The OFFICIAL Breaking Bad Final 8 Thread (with teaser trailer)

[The_Light_Brigade]

They tied loose ends and left enough of a hang for you to draw your own conclusions about what happened to everyone.  The way Walt looked at Jesse when they brought him in to the hangout, Walt saves Jesse, Jesse strangles Todd (felt sooooo good) and instead of doing Walt's dirty work for him tells him to do it himself, Walt dies looking completely happy for the first time in the show.  It was like you knew exactly what was going to happen and that was okay for me.  

[SOJA]

My thoughts on the finale:

 

In a show where the plot line was regarding anything but "safe", the finale played with the bumpers up. Nothing major was left unanswered, and the ending was "picture perfect."

 

Gilligan has often stated that this was a Scarface story, but I disagree. Scarface had a linear path to evil and corruption, and  Tony died at his worst. Walt's path was convoluted and highly debatable, and ended with him redeeming himself to a degree. He was never really Walt nor Heinsenberg. He was always something of a mix, which is why the show is so great, because that portrays real life so well. 

 

Although I know I "should" hate Walt, I can't help but root for him STILL. It's crazy, which is why I love that show. 

 

I'm happy with how they handled Jesse. I like that you don't know what he's going to do, because that's the first time we've ever seen that with him. We have always been able to predict what Jesse's next step was. Not now, he's finally free- literally and figuratively. Finally, for true fans it's ironic that Jesse lived because he was supposed to die at the end of season 1. 

 

Finally, LOTS of symbolism in the last episode. Mainly the first scene with the keys literally falling into his lap. I wonder who Walt was speaking to when he said: "Just get me there, I'll take care of the rest." Was it God? In a show about morality, religion remained relatively untouched. Strange to throw that in there at the end, but we all know it was there for a reason. My take: Walt had finally accepted he wasn't God, that he was just a guy: He wasn't the great Heisenberg that could do no wrong, he wasn't the danger anymore, and he had "lost."

 

 

[BBQ&Beer]

I'd count it as one of the best shows I've seen because it demands of the viewer to actually think about the morality of the situations & managed to do it in a way that allowed it to last. Most shows that make you think don't make it.

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

but how is it not as good as some people make it out to be. You just state that opinion without providing why.

 

I can formulate an opinion based on whatever I want lol. I just didn't find it as that enjoyable and watchable. There seemed to be a few plot holes and unanswered or under answered questions that just left me unsatisfied. Some things started and ended a little too quickly, some things were dragged out too long.

 

That was a terrible explanation, and I don't really know how to explain it, but whatever. It was just missing something.

[Cary Kollins]

This article has some great insight from Gilligan about the finale.  I would post it all but want to avoid massive wall of text.

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/30/breaking-bad-finale-vince-gilligan/

 

 

On choosing an ending for Walt in which he was afforded a sliver of redemption before dying
“We didn’t feel an absolute need for Walt to expire at the end of the show. Our gut told us it was right. As the writers and I worked through all these different possibilities, it felt right, but I don’t think it was a necessity for us. There was a version we kicked around where Walt is the only one who survives, and he’s standing among the wreckage and his whole family is destroyed. That would be a very powerful ending but very much a kick-in-the-teeth kind of ending for the viewers. We talked about a version where Jesse kills Walt. We talked about a version where Walt more or less gets away with it. There’s no right or wrong way to do this job — it’s just a matter of: You get as many smart people around you as possible in the writers room, and I was very lucky to have that. And when our gut told us we had it, we wrote it, and I guess our gut told us that it would feel satisfying for Walt to at least begin to make amends for his life and for all the sadness and misery wrought upon his family and his friends. Walt is never going to redeem himself. He’s just too far down the road to damnation. But at least he takes a few steps along that path. And I think more importantly for him than that is the fact that he accomplishes what he set out to accomplish way back in the first episode: He leaves his family just a ton of money.  Of course, Walt for years now has been looking through the wrong end of the telescope. … For years now, he thought if he makes his family financially sound — that’s really all he has to do as a man, as a provider, and as a father. They’re going to walk away with just shy of 10 million in cash, because of Walt’s machinations with Gretchen (Jessica Hecht) and Elliott (Adam Godley). But on the other hand, the family emotionally is scarred forever. So it’s a real mixed message at the end. Walt has failed on so many levels, but he has managed to do the one thing he set out to do, which is a victory. He has managed to make his family financially sound in his absence, and that was really the only thing he set out to do in that first episode. So, mission accomplished.”

