Topic: Breaking Bad - The End. Spoilers through US aired season six episodes.
Obama
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Last season starts in about two months. A year's wait but I'm betting it'll be worth it. This thread can be for speculation and such.
So Hank knows. I really hope that the show continues directly after the last scene, because I want to see his reaction when he walks out of the bathroom and sees Walt.
I can just imagine Hank yelling out in rage, standing up and rushing out of the bathroom to beat Walt to death and promptly tripping over the pants he forgot to pull up in his anger. Not really, but it would be hilarious.
Gilligan has said that they didn't have a concrete explanation for the flashforward that opened season 5 when they wrote it, and if necessary they'd ditch it and handwave it somehow.
I'm going to assume for now that that is still going to happen. The question is why. I think it comes down to three possibilities :
A) Jessie is already terrified of Walt. In the extra scene added into the Season 5 DVD release, Saul told him how Walt had the nine men murdered, and all but told Jessie flat out that Walter killed Mike. He gets pushed over the edge somehow into testifying against Walt, and Walt needs to go on the run.
B) Hank knows. There is a confrontation between Walt and Hank. Hank is killed, and Walt goes on the run.
C) Hank's death isn't known at first, or it isn't known that Walt did it. Skyler figures out it was Walt, though. That, or something else pushes her into deciding she is going to turn Walt in. Walt kills her, and goes on the run.
I think the story ends with Walt either dead or in prison. More likely dead. Despite that, the entire country finds out about the chemistry teacher who became the meth king of the southwest. (And the Czech Republic!) It's a big news story, and everyone's talking about it. In a way, Walt gets to win even if he dies, because everyone finally knows who he is. Everyone realizes what he is capable of and what he can do.
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Huh. I'm getting a memory like an old person, I remember the nerdy blue ranger being named Billy.
Yeah, I'm always shocked at how much different stuff Cranston has been in. Turn's out being a great actor doesn't stop him from also being a great character actor.
I wonder if he'll turn out like Gandolfini, though, and just be known as Walter White to the vast majority of the population. There's always Hal, I suppose.
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"Everyone realizes what he is capable of and what he can do."
I think you must be right. I can imagine the look on WW's face when they show this moment of satisfaction.
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Obama
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Probably be the first time we see Heisenberg smile.
Ya'll think the cancer will come back? I kind of doubt it, myself. The cancer served it's purpose in pushing him over the edge already. The story is now and has been for a long time about how Walt is doing this because he wants to do it, not because of the cancer.
The end of the story is here, and there are far more interesting human-human conflicts to be had then spending time on WW's cancer coming back.
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My attempt to plot out the remainder of the series:
I think we'll have a couple of episodes where Hank is gathering proof and having a hard time figuring out whether he's going to do anything with it, and then one or two where Walt goes on the defensive and ends up coming up with some clever way to kill Hank.
Once Hank is dead Skyler will have a really good idea why, and will be desperate to get the family into some kind of plea arrangement and witness protection, but Walt will in some way hold a child or her sister hostage.
Jesse will become aware of these events and make some attempt to get close to Walt again with the intent of killing him, but something will go wrong and Walt's hostage will die instead. Jesse will then go to the DEA and turn himself in so he can take Walt down another way.
Walt will try to get his cash and go on the run, but will fail to get the money when the police are closing in.
We will get a glimpse of Walter's attempts to break back into the trade (small time, just to get back on his feet) once he's in an area where nobody knows him and he has no one afraid of him or loyal to him.
Once he gets a bit of money, he'll come back to ABQ with the intent of killing all those who betrayed him.
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I think it's interesting that everyone thinks that Walt kills Hank.
Frankly, I think it would be incredibly satisfying if Hank killed Walt.
And it's my guess that Hank won't die. The actor who plays Hank asked very, very seriously to be killed off in the front 8. Gilligan denied his request saying he was crucial to the back 8. Why keep him around for a couple episodes just to kill him anyway? I mean maybe, for pacing, but with that request in hand, I think Gilligan would have accelerated the plot and killed him earlier.
But no, I think Hank survives and either kills Walt or puts him away. Gilligan has said the ending is bittersweet, and at this point, I think the most bittersweet thing that could happen would be Walt dying to protect either Jesse or Hank. Walt is beyond redemption now, but he could go out to protect his friends and family and that would be very satisfying.
There's also the question of whether or not Walt is really out like he said. Is he out? Is the money enough? Did he get out too late?
I think if Walt cracks, he won't be able to kill Hank. Hank saved his life at least once, and Walt used Hank as a foil to take care of one of his problems that nearly killed Hank and then ruined his life for half a year. He's shown a sentimental streak with it comes to Jesse and family. Hank is family.
