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[Bobby Roberts]

The fact that I agree with most of this makes me very sad

It's a weird tack to take (one I addressed earlier when jtb brought it up) to assume that because we're all scurrying around down here talking about the show, that Gilligan is cognizant of that and trying to insert his two cents into our conversations via the show itself.

It's weird. By the time these episodes were cracked and on their way to filming, the show hadn't become "a thing." Discussion on Breaking Bad wasn't the all-consuming thing it is now. There were a handful of fans, and a handful of forums, and a handful of recappers paying attention, kicking over rocks, looking behind paintings, etc. etc.

I think the fact so many people have gotten so caught up in playing the Talking Bad game between weeks, and that it's increased for eight straight weeks, it's caused people to believe that the show IS ACTUALLY TALKING BACK TO THEM when that half of the "conversation" was locked, edited, and sent to final mix MONTHS before the back half of Season 5 even started to get underway.

It's not a conversation. We're conversing with each other, but the show isn't conversing with us.

If anything, I'd think maybe the reputation of the show is "shrinking" due to estimation of the finale "shrinking" because motherfuckers are having withdrawals.

 

[strobogo]

I thought Jesse was having a complete mental breakdown as he was driving away. I didn't sense any real happiness there.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I thought Jesse was having a complete mental breakdown as he was driving away. I didn't sense any real happiness there.

Yeah that's not a scream of relief. That's a scream of mania.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I thought Jesse was having a complete mental breakdown as he was driving away. I didn't sense any real happiness there.

Um, he was laughing and smiling. Certainly it was an emotional overcoming, and one could quibble as to what "real" happiness is, but there was inarguably SOME pleasure he was feeling. Why wouldn't a person be at least a LITTLE happy to escape Nazi slavery?

 

[strobogo]

Yeah, laughing and smiling while having a mental break. Jesse snapped after the months of torture, seeing Andrea killed, killing Todd, and the last encounter with Walt. That's what I took from it. I didn't see it as celebratory at all.

 

[Quidam]

The theory is just impossible. How would Walt, in his dream / fantasy, realise that Jesse was chained up and being used as a slave? How would he visualise the exact cuts on Jesse's face that he had actually suffered, in reality, in previous episodes?!

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Withdrawals, man. People are scraping their pipe and doing knife hits as a means to stay high.

There is no more drug and they don't LIKE it.

 

[kehs]

I thought Jesse was having a complete mental breakdown as he was driving away. I didn't sense any real happiness there.

um

 

[-griffy-]

Yeah that's not a scream of relief. That's a scream of mania.

I disagree. It's an outburst of emotion of all kinds. He's undeniably happy to be both free of his literal shackles, and free of Mr. White, the man who completely ruined his life. He's conflicted because he knows everything is over, including Mr. White's life. They still shared an experience together. He's weeping, he's sad, he's laughing, he's happy. He's conflicted.

But above all he's free. After all the shit he's been through he's free of it all and can try and start fresh.

I don't read it as a mental break at all. Not even remotely. He's simply overcome with emotions.

The theory is just impossible. How would Walt, in his dream / fantasy, realise that Jesse was chained up and being used as a slave? How would he visualise the exact cuts on Jesse's face that he had actually suffered, in reality, in previous episodes?!

Furthermore, how would he visualize Jesse fantasizing about making the perfect box that Walt had never heard of himself?

 

[Crimson-Death]

It's a really "real" possibility that Jesse would end up killing himself, or overdosing.
But I believe his life will center around Brock, and trying to help him and mentor him, because there is no way in hell Jesse would be able to adopt him.

And I choose to believe that the box scene is a flashforward.

Spoiler

Shyamalan twist.

Jesse goes into carpentry.

 

[Salmonax]

I think between Jesse being free from captivity from the Nazis and free from Walt, it was just a moment of temporary catharsis. Other than Walt no longer having influence on his life, none of the issues he had going into captivity have improved (and with Andrea's death, things are really much worse).

One wonders how he's even going to make ends meet now that he's had everything taken from him - maybe dividing his time between substituting high school chemistry and working at the car wash?

 

[PedroPanache]

It's a weird tack to take (one I addressed earlier when jtb brought it up) to assume that because we're all scurrying around down here talking about the show, that Gilligan is cognizant of that and trying to insert his two cents into our conversations via the show itself.

