Rican
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
July 17, 2011 - HHHe called it
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Post by Rican on Sept 30, 2013 13:34:19 GMT -5
@aaronpaul_8"Jesse, I love you and you will always be a part of me. Thanks for the memories. Your friend, Aaron"
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EyeofTyr
Hank Scorpio
Strange and Mystical
Posts: 5,744
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Post by EyeofTyr on Sept 30, 2013 13:35:34 GMT -5
What references to previous episodes did you notice in the finale? Off the top of my head, I noticed: -Jesse crying and staring down Walt with the gun was very reminiscent of when he killed Gale. -Jesse's daydream about working in the woodshop reminded me of his monologue in rehab when he talked about his shop class from high school, and his teacher that pushed him to be better. -The focus on Walt's car keys reminded me of the focus on the box cutter in the season 4 premier. -Badger and Skinny Pete doing Badger and Skinny Pete things. -Walt sitting in the dark waiting for Gretchen and Elliot like Lydia's would-be hitman did to Mike in season 5. -Jesse choking Todd like Walt did Krazy 8. -The shootout at the end kind of reminded me of the shootout between Hank and Tuco. The confrontation between Jesse and Walt with the gun was a direct parallel to after Jesse thought, correctly, that Walt had poisoned Brock and Walt convinced him he did not and that they needed to kill Gus. Except this time, Walt wanted him to pull the trigger, rather than trying to weasel his way out of it. Others mentioned it, but I think one of the most meaningful moments in the episode was Jack trying to weasel his way into being saved by mentioning the money, only for Walt to shoot him point blank before he could finished. It was a drastic contrast to only a few episodes ago when Walt freaked out completely at the mere chance of losing his money when Jesse & Gomie & Hank set him up. Greed, besides pride, had become one of Walter's defining traits as a character towards the end of the show. And, in that one moment he showed how much he had changed between then and now, how self aware even he had become. I think that's why, like I said last night, I found the ending especially to be depressingly beautiful for the Walter White character. People that say he went out how he wanted to aren't looking at the big picture. Walter White's pride has always wanted people around him to praise him & see him as something extraordinary, and he's always wanted those close to him to practically see him as a demi-god. Besides feeding his ego by doing the work itself, he wanted stacks upon stacks of money that he felt life had denied him through Grey Matter. The public thinks he's a crazed monster. His family hates him and doesn't think much better of him. Jesse, his would-be son, hates him. His money has been reduced to nearly nothing in comparison to where it was due to his own pride and greed. Money that his family won't take and that he has to go to extreme lengths to figure out a way for them to maybe accept the cash. Even then, there's no promise they won't buy the cover like Gretchen tried to explain to Walt. All Walter White has in the end is wounded pride and the knowledge that he's destroyed, or damaged, everyone that's ever been close to him. If they are not dead, they are wounded animals. As he's shown in the past, even his Heisenberg legacy would feel tarnished to him, having Todd and Jesse having contributed to it, it not technically being his work anymore. He dies a lonely, empty shell. A ghost of a terrible man that had once been a good man. That's not dying the way he wanted to. That's not a happy ending for Walter White. I feel part of the charm of the show, for me, was constantly hoping somehow he'd turn things around. Somehow he'd correct the mistakes he made with the other characters, fix the damage he did, fix the damage he did to himself even. I think the show is an interesting experiment into theories of what if's and what could have happened's. As in, what if Walter never got into the game? Does Jesse grow as a human being or does he remain as he was when they met, not much better than Badger and Skinny Pete? What becomes of his family, does the affair even happen, do they still end up falling apart, does Holly even get conceived? And, many more you could ask along the path of the show. As someone else said, the show has very much a nihilistic view to it. What makes it so engaging to watch, because it doesn't pussy foot either, it forces you to watch the decay and moral decay of so many characters.
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Post by Manute Bol on Sept 30, 2013 13:38:03 GMT -5
I've listened to "Baby Blue" like a dozen times already today. I will forever have a new love for this song and it will always be accompanied by the image of Walter White passing away, ashamed of the man he became. I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I felt really bad for Walt throughout this episode. He realized he was a monster and that making amends for what he did was out of the question.
I felt pity for him and the song really evokes that from me for some reason.
