Leave it to AMC to post a "preview" that's compiled entirely of scenes from past episodes. But let's face it, do we really need glimpses of next week's series finale to entice us to tune in? Not really, though a few snippets would have been nice. The closest we got to that was the shot of Walt looking at the gun in the trunk of his car. It's a scene that has a bit more context to us now that we know what led up to it. And we have some vague idea of where he's headed.
Let's backtrack a bit to last night's episode. Walt appeared to be on the verge of turning himself in. Knowing things aren't going so well for Skyler and that his son wants him to just die already, and after having spent months holed up in a cabin by himself with only his illness and newspaper clippings for company, Walt seemed about ready to throw in the towel. After everything he's been through, he's finally reached his breaking point. And then, fate stepped in and re-lit the fire under him. It all comes back to Gray Matter.
In any other circumstance, I might have scoffed at the sheer coincidence of Elliott and Gretchen being interviewed on TV right as Walt's attention happened to be on the television. If he'd been in his cabin watching TV nonstop for months, maybe, but no, he happened to see the familiar faces of his old friends and colleagues on TV in the bar, just as he's about to turn himself in (or let himself be caught). What are the odds? But in this case, let's give it a pass and call it fate. I feel like the series has earned that. The Charlie Rose interview was a necessary intervention to bring this story full circle, because it has to come back to Gray Matter, the company Walt co-founded but walked away from, altering the course of his life forever. The fact that Gretchen and Elliott were talking about their successes and directly addressing their relation to Walt in the interview only made the whole situation hit home even more. Obviously Gray Matter wants to distance itself from any associations with Walter White, so I don't entirely blame Gretchen and Elliott for trying to downplay Walt's role in their company. With that said, I also don't blame Walt for being enraged by it. That wound has never really been healed. He just forgot it was there.
The question is, what is Walt planning? Is it fair to expect some kind of confrontation between Walt, Elliott and Gretchen in the finale? Or at the very least, is Walt planning to strike out against Gray Matter and possibly tear down the company he helped found? (Is that even possible?) And then there's the other thing that the interview implied. It sounds like the blue meth is still out there, which suggests Jesse may still be locked up and forced to cook. Will Walt target the Nazis? Will he even care if he learns that Jesse's still alive and being held captive? It's hard to say. Time has passed, and it's entirely possible that his presume anger toward Gray Matter will cause him to reevaluate his feelings about everyone else in his life.
Finally, there's Lydia. I'm kind of fascinated by her because I think she's kind of horrible. Take last night's episode, where she seemed to be nudging Todd toward the idea of killing Skyler, just to be safe. I don't know that she outright said that, but the impression I got from their awkward coffee shop conversation was that she doesn't want to risk Skyler telling the police about her, so maybe they should just kill her as a matter of precaution. Never mind that I'm pretty sure it was Lydia's own paranoia that sent her into the car wash and put her face in front of Skyler to begin with. And I'm not even sure Skyler would've thought to tell the police about Lydia if not for the masked men threatening her, but who knows? What I found most revealing was how distracted Lydia got when Todd told her about the 92 percent pure meth they were cooking. (92 Percent, yo!) With Lydia, it's evident that greed supersedes her paranoia, which could be her downfall. I sort of hope it is.
Breaking Bad airs Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET on AMC. Read our full breakdown of last night's episode here.
