The Breaking Bad Finale Discussion Thread [SPOILERS WITHIN - UP TO FINALE]

[ManetsBR]

The people crawling was some sort of religious thing... There's no need for an explanation, honestly.

Edited September 30, 2013 by ManetsBR

[MEXzilla]

Finally watched it and it ended the right way and the only way it could I think. It's a beautiful episode, ending on a high note and truly fulfilling a perfect show; seasons 1 to 5 are masterpieces.

[Estranged Reality]

That was a perfect ending, imo. I can already see which parts people will nitpick as time goes on, but honestly, the show has been kind of hyper-realistic for the past few seasons, bordering on fantasy at times, and it's not the first time it's come across kind of outlandish. It totally fit the aesthetic of the show. I loved it.

And man, Cranston was at his best here.

[luciusfunk]

I'm surprised he saved Jesse, but I'm glad. I didn't want Jesse to kill Walt. I kept yelling at the TV telling him to put the gun down.

Loved that they used Marty Robbins in the episode! That was one of the speculations about the title, "Felina".

And I just listened to that album at work last night!

Edited September 30, 2013 by luciusfunk

[Izzy_Stradlin_XX]

I fucking yelled at the screen "YEAH BITCH SERVES YOU RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER" when Walt killed Jack.

Isn't it funny that Walt commited unintencional suicide?

Perfect ending for the perfect show.

[luciusfunk]

And people decided the M60 wasn't for the Nazis because it'd be suicide for Walt to go after them with a machine gun.

Did anyone else think Jesse was going to back over Walt? And then run him over?

[Estranged Reality]

I'm surprised he saved Jesse, but I'm glad. I didn't want Jesse to kill Walt. I kept yelling at the TV telling him to put the gun down.

Loved that they used Marty Robbins in the episode! That was one of the speculations about the title, "Felina".

And I just listened to that album at work last night!

how long until his driver seat shots from the need for speed trailer become mixed with this for an internet meme?

[luciusfunk]

"Mr. White, someone put a gun in your trunk." - Todd

[ManetsBR]

I'm surprised he saved Jesse, but I'm glad. I didn't want Jesse to kill Walt. I kept yelling at the TV telling him to put the gun down.

Loved that they used Marty Robbins in the episode! That was one of the speculations about the title, "Felina".

And I just listened to that album at work last night!

That scene was beautiful.

Imagine how that was for Jesse. He was trapped on that whole for over six months, and then, from out of nowhere, Walt comes, kills everyone and saves him. Ace.

Edited September 30, 2013 by ManetsBR

[Gia]

I hope that while crying Jesse falls down a cliff

Son of a rat bitch... thanks to him Hank died

Fuck Todd too for keeping him alive

I hope they talk about Jesse's death in the Saul show

[luciusfunk]

So glad Felina wasn't the Fe Li Na theory.

[Gia]

So glad Felina wasn't the Fe Li Na theory.

The blood tears and meth theory?

what exactly was that supposed to mean?

[bacardimayne]

Obviously the Saul show is a prequel, since he's living under a new identity now.

[Gia]

Pretty sure Saoul can go back and do buisness

Everyone is dead now... sure Jesse won't be a problem and Huell is still in that hotel, he needs someone to help him

Edited September 30, 2013 by Gia

[sweetness]

Did anyone else think Jesse was going to back over Walt? And then run him over?

lol my friends and I laughed and thought the same thing when Jesse backed up and had Walt in his headlights, like WHAT?

Overall I thought it was a logical conclusion to the series, but honestly I was a little disappointed only because I remember Aaron Paul saying something along the lines of "the ending is definitely going to be tragic" and I thought this was anything but a tragedy. Walt was going to die, that was a given, I think any fan of the show could have seen that coming, but even though the main protagonist dies it just didn't hit me as an unhappy ending. The final episode was just Walt tying off loose ends, there wasn't really a feeling of consequence, it was a victory. Every "bad guy" was killed, and it was triumphant in a way. I guess after all of the awful things that came of Walter's experience, it had to end in a way that was satisfying and not tragic. I really thought his family was going to suffer a lot more as a result of his decisions, which is why the ending felt kind of safe.

Anyway, one of the best series on TV ever, and one of the few modern artistic projects that is actually as good as it is popular, I think that says a lot in 2013.

[luciusfunk]

Todd's ringtone.

[WhazUp]

Wait they didn't resolve all of the loose ends what about Huel!?!? That poor SOB is probably chillin' on the couch still

[ManetsBR]

Yeah, what do you mean? I think that Fe Li Na was a sum up of the whole show.

[Gia]

Still gives me chills

[luciusfunk]

Yeah, what do you mean? I think that Fe Li Na was a sum up of the whole show.

Lithium isn't used in a P2P cook.

Felina: He's listening to the song El Paso by Marty Robbins while in the stolen car. He also hums it while building his LMG-bot.

In the song, the singer falls in love with a Mexican girl named Felina in the town of El Paso. He becomes a wanted man and runs away, but he returns as the pain in his heart is worse than dying. So he goes back for Felina but ultimately dies in her arms (killed by the town's deputies and what have you).

Quite the parallel, no?

[ManetsBR]

Yeah, cool.

