![\"\"](\"http:\/\/onwardstate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2645293-bryan-cranston-stars-as-walter-white-in-breaking-bad_super.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I dislike the \u201cMystery\u201d genre (although I love \u201cCrime\u201d fiction) because I don\u2019t like the implicit double-blind game with the author: of course<\/i> it\u2019s not the butler, not because the clues don\u2019t point that direction but because that\u2019s too obvious; the killer has to be the character whom even the seasoned mystery aficionado would never guess. Sometimes the obvious solution is<\/i> correct, because the author understood that those jaded readers would never make such a banal guess. I hate all this; the apparatus of fiction should, in my opinion, not be interrupted by mental Mexican Standoffs with the author and the imaginary typical reader.<\/p>\n
But Vince Gilligan has somehow managed to get me back around to enjoying this game of strategically exploited (and reversed) expectations. The final eight-episode run of Breaking Bad<\/i> has been an elaborate, ingenious, intensely exciting game of anticipated moves and last-minute, perverse surprises that precisely overturn the presumed magic trick for which the props have been laid out. Seven of the eight episodes have aired (incorporating the second of two incredibly provocative flash-forwards, the gamesmanship of which has paid off beautifully, so far), bringing us to the absolute final cliffhanger (and, for the first time, the show\u2019s actual theme music appearing as a final incidental motif<\/i> before the curtain rises for the last time, Sunday night).<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s going to happen? Here\u2019s how I see it (based on my above-outlined understanding of Gilligan\u2019s neo-Agatha-Christie trickery): First, yes,<\/i> the loaded M60 is for the neo-Nazis. From the moment that Uncle Jack forced Walt to shake hands over Hank\u2019s fresh corpse, that was clear. Walt is going to mow them down, and it\u2019s going to be very satisfying in a Peckinpah sense (while misleading). Second, there\u2019s not a doubt in my mind that Jesse, freed by Walt in the bloodbath I just described, will kill Todd. The \u201ctwist\u201d will be that he will appear to refrain from doing it\u2026and will suddenly, surprisingly go through with it in a \u201cJack Ruby\u201d fashion that will damn him (Jesse) to facing a full-on first-degree-murder rap and, essentially, a doomed fugitive life. I think Walter will die, and I think that either Skyler, Walt Jr., or both of them will be responsible. Somebody\u2019s falling on a knife, or at some point a shot will ring out and everyone will freeze: Walt will look down and see the blood flowing from his abdomen and he\u2019ll have time to say \u201cSkyler\u2026?\u201d before he collapses to the floor. Skyler will go to prison (and Ted Beneke will prepare to testify against her in a surprise re-appearance). <\/p>\n
So who\u2019s the ricin for? Nobody. Walt might entertain vague plans of getting near the Schwartzes with it, but none of that will happen\u2026and his visit to the fenced-off, gutted house (\u201cHello, Carol\u201d) to retrieve the vial will in and of itself spur the endgame into play, as Carol calls the cops and the remaining characters converge.<\/p>\n
Marie will somehow avoid all of this and end up renouncing her sister at a crucial moment, selling her purple-crayon house and moving away\u2026and, yet, somehow, her shoplifting will come back to haunt her (I\u2019m a little unclear on this part). The Heisenberg \u201cconfession\u201d DVD will successfully cast doubts on Hank, who will end up taking the Heisenberg rap after all. We\u2019ll get a final amusing glimpse of Saul Goodman in New Hampshire, advancing himself in his new job as an ambitious, up-and-coming Kinko\u2019s manager on the move. Walter White is buried with none of his family in attendance. <\/p>\n
None of Hank\u2019s and Gomez\u2019 evidence ever sees the light of day: the \u201cHeisenberg\u201d legend remains one of the great rumors of the world of criminal notoriety. Finally, newly-on-the-lam Jesse Pinkman, his tattered soul parboiled by the events of the final episodes, puts on the porkpie hat and approaches Lydia to re-start the blue meth business. He has the final words of the series, speaking to her, pale eyes blazing: \u201cLet\u2019s cook.\u201d The gods of irony are appeased. You heard it here first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I dislike the \u201cMystery\u201d genre (although I love \u201cCrime\u201d fiction) because I don\u2019t like the implicit double-blind game with the author: of course it\u2019s not the butler, not because the clues don\u2019t point that direction but because that\u2019s too obvious; the killer has to be the character whom even the seasoned mystery aficionado would never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43162"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43162"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43179,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43162\/revisions\/43179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanorlando.com\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}