Breaking Bad

[CJ]

not sure if anyone made the obvious comparison of walt's death to the joker's death in arkham city or batman '89, but that's the first thing i thought of during that shot of him laying on the floor dead, with a slight smile on his face.

Actually, the first thing I thought of was Cowboy Bebop's final episode. Walt went in, seeking vengance, killed them all, dying in the process, but fully accepted his fate, died somewhat victorious, as police close in on his dead body. A somber song plays, ending the series.

That's.. exactly what happened to Spike in the finale of Cowboy Bebop..

 

[Brother Jack]

Here's the thing: The crazy episode with the most shocking things we all for some reason expect for a finale, was Ozymandias. The last two were the falling action. If you want, imagine the last two episodes as one whole just split up.

I think people's expectations of how a show should end and how a show should end based on the nature of the show get mixed up lately.

"Ozymandias" was definitely the climax of the series in many ways. The following two episodes were almost an epilogue to that hour. In a way Walt suffered a fatal wound in that episode, slowly died a lonely death in "Granite State", and came back as a ghost in the finale to tie up loose ends and settle the score. He shambles around from scene to scene, barely noticed by anyone like a man already dead.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Me and my friend John were discussing the final three episodes and I kind of saw the last three episodes like this:
Ozymandias was hell for Walt and essentially him dying a painfully slow death.
Granite State was like purgatory.
Felina was heaven.

 

[Brother Jack]

Me and my friend John were discussing the final three episodes and I kind of saw the last three episodes like this:
Ozymandias was hell for Walt and essentially him dying a painfully slow death.
Granite State was like purgatory.
Felina was heaven.

That's about the worst heaven I can imagine.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I was looking at Anna Gunn's IMDb just now, and I'd totally forgotten that she was on a Seinfeld episode, playing Jerry's girlfriend of the week in "The Glasses."

 

[Sawyer]

Being on Seinfeld was a pre-requisite for, like, half the cast apparently.

 

[BestGirl]

Someone else probably posted this, but man, I can't wait for spanish Breaking Bad.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/say-...lMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

I wonder if they're going to recreate each plotline as exactly as possible. It would be strange to see each episode and feel like I was reviewing the show with different actors, but I'd still watch to see how well my Spanish has held up.

 

[AnneFan]

I love how nonchalant Walt was while building his kill machine.

Yeah. A sound mind always beats muscle in my book. I loved how cocky those suckaz were before the boot opened, making their doom sweeter. As the old saying goes, "The art of war is deceit. First, you must strike when your opponent least expects; in a place where he feels strong, but is in fact weak; with an army he believes he has already vanquished."

 

[CJ]

Being on Seinfeld was a pre-requisite for, like, half the cast apparently.

Besides Cranston & Gunn, what other people from BB appeared on Seinfeld?

 

[Maximus One]

It still blows my mind Hank was the mutant that hated Hauser in Total Recall

 

[the gael]

Me and my friend John were discussing the final three episodes and I kind of saw the last three episodes like this:
Ozymandias was hell for Walt and essentially him dying a painfully slow death.
Granite State was like purgatory.
Felina was heaven.

This remind me of the old Nocenti run on Daredevil "Heaven is knowing who you are". I guess it fits well "Felina", because Walt finally reached what he searched for so long : he was fully himself for the first time. No more lie.

Mild mannered Walter White died a long time ago, and Heisenberg took his place. But it wasn't that easy, because neither Walter White nor Heisenberg was the true Walter White, like neither Clark Kent nor Superman are the real character.

They are both true and both false, only uncomplete part of a much more complex character.

Mild mannered Walt was the pretention of being a good guy. He had noble goals, but, without Heisenberg strength and determination, he couldn't do anything.

Heisenberg was a ruthless and powerfull guy, who had no problem in crossing line and murder. He could do anything, even the impossible. But, without a goal to reach, he was just a time bomb which runs nowhere. he was just the manifestation of Walt wanting to live and to do "great things" to be remembered.

Heisenberg began to die in Ozymandias.

Felina was Walt finally "living at his true potential", by merging both the Walt and Heisenberg personas.

The strength, determination and genious of Heisenberg, with the goal to make "something right" of Walt.

But the "something right" isn't "something good". Yes, it is part good. He cleaned his wife, saved Jessy and gave the money to his son. But he also threatened his former friends, and finally admit that his best child is his blue meth.

He never searched redemption, he didn't care for such a concept.

Finally, he died but fully won : he was fully himself, living at his true potential, and got them all : the bad guys, the cops, even the cancer (since he killed himself), and his legacy will live, throught Jesse, the new Heisenberg, and throught his drug.

So he could die at peace, being proud of him.

Subtle characterization from one of the most subtle and human serie.

 

[Brain Damage]

How'd you meet him?

He's doing a play called All the Way (which is fantastic btw) in my city and I stuck around after hoping to meet him. Even though you could see that he was tired and there was a decent sized line, he gave every single person their time of day. Class act, that Cranston.

 

[giveyourself12%]

This remind me of the old Nocenti run on Daredevil "Heaven is knowing who you are". I guess it fits well "Felina", because Walt finally reached what he searched for so long : he was fully himself for the first time. No more lie.

That reminds of when he visits Skyler for the last time and she says something to the effect of, "You look terrible". and he replies. "I feel good".

