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canyonwalkerIn the series finale of Breaking Bad, Walter White dies. I say that without revealing spoilers because we all knew from the first episode that's how the story would end. The character has lung cancer, and even the two years he's made it in this episode is a lot longer than he was originally expected to survive. Plus, he's involved in a dangerous criminal enterprise, as a drug kingpin— and now a most-wanted fugitive from justice. You know that if the bad guys don't get him first, the good guys will. Or the cancer will.
One thing I wondered was whether Walt would go out with a bang or a whimper. It's a trope of crime gang stories that when the kingpin is the protagonist, he goes down in a blaze of glory. But the shift in tone late in the series to empire shattered suggested Walt may go out not with a bang but a whimper. Ultimately the finale is a bit of both.
There's plenty of action in episode 5.16 as Walt acts to tie up loose ends before he dies. We've already seen from flash-forwards in earlier episodes that he returns to Albuquerque and buys a machine gun from an illegal arms dealer. Then he visits his old house, now empty and vandalized, to remove the vial of ricin poison he'd hidden inside. Now that the timeline has caught up we see that using these weapons isn't the first thing Walt does in Albuquerque.
Just then Walt crashes their tete-a-tete. "You're a creature of habit," Walt explains when Lydia asks how he knew where and when to find them. Indeed, they're meeting in the same place at the same time as Walt had met Lydia for months.
Walt offers that he has a new recipe that doesn't rely on a hard-to-get ingredient and will sell it to the gang for a bargain price. Todd initially declines, noting that being associated with Walt— Public Enemy #1, at this point— is too dangerous, and his gang-leader uncle is thinking about getting out of the meth business anyway as they have so much money already. But Lydia scolds Todd that, no, you'd be foolish to pass up this one-time offer. Todd agrees to have Walt come to his gang's hideout and gives him the location.
After Walt leaves the cafe, Todd once again expresses his misgivings to Lydia. Lydia laughs and explains that she has no intention of anyone working with Walt. She encouraged the meet-up so the gang could kill him. But while she's congratulating herself for having thought one step ahead of Walt, he was actually two steps ahead of her. He poisoned her tea with ricin! She's a creature of habit who always uses the same sweetener in her tea. She even sits at the same table. Walt put a poisoned sweetener packed at her table. She stirred it into her tea, unaware.
Walt does two things with Skyler. First, he takes responsibility, personally, for the awful things he's done. He's about to tell her, for the nth time, "Everything I did, I did for this family," but she stops him. He changes his admission to acknowledge, "I did it for me. And I enjoyed it. I felt like I was alive."
Walt gives Skyler his lottery ticket that's the GPS coordinates of his contraband site in the desert. It's where the gang run by Todd's uncle buried the bodies of the two DEA agents they murdered. Skyler is icked by what it represents but understands when Walt tells her that it'll be a bargaining chip for her with the authorities. They've been pressuring her heavily to offer information in exchange for leniency.
The last thing Walt does before leaving is see his baby daughter, Holly, for a minute.
Once inside the club room at the compound, the gang makes clear their intention to kill Walt. He apparently expected that, anyway. He buys himself a bit of time by accusing the gang leader of dishonesty by partnering with Jesse after Walt paid them a lot of money to kill him. The prideful gang leader is upset at being called a liar and has his goons bring out Jesse in chains to prove he's their unwilling captive, not their business partner. Walt tackles Jesse and triggers the machine gun.
The gun— an M-60 medium-weight machine gun, a model the US military used starting in the Vietnam conflict in the 1960s/1970s, and the kind Rambo carried in a shoulder sling in action movies in the 1980s— kills or mortally wounds all the bad guys. Walt is hit by one round or possibly a ricochet.
When the shooting stops, Jesse gets up and finishes off Todd by strangling him with his chains. Walt finishes off Jack, the gang leader, with a handgun. The phone in Todd's pocket is buzzing.... Walt answers it to find it's Lydia, who's asking if Walt is dead yet. Walt tells her no, he's not dead, but the whole gang is— and she'll be dead soon, too. He tells her about the ricin. The camera shows her face, and we see that she's already visibly suffering the effects of ricin poisoning.
Walt wanders over to the chem lab the gang has built in their compound. It's unclear how long he ambles around admiring the equipment before we hear police sirens approaching. Did Jesse call the cops? Unknown. Walt collapses just as the police arrive. The camera zooms out, the music swells, and the credits roll.
One thing I wondered was whether Walt would go out with a bang or a whimper. It's a trope of crime gang stories that when the kingpin is the protagonist, he goes down in a blaze of glory. But the shift in tone late in the series to empire shattered suggested Walt may go out not with a bang but a whimper. Ultimately the finale is a bit of both.
There's plenty of action in episode 5.16 as Walt acts to tie up loose ends before he dies. We've already seen from flash-forwards in earlier episodes that he returns to Albuquerque and buys a machine gun from an illegal arms dealer. Then he visits his old house, now empty and vandalized, to remove the vial of ricin poison he'd hidden inside. Now that the timeline has caught up we see that using these weapons isn't the first thing Walt does in Albuquerque.