It's weird. By the time these episodes were cracked and on their way to filming, the show hadn't become "a thing." Discussion on Breaking Bad wasn't the all-consuming thing it is now. There were a handful of fans, and a handful of forums, and a handful of recappers paying attention, kicking over rocks, looking behind paintings, etc. etc.

I think the fact so many people have gotten so caught up in playing the Talking Bad game between weeks, and that it's increased for eight straight weeks, it's caused people to believe that the show IS ACTUALLY TALKING BACK TO THEM when that half of the "conversation" was locked, edited, and sent to final mix MONTHS before the back half of Season 5 even started to get underway.

It's not a conversation. We're conversing with each other, but the show isn't conversing with us.

If anything, I'd think maybe the reputation of the show is "shrinking" due to estimation of the finale "shrinking" because motherfuckers are having withdrawals.

I hate the notion of "Team Walt", "Team Jesse", "Team Anti-Walt" or just the sense that we were supposed to take sides and root, in a binary fashion, for Walt to either succeed or fail. With the extension of that being that an ending that fails to give either "team" a complete victory is some kind of failure. That's fine if you want to view television through the prism of fan culture and the like, but when I watch my TV, all that discussion, debate and endless theorising falls to the wayside and I allow myself to enjoy the show in a vacuum. If the reputation of the show is being reduced, it's through the reductive presumption that this was some kind of football/soccer match that ended in a score draw.

 

[sixteen-bit]

It's a really "real" possibility that Jesse would end up killing himself, or overdosing.
But I believe his life will center around Brock, and trying to help him and mentor him, because there is no way in hell Jesse would be able to adopt him.

And I choose to believe that the box scene is a flashforward.

Spoiler

Shyamalan twist.

Jesse goes into carpentry.

Yeah! Woodworking, bitch!

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I hate the notion of "Team Walt", "Team Jesse", "Team Anti-Walt" or just the sense that we were supposed to take sides and root, in a binary fashion, for Walt to either succeed or fail. With the extension of that being that an ending that fails to give either "team" a complete victory is some kind of failure. That's fine if you want to view television through the prism of fan culture and the like, but when I watch my TV, all that discussion, debate and endless theorising falls to the wayside and I allow myself to enjoy the show in a vacuum. If the reputation of the show is being reduced, it's through the reductive presumption that this was some kind of football/soccer match that ended in a score draw.

I like this post quite a bit.

 

[20cent]

Sopranos was a great show but it was way to inconsistent. Seasons 1-3 were all top notch but the rest meh not so much. Some good episodes here and there but not nearly to the quality of the first three season.

ah, exactly my thoughts about The Wire.

Back to the topic, people seriously commenting a nonsense dream theory from some shitty comedian crying for attention on twitter, really?

 

[shamanick]

And I choose to believe that the box scene is a flashforward.

Spoiler

Shyamalan twist.

Jesse goes into carpentry.

I like this idea a lot.

I am getting increasingly annoyed at critics who don't like the finale because it doesn't support their pet theory of the show - I have seen this most glaringly in Alyssa Rosenberg's and Emily Nussbaum's articles. Criticism of the storytelling, the filmmaking, the acting, it's all fine with me. However, it seems more and more that critics are upset for the show not making a grand statement about the patriarchy rather than telling a story that is true to its world and its occupants. Killing Walt before he could start to make things right, or having Skyler kill him, or the "it was all a dream in a snowglobe" ideas would have been atrocious and completely dissonant with the story that had been presented up until that point. It's dangerous to art when politics and ideology drive narrative.

 

[Spectral Glider]

It's a weird tack to take (one I addressed earlier when jtb brought it up) to assume that because we're all scurrying around down here talking about the show, that Gilligan is cognizant of that and trying to insert his two cents into our conversations via the show itself.

It's weird. By the time these episodes were cracked and on their way to filming, the show hadn't become "a thing." Discussion on Breaking Bad wasn't the all-consuming thing it is now. There were a handful of fans, and a handful of forums, and a handful of recappers paying attention, kicking over rocks, looking behind paintings, etc. etc.

I think the fact so many people have gotten so caught up in playing the Talking Bad game between weeks, and that it's increased for eight straight weeks, it's caused people to believe that the show IS ACTUALLY TALKING BACK TO THEM when that half of the "conversation" was locked, edited, and sent to final mix MONTHS before the back half of Season 5 even started to get underway.

