"Hello, Carol." -Walt
In lieu of an actual review of last night's Breaking Bad episode, I decided instead to share a theory I've come up with for what Walt's end might look like. I was inspired at first by the below article to think deeper about what the future could hold for our characters, but it was one specific scene in the episode that really sparked my thoughts.
Lydia decides to visit Walt at the car wash, begging him to return after revealing that Todd (or whomever the new cook is) can only reach a 68% pure product. Walt refuses her offer, insisting he is out of the game for good. This conversation is eerily similar to one that we've seen before, and suddenly, we realize that there's been a bit of a role reversal.
Walt and Gus had some conversations very similar to the one Walt had with Lydia, and now Walt is on Gus's end of the dialogue. When I realized how much Walt was acting like Gus (his cadence, folding the towel on the ground before vomiting, etc.), it occurred to me that perhaps Gus was the original breaker of bad, and Walt is beginning to act like him simply to follow suit as his replacement. Lydia is now in Walt's position of wanting to continue cooking, and she's acting as reckless and scared as he used to. Let's remember what Walt did when he felt threatened by Gus.
Maybe Lydia and Todd will feel threatened enough by Walt (and newly bad ass Skyler) that they'll decide the only way to survive would be to kill him. This is where that article comes in again. They suggest that perhaps Walt faked his own death. This would explain why he said hello to Carol. He knows that everyone thinks he's dead and no one will believe her.
What I'm suggesting is that Lydia and Todd try to kill Walt and he decides to let them think they did, seeing as Hank is going to turn him in soon. Once he's assumed dead, Hank turns him in, letting everyone know that our dearly departed Walter was the famed meth cook, Heisenberg. Although Walt Jr. still can't believe it, he and Skyler must vacate the house, and it's soon graffitied and ransacked.
Lydia, Todd, and Jesse are arrested soon after. Jesse's glad to be in prison, acknowledging his guilt and ready to repent for his crimes. Lydia and Todd have trouble adjusting, and perhaps one or both of them die while inside.
Walt gets a new identity and stays in hiding long enough that Hank and everyone else believe that he truly has died. He purchases a machine gun on his 52nd birthday and collects Chekhov's ricin from his old house, now complete with HEISENBERG spray painted in big letters on the living room wall. Walt knows his life is over and he knows the cancer is about to get him, but he still needs one more thing before he goes: revenge.
Vince Gilligan has been clear that Walter will get what he deserves and that, "there will be blood." Here's where I began to realize that maybe we're not thinking big enough or bad enough. We're not really hearing what Gilligan is trying to say. Walt is going to do whatever it takes to get the man who ruined his life and put a halt to his plans. He's going to go full blown Scarface just as Gilligan has always said he would.
Walt is taking that machine gun and that ricin and he is going to kill everyone in the DEA office who helped take him down. Only at the last moment will Hank come through saving his own life and likely several others by shooting Walter down. Before this happens, there will be many casualties, and Walt will go out exactly how he would want, with everyone remembering his name.
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