Felina: Breaking Bad’s Finale Was the Perfect Ending to an Amazing Show
It was the perfect ending. It was just right. And it makes this whole “finale” thing even more bittersweet. To know I just watched the last episode of one of the BEST TV shows of all time (Breaking Bad) is so wall-slide worthy. I felt this exact same way when I read the last Harry Potter book. Vince Gilligan has wrapped up the saga of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman with a red bow, giving us the closure we’ve all been anticipating but weren’t sure we’d get. And we thank him, because “Felina” was brilliant.
Even the title of this finale being “Felina” was awesome for three reasons. It was an anagram of “finale,” the chemical breakdown above and the song El Paso that talks about a cowboy who fell in love with a girl named “Felina.” Meth was Walt’s Felina.
SO DEEP AND DOPE! Anyway, let’s just get into it. If you’re reading past this point, I take it that you’ve watched it and/or don’t mind spoilers.
Car, Cops and Chance – Walt gets in a snow-covered car, and he looks around for something to turn it on with when he sees police car lights behind him. He stops moving, and it seems like he holds his breath until they pass by. WHEW! Because I was holding my breath too. He looks around and then pulls down the flip thing and keys fall down. That lucky summabitch! TWO breaks in one.
Gooning at the Schwartz – Walter drives into a gas station in a with the New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” motto on the license. He makes a phone call saying his name is David Lynn of the New York Times, and it’s to the assistant of Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz, his Gray Matter folks. He tricks her into giving him their address and it’s obvious that he’s headed their way. UH OH!
The Schwartzes enter their house and are talking when Walt walks in behind them and closes the door. Gretchen turns and sees him. She screams, Elliott comes running and Walt greets them with a very casual “Hello.” The couple is alarmed and when Elliott pulls out a tiny pocket knife, Walt tells him “if we’re gonna go that way, you’ll need a bigger knife.” WALTER WHITE THE REAL GOON!
He’s makes the Schwartzes help him get the cash he has in his trunk and stack it in their living room. It totals $9. 7 million and he wants them to give it to his son when he turns 18 in 10 months. It’ll be in the form of a trust that they’ll say they are giving him because of his “monstrous father.” They are hesitant but they agree to it. And right before Walt works out, he waves his hands and two red dots appear on Elliott and Gretchen. He tells them he hired hitmen who will be watching them to ensure that the money gets to Walt Jr.
OOP! It turns out that the “hitmen” are Badger and Skinny Pete, who he picks up down the street from the Schwartz house. They tell him that blue meth is still on the market and he realizes that Jesse’s still alive. And he’s PISSED!
Woodwork and Stevia – A memory of Jesse making a wooden box breaks my heart to pieces because it leads to us seeing Jesse chained up in a meth lab, looking every bit of terrible. Then we finally end up where we were in episode 8 of season 5, when Walt goes back to his house to retrieve the ricin.
Meanwhile, Lydia the Louboutin Connoisseur walks into the diner for her weekly meeting with Todd, who flirts awkwardly when Walter walks up and sits at their table. He says he realizes they must be running out of methylamine to cook meth and he wants to show them a cooking method that won’t require it. Lydia tells him she’ll consider it and waves him off. Walt leaves, and she opens her beloved stevia and pours it into her tea. Stevia looks mightily like ricin.
Desert and Deserting – Walt is in the desert hooking up the M60 rifle in his trunk to a car battery, and making the car keys into a remote control. The plan to wreck shop and shake every table is clearly on. Next, Skyler is sitting at her new home, smoking and looking like a shell of her former self when the phone rings. It’s her estranged sister, Marie, calling to tell her that Walt is back in town. Many people have seen him and she’s concerned that he’s coming to hurt them all, including Walt Jr. A freakishly calm Skyler thanks her sister and hangs up. We know why she’s calm: Walt is standing in the kitchen.
He tells her that he’s gonna handle Jack an’ em, and then hands her the lottery ticket with coordinates. Walt says it’s the location of Hank and Gomez’s bodies, and she cries. He also finally speaks the truth when he admits that all the chaos of Heisenberg wasn’t just for his family. “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And… I was really… I was alive.” The truth shall set you free, Walt. Well, maybe not free. But, TELL IT! He sees baby Holly for one last time, and leaves right before Walt Jr. gets home.
