Dexter, you suck.
Breaking Bad Final Half Season
- Thread starter Chuck Finley
- Start date
Like others said, a solid episode but not the best ever. It was a little to pat for me. After the intensity leading up to it the actual finale was just a lot of clean closure. I loved the scene with him setting up the money for his kids because I had no idea where he was going with that. But aside from that there weren't many questions in the episode. It was pretty clear what was going to happen and the only real moment of tension in the end was whether or not Jesse kills Walt. I'm sad the show is gone but I think the ending of the Wire was more meaningful for me.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Just saw this on FB, in case anyone was interested about the meaning of the episode's title:
According to the EW interview with Gilligan the other proposed endings were
1. Jesse kills walt. They chose not to do it as they felt that Jesse was not a killer.
2. Walt get's away with it all. In a way he does win and get away with it, just not completely
3. Walt is the only survivor and the show ends with him standing in the wreckage that he created. They thought it would be too much for the fans.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/30/breaking-bad-finale-vince-gilligan/
1. Jesse kills walt. They chose not to do it as they felt that Jesse was not a killer.
2. Walt get's away with it all. In a way he does win and get away with it, just not completely
3. Walt is the only survivor and the show ends with him standing in the wreckage that he created. They thought it would be too much for the fans.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/30/breaking-bad-finale-vince-gilligan/
I tend to agree on all counts. Walt was a dying man who at the onset chose his death. Death by meth cook. The audience needed to see that conclusion. It reminded me of Mike's death. I also think we needed to see Jesse liberated, not just from captivity, but from his ongoing curse.
I don't think it needed more action at all. It's not about a big showdown, it's about intelligence & resourcefulness overpowering might. I think the best thing they did with Todd's character, besides killing him off, was to survive him long enough after the massacre to actually see how Walt had beaten them
VG mentioned a dropped scene on Talking Bad, in which Heisenberg get's made by a former student of Walt's, & in the end asks the kid if he was a good teacher, & They dropped it because of time restraints
I too think it was unnecessary, because we get the answer to that question at the end anyway. Clearly he was a good teacher if he can take two different kids, young enough to be his students, one who actually was, & demonstrate his meth process well enough that they could make it just as well, even though they probably knew shit all about chemistry
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrjPiT0lT_E[/yt]
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I was satisfied with the finale, though I can't say I was blown away. I'm not sure yet whether the small feeling of let-down is just due to unreasonable expectations. But much of the way things unfolded was down to just dumb luck rather than the scientific precision Walt had prided himself on: A nationally-known fugitive driving thousands of miles in a stolen car, easily bypassing the Schwartzes' security, the Albuquerque police/DEA being so bad at stakeouts, the server getting the stevia from just the right table, everybody at the clubhouse being in the machine gun's line of fire.
Walt took responsibility for breaking bad. But his final success at laundering his money, in a very clever way that allowed Flynn to have his cake and eat it too, seemed like maybe more of a triumph than he deserved.
Jesse's future looks to be pretty dire, his escape a last moment of exhilaration before his past and lack of options catch up with him. His confession video will no doubt soon be in the hands of the police.
The machine gun-combined-with-automatic-sprinkler idea was great, I got a kick out of that.
The final scene was one of BB's trademark "impossible POV," which seemed fitting. It also owed something to Taxi Driver, which was also done by Boardwalk Empire last year.
Taken as three acts, the last three episodes were very satisfying overall, and a good end to a great show, probably in my all-time top five. It may be a while before another show comes along that has me anticipating new episodes so keenly. Well done to VG and everyone involved.
Walt took responsibility for breaking bad. But his final success at laundering his money, in a very clever way that allowed Flynn to have his cake and eat it too, seemed like maybe more of a triumph than he deserved.
Jesse's future looks to be pretty dire, his escape a last moment of exhilaration before his past and lack of options catch up with him. His confession video will no doubt soon be in the hands of the police.
The machine gun-combined-with-automatic-sprinkler idea was great, I got a kick out of that.
The final scene was one of BB's trademark "impossible POV," which seemed fitting. It also owed something to Taxi Driver, which was also done by Boardwalk Empire last year.
Taken as three acts, the last three episodes were very satisfying overall, and a good end to a great show, probably in my all-time top five. It may be a while before another show comes along that has me anticipating new episodes so keenly. Well done to VG and everyone involved.
Chuck Finley
Commander
I will definitely be making that ASAP.
Thought it was a great ending, and yet.....
Part of me was kinda hoping for something a bit more messy and chaotic for the final episode. As cool as it was seeing Walter orchestrate his plan and out-think everybody one last time, it almost seemed like he was TOO much in control (the only time he had to scramble at all was when his keys got taken away).
I think I would have preferred to see him be more of the desperate and frazzled Walt at the end, and a bit less of the calm and confident Heisenberg.
