tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post3710623400338740923..comments2024-03-11T02:18:33.966-05:00Comments on Kritik: Breaking Bad Season 5.14"Dead to Rights" Guest Writer: Tedra OsellAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13200566567765991464noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-66891004567627534272013-09-19T08:58:55.244-05:002013-09-19T08:58:55.244-05:00That sounds right to me too Corey!That sounds right to me too Corey!MPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08984136164543370547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-21993197105532591342013-09-19T07:21:19.995-05:002013-09-19T07:21:19.995-05:00More on that phone call ... which has by now gener...More on that phone call ... which has by now generated a lot of commentary elsewhere (including by me in some Facebook posts): there's no question that it exposes Walt's abuse as never before: we have never heard him be this brutal to Skyler. But it does seem crucial to also see the scene as an oddly tender one between the couple, communicating with one another in a way only they understand. Walt is playing the role of Hesienberg so that the police will view him as demonic, and Sklyer as his victim rather than collaborator. She knows this: her pause when he asks if there are police there, before telling him "no" is her confirmation to him that they are there, the audience for his performance. And he's by now a great performer (which is to say a great liar), unlike his awkward performance at the start of the episode, after the first cook, where he has to haltingly rehearse his lines before his phone call. Put another way, we do get to see the raging id that is Heisenberg, but performed by the superego that is Walt's now pathetic belief that his role as father and husband is to protect his family (despite their rejection of this): caught in the middle of this is Walt's ego, which weeps as it faces (and engineers) the loss of identity he has just (we find out) secured. Your take on the scene seems right to me: it's a terrible moment the series has worked up to speaking aloud, but at the same time, perhaps perversely, it's one of the more touchingly personal interactions between Walt and Sklyer, couched in a public performance for the police and for us.Coreynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-8254046981069229442013-09-17T01:38:06.602-05:002013-09-17T01:38:06.602-05:00My two cents: Walt knew and Skyler knew too that h...My two cents: Walt knew and Skyler knew too that he was "abusing" her in the hearing of the police (or whomever) so that she'd be exonerated. That's why he cried; it's also why she said "I'm sorry" --the only way she could to let him know she recognized what was going on without blowing the cover he was offering. That's not to say that he has never abused her (and Walt Jr.)--he gives them a dose of his style of abuse earlier in the episode when he tries to persuade them to trust him. Just to say that there was as I saw it very little ambiguity about what was going on (if much irony and double entendre which may be what Tedra means by "both/and"). <br /><br />Thanks for a great post!MPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08984136164543370547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-63354844695222283512013-09-16T21:24:55.446-05:002013-09-16T21:24:55.446-05:00Right, I think it's important not to call this...Right, I think it's important not to call this redeeming -- I think the foremost satisfaction is of controlling one more thing, exercising one last clever move. Josh K-skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05357860481101521754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-3751797755594046252013-09-16T21:17:48.856-05:002013-09-16T21:17:48.856-05:00I think if I'd had more time I'd have draw...I think if I'd had more time I'd have drawn out the nuance of the defense/attack stuff going on in that call. My focus, of course, was on the way that so much of the audience (still) seems to defend/identify with him (which I think reading his phone call primarily as a "protective" move kind of feeds into). Obviously it's layered; both/and. As Josh says, multiple satisfactions there: attacking Skyler while trying to protect her. Definitely human, but far from redeeming.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187091076187072526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-40089102259204146792013-09-16T21:04:53.279-05:002013-09-16T21:04:53.279-05:00Enjoyed this very much, Tedra. Your close reading...Enjoyed this very much, Tedra. Your close reading really underscores how much this episode crystallizes the show's scathing critique of man-of-the-house/protector/macho masculinity. But like the first commenter I also read the final scene as Walt's attempt to redeem himself (in his own eyes, if not ours) by finding one more way to outwit his enemies and "protect his family." Though if one sees him playacting the phone call (and I can't read it any other way) then the door opens to reading this final scene as supporting the idea that he (and patriarchal masculinity) has at least a shred of humanity left: in his desire to preserve Skyler's future, and her future relationships with her children, and taking all the blame on himself. One might see a kind of honor in that classic machismo move. I'm sure the Skyler haters will. (I don't.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-28862630238130985572013-09-16T19:24:37.024-05:002013-09-16T19:24:37.024-05:00and he launches into a tirade of abuse
Worth noti...<i>and he launches into a tirade of abuse</i><br /><br />Worth noting that Walt's playacting here; the effect of the abuse is to paint Skyler as his victim, not his collaborator, in front of the police. There are multiple satisfactions here for Walt -- executing one final clever ploy, "protecting" his family, even controlling how his son sees each of his parents. To say nothing of getting to say the actual words he says to Skyler.Josh K-skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05357860481101521754noreply@blogger.com