Go back to previous topic
Forum namePass The Popcorn Archives
Topic subjectIt's not Walt's 'dream' - it's his 'fantasy.' Huge difference.
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=23&topic_id=114125&mesg_id=114308
114308, It's not Walt's 'dream' - it's his 'fantasy.' Huge difference.
Posted by The Analyst, Fri Oct-04-13 10:33 AM
Look, I understand why some people don't like this interpretation, but one of the reasons it sits so well with me is that it doesn't crumble under scrutiny. In fact, it gets stronger the more you think about it.

So many little things really do add up.

Even think of how they show Walt die. The cops don't get him. The Nazis don't get hm. Jesse doesn't get him. He gets himself. In his sick mind, the only person who can bring down Walter White is Walter White.

At the risk of being redundant, he:

A) Settles the score with Gretchen and Elliot
B) Figures out a way to get his money to his kids
C) Reconciles with Skyler (and gives her a Get out of Jail ticket)
D) Says goodbye to his daughter and glimpses Flynn
E) Poisons Lydia (and gets the satisfaction of rubbing it in on the phone)
F) Kills all the Nazis (to avenge Hank AND get his own revenge)
G) Rescues Jesse from bondage
H) Dies relatively at peace with himself

He also drives cross country, pops up in restaurants, chats with waitresses, stops at gas stations, finds Badger & Skinny Pete, etc. etc. without anyone noticing him, even though he's the most wanted man in America. (So famous that they even dedicate episodes of Charlie Rose to him.)

I know people have said Walt has had luck in the past, but not THAT much luck.

The thing I love about this interpretation is that it's just ambiguous enough that it allows debate. And what we're debating is which fate we prefer for Walt. The miserable one from Granite State where he dies alone, in hiding, with money he can't spend and a family who hates him and his name being erased from the history books, or the one from Felina where he gets his swag back for one last stand and achieves basically all that he sets out to achieve. The beauty of the debate, though, is not just in thinking about which fate he received, but which fate he deserved.

I also personally think that there are a lot of subtle clues that signal a sort of break from reality. Todd and Lydia never sat face to face in reality. Face to face is a break from reality. This one is minor, but anyone who lives in New England knows you can't tap a window and have every single ounce of snow fall off perfectly. That appears to me to signal a break from reality.

The way he just sort of materializes in places even signals a break from reality in my opinion, especially in Skyler's kitchen. It's almost like he appears out of thin air. (Oh, and last time we saw Skyler she though Walt killed Hank and tried to stab him with a butcher knife. The "reconciliation" makes a lot more sense if it's how Walt imagined it would go...)

Even Lydia just happening to call RIGHT AFTER the shoot out just so Walt can have the satisfaction of rubbing it in is exactly the kind of thing that would happen in his mind. (So is the fact that all the Nazis would die EXCEPT Jack and Todd so that he and Jesse can kill them.)

Shit, event the fact that HEISENBERG is spray painted in his house is just the grossly egotistical way he'd imagine it, because it means he's some kind of a legend like Tony Montana, and not a worthless loser.

To me, Granite State is the realistic, honest ending and Felina is the surreal, sugar-coated fantasy ending. But I guess sometimes fantasies can come true, so if that's what you want, there...