Breaking Bad

[A Necessary Evil]

Walter had many layers. Unfortunately, the one most people just prefer to remember is Heisenberg.

 

[DyeLorean]

Fly is one of those episodes that standout because they are different. Small example, but look at the "Chinese Restaurant" episode from Seinfeld. The whole point was to have the entire episode set in the restaurant line. The executives said "that's the whole episode? And what happens?". Nothing happens, that became a pivotal episode in the series, one that did things differently of what tv was used to.
Another example could be Lost, full episodes dedicated to a single flashback, or another one without any of the main cast members.

Fly falls, for me, into that category of 'different' episodes that work just because of that.

 

[Kane52630]

Fly rocks.

 

[kedrell]

As to the ending episode, I liked it but I still think it could have been better. It's very cathardic and all but IMO Walt should have been forced to endure a much more tragic ending. Like say his whole family dies yet he lives and the govt gets his money and in the end all he did ends up being for nothing....actually worse than nothing. I dunno, I guess in this instance I was more in the mood for a tragedy.

 

[Sawyer]

Nah.

 

[SpideyForPrez]

Walter had many layers. Unfortunately, the one most people just prefer to remember is Heisenberg.

As much as I enjoyed the Heisenberg moments, some of my favorite Walt scenes were when he was absorbed in the science of something or times when he felt utterly defeated like in "Crawlspace". I always enjoyed watching him squirm for awhile before going into full Heisenberg mode.

 

[kedrell]

You don't think White deserved tragedy after all he'd done?

 

[Spider-Who?]

You don't think White deserved tragedy after all he'd done?

Walt deserved tragedy, sure, but his family didn't deserve to die. Walt got what he deserved.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

He accomplished what he set out to do which was provide for his family after he was gone but look at how many lives he wrecked in the process. I say he got off easy.

 

[georgec]

I imagine that in the afterlife Walt is being forced to eat dipping sticks constantly like that Halloween episode of The Simpsons with Homer eating donuts in hell.

 

[hellblazer103]

he always stated throughout the show how concerned he was of how people will remember him after he dies, but everyone including his wife and son will remember him as a monster and responsible for the most negative impact on their lives and his daughter will also come to only learn of him being that monster, so i think that's enough tragedy.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

At first I thought Walter didn't get that big punishment he deserved, but then I realized that he did. Losing his family in "Ozymandias" is that punishment. Especially with Walter Junior forever left to despise his dad. Walt's criminal legacy is great on its own scale, but the legacy he left on the people he cared for was one of disgrace.

 

[hellblazer103]

At first I thought Walter didn't get that big punishment he deserved, but then I realized that he did. Losing his family in "Ozymandias" is that punishment. Especially with Walter Junior forever left to despise his dad. Walt's criminal legacy is great on its own scale, but the legacy he left on the people he cared for was one of disgrace.

basically the same point that i just made, but yea, pretty much. lol

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Well damn, man. It took me a little bit of time to type that out.

 

[Brother Jack]

There is an argument to be made that due punishment for Walt would have been his whole family dying with him left standing, Bryan Cranston himself even admitted so. But as someone who felt Walter needed to receive comeuppance I wasn't let down by the finale. It's essentially Walt lying down and dying in the bed that he made for himself. Because he dies relatively happy does not make the ending happy or redemptive, in fact it suggests just the opposite. It's honest but not apologetic. It's a more ambiguous conclusion than "everybody dies" would have been and that plays into the duality at the heart of Walt and the show as a whole.

 

[BatLobster]

I think the thing is, Ozymandias really did feel like the climax and what everything that been building to and that's why you have some people calling it the "true finale" and the final two episodes the epilogue.

I've been tossing and turning over the ending for the past two weeks because I really was kind of turned off by how neat and tidy it was at first...it just felt kind of "feel good" to me which felt kind of wrong... but the more I think about it I have a hard time really leveling any substantial criticism at it. Having had some time to process it, I do now feel that it was essentially the right ending.

