Breaking Bad Final Season Continues August 11th

[Craig H]

What is one the coolest aspects of this series is how well it illustrates just how few choices you need to make to really fuck your life up in the worst way imaginable. For Walt, it was opting to ride along with Hank on the meth lab bust, which had a brilliant and tear jerking callback. That one decision set forth in motion events that would lead to his death, nearly put his wife in jail, cause his brother-in-law to be murdered, cause Jane to relapse and die, etc., etc. I think that's one of the reasons I liked Mike so much. He saw the tsunami of destruction that Walt brought with him and could see just how bad things were going to get. 

[sydneybrown]

I'm not sure Skyler will realize that the Grey Matter money is actually Walt's since Walt made it a point to tell Skyler he was out of money. Maybe she puts two and two together and figures out that he's out of money because he gave it to Grey Matter... but I don't know. Also, did she know that he was only left with $11 million because the Aryans took the rest?

 

Walt told her he had eleven million dollars in his truck when frantically trying to get them to pack and leave in Ozymandias.  Between that and Skylar defiantly saying "I don't want your money" in Felina, I just don't quite buy that they would be as willing to accept a large sum of money from Gray Matter without asking questions (especially when being offered 9.7 million, I think they could connect the dots.)  But I don't know. it's an optimist/pessimist situation and I think either way of looking at it could be correct. 

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

My fantasy booking is Skylar dies before Flynn gets the money.  He uses the money for him, Holly, and Marie to live happily ever after.

[Craig H]

Skylar wanted to accept help from Gretchen and Elliott previously. No reason why she would reject that now.

[The Comedian]

Also Todd after the shooting wanting to know how Mr. White did it, only to get choked out by Jesse was great. I was hoping Walt would have told him he poisoned Lydia to break his heart, but I was ok with his ending.

 

Wouldn't really have broken his heart.

 

See, here's the thing about Todd (and why I think Jesse Plemons needs some Emmy consideration next year). Todd was a true sociopath, not the usual Hollywood psycho. He had no instinct beyond self-preservation and no moral compass beyond self-gratification. He might have lusted for Lydia, and he felt affection for Uncle Jack or Mr. White the way a dog feels for its master, but higher emotions like love were beyond him. Its a perfect self-centeredness because it's a self-centeredness that doesn't understand that there's any other way to think. And that's what made Todd's ending so great: his uncle and friends had taken Walt's money, killed his brother-in-law, threatened his wife and kids, and were about to kill Walt himself, and yet Todd couldn't understand why Walt would kill them. I mean he understood that there were people in life opposed to him, but the idea that there was someone out there who wouldn't just go away via application of force, or that said person might take that attempt at force personally, this was something alien to Todd.

[Joe Lucia]

Jesse choking out Todd was probably the most raw, emotional, personal way to kill someone. And after all the shit Todd put him through, Jesse deserved to do that. I actually jumped up and starting cheering when he wrapped the chain around his neck, as weird as that might sound.

[Phantom Lord]

Jesse choking out Todd was probably the most raw, emotional, personal way to kill someone. And after all the shit Todd put him through, Jesse deserved to do that. I actually jumped up and starting cheering when he wrapped the chain around his neck, as weird as that might sound.

 

That totally makes sense. I mean after Todd popped Jesse's girl in the back of the head you just knew that Todd was going to die at his hands. I figured Jesse would get ahold of a gun and empty a clip into him. Jesse killing Todd in virtually the same way that Walt killed Krazy 8 was kinda poetic in someway.

[Territorial]

Skylar wanted to accept help from Gretchen and Elliott previously. No reason why she would reject that now.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't think Skyler would be the problem.  I can't think the government is going to let someone give Flynn $9 million when the givers are known to be former associates of Walter White.  Granted, they're not connected to a criminal enterprise, so it may pass after an investigation, but an audit could either turn up the fact that the Schwartzes deposited $9 million in cash around the time Walter was in town, or reveal that the money seems to come from nowhere (i.e., that Elliott and Gretchen aren't $9 poorer after giving the gift).  Seems like a fairly large red flag.

 

I seem to be more on the fence about the episode than most people.  I guess I liked it well enough, but didn't love it. 

i'd say it was my least favorite ep of the half season (which still makes it leaps and bounds better than most other shows' best episodes)  As a series, I'd definitely rank the Wire above it, and the Shield finale was better.

