?What does it mean when the villain cries? Towards the end of ?Ozymandias,? the third-to-last episode of ?Breaking Bad?? and the finest hour the show has ever seen?Walter silently weeps as he viciously attacks Skyler over the phone, unleashing hatred and fury on his newest betrayer while simultaneously and consciously exonerating her of each and every crime her husband pushed her to commit. It?s one of, if not the best scene the show has ever given us, and comes at the tail end of one of the most terrifying, exhilarating hours of television ever produced.We open with a flashback to simpler, livelier times, full of promise, and the unknown. And then it fades. And then: where were we? Gomez is dead by way of Uncle Jack?s Traveling Nazi Roadshow, and Hank soon follows, quickly and without spectacle. And it just doesn?t stop. Walt, even in this terror still more wide-eyed than the rest, sees Jesse, and once more condemns him to his fate. But he is saved, as much as one can be, by Todd, a quietly terrifying character. Todd postpones Jesse?s execution and resigns him to enslaved torture, because Todd knows Jesse can make that crystal a little bit clearer. ?We?re a family,? Walter cries a few moments before his wife attempts to kill him and his son calls the police on him. The debate over whether or not Walt is still a sympathetic character is a fierce one, and I assume Walt?s abduction of Holly will be the final straw for many.I am still rooting for Walt, in whatever way one still can. I think there is still humanity within him. Watch his phone call to Skyler more than once. Regardless, the last scene at the White residence is truly terrifying, one of the scariest things I?ve seen on television in a long, long time. I?m reminded of season four?s spiraling nightmare, ?Crawl Space.? Skyler and Holly?s harmony of anguish as Walt pulls out of the driveway define horror, backed by the sound of tires burning against the pavement. This is unforgettable television, and finally deserving of the oft-ridiculous praise ?Breaking Bad? sometimes has heaped upon it.The episode gets its title from a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, first published in 1818. It tells the story of a traveler who finds the statue of a great king, who once ruled a vast land. His legs are all that remain–his empire erased. There are two episodes of Breaking Bad remaining. As Walter White rides off in a van that makes you vanish, there is at last a moment of quiet, and reflection. ?Round the decay/Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare/The lone and level sands stretch far away.?
