Breaking Bad Finale, Part II

I have some thoughts on the matter here. They begin thus:

The fifth season of “Breaking Bad” is an exercise in aggressive nostalgia. “Ozymandias,” lauded by many as one of the strongest hours in television history ten minutes in, is especially committed to reminding the audience how different the world these characters inhabit is. It opens with a flashback that doubles as a classic “process” shot, an extreme close-up a cook flask.

But this is no ordinary flashback. This flashback is holding the narrative hostage. The audience knows that twenty months in the future, on this exact same plot of New Mexican desert, Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez are slowly staining the sand red, while Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are bound, locked and helpless in the backseats of the DEA agent’s vehicles. Something shattering is about to happen…