On the decision to spare Jesse and allow him to escape
“We found over the years that the way we can please the majority of the audience most of the time is to tune out as much extraneous factors as possible and please the eight of us in the writers room. If we can make ourselves happy day in and day out, we had a pretty good chance of making most viewers happy as well, and that’s what held us in good stead for six years. With that in mind, all [of us] in the writers room just loved Jesse (Aaron Paul) and we just figured he had gotten in way over his head. When you think of it, he didn’t really have a chance in the early days. Walt said, ‘You either help me cook meth and sell it, or else I’ll turn you in to the DEA.’ So this poor kid, based on a couple of really bad decisions he made early on, has been paying through the nose spiritually and physically and mentally and emotionally. In every which way, he’s just been paying the piper, and we just figured it felt right for him to get away. It would have been such a bummer for us, as the first fans of the show, for Jesse to have to pay with his life ultimately.”

[TheRumGone]

I can formulate an opinion based on whatever I want lol. I just didn't find it as that enjoyable and watchable. There seemed to be a few plot holes and unanswered or under answered questions that just left me unsatisfied. Some things started and ended a little too quickly, some things were dragged out too long.

 

That was a terrible explanation, and I don't really know how to explain it, but whatever. It was just missing something.

 

of course you can. a lot of the unanswered or under answered questions to me portrayed what real life is like. Not everything gets a neat and tight conclusion.

 

to each his own, just thought you would have given a more difinitive reason that is why i asked.

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

of course you can. a lot of the unanswered or under answered questions to me portrayed what real life is like. Not everything gets a neat and tight conclusion.

 

to each his own, just thought you would have given a more difinitive reason that is why i asked.

 

Nah, I really don't have a reason. It just doesn't all come together like I hoped it would. Maybe it's because people kept telling me how much better it gets and that it's the greatest show ever made, etc etc. Maybe my expectations were just set too high?

[CarolinaCoolin]

The scene of Jesse and Walt looking back at each other before he leaves was really powerful in the sense that everything got so messed up in a 2 year span. Really strong

[CCS]

Jesse looked at Walt like a son. While he may have hated that Son's guts for a while he eventually grew to hate himself and his actions and saw that Jesse was right all along. That's my justification for Walt not killing Jesse.

[natty]

Great ending.  Great show.  Poor Huell, still waiting on Hank and Gomie to come back.

[Dpantherman]

Someone help me out here, because I'm trying to figure out who all can be involved in 'Better Call Saul'.  Saul said he knew a guy who knew a guy when it came to Gus, so we're to assume he'd never met him before.  But that doesn't necessarily mean he can't be involved in some way right?  And if so, that would leave the door open to having Mike on as well.

[SOJA]

Someone help me out here, because I'm trying to figure out who all can be involved in 'Better Call Saul'.  Saul said he knew a guy who knew a guy when it came to Gus, so we're to assume he'd never met him before.  But that doesn't necessarily mean he can't be involved in some way right?  And if so, that would leave the door open to having Mike on as well.

 

 

god I hope Mike is in it

[rodeo]

god I hope Mike is in it

 

I'd honestly rather have a Mike spinoff than a Saul one.

[Dpantherman]

god I hope Mike is in it

 

 

I'd honestly rather have a Mike spinoff than a Saul one.

 

I still remember the episode where Mike went looking for Chow. It was so bad ass.  Having Mike to clean up for Saul would be a nice touch.  Even if it doesn't fit the history of Breaking Bad I wouldn't mind them bending the rules to have as Saul's clean up guy.