So, this video blew up a few months back and it’s time for a long overdue follow up and addendums comment. I never imagined this video, which for a while was my least popular analysis, would gain so much traction. Based on the responses I’ve received it looks like most of you are happy with this format. Something which is likely clear from the number of videos I have is that I don’t make content regularly. I like to pour a lot of time into getting my production values and scripts as best as I can. But there are still plenty of videos I would like to make. Very soon a topical analysis of the game “The Last of Us: Part II” should be released on this channel. As it happens there may be a section discussion a certain plot point from “Breaking Bad” so keep your eyes out for that one. After I’ve published that video, I am planning to do an in-depth analysis of “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie”. My short review at least as of now is that it is a flawed but fitting conclusion to Jesse’s character. However, there are quiet a few people who have criticisms about the film and I’d like to address as many of the arguments that I can. I make no promises about when that video will be coming out, but it’s what I’d like to tackle next. All of this traction gave me quite the boost in passion for making content and since not many people have talked in detail about “El Camino” on UA-cam, I’d love to give it a shot myself. Once again thank you everyone who watched this video and has shown support. I will do my best to get new content out soon. Now for a few addendums: Without question the topic most people discussed in the comments section was why Walt left his watch on the payphone. In the video I said there wasn’t a clear narrative reason why he left the watch on the payphone. I haven’t seen anything convincing me otherwise. But as far as thematic or character-based reasons go what most have settled on is that Walt believes he’s out of time therefore is leaving his watch since as far as he’s concerned it’s pointless now. Some said that he was leaving a paper trail for the police. I’d argue against that since for one, the watch wouldn’t prove that Walt was there if found by the police. For two, I imagine if a Tag Heuer was found on a payphone in the middle of nowhere most would think “hey a free $5,000 watch” rather than “I’d better turn this into the police”. The only point I would make is that it’s weird that of all the places and times, Walt chose to leave it at a random gas station. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to it. Regardless, it’s nothing particularly big and it served its purpose of avoiding a potential continuity error. There were several comments from people who have lived in small towns and even in small towns in New Hampshire that claimed keys being left in a car is not at all uncommon. Apparently, people do it because blizzards are commonplace and sometimes your neighbor needs to borrow your car to get out of a jam. Also considering it’s a small town most people will know each other making it even more likely that someone would be unworried about their car being stolen. I myself have never lived in a small town like the one that Walt was in. If this is the case then the first of two contrivances I list in my conclusion isn’t actually a contrivance and the episode is stronger than I originally thought. Thanks to everyone who let me know that’s more common than I imagined. “Innocent” was the wrong word to describe Gale’s character. Obviously, he’s a meth cook and a criminal who worked directly for Gus and knew exactly what he was doing. Gus even implies that Gale was shady and cut corners long before he approached him about cooking. What I meant to get across in the video was that Gale was blameless to the situation. He wasn’t the person who was threatening Walt or Jesse or had ill intentions towards them. He was more or less a cog in the machine that had to be removed if Walt and Jesse wanted to live. Therefore, they opted to kill him. So, Gale was blameless to the situation for which he was killed. But he was far from innocent. Jesse really put it perfectly: “This dog never bit anybody” but he was “a problem dog”. The El Camino is actually Todd’s car not Jack’s. Looking back, there’s only one shot in “Breaking Bad” which confirms this. Todd walks to his car after Mike confronts him about bringing a gun to the train heist. Aside from that it’s only seen in the finale and Todd doesn’t drive the car in the episode. I assumed that it was Jack’s car because it was his compound. But “El Camino” made it crystal clear that the car belonged to Todd. At the time I wrote the video I hadn’t seen “El Camino” and I missed the shot where Todd gets into the car. I said that Walt was “talking to the car” and perhaps that was reading the scene a bit too literally. Many people think he’s actually praying. If Walt is praying then I suppose we can replace car with God. The point still stands, but I still think it could be either since the car wasn’t starting at first and Walt may have been begging the car to start and get him home. Something that would have been worth mentioning is that a lot of people think the “flashback” of Jesse making the wooden box isn’t a flashback. It could be Jesse imagining making something if and when he escapes, or it could be a flashforward after he escapes. This would make sense for one because Jesse looks older. In fairness there’s only so much you can do to make Aaron Paul look like a high schooler at the age he was. For two, Jesse told the group that he traded the box for an ounce of weed. While he was happy with the results, Jesse didn’t keep his work. It makes the “flashback” interesting if you read into it that in the near future Jesse finds peace and keeps his hard-earned work in spite of everything that he’s done. This however is all conjecture. I said it was a flashback because it most likely is. But the scene is something that can be read into several different ways. So for now, I say make of the scene what you want. The song “El Paso” actually foreshadows the events in the episode. The song is about a man who falls in love with a Mexican girl named Felina. He sees her dancing in Rosa’s Cantina and sees her as “Wicked and Evil while Casting a Spell”. One night a cowboy shares a drink with Felina. In anger the man challenges his right for the love of Felina and ends up killing the cowboy. Realizing how evil what he did was, the man takes a horse and runs from Rosa’s Cantina. From El Paso the man makes it to the “Badlands of New Mexico”. Looking back the man knows that in El Paso his life would be worthless “Everything’s’ Gone; In Life Nothing is Left”. But he realizes “My Love Is Stronger Than My Fear of Death”. He then saddles up in the dark. “Maybe Tomorrow a Bullet Will Find Me” but “Tonight Nothing’s Worse Than This Pain In My Heart”. The song then concludes with the man overlooking El Paso and seeing Rosa’s Cantina below. The lyrics are very similar to the situation that Walt found himself in following “Ozymandias”. The Mexican girl Felina can be associated with both Walt’s family and his money. The two things that represent his love and legacy which he ran away from because of the evil acts he committed and fear of retribution. Walt left for a long time and his life he left behind was worthless. But his love for his family and getting back what was his is stronger than his fear of death. “Maybe Tomorrow A Bullet Will Find Me” but “Tonight Nothing’s Worse Than This Pain In My Heart”. Walt knows he’s going to die when he confronts Jack. But nothing is worse than his cancer. The song plays at the beginning of the episode after Walt steals the car and the situation described in the song essentially lays out what’s going through Walt’s head as he goes back to Albuquerque. I knew about the foreshadowing in the song and many people pointed it out. The reason I didn’t address it in the video was that I wanted to stick to the events in the episode rather than dive into too much thematic analysis. I suppose I could have talked about the song since the title card comes right after the song plays. Regardless, here’s a simple break down of the song for those who didn’t realize the song foreshadowed what came after. For those who noted it out thanks for adding to the conversation. For now that’s it. Once again I extend a huge thank you and if anybody else notes any mistakes that I made let me know and I’ll add them to this comment for future reference.
Great summary. You mention that Walter planned to die in the hail of machine gun fire. When I watched this episode at the time, I didn't get that feeling but now am not so sure after seeing your analysis and noting that the character had neatly summed up all the other threads of his life in preparation for his death.
@@conormartin3476 Definitely legit. I saw more pointers, such as Hank being mad at Walt when he finds out Walt is Heisenberg, which also says that crime is not good.
@@cottoneyejoe8285 100% dude. Also, this was a little less noticed by the general community, when Walt almost murders Skylar, Flynn gets mad. This is due to the fact that murder is illegal. Bravo Vince!
@@heisenberg4406you can look at it like that, but the reason he left the watch on the payphone was probably to keep continuity since in the first episode of season 5 in the flash foward at the diner walter doesn't have a watch on his wrist so for continuity sake they had to get rid of the watch
I like to think the reason Walt Is smiling at the end is because after examining all the lab equipment he relized Jessie had a perfect cook, so he actually died as he previously had lived, a teacher
I also felt like he smiled cause he died at the end not cause of his cancer but doing what he loved and what made him alive, working as a meth cook and in the meth business
I felt that was well. I think he was happy to know there was someone who could be his true successor, and was proud of Jesse for perfecting the recipe.
Notice how Walt never says “I am Huell.” This is a subtle nod to the fact that Huell is actually not Walter, but is in fact, a completely different person.
@Seaworth Hate to say it, but you're right. Very cool scene, but really contrived. About the only thing Walt had control over in that scene was where he parked the car, and it was crazy that he was allowed to do that. If the meeting with Jack took place either upstairs or in the basement, he would've been fucked. If he would've been shot immediately, he would've been fucked. If he wouldn't have been allowed to see Jesse, the plan would've been fucked. I just have to wonder if Walt cared if his plan worked or not. He was going to die anyway, so if his plan worked, great! If not, then oh well, right?
"I liked it. I was good at it." This line is one of the many reasons Felina is my favorite episode. Walter is finally being honest, and he's closing his character arc of overcoming his ego.
@@leogarcia8640 That, and the scene where Walt keeps making Walt Jr drink, are the only 2 scenes I legitimatey don't like to watch and wish never existed.
does anyone else have a hard time with the episode where the meth heads take bad care of their kid? The whole episode is just an uncomfortable scene, but it’s one of the best episodes.
this actually isn't the first time in the show, if you look back you'll see many guns are dangerous. I think that perhaps hank dying is a reference to the earlier seasons deaths.
Felina is in many ways when Walt becomes self aware. I think he leaves behind the watch because he finally accepts that he didn't deserve a friend like Jesse and no longer feels he deserves his gift.
No at this point in felina Walt hated Jesse and wanted to kill him because he had just discovered blue meth was still being made, he didn’t realize Jesse had been enslaved he thought he ratted Walt out to the dea and started his own meth empire. He only learned this wasn’t the case at the very very end.
I disagree with the top 3 replies and agree with the op. Walter was a genius and he knew that Jack and his gang hated rats and would never work with them. He also knew that Jesse hated Todd and would never work with him. He would have figured it out that Jack and his gang were most likely keeping Jesse hostage or forcing him into cooking for them.
@@nav5738 that makes no sense since Walt's expression when he finally sees the state Jesse was in was clearly that of shock and surprise. It's more likely that Walt assumed jack had followed through with killing Jesse until he found out about the meth still being made and sold and THEN decided to kill Jesse. The leaving behind the watch thing was just an act of severing personal ties, and Walt knew he was going to die anyway so he didn't need it.
i believe the only reason walt left the watch was because the scenes after that walt wasn't wearing it, an error you can call it, but they added the scene so anyone can interpret it as they feel
Kinda a cool fact, the song that plays in the beginning of the episode is 'el paso'. The song is about a outlaw who falls in love with a mexican woman, kills someone for her and is chased out of town. He later goes back knowing that he is wanted and will most likely die. Her name is Felina.
I'm not sure it's intentional, but when Walt says "If we're gonna go that way, you're gonna need a bigger knife" he has an interesting cadence that I couldn't put my finger on at first. Looking back on it now, it's the same tone of voice that Mike has when he's chastising someone. Walt is channeling Mike in this scene.
*When Walter got hit by a shrapnel his jacket and his shirt partially turns red, this is a subtle reference to the fact that Walter is bleeding and is about to fucking die*
I really love how Vince Gilligan wrote the final part of the episode "We look straight down on Walt as he tumbles into frame, lying flat on his back on the floor. His eyes stare up at us, lifeless. And yet, his final expression is one of faint satisfaction. We slowly CRANE UP, UP and AWAY from him. Walt shrinks smaller and smaller in frame. POLICE OFFICERS approach him now -- four, six, eight of them. They move in cautiously, their guns aimed. They’re too late. He got away.""
@@lindboknifeandtool Bro, it's not literal that he ran away. The line "He got away" is saying two things: he's about to die, and his work is done. There is no prevention or punishment that can be dealt upon Walt. The gang is dead. All associates are dead or running (so, pretty much everyone but Saul is dead). They might have "caught" the great Heisenberg, but they didn't end his meth empire, they didn't sentence him for his crimes, and they only showed up because he decided to let go and die.
I always found the scene where he rolls his barrel of cash through the dessert as a scene that depicts him as one of those desert bugs that roll their own shit
Dung beetles, which are Scarab beetles, aka a worshipped and beautiful beetle. They symbolize resurrection, immortality, transformation, and protection. So your comparison is actually a really nice one without even realizing it.
i know some people don't like the "Baby Blue" scene and would've preferred it with some sad music or something, but the song actually fits so well in my opinion. the song sounds cheerful, but somehow takes on a sad, mournful tone just because of its association in the scene. along with the double meaning of "my baby blue" referring to Walter's blue meth, it's such a perfect song for the scene
One of the most insane parts about this season is that the writers didn’t know what they were actually going to do with the machine gun when they introduced it in the beginning of season 5. They wrote it into the show as a challenge for themselves to figure out how to tell the story around it.
