September 29th, 2013 at 10:46 PM ^
I agree with that ... so a storyline that didn't resolve that would have been awful. Still, it would have been nice if a barrel of money was to be found and he could have driven off with that.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:31 AM ^
if jesse had been killed. something, anything unpredictable in that finale would have been a boone.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
The last thing Jesse wants is money. He had millions and literally couldn't give it away fast enough. What he wants is peace and to be completely free from all of it. He'll probably never get the former, but Walt gives him the latter, as much as possible.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
Satisfying is all I can say. Satisfied.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^
I think it was Bill Hader that was on it a few weeks ago that predicted Lydia's tea would somehow come into effect in the series finale, and boy did it ever.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:30 PM ^
Started watching Breaking Bad during what I liked to call "hangover Sundays" in the college house at Michigan. Now that it's over, I feel very old.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
That was the perfect ending. My God. Everything is okay.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^
lydia was going to be ricin'd
September 29th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
...moar Walter White.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:40 PM ^
Can anyone let me know how it ended?
September 29th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
Someone upthread already predicted it. It ended just like that Bob Newhart series awhile back. 'Walter woke up in bed with his wife from Malcolm in the Middle.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:06 AM ^
was a champion roller skater and he totally went all 70s disco Rollerball on those Nazi dudes.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:45 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
To get away from Kanye West...
September 30th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
As sad as it was for Walt to die, it was done in the best way, and it was merely beautiful the way his life ended.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^
Your devotion to and admiration of a selfish, ego-crazed, petty murderer is interesting.
I'm glad Walt finally admitted to himself that he was a total, selfish dick. I wanted him to die a worse death, but Walt Jr. telling him off coupled with him losing his family and realizing that it was all his fault was good enough. Given all that happened, I'm fine that he got to play a little bit of hero with Jesse.
Good ending. I guess I was hoping to be surprised, which was never going to happen, and at first I was a little underwhelmed. Looking back, it was a pretty perfect ending for this show. Especially for Jesse who refused to give in to Walt's request (and got to kill Todd, thank god).
September 30th, 2013 at 12:32 PM ^
I was hoping for a shocking turn of events and was also initially disappointed, but now I am happy with it. I guess it was only so predictable to me because I had been reading the IGN reviews and they pretty much nailed every major beat.
Walt's proposal to Elliot and Gretchen was the only real shock. I was sure he was going to wig out on them about everything and dig up the past, but he seemed at peace. I still want to know exactly what happened between them but I think we know enough.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
They kinda wrote themselves into a box by revealing the M60 and the ricin, there are only so many permutations that can work out so it's not surprising that it wasn't... err... surprising. That said, it was still beautifully done. That kitchen scene with Walt and Skylar was completely brilliant.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
I woulda liked to see Saul managing a cinnabun in Omaha. I also wonder if Huell is still sitting in the safe house.
Amazing End, Amazing show.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/09/11/breaking-bad-spinoff-s…
And I'm almost positive Huell is still in the safe room.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:36 AM ^
So we can follow how the hell Gus built his empire, starting with his life in Chile. Always kinda fascinated by that guy. And we'd get to see more of Mike in that series. And possibly learn the secret recipe for the Pollos Hermanos.
September 29th, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
Someone in a previous thread on Breaking Bad a few days ago brought up that there was a song called Feelena (different spelling than this episodes title) and that what the song is about would make perfect sense for what's going to happen. I definitely googled Marty Robbins has soon as I saw it to see if he was the singer of the song in question, and pretended to my wife that I knew off the top of my head the significance of that seemingly unimportant prop.
As you said, with the ending and dying in the arms of his true love, it was an incredibly fitting song to serve as base for the finale. How foolish of me to think that the arms he would have died in would be Skyler.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Just have so much admiration for the writing. I'd like to go back and watch the whole thing again with all the inside notes and references this time. Thanks for pointing this one out.
Vince Gilligan just put it into context... Walt died with his "precious." He was smiling the same smile that Gollum had when he was falling back into Mt. Doom...
September 30th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^
The writing was excellent ... I can't recall a single episode where I thought, "Oh, that sounds dumb." All the lines rang pretty true.
