Film & TV Breaking Bad (may contain SPOILERS)

[leemond2008]

 

Can the finale of Breaking Bad seal its status as the greatest TV show of all time? Will Walter White be killed? Will he save or murder Jesse? Jim Shelley on 10 ways it could end

By Jim Shelley

PUBLISHED: 10:31, 29 September 2013 | UPDATED: 16:04, 29 September 2013

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Breaking Bad’s fanatical fans and reverential critics rave about qualities such as its colourful but convincing characters, the actors’ performances, its distinctive photography or use of location.

But Breaking Bad’s real genius has always been its unpredictability.

What truly sets it apart – even from its rivals for the title of Greatest TV Show Of All Time such as The Wire and The Sopranos – is that for 61 episodes, from minute to minute, let alone from one installment to another, viewers have never known what was going to happen next.

 

This shot from tonight's long-awaited finale of Breaking Bad shows how much Walter White has changed, physically as well as morally

Even at the beginning, its very premise (a law-abiding, family-loving chemistry teacher starting to make crystal meth, and becoming a mythical, murderous drug lord) was so original it was impossible to see how it would pan out it a way that could be plausible.

It’s precisely partly because the emotional and moral arc of individual characters has been so complex and unexpected that the show has become so gripping, as addictive as Walt’s crystal meth.

 

Breaking Bad has become so much more than the showdown between Walt and Jesse that viewers expected

All of which means the speculation that has been mounting before the final episode (10pm on AMC in the States, the early hours of Monday morning on Netflex in the UK) is irresistible but pointless.

We have never foreseen what creator Vince Gilligan had in store for Walt, his family, his one-time partner in crime Jesse Pinkman, Hank, or a variety of satellite characters.

No series before it has had so many shocks like the moment we suddenly saw Todd shoot young Drew Sharp, or that Jesse had turned up in custody or Hank being killed two episodes before the finale, as we’d all assumed was his due

 

Ex-chemistry teacher Walter White built up Heisenberg's drug empire to leave the legacy he should have had with Gray Matter Technologies

So it’s not likely we’re going to start now, when it really counts. And god knows, the stakes for Gilligan couldn’t be higher.

He knows from the way The Wire and The Sopranos ended that Breaking Bad’s legacy will, to a large degree, be settled or sealed by its conclusion.

The fifth and final series of The Wire was easily the weakest, with the storyline of McNulty’s faked murders damaging its reputation for piercing savage social commentary as much as it damaged his position as a cop. At the other end of the scale, the last episode of The Sopranos was arguably too clever, too ambivalent, for its own good, failing to deliver viewers a classic climax that a gangster like Tony deserved.

At the end of the penultimate episode, Walt put on his Heisenberg hat and left his safe house, announcing he was going to settle his old scores for once and for all

So to my mind, one thing we thing be CAN sure of is that Gilligan will ensure Breaking Bad has a powerful finale, something unparalleled - which would be in keeping with the rest of the series. Some thing for it to be remembered for.

There are a few things we DO know.

• Walt has an M60 and several rounds of tracer ammunition, glimpsed at the start of the fifth series in the boot of his car, in a prelude to the point we have reached now.
• He will also have a capsule of Ricin, collected from the now derelict family house.
• We know from last week’s episode that the reason Walt has always given (to himself as much as anyone else) for his illegal, corrupt, murderous activities – his family – has gone for good. Skyler is in custody awaiting trial either as his accomplice or a potential witness against him. Walter Junior refused Walt’s plan to send them money and will have nothing to do with him. Walt has nothing to lose.
• We also know from last week that Walt is on a mission to settle old scores, firstly with Jack Welker and his white supremacist biker gang.‘They murdered Hank, they stole my life's work,’ he snarled to Saul sourly, trying to persuade Saul to help him form a gang of mercenaries to retrieve his $70million drug stash.
• We know he is also after his former business partners, Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz. Walt was a broken man, dying of cancer, living in a shack in the woods, on an improvised IV, reduced to paying the man who had ‘disappeared’ him $10,000 for an hour of cards when what he wanted was two hours of conversation. The turning point was seeing the co-founders of Gray Matter Technologies diminishing his part in their success, dismissing it, and diminishing him to the whole world. White announced his intentions, and his rage, by donning his Heisenberg hat.
• Finally, of course, Walt has unfinished business with Jesse – his former protégé, adoptive son, and now sworn enemy. Walt knows that someone is still out there manufacturing his famous blue meth - and making money out of it. He is bound to hold Jack, Todd, Lydia and Jesse responsible for appropriating his creation.

