Breaking Bad coming back on 8/11!

[trish]

I really don't see how Walt wins. His son is deeply scared. His brother-in-law dead. His wife is distressed, possibly clinically depressed and she is left to raise a baby daughter on her own. Walt is achieve some goals, but that's hardly winning. He managed to find a way to financially provide for his family after he's gone, he got revenge for Hank and came to terms with Jesse.

I too think the moment when Walt admits he did it all for himself is pivotal. It's clearly pivotal for Skylar (great acting, she hardly says a word, but her whole expression changes after this admission). The admission also says a lot about why the audience finds Walt so compelling. We all like to think that we're good at at least one thing. If only we could find out what it is, work would be fulfilling. Through it we could demonstrate our focus, intelligence, resourcefulness and our willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. It's part of the entrepreneurial dream. We also love when a character can intimidate others and make them back off. We dream of being bad-asses. And Walt is one of the ultimate bad-ass characters in modern fiction.

Does he deserve our admiration? Yes and no. We can't help but admire him for the bad-ass qualities mentioned above that he has in spades and most of the rest of us don't have. We can't help but identify with his fatherly feeling towards Jesse. But we also can't help being sickened by incredibly immoral actions: poisoning a child, letting a woman choke to death, conspiring to commit and committing murder, producing and dealing an addictive drug, wrecking his family, dragging his wife into it, blackmailing Hank and his wife with his video of lies...I'm sure you can add to the list.

Did he get his just desserts in the end? Well he was gut shot and died (presumably), though Vince Gilligan did have him die with a smile on his face, as he admired his innovative, high quality production factory one last time...his calling...the work that he was proud of.

[dderek123]

I really don't see how Walt wins. His son is deeply scared. His brother-in-law dead. His wife is distressed, possibly clinically depressed and she is left to raise a baby daughter on her own. Walt is achieve some goals, but that's hardly winning. He managed to find a way to financially provide for his family after he's gone, he got revenge for Hank and came to terms with Jesse.

I too think the moment when Walt admits he did it all for himself is pivotal. It's clearly pivotal for Skylar (great acting, she hardly says a word, but her whole expression changes after this admission). The admission also says a lot about why the audience finds Walt so compelling. We all like to think that we're good at at least one thing. If only we could find out what it is, work would be fulfilling. Through it we could demonstrate our focus, intelligence, resourcefulness and our willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. It's part of the entrepreneurial dream. We also love when a character can intimidate others and make them back off. We dream of being bad-asses. And Walt is one of the ultimate bad-ass characters in modern fiction.

Does he deserve our admiration? Yes and no. We can't help but admire him for the bad-ass qualities mentioned above that he has in spades and most of the rest of us don't have. We can't help but identify with his fatherly feeling towards Jesse. But we also can't help being sickened by incredibly immoral actions: poisoning a child, letting a woman choke to death, conspiring to commit and committing murder, producing and dealing an addictive drug, wrecking his family, dragging his wife into it, blackmailing Hank and his wife with his video of lies...I'm sure you can add to the list.

Did he get his just desserts in the end? Well he was gut shot and died (presumably), though Vince Gilligan did have him die with a smile on his face, as he admired his innovative, high quality production factory one last time...his calling...the work that he was proud of.

Loved your post it was very insightful. Walt's insistence that he was doing this all for his family finally ended. Pinning his motivation for doing all the horrible things he has done probably weighed heavily on Skylars conscience. And she stayed by him until the end really.

Did he get his just desserts in the end? Well he was gut shot and died (presumably), though Vince Gilligan did have him die with a smile on his face, as he admired his innovative, high quality production factory one last time...his calling...the work that he was proud of.

I got the feeling that part of the reason he was smiling was for how Jesse had been working in his absence. Perhaps, he felt that he taught his student well and he could admire his work. Before he died he could witness a part of his legacy.

[yourdaddy]

As the camera pulled up and away in the final scene, Walt was lit by a blue light. He was the final product.

[youngblood61]

Nice post Trish. No, he didn't win for all the reasons you stated. By getting rid of Uncle Jack and his crew,seeing Lidia slowly die, and Jessie killing Todd that is the win I'm talking about.

[flabbybody]

I'm reading that ricin is not necessarily deadly when ingested, as opposed to being inhaled or injected. Lydia could have gotten immediate medical attention when Walt informed her it was in her tea. Did she survive?

[trish]

I got the feeling that part of the reason he was smiling was for how Jesse had been working in his absence. Perhaps, he felt that he taught his student well and he could admire his work. Before he died he could witness a part of his legacy.

Could be Jesse turned out to be his best pupil ever.

Nice post Trish. No, he didn't win for all the reasons you stated. By getting rid of Uncle Jack and his crew,seeing Lidia slowly die, and Jessie killing Todd that is the win I'm talking about.

Totally agree.

I'm reading that ricin is not necessarily deadly when ingested, as opposed to being inhaled or injected. Lydia could have gotten immediate medical attention when Walt informed her it was in her tea. Did she survive?

What if you ingest it, belch and then inhale the fumes of the belch?

I've just been reading that modern philosophers differ with presocratics on the focus of morality. We moderns tend to classify actions as good or bad. The presocratics focused more on character, celebrating persons of good character and making lessons of those with character flaws. Consequently it's easy for us moderns to point at various things that Walt did that we regard as bad and others that we might regard as good. I was wondering if anyone had a take on what Walt's main character flaw was. Was it hubris? Greed? Fear of dying? A need to excel? I suspect we like Walt because he basically has a solid character but with a fatal flaw. Any speculations?

[youngblood61]

Lidia deserved to die so hopefully that happened.

[GroobySteven]

As the camera pulled up and away in the final scene, Walt was lit by a blue light. He was the final product.

Good call!

[GroobySteven]

I've been avoiding this post until I had time to sit down and enjoy the finale last night and although it didn't spring one last "WTF!!!" surprise, it concluded and wrapped everything up very well. The bad guys died, the anti-hero took care of all finished business and the innocents got resolution : Marie found out where Hank was buried, Skyler (who really wasn't innocent as she took the money and helped cover it up) told that he didn't do it for the family and his children had money left to them.

A great series, which I'm about to start watching again!

[youngblood61]

Is this show the greatest crime drama ever?