It's not a conversation. We're conversing with each other, but the show isn't conversing with us.

If anything, I'd think maybe the reputation of the show is "shrinking" due to estimation of the finale "shrinking" because motherfuckers are having withdrawals.

Excellent post. I also think binge watching the earlier seasons was not the way to consume this show.

 

[strobogo]

ah, exactly my thoughts about The Wire.

Back to the topic, people seriously commenting a nonsense dream theory from some shitty comedian crying for attention on twitter, really?

I thought The Wire was really consistent outside of season 2, but the last few episodes and especially the ending montage really rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like it was trying to nostalgia guilt tripping you into thinking McNulty was a swell guy after all, despite 5 seasons proving him to be a miserable cunt.

 

[timetokill]

Heard a theory about the ending that makes perfect sense. Walt freezes to death in that car he tries to steal at the start of the episode. He never finds the keys to the car in the visor, and never does any of the things that happen in the episode. As he's freezing and dying in the car, he just dreams everything that happens next. That's why so many unrealistic things happen and why everything wraps up so perfectly. It was all a dream.

I saw one of the reviews suggesting such a thing. It seems to be a fantasy among those who claimed there were "bad fans" who were rooting for Walt, and found the idea of Walt winning in the end and a finale that pleased these fans to be distasteful.

For one, it wouldn't make any sense that Walt was dreaming about Jesse being a meth slave. He literally had no idea that was occurring. So for him to dream something that so accurately represents the reality would be... well, even crazier than the ending we got.

Furthermore, this ending is really far from the craziest thing Walt has done in the show. Yes, it requires a lot of luck and coincidence, but when has that not been the case for Walt? Like Jesse said, he's both smarter and luckier than you. That's a crazy, unfair combination.

 

[jtb]

Jesse is a more likable character than Walt. He may be the most likable character on the show. You don't need the internet or TV critics to know that. Walt is a tragic figure. you don't need direct audience feedback to know that he is a sympathetic, if not necessarily likable, character. And with any tragic figure comes a potential for redemption.

Therefore, you can still write a tame, audience pleasing ending without the audience's explicit wishes ever even factoring into the equation. I don't really care if Gilligan frantically refreshes his twitter TL to see what Sepinwall and Nussbaum had to say after each episode and works his show around that. It's just knowing your characters and, in this case, perhaps getting a little too attached to them. Jesse is a likable character and nowhere near as bad a person as Walt, therefore of course the audience was going to want to see him not get totally fucked over in the end. Gilligan doesn't need to look at Twitter to know that.

So, yeah... the ending was audience pleasing. It set out to placate people, rather than challenge them.

edit: and fwiw, I completely agree that shows shouldn't be an ongoing, fluid conversation between their creators and their audience. see: the disaster that was Homeland S2 for evidence of that

 

[Bobby Roberts]

So, yeah... the ending was audience pleasing. It set out to placate people, rather than challenge them.

I mean, I get why you keep using the word "placate," because it's inherently negative, but I really don't think "placating" is what's going on in the episode.

Of course, you could then argue that of course I don't think that, because I've been placated

The show has had its challenging moments. Multiple times. So it didn't end on one - don't know why that's an automatic demerit. It used a period, not an exclamation point. Considering Ozymandias was almost nothing BUT exclamation points, I don't see the harm in just closing out with a declarative statement.

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Mag: A Psychiatrist Predicts the Emotional Aftermath for Breaking Bad’s Skyler, Walt Jr., and Jesse
- THR: Meet Walter Blanco: 'Breaking Bad' Gets Spanish-Language Version (no new info here, but the Metastasis stories are circulating this morning)

 

[maharg]

edit: and fwiw, I completely agree that shows shouldn't be an ongoing, fluid conversation between their creators and their audience. see: the disaster that was Homeland S2 for evidence of that

That's funny, I think they are whether you like it or not to some extent or another, and I'd point at Homeland S2 as evidence of what happens when you take a right angle from what your audience is interested in.

 

[jtb]

I mean, I get why you keep using the word "placate," because it's inherently negative, but I really don't think "placating" is what's going on in the episode.

Of course, you could then argue that of course I don't think that, because I've been placated

The show has had its challenging moments. Multiple times. So it didn't end on one - don't know why that's an automatic demerit. It used a period, not an exclamation point. Considering Ozymandias was almost nothing BUT exclamation points, I don't see the harm in just closing out with a declarative statement.

