Breaking Bad Final Half Season

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Chuck Finley, Aug 6, 2013.

  1. Venardhi

    Venardhi Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm pretty sure Walt wasn't bleeding nearly enough to die from that ricochet, and Jesse seemingly went barreling down the road straight into a swarm of cops. I'm not entirely sure what that imaginary epilogue looks like, but it is nice to be able to just end it there (at the TV ending) and say Jesse got away and found a decent life for himself out there somewhere, and that Walt finally got to die on his terms with his original goal accomplished.
     
  2. Ryan8bit

    Ryan8bit Commodore Commodore

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    The one thing I find weird about Jesse driving off is that I wonder if the Nazis ever actually destroyed his confession tape, or if they were simply just watching it. There wasn't any indication that they broke it, so when the cops raid the place, there is a chance that they might see the tape and then all of a sudden Jesse is in deep shit. That's not exactly a happy ending for him as he's now gotta be on the run. Except this time he doesn't have Saul or any money to help him get to Alaska. All he really has is a lot of torment. His escape certainly must have felt good in the short term, but he is still going to have a lot of long term grief over it.
     
  3. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    The cops could just as well assume Jesse's buried somewhere. I don't think it's likely the Nazis destroyed much evidence, considering they had a meth lab running in the barn next door--kind of hard to deny any knowledge of that, so why get rid of anything else?
     
  4. PKerr

    PKerr Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Great series with a satisfying ending, I applaud the creators, writers actors and everyone involved with such an awesome show.

    You have to love a writer that goes back to fix a continuity error on something 95% of us would have never caught or really cared about if we did catch it.
     
  5. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    It looked to me like that bullet was in one of Walt's vital organs, and when the cops were standing over him at the end they were reacting like they would to a corpse, not a wanted criminal.

    As for Jesse, whether he gets away depends on whether anybody in the world has any reason to think he's alive. If the cops do find a confession tape they'll assume the Nazis murdered him. Remember, the last time anybody currently alive saw Jesse it was Marie, as he went off with Hank to the place he got killed, and none of his friends have seen him since.

    We also don't know what the time delay was between Jesse speeding off and the cops showing up.
     
  6. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    It's pretty obvious that Walt is dead by the end. This speculation that he wasn't is kind of silly. Thematically, emotionally, and storytelling-wise for Walt to still be alive just kills the momentum of the entire episode.

    As for Jesse, there was a great BuzzFeed article (ugh, I can't believe I just said that) about how for most of the series, anytime he'd be in a car with someone (Walt, Mike, Hank) he was never in control, never free... the point of his last scene isn't that he's going to have some easy carefree life, the point is that at last he *is* free. And that's why we got that crazy happy laugh from him. Vince Gilligan noted that Jesse's life wasn't going to instantly be cupcakes and roses, but pointed out two things:

    1) Jesse's arc had the opposite trajectory of Walt's, and that the writers all felt that he had earned a modicum of a happy ending after everything he'd been through.

    2) Gilligan himself likes to believe Jesse "got away" and was able to start over, but obviously intends for each of us to come to our own conclusions about it.
     
  7. TheGodBen

    TheGodBen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Great ending. It wasn't the best episode of the show, and nothing truly unexpected happened, but that worked in its favour. There were no unnecessary twists, no gimmicks, the finale was true to the characters and the story and ended in just the right way.

    My favourite scene was Walt's confession that he did it all because it made him feel good. Most of the audience knew that all along, but it felt good to hear Walt finally admitting it to himself. It was interesting seeing Skyler's reaction to that, the relief she felt. I had never really thought about it before, but it must have been painful for her to hear Walt using her and the family as the excuse for his evil deeds all this time, as though she held some responsiblity for all the death and misery that Walt had caused.

    I also liked that there was no flash forward to see if things had worked out for everyone. Did Flynn get the money? Did Skyler escape a prison sentence? Did Jesse get a clean start? Maybe. Walt thinks that they will, and he went to his grave thinking that, which is what matters most for the story. To confirm or deny any of that would cheapen the ending in my opinion.

    I think many would agree that Breaking Bad is that rarest of things in television; a show where the final season is its best.
     
  8. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    Really, you could just view "Ozymandias" and "Granite State" as the "big" finales of the series. "Felina" was much more of an epilogue itself, that last little tease at the end of the book to cross all the "t"s and dot the "i"s.

    And I agree with TheGodBen - I like that they didn't flash forward to show how things turned out for everyone. Saul, Skyler, Flynn, etc. Ultimately this wasn't their story, it was Walt's (and Jesse's). But more importantly, real life doesn't work that way.

    We don't get a great Six Feet Under montage at the end of some chapter in our lives, no matter how much we may want it. And for a show like Breaking Bad, that kind of ending would have diminished what we got.

    Was it the best series finale of all time? No. But was it perfect for Breaking Bad? Absolutely.
     
  9. Turd Ferguson

    Turd Ferguson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Now THAT'S how you do a finale! If it hadn't been for all the trouble Hank went through (the gunshot wounds, car wreck by Walt, death for him and Gomez by Nazis), then the DEA should be really thankful Heisenberg came along, since he essentially dismantled the entire crystal meth operations of several states and at least three separate countries.
     