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posted
You know what I love about BB now? The fact that it doesn't have a tradition, lengthy opening.
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Obama
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I don't know. If Hank confronts Walt with everything he's managed to figure out (the drug dealing, the murders, the lies to the family) and really digs into his ego, insulting him and questioning his manhood, I can see Walt snapping momentarily and killing Hank. Walt long ago lost the mental constraints society puts on you against murder;just losing his temper could be enough.
After all, that's basically why Mike died. He pissed Walt off.
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Mike didn't die because he made Walt *angry*. He died because he insulted Walt's pride, which is his biggest trigger.
But I'm not sure Hank would do that. The thing is, Hank won't confront Walt until he has all his evidence lined up. And he'll confide in Gomez, but he won't tell anyone else because it's a strike against HIS pride. Walt will only kill Hank if he thinks the secret dies with him, otherwise, why kill a family member?
At the end of the day, Walt resented Mike. Mike ALWAYS belittled him, always talked down to him, never believed in him, and by the end, Walt felt like he was carrying Mike and that Mike's rules and restrictions were unnecessary. Hank has a lot of that baggage and doesn't even know about it, which makes it much more likely that Hank snaps and kills Walt than vice versa. Plus, Hank isn't stupid enough to tip his hand.
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I've been making this prediction since Season 4: the series will end when Jesse kills Walt after Walt kills Hank and Skyler.
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Obama
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I think any hesitation on Hank's part in moving against Walt is that for now the only hard evidence he possesses is a book with Gale's initials in it.
There's also the fact that Hank is going to look like an accomplice. Every big bust or success of his came about with Walt either being heavily involved or the person to kill the drug dealer. His rehab was paid for with drug money. Hank is honorable, though, so I doubt that we will see more then momentary hesitation over this.
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Obama
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You may have a point, though. Hank has been shown to have a violent temper. If he'd smash Jessie's face in over a phone call...
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I've been making this prediction since Season 4: the series will end when Jesse kills Walt after Walt kills Hank and Skyler.
Gilligan has said the end will be 'satisfying in a way' and "bittersweet."
Nothing about that ending qualifies either of those descriptions.
That would be an extremely, extremely tragic ending.
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My vote goes for Walt ending up in prison with his story all over the news, giving him the fame he so badly craves. I don't know how that ties into the flashforward scene, but I don't know if I believe Gilligan when he says he doesn't have a concrete plan for it or is planning on waving it off.
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Obama
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He's also said that viewed from a certain angle, the ending can be seen as Walt winning in some way.
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Walt wants to sing his accomplishments SO bad, wants to brag. I'm not sure how it's all going to end but I'm sure that there will be a moment when Hank lets Walt know he knows and Walt will transform into Hiesenburg before our eyes. Maybe smile and lean back and look at Hank with twinkling eyes and whisper "Prove it."
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quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: Walt wants to sing his accomplishments SO bad, wants to brag. I'm not sure how it's all going to end but I'm sure that there will be a moment when Hank lets Walt know he knows and Walt will transform into Hiesenburg before our eyes. Maybe smile and lean back and look at Hank with twinkling eyes and whisper "Prove it."
Um, that would be silly. He has a ton of proof. None of it ever made sense before because no matter how much the proof pointed to Walt, he couldn't bring himself to believe it was his brother-in-law. But when the veils fall and Walt is front and center, all that evidence he had before slots neatly into place.
As for the "Walt winning" thing, Gilligan has also said that Walt will be exploring his identity without the blinders of the last few seasons. Most of the "winning" guesses I see are pretty straight forward based on what we've seen in the past few seasons. Maybe a new victory is based different criteria as he has an epiphany in this last run of episodes.
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Obama
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Does he have enough proof to actually charge Walt, though? The missing lab equipment from his school is circumstancial, and the book isn't much better at all.
I expect a scene similar to when Skyler and Walt had their last big blow up. Hank tries to convince WW to turn himself in, and then moves on to saying how he'll take Walt down. Walt shoots each idea down, (you can't prove anything, you'll go down as an accomplice) and generally goes into full on "I'm smarter then you and am always two steps ahead" Heisenberg mode. And really, he does have his bases pretty well covered on this. The only risk is someone talking.
Unlike Skyler, this just pisses Hank off more, and the main conflict of the first part of the season is set up - Hank v Walt.
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I think Walt has to die. If Gilligan has given hints that it will be bittersweet and sort of like Walter winning, then what happens is he dies in some way that helps protect his family.
