Emmet Russell
King Koopa
Quieter
The best wrestler on earth.
Posts: 12,526
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Post by Emmet Russell on Sept 30, 2013 0:44:52 GMT -5
Completely loved the episode.
There's only one thing I would of done myself, personally. When Walt was about to die, I was hoping he'd have wrote 'Heisenberg' on the gas mask -- getting slower & slower before collapsing on the ground, not completing the writing to signify it's over.
Thank you, Breaking Bad. I miss you already.
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spyda
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,307
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Post by spyda on Sept 30, 2013 0:47:46 GMT -5
Meanwhile in the DEA safe house
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,153
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Sept 30, 2013 0:50:26 GMT -5
But seriously, Lavell Crawford needs to lose weight yesterday.
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Allie Kitsune
Crow T. Robot
Always Feelin' Foxy.
HaHa U FaLL 4 LaVa TriK
Posts: 46,840
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Post by Allie Kitsune on Sept 30, 2013 0:52:17 GMT -5
The only thing is that I would have liked to have seen Walt get f***ed over a bit more. He does get that whole "I get to go out on top and win" ending even in death, when he should have had an embarrassing, shit-his-own-pants death where he's busted back down to something less than Meth Jesus before dying in some humiliating, pathetic fashion. Or at least like The Departed, where {Spoiler}{Spoiler}just when it looks like he's going to get away with it, someone we all forgot about makes a return and fills him with lead. EDIT : How do I get my spoiler tags to show up in yellow text like the rest of you do?
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 28,258
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Post by chazraps on Sept 30, 2013 0:54:20 GMT -5
Meanwhile in the DEA safe house Yeah, they left the fate of Huell, Brock and the spider in Todd's jar open for a possible film.
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,153
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Sept 30, 2013 0:55:47 GMT -5
The only thing is that I would have liked to have seen Walt get f***ed over a bit more. He does get that whole "I get to go out on top and win" ending even in death, when he should have had an embarrassing, shit-his-own-pants death where he's busted back down to something less than Meth Jesus before dying in some humiliating, pathetic fashion. Or at least like The Departed, where {Spoiler}{Spoiler}just when it looks like he's going to get away with it, someone we all forgot about makes a return and fills him with lead. EDIT : How do I get my spoiler tags to show up in yellow text like the rest of you do? His family hates him, he's public enemy number 1, and he's dead. Killing some Nazis does not change that fact. It's just doing your best to save face before your inevitable, lonely death. Sure he went out on top....in the meth world. How much does that really matter though? In the real world? There's no lower he could have gone. That just sounds like adding stuff that really doesn't need to be there. I think it's random whether or not your spoiler will appear white or yellow. I'm not sure you can do anything about that yourself.
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y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,714
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Post by y4j1981 on Sept 30, 2013 1:14:19 GMT -5
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Post by "Trickster Dogg" James Jesse on Sept 30, 2013 1:36:41 GMT -5
Thing is, we've been challenged enough during the course of the series. Remember, last episode, the man sees clearly exactly just how much his actions have screwed everything up and the only way to fix it is to admit how badly he messed up, do the best he can to do right by his family, and accept whatever comes his way. He was already on the way to that after he was put in handcuffs by Hank. You put too much of what you're talking about and it falls into the, as the Nostalgia critic puts it, "ASK ME WHAT IT MEEEAAAAANNNSS!" territory where the creator/producer/director/whatever tries to add some extra message that doesn't need to be added to make his or herself look like the most innovative, smartest creators in all of entertainment when all they did was needlessly complicate things. I've seen enough of that in Hollywood lately(Looking at you, Christopher Nolan) and it's actually refreshing to see a show end the way it logically should in the context of the events that happened before the finale with no extra nonsense that doesn't need to be there. Not to mention we know what he's done and no one here thinks he was really redeemed that much. There was no way he was ever going to go back to what he was, it's long past too late for that. All he could do is figure out what