# Breaking Bad 5.16 "Felina" 9/29/13 SERIES FINALE **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591 "2013-09-24T17:31:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/241 "2013-09-30T03:33:56Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I can’t even quibble about Jack not shooting Walt right away, because there was Todd shaking his head like “Uncle Jack, you don’t know what this man is capable of”, and Jack not listening, because Jack didn’t know Walt well enough to be worried. I _thought_ Todd’s big concern was that Uncle Jack wanted him to bring Jesse to the clubhouse immediately, and perhaps mess up a cook cycle. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/242 "2013-09-30T03:40:52Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yeah, but they would have to launder it to make it look like it was their money anyway. There’s really no way to tell from the outside which money was whose. True. Good point. It’s interesting to think that Walt died surrounded by that which he loved the most. But he lost everything he loved the second most, third most, fourth most, fifth most. Like a junkie addicted to meth, he got the one thing he craved the most, and in doing so lost everything else. Walter White was addicted to meth. And other than the high it gave him, it took everything from him. It’s just that instead of being addicted to taking it, he was addicted to making it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/243 "2013-09-30T03:52:21Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Wow. Shakespeare lost - by that I mean Walt was given the chance to redeem himself at the end of the story. I expected Jesse to die and Walt to pay for his hubris a lot more. > > It worked, but not in a classic tragedy way. Gotta ponder that… He did finally have that moment of self-understanding, though- which is normally a component of that kind of ending. I thought that was what made this episode work. He grasped what he’d done and why, and he was sorry about what it had cost him, but it felt like he was at peace with himself once he executed his plan. Who knows if his longer-term plans for Skyler and the money will succeed, but it seemed like he did eliminate the direst threats to his family- the ones he himself set in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Krazy-8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Krazy-8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krazy-8)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/244 "2013-09-30T03:54:35Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Did he know where the compound was? I assumed that they called him with the address that night, but was he there before to set up the prison hits? The prison hits were set up in a cheap hotel room. But he drove to the compound to set up the hit on Jesse. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/245 "2013-09-30T03:54:40Z")
I was just thinking that over the course of the show, Walt has displayed such skill in executing events like the explosion in the nursing home, the visit to the Schwartzes, or the final massacre at the Aryan Brotherhood compound. If he displayed the same skill in his life prior to breaking bad, he might have gotten somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/246 "2013-09-30T04:04:45Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > But why did he have to tell her about the ricin? Can’t she now just call 911 and get the antidote? Obviously she would have to answer a lot of questions about how she got poisoned, but she doesn’t have to die, right? > > Glad to see Todd get his, though. Fitting. What I really liked about it was that Todd still hadn’t realized that it was his beloved Mr. White that was shooting at them. He thought they were under an attack by someone else and turned his back on his enemies. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/247 "2013-09-30T04:05:35Z")
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Goodbye one of the best shows ever. I haven’t read the thread yet, but I’ll post anyway: The part I loved most was Walt, finally, telling Skyler “I did it for me”. Also, I loved that Lydia, Todd and the nazis got what they had coming. Equal to the Skyler scene, I loved that Jesse had the choice to Kill Walt but didn’t. I wish there was more…much, much more, but that will do pig. That will do. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/248 "2013-09-30T04:07:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was just thinking that over the course of the show, Walt has displayed such skill in executing events like the explosion in the nursing home, the visit to the Schwartzes, or the final massacre at the Aryan Brotherhood compound. If he displayed the same skill in his life prior to breaking bad, he might have gotten somewhere. You don’t think being a cofounder of a multi-billion dollar company, getting into graduate school at Caltech, doing research that led to the Nobel prize, and winning commendation from a national laboratory are more impressive than rigging up a receiver to make a spark? Illiterates in the dessert do that. Or maybe I just got whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/249 "2013-09-30T04:08:26Z")
Sepinwall has posted [his review](http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-breaking-bad-felina-its-all-over-now-baby-blue#~oiTkOmxSdCwvrD) and it reflects exactly how I’m currently feeling about the finale; i.e., it wrapped up the series perhaps a little too neatly and it’s going to take some mulling over before I can say whether or not it was wholly satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/250 "2013-09-30T04:11:10Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > What I really liked about it was that Todd still hadn’t realized that it was his beloved Mr. White that was shooting at them. No, he clearly saw the machine gun in the trunk. I think he understood and was if anything even more impressed with his hero. Todd just doesn’t react emotionally, even to his extended family getting slaughtered. I think he was about to say something admiring about Walt’s genius when Jesse got him. Not to say he might have then turned and shot Walt as the “right thing to do.” But at the moment I think he was mentally giving Walt a couple dozen more cool points. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/251 "2013-09-30T04:15:16Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I was just thinking that over the course of the show, Walt has displayed such skill in executing events like the explosion in the nursing home, the visit to the Schwartzes, or the final massacre at the Aryan Brotherhood compound. If he displayed the same skill in his life prior to breaking bad, he might have gotten somewhere. > > You don’t think being a cofounder of a multi-billion dollar company, getting into graduate school at Caltech, doing research that led to the Nobel prize, and winning commendation from a national laboratory are more impressive than rigging up a receiver to make a spark? Illiterates in the dessert do that. > > Or maybe I just got whooshed. He wasn’t solely responsible for the Nobel Prize-winning work. He was part of a team that did the work. And remember that despite all that brilliance, he ended up a high school chemistry teacher who was so poorly paid that he worked at a car wash on the side. ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/252 "2013-09-30T04:19:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There were lots and lots of moments like that throughout the series, really. Moments when Tuco or Gus should’ve killed Walt, or when the Nazis should’ve killed Jesse a few episodes ago or on and on. It wasn’t all that believable, but it’s drama. On that note, why did Ed the Disappearer bother with the cross-country trips to sustain Walt in hiding? Couldn’t he just have disposed of Walt’s body at some point during that first trip to New Hampshire and driven home with a barrel full of cash? Why was Ed beholden to keeping Walt alive and assuming the risk in doing so? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/253 "2013-09-30T04:27:58Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > No, he clearly saw the machine gun in the trunk. I think he understood and was if anything even more impressed with his hero. Todd just doesn’t react emotionally, even to his extended family getting slaughtered. I think he was about to say something admiring about Walt’s genius when Jesse got him. Not to say he might have then turned and shot Walt as the “right thing to do.” But at the moment I think he was mentally giving Walt a couple dozen more cool points. I thought it was mostly shock. But then, Todd was never the sharpest… sharp thing Nazis keep in drawers. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > He wasn’t solely responsible for the Nobel Prize-winning work. He was part of a team that did the work. And remember that despite all that brilliance, he ended up a high school chemistry teacher who was so poorly paid that he worked at a car wash on the side. Right. He had all kinds of intelligence and ability, but until he got into the drug trade - and barely even then - his ego and his pride stopped him from advancing to a level that was equal to his talent. > [@Homo\_litoralis](#): > > On that note, why did Ed the Disappearer bother with the cross-country trips to sustain Walt in hiding? Couldn’t he just have disposed of Walt’s body at some point during that first trip to New Hampshire and driven home with a barrel full of cash? Why was Ed beholden to keeping Walt alive and assuming the risk in doing so? Because Walt paid him to do it. The vacuum repair business can’t be that profitable. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/254 "2013-09-30T04:33:32Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Illiterates in the dessert do that. Oh, sweet irony. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/255 "2013-09-30T04:35:09Z")
> [@Homo\_litoralis](#): > > On that note, why did Ed the Disappearer bother with the cross-country trips to sustain Walt in hiding? Couldn’t he just have disposed of Walt’s body at some point during that first trip to New Hampshire and driven home with a barrel full of cash? Why was Ed beholden to keeping Walt alive and assuming the risk in doing so? > [@Marley23](#): > > Because Walt paid him to do it. The vacuum repair business can’t be that profitable. As to why he didn’t kill Walt and take the money- I don’t know. Because he takes pride in his work? He did straight-up tell Walt that if he came to the cabin and found him dead he was going to take all the money. In that case, why go to the trouble of murdering him? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/256 "2013-09-30T04:37:48Z")
In case nobody did this before: [the lyrics to “El Paso” by Marty Robbins](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/robbins-marty/el-paso-11889.html). We heard a little of it when Walt was stealing that car and a couple of other lines were relevant to the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/257 "2013-09-30T04:37:51Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > You don’t think being a cofounder of a multi-billion dollar company, getting into graduate school at Caltech, doing research that led to the Nobel prize, and winning commendation from a national laboratory are more impressive than rigging up a receiver to make a spark? Illiterates in the dessert do that. Also, Walt didn’t “co-found a multi-billion dollar company.” He co-founded a start-up that others grew into a multi-billion dollar company. Would it have become a multi-billion dollar company had he remained involved? I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/258 "2013-09-30T04:39:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Because Walt paid him to do it. The vacuum repair business can’t be that profitable. Right. I guess I should have spelled it out that the 50 grand per trip Ed was collecting was small potatoes compared to the lump sum he could have enjoyed by separating Walt from that barrel, but I suppose a homicidal vacuum cleaner repairman would have negatively affected the finale. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/259 "2013-09-30T04:39:31Z")
> [@Tarwater](#): > > Sepinwall has posted [his review](http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-breaking-bad-felina-its-all-over-now-baby-blue#~oiTkOmxSdCwvrD) and it reflects exactly how I’m currently feeling about the finale; i.e., it wrapped up the series perhaps a little too neatly and it’s going to take some mulling over before I can say whether or not it was wholly satisfying. I disagree. We might think it’s “neat” because we got what we wanted, but it also made sense, because Walt was dying. He didn’t have anything else to plan for or worry about except making things right. He had the means and the smarts to tie up the loose ends, and he did it. If we can believe in his success in breaking bad for the past five seasons, why can’t we accept that he was successful in doing the right thing this one time? I think we have to accept it. If this didn’t work – even “neatly” – then none of it should have worked. Do you get what I’m trying (somewhat badly) to say? ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/260 "2013-09-30T04:39:58Z")
Loved it, but… How the hell did Walt end up injured? He was laying on top on Pinkman when he activated the gun, which was spraying bullets at waist level, so he couldn’t have been shot. The only way his injury makes sense is if Pinkman shanked him while they were on the ground. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591.md?page=14)