Fanboys Anonymous

"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And, I was really...I was alive." -Walter White

It's hard to believe that Breaking Bad is over, but in ending when (and how) it did, it cemented its place in television history as one of the best television shows in history (arguably THE best, but that's not a debate to have right now). If I had to sum up this episode in one word, it would be "closure." Just like in the previous 61 episodes, things just clicked in a way that was not at all obvious yet made perfect sense for the story, and this episode proved that even in his endgame, Heisenberg was as brilliant as ever.

I had no idea where this scene was going, and it was absolutely perfect.

When Walt was trying to track down Gretchen and Elliot, I truly believed he was planning to kill them. Then I was proved wrong when he gave them all of his money and demanded that they give it all to Walt Jr. on his 18th birthday as a trust, and he (perfectly logically) explained that it would make sense coming from them due their history with Walt and the fact that they've proven to be extremely charitable when it comes to people suffering from the consequences of drugs. The scene only got better when the sniper beams targeted the two of them, and Walt's threat if they chose not to give the money to Junior or if they gave any of their own money instead was amazing. And leave it to Breaking Bad to make the scene EVEN BETTER by revealing that the two hit men were actually Badger and Skinny Pete with laser pointers and having them be the ones to have Walt realize that Jesse was still alive and cooking. A great final scene for those two characters.

Walt's last goodbye to his family (minus his son) actually did make me very emotional. After all it was in this scene that Walt finally admitted what's been obvious to us viewers for a long time now: that his "all for family" excuse was bullshit. He's done what's he done, as the quote I opened this review with states, for himself, and all because he liked it. Obviously Bryan Cranston played this scene very well, but Anna Gunn was right up there with him, and you could see her regain so much respect for her husband for finally being honest about something. It would've been nice to see them again after the scene, but the physical evidence that Walt gave her should be enough for the cops and DEA to let her off the hook. As I voted in Story Sync, that scene was both fitting and tragic.

Then Walt tracked down Jack, and the whole thing was turned up to 11. Finally seeing Walt's contraption in use to take everyone down was so visceral and so, so satisfying. As was seeing Walt still try to protect Jesse by tackling him to the ground and taking a bullet himself in the process. And I wanted to cheer when Jesse got his revenge on Todd and took him out. It was pretty sad (but absolutely right) to see that Jesse and Walt's relationship was truly beyond repair, and I was also relieved that Jesse didn't pull the trigger. Even if Jesse didn't notice that Walt had been shot, I personally don't think he would've been the one to kill Walt. As much of a monster as Walt is and as much as he deserved to die, I still don't think Jesse could bear to kill one more person he didn't absolutely need to kill, especially since that person did just save his life and free him.

Finally we got the absolute right ending for the series; Jesse was free to create whatever life he wanted for himself, and Walt was left alone to die. The fact that he died in a lab- the place he felt most at home- was perfect. Goodbye, Walter White/Heisenberg. The slogan for these final episodes was "Remember My Name." Indeed we will.

Random Thoughts

• That flashback showing Jesse making his box, the one thing in school he truly put all his efforts into, and the abrupt cut to his current state in the lab was heartbreaking.
• The very quick flashbacks to the previous flash forward scenes were an extremely effective way to get us all up to speed again, and I also loved the flashback to the very first episode while Walt was standing in the living room.
• I absolutely loved Lydia's death. Walt once again showed his genius by recognizing her habits and planting the ricin for her to put into her tea, and kudos to Vince Gilligan- the writer and director of "Felina"- for making it obvious without explicitly showing Walt do it. Then seeing her at the end clearly close to death and having Walt tell her what he did was awesome.
• Speaking of Vince Gilligan's directing, there were so many great shots in this episode, from Lydia unknowingly adding the ricin to her tea to the reveal of Walt hiding out at the Schwartz residence and the reveal of Walt there in the kitchen with Skyler.
• We never did find out what "Felina" means in the episode, but considering it's an anagram of "finale," maybe that's all the meaning we need. If anyone knows something that I don't, please sound off in the comments!

I just want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone involved in Breaking Bad for five incredible seasons, all topped off with a fantastic ending, and thank you to everyone who has actually read my reviews and helped our little site grow just a bit more every week. That may be all for my Breaking Bad coverage, but keep checking back to see what we're up to here at Fanboys Anonymous! And I leave you all with this:

Not my image, but still hilarious.