Breaking Bad: "Felina"

Spoilers, spoilers, and more spoilers, ahead.

So let's briefly recap here. The ricin was for Lydia. The M60 was for Jack's gang. The lottery ticket was for Skyler. The money was for Flynn and Holly, by way of Gretchen and Elliot and a couple of laser pointers. Everything went according to plan for Walt, in a season where nothing went according to plan. And boy was it satisfying to watch Heisenberg engineer his last impossible string of stunts. He went out on a high note, finally accepting the consequences of being a bad guy, and able to end his story on his own terms.

Did the finale make Walt seem too heroic, as some reviews have suggested? I don't think that's the message here. Jesse would have been perfectly justified in shooting Walt down, as he was justified in strangling Todd. Skyler was cold and distant, offering little sympathy, and none was expected. Walt didn't even try to have a last moment with his son. No, this was about Walt acknowledging his own faults at last, and putting them to use to try and fix some of his most egregious mistakes. The most significant moments of the night were Walt admitting to Skyler that he started cooking meth for himself, not for the family, and finally being direct with Jesse. No more lies or pretenses. He's just a bad man willing to do horrible things to get what he wants. The whole bit with Gretchen and Elliot made that explicit.

As finales go, this one was certainly eventful, but not nearly as eventful as some of the other episodes of "Breaking Bad" in this final half season. There were no unexpected deaths or major twists. The big showdown was telegraphed far in advance, and the camera lingered on the Stevia packet and Lydia's tea. We checked in with all the remaining characters, but it's far from certain what will happen to them in the fallout from Walt's death. Does Walt's scheme with the money actually work? Will the police find Jesse? Does Lydia have a chance of surviving the ricin if she gets to the hospital in time? I can still see a worst case scenario where Jesse and Skyler both end up in prison, and a vengeful, crippled Lydia hires more hit men. And there are still plenty of unanswered questions. What happened at Gray Matter? Who spray-painted HEISENBERG on the living room wall?

Emotionally, though, I got all the closure I wanted for Walt's story. When Walt returns to town, it feels like it's been eons. He was essentially a dead man in "Granite State," and "Felina" marks a brief resurrection. Chance and luck, and from the opening segment, perhaps God are on his side, allowing him the opportunity to make some amends and settle some scores. Walt knows he has no time left, and there's no self-delusion that he can tell the truth later, or explain himself later. There's a finality to every conversation, except those with Todd, Lydia, and Jack, who still require a little manipulation. From his feigned desperation, though, you can tell that's not who Walt is anymore. This Walt has accepted his existence is finite, and only wants enough time to take care of a few last pieces of business. Jack tries to bargain with a Walt who no longer exists.

Is the ending a little too neat, though? Would we have been better served by more moments of ambiguity, or a few more reminders of Walt's failures? Should the writers have spent more time on thematic resonance instead of making sure that every last little thread of the plot was nicely wrapped up for us? I don't see people dissecting "Felina" the way that they dissected the famous ending of "The Sopranos" or even "The Shield" for years to come. However, "Breaking Bad" is not nearly as deep or weighty or as ultimately tragic as either of those shows. It's always been a very slick piece of entertainment, that puts the audience's enjoyment first. And I can't think of an ending that could have imparted more enjoyment to the audience than Walt using SCIENCE! one last time to dispatch his enemies, and Jesse getting away.

I've barely left myself any room to talk about the production, but I loved that we got a final alt-POV cam shot, gorgeous southwestern vistas, and lots of other fancy visuals - the slow reveal of Walt in Skyler's sad apartment, the Hitchcock shots of Walt's keys, Walt exploring the Schwartzes' new house, the police car lights through a snow-covered windshield, and finally that last, overhead shot of Walt in the meth lab. Vince Gilligan directed this one, and he gave it his all. I especially liked that Walt died surrounded by scientific equipment, in a lab similar to the one where he found the most happiness in the last two years of his life.

I'll have a wrap-up post for the whole series in a few days, possibly a Top Ten. Then it's on to "Better Call Saul."
---