"...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
They were teacher and student. Master and apprentice. Father figure and problem child. Manipulator and manipulated. Heisenberg and Hoodie. Hazmat-suited partners in crime making fat stacks. However you viewed Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) — and chances are that view changed radically over the last five seasons – the two men will forever be linked as the blackened heart and corroded soul of AMC’s meth-making drama Breaking Bad. The pair’s relationship flamed out spectacularly in the final season, as Jesse, realizing that Walt was responsible for the near-death of Brock, the son of Jesse’s ex-girlfriend, helped ASAC Schrader (Dean Norris) to (almost) bring Walt to justice. Walt sought revenge, first by handing over Jesse to the neo-Nazis (who gave him two scoops of torture and ice cream), and then by returning from cold and lonely New Hampshire to wipe out Jesse along with Uncle Jack (Michael Bowen) and his crew. But when Walt saw the hideous, ragged condition of his estranged and now-enslaved labmate, who turned out not to be a 50/50 partner in meth manufacturing with these vicious white supremacists, he had an instinctive change of heart and saved Jesse from the hellfire that they were all going down in. What did Cranston and Paul think of the ending of their audacious adventure, which only left one of their characters alive? Read on to find out.
Calling it “100 percent satisfying,” Paul tells EW: “There were thoughts I had that maybe Walt will be the only one standing. I love that toward the end, Walt’s there to go on a suicide mission and blow everyone up, including Jesse, but he sees what they have put him through. His hair’s super long, he’s vacant. There’s not a soul in him anymore, and [Walt] decides that he deserves a second chance, so he dives on him. He throws himself in front of a bullet for him — and it’s kind of beautiful.” He adds with a chuckle: “It’s good that Walt got his, because he’s an evil, evil man, and he needed to go.”
In shooting the scene in which Jesse refuses to shoot Walt, Paul wound up (semi-)fulfilling a desire he’d possessed for years. “I always had the vision of Jesse pointing a gun to Walt’s head, I really did,” he explains. “I’m like, ‘It’s got to end like this,’ and deep down, I wanted Jesse to kill Walt. But the closer we got to the end, I realized I didn’t want that. Jesse can’t kill anybody else — even though he ended up killing Todd. But that was really self-defense and he just had to get out of there. But it’s good that Jesse was put through that torture for the past four or five months, put in a hole, because Jesse’s not an innocent person. He did some very bad things. It’s good that Jesse was put through that so he did some time, but I believe that he deserved to get away from all of it and just leave. You don’t really know where he goes … ” Paul has a few ideas, though, about what happened to Jesse. “In my mind, he gets the hell out of Dodge,” he says. “He’s like, ‘Oh my god.’ I think he probably goes and says bye to Brock, if he can, or at least just sees him from a distance and then he leaves. Maybe Alaska, maybe New Zealand. Becomes a bush pilot. It’s all part of the story.”
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Cranston, meanwhile, feels that Gilligan and his writers crafted both a “very satisfying” and ”unapologetic” finish to this unforgiving story. “It’s fitting. It’s complete,” he tells EW, explaining that the ending gave both characters an appropriate reunion and send-off. “When I see Jesse, this involuntary sense comes over me,” he says of Walt. “He’s been treated like a dog – like a beaten dog — and it just shocks me, and impulsively I protect him. He’s going off into the sunset. It’s fitting that the man who was so put upon and mistreated has a chance. And I like how it ends, because it’s not like, ‘Oh, he’s got the money.’ No. He’s just got his life, so he has a chance – just a chance.” He believes the finale cemented the notion that Breaking Bad is ”a tragedy of almost Shakespearean level. … Tragedy is not a bunch of bad guys doing bad things: ‘Oh, they killed the good guys!’ Tragedy is when the bad guys are sympathized, when you realize that it could have gone another way,” he notes. “There was hope for them at one time. Macbeth! Oh! In its truest sense, our story is a tragedy — an American tragedy. It’s not ‘good conquers evil,’ it’s not ‘good guys against the bad guys,’ it’s much muddier than that. Shades of gray.”
Walt’s unplanned self-sacrifice in shielding Jesse from the bullet not only exposed what humanity was left in Walter White, but underlined the significance of their relationship, no matter how fractured. “[When] he hears that the blue meth is still out there, that Jesse is still cooking, it’s like, ‘That bastard! He convinced them to be a partner with him, he’s still cooking! I’ll kill everybody!’” says Cranston. “And then when I see him, the shred of humanity left in Walter White is exposed at that moment and he acts. So if there’s any redeeming quality to him from the standpoint of the audience, it’s that moment. He even allows Jesse to kill him. Jesse has the gun and he points at me, and he says, ‘You want this?’ And I go, ‘Yeah. I think it’s fitting. Go ahead. You need to do it, go ahead. It’s okay.’ And then he says, ‘If you want this, then do it yourself. I’m not going to do it for you.’ At least there was some conclusion to their association. Their friendship did matter. And it was because of that history and friendship, that was the basis of his impulsivity. Because otherwise it would just be, ‘Jesus, look at that guy, that poor bastard,’ but I’m not going to risk my life for some stranger. There is more than familiarity. It’s deep-rooted. And it’s so true. Because sometimes you don’t know the depth of what you feel until you’re tested. That’s why I think it’s a satisfying ending. It’s still true to Walter White. Because he always possessed that. But it’s not saccharine sweet. It’s not done out of ‘Ohhh, Jesse.’ It’s just … ‘Jesus.’ If anything, it makes me hate Jack even more for his brutality.”