works best for the people he cared about because he's long past the point of no return. He made too many enemies and become way too involved for him to have some sort of happy ending. Now, if they went in to this trying to get over that it somehow wasn't his fault and that he's been screwed over by someone other than himself, than I would have had an issue. As it is, it ended how it was supposed to. I think there are two kinds of irony at work with "Breaking Bad." The first is tragic irony, which is to say that "Breaking Bad" is effectively Greek tragedy. The protagonist of the story has three fatal flaws: his pride; his lust for power; and his denial that the first two flaws will not negatively affect either he or his family. And those three fatal flaws end up being Walt's ruin. "To'hajilee, "Ozymandias," and "Granite State" all work as the dramatic ending of the narrative, in which we can easily say 'if only Walt had done this' or 'if only Walt had not done that', with "Felina" functioning like a coda to wrap up the flashforward narrative set up in "Live Free or Die" and "Blood Money." I think one of the most powerful lines of the show was when Walt broke down when he was on the phone with Flynn and said that all his work cannot have been for nothing from the episode "Granite State." And how nihilistic of an ending would it have been if Walt DIDN'T get the money to his family, if he DIDN'T save Jesse (or killed Jesse himself), if he DIDN'T die content with the fact that he died knowing that his name will live in infamy as a legend. But such an ending could only be earned if everyone complicit with Walt's schemes, including Skyler, Marie, and Walt Jr. (he DID accept the car as a birthday gift) died, leaving only the Fool character (Saul Goodman) and the irreducibly innocent (Holly and Brock) to live. That would have been the ending I would have liked to have seen, because Walt's fatal flaws are all that he has left, leaving him to unleash his impotent rage upon people who don't deserve it (Elliot and Gretchen, Skyler, Walt Jr.) and those that do (Jack, Todd, Lydia) in equal measure. To this point, the tragedy of "Breaking Bad" needs an ambivalent, 'god's eyeview' of the story, but that doesn't happen since we still end up rooting for the mortals rather than accepting the forces of the universe as a fait accompli. Then again, "Breaking Bad" is a show renown for its ability to defy expectations, so that forecloses that narrative avenue. The other kind of irony is like a postmodern irony, whereby through the formal elements (everything that is visible and audible) and the narrative elements (the organization of the story vis-a-vis the plot) we can still root for Walter White in spite of (or perhaps even BECAUSE of) the justness or injustice of his actions. Yes, he dies, but he goes out the way he wanted more or less, so in that sense he has still won. Because of this, it's easier as an audience member to go along for the ride and cheer when Todd and Lydia get killed, which is exactly what I did when it happened. We're effectively absolved of our own complicity in cheering Walt on because we watch everything that transpires and very much want bad things to occur without the threat of being implicated when our desires come to fruition. The music cues, the lighting effects, the use of colour, camera movements, editing patterns, the manner in which information is withheld and/or revealed to us or to the characters all make us inevitably feel 'good' in a variety of ways when the show is over: we're happy, we're relieved, we're entertained, we're emotionally drained, etc. But, what I wonder, which is why I asked it earlier, is would there be more work involved on our part as members of the audience to either NOT sympathize, empathize, root, or identify with Walt at all, or at the very least to have a detached, objective perspective towards a show where people are hurt and cared about often in the same moment? Which, as I've said, would be compelling, if not truly 'artistic', television. Overall, though, I give the series finale episode a B+ and the show as a whole an A-. I thought it was a great ride, but I've still yet to see a show to do everything above and beyond all other shows, but maybe this is a luxury that a mass medium like cinema as 'art' affords whereas television hasn't yet reached that level (to say nothing about their social histories and their ever-evolving means of production). Obviously, no show can ever be perfect, but I don't know if consistency (and "Breaking Bad" was indeed consistently quality TV) is enough alone to justify saying that it's 'the best show ever'. Maybe it's a matter, especially after last week's "Dexter" finale, that we award top marks to shows, movies, or video games for the very reason that they don't f*** up when nowadays so many others do, leaving us disappointed.
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mizerable
Fry's dog Seymour
You're the lowest on the totem pole here, Alva. The lowest.