Do you know what else was outstanding? The cinematography. Absolutely breathtaking use of light, angles and scene framing. Haunting imagery floats through my mind as I recall various scenes from all the seasons.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:04 AM ^
So many great examples of the creative points of view created by the cinematographer throughout the story. I'd have to go back and look at it again to pull the best examples, but I'm thinking of the various shots that were from fixed-cameras to moving objects with a frenetic editing style behind it. The coup de grace was the final shot, where we see Walt collapsing in the reflection from the stainless steel tank.
And there were so many times they captured the beauty of the desert. And the colors.. the red soles of Lydias shoes, the bright yellow hazmat suits, the snobby beige wonderland of the Schwartzes birthday party, to the crystal blue of Walt's meth. Man. Colors, colors everywhere. Not to mention the color of money.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
I live in Tucson, and I've been up in New Mexico a fair amount.
The natural light there is different from the light in, say, Michigan. Albuquerque is in a high-plateau desert. It sits at an elevation of about 5,300 feet and it gets very little rain (9.5 inches per year). They have very few trees. The sky is big and open and the air is very dry. That makes the light very intense since there's little water vapor to diffuse it. It can get quite cold at that elevation.
They captured the light there perfectly ... both indoors and outdoors. Did you notice how most indoor shot taken during the day showed curtains drawn with intense sunlight evident behind the curtains? The White household shown in daytime scenes was almost always dark inside with the outside light barely held back. It produced a subtle drama in light.
The outdoor light was also nicely captured. The high desert during the day is intensely bright. But morning light and afternoon light tends to be very rich, yellow and warm in color. And the evening light remains longer than back east because there's few clouds and no trees to obscure it. They captured all this beautifully.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:02 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
Thank god they didn't go with a vague question mark ending. They picked an ending and went with it. The closed the accounts. The only thing I want to know...
Is Marie still shoplifting? Bitches be crazy.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:26 PM ^
September 29th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^
I'm constantly amazed at how tight the writing is on the show. No storylines that go no where and are just dropped after an episode or two, no loose ends left and so many little foreshadowings that are done so subtley and well. I mean, they realized he wasn't wearing his watch during the Denny's scene at the beginning of the 5th season, so they added him leaving the watch on the payphone during the last episode so it wouldn't break continuity. When you compare it to other shows, they all pale in comparison. May not be the greatest show ever as there are a few that could qualify and it's subjective but it's right up there with the rest.
September 29th, 2013 at 11:50 PM ^
great endning...
September 30th, 2013 at 12:01 AM ^
Why? Jesse snitched to the cops and almost ruined Walt's life, and is primarily the reason that Hank and Gomez got killed (I'm happy they got killed, but it upset Walt.)
This baffles me. It actually worries me. Like, seriously, I hope you're not a person I run into in real life because if any of this opinion translates to your true moral code, then jeez. But hey, that's Breaking Bad; an epic inspection of morality.
Jesse ruined Walt's life?! Ummm.... Walt forced Jesse to kill an innocent man. Walt basically killed (by omission) Jesse's girlfriend. Walt's actions routinely resulting in Jesse getting his ass beat. Walt constantly manipulated Jesse. Walt put a hit on Jesse. Walt let a gang take Jesse hostage and enslave him.
And Walt did it all for himself, not his family, as he finally admitted in the finale.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:11 AM ^
dude is getting got by end of second episode. No street smarts and an inflated sense of morality for a low-level drug peddler.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:15 AM ^
I'm equally baffled by your attitude. The job of the viewer is to take a journey with the protagonist. That you seem so filled with hate toward a fictional character is what seems weird to me.
You're right that BB is a great morality play, but I think where you're confused is in thinking that hating the evil and loving the good makes you more moral, as if one's attitude toward this show somehow reflects one's quality as a person. The point is often to experience the various shades of gray, since none of the characters is purely good or purely evil.
And everything that everyone does is done for oneself. Walt admitting that was a nice moment, but that's always true for everyone.
September 30th, 2013 at 6:51 AM ^
Yeah, I apologize, I was going a little too far.
