<p>“Gilligan explained that the reason Walt placed his watch (the one Jesse gave him for his 51st birthday) on top of the payphone after pretending to be the New York Times reporter was only retrofitted symbolism: The reason he had to do it was because they realized that in the flash-forward of him at Denny’s that they’d shot for episode 501, Walt wasn’t wearing a watch, so they had to explain where it went for continuity reasons. And so, out of necessity, they came up with what Gilligan called the “artsy fartsy” reason: It was a symbol of Walt, seeing the end is near, cutting ties with one of his “arch-nemeses,” Jesse.”</p>
<p>Other people saw it as a way of indicating that Walt was out of time and knew the end was near. I kinda like this explanation, even though it’s not what the director intended.</p>
<p>Cross posted with Cartera. I hadn’t seen the Talking Bad interview addressing the watch but I think it’s a fuller explanation than the one I posted.</p>
<p>So, I’m a little late to the party. We’ve been out of town, and, of course, the hotel did not have AMC. We looked around for a viewing party on Sunday with no luck. I spent Monday trying to avoid the internet and TV talk shows as I feared running into a spoiler. </p>
<p>We managed to download it via Itunes on Monday and watched on the laptop. Very dissatisfying way to watch it. We finally were able to watch the finale yesterday afternoon on a real TV as we had recorded it. That was a much better experience. </p>
<p>Not much I can say that has not been said. Just wow! Very satisfying ending. A few thoughts though. I think Skylar has a moment of forgiveness or fondness for Walt when he is watching Holly. Marie will be just fine. She’s always seemed a bit weak to me. She seemed to have gained some backbone in losing Hank or at least a purpose that gave her some inner strength. </p>
<p>I loved the scene when with Walt, Gretchen and Elliot; the moment the red dots showed up. I watched it several times. It was a “stretch” of reality that the timing of the dots depended only upon a nod of Walt’s head or a movement of his hands, but this is TV. </p>
<p>I’m left with two questions though. So what are we supposed to think happened in the opening scene? It seemed as if there was police car behind Walt, the flashing lights, that just disappear. Was Jesse’s box scene supposed to be the past or the future? What the heck was that about? </p>
<p>There was a certain sense of Dicken’s “Christmas Carole” during parts of the final show. </p>
<p>The song choice for the last scene! Could it have been more perfect? (The only “problem” is that now the song keeps running through my head.–my baby blue and I got what I deserved) Very satisfying ending overall.</p>
<p>Who wants to predict futures for the characters left at the end? I’ll try one.</p>
<p>Marie is devastated by the loss of her husband but turns her rage and grief into something positive, becoming a leader in the victim rights movement. She gives talks across the nation and eventually testifies before congress. What starts as volunteer work eventually turns into a career. Marie is particularly well known for her work with law enforcement. Through her work she meets a young foster child child left homeless by the drug overdose death of her mother. Marie adopts the child, who grows up close to her cousin Holly.</p>
<p>Sue, you mean a foster child left homeless by the ricin death of her mother?</p>
<p>rrah, a lot of us have Baby Blue still running in a continual loop through our heads. Here’s another song that popped into my head yesterday: Spanky and Our Gang’s “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”.</p>
<p>I believe the box scene is Jesse going to his “happy place” while still held prisoner by the neonazi guys. Many people seem to think after he’s freed and rides away, he’ll find his way to developing his more creative side now that he’s no longer encumbered by Walt and the meth making business.</p>
<p>I’ve always felt Skyler loved Walt, clear up to the end. Yes, she said “Enough” and threatened him with a knife and he even got stabbed with it during their ensuing fight, but I’m of the opinion the reason she hung in there all those months with him was because of her love for him. In some ways, she understood him better than everyone else. She could understand his motivations even if she didn’t think they were right. I think that the whole ordeal made her feel ‘alive’ as well, and she wouldn’t admit it to herself. The other side of the coin is that she sacrificed the safety and welfare of her children in doing so. She tried to be loyal to both Walt and her children, but riding that fence down the middle had drastic consequences. She has to live with that.</p>
We mentioned this upthread. In season 3 (“Kafkaesque”), Jesse talked in rehab about building a beautiful box in woodworking class, when he was inspired by a high school teacher. In the final episode, he may either have been remembering it - I think that was it, though of course he looked older than a high school student in the sequence - or imagining himself doing that kind of work again. I always thought the rehab scene was one of Jesse’s most memorable, but even some professional critics (Emily Nussbaum in the New Yorker) initially thought the finale sequence came out of nowhere.</p>
<p>
I took it that the car Walt was in was so covered in snow that the police couldn’t see someone in it.</p>
<p>I think Vince Gilligan did some very bold things in writing the finale. A lot of it skirted the edge of plausibility, but I was willing to believe all of it. Has anyone else noticed some professional critics carping about the ending? The rank and file fans seem truly happy with it. Maybe this is just my paranoia talking, but I think that what dissatisfied certain critics is the fact that the fans were so satisfied.</p>
