Day 24: Flist-created February Meme
Day 24: Rant about your favorite Breaking Bad moment. janie_tangerine
Again? Okay then! It's not like I ever get tired of talking about it.
If anyone doesn't know already my favorite BrBa moment is Walt's "Perfect Moment" speech from the Fly episode. For a character who spends a huge portion of the show lying to other people and to himself, this speech might be Walt at his most truthful (despite his many deliberate omissions), self-aware and enlightened. Walt realizes the moment when his humanity slipped away from him; the night that he let Jane die. He realizes that in that moment he truly lost any chance for redemption and he reflects that he should have died before crossing that line. In Walt's mind, it really would have been perfect for him to have had his criminal adventure, to have used his chemistry brilliance to make a small fortune and then leave his family both financially secure and blissfully ignorant. Walt might have wanted to play the badass but above all, Walt is a scientist striving for perfection. And in this speech Walt describes what would've been the perfect formula for his own death.
The perfect moment to die that he missed.
And why did Walt miss this perfect moment? Because of Jesse. Because instead of realizing that he had created his perfect exit for himself, Walt was busy realizing how much he cared about Jesse. How he needed to go back to Jesse's house and save him from heroin addiction, even at the risk of Jane exposing his crimes and ruining everything for him. As always, it is Jesse who throws Walt's perfect plans into chaos. Yet it is also Jesse who keeps Walt in touch with his fading humanity. How excruciating is it that so much of Walt's speech is all about Jesse and Jesse is there listening to Walt and yet he has no idea what Walt is telling him. Walt is saying that he cares about Jesse like he's family. He is saying he is sorry for killing his girlfriend. Walt can never seem to save Jesse without destroying him all the more. But here at least Walt is acknowledging that he has betrayed Jesse and his own humanity with an act that can never be defended or forgiven.
And poor Jesse...he has no idea. He has no clue how much Walt cared to save him or how responsible Walt is for hurting him. All Jesse sees is that Mr White is going crazy. And it could be the cancer that's making him crazy. And Jesse just wants Mr White to chill and let Jesse look after him, like he looked after his Aunt Ginny. Because Jesse cares about him like family too.
For anyone else who loves this scene, I have to rec DJCs video tribute which shows how Walt's speech has echoes through the entire show. Also, I have to rec that every BrBa fan read the Fly screenplay. It's a work of art.
Again? Okay then! It's not like I ever get tired of talking about it.
If anyone doesn't know already my favorite BrBa moment is Walt's "Perfect Moment" speech from the Fly episode. For a character who spends a huge portion of the show lying to other people and to himself, this speech might be Walt at his most truthful (despite his many deliberate omissions), self-aware and enlightened. Walt realizes the moment when his humanity slipped away from him; the night that he let Jane die. He realizes that in that moment he truly lost any chance for redemption and he reflects that he should have died before crossing that line. In Walt's mind, it really would have been perfect for him to have had his criminal adventure, to have used his chemistry brilliance to make a small fortune and then leave his family both financially secure and blissfully ignorant. Walt might have wanted to play the badass but above all, Walt is a scientist striving for perfection. And in this speech Walt describes what would've been the perfect formula for his own death.
The perfect moment to die that he missed.
And why did Walt miss this perfect moment? Because of Jesse. Because instead of realizing that he had created his perfect exit for himself, Walt was busy realizing how much he cared about Jesse. How he needed to go back to Jesse's house and save him from heroin addiction, even at the risk of Jane exposing his crimes and ruining everything for him. As always, it is Jesse who throws Walt's perfect plans into chaos. Yet it is also Jesse who keeps Walt in touch with his fading humanity. How excruciating is it that so much of Walt's speech is all about Jesse and Jesse is there listening to Walt and yet he has no idea what Walt is telling him. Walt is saying that he cares about Jesse like he's family. He is saying he is sorry for killing his girlfriend. Walt can never seem to save Jesse without destroying him all the more. But here at least Walt is acknowledging that he has betrayed Jesse and his own humanity with an act that can never be defended or forgiven.
And poor Jesse...he has no idea. He has no clue how much Walt cared to save him or how responsible Walt is for hurting him. All Jesse sees is that Mr White is going crazy. And it could be the cancer that's making him crazy. And Jesse just wants Mr White to chill and let Jesse look after him, like he looked after his Aunt Ginny. Because Jesse cares about him like family too.
For anyone else who loves this scene, I have to rec DJCs video tribute which shows how Walt's speech has echoes through the entire show. Also, I have to rec that every BrBa fan read the Fly screenplay. It's a work of art.
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