I re-watched the scene with Lydia at the car wash and she did pay with cash.
As for Walt trying to kiss Principal Carmen, I think it was an intentional way for Walt to get fired from his job. He needed to burn that bridge to dedicate himself to the criminal life, which requires a lot of time. And he is building a plausible story to tell his friends and family.
As for speculating on the finale, here’s my prediction.
I doubt Grey Matter will play into the final. The writers purposely kept whatever happened there ambiguous for the shows entire run, they aren’t going to try and cram it into the last hour along with everything else. Whatever original real or imagined wrong drives Walt will remain hidden.
Plus Walt’s whole motivation for getting in the meth business was to avoid accepting help from the Grey Matter couple, so he’s not going to them now for money or help with the DEA. Their appearance on the TV was just to re-motivate him, they aren’t going to get shoe-horned into the finale in any major way).
I think the last episode will just be Walt doing what he’s done in basically all of the season finales. He’ll “win”, saving Jesse and getting his wife clear of the DEA and somehow setting her up with enough money for life*.
*(given Heisenberg’s apparent celebrity, Skylar could probably just sell a tell-all memoir ("I was married to the Meth King-pin of Arizona) for more cash then is in one of those barrels).
That episode was incredibly depressing. Yeah Walt deserves it but what a miserable lonely life paying someone $10,000 for an hour of cards. Prison would be better… and I think Walt realised that, until he changed his mind. And I’m still not seeing any motivation for Walt to save Jessie… if anything Walt still blames Jessie for him being on the run and for Hank dying.
I do wish Jessie had saved himself and gone after Walt, he didn’t deserve to have to watch that happen to Andrea.
Even before he fell for Lydia, Todd idolized Walt and wanted to follow in his foot-steps. So his not just taking the money and giving up on crime made sense, he doesn’t want to be rich, he wants to run a criminal gang like Walt and his Uncle.
The Uncle obviously has a big soft-spot for his psycho-nephew, but even with that, I agree they could’ve given him a little more reason to stay in the meth cooking business. On the other hand, I got the impression the Uncle had been a not-very-successful criminal for a long time, so maybe he just doesn’t know what else to do other then keep on doing what he’s always done.
Kind of a boring memoir if she’s going to keep acting like she doesn’t know anything, though.
BTW, Walt is using the name “Lambert”, which we know to be Skyler’s maiden name. Did I imagine it, or did the vacuum guy say Skyler goes by her maiden name now? So now they’re both Lambert? And he’s keeping his real birthday? Yeah, great disguise, there, Walt. 
Jack is Todd’s uncle.
The Ricin was never meant to be smoked. It was in that cigarette to hide it and keep it close to Jesse. It was meant to be put in Gus’s food.
I can’t get the image of Andrea being tapped out of my head. I actually woke up to the thought of it. It’s really disturbing. Todd is like one of those Ted Bundy serial killers who just wants what he wants and doesn’t understand why he can’t have it. Not hot-angry, but working under the assumption that he will get what he wants and isn’t he a lovely and nice guy after all? Scary.
I though that in the phone call last week, Skyler got the message that Walt didn’t really kill Hank. (Not deliberately and directly, anyway.) But apparently Flynn still hates him and thinks he killed Hank. So Skyler apparently hasn’t told Flynn that Walt was acting in that phone call. Does she not trust him to keep that secret? Is she going to let Flynn go on forever thinking that his dad is a total monster?
I think that after next episode we will be able to include Breaking Bad in the thread TV shows that have satisfying final episodes, and shows that didn’t. Unfortunately I think it will be in the later group. I thought this was a really disappointing episode, full of ridiculous moments and featuring one of the lamest plot contrivances imaginable.
The idea that the pivotal lead in to the last episode is that Walt gives himself up to the DEA, sits down to await their arrival and then by coincidence happens to find some inspiration by the barman flipping TV channels, is just awful.
Aka a sibling of one of Todd’s parents.
BB has a history of this. Almost all the events of series 5a came about because Hank happened to find the account number of Gus Caribbean bank account behind a picture frame from blind luck. I guess they get away with it because the acting, cinematography and pacing is so good that we overlook the incredibly unlikely plot devices.
