Breaking Bad Season 3 Starts Tonight

[Nemoide]

I am not saying he is not involved in criminal activity which is punishable by law, but if I was to pick some one out of the show to do business with I would do it with Walt. He was the only one on the show not to betray his partners, unless he was threatened to be killed.

I DISAGREE! What about Gale? His only wrong was knowing how to cook meth and working for Gus. Yes, he killed him to save his own life, but Walt was planning it beforehand. And Gale himself never did anything to go against Walt.
What about Mike? Yeah he insulted Walt and Walt *did* apologize for it being unnecessary, but there's no way Mike would have been a threat if he would have been allowed to get away.
Those nine prisoners? They sure as hell weren't going to *kill* Walt, although they might have been able to get him arrested.

(And I agree with dsheinem that I don't understand how anyone could get choked up over the ending.)

[Pulsar_t]

I'm fairly certain many would have pitied Stalin's final days even though he was the Ultimate Despot; evil people can be empathised with. Glorifying Heisenberg on the other hand, yes fairly disturbing. And Jesse was a bitch.

Hey, much worse people have/had scores of fans.

[RCBH928]

@Nemoide

I can't remember exactly what happened with Gale, so I can't comment. Mike and the prisoners were all assassins and criminals, do you feel sorry for them because Walt was involved in taking their lives? Mike would have ended Walt's or Jesse's lives at any second he felt he had to (or ordered to do so).

There was a very good reason to take out Gale, but I can't remember why it was 3 years ago.

[GazongaJoe]

Just got done power watching the series and just finished the final episode. Alls I can say really is that it's gona be a bit of a depressing week. I really liked the ending though.

[Gamerforlife]

I do not care how many people try to argue this but I really feel like the really good guy in the show was Walt.

Yeah, I can't see this at all. He was directly or indirectly responsible for all the misery that happened to everyone else on the show and was clearly driven by ego and pride through the bulk of the show (if not the whole thing). Not sure how one can see him as a "good guy" given that the show is about him breaking bad.

I do concur that the ending was a bit shit, though. Not sure how any of you could have gotten choked up over it...

Not to invalidate your opinion, I respect it, but I think you are definitely in the minority. Everything I've heard and read about the ending has been positive. In fact, I was listening to a podcast today that didn't even have anything to do with Breaking Bad and the host brought it up and thought the ending was superb and mentioned that a lot of his friends who are TV buffs are ranking it among the best TV endings they've seen.

This has been the general reaction I've seen on forums, websites and in most reviews I've seen. You definitely have a unique perspective, as I rarely hear anyone praise the Sopranos ending, not that I've seen it. I actually need to sit down and watch that show one day

I didn't actually get choked up by Breaking Bad's ending myself, but I just like how they resolved everything.

Out of curiosity, were you just mildly disappointed, or do you actually think it sucked? Because I've seen some shitty series finales and I wouldn't toss Breaking Bad in with them personally.

[dsheinem]

Out of curiosity, were you just mildly disappointed, or do you actually think it sucked? Because I've seen some shitty series finales and I wouldn't toss Breaking Bad in with them personally.

Mostly mildly disappointed. It was a "B" episode in a show that regularly delivered "A" episodes.

Mostly I felt that it was far too "graceful" of a landing. It was everything that was uncharacteristically obvious and expected, and nothing that left you feeling like you'd been punched in the gut. The best episodes of the show did that. The best finales to any show do that. If you like tidy closure and an ending that's not surprising, then I can see why you'd like BB's ending.

Another way to put it? The "Ozymandias" episode left me reeling and could have worked as a kind of pull-no-punches ending, the "Granite State" episode felt like a fitting end for the character arcs and was probably the best possible ending (up until the decision by Walt to leave the bar), and the final episode felt like a "dream sequence" kind of ending where everything worked out exactly as each character that the audience cared about would have liked.

[emwearz]

There was no shock or real emotion to the ending, at least to me. I think Dave said it nicely.

I would have preferred if when Walt kicked the gun over, Jesse just suddenly shot him in the face. Or if Walt just straight out got his head blown off from the Machine gun, etc.

I feel like the character of Jesse become redundant in this final season. Just did not care about him like I did in the past.

