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  1. #141
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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by 77devil View Post
    A loose end in my mind is how Walt manages to escape NH and find the guy who sells him the M60. You don't just look it up on the internet but then I did. Nevertheless, Saul is no longer around to help and the fixer said he would sever contact if Walt left the cabin. And Walt has no apparent means to contact or find him anyway.

    Walt goes back to the cabin to retrieve at least some of the money because he has a big bag of it with him when he buys the gun and changes cars. But the authorities know his proximate location and will be using all means to find him. My best guess is that he pays someone with money from the box he was going to send to drive him back to the cabin and out of the state. But getting by the dragnet seems improbable as he is in the middle of nowhere with few roads easy enough for the authorities to roadblock.
    No mystery there, it's New Hamster, where everyone has a an M60 or a howitzer in the basement, or on the front porch. Walt is just doing the requisite Live Free or Die thing.
    He could drive through that state with the gun on top of the car and no one would give it a second look. Then again, maybe he just took a lump of cash
    down to the local Ford dealership and bought himself a nice ride back to NM.

  2. #142
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Yeah, the show will probably have to use the teaser / cold open to show how Walt gets from the NH bar back to ABQ, and they may even spend more time than that on it. When the cops came to raid the bar for Walt, it seems like the bartender was gone. He might be with Walt when the show starts.

    So, adding that to the list alteran came up with, this finale will almost certainly be told at a breakneck speed. Not too big a deal. I feel like 5 of the past 7 episodes have been told at a fast pace and was done well. Very confident I'll be satisfied with the finale.

    Expecting some sort of twist with the machine gun and the ricin -- maybe something like a simple switch, with the ricin being for the Nazis (in their ice cream?) and the machine gun being for Gretchen and Elliot.

  3. #143
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    I thought the finale was very, very good (ignoring the improbability of Walt being able to go anywhere he wanted to in ABQ undetected by police; same with eluding NH police to make the cross country drive).

    The Gretchen & Elliot resolution was great. Huge, mostly egoless gesture from Walt, allowing Gretchen & Elliot to take credit for giving Flynn $10 million even though it was actually Walt's money. Liked that Gretchen refused to assure Walt that Flynn would get the money, but Elliot was weaselly. Somehow that rang true for both characters even though we basically haven't seen them in years. Moot, because they get laser-pointed at by Badger and Skinny Pete to ensure their cooperation! Good stuff. Glad the show followed up with G&E after the Charlie Rose appearance, and we got to see B&SP one last time.

    Lydia gets the ricin in her stevia. I actually would've been okay had we not seen Lydia again after the cafe scene because that camera zoom on the stevia falling into her tea left little room for interpretation (combined with there being only one packet at her table). But the show wanted to leave no doubt whatsoever, so we got to see what ricin symptoms look like on Lydia and hear the Lydia ringtone on Todd's phone.

    Glad that Skyler got to hear Walt say "I did it for me. I liked it," and he asked Skyler to see Baby Holly as opposed to last time kidnapping her.

    Nice touch with Uncle Jack's ego allowing Walt to get his final victory. Uncle Jack shouldn't have needed to prove anything to someone he was about kill anyway, but that delay to go get Jesse allowed Walt to grab his keys. Not quite the poignancy of Gus needing to be the one to kill Hector in person at the nursing home, but for a show that's very much about male ego, both endings to the Big Bads were appropriate. Also nice that Jack was finished off by Walt the way Jack finished off Hank and Declan.

    Todd was once again in awe of Walt as he looked out the window at the M60 in the trunk. Todd's last words were, "Mr White..." I think he was about to deliver a compliment before Jesse wrapped his neck in restraints.

    Loved that Jesse survived and forced Walt to say that HE wanted Jesse to shoot him as opposed to just Jesse wanting it. Echoes of the "stop working me" scene in the desert where Jesse wanted Walt to admit that Jesse going away with the Disappearer would be for Walt, not Jesse. Walt didn't actually admit it in that scene but instead gave Jesse an awkward hug. Here, Walt does say he wants it for himself, and then Jesse refuses. Nice.

