When “Lost” had its finale three years
ago, I didn’t think there would ever be another show that could drag me in like
it did. My friends would always tell me about shows they liked on TV, and I
would always react with a, “Pshh, it’s not as good as
‘Lost.'” In a sense, I was being bitter.

One of those shows people always
mentioned was “Breaking Bad,” but I never gave it a chance. I finally watched a
few episodes on Netflix last month, and a few weeks later I would end up
catching up to the current, final season. Along the way I see-sawed between
liking Walter White and hating him, but after he poisoned a kid I was fully in
the anti-Walt camp. I didn’t think there was any way my allegiances could
change. But then the finale happened Sunday night.

Unlike some much-talked-about finales
from recent years (“The Sopranos,” the aforementioned “Lost”), “Breaking Bad”
didn’t leave anything open-ended. There’s not going to be any debates about
what the ending means, only discussion on whether or not people found it
fitting. Save for one far-fetched moment, I thought the finale achieved pretty
much perfection.

Note that there are spoilers below, so
if you don’t want to know what happened, you should probably stop reading now.

The Good

The suspense: Pretty much every scene
had me on the edge of my seat, and by the time of the epic final scene my heart
was going so fast I thought it was going to explode.

Walt making sure his family gets his
money: Even though they made it clear they didn’t want his drug money, Walt
still found a way to get it to them. He did put himself first throughout most
of the series, but he always cared about his family.

Walt finally being real with Skyler: Finally hearing him admit he was doing everything
for himself was very gratifying. It gave so much insight into his character
when he said his ordeals in the meth business made him feel alive.

Laser pointers: This scene was great
not only for the dark humor, but because we got to see Badger and Skinny Pete
one last time. What would a finale have been without them?

The final showdown: This scene is going
to get so many views once it starts appearing on YouTube, and for good reason. It
was brilliant. You were kept guessing right up until the gun in the trunk. Then
we got to see some of the best moments of revenge in television history, as
Walt killed Jack Welker and Jesse killed Todd. You could argue that throughout
the series, Walt went bad. But it was a temporary
thing, a mere blip on the radar in his life. Jack and Todd were evil incarnate,
and seeing them getting their comeuppances was oh-so-satisfying.

Walt and Jesse’s goodbye: People were
probably hoping for some more dialogue between the two, especially since the
last time they saw each other Walt told Jesse he let Jane, the love of his
life, die in front of him, and that he could’ve saved her. Only a few words
were exchanged, and it was nothing particularly significant. Before Jesse gets
into a car a drives to his freedom, they look at each other and exchange a nod.
On Walt’s end, I think the nod said, “Sorry for everything I put you through,”
while on Jesse’s it said, “I forgive you.” Maybe that’s not what the writers
intended, but that’s how I like to think it went. I cried real tears at this
part, something only a few other television shows have ever made me do.

Walt’s death: If Walt and Jesse’s
goodbye made me cry, this took it even further. He got to be with his pride and
joy one last time. The soundtrack (“Baby Blue” by Badfinger)
went so well with the scene, one because of the lyrics (“guess I got what I
deserved”) and two because the meth was his baby, and it was blue.

Redemption: Walt’s actions in the
episode certainly don’t give him redemption, but it shows he never went
completely over to the dark side. For the first time in a while, he wasn’t
fighting for Heisenberg, he was fighting for Walter
White. This made me respect his character so much more, seeing as he almost
broke last episode and turned himself in. He righted
all the wrongs he could before his time was up.

The Bad

The ricin in Stevia packet: There were
a few things that bothered me over the course of the series, but none that came
close to this. How could Walt have possibly put the ricin in a Stevia packet? I
mean, was it just me or was the packet not sealed? Does he have a connection at
the Stevia plant who he got to fill a packet with
ricin for him? I’m not a sugar packet-ologist by any
means, but how could you reseal a sugar packet? We saw Lydia rip the packet
open, so it was sealed to begin with. I don’t think this is really possible. I
know Walt’s supposed to be all-knowing, but I don’t think that means being a
magician. This didn’t seem to bother my friends with whom I watched the finale,
but it sure bugged me. Maybe I missed some really explicit detail, but I
watched it three times over and didn’t catch anything. I think the show asked a
little too much out of our imaginations for this one.

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2013.

17 replies on ““Breaking Bad”: The good and bad of the finale”

  3. yes, but my point is you would notice the packet had been tampered with. I’m just trying to figure out how he kept it perfectly intact.