@@aOrtega. They literally say this themselves in video, on camera, I’ve seen the video myself too on youtube somewhere. Look for it and you can see OP is right
Also, the reason why Walt didn’t go see Walt Jr and interact with him one last time is because he said to Walt over the phone “I never wanna see you again.” So Walt respected his sons wishes and kept his distance. It’s a very small but considerate, kind act from him.
He realized finally he never did anything substantial for his family, so he decided to do the one thing he could do to keep them happy and safe: stay away
More because walt jr would freak out and get the cops on him. He knew that meeting him would do much worse than good. He only wanted to see jr, which he did.
Also in a episode when Walt gets really drunk he apologizes to Walt Jr for seeing him like that because he said he didn’t want that to be a memory of him after his death Bc the last memories he had of his own father weren’t very pleasant either so I had the feeling that this might had some to do with that
These are all the ones I picked up before watching the video 1. When Walt is looking around the meth lab, he doesnt mess with any knobs or buttons, jesse has made a perfect batch. Not only did he succeed as a chemist, but he also succeeded as a teacher 2. The title, "felina" is a reference to a song called el Paso. The character in that song fell in love with a girl called felina, got shot by his own bullet, then dies in her arms. Walt fell in love with making meth, got shot by his own bullet, and died in a meth lab. 3. Speaking of el paso, it's the song walt heard in his car earlier in the episode, and he's also humming it while he assembles the car gun 4. The series began and ended with cops and sirens coming for walt, from the opening and closing scenes 5. The title felina is also an anagram for finale 6. The title felina is also a combination of the formula Fe Li Na. Iron, lithium, sodium. Blood, meth, and tears 7. When walt looked at a big tank in the lab, his face was distorted to look like he was bald with a goatee 8. His blood smear was a w 9. The light above him makes a crosshair on his left lung, that's where he got his cancer diagnosis 10. In an earlier episode, Walter has a lot of his money stolen then he goes into this hysterical laughing/crying/screaming fit. It acts as the spiritual death of Walter white because he is a completely changed individual after that. When we last see jesse in the show, he is driving away having a very similar fit, and he is a completely changed person in el camino. I think that acted as the spiritual death of jesse pinkman 11. Speaking of the cars, the Cadillac has the license plate number "jg8-516" a reference to season 5 episode 16. The last episode of the show 12. The way hank died was the way jack(hank's killer) died. Halfway through a sentence with a shot to the head 13. The song playing when walt died was baby blue by badfinger. The lyrics are very reminiscent of walter white's love affair with his blue meth 14. The clothes walt is wearing is the same outfit he was wearing in the pilot episode
Another cool detail is when Walt says to Elliott and Gretchen that they will give the money to Walter Jr. , he is subtly implying that Jr. will also use it to buy breakfast.
I always felt like Jesse speeding away laughing and crying maniacally was only half about being free. The other half was that Walt came through for him, in spite of everything that happened.
I don't think Jesse would ever feel happy that Walter saved him (after all, the whole "I watched Jane die" still happened), but rather that he finally got rid of him. Jesse has been tortured and enslaved for an entire year because of Walter, the last thing he would be happy about, would be the man he hates saving him.
He achieved vengeance for his family by scaring Elliot and Gretchen into donating his money to Jr. on his 18th birthday. He achieved vengeance for Hank by killing Jack Welker and his gang. He achieved vengeance for Jesse by sparing his life, freeing him and letting him take his revenge on his captor, Todd. He achieved vengeance for the viewers by killing Lydia. And he achieved vengeance for himself by doing all of this. Tying up his loose ends. Masterpiece.
No, far too contrived. Breaking Bad should not have ended with everything wrapping up neatly in a little bow. It would be far better if it ended on a somewhat depressing or bitter-sweet note (consistent with the darkness of Ozymandias and Granite State) and some plot threads and character fates were left unresolved and for us to interpret.
@@AvocadoBawlz-Johnson That's exactly what it did, though. The white family's fate is left unresolved, jesse's was until el camino, marie's, jimmy's until better call saul, etc.
@@Romaren_1904 i never got the Skylar hate tbh other then every single scene with Ted she was just acting like how any normal person would react constantly being lied too untill you find out your family is in danger in multiple different ways by your king ping meth husband who won't let the family go
@@PresentingStrix an undertone of sexism- I'm not calling anyone a bad person, but our culture views a lot of toxic or unlikeable male traits as badass whilst toxic or unlikeable female traits are worthy of complete hatred. Skyler doesn't act particularly toxic, especially after season 1.
@@drhexagonapus Attack on titan is also great, at first it will seem like a typical shounen without fleshed out characters but it is one of the best well written shows I have ever seen
it was apparently thanks to Kevin Cordasco (the kid that got credited at the end of Blood Money) that Gretchen and Elliot returned for a final time. he suggested the idea to Vince Gilligan. the kid died of cancer before the final half of the season got released. before that, he got to spend time with Bryan Cranston and other members of the cast and crew (he was even invited to the writers room). he apparently got invited to be on set for a small role but he couldn't make it, as his condition had worsened by then. Breaking Bad was his favourite show, and he used to watch it with his friends a lot. after he passed away, they still came round his house to watch the final season, because his parents considered he would've wanted that.
I always thought Walt telling Skyler "I did it for myself" was at least partly for her. It may be true, but it also would make things in the future somewhat easier for her to deal with.
in the beginning he was definitely doing for his family, but he started to do it more and more for himself along the way, he had the chance to get 5 million for the methylamine which is more than he ever wished for and yet he didn't want to give up his meth business
I disagree with the premise that Walt's actions were always about himself. At the beginning, he truly was doing it for his family. However, he very quickly got away from that, when he got a taste of the excitement and power.
He could've taken care of himself and his family by taking his former partners' money, he chose not to out of pride so yes, from the start he was driven by his own pride instead of helping his family. Helping his family was at the start the excuse he used down until the last minutes of the series.
When Walter says "If your gonna go that way, your gonna need a bigger knife", he sounds awfully a lot like Mike. Seeing as Mike was also a family man who was dragged into this business, and he'd been in it for so long... Now just like Walter
At the end, Walt's not afraid of death. There's a theme of justice in the air. All he had left was to punish the wrongdoers, and after he did that, he stepped into the lab to die. He was proud of Jesse, and he realized that Jesse pulling off the cooks was one of his biggest accomplishments. He taught chemistry to a hopeless student. He bleeds out in that place, happy at the fact that Jesse figured it out in the end. His purpose is complete, and so he dies, accepting of his situation.
I can’t believe I just noticed this but, when Walt says “I really like your new house,” I think this implies that maybe Walt likes Gretchen and Elliot’s new house.
Maybe it could be a reference of how Walt might be envious that Elliot and Gretchen can spend their millions without worry and stress and live in their own home peacefully, whilst Walt can no longer live in his own home, and has to run from the police, showing a major difference in their two lives. Elliot and Gretchen getting everything they want whilst Walt has sacrificed all of that. Just a fan theory tho
Just realized once he finally becomes Heisenberg he gets real bacon instead of veggie bacon on his 52nd birthday. Edit: He actually got real bacon on his 51st Birthday, so that invalidates this observation.
Yeah they likely don't have veggie bacon but you could still say the fact he orders the same breakfast but without the ability to have veggie bacon shows that Walt still in the back of his mind hasn't admitted he did this for himself he still thinks this is about his family hence why he's had the same breakfast but this time without the veggie bacon showing how he's now coming to terms with how he can't have his life back and how no matter how hard he tries his family both doesn't want his money and also see him as an outsider while we see him as a hero he's the amazing real bacon and his family are the fake boring knock off
I never thought Jesse was "screaming with the joy of freedom", more like "screaming with the abandon of a madman" who knows that although he has escaped this particular level of hell, he will never have anything like peace again.
To me the laughing and scream is similar to Walt's in the crawl space episode. Both were brought on by extreme distress, and I like that it happens in reverse. Fearful of what will happen to himself and his family, Walt lets out a primal scream before laughing uncontrollably. Jesse, who had already went through months of horrific torture, laughs cathartically as he finally escapes before screaming. Jesse did escape but he's permanently changed as well as those close to him. Andrea is dead and Brock is orphaned and there's no undoing that for obvious reasons. This is one of many reasons why I love the storytelling in this show. Certain events parallel each other while simultaneously contrasting each other.
I actually never got the vibe he wanted to kill Gretchen and Elliot. I knew there was something else to it. I'll never forget watching this episode. Great vid!
@@CausticSpace That was definitely his motive. However, the fear he instilled in them was definitely served as a way to get back at them for claiming he served no purpose to their company except their name. I thought it was a perfect revenge..
That one line always sends shivers down my spine “It all can’t be for nothing”. The entire show has been based around the goal of getting his family money so when he dies, they will have enough to live without his income. But what would happen if his family never wants it after they realize what he has done to get it. Everything Walter has done would have been a waste and he will die knowing he destroyed his family and never giving them the money he worked to get. It’s just a very mind bending idea for me.
It wouldn't be all for nothing walt admitted it himself that he did it all for himself, If I have to guess I think the money for his son was a side prize.
I hate to say it but it's almost an 'Idiot Plot' trope, where a single conversation could have resolved everything: "Hey honey, I'm thinking about cooking meth to support the family because I'm dying of cancer". "Okay Walt, here's all the ways that's a terrible idea that will destroy the lives of everyone you love..." (Roll credits) Possibly this caused some subconscious tension with viewers about Skylar's role early on, which got misdirected into misogyny and claims she was just a nag.
@@GlennDavey If you have 100% made up your mind about cooking meth (which he did), I don't think you would tell your family lol. If your husband that you've been married to for 15+ years, came up to you and said he wanted to cook meth, I don't think it would be something that would just go away with a simple talk, she would very obviously gossip this to Marie and Hank (the DEA AGENT.) I'm pretty sure you can envision how the scenario would continue here. Assuming she doesn't gossip, it would still be really awkward, and at this point he already made up his mind, so this talk wouldn't even help him. I can't think of any scenarios where your idea works, it would just be bad for Walt here.
@@lightningstrike885 Yeah but, like, that's the point. Communication is important in a marriage so one partner doesn't go rogue and do something crazy like this. You're talking like Walt was destined to Break Bad, and I'm saying the whole thing could have been averted if he had just expressed his true feelings to his wife.
@@GlennDavey With him being angry that he "cashed out" too early at Grey Matter, that his own students made fun of him (they took pictures of him at the carwash and made fun of him online), them making fun of his son, having cancer and not much/long to live for, and by his own words "being an extremely overqualified teacher" I think its somewhat safe to say he was destined to break bad. Though whether the situation could've been handled differently is up to debate.
Also, I feel like in a way, Walt will be remembered as THE blue meth cook- even before he comes for them, people still think it's Walt cooking the meth, not Jesse. He dies in the lab where it is made, and when they find him, they will find him where the meth is being made. It will end production with his death, and solidify his legacy-- although a much darker legacy. It likely wasn't his intention in the end, just being relieved he did what needed to be done and being in the place he felt alive, like you said- but I do like to think that generations will pass with the blue meth being linked almost solely, production-wise, to Heisenburg /Walt. Also, it keeps Jesse from being tracked down in a way, since the police will put the production on Walt instead of Jesse. Hopefully.
One thing I really liked about the Baby Blue song and the amazing scene that plays is the first line of the song which is “I Guess I Got What I Deserved.” It’s perfectly played with the zooming out of the camera over Walters dying or dead body it’s kinda like Walter is and has truly accepted everything that he has done over the whole series at the end of his life.
How the episode opens with police lights and sirens, and ends with them finding his dead body in the lab. The artistry of this show is unparalleled. Always something new to find.
Same applies to ozymandias. It starts with Walt and skylers old phone call and ends with that heartbreaking phone call between them. Parallelism is insane in this one
You could also argue that the execution of the slaughter of jack's gang is similar to gus's mass murder of the juarez cartel, even down to a secondary character strangling a survivor of the main weapon garrote style.
Wow I never looked at it like that , even when Walt falls to his knees is real similar to when the Hector killed Max , Gus is exactly in that position but facing a different direction .
