The sage of Walter White and his struggle with morality comes to a close with Breaking Bad‘s series finale “Felina”. For five years viewers have watched as a mild-mannered chemistry teacher slowly turned into a international drug kingpin. Along the way his humanity has been tested and tried through various interactions with the seedy underbelly of the meth world. The identity he created to separate his true self from his criminal self- Heisenberg- quickly took over, until not even his family could tell where Heisenberg began and Walter White ended. This new-found persona managed to destroy every single life that it touched, and turned Walter White into a husk of the man he once was. The final episode of Breaking Bad gives viewers the death they’ve been waiting for, the death of Heisenberg.
Walt’s final journey begins with him arriving at Gretchen and Elliot’s house to enlist their unwilling help. After a large amount of intimidation, Walt lays down a plan for the pair. He gives him the remaining money from his days as Heisenberg and tell them to put the money into a trust. The trust will be given to Walt Jr. on his 18th birthday.
After learning that blue meth is still on the market, Walt figures that Jesse must be helping Todd cook.
Jesse forced slavery is taking a toll on him, he daydreams of building a perfect box. Which as dedicated viewers will remember was the story Jesse told Walt in the season three episode 9 episode “Kafkaesque”. It was a story of how Jesse learned that he could do better, that he could be better, if given the opportunity to try.
In the past had Heisenberg been insulted or disrespected he would’ve dealt with them accordingly. The fact that Gretchen and Elliot managed to make it out alive without any real threat to their lives show how Walt is no longer the deadly man he has been for the last few seasons. He revert back to his original “wimpy” self during the cafe meet with Lydia and Todd. The pair don’t take Walt seriously, which is a fatal flaw for Lydia. Walt poisons her by replacing her artificial sweetener with ricin.
He makes a final goodbye to Skyler where he finally admits the truth. Everything he has ever done was for himself. He enjoyed the power that being Heisenberg gave him and he didn’t care who he hurt in order to keep it. He gives Skyler the greatest gift he could ever give her: her freedom. He hands her the lottery tickets with the coordinates to where Hank and Gomez are buried and wants her to trade the information for a deal with the prosecution. With one final goodbye to his daughter, Holly, and one final look at Walt Jr., Walt slinks away from the family he started this life of crime for and ended up hurting.
Walt arrives at Jack’s compound where he is close to being killed on the spot before he brings up Jesse. He tells Jack that he renegaded on their deal because Jesse is still alive and partnered up with Todd. Jack balks at the idea and has Jesse brought before them all so Walt could see that Jesse was nothing more than a prisoner being forced to work. Jesse doesn’t look good at all. His face is covered with scars and he’s a shell of his former self. When confronted with his former partner Jesse attack Walt and the two scuffle on the ground, Todd drops down to break them up and that’s when Walt unleashes his big master plan. Using the massive gun he purchased during the fifth season premiere, Walt constructed a homemade gun turret that wrecks havoc on the clubhouse and manages to kill all of Jack’s men and wounds Jack. Todd, Jesse and Walt are seemingly okay. As Todd looks out of the window to stare at Walt’s machine, Jesse comes up behind him and chokes him with his handcuffs. Walt picks up a gun and shoots Jack, who is too wounded to defend himself. After both nephew and uncle are dead Walt gives the gun to Jesse and wants him to shoot him. Jesse can’t bring himself to kill Walt and drops the gun. He runs out to a nearby car and with one final look between the pair, he drives away hysterically crying. Heisenberg was more than ready to kill Jesse, but Walter White let Jesse go. Walter White gave Jesse the chance to be free and to start again. Although, the trauma that had been inflicted on Jesse will make his life a difficult journey from here on out.
As Jesse drives away Walt moves his shirt to reveal that he had been hit during the turret attack. He’s bleeding out at a rapid pace. Knowing that he only has a few more moments until either the police arrive or he dies bleeding out. Walt spends his last few minutes as a free man walking amongst the Todd’s lab and marvels at the road life led him down. The police arrive to find Walt lying on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding him.So ends the life of Heisenberg and the tale of Walter White.
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The real Walter White died seasons ago. The man who showed compassion and humility was just fragments of the man he used to be. He was so poisoned by the glamour of power, money and Heisenberg that he completely lost himself. But towards the end the all the power and influence of Heisenberg was destroyed by the jagged pieces of a middle-aged, Chemistry teacher who loved his job and his family. After giving up Heisenberg, he resolutely dies as Walter White
There are many unanswered questions the finale gave us: Did Skyler get a plea deal? What happened to Brock? What happens to Jesse now? Without the shadow of Heisenberg hovering over them, they are now forced to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and start again with a huge piece missing. Much like Tuco’s broken plate, that one piece will haunt the rest of their lives and will have them forever wondering if the piece will ever come back and ruin everything for them again.
Rating: Breaking Bad has proved itself time and again of being on the best dramas in recent years. It will go down in television history as one of the greatest shows to ever grace the our screens.
Series Finale: 9.8/10
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Breaking Bad as a whole: 10/10
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