Part of me was kinda hoping for something a bit more messy and chaotic for the final episode. As cool as it was seeing Walter orchestrate his plan and out-think everybody one last time, it almost seemed like he was TOO much in control (the only time he had to scramble at all was when his keys got taken away).
I think I would have preferred to see him be more of the desperate and frazzled Walt at the end, and a bit less of the calm and confident Heisenberg.
Pretty much summed up my feelings about the finale.. the best episode of the show will forever be "Ozymandias" but the finale closed all storylines and the story itself.
I don't see a problem with that. Most of them weren't that bad just pointing out how you can end a show well and not like LOST.
Me too... Of course, we like tourists to come to ABQ and buy it here..
The Candy Lady
She also has a section in the story where she sells "naughty candy" suitable for, well, more adult candy fans..
Oy vey, it's really time that the internet had an enema, as I am so sick of its overwhelming hateful, rude population.
Except that is all subjective opinion and not some sort of fact delivered in a courtroom setting... I love the finale for "Lost", so in my opinion they did everything right with it. "Lost" is a completely different type of series than "Breaking Bad", one with a "faith vs. science" debate and a massive cast of characters, and therefore doesn't need the same type of closure. You might as well say that "The Sopranos" needed a finale more similar to the end of "Cheers".
Each of these long running series display different tones, styles and storytelling structures, thus they each require a finale that represents that specific show. There is no one, single way to end a series, otherwise it would have been patented by now and we'd see the same thing all the time... which would be boring, by the way. And just because you didn't enjoy the "Lost" finale is not the fault of those who created it. They needed to tell the story that they wanted to tell and that's it. It's presented to an audience, it works for some and not for others, that is the result of all art. Even some people don't like "Citizen Kane", but is it worth bad-mouthing Orson Welles over it?
The problem is that they attack the creators on a personal level, which is uncalled for. They act like petulant children who think they were promised a pony for their birthday and didn't get it, when in fact no such promise was ever made. They lash out at Lindelof and Cuse personally for somehow not meeting their own individual demands for a show, when it's impossible to meet every single audience member's demands.
If I don't like a TV show or movie, I don't then blame the creators for somehow failing me, I simply understand the fact that I am not the perfect audience for all entertainment, it is not all crafted to my specific likes & tastes. I understand the fact that the person sitting next to me might enjoy that same TV show or movie that I didn't and since we viewed the exact same entertainment and it worked for them, then the only variable is me. But I then don't go online and trash the creators of shows and movies for somehow, inexplicably not crafting a piece of entertainment that I am guaranteed to enjoy. It's just immature.
I agree with your sentiment about civility. Too much has been lost in the internet age. Looking at how the shows were ended, however, is a different story entirely.
IMO, Lost and NuBSG both suffered from an odd writing style and a certain level of mismanagement. They tried to cram too many cool/spiritual/philosophical/whiz bang things for them to live up to their own hype in the end. The show-runners alone were responsible for the expectations they set during the course of their shows and I don't think it's terribly unreasonable for the fans to expect a higher standard of an ending to match the bar set for the rest of the show. Sopranos went even farther and treated us all to a non-ending after years of major hiatuses and half-seasons - the very height of pretentiousness. Hell, at least Lost and NuBSG made an attempt to have some kind of closure, no matter how meager. Sopranos never even tried - if ever there was reason to threaten bodily harm to a show runner, that would have been it! I jest, of course, but still, don't cock-tease your fanbase throughout many years of set-up and loyal following, only to walk out without the happy ending (or any ending at all)! Some people will always react viscerally to something they feel like they have a vested interest in, particularly if they feel like they were kicked in the nuts like some of the fore-mentioned shows. What they don't realize, is that not every ending can be a M*A*S*H "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" or TNG "All Good Things".
IMO, Lost and NuBSG both suffered from an odd writing style and a certain level of mismanagement. They tried to cram too many cool/spiritual/philosophical/whiz bang things for them to live up to their own hype in the end. The show-runners alone were responsible for the expectations they set during the course of their shows and I don't think it's terribly unreasonable for the fans to expect a higher standard of an ending to match the bar set for the rest of the show. Sopranos went even farther and treated us all to a non-ending after years of major hiatuses and half-seasons - the very height of pretentiousness. Hell, at least Lost and NuBSG made an attempt to have some kind of closure, no matter how meager. Sopranos never even tried - if ever there was reason to threaten bodily harm to a show runner, that would have been it! I jest, of course, but still, don't cock-tease your fanbase throughout many years of set-up and loyal following, only to walk out without the happy ending (or any ending at all)! Some people will always react viscerally to something they feel like they have a vested interest in, particularly if they feel like they were kicked in the nuts like some of the fore-mentioned shows. What they don't realize, is that not every ending can be a M*A*S*H "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" or TNG "All Good Things".
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