[Gamerforlife]

Out of curiosity, were you just mildly disappointed, or do you actually think it sucked? Because I've seen some shitty series finales and I wouldn't toss Breaking Bad in with them personally.

Mostly mildly disappointed. It was a "B" episode in a show that regularly delivered "A" episodes.

Mostly I felt that it was far too "graceful" of a landing. It was everything that was uncharacteristically obvious and expected, and nothing that left you feeling like you'd been punched in the gut. The best episodes of the show did that. The best finales to any show do that. If you like tidy closure and an ending that's not surprising, then I can see why you'd like BB's ending.

Another way to put it? The "Ozymandias" episode left me reeling and could have worked as a kind of pull-no-punches ending, the "Granite State" episode felt like a fitting end for the character arcs and was probably the best possible ending (up until the decision by Walt to leave the bar), and the final episode felt like a "dream sequence" kind of ending where everything worked out exactly as each character that the audience cared about would have liked.

Yeah, it wasn't as gut wrenching or shocking as "Ozymandias" or just plain sad and depressing as "Granite State", but I've heard a lot of people who were expecting the show to end in a miserable sort of way and were actually quite pleased that it didn't.

I think Villigan wanted to please his audience so he went with a "safer" ending. Now, you could make an argument that it didn't fit the show, but it seemed like a lot of people were happy with it. So it seems like he made the smart choice. Villigan seemed very paranoid about being criticized for leaving any loose strings too. So I feel like the finale was the answer to that. It really was Villigan tying up everything in a nice little bow for everyone. And I've heard people say it was a little too "neat" or "graceful" as you put it, but it seems to be what a lot of fans wanted. So he catered to his audience

At the end of the day, it's hard to please everyone. I was gearing up for an ending more in line with what you guys were expecting, but I liked the direction they went. I mean, Breaking Bad has been such a dark show for so long now. I didn't mind a little light at the end of the tunnel. I know a lot of people who watch Game of Thrones enjoy all the shocking, terrible stuff they see regularly on that show, but really and truly do hope to see the show have some kind of happy ending. I don't know if they'll get that, but at least Breaking Bad gave us one

[dsheinem]

Now, you could make an argument that it didn't fit the show, but it seemed like a lot of people were happy with it. So it seems like he made the smart choice. Villigan seemed very paranoid about being criticized for leaving any loose strings too. So I feel like the finale was the answer to that. It really was Villigan tying up everything in a nice little bow for everyone. And I've heard people say it was a little too "neat" or "graceful" as you put it, but it seems to be what a lot of fans wanted. So he catered to his audience

Concern for pandering to a large audience is a shitty way to write a script. Most people have horrible taste in entertainment and wouldn't know an interesting idea when it hit them in the face (again, see the response to The Sopranos ending).

I think, again, that Walt dying in the cold of NH and Jesse committing suicide in the lab or cell would have been endings that basically wrapped up all loose ends. Those would have also been truer to the show and, in my mind, a bit more of a realistic ("true to what would happen in real life") kind of ending. You shouldn't have 80 episodes where the main characters are basically getting deeper and deeper into shit and then one where they suddenly find redemption or peace.

[RCBH928]

I agree with dsheinem , the finale on its own is not a bad episode I just do not feel its on par with "Breaking Bad" quality or the surprises we usually get on the show. I would also think your ending would me a more appropriate one except that I think Jesse should die out of bad treatment and Walt committing suicide, because after all this work no one appreciates him and he got nothing left. I think they didn't go that way because it was just too depressing for the people but it sure is more interesting than the show's finale.

I really do not understand why you like The Sopranos ending, in retrospect I do not see it as a bad one (especially after I saw Lost's finale-worst finale in TV history) . I think the Sopranos ending was in a way undecided by the writers, they didn't know if they should kill Tony or not so they just left it up to the imagination of the viewer I guess...

Speaking of bad finales, why would TV writers choose bad finales for their shows especially when the episodes are usually interesting and creative (like Lost) ? How come TV writers start a story that they never know how its going to end, because I learned that writers/authors usually have a clear idea how their story/novel ends. And what are some of the best or worst finales of any TV series with out spoilers .