Breaking Bad: "Guess I Got What I Deserved"

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sun Sep 29, 2013 at 09:41:36 PM EST
Tags: Breaking Bad (all tags)

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Stop reading now if you haven't seen the finale.

What a great finale. No loose ends. [More...]

Resolutions that fit every character. Walt got to choose how he met his fate. Jesse's free. Skylar won't go to jail. The kids will get the money. Marie can get Hank's body. Nobody died who didn't deserve it. And no one is left to cook and sell Walt's blue meth.

Respect the Chemistry, indeed.

Update: Vince Gilligan explains how they arrived at the characters' final fate. He says some people will see Walt as a loser and some as a winner who beat the system. Gilligan explains:

He accomplishes what he set out to accomplish way back in the first episode: He leaves his family just a ton of money.... They’re going to walk away with just shy of 10 million in cash, because of Walt’s machinations ... So it’s a real mixed message at the end. Walt has failed on so many levels, but he has managed to do the one thing he set out to do, which is a victory. He has managed to make his family financially sound in his absence, and that was really the only thing he set out to do in that first episode. So, mission accomplished.
...“It’s in the eye of the viewer. Dying is not necessarily paying for one’s sins....it could be argued instead that he did get away with it because he never got the cuffs put on him. ...But he’s expired before the cops show up. They’re rolling in with the sirens going and the lights flashing and he just doesn’t give a damn. He’s patting his Precious, in Lord of the Rings terms. He’s with the thing he seems to love the most in the world, which is his work and his meth lab and he just doesn’t care about being caught because he knows he’s on the way out. So it could be argued that he pays for his sins at the end or it could just as easily be argued that he gets away with it.”

From my viewpoint, he got away with it. He was dying, he wanted to make money and meth, he did, he didn't spend a day in jail, he left his family $9 mil, and he got shot by his own design, not by a cop's bullet.

I also didn't care that Walt admitted to Skylar that providing for his family wasn't the reason he kept cooking and selling meth -- I have never been interested in the morality aspect of the show. I was glad they avoided the cliche of having Todd turn Jesse back into an addict while he was enslaved.

I suspect the next time we see "Jesse" will be on "Better Call Saul" and he'll be in Alaska raising Brock.

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Breaking Bad: "Guess I Got What I Deserved" | 19 comments (19 topical)

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It was in many ways an oddly clichéd finale, ... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 12:36:21 AM EST

... the type done by Hollywood many times in crime dramas over the decades, yet probably never done any better than "Breaking Bad" tonight.

Unlike the mess that was Brian De Palma's bloody ending in "Scarface," this one worked to perfection and brought a magnificent TV series to its logical and satisfying conclusion.

I'm glad Lydia also got what she deserved, too. As Walt undoubtedly realized, only a true monster would order chamomile tea with soy milk.

Aloha.

Very satisfied with the ending. (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by AmericanPsycho on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 06:48:23 PM EST

Very unsatisfied that the best TV for the last 5 years is going away. I'll miss this show.. especially moments like these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIsauNJ392o

I think it's pretty safe to say that this was.... (none / 0) (#2)
by magster on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 01:41:34 AM EST

the best TV series I've ever watched. Sad to see it end. Similar feeling to finishing the Harry Potter series.

: Tjey even got Badger and Skinny Pete in... (none / 0) (#3)
by magster on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 01:45:09 AM EST

one last time! I thought the way Walt used the Schwarz couple was very clever. Glad Walt used science and his big brain for the revenge sequence. Poisoning Lydia was predictable, but satisfying. The farewell scenes to his family were poignant.
Awesome.

There was one loose end . . . (none / 0) (#4)
by Payaso on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 01:57:37 AM EST

Where is the rest of Walt's money?

Walt didn't care... (none / 0) (#5)
by magster on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 02:05:17 AM EST

He wanted to shoot Uncle Jack in the same merciless mid-sentence way that Jack killed Hank. The money is either recovered or not.


Also remember back to (5.00 / 2) (#6)
by Slado on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 10:20:43 AM EST

Skyler's comments in the storage facility...

"We have more money then we can ever spend".

9 Million invested wisely by Skyler is plenty of money.

I really enjoyed the finale but couldn't stop watching the time tick away as I realized every passing minute I was getting closer to losing a series I so thoroughly enjoyed.

As with all finales how do you end such an awesome show?

I think they did a great job of both ending and wrapping up a wonderful show but staying true to the show at the same time.

I watched the "Talking Bad" episode just to hear Vince talk about it and the impression I got was there was always going to be a clear ending. Walt was going to die and I assume Vince knew all along that the ending would be something like this. I also liked him admitting that he liked it. The internal conflict of the show was did situations shape Walt into a drug lord or did the internal drug lord take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. I think Walt admits in the kitchen that it was the latter.

If the show taught us anything it was that people that lead organizations that deal drugs don't end up riding off into the sunset. No drug lord on this show lived to tell about it. From the fist season to the last. If you tried to run a drug empire you died.

Walt simply had the best of those deaths and that was alright with me.


Saw that someone tweeted that .... (none / 0) (#7)
by magster on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 10:56:30 AM EST

that Vince Gilligan should be tethered to a leash in a lab on a remote compound to write Season 6.

I also liked:

how Walt gave it to Jack the same way Jack gave it to Hank;
that Jesse lived with a chance to live. I thought for sure he'd off himself in a self-sacrifice sort of way;
that Jesse took out Todd;
how Walt and Skyler ended;
that the conclusion wrapped up neatly without a "what kinda ending is that?" reaction.

