Granite State

"Granite State" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad, and the sixty-first episode of the series altogether.​

Teaser
Just as seen at the end of the previous episode, the extractor's red van drives off from the side of the road after picking up its passenger. Shortly afterward, it arrives at a vacuum repair shop. The extractor, a man named Ed, drives the van into the shop and we see that instead of Walter White, Ed tells Saul Goodman to get out. Saul is amused to learn that Ed's cover story about being a vacuum cleaner repairman is real. Ed takes a photo of Saul and starts working on Saul's new Nebraska ID. He says that Saul will have to wait at least two days to be extracted out of the state, since his face is well known in Albuquerque, and that in the meantime Saul will be staying in a downstairs bunker with another person waiting for extraction. Knowing the person is Walter White, Saul asks Ed how Walt is doing. Ed shows him a monitor screen with live footage of Walt angrily walking around the bunker and slapping a ceiling lamp.

Summary
SAC Ramey and two DEA Agents are driving Marie Schrader home; on the way, he promises that they will find Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez. When they arrive at the Schrader house, they find that somebody has broken in and trashed the place. One agent drives Marie away as Ramey and the other agent investigate the place. It is revealed that the White Supremacists have broken in and stolen Jesse Pinkman's confession DVD. At night, in the neo-Nazis' compound, Kenny is showing Jack Welker and the rest of the gang the footage of the DVD, as there is something important they need to see. Kenny fast-forwards the video to the moment that Jesse reveals Todd Alquist's murder of Drew Sharp. Upon hearing this, Jack prepares to kill his prisoner, but Todd pleads with him to keep Jesse alive so they can cook more meth. Jack wonders why they need more money since they already have most of Walt's millions, and Jesse is a rat and needs to be put down. He eventually realizes Todd wants to keep going with the meth production because he is in love with Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, who needs a continuing meth supply for her Czech clients, and this is the only way Todd can keep in contact with her. After joking about the situation, Jack decides to let Jesse live. The gang head back inside to continue watching Jesse's confession. Meanwhile, in his cage, Jesse is now in possession of the photo of Andrea Cantillo and Brock Cantillo from the lab. He unhinges its paperclip and attempts to unlock his handcuffs.

In Ed's bunker, Walt is making plans to get revenge on Jack and the White Supremacists for killing Hank and stealing his money. He asks Saul for a list of trustable mercenaries that can help them with the job. Instead, Saul advises Walt to stay and turn himself in so Skyler White can go free, otherwise the police will squeeze her for everything until she gives Walt up. Ed comes calling for Saul, whose ride to Nebraska has arrived, while Walt will have to stay longer. Walt interrupts, saying that there is a change of plans: Saul is coming with him. Saul refuses, saying that he is no longer a lawyer but just a normal civilian trying to make a living in an honest way to get a nice retirement. Walt changes his expression to pure wrath and slowly approaches Saul, making him back up against the wall in a similar way as he did in the first episode of the season, but before Walt can finish his sentence, he erupts into a severe coughing fit and collapses onto the bed. No longer intimidated, Saul tells Walt "It's over," grabs his bags and leaves.

Skyler meets with the Assistant United States Attorney and members of the DEA, including SAC Ramey, who push her for information about Walt's drug activities and her involvement in it. She tells them she has absolutely no idea where Walt is. They, perhaps not believing her, insist that she consult with her attorney and come up with something they can use. At night, Skyler sits at home and looks out of her window at two DEA agents working surveillance in a car on her street. She goes to check on Holly White inside the bedroom and finds masked men (Todd and other White Supremacists) menacingly looming over Holly's crib. One of the neo-Nazis grabs Skyler and covers her mouth preventing her from screaming. Todd approaches and tells Skyler that they respect her husband a lot, so they are only passing by to leave a message: it's in her and her children's best interest to forget about "the black-haired lady at the car wash" (Lydia). The police can never hear about her involvement with Walt. After Skyler promises that she will not say anything, the neo-Nazis leave the house, leaving Skyler severely shaken. The next day at a café, Lydia and Todd meet back-to-back, with Lydia insisting that, despite Todd's assurances to the contrary, intimidation is not enough to silence Skyler: she must be eliminated. Lydia wants to call the partnership off but Todd tells her that, with Jesse cooking for them, they have reached 92% purity, as well as the signature blue color. He also tells her that he values their partnership, and Lydia reconsiders.

