Breaking Bad‘s series finale aired on Sunday night, and our recap breaks down everything that happened in season 5, episode 16 “Felina.”
So how did Breaking Bad end? At what was most likely the highest level of anticipation possible, season 5, episode 16 premiered on September 29.
At the beginning of the episode, Walt has just left the bar where he watched his former Gray Matter partners on television denouncing him. He’s in a car with his box of money that he’s hijacking, but a cop shows up briefly for an unknown reason (the car doesn’t show signs of entry). Walter says to himself, “Just get me home and I’ll do the rest,” seemingly sending out a quick prayer. His wish is answered and the cop moves on. Pulling down the sun visor, he finds keys stored. The car comes to life as “El Paso” by Marty Robbins plays on the radio.
We cut to Walt in the desert with his New Hampshire vehicle refueling. We get a glimpse inside his trunk – he’s got tons of money and his medicine. Walt hops on a nearby phone and poses as David Lynn from the New York Times. He’s doing this so he can get his Gretchen and Elliot into a place where he can presumably kill them (shortly after this we see it wasn’t to kill them).
Cut to their home, and Walt’s already there when they come in for the evening. He goes unnoticed at first and is perusing their estate, musing at what his riches could’ve purchased him if he hadn’t left the company. Gretchen notices him and Elliot threatens him with the knife. “If we’re going to go that way, you’ll need a bigger knife,” Walt tells him. He proceeds to invite them outside to his car.
$9,720,000. That’s what Walt needs help bringing inside. He asks Elliot and Gretchen to give it to Walt Jr. once he turns 18 years old. He explains that two rich benefactors giving Walt the money wouldn’t be suspicious.
All seems calm until Walt gives a signal to two men outside the window. He’s hired two hitmen for $200,000 who will be watching them until they turn over the money. Naturally, Elliot and Gretchen are scared and it causes them to make a promise as Walt was hoping for.
Outside the house, Walt picks up the two hit men. It turns out it’s Badger and Skinny Pete, and all they did was shine laser pointers inside. Walt collects the devices and gives them each money (We wonder how much he really paid them – chances are it wasn’t as high an amount as what Walt told Elliot and Gretchen).
Speaking with them about meth continuing to be out on the market, Walt realizes that Jesse is cooking for Todd.
We flash to what looks like a younger Jesse and he’s in some sort of wood shop building a box. The vision doesn’t last long because in reality his cable in the meth lab strains and he snaps back to life. He has longer hair now which is a sign of him being in captivity for a long amount of time.
We then relive the scenes we had seen in previous flash forwards earlier this season. Walt is celebrating his birthday in a diner and grabs the gun out of his trunk. He walks through his empty house and grabs the poison. There’s a brief flashback to happier times when Walt, Hank, and the rest of the family we’re at the home for a get together.
Todd and Lydia are out for lunch when Walt shows up and appears to surprise them both. He knew she’d be there because the two of them used to have meetings at the same exact day, time, and location on a weekly basis.
Walt tells them that he’s out of money and has a new idea for cooking without methylamine, and will show them how to cook it if he can be invited to the lab later tonight. Lydia says yes, Todd resists, but once Walt leaves Lydia tells Todd she has no interest in doing business with him. The camera zooms in close to Lydia pouring her sugar into her tea, and we’re led to believe Walt has poisoned her.
We’re back in the desert. Walt is testing out his weapons, including a contraption that fires a gun and shoots back and forth at the push of his car key remote. Around his neck is his wedding ring on a string.
We go to Skyler’s new home, where Marie is calling her. She tells Mrs. White that her husband is back in town and she’s been hearing rumors, like one that says Walt is looking to attack City Hall and has a manifesto to read (all seemingly hearsay, as Walt hasn’t spoken to anyone who would rat him out).
After hanging up, Skyler says “five minutes” out loud. We hear Walt repeat the phrase. The camera adjusts, and we see Walt has been standing there all along (Skyler knew but the viewers didn’t) in his old clothes from seasons past.
He and his wife have a lot to say to one another. He tells her he has no money left. All he has to give her are the GPS coordinates where Hank and Steve are buried, and he wants her to hand them over to the DEA while making a deal with them so she can be cut free from any blame.
He also has a confession: He did everything over the years for himself. “I liked it. I was good at it. And I was alive.” It earns a quick smile from Skyler, who seemed to be happy for a fleeting moment. Walt requests seeing Holly one more time and then watches Walt Jr. come home from school before walking away from their very basic apartment complex.
Walt arrives at Todd and Jack’s meth lab. After a pat down and taking away his keys – which will activate the gun in his car – Walt walks into Jack’s living room and is about to be shot when Walt accuses Jack of making Jesse his partner. This ignites Jack and makes him bring Jesse into the room to show him what he’s done to Jesse (he looks like a mess and isn’t enjoying his time at the meth lab like Todd). While waiting for Jesse to come in, Walt has just enough time quietly grab his keys laying on the pool table.
Jesse comes in and Walt makes a go at him, bringing him to the ground. Jack and company think he’s just fighting Jesse, but Walt is hitting the buttons on his keys to bring his car to life while also protecting Jesse from the forthcoming gunfire. The gun pops out of the trunk and starts firing from outside, killing everyone except for Todd, Jack, Walt, and Jesse (the latter two are on the ground). After the gun finishes firing, Jesse kills Todd with his handcuffs and Walt kills Jack who lights up one last cigarette before being shot. Jack made an attempt to give Walt the location of the money he stole, but Walt doesn’t care.
With just Walt and Jesse left, Walt gives one of the guns to Jesse and asks him to kill him. Jesse refuses because he wants Walt to kill himself. Jesse hops in one of the cars and drives away, breaking through a fence and screaming with relief.
Walter realizes he’s slowly dying (he’s bleeding out of his stomach) so he takes a walk over to the meth lab to check out their set up. As he peruses the complex, “Baby Blue” by Badfinger starts to play for viewers. As he continues to walk slowly in the lab, the cops arrive and start surrounding Walt who’s fallen to the ground and dies by bleeding out. The camera pulls back, the music gets loud, and we fade to black.
Was the ‘Breaking Bad’ series finale satisfying to you?
The episode was directed by Vince Gilligan and at first glance looks to have pleased most of the show’s viewers. While Walt did admit he did this all for himself, he also kept his family at heart.
One of the more pleasing aspects of the episode was seeing a proper send off for most of the characters whether or not they bit the bullet (or poison).
Watch a behind the scenes look at tonight’s episode:
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