# Breaking Bad 5.14 "Ozymandias" 9/15/13 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893 "2013-09-15T06:43:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/321 "2013-09-16T20:06:30Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I think one of the ingenious things about Walt’s rant was that not only does it absolve Skyler to a degree, but the monstrous way he belittled and threatened her is going to get the family police protection while Walt is at large. The feds will think they are protecting the family from Walt, but in reality Walt is thinking it will protect them from the Nazis. > > You heard Jessie say to Todd as he was pulling him out of the cage about the tape at Marie’s house and all he had to do was go get it. That tape implicates Lydia and by extension, Todd and the Nazis. So what’s left of Walt’s family is all a loose end now. Agreed. > [@](#): > > There’s only three scenarios I can envision with Walt and the M-60 (other than him not using it at all and the whole flash forward with it was a false flag): > > 1. Walt’s going after the Nazis and/or Todd because they threatened his family or because they have Jessie or both. > > 2. He goes after Jessie for revenge after some kind of attack of conscience. > > 3. It’s for a showdown with federal agents. Let’s be real here, in the flash forward, Walt really doesn’t look much different with hair and a different style of glasses and clean shaven. Walt is going to be hunted by the feds, and by a lot of them. Also, couldn’t Hank’s call to Marie in the desert be GPS traced to where they are buried? I’m leaning towards some combination of 1 and 3. We’ve see Walt qo out of his way to make an impression at Denny’s, while wearing clothes very much like Todd’s. And we’ve seen him buy a weapon like one that we’ve seen one of Todd’s cohorts use. My guess is whatever he’s planning to do with the M-60, he’s planning to make it look to the Feds like he was on Jack’s crew. He may even be planning to be gunned down by the Feds after he takes out Jack himself. > [@](#): > > One prediction: when Todd dies, his last words will contain a very polite apology. Which should give us one or two good Canadian memes. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/322 "2013-09-16T20:16:26Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I find this behavior very strange. You don’t even refute the claim you like to wander into as many Breaking Bad threads as you can just to bash the show. Why do you feel so strongly about a television show? … You should get over it, and probably get over yourself as well. > > Have you ever been by a fire station? They aren’t exactly hardened facilities. The one nearest my house always has the doors to the garage wide open, and usually no firemen are in the garage area. I think we deserve better. And trust me. I’m _waaay_ over myself. I guess I don’t know anything about fire stations. What about Police Stations? Think you could sneak in an electromagnet? I’m just making the point that sometimes we deserve better. When writers treat us like idiots, and we don’t call them on it, well… > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m not a firefighter but my ex-BIL is. I 100% guarantee I could have done that at his station. That’s comforting. Our fire station is just a block or so away from the store where I buy food. The same store that is ringed with security camera and was able to produce video of a parking lot fight within minutes of the police arriving. But I live in a town with one stoplight, not the big thriving metropolis of ABQ. By the way, Walt’s ex-BIL is dead! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/323 "2013-09-16T20:20:26Z")
Also, I’m posting here because there isn’t anything good on TV (watched all the Moto GP already) and there aren’t any current “auto repair” threads. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/324 "2013-09-16T20:21:28Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Not to be insufferably pedantic on this issue but I’m perfectly comfortable with classifying members of the Aryan Brotherhood (or fictitious facsimiles of that organization) as Neo-Nazis. They use Nazi symbols to identify themselves, they express White Power sentiments, and they recruit from less notorious gangs that have Nazi right in their name. How many members of the party in Nazi Germany were more interested in money and power than in ideology? And how many members didn’t really understand Nazi ideology in any more complex way than “Germans rule, Bolsheviks drool!”? I do get the point people are trying to make though. Just because a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club has a Swastika tattoo doesn’t mean he’s actively fomenting a revolution to overthrow the american government and replace it with one similar to that of Germany in the 1930s. The same is true of most Aryan Brotherhood members. > > Back to Breaking Bad, I agree with you completely. I liked that they couldn’t bring themselves to completely kill and fuck over Walt because they respected him as a criminal. Killing Walt would be like shooting an evil unicorn. Ok, I honestly don’t know much about them, but that all makes sense. I do think they respect Walt to a certain degree. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he became a threat, but they’re not at that point now. > [@Marley23](#): > > I had a feeling about this and I’m now seeing it confirmed: the flashback scenes at the start of this episode were the last things ever shot for Breaking Bad. That’s interesting to hear, I was wondering about it. I had Vince Gilligan say previously about the flash-forward about one of the things they have to write around is hair growth, so seeing Walt with his previous amount of hair made me wonder. That must have been weird for Cranston and Paul. To have their characters change so much over 6 years, then at the very end have to act how they were at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/325 "2013-09-16T20:22:43Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > That’s comforting. Our fire station is just a block or so away from the store where I buy food. The same store that is ringed with security camera and was able to produce video of a parking lot fight within minutes of the police arriving. But I live in a town with one stoplight, not the big thriving metropolis of ABQ. Security cameras prevent you from walking through open doors? Man, those new models are slick. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/326 "2013-09-16T20:30:14Z")