    Is it really just happy coincidence that the final shot of Jesse, him in the driver's seat of a car driving fast, basically echoes the trailer for Aaron Paul's movie Need for Speed?

    Great final shots for the show. Walt, in his lab, alone with his pride, admiring his work, finally succumbs as Baby Blue plays.

  4. #144
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    Mar 2007
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    Mount Kisco, NY
    I also liked the finale, but it seems like the critics response has been, well, negative on balance. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that for such a messy world, it all ended a little too neatly. Emily Nussbaum, TV critic of the New Yorker, said that when Walt couldn't get the car started in the snow, she thought the "finding of the keys" was the start of a revenge fantasy, and that once he was strolling wistfully around the Nazi Meth lab, the scene would abruptly cut back to Walt frozen to death in that car, and everything back in ABQ would be, cruelly and realistically, as it would be...the Nazis and Lydia making millions off meth, Jesse still their slave, Skyler facing serious legal issues, Marie having no closure with Hank's body MIA, etc. That would have been a really crazy way to end it. The critics are feasting on the illogic of Walt (A) somehow getting out of New Hampshire (B) moving around ABQ despite the fact that everyone knows he is back especially (C) his ability to get into Skyler's condo and catch a glimpse of Flynn one last time and (D) his broad daylight hangout in the Todd/Lydia coffee shop then (D) the Nazis letting him park his car wherever he wanted and not checking the trunk and on and on.

    Whatever, I'll take the fairly neat closure.

  5. #145

    Liked it but

    I liked the finale a lot.

    Loved the part with the Richardsons. Loved Walt telling Skyler I did it for me.

    The whole car gun thing actually working to somehow kill almost all the Nazis was a little improbable to me.

    GREAT GREAT SERIES.

    SoCal

  6. #146
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Dat View Post
    I also liked the finale, but it seems like the critics response has been, well, negative on balance. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that for such a messy world, it all ended a little too neatly. Emily Nussbaum, TV critic of the New Yorker, said that when Walt couldn't get the car started in the snow, she thought the "finding of the keys" was the start of a revenge fantasy, and that once he was strolling wistfully around the Nazi Meth lab, the scene would abruptly cut back to Walt frozen to death in that car, and everything back in ABQ would be, cruelly and realistically, as it would be...the Nazis and Lydia making millions off meth, Jesse still their slave, Skyler facing serious legal issues, Marie having no closure with Hank's body MIA, etc. That would have been a really crazy way to end it. The critics are feasting on the illogic of Walt (A) somehow getting out of New Hampshire (B) moving around ABQ despite the fact that everyone knows he is back especially (C) his ability to get into Skyler's condo and catch a glimpse of Flynn one last time and (D) his broad daylight hangout in the Todd/Lydia coffee shop then (D) the Nazis letting him park his car wherever he wanted and not checking the trunk and on and on.

    Whatever, I'll take the fairly neat closure.
    I have to admit, I would've loved it if Nussbaum's ending happened.

    Yeah, I've seen a lot of criticism for the finale saying it was too happy an ending, and things worked out too well for Walt. I completely respect those takes. The great thing, though, is that BB basically provided two series finales. I've said before that Ozymandias absolutely would've worked as the "Walt loses" series finale. I'd like to think Gilligan made Felina a "Walt wins" series finale, and the audience can now choose which one we want to believe. (Come to think of it, Granite State minus the Charlie Rose scene would've worked as a "Walt loses" finale as well.)

  7. #147
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    Feb 2007
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    The City of Brotherly Love except when it's cold.
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    I have to admit, I would've loved it if Nussbaum's ending happened.