Did Cranston feel that the meth lord-in-chief ultimately had to die to give many Breaking Bad fans the closure they were seeking? “Because of his love for his family, there was a thought of mine that, ‘Would it be a more perfect hell for him to have to see his family die – his wife, his son, baby daughter — and he lives?’” he says. “And there’s some merit to that too. But ultimately, I think this is the best ending. A real satisfying ending. And I’m so grateful for that.”
In 2010, fresh off the emotionally dense final season of "Lost" and the first four seasons of the deeply humane "Friday Night Lights," I found myself struggling with "Breaking Bad."
The end of Season 2 had been so dark that I wondered if I could take much more of the meth drama's unsparing worldview. I'd bypassed most of the show's third season, but then gorged on it all in one weekend, just before the Season 3 finale aired in June of that year.
"Breaking Bad" was starkly different from the shows that I loved best around that time, but the merciless vision on display in Season 3 eventually won me over.
Two days out from "Breaking Bad's" series finale, I wonder where that clear-eyed perspective went.
Sure, all shows evolve, but "Breaking Bad" used to view Walt differently, I think. Its depiction of the moral choices he and Jesse made was occasionally amused but usually dispassionate and rational. Without sentiment, it brilliantly dissected the compromises that made viewers like me question the whole concept of rooting for anyone at all.
"Breaking Bad's" unblinking camera eye -- the endlessly observant lens that viewed the characters with such rigorous clarity -- made a believer of me. There was an adjustment period, of course.
"I realized that I'd never be as emotionally invested in the people of Albuquerque as I am in the people of Dillon, Texas," I wrote in 2010:
[But] maybe 'Breaking Bad' needs to keep the viewer at a distance. Without it, maybe Walt and Jesse and the probable bleakness of their futures might be too hard to take.
There's a coolness to this show; even as it depicts their suffering, the show keeps these people at arms' length. We're observing them; they are like ants in an ant farm. How much pressure can they take? ... What will break them and make them go bad? Perhaps it's appropriate that a show about a former chemistry teacher is like a giant experiment measuring pain and pressure. Perhaps because they are capable of such dark deeds, the show keeps a clinical eye on the characters. Perhaps it's better that we don't get too close to these people, whose tragedies will undoubtedly engulf them.
"Breaking Bad" did dig more deeply into its characters in the end, and that's to be expected and even celebrated. Viewers and writers can't spend five years with characters played by such fantastic actors without succumbing to their charms and caring about their fates.
But gradually, the clinical eye that the show cast on the characters, especially Walt, began to close. Not fully, not suddenly, but enough. That coolly appraising vision was supplanted, especially in the finale, by one perspective and one worldview: Walt's.
In "Felina," Walt basically took over. Other characters who had the standing to comment on his actions or who could get in his way were gone or their roles were greatly diminished. Everyone else was a bit player in the endgame orchestrated by Walt White.
These weren't ants in a maze, this was King Ant writing the history of his conquest. His version of tale, that is. Not a lot of other voices were heard.
No time was spent on Marie's grief, and there was only a brief scene of Skyler's utter resignation. The last episodes didn't linger on Flynn's adjustment to being the fatherless lynchpin of a broken household; he didn't even speak in the finale. Mike, gone. Saul, gone. Jesse appeared -- briefly -- to absolve Walt of his sins, which seems incredible, given what Jesse learned of Walt's role in Jane's death, not to mention everything else Walt had inflicted on him.
Gretchen and Elliot were there to do Walt's bidding and be terrified of him. Walt's bitter sneer -- that they needed to "make it right" with the White family -- went unchallenged, because this was Walt's story and the show had, at that point, lost interest in everybody else. The Nazis were mowed down like so many redshirts (there's your "Star Trek" episode, Badger).
Here's one small but telling example of how the show's perspective shifted, especially as the endgame grew near. Around the time that we first met Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, we saw her young daughter, and like Lydia, we were terrified that this little girl might discover the ugliness that had invaded her family. It mattered that she might find out that mommy was in danger -- or that she herself was in danger.
