Breaking Bad Series Finale Recap

I thought it was going to be different. I thought it was going to be darker. More depressing. It went out with a more heroic, upbeat bang.

And I fucking loved it.

I think this day and age, in this golden era of TV, after several disappointments and flops during highly anticipated finales, tying up all loose ends in the final conclusion is almost more important than creating a single episode of “artwork.” The brilliance of Breaking Bad was never hinging upon one final episode. The Finale was about satisfaction and closure for a show that has already proven itself with the 61 episodes that preceded it. 75 more minutes was not going to make the series, but as we’ve seen with Tony Soprano, it can certainly break a series. There’s no need to trick the viewers or go for shock value. No need to reach or stretch with a surprise twist. The most important piece of the finale was to finish the story. And nobody can argue that Breaking Bad wasn’t finished. I feel like Gilligan learned from the mistakes of Lost and Sopranos. He left nothing up to the imagination or interpretation. In his words he “made sure to cross the T’s and dot the I’s.” I’m sure some hardcore artsy assholes out there will think that this ending was simplistic or predictable (Sidenote: I don’t think it was predictable. I think that episode could have gone several ways, its just easy to play the “predictable” card since it ended as upbeat as it could have given the dark circumstances.) That by wrapping everything up neatly with a bow that its somehow less creative or cheap. The type that think a fade to black which leaves the viewer to come up with their own ending is more powerful. Fuck all that noise. You know why? Simple: I’m not as good of a storyteller as fucking Vince Gilligan is. My imagination isn’t as good as his. I don’t want to come up with my own interpretive ending – I wanted to watch a finale where he saw the entire project through – where he concluded the saga the way he thought it should be concluded. He did just that. And it was the gratifying and cathartic resolution we wanted.

I think the only person who got more closure and more satisfaction than the Breaking Bad viewers, was Walter White himself. The Walter White/Heisenberg Farewell Tour went just about as perfect as it could have gone for both of those men. They saw everyone they needed to see, did almost everything he needed to do. This man launched a dangerous double life over two years earlier, and on his last day alive, he concluded all his business with his family, the police, his old partner, his enemies, and most importantly, himself. For the first time in 5 seasons, Walter White was finally honest. Finally admitting to his wife he did everything for himself. Finally admitted he liked life as Heisenberg. No more cop out, hiding behind the “Everything I did, I did for this family” excuse. He finally comes to terms and admits the fact that he loved the success, the recognition, the power. As Walter White began to die from cancer, he never felt more “alive,” as he put it, when he became his dark alter ego. And by finally admitting this to himself, and reconciling the two sides to himself, thats how he truly “won” last night. Both sides of him, smiling at peace, as they die in the lab: Walter White knows his family will receive the money to secure their future, and Heisenberg dies knowing his legacy as the great and powerful mastermind behind the Blue Sky will be solidified exactly how he wanted it to be.

I think what I loved most importantly as the last act is that it all wrapped up while staying true to the Walter White character and the entire series. He didn’t go Rambo with that M60 and all the sudden become a Hollywood action hero. He didn’t murder the Schwartz’s in cold blood for some revenge satisfaction. He used science and wit and manipulation to carry out his final scheme. The Red dots, and the 2 most deadly assassins in the southwest was classic Walter White smoke and mirrors. Intimidation and manipulation rather than violence. Rigging the machine gun to be propped up and automated, once last science project to beat the opposition. It was Walt using his brain and maneuvering and exploiting any advantage he could – just like we’ve come to expect.

