Breaking Bad
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- mg330
I made a ton of Vines from my favorite scenes on BB. Go check em out here: http://seenive.com/u/90828942220…
- Bullitt0
Looks like a homage to taxi driver crime scene shoot with the swaying camera movement and cop activity in both scenes.
- Nothing is new.bainbridge
- I saw it as a deliberate Scorcese homage (although I related it to Goodfellas)babaganush
- nah! it would have been more spot on if he wanted to.teh
- sarahfailin0
cbass99 posted at the bottom of the previous page a link to Norm McDonald's theory that Walt died in his car and most of the episode is a fantasy. The theory gets a little more traction here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/…
One qbn-er was scorned for remarking that the finale was too "closure-y" and Nussbaum's critique agrees... It was almost too fantastic. Walt was too competent. Everything went off as perfectly as Walt would have fantasized it. And as Emily Nussbaum points out, all the "genuine evil was off-loaded" onto the Nazis.
For a show whose whole purpose was to make us question and be revolted the motives of this anti-hero, the finale does seem a bit too sunny. And as Norm McDonald points out, the song El Paso (for which the final episode is named) is sung by a man who is already dead.
- Interesting. I'd be just as happy with that outcome I guess.mg33
- ukit20
^ Exactly, it was not realistic at all. Walt sneaking into Skyler's house? Killing people with a rotating machine gun when he didn't even know where they'd be having their discussion?
But I don't think it was intended as a fantasy or dream sequence. The show would have given some kind of hint or indication but there wasn't any.
It was just slightly lazy writing. Turns out Vince Gilligan is not infallible, but people think he's the god of TV or something so clearly it was intentional! To be fair, it's probably really hard to wrap up a story like this. Easy to create plot twists along the way, but really tough to bring it to any kind of coherent conclusion. So they went for the crowd-pleasing angle.
- Nothing wrong with that...I would have preferred a darker more evil ending thoughukit2
- you say that like they wrote every episode up til the last episode first, and then they just rounded it all off. idk.sarahfailin
- They definitely didn't know how the series was going to end until pretty recentlyukit2
- babaganush0
totally disagree it was lazy writing...there's a time for cerebral (like Upstream color or something) and a time to entertain. When the (SPOILER ALERT) machine gun happened, I was a bit like...'eh!'..but once you just go with it...I also think it's impossible not to go with the 'crowd pleasing' angle when the tribe of fans is generally pretty discerning or a mainstream TV programme...if it ended too esoteric they would have been slaughtered. I still think on balance they nailed it...even allowing for debate about whether he'd fantasized about it dictates it was a pretty good route. If they had given an indication of a dream sequence, that would possibly be even lazier writing...
- Agree. It's a sign of maturity that he didn't indulge himself, and just played it straight down the middle. And well.mikotondria3
- < yep. Yet he did indulge a bit of Kubrik-esque uncanny fear/serenity to get people talking. I think he nailed the pulp we all love and added a darker side (that opens up dream debates etc.)babaganush
- we all love and added an extra element (that allows debate about dreamlike portons of the scenes)babaganush
- I think we're past spoiler alerts at this point. Anyone who hasn't seen it should not be in this thread.sarahfailin
- I avoided this thread religiously until I was caught up and done. I basically waited until the show was just about over to start watching it.mantrakid
- over to finally start watching it. Season 1-5 all in september.. haha.mantrakid
- sarahfailin0
If he had ended it with some sign that it really WAS a dream, like by showing Walt dead and frozen in that car, probably 95% of the fanbase would have thrown a fucking fit.
I wish that even if it had to tie up every loose end, that Walt wouldn't have come out so much on top. I mean, he was practically *redeemed* for all of his malfeasance by the end of the episode.