 

From left to right, Breaking Bad's main protagonists: Jesse, Walter, Skyler, Walt junior, Marie and Hank

But what will actually happen?

Here are 10 possible ways Breaking Bad could end.

 

1) SKYLER KILLS WALT

Only a few weeks ago, it still seemed as if Breaking Bad was a story about the shifting battle of wits between three characters - Walt, Jesse and DEA agent Hank Schrader. Viewers were watching to find out who would kill who. Back then, Walt’s wife Skyler seemed the perfect ‘surprise’ candidate to be the one to mete out justice to Walt. The way she had responded to learning of her husband’s criminal activities (by joining him, helping him launder his money, facilitating and vindicating his excuse that he was doing it all for his family) testified to her steely determination and self-preservation. But Hank’s death and her sister’s suffering brought her moral compass back. So although there would be a neat (if banal) significance in Walt being put down by one of his own family, Skyler surely had her chance pulled a knife on him and slashed his hand. Walter Junior killing his father would be suitably shocking but that moment, you suspect, has also passed.

2) MARIE KILLS WALT

Hank's widow has, suspiciously, stayed under the radar throughout Breaking Bad even after her husband’s death. A brief, unexplained shot last week of Marie in a car hinted at a greater significance to come. Small details rarely ever appear by accident in Breaking Bad. Would be regarded as something of an anti-climax.

3) CRYSTAL METH KILLS WALT

Walt has cooked the purest meth ever seen in New Mexico, but the middle class schoolteacher in him always remained opposed to the idea of actually using drugs. Resigned to dying of cancer, he could try or be forced to try his prized product, and die of a heart attack thanks to the purity of his recipe. A long shot.

4) WALT KILLS WALT

The idea that Walter White will be arrested and taken into custody is virtually impossible. If he were, one could imagine him preferring to use the vial of Ricin to commit suicide but this seems unlikely, not least because, although he is Public Enemy Number One, since the death of Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez, no-one from the DEA or police has a personal involvement in his capture.

5) TODD KILLS WALT

At first Breaking Bad was about watching Walt's ethical conflict and his descent in to ruthless immorality - breaking bad, which Gilligan has defined as 'raising hell.' Agonising over committing his first murder, White even wrote a list of pros and cons that included the reason for letting drug-dealer Krazy-8 live 'it's the moral thing to do.' This was followed by 'Judaeo/Christian principles' ! Todd Alquist however is totally amoral, the emerging evil of the show, ever since he casually killed Drew Sharp, the little boy who was watching Todd, Walt and Jesse rob methylamine from a train. The way Todd then reduced it to an anecdote to entertain his uncle Jack over breakfast was even more chilling. Since then, he has tortured Jesse, turned him into the gang’s meth slave, and without any compunction, shot Brock’s mum Andrea in cold blood, purely to illustrate to Jesse the consequences of trying to escape. Will do whatever is necessary and strikes you as one of life's survivors.

6) LYDIA KILLS WALT AND HAS TODD KIDNAP JESSE

Lydia is the only person in Breaking Bad as devious, as self-serving and obsessed with crystal meth and making money as Walt. She is easily single-minded enough to exploit Todd’s infatuation and have him kill Walt, steal the money, and kidnap Jesse to use as her cook to satisfy the demands of her buyers in Europe. This would spare Gilligan from having to kill Jesse off and keep the possibility of Jesse having his own series at some point in the years ahead.

7) WALT KILLS TODD AND UNCLE JACK AND DESTROYS GRAY MATTER TECHNOLOGIES

We know Walt is after Jack and his crew, having concluded ‘they murdered Hank, they stole my life's work.’ In fact, Walt has always been motivated as much by ego and wounded pride as by money or his spurious claims he was providing for his family. The drug empire he built became his new legacy after Gray Matter Technologies, the company he founded with Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz, made millions on the back of his research. This was after he had sold Elliott his share for only $5000. Walt has been eaten up with resentment ever since, refusing their offer of help paying for his treatment. Could the Ricin be for them – revenge by chemistry?