I went into breaking bad on a first viewing with some of it spoiled, but somehow I didn’t know much after the fifth season. So when I finally got to Felina, the absolute strange satisfaction I as the viewer got when Walt admits he did everything for himself was one of the greatest expiriences in all of cinema or television for me. Recontextualizes the entire series in the best way possible
i went into breaking bad knowing like half of the story including the ending but i still felt this way even though i already knew everything about it, ive never had that happen with literally anything else but breaking bad
I had watched seasons 1-4 years ago and recently went back and watched from the beginning and managed to avoid most spoilers. And I have to say that the scene where he admits to Skyler that he did it for himself is where I felt that Walt got as close to redemption as he could get. He finally gave her her closure and his saying goodbye to Holly was his last little look at what could have been for him and Skyler. Him saving Jesse on a whim was the other way that he somewhat redeems himself. It’s an outstanding piece of storytelling that they manage to somehow bring him redemption after all that he’s done. He’s not totally redeemed but it’s easier to accept him as an extremely flawed anti-hero
If Jesse would have just gone to Alaska when he had the chance, then so much bad stuff that happened wouldn't have happened. That was such a tragic decision. What a great show.
22:24 This pressure gauge tapping scene is actually pretty heavy. First, the name "Weiss" means "White" in German, and you can guess what that means. Second, Back in season 3 when Gale was working with Walt, he made the mistake of setting the temperature to 75* instead of 85*. Gale was a person that Walt taught, and apparently he failed to do that. Over a year later, Walt has taught Jesse how to make meth over the time they spent together, and in that final scene, Jesse had the pressure at 85, just how he intended to teach. Third, this ties up that Walt taught like the teacher he once was, which ig is the only trait he retained from the first episode.
i love that weiss makes a very obvious juxtaposition to schwartz, i mean they always played around with that but when both are in the same language somehow i find it... different lol
The shape of the fruit is very complex. First of all, the word "flower" means "white" in German, so you can tell what that means. Then, in Season 3, when I used the Gail Stack, I adjusted the temperature to 85 * to 75 *. Samandar spoke to him but he could not. A year later, Jesse Walt studied mathematics and worked hard until the end of his education at the age of 85. The third part is only the first, although it has to do with some of the things you have learned.
Another cool detail at 22:50 The handprint that Walt leaves on the kettle looks like a bloody “W” its like a painter signing his work. Beautiful Direction and writing.
If I remember right (correct me if I'm wrong) it's been said that they went through several takes of that scene, but knew that was the one, specifically because of that W.
I also like how the lasers are shaky If it’s by two skilled hitmen, the laser sights should be steady but the lasers move even at some points not on Gretchen or Elliot. Showing how the lasers are not held by two skilled hitmen. It’s the details
a laser sight would be shaky like that because you typically use a laser sight for either very close or very long ranges, and at long ranges every micro adjustment is going to be amplified
I like how Walt dies to a wound from his own machine in the end. After everything, all the enemies he overcame, he ended up being the one to take himself out with his own stray bullet. It’s kind of poetic, because in the show overall, Walt is the one who caused his own downfall. It was his decisions, his obsession and greed, that destroyed his family and caused his downfall. He had obstacles along the way, enemies who backed him into corners, but it was always him who kept digging himself deeper even when he didn’t have to. Walt was his own worst enemy, so his cause of death was a fitting end to his story.
It's even better once you consider that Walt tried to give himself a poetic ending, by having Jesse shoot him. But Jesse refused! So it ended up being a poetic ending for both characters. It's really insane how well Vince and the writers stuck the landing in the that scene.
That line was delivered exactly like Mike. "Eliot, if we're going to go that way you're going to need a bigger knife." I didn't hear it before but that's a lot of Mike's influence.
When Walt is in the car and he says; "just get me home, i'll do the rest" he isn't 'talking to the car' i think he's talking to god, he's praying. And when the keys fall from above him, that could be interpreted as him recieving a gift from heaven
i dont think walt (a man driven by ego and lust for power) would consult a devine force. I believe walt is talking to the devine force in breaking bad, yes. but not praying. walt wouldnt let someone take credit for his revenge.
@@chozengaming8547 he wasn't asking for help with murdering people, he was asking for help with getting to albuquerque, then he'd "do the rest" by himself, without anyone's blessing but his own
I just noticed that when Lydia calls Todd's phone and Walter answered, she was expecting to hear Todd's voice. I think it was a sublet cue that she was calling Todd, but the phone company crossed the lines.
@@charliegreekdominos69420 You know that's: 1. cringe outside of Reddit 2. said when someone has missed something, not when pointing out something someone else missed which makes what they said make no sense.
2:02 This was my take on the watch. Walt knew that he was going to die in battle with Jack's crew. He didn't want the cops taking the watch off his dead body as a sort of trophy. He left the watch on the pay phone so that it could be frond and enjoyed by a random stranger. It's worth about $5,000.00 so who wouldn't enjoy a gift like that?
i always saw it as him bread crumbing, serving as further confirmation it was him in ALQ and not some hoax to at that momment (alongside the stolen car) back up all the threats he sent around town to distract police before his final play as well as him taking a little bit of extra pride in further solidifying his legacy.
when jesse asks walt why he wants to cook meth, walt replies that he’s awake, he doesn’t mention this reason again until the last episode of the series with his conversation with skyler, this says a lot about walt’s ego as every time he’s asked why he’s doing the things that he’s doing, he always replies that it’s for the sake of his family, but in the end, it was ultimately all for himself, from abandoning his love for gretchen due to his failure to overcome his prideful insecurities, selling his $5,000 share from a company that would be worth billions, working as a high school teacher despite being an accomplished chemist, living in a crappy house paycheck to paycheck, to being diagnosed with cancer, walt is what you would expect someone to be if one were to be placed in that situation, however unlike most people who would have kept living this mundane existence, walt chose the opposite option, to live life on his own terms, it wasn’t until that he made that decision, that he was living life, and when he finally did, he was awake i’m not religious, but i do feel that it’s worth mentioning about pride, and how it’s considered to be the gravest sin in abrahamic religions, especially christianity, it’s only fitting that the most destructive person in the series, walt, to have the biggest ego out of all the characters, walt might not be a psycho like tuco, or coldly calculating as gus, but instead, he’s so egotistical to the point that he lies to everyone and even himself, he acted on his ego and everything that came to be, was of his design, it had to be, even at the end, walt knew jesse wouldn’t shoot him despite all the pain that he caused him, because walt knew that jesse would decide not to act on walt’s orders anymore, even at the end, walt got his way, he had to i found lydia’s death, or her would be death, to be extremely satisfying, it reminded me of hamlet, how the english ambassador comes after the climax to deliver the news of the deaths of rosencrantz and guildenstern, like the cherry on top, overall, i enjoyed the series, i can’t believe something this good once premiered on tv, the things you learn everyday
@@lorcan2431 Despite his misuse of the term "psycho", this examination is much better than the video itself, since the latter is just rehashing the story.
Well at first he did it for his family, when he said he was awake he meant it in a different way, a man who loved 50 years being nice and genuine, doing good things only for life to spit back at him with a ill child, bad marriage, bad carrier, and finally cancer.
yes, back then TV was on fire with series like Dexter and BB ending but the worse part was waiting almost 2 years after hank found the book in walt's bathroom for episode 9 to premier.
After rewatching the series recently, in some ways I think the final scene is also Walt’s last deception. Not only does Walt die where he felt alive but also since he’s dead in the lab he’s going to get credit for all the blue meth Jessie had been cooking.
This might be an unpopular opinion but for me personally, Felina IS the best episode of the series and serves as the best ending I've ever seen for a TV show.
The fact that Walt died in the same place he was alive brought me a good feeling of closure to the series. There were no questions I had after, all the loose ends were gone, all the characters finished their arcs, it was so satisfying unlike some other show’s finales. And that’s why I love breaking bad
I wish I felt the same way, but it bothers me to no end how we barely see Skyler, Junior or Marie after they experience the most traumatic day of their lives. The last thing we see is them reacting to the confirmation of Hank’s death (which they believe was at the hands of their husband/father/brother-in-law, mind you). We don’t see them again (with the exception of a couple quick scenes of Skyler) until several months later. We completely skip over the immediate aftermath of this trauma, where there would have been the most raw emotion. After spending five seasons with these characters, it ends up feeling really bizarre that the narrative essentially abandons them at such a significant event in their lives. I’m mostly fine with Skyler’s conclusion (though I still wish there’d been a bit more of her), but all we get from Junior is “no dad I hate you now” and with Marie we literally jumped straight from her learning of Hank’s death to her having come to terms with it. And then there’s Jesse, who gets basically no conclusion to his five-season-long struggle with his on-and-off addiction, his trauma, and his sense of morality. I didn’t need that to all be wrapped up in a neat little bow or anything; I’m not against leaving his story open-ended to an extent. But aside from his closure with Walt, for all we know he could still be an addict, and he’s obviously still traumatized and guilt-ridden with no real way to cope with it (other than _drugs,_ of course). Him seeing his ex-girlfriend get gunned down doesn’t even amount to much payoff in the end, save for making it a bit more satisfying when he kills Todd (which he already had plenty of motivation for to begin with). It’s treated as triumphant for Jesse- and it is, to an extent, but there ultimately doesn’t seem to be much for a direction for him to go in now. And I think the showrunners even recognized that to a certain extent, seeing as they made El Camino six years later.
@@thomasthetankengine7307 I think they showed us enough to wear you can guess what their lives will be like. They're obviously traumatized by the events that happened, but they're doing their best to go on with their lives and try to live as a normal family minus a husband and father.
When Walt is in the car he says a little prayer to get him out of there. When he finds the keys, the keychain says "Just for Today." It is one of the keychains for narcotics anonymous. It may symbolize that it was a blessing from Jane, who's character was the most connected with substance abuse groups. Also, a keychain saves him in the beginning of the episode, and one saves him in the end.
A great little detail is when Walt taps on the pressure gauge it says 86, in a previous episode he specifically states that it must be at 85. Walt before he dies has now got proof that he's still the best meth cook
yea its not a flashback. Its him trying to cope with the fact that he's a meth cooking slave. In the vision, he is freely creating something he has great passion and love for...which is in stark contrast to his reality in that exact moment.
i see it as both. it's the exact same box he was talking about, and he was using the exact methods he said he used. that being said, he's a grown man in the vision. dwelling on his past while simultaneously dreaming of the future.
Fantastic work!!! This format provides a neat structure and allows you to go as in depth as you want to with your analysis. I love Felina, and you did an excellent job of highlighting and explaining all of the writing decisions that made it so good. Hoping to see much more of such content from you.
I like how for the entire episode, it never feels like Heisenberg was in the driver's seat. It was just Walter, tying up all his loose ends. Even with Gretchen and Elliot, he avoids necessary conflict and uses his intellect to avoid any kind of violence. Heisenberg would have just used actual snipers. Saving Jesse, admitting everything to Skyler, getting revenge for Hank, we weren't watching the death of Heisenberg; we were watching the father, teacher and tired man, Walter White cleaning up his own mess using his knowledge as a kingpin to try and clean up after himself. Jesse surviving was the finishing touch for him, it's almost like he knew Jesse would leave the country and find some kind of happiness. And with that, Walt is content. He won
@@agneskennicott7851 views generally correlate to rating. A very good video usually has (or should have) a large number of views, as views show a 'good' video is getting the attention it deserves. Idiot.
One thing you missed: when Jack is begging for his life, the money he’s referring to is heavily implied to be money that Walt made selling Crystal meth. There’s a line in the very first episode hinting that Walt was planning to cook meth in order to make money for his family. The implication here is that Walt was actually running a successful meth empire for the duration of the whole show and the “money” is his total earnings.
In all seriousness, this actually just shows Walt knows he's done everything he wanted and doesn't need the money anymore, so he kills jack knowing what he's implying and not giving a shit
such a satisfyingly bittersweet ending. just the right amount of closure mixed with just the right amount of ambiguity & the perfect amount of conflicting feelings.
okay I think Walt leaving his watch on the pay phone is supposed to symbolize how he doesn’t have the prospect of time anymore. The fanciful fluff of waiting is gone and he has to wrap up everything now. just a pin to the idea that this is the finally
Honestly the best ending to a show ever, very satisfying. One thing I want to mention is the metaphor of gus dying. He fixes his tie (gives the appearance of a civilized man and his public persona) and he is two faces in his death, half which is his public persona and the other half which is his true self, death represented by his skull.
I’ve just recently discovered your channel and I’m very confused how you don’t have more viewers and subscribers, you make actual and legitimate critiques that is very satisfying to listen to due to your insight towards the movie or show you are critiquing/analyzing
Thanks Khosef. Honesty it seems that a lot of people like my format. I just don't get many views. I have a few videos I'm planning to do in this style as well as more of my topical videos. Glad you like my content and hopefully my channel grows with time.