*Blackmails easily his former partners at Grey Matter to pass on his money to his kids (though you'd think it'd be pretty obvious when Jr. gets a $10 million trust fund)
*Almost-loving gaze from the wife after he confesses he did it all for him
*Recognition from Jesse and an appropriate punishment, like penance
*Dying with a smile in the presence of his beloved labIt's like a fantasy. Holds up in the moment, but not really under scrutiny. A major theme of the show was to show us how ego-maniacal motivations hurt those around us, but all of the lingering badness was omitted or brushed over. (Brock orphaned, Marie widowed, Jr & Skyler's wretched lives)
There's also one giant part which really was never touched upon, the part that really makes Walt much more evil than even his direct, interpersonal wrongdoings. He made thousands and thousands of pounds of one of the most heinous and addictive drugs the world has ever known. What should redeem him from that?
- ********0
Prequel:
Uncle Hank's body is not where Walt said it would be. Uncle hank decided to start his own drug ring using a huge propane connection, changes his name to Big Jim and moves to Chester's Mill, where he finds himself inside the biggest meth bowl known to mankind.
- ukit20
I think they could have gone down a few different paths. The "tragedy" angle...but that was already done in earlier season finales. Or brutal realism with Walt just dying in the cabin.
But I think in a way it would have been nice to see every character get their comeuppance, but not in such a feel good way. Basically this approach would have required emphasizing the evil nature of some of the other characters a bit more...then by the second to last episode, they have totally defeated Walt...but he comes back and delivers justice, unleashing "Heisenberg" on all the show's characters. The key thing would have to write this so that even though it was a totally dark, nihilistic ending, you were rooting for Walt's character.
This sort of did happen, but it was kind of undercut by the fact that Walt had this sudden conversion and discovered his moral conscience again. But this seemed strangely inconsistent with the thematic arc of the show. It seemed in the end to be a tribute to Walt's character rather than a larger message about the nature of evil.
- chossy0
Walt was setting his house in order before his death, he was preparing everything he could before he died. It was a good ending and an appropriate ending, it was a very adequate show.
- Yeah I agree. A lot of the arguments about it not fitting his character make sense.Glitterati_Duane
- But people often "repent" for lack of a better word when they realize how close death really isGlitterati_Duane
- Nah it was fitting his character, that was Walt not Heisenberg.Bullitt
- ukit20
Since people mentioned the Coen brothers, think about No Country For Old Men or Fargo...those were great endings I thought. Apparently there is a Fargo TV series coming BTW...:)
- Their first film also reminds me of breaking bad blood simpleBullitt
- Agreed. I think it's the pulp-style brilliance of the Coen bros. that is present in Breaking bad...almost at once mundane, yet heightened reality
babaganush - yet heightened realitybabaganush
- ********0
You can poke holes in anything. What about the two times Hank almost caught Walt, at the junkyard with the RV and Tuco's house?
It was a good show and Walt was a smart guy, but not a career criminal. people aren't 100% consistent.
- It was a good show, it's just fun to think about other ways they could have ended itukit2
- hitsuji0
The finale is what I'd expect but I didn't expect to expect it if you get what I mean!?
It threw me off guard and to be honest, I loved it. It was great entertainment and it's actually refreshing to have a story with closure for once. Too many TV shows have an annoyingly ambiguous ending these days.
- You didn't expect your expectation so they put some expectation in your expectation********
- http://userserve-ak.…sarahfailin
- You didn't expect your expectation so they put some expectation in your expectation
- Xopher0
- Wow. This could be amazingukit2
- umm... really?********
- so fucking stupidAmbushstudio
- brandelec0
Felina is mentioned in the el paso song plus the syllables' elements.
and its an anagram for finale.splooge.
- Gardener0
- HAHAHA ... poor Huell.
He should be pretty thin soonRamanisky2 - should have been the last shot!mugwart
- lolsine
- HAHAHA ... poor Huell.
- DRIFTMONKEY0
Fresh Air
- Ramanisky20
^^ and you came here?? ... that's very risky sine
- just a quick in and outsine
- I feel so usedRamanisky2
- No time for the 'ol in out love, just come to read the meter.
DRIFTMONKEY - I didn't dare come to this thread until i'd seen it all********