    Yeah, I've seen a lot of criticism for the finale saying it was too happy an ending, and things worked out too well for Walt. I completely respect those takes. The great thing, though, is that BB basically provided two series finales. I've said before that Ozymandias absolutely would've worked as the "Walt loses" series finale. I'd like to think Gilligan made Felina a "Walt wins" series finale, and
    the audience can now choose which one we want to believe. (Come to think of it, Granite State minus the Charlie Rose scene would've worked as a "Walt loses" finale as well.)
    I would have preferred a a Nussbaum like ending but Gilligan was pretty clear on Talking Bad last night that the writers decided on closure for the fans. He said they worked a variety of endings, some more ambiguous than others, but ultimately chose to avoid a Sopranos like finish.

    I felt the twist with the Schwartz's was very clever. I suspect most viewers thought Walt intended to kill them when he is on the pay phone. And leaving the watch is another example of the extraordinary attention to detail in the writing.

    I especially liked Gilligan's homage to The Searchers as the basis for Walt saving Jesse notwithstanding his initial intent to do otherwise.
    Last edited by 77devil; 09-30-2013 at 03:38 PM.

  8. #148
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    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by 77devil View Post
    I would have preferred a a Nussbaum like ending but Gilligan was pretty clear on Talking Bad last night that the writers decided on closure for the fans.
    Yeah, I mean, the basic question is: Can an evil, evil man like what Walter White became be allowed to gain some redemption in a series finale? I say, heck yeah he can! Walter White broke bad because he started to make evil decisions. Once he stopped making evil decisions and started making moral decisions, he should be allowed to gain redemption through his good actions. Being bad or being good is a decision, and a Walter White that has broken good should be allowed to receive some closure on some of the evils he's committed, and fans should be allowed to root for him to do so. If you agree with me thus far, then it just becomes a question of how successful Walt is in his redemption. If there were 10 things he needed closure/redemption for, it seems like this episode let him bat 10 for 10. If he had only batted 6 for 10, it sounds like some of the critics would've liked the episode better.

  9. #149
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    Mar 2007
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    Mount Kisco, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Yeah, I mean, the basic question is: Can an evil, evil man like what Walter White became be allowed to gain some redemption in a series finale? I say, heck yeah he can! Walter White broke bad because he started to make evil decisions. Once he stopped making evil decisions and started making moral decisions, he should be allowed to gain redemption through his good actions. Being bad or being good is a decision, and a Walter White that has broken good should be allowed to receive some closure on some of the evils he's committed, and fans should be allowed to root for him to do so. If you agree with me thus far, then it just becomes a question of how successful Walt is in his redemption. If there were 10 things he needed closure/redemption for, it seems like this episode let him bat 10 for 10. If he had only batted 6 for 10, it sounds like some of the critics would've liked the episode better.
    What if Walt had coldly shot Jesse, and then the show ended as it did, with him strolling the lab with a bemused smile on his face? I think people would have gone berserk!

  10. #150
    A finale like this inevitably won't please everyone. There will always be folks who have decided in advance how they want the series to end, who will then take issue with it ending any other way. Personal preference is whatever it is.

    To me the predictability of the ending was a feature, not a bug. BrBa was always one long story, and the reason the broad strokes of the ending were predictable was because they were the logical consequences of what came before. The series built upon itself so meticulously that an out-of-left-field swerve at the end (Marie goes psycho and kills everyone) would have been a cheat. This really was Chapter 62 of a 62-chapter novel - it offered a few twists but by and large it played fair within the world that had been established. The gun was highly implausible but no more so than magic magnets, the train robbery et al - it fit within the world the creators had established.

    I tend to agree that Ozymandias was the dramatic high point of the series but I adored the finale as well, and I was not on "Team Walt" or whatever. Yes he "won" and I was rooting for him to do so - seriously, he was pitted against Nazis - but he paid a huge price for his win. Even leaving aside that he.. y'know.. died - he lost the love and respect of his family. He got his brother-in-law killed. His son will spend the rest of his life in therapy, and his daughter will only know him as the infamous monster portrayed in the media. Walt salvaged a death on his own terms and a modicum of redemption. Jesse got as happy an ending as he could have under the circumstances, which felt right.

