Breaking Bad - All Bad Things Must Come To An End - The Finale Thread

[Sawyer]

Meth. It's a helluva drug.

Not even once.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Not even once.

Never again.

 

[Wolfwood]

Maybe just a little... to get me through this slump.

 

[redhawk23]

The AV club review has this paragraph that I think perfectly sums up this episode.

The theme of “Felina” seems to be this: People and machines are usually predictable. Lydia meets her business partners like she always did, tears open the only stevia packet on the table like she always does. Gretchen and Elliot betrayed on television how much they fear losing their reputation and their elegant lives, and that means that they can be manipulated. Walt has always used this predictability—this scientific certainty about action and reaction—to get what he wants. But it’s taken him until now to realize the correlary: If you can change your pattern, those predictable people and machines will miss you. Walt changes; he’s the only one who does. After their purpose is fulfilled, the machines stay in motion. The massage chair keeps rolling even though its occupant is dead. The M60 keeps sweeping even though it’s out of ammunition. But Walt’s purpose is fulfilled, and he just stops.

 

[Michael Frost]

I think it could've been made a bit clearer if Walt was planning to shoot everyone in that room including himself or if he'd dive for cover even if Jesse wasn't there.

Heisenberg preferring to take a bullet instead of withering and dying wouldn't matter if the physical disease beated him to it right at the very end, hence the whole irony aspect of it.

 

[TwoOfAKind]

I feel now at the end that Heisenberg never existed and it was always Walter White.

 

[DrDoom]

Probably, but man it would've been great! I think before Jesse cracked Todd's neck, it would've been fitting if he said to him "Just so you know, this is nothing personal".

Hahah I was hoping for a "Sorry for your loss" to Todd.

I would've liked for Todd to know that Lydia was dead also

 

[redhawk23]

Devin Faraci sums things up pretty well:

The bravest thing that show runner (and writer/director of this last episode) Vince Gilligan did in the finale was refuse to subvert our expectations. It would have been easy to throw in a left turn right there at the end, to have a totally unexpected player come in - Jane’s dad, or Marie with a thirst for vengeance or some other no-one-saw-that-coming character showing up with a bomb - and upset the storyline in an attempt to be dramatic. That must be tempting when you’re working in long-form serialized fiction; the audience has months and years to think and get ahead of your story. If you’re telling your story right you’re headed for an ending that is being set up meticulously and, in dummy parlance, ‘obvious.’ That leads too many long-form storytellers to try a Lindelof at the end, to kick out our legs in order to be two steps ahead of us. But Gilligan finishes the story he was telling, unafraid of the fact that it has been becoming more and more ‘obvious’ where the finale would go.

 

[Wolfwood]

I would've liked for Todd to know that Lydia was dead also

Yeah, I'm really curious what his reaction would've been. Probably unaffected as always, but I could see him finally cracking a bit. Not out of love, but out of anger that something that was his was being taken away.

 

[DrDoom]

Can't bring myself to delete the finale from my DVR, don't know when I'll be able to

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Why would you until you bought the season?

 

[Mr. Dent]

Most beautiful show ever made.

BRAVO VINCE

Can't bring myself to delete the finale from my DVR, don't know when I'll be able to

TORRENTS

 

[Maximus One]

The finale was a bit predictable. Soon as you see Walt in the desert rigging up the machine I knew exactly where it was going. I honestly didn't see the Lydia thing coming because I just thought it was too obvious but I knew something was up as soon as we saw her all sickly. I dunno. I loved it and I see how brilliant it is and how much a work of art it really is but I just dunno. I expected a little more. There's a few things I think this half season kinda cheated is out of. We didn't even get to see Marie, Gomie's or even Walt Jr's initial reactions to the big revelation about Walt. Marie almost seemed like she left the show after Ozymandias. There just should have been a little more. We should've gotten at least a little bit of an idea where these chatacter's lives end up. And personally, I didn't even catch that Walt died at first. I didn't even accept it and shed a tear until I was able to watch Talking Bad hours later and Gilligan confirmed he was dead. It seemed ambiguous to me it he was dead or alive at first. I was actually quite pissed off when it first ended. And Jesse, seriously? I loved his moments here but good lord WTF happens next? Idgaf what anybody says, THAT IS NOT CLOSURE. That is the very definition of ambiguity. Jesse has his freedom. Big ****ing whoop. How does he end up?! And I totally just realized this but we NEVER got a Jesse and Walt Jr scene!!! I feel so screwed over with this season in all these aspects. That being said, I don't think less of the show. This is by far the single most important piece of fiction in the last quarter century. And especially for film as an artistic medium this show has been a ****ing godsend. But there's just some moments that didn't happen that I wanted to see happen or I wanted to see happen differently to a degree. There's also a few things I wish characters had said to each other. We barely even got a sense of how Marie and Skyler's relationship is now. I loved this finale and I see how perfect it really is. That Jesse woodworking then the cut to him in the lab was ****ing heart wrenching. Can't believe none of us caught that woodworking clue last week. Anyways, I loved it, I hated pieces of it but I'm hard to please like that lol. I just can't believe it's all over now. I seriously feel like I'm grieving. And right there at the end I was full on Team Walt. Don't know how but damn I was. RIP Walter White, you got what you deserved and I ****ing loved every second of it

 

[Maximus One]

Also, I wanted a sense of how the entire world perceives Walt. I wanted to see a picture of Walt on Time magazine or something along those lines. We didn't even see a single FBI'S MOST WANTED poster or anything like that. The Gretchin and Elliot/Badger an Skinny Pete scene was probably the real highlight and the one time they really took me by surprise in the finale.