Posts: 23,475
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Post by mizerable on Sept 30, 2013 1:53:47 GMT -5
Or at least like The Departed, where {Spoiler}{Spoiler}just when it looks like he's going to get away with it, someone we all forgot about makes a return and fills him with lead. I hated that. That ruined the entire set up to what I felt may have been an otherwise great movie. Which is why; Infernal Affairs > The Departed. By a long shot. Walter didn't have a reason to fear anything anymore. When he ran before, he ran because he still had this suburban life to live. Take away everyone that he loves and take away everything he has worked for and you have nothing. Hell, if Jesse never showed up, I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed standing when he set off the assault rifle. He had made himself known as soon as he made it back to New Mexico, so he knew he was either going to die very soon or get arrested. I would have preferred if he was arrested, but shit happens.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 2:06:30 GMT -5
It's excellent. Honestly, the first season suffers from being a touch rushed as they were bound to the 15 minutes-an-episode format, but when season 2 gives them a whole half hour it becomes almost unfairly incredible. It was the first all-live action adult swim show. Created and written by Jon Glaser who was the driving force behind Late Night with Conan O'Brien's best years from 98-2002, it's a fake reality show about a family in the witness protection program lead by father deluded by the prospects of fame who has the Russian mob trying to kill him. I can say without hyperbole that the second season of "Delocated" is at least a top-three season of comedy television this decade and at least a top-ten of any genre series. Consistently inventive, surprising without being mindless with some of the strongest performances in the medium. It's absolutely sublime. I'll check it out. Sounds great. I'm loving that Delocated somehow weaseled its way into this thread. I can vouch that the show is legendary, it never stops being hilarious but yet there are some really dark, dire situations the main character gets in that become legitimately compelling almost as if it's a drama, but still being so over the top and ridiculous it's still hilarious at the same time. Not enough people are aware of the show. Breaking Bad's over now and I don't know what to do with myself anymore. I built myself up for a nonstop cringe fest on the final episode but in hindsight I guess I ought to have expected the destination not to be as wild as the journey was. Everything fell into place quite neatly, there were a few tense moments still, crossing fingers that Walt didn't do anything stupid with Gretchen and her husband, though he's got them pissing their pants unnecessarily for a little bit but it could've been worse. I thought for no real reason at all that Walt still had something up his sleeve for Jesse all the way until his emotional escape. I was kind of surprised Walt didn't let Gretchen hear it over underselling his involvement in Grey Matter. This show rules, I'm really sad it's over. I've never been a big TV drama guy, this is the first time I've really given it a shot, I know we're all in mourning, so I don't know if it's too soon to ask if there are any other shows that even come close that are worth watching? I've never seen the Sopranos or the Wire so I can start there. Is Boardwalk Empire any good?
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y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,714
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Post by y4j1981 on Sept 30, 2013 2:13:25 GMT -5
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Post by "Gentleman" AJ Powell on Sept 30, 2013 2:21:33 GMT -5
Well, it's done. Finally Vince Gilligan can stop playing with my emotions!
Seriously though, pretty much the perfect ending. No bullshitting about, just straight to the point closure.
I'm kinda glad Todd didn't get killed in the crossfire though. He deserved something much more personal after all he'd done. And Lydia, I knew what was coming when she picked that Sevia stuff up, seeing as I'm pretty sure they haven't had it in the past when she's asked for it.
And poor Jessie! Man, after all he's been through, Walt still proved that he, well, loved him. I know he's had a f***ed up run, but he's free now.
But anyway, in conclusion, I'd just like to say: f*** Todd. That is all.
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JoDaNa1281
Crow T. Robot
Jackie Daytona, Regular Human Bartender. #BLM
Posts: 41,966
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Post by JoDaNa1281 on Sept 30, 2013 2:42:41 GMT -5
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y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,714
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Post by y4j1981 on Sept 30, 2013 3:04:52 GMT -5
I dont know if it has already been brought up yet but we all know the thing where it seems Walter takes an act of somebody he kills like throwing up like Gus or cutting his crust off his toast, etc. Well, someone brought up that Walter's death might be the thing he takes from Mike. He seems to get shot in about the same place and as Mike says "Just let me die in peace." as he looks over a calm nice place. And tat place for Walter is the meth lab.