Ill always say that breaking bad is one of the only shows that has a really fulfilling ending that doesnt feel weak or over done. Its not a happy or sad ending (except for jessie). I always wanted to see the after story with jesse, and am happy they made it, but even when it seemed it was over at this point, nobody ever really said they needed to make more. It was perfect. Jesses movie was like a cherry on top over a perfectly done story for walt and jesse
Thanks Michael. I'm already working on a script for a long form video. I'm not sure when I'll be finished with it. But I guarantee it will be the longest and most in depth video I will have made thus far.
A little thing nobody notices is that the key that falls out of the sun visor is on a Narcotics Anonymous key tag (they give out key tags for various lengths of sobriety, similar to AAs “chips”). It’s the white one, which is given out for “24 hours or less, or just the desire”. This could maybe signify that Walt has less then 24 hours to accomplish his final goals, and a reminder of the many lives ruined by the drug that Walt mass produced
23:56 He is not belittling her, though, he is actually trying to make it look like he is the only one responsible for everything, in order to make the cops more lenient
Him leaving the watch could be implying that he's not on the clock anymore. The entire show was him always on the run and racing with time, always looking at his watch. This episode is him not needing that because he's just tying up loose end and finishing everything. He's just walking the entire episode, no rush, even when he's about to die. He has truly accepts what he became and the fact that what he did was all for nothing, he did all this for himself as he said that to Skyler.
I like how Gus finally revenge on the person/people who hurt him the most but it cost him his own life and the same happened to Walt. Yet all these events from Walt all started in season 5 after he was the one who had Gus killed. Makes it even better after Gus makes the quote earlier about how him and Walt are not the same.
The tragedy of comments like this is that George R Martin is gonna die before he finishes Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring. So ASOIAF will never get a satisfying conclusion
With Walt discovering the car that was unlocked with the keys in it, with New Hampshire which is where he is and Maine people do that all the time. Because the crime rate is low, people get negligent with that stuff.
It’s one of those TV tropes that I totally believe, for over 5 years I left my keys in the ignition of my car. I didn’t even live in a low crime area but people don’t really steal cars where I grew up.
Ive lived in small town and cities with millions..rarely locked my car and the keys are always in it.. But, Someone stole my Boat out of my front Yard as I was packing the cooler to go fishing ..so There's that..XD
When Walter said to Lydia "Learn to take yes for an answer." that made me so angry because he took that line from Mike right after he killed him. Somehow, within the episodes that followed, Vince managed to not only feel bad for Walt, but make me fully like Walt again.
I just watched Felina, ultimately drawing Breaking Bad to a close. I’m going through the wake of grief Breaking Bad has left. It feels like personal loss of a loved one. Best experience, let alone TV series of my lifetime, It is a masterpiece. I’m beyond sad that it is over, but better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all!
I haven't seen anyone point this out yet and I don't recall it in the video "Felina" the name of the episode is also the name of the girl in the Marty Robbins song "El Paso" that was on the radio and Walt was singing while building the M60 device in his trunk. The song is about running from the law and it finally catching up to Marty Robbins wich I think ties in nicely with Braking Bad
I’ve also seen people break it down into its elements. Fe (Iron) Li (Lithium) Na (Sodium) Which people speculated into “Blood, Meth, Tears” Felina is even an anagram for “Finale”, they honestly couldn’t have chosen a more perfect title if they tried.
The song is actually about committing a crime out of love, fleeing the town of El Paso, only to return because the pull of that love is too strong to stay away, and dying in the arms of that love. Though I’m fairly certain the cowboy in “El Paso” is hallucinating Felina’s arrival to kiss him once more before death.
If you pay attention, Jesse Pinkman says “It’s Jesseing Time!” After he gets freed from Jacks compound. This is a subtle reference to the fact that it is Jesseing time.
I like to think that after everything, Walt saves Jesse by not only freeing him but also taking the hit that kills him that would have otherwise killed Jesse
So, this video blew up a few months back and it’s time for a long overdue follow up and addendums comment. I never imagined this video, which for a while was my least popular analysis, would gain so much traction. Based on the responses I’ve received it looks like most of you are happy with this format. Something which is likely clear from the number of videos I have is that I don’t make content regularly. I like to pour a lot of time into getting my production values and scripts as best as I can. But there are still plenty of videos I would like to make. Very soon a topical analysis of the game “The Last of Us: Part II” should be released on this channel. As it happens there may be a section discussion a certain plot point from “Breaking Bad” so keep your eyes out for that one. After I’ve published that video, I am planning to do an in-depth analysis of “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie”. My short review at least as of now is that it is a flawed but fitting conclusion to Jesse’s character. However, there are quiet a few people who have criticisms about the film and I’d like to address as many of the arguments that I can. I make no promises about when that video will be coming out, but it’s what I’d like to tackle next. All of this traction gave me quite the boost in passion for making content and since not many people have talked in detail about “El Camino” on UA-cam, I’d love to give it a shot myself. Once again thank you everyone who watched this video and has shown support. I will do my best to get new content out soon.
Now for a few addendums:
Without question the topic most people discussed in the comments section was why Walt left his watch on the payphone. In the video I said there wasn’t a clear narrative reason why he left the watch on the payphone. I haven’t seen anything convincing me otherwise. But as far as thematic or character-based reasons go what most have settled on is that Walt believes he’s out of time therefore is leaving his watch since as far as he’s concerned it’s pointless now. Some said that he was leaving a paper trail for the police. I’d argue against that since for one, the watch wouldn’t prove that Walt was there if found by the police. For two, I imagine if a Tag Heuer was found on a payphone in the middle of nowhere most would think “hey a free $5,000 watch” rather than “I’d better turn this into the police”. The only point I would make is that it’s weird that of all the places and times, Walt chose to leave it at a random gas station. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to it. Regardless, it’s nothing particularly big and it served its purpose of avoiding a potential continuity error.
There were several comments from people who have lived in small towns and even in small towns in New Hampshire that claimed keys being left in a car is not at all uncommon. Apparently, people do it because blizzards are commonplace and sometimes your neighbor needs to borrow your car to get out of a jam. Also considering it’s a small town most people will know each other making it even more likely that someone would be unworried about their car being stolen. I myself have never lived in a small town like the one that Walt was in. If this is the case then the first of two contrivances I list in my conclusion isn’t actually a contrivance and the episode is stronger than I originally thought. Thanks to everyone who let me know that’s more common than I imagined.
“Innocent” was the wrong word to describe Gale’s character. Obviously, he’s a meth cook and a criminal who worked directly for Gus and knew exactly what he was doing. Gus even implies that Gale was shady and cut corners long before he approached him about cooking. What I meant to get across in the video was that Gale was blameless to the situation. He wasn’t the person who was threatening Walt or Jesse or had ill intentions towards them. He was more or less a cog in the machine that had to be removed if Walt and Jesse wanted to live. Therefore, they opted to kill him. So, Gale was blameless to the situation for which he was killed. But he was far from innocent. Jesse really put it perfectly: “This dog never bit anybody” but he was “a problem dog”.
The El Camino is actually Todd’s car not Jack’s. Looking back, there’s only one shot in “Breaking Bad” which confirms this. Todd walks to his car after Mike confronts him about bringing a gun to the train heist. Aside from that it’s only seen in the finale and Todd doesn’t drive the car in the episode. I assumed that it was Jack’s car because it was his compound. But “El Camino” made it crystal clear that the car belonged to Todd. At the time I wrote the video I hadn’t seen “El Camino” and I missed the shot where Todd gets into the car.
I said that Walt was “talking to the car” and perhaps that was reading the scene a bit too literally. Many people think he’s actually praying. If Walt is praying then I suppose we can replace car with God. The point still stands, but I still think it could be either since the car wasn’t starting at first and Walt may have been begging the car to start and get him home.
Something that would have been worth mentioning is that a lot of people think the “flashback” of Jesse making the wooden box isn’t a flashback. It could be Jesse imagining making something if and when he escapes, or it could be a flashforward after he escapes. This would make sense for one because Jesse looks older. In fairness there’s only so much you can do to make Aaron Paul look like a high schooler at the age he was. For two, Jesse told the group that he traded the box for an ounce of weed. While he was happy with the results, Jesse didn’t keep his work. It makes the “flashback” interesting if you read into it that in the near future Jesse finds peace and keeps his hard-earned work in spite of everything that he’s done. This however is all conjecture. I said it was a flashback because it most likely is. But the scene is something that can be read into several different ways. So for now, I say make of the scene what you want.
The song “El Paso” actually foreshadows the events in the episode. The song is about a man who falls in love with a Mexican girl named Felina. He sees her dancing in Rosa’s Cantina and sees her as “Wicked and Evil while Casting a Spell”. One night a cowboy shares a drink with Felina. In anger the man challenges his right for the love of Felina and ends up killing the cowboy. Realizing how evil what he did was, the man takes a horse and runs from Rosa’s Cantina. From El Paso the man makes it to the “Badlands of New Mexico”. Looking back the man knows that in El Paso his life would be worthless “Everything’s’ Gone; In Life Nothing is Left”. But he realizes “My Love Is Stronger Than My Fear of Death”. He then saddles up in the dark. “Maybe Tomorrow a Bullet Will Find Me” but “Tonight Nothing’s Worse Than This Pain In My Heart”. The song then concludes with the man overlooking El Paso and seeing Rosa’s Cantina below. The lyrics are very similar to the situation that Walt found himself in following “Ozymandias”. The Mexican girl Felina can be associated with both Walt’s family and his money. The two things that represent his love and legacy which he ran away from because of the evil acts he committed and fear of retribution. Walt left for a long time and his life he left behind was worthless. But his love for his family and getting back what was his is stronger than his fear of death. “Maybe Tomorrow A Bullet Will Find Me” but “Tonight Nothing’s Worse Than This Pain In My Heart”. Walt knows he’s going to die when he confronts Jack. But nothing is worse than his cancer. The song plays at the beginning of the episode after Walt steals the car and the situation described in the song essentially lays out what’s going through Walt’s head as he goes back to Albuquerque. I knew about the foreshadowing in the song and many people pointed it out. The reason I didn’t address it in the video was that I wanted to stick to the events in the episode rather than dive into too much thematic analysis. I suppose I could have talked about the song since the title card comes right after the song plays. Regardless, here’s a simple break down of the song for those who didn’t realize the song foreshadowed what came after. For those who noted it out thanks for adding to the conversation.
For now that’s it. Once again I extend a huge thank you and if anybody else notes any mistakes that I made let me know and I’ll add them to this comment for future reference.
Nice Vid
You can’t quit this UA-cam channel you are great at this
Great summary. You mention that Walter planned to die in the hail of machine gun fire. When I watched this episode at the time, I didn't get that feeling but now am not so sure after seeing your analysis and noting that the character had neatly summed up all the other threads of his life in preparation for his death.
Kinda makes me hope i die in the kitchen tbh.
Should do one for El Camino!
I will never understand how Elliot couldn't hear Walt coming in with those big ass ears.
return to monke
@@BullyGarfield. reject humanity
Hahaha you made me snort with laughter 🤣
Stolen comento
I don't even remember his name and I know who your talking about
The Ricin finally being used ever since its introduction on season 2 was so satisfying
Lol never realized this! That is so satisfying!! I forgot it was used on tucos taco but hector flung it off the table
He has an extensive history of poisoning people to death.
@@RackEmRack sorry for being annoying but it was a burrito
@@luskita1197 tucos taco is more alliterative
Ik! I hated that bitch.
I just noticed this, when Skylar figures out Walt is Heisenberg, she is mad. This is a reference to how crime is not good
i think this might be legit
@@nick3718 nah it can’t be no way
@@conormartin3476 Definitely legit. I saw more pointers, such as Hank being mad at Walt when he finds out Walt is Heisenberg, which also says that crime is not good.
That’s insane
@@cottoneyejoe8285 100% dude. Also, this was a little less noticed by the general community, when Walt almost murders Skylar, Flynn gets mad. This is due to the fact that murder is illegal. Bravo Vince!
He took off his watch because he's out of time, dude. Simple, elegant explanations are best.
Some people can’t think simply have to over analyze
He took off his watch because he’s the out of time man
@@heisenberg4406you can look at it like that, but the reason he left the watch on the payphone was probably to keep continuity since in the first episode of season 5 in the flash foward at the diner walter doesn't have a watch on his wrist so for continuity sake they had to get rid of the watch
@@fanivarentain5078 true but just in the first place it was probably to symbolize something: him being out of time
@@Willlynillydilly W
I like to think the reason Walt Is smiling at the end is because after examining all the lab equipment he relized Jessie had a perfect cook, so he actually died as he previously had lived, a teacher
Thats an amazing insight.