  4. Easy, replace the stevia before they arrive at the only open table for 2. Notice theres only one stevia packet. Walt needs only to make sure that she takes the stevia.

  5. You really can’t possibly imagine how a genius can open and close a sugar packet?? I could figure it out and Im not anything!

  6. I have a possible explanation for the ricin.

    So Walt knows Lydia is a woman of routine and always sits at that spot and always has TWO stevias.
    Walt is already at the diner when Lydia arrives, so it’s possible Walt took both stevia packets from Lydia’s table, carefully split the packet, put in the ricin and sealed it up again (this would be fairly easy) and put back only that ONE packet of stevia, knowing Lydia would definitely use that one and have to ask for more.

  7. Walt made the most powerful meth in the world in an RV, was able to make a homemade pipe bomb and attach it to a wheelchair at a nursing home, able to knock off inmates in separate prisons in a three minute window, rig a machine gun in the trunk of a car and operate it with the remote lock, and you wonder how he can put ricin into a sugar packet???

    Answer – X-acto knife, tiny slit, and glue.

    The bigger question is why the Nazi thugs didn’t search the trunk of the car.

  8. I understand he could’ve glued it, my point is regardless of the fact there would be some sort of visible evidence it had been done. I didn’t notice any and that’s why I questioned it. Also, if I saw a guy come into a restaurant and take two Stevia packets from a table and put one of his own back in their place, I’d be a little suspicious. Somebody, whether a customer or a restaurant employee would’ve seen him do it.

    I just thought the scene was a bit farfetched. Yes, it’s extreme nitpicking, but it bothered me so I had to say something about it.

  11. As someone posted already, there is a video out there showing how easily a packet could be tampered with and no one would ever know. A box cutter, a syringe and glue would be all Walt needed to replace the Stevia with ricin.

  12. It didn’t ruin the show at all for me, I’m just really anal and would rather have been shown how he did it exactly, seeing as most everybody predicted he was going to use the ricin on Lydia anyways.

  13. I teared up at the end too, first time ever for a television program. I did wonder about the stevia packet as well, I guess it is possible but that would be extremely difficult to pull off. God I will miss this show.

  14. The matter of the poisoning of the Stevia packet with ricin is actually not as complicated or unbelievable as it first appears. We saw that Walter White had already arrived at the cafe prior to Lydia. He had already been awaiting her arrival for some time. In previous episodes we learned that Lydia is “a creature of habit.” She went to that same cafe on the same day of the week at the same time of day and always sat at the same table. With this information Walt went to the cafe early and removed all the sweetener packets from the sugar caddy leaving only one packet in the caddy at her favorite table (the packet that had been poisoned). We know this because Lydia comments about it and asks the waiter to “please bring her some more Stevia” even as she was opening the tampered packet and pouring it into her tea. Though we don’t actually see Walter White poison the packet, it is implied that he did it away from the cafe thereby allowing the necessary time needed to carefully and meticulously open and reseal the packet. He then planted the packet in the caddy and kept an eye on it while he sat at the food bar in the cafe to make sure that no other unsuspecting person might use the packet. He probably placed the tampered end facing down. When Lydia arrived Walt made sure to go to her table where he diverted her attention away from the packet by simply appearing unexpectedly and talking to her. She never suspected a thing, and it makes sense that she would not have concerned herself with examining the packet. No one would likely do that if in a similar situation.

  15. they wouldn’t have to check the trunk of his car because his car was going nowhere near then and they were going to kill him anyway

  16. Open ended: What about the Lily of the valley plant. Walter had discarded it..so when and how did Jesse realize it had been used by Walt?
    Open ended: Why did the neo nazi Jack’s family come to do the hit even though Walt said not to.
    Open ended:What happened to Walt’s money? (a camera pan to a shot of it’s location would have been great.. ) Jesse left without a thing except an old car..but it would have been nice to see him with a stash of cash somewhere in the car to leave and start over with.
    Open ended: Brock left alone..wouldn’t Jesse go look for him? or wonder about him?
    I think one of those “where they ended up” montages would have been wonderful. Especially since the show already ended.

  17. Walt points to a place behind Lydia and Todd and exclaims, “Oh look – Hush Puppies!” Then, while they are distracted, he deftly and smirkingly slips the ricin into Lydia’s chamomile tea. There’s your alternate and equally unbelievable scenario.

Comments are closed.