> [@stoplight](#): > > He has never been shown to have the slightest hesitation in committing criminal acts, in hurting people. Sure he has. He hesitated before killing Krazy-8. He tried to get out of the business a few times. He hesitated plenty before ordering the hit on Jesse. He rejected the idea of killing Hank when Saul brought it up and tried to save him in the desert. Now, if Walt decides he needs to do something - including killing someone or poisoning a child - he doesn’t hesitate. If Walt wants something it is obviously justified: he’s lost the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong and his own desires. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/327 "2013-09-16T20:32:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I had a feeling about this and I’m now seeing it confirmed: the flashback scenes at the start of this episode were the last things ever shot for Breaking Bad. Yep! Mostly, I believe, due to hair requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/328 "2013-09-16T20:39:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Sure he has. He hesitated before killing Krazy-8. He tried to get out of the business a few times. He hesitated plenty before ordering the hit on Jesse. He rejected the idea of killing Hank when Saul brought it up and tried to save him in the desert. Now, if Walt decides he needs to do something - including killing someone or poisoning a child - he doesn’t hesitate. If Walt wants something it is obviously justified: he’s lost the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong and his own desires. I’m pretty sure **stoplight** was quoting someone else there, and that person was talking about Todd, not Walt. Damn formatting issues! ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/329 "2013-09-16T20:44:26Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I am hoping for Jesse to pull a “SCIENCE, BITCH” to get away from Todd. Maybe he’ll concoct something to burn through the chains based on something that Walt taught him. I hope it goes down something like this: TODD & CREW: It needs to be blue. Why isn’t it blue? JESSE: You want the blue color? You didn’t leave out the red phosphorous step, did you? Jesus, don’t you watch 60 Minutes? Everybody knows you need red phosphorous to cook meth. Get me some road flares and some boiling water. And hand me that mask, bitch. No, you guys don’t need one—just the guy right next to it does… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/330 "2013-09-16T20:46:39Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I’m pretty sure **stoplight** was quoting someone else there, and that person was talking about Todd, not Walt. Damn formatting issues! Ack, right you are. He’s quoting **obfusciatrist** discussing Todd. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/331 "2013-09-16T20:51:25Z")
I still have in my mind the way Walt started sobbing when he said that he had taken out Hank. You could see that his heart was completely broken over what had happened. He really did love Hank. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/332 "2013-09-16T21:03:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No. Walt’s deceived himself lots of times, but that’d be full-on delusional. Or just stupid. In the last thread **Martin Bigfoot** linked to a 10-year-old article about a modified form of ricin potentially being used as a treatment for cancer. It’s not a ten year old article, in fact the research supports the treatment in 2005 and 2006 > **[google - Bing](http://www.bing.com/search?q=google&FORM=B8DFLB&PC=B8DF&QS=n)** > > Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you. It struck me that it would be the type of science that would attract Walt to take a calculated risk. If it didn’t work he’s dead anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/333 "2013-09-16T21:16:46Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I still have in my mind the way Walt started sobbing when he said that he had taken out Hank. You could see that his heart was completely broken over what had happened. He really did love Hank. I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned the obvious parallels between the scene in which Walt collapses to the ground sobbing and the poolside scene of Max Arciniega’s murder. In both cases, the protagonists’ lives were spared because they held a position of minor entitlement in another person’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/334 "2013-09-16T21:16:55Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > It’s not a ten year old article, in fact the research supports the treatment in 2005 and 2006 > [google - Search](http://www.bing.com/search?q=google&FORM=B8DFLB&PC=B8DF&QS=n) In the last thread **Martian Bigfoot** linked to an article from 2003 about ricin and cancer. I’m pretty sure he was kidding, and yes, that was 10 years old. There have been studies where compounds based on ricin were used to treat cancer, but the treatment wasn’t just eating a bunch of ricin. