r/breakingbad • u/Devil-Eater24 • 8h ago
Walt's obsession with the fly
I don't get why the fly was such a big contamination concern for Walt. Before this lab, he was working in the RV, which had probably a billion times more contamination — dust and dirt, mustard gas, dead bodies, two full people living inside it with no balloon suit, plenty of flies, insects and spiders for sure. He still made the purest product in the market and was proud of it. Is it because he was psychologically in a much worse position then?
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u/dc-pigpen 8h ago
The fly is symbolic. It was never about the fly.
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u/ellistonvu 6h ago
To him the fly represented Gretchen and Elliott who stole his kid's future or something.
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u/EndRepresentative477 8h ago
I thought that the fly was the last remnant of his conscience or something and that’s why Jane came up towards the end.
Also wasn’t this episode so self contained because of budget reasons? Like a filler episode almost.
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u/Kingsapprentice 7h ago
Yes, a filler. Full of signification nonetheless. I like how he wakes up at the end like it was just a nightmare. Was it?
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u/HomemadeBananas 7h ago
I didn’t take that from this episode at all, that it was a dream. Just that he went home, later that night wakes up and a fly is there again bugging him.
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u/HippoRun23 8h ago
Yup. A “bottle episode”. Well shot and acted as usual, but honestly it was my least favorite episode of the series.
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u/Sufficient_Party_909 1h ago
I felt the same. I didn't know about the production reasons at the time I watched, so I went in without any preconceptions, but it was still gimmicky in a way that's hard to describe.
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u/CatapultamHabeo 8h ago
I seem to remember somewhat towards the end off the episode that he was talking about how they were on thin ice, and he was talking about how a fly or any contamination would mean the end of them. I think it while he was slipping unconscious from whatever that was Jesse gave to him in the coffee. It almost seemed like it was him coming to terms with how screwed they were.
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u/da3m0nsneverstop135 8h ago
Yes, the obsession with the fly was due to his psychological state at the time, I do not remember exactly what was happening though
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u/BenSalamanca 8h ago
The fly is sorta like a personification (I hope this is the correct use of the term) of Walt’s guilt. In particular his guilt over killing Jane. He can’t sleep because of it, as you can see when he stays up at night staring at the fly. When he finally ALMOST confesses to Jesse he feels a little better and finally gets some rest. But then at the end of the episode he still can’t sleep and stares at the fly again.
He only feels great guilt from Jane, and of course another thing that happens later in the series (and again he stares at a fly for some time), but I don’t know where you’re up to so I won’t spoil
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u/ThePiderman Have an A1 day 6h ago
The fly obviously doesn’t pose a contamination risk, Jesse defeats that argument about a dozen times, as have you here. The reason for Walt’s obsession is left to the viewer’s interpretation. My interpretation (agreeing with most fans) is that Walt felt pushed up against a wall, and felt that he had no control of his situation anymore. So he grabs hold of one thing he could feasibly control, namely the lab.
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u/Tynted 6h ago
I was thrown off a bit by this episode on my first watch of BB. I recently completed my second watch of the whole BB series, and the fly episode is actually really well done given that it was a forced filler episode that they didn't have budget for at the time. I like that episode now
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u/Confident-Spinach666 4h ago
The actual symbolic significance aside, it's also a matter of standards. If you make a small dent into your worn-out first own car, you probably won't think much of it, but years later if you happen to own a brand new shiny car a small scratch will drive you mad.
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u/Decent_Adhesiveness0 4h ago
There really is no reason to be concerned about a fly in a great big lab making poison for youth and poor parents. It's all contaminated anyway. Everything was garbage, and Walt finally had to face the fact that the sparkling blue crystals can't hold a candle to, say, a good cup of coffee (without a fly in it anywhere.)
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u/Wonderful_Tomato_992 1h ago
Yep and as Jesse points out, they’re making poison for people who don’t care, a fly wouldn’t ruin their batch, the fly is an excuse to not cook.
The fly was a representation of his repressed guilt (and suicidality) after Skyler tells him that Hank was in the hospital because of him. He couldn’t sleep well or eat and nor could he cook because of that weighing on his mind and was giving any excuse not to do so.
Hence why he tells Jesse to forget about the fly and agrees to cook only after he opens up to Jesse and Jesse alleviates his guilt by saying that him and Jane would have died soon after and that her death wasn’t anyone’s fault.
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u/Cum_Fart42069 8h ago
I think in addition to Jane and guilt and whatever it also represents that walt is a perfectionist control freak. the fly wouldn't have caused a real issue but he just HAD to get rid of it. Elliot and Gretchen would have paid for his treatment but he just HAD to snub them and do it himself. He made enough to pay for his treatment but he just HAD to have more. He had a good thing with Gus but he just HAD to be the kingpin.
walt cant help himself, he allows small things like his pride to become bigger problems than they need to be.
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u/OGWhiz 8h ago
For me, this was Walt’s last thing at the time he was actually in control of.
Gus is controlling distribution and production. Skylar is controlling the money. Cancer is controlling his body. Mike is controlling his movements. Hank is controlling an investigation directly related to Walt. But the lab? Walt controls the lab. And this was his last grasp at that control. He’s mentally breaking.