 

I kinda feel like the show tried to have it both ways at the end.  The episode goes a long way to redeem Walter White, while denying him a truly happy ending.  None of the major players came out of this with their lives intact.  Walt may yet get to provide for his family, got revenge on his enemies, ensured himself a certain amount of infamy (his legacy), etc., but he ended up losing far more than he won.  Still...

 

I dunno.  With Walt, Gilligan and crew pushed the antihero concept further than most similar shows, and Walt mostly showed far less remorse than, say, Vic Mackey (I'd argue that, at his core, Vic was probably a better person).  It would have been fitting if the finale was Walt finally being taken down by Hank,  Or trying to kill Jesse because Jesse "set everything in motion and caused this".  Or going lone gunman on the Schwartzes.  Instead of Walt getting his comeuppance in a brutal fashion (which he deserved), we got Walt spending his last day trying to be a nice person and set things right.  It seemed a little odd, as if they didn't want to risk ending the show with the audience viewing Walt as an unsympathetic character, 

 

Then again, the end wasn't really out of character for Walt, but it could have gone a lot of other ways too,  That's actually a good thing.  Walt's been such a complex character for five seasons that you could have had him go a bunch of different ways at the end and it would have been in keeping with his character.

[The Comedian]

Let me just say this about all the Shield comparisons. In the end, Walt did what Vic Mackey couldn't: he stopped rationalizing and self-deluding and owned up to his own villainy. At the end of The Shield Vic Mackey still thought he was a good guy who did questionable things for the greater good of his family and friends.

[EVA]

Yeesh. Better Person: Walter White or Vic Mackey? That's a riddle worthy of the Sphinx.

I don't know. I think, for the majority of the show, Walt seemed to buy into his own lie about his reasons for doing the things he did, whereas Vic was always fairly transparent in how he got off on the power of the shield and being King Swinging Dick of the Streets.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Well, they wouldn't be $9 million poorer because they constantly make money. Grey Matter would have to be losing money or barely breaking even for the government to know that. Plus, they can always give it to Walt Jr. in increments.

[Territorial]

Well, they wouldn't be $9 million poorer because they constantly make money. Grey Matter would have to be losing money or barely breaking even for the government to know that. Plus, they can always give it to Walt Jr. in increments.

 

When I wrote that, I was thinking the Schwartzes would be giving the gift personally.  After I thought about it, yeah, if they have a separate charitable foundation established (probably do) or give the money through Gray Matter, it makes it harder to unravel.

 

I've never been sure how much Walt bought into his own story. 

[scraylo187]

Maybe the money thing works out and maybe it doesn't. The important thing is that it's Walt's hail mary to make things right. At this point, it's his intentions that are hugely important, not the results. Sky may not get a deal from the DA's office via the lotto ticket either, but the important thing is that Walt has made an effort at redemption.

 

Also, can we talk about him stalking through Elliot and Gretchen's house like Jason Vorhees? Amazing. I love that so many of the scenes featuring Walt were shot to make him seem like a thing that didn't even exist.

[EVA]

I meant to comment on that last night, but didn't. He's very much shot like a ghost for the first half of that episode. A scary one, then a sad, benevolent one.

[Reed]

Walt didn't really redeem himself. Guy is responsible for God knows how many deaths and has ruined countless lives, and even when he was confessing to Skylar he didn't truly sound sorry. Dude is proud that he built a frigging meth empire.

 

Yeah, he left Walt Jr. money, but that was probably more about his ego than anything else, espescially the way he kept insisting it had to be his money. Same with helping get Skylar in the clear.

 

Only really good thing he did was save Jesse, and even then he turned around and selfishly asked him to kill him because he didn't want to do it himself.

[EVA]

SWEET LORD. The finale pulled in 10 million viewers.

That's an amazing number for cable, period, but even moreso when you consider the show rarely pulled in more than 2 million viewers for most of its existence. Behold the power of Netflix, I guess.

[tigertooth]

Oddly enough, there was this from today's Meltzer update:

 

--This isn't wrestling related, but last night's episode of Breaking Bad was downloaded illegally by more than 500,000 people in the first 12 hours after it aired.  Most downloads were in countries where the show was available, with more in Australia than anywhere else.  The U.S. was second.

[sydneybrown]

SWEET LORD. The finale pulled in 10 million viewers.That's an amazing number for cable, period, but even moreso when you consider the show rarely pulled in more than 2 million viewers for most of its existence. Behold the power of Netflix, I guess.