Walt Gets Money to His Family
Instead Walt first visits his old partners, Gretchen and Elliott Schwartz, in their even-more snazzy new home. They are alarmed to see him and think he's come to do them harm. He has them unload the nearly $10 million of cash he's stowed in the trunk of his car, and he tells them to give it to his son in the form of a trust established by them as charitable benefactors. To force them to cooperate, rather than just turn immediately to the police, he explains that he's hired two hit men to follow them. Just as he says that, two red laser dots appear on their torsos. Walt's intimidation works... even though we see moments later that the red dots— purportedly the rifle sights of two hit men lurking outside the house— are Jesse's old friends, Badger and Skinny Pete, with laser pointers.Setting up Lydia & Todd's Gang
Next we see Todd Alquist meeting Lydia Rodarte-Quayle for their weekly handoff. Todd is the representative of the neo-Nazi gang that's making meth via Walt's recipe, and Lydia is a bulk buyer who smuggles it to dealers in Europe. Lydia wants to wind down their partnership as the risks are high and the quality of the meth has been slipped too far without Walt involved. But she regains interest when Todd tells her he's increased the product's purity to 92%— as he and the gang have kidnapped Jesse and forced him to help.Just then Walt crashes their tete-a-tete. "You're a creature of habit," Walt explains when Lydia asks how he knew where and when to find them. Indeed, they're meeting in the same place at the same time as Walt had met Lydia for months.
Walt offers that he has a new recipe that doesn't rely on a hard-to-get ingredient and will sell it to the gang for a bargain price. Todd initially declines, noting that being associated with Walt— Public Enemy #1, at this point— is too dangerous, and his gang-leader uncle is thinking about getting out of the meth business anyway as they have so much money already. But Lydia scolds Todd that, no, you'd be foolish to pass up this one-time offer. Todd agrees to have Walt come to his gang's hideout and gives him the location.
After Walt leaves the cafe, Todd once again expresses his misgivings to Lydia. Lydia laughs and explains that she has no intention of anyone working with Walt. She encouraged the meet-up so the gang could kill him. But while she's congratulating herself for having thought one step ahead of Walt, he was actually two steps ahead of her. He poisoned her tea with ricin! She's a creature of habit who always uses the same sweetener in her tea. She even sits at the same table. Walt put a poisoned sweetener packed at her table. She stirred it into her tea, unaware.
Making Peace with Skyler
Walt sneaks in to Skyler's new home. She lives in a small apartment with her two kids. It's all they can afford as all their money has been deemed ill-gotten gains and confiscated by the government. And she can barely find work given Walt's notoriety and the ongoing cases against her.Walt does two things with Skyler. First, he takes responsibility, personally, for the awful things he's done. He's about to tell her, for the nth time, "Everything I did, I did for this family," but she stops him. He changes his admission to acknowledge, "I did it for me. And I enjoyed it. I felt like I was alive."
Walt gives Skyler his lottery ticket that's the GPS coordinates of his contraband site in the desert. It's where the gang run by Todd's uncle buried the bodies of the two DEA agents they murdered. Skyler is icked by what it represents but understands when Walt tells her that it'll be a bargaining chip for her with the authorities. They've been pressuring her heavily to offer information in exchange for leniency.
The last thing Walt does before leaving is see his baby daughter, Holly, for a minute.
Showdown with the Gang
There's a brief scene in the desert where Walt rigs a motorized turret for the machine gun he's bought. He connects it to the wireless key fob that unlocks the car, and mounts the gun and turret in the trunk. He drives this car to the gang's fortified compound. The gang members, not the brightest bulbs, search Walt for weapons but don't search the trunk of his car.Once inside the club room at the compound, the gang makes clear their intention to kill Walt. He apparently expected that, anyway. He buys himself a bit of time by accusing the gang leader of dishonesty by partnering with Jesse after Walt paid them a lot of money to kill him. The prideful gang leader is upset at being called a liar and has his goons bring out Jesse in chains to prove he's their unwilling captive, not their business partner. Walt tackles Jesse and triggers the machine gun.
The gun— an M-60 medium-weight machine gun, a model the US military used starting in the Vietnam conflict in the 1960s/1970s, and the kind Rambo carried in a shoulder sling in action movies in the 1980s— kills or mortally wounds all the bad guys. Walt is hit by one round or possibly a ricochet.
When the shooting stops, Jesse gets up and finishes off Todd by strangling him with his chains. Walt finishes off Jack, the gang leader, with a handgun. The phone in Todd's pocket is buzzing.... Walt answers it to find it's Lydia, who's asking if Walt is dead yet. Walt tells her no, he's not dead, but the whole gang is— and she'll be dead soon, too. He tells her about the ricin. The camera shows her face, and we see that she's already visibly suffering the effects of ricin poisoning.
Settling with Jesse
Walt puts down the handgun, and Jesse picks it up. Walt tells Jesse, "Go on, you know you want to kill me." But Jesse, irritated that Walt has always tried to manipulate him into doing things counters, "No, you tell me you want me to kill you." Walt does— he says, "I want you to kill me"— but Jesse refuses. "Do it your damn self, then." Jesse steals Todd's car and flees the compound.Walt wanders over to the chem lab the gang has built in their compound. It's unclear how long he ambles around admiring the equipment before we hear police sirens approaching. Did Jesse call the cops? Unknown. Walt collapses just as the police arrive. The camera zooms out, the music swells, and the credits roll.