In the series finale, that girl was made an orphan. We didn't see her; no reference was made to Lydia's status as a single mom. Just about all we got were Walt's snide parting comments to Lydia. No more thought was given to her daughter than to the phone Walt threw in the dirt.
Yes, we can sit and ponder outcomes that the show didn't necessarily rub in our faces. And of course if the finale had given every minor character screen time, it would have been five hours long. Perhaps I'm stacking the rhetorical deck in my favor, but only to point out that "Breaking Bad" did the same.
Very little of the finale drew attention to the undeniable damage Walt left in his wake. The ramifications on which "Breaking Bad" used to dwell -- like the slaughter of Andrea -- were viewed from a distance, if they came up at all. (We saw Jesse's tortured reaction, but he remained a mute, powerless pawn for much of the season -- and in the end he silently forgave -- or let pass -- Walt's role in the deaths of Jane and Andrea.)
Ultimately, "Breaking Bad" went from a show with an unsparing eye to a show that, at the very end, didn't really want to look.
As many have noted, the "Breaking Bad" finale wrapped up many plot points rather tidily -- so neatly that it felt like the universe was lining up to do Walt's bidding. And that was ... weird. The cool, rational point of view -- the earlier vision of Walt as a creature under a microscope, a lab subject "sprawling on a pin" -- wasn't on display here. That distanced, even jaundiced view of Walt felt like a thing of the past. That unstoppable con artist Walter White had taken control, and it felt as though "Breaking Bad" -- a show that interrogated and subverted the anti-hero myth for so long -- had started to root for him.
Creator Vince Gilligan and his writers used to observe this man with detachment, but after Walter White left that bar in "Granite State," he ran the table and the show. The finale was 96 percent pure Walter Hartwell White -- whatever he wanted, he got. So much for just deserts; by dictating the terms of his exit, Walt just got dessert.
Walt is certainly a seductive personality, and it must be hard to be merciless toward your story's lead character when you're about to leave him forever. But aren't those who tell the tale supposed to be at a certain remove from the characters? Knowing them so well, shouldn't they be less easily seduced?
Yet, right at the end, "Breaking Bad" ignored the cardinal rule of all drug-related enterprises: Don't get high on your own supply.
Contrast "Breaking Bad's" ending with that of "The Shield." I won't give that ending away, except to say that Vic Mackey, who had told himself he was simply trying to do good but had let his ego run amok, was denied everything he wanted most. The world, or fate, or whatever you want to call it, finally put obstacles in his path that he couldn't get over. The universe said, "No."
Not so for Walt. "Breaking Bad" blinked; it hesitated. Its desire to burnish and redeem Walt made the finale anti-climactic -- or rather, post-climactic. Why couldn't the events of "To'hajiilee" and "Ozymandias" -- a more powerful concluding arc, in my view -- be left as they were? Because that arc was too unsparing. It was too bleak.
Wait a minute, wasn't "unsparing and bleak" "Breaking Bad's" thing? Wasn't that what I was drawn to, almost in spite of myself?
I'm not saying that the show totally lacked compassion for everyone on screen, even Walt -- that was never the case. And I'm not saying the finale was a bad episode of television. It was just far less powerful than it could have been. And before you call for my head on a platter, I'll say that "Breaking Bad" still belongs in the pantheon of great TV shows.
But the finale's impact was blunted by its tendency to view Walt's actions not just as the right ones but as the necessary ones. This isn't about wishing retribution on Walt per se, it's about wanting him to live in a universe that's capable of biting back. It's the universe that he'd lived in for the five previous seasons (and, until "Felina," wasn't all that different from the reality we live in, too).
Walt got a sentimental ending. He got to go out on a win. Don't ask how he got his millions from the cabin, how he lucked into a car with the keys inside, how he traveled cross-country and flitted all over ABQ without being spotted, how he hooked up with Badger and Skinny Pete without being seen, how it was so easy for him to get into the Schwartz house (and get them to haul his money around), or how a man near death rigged up a machine gun with a device that surely figures in an alternate cut of a Patrick Swayze direct-to-video action movie. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, he's experiencing a redemptive arc!
Real talk: "Breaking Bad" simply could not bring itself to lower the boom on Walt. The story got wrapped up and the plot was tidily concluded, but "Breaking Bad" lobbed the moral reckoning back in our laps. "You decide," it seemed to say. The show always allowed us the space to make our own assessment of Walt, and that is to be commended, but there was something evasive about the finale. Evasiveness from the most tough-minded show in recent memory? That didn't seem possible not so long ago.
In the end, the show whose uncompromising vision won me over -- me, a total sap who likes to cry and feel all the feelings -- backed away from the consequences and final judgment seemingly foretold in those early seasons. As I wrote in my review, for Walt, balancing the cosmic scales of karma would have involved going through an endgame that deprived him of control and power -- the two things he valued most. That didn't happen.
