In the first 90 seconds of the first episode of season 5, Walt is at Denny's. He's sporting a full head of hair and new, black-framed glasses. He's handed his breakfast plate and proceeds to spell out "52" with his bacon -- it's his birthday.
His waitress tells him he can get free food if he shows his I.D. He declines, but she persists.
Free is good, she tells him. Even if she were rich, "free is always good."
He says OK and hands her his I.D.
New Hampshire.
He goes to the bathroom to meet with the mystery man who gives him keys. We see Walt's all-too-familiar cough and he pops a pill (remember, he was getting an MRI in this final episode).
As he leaves the restaraunt, the waitress says, "Happy birthday, Mr. Lambert."
Lambert is Skyler's maiden name.
When he gets outside he goes to an old Volvo with New Hampshire plates.
The plates say, "Live Free or Die."
Obvious connection between waitresses comments about free being "always good."
Then, there is the license plate number (327 2153).
This number had to mean something. With all that attention to detail, why would they not purposefully pick those numbers -- even if it had a meaning that would be lost on most?
I immediately thought the number had some sort of connection to science, so I started googling.
Nothing.
Then I considered maybe the numbers as a whole isn't the answer, so I started separating them. After a few different attempts at grouping, I found something.
The first five numbers are: 32721.
For those, I found this:
Cytokeratin 5 Antibody (RCK103): sc-32721.
Interesting, I thought. That's definitely science right there.
So I searched for "Cytokeratin 5 Antobody" on scholarly journals and found
this.
"Value of the Mesothelium-Associated Antibodies Thrombomodulin, Cytokeratin 5/6, Calretinin, and CD44H in Distinguishing Epithelioid Pleural Mesothelioma from Adenocarcinoma Metastatic to the Pleura."
Adencarcinoma. What's that?
It's cancer. And it happens to be the most common form of...
lung cancer.
And remember those last two numbers on the plate?
53.
The age Walter White will be on his next birthday.
If he gets there.