Following the update on his health, why does Walter White punch the towel dispenser in Breaking Bad season 2? Actor Bryan Cranston received critical acclaim for his portrayal of a harmless high school science teacher who transformed into a drug kingpin after a cancer diagnosis. Over time, even Walt couldn't keep up with his lies stemming from his meth production but hid the secret from his family as long as possible, with everything culminating in the tragic Breaking Bad ending.
Walter White's lung cancer diagnosis was the reason he left his normal life behind to secretly cook meth and become the dreaded Heisenberg, Albuquerque's richest and most dangerous drug lord. Walt partnered with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) so that he could distribute large supplies of the drug to earn money for his family before his impending death. Despite the diagnosis, Walt refused to give up and continued to try various treatments. In the season 2 episode titled "4 Days Out," Walt got the results of an updated scan, indicating that he was in remission. His family, including his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) and son Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), were in attendance to hear the good news, but the celebration didn't last long.
Related: Breaking Bad's Worst-Rated Episode Is "Fly": Why It's Actually Great
After sharing the relief with his family, Walt went to the bathroom to collect himself and wash his face. As he went to grab a paper towel, Walt violently punched the dispenser multiple times, denting it in the process. Prior to the doctor's visit, Walt spent days in the New Mexico desert cooking $1.2 million in meth with Jesse. He also mentioned that everything he was doing was for his family after he's gone. Walt was starting to feel frustrated about his constant lies to his family, feeling like he didn't deserve to live. After Walt found out that his cancer wouldn't end his life, he would be forced to keep his family out of the dark for even longer.
More than anything, Walt used his cancer as an excuse for maintaining his secret life as Heisenberg because he figured he didn't have much time left. As the family patriarch, he needed to make sure his family would survive without him, and in his mind, that meant money. Walt realized while in that bathroom that this justification was gone. Every decision he made following that moment was for his own interests because he could have walked away at that point. The reason for joining the drug trade had vanished. His death would neither put an end to his lies nor did he have any drive to stop cooking meth. For the first time in Walt's life, he found something he was good at, but it happened to be extremely dangerous for him and his loved ones.
It's likely that Walt targeted the towel dispenser with his outburst because he saw his reflection on the metal. Through Walt's Heisenberg transformation, he quickly became an almost unrecognizable figure in his own mind. Going from Walt the family man to Heisenberg wasn't an easy task, but it was clear that the character started to enjoy his increasing power. It was no longer just about his family, and admitting that was difficult for Walt. He knew that he would edge even further toward the point of no return without the finite conclusion of death from cancer. Interestingly enough, Walt encountered the towel dispenser again in Breaking Bad season 5, episode 8, "Gliding All Over." He smiled at the dented dispenser, thinking about how far he'd come.
In Better Call Saul, the trash can in HHM's basement is used in a very similar manner to Breaking Bad's towel dispenser. Apart from the trash can also serving as the recipient of a similarly cathartic release for Jimmy in the Better Call Saul pilot, Jimmy's outburst serves as a visceral plot point prior to Jimmy and Kim's iconic smoking scenes. Though the trash can doesn't appear in the Better Call Saul finale, viewers were nonetheless transported back to those simpler moments between Jimmy and Kim, when it was enough for Jimmy to take his frustrations out on a trash can. Moreover, both Walt's towel dispenser and Jimmy's trash reappear unrepaired later in their respective journeys. This serves as a subtle implication that the supposedly strong institutions maintaining the objects were actually crumbling from the inside, reinforcing Walt and Jimmy's self-justifications for their immoral actions, but also depicts the permanent dent they've made in the world. Like Walt, Jimmy also saw the trash can again when he was a completely changed man. Just as the towel dispenser punctuated Walt's Heisenberg metamorphosis in Breaking Bad, HHM's trash can served the same purpose for Jimmy's Saul Goodman transformation in Better Call Saul.