We can endlessly debate whether or not Walt got his comeuppance, and how much of a comeuppance he deserved. We will forever argue, I suspect, about whether that truthful admission to Skyler was more valuable than Fate serving Walt a plate of humble pie. The point is, to allow so much control -- and for the universe to acquiesce so meekly -- well, that doesn't feel like the show of "Full Measure" or "Box Cutter" or even "Ozymandias." Right at the end, "Breaking Bad" went with resolutions that were more cynical or more forgiving than I would have expected.
The show ended with a smiling Walt surrounded by the machinery and chemicals he loved. Jesse and Skyler let him exit their lives with few, if any, penalties, and almost everyone else was dead. The Greek chorus that commented on Walt's actions was silent or gone. The unsparing eye that had regarded his actions with unstinting clarity was replaced, in the end, by a camera that rose up into the heavens, regarding a peaceful Walt -- kindly, I think -- from on high.
The desire to pull punches is understandable; Lord knows, I have wrestled with how much disappointment to lob at a show I have loved with all the jittery fervor of a meth addict.
Just as the writers couldn't quite lower the boom on Walt, I find it difficult to lower the boom on "Breaking Bad." I still love the show and respect it, truly.
Maybe Walt got to me, too. Goddamn that guy.
Note: Ryan McGee and I discussed "Felina" and the legacy of "Breaking Bad" in the most recent Talking TV podcast, which is on iTunes, here and below.
Alright, alright, alright!
Tom O. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
They had such memorable side characters. Gus and Mike of course. But also I loved Todd in Season 5....what an amazing character. I loved how he was absolutely weird and creepy and could kill coldly but had a weird innocence to him...he didn't enjoy killing. He just did. He would do whatever people told him to and didn't seem to grasp why it was wrong, or have any real emotion at all. I almost felt bad for him when he died only because I mean....the guy just had no idea.
Number 2 is a good idea. Malcolm in the Middle is really funny.
I actually have all of the Low Wi ter Sun episodes so far recorded. Haven't watched a single one. It just feels too soon.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
21. Accept that Peyton Manning might be the savior of mankind. <-- That's how I'm getting by.
Mansfield, MA - Jul 02, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 03, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 11, 2003; Boston, MA - Sep 29, 2004; Reading, PA - Oct 01, 2004; Hartford, CT - May 13, 2006; Boston, MA - May 24, 2006; Boston, MA - May 25, 2006; Hartford, CT - Jun 27, 2008; Mansfield, MA - Jun 28, 2008; Mansfield, MA - June 30, 2008; Hartford, CT - May 15, 2010; Boston, MA - May 17, 2010; [EV - Providence, RI - June 15, 2011; EV - Hartford, CT - June 18, 2011]; Worcester, MA - Oct. 15, 2013; Worcester, MA - Oct. 16, 2013; Hartford, CT - Oct. 25, 2013; Boston, MA - August 5, 2016; Boston, MA - August 7, 2016...
Number 2 is a good idea. Malcolm in the Middle is really funny.
I actually have all of the Low Wi ter Sun episodes so far recorded. Haven't watched a single one. It just feels too soon.
Agreed, I love Malcollm in the Middle!
Tres Mts- 3/16/2011
Eddie Vedder- 7/16/11
Brad- 4/21/12 (RSD Performance), 4/27/12, 8/10/12
Flight To Mars- 5/23/12
RNDM- 11/27/12
PEARL JAM- 12/6/13 I have finally seen Pearl Jam live!
21. Accept that Eli Manning might be the savior of mankind. <-- That's how I'm getting by.
:lolno:
You've been smokin that blue, haven't you? Are we even watching the same games? :fp:
Mansfield, MA - Jul 02, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 03, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 11, 2003; Boston, MA - Sep 29, 2004; Reading, PA - Oct 01, 2004; Hartford, CT - May 13, 2006; Boston, MA - May 24, 2006; Boston, MA - May 25, 2006; Hartford, CT - Jun 27, 2008; Mansfield, MA - Jun 28, 2008; Mansfield, MA - June 30, 2008; Hartford, CT - May 15, 2010; Boston, MA - May 17, 2010; [EV - Providence, RI - June 15, 2011; EV - Hartford, CT - June 18, 2011]; Worcester, MA - Oct. 15, 2013; Worcester, MA - Oct. 16, 2013; Hartford, CT - Oct. 25, 2013; Boston, MA - August 5, 2016; Boston, MA - August 7, 2016...
I would HIGHLY recommend The Wire and The Shield from this list for those that haven't seen those shows. To me, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield are the top 3 TV shows. I started watching House of Cards and have been enjoying it so far. Of course Game of Thrones and Homeland are awesome. I like Boardwalk but am a few seasons behind.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
I would HIGHLY recommend The Wire and The Shield from this list for those that haven't seen those shows. To me, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield are the top 3 TV shows. I started watching House of Cards and have been enjoying it so far. Of course Game of Thrones and Homeland are awesome. I like Boardwalk but am a few seasons behind.
