This is it, folks. The final episode of our beloved series Breaking Bad.
Walt has lost everything. He’s down to a fraction of his money (which is still a lot, granted), his family wants nothing to do with him, he was humiliated by his former business partners, and even his surrogate son Jesse wants him dead. We know he’s going after the Neo-Nazis with the assault rifle (or maybe not!). What’s his final move?
Question: Have we seen the last of Saul? I was kinda hoping he’d deck Walt.
Predictions?
It might also be worth noting the title. From Wikipedia:
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
Prior to broadcast, the title of the episode resulted in several attempts to speculate on its meaning.[2][3][4][5] The episode title is an anagram of the word “Finale”,[2][3] while also consisting of the symbols of three chemical elements Iron (Fe), Lithium (Li) and Sodium (Na).[2] It is speculated that these elements represent blood, methamphetamine and tears respectively.[2][6] It is also speculated to be a reference to the 1959 Marty Robbins song “El Paso”, which is about an unnamed cowboy who falls in love with a Mexican woman named “Felina”, commits murder for her, goes into exile, and then returns to her (with “Felina” in this instance being Walt’s money from his drug empire, which he is returning to New Mexico for).
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The character in the Marty Robbins song is Feleena, not Felina, for whatever that’s worth. I prefer the Blood Meth and Tears interpretation even though I’m not sure how much sense it makes.
As far as how this finally ends… I’ve been saying for a while that if Walt didn’t die, the show would have to end with him having lost everything and realizing what he’d done. All of that happened in “Granite State,” except instead of realizing it had been for naught, his pride gave him reason to fight instead of turning himself in. Walt said “everybody dies in this movie,” so I think this is it: he’s going back to New Mexico to destroy his empire so nobody else can have it or be compared to Heisenberg. Then he can die.
Nitpick: It’s not an assault rifle like an M-16, it’s an M-60 machine gun, which is (or was, when I was in the military) part of a heavy weapons platoon along with the 81mm mortar. The M-60 is a belt-fed light machine gun which can be fired from either a bipod (defensive) or can be used as an assault weapon when used with an ammo belt pouch.
As much as Walt has lost, there is still one horrible thing that could happen to him, which is the death of Flynn or Holly. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them is killed by the AB and Walt finds out.
I think we’ve seen the last of Saul. I can’t think of a plausible situation to fit him back in.
I love how the BB writers plot out the meaning of the title more than other shows plot out their entire episodes.
So Walt’s down to the last 100k he was going to ship to Jr., right? I don’t imagine with the cops after him now he’s going to have time or opportunity to go back for the barrel o’ cash. Still plenty of money for an m60, ammo, old car, Denny’s Grand Slam + generous tip, and gas back to ABQ.
Post credits–finally rescued by his buddy Kuby, Huell decides to get away from the mess and drive to his grandmother’s in Chicago for Christmas. Forced off the road by a Great Plains blizzard, he seeks refuge, coffee and carbohydrates in a Nebraska mall, where he’s surprised by a familiar face suggesting that they “talk frosting”. Fade to black.
I predict that Gray Matter will figure prominently in the finale. The dynamic between Walt and the Schwartzes has been too puzzling to ignore.
We know that Gretchen’s version of events from 20 years ago included Walt’s abrupt “abandonment” of her during a Fourth of July weekend spent with her father and brothers, and Walt’s subsequent cash-out of the fledgling Gray Matter as a result. This parting of ways caused much resentment on both sides, yet 20 years later the Schwartzes were still inviting Walt to Elliott’s birthday party. Elliott was still speaking of Walt in glowing terms, still wanting him to work for Gray Matter again, and still wanting to throw money at his cancer treatment. Why?
Meanwhile, Walt has been so obsessed with the success of Gray Matter that he checks the stock price every week, deeply entrenching his bitterness as he watched the company’s value top $2 billion. Yet he was still willing to attend Elliott’s party despite being so far removed from that social circle that nobody but the hosts knew who he was. Heck, he and Skyler didn’t even know how to dress for the occasion. (By the way, what’s the deal with the beige dress code for a patio party? Is that really a thing?)
