Breaking Bad

Such a great way to end the series. Vince Gilligan really did an incredible job wrapping things up in a satisfying way. He even managed to get Skinny Pete and Badger in there! I am so beyond thrilled that Jesse is free and that he was the one to take out Todd. The sound of his neck snapping was so damn satisfying.

I knew Walt had to die, but I loved that he went out on his won terms, and in the end he was able to admit why he became Heisenberg to Skyler. That final moment with Holly, and later in the lab brought tears to my eyes.

That was fabulous. I'm very happy.

I was sort of thinking that Vince might try to break our hearts, just to confound expectations, but I'm so glad he didn't. Yet he of course managed confound our (well, my) expectations anyway.

I am so happy that Walt managed to save the day with some crazy fucking science device of smartness. Holy shit was that satisfying when the bullets started flying.

I'm so happy Jesse (a) got to murder the fuck out of Todd, (b) had the choice to kill Walt and was able to choose for himself not to do it, and (c) busted through the goddamn gates like a superhero and drove off into the sunrise to rebuild his life, without Walt.

I really did like how Uncle Jack starts to bargain about the money, and even I was like "...hm, what is that, like $70 million left? Maaaaaaaybe it would make sense to just listen" and then Walt just shot him in the face. Of course, the fact that he does have quite a large sum squirreled away (oh man that was great, with Badger and Skinny Pete, lord it was tense, and then it was just these goobers with laser pointers, I'm glad no harm came to them because really it's not their fault Walt is such a stubborn asshole, but at the same time I don't mind them being forced to be in charge of getting the money to Jr.) makes it a little less meaningful, but still, the Walt we've seen throughout the series would have hesitated and would have really really wanted that money. This Walt is done. Along the same lines, it was highly satisfying to hear him say to Skyler that he did it for himself, that he liked doing it. For him to finally be honest with her. And yeah, I got misty when he was saying goodbye to Holly and when he saw Jr. coming through the door.

Holy shit, that machine gun business was awesome. When he tackled Jesse I was like "OH YES SOME SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN" and it seemed to stretch out forever before the gun started. I am NOT a violent person but man, I wanted that shootin' to go on forever. TELEVISION.

Lydia. Oy. I'm not sorry. That freaking Stevia. Not that that's a reason to die horribly. But, she was hardly innocent. AGAIN, TV, I ENJOY IT.

TODD.

The tiny, tiny nods between Walt and Jesse were just right. They were square. Not really, but good enough for that moment. I felt like Walt made it up to Jesse just a little bit and there was an acknowledgment and it was very subtle and it was beautiful.

This show. It was a good one. Yup.

Jesse riding off into the horizon is just-- ugh, so great. He deserved it.

What a great ending.

That was the ending the show deserved. The ending the characters deserved, but also the show. That's how you do series finales, TV!

That was actually....that made sense.  It worked.  I reserve the right to pick at things later one, but for now, my only disappointment is that the whole ending satisfied too much, and I know that that makes no sense.

EDIT: Oh, and...

SCIENCE, bitch!!!

I couldn't post this last night anywhere without spoiling it for West coasters, so: JESSE LIVES!!!!! So, so freaking happy.

The finale was perfect. There was nothing I didn't like about it.

My only nitpicky thing is: how did Walt get the ricin into the Stevia packet? Wouldn't he have had to reseal the packet somehow?

Everything worked. Everything was fair. Okay, some of it was a bit hand-wavy, but it WORKED. It was a love letter to the fans who've loved this show, and it ended exactly the way I'd hoped. Bad guys dead. Hope for Walt's family. Closure for Marie and Gomie's family. Some redemption for Heisenberg. And JESSE LIVES, HELL YEAH.

I'll post more later when I'm capable of something besides SQUEE!

I totally believe Walt knows how to open and reseal a Stevia packet without it looking fishy.

RiverThames wrote:I totally believe Walt knows how to open and reseal a Stevia packet without it looking fishy.

Could you steam it open, let it dry, and then reseal it? I haven't even seen the show, and now I want to test this!

Some years ago, I worked with a guy whose previous employment involved troubleshooting safety seals and tamperproof packaging, sometimes in "live test" in grocery stores and pharmacies.

His stories... would not make you feel particularly heartened about their effectiveness.

just watched it on DVR. I don't really have any coherent, deep thoughts other than - Jesse is alive and free, THANK GOD. I don't know if I could've handled any other outcome.

Extremely satisfying finale. I do see the point some folks have been making that if there's anything to quibble about, it's that everything was wrapped up in almost a *too* neat little package -- but I'm OK with that. If this is a theatric tragedy then we need to see what happens to everyone. (Except Huell.)

Did they clearly establish what happened to Brock? I had thought that there was a chance Todd went back to finish him off as well after the scene in the car ended, but the folks on Talking Bad seemed to think Brock was alive and Jesse's goal now would be to provide for him.

The last mention of Brock was by Uncle Jack when Andrea was killed and saying that Brock was still being used as a threat to keep Jesse in line and cook like a good little hostage. Since it never came up again and Jesse hadn't escaped, it makes sense that Brock is still alive and probably living with Andrea's mother.

Count me in as being extremely satisfied with the finale! I did notice the whole "how could Walt get the ricin in the packet" thing, but I can believe it. I don't feel horribly insulted by it.