The Bridge people...try The Bridge. It's no Breaking Bad, but it's very solid
I would HIGHLY recommend The Wire and The Shield from this list for those that haven't seen those shows. To me, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield are the top 3 TV shows. I started watching House of Cards and have been enjoying it so far. Of course Game of Thrones and Homeland are awesome. I like Boardwalk but am a few seasons behind.
The Bridge people...try The Bridge. It's no Breaking Bad, but it's very solid
I have it DVRd. I need to get to that. The Americans, another FX show, is also very good.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
"...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
"...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
Thats what I thought when I first read about the latin american show, but I believe it's legit. I wonder what will happen to Walter blanco.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
Comments
I forgot all about him!
It seems everybody did!!!
She will... rise above...
Well 3 people put him there. 2 are dead and the other was a meth slave
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
LOOKING FOR A SINGLE TICKET TO MSG NIGHT 2
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
They were teacher and student. Master and apprentice. Father figure and problem child. Manipulator and manipulated. Heisenberg and Hoodie. Hazmat-suited partners in crime making fat stacks. However you viewed Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) — and chances are that view changed radically over the last five seasons – the two men will forever be linked as the blackened heart and corroded soul of AMC’s meth-making drama Breaking Bad. The pair’s relationship flamed out spectacularly in the final season, as Jesse, realizing that Walt was responsible for the near-death of Brock, the son of Jesse’s ex-girlfriend, helped ASAC Schrader (Dean Norris) to (almost) bring Walt to justice. Walt sought revenge, first by handing over Jesse to the neo-Nazis (who gave him two scoops of torture and ice cream), and then by returning from cold and lonely New Hampshire to wipe out Jesse along with Uncle Jack (Michael Bowen) and his crew. But when Walt saw the hideous, ragged condition of his estranged and now-enslaved labmate, who turned out not to be a 50/50 partner in meth manufacturing with these vicious white supremacists, he had an instinctive change of heart and saved Jesse from the hellfire that they were all going down in. What did Cranston and Paul think of the ending of their audacious adventure, which only left one of their characters alive? Read on to find out.
Calling it “100 percent satisfying,” Paul tells EW: “There were thoughts I had that maybe Walt will be the only one standing. I love that toward the end, Walt’s there to go on a suicide mission and blow everyone up, including Jesse, but he sees what they have put him through. His hair’s super long, he’s vacant. There’s not a soul in him anymore, and [Walt] decides that he deserves a second chance, so he dives on him. He throws himself in front of a bullet for him — and it’s kind of beautiful.” He adds with a chuckle: “It’s good that Walt got his, because he’s an evil, evil man, and he needed to go.”
In shooting the scene in which Jesse refuses to shoot Walt, Paul wound up (semi-)fulfilling a desire he’d possessed for years. “I always had the vision of Jesse pointing a gun to Walt’s head, I really did,” he explains. “I’m like, ‘It’s got to end like this,’ and deep down, I wanted Jesse to kill Walt. But the closer we got to the end, I realized I didn’t want that. Jesse can’t kill anybody else — even though he ended up killing Todd. But that was really self-defense and he just had to get out of there. But it’s good that Jesse was put through that torture for the past four or five months, put in a hole, because Jesse’s not an innocent person. He did some very bad things. It’s good that Jesse was put through that so he did some time, but I believe that he deserved to get away from all of it and just leave. You don’t really know where he goes … ” Paul has a few ideas, though, about what happened to Jesse. “In my mind, he gets the hell out of Dodge,” he says. “He’s like, ‘Oh my god.’ I think he probably goes and says bye to Brock, if he can, or at least just sees him from a distance and then he leaves. Maybe Alaska, maybe New Zealand. Becomes a bush pilot. It’s all part of the story.”
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Cranston, meanwhile, feels that Gilligan and his writers crafted both a “very satisfying” and ”unapologetic” finish to this unforgiving story. “It’s fitting. It’s complete,” he tells EW, explaining that the ending gave both characters an appropriate reunion and send-off. “When I see Jesse, this involuntary sense comes over me,” he says of Walt. “He’s been treated like a dog – like a beaten dog — and it just shocks me, and impulsively I protect him. He’s going off into the sunset. It’s fitting that the man who was so put upon and mistreated has a chance. And I like how it ends, because it’s not like, ‘Oh, he’s got the money.’ No. He’s just got his life, so he has a chance – just a chance.” He believes the finale cemented the notion that Breaking Bad is ”a tragedy of almost Shakespearean level. … Tragedy is not a bunch of bad guys doing bad things: ‘Oh, they killed the good guys!’ Tragedy is when the bad guys are sympathized, when you realize that it could have gone another way,” he notes. “There was hope for them at one time. Macbeth! Oh! In its truest sense, our story is a tragedy — an American tragedy. It’s not ‘good conquers evil,’ it’s not ‘good guys against the bad guys,’ it’s much muddier than that. Shades of gray.”