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/335 "2013-09-16T21:24:42Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Nope. Neither made sense given what the flash forwards were showing. I knew they wouldn’t cook meth at the white residence and it didn’t look like a bomb had gone off. Well, in any case Gilligan has said he didn’t know what had happened when he first showed that flashforward. > [@Marley23](#): > > Remember when Walt was a successful negotiator who always stumbled across a backup plan? Not always. Remember in the scene when Victor was killed? Walt babbled on and on to no good effect. He also was not very politic in the way he talked to Gus when taken out in the desert and threatened. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > During the Talking Bad program, Bill Hader joked that when Walt took Holly, it was the most time he’d spent with her since she was born. Usually love that guy (his addled veteran with a puppet was the most brilliant thing ever), but he is off on this one. Walt has been shown cradling Holly, feeding her, putting her to sleep, etc. many, many times. Sometimes it has been to creepy effect, like when he was holding her and watching Scarface, but he clearly is crazy about her and has been shown holding her much more than was strictly necessary for the plot especially given the way TV babies are often left off as afterthoughts. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > One interesting speculation: did Walt take Holly with him when he left deliberately to ensure that the police would have to come just so that his phone call would work? Why else would he take her? I have seen this question raised in multiple places, and I wonder if any of them are fathers (or parents, period). I have four kids and am a doting father, and it seems very straightforward to me: he could not bear the thought of never seeing her again. Of losing his entire family forever. He certainly could not drag the other two with him, so Holly was the best he could do at that moment. > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I thought it was a compliment, saying she’s smarter than the show. So did I. Or an insult to the show. But I don’t see how it could be seen as an insult to the poster. > [@Marley23](#): > > Then consider it a note for threadshitting instead. Wait a sec. I love this show, consider it the best ever–but in case I comment in some other thread in the future on a show I don’t like: are we only allowed to say positive comments about TV shows here? > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Really over the top too, he doesn’t merely say “this show isn’t as great as everyone seems to think”, but instead tries to say it’s one of the dumbest shows on TV. So yeah, pretty textbook threadshitting. Okay, I had thought of posting in one of the _Under the Dome_ threads, but I guess I can’t because I find that so completely risible and worth discussing only to mock. (And contra **Marley’s** POV, I do think it can be fun to just shred on a show you hate-watch, as do lots of other folks if you’ve ever visited TwoP.) Good to know! ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/336 "2013-09-16T21:28:27Z")
There’s a difference between snarking on a show when the general tone of the thread is snarky, and just constantly trying to show up in threads to tell people how dumb something they hold in high regard is. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/337 "2013-09-16T21:31:47Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > There’s a difference between snarking on a show when the general tone of the thread is snarky, and just constantly trying to show up in threads to tell people how dumb something they hold in high regard is. And also a difference between “hey, I know you guys all like this show, but here are 5 reasons I think it’s not actually all that good…” vs “hey, I know you guys all like this show, but you’re wrong it’s the suxxors”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/338 "2013-09-16T21:44:49Z")
One of my favorite moments was when Walt got back in his car after Jack and co let him go, looked at himself in the rearview mirror, then turned the mirror away. My prediction is that Walt returns b/c he finds out that Jesse is still alive b/c there’s more of his high quality blue Meth out there. Worst ending suggestion: Walt from a distance with his M60 guns down Todd, Uncle Jack, Lydia, Jesse, et al, then turns to the camera and smiles and says “I guess you could say I’m…Breaking Bad.” Credits. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/339 "2013-09-16T21:45:52Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I had Vince Gilligan say previously about the flash-forward about one of the things they have to write around is hair growth, so seeing Walt with his previous amount of hair made me wonder. According to the podcast, Cranston shaved the beard and they added a wig. Vince Gilligan actually made it a point to praise the hair and makeup folks for the job they did with that. ETA: They also amusedly note that the script specifically had Jesse hitting a rock with a stick in the background and thoroughly enjoying himself with that little diversion. Ah, the innocent early days of Breaking Bad :D. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893/340 "2013-09-16T21:52:32Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > I’m not sure “Heisenberg” is a common thing for teenage vandals to scrawl on someone’s wall, especially on the wall of the abandoned house where someone nicknamed “Heisenberg” used to live. It’s either one of two things: > > 1. Walt dies, Skyler and family leave the house, and the name “Heisenberg” becomes something of a local legend. > > 2. Something really, really bad is going to happen there. Or a bunch of teenagers are (I don’t know what word to use to describe this so) excited to know one of the nations biggest drug dealers lived in their neighborhood, so they spraypainted his drug nickname on the wall to let people know Heisenberg used to live there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-14-ozymandias-9-15-13/668893.md?page=18)