    This is IMO the best TV drama of all time. It's not as arty, perhaps not as socially relevant as The Wire, but the pure entertainment value was off the charts. I was still affected emotionally by the ending yesterday, and it's rare that fiction does that to me.

  11. #151
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    Dev11 is offline Commissioner of Statistics, DBR Podcast
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matches View Post
    A finale like this inevitably won't please everyone. There will always be folks who have decided in advance how they want the series to end, who will then take issue with it ending any other way. Personal preference is whatever it is.

    To me the predictability of the ending was a feature, not a bug. BrBa was always one long story, and the reason the broad strokes of the ending were predictable was because they were the logical consequences of what came before. The series built upon itself so meticulously that an out-of-left-field swerve at the end (Marie goes psycho and kills everyone) would have been a cheat. This really was Chapter 62 of a 62-chapter novel - it offered a few twists but by and large it played fair within the world that had been established. The gun was highly implausible but no more so than magic magnets, the train robbery et al - it fit within the world the creators had established.

    I tend to agree that Ozymandias was the dramatic high point of the series but I adored the finale as well, and I was not on "Team Walt" or whatever. Yes he "won" and I was rooting for him to do so - seriously, he was pitted against Nazis - but he paid a huge price for his win. Even leaving aside that he.. y'know.. died - he lost the love and respect of his family. He got his brother-in-law killed. His son will spend the rest of his life in therapy, and his daughter will only know him as the infamous monster portrayed in the media. Walt salvaged a death on his own terms and a modicum of redemption. Jesse got as happy an ending as he could have under the circumstances, which felt right.

    This is IMO the best TV drama of all time. It's not as arty, perhaps not as socially relevant as The Wire, but the pure entertainment value was off the charts. I was still affected emotionally by the ending yesterday, and it's rare that fiction does that to me.
    I agree, this felt a bit like an epilogue rather than a finale. They didn't spend two years of Walter White's life carefully building his Heisenberg image around himself to let it go out in a random blaze of somebody else's glory. This show was about Walter and his tragic march towards his impending death.

  12. #152

    Jimmy Fallon "Joking Bad" parody

    Many sight gags and several cameo appearances....which, of course, may not mean too much if you're not previously "addicted."

    **I** am the one who knocks!!

    Fallon BB parody

    k

  13. #153
    I finished (tonight) the series (started at the beginning of 2014). Fun to read folks' predictions in this thread, and reactions to the show.

    I rate the series above The Wire and as #1 for me (and I've seen Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, etc...). The Wire is more realistic, yet the human emotion in Breaking Bad seemed more real to me, if that makes sense. Although Breaking Bad is more "contrived" or made-up than The Wire, Breaking Bad struck me deeper on an emotional level.

    As noted up-thread, I too found the entertainment value of Breaking Bad off the charts -- it never dragged. The part I least liked (or understood, or that seemed too convoluted) is how/why Walt had to poison Brock -- that was the one bridge too far (at the time) that I never got.

    On a side note, there's an oboist in my family, so it was neat to see that Jesse's almost-perfect little brother played the oboe (season 1) --- and the actor who played Jane's dad (John de Lancie) is the namesake son of one of the all-time great American oboists.

  14. #154
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    Feb 2007
    Vince Gilligan is writing a Breaking Bad movie. What?!?

    https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/bre...ks-1203021681/

  15. #155
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    Sep 2007
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    El Camino out today on Netflix.

    No spoilers here, will just say — damn. Nice.

  16. #156
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    Feb 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
    El Camino out today on Netflix.

    No spoilers here, will just say — damn. Nice.
    Wow just finished watching and yes really nicely done. I won’t give away any spoilers but if you were a fan of the series you need to watch this.

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