Walt’s unplanned self-sacrifice in shielding Jesse from the bullet not only exposed what humanity was left in Walter White, but underlined the significance of their relationship, no matter how fractured. “[When] he hears that the blue meth is still out there, that Jesse is still cooking, it’s like, ‘That bastard! He convinced them to be a partner with him, he’s still cooking! I’ll kill everybody!’” says Cranston. “And then when I see him, the shred of humanity left in Walter White is exposed at that moment and he acts. So if there’s any redeeming quality to him from the standpoint of the audience, it’s that moment. He even allows Jesse to kill him. Jesse has the gun and he points at me, and he says, ‘You want this?’ And I go, ‘Yeah. I think it’s fitting. Go ahead. You need to do it, go ahead. It’s okay.’ And then he says, ‘If you want this, then do it yourself. I’m not going to do it for you.’ At least there was some conclusion to their association. Their friendship did matter. And it was because of that history and friendship, that was the basis of his impulsivity. Because otherwise it would just be, ‘Jesus, look at that guy, that poor bastard,’ but I’m not going to risk my life for some stranger. There is more than familiarity. It’s deep-rooted. And it’s so true. Because sometimes you don’t know the depth of what you feel until you’re tested. That’s why I think it’s a satisfying ending. It’s still true to Walter White. Because he always possessed that. But it’s not saccharine sweet. It’s not done out of ‘Ohhh, Jesse.’ It’s just … ‘Jesus.’ If anything, it makes me hate Jack even more for his brutality.”
Did Cranston feel that the meth lord-in-chief ultimately had to die to give many Breaking Bad fans the closure they were seeking? “Because of his love for his family, there was a thought of mine that, ‘Would it be a more perfect hell for him to have to see his family die – his wife, his son, baby daughter — and he lives?’” he says. “And there’s some merit to that too. But ultimately, I think this is the best ending. A real satisfying ending. And I’m so grateful for that.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-r ... 22685.html
In 2010, fresh off the emotionally dense final season of "Lost" and the first four seasons of the deeply humane "Friday Night Lights," I found myself struggling with "Breaking Bad."
The end of Season 2 had been so dark that I wondered if I could take much more of the meth drama's unsparing worldview. I'd bypassed most of the show's third season, but then gorged on it all in one weekend, just before the Season 3 finale aired in June of that year.
"Breaking Bad" was starkly different from the shows that I loved best around that time, but the merciless vision on display in Season 3 eventually won me over.
Two days out from "Breaking Bad's" series finale, I wonder where that clear-eyed perspective went.
Sure, all shows evolve, but "Breaking Bad" used to view Walt differently, I think. Its depiction of the moral choices he and Jesse made was occasionally amused but usually dispassionate and rational. Without sentiment, it brilliantly dissected the compromises that made viewers like me question the whole concept of rooting for anyone at all.
"Breaking Bad's" unblinking camera eye -- the endlessly observant lens that viewed the characters with such rigorous clarity -- made a believer of me. There was an adjustment period, of course.
"I realized that I'd never be as emotionally invested in the people of Albuquerque as I am in the people of Dillon, Texas," I wrote in 2010:
[But] maybe 'Breaking Bad' needs to keep the viewer at a distance. Without it, maybe Walt and Jesse and the probable bleakness of their futures might be too hard to take.
There's a coolness to this show; even as it depicts their suffering, the show keeps these people at arms' length. We're observing them; they are like ants in an ant farm. How much pressure can they take? ... What will break them and make them go bad? Perhaps it's appropriate that a show about a former chemistry teacher is like a giant experiment measuring pain and pressure. Perhaps because they are capable of such dark deeds, the show keeps a clinical eye on the characters. Perhaps it's better that we don't get too close to these people, whose tragedies will undoubtedly engulf them.
"Breaking Bad" did dig more deeply into its characters in the end, and that's to be expected and even celebrated. Viewers and writers can't spend five years with characters played by such fantastic actors without succumbing to their charms and caring about their fates.
But gradually, the clinical eye that the show cast on the characters, especially Walt, began to close. Not fully, not suddenly, but enough. That coolly appraising vision was supplanted, especially in the finale, by one perspective and one worldview: Walt's.
In "Felina," Walt basically took over. Other characters who had the standing to comment on his actions or who could get in his way were gone or their roles were greatly diminished. Everyone else was a bit player in the endgame orchestrated by Walt White.
These weren't ants in a maze, this was King Ant writing the history of his conquest. His version of tale, that is. Not a lot of other voices were heard.
