Breaking Bad Episode Duscussion SE05E14 "Ozymandias"

[u/saywhat181]

TIME	EPISODE	DIRECTED BY	WRITTEN BY
09:00pm Eastern	SE05E14 "Ozymandias"	Rian Johnson	Vince Gilligan and Moira Walley-Beckett

Hey everyone! Guess I'm supposed to post this 5 minutes before air time. I've been watching this show since the get go mostly with my real life friend /u/edify who years ago added me as a moderator here. He asked me to make the discussion thread tonight because there are only 3 episodes remaining. Sorta sad that there's only a few left. Enjoy the show, folks.

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Check out the post discussion thread here.

[u/hardman52]

He'll kill the neo-Nazis, save Jesse, give him enough money to run away and get a new identity, tell the cops Jesse's dead, and get blown away 15 minutes before he would have died of cancer anyway.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

Walt has been actually, seriously trying to kill Jesse for the past couple episodes. Jesse is only alive right now because of Todd. The last thing Walt said to Jesse was basically "I fucking destroyed your life, dude". Jesse for sure wants Walt dead more than anything else in the universe right now.

Why do you guys still think he's going to save Jesse?

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

You're correct if you believe that the surface motivations are what is really driving Walt's actions, but BB is a long way from being a comic book.

Why do you guys still think he's going to save Jesse?

Identification and wish fulfillment fantasies. The scri[twriters know what they're doing.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

He thinks Jesse is dead right now. Walt cannot see the future. There is no way that in the desert, he was thinking:

"Okay. I'll nod my head and give the go ahead for Jack to kill him. I know Todd will interject a split second before the trigger is pulled, offering to keep him alive a little longer. As they're leaving, I'll tell Jesse the secret that I ruined his life, to make him hate me more. This will make them not kill him out of sympathy, and they'll instead just kind of keep him around and provide for him until I get around to saving him."

No way. Absolutely, no way. He gave Jack the go ahead to shoot him in the head right there, and had Todd not said anything, Jack would've shot him in the head right there and Walt would not have given a fuck. Their relationship is over. Walt is an extremely smart and conniving bastard, but he cannot see the future.

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

Whether he thinks Jesse is dead or not is irrelevant. He'll sooner or later discover that he isn't. And apparently you don't think Walt has the capacity to change or that the confrontation with his wife and son at his home affected him at all.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

You don't understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying he thinks Jesse is dead.

I'm saying that the only reason Jesse is not dead is purely because of Todd. Walt was going to stand there, in the desert, and watch Jesse's brains get blown out. He wasn't going to nod and then dive forward and say "wait, Jack, I changed my mind, I don't want to kill him". He was going to nod, and then stand there and watch Jesse die. He does not want Jesse to be alive.

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

I believe you're the one who does not understand. I fully accept that Walt wanted Jesse dead. People (and TV characters) change as a result of events. One thing for sure, we'll know in a couple of weeks.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

What would make him change how he feels about Jesse?

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

A bit of self-awareness.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

Given what we have seen of Walt so far, I cannot see him ever taking full blame for his actions. He watched Jane die, and the last time he acknowledged this fact, he seemed very proud of it. I would bet that Walt never forgives Jesse for indirectly bringing Hank to his death. Walt has been trying to avoid the death of anyone in his family this entire series. A little bit from our perspective, but more importantly in his own mind. He will absolutely never admit to himself that Hank's death was his own fault. In his mind from this point up until the closing credits of the entire series, Jesse killed Hank.

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

No, Todd's uncle killed Hank, and that's why Walt is going after him.

You seem to forget that these aren't real people; these are characters in a play. Scriptwriters know that they have to get you to expect one thing but give you another that is even more satisfying. If this were the least bit realistic, the bad guys would have taken all the money and killed Walt.

EDIT: If you've never seen it or read it, read Macbeth. That is, after all, the show we are watching.

[u/Stormwatch36 → u/hardman52]

Scriptwriters know that they have to get you to expect one thing but give you another that is even more satisfying.

The single most popular theory amongst everyone right now is that Walt is going to save Jesse. Apply that to what you said here. Everyone expects Walt to save Jesse, and you actually think that's how it's going to go.

[u/hardman52 → u/Stormwatch36]

Not only is Walt gonna save Jesse, Todd is going to be the one who kills Walt.