 

The only negative side to that is the show at its absolute most was watched by 6 million people, so roughly about 3-4 million people just ruined the entire experience of Breaking Bad for themselves because they just had to see how a show they had never watched before ended.

[Joe Lucia]

 

SWEET LORD. The finale pulled in 10 million viewers.That's an amazing number for cable, period, but even moreso when you consider the show rarely pulled in more than 2 million viewers for most of its existence. Behold the power of Netflix, I guess.

 

The only negative side to that is the show at its absolute most was watched by 6 million people, so roughly about 3-4 million people just ruined the entire experience of Breaking Bad for themselves because they just had to see how a show they had never watched before ended.

 

 

Well, live, that's true. Doesn't take VOD, etc into account. Wonder how many people bought episodes on iTunes, Amazon, etc over the previous two months, caught up on DVR, or watched ondemand

[Craig H]

Jesse choking out Todd was probably the most raw, emotional, personal way to kill someone. And after all the shit Todd put him through, Jesse deserved to do that. I actually jumped up and starting cheering when he wrapped the chain around his neck, as weird as that might sound.

 

I was fist pumping like crazy. I kept waiting for Jesse to die or kill himself and it never happened. Choking out Todd was about as cathartic of an experience you can have while watching TV. Same for Jesse breaking free from Walt and driving off. His primal scream was quite the white trash, wannabe thug Andy Dufresne moment.

 

As for Vic vs Walt. I'll echo other statements and say that Vic was very transparent. He knew he was the baddest motherfucker in Farmington and he knew it. He says as much in the pilot: "Good cop and bad cop has left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop." He's always very real too. He really does love his family, but he goes about it in such a fucked up way that it makes you wonder just how awful Vic's parents were. My love for the Shield was pretty much solidified when they have the montage with some song by Coldplay, Vic goes home, sees that Collette and the kids are gone, and Chiklis acts his fucking ass off making it look like his guts are being ripped out, a feeling I'm sure some of us have experienced at some point where you're just grabbing at your stomach and chest, as if you're trying to stuff your heart and intestines back inside. Later on, in the season 4 (?) premiere where they attend Gilroy's funeral, Vic shows his honest again where he knows he's done awful shit, but wants to make up for it telling Rawlings to give him a chance. There was always a sense of honesty to Vic.

 

With Walt, instead of honesty, it was constant subterfuge, like he couldn't own up to becoming the devil he had created. All along he never received credit for anything and never knew how to take credit for anything when offered to him, and when he starts cooking, that success and power quickly goes to his head. He's the worst winner imaginable and rather than just own up to doing this shit for himself, because he doesn't know how to take credit for things, he tries to use his family as a front for his actions. That's a major reason why last night was so satisfying, as other people stated, because Walt was finally able to be honest with himself and Skyler. It's too bad so many fucked up, unavoidable things had to happen first.

[Territorial]

Only really good thing he did was save Jesse, and even then he turned around and selfishly asked him to kill him because he didn't want to do it himself.

 

I haven't watched Talking Bad yet (probably going to rewatch the finale first), but Gilligan apparently said that his take on the final scene was that Walt intended to kill Jesse along with the Aryans, but couldn't do it when he saw what state Jesse was in.  Apparently he still had some feelings for Jesse.

[Reed]

He does care about Jesse, and did save him, but he still turned around and asked him to kill him, which sort of ruined the moment.

[Elsalvajeloco]

He does care about Jesse, and did save him, but he still turned around and asked him to kill him, which sort of ruined the moment.

Care to explain.

[The Damn Yeti]

I think he felt that it really was what Jesse wanted, as well as what he wanted. One last bit of Walt's hubris, or whatever. Assuming he always knew Jesse better than he knows himself. Jesse also backed down after seeing that Walt was wounded and would likely bleed out soon. Perhaps Jesse would have pulled the trigger under different circumstances.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I think that Jesse probably thought to himself, "I've had so many opportunities to kill this motherfucker and vice versa. It won't matter if I kill him because he is going to get his just desserts anyway." With Uncle Jack, Todd, and that gang, they had to be killed and Walt did it. Killing Todd was just the cherry on top. Jesse's gratification was basically not giving Walt the gratification of Jesse doing him in for some ingenious, set everything right plan.