I don't think it's a negative, I think it's a neutral. For me, it's not about ending with a big bang or an exclamation point that's unexpected for the sake of unexpected, I just want a storytelling risk of some kind. The finale we got was by the numbers and competent.

I guess some would argue that the show has never been about taking big storytelling risks, and I suppose that is true to a certain extent. I do think that with risk comes the inherent possibility of reward, and if you don't take those risks... well, you do get a dull final product. I don't want to bash on the finale too much because even a half-competent finale is hard to come by these days, but it was a bit dull. It could've been more and it wasn't.

And this goes for any story, not just BB. I think stories that take risks (even if they don't always work out) are much more interesting than those that don't.

 

[jtb]

That's funny, I think they are whether you like it or not to some extent or another, and I'd point at Homeland S2 as evidence of what happens when you take a right angle from what your audience is interested in.

The way I see it—the writers for Homeland saw that everyone loved the Weekend (and rightly so, it was a good episode) but completely misunderstand why. And proceeded to build the rest of the series around a terrible conceit

Spoiler

the Brody/Carrie relationship, obviously

.

oops dp

 

[forgeforsaken]

I think what we had was the show having it's climax with Ozymandias, the falling action with Granite State, and Felina serving as the denouement. I kind of feel like you don't see those last two acts like that nearly as much anymore, with movies/tv having very abbreviated falling action/denouements these days.

 

[Cornballer]

- IndieWire Podcast: The Playlist Talks 'Breaking Bad' Finale & Where The Medium Of Television Is Heading

 

[Ashok]

I hate the notion of "Team Walt", "Team Jesse", "Team Anti-Walt" or just the sense that we were supposed to take sides and root, in a binary fashion, for Walt to either succeed or fail.

Same. I'm on "Team Vince".

 

[jtb]

I think what we had was the show having it's climax with Ozymandias, the falling action with Granite State, and Felina serving as the denouement. I kind of feel like you don't see those last two acts like that nearly as much anymore, with movies/tv having very abbreviated falling action/denouements these days.

eh, I think the climax of the show is clearly Half Measures/Full Measure. I would've been fine with the show ending at Ozymandias too.

 

[strobogo]

Show ended shortly after Walter met up with Skinny Pete and Badger. Everything from that point on was Pete and Badger making up stories while stoned. Now every theory can work.

 

[Perspicacity]

One thing I haven't been totally clear on - why did Saul have to enlist the vacuum cleaner for his own identity? I understand it from a story perspective, as he was needed for some exposition at the start of Granite State but was there really that much heat on him?

He's really only linked to Heisenberg as both Jesse and Mike's lawyer (as far as the authorities know) so I don't quite get it.

 

[Cornballer]

- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)

 

[WillyFive]

One thing I haven't been totally clear on - why did Saul have to enlist the vacuum cleaner for his own identity? I understand it from a story perspective, as he was needed for some exposition at the start of Granite State but was there really that much heat on him?

It could be for an unrelated occurrence, or the publicity of the story got traced to him somehow and he didn't want the attention.

- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)

He sounds pretty depressed. It's too bad, I really loved the Lost finale, one of the best episodes in the series.

 

[Ellasman]

I hate the notion of "Team Walt", "Team Jesse", "Team Anti-Walt" or just the sense that we were supposed to take sides and root, in a binary fashion, for Walt to either succeed or fail. With the extension of that being that an ending that fails to give either "team" a complete victory is some kind of failure. That's fine if you want to view television through the prism of fan culture and the like, but when I watch my TV, all that discussion, debate and endless theorising falls to the wayside and I allow myself to enjoy the show in a vacuum. If the reputation of the show is being reduced, it's through the reductive presumption that this was some kind of football/soccer match that ended in a score draw.

Nail on the head.

 

[Lautaro]

Show ended shortly after Walter met up with Skinny Pete and Badger. Everything from that point on was Pete and Badger making up stories while stoned. Now every theory can work.

Badger: and then Heisenberg made a killer robot!

Skinny Pete: oohhhh that shit is tight, yo!