 

[The Chris]

Thank god for netflix because without it I would never have been able to be in this moment and watch this show end tonight. I really envy all of you who were with this show from the beginning and watched it through it's whole run. You guys were there while some of the rest of us were blind and oblivious and I can only imagine how you guys and the artists responsible for this brilliant story feel right now. I really think it is the best show I've ever seen, and then ending tonight just cemented that. Wow, just Wow.

 

[JaD]

What woodworking clue from last week?

 

[redhawk23]

While certain developments weren't necessarily surprising, it was only because they built up to those moments so well. They fully earned them.

Walt being Honest with Skyler at long last is a fantastic scene.

 

[redhawk23]

I really liked that they tied back into the whole wood working thing as Jesse's escapist fantasy. The story of his wooden box, the one thing he had made that he was proud of and how he gave it up for a hit of drugs always mad me very sad. That little anecdote is so defining and yet so believable. I know so many people who have done similar things in real life.

 

[Maximus One]

@ Eklypze

What I really enjoyed with Breaking Bad is the fact that the creators didnt explain every goddamn thing. It's up to you to think how the charakters will live one. The last two episodes were about Walter's last journey. Nothing else. The ending fits the show. It's perfect and I'm glad Vince and his writers didnt try to come up with something spectacular just to shock and try to beat the episode "Ozymandias".

I agree to a point. I didn't say I wanted things spelled out for me. I just wanted an idea of some things is all. Gilligan said he tied up ALL loose ends and there would be closure for everybody. Jesse's ultimate fate is unknown. He's free now but we don't have the slightest inkling what will happen next aside from checking on Brock. This isn't wanting everything spelled out. We were promised something very concrete and we got it every where except with Jesse. He just sped outta there never to be seen again, or not. I don't ****ing know cuz Gilligan deemed it necessary to put this kid through absolute Hell for 6 years (1 in-story, whatever) and then just let him drive off into the night. We just, we just should've gotten something. Jesse walking up to his parents house all cleaned up or him catching his now teenage brother smoking some blue or something. Anything other than that ambiguous **** we got.

 

[redhawk23]

He's free of Walt, that story arc is over. Its really summed up by those two pairs of shots Kane posted above.

You're free to imagine whatever fate you like, as you apparently have.

 

[Kaleb]

From now on all shows should end like Breaking Bad/Lost with its main character lying down staring up into the sky or whatever as the show fades to credits... even if it doesnt make any sense at all

 

[BrollySupersj]

Edit: NVM

 

[747]

Incredibly satisfying and well executed final. I think some people's disappointment that it wasn't more of a curve ball, and being too straightforwards, is gonna go away with time and repeated viewings of the series, when the twists doesn't matter as much as the sheer brilliance of the execution, acting, writing, craft etc.

The last scene: So neatly shot, such perfect music. Bittersweet were the feelings washing over me. I don't get why people thought it was so all-out triumphant, look at the series as a whole and it really wasn't. It was just as sad as, for Walt himself, semi-triumphant, him dying with what has sadly become his life's biggest love: the meth lab.

5a and 5b my ass, I'm counting it all as one season; and it's my favorite season of a TV series ever.

 

[Mr. Dent]

Unbelievable

The total length of episodes 61 and 62 were 60 minutes, meant to symbolize the fall of a king before his time.

BRAVO VINCE

 

[dark_b]

10/10. my life is complete

thank you Gilligan . you are a good storyteller.
''The bravest thing that show runner (and writer/director of this last episode) Vince Gilligan did in the finale was refuse to subvert our expectations. It would have been easy to throw in a left turn right there at the end, to have a totally unexpected player come in - Jane’s dad, or Marie with a thirst for vengeance or some other no-one-saw-that-coming character showing up with a bomb - and upset the storyline in an attempt to be dramatic. That must be tempting when you’re working in long-form serialized fiction; the audience has months and years to think and get ahead of your story. If you’re telling your story right you’re headed for an ending that is being set up meticulously and, in dummy parlance, ‘obvious.’ That leads too many long-form storytellers to try a Lindelof at the end, to kick out our legs in order to be two steps ahead of us. But Gilligan finishes the story he was telling, unafraid of the fact that it has been becoming more and more ‘obvious’ where the finale would go.''
http://badassdigest.com/2013/09/30/breaking-bad-gets-what-it-deserved/