Blood. Meth. Tears. Reflection: Breaking Bad - “Felina”

Season 5, Episode 16 – Series Finale

Air Date: Thursday, September 29, 2013 on AMC

Rating: ★★★★★

“I did it for me.” – Walter

How do you follow winning the Emmy® for Best Drama? You end your show a week later with a bang.

Say My Name.

Breaking Bad was almost the series that never happened. While pitching the show to the studios, creator Vince Gilligan learned about a show called Weeds, a little story about a pot-selling mom.Gilligan would later say in published interviews that had he known about Weeds sooner, he would have dropped the idea of Breaking Bad completely due to the similarity of themes. Not only that but Bryan Cranston, Gilligan’s choice to play Walter White, did not go over well with the studio people who only knew him as Hal, the zany dad from Malcolm in the Middle.

Who would have thought back in 2008 that a show described as Mr. Chips turns into Scarface, about a high school chemistry teacher turned drug dealer after receiving a fatal cancer diagnosis, could go on to win ten Primetime Emmy® Awards, including three Best Actor wins for Cranston on a network many had never heard of at the time? Luckily, that’s exactly what happened.

There seems to be a common theme among Breaking Bad fans, including myself, who talk about people jumping onto the show’s bandwagon around season three to see what all the talk was about, and after a few episodes, went back and watched seasons one and two on Netflix or digital download. This accounts for over a 500% increase in viewership between the pilot and the final season.

In today’s digital social media age, Twitter is a great way to gauge fan reaction. Dateline.com reported there was an average of 22,373 tweets per minute when the Breaking Bad finale began, and finishing with a total of 1.24 million tweets. A historic 10.3 million viewers watched the series finale, and oh, what a finale it was.

Over the course of the season, we had a good idea of what was going to happen due to various flash forwards. We knew at some point Walt would go to New Hampshire and return to New Mexico around his birthday. We also knew he would buy an M60 machine gun, and go back to the house to get the deadly ricin. This set up a brilliant mind game as fans wondered what would set Walter off and who would or wouldn’t survive.

Will they keep their word?

In the penultimate episode of the season, “Granite State,” Walter is at his lowest, hiding out in New Hampshire and self-medicating his cancer. He reaches out to his son, who wants nothing to do with him. A distraught Walter calls the police to turn himself in, and as he waits, sits down to have a drink. It looks like this is the end until Gretchen (Jessica Hacht) and Elliot Schwartz (Adam Godley) appear on television, putting Walt down. The music picks up and seeing it in his eyes, a broken Walter White transforms into Heisenberg one last time, setting up the explosive finale.

“Felina” opens with Walter making his way back to New Mexico. His first stop is at Gretchen and Elliot’s house. From that moment through the final scene, I doubt I was the only one who forgot to breathe as I watched, waiting for Walter to unleash hell.

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Does she still love him?

When Skyler (Anna Gunn) answers Marie’s (Betsy Brandt) phone call warning her Walter is back in town, I was riveted to the screen. The camera pulls in to reveal Walter in the room with Skyler. My heart was racing, wondering what he would do. He hands her the lottery ticket with the location of the DEA agents’ burial site.

Walter: “Skyler, all the things that I did. You need to understand…”

Skyler: “If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family…”

Walter: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it.”

This is a rare moment of honesty for Walter making you realize that in many ways, Skyler still loves him, even allowing him to see Holly (Elanor Wenrich), his baby daughter, one last time.

All good things must come to an end.

Having nothing left to live for, Walter visits the gang who killed Hank (Dean Norris) and stole his money. There he learns Jesse (Aaron Paul) is being held hostage, forced to cook meth for the gang. Walter throws himself on Jesse as he presses a button that turns on the M60 in the trunk of his car, unleashing hundreds of rounds into the house. Because of Walter’s actions, Jesse is the only one who comes out unscathed. He gets in a car and drives off as a wounded Walter makes his way down to the lab. Walter seemingly takes a moment to admire the lab and the science behind it, and then lies down and dies.

Many felt Breaking Bad glorified drug use. I feel it proved the old adages, actions have consequences, and you reap what you sow. Families were ruined and lives were destroyed. Fans seem to have varying answers as to when Walter White fully turned to the dark side but one thing that is hard to argue is Breaking Bad was an amazing show with a stunning cast and brilliant writers. It will be sorely missed. Tweet me @staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about Breaking Bad.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.