*MAJOR SPOILERS, good sir*

There is much (rightly) said about the writing on Breaking Bad, but I’ve come to realize something as the show progresses toward its sickening conclusion: not only is it the best directed television show on, it may be the best directed entertainment (or art, if you will) out there. Back while I was still catching up on the first few seasons, I read an interview with Vince Gilligan where he talked about the artistic control of the show…the main thing being: Color.

Now color is a lot of things, from lens filters, post-production correction, environment…but here, more than other shows in my opinion, the color of the characters’ clothes is just as important.

Thinking of different characters from TV and movies, whether it’s unconcious or not, we are always going to assign a character a ‘uniform’ to wear in our mind. If I think of Tony Soprano, I think a black bowling shirt. Coach Eric Taylor, a blue-and-gold windbreaker. Luke Skywalker, the white Tatooine farming outfit. You catch my drift. It’s a more important identifying element than a lot of people give credit.

Breaking Bad takes this concept and runs with it. Most of those characters mentioned above are representative of a bigger archetype – the mob boss, the tough coach, the earnest hero – that come with set costume decisions. A show about a chemistry teacher who becomes a drug lord…less set in stone.

But I say: Walter White…chances are you think of a half naked man, standing in the desert, with a sickly green shirt on, gun at the ready.

This original green could mean a lot of things: sickness, greed, impotence…OR life, a chance at rebirth…

And rebirth Walt did. The more and more he delved into the life of Heisenberg, the more black and red began cropping up in his outfits. Skyler followed suit, at a slower pace, as she delved into a life of money laundering with her estranged husband.

Hank, Marie, and Walt Jr. all posses their own color schemes. Marie has always been purple. She’s no innocent (in fact, definitively speaking, she was the first criminal in the family), but her heart is good. Whatever darkness there is, it’s due more to outside forces influencing her own good nature.

Hank (and Walt Jr. interestingly enough) has always been focused around yellow and orange. The reason for these colors on Hank is clear: he’s a guard, a warning for Walt that boundaries still exist. (I must make the observation that as Hank was recovering earlier this season, he wore less orange/yellow and more white. But still, his color boundaries were always bold and powerful; no matter his stance, Hank is staunch in it).

Walt Jr., on the other hand, has the desire for a strong father figure. In the absence of Walt, Hank is the strongest one around. One could say these colors are an imitation, but Walt Jr. serves as his own kind of warning sign: Walt says he does what he does for his family, and yet that is mostly a lie by the later seasons. The risk of losing sight of that actual family becomes a growing problem, and Walt Jr. is a living symbol of this.

The hardest nut to crack is Jesse, who tends to dress in baggy pants and shirts with various designs on them. I’ll examine this during my thoughts on the finale’s colors…

So, speaking of the finale, the first thing I noticed (as I was keeping an eye out for it) came the week before in the penultimate installment. Walt had just lost his mind a wee bit in the crawl space of his house. His family has left him for the safety of DEA protection. He sits alone outside, defeated, the strong reds of the season descending into a dull brown jacket.

And then life returns. He sees the Lily of the Valley in the pot. He gets Jesse back on his side. And as he builds the pipe bomb that will soon destroy his greatest enemy, Walt is back in green.

Those tricky, tricky writers.

When I saw this I thought my prediction had come true. In the Pilot episode, Walt voices a particularly important monologue about chemistry: “It’s about change.” Cycles of growth and decay and transformation. From the pilot on, Walt ended his cycle of decay with the news about his cancer. By the end of the first season, he had begun his growth toward ‘Heisenberg’.

Over the course of Season 4, I developed a theory that this was the end of Heisenberg. Especially after Walt’s collapse and remorse toward Walt Jr. in “Salud”, I was convinced Walt had hit his low point (the decay of Heisenberg) and would have to transform again. When I saw the return of the green shirt in “End Times”, I thought I was right.

Wrong. Well, kinda.

The truth was much more disturbing. But first, let’s look at the rest of the characters’ colors in “Face Off”.

First off, Jesse Pinkman. At this point, Jesse has moved past his lowest hour (the aftermath of Gale’s death). In fact, his recovery took place in the same episode where Walt’s hit bottom (“Salud”). But now someone he loves is dying again, and he doesn’t know which evil to trust (the familiar Walt, or the powerful Gus). He’s now also under (sorta) unjust suspicion from the FBI over Brock’s poisoning.

