The Breaking Bad Final Season Part I finale *SPOILERS*

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 11:55am

This final season was split into 16 episodes and although the front-8 felt heavily congested at times, I really loved this finale and the potential it has in the back-8*. The 'loose-ends' montage in the prison was dark and twisted in A Clockwork Orange sort of way. The tension in the final 15 minutes from Walt and Jesse to Skyler and Walt in the storage locker to the scene by the pool was so palpable.

My only issues were the passage of time in this episode was confusing. After Walt said to Skyler he was 'out', how much time past and how was everybody else in that operation going to react? Not to mention the 'whacking of bin Laden' line felt like a goof as the show is supposed to take place within just a year of when it first started in 2007.

Now that Hank put two and two together, how does Walt being under a false identity in New Hampshire is the real question and did he leave a body count in New Mexico along the way?

Any other observations about the finale and the season? Any predictions for the final 8 episodes?

*-Gilligan mentioned there are going to be episodes shot in Germany which means the conglomerate Madrigal has to be in play somehow.

[Miranda3]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 1:21pm

Hi Strummer,

I didn't quite get the timing sequence either but will rewatch via Cox On Demand today. What did you think re the little metal device that was on the cafe table under Walt's Heisenberg hat when he was talking to the Madrigal woman? I thought it was a tiny recorder (so he would have her admissions on tape should he need to leverage her), but my husband said it was ricin that Walt later hid behind the outlet in his home. I guess the latter makes more sense. If so, it is ominous that Walt has poison hidden in the family home. It is a LONG wait till the final episodes.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 1:35pm

I do believe it was ricin in his hat. He was going to poison her until she gave him something valuable and Walter let her live. Frankly he is getting sloppier and sloppier as his ego and hubris got bigger and bigger this season. So when people complain about how Hank finds out, not only do you have the passage of time-- you have the text that embodies Walt's yearning for validation, a testament to his skill, and a reminder that he is ' the Heisenberg'.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 1:37pm

I thought it was ricin that he had under his cap. I HATE that we have to wait so long for the rest of the episodes. It's so weird that I'm actually rooting for Walt because Hank just annoys me! I, too, was curious about how much time passed. I guess it wasn't too much because Holly didn't look much older. For some reason, I was thinking she would be like 3 or 4. In any case, there was so much tension while they were all sitting by the pool outside because for some reason, I was expecting an explosion or something. The anticipation was so great to me.

[Miranda3]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 1:43pm

I agree with all you just said. I just read a recap/review of last night's episode elsewhere online. That reviewer agrees that it was ricin, and links that fact to the ending scenes, in which the whole family is back together again around the pool, right before Hank discovers the book. Skyler tells Walt Jr. twice, I think, to put sunscreen on Holly but not to put it on her fingers, with the implication that if she put sunscreened fingers in her mouth, she would poison herself. This reviewer thinks this may foreshadow Holly's eventually finding the poison behind the outlet. Of course, this would also tie in to Walt's poisoning Brock with the lily of the valley. And into Skyler's comment re having to protect the family from Walt.

Do you think Walt saved the book with the inscription from Gale as a boost to his ego and/or memento of the killing? It seems sloppy of Walt to save it and leave it in plain sight in his home, but perhaps it's due to his now-inflated ego and feeling of invincibility. Also ties into the "Say my name" comment from the prior episode--the book is now "saying his initials" to Hank.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 1:58pm

Not really plain sight. In a bathroom among magazines. Nobody except Hank really can put the GB and WW together and Marie and Hank have been away from the house dealing with Walt and Skyler's kids than hanging around their house. But still, Gale was such a rear-view mirror incident, Walt finishing off Gus and now emerging as the kingpin, it would not surprise me if the book and its contents were not on his mind. I definitely think the Leaves of Grass book served as Walter's ego-booster.

I cannot root for Walt at all. There was a point where I figured if Skyler did not have a plan with the money in the locker that he would stage her death and make it look like a suicide. It seemed like Gilligan was telegraphing Marie and Hank assuming the role of Holly's parents (and the fact Walt Jr. prefers to be called Flynn), showing the post-Skyler and Walter world for the kids. I am not sure Skyler is safe and she is going to have to deal with Hank asking about Walt's gambling addiction that he knows now was a ruse. Plus Walt's killing of Mike was so petty and Jesse was not even sure if his 'severance pay' was actually going to end with a gunfight. I find him way too disturbing and arrogant at this point to root for.

Updated On: 9/3/12 at 01:58 PM

[clever name]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 2:29pm

I thought it was Walter who told him about making sure the sunscreen wasn't on her fingers?

I'm with you, strummer. I can't root for Walt. I root for Jesse. I ache for Jesse, actually. But Walt has turned a corner where he is hard to root for.

[Miranda3]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 3:18pm

Great points, you guys. I could very well be wrong re who warned about the sunscreen. If Walt warned about it, it's better writing, offsetting once again his tender care of his kids vs. his mercilessness with those of others. Also, if Holly does finally get into the ricin, it is the ultimate backfire on Walt.

I still think that, given the previous discussion between Hank and Walt re the "W.W." inscription in the book, it is careless of Walt to leave the book in his bathroom, one of the more public rooms in the house in that it would be used by visitors, and their most frequent visitors are Hank and Marie. The idea of Walt's keeping it as an ego boost makes a lot of sense, just not his placement of it behind the throne. To me, for one of the few times in this series, the writing seems stretched there--just tooooo convenient a way for Hank to make the big discovery. But great irony that he does it as a result of just sitting down on the "throne" and was unable to do it through all his concentrated prior effort.

[clever name]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 5:02pm

I agree Miranda. I thought WTF?? Why was that book just sitting there?! That was evidence! It just seemed too convenient.