From the side of the house next door, he watches his son for one last time and walks away.
Justice for all – Walt rolls up to the house that Uncle Jack and Todd’s terrible gang take up space in.
Before he enters, they search him for a wire and find nothing. But they take his wallet and car keys. When he gets in front of Jack, he pitches his new cooking method and gets shut down. Instead, they just want to kill him. As he’s being dragged away, he says he knows that Jack has partnered with Jesse since his blue meth is still on the market. THIS is what pisses off the old man more, because he is insulted that Walt would think he’d consider Jesse an equal. To prove it to him, he asks Todd to go get Pinkman from the prison they’ve made him. As Jesse walks in, Walt grabs his keys and none of the men notice.
Jesse is in chains, looking all downtrodden and terrible and Walt realizes that his former sidekick is being held captive and not cooking meth for them by his own volition. He walks up to him and tackles him, and as the Brotherhood goes to grab him, he presses the car keys and the machine gun in his trunk shoots off rounds after round of bullets, spraying the house.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! GO IN AND LET HAVE!
The men go down one by one and Walt’s body is covering Jesse’s as this is happening. When the bullets finally stop, he rolls off Jesse. Most of the men are dead but Todd gets up and goes by the window to see where the shots were coming from. Jesse gets up, still in chains and chokes Todd from behind with them. The two men struggle but Todd loses his life at the hands of the person who deserves to kill him.
SWEET, SWEET JUSTICE!!!
Walt stands up and sees that Jack is still alive, albeit severely wounded. He grabs a gun from the floor and as the old man tries to say if he’s shot, he won’t know where his money is, Walt pulls the trigger. Jack is VERNA DEAD!
Next, he turns and places the gun on the ground and slides it to Jesse, who grabs it. He tells Pinkman to “do it” but his old bro refuses and tells him to do it himself. He looks down and sees that Walt was shot in the stomach. Jesse walks out he cabin.
Just then, a phone rings in Todd’s pocket and it’s Lydia. Walt picks it up and a very sick Lydia asks “Is it done?” and he replies “yes” and she realizes who she’s talking to. He then asks her if she’s sick and feeling like she has the flu. She admits she is and he tells her that it’s because that stevia from earlier was ricin, and she’s about to die. He ends the call with “Goodbye, Lydia.” Goodbye indeed.
Jesse and Walt take one final look at each other and for just a second, you see that there’s still love between them. And in that moment, my chest filled up with the feels.
Jesse gets into a car that’s sitting outside the house and speeds away, laughing hysterically, probably shocked that he is truly free. I wanted to cry for him because I wanted him to live. And to see him free? EVEN MORE FEELS!
Walt goes into the meth lab, walking slowly and seemingly savoring what was left of his legacy as the song “Baby Blue” plays. In the distance, we hear police sirens getting closer closer. He touches one of the machines and leaves a bloody palm print in the shape of a “W” as he falls to the ground. We see him sprawled out, facing up in his own blood, dead as police enter.
The end.
Perfect.
Walter White died on his 52nd birthday, in a meth lab, and really at his own hands. Because what he succumbed to was the bullet wound from the automatic M60 he set up. But he died from saving Jesse Pinkman, someone he kinda owes that to. In the end, Walter redeemed himself and reminded us of his humanity as the best antihero I’ve seen on TV. He’s reprehensible, selfish, evil and such a terrible human being. Yet we rooted for him and couldn’t purely hate him because at his core, he was a family man. Many of his actions are based on his love for his family, and in the end, we see his love for Jesse.
Speaking of Jesse, I was sure he was going to die because he was on a losing streak and he really needed to be putout his misery. But I LOVE that Jesse got free. Even more than that, I love that Todd died at his hands, and painfully. It was truly the perfect ending for him. My hope is that he goes and finds Brock and raises him as his son. YESSSS!!! I’m just so happy he’s free! *tears*
Furthermore, I was expecting Jesse to kill Walt, and had he killed him, I would have been perfectly fine with it. However, I like that he wasn’t responsible for his death. I’m glad he wasn’t manipulated into one more death.
Also, everyone who died was supposed to die and deserved it. This ending was as happy as it could get.