I also felt like he smiled cause he died at the end not cause of his cancer but doing what he loved and what made him alive, working as a meth cook and in the meth business
BRO.
I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE OMG.
That’s cool :)
I felt that was well. I think he was happy to know there was someone who could be his true successor, and was proud of Jesse for perfecting the recipe.
Notice how Walt never says “I am Huell.” This is a subtle nod to the fact that Huell is actually not Walter, but is in fact, a completely different person.
That might just be misdirection
this is all speculation, however. bince haven't confirmed this theory.
Reasonably
Lmao
@@Bloomzor bince billigan
I love the fact that the machine gun device has actually worked perfectly in reality on the Mythbusters show.
Awesome - I'm going to find that episode of Myth Busters now and watch it. Thanks.
Yeah it was awesome
Yeah it’s good because no one can say it isn’t possible
Near perfectly
If it did go the way Mythbusters went then Jesse would take the shot and Jesse wouldn't say
Then do it yourself
@Seaworth Hate to say it, but you're right. Very cool scene, but really contrived. About the only thing Walt had control over in that scene was where he parked the car, and it was crazy that he was allowed to do that.
If the meeting with Jack took place either upstairs or in the basement, he would've been fucked. If he would've been shot immediately, he would've been fucked. If he wouldn't have been allowed to see Jesse, the plan would've been fucked.
I just have to wonder if Walt cared if his plan worked or not. He was going to die anyway, so if his plan worked, great! If not, then oh well, right?
"I liked it. I was good at it."
This line is one of the many reasons Felina is my favorite episode. Walter is finally being honest, and he's closing his character arc of overcoming his ego.
Winter solitude is prime for introspection
The only serious comment
@@benedictegerman5000 This is a subtle reference to the dissonance between the seriousness of the show and the immaturity of the fanbase
@@nukesrus2663 indeed, and it's pretty funny
@@benedictegerman5000 Bravo Vince
"Oh, what university?" Has to be one of the roughest lines in the show
Genuinely had to skip it it makes me cringe
@@dysplasiagiraffe4845 still not as bad as Skylar singing happy birthday to Ted
ya,
even I feel hurt.
@@leogarcia8640 That, and the scene where Walt keeps making Walt Jr drink, are the only 2 scenes I legitimatey don't like to watch and wish never existed.
does anyone else have a hard time with the episode where the meth heads take bad care of their kid? The whole episode is just an uncomfortable scene, but it’s one of the best episodes.
I just noticed this. When Jack shoots Hank, Hank dies. This is actually a reference to how guns are dangerous.
this actually isn't the first time in the show, if you look back you'll see many guns are dangerous. I think that perhaps hank dying is a reference to the earlier seasons deaths.
@@themillersthree 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Turtles are even more dangerous.
LMAO
Another example is when Walter exploded a nursing home, it shows how explosions can kill people around them.
Felina is in many ways when Walt becomes self aware. I think he leaves behind the watch because he finally accepts that he didn't deserve a friend like Jesse and no longer feels he deserves his gift.
No at this point in felina Walt hated Jesse and wanted to kill him because he had just discovered blue meth was still being made, he didn’t realize Jesse had been enslaved he thought he ratted Walt out to the dea and started his own meth empire. He only learned this wasn’t the case at the very very end.
At this point he was planning to kill Jesse, perhaps he left it behind to spite him
I disagree with the top 3 replies and agree with the op.
Walter was a genius and he knew that Jack and his gang hated rats and would never work with them.
He also knew that Jesse hated Todd and would never work with him.
He would have figured it out that Jack and his gang were most likely keeping Jesse hostage or forcing him into cooking for them.
@@nav5738 that makes no sense since Walt's expression when he finally sees the state Jesse was in was clearly that of shock and surprise. It's more likely that Walt assumed jack had followed through with killing Jesse until he found out about the meth still being made and sold and THEN decided to kill Jesse. The leaving behind the watch thing was just an act of severing personal ties, and Walt knew he was going to die anyway so he didn't need it.
i believe the only reason walt left the watch was because the scenes after that walt wasn't wearing it, an error you can call it, but they added the scene so anyone can interpret it as they feel
Kinda a cool fact, the song that plays in the beginning of the episode is 'el paso'.
The song is about a outlaw who falls in love with a mexican woman, kills someone for her and is chased out of town.
He later goes back knowing that he is wanted and will most likely die.
Her name is Felina.
wait really?? thats actually super interesting,
By the legend that is Marty Robbins. El Paso > Big Iron.
That's crazy! Thank you 🙏
the album this song is on falls out of the glovebox in the car, and when he is building the machine gun contraption he hums it to himself
Felina could also represent the three elements on the periodic table; iron, lithium, and salt, which make up blood, sweat, and tears. FeLiNa
I'm not sure it's intentional, but when Walt says "If we're gonna go that way, you're gonna need a bigger knife" he has an interesting cadence that I couldn't put my finger on at first. Looking back on it now, it's the same tone of voice that Mike has when he's chastising someone. Walt is channeling Mike in this scene.
I heard that too, very similar tone
Walt takes attributes from people he kills personally.
and i think thats because mike was what walter wanted heisenberg to be like, atleast how it appeared to outsiders
100%, good spot
Spot on. He also channeled Gus’s mannerisms and lines (“May I?”) after he kills him
*When Walter got hit by a shrapnel his jacket and his shirt partially turns red, this is a subtle reference to the fact that Walter is bleeding and is about to fucking die*
When walter dies it’s supposed to imply he died
this is the moment he truly becomes heisenberg
@@spearmint2482 goddamit, I can't watch a video about BB without reading that line
@@dantederi5062 you're goddamn right... 😂🤣
With a moment that brings me to tears damn near every time I think about it, I'm thankful for this comment to now shed a positive light on it
Baby Blue is such a monumentally perfect closing track for this amazing trip
Indeed.
I haven't heard the song as "a song" since!
fantastic pairing!
Also made a lot of new people hear a great song!
Amazing band, horrible how their agent fucked them out of basically every penny
I really love how Vince Gilligan wrote the final part of the episode "We look straight down on Walt as he tumbles
into frame, lying flat on his back on the floor. His eyes
stare up at us, lifeless. And yet, his final expression is
one of faint satisfaction.
We slowly CRANE UP, UP and AWAY from him. Walt shrinks
smaller and smaller in frame. POLICE OFFICERS approach him
now -- four, six, eight of them. They move in cautiously,
their guns aimed.
They’re too late. He got away.""
Just finished the show and that last part is so perfect for this lucky bitch that is Walter white. He always managed to get away
🅱️ravo 🅱️ince
@@warcrimeswilly Vravo Bince
Wait so he gets away? He doesn’t die? What?
@@lindboknifeandtool Bro, it's not literal that he ran away. The line "He got away" is saying two things: he's about to die, and his work is done. There is no prevention or punishment that can be dealt upon Walt. The gang is dead. All associates are dead or running (so, pretty much everyone but Saul is dead). They might have "caught" the great Heisenberg, but they didn't end his meth empire, they didn't sentence him for his crimes, and they only showed up because he decided to let go and die.
I always found the scene where he rolls his barrel of cash through the dessert as a scene that depicts him as one of those desert bugs that roll their own shit
BRO
Btw, the trousers that flew on the first episode are on the floor, have you seen it? xD 23:48
Dung beetles, which are Scarab beetles, aka a worshipped and beautiful beetle.
They symbolize resurrection, immortality, transformation, and protection.
So your comparison is actually a really nice one without even realizing it.
@@bashfulwolfo6499 nice, thank you very much for the info, Breaking Bad was really thought out to the finest detail.
:clap clap:
When Jesse says “do it yourself” this is a subtle reference that Jesse secretly wants Walt to do it himself
Is that REALLY what you think josh or have these UA-cam comments inspired you?
@@aOrtega. what?
@@aOrtega. hmm?
@@aOrtega. huh?
Josh is still confused till this day
its interesting in his last moments hes not thinking about his family but instead happily remembering his meth days
Walter was definitely thinking “yeah I fucking made it”
@@j_jizzle_69 "I won"
@@alexmercer5414 he may have not beat cancer, but he definitely beat the game of life
Yea cuz his family sucked haha.
It's the only thing that stayed in his life. His family left him, and so did Jesse, but the meth lab, which made him feel most alive, never left him.
i know some people don't like the "Baby Blue" scene and would've preferred it with some sad music or something, but the song actually fits so well in my opinion. the song sounds cheerful, but somehow takes on a sad, mournful tone just because of its association in the scene. along with the double meaning of "my baby blue" referring to Walter's blue meth, it's such a perfect song for the scene
Tbh I think Rest my chemistry by interpol would have been better
Yeah baby blue feels like the absolute perfect song tbh.
Personally I think earrape diarrhea noises would have been more fitting
@@jaschaheifetzii4350 💀
It shouldn't play sad music. Walt went out on his own terms. It's as happy an ending as he could expect.
One of the most insane parts about this season is that the writers didn’t know what they were actually going to do with the machine gun when they introduced it in the beginning of season 5. They wrote it into the show as a challenge for themselves to figure out how to tell the story around it.
Yeah? I don’t believe you. They had this shit written since season 4. Probably started as soon as season 4 started airing
@@aOrtega. They literally say this themselves in video, on camera, I’ve seen the video myself too on youtube somewhere. Look for it and you can see OP is right
@@groove4528 it’s up to you to decide what you believe.
@Angelo Ortega shut the fuck up and look it up yourself if you really think its bullshit.
@@aOrtega. Don't believe him? Leave it be don't fucking say shit you wont say to his face.
Also, the reason why Walt didn’t go see Walt Jr and interact with him one last time is because he said to Walt over the phone “I never wanna see you again.” So Walt respected his sons wishes and kept his distance. It’s a very small but considerate, kind act from him.
He realized finally he never did anything substantial for his family, so he decided to do the one thing he could do to keep them happy and safe: stay away
@@lolmcswagger7247 That's also true too
@@lolmcswagger7247 there were also undercover agents on watching for Walter
More because walt jr would freak out and get the cops on him. He knew that meeting him would do much worse than good. He only wanted to see jr, which he did.
Also in a episode when Walt gets really drunk he apologizes to Walt Jr for seeing him like that because he said he didn’t want that to be a memory of him after his death Bc the last memories he had of his own father weren’t very pleasant either so I had the feeling that this might had some to do with that
These are all the ones I picked up before watching the video
1. When Walt is looking around the meth lab, he doesnt mess with any knobs or buttons, jesse has made a perfect batch. Not only did he succeed as a chemist, but he also succeeded as a teacher
2. The title, "felina" is a reference to a song called el Paso. The character in that song fell in love with a girl called felina, got shot by his own bullet, then dies in her arms. Walt fell in love with making meth, got shot by his own bullet, and died in a meth lab.
3. Speaking of el paso, it's the song walt heard in his car earlier in the episode, and he's also humming it while he assembles the car gun
4. The series began and ended with cops and sirens coming for walt, from the opening and closing scenes
5. The title felina is also an anagram for finale
6. The title felina is also a combination of the formula Fe Li Na.
Iron, lithium, sodium.
Blood, meth, and tears
7. When walt looked at a big tank in the lab, his face was distorted to look like he was bald with a goatee
8. His blood smear was a w
9. The light above him makes a crosshair on his left lung, that's where he got his cancer diagnosis
10. In an earlier episode, Walter has a lot of his money stolen then he goes into this hysterical laughing/crying/screaming fit. It acts as the spiritual death of Walter white because he is a completely changed individual after that. When we last see jesse in the show, he is driving away having a very similar fit, and he is a completely changed person in el camino. I think that acted as the spiritual death of jesse pinkman
11. Speaking of the cars, the Cadillac has the license plate number "jg8-516" a reference to season 5 episode 16. The last episode of the show
12. The way hank died was the way jack(hank's killer) died. Halfway through a sentence with a shot to the head
13. The song playing when walt died was baby blue by badfinger. The lyrics are very reminiscent of walter white's love affair with his blue meth
14. The clothes walt is wearing is the same outfit he was wearing in the pilot episode
Every single one of these is fucking mental , it just goes to show how much thought vince gilligan put into the show , props to him
I never noticed the light over his lung thing, damn this show was a masterpiece
Great list!
No lithium in meth, unfortunately just had to point that out.
