Sandman0077
Sr Member
How about no spin-offs or prequels or sequels. Leave this one alone. It's perfect and compete.
Breaking Bad
- Thread starter DoubleD
- Start date
Brent M
Sr Member
This is one of the best video compilations I've ever seen. The Heisenberg Legacy:
Breaking Bad Tribute - The Heisenberg Legacy (HD) - YouTube
Breaking Bad Tribute - The Heisenberg Legacy (HD) - YouTube
.:MirrorminD:.
Sr Member
cayman shen
Master Member
Oh man, that just broke my heart all over again! The final shot of Jesse is one of TV's all time great moments.
ghostryder
Legendary Member
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JD
Master Member
I didn't like Hank's ending. I thought the story would've been more "circular" or more complete if Hank ended Walt.
thequackdealer
Active Member
How so? Hank was careless, he tried to use Jesse, just like Walt used him. He let his ego get in his way, if he had just told the DEA the second he found out about Walt, then he would still be alive. It's sad but true. Someone close to Walt had to die so he could see how awful he had become. The show couldn't have ended better, if you can come up with a way I'd love to know.
JD
Master Member
I don't necessarily not agree with you - I just felt the show could've been more circular, more complete had Hank been the one that brought Walt down - rather than a relatively newer part of the story. I didn't get an "epic" feel for it this way, I didn't get the feeling of a complete story the way it endd... it just seemed convenient - "well, we have these guys here... we can use them to close out the story." But, I also see that you just can't predict who takes you out in that trade.
I'm not saying I could've come up with something better - it is still a great story. I just wish there was something a bit more grander to the story's ending and I wish Hank had something to do with it to make the overall arc a little more full circle.
thequackdealer
Active Member
I see your point. However if Hank did bring Walt down we know he would have arrested him, that's what he wants to happen he doesn't want or need to kill Walt. Now if he did arrest Walt, he wouldn't have learned anything, the greatness of the ending wasn't who killed Walt, but rather that he came to reconciliation with himself, and redeemed himself. I can't think of an ending grander than that. It's a story about the transformation of a man, and the changes he goes through, if he was just a bitter old man rotting in prison, or just died at the hands of Hank having learned nothing. The story wouldn't have felt complete.
JD
Master Member
I'll agree with to some points you made. Yes, Walt had to die.
I don't think he necessarily redeemed himself - he had vengeance, yes... but, I'm not sure if he redeemed himself. I don't think saving Jesse was necessarily redemption. After all the terrible things he had done throughout the series, it would've been more personal and made Walt's transformation more complete had he been brought down at the hands of Hank or someone closer.
How powerful would've it been had Walt Jr. killed him? Or Skyler?
I understand what you mean by redemption - but, I just don't think what happened at the end was really redemption. I just thought it was a means to an end. Yeah, I get that saving Jesse meant a few things on different levels (Jesse's meltdown being ultimately due to Walt)... but, all the terrible things he did just didn't redeem him (in my eyes).
Again, I loved the story - it was terrific. I just thought the ending had some missed opportunities. We had great villains and characters - I just don't think the "bad guys" at the end, despite taking Jesse into slavery like they did - were the right guys to ultimately take out Heisenberg.
thequackdealer
Active Member
Walt redeemed himself because he came to the realization that the things he did were wrong, and he tried to fix them as best he could. Would you rather him have brought the dead back to life? He got rid of all the big meth manufacturers in Albuquerque, of course there will be more to fill their place, but he righted his wrong. I have seen this show since the first episode aired, and have watched it multiple times, so I am biased. However I do think he redeemed himself, like he said to Skyler he did this for himself, and not his family. He rid himself of all his pride, and the fact that he saved Jesse is just icing on the cake.
SquidMan
Sr Member
Here's where we disagree.
Originally, I agreed with you. When watching the final four episodes as they were airing I wondered why the Neo-Nazis got to be the final villains when Gus, and arguably even Tuco, were more interesting characters.
But then I realized that the series positions Uncle Jack and Todd as mirror images of Walt and Jesse. Uncle Jack and Todd now diligently run the lab. Walt had called Jesse his nephew before, to multiple people. Jack shares Walt's self-destructive pride, as being called a liar is what prevented him from killing Walt sooner, which would have prevented Jack's death. Todd kills Andrea when he calls her to her door, just as Jesse killed Gale. Jack kills Hank, but Walt both figuratively and literally dug Hank's grave, both by creating this situation and by digging the pit in which Hank was buried. There are even some visual clues that support this: when he's being held captive, Jesse is wearing the shirt Todd wore when he killed Drew Sharp, and Walt kills Jack the same way Jack killed Hank: by shooting him in the head without letting him finish his final words. The Neo-Nazis are a reflection of Walt and Jesse's worst qualities and deeds. (Also, they are fitting in terms of the whole Werner Heisenberg/Nazi connection)
Season 5 is, below the surface narrative, about realization and self examination. Jesse realizes the weight of his wrongdoings, gets out of the business, and attempts to help Hank. The family learns about Walt's drug empire and we see them in their true colors, for better or worse. This is most clearly expressed when Walt says to Skyler, "I did it for me."
So, the Neo-Nazis really represent the consequences of what Walt and Jesse had brought upon themselves. They are their own true destructors. How fitting, then, that Walt dies from his own bullet.
If Hank had really captured or killed Walt, it would have really been a missed opportunity for these characters to symbolically come against the biggest villains of the series: themselves.
It's just like Jesse says in Season 3, "I accept who I am. I'm the bad guy." But it really took them until the end of the series to feel the consequences of their own actions.
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