Breaking Bad - Season 5 Episode 7 - Video Recap and Review - Say My Name

"Say My Name" is a fitting title for the penultimate Breaking Bad of 2012, as it speaks to the failings of people who really should know better by now. If only Jesse had been the one to deliver Mike's duffel bag. If only Mike had used Saul Goodman as the lawyer to place the money for his loyal foot soldiers into the safety deposit boxes, instead of some hack who'd flip at the first sign of police suspicion. If only Walt had just kept his mouth shut and continued working for Gus Fring. If only...

But here we are.

The story of Breaking Bad's fifth season has been Walter White's obsessive need for recognition, and "Say My Name" makes the point perfectly clear: he just doesn't want to be the best at what he does, creating a product with 99.1% purity -- no, Walt wants to be the man. He wants to be Gus Fring, but bypassing the 20+ years it took for Gus Fring to become Gus Fring. Walt is too drunk on his own ego to recognize the amount of preparation involved in running a criminal empire. Gus Fring built contingencies into his plans, he had men to clean up his messes - loyal men. Gus Fring had it made: he had the cover story, he had the business acumen, and he had employees who respected his orders and wouldn't dare question him. Well, at least not until Walter White. See, Walt has comprehensively destroyed any chance for himself or any of his associates to come out of this unscathed. It wasn't enough for him to be comfortably making well into seven figures with Gus - he needed that indicator of status that would somehow rectify the mistakes of his past; namely, selling his share of Grey Matter stock for $5,000, when the company would go on to be worth $2.16 billion. As he stated last week, Walt has nothing left but this business. And he seems intent on making sure no one else has anything but the business.

"Say My Name" refers to the episode's opening, a meeting with Declan, head of the Arizona cartel, who tries to negotiate a new distribution deal with Walt. Here, Walt (Bryan Cranston) has the leverage, and uses his newfound power to leverage control of the new business venture he's proposing. He contrasts the 70% purity of his competitor's product to the 99.1% purity of his own, claiming that it's analogous to the difference between generic brand cola and "classic Coke," asking Declan whether he really wants to live in a world "without Coca-Cola." Walt rattles off his criminal resume, from the increased profit his product will ensure (owing to the "better high" the users will get, for which they will be willing to pay more money) to his status as The Man Who Killed Gus Fring. When the cartel's head asks who Walt is, Walt responds that the man knows exactly who he is. "Say my name."

"Heisenberg."

And it's that persona which informs Walt's behavior for the rest of this episode, behavior which has been building for well over two seasons now. Walt is threatened by the bond Jesse (Aaron Paul) seems to share with Mike (Jonathan Banks), and it's for that reason that Walt refuses to accept Jesse's resignation. Walt likely assumes that Jesse will change his mind about getting out of the business once Mike takes his share of the money and rides off into the sunset. Walt has nothing but the business, and so he assumes Jesse doesn't either. Hell, he talked him out of breaking things off with Andrea, nearly got Brock killed, and actually did indirectly cause the death of Jesse's original lover, Jane. It's easy to see why he'd assume Jesse would still want in: the money, the notoriety, the satisfaction of being the best in your chosen field. But those rewards are hollow to Jesse, who's matured into a person who not only recognizes the difference between right and wrong (and I would argue that he's always known), but into a person who is willing to make a stand so that he doesn't wind up on the wrong side of the divide. Though Jesse doesn't even know half of the misery Walt has caused him (Jane, Brock), he knows enough to finally see through Walt's empty assurances. Walt can't promise that no one else will die because of them, because Walt is in the business of self-aggrandizement. And when you're trying to build a criminal empire, the road to hell is paved with the bodies of your associates.

Jesse doesn't seem to particularly care when Walter threatens that he won't get his $5 million severance money if he walks away from the business. This is a matter of principle for Jesse. He's tired of hurting people, of being hurt himself. He leaves Walt alone in the lab to cook by himself, as Walt shouts after him in anger and desperation. Jesse tried so hard to make an amicable parting, but Walt simply can't accept that Jesse is his own man now, no longer malleable to Walt's purposes. With Jesse gone, it's no surprise that Walt finds a surrogate Jesse in Todd, the loose-cannon Vamonos Pest associate who killed the kid on the dirt bike during the train heist two weeks ago. Walt is immediately unaccustomed to having to teach a new partner this late in the game, but he shows great patience with Todd as he teaches the young man the ropes, and it's a callback to the kind of man Walt used to be, a diligent instructor with a patience for the sciences. If nothing else, it's an illustration of the kind of good Walter White could be doing, were he not in the business of breaking the law and making people miserable. To say nothing of killing.

Not since his murder of small-time hood Emilio in season one has Walt committed so intimate a murder as his killing of Mike Ehrmantraut. When Walt, showing uncharacteristic sloppiness, uses the same "Woe is me" charade to get back into Hank's office to remove the bugs he placed there, he overhears Hank and Gomez discussing an associate of Mike's who flipped and is willing to testify against him. Walt frantically calls Mike, who is at the playground with his granddaughter, to warn him that police are coming for him. As if on cue, the cop cars pull up, and Mike can only take one last look at his granddaughter, the one thing in the world he genuinely cares about, playing on the swing before fleeing. Mike calls Saul, who is with Walt and Jesse, and it is decided that someone needs to pick up Mike's duffel bag, which contains his money and firearm, and deliver it to him. Jesse volunteers, but Mike forbids it outright, showing that perhaps he does care for more than just his granddaughter. Ultimately, Walt offers to meet with Mike, and as they meet for the hand-off, Walt attempts to recreate the meeting with the Arizona cartel, prodding Mike to hand over his list of contacts, and also fishing for acknowledgment of his value in their business dealings. Instead, Mike rips into Walt, claiming that the only reason anybody is in danger is because of his hubris and inexperience. People have lost their lives because of Walt, and the living might as well be dead, for all that they've lost themselves.

Mike leaves in a huff, getting into the car and turning his body towards the passenger seat, where the duffel bag rests, to check the money. Upon opening the bag, Mike sees that the firearm is missing. He turns to find Walt standing at the window, firing into the car, sending bullets ripping into his body. The wounded driver makes it a few years before crashing and exiting the car, moving down among the reeds towards the riverbank. Not one day removed from telling Jesse that no one else would die because of their business, Walt follows the trail of blood to find Mike dying from his gunshot wounds. Once there, Walt comes to the stomach-churning realization that he could have gone to Lydia, their methylamine provider, for the list of contacts. Walt tries to apologize, but Mike essentially tells Walt to go to hell and let him die in peace. With Mike gone, there are no more safety nets, no more loyal foot soldiers to clean up his messes for him, to do the dirty work of shooting, strong-arming, procuring assets and men to secure them. If it wasn't clear before, it's now a stone-cold fact: Walter White is completely, dangerously out of his depth.

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