I remember before season 5B started, some people were complaining about the lack of "science" on the show, saying it had many more "genius" moments from Walt on the beggining, on that aspect. Well, the finale pretty much put an end to those complaints. It reminded of when Walter blew up Tuco's office, specially when he throw Jesse to the ground.

Also, kudos to Walter for following Jesse's idea of "building a robot" to help them He should have looked at him and said "Finally built that robot."

And I also think that he should have cooked one last batch, or at least checked the last batch puritiy's, and when it showed like 97% he would smile and then drop dead.

Edited September 30, 2013 by ManetsBR

[Forsaken]

Regardless of what many may say, I think it was a fitting ending. The only thing i'm upset about is that there will be no more Breaking Bad.

One of the best TV shows ever created, and is still my favorite until something comes along and proves worthy of takings its spot, which, will be very very hard.

[bacardimayne]

Just rewatched it and appreciated it even more. It really did tie up every loose end as far as Walt's concerned.

-His family will get their money

-Gretchen and Elliot will live in fear

-Saw his wife and kids one last time

-Lydia dealt with

-Nazis and Todd dealt with

-Got Marie her closure with Hank

-Saved Jesse and "made up" with him

-Cemented his legacy

-Died in his comfort zone

I just wish he had finished the batch and checked the purity to find out that he and Jesse had just made a 100% batch.

Edited September 30, 2013 by bacardimayne

[downzy]

First good review (from Slate) I've read so far. I'm sure there are more to follow:

"Breaking Bad is the most brutal show I’ve ever watched from start to finish. It has been almost perfectly executed—precise in plot and vivid in character, with taut dialogue, mordant wit, and photography that’s eerie and ordinary and beautiful in places. It showed a sense of humor in its spot-on soundtrack.

But until the finale tonight, I never thought of this as a show that was made with love—or that took love as its central theme. This last hour brimmed with love, though—its cup ran over. Maybe that will read as sentimentality to some viewers. Maybe I should have the critical distance to see it. But I don’t. I feel entirely satisfied. The show turned itself inside out, and it’s making me see the whole arc—all the hours that led up to this one—in a way I hadn’t before.

I gave up on Walt in the last half season. I wrote him off, for being a megalomaniac who was willing to hurt almost anyone, and especially for constantly justifying himself with his talk of family. He won me back tonight. Not with his cancer cough and his old man’s shuffle (though I’m in awe of Bryan Cranston’s range). Here’s Walt’s best moment, alone for the last time with Skyler:

“I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was, really . . . I was alive.”

Walt finally drops his pose and his wild delusions. He gives Skyler the truth. And actually, he goes further. He also gives her the lie that will allow her, and his children, one day to accept the $9.7 million he left piled on top of the Schwartz coffee table. Walt tells Skyler he has spent all the money. He makes sure to debase himself, to give up on the triumph that has driven him all along. He’ll die broken and penniless in her eyes, and he allows for that shredding of his pride because it is what his family needs to remake itself one day. Maybe someday Skyler will be able to admit to herself that she liked it, too, and that honesty will give her the wherewithal to put her cigarette out, get up from the kitchen table, and start living again.

So is Walt really a family man? Is that what we’re meant to feel as he touches Holly’s curls one last time and hangs around for a last look at his son? I don’t think so. The morality of Breaking Bad doesn’t give Walt that much. His moment of clarity at the end doesn’t make up for all the hubris of Heisenberg. But it did mean I could wholeheartedly root for his scheme of revenge.

I don’t think Walt’s last chess moves were supposed to be hard to predict, at least not once they started unfolding. My husband called them in advance: the Schwartz money-laundering, the ricin in Lydia’s stevia, the automated machine gun for the Aryans. It wasn’t a roller coaster of an episode: It all unfolded methodically, with time for a last lingering shot of the Southwest desert. “Just get me home,” were Walt’s first words, and once he left the snow behind, he was at his canny best. But this time, there was no mania, no crazy desperate bid for glory.

Walt was willing—as he hasn’t been for many episodes—to turn his weakness into his weapon. He got his five minutes with Lydia so he could poison her. The Aryans let him through the gate, without searching his trunk, because they were sure they had nothing to fear. Walt’s only strutting in this hour was for Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz, when he turned sorcerer with the red lights that hit their chests. For a moment, he was magic. And then of course it was all a joke pulled off with the help of the meth heads. “The whole thing felt kind of shady, morality wise,” one of them said before he gets his wad of cash. But it didn’t really. Walt’s play on Gretchen and Elliott feels fair. We’ll never know all the details of what happened with Gray Matter, but we know enough to agree with him: They owe him.

What about Jesse—did Walt know he was being kept prisoner? I don’t think so. When the meth heads say Jesse must be cooking again, Walt’s lip curled with what looked like rage to me. He cast Jesse as the imposter.

When Walt saw what Jack and Todd had done to Jesse, though, he turned back into Jesse’s father. That’s what it meant to cover Jesse’s body with his own as the bullets rained down. Walt gave Jesse his freedom, and then he visited his magical meth lab. He went back to his tools—his workshop. Maybe that was the double meaning of the sepia-toned fantasy Jesse had about building that exquisite wooden box. “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was, really . . . I was alive.” That’s what this show was about: the battle to find glory, somehow, as a kind of down-and-out, hands-a-flutter suburban dad. Walt did it. He found what he was looking for. That’s what we’ll remember.

[bacardimayne]