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quote:Originally posted by Obama: Does he have enough proof to actually charge Walt, though? The missing lab equipment from his school is circumstancial, and the book isn't much better at all.
I expect a scene similar to when Skyler and Walt had their last big blow up. Hank tries to convince WW to turn himself in, and then moves on to saying how he'll take Walt down. Walt shoots each idea down, (you can't prove anything, you'll go down as an accomplice) and generally goes into full on "I'm smarter then you and am always two steps ahead" Heisenberg mode. And really, he does have his bases pretty well covered on this. The only risk is someone talking.
Unlike Skyler, this just pisses Hank off more, and the main conflict of the first part of the season is set up - Hank v Walt.
He has incredibly strong circumstantial evidence, enough to open up a wider investigation which would include doing away with their whole "we got all this money from gambling winnings" BS. Hank will discover that Walt has never set foot inside any Casinos within a thousand mile radius, and if he supposedly won THAT much money, you better believe there would be a record. Then he'll start interrogating the car wash financials, and it wouldn't take more than a few weeks of watching the car wash to realize it doesn't do nearly as much business as Skyler says it does. He might even be able to find DMV records from the various fancy cars Walt bought and subsequently returned.
Most of Walt's coverups depend on the fact that no one is already looking for him. He eliminated evidence that would allow someone to name him. But once named, he's in pretty serious trouble.
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Obama
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Saul knew a manager at the casino who filled out the appropriate loss forms to give to the government. Walt is covered on the money angle.
He could stake out the car wash, yeah, but he wouldn't get an okay from his bosses for it. He has less on Walt then he ever did on Fring, and they shut him down on that until Walt blew Fring up. And Skyler has said that the car wash makes enough legit money for them to get by. If Walt gets so much as a whiff of trouble, he can stop laundering the money and just let it sit in the storage locker.
Hank is a good detective though, and more then stubborn enough to keep on trying to uncover convictable evidence, with official backing or without. Part of why I think there's a decent chance Hank gets murdered.
Little ricin in the Schraderbrau, perhaps?
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If we've learned anything, it's that Hank doesn't need an okay from his bosses before he chases something down. And if he tells Gomie before he does it, which I think he would, or possibly warns his wife, then killing him solves nothing.
Now that Hank knows, he'll be on it. And I think he will keep it quiet while he gathers evidence. Walt thinks all the bridges are burned, and there's nothing left to hide because he's closed everything down, except perhaps Matt Damon Jr., I can't remember what happened to him. He's the only real loose end.
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I think that is the point of the season. Walt V Hank, Hank scrambling to gather evidence, while Walt tries to thwart him. Maybe Hank flying unlicensed because it looks like he is an accomplice since Hank also has a lot of pride and wouldn't be willing to turn over the investigation to someone else (and there is NO WAY the DEA would let him do the investigation of his own brother in law who all but was a collaborator through his own gullibility.
As for the M60. Walt doesn't really need a good reason to get overwhelming firepower, all he needs is to feel threatened.
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He feels really subdued in that flash forward though. It was also his birthday. He's making that breakfast drawing. He's alone. He gives the waitress a huge tip. His hair is back. He feels like Walter White--not Heisenberg. He has a fake ID. It's all very curious.
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Obama
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It doesn't have to be his birthday. She checks to see if it is by looking at his fake ID, after all.
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Obama
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In fact, one could look at his actions in that scene as him trying to draw attention.
Hi, it's my birthday, see it says so on my ID right next to my completely real name and birthdate. Look at me acting weird and making numbers out of my bacon. Just in case that's not enough to remember me by, here's a hundred dollar tip.
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quote:Originally posted by Obama: In fact, one could look at his actions in that scene as him trying to draw attention.
Hi, it's my birthday, see it says so on my ID right next to my completely real name and birthdate. Look at me acting weird and making numbers out of my bacon. Just in case that's not enough to remember me by, here's a hundred dollar tip.
Perhaps, but to what end?
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If Walt is on the run, he probably looks a lot different then he did when he left. (Hair, beard, different glasses.)
Now he's back, and he's bought a really big and impractical gun to do something. Maybe, even if he's on the run because the Man wants a piece of Walter White, he doesn't want whatever is about to go down as being connected to him, for reasons unknown. So he makes sure this stranger sees him in a cafe and remembers him. The cops find her and get a fake name (and probably birthday) for the man whose description matches the perp's.
My favorite theory I've read on the gun is that Jessie's robot suggestion back in the first or second season will come to fruition. Mad Scientist Walt will attach the machine gun to a moving platform and use it as an armed drone.
