And though the two of them parted, they parted on the best possible terms they possibly could. El Camino, named for the car Jesse escapes in, takes place immediately after the events of "Felina", and was considered by Gilligan to be a coda to the overall series to close out Jesse's story. He admits that despite claiming he produced meth to provide for his family, he did it to gratify himself.
What about you, were you satisfied with Lydia's end? ins.id = slotId + '-asloaded'; (Of course, we learn in Better Call Saul that he takes on the identity of Gene the Cinnabon Manager in Omaha, Nebraska, which for Saul Goodman may be a fate worse than death.) Theres one last piece of unfinished business for Walt: Jesse Pinkman. There are very few things that Walt can make right with his family at this point but he does what little he can. He interrupts Todd and Lydia's coffee shop meeting and offers what he claims is a formula for methylamine-free meth. Im not sure who is worse off: Flynn, who is old enough to fully understand what Walt did, or Holly, who will grow up without a father only to learnprobably at far too young an agethat the man she never knew was a monster. And, heck, even Steve Gomez gets a mention. What the finale managed to do so well, was give closure to all the characters we've come to know and love. A Love Song is a Simmering Melancholic Memory, Extreme Prejudice: The Joys of Re-Discovering a Forgotten Film. var ins = document.createElement('ins'); var pid = 'ca-pub-9804963895925826'; The episode was written and directed by series creator Vince Gilligan. Is this the best depiction of a "happy place" Vince Gilligan could conjure? Knowing his lung cancer will soon kill him, Walt revisits his former acquaintances to settle his affairs and prepare himself for the conflict andultimatelyhis death. lo.observe(document.getElementById(slotId + '-asloaded'), { attributes: true }); As for the guilty ones, theyre not in great shape either. He learns from them that it is still being sold and is just as good as everso good, in fact, that everyone believed that Heisenberg was still cooking it. In Walts mind, Hank was a good man and a worthy adversary, but he sees Jack, Todd, and the rest of them as so far beneath him both intellectually and morally that he cannot and will not let them win. May 27, 2021, 12:00 am, by You made this final season so much fun. June 23, 2022, 12:00 am, by Before I get into this, let me just pause and say that, even though I believe the Breaking Bad finale to be one of the greatest of all time, this gives me pause. It should have been Hank, and because it could no longer be Hank, Walts death was the only satisfying option for the viewer. Jesse strangles Todd to death with his shackles, then frees himself with Todd's keys. Lydia panics, because of course she does, but Walt manages to get her to stop squirming long enough to listen. Felina skips over Walts exchange with Lawson the gun dealer, but we do see the machine gun in his trunk.
Walt tackles Jesse to the floor and remotely fires the machine gun; everyone but Jack, Todd, Jesse, and Walt is killed. window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'stat_source_id', 44); And, of course, Walt. He will not sit at the bar drinking whiskey and waiting to be hauled off in cuffs; he will return to Albuquerque for his last stand, determined to take his revenge before he dies. I absolutely expected one, but I'm not sure I wanted one. Breaking Bad was never going to end well. He had to. And that's the thing. He would have accepted Hank being the one to take him down, and he did accept it until Jack and his crew showed up. window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId, 'adsensetype', 1); var ffid = 1; [13] Aaron Paul returned to star as Jesse, and the film includes brief appearances by Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Banks, Jesse Plemons, Robert Forster, Matt Jones, Krysten Ritter and Charles Baker. A brief interlude in the middle of Felina makes great use of the flash-forwards from earlier in the season, which ties the timeline of events together nicely. [18][19] In her review of "Felina", Donna Bowman of The A.V.