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EyeofTyr
Hank Scorpio
Strange and Mystical
Posts: 5,744
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Post by EyeofTyr on Sept 30, 2013 3:18:32 GMT -5
For the way things played out, which was totally not where I thought they'd be at the start of the season, this was about as perfect of a finale as the show could get.
I realize it likely wasn't possible at this junction or could've felt hokey, but there was a part of me that up until the very end of the episode still hoped Jesse and Walt would somehow reconnect.
I guess one could argue they did as much as they could, but it was nothing but a tease for somebody like me. Who wanted the duo to make peace before Walt passed. Because if there was anybody he cared about besides himself, I'd argue even more so than his own family, it was Jesse. But he f***ed with Jesse one too many times and it looks like the damage was done.
Man, I just found the whole thing depressingly beautiful. Everybody's lives were destroyed or ruined in some manner that were around Walt, at least left for the worse because of him.
I did like Badger's and Skinny Pete's cameos, about the only way you could fit those two into such a heavy and moody episode. And, I was so relieved that the Grey Matter scene went far less awkward or brutal as I expected it initially to. While I'm usually not all that sympathetic to Walt, there was a tinge of something for him from me in that scene. He really is a confused ball of raw emotions, especially when it comes to those two, bouncing from clearly missing his old friends to threatening them to still showing his wounded pride over their success in the absence of him.
Walt, for a while now, has been a character I found interesting but didn't necessarily like anymore or find sympathetic. But this episode went a long ways, in my opinion, of somewhat redeeming him. Probably about as much as he could be. And, a big part of that was his chat with Skylar too. Which was a nice scene.
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Post by Raskovnik on Sept 30, 2013 3:40:48 GMT -5
Now that it's had some time to sink in, I feel like I can really pinpoint why this ending was so satisfying. Walt was played absolutely perfect in this episode. He was like a ghost. Like when he was at Gretchen and Elliot's house, or when the camera panned out to show him in the kitchen the entire time Skyler was on the phone with Marie, or how Todd and Lydia walked by him like he was never there. He was almost completely emotionless and just kind of there, only wanting to tie up lose ends. I love it.
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Post by Stu on Sept 30, 2013 4:19:44 GMT -5
Wonderful, wonderful finale. Not a single bad thing (no pun intended) came out of it. The show definitely ended on a high note.
I loved the scene with Walt and Skyler. But damn, it was sad when he gave her the coordinates and explained they would lead them to Hank and Steve. And then it got more sad when he said goodbye to Holly and saw Walt Jr for the last time.
I won't lie; I cheered when Jesse killed Todd. We all wanted it, and we knew it would happen, but damn, it was a markout moment. And speaking of Jesse, anyone else think he kinda looked like Daniel Bryan?
I'm glad they played "Baby Blue" at the end. It felt like a movie with the main theme song starting to play as we say goodbye to the main characters. I don't think it would've worked if the Breaking Bad theme played.
Other online debate now focuses on the fact Walt technically died from his own bullet. Do you all think that's good or bad?
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Post by Starshine on Sept 30, 2013 4:38:14 GMT -5
Aww, that was so sweet.
That's exactly the reaction I never expected to get. But I'm so glad it is.
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Post by SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts on Sept 30, 2013 5:36:43 GMT -5
I got some of the details right in my earlier prediction. Walt realizes Jesse's alive because Blue Sky is still being distributed. He doesn't go back to specifically save him but he's not opposed to it. I don't think I saw it anywhere Walt would use Elliot and Gretchen to give the money to his kids finally.
I think I want Todd's ringtone. How'd it go? Lydia, Lydia, she so fine. I loved after the gun ran out of bullets, Todd looks out and sees his car with the gun, says "Mr. White?", confused why he'd do that.
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y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,714
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Post by y4j1981 on Sept 30, 2013 5:43:33 GMT -5
I think I want Todd's ringtone. How'd it go? Lydia, Lydia, she so fine. for everyone Todd's ringtone:
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