And yet Vince Gilligan did give us a couple moments one moment of cold blooded, sadistic satisfaction when Walter and Jesse dispense of the Nazis. First leaving Todd alive during the massacre to allow Jesse to finally kill him. Jesse vs. Anti-Jesse in a confrontation thats been boiling up since the Train Heist. This showdown may have been predictable but goddamit we wanted it. We craved that revenge, and we got it. And then probably the most badass moment of the finale, when Walt shot Uncle Jack directly in the face. In a way, just how Jesse and Todd were foils, Jack and Walt were contrasts as well. 2 men, both “in charge.” One man who’s always done things for the right reasons, tried to avoid hurting innocent people, and always used his brain over violence. The other a cold blooded simpleton. A Nazi murderer, as low as it gets. Equals but opposites kinda. And just as hubris and arrogance was the downfall of Walter White, it was the downfall of Jack Welker. If he had his men put one in Walter’s head as soon as he walked in the clubhouse, he wins. But Walter plays on his pride. Accuses him of being a liar. Having no honor. Jack’s personal arrogance overtakes him, just as Heisenberg had overtaken Walter White. It was that impulsive behavior and hubris that gave Walter one more opportunity to massacre the Nazis. And it left us with Uncle Jack on the ground, getting shot in the face mid sentence, just as he had done to Hank. Trying to beg and bribe Walter with the money, and Walt pulls the trigger mid sentence. Solidifying that this show and this saga never really was about money. It was about one man trying to make everything right in the face of certain death. Whether that meant cooking meth to try to provide his family with money before dying from cancer, or finally wasting Jack Welker as he knows he’s going to die that night, Walter White made it right.

Finally, in the last piece of closure everyone wanted, we conclude the Jesse Pinkman Walter White relationship. One last scene of Walter White telling his former student what to do, and Jesse Pinkman finally telling him to go fuck himself. Finally not giving him what he wanted. Breaking free from the Nazis, but almost more importantly, breaking free from Mr. White. Part of me thinks in reality, a person in Jesse’s shoes would absolutely murder the shit out of Walt. That man was responsible for such an enormous amount of pain and suffering for him and the innocent people he loved, I think “in reality” someone in Jesse Pinkman’s shoes would unload on Walter until the clip was empty. I even thought for sure Jesse was gonna back over Walter once he got in the car. Then thought for sure he was gonna mow him down from the front too. 3 times in the final couple minutes that I thought Jesse was finally going to off Mr. White but he never cracked. He was able to withstand that inner desire for revenge because at heart, Jesse has always represented the closest thing to a pure heart in the Breaking Bad saga. He said he wanted nobody else to die, and he stuck by it. He’s finally free to go pursue a new life. Get back to being that guy who created that wooden box for his mother. Its just now he has the perspective to not trade it for an ounce of weed.

And thats where it ends. Gilligan gave us the satisfying deaths of everyone that deserved it. He gave us the final exchange between Jesse and Walter. We know his family will be cared for. We know how the Heisenberg legacy concluded. And we know how it all ended for Walter White, because it ended for us viewers the same way: smiling and satisfied in a crystal meth lab. Just about as “happily ever after” is it can get for the greatest drug saga of all time.

 

PS – Lets take care of some quick business with the Breaking Bad Ricin Pool. 441 people picked Lydia to be the ricin recipient, but only 2 people provided such detail with the rest of their predictions on the conclusion. The first is @TFerg88 who correctly chose Lydia and predicted “Walt kills Lydia w/ the ricin, frees Jesse, Jesse kills Todd, Walt kills the Nazis but dies, Walt gets his money to Skylar, Jesse lives happily ever after.” Thats pretty much Felina in a nutshell right there. The second winner was Tim Hunt. He predicted “Walt gets the grey matter people by the balls and gets to launder his money through them to his family. Lydia gets the ricin. She doesn’t like messy deaths and she doesn’t get one for herself… she drinks it thinking it’s splenda or whatever sugar she likes in her coffee. Jesse lives… Walt somehow sees him in a vulnerable state and the caring side of him returns. He forgives Jesse… Jesse kills Todd and/or Main Nazi guy because either/both of them aren’t wearing their masks. Could be totally wrong, but will definitely be one of the best finales of all time.” Slightly off at the ending thinking it was going to be death-by-meth, but I had to recognize him for correctly predicting that Walt would manipulate Grey Matter into paying his family the money. So congrats to Tim and @TFerg88 holler at me for your free t shirt.

That was the last episode of Breaking Bad we’ll ever get to hypothesize and predict and analyze and scrutinize. As much as it sucks to see it go, I wouldn’t even want to ever watch another one. Gilligan left it all on the field. Absolutely perfect ending.