Watching a show like Breaking Bad is a gift and a curse because in its beauty and thoughtfulness is higher expectations. When you see a show like that, where NOTHING is by accident (color the characters are wearing, placement of a mug, a column in the middle of the room), you start expecting such dope quality from other shows. And you have little patience dealing with mediocre TV when you’ve seen THE BEST. The masterful actors (Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte), the plot that dumbs nothing down and even the camera work (which makes you pay attention to details) put the cherry on top of an awesome twisted sundae.
Thank you, Vince Gilligan. Breaking Bad has basically pulled everyone’s card. I hope other folks working in TV look at that show and say “ok we need to start doing better.” I already miss these characters.
Did you watch the Breaking Bad finale? What are your thoughts? Also, what happened to Huell?
P.S. These last 8 episodes of Breaking Bad will be up for Emmys next year. If Bryan Cranston doesn’t win for “Best Lead Actor in a Drama” I’ma be so butthurt!
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24 Comments
Jack is VERNA DEAD! <—- the best line of this whole recap (which is brilliant and totally captures the essence of a wonderful finale)
Wen i read that i passed out. LMAO YASSSS LUVVIE
Love the recap. I knew I would. I was mostly curious about what you thought the future holds for Jesse. I liked the finale but it was a little too neat for me. But I guess what else would we expect from Heisenberg? of course he would have a plan to “fix”everything. I was surprised he didn’t kill Elliot and Gretchen. Everything else (except maybe Jesse living) was sorta expected.
I’m sad to see it go but as a late comet I still have season 4 and the first half of season 5 to watch. That and scandal’s new season will soften the blow
Walt’s luck was UNREAL during this entire show.. he bypassed everything awful that could happen to him, even though he put himself in STUPID situations because of his mouth lol. So to see him go like that at the end was perfect. His life was ruined anyway lol, so it was good to see him go out like that other than giving the cops/DEA the glory of finally arresting ‘Heisenberg.’ Just perfect. I was also glad that Jesse didn’t have Walt’s death on him, he took those keys and peaced OUT. I was honestly happy for him because after all, Walt approached him asking him to cook in the very beginning. The scene with the Schwartz’s was PERFECT. LOL! I laughed so hard when Walt just walked in looking at pictures and such and they had no clue he was in there. I laughed even harder at the fact that the hitmen were those 2 idiots with laser pens LOLLL!! Ahhhh, sweet victory when he hit that alarm and that trunk popped open. I was like, “Deeeeeeeeeeeeeng!” HA! Just perfect, man. Loved this recap, it felt like I was watching it all over again.
Definitely one of the best series I’ve ever seen. Im actually upset that it’s over, lol.
I totally co-sign on everything! I loved Breaking Bad and am super sad that it’s over but the ending was dope as hell! Vince Gilligan directed the piss out of this episode. I could see his hand in every detail from the watch Walt leave on top of the telephone booth to the police lights blazing bright colors bursting through Walt’s snow covered car to the eerie quiet feel of Walt pursuing and pouncing on the Schwartz’s. Amazingly brilliant. I also loved how you gave dap to Anna Gunn. So many people hated her throughout the series, but I never did. I loved Skylar and Anna Gunn werked her shimmy in the role. Okay, I’m done, or else I’ll be here all day talking about the greatness of this show. What a wonderful wrap up Luvie! The gifs gave me life especially the Mariah one. Lol! Whew. What in the hell can top this???
BEST TV SHOW EVER! Amazing.
Last night finale meant all my expectation…and most importantly, JESSE lives.
I highly recommend The Wire considering how much you liked B.B.
As much as I liked Walter White and this show, The Wire for me, is the best series ever created for tv.
Technically, it’s not fair to compare shows that are so different to each other e.g. I really like Scandal too, but please, please, watch The Wire.
Oh I love the Wire and I also think its one of the best tv shows ever.
I think it’s apples and oranges. Every so often we get good tv. The Wire was one, so is Breaking Bad. It’s a short list of quality tv and it runs you for all other shows. They just set the bar that high. I’m always gonna check out stuff that David Simon does, and now I’m always gonna check out stuff that Vince Gilligan creates.
I came to Breaking Bad this past week with AMC’s marathon. Why it was never on my ‘must watch’ list before, I can’t say. I am glad I watched it all before the finale.
Often a finale is so over the top but it eased out just like it eased in. And yes, everyone in the series who deserved to die did.