8) JESSE KILLS WALT

Until recently, this seemed the most logical end of Walt and Jesse’s twisted moral arc, which has essentially seen them change places. Jesse has watched his amiable ex-teacher become consumed with greed and power, utterly losing his humanity. Meanwhile, Jesse, the nihilistic meth head, has endured a descent into hell that, as he witnessed Walt’s real evil, has gradually seen him find his soul. Jesse knows that the love of his life Jane died because of Walt. The death of Drew Sharp and Brock’s mother Andrea also go back to Walt. So Jesse still has the hatred to kill Walt. He has the despair and the need for an act of revenge/redemption. But does he have the resources, the energy, in his current state?

9) WALT KILLS JESSE

It's possible Walt isn't just going back to take out the Neo Nazis but to kill Jesse, who Jack had promised Walt he would dispose of. This rankled with Walt to the extent that Walt turned Jesse over to Jack’s gang when he saw him hiding, taking the opportunity (gratuitously) to Jesse that he had watched Jane die before leaving him in their hands. Any other show would have Walt seeking some trace of redemption by saving Jesse. Breaking Bad will surely not be that simple.

10) NO-ONE KILLS WALT

Only Vince Gilligan could possibly conceive of an ending that sees Walter White survive, rather than get his just deserts or be put out of his misery. Walt is definitely on a mission and is a master tactician. He could kill Jack, Todd, Jesse, Lydia and the bosses of Gray Matter and flee with his precious millions. He would still face death by cancer, but he would have won. This would be the bleakest of all endings – leaving the audience no sensation of justice. Of course if Walt ends up alone, with his money and not his family, that could be perceived as a greater punishment. He would have done it all for nothing – leaving a fittingly chilling modern moral similar to Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale: the love of money is the root of all evil.

At some point in the countdown to the finale, most of these seemed possible endings, even secret favourites fans have had.

The truth is, if we have thought of them, they probably won’t happen. Breaking Bad is so unique, in a way it is ultimately totally predictable. The most likely ending is: Number 11) none of the above.

[villarule123]

It would take a monumental fail of a finale tonight for it to not be the greatest show of all time.

I'm not sure if they could topple the 2 episodes where the Nazis came after Hank etc though

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Yeah, it feels like the show already ended and this is an epilogue of sorts. I'm sure they'll pull something out of the bag, though!

 

Worst thing is avoiding everything and everyone until I can watch it tomorow afternoon.

[Dr_Pangloss]

Regardless of the finale it will always be below The Sopranos and The Wire.

[villarule123]

Nah, it beats them both for me

[leemond2008]

Only saw a few episodes of the wire in passing when my old flat mate used to watch it, I have got the entire box set of the sopranos but I only made it through the first two series and then stopped watching it, breaking bad had me hooked from the first episode

[villarule123]

We're staying at my parents tonight as it's on the way to Center Parcs Longleat for our holiday. They have a internet download speed of 0.14mb, how the **** am I going to watch this? Center Parc's WiFi better be good, otherwise I will cry many tears.

[Demitri_C]

cannot wait for this will be watching tomorrow evening with friend so this will be my last post until then

 

#heisenberg

[Folski]

We're staying at my parents tonight as it's on the way to Center Parcs Longleat for our holiday. They have a internet download speed of 0.14mb, how the **** am I going to watch this? Center Parc's WiFi better be good, otherwise I will cry many tears.

 

Hope to see you at around half 7 VR123 Hope you get it sorted 

[LockStockVilla]

Bravo. 

[Folski]

Nice finish.

[leemond2008]

Just watching it now

[villarule123]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

 

Greatest show of all time.

[ED]

Not the best episode ever but it wrapped everything up.

Satisfying ending. Fitting.

[villarule123]

Not the best episode ever but it wrapped everything up.

Satisfying ending. Fitting.

The shocks and epicness were done 2 episodes ago.

 

This was about wrapping things up like you said, and it was done perfectly. LOST - take note.

[coda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

Todd suitably creepy right to the end.

[leemond2008]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

 

 

That is exactly what I was going to say

[bradarmstrong_]

I like how Walt literally ticked every box that he could have wanted to do in this episode before meeting his end.

[ender4]

i really really want to read this thread... but will wait till i see the final episode tonight.

 

so excited 

[Folski]

Was perfect really.