  10. Seven of Five

    Seven of Five Stupid Sexy Flanders! Premium Member

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    Certainly not the best Breaking Bad episode, but a fitting conclusion nevertheless. Walt confessing to Skylar that he was in it for himself was a brilliant moment for both characters. So was Jesse finally killing Todd.

    I'm gonna miss the show.
     
  11. Caligula

    Caligula Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That's good enough for me. Breaking Bad is his baby, and so if he says Jesse "got away" then I'll believe it, too. :techman:
     
  12. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Cops don't assume anyone is dead unless they have a body, or at least very strong evidence of a death. As I see it, Jesse's best hope is that Hank screwed up the case to the extent that a lot of evidence is inadmissible. But there will be a list of agencies looking to pick up Jesse Pinkman, and prosecutors looking to put someone connected to the Heisenberg operation in the dock. If he doesn't get picked up immediately, he'll be looking over his shoulder for the foreseeable future. Who knows, maybe he'll turn himself in?
     
  13. Snaploud

    Snaploud Admiral Admiral

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    I think it's likely that they destroyed the tape. We're talking about evidence of multiple homicides, after all.
     
  14. stj

    stj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Despite the quote from Gilligan, the flashback to Jesse lovingly crafting a box that he gives away for dope suggests that Jesse is doomed.

    The episode makes the most sense as a dying delirium, instead of a series of real events. Briefly, too much of the episode was impossible. In its own terms, the plot requires that Walt dies of cancer in the cabin, and Robert Forster gets the money, and Jesse is a slave until he's killed, by his own hand or someone else's, Skylar's in jail and Marie is all alone. And, Todd, Deus Ex Machina made flesh, shacks up with Lydia.

    In the end, the episode is jury-rigged so that Walt wins most of the control he sought so desperately rather than face his mortality and achieves courage and serenity in the face of death. For me, the finest expression of what Walt has really been about was his hysteria in the crawlspace. Undoing that, turning Walt into a brave man, is obviously a very popular dramatic choice. Obviously in that sense Gilligan has succeeded triumphantly.

    Personally I can't help but feel that Walt's impotence when trying to tyrannize Saul, or manipulate Forster's character, should have been finished with his impotence in mastering his fear. Walt broke when he was diagnosed with cancer. I can't really believe that success in the empire business would regenerate his moral integrity.

    I admit the pressures to glorify Walt must have been enormous. (And, I think that even if you were going to go that direction that the contrast between Walt's antihero and Jesse's antivillian really should have been key to the resolution.) Nonetheless, I don't think you can say the series ended well.
     
  15. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think the thing to remember about Jesse's future is that his confession tape means nothing if he's dead, & if they dig up Hank where the lottery ticket leads them, then they'll find evidence of Jesse's head being shot open on Hank's phone. The strong likelihood is that they'll assume he somehow got killed while Hank & Steve were working with him, & then of course Hank & Steve we're killed by the monstrous Heisenberg too

    That's about as much of a free pass as Jesse could possibly ask for, & despite what people want to think, he has no chance of doing anything personally for Brock, who almost certainly had some kind of outside involvement following the death of his mother, in the time it took Jesse's hair to get that long... months maybe?

    Jesse won't be able to take Brock away, & it might be stupid of him to show his face, being suspected dead
     
  16. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    :lol: I hadn't thought of that. Good point!
    Yep - he's probably a ward of the state now at the very least, at most sent to a foster home - well beyond Jesse's access.
     
  17. marillion

    marillion Vice Admiral Admiral

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  18. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah I kinda felt the same way, and thought Walt was able to take control and manipulate events a little too easily in the finale. And that there were a few too many contrivances along the way (from the cops not checking the area of the bar more thoroughly, to the ultra-rich Graymatter couple not having better security, to being able to park his car in the perfect spot in order to kill all the Nazis, etc).

    Although I also think Cranston's subtle and powerful performance does a lot to ground the story and still make it work well anyway. It may have been a bit too much of an "ideal" ending for Walt, and it probably would have been more realistic to see him go out being much more desperate and afraid, but I don't think he was completely glorified here either.

    Ultimately even if it wasn't my preferred ending, I still think it works quite well.
     
  19. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    The Schwarz security thing that people keep bringing up is not really relevant. Walt never breached their security. Mrs Schwarz pressed like 20 numbers to shut off the house alarm - Walt was sitting outside in the shadows the entire time and never got in the house until they unlocked it and failed to reactivate the system. People do that all the time, because nobody ever thinks someone is waiting to break in until it's too late. Walt simply exploited their laziness. Nothing contrived about it.
     
  20. Skellington

    Skellington Part-time poltergeist Rear Admiral

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    On the last episode of Talking Bad, Jonathan Banks (Mike) said that he reckoned Jesse ended up looking after Brock. I kind if like that idea. Myself, I had previously thought that maybe he'd end up going through college and becoming a chemistry teacher, so his story and Walt's basically meet while going in opposite directions.

    Also thought maybe Jesse would execute Todd point blank, 'cause what would a dramatic finale be without an execution? As it happens, though, I think Vince Gilligan used the episode to remind us that Jesse is basically a decent guy underneath it all. I think Walt's final gesture - giving Jesse the opportunity to kill him - was in part a recognition of that and in part an apology.