In El Paso the cowboy isn't shot by his own bullet lol
Another cool detail is when Walt says to Elliott and Gretchen that they will give the money to Walter Jr. , he is subtly implying that Jr. will also use it to buy breakfast.
🤣
Lmaoooo broooo why. Hahah
Jessie we have to cook
Walt jr breakfast
man idk but elliot should have listened walter sneaking in with them BIG EARS
Lmao
😂😂😂
Lol! He could have just grabbed Gretchen and flown away.
lol he wouldve also hear the snipers.
@@russ7868 he was too tired from the flight back home.
“Goodbye, Lydia” are the last words said by Walt and anybody in this show. And it doesn’t feel out of place.
i think it feels great
No the last words spoken in the show are AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Wow, I never thought of that.
Counting the lyrics it could be, “my baby blue”
@@philmiller1845 still doesn't feel out of place tbh
I always felt like Jesse speeding away laughing and crying maniacally was only half about being free. The other half was that Walt came through for him, in spite of everything that happened.
I don't think Jesse would ever feel happy that Walter saved him (after all, the whole "I watched Jane die" still happened), but rather that he finally got rid of him.
Jesse has been tortured and enslaved for an entire year because of Walter, the last thing he would be happy about, would be the man he hates saving him.
Yea no
@@DakkaSolae yea he's finally free not just from the physical control of jack and his gang, but also the mental control of walter.
His barbaric yawp! from section (52) of Song of Myself by W.W.
@@DakkaSolae i mean. i don’t think this is true, but this is why everyone has his own opinion
He achieved vengeance for his family by scaring Elliot and Gretchen into donating his money to Jr. on his 18th birthday.
He achieved vengeance for Hank by killing Jack Welker and his gang.
He achieved vengeance for Jesse by sparing his life, freeing him and letting him take his revenge on his captor, Todd.
He achieved vengeance for the viewers by killing Lydia.
And he achieved vengeance for himself by doing all of this. Tying up his loose ends.
Masterpiece.
Should've killed Skyler for the viewers, not Lydia. Lydia was for Mike.
No, far too contrived. Breaking Bad should not have ended with everything wrapping up neatly in a little bow. It would be far better if it ended on a somewhat depressing or bitter-sweet note (consistent with the darkness of Ozymandias and Granite State) and some plot threads and character fates were left unresolved and for us to interpret.
@@AvocadoBawlz-Johnson That's exactly what it did, though. The white family's fate is left unresolved, jesse's was until el camino, marie's, jimmy's until better call saul, etc.
@@Romaren_1904 i never got the Skylar hate tbh other then every single scene with Ted she was just acting like how any normal person would react constantly being lied too untill you find out your family is in danger in multiple different ways by your king ping meth husband who won't let the family go
@@PresentingStrix an undertone of sexism- I'm not calling anyone a bad person, but our culture views a lot of toxic or unlikeable male traits as badass whilst toxic or unlikeable female traits are worthy of complete hatred. Skyler doesn't act particularly toxic, especially after season 1.
fuck this was a good show, goddamnit
I feel the same, I've never been so moved by a show. It's characters are just so real and fleshed out.
Said literally everyone on the fucking planet
@@drhexagonapus Attack on titan is also great, at first it will seem like a typical shounen without fleshed out characters but it is one of the best well written shows I have ever seen
breaking bad and attack on titan are my fav tv shows ever
That’s a big understatement
(Also 500th like)
it was apparently thanks to Kevin Cordasco (the kid that got credited at the end of Blood Money) that Gretchen and Elliot returned for a final time. he suggested the idea to Vince Gilligan. the kid died of cancer before the final half of the season got released. before that, he got to spend time with Bryan Cranston and other members of the cast and crew (he was even invited to the writers room). he apparently got invited to be on set for a small role but he couldn't make it, as his condition had worsened by then. Breaking Bad was his favourite show, and he used to watch it with his friends a lot. after he passed away, they still came round his house to watch the final season, because his parents considered he would've wanted that.
This is actually sad, may he rest in peace
Rest in peace, Kevin Cordasco
What a cool kid, and a great thing for Vince to make him a part of a show and to be his friend.
Good fucking riddance
@@cheez3184 that’s straight up disrespectful wtf
The world needs more Breaking Bad breakdowns
Che
yo haedox, whats your favorite episode
Someone breaks down at least like once an episode so I think we have more than enough
@headox can you stop please?
@@IgnisFiend shup yh poxy fewl
I always thought Walt telling Skyler "I did it for myself" was at least partly for her. It may be true, but it also would make things in the future somewhat easier for her to deal with.
in the beginning he was definitely doing for his family, but he started to do it more and more for himself along the way, he had the chance to get 5 million for the methylamine which is more than he ever wished for and yet he didn't want to give up his meth business
By the end he was completely self obsessed.
yeah me too
Agreed
Then he could have took Elliots money. He wanted to earn money himself and he wanted to do it for selfish reasons. That much is clear.
"..and died in the place where he felt alive."
i think thats exactly what was written at the bottom of the page before
*END*
I disagree with the premise that Walt's actions were always about himself. At the beginning, he truly was doing it for his family. However, he very quickly got away from that, when he got a taste of the excitement and power.
He could've taken care of himself and his family by taking his former partners' money, he chose not to out of pride so yes, from the start he was driven by his own pride instead of helping his family. Helping his family was at the start the excuse he used down until the last minutes of the series.
It was brought up in the video that in the beginning it wasn’t about him it was about his family
The show....literally goes out of its way to disagree with you
Nah it was never about his family.
I agree
When Walter says "If your gonna go that way, your gonna need a bigger knife", he sounds awfully a lot like Mike. Seeing as Mike was also a family man who was dragged into this business, and he'd been in it for so long... Now just like Walter
I was looking to see if anyone else noticed that!
Pretty sure he was shot in the same place as well
Walt takes characteristics of the people he kills. Good catch
@@andrewchoy489 ..
Yes
Walt absorbed things from everyone he killed.
“I’d like to speak with the agent in charge of the walter white family” “Who may I say is calling”
“Walter white” funniest part of the episode
that and the laser pointers
Imagine the conversation if he stayed on the line
That was in Granite State (the penultimate episode)
investigation*
Breaking bad is:
Joyful music whilst horrible things happens.
Same with Tarantino films.
Hollywood Undead - Bullet
Always Sunny
Kubrickian irony. Stanley Kubrick did that first. Or so it's credited to him.
Pick yourself up...
I love how Walt pats the tank before dying. It’s almost like he is saying goodbye to the only family that never left him.
It just took everything from him.
bravo vince!!1!!1!1!
To me the watch symbolizes that time is up for Walt. Liked your video and will check out more!
Nailed it!
Thats a good one, he knows he knew he would die soon and dont need the watch
I like to see it as him leaving a message for the police just to say “I’m back”
Absolutely agree, even though I didn't even think about it
@@punchyghost8501 That’s a good one! and Jesse is the one who gifted the watch to Walt as well. Damn.
At the end, Walt's not afraid of death. There's a theme of justice in the air. All he had left was to punish the wrongdoers, and after he did that, he stepped into the lab to die. He was proud of Jesse, and he realized that Jesse pulling off the cooks was one of his biggest accomplishments. He taught chemistry to a hopeless student. He bleeds out in that place, happy at the fact that Jesse figured it out in the end. His purpose is complete, and so he dies, accepting of his situation.
He is proud that Jesse applied himself 👌
walter himself was also a wrongdoer.
I can’t believe I just noticed this but, when Walt says “I really like your new house,” I think this implies that maybe Walt likes Gretchen and Elliot’s new house.
Maybe, idk, seems like you're reaching to me. Never heard of anybody liking anybody's new house before.
Maybe it could be a reference of how Walt might be envious that Elliot and Gretchen can spend their millions without worry and stress and live in their own home peacefully, whilst Walt can no longer live in his own home, and has to run from the police, showing a major difference in their two lives. Elliot and Gretchen getting everything they want whilst Walt has sacrificed all of that.
Just a fan theory tho
@@caraccident5357 nah he just thinks it has a nice floor plan
The people in this reply section has funny name for some reason
@@aperson7303 That's because 8 year old with internet access like you have never owned a home...
Just realized once he finally becomes Heisenberg he gets real bacon instead of veggie bacon on his 52nd birthday.
Edit: He actually got real bacon on his 51st Birthday, so that invalidates this observation.
Does Denny's have veggie bacon?
Didnt he get proper bacon at 51?
@@ilayohana3150 yea
Yes I noticed
Yeah they likely don't have veggie bacon but you could still say the fact he orders the same breakfast but without the ability to have veggie bacon shows that Walt still in the back of his mind hasn't admitted he did this for himself he still thinks this is about his family hence why he's had the same breakfast but this time without the veggie bacon showing how he's now coming to terms with how he can't have his life back and how no matter how hard he tries his family both doesn't want his money and also see him as an outsider while we see him as a hero he's the amazing real bacon and his family are the fake boring knock off
I never thought Jesse was "screaming with the joy of freedom", more like "screaming with the abandon of a madman" who knows that although he has escaped this particular level of hell, he will never have anything like peace again.
To me the laughing and scream is similar to Walt's in the crawl space episode. Both were brought on by extreme distress, and I like that it happens in reverse. Fearful of what will happen to himself and his family, Walt lets out a primal scream before laughing uncontrollably. Jesse, who had already went through months of horrific torture, laughs cathartically as he finally escapes before screaming. Jesse did escape but he's permanently changed as well as those close to him. Andrea is dead and Brock is orphaned and there's no undoing that for obvious reasons.
This is one of many reasons why I love the storytelling in this show. Certain events parallel each other while simultaneously contrasting each other.
@@SamsarasArt something gives me the feeling that Todd killed Brock that night as well.
You should watch El Camino
He might be at peace in Alaska
@@bluecayser1498 watch El Camino if you haven't also Jesse's drive to stay alive was pretty much for Brock at that point
I just always thought it was cool that "Felina" is an anagram of "Finale" haha
And also a reference to El Paso by Marty Robbins, the song Walt listens to in the opening
Fe = blood (iron)
Li = lithium (meth)
Na = salt (tears)
@@pogobod2128crazy
@@pogobod2128 meth doesn't have lithium?
@@ChicoDaChina you know he doesnt mean that
I actually never got the vibe he wanted to kill Gretchen and Elliot. I knew there was something else to it. I'll never forget watching this episode. Great vid!
Yes, to give the money to Walter Jr.
@@CausticSpace That was definitely his motive. However, the fear he instilled in them was definitely served as a way to get back at them for claiming he served no purpose to their company except their name. I thought it was a perfect revenge..
That one line always sends shivers down my spine “It all can’t be for nothing”. The entire show has been based around the goal of getting his family money so when he dies, they will have enough to live without his income. But what would happen if his family never wants it after they realize what he has done to get it. Everything Walter has done would have been a waste and he will die knowing he destroyed his family and never giving them the money he worked to get. It’s just a very mind bending idea for me.
It wouldn't be all for nothing walt admitted it himself that he did it all for himself, If I have to guess I think the money for his son was a side prize.
I hate to say it but it's almost an 'Idiot Plot' trope, where a single conversation could have resolved everything: "Hey honey, I'm thinking about cooking meth to support the family because I'm dying of cancer". "Okay Walt, here's all the ways that's a terrible idea that will destroy the lives of everyone you love..." (Roll credits)
Possibly this caused some subconscious tension with viewers about Skylar's role early on, which got misdirected into misogyny and claims she was just a nag.
@@GlennDavey If you have 100% made up your mind about cooking meth (which he did), I don't think you would tell your family lol.
If your husband that you've been married to for 15+ years, came up to you and said he wanted to cook meth, I don't think it would be something that would just go away with a simple talk, she would very obviously gossip this to Marie and Hank (the DEA AGENT.)
I'm pretty sure you can envision how the scenario would continue here.
Assuming she doesn't gossip, it would still be really awkward, and at this point he already made up his mind, so this talk wouldn't even help him.
I can't think of any scenarios where your idea works, it would just be bad for Walt here.
@@lightningstrike885 Yeah but, like, that's the point. Communication is important in a marriage so one partner doesn't go rogue and do something crazy like this. You're talking like Walt was destined to Break Bad, and I'm saying the whole thing could have been averted if he had just expressed his true feelings to his wife.
@@GlennDavey
With him being angry that he "cashed out" too early at Grey Matter, that his own students made fun of him (they took pictures of him at the carwash and made fun of him online), them making fun of his son, having cancer and not much/long to live for, and by his own words "being an extremely overqualified teacher" I think its somewhat safe to say he was destined to break bad. Though whether the situation could've been handled differently is up to debate.
