That F@%*ing Scene : Say My Name
Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad ended eight years ago, but everybody’s still talking about it. It is one of these television series that was never replaced. Part of it is because it confronted us to our conflictual relationship to our own morality through its main character Walter White. The chemistry teacher and suburban loser who turned into a drug kingpin once he learned that he was on death’s door. White became someone once he renounced the American dream.
Today, we’re going to analyze one of Breaking Bad’s most iconic scenes: season 5’s Say My Name scene between Walter and previously unknown drug dealers. To give you context: we were almost halfway through the final season and things were unraveling for Walter and his drug empire. His unwilling accomplice Mike Ehrmantraut was leaving the crew and instead of trying to dominate his rivals, Walter reverted to his initial plan of trying to set his people up.
But not without one last hurrah.
Why is an old, cancer-ridden man feeling himself in the desert so hard to forget?
I’ve identified three reasons:
1) It’s a western showdown without a shootout. Conversations between outlaws in the desert typically don’t go down smoothly. At least not for one of the parties. This is exactly what happens in this scene, but it’s not about who dies and who survives. It’s about who’s the man and who isn’t. Walter’s interlocutor could be anybody, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he bows to him. His quest is existential and not financial. The wealth he desires is moral domination.
That is why Walter makes it abundantly clear who he is. He states his job title and his accomplishments so that it’s very fucking clear. All he wants is for his interlocutor to say his name. To speak out loud the legacy he created for himself. Say My Name is a showdown of egos between a high achiever who looks like a rich, spoiled kid who opted for ease out of business school and an underachiever who’s finally figured himself out. That is why it’s so satisfying on a visceral level.
2) There’s a sexual component to it. Bear with me. The sexual component of this scene is not on a Walter-wants-to-fuck-this-guy-in-the-ass level. But rather on a Walter-wants-this-guy-submit-to-his-mystique way. Walter wants to be the dominant male, which is a very deep-rooted thing in all Occidental males. An almost innate instinct that calls us to dominate sexual competition in order to assure one’s own survival. I know it sounds stupid, but it drives us nonetheless.
We all want to be the guy that other guys are afraid of and this scene is Walter reaching the peak of this mountain. It’s almost like an orgasm. It’s almost there when the scene starts (the rival dealers are insecure and afraid) and within two minutes it comes to fruition. They bow to the meaner, more reckless gangster who killed the top dog in the region. That’s why you’re getting a psychosexual reaction whenever you see it. It is structured in a sexual way. It is a climax in itself.
3) It’s a harmless Walter scene. One of the most contentious point of Breaking Bad is the audience’s relationship to Walter. We want to love him, but we’re afraid to say we love him because he is one giant fuck-you to our Judeo-Christian values. Do right by the people you love and whatnot. He’s someone who does something very good for himself (acquiring legacy) at the price of his family. He sacrifices the people he loves to the altar of his achievement.
In this scene, we’re free to love Walter. He is getting exactly what he wants from people that don’t matter in the big picture. Also, he does it without even hurting anyone. The business rival bends over and kisses his feet without any blood being shed. Without any graves being dug. It is Walter’s ultimate achievement because the product he created prompted other people to demean themselves in order to acquire it. At this moment more than any other, he is a successful businessman.