Walt is transported while sitting in the tank of a propane truck. Arriving in the middle of a snowy, forested reservation, Ed lets Walt out and says, "Mr. Lambert, welcome to New Hampshire". Walt enters his new home — a cabin with no external utilities. Ed says he'll return monthly for grocery runs in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars. Walt complains about living here with no electricity or contact with anyone. Ed informs him that if he leaves the cabin's surrounding two-acre property, he will get caught. Furthermore, Ed tells Walt that if he ever leaves the property, "I won't be coming back. That is for my own safety." Ed takes off and suggests Walt take the opportunity to clear his head. Once he's alone, the first thing Walt does is stuff his pockets with bundles of cash and prepare to leave, but he stops and remembers something he brought with him inside one of the bags. He opens the bag and takes out his Heisenberg pork pie hat. He dons the hat and goes outside, heading to his property's gate. He opens it, but stops and looks at the long, snowy road. Muttering to himself, "Tomorrow," Walt returns to the cabin and lights a fire.

Jesse uses the paperclip to unlock his hand- and ankle-cuffs, and tries to reach the cage bars above his head. Hearing Todd approaching, he quickly puts the cuffs back on and pretends to be resting. Bringing Jesse some ice cream to celebrate their latest 96% pure batch, Todd congratulates him and tells him to get ready to cook another batch in the morning. After Todd leaves, Jesse frees himself again and manages to escape the cage. He heads to the fences, but unknowingly runs past a security video camera and is caught by the white supremacists while trying to climb the fence. Refusing to cook meth for them anymore, Jesse tells them to just kill him. Instead, they take Jesse, bound and gagged, to Andrea's house. Todd walks to the front door and rings the doorbell. Andrea answers and believes Todd's story that he is a friend of Jesse's and brought him to see her. Jesse despairingly tries to scream from inside the car, but Andrea is unable to see him before Todd pulls a silenced pistol out and shoots her in the head. Jesse cries with remorse as Jack tells him, "Remember, there's still the kid."

Months later, Walt walks up to his property's gate as Ed arrives for another supply drop, and lets him in. Walt now has a beard and full (albeit patchy) head of hair. Walt's vision is going bad so he grabs a new pair of glasses from a box Ed brought him. He reads through newspapers from Albuquerque, looking for articles about himself and his family. Ed tells him Skyler is living in a place just off of Eubank, working as a part-time taxi dispatcher, still has custody of both children, and is now using her maiden name. Walt's now-abandoned house has become a macabre tourist attraction, and due to the neighbors' complaints the bank has erected a fence around the house. Ed then hooks up a homemade chemotherapy rig for Walt and prepares to leave, saying that he has a long trip ahead of him. Out of loneliness, Walt asks him to stay a little longer, even offering an extra $10,000. Ed agrees to stay for one hour, and the two play seven-card stud. Seemingly resigned to his likely fate, Walt asks Ed if he would give the barrel of money to his family when he dies. Ed replies, "If I said yes, would you believe me?" Later, alone again, Walt is sleeping when his wedding band falls off his thinning finger. After looping a string through it and making a necklace, Walt spots the box of Ensure Ed left on the counter. He empties the box and fills it with $100,000 from his money barrel. In the morning, Walt heads toward the property gate once again, but this time he leaves the reservation and walks along the snow-covered road to the nearest town.