Also, I feel like in a way, Walt will be remembered as THE blue meth cook- even before he comes for them, people still think it's Walt cooking the meth, not Jesse. He dies in the lab where it is made, and when they find him, they will find him where the meth is being made. It will end production with his death, and solidify his legacy-- although a much darker legacy. It likely wasn't his intention in the end, just being relieved he did what needed to be done and being in the place he felt alive, like you said- but I do like to think that generations will pass with the blue meth being linked almost solely, production-wise, to Heisenburg /Walt. Also, it keeps Jesse from being tracked down in a way, since the police will put the production on Walt instead of Jesse. Hopefully.
sadly they found out it was jesse but it was a nice try
@@geckopecko How'd they found out. Was it in El Camino? (I haven't watched it in a year or so)
@@Mike_B. i’m pretty sure he was just a suspect for it since he was tied to heisenberg, although he wasn’t pinned down as the person who cooked it
@@Mike_B. finger prints possibly? It's a bit of a hole though - story wise. But ol' Vince wanted to do El Camino so either way...
@@JTMsish They could rule out Walt from cooking the meth since they know he wasn’t in New Mexico since they found the stolen car.
One thing I really liked about the Baby Blue song and the amazing scene that plays is the first line of the song which is “I Guess I Got What I Deserved.” It’s perfectly played with the zooming out of the camera over Walters dying or dead body it’s kinda like Walter is and has truly accepted everything that he has done over the whole series at the end of his life.
As a an aspiring screen writer, The pilot and and Felina are perfect examples of how to begin and end a fulfilling story
What a pathetic way to express that.
Great comment
😐
learn how to write a fulfilling sentence
Lame
How the episode opens with police lights and sirens, and ends with them finding his dead body in the lab. The artistry of this show is unparalleled. Always something new to find.
It’s like poetry it rhymes
12D3 stah wahs
Same applies to ozymandias. It starts with Walt and skylers old phone call and ends with that heartbreaking phone call between them. Parallelism is insane in this one
@@eddiekaspbrak4624 to my beloved W.W…
And the first scene of pilot
You could also argue that the execution of the slaughter of jack's gang is similar to gus's mass murder of the juarez cartel, even down to a secondary character strangling a survivor of the main weapon garrote style.
Also when Walter had to strangle that guy in his basement with a bike lock
Wow I never looked at it like that , even when Walt falls to his knees is real similar to when the Hector killed Max , Gus is exactly in that position but facing a different direction .
I went into breaking bad on a first viewing with some of it spoiled, but somehow I didn’t know much after the fifth season. So when I finally got to Felina, the absolute strange satisfaction I as the viewer got when Walt admits he did everything for himself was one of the greatest expiriences in all of cinema or television for me. Recontextualizes the entire series in the best way possible
i went into breaking bad knowing like half of the story including the ending but i still felt this way even though i already knew everything about it, ive never had that happen with literally anything else but breaking bad
this. yeah agree
I had watched seasons 1-4 years ago and recently went back and watched from the beginning and managed to avoid most spoilers. And I have to say that the scene where he admits to Skyler that he did it for himself is where I felt that Walt got as close to redemption as he could get. He finally gave her her closure and his saying goodbye to Holly was his last little look at what could have been for him and Skyler. Him saving Jesse on a whim was the other way that he somewhat redeems himself. It’s an outstanding piece of storytelling that they manage to somehow bring him redemption after all that he’s done. He’s not totally redeemed but it’s easier to accept him as an extremely flawed anti-hero
Me too
Other than Hank's death season 5 is mostly spoiler free
If Jesse would have just gone to Alaska when he had the chance, then so much bad stuff that happened wouldn't have happened. That was such a tragic decision. What a great show.
The one time he chose vengeance
Messy Jessie
Imagine if Walter would have put down Jesse when Saul suggested it
When the bad stuff that happened couldn't have happened 😱
but that's the thing,if everyone made rational decisions in the show then the show wouldnt be interesting
22:24
This pressure gauge tapping scene is actually pretty heavy.
First, the name "Weiss" means "White" in German, and you can guess what that means.
Second, Back in season 3 when Gale was working with Walt, he made the mistake of setting the temperature to 75* instead of 85*. Gale was a person that Walt taught, and apparently he failed to do that. Over a year later, Walt has taught Jesse how to make meth over the time they spent together, and in that final scene, Jesse had the pressure at 85, just how he intended to teach.
Third, this ties up that Walt taught like the teacher he once was, which ig is the only trait he retained from the first episode.
The temp was supposed to be 85, not the temp. That's a pressure gauge.
i love that weiss makes a very obvious juxtaposition to schwartz, i mean they always played around with that but when both are in the same language somehow i find it... different lol
weiss in english is not white. weis = white
The shape of the fruit is very complex.
First of all, the word "flower" means "white" in German, so you can tell what that means.
Then, in Season 3, when I used the Gail Stack, I adjusted the temperature to 85 * to 75 *. Samandar spoke to him but he could not. A year later, Jesse Walt studied mathematics and worked hard until the end of his education at the age of 85.
The third part is only the first, although it has to do with some of the things you have learned.
Another trait he retained from the first episode is he cooks meth
Another cool detail at 22:50
The handprint that Walt leaves on the kettle looks like a bloody “W” its like a painter signing his work. Beautiful Direction and writing.
or in charlie sheenese: "WINNING"
If I remember right (correct me if I'm wrong) it's been said that they went through several takes of that scene, but knew that was the one, specifically because of that W.
I also like how the lasers are shaky
If it’s by two skilled hitmen, the laser sights should be steady but the lasers move even at some points not on Gretchen or Elliot. Showing how the lasers are not held by two skilled hitmen. It’s the details
a laser sight would be shaky like that because you typically use a laser sight for either very close or very long ranges, and at long ranges every micro adjustment is going to be amplified
I like how Walt dies to a wound from his own machine in the end. After everything, all the enemies he overcame, he ended up being the one to take himself out with his own stray bullet.
It’s kind of poetic, because in the show overall, Walt is the one who caused his own downfall. It was his decisions, his obsession and greed, that destroyed his family and caused his downfall. He had obstacles along the way, enemies who backed him into corners, but it was always him who kept digging himself deeper even when he didn’t have to.
Walt was his own worst enemy, so his cause of death was a fitting end to his story.
I just liked that he didn’t die completely of cancer
It's even better once you consider that Walt tried to give himself a poetic ending, by having Jesse shoot him. But Jesse refused! So it ended up being a poetic ending for both characters. It's really insane how well Vince and the writers stuck the landing in the that scene.
i sh-t outside today
It's also a reference to the pilot, where Walt tried to kill himself with a jammed pistol.
@@tacticaljunk1608 i think it actually had the safety on
That line was delivered exactly like Mike.
"Eliot, if we're going to go that way you're going to need a bigger knife."
I didn't hear it before but that's a lot of Mike's influence.
When Walt is in the car and he says; "just get me home, i'll do the rest" he isn't 'talking to the car' i think he's talking to god, he's praying. And when the keys fall from above him, that could be interpreted as him recieving a gift from heaven
@James Lucas “can not” or “can’t not”?
I think that he was talking as Heisenberg to Mr. White
i dont think walt (a man driven by ego and lust for power) would consult a devine force. I believe walt is talking to the devine force in breaking bad, yes. but not praying. walt wouldnt let someone take credit for his revenge.
Imagine thinking God answers prayers to help someone murder a bunch of people
@@chozengaming8547 he wasn't asking for help with murdering people, he was asking for help with getting to albuquerque, then he'd "do the rest" by himself, without anyone's blessing but his own
I just noticed that when Lydia calls Todd's phone and Walter answered, she was expecting to hear Todd's voice.
I think it was a sublet cue that she was calling Todd, but the phone company crossed the lines.
Walter grabbed Todd’s phone
@@Yuti640 r/ Whooosh
@@charliegreekdominos69420 You know that's:
1. cringe outside of Reddit
2. said when someone has missed something, not when pointing out something someone else missed which makes what they said make no sense.
@@Kimbie but he was making a joke
@@toast3374 do you know that?
2:02 This was my take on the watch. Walt knew that he was going to die in battle with Jack's crew. He didn't want the cops taking the watch off his dead body as a sort of trophy. He left the watch on the pay phone so that it could be frond and enjoyed by a random stranger. It's worth about $5,000.00 so who wouldn't enjoy a gift like that?
@Reiian Ethizo but at that point he wasn’t really greedy
@@iamrightandyouarenot2466 he also gave $100 tip. He just knows he’s going to die and money doesn’t mean much for himself anymore.
Could also imply he knew he was "out of time" by the cancer and/or his plan.
@@NaiyruM yeah thats what i thought, theres no point in keeping a watch when you’ve ran out of time. i think it was just him accepting that.
i always saw it as him bread crumbing, serving as further confirmation it was him in ALQ and not some hoax to at that momment (alongside the stolen car) back up all the threats he sent around town to distract police before his final play as well as him taking a little bit of extra pride in further solidifying his legacy.
when jesse asks walt why he wants to cook meth, walt replies that he’s awake, he doesn’t mention this reason again until the last episode of the series with his conversation with skyler, this says a lot about walt’s ego as every time he’s asked why he’s doing the things that he’s doing, he always replies that it’s for the sake of his family, but in the end, it was ultimately all for himself, from abandoning his love for gretchen due to his failure to overcome his prideful insecurities, selling his $5,000 share from a company that would be worth billions, working as a high school teacher despite being an accomplished chemist, living in a crappy house paycheck to paycheck, to being diagnosed with cancer, walt is what you would expect someone to be if one were to be placed in that situation, however unlike most people who would have kept living this mundane existence, walt chose the opposite option, to live life on his own terms, it wasn’t until that he made that decision, that he was living life, and when he finally did, he was awake
i’m not religious, but i do feel that it’s worth mentioning about pride, and how it’s considered to be the gravest sin in abrahamic religions, especially christianity, it’s only fitting that the most destructive person in the series, walt, to have the biggest ego out of all the characters, walt might not be a psycho like tuco, or coldly calculating as gus, but instead, he’s so egotistical to the point that he lies to everyone and even himself, he acted on his ego and everything that came to be, was of his design, it had to be, even at the end, walt knew jesse wouldn’t shoot him despite all the pain that he caused him, because walt knew that jesse would decide not to act on walt’s orders anymore, even at the end, walt got his way, he had to
i found lydia’s death, or her would be death, to be extremely satisfying, it reminded me of hamlet, how the english ambassador comes after the climax to deliver the news of the deaths of rosencrantz and guildenstern, like the cherry on top, overall, i enjoyed the series, i can’t believe something this good once premiered on tv, the things you learn everyday
You misused the term psycho
@@lorcan2431 Despite his misuse of the term "psycho", this examination is much better than the video itself, since the latter is just rehashing the story.
Well at first he did it for his family, when he said he was awake he meant it in a different way, a man who loved 50 years being nice and genuine, doing good things only for life to spit back at him with a ill child, bad marriage, bad carrier, and finally cancer.
yes, back then TV was on fire with series like Dexter and BB ending but the worse part was waiting almost 2 years after hank found the book in walt's bathroom for episode 9 to premier.
@@malditoguero no the video is BASED your just CRING
After rewatching the series recently, in some ways I think the final scene is also Walt’s last deception. Not only does Walt die where he felt alive but also since he’s dead in the lab he’s going to get credit for all the blue meth Jessie had been cooking.
good point
Moreso that Walt is taking the heat and they won't go after Jesse
@@jwmeehan I believe it is meant to signify both at the same time, as to mirror Walt and this entire ending as a whole.
Considering that the drug life has done nothing good for Jesse, I doubt that he would care.
El Camino confirmed that the police figured out that Jesse was the gang’s meth cook though.
This might be an unpopular opinion but for me personally, Felina IS the best episode of the series and serves as the best ending I've ever seen for a TV show.
If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be proud of Vince's work. An incredible manifestation of a modern pyrhic victory.