 

[MidnightCowboy]

I hate the notion of "Team Walt", "Team Jesse", "Team Anti-Walt" or just the sense that we were supposed to take sides and root, in a binary fashion, for Walt to either succeed or fail. With the extension of that being that an ending that fails to give either "team" a complete victory is some kind of failure. That's fine if you want to view television through the prism of fan culture and the like, but when I watch my TV, all that discussion, debate and endless theorising falls to the wayside and I allow myself to enjoy the show in a vacuum. If the reputation of the show is being reduced, it's through the reductive presumption that this was some kind of football/soccer match that ended in a score draw.

This is the best post in the thread.

 

[Ashok]

- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)

Nice article. Don't agree with what's been going on with Lindelof's Twitter TL. Breaking Bad and Lost are two of my favorite shows.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)

damn that's heavy

 

[Salmonax]

He sounds pretty depressed. It's too bad, I really loved the Lost finale, one of the best episodes in the series.

Yeah, I feel bad for the guy. Lost was mostly good-to-amazing for what... 80+ episodes? Sure, it more or less shat the bed in the last couple of seasons, but it's too bad he's had such a struggle making peace. His show was awesome when it was firing on all cylinders, providing countless hours of entertainment for millions. That's more than most people accomplish in their lives.

 

[jtb]

It's Twitter, anyone and everyone with a sizable amount of followers gets abuse. Lindelof takes this way too personally, he's hardly unique. Unless he's going to apologize for the show or explain how he would have done it differently, he should just let the episodes speak for themselves and let people decide for themselves. He's not RT'ing the people that praise him, right? Come on, Lindelof. Grow up.

If he's so uncomfortable with the idea of his work being received by an audience, then maybe he should choose a different line of work. Or pull a Salinger.

 

[Cornballer]

I wanted to highlight this one again. It's a good look at the camerawork from Season 5, Part 2:

- Gliding Over All: The Cinematography of Breaking Bad, Season 5, Part 2 (youtube video essay from Dave Bunting)

 

[Dany]

It's Twitter, anyone and everyone with a sizable amount of followers gets abuse. Lindelof takes this way too personally, he's hardly unique. Unless he's going to apologize for the show or explain how he would have done it differently, he should just let the episodes speak for themselves and let people decide for themselves. He's not RT'ing the people that praise him, right? Come on, Lindelof. Grow up.

If he's so uncomfortable with the idea of his work being received by an audience, then maybe he should choose a different line of work. Or pull a Salinger.

Did you read the article and the part where he is proud and wouldn't change a thing about lost?

 

[Mononoke]

The fact that I agree with most of this makes me very sad

And yet, Vince said he hated Walter White. So I'm not so sure Vince thought Walt was a badass or a hero in the end.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)

\o/

Ultimate refutation of Team Dead The Whole Time.

 

[Cornballer]

Content Roundup - Episode 8 - Felina

Videos

- Inside Episode 516 Breaking Bad: Felina
- Making of Episode 516 Felina: Breaking Bad
- Farewell to Breaking Bad
- Talked About Scene Episode 516 Felina: Breaking Bad
- Giancarlo Esposito on Gustavo Fring: Talking Bad
- Vince Gilligan on the Series Finale of Breaking Bad: Talking Bad
- The Cast of Breaking Bad on the Emmys: Talking Bad
- Grantland's 'Breaking Bad' In Memoriam (youtube)
- End of Breaking Bad (We're not fine) - Series Recap / Parody Song (youtube recap song set to the REM song)​

Reviews

- Onion A|V Club review
- Sepinwall's review
- Variety: TV Review: ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Gets the Chemistry Just Right
- memles on the finale for Cultural Learnings
- Alyssa Rosenberg on the finale
- Slate.com review
- IGN review
- The Atlantic discussion
- Frazier Moore for AP
- Esquire
- LA Times
- Poniewozik's review for Time.com
- Tim Goodman on the finale for THR
- Warming Glow on the finale
- Matt Zoller Seitz review
- Maureen Ryan's review
- Badass Digest
- IndieWire #1
- Salon.com #2
- Slant Magazine
- Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker
- Sean T Collins @ Rolling Stone
- Washington Post
- Chicago Sun Times
- Cinema Blend
- Collider
- NJ Star-Ledger
- Eric Deggans @ Tampa Bay Times
- The Week
- Film School Rejects
- EW.com
- Linda Holmes @ NPR
- Kate Arthur @ Buzzfeed
- Laura Bennett @ The New Republic
- Andy Greenwald's review for Grantland
- NY Times
- Toronto Star
- Jaime Weinman @ Maclean's
- Ryan McGee
- The Guardian
- TV.com
- LA Times #2
- Matt Zoller Seitz's video review
- Mo Ryan: 'Breaking Bad' Finale Analysis: Walt's Takeover Was Complete (But Hard To Buy And Unsatisfying)​