At the J. P. Wynne High School, Walter Jr. is called out of class by Principal Carmen. She takes him to her office and tells him that his aunt Marie is calling and it seems to be important. When Jr. answers the phone, it is actually Walt on the other line, calling from a tavern in New Hampshire and having paid a barfly to pose as Marie on the phone. Walt instructs his son not to alert anyone and tries to explain his actions, but is unable to do so. Walt checks if Louis Corbett still lives at the same address, and tells Jr. that he will mail Louis a package containing $100,000, which Jr. can pick up. Walt tells him to keep it a secret or the police will take it. The money is for him, his mother, and his sister. However, distraught that Walt is trying to send him money, Jr. begins yelling at his father, repeatedly saying, "You killed Uncle Hank!" Refusing to accept his help, Jr. furiously tells Walt to die and hangs up. Defeated, Walt calls the DEA office in Albuquerque and asks to speak with the agent in charge of the Walter White case; when the receptionist asks who is calling, Walt gives his true name and leaves the phone off the hook so they can trace the call and send police to arrest him.

Walt walks to the bartender and orders a Dimple Pinch Scotch whiskey, neat. While Walt is drinking, something on the television catches his interest while the bartender flips through the channels. Gretchen Schwartz and Elliott Schwartz are being interviewed by Charlie Rose, who asks them about their recent donation of $28 million to fund drug rehab clinics throughout the American Southwest. Rose asks if they made the donation to make amends for "your association with Walter White," who helped start their very successful and profitable technology company Gray Matter Technologies, now worth over $2 billion. Both claim that Walt has not been associated with Gray Matter since its earliest days. When asked what Walt's contribution to the company was, Elliott untruthfully says that it was "essentially nothing." Gretchen agrees, saying the only thing Walt contributed was the company name. Elliott explains: Schwartz (German for black) plus White equals Gray. Rose next asserts that Walt's iconic blue methamphetamine is still circulating in the southwestern United States and has even been seen in Europe, implying that Walter White is still active and that Elliott and Gretchen must know something about this.

As Walter watches the television interview and listens to Elliott and Gretchen's lies, he becomes increasingly and visibly angry. Gretchen says she can't speak for the Heisenberg person, but that Walter White, "the sweet, kind, brilliant man that we once knew long ago — he's gone." Walt has a change of heart. Four Crawford County Sheriff's Deputies arrive at the tavern with their guns drawn, but Walt has already left, his unfinished Dimple Pinch and a crushed napkin sitting on the bar.

Main Cast

 * Bryan Cranston as Walter White
 * Anna Gunn as Skyler White
 * Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
 * Dean Norris as Hank Schrader (voice only)
 * Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
 * RJ Mitte as Walter White Jr.
 * Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman
 * Laura Fraser as Lydia Rodarte-Quayle
 * Jesse Plemons as Todd Alquist

Supporting Cast

 * Emily Rios as Andrea Cantillo
 * Michael Bowen as Jack Welker
 * Kevin Rankin as Kenny
 * Adam Godley as Elliott Schwartz
 * Jessica Hecht as Gretchen Schwartz
 * Carmen Serano as Carmen Molina
 * Brennan Brown as US Attorney
 * Eric Price as Skyler's lawyer
 * Robert Forster as Ed (the extractor)
 * Todd Terry as ASAC Ramey
 * Patrick Sane as Frankie
 * Tait Fletcher as Lester
 * Matthew T. Metzler as Matt
 * Joe Nemmers as DEA Agent Scott Hoffman
 * Aaron Wright as Deputy #1
 * Dave Priemazon as Deputy #2
 * Julianne Flores as Waitress
 * William Stafford as Government Lawyer
 * Deborah Martinez as School Office Worker
 * Kurt Soderstrom as Bartender
 * Leslie O'Carroll as Barfly
 * Charlie Rose as Himself