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At the end of the day we're all going to find out that he's just buying himself a really cool birthday present.
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Whatever happens will be unpredictable and satisfying.
Think about how comprised Hank would be professionally if it becomes public that his brother in law (who visited him quite a few times at the DEA headquarters) is Heisenberg. Hank is a likeable and good person, and it just wrenches your heart knowing how betrayed he's going to feel by a family member whom he really cared about.
At the same time I dread Walter getting found out because of his son's love and admiration for him. I came to care about the people around Walt too much to want to see him get caught.
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I tell you what makes me satisfied about Breaking Bad. My wife just bought me the DVD set for the whole series thus far. Posts: 684 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Obama
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Very nice. The inside and making of segments are put on youtube every week, but they're usually pretty cool and insightful and it'd be nice to have them at hand.
Other then that, I have netflix for my BB needs.
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quote:except perhaps Matt Damon Jr., I can't remember what happened to him. He's the only real loose end. [/QB]
I had to think about who you meant, then I laughed out loud. Really.
That kid has a mobbed up family; they're the ones who did all the prison hits. I doubt Walt would mess with him, at least not without serious cause.
Posts: 1515 | Registered: Feb 2002
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That's cool, Umberhulk, thanks. I've placed my bets.
First reviews for the season premiere are popping up. Here's one of them, although if you want to be completely unspoiled I'd recommend you avoid it. It's nothing major, though. Brief overview of the first two scenes, with no details, is all.
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Is there a way to watch this live, or at least within a couple days afterward, if you don't have cable? Such as buying episodes on iTunes or Amazon, or through streaming? I won't be happy if I have to wait a while to watch the end of the season just because I can't have cable right now.
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P.S. - I had a dream a week ago or so where Hank gets killed off in the opening episode of this season. Walt killed him. I was really ticked off when it happened, then I was glad when I woke up and realized it was a dream.
Or maybe I have premonitions.
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When that garage door closed, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Red Wedding levels of intensity.
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So many ways Walt could end up heavily armed, grungy, and on the run. If from the law I think he would've been caught, so that makes me think it's someone on the other side hunting.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: My best friend thought for sure that Hank was day dreaming.
But I think I this means Hank isn't really going to be that vital going forward. Too much too fast.
That was a great episode. They are going in a different direction than I thought. I like it. However, I wouldn't count Hank out yet.
Hank is kind of penned in, yes. He could easily get himself frozen out of the case, maybe suspended or even fired, if his boss becomes aware he's obsessing and inserting himself into this case again. He's been ordered to leave it alone, and they are going to think he's crazy.
The alternative to pursuing this on his own, looking crazy, and risking his job, is to blow it wide open, and give everyone at the DEA the whole theory. But that means they will know that Hank accepted drug money for his treatment, and he'll still lose his career either for suspected corruption OR for being too stupid to see what was happening under his nose. They will need a fall guy if the truth comes out, and Hank is the only candidate.
Plus he's legitimately afraid of Walt, now. Heisenberg successfully killed all of Fring's men. And the family is at risk.
But that doesn't mean he won't need to win this, somehow. When things broke bad for Walt, he did things that he wouldn't previously have considered. Now things are really, really bad for Hank. He has been beaten again and again by Heisenberg, and now he's desperate. He doesn't have much time before he might be dead. He's angry. He will hold Walt responsible for his injuries, for his professional embarrassment, for making him such a fool.
We might see them going to war in a quiet way, trying to outsmart each other, but each on their own, trying to kill the other but preserve something of their lives.
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Lots of people have suggested that Hank will leave anyway to pursue some of his other interests, like logging and minerals.
I think Hank will work with Gomie to get the DEA on Walt's trail. He'd rather bust Walt and lose his job than keep his job and let Walt get away with it.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Holy CRAP! Did anyone else freak out when Hank left Walt's house and he started having a panic/heart attack?! I thought he might actually die, and then he'd die knowing the secret. I guess he can still die and not have the chance to tell anyone, but I think the fact that Walt's neighbor knew about his crimes (I'm assuming, anyway), we can probably assume that Hank somehow gets the word out (or someone does, anyway).
I also think something is going to happen to Jessie. He's either going to die or end up broke and happy to be free of it (I would prefer this). Not Walt, though. Walt is pretty much doomed.
I can't believe this show is almost over. I'm loving the final episodes, but I am so sad. There's just nothing else on TV that can match it (with the exception of Game of Thrones, I suppose). Here's hoping AMC can get some new shows in to replace it, but I suspect nothing is going to compare.
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I was just rewatching that scene and I just noticed that Hank spits when he says "I don't give a shit about family"
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