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Post by "Trickster Dogg" James Jesse on Sept 30, 2013 13:40:53 GMT -5
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Yami Daimao
Patti Mayonnaise
Really, really wants to zigazig ah!
Posts: 31,784
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Post by Yami Daimao on Sept 30, 2013 13:49:31 GMT -5
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. "Depressingly beautiful" is probably the most perfect words I can think of that sums of the finale for me, only after "bittersweet". The depression has only hit me now after sleeping it off and allowing it to sink it. So I went back and watched it again, and got emotional as hell this time around. That's right, this show managed to bring out TWO different emotions from TWO viewings. It's like my body wasn't ready to handle the two at the same time, so they had to separate them and give them their own time. Much like Season 5 as a whole, ha ha. Now I can't listen to "Baby Blue" without getting sad. As for Walt and Jesse, they did sort of make peace when they stared and nodded at each other for the final time before Jesse got in the car. It wasn't as straight forward as their handshake at the end of Season 4, but considering what they both went through and what they both put each other through (more so Walt to Jesse), their stare and nod is as close as we're going to get. This is the greatest show I've ever seen in my entire life up until this point, literally. I am so glad to have experienced it during it's initial run, and to have experienced the finale along with the rest of the world.
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Post by Stu on Sept 30, 2013 14:10:57 GMT -5
Ya know, Walt Jr never met Jesse.
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543Y2J
Patti Mayonnaise
Seventh level .gif Master
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Post by 543Y2J on Sept 30, 2013 14:13:43 GMT -5
411mania
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Rican
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
July 17, 2011 - HHHe called it
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Post by Rican on Sept 30, 2013 14:17:47 GMT -5
Ya know, Walt Jr never met Jesse. That would be a nice little epilogue in the final season DVD.
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Post by Starshine on Sept 30, 2013 14:17:55 GMT -5
Ya know, Walt Jr never met Jesse. But at least he met Saul.
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Yami Daimao
Patti Mayonnaise
Really, really wants to zigazig ah!
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Post by Yami Daimao on Sept 30, 2013 14:19:20 GMT -5
Ya know, Walt Jr never met Jesse. Flynn: So...do you like Raisin Bran Crunch? Jesse: Hell no! Gotta have my Pops, bitch! Flynn:
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Yami Daimao
Patti Mayonnaise
Really, really wants to zigazig ah!
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Post by Yami Daimao on Sept 30, 2013 14:23:40 GMT -5
While amazing and well deserved, it unfortunately doesn't hold the top spot for the channel, which was the season finale of The Walking Dead back in April. I wish Breaking Bad would have broken that record, just to solidify the show even further, and as a nice little bookend.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2013 14:27:16 GMT -5
I've listened to "Baby Blue" like a dozen times already today. I will forever have a new love for this song and it will always be accompanied by the image of Walter White passing away, ashamed of the man he became. I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I felt really bad for Walt throughout this episode. He realized he was a monster and that making amends for what he did was out of the question. I felt pity for him and the song really evokes that from me for some reason. "I did it for me. I was good at it...." I disagree that there was any shame to Walt at all at the end of his life. He found his calling, became a legend, changed an industry (albeit a very shady and illegal one), supported his family. I'm sure in his mind he is 100% satisfied that he "lived" if only for a short while before he died. He made his money (though it's open-ended whether the family will still get it), his family is still alive. I don't consider any of the errands he ran before he croaked "making amends" as much as it is doing the bare minimum of what you would consider "the right thing".
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 28,257
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Post by chazraps on Sept 30, 2013 15:06:03 GMT -5
I've listened to "Baby Blue" like a dozen times already today. I will forever have a new love for this song and it will always be accompanied by the image of Walter White passing away, ashamed of the man he became. I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I felt really bad for Walt throughout this episode. He realized he was a monster and that making amends for what he did was out of the question. I felt pity for him and the song really evokes that from me for some reason. "I did it for me. I was good at it...." I disagree that there was any shame to Walt at all at the end of his life. He found his calling, became a legend, changed an industry (albeit a very shady and illegal one), supported his family. I'm sure in his mind he is 100% satisfied that he "lived" if only for a short while before he died. He made his money (though it's open-ended whether the family will still get it), his family is still alive. I don't consider any of the errands he ran before he croaked "making amends" as much as it is doing the bare minimum of what you would consider "the right thing". I think Walt's closing moments are him joyously knowing that he's going out on his own terms. Not the cancer, not the nazis, Walt made his last plan and saw it through to the finish. He's always gotten off on power and, being "breaking bad" is primarily a show about pride, he's reveling in (or at least lying to himself to convince himself) that by being in control of his destiny, he's somehow "won."