No time was spent on Marie's grief, and there was only a brief scene of Skyler's utter resignation. The last episodes didn't linger on Flynn's adjustment to being the fatherless lynchpin of a broken household; he didn't even speak in the finale. Mike, gone. Saul, gone. Jesse appeared -- briefly -- to absolve Walt of his sins, which seems incredible, given what Jesse learned of Walt's role in Jane's death, not to mention everything else Walt had inflicted on him.
Gretchen and Elliot were there to do Walt's bidding and be terrified of him. Walt's bitter sneer -- that they needed to "make it right" with the White family -- went unchallenged, because this was Walt's story and the show had, at that point, lost interest in everybody else. The Nazis were mowed down like so many redshirts (there's your "Star Trek" episode, Badger).
Here's one small but telling example of how the show's perspective shifted, especially as the endgame grew near. Around the time that we first met Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, we saw her young daughter, and like Lydia, we were terrified that this little girl might discover the ugliness that had invaded her family. It mattered that she might find out that mommy was in danger -- or that she herself was in danger.
In the series finale, that girl was made an orphan. We didn't see her; no reference was made to Lydia's status as a single mom. Just about all we got were Walt's snide parting comments to Lydia. No more thought was given to her daughter than to the phone Walt threw in the dirt.
Yes, we can sit and ponder outcomes that the show didn't necessarily rub in our faces. And of course if the finale had given every minor character screen time, it would have been five hours long. Perhaps I'm stacking the rhetorical deck in my favor, but only to point out that "Breaking Bad" did the same.
Very little of the finale drew attention to the undeniable damage Walt left in his wake. The ramifications on which "Breaking Bad" used to dwell -- like the slaughter of Andrea -- were viewed from a distance, if they came up at all. (We saw Jesse's tortured reaction, but he remained a mute, powerless pawn for much of the season -- and in the end he silently forgave -- or let pass -- Walt's role in the deaths of Jane and Andrea.)
Ultimately, "Breaking Bad" went from a show with an unsparing eye to a show that, at the very end, didn't really want to look.
As many have noted, the "Breaking Bad" finale wrapped up many plot points rather tidily -- so neatly that it felt like the universe was lining up to do Walt's bidding. And that was ... weird. The cool, rational point of view -- the earlier vision of Walt as a creature under a microscope, a lab subject "sprawling on a pin" -- wasn't on display here. That distanced, even jaundiced view of Walt felt like a thing of the past. That unstoppable con artist Walter White had taken control, and it felt as though "Breaking Bad" -- a show that interrogated and subverted the anti-hero myth for so long -- had started to root for him.
Creator Vince Gilligan and his writers used to observe this man with detachment, but after Walter White left that bar in "Granite State," he ran the table and the show. The finale was 96 percent pure Walter Hartwell White -- whatever he wanted, he got. So much for just deserts; by dictating the terms of his exit, Walt just got dessert.
Walt is certainly a seductive personality, and it must be hard to be merciless toward your story's lead character when you're about to leave him forever. But aren't those who tell the tale supposed to be at a certain remove from the characters? Knowing them so well, shouldn't they be less easily seduced?
Yet, right at the end, "Breaking Bad" ignored the cardinal rule of all drug-related enterprises: Don't get high on your own supply.
Contrast "Breaking Bad's" ending with that of "The Shield." I won't give that ending away, except to say that Vic Mackey, who had told himself he was simply trying to do good but had let his ego run amok, was denied everything he wanted most. The world, or fate, or whatever you want to call it, finally put obstacles in his path that he couldn't get over. The universe said, "No."
Not so for Walt. "Breaking Bad" blinked; it hesitated. Its desire to burnish and redeem Walt made the finale anti-climactic -- or rather, post-climactic. Why couldn't the events of "To'hajiilee" and "Ozymandias" -- a more powerful concluding arc, in my view -- be left as they were? Because that arc was too unsparing. It was too bleak.
Wait a minute, wasn't "unsparing and bleak" "Breaking Bad's" thing? Wasn't that what I was drawn to, almost in spite of myself?
I'm not saying that the show totally lacked compassion for everyone on screen, even Walt -- that was never the case. And I'm not saying the finale was a bad episode of television. It was just far less powerful than it could have been. And before you call for my head on a platter, I'll say that "Breaking Bad" still belongs in the pantheon of great TV shows.
But the finale's impact was blunted by its tendency to view Walt's actions not just as the right ones but as the necessary ones. This isn't about wishing retribution on Walt per se, it's about wanting him to live in a universe that's capable of biting back. It's the universe that he'd lived in for the five previous seasons (and, until "Felina," wasn't all that different from the reality we live in, too).
