My Thoughts On The Breaking Bad Finale, 'Felina'
After I watched the finale of Breaking Bad, my heart was beating a little faster than usual. Not because of what happened, but of the realisation that Breaking Bad is over – for good. I watched the finale again a few days later and I still I have too many thoughts running around in my mind. Where better to document my thoughts than in a blog?
I thought this finale absolutely nailed it and didn’t cheapen the whole series by giving a vague ending. Instead, the writers gave the audience complete closure. Most importantly, I thought that Vince Gilligan played out the character of Walter White so perfectly; as a pro-Walt supporter, I had a sense of relief that he did all the things that he intended to do once he entered the meth business – he made enough money to ensure that his family were financially stable after he died, despite all the deaths along the way. Even if you thought that Walter White was an evil man, I don’t see how it is possible for you to feel completely triumphant after witnessing the death of Walter. That’s because in a strange way, I think that Walter actually found some redemption for his bad deeds, but more on that later.
The show started off with Walter cleverly tracking down Elliot and Gretchen. Walter waiting in the shadows sent shivers down my spine. When Walter went up to the duo and instructed them to give his money to Walter Jnr on his 18th birthday, I was asking myself ‘What is genuinely stopping Elliot and Gretchen reporting this to the authorities?’ Then BANG - Heisenberg shows up with two ‘hitmen’ pointing lasers at the couple. At this point, Walter White knows that he’s a badass and I loved how he used this opportunity to make the couple realise that he is who is he because of them. As a result, both Gretchen and Elliot will have the fear of God inside of them injected by Walter for the rest of their lives – that’s the best revenge that Walter could have hoped for. I also loved how the two ‘hitmen’ turned out to be Badger and Skinny Pete – it reminded me that despite all of the violence and bloodshed, the show can still offer moments of light comedy. Walter’s initial main aim was to make sure that his family were financially stable in an unsuspicious manner and he did just that, which began Walter’s path to eventual relative redemption.
Next we move onto the scene in the café where Todd and Lydia were having their scheduled weekly meetings. Here, we all witnessed Walter White’s manipulation skills at full force. I always thought that the ricin could be for Walt – how wrong was I? Walter’s discretionary sugar-swap was masterfully disguised – one that cigarette-swapper, Huell, would be proud of. But what impressed me the most is the way Walter manipulated Todd and Lydia to arrange a meeting with Uncle Jack by proposing an inevitably-doomed business plan, coupled with his exaggerated coughs to make Walter seem weaker than he really is. Walter, of course knew that Lydia wouldn’t agree with him– he only had one thought on his mind, and that was to exact revenge on the Neo-Nazi gang for stealing his money, but I think more importantly to seek revenge for the death for his beloved brother-in-law, Hank, and to protect his intellectual property.
Walter knew that once he enters his showdown with Uncle Jack, that his life was going to be taken somehow. He visited his family one last time to say goodbye and tie up any loose ends – and it was well-handled. After the frantic phone call from Marie, Walter entered the scene from behind the thin pillar – which I thought was an excellent testament to the directing skills of the Breaking Bad team, which was consistent throughout all of the seasons. Walter’s further acts of redemption continued when he gave the co-ordinates of Hank’s burial site, where he simultaneously cleared his name with Skylar regarding Hank’s death. Although Skylar didn’t forgive him, she finally had closure from Walt, which is more than she could possibly hope for. Throughout the show, Walter is known to be a constant liar with his family and friends – and a good one at that. However, one thing which impressed me was when Walter finally admitted that he got into the meth business, not for his family, but for himself - I respected that. I thought it was another great testament to the show’s intelligent writing to portray realism, which is so important in a TV show like this. Walter’s honesty before his death was really nice to see and it reminded me of his gentleness and innocence before he went into the meth business – this is why I think even the die-hard anti-Walt supporters will not completely feel victorious after his death.
We move onto the inevitable showdown with the Nazis, where Walter pretty much made the America’s Neo-Nazi population become obsolete. With some shows, it is easy to predict what is happening and it can get boring after a while, unless directors go about executing the prediction in an innovative way. It was pretty obvious that Walter would take out the Nazi gang, but I was really impressed with how he went about killing them using his improvised M60 contraption, which rang echoes of the time when Walt devised a bomb which killed Gus Fring – DING-DING-DING-DING-DING! I may be wrong, but I think Walter called for Jesse to be present during his massacre, so he could kill him for his betrayal. He then saw how Jesse has gone through enough suffering and decided to spare his life by wrestling him to the ground so he could protect him – Walter’s final act of redemption.
The real showdown which people were looking to was between Walter and Jesse – and boy did it not disappoint. Before that, Jesse choked Todd (who continuously tortured Jesse) to death, and I thought it was the perfect way for Jesse to release all the rage he has been building up all this time and gave the audience a glimpse of how angry Jesse is. Jesse declined the opportunity to kill Walt as he already saw that he was wounded. There was barely any dialogue between Jesse and Walt in the finale, but the silence spoken a thousand words. The finale demonstrated that the two characters ultimately have a strong mutual respect for each other which only they can fully understand, and I thought that was the perfect way to end things between the both of them.
I liked that Walt’s eventual death was caused by his own bullet, which symbolises that his downfall was all brought upon by himself. His death in the meth lab was poetic in a way – he died in the one place where he truly felt at home and a place where he started his legacy. I didn’t know the name of the song at the end whilst I was watching the finale, but I eventually found out that the song is called Baby Blue by Badfinger which I thought was quite fitting.
Just to be clear, I think Walter has only partially redeemed himself – it is impossible to find redemption for all of the horrific things that he has done, and the show made that perfectly clear. The finale did have a few happy coincidences (the key falling onto his lap and how nobody recognised him when he was in the café with Lydia), but I can ignore all of that. I appreciate the fact that this show has spent so much time investing in developing these great characters and that’s why I can cut the show some slack regarding the coincidences. Not only did this finale tie up loose ends, but I thought it reminded the audience about all the good things about the show that have been consistent from seasons 1-5. I have made many incorrect predictions throughout this show and I love the fact that it continued to surprise me. The directing, the actors, the cinematography and the writing were absolutely second to none. This is the only show which made me forget that I was watching a fictional drama, which is the highest compliment I can give to any show, which is why Breaking Bad is the greatest show of all time.