In this finale, he dons a shirt full of religious designs, mostly crosses. Also, the center symbol may also be a sword of some kind. Now Jesse may still be a drug-dealing murderer, but compared to Walt, he’s still on the side of good. As always, this “problem dog” is willing to give himself up for love and loyalty. He sacrificed his morality by killing Gale for Walt last year, and he sacrifices his safety by telling the doctors about the ricin and submitting to police interrogation for Brock here. Jesse is a martyr of sorts, and yet, in the end, he survives. He saved Walt before (and got away with murder), and he escapes the grasp of the FBI here (and Brock lives). One could say these events may act as a revelation for Jesse, an awakening, a rebirth. The symbolism of the sword (a fighting martyr) and the crosses (Christ, forgiveness, rebirth) fit in perfectly. But the black/blue coloring of the shirt…perhaps it foreshadows the bigger revelations that Jesse may have in the upcoming final chapter of the story…revelations that may cause him to rethink his dogged loyalty toward Mr. White.

Skyler and Walt Jr. are dressed almost identical here. Both wear black shirts, and dark blue jeans. Walt’s family is fading from his mind, as his obsessive pursuit of Gus continues. While he says he must finish this fight for them, Walt’s fighting for something else at this point. Morality has nothing to do with it. Surrounded by the just force of the DEA (and the law), the Whites are black sheep. Skyler (who has been blackening all season) is aware of this, while Junior most definitely is not. It doesn’t matter though. The stain of Walter is spreading. Next year may not be bringing good things toward this family.

Marie and Hank’s colors are both off too. Marie is, for once, out of purple! She’s gray. A monotone Marie was a scary thing to see! Now what that could mean for her future (or Hank’s), I’m not sure…but the happy times between these two sides of the family are fading away.

Hank starts off in a light blue. As of the last episode, his theory about Gus had proven fruitless. He’s stuck in his own house, in his wheelchair (even though he finally got his car back last week), and feeling as useless as he had at the start of the season. But that drive isn’t gone, and I believe this light blue reflects that while Hank’s spirit may have been nonexistent earlier, it’s not beatable now. When he is brought to Tio, he’s in a red-and-black streaked shirt. This is also odd, as these have been Walt’s colors so far this season.

In typical Hank fashion, though, his stripes are big and bold and visible. This may be Hank’s prideful persona, but that doesn’t mean he’s crossed any moral lines like Walt. Hank is still the law of this show, and his transformation into this red-and-black means he’s ready to chase down these meth kingpins until blood spills, and one of them is dead.

Now let’s get to the big two of the episode (I’m going to omit analysis of Mike and Saul for this episode/review, but they too have this color theme…especially Saul): Gus and Walt.

The face off of “Face Off” is all them. And for such a big character…Gus has only a few big scenes.

Now, since the beginning, Gus has been a character of two sides. There is the businesslike side, the cautious professional (the puke-yellow shirt and black tie combo of Los Pollos Hermanos); there is the dark, murderous, psychopathic side (the dark mixes of black and blue). Each side influences each other. When he’s a businessman, there is still an underlying threatening nature; when he’s a murdering psychopath, like in “Box Cutter” (a green box cutter, *ahem*), he has a calm demeanor toward things. And both his key parallel and conflict with Walt exists in that. Walt has two sides as well, but his dark/murderous half is influenced less by the controlled half than Gus.

As the old saying goes, this town ain’t big enough for the both of them. Gus’ single weakness is his hatred of Tio (increased by the pride he feels in single-handedly destroying the cartel). Walt, finally putting away his prideful side for the first time all season (exchanging his reds for green), knows he can exploit this now. In his last appearance, Gus strips away his professionalism and cautious nature, changing from his yellow Pollos uniform and heads off to finally kill Tio in his dark power suit.

What actually happens is he gets half his face blown off.

Oops.

And Walt has won. Jesse and him shake hands, seemingly all forgiven. Life is finally looking up. They live, Gus dies, and Brock is safely recovering. It wasn’t even the ricin cigarette that did it, just some common plant with toxic traits! Hoorah for our heroes!

And then we see that last shot of the Lily. Walt definitely has undergone a transformation.

Hence the green. But, thinking about it, that green isn’t a sick green. It’s not a green full of life and beauty and rebirth, either.

It’s poisonous.