BREAKING BAD's finale was perfect for BREAKING BAD. THE SHIELD's finale was perfect for THE SHIELD.

But "Family Meeting" made the whole of THE SHIELD a better series. "Felina" didn't do that for BREAKING BAD.

I guess that says it well. "Family Meeting" leaves you stunned first, satisfied second. "Felina" leaves you satisfied first.

I have nothing bad to say about Felina. It gave me everything I wanted.

For me, the ending is not too "happy" at all. It makes sense that, in his own deluded way, right up to death, he's oddly happy in his misery that is the meth lab. The last thing in his life that he could always control.

One of my favorite visuals of the entire series is Jack, propped up with a cigarette between his lips, as Walt shoots him in the head and the blood splatters on the camera.

I love that Jack dies the same way Hank did, right down to getting cut off mid-sentence. Except, of course, that Hank didn't beg.

That's because the entire episode, while good, was still constructed as some sort of a Breaking Bad-fan's wet dream. Of course it is Jesse who gets to kill Todd. Of course Jack survives long enough to be offed by Walt. Of course Walt finally admits that he did it all for himself. Of course, Walt saves Jesse and by doing so, takes a bullit, of course it is implied that Hank's body will be found etc. etc.

As I said, it is satisfying, but it is also incredibly aimed to please.

I agree with Magnus. This is pretty much as happy an ending as Breaking Bad could have without time travel being involved.

Too happy for Walt, I mean. That he somehow ended it the way he wanted. Yeah, sure he did, but the "happy ending" came after basically fucking up everything else in his life first.

But what is wrong with that approach? There's nothing inherently bad with fan service -- it's all about whether your show has earned it. BREAKING BAD didn't cheat. Walt still alienated his family. He's hated by his son. The one thing he most wanted to avoid -- accepting Gretchen and Elliott's help -- is now all he can wish for as Jr believes his money is theirs.

Nothing is wrong with that approach and thus it is a very good episode. But as many articles pointed out already, it is not an episode people will talk about for months and maybe years akin to the endings of The Shield, The Sopranos or even Lost. Hel, even among the last eight episodes, there were at least three better than "Felina".

We've been spoiled.

I think saying he went out like a hero is a stretch. He basically did everything he knew to be right, as best as he could, given the damage he's caused. I like a theory brought up on Talking Bad that he was originally going to kill Jesse (and maybe himself?) in the machine gun onslaught until he saw the sorry excuse for a life Jesse had.

Also, saying that he did it all for himself doesn't exactly mean he's happy about all the horrible stuff that happened along the way.

I do acknowledge that Vince and Co. painted themselves into a corner where they really had little else to truly shock the viewer in the finale. But that doesn't take away how strong the episode was. It certainly can never and will never take away how strong the series was.

I'm not sure what exactly he had to do, short of nailing himself to a cross. Everything he does in the finale is to basically tidy up the mess he's created, as best as he can given the circumstances.

Personally I don't think that's a theory as much as it is what definitely happened. Walt was probably going to kill Jesse too until he saw that he was a slave, not a partner.

I was underwhelmed by the finale, until I read this interpretation: Walt went out a chemist. The Gretchen/Elliot, Lydia, Nazis shooting is like one big step by step science lab for him, setting up the pieces for his plan and executing it (And Felina, or Fe Li Na, is a nod to the weird, too clean science-like feel of the episode). Walt failed as both a family member and a drug lord, so really the only way to to placate his ego when dieing, was to return to the one thing he's better than everyone else at - cooking up a batch. Walt died happy because his ego was happy, which was the true master all along.

Walt didn't die happy, he died at peace. Completely different things. (And considering he admitted to Skyler that he did it because he liked it, and he's comfortable with Gretchen and Elliott's name being on his legacy to his children, I think ego has nothing to do with his actions in Felina.)

I was thinking about THE SHIELD again. There, the final episode is Vic bottoming out. The revelation of Terry's death, Shane's actions, etc. -- it's rock bottom. On BREAKING BAD that already happened in Ozymandias. Going lower would have felt awfully contrived.

I do think it's unfair to this or any show to compare the finale to another show's finale.

The more I think about it, the more I love the episode. Going out in some "heroic" fashion doesn't take away everything that happened in the most recent episodes, namely having his family finally affected (Hank's death) and having his son want nothing to do with him and wishing him dead. We all wanted Walt to suffer for his actions and he has. But he also went out the only way Walter White knows how.

Yep, that's what was gonna happen. IMO.

I agree, he died at peace.

But the ending Breaking Bad has given us, was the most positive happiest ending that could have been realistically possible, given the circumstances.

So, for those that were maybe a little disappointed with the conclusion, did it tarnish the series as a whole for you?

That was my biggest fear, that the finale would be lackluster (it wasn't, for me) and it would affect the entire show.

Hell no. It even hurts me to call it a disappointment. It's not. It's just not a masterpiece of an ending.

I'll restate the point I made before. "Ozymandias," the episode everyone universally raved about, is the true emotional climax to the series. "Felina" is simply the quieter denouement, and I think that's where some of this hesitation from some is coming from.

With a few tweaks, Granite State, Ozymandias and To'hajiilee could all have been series finales, BTW.

Walter White: I don't know, it just... it seems like something's missing, doesn't it? There's got to be more to a human being than that.
Gretchen Schwartz: What about the soul?
Walter White: The soul? There's nothing but chemistry here.

One of my favorite quotes from the show, from episode 3.

I'm truly amazed how big the hype around BB got during this half-season. Has something compareable ever happened before?

It's like everyone's talking about the finale. I'm just glad I've watched it as soon as possible, because by now, I probably would've been spoiled everything.

I know, right? I am pretty sure that it has to do with the explosion of Twitter and the increased internet activity. The finale of The Sopranos probably would have been simlar back then if Twitter and the like had been around.

But fact remains, I have never sween such a HUUUGE increase of hype for a TV series that has been around for five years. It's like all of sudden, everyone in he world discovered that it existed and that it is amazing. I don't think we'll see this level of palpable hype around any show for a long time. Maybe when GoT is ending... That is mostly because most TV series end way past their prime.

I just wrote that above, bro.