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.
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.
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.
The prison hits were set up in a cheap hotel room. But he drove to the compound to set up the hit on Jesse.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sepinwall has posted his review 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.
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.
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.
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?
I thought it was mostly shock. But then, Todd was never the sharpest… sharp thing Nazis keep in drawers.
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.
Because Walt paid him to do it. The vacuum repair business can’t be that profitable.
Oh, sweet irony. 
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?
In case nobody did this before: the lyrics to “El Paso” by Marty Robbins. We heard a little of it when Walt was stealing that car and a couple of other lines were relevant to the episode.
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.
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.
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?
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.