'Breaking Bad' Series Finale Recap- 'Felina': Walt Admits His Love and The End of Heisenberg
The "Breaking Bad" series finale, "Felina" ended forever the saga of Walter White and his infamous drug kingpin alias Heisenberg. Vince Gilligan, showrunner for the highly-acclaimed series, managed to wrap up numerous storylines during the finale, even revisiting previous conflicts from the beginning of the show. For spoilers, read ahead.
"Breaking Bad" season 5, episode 16 began with Walter White determined to return to Albuquerque once more by way of a stolen car. After managing to get the car started in the unforgiving cold, the theme music for which the episode is named began to play.
"Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl / Night-time would find me in Rosa's cantina, Music would play and Felina would whirl" singer Marty Robbins crooned.
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Walt makes his way across the country, stopping to abandon the watch Jesse Pinkman once gave him and pose as a New York Times reporter- a scheme that allowed him to find out where Elliot and Gretchen Schwarz.
White manages to sneak into their home, shocking Gretchen nearly to the point of tears when he's discovered. Elliot weakly attempts to threaten Walter with a small knife, and that's when viewers are reminded that Heisenberg is still very much alive.
"Elliot, if we're going to go that way, you're going to need a bigger knife," Walt says, sounding very much like the late cleanup man Mike. He then tells them to give his remaining $9 million to Walt Jr., his son. As insurance, two of the "best hitmen this side of the Mississippi"- really Badger and Skinny Pete with laser pointers- function as the muscle behind Walt's words.
Then in Albuquerque, Walt ambushes Lydia's weekly meeting with Todd and uses her predictability against her; the Stevia she uses to sweeten her coffee is substituted with ricin, and the shrill woman in essence poisons herself.
Walt's final stop before the explosive end is with Skyler. He manages to admit the one realization that had eluded him throughout his years of cooking and distributing methamphetamine.
"I did it for me," he told Skyler, finally abandoning the idea that all his crimes were for his family. "I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really- I was alive."
Walt then shows up for a meeting with Jack Welker, Todd and the neo-Nazis, who nearly immediately threaten to kill him.
"You really shouldn't have come back, Mr. White," Todd, ever the psycho, says semi-apologetically. However, Walt stalls the execution by accusing Jack of partnering with Jesse- how else could the pure blue meth, his signature product, be produced?
"You think I'd partner with a rat?" Jack says, referring to Jesse's DEA DVD. "I'm going to show you just how wrong you are, and then I'm putting that bullet in your head myself."
Jesse, who has been enslaved for months, appears, looking nearly as haggard as Walt does. Walt tackles him into the ground and pushes the button on his car remote, setting his plan into action.
The M60 machine gun rigged in Walt's car's trunk sprays indiscriminately, cutting through the walls of the neo-Nazis building and killing many of them almost instantly. Jesse and Todd are unaffected, but Walt is wounded in his side.
The first chance he gets, Jesse strangles Todd, his former captor, with the same chains in which he was bound. Walt asks Jesse to finish the job by shooting him, but his former partner won't oblige him.
"Say the words. Say you want this," Jesse says, gun pointed at his former manipulator. "Nothing happens until I hear you say it."
"I want this," Walt says.
"Then do it yourself," the freshly freed Jesse retorts, driving into the darkness afterwards.
The reign of Heisenberg comes to an end as Walt walks slowly around the Welker's meth lab, touching the stainless steel vats almost tenderly. He then succumbs to his injuries, eyes half-closed, looking into the sky as the music plays.
"Guess I got what I deserve," Badfinger begins singing during "Baby Blue." "Kept you waiting there, too long my love / All that time, without a word / Didn't know you'd think, that I'd forget, or I'd regret, the special love I have for you / My baby blue."
