Within uber-liberal Matthew Yglesias’s review of the Breaking Bad finale is this reflection on a theme I previously wrote about here:
More generally, I found something troublingly reactionary about the Walt-on-top conclusion of things. Simmering beneath the surface of Walt’s psyche since the premiere has been a sense of wounded privilege. The educated white male native-born American was upset that the vicissitudes of life forced him into the undignified posture of working for Bogdan-the-Armenian.
Through the duration of the series, Walt not only breaks into the methamphetamine trafficking game but triumphs in it through the rigorous application of intelligence and the bourgeois virtues. Sundry Mexicans and rednecks and uppity ladies are ultimately put in their place as it turns out that father does know best and really is smarter than everyone else. It’s just his burden to bear that his genius will never be fully recognized.
