I can’t remember if he had been there previously. And they were so careful to search him but didn’t ask him to pop the trunk. (BTW, I think he brought that bigass Cadillac specifically because the trunk was big enough for his gun.)
All true but I think that’s the beauty of the show in showcasing the insidious nature of trying to do the wrong thing for the right reason; Walt and Skyler fall down a slow and slippery slope that lead to consequences you could never have imagined.
Flynn has the advantage of a shockingly clear revelation. He goes from complete ignorance to the knowledge that his father is a cornerstone of a drug empire and that he killed Uncle Hank.
I’m trying to remember what Walt’s main beef with Lydia was, but I’m drawing a blank.
I can’t remember a series finale that was so perfect.
Friday Night Lights was passable, but not this good.
Battlestar Galactica and Seinfeld sucked. By the time it got to the finale, The Office (U.S.) had been clinically dead for a year or two.
It took me some time to make my piece with The Sopranos.
But this one was right on. The whole series played like a TV miniseries adaptation of a novel, like The Jewel in the Crown or Brideshead Revisited. Absolutely nailed it.
Seemed Legit.
Nice to hear a little love for Badfinger. I named my dog from that song.
My guess is that he knew that Skyler would never be safe so long as Lydia was around.
My expectations were probably too high (finales are usually far from the best episodes of their respective shows). It was still good, but right now I’m still processing how good.
I didn’t like the ease with which Walt got into the Schwartz’s place. That seemed to work out a bit too easily, and the Schwartz’s seemed a little too gullible. Then again, even if they didn’t believe his story about the best assassins in the country, they still wouldn’t want to go to the police as having had Walter White in their home. That would just set Wall Street tongues a-waggin’ again.
(I like to think that Elliot and Gretchen end up fighting about whether they should follow Walt’s plan, and eventually it drives a deep rift between them. It would be one more tendril of Heisenberg’s legacy of destroying those he interacts with.) In any case, I think the very beginning of the episode was the weakest part.
The ricin in the tea was sorta meh. It seemed like the entire Internet except for me thought that’s what was going to happen, and it happened, and it makes sense. But it seemed so obvious that it would happen that I was expecting something different.
It was remarkably satisfying to see Jesse strangle Todd with his chains. That was the best strangled-with-chains scene since Return of the Jedi.
The best moment of all, I think, was Jack trying to make a deal. Walt was long past giving a damn about the money. It was never really about the money for Walt anyway - it was always about his legacy. He cared about the money, sure, but only to the extent that it was a symbol of his achievement and brilliance.
Note to paranoid Nazis who check for wires under shirts and weapons in the back seat: Also check the trunk. Just FYI.
I was unsure about the very ending, until it clicked: The cowboy came back for Felina and took a bullet. I had been thinking that Felina, the cowboy’s true love, was Skyler. I think it’s safe to say that Walt does love her. However, his true love was his sweet baby blue. That’s his Felina. That’s who he had to come back to see, regardless of the consequences. And he got to caress the sweet vessel of her creation one final time before he died.
2 things that I noticed right off the bat:
1)Both times the the garage door opener was spinning around, once in the desert and once at the ‘clubhouse’ there was a distinct clicking. A garage door opener shouldn’t do that, neither should any of the rigging he had it attached to UNLESS he used something that specifically made it click. But you know what it did sound like…Drew Sharp showing up at the wrong time and to lesser extent Tomas.
2)Was the gas station that Walt used the phone at the same one that Jesse tanked up the RV at? When he was filling up I had this feeling that it was and that somehow that’s what would be the downfall of him. It wasn’t, but I still wonder if it was the same place.
You’re right and I think all of that is also true. What happened with Walt and Skyler from one point of view is that they tried to compromise with things that cannot be compromised with. And approaching it from where he does, Flynn makes the right choices and rejects all of that.
She was a threat to the family and she was also a piece of the Heisenberg operation - I was saying last week that Walt needed to destroy the whole thing so no one else could take credit for what he did, and even if that wasn’t his sole motivation, he did accomplish that.
That scene was the first one where I teared up. Jesse with potential – any kid with potential – how fucking sad.
I agree that they absolutely nailed it, absolutely.
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.
And you know Anna Gunn’s tears were real.
I think Jesse’s gonna be fine. The Schwartz’s only problem will be laundering all that cash, but they have enough of their own money, maybe they’ll just pack Walt’s money away and use theirs to put Flynn and Holly through college.
Beautifully done, bravo, kudos, etc. etc. 
Skyler told him that she and Holly were threatened on Lydia’s behalf.
They’re running a charity, there’s no reason that they’re can’t call it an anonymous donation.
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.
TV and movies in general are filled with those moments. How many people don’t get killed because they say ‘wait!’ and manage to talk their way out of it.
He had already poisoned Lydia when she told him that.
I think you nailed it.
Right. It’s not a flaw specific to Breaking Bad. It’s just a thing that happens all the time in drama. There was no good reason Kenny could’ve have shot Walt as soon as he drove up. Then again Nazis aren’t the smartest.
Only if they didn’t believe Walt’s threat - he made it absolutely clear that his money would go to the children. Any taxes or other payments had to be taken from Walter White’s legacy-to-his-children-fund, and not from anywhere else.
This may be the single best finale in TV history… certainly among shows that I’ve seen where the finale is actually resolving an overarching series-long plot. (Not that many shows even try to do that over multiple years.)
Things I loved:
-The tense buildup of the scene in the Schwartz’s house, and its resolution, nice sendoff for Badger and Skinny Pete
-The scene with Walt and Holly, and Walt finally being honest
-The Stevia (I hadn’t guessed it ahead of time, but guessed it while she was drinking the tea) (I agree it seems a bit unnecessary for him to spell it out for her, but he probably wants her to know he beat her, one last burst of ego)
-Robot gun obviously
-Jesse strangling Todd
-Jesse’s face as he drove to freedom
-Walt dying among the things that made him happiest
Overall just very very satisfying.
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.
Jesse becomes a substance abuse counselor.