I may have actually started cheering when Jesse jumped on Todd. *ahem* And the sound of his neck snapping. So very satisfying.

Strange shocker: the actor who plays Skinny Pete is 42 years old.

If you want to hear how different it could have turned out, you need to listen to the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast. Vince Gilligan's intention was to have Skyler kill herself or go with the disappearer, but he says the other writers talked him out of that, which he says he is glad he didn't go there.

And I'm so glad that the rumors of Walt killing Skyler turned out to be false. Their last scene was unbearably sweet and sad.

I haven't listened to the podcast, but the thing that was so great about the finale was how natural everything was, a natural progression of every character's storyline. And while it was almost too perfect, and while Gilligan could have killed of virtually any character because they were all in danger, it also could have been done cheaply and for shock.

There was more love than I'd seen between Walt and Skyler in their final scene together than shown in the entire series. That was so much more powerful than either of them killing the other.

Skyler is set free with the evidence for her deal, Marie is set free because she will have her husband's body, the White kids are set free with the money, Jesse is literally free (and free of Walt), and Walt is free of life/destroying everything he touches. Skinny Pete and Badger are...still doing what they're doing. I don't think anyone else dying would have made it better and it very well could have been maddening.

I've been seeing comparisons to the Dexter finale everywhere, and they're awesome. Breaking Bad is how you do a series finale; Dexter is how you write a big fuck you to the fans.

If Scott Buck wrote Breaking Bad, Hank would have come to terms with Walt's meth dealing and let it go, Jesse would be off chilling with his long lost daughter, Skylar and Marie would open a restaurant together, Walter Jr. would die of second hand meth (but not before forgiving his father for everything he's done), Walt would freak out and bury the kid in a meth barrel before vanishing in an apparent suicide to become an ice road truck driver. Skinny Pete would raise Holly.

I only consider the last episode of Breaking Bad to be "too perfect" in the same sense that I consider Shakespeare's tragic plays to be "too perfect" in their storyline execution... which is to say, not too perfect at all. Those stories were written according to classical guidelines that appealed to the audience's sense of what is both tragic AND satisfying to watch. The end of Hamlet was not too perfect, nor was the end of Romeo and Juliet (for example); they ended simply with the events that made the most sense, given the rest of their plotlines. I'm just making the comparison because I think Vince Gilligan has demonstrated he enjoys a very classic (but not formulaic) type of storyline, which is why Walt's tale mimics old-school tragedy so well.

So basically, I was just trying to say I didn't think the ending was too perfect.

I mean, I can see the argument, in that if I hadn't seen the episode, but had someone just told me what happened, I wouldn't have been surprised by any of it. Except perhaps Walter's intention for Gretchen and Elliot. But even that, in retrospect, made perfect sense.

So, yeah, it pretty much went down like expected. As good tragedies do. There's nothing wrong with that.

RiverThames wrote:I mean, I can see the argument, in that if I hadn't seen the episode, but had someone just told me what happened, I wouldn't have been surprised by any of it.  Except perhaps Walter's intention for Gretchen and Elliot.  But even that, in retrospect, made perfect sense.  

So, yeah, it pretty much went down like expected.  As good tragedies do.  There's nothing wrong with that.

The Gretchen and Elliot maneuver managed the difficult dramatic trick of being completely unexpected, and yet making perfect sense within the context of the show. While many of us (including me) were left thinking that Walt was going to take some petty revenge on them out of jealousy and resentment after seeing them denying his contributions to Gray Matter on the Charlie Rose Show, we instead realize that this wouldn't be in character, since if there is one constant character trait in Walt, it's his desire and his ability to manipulate a situation towards his eventual goal. In that light, it was inevitable.

For me, "Ozymandias" was the end, and the last two were like very long epilogue/a winding down -- not because I'm trying to deny the actual finales; I just mean emotionally. I'm good with the way the last episodes unfolded because I didn't need it to end on a higher-octane note, because the whole season was bam-bam-bam. For me, once Hank died, I think the meaningful parts of Heisenberg AND Walter White died with him, and the rest was Walt moving through the world like a ghost, trying to grasp at both identities until he was taken for good. I thought it was brilliantly in character that Walt wanted Jesse to shoot him -- because of course he'd act like it was doing Jesse a favor, like he was giving Jesse this gift of vengeance, because he was all about trying to make Jesse do things for his own good that were in fact all about advancing what Walt wanted. Since Walt was already basically dying of a bullet wound and he just wanted the pain to be over, shooting him would be a meaningless act that would leave his stain even deeper on Jesse's already-shredded conscience. I was glad Jesse saw that and left Walt to die on his body's own terms. I thought that last exchange said a lot about their relationship, and how Jesse grew and Walt regressed, especially because I think Walt had lost the ability to see even his own manipulations. It was just second nature to him.

I LOVED him messing with Gretchen and Elliott, because I hate them.

The alternate ending we all hoped for. Brilliant.

vwlphb wrote:The alternate ending we all hoped for. Brilliant.

That made my entire night better.

It's been taken down for copyright infringement, but I caught it earlier. Totally playing off the jokes viewers made before the real finale aired, but still SO BRILLIANT! "I am the one who knocks."