The way I see it, he was a kingpin for all of two episodes last year. Once he made the deal with Declan, he had reached his mountaintop. Since the show does not have 20 years to show a gradual fall, he retired immediately.
Walt actually did have an army of subordinates, we just never saw much of them. When he, Mike, and Jesse were making a go of it, Mike made new arrangements for distribution since the old network was busted up. That's why they were all getting less money initially, because Mike had to develop a new network. You could say Mike was the true kingpin, although it's also fair to say that, as equal partners, Mike, Jesse, and Walt were all kingpins.
Walt was a mastermind who had reached the top of his game even though he wasn't the stereotypical "kingpin" with a playboy mansion, sports cars and hired thugs hanging around the compound. We saw a drug empire, but without the Hollywood gloss.
I think the only important thing is that Walt thinks he is a kingpin. He thinks he has finally reached his potencial and everyone else should respect his success.
What does kingpin mean? Walt reaches a point where no one tells him what to do. Those people who try to control him in that way, reap the consequences. This is the direction that the character is going. He's in charge. It doesn't matter that the outfit is nearly nil & completely chaotic. This is why I think he ain't done with them money grabbing white power ex-cons. That handshake? That handshake said it all. "I'm shaking your hand... for now" It might as well have been Michael kissing Fredo on his face All the kingpin is, is the guy nobody tells what to do, because if they cross that line, they pay the price
Aaron Paul was doing an interview saying if you think the last episode was crazy that was nothing compared to the last two.
Sweet Jesus, I wonder what could top that. You tease, Mr. Paul. I still say Walt rescues Jessie and then Jessie blows Walt's brains out anyway because of Jane. Walt was stupid as hell to fess up to that after all this time.
Well he felt he was fessing up to a dead man and just wanted that journey to be even more miserable, I guess. This is how you end a series, not like Dexter...
He clearly did it to make Jesse suffer, as payback for Hank. "You just took someone I loved away from me, now I'm going to tell you how I took someone you loved away from you." It was petty and vicious but Walt was not exactly thinking long-term in that moment. Plus, as Borgminister said, he fully expected Jesse would be killed as soon as Todd was done getting info out of him. There's nothing to worry about as far as Walt's concerned.
Everything has already been said better by others, but I just want to say that it was an incredible episode. 6 years of story set-up and the whole shebang has finally come crashing down. Wonderful television. It looks like the final two episodes are going to be 15 minutes longer than normal.
I think Walt goes back to kill the Nazis once he finds out they never killed Jesse. Then he kills Jesse, and is still alive with his money back but no family and no friends. The cancer never kills him and he lives for a long time alone and sad.
That was precisely my Facebook status the other day after watching the most recent episode. It's a pity such a great show has slowly gone down the shitter and its final season, which had always seemed like it would be awesome, has been the opposite. Sweet Zombie Jesus! Why am I not watching this right now?!
I don't even give a shit how long or short it is, the anticipation is monumental. This will jump to the top of the list of my most missed tv show of all time, right ahead of Deadwood. TV like this is the only reason to watch tv at all. If Gilligan's next project is another tv show of this caliber, I'll deem him the greatest tv show producer of the 21st century
We have to remember Walt is emotional. Just because he was filled with rage at Jesse at the moment Hank died doesn't mean he'll feel the same way later. All Jesse did was work with Hank, Walt knows that the whole sequence of events leading to Hank's death leads straight back to him. I think Jesse killing Walt is a high likelihood. After season 1 and until the last five minutes of season 2 you would have expected Breaking Bad to be the sort of show where nobody ever finds out and he vanquishes another bad guy every year. I'm so glad Breaking Bad broke the mold and decided to actually progress the story.
I've said all along, there's only 2 ways this can end. Jesse (The guy trying to break good) kills Walt, or no one does, & he outlives pretty much everyone, the former is a world of the just, & the latter is the world of chaos It all depends on which kind of statement the show wants to make. I'm rooting for justice myself, but it can go either way really