Trivia

 * The "Granite State" is New Hampshire, where Ed sends Walt to start his new life. This was alluded in the first episode of the season, where Walt's fake ID says he is from New Hampshire.
 * This is the first episode in the series to take place in a snowy, "white" atmosphere. Also mirroring the theme of change in the series.
 * Skyler spaces out while discussing with the lawyers the same way Walter spaced out in while receiving the news of his cancer.
 * Although he doesn't physically appear on screen, we hear Hank say "Now, this is Todd Alquist we're talking about?" during the recording of Jesse's confession.
 * When the extractor is dealing out playing cards for him and Walt to play stud, he deals two kings, referring to the two men playing cards. This continues the theme of a king from the prior episode "Ozymandias". In that episode, a close up of a white king on the chessboard in the fire station is zoomed in on, and also the title Ozymandias, refers to a king that has lost all his power and glory.
 * Saul tells Walt that Skyler and the kids got RICOed out of their house after Walt's crimes were uncovered, just as he said would happen if Skyler gave him up in "Caballo Sin Nombre".
 * Walt's unsuccessful attempt to intimidate Saul early in this episode is a clear reference to his successful intimidation of him in "Live Free or Die".
 * When Todd kills Andrea, the scene of Jesse screaming in agony in the truck is very reminiscent of Gus's agony cries when Max is killed, and Walt's cries when Hank is killed. The camera angle is very similar and the head positioning of Jesse is similiar as well, along with the uncontrolled misery in the cries. Walt and Gus were both lying down with their heads turned sideways, while Jesse begins sitting up, but then lies down partially against the door, and then finally for a moment is lying fully down with his face turned as Gus and Walt's were.
 * Walt regains his hair for the first time since Season 1's "Crazy Handful of Nothin'".
 * Walt Jr.'s last words to his father in this episode are similar to his words to him in "Cancer Man", "Why don't you just die already?"


 * The bar and cabin in New Hampshire are set in the fictional Crawford County in the White Mountain region. However, There is a well-known mountain pass called "Crawford Notch" that crosses the White Mountains, to which this name probably refers. Various New England writers explored Crawford Notch, including Nathaniel Hawthorne.


 * The hockey game shown on the bar TV was from Feburary 13th, 1998. Wisconsin played Denver at Wisconsin and won 7-4.
 * In the interview, Charlie Rose references a New York Times column written by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The column was actually written and an excerpt appears on the New York Times website.
 * Walt's story throughout the episode, running away and living in a cabin in Alaska, bears some resemblence to that of Richard Proenneke's story. For example, both ran away from troubled times in their lives, Proenneke running from America's instability after Vietnam and Walter running from cops, both lived in a cabin, and both had supplies brought to them on a planned schedule.

Production

 * This is the only episode in the series that contains the full version of the "Breaking Bad Theme" scored by Dave Porter. It plays in the final scene, while the police are raiding the bar in New Hamsphire.
 * PBS talk show host Charlie Rose makes a cameo appearance as himself in this episode. This was revealed by himself during his August 8, 2013 episode that featured Anna Gunn, Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul, and Bryan Cranston as guests.
 * Vince Gilligan originally planned to direct this episode along with  but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
 * During the production for the episode, the footage of Walt's phone call to Walter Jr. had to be filmed again because the footage from the first time was accidently crushed by a 737 after the footage fell out of a truck. Ironically, this is the same plane model as one of the planes from the Wayfarer 515 incident in "ABQ".
 * This episode was the series' most-watched episode at the time of its airing with 6.58 million viewers, but was later passed by "Felina", which had 10.28 million.
 * The outdoor New Hampshire scenes were filmed in the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico. The tavern scenes were filmed in the Manzano Mountains. The tavern itself is the former Ponderosa Eatery and Saloon which is on NM Hwy 337 just north of the intersection of NM Hwy 217 and the unincorporated village of Yrissari, NM.

Featured Music

 * "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" by April Wine (Jack and crew watch Jesse's confession video)
 * "Salvador" by Philip E. Baker (when Todd meets Lydia at The Grove)
 * "Girl from Sao Paolo" by Vince Constantino (when Walt meets Todd and Lydia at The Grove)
 * "The Final Hat" by Dave Porter (when Walt puts on his hat and heads towards his gate for the first time and over the end credits)
 * "Dimple Pinch Neat" by Dave Porter (as Gretchen and Elliott talk about Walt and the police raid the bar)