Skyler allows him to see Holly one last time, a kindness she does not have to extend to him, but which she does anyway. Police rush in as he lies motionless, a slight smile of satisfaction on his face. Oh I loved it. Another, called the "Shake 'n' Bake" method, involved throwing lithium and several other ingredients into a single pot to create the drug. Avatar: The Last Airbender Series FinaleReaching the Avatar State, Found Family, Free Will, and How the Supernatural Finale Disappointed Everyone, El Camino Gives Jesse Pinkman The Ending He Deserves, I Am The Danger: Toxic Masculinity in Breaking Bad. Jesse speeds off to parts unknown and his story ends with a giant question mark. Required fields are marked *. Walt speaks the words that finally put an end to years of bullshit rationalization when he tells Skyler, I did it for me. ins.style.display = 'block'; Additionally, Walt sings the song to himself while building his machine gun turret. P.S. The title was interpreted by some as "blood, meth and tears" because iron is a predominant element in blood, lithium is sometimes used in methamphetamine production, and sodium is a component of tears. The plot involves Walt evading a nationwide manhunt for him in order to return to New Mexico and deliver the remaining profits from his illegal methamphetamine empire to his family. var asau = '7141056054'; "Felina" is the series finale of the American crime drama television series Breaking Bad. An open-ended finale, a la The Sopranos, would never have worked for Breaking Bad (and, arguably, didnt work for The Sopranos). Knowing that the call he placed to Flynns school would be traced back to the bar in New Hampshire, Walt calls the DEA and effectively turns himself in. var cid = '1553348147';
But, like Skinny Pete and Badger, I like my morality plays a little murky. We saw a clear shot of a Marty Robbins cassette. We hear Marie leaving a message on Skylers answering machine, calling for a truce, and when Skyler picks up Marie tells her that Walt is in town and there are anonymous tips coming in that hes going to bomb this and that place, which Marie assumes is a ploy to stretch the authorities thin so that he can get to either herself, Skyler, or Flynn.
The experience of watching Breaking Bad demands closure and Felina gives the viewer what we need: the end of Walts story being the end of Walts life. After Jesse walks out of the clubhouse, Todds cell phone rings; its Lydia, calling to see if they took care of Walt, and Walt gets the pleasure of telling Lydia that shes dying and he is the one killing her. He wasn't doing this for his family (at least not primarily) he was doing it because it made him feel alive. ins.dataset.fullWidthResponsive = 'true'; Saul gets off the easiest and is able to skip town with the help of the Disappearer. ins.className = 'adsbygoogle ezasloaded'; He shows up at the Neo-Nazi compound more than ready to die, but first he needs to take his final revenge on the men that stole his money, killed his brother-in-law, and put the final nail in the coffin of his dream of getting away with it all. I also want to give credit to those of you who placed so much significance on Charlie Rose's mention of the blue meth.
With the other question markSauls fatebeing explored in Better Call Saul, the expanded Breaking Bad universe looks like it will answer the few questions Felina did not. However, death at the hands of anyone else would not have been satisfying, especially at the hands of Jack or Todd or one of the other lackeys. Then the song played as Walt got up the wherewithal to drive to New Mexico. When Walt sees Jesse he can see the absolute misery hes been put through. var asau = '7141056054'; Sure, I wasn't surprised, but was I not entertained? I'm not sure I did. Holly is too young to know any better so it cant hurt her as it would hurt Flynn to see him again. When not overanalyzing TV shows, she is wrangling her Corgi, Cassidy, who is inarguably the cutest dog that has ever existed. } Gimme Jimmy: Looking for Jimmy McGill in Breaking Bads Saul Goodman, Why Five-O Is the Breaking Bad Universe at Its Best, Breaking Bads Most Heartbreaking Jesse Pinkman Moments, Better Call Saul S6E9: Fun and Games Is Anything But, Anythings Possible: A Celebration of Trans Joy. Even though Breaking Bad did an excellent job of fleshing out all its main and even secondary characters, in the end it is Walter Whites story. Hank and Gomez are dead and rotting in an unmarked grave in Tohajiilee. In more flash-forward footagethis time from Blood Money (S5E9)we head over to the White residence where Walt is picking up Chekhovs ricin from its hiding place inside the electrical socket in his former bedroom. And where else would he go but the lab? It is a very fitting way to take out control-freak Lydia: nonviolent but just as deadly, much like Lydia herself. It doesnt really matter, though, because Walt gets what hes after: access to the Neo-Nazi compound, and access to Lydias tea. Along the way, he stops for gas and places a phone call, pretending to be a New York Times reporter looking to do an article on Gretchen and Elliott in order to get information on when theyll be home and their address.
Jack pleads for his life, but Walt kills him. Luckily for us, they both went out on their own terms. With the timeline of previous footage established, we see Walt confronting Lydia and Todd in the diner and part two of Walts revenge fantasy is underway. He claims hes doing it because he needs the money and even though Todd is wary, Lydia says she wants to bring it to Jack. We dont know right away that the hit men pointing their laser sights on Gretchen and Elliott are just everyones favorite knuckleheads Skinny Pete and Badger (another one of the moments of comic relief in Felina). Oh I did. He never accepts that one particular truth: that he jumped ship early for personal reasons and only regretted it once the company became successful. Flynn and Holly get a little screen time. March 4, 2021, 12:00 am, by var lo = new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent); Vince is just really talented at knowing what the final effect he is looking for, and knew early on that Badfinger's "Baby Blue" was the right choice for what he was looking to do.