# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/441 "2013-09-30T18:09:14Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by nivlac View Post Well, for one thing, why couldn’t Walt had someone with weapons inside the trunk? But I was OK with this screw-up by Jack’s gang since they’re not the sharpest minds around. > [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Because as far as they were concerned Walt was a broke, pathetic has-been who was desperate for a few bucks at that point, not a criminal mastermind. Actually it has occurred to me that it wouldn’t had mattered if they had inspected the trunk after the car was parked. If they had forced Walt to open the trunk, the bullet onslaught would’ve started right then and there and most of the damage would’ve been done anyway. Of course that would not had freed 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, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/442 "2013-09-30T18:09:34Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Oh and what was the deal with Walt taking the watch off? Was it the one Jesse gave him? Why does this matter? Vince Gilligan explained that in the Talking Bad program. Basically, they had already shot the scene in Denny’s with Walt not wearing a watch, so they had to explain that. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/443 "2013-09-30T18:09:42Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Lastly, why does Walt deserve to win in the end? He basically got everything he set out to do, had no real repercussions for his actions. The only honest ending for him would have been for him to lose everything, including Skyler and the kids. That’s why I think that, in one sense, it’s wrong to think of this as a definite ending that wrapped everything up. Sure, we won’t need to worry about what went down plot-wise. There’s won’t be any of those endless discussions about whether Walt died or not, or whether Lydia was really poisoned, or whatever. But was it the ending Walt deserved? Heck, we can debate that for years. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/444 "2013-09-30T18:10:23Z")
Maybe that’s it. Walt really died of cancer in that New Hampshire lonely cabin, and everything after that occurred did so in his mind’s eye during his dying moments. ---
**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, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/445 "2013-09-30T18:15:04Z")
By the way, Vince Gilligan [signed a deal with CBS](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/business/media/breaking-bad-creator-gilligan-in-deal-for-cbs-show-battle-creek.html) for a police drama to be called “Battle Creek” and scheduled for next autumn. They’ve agreed to produce and air thirteen episode even without a pilot. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/446 "2013-09-30T18:18:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > By the way, Vince Gilligan [signed a deal with CBS](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/business/media/breaking-bad-creator-gilligan-in-deal-for-cbs-show-battle-creek.html) for a police drama to be called “Battle Creek” and scheduled for next autumn. They’ve agreed to produce and air thirteen episode even without a pilot. In a world where Jesse Pinkman escaped to Southern Michigan… ---
**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, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/447 "2013-09-30T18:20:44Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m a bit surprised that Walt crossed the country in the Volvo, there would have been an assumption that a local missing car was stolen by him. > > Jack too has his pride. I loved how Walt played him for being a partner with a rat. Rats are Jack’s weakness. He won’t have anyone calling him the partner of a rat in front of his crew. I was surprised that he didn’t switch cars as well, but take a look at the short period of time the sheriffs were at the New Hampshire bar, they probably thought it was just a prank call. I think Walt wanted Jesse in the room to kill him, but when he realized that Jesse had been made a slave, he decided to save him. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/448 "2013-09-30T18:21:37Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Well, I feel the obvious answer is no, we shouldn’t have more classic tragedy. Shakespeare did it well, and I’m not sure we should try to breathe life into old forms as a matter of compulsion. Breaking Bad did a pretty good job of taking the basic premise of ambition leading to ruin, and modernizing the story and its form. Why try to fit it into a particular structure? > > The people who were involved with Walter White after his diagnosis have paid dearly for his ambition. Even in the case of Mr. White himself, though his ambition drove him to destruction, it was worry about his family that got him to take the first chances at cooking methamphetamine. His family was the original reason he broke bad. The excitement and getting a repeated feeling of success is what ruined him. In the end, he might be able to take care of his family, but only Gretchen and Elliott know it. In everyone else’s eyes, he abandoned them, and his family hated him before he left. He dearly regrets that, especially his son’s hatred, who thought the world of him until he finally had to run. We saw that by his risking getting caught by watching Flynn walk home through the laundry room. He could have closure with Skyler, but the exchange on the phone is the nicest reaction he’s going to get from his oldest child at this point. > > I found the final episode pretty damn satisfying. The