I loved every single second of this dang show. The finale was EVERYTHING. It was funny how I never really paid attention to Skylar’s smoking, but it seemed highlighted last night. Skylar’s the smoker but Walt had lung cancer? Interesting. The fnale was so thoughtful and intentional. I hate to see it go. Definitely raised the bar. I actually want to watch it again to see what I missed.
This was the best finale to a show. Ever. I wish the spin-off show would either be Jesse getting his life together or Flynn/Walter Jr. coming into that money and beginning his life knowing what he knows about his father. That would make an interesting show to me.
Love the re-cap, as usual!
The spin off is going to be for the lawyer Saul, who I couldn’t give a damn about seeing his life Pre-Walter lol.
I watched the marathon and I thought Saul was the most outrageous character and I loved what his slimy azz added to the show. Better Call Saul! I was keeping my fingers crossed that he wouldn’t get killed off.
First- this recap is spot on. Loved reading it. I went to your twitter last night only to remember you said you weren’t watching live, and I was sad for you lol.
The end was perfect. But when it was over, I realized I didn’t know what I wanted. One part wanted Walter to get away and have his family love him, but on the other hand you knew he couldn’t.
Regardless of how it ended, one thing was for sure, and that was Jesse and Walter could no longer co-exist in the world. One of them was going to die. I’m glad Jesse didn’t kill Walter because I dont think he could’ve handled one more death on his hands.
The tears came when Walter asked Skylar to see Holly one more time. Like damn, it’s over for him one way or another.
But, lemme tell you why I was sooooooooo upset-why they have to have a commercial EVERY 3 DAYUM MINUTES!!!?
I’m so sad the show is over, because it definately ranks next to The Wire, but at least Scandal starts Thursday. You betta have your TV on at 9:58 because Shonda is coming for our lives at 9:59:59
I hate the fact that AMC felt the need to get so greedy and shove all those commercials at us like that. It broke the flow.
I must be the only person who though that ending was week. Ever finale in that show went harder then the last season and the final episode waited till the last 15 mins of the show. If they went all out to kill gustavo fring in the most gangster way possible they could’ve at least given walt white a kick ass ending.
Yes! Luvvie! This is the perfect recap for Breaking Bad. You said everything that I was feeling. The part I didn’t pay attention to fully was that Walt did in fact die by his own hand. I was also expecting Jesse to bust a couple rounds in Walt’s tail for everything but happy he instead told him to do it himself. I cheered when Lydia realized her hours were numbered. I never could stand that C***.
Great Write Luvvie.
How are you feeling about them having a ‘Better Call Saul’ show?
Loved this ending. It had the right balance of Walt paying for his crimes, finally admitting his hubris, and taking care of the the innocent lives wrecked by Walt as much as possible.
Jesse fantasizing about that box he told the AA class in Problem Dog made me cry. I could hear Jesse’s shop teacher saying, “Is that the best you can do?” and then Jesse going back and remaking that box until it was a thing of beauty. I like to think that was Jesse finally growing up and when he drove away he learns how to live his life better.
Awesome show. *Slow clap* to the cast, crew and every one involved with this wonderful show.
My 1 line post after watching the finale was… “The Breaking Bad” finale was perfect.” and it was. I was afraid it would all be a dream & they’d take us back to Walt being in Hanks backseat seeing Jessie jump out of that window during the raid. The finale was everything I wanted it to be & I love how Walk killed Jack while he was trying to negotiate his life for the money.
Best show may be ever (The Wire was great too) but amazing finale.
Intricate to the point of maddening and so well done it was bittersweet to watch it all end.
It’s like I lost a friend!
If you haven’t seen the finale or even watched the show before do yourself a favor and start now!!
I either use projectfreetv or
http://www.tvxstream.net/watch-free-episodes-of-breaking-bad/
for all my needs. Damn Breaking Bad I’ll miss you 🙁
You say `My hope is that he goes and finds Brock and raises him as his son.` but he was Miller the same night as huis mother cause Todd said she has a son as well, right correct me if wrong
You say `My hope is that he goes and finds Brock and raises him as his son.` but he was Murderd the same night as his mother cause Todd said she has a son as well land they go back tot finish him right correct me if wrong btw i love your blog