AMC
In a previous “Breaking Bad” post, I wrote about Walter White’s three sons – one biological and two metaphoric – as well as an illegitimate fourth. That would be his meth-child Baby Blue.
My taking liberties with the heirs of the White name is, of course, light-hearted. But the last few minutes of “Felina,” as Walter White gazed as his reflection in the stainless steel cooker, was as close to a tender good-bye of a human that I’ve ever seen.
Vince Gilligan’s series allowed wide berth for Neptune archetypes, including clear blue bodies of water (such as those translucent slabs of his meth progeny), liars, drug makers and drug stupors.
Now, as many viewers weigh in about Gilligan’s Walter-White conclusion as being satisfying and true to White’s character, or not, no one’s viewed those final minutes from a Neptunian perspective. Specifically this is when Walt faces his meth cooker – as the haziness of his own ultimately peaceful demise sets in and he falls to the ground – and he smears blood, as in blood line, on the equipment.
Neptune rules anything shimmery, polished and shiny, in addition to the color aquamarine. Walt was, in essence, staring at his own face, along with a potential sea of meth. Of course, staring at one’s reflection also conjures up Narcissus, the mythic creature whose soul lay captive in the water’s reflection and who simply could not avert his eyes and get away from the shoreline. (Cue Walt’s backyard pool here.) With all respect to the series’ flower-put-to-most-diabolical-use – the lily of the valley – the narcissus’s name is derived from the Greek word describing the stupor that follows ingesting drugs. And Walt, narcoticized and trapped, couldn’t tear himself away from his proverbial shoreline of right and wrong, either.
Gilligan’s tight shot of the meth machine, which carries that “I’ll be your mirror” vibe, could not have been more perfect. Walt goes down physically, and takes his soul – the meth-making savvy he confessed to Skyler he “liked” – with him. If creative self-expression – even as it applies to cooking meth – is generative, Walt was pretty much staring at his most recently begotten and much beloved son.
It’s all over now, Baby Blue. Bye Dad.
Astrology Television Review: ♆ (Neptune)