Walt got a sentimental ending. He got to go out on a win. Don't ask how he got his millions from the cabin, how he lucked into a car with the keys inside, how he traveled cross-country and flitted all over ABQ without being spotted, how he hooked up with Badger and Skinny Pete without being seen, how it was so easy for him to get into the Schwartz house (and get them to haul his money around), or how a man near death rigged up a machine gun with a device that surely figures in an alternate cut of a Patrick Swayze direct-to-video action movie. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, he's experiencing a redemptive arc!
Real talk: "Breaking Bad" simply could not bring itself to lower the boom on Walt. The story got wrapped up and the plot was tidily concluded, but "Breaking Bad" lobbed the moral reckoning back in our laps. "You decide," it seemed to say. The show always allowed us the space to make our own assessment of Walt, and that is to be commended, but there was something evasive about the finale. Evasiveness from the most tough-minded show in recent memory? That didn't seem possible not so long ago.
In the end, the show whose uncompromising vision won me over -- me, a total sap who likes to cry and feel all the feelings -- backed away from the consequences and final judgment seemingly foretold in those early seasons. As I wrote in my review, for Walt, balancing the cosmic scales of karma would have involved going through an endgame that deprived him of control and power -- the two things he valued most. That didn't happen.
We can endlessly debate whether or not Walt got his comeuppance, and how much of a comeuppance he deserved. We will forever argue, I suspect, about whether that truthful admission to Skyler was more valuable than Fate serving Walt a plate of humble pie. The point is, to allow so much control -- and for the universe to acquiesce so meekly -- well, that doesn't feel like the show of "Full Measure" or "Box Cutter" or even "Ozymandias." Right at the end, "Breaking Bad" went with resolutions that were more cynical or more forgiving than I would have expected.
The show ended with a smiling Walt surrounded by the machinery and chemicals he loved. Jesse and Skyler let him exit their lives with few, if any, penalties, and almost everyone else was dead. The Greek chorus that commented on Walt's actions was silent or gone. The unsparing eye that had regarded his actions with unstinting clarity was replaced, in the end, by a camera that rose up into the heavens, regarding a peaceful Walt -- kindly, I think -- from on high.
The desire to pull punches is understandable; Lord knows, I have wrestled with how much disappointment to lob at a show I have loved with all the jittery fervor of a meth addict.
Just as the writers couldn't quite lower the boom on Walt, I find it difficult to lower the boom on "Breaking Bad." I still love the show and respect it, truly.
Maybe Walt got to me, too. Goddamn that guy.
Note: Ryan McGee and I discussed "Felina" and the legacy of "Breaking Bad" in the most recent Talking TV podcast, which is on iTunes, here and below.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
http://postgradproblems.com/30-things-to-do-once-breaking-bad-ends/#mUvkT3z2fMb94bEu.99
They had such memorable side characters. Gus and Mike of course. But also I loved Todd in Season 5....what an amazing character. I loved how he was absolutely weird and creepy and could kill coldly but had a weird innocence to him...he didn't enjoy killing. He just did. He would do whatever people told him to and didn't seem to grasp why it was wrong, or have any real emotion at all. I almost felt bad for him when he died only because I mean....the guy just had no idea.
Really interesting and creepy villain character.
Number 2 is a good idea. Malcolm in the Middle is really funny.
I actually have all of the Low Wi ter Sun episodes so far recorded. Haven't watched a single one. It just feels too soon.
+102389235.. why all great things always end
21. Accept that Peyton Manning might be the savior of mankind. <-- That's how I'm getting by.
I had to
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
LOOKING FOR A SINGLE TICKET TO MSG NIGHT 2
Agreed, I love Malcollm in the Middle!
Eddie Vedder- 7/16/11
Brad- 4/21/12 (RSD Performance), 4/27/12, 8/10/12
Flight To Mars- 5/23/12
RNDM- 11/27/12
PEARL JAM- 12/6/13 I have finally seen Pearl Jam live!
:lolno:
You've been smokin that blue, haven't you? Are we even watching the same games? :fp:
:lolno:
You've been smokin that blue, haven't you? Are we even watching the same games? :fp:[/quote]
Rings vs Ring , and i would love to try some of that Blue, just a little
I would HIGHLY recommend The Wire and The Shield from this list for those that haven't seen those shows. To me, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Shield are the top 3 TV shows. I started watching House of Cards and have been enjoying it so far. Of course Game of Thrones and Homeland are awesome. I like Boardwalk but am a few seasons behind.
Its not good :thumbdown:
The Bridge people...try The Bridge. It's no Breaking Bad, but it's very solid
I have it DVRd. I need to get to that. The Americans, another FX show, is also very good.
I do watch Hell on Wheels and really enjoy it. It's no Breaking Bad, but still a solid show IMO.
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... pg2MvVPV7Y
That has to be fake....right?
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
LOOKING FOR A SINGLE TICKET TO MSG NIGHT 2
Thats what I thought when I first read about the latin american show, but I believe it's legit. I wonder what will happen to Walter blanco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtD3Qw6Stvk