i have noticed a pattern with my fav writers/directors and the way they end a season or series. and they always tend to lean towards the 2nd/3rd-to-last ep(s) being the grandiose one(s), with the actual finale (series or season) being more of an epilogue. i think BB earned the right to go this route.

whilst it was tonally different, so was Walter. he had been exposed and stripped bare as Heisenberg. he had physically, emotionally and spiritually rotted to the core as Walter White. so the person we're seeing in the last two eps is someone completely new. he didn't even regress to his older WW persona from back in the Grey Matters/Gretchen association days. he was both the sum of all those personas and also none of them. i attribute this transformation to the decisions he made on his way to some form of redemption (just when we thought he wasn't capable or wouldn't be able to pull it off). his split-second decisions to stall for time with Uncle Jack, and then SAVE Jesse (after most-likely planning to kill him along with the Nazis), are testament to that transformation (showing both the ruthless tenacity of Heisenberg, and the sympathy/empathy of Walter).

it's almost like he'd reached a balance b/w these competing personas? but way too late in the game. moral being this is a guy who had to lose, BADLY, to enlighten himself and balance himself out as a human being. thus, vacating his hole in the snow, and carving a path toward what he'd always BLEATED about: providing for his family. admitting that wasn't his true intention was truly revelatory, and delivered in a beautifully understated fashion. there was no other way to go about it. he couldn't have yelled and screamed it like a crying baby. he was perfectly still and frank and honest.

the song choices were so on the money. big big kudos on that. Walt's visit to Gretchen & Elliott was (as i guessed) not with the intention of killing them. Walt's petty, but he was never going to murder them over their strategic decision to distance themselves from Walt and rewrite his legacy with the company. BUT, cornering them into washing his dirty money for the benefit of his family? masterful. as soon as those laser sights came on, gut instinct told me he was merely playing on their first-world comfort level. i honestly thought he'd paid like $5 to a couple of random kids to shine lasers for him, PLEASANT surprise when it turned out to be Badger (and/or Beaver) n Skinny Pete. i dont care if it was fan service, those two bring levity to every single scene they're in (Pete's line about things being sketchy, "morality-wise", was hilarity, and good meta commentary).

not every single thing was tied up into a neat bow, despite majority of the loose threads being...threaded. and that's just fine. there isn't guna be a weepy reconciliation b/w Walt and Flynn (Jr. made that clear with the phone call). as much as it was a punch to the GUTS, it speaks to the brilliance of the show that it managed to elicit sympathy for Walt as he longingly/regretfully gazed at Flynn, knowing he would never win back his love or trust before the end. that hurts, even for a monster like Heisenberg.

as for peripheral characters (wtf happened to Kuby?), leaving Huell sitting in that room was kinda hilarious and cool. much as he became a fan fav, we didn't need to revisit that story. the fate of Brock was also somethin that was left up in the air (most of us just assume Jesse would try and get in touch with the kid). i'm super duper glad SAUL made it alive, as he should (dude is the most resourceful character on the show outside of Walt).

the most touching moments revolved around two key scenes for me: Walt's final visit to Skyler and Holly, and the non-verbal understanding nod b/w Walt and Jesse before the end, showing despite EVERYthing, Jesse, in some morbid way, gives a crap. their relationship has always been the driving factor of the show, the push and pull, always seeing Jesse get sucked into one more bad situation after another after trying to get out (another Godfather callback perhaps in a "just when i thought i was out...they pulllll me back in" style).

in a lot of ways, Walt got to hone his skills of deception and mental trickery with Jesse, the poor bastard. HOWEVER, and i'm not slipping into some demented GD-style "fuck that lil bitch Pinkamn/Walt Jr/Skyler/someone who isn't Heisenberg" shit. yes we pay for the ticket and enjoy the ride along with Walt, that's always a given, but we're also explicitly guided along in terms of morality and shown what's cool and what's not. Jesse got involved in and executed a number of dodgy acts, including murdering someone in cold blood, playing a rather large role in the destruction of Jane (it wasn't just Walt's decision that killed her), got Andrea killed, and is co-responsible for flooding the market with and creating brand new meth addicts. dude coulda walked away from the life, but got sucked back in for revenge and copped 6 more months of hell on Earth. seems like it was his penance or jail-time for the shit he pulled. and Walt's come-uppance is just to plain DIE. i think that nod in the end was so LOADED with acknowledgement of both past and present indiscretions both have visited upon each other and onto others, it was all that they needed to do or say in that moment (or their final moments together).

Jesse then roaring outta the gate was cathartic. i really felt happy for the kid (and i dig his longer hair lol).

Walt. what can be said about one of THE characters of our modern times. ppl will be dissecting him for years to come, with great reasons. i was both personally and emotionally satisfied at his conclusion, cos after everything got stripped away, he was just a dude in love with the chemistry. no evil masterminding, no treading lightly, just a dude with his toys knowing he achieved a heckuva lot in a short period of time. and we're allowed to feel that feeling with him, despite all the carnage it caused along the way, just becos that's how good BB was, it made u give a fuck about the monster.

(i typed all this in my last hour at work lol, sorry for getn speechy or elongated with it).

V.

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