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Sept 30, 2013 15:12:45 GMT -5
Vulture.com took to Twitter for some opinions about the Breaking Bad series finale, good and bad examples: BadGood And of course Jason Whitlock didn't like it..... Hey, at least he didn't play the race card for once.
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EyeofTyr
Hank Scorpio
Strange and Mystical
Posts: 5,744
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Post by EyeofTyr on Sept 30, 2013 15:32:29 GMT -5
"I did it for me. I was good at it...." I disagree that there was any shame to Walt at all at the end of his life. He found his calling, became a legend, changed an industry (albeit a very shady and illegal one), supported his family. I'm sure in his mind he is 100% satisfied that he "lived" if only for a short while before he died. He made his money (though it's open-ended whether the family will still get it), his family is still alive. I don't consider any of the errands he ran before he croaked "making amends" as much as it is doing the bare minimum of what you would consider "the right thing". I think Walt's closing moments are him joyously knowing that he's going out on his own terms. Not the cancer, not the nazis, Walt made his last plan and saw it through to the finish. He's always gotten off on power and, being "breaking bad" is primarily a show about pride, he's reveling in (or at least lying to himself to convince himself) that by being in control of his destiny, he's somehow "won." Realize people can have different opinions, but man, I don't see that at all in how Bryan played Walt at the end. From the taking shots at himself and how he's perceived by the public when he confronted his old friends, to him almost in a bittersweet fashion looking over the lab they forced Jesse to cook in. Nothing in his performance gave me the impression that Walter thought he won here. If anything, it seemed to me that he had some level of clarity and awareness of himself at long last. And, he was trying to do as much good as he could before he died after over a year of royally screwing everybody over for the sake of his pride and ego. I think another key element to realizing that is his conversation with his wife. Him admitting finally to her, and to himself, that he did this for him. It may have started out for the family, or he might have thought that was why he wanted to do it initially, but before long it became painfully obvious he was doing it for himself first, the family second. Another key element is honestly Jesse. If this was still about pride, about ego, Walter never would've let Jesse leave, whether he was enslaved by the Nazis or not. Jesse was a "coward" and a "traitor" the last time the two met, in Walt's eyes, he was responsible for everything completely falling apart, Hank dying, the Nazis getting his money. He had made up his mind at that point, Jesse had to die. Yet he let Jesse go, he even tried to let him have some moment of catharsis by giving him the choice to kill Walt. Walt knew he screwed up Jesse worse than anything he could possibly do to try to make it up. So, he offered the greatest thing he could to him, his own life. Something somebody as ego driven and pride ridden as Walter White would struggle to actually allow it to be put into somebody else's hands. Look no further than Season 4 and his erratic behavior when it was in Gus' to see how Walter would've acted had this been an ego/pride play on his part.
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Yami Daimao
Patti Mayonnaise
Really, really wants to zigazig ah!
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Post by Yami Daimao on Sept 30, 2013 16:04:02 GMT -5
A lot of us are still getting over the sadness of the series ending, and all of the dark tones the show has gone through over the last 2 or 3 seasons. But, here's a nice little compilation of the Breaking Bad's more lighter, funnier moments (most from which are from the first two seasons).
I can't believe I almost forgot about Jesse's "OH WELL HEIL HITLER, BITCH!".
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Post by "Gentleman" AJ Powell on Sept 30, 2013 16:11:53 GMT -5
I just thought of one huge oversight in the last episode.
We never found out what happened to Huell! Was he made so unhappy because dislilmofonotdoinwahetold, that he couldn't bear to show his face?
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Post by MGH on Sept 30, 2013 16:17:45 GMT -5
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Crappler El 0 M
Dalek
Never Forgets an Octagon
I'm a good R-Truth.
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Sept 30, 2013 16:24:41 GMT -5
Leave the methamphetamines alone!
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Yami Daimao
Patti Mayonnaise
Really, really wants to zigazig ah!
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Post by Yami Daimao on Sept 30, 2013 16:34:42 GMT -5
Team Science!
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