main characters continued revealing things about themselves up until the last minute. The massacre of the AB was a microcosm of the whole series; Walt “won”, but ended up hurting himself. This time his luck ran out, and it was finally fatal. > > Thanks to whoever pointed out that his “Felina” was the chemicals and the lab. I smiled when the tape case fell out of the glove box. When he started the car, and I heard: > > _I saddled up and away I did go, > Riding alone in the dark. > Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me. > Tonight nothing’s worse than this Pain in my heart._ > > I got completely misty. It was too perfect. > > And thank you **drastic\_quench** , my vocabulary got larger today! Anagnorisis is a “where have you been all my life?” word. Thanks for speaking to my question. Good response; more to think about. Okay - put it another way: Did Walt win? Can it be reduced that simply? If so, part of me thinks he kinda did - even given everything you discuss in the quoted post. I _think_. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/449 "2013-09-30T18:29:16Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > That’s why I think that, in one sense, it’s wrong to think of this as a definite ending that wrapped everything up. Sure, we won’t need to worry about what went down plot-wise. There’s won’t be any of those endless discussions about whether Walt died or not, or whether Lydia was really poisoned, or whatever. > > But was it the ending Walt deserved? Heck, we can debate that for years. Walt dying alone in the cabin would have been a much more apt ending. The way it did end should have been his “fevered dream” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/450 "2013-09-30T18:31:28Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Thanks for speaking to my question. Good response; more to think about. > > Okay - put it another way: Did Walt win? When he started out on this quest at the beginning he wanted to provide for his family. If Walt Jr gets and keeps the trust fund I’d say he won as much as he was able to at that point in his life. Though he kind of lost since he could have won a hell of a lot more back when he had the walls lined with money or any of the other times that he a lot more money and should have just quit. If he had just gotten out before he had the carwash, before Hank got shot, before they were trying to launder money he would have won. I’m going to say he won. I wanted to see him live, but we all know that if he lived he would have just continued to get himself in more trouble and taken his family down with him. He took them from a nice house in a nice neighborhood to living in fear of their lives, to living in a shitty apartment and making next to nothing. But if Jr gets/keeps the money in a year AND nothing bad comes with it, he ‘won’. But I’m guessing he won’t keep it, he’ll probably donate it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/451 "2013-09-30T18:32:39Z")
The most satisfying thing for me, as others have said, was that moment of _anagnorisis_, when Walt stops lying to himself and understands why he did what he did. Also, the final synthesis of the Walt/Heisenberg duality into one person. That’s the single reflection of Walt’s face at the end versus the split or scattered reflections we’ve seen before. That was the main thing that needed wrapping up, and it was done beautifully. He wasn’t Walter White or Heisenberg in this episode, the two had become one, and Walt (or “Lambert”, or whatever you want to call the person he had transformed into) was at peace with himself. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Dollar_Tallboy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/452 "2013-09-30T18:36:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > By the way, Vince Gilligan [signed a deal with CBS](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/business/media/breaking-bad-creator-gilligan-in-deal-for-cbs-show-battle-creek.html) for a police drama to be called “Battle Creek” and scheduled for next autumn. They’ve agreed to produce and air thirteen episode even without a pilot. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > In a world where Jesse Pinkman escaped to Southern Michigan… Only Jesse knows the formula to make 98% pure Frosted Flakes. I was pretty satisfied with the finale. The White children have been provided for, Skyler is now doomed to a lower middle class existence(I think she was more worried about losing her comfy suburban lifestyle rather than Walt) and Walt used SCIENCE, BITCH! to complete his plan. My only complaint is I would have liked to see what happened to Jesse in the immediate aftermath. He may have gotten away, but he has no money, no family, and the woman he loved is dead, plus he’s probably traumatized 6 ways to Sunday. I’m usually not one for fuzzy happy endings but it would have been cool to see him on his first day of flight training. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/453 "2013-09-30T18:36:49Z")
n/m ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/454 "2013-09-30T18:37:38Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by nivlac View Post > Well, for one thing, why couldn’t Walt had someone with weapons inside the trunk? But I was OK with this screw-up by Jack’s gang since they’re not the sharpest minds around. > Actually it has occurred to me that it wouldn’t had mattered if they had inspected the trunk after the car was parked. If they had forced Walt to open the trunk, the bullet onslaught would’ve started right then and there and most of the damage would’ve been done anyway. Of course that would not had freed Jesse. Oh that would have been horrible. ☹ Unless Walt did a walk through of the lab, or the cops found him, Jesse would have been chained down there to die. ---