During the Charlie Rose interview, Elliott deflected the question about Walt’s role in forming Gray Matter, but Gretchen was willing to disavow any contribution beyond the name, directly contradicting comments that were made publicly at the party. Yet privately, Gretchen feels that Gray Matter’s money is in part Walt’s money, so she is willing to blatantly lie on national television. Is she going to get away with that?
I’m seeing a lot of contradictions and loose ends with this Gray Matter thing, and Vince Gilligan promised that all questions will be answered.
In the finale, it will be revealed that Walt abandoned Gray Matter on moral grounds, and he will expose the dirty money that has filled its coffers connected to its dealings with the shady wing of Madrigal.
Thus Walt will destroy three empires in one fabulous chemical-industrial apocalypse!
The Gray Matter story just isn’t important. And they can’t suddenly make it a key plot point in the last episode of the series. It may be a minor point next week, but I don’t think there are going to be any major revelations. We already know enough.
On the other hand, the writers did dredge up Gray Matter, perhaps in a contrived way, for the purpose of setting up the finale. And Gray Matter seemed to be the driving force behind Walt’s “empire” fixation long after his original goal of amassing $737,000 for his family had been achieved.
They could have flashed any number of other clips on that bar TV to motivate Walt, but they decided to dig deep. Why couldn’t it be a major factor, considering it spans decades in a psyche-controlling way?
Plus, I think my apocalyptic ending is da bomb yo!
Seeing Elliott & Gretchen again & them talking about Walt & saying he has nothing to do with Gray Matter. Hearing that gave Walt the want to keep fighting. He’s going after his money & his own Gray Matter (his meth empire) & he’s gonna die trying to get back whats his.
In the latest “Remember my Name” Breaking Bad podcast Vince Gilligan said he was talking to someone he described as a BB “superfan” awhile back and asked him if he thought there was anything missing in the show. He said he’d like to see more about what happened with Gray Matter. So it sounds like we have that one superfan to thank (or blame) for the late reintroduction of the GM plot line.
I kind of wish we could have separate threads for predictions. It’s annoying to watch the episode, log on here, and have to wade through two and a half pages of wild ass speculation that was posted a week before the ep even aired. But that’s just me.
I know I’m in the minority, but I want Walt to win. It’s obvious he won’t (and I’m okay with that), but I’m still rooting for the guy.
The other thing that I think puts me in the minority is that I really liked the dynamic when Walt and Jessie were working together. When they got in trouble, they each had each other’s back. Walt rescued Jessie from the clutches of addiction. He tried to protect him against making a mistake with Jane. He played fair with the money and gave him his due.
And then Jessie got all mopey. That was by far the least interesting part of the entire series. Moody, silent Jessie tossing money out of car windows. And crying.
I hated to see him turn on Walt. And turn all stupid. Why didn’t he just take the money and disappear to Alaska? WTF did he expect was going to happen to Andrea when he tried to escape the Aryans? When Andrea got shot, I felt really bad for her, but my reaction toward Jessie was “yo, dumbass.” I didn’t feed too sorry for him b/c the last 4-5 episodes he really brought this all on himself.
But I realize that relationship is past the point of no return and am still interested enough to eagerly await the final.
And count me in for another that doesn’t care about Gray Matter. It works as a plot point motivator and we’ve gotten enough information about the history to fill in the blanks, given what we know about Walt’s personality. I don’t need more.
Different Stroke for Different Folks, I guess. I think that would a great plot line if Walt’s split from Gray Matter was because he took the moral high ground as Homo litoralis suggests. Especially if the moral high ground was because of Gray Matter’s ties to Madrigal. For Walt to walk away from Gray Matter for a $5,000 payout because he was morally offended; and then turn into the most amoral SOB in the world. How awesome is that?
I think it would suck. The Grey Matter thing should have zero impact on the finale. It’s a minor plot point that was just used to explain Walt’s personality. Tying Grey Matter in with Madrigal in some neat package would be lazy.