At first, I thought he was obviously being sarcastic, but when he was building the uber automated-automatic machine gun, he was oddly enough humming a cheery tune which made me think that maybe he does feel, if not good, then at peace.

He finally accomplished his original goal of leaving his family money. Millions more than his originally stated goal. They turned against him at the end, but it very literally was THE END of his life, and he had a life's worth of prior good memories with them.

As he had known for a while that his death was inevitable, this was about as good as he could expect, given the circumstances. In contrast with his growing emotionality over season 5, in this last episode, he was calm, collected, and at peace (shows what a boss he is when he doesn't let his emotions cloud his judgment).



On a related note, Cranston said in an episode commentary that he gets paid for everyone random melody he whistles on television because it counts as his own composition that is used in the show. After which, Jonathon Banks replied something like, "Aaron, you better believe you and me are gonna start whistling!!".

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Besides Cranston & Gunn, what other people from BB appeared on Seinfeld?

Saul, Gretchen, the old junkyard owner that helped them rig the magnet and the cop that asked Hank for help with Gail's murder investigation.

[YT]i6FbQyYloRY[/YT]

 

[RoboAmish]

Few observations:

Initially, I wasn't sure what to think about the finale. But the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. It was fitting. Moreso, they didn't try a "shocking" finale. The preceding episodes were full of twists and turns and this one was predictable by comparison, but it had to be. It had to be true to the characters and the show. The worst thing would have been to try and shoehorn in an ending that didn't fit just for the sake of throwing a curveball.

I don't entirely agree with the idea that Walt was "redeemed". There are too many red marks against him. This was still a Walt that had selfish, prideful impulses. I would still say his major motivator was revenge, but it can be viewed entirely ambiguously. Was his major motivation for his little deposit to the Schwartz genuinely for his sons benefit or a last way of getting back at a pair who had disrespected him? Was the whole play against the Nazis to protect his family once and for all or to destroy all the people who had dared have the temerity to manufacture his blue meth and try to steal his legacy from him?

That's not to say that Walt didn't do genuinely selfless things in the finale, mostly involving Jesse. And the genius of the finale is that it essentially tore down the "Heisenberg" myth. Peter Gould (writer) said Heisenberg died when Hank died and looking at the last two episodes, I can see where he's coming from. This was a Walt who was aware of who he was at last. No more bulls**t. Everything had been taken from him, his empire and world ripped down. This is a man who knows he's damned for what he's done and has found a degree of peace because of it; a new humility. The scene where he tells Skyler "I did it for me" encapsulates perfectly his mental state. Now that he's lost it all, he has found understanding. He even kind of plays around with the idea- he's created this "persona" and he uses it to threaten Gretchen and Elliot, calling himself a "monstrous father". He knows he was a monster, he's finally self aware and he has admitted he did it all for himself.

And on the whole, Walt did indeed win. I would say all the main characters actually had some measure of victory in this episode, but they were all small ones in the grand scheme of things, including Walt's. And none of them are enough to repair the damage that had been done to their lives. Skyler got the victory of hearing Walt fess up to his bulls**t, but she still faces an uncertain future. Marie will find out where Hank's body is buried but her relationship with her sister will never be the same and her husband is still dead. Flynn is in for a windfall but he lost both the father and uncle he idolised. Jesse is free from Walt's web and his toxic cycle but it's debatable if he'll ever be able to fully move on from what he's been through. And Walt settled old scores and died on his own terms, but still went to his grave knowing he had made numerous character's lives immeasurably worse.

But it was a hopeful finale overall, which I think the show needed. These characters had been punished enough in the last few episodes, it was time for some small modicum of hope and peace. The final episodes reflected Walt in a way- we were staring into a black hole that pulled in and destroyed everything around him, but at the end some little light escaped through. It didn't end so that these characters were staring down oblivion for good.

And as Walt lies dying, it is arguably as happy as ending as he could get. Surrounded by the true love of his life; not his family- his lab, his meth, his legacy. Having saved the "son" he had arguably treasured more than his own. He's going to hell, but he doesn't care. And the fact is, I suspect if he had a chance to do it all over again, despite the death, the loss and tarnishing of his reputation in the eyes of his family and friends, he would. It was worth it because it made him "feel alive".


Anyway, TLDR. Lot of my points are a bit repetitive and rambling...

 

[FCEEVIPER]

I was looking at Anna Gunn's IMDb just now, and I'd totally forgotten that she was on a Seinfeld episode, playing Jerry's girlfriend of the week in "The Glasses."

I remember that episode, I just did not know of her then. But Bryan I knew of, the newly converted Jew' just for the jokes. t:

 

[Kane52630]

 

[TheNextNolan22]

God, I loved this scene.

 

[hellblazer103]

".......darkness. "

this was by far walt's creepiest scene in the show for me. that was the ultimate moment where he seemed TRULY evil, infact pretty much this whole episode he was sort of satan-esque.

 

[hellblazer103]

I just saw the extended version of the "It Gets Easier" scene.

Kinda knocked me off Team Walt.

That was pretty sick.

i looked up the scene after reading this post and i see what you mean. lol

 

[Donnie Darko]

I literally started applauding when Badger and Skinny Pete were revealed.

 

[Kane52630]

Was I the only one that notice how Walt keeps looking at Gretchen after he scared both of them?

 

[Travesty]

[YT]i6FbQyYloRY[/YT]

"That's another win for Milos! HAHA!"

 

[A Necessary Evil]

 

[Sawyer]