**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, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/455 "2013-09-30T18:38:48Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > Basically, they had already shot the scene in Denny’s with Walt not wearing a watch, so they had to explain that. That’s strange. It would have made more sense for him to just leave the watch in the cabin. (Why risk drawing attention to yourself by wearing an expensive watch while dressed like a homeless person?) They really seemed to focus on him removing and placing the watch. I’m surprised it was just for purposes of continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/456 "2013-09-30T18:39:50Z")
> [@Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](#): > > Only Jesse knows the formula to make 98% pure Frosted Flakes. > I was pretty satisfied with the finale. The White children have been provided for, Skyler is now doomed to a lower middle class existence It’ll still be middle class and she still has one off to college soon but surely she’ll be able to work through this and move up past taxi dispatcher soon and get back into accounting. ---
**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, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/457 "2013-09-30T18:43:19Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > It’s one of the three terms you need to know from Aristotle’s Poetics when discussing tragedy, along with [hamartia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia) (the “tragic flaw”, or a mistake or error in judgement) and [peripeteia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripeteia) (a turning point, or reversal of circumstances). Well, those, and [catharsis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis). Nietzsche goes much deeper, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/458 "2013-09-30T18:45:11Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > The most satisfying thing for me, as others have said, was that moment of _anagnorisis_, when Walt stops lying to himself and understands why he did what he did. > > Also, the final synthesis of the Walt/Heisenberg duality into one person. That’s the single reflection of Walt’s face at the end versus the split or scattered reflections we’ve seen before. That was the main thing that needed wrapping up, and it was done beautifully. He wasn’t Walter White or Heisenberg in this episode, the two had become one, and Walt (or “Lambert”, or whatever you want to call the person he had transformed into) was at peace with himself. I agree it was satisfying to see him finally cut the bullshit. But he doesn’t deserve to be “at peace.” That’s what bothers me. ---
**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, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/459 "2013-09-30T18:45:48Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > How did it go from Lydia telling Todd not to have anything to do with Walt to him showing up at the clubhouse? I assume I’m just forgetting something. In between Walt went to the desert and set up his machine gun rig and visited Skyler. The idea (as Walt knew) was that they would invite him to their HQ and kill him there. > [@](#): > > Also, what was the deal with Jack bugging Walt about the car and asking about the engine? The only reason I can guess is to show that he had absolutely no suspicions about him at all. Everything was very friendly between them. Just small talk to heighten the tension, I think. > [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > The fact Walt seemed to develop the superpower of invisibility was ridiculous. Someone pointed out that it made him sort of like a ghost who was haunting the place- although Gretchen and Elliott should have heard him a little earlier. It wouldn’t have affected the scene one bit if they’d seen him sooner. > [@](#): > > How did he get in and out of Skyler’s apartment? There were police guarding it! Todd and his pals did the same thing two episodes ago- under cover of darkness, granted, but still. It was two cops in a car at an intersection near the house, and like I said a while ago, I don’t think the police really care what happens to Skyler. They think she’s a criminal. > [@](#): > > Lastly, why does Walt deserve to win in the end? Why are you evaluating the show based on what the characters deserve instead of the story itself? That’s the same thing that drove David Chase crazy: viewers spend years rooting for a character to kill a bunch of people and commit lots of crimes and then they demand he get killed at the end so they can purge their guilt or get a simple ending to a complicated story or something. He’s dead. Isn’t that enough? > [@](#): > > He basically got everything he set out to do, had no real repercussions for his actions. He broke up his family, destroyed his reputation as a good man, alienated everyone he was ever close to, then died. That has to count as some kind of repercussions. Most people will remember him as a liar and a killer and the people who knew him the best will think even less of him. He betrayed everybody. His reputation as a meth kingpin survives, which is what he wanted, but he did understand what it cost him. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591/460 "2013-09-30T18:46:52Z")
So where do you suppose Walt went to after he died? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-16-felina-9-29-13-series-finale/669591.md?page=24)