The fact that Walt died in the same place he was alive brought me a good feeling of closure to the series. There were no questions I had after, all the loose ends were gone, all the characters finished their arcs, it was so satisfying unlike some other show’s finales. And that’s why I love breaking bad
I wish I felt the same way, but it bothers me to no end how we barely see Skyler, Junior or Marie after they experience the most traumatic day of their lives. The last thing we see is them reacting to the confirmation of Hank’s death (which they believe was at the hands of their husband/father/brother-in-law, mind you). We don’t see them again (with the exception of a couple quick scenes of Skyler) until several months later. We completely skip over the immediate aftermath of this trauma, where there would have been the most raw emotion. After spending five seasons with these characters, it ends up feeling really bizarre that the narrative essentially abandons them at such a significant event in their lives. I’m mostly fine with Skyler’s conclusion (though I still wish there’d been a bit more of her), but all we get from Junior is “no dad I hate you now” and with Marie we literally jumped straight from her learning of Hank’s death to her having come to terms with it.
And then there’s Jesse, who gets basically no conclusion to his five-season-long struggle with his on-and-off addiction, his trauma, and his sense of morality. I didn’t need that to all be wrapped up in a neat little bow or anything; I’m not against leaving his story open-ended to an extent. But aside from his closure with Walt, for all we know he could still be an addict, and he’s obviously still traumatized and guilt-ridden with no real way to cope with it (other than _drugs,_ of course). Him seeing his ex-girlfriend get gunned down doesn’t even amount to much payoff in the end, save for making it a bit more satisfying when he kills Todd (which he already had plenty of motivation for to begin with). It’s treated as triumphant for Jesse- and it is, to an extent, but there ultimately doesn’t seem to be much for a direction for him to go in now. And I think the showrunners even recognized that to a certain extent, seeing as they made El Camino six years later.
I just wanted to see the reaction from Skyler and Walter Jr.
Except for Jesse which was in El Camino
One loose end... Did anyone ever tell Huell it was safe to go home?
@@thomasthetankengine7307 I think they showed us enough to wear you can guess what their lives will be like. They're obviously traumatized by the events that happened, but they're doing their best to go on with their lives and try to live as a normal family minus a husband and father.
When Walt is in the car he says a little prayer to get him out of there. When he finds the keys, the keychain says "Just for Today." It is one of the keychains for narcotics anonymous. It may symbolize that it was a blessing from Jane, who's character was the most connected with substance abuse groups. Also, a keychain saves him in the beginning of the episode, and one saves him in the end.
Thanks for pointing this out. I never noticed that was NA Keychain.
oh my god...
This is a certified "bravo, Vince" moment. Unironically phenomenal.
Wow nice catch.
A great little detail is when Walt taps on the pressure gauge it says 86, in a previous episode he specifically states that it must be at 85. Walt before he dies has now got proof that he's still the best meth cook
He left the watch because he didn’t need it anymore. A way of saying times up and he’s accepting it.
I don’t think Jesse‘s carpenter vision was a flashback. I interpreted it as a dream/vision he was having while being enslaved to Jack’s gang.
During therapy, he mentions making the box in school.
It is his happy place.
yea its not a flashback. Its him trying to cope with the fact that he's a meth cooking slave. In the vision, he is freely creating something he has great passion and love for...which is in stark contrast to his reality in that exact moment.
i see it as both. it's the exact same box he was talking about, and he was using the exact methods he said he used. that being said, he's a grown man in the vision. dwelling on his past while simultaneously dreaming of the future.
i like to think of it as kind of both at the same time
Hope you guys enjoy this format. Let me know what you thought about "El Camino".
Fantastic work!!! This format provides a neat structure and allows you to go as in depth as you want to with your analysis. I love Felina, and you did an excellent job of highlighting and explaining all of the writing decisions that made it so good. Hoping to see much more of such content from you.
Great video, would love to see you breaking down El Camino (i adored the shit out of that, but have only seen it once)
That movie is good
I thought El Camino was completely unnecessary
You should do a video on El Camino
I like how for the entire episode, it never feels like Heisenberg was in the driver's seat. It was just Walter, tying up all his loose ends. Even with Gretchen and Elliot, he avoids necessary conflict and uses his intellect to avoid any kind of violence. Heisenberg would have just used actual snipers. Saving Jesse, admitting everything to Skyler, getting revenge for Hank, we weren't watching the death of Heisenberg; we were watching the father, teacher and tired man, Walter White cleaning up his own mess using his knowledge as a kingpin to try and clean up after himself. Jesse surviving was the finishing touch for him, it's almost like he knew Jesse would leave the country and find some kind of happiness. And with that, Walt is content. He won
This video is criminally underated
better call saul...
5.3k likes to 76 dislikes. What part of that is “criminally underrated”? Please do tell.
@@agneskennicott7851 the number of views??? That's what he means by underrated. Pretty sure there's a bcs reference as well
@@talha1349 A view is not a rating, idiot.
@@agneskennicott7851 views generally correlate to rating. A very good video usually has (or should have) a large number of views, as views show a 'good' video is getting the attention it deserves. Idiot.
One thing you missed: when Jack is begging for his life, the money he’s referring to is heavily implied to be money that Walt made selling Crystal meth. There’s a line in the very first episode hinting that Walt was planning to cook meth in order to make money for his family. The implication here is that Walt was actually running a successful meth empire for the duration of the whole show and the “money” is his total earnings.
I've never liked this theory. The show would be ruined if it turned out the protagonist was doing something as heinous as cooking meth.
Brabo Bince
I'll never trust anyone ever again
In all seriousness, this actually just shows Walt knows he's done everything he wanted and doesn't need the money anymore, so he kills jack knowing what he's implying and not giving a shit
THERES NO WAY BROOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
such a satisfyingly bittersweet ending. just the right amount of closure mixed with just the right amount of ambiguity & the perfect amount of conflicting feelings.
okay I think Walt leaving his watch on the pay phone is supposed to symbolize how he doesn’t have the prospect of time anymore. The fanciful fluff of waiting is gone and he has to wrap up everything now. just a pin to the idea that this is the finally
Honestly the best ending to a show ever, very satisfying. One thing I want to mention is the metaphor of gus dying. He fixes his tie (gives the appearance of a civilized man and his public persona) and he is two faces in his death, half which is his public persona and the other half which is his true self, death represented by his skull.
I’ve just recently discovered your channel and I’m very confused how you don’t have more viewers and subscribers, you make actual and legitimate critiques that is very satisfying to listen to due to your insight towards the movie or show you are critiquing/analyzing
Thanks Khosef. Honesty it seems that a lot of people like my format. I just don't get many views. I have a few videos I'm planning to do in this style as well as more of my topical videos. Glad you like my content and hopefully my channel grows with time.
Ill always say that breaking bad is one of the only shows that has a really fulfilling ending that doesnt feel weak or over done. Its not a happy or sad ending (except for jessie). I always wanted to see the after story with jesse, and am happy they made it, but even when it seemed it was over at this point, nobody ever really said they needed to make more. It was perfect. Jesses movie was like a cherry on top over a perfectly done story for walt and jesse
Agreed. Walt dying is like the perfect way to wrap things up
El Camino makes me think that Vince's talents get lost in translation from the silver screen to the big screen.
Yes. In other shows, killing off a main character would be for sadness and shock value, but in Breaking Bad, it's a perfect ending.
This format sounds really interesting I can't wait to get more on that.
Who. Wrote. This?
Do u need help ?
Please do more videos like this, your analysis is spot on and your editing is something to be praised.
Thanks Michael. I'm already working on a script for a long form video. I'm not sure when I'll be finished with it. But I guarantee it will be the longest and most in depth video I will have made thus far.
@@EvanMonroe "longest and most in depth video"
Hey now, don't get crazy man. Don't forget, long man bad.
I just noticed this, when Skyler tells Marie to shut up, it's a reference to how she wants her to stop talking
A little thing nobody notices is that the key that falls out of the sun visor is on a Narcotics Anonymous key tag (they give out key tags for various lengths of sobriety, similar to AAs “chips”). It’s the white one, which is given out for “24 hours or less, or just the desire”. This could maybe signify that Walt has less then 24 hours to accomplish his final goals, and a reminder of the many lives ruined by the drug that Walt mass produced
Holy smokes dude
23:56 He is not belittling her, though, he is actually trying to make it look like he is the only one responsible for everything, in order to make the cops more lenient
Yeah but I dont think she or walt jr thought that. They just hear walt threatening to kill sky like he did to hank
@@garydorsey4243 she knew. You can see the realization on her face. He was saying things that never happened. Did you watch the scene?
Walts last words were "goodbye lydia"
such a shame. I feel like his last words should've been the ones with Jesse.
"I want this..."
@@zizo5349 that would've been pretty good, but I'm glad we got the confirmation that Lydia wasn't making it out of this alive
I was hoping him to say "Goodbye Jesse" very silently too
Him leaving the watch could be implying that he's not on the clock anymore. The entire show was him always on the run and racing with time, always looking at his watch. This episode is him not needing that because he's just tying up loose end and finishing everything. He's just walking the entire episode, no rush, even when he's about to die. He has truly accepts what he became and the fact that what he did was all for nothing, he did all this for himself as he said that to Skyler.
I like how Gus finally revenge on the person/people who hurt him the most but it cost him his own life and the same happened to Walt. Yet all these events from Walt all started in season 5 after he was the one who had Gus killed. Makes it even better after Gus makes the quote earlier about how him and Walt are not the same.
Wish Game of Thrones ended in a satisfying way like breaking bad....
The tragedy of comments like this is that George R Martin is gonna die before he finishes Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring. So ASOIAF will never get a satisfying conclusion
That's was obvious for me in season 5.
Marked dropped off in quality season 5 onward.
Same
With Walt discovering the car that was unlocked with the keys in it, with New Hampshire which is where he is and Maine people do that all the time. Because the crime rate is low, people get negligent with that stuff.
It’s one of those TV tropes that I totally believe, for over 5 years I left my keys in the ignition of my car.
I didn’t even live in a low crime area but people don’t really steal cars where I grew up.
@@MrSqurk Exactly! Some places are just weird like that, but in a good way! (Maybe, it would personally drive me crazy to do that hahaha)
Yeah, we did that in rural Ontario when I was young ... a while back, now
Ive lived in small town and cities with millions..rarely locked my car and the keys are always in it.. But, Someone stole my Boat out of my front Yard as I was packing the cooler to go fishing ..so There's that..XD
When Walter said to Lydia "Learn to take yes for an answer." that made me so angry because he took that line from Mike right after he killed him. Somehow, within the episodes that followed, Vince managed to not only feel bad for Walt, but make me fully like Walt again.
This entire show was just a rollercoaster to many emotions packed into a 5 season series it truly left off complete and worth every second of it
Watched this episode for the first time this last Sunday. What a fookin masterpiece.
I just watched Felina, ultimately drawing Breaking Bad to a close. I’m going through the wake of grief Breaking Bad has left. It feels like personal loss of a loved one. Best experience, let alone TV series of my lifetime, It is a masterpiece. I’m beyond sad that it is over, but better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all!
I haven't seen anyone point this out yet and I don't recall it in the video "Felina" the name of the episode is also the name of the girl in the Marty Robbins song "El Paso" that was on the radio and Walt was singing while building the M60 device in his trunk. The song is about running from the law and it finally catching up to Marty Robbins wich I think ties in nicely with Braking Bad
I’ve also seen people break it down into its elements.
Fe (Iron) Li (Lithium) Na (Sodium)
Which people speculated into “Blood, Meth, Tears”
Felina is even an anagram for “Finale”, they honestly couldn’t have chosen a more perfect title if they tried.
Braking bad
The song is actually about committing a crime out of love, fleeing the town of El Paso, only to return because the pull of that love is too strong to stay away, and dying in the arms of that love. Though I’m fairly certain the cowboy in “El Paso” is hallucinating Felina’s arrival to kiss him once more before death.
Vince Gillian really does go that deep, when you think you’ve pulled back all the layers of the show, you find another one
@@bashfulwolfo6499 I believe the Lithium is sweat, so “blood sweat and tears”
If you pay attention, Jesse Pinkman says “It’s Jesseing Time!” After he gets freed from Jacks compound. This is a subtle reference to the fact that it is Jesseing time.
I was pretty sure he says "it's el camino time" but maybe I missheard that
hey as nice as he was, Gale was not an “innocent man”
It should be like gale was a pure at heart guy.
I mean he was sure as hell a better man than Walter or Jesse
@DoomSlayer I never said he wasn't a piece of shit, just a better man than Jesse and Walter
@DoomSlayer go to bed, Reagan.
Thats right
Gale was extremely cringe and guilty of being a redditor
The biggest monster in the show
"A man who died, only after he had truly lived." Epic.
I like to think that after everything, Walt saves Jesse by not only freeing him but also taking the hit that kills him that would have otherwise killed Jesse
this show feels so complete that i can just feel complete and remember the good times and how it all ties up. Makes me sad to know that it's over.