I suppose a darker conclusion, like Walt watching his family die or something would have been an apt conclusion too, but they didn't go there and I'm OK with it. That's why I posted as the link to discuss was Vince Gilligan's explanation for how hard the finale was to write and why they did it this way. Watching the first couple of segments of Talking Bad was interesting too.

My quibbles:

a) Lydia has a daughter. Wish they didn't have her character start that way. Her being poisoned would have been more satisfying;
b) Heull is still sitting in a hotel room waiting, and is now 160 pounds;
c) Jesse was too broken to be "Jesse" so the way it ended was fine, but I missed the "science B!TCH!" Jesse this season.
d) the Nazi's weren't near as compelling foils as either Gus or the Mexican cartel (excluding Todd).

As to item c in my quibbles, at least Jesse
came up with the "and that dead-eyed Opie motherf@%&er" line to describe Todd in his confessional tape to Hank.


: Couldn't get much evil than Lydia (5.00 / 0) (#14)
by Jack203 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 10:09:26 PM EST

"a) Lydia has a daughter. Wish they didn't have her character start that way. Her being poisoned would have been more satisfying;"
Remember she was advocating killing Walt's entire family. It took Todd, a complete psychopath, to talk her out of it.
Her daughter would be better off in a foster home.

: derp... (none / 0) (#8)
by magster on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 10:57:38 AM EST

** glad that J posted that link to Gilligan's interview.

: Totally agree with your d) quibble (none / 0) (#12)
by ruffian on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 03:07:05 PM EST

Uncle Jack was cartoonish from start to end. Todd was great - would have been fine for him to have taken over as leader of the gang at some point and get rid of the Jack character.

Does it matter? (none / 0) (#10)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 08:32:09 PM EST

Loved it too (none / 0) (#11)
by ruffian on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 03:04:51 PM EST

I took a red-eye flight home from California Sunday noght and avoided spoilers till I watched it at 6 am Eastern time! Well worth the lack of sleep following.

I still have doubts about Gretchen and Eliot actually coming through with getting the money to the family, but I'm fine with that possibility as a resolution. Loved Badger and Skinny Pete as the best assassins in the west.

Also appreciated the meticulousness of the Jesse resolution. Walt still ready to let him die until he saw he was actually a broken prisoner, and then saves him. And I'm not much for blood lust, but Jack and dead-eyed Todd certainly had it coming.

Perfect final song too. I started smiling at the first bars.

All in all a worthy ending. Leaps and bounds better than the Dexter finale I watched right after.

agreed (5.00 / 0) (#15)
by Jack203 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 10:15:32 PM EST

"I still have doubts about Gretchen and Eliot actually coming through with getting the money to the family, but I'm fine with that possibility as a resolution. "

Agreed. If it was a true story, I am pretty sure Gretchen and Elliot would go to the police, especially after Walt was killed.

It cant be easy to launder 9 million dollars, even for them. They would be risking serious jail time themselves.

Then again, if he was worth hundreds of millions, he would probably burn the money rather than risk being caught with it illegally. And then giving Walt Jr, 9 million just for his peace of mind that he's not assassinated one day by whoever was working with Walt.

Brilliantly written by Gilligan and writers.

I never thought Walt would harm Elliot and Gretchen.


Cut Dexter some slack too (none / 0) (#16)
by Jack203 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 10:18:01 PM EST

The ending was the best out of some lousy options.

Comparing it to Breaking Bad's absolutely brilliant final season is a bit unfair.


I know, that was harsh (none / 0) (#18)
by ruffian on Wed Oct 02, 2013 at 11:02:40 AM EST

I was sooo sad to see Deb go, so it was effective on that point. I was ready to see Dexter jump into the water with Deb's body. I think that would have been a much better ending, however upset I was at Deb's demise. But I guess he is not the suicidal type.


: The dudes in our house were PO'd that Dexter (none / 0) (#19)
by Militarytracy on Wed Oct 02, 2013 at 11:14:59 AM EST

Lives! If Deb dies Dexter should cut his heart out with his bare hands, what a puss :)
Josh and I started watching Breaking Bad last night on Netflix. We are starting out at day1, hard to believe but we are. Josh is working on chemistry right now and he chose Bromine to research so at the opening credits he got very excited that the periodic symbol for Bromine is in the opening credits.
Walters son turns out to be wisecracking and disabled and Josh turns to look at me and says,"I think I'm going to be addicted to this show."

I liked that he finally said (none / 0) (#13)
by ruffian on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 07:51:45 PM EST

to Skylar that he did it for himself,just to see him finally be real with her. In the whole show, we never see him be really open with her til that scene. I thought it was great for that reason.

Strange comments (none / 0) (#17)
by Jack203 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 at 10:29:04 PM EST

"I also didn't care that Walt admitted to Skylar that providing for his family wasn't the reason he kept cooking and selling meth -- I have never been interested in the morality aspect of the show."

Walt admitted the truth. He liked the power, respect, and being the best in the world at something. In the past he lied to his wife saying it was all for his family. While that undoubtedly had a lot to do for it. He went too far because he was greedy and liked it.

"I was glad they avoided the cliche of having Todd turn Jesse back into an addict while he was enslaved."

That would have been rather minor point whether or not the Nazis forced Jesse to use again. Jesse was a meth cooking slave who could be killed at any moment. He watched one of the few people he cared for murdered in front of his own eyes. Why would it matter if they made him smoke meth as part of his torture?

I thought Better Call Saul was going to be prequel. Are there any rumors it may pick up afterwards? Maybe both before and after?