<p>It’s set in the future after he goes back to school. Jesse’s unique and compelling personal statement gets him admitted to the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program despite sub-par stats. He pursues a BFA in furniture design combined with an AB in chemistry. With financial backing from Walter Junior, he then starts up a company to make environmentally sustainable furniture and finish products. They call it “Los Muebles Hermanos”.</p>
<p>Have to disagree with this. The recent flashback to the first episode showed a glowing, happy Skyler wrapping up her piece of $9 ebay junk. The Whites were never going to be Eliot and Gretchen, and Sklyer didn’t mind. Walt did. As he pulled the family into his gaping hole of need, Skyler became progressively less happy and less alive. Once Skyler lost her innocence, she never looked as alive again. She sold her soul to protect Walt.</p>
<p>Hm…maybe ‘alive’ isn’t the word…maybe it is that she felt ‘relevant’ and that was the part the she couldn’t reconcile with putting her children’s lives in jeopardy, hence the depression, ect.</p>
<p>Black body bag is delivered to morgue. Movement in the bag and Walt emerges from bag with bloodied pocket knife in hand (which he had used to simulate a gun shot wound in his abdomen). Unsteady from a self induced drug stupor he stumbles his way out of the hospital and into the blinding daylight of the Albuquerque cityscape.</p>
<p>He goes back to the compound and spends weeks looking for and eventually finding the barrels of money.</p>
<p>fast forward: Pure blue meth starts showing up in all the major cities in the world. Heisenberg is back…bigger and badder than ever.</p>
<p>yeah…this sounds about right…I’m having a hard time letting go :)</p>
<p>That he was able to position the two of them so accurately for Badger and Skinny Pete and their laser pointers was a stretch, but we’ve learned that Walt is brilliant that way. That was one of my favorite scenes in the entire series.</p>
I read an interesting theory that Walt died while he was inside the white Volvo and everything that played out after he hurt his hand was Walt imagining how he would have liked events to unfold. </p>
<p>When he hurt his hand while trying to jump the stolen car, he might have had a stroke or a cop may have shot him that is why he fell down on his seat. As he lay dying, he said, “Just get me home…” and voila! a series of “lucky” events occur:</p>
<ul>
<li>the car key pops out of the visor,
<ul>
<li>the cops decide not to search cars parked on the parked lot, </li>
</ul></li>
<li>the secretary willingly gives the Schwartz’s new address to Walt based on his claim that he is a NY Times reporter,</li>
<li>the fastidious Lydia doesn’t notice any alteration in the stevia packet, </li>
<li>Walt manages to sneak in and out of Skylar’s apartment despite cops monitoring the apt.</li>
</ul>
<p>However, a dying Walt would not know Jesse is used by Todd as a slave meth cook so I have to nix the fantasy idea.</p>
<p>Another tidbit: Gus Fring had a black Volvo and Walt used a white Volvo towards the end of his life. I have no idea what it means. Probably in reference to the chess pieces black and white king.</p>
<p>Re: the laser pointers. I don’t know if this is true, but my son says the floor plan of Gretchen & Elliot’s house and Walt’s house was the same; just decorated differently. Maybe that’s how Walt could figure out that kind of detail. I don’t think it’s a far stretch, anyway, compared to other things in the series.</p>
<p>This doesn’t fit with her character at all. She has proven time and time again her response to issues is to make everything about her &/or shoplift, certainly she wouldn’t Volunteer. She also wouldn’t work with law enforcement considering how much she whined about them after Hank’s attack on Jesse & subsequent injuries from the Twins. Tbqh I don’t see how a poor single mother (With a history of mental issues) is going to be able to adopt a child either.</p>
<p>I was satisfied with the ending. I don’t feel it was too ‘tidy’. “Tidy” would have let Hank, Gomie and Jesse’s girlfriend live. It would have left Walt his millions to escape the U.S and search for a cancer cure with his wife & children alongside him. Lots of other ways to make it a nice, neat little package.</p>
<p>There are reasons Walt seeks closure on what he can. It was put into motion the minute Hank figures out Walt is Heisenberg. Trying to leave that part of his life behind is now impossible for Walt. Events spiral out of control, leaving Hank dead. Walt immediately understands the myriad of sorrows he’s reaped on his family. When Skyler and the kids don’t go along with his plans to escape with the cash, he ends up in the shack in the woods of New Hampshire. </p>
<p>I am not sure how long time passes while he is here, but enough for him to run through many different scenarios thru his mind and to search his heart and soul about all things. </p>
<p>Then, during the phone call, Junior refuses to forgive him. Walt is destroyed and ready to give up but the chance viewing of the TV interview with Gretchen & Elliot enrages him and he gets a final push of energy. </p>
<p>I feel the main reason Walt wants to wrap things up is because he is dying of cancer! He knows he has very limited time. That’s the reason we aren’t devastated with his death in the end. We knew from the start he was probably going to die, at least die of cancer. When people receive news of terminal illness, they often “get their affairs in order”. I believe this is what Walt was doing in the end, trying to do that and make amends where possible. That’s what people do when they know there is little time left.</p>
<p>TK, post 427, I love that future for Jesse! Thanks for giving me a smile.</p>
<p>Skyler writes a novel/fictionalized biography about the family of a chemistry teacher turned drug lord. Quentin Tatentino buys the rights to it. Skyler writes the screenplay and wins an Oscar for her adaptation.</p>