‘Breaking Bad’: Season 4 in Review

AMC's "Breaking Bad" wound up its fourth season last night with a face-meltingly incredible episode. After twelve episodes filled with arson, money-laundering, inter-cartel civil war, purchases of hideous mid-size domestic cars, and (of course) murder, last night's episode was a tense, effective climax to the season that had half of my Twitter feed losing its collective mind over the events that unfolded, and the other half plaintively explaining why it couldn't watch the episode live and begging not to be spoiled. Are you in the latter group? If so, read no further.

Here's what's especially remarkable to me about Season 4 of "Breaking Bad": how hard producers had to work to show us that Walt (Bryan Cranston) actually is the villain of the piece. Leaving aside the issue of his illegal occupation — because let's just not get into a whole libertarian argument about whether drugs even SHOULD be illegal — the man has been murdering people to achieve his various ends, basically since the show began. "But he did it to protect his family!" First of all...did he? Was his family facing mortal danger from GALE, the vegan chemist? And second, even if Walt could claim that all his crimes were for the good of his family, does that excuse everything?

So for those of us who had transferred our sympathies from the increasingly ruthless Walt to Jesse (Aaron Paul), the way this season made a patsy of him has been hard to watch. Poor Jesse has had no idea what a pawn he's been for both his surrogate fathers — Walt, obviously, but also Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Gus gets Jesse to cool it on his own meth use and general self-destruction by having Mike (Jonathan Banks) take him out on a thug ride-along and staging a situation that allows Jesse to be a hero. And then Walt undoes Gus's work by framing Gus for poisoning Brock (Ian Posada), Jesse's own surrogate son. Walt must be pretty sure he and Jesse are definitely done working together or even living in the same state to take such an enormous risk — and I don't mean the risk of Brock's life, about which Walt obviously doesn't care, but the risk that Jesse will find out and kill Walt. (Or one of Walt's children.)

The true horror of this episode, for me, is the knowledge that we are done with Gus, one of the best characters on television in this or any era. I loved Gus. I loved watching Esposito's beautifully controlled performance in the role, which gave his rare moments of agitation so much more weight and terror. I loved watching Gus's chillingly convincing impersonation of a citizen (even last night, we were reminded again of his sponsorship of that Fun Run in which the DEA participated!). I appreciated Gus's consistency of purpose, his icy pragmatism, and his ability to stick it to an old foe with a perfectly executed revenge plot that burned slow enough not to be out of place in a Korean thriller. That Walt was facing off against an antagonist as polished and brilliant and sharply dressed as Gus proves the depths of evil to which Walt himself has sunk. That is: The only reason Walt's plan worked is that he was willing to copy the worst thing Gus was known to have done. Walt could only defeat his opposite number by, effectively, becoming him. (Walt's previous murders were blunt, inelegant affairs. Strategy and finesse were lessons Gus unwittingly taught him.)

Anyway: Those who relished Gus as an irredeemable heel will have enjoyed the drama of his final moments.

For this viewer — who knew deep down that Gus couldn't possibly make it out of this finale alive — the sight of him emerging from Salamanca's room seemingly intact, only to succumb to his wounds was a very cruel tease.

So Jesse and Walt have, apparently, blown up their lab, dissolved their partnership, and parted company. The episode certainly had the feel of a series finale (and, according to creator Vince Gilligan, almost was), though there are still 16 episodes remaining to wrap up the series. Gus is gone...but Mike's not.

One last note, before you go on to mourn Gus in your own way (personally, I'm wearing a black armband right now), I have to give a hat tip to YouTube user jcham979, who figured out the true culprit behind Brock's illness after the season's penultimate episode and posted his findings last Wednesday. What jcham979 may lack in spelling and grammar skills, he or she more than makes up for in detective skills.