Other

- AMC Q&A: Jesse Plemons (Todd Alquist)
- Poniewozik @ Time: How Walter White Became the One Who Knocks
- The Onion: ‘Breaking Bad’ Ends With Reveal That Whole Series Was Plot of Book Marie Shoplifted
- Bad Finger - Baby Blue (closing song)
- El Paso (Full-Length Version) - Marty Robbins
- NY Times: Walter White’s Soul, and Yours (Room For Debate Editorial Feature)
- Warming Glow: ‘Breaking Bad’ Series Finale GIF Highlights: Felina
- Salon: Why Flynn is the real hero of “Breaking Bad”
- National Geographic: Things You Should Know About Ricin
- NY Mag: 11 Breaking Bad Finale Facts Revealed on Talking Bad
- NY Mag: Your Final Breaking Bad GIFs
- EW Interview: Vince Gilligan explains series finale
- EW Interview: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul discuss ending of 'Breaking Bad' finale
- THR: 'Breaking Bad': The Meaning of the Finale's Last Song
- Forbes: Working Bad: Exclusive Interviews With the Brains Behind 'Breaking Bad' (set of interview links)
- Rolling Stone: Lessons of the 'Breaking Bad' Series Finale
- Andy Greenwald answers a few BB questions in his September Mail Bag for Grantland
- The Week: Breaking Bad: An interview with the show's science advisor
- Canada.com podcast on the finale
- Barry Hertz @ Maclean's: Why Breaking Bad’s finale will disappoint—and we’re all to blame
- EW: 'Breaking Bad': 10 questions we'll never see resolved
- Onion A|V Club's "For Our Consideration" Feature: Breaking Bad ended the anti-hero genre by introducing good and evil
- NY Mag: The Dream of Jesse Pinkman’s Happy Ending
- THR: Beyond 'Breaking Bad': What's Next for the Show's Stars
- NY Mag: Albuquerque Said Good-bye to Breaking Bad With Finale Parties
- Yahoo Interview: Michael Bowen on Becoming Uncle Jack
- Slate.com: Exclusive: Aaron Paul’s Complete Script for the Breaking Bad Finale
- EW: 'Breaking Bad' series finale ratings smash all records (10.3M viewers, 5.4 in the 18-49 demo)
- Time: Breaking Bad Finale Downloaded Illegally 500,000 Times in 12 Hours
- Insider Podcast is up
- Sepinwall & Fienberg talking BB on this week's podcast
- NY Mag: Breaking Bad and Badfinger’s ‘Baby Blue’
- Warming Glow: The ‘Breaking Bad’ Character First And Last Appearance GIF Wall
- Zap2It: 'Breaking Bad' vs. 'The Sopranos' series finales: One size does not fit all
- Maureen Ryan and others discussing the finaleon HuffPost Live (video)
- NY Mag: Breaking Bad’s Laura Fraser on Lydia, Stevia, and ‘Gross’ Todd
- Onion A|V Club: Here are some pictures from the Breaking Bad finale screening
- Rolling Stone: Five Revelations From the Near-Perfect 'Breaking Bad' Finale
- AMC Fan Quiz on the finale
- PN Inlander: Who's Really "The One who Knocks" on Breaking Bad?
- The Awl: Customers Who Didn't Buy The "Breaking Bad" Finale Also Didn't Buy…
- EW: Badfinger's Joey Molland talk 'Baby Blue' in the 'Breaking Bad' finale
- Andy Greenwald talking BB finale on this week's Grantland Podcast
- THR: 'Breaking Bad' Producer on Walt's Finale Sacrifice: He Didn't Redeem Himself (Q&A)
- THR: The 'Breaking Bad' Legacy: Now That It's Over, Where Does It Stand?
- THR: 'Breaking Bad's' Uncle Jack on Finale's Shocking Deaths: When Audience Clapped 'I Was Very Satisfied' (Q&A)
- Time: Breaking Bad Writer: Why It Had to End
- Maureen Ryan and Ryan McGee talking Breaking Bad on their podcast this week
- THR: 'Breaking Bad's' Andrea: Brock Was Allowed to Watch My Devastating Scene (Q&A)
- Gliding Over All: The Cinematography of Breaking Bad, Season 5, Part 2 (youtube video essay from Dave Bunting)
- IGN's channel surfing podcast talks Breaking Bad this week
- Slashfilm's "Ones Who Knock" podcast on "Felina"
- CBS This Morning: "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan: I was teary-eyed writing series' last episode (video)
- The Breaking Bad Finale’s Best Memes, Tributes, and Callbacks
- Poniewozik: Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad Postmortems: How Walt “Won” Yet Lost His Soul
- Warming Glow: Bryan Cranston And Dean Norris Were Both In The Pilot Of Pamela Anderson’s Bodyguard Show, ‘V.I.P.’
- Wesley Morris for Grantland: Can Aaron Paul Be a Movie Star?
- THR: 'Breaking Bad' Swan Song: Producer Todd Rundgren Looks Back at 'Baby Blue'
- EW: 'Breaking Bad' stars reveal the scenes they always wanted to shoot
- Alyssa Rosenberg: ‘Breaking Bad’ And What Happens When Shows Try To Talk Back To Their Fans
- THR: Damon Lindelof on Why 'Breaking Bad's' Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to 'Lost' (Guest Column)
- NY Mag: A Psychiatrist Predicts the Emotional Aftermath for Breaking Bad’s Skyler, Walt Jr., and Jesse
- IndieWire Podcast: The Playlist Talks 'Breaking Bad' Finale & Where The Medium Of Television Is Heading​

