I'll take you back a few seasons: Remember when Walt's family held an intervention to get Walt to take treatment for his cancer. Even though Walt eventually relented, he said he didn't want to take treatment. He wanted to make his own decisions for once. He wanted control. And that's really what this has all been about for Walt.
Well, Walt controlled his own destiny. He mapped out his death so the cancer couldn't take him and neither could the cops. He made sure his family would get the money in a brilliant ploy. Shame on us for thinking he wouldn't find a way to get the money to his family. Vince Gilligan and his team of writers managed to have their cake and eat it too: Walt would lose everything, but he also wins.
I'm a little frustrated because I don't see how Walt managed to get the ricin into Lydia's tea. I think internet fanboys will closely examine and figure out a way - or Talking Bad will tell us. But from what I saw, I couldn't figure out a window. That's a little annoying unless I can go back and see the moment. (Update: I'm an idiot. It was in the Stevia. Still, a little too convenient that she goes to same place, same table at 10 a.m. every day for my liking. Whatever, small complaint)
Other than that, Walt got to make his rounds and say his goodbyes to who he wanted and his fuck yous to who he wanted. He goes back to Gretchen and Elliot and I assumed - as I'm guessing most viewers did - that he was going to go on a murdering spree and start with those two. But Walt's more calculating than that.
His meeting with Gretchen and Elliot also served another purpose. He showed them how much money he made to them. He "earned" it. He's showing them how he achieved the same type of success as they did. Granted, he kind of ruined his life while earning it, but he did do that.
Then he goes to say goodbye to Skylar. As that conversation with Marie dragged on for a little too long, I became all too aware that Walt was already in it. I suspect most people were. That scene perhaps worked less for me because I completely expected that unfortunately. That's not to say I need to have every scene be unexpected, but it was played sort of for shock value and it didn't "shock" so it didn't work.
He also says goodbye to Holly. He gives his wife his final gift, a free pass out of the court proceedings - at least presumably. He can't say goodbye to Junior unfortunately, because he's being closely guarded. But he does get a last look at him - I don't think Junior would be as forgiving as Skylar because he's not as morally compromised.
So I guess Walt kind of does free Jesse after all? Haha, well that's funny how that worked out. He went on a suicide mission so that other people wouldn't take credit for his work. He originally planned to kill Jesse too I'm guessing. But when he found out that Jesse probably already paid for his crimes by being a slave, he saved him by jumping on top of him and taking a bullet to the side.
Side note: people who thought the ricin was for Walt? Really guys? Walt's not exactly the type of person who would kill himself. He's especially not the person who would give himself a poison that would slowly kill him in the process. Gunshot to the head? That's the way to go, not ricin.
When Walt asks Jesse to kill him, you could read it two ways. He didn't really want Jesse to kill him. He wanted Jesse to decide to not kill him in fact. Or he could have wanted Jesse to kill him for all the shit he's put Jesse through. I'm not sure which. I think it's the former though.
Thank you Vince Gilligan for giving Lydia and Todd the deaths they so richly deserve. Jesse gets to enact revenge on Todd, who is one of the worst people on any TV show I've seen. Emotionless bastard. Thank you for giving Lydia, so willing to let other people kill, but so unwilling to see it for herself, the death she deserves. A slow, grueling death that she learns will happen from Walt, whose murder she just ordered.
Jesse gets to go live in Alaska and live with his crimes and be thankful he's alive. He'll probably go check on Brock and see if he's alright, but otherwise he is probably getting as far away from ABQ as he possibly can. Who knows what he'll do with his life, but it won't involve meth! Jesse gets a happy ending!
So Walter White, person who says he's done it all for his family all along, finally admits to Skylar that he did it for himself. Well done, Walt. Well freaking done. You stopped rationalizing. Finally. That was the scene that made me love this finale. Walter White grew as a person while also killing like 10 people. But hey that's Breaking Bad for ya!
In the end, Walter White wins. Last episode could have been the finale as well where he lost. But this was the episode for Walt fans. I'm not really a Walt fan, but I don't object to this finale. He redeemed himself enough that I feel reasonably happy he got what he wanted. He wanted evil people dead and himself dead so maybe that's why I'm happy he got it, but still....
It's over guys. It's been fun talking Breaking Bad with you. I might be talking about the series as a whole next week, but at least for episodes, this is my last episode I'm reviewing. Thanks for reading.
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