I do think Walt was not an anti-hero, but rather a protagonist turned antagonist. So, rooting for Walt, fine. I get that even though I think you might miss the point in doing so.
Calling Jesse out for anything he did in season 5b?! That's crazy. Walt destroyed Jesse and anything Jesse did was a result of Walt's twisted torment.
My real thing which led to my above, too-far rant, was the guy saying Hank and Gomez died because of Jesse. If you want to be technical about Jesse initiating the meeting so that Walt was caught, fine. That's technically true. But Hank died because of Walt's actions. Hell, the producers even leave Walt Jr. believing that Walt killed him. They could have revealed the truth to Jr., but they left it where it was for a reason.
tl;dr version: My b, yo.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:15 PM ^
The same people that complain about Jesse are the ones that thought Skylar was being a complete bitch by not being cool about the whole "murdering meth kingpin" thing when she was presented with it. They're the ones who can't display the critical thinking to say "Well, I guess that if this were real life, I would probably have to agree with the angry woman."
September 30th, 2013 at 5:24 AM ^
"Walt put a hit on Jesse."
Sorry man, but that happened AFTER Jesse stood there threatening him over the phone. If Jesse hadn't been such a whiney, paranoid little pos, things could have gone smoother. Imagine this scenario:
Jesse walks up to Walt in the park, and they have a conversation wherein Walt is recorded admitting to poisoning brock, and speaking about their meth business. This is believeable, because of Walt's trust in Jesse. It could even be said that the one person Walt has shown true compassion for, and the one person he cares about even more than his money, is Jesse.
Hank uses this evidence to arrest Walt at the carwash, everything goes smoothly, and there is never any reason for Jack and the gang to get involved.
The death's of everyone, including the way Walt went out, can be laid solely at the feet of Jesse. So for all of the wrong Walt has done over the past 5 years, I don't think the hit on Jesse is a valid criticism of his character. If someone covered your house, where your wife and children live, with gasoline, and then made a threatening call to you, would you really let it slide?
September 30th, 2013 at 6:54 AM ^
Like I said above. I don't disagree that could have happened.
However, why was Jesse paranoid? Why couldn't he go through with that meeting? Walt poisoned a kid. He after-the-fact sanctioned a kid murderer in Todd. He was the result of many ruined lives including his own. I'm surprised that by season 5b anyone could blame Jesse for trying to have Walt arrested.
Especially after the finale.
September 30th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^
In the two years (actually one year and about eight months) of the show, Jesse:
- Had Crazy 8 melted in his bathtub;
- Was beat by Tuco so bad he was in the hospital;
- Had his girlfriend OD in bed with him;
- Was hospitalized again after being beat by Hank;
- Was forced to kill Gale, which is against his nature, to save Walt;
- Had his friend whose name escapes me murdered for selling;
- Was made to think he was going to be killed by Gus's guys (even though he wasn't, it took a while to figure that out);
- Had his girlfriend's son poisoned;
- Learned that Walt poisoned the kid;
- Learned that Walt wanted him dead;
- Learned that Walt watched his first girlfriend die ...
I'd say Jesse had his grievances with Walt.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^
I thought the plot of the finale was way too formulaic for a show that has consistently pulled out all the stops. I mean half of the board literally called every single event after last weekend's episode.
Many shows have tried--and failed--to do something unique for the ending, but I guess people just prefer a clean and tidy ending than something that tries to be different.
Walt did everything he tried to do perfectly without literally anything backfiring...at all. There was no suspense, no nothing. Great writing and character interactions as usual, but the plot: totally meh.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^
True, a lot of people called most of the parts of Breaking Bad, but it should satisfy the majority of the show's fans. We always knew Walt was going to die, anyway.
September 30th, 2013 at 12:19 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
Especially when they showed Walt was already shot...they kind of made it no longer matter since it was clear dude was gonna die either way.
I'm just saying, in what other episode has everything gone 100% Walt's way? It felt way out of place for that to suddenly happen in the last episode, at leat to me.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:17 AM ^
He also had cancer, so it was pretty clear from before the first episode even aired that he "was gonna die either way" and this fact was heavily emphasized in the run up to tonight. He had months to live at the very most no matter what.