It was a mild stretch, but hardly one of the lamest imaginable. Since it would have made perfect sense had Walt read about it in the newspaper, it’s not particularly an out of the blue narrative contrivance. Since the theme of Walt’s pride and his identity has been at the forefront of the series throughout, it wasn’t much of a false note as motivation for the character on that front either.
Showing it as a television interview trades a bit on the suspension of disbelief in favor of seeing their faces and hearing their tone of voice as they minimize and belittle Walt’s contributions. We also get to watch the emotion on his face simultaneously with hearing their words.
The alternative would be to have a shot of text in the newspaper that sits there long enough for us to read it, cutting back and forth with reaction shots of Walt. That would have been a lot less satisfying, in my opinion. Another alternative would have been to have the text read aloud during Walt’s interaction with the Vacuum Guy, but that would have strained some credulity as well.
Oddly enough it was mentioned 3 times in less than 2 minutes from the end of Rabid Dog, “Todd I think I might have another job for your uncle,” to the start of To’hajiilee, “Uncle Jack, that mask I think you should…” and “Thanks Uncle Jack.”
Obviously YMMV. Tragedies like this are full of those types of coincidences - what matters to me is how the main character’s arc is resolved. Seeing that Walt was ready to give in after getting rejected by his son, but is still so prideful that a tv clip can throw that over and put him back on track for finishing things is in line with his character.
It was an okay episode - especially coming on the heals of Ozymandias, against which it pales - but it sets up a last episode that could (pleasepleaseplease) be great.
Why exactly did Saul disappear himself? I guess there’s enough reasons why with everything falling apart, but I don’t think Saul was on the Nazis’ radar, and I don’t remember catching anything about Saul being implicated in the DEA investigation, though it’s likely he would be I guess. Saul knew Walt was already being disappeared so it wasn’t to get away from Walt.
In any case, looks like the Saul spinoff will definitely be a prequel, unless “Better Call Saul” refers to placing a large order of cinnabons ahead of time.
Since everybody’s offering WAGs about how the show will end, here goes mine-- I’m thinking Skyler squirreled away a few mill on the side when she was dumping all that unlaunderable money in the storage locker. After Walt has the epic shoot out with Nazis/Gray Matter/TBD and is killed, the DEA investigation is closed and Skyler & family are no longer being monitored. Walt Jr. Needs money to get into college or something and the last scene is Skyler retrieving her hidden stash of cash. So Walt does manage to posthumously provide for his family after all.
No my objection to the scene in the bar is that, because of the flash forwards to start both the whole of the series and the second half of the series, we know that Walt is not arrested even when he leaves the phone off the hook so he can be traced. To then show his motivation for changing his mind to be nothing other than a fluke strikes me as terrible writing. The barman has to change channels or the next episode can’t happen even though we already know it will.
I didn’t like the handling of any of the dramatic events in this episode.
Yes, but I think The Second Stone was suggesting that, while Todd believes Jack is his uncle, Jack might secretly be his father, based on how much Jack indulge Todd.
You’re missing the question. It wasn’t
Is Jack “the sibling of Todd’s mother or father”?
as that is almost certainly yes. The question is
Is Jack “the sibling of Todd’s mother” or “the sibling of Todd’s father” as an either/or.
The implication was that Jack may really be his father, and the answer to that question would indicate the likelihood of it being correct/the creepiness of it being correct
Didn’t Walt burn his bridges in New Hampshire by leaving the phone off the hook before he went up to the bar, ordered the drink and saw Gretchen and Elliott being interviewed by Charlie Rose? If so, then he’s not returning to New Mexico because of Gray Matter. I think the motivation is to somehow repair things with his family, although he did have to leave most of the money at the cabin.
Also, Saul was stupid to tell Walt, “I’ll probably be managing a Cinnabon in Omaha in a month.” You don’t tell others where you’re going when you’re disappearing.
Saul was reading the writing on the wall. He’s chin deep in the Heisenberg stuff, Huell has probably been actually taken into custody now that Gomez and Hank are missing and presumed dead - there’s nothing in New Mexico for Saul any more.
I don’t think he considers himself in physical danger of dying - he just has no desire to spend the 10-15 years in prison. And he’s a good enough lawyer to know what his chances are.