mom… oh and he may have killed someone else.

Walt leaves and takes their baby Holly with him. Skylar chases them into the street, but is too late. The police arrive and are at the house when Skylar receives a call from Walt. (I think Walt knows the police are listening) He tells her that she should not have crossed him and that taking Holly is punishment for telling their son where Walt gets his money. He even throws in that Skylar has nothing to do with the business and has no idea what he actually does. The cops hear ever word and track the call. Walt later leaves Holly in a firetruck so that she will be returned to her mother.

The last thing we see is Walt getting into the mini-van of the new identity guy of Saul. This means that Walter White may never be found.

Okay we are two episodes from them end of this amazing story, but is that enough to wrap up the loose ends? Let me know what you think in the comments.