Vince Gilligan on Colbert

- Vince Gilligan Pt. 1
- Vince Gilligan Pt. 2
- Sign Off - More "Breaking Bad"​

 

[jtb]

Did you read the article and the part where he is proud and wouldn't change a thing about lost?

I did. Which is why he should just shut up about it already. He's delusional if he's expecting 100% of people to like any story, let alone something like the LOST finale. He's writing for an audience, not for an echo chamber. If everything truly worked out the way he wanted, then the episodes will speak for themselves and he should accept that criticism of it exists.

It's not just the LOST finale (though I'm sure he gets the most grief over that). He did the same thing with Into Darkness too. I like Lindelof. I really do. He seems like a nice guy, even if not necessarily the best writer. (I even follow him on Twitter). But he needs to grow thicker skin.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I did. Which is why he should just shut up about it already. He's delusional if he's expecting 100% of people to like any story, let alone something like the LOST finale. He's writing for an audience, not for an echo chamber. If everything truly worked out the way he wanted, then the episodes will speak for themselves and he should accept that criticism of it exists.

It's not just the LOST finale (though I'm sure he gets the most grief over that). He did the same thing with Into Darkness too. I like Lindelof. I really do. He seems like a nice guy, even if not necessarily the best writer. (I even follow him on Twitter). But he needs to grow thicker skin.

I can't imagine skin thick enough to deal with an army of Erigus.

 

[Frost_Ace]

And yet, Vince said he hated Walter White. So I'm not so sure Vince thought Walt was a badass or a hero in the end.

I still think that Vince was more concerned with people liking the episode than actually making a finale that felt emotionally conclusive to all the characters.

 

[jonezer4]

Terrible. Norm is reaching on this one. It was not a dream.

Yeah, I've heard Vince explicitly state something about how the "it was all a dream" ending isn't fair to the audience. I suppose you could argue making just the last episode a dream isn't quite as cheap. I think it's an interesting theory, but if it's all Walt's fantasy, he would come home and Skyler would love him, he'd be able to say bye to junior, and perhaps most importantly, any shot in the finale that didn't include Walter in it would be hard to explain. There weren't many, but there were enough, the biggest one probably being Jesse enslaved. Walt had no way of knowing he was enslaved. And he appeared to genuinely believe Jesse was a partner until the very end, so... it breaks his theory. Also, it would make it so Jesse was dreaming of making that wooden box... inside of Walt's dream... Breaking Badception.

It would certainly explain some of the more surreal elements in the finale, but like others have said, there were plenty of those in other seasons. I prefer to chalk it up to the karmic quality the show has always had, as opposed to a one-off dream episode.

 

[IronRinn]

Don't know if this has been posted yet:

Walt's Legacy: What we learned from the Breaking Bad finale