I have a lot of twisted karmic fates that I've imagined for Walt (that don't involve his family dying), but as deliciously justified as those seem to me in my head, I do think the show needed to end on a note of Walt talking action and succeeding on some level. Not even because Walt's character deserved that vindication, but just because it's true to the show.

 

[Asgard]

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I wonder if Walt Jr still mourned his dad, despite everything he did.

 

[Sawyer]

How much crazier would Ozymandias have been if the entire series up until that point had been from Walt Jr.'s POV? Sure, the rest of it would've been kinda eh, but that episode...

Walt Jr. spends four and a half seasons dealing with his father's cancer diagnosis and what it might mean for his family, then... BOOM! His father's the drug kingpin Uncle Hank's always going on about! BOOM! Uncle Hank is dead, and his dad might've killed him! BOOM! Mom and dad are having a knife fight! BOOM! That ending phone call!

Magnificent.

 

[BestGirl]

As to the ending episode, I liked it but I still think it could have been better. It's very cathardic and all but IMO Walt should have been forced to endure a much more tragic ending. Like say his whole family dies yet he lives and the govt gets his money and in the end all he did ends up being for nothing....actually worse than nothing. I dunno, I guess in this instance I was more in the mood for a tragedy.

He accomplished what he set out to do which was provide for his family after he was gone but look at how many lives he wrecked in the process. I say he got off easy.

I have to agree with you guys. The finale bugged me at first because it seemed to contradict one of the overall messages of the show, namely that crime doesn't pay. Yeah, his family hates his guts now, but he still accomplished the goal he set out for himself at the beginning, which was leaving his kids financially well-off. Felina also didn't fit in with the bleak tone of season 5. I think a better ending would have been for Walt to have killed Lydia and the nazis but failed to get any of the money to his children. Say he had to leave it in NH because he didn't have time to retrieve it after calling the DEA. That would've been been the ultimate irony: Walt the genius triumphs over all his enemies but can't succeed at the one thing he really wanted to do.

 

[Bruce Malone]

How much crazier would Ozymandias have been if the entire series up until that point had been from Walt Jr.'s POV? Sure, the rest of it would've been kinda eh, but that episode...

Walt Jr. spends four and a half seasons dealing with his father's cancer diagnosis and what it might mean for his family, then... BOOM! His father's the drug kingpin Uncle Hank's always going on about! BOOM! Uncle Hank is dead, and his dad might've killed him! BOOM! Mom and dad are having a knife fight! BOOM! That ending phone call!

Magnificent.

That would have been the weirdest ABC family series ever...speaking of which I believe that's where poor RJ Mitte's next gig is actually.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

How much crazier would Ozymandias have been if the entire series up until that point had been from Walt Jr.'s POV? Sure, the rest of it would've been kinda eh,

".... And the Bag's in the River"



"ABQ"

"One Minute"

"Face Off"

Ozymandias

 

[Maximus One]

I still wish we had some inkling as to exactly how Walt goes down in history. I don't think it's so cut and dry that the authorities would think Walt had been there cooking the entire time he was off the grid. They did know he was in New Hampshire after all. Plus, I dont think Jesse is off so Scott free. Marie knew everything about his involvement and he was wanted I assume for questioning about Gomie and Hank. They wouldn't let up on that either. Even with the bodies they wouldn't let up until they find Jesse eventually. At this point those are really my only little nitpicks. I just really wanted to see something like we did with the plane in the season 3 premiere. Wanted to see like a news report or something.

 

[Brain Damage]

I love when Walt almost confesses to letting Jane die. Much more important to his character, than the "tread lightly/ I'm the one who knocks" stuff people remember.

Not to mention the "That was the moment" speech, which is easily one of the best speeches in the show's entire run. Oh and that "one" shot of Walt falling off the railing.

Yeah, Fly is an astounding episode.

 

[Maximus One]

I still say nothing any character ever did, in any show basically touches Jesse's problem dog speech. Every damn time it just drops my jaw. ****ing amazing