TPG's Chemistry Class: Series Finale - Felina - Breaking Bad Recap

That was a good finale when it needed to be excellent. All in all it was a fantastic, well written, expertly directed episode. I just thought it was a little too neat and because of that it exposed some wonderful questions about the show, but also some flaws about the final season. But let's just get right into it and since this is the last time I get to do this, they're won't just be ten points.

1. The opening image of this episode was snowy car window. I like to call it a blank slate. Fitting because this episode was a redemption tour for Walter White.

2. Vince Gilligan really proved himself as a director this episode. I particularly enjoyed all the ways that Walt was framed. The first time I noticed it was when he broke into Gretchen and Eliot's house. His face, full of calm threats haunting the innocent couple. This device was used multiple times in the episode and I'll point it out as we go along.

3. The scene with Gretchen and Eliot was the first indicator that this finale was going not going to be as dark and intense as I hoped. Let me ask you, who were you rooting for in that scene? Were you fearing for the Schwartzs' life? Or were you all like "yeah Walt, make em do what you say, taunt them with a promise of future death in European cities." I imagine you were probably rooting for Walt. That's the problem, this is a dude who's done a ton of really bad shit over the course of the show and we really shouldn't be rooting for him. Remember just how creepy you felt when Walt went to visit Andrea and Brock? Thought so. How about when he gave up Jesse to be killed? Now you're rooting for him again which is a deft stroke by the writers but feels somewhat false in the scope of the entire show. Also why didn't he just knock on their door? Isn't he the one who....ok...lame joke.

4. I did love seeing Badger and Skinny Pete back in action. Hopefully they start a Star Trek inspired band with those earnings.

5. The ricin, something had to happen with it. Yet I'm not going to lie it's very convenient storytelling that he was able to sneak it into the sweetener packet. Keep in mind the last time the ricin was used, it involved a complicated swap with fast hands Huell and now we don't even see how he got it there. It's not nitpicking if they've already established these complex ricin rules in the show before. Just a little too convenient.

6. So in the end Marie ends up with a nice home as a lonely widow. Skyler ends up a chain smoking mess with bizarre plastic surgery lips. Rough ending for Skyler.

8. The best part of the finale and probably the entire final season was the "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. I was alive" line. Short, powerful, and perfect. Also a nice little shout-out to my persona liberty theory from yonder year.

9. We got another great framing shot of Walt the Father looking through the window at Flynn coming home. Heartbreaking.

10. Still find it hard to believe that the DEA wouldn't be able to spot Walt at the house. Also while I'm at it. Gus Fring had Walt cooking UNDERGROUND. This skin-head lab was out in the open at a time when one of the best agents was gunned down in a drug-related crime. How did the DEA not find that compound in the entire year Jesse was cooking? I guess once Steve Gomez died the entire DEA went to shit.

11. Nice to see Todd get his but I didn't really feel that much when Jesse did it. I always saw Jesse as a much more sympathetic character than Walt. I mean he was a mess after he killed Gale. Seeing him brutally murder Todd was satisfying, but also made me sad because the ultimately morally sound Jesse seemed to have finally disappeared.

12. Oh I didn't even mention that I thought the machine gun contraption was cool but a little too much. Walt was a chemist! He was not an an electrical and mechanical engineer. When has he ever made something that complex before? Every badass stunt he pulled involved some level of chemistry. Maybe the train robbery but he had help with that!  That was one serious contraption for him to make, not to mention all the intangibles involving parking logistics.

14. Loved how when Jesse was going to kill Walt it was the exact same imagery as when he killed Gale. Also was very into the fact that he didn't kill Walt.

15. Was Jesse yelling because he was released or because he had been through so much he was finally lost his mind once and for all. I prefer the second option. Also

16. MIND MELT In the end in that final brilliant shot while Walt is lying on the floor of the lab, did you catch how Walt's body was divided up the beams. A powerful final shot for the series. Walt was a man of many different parts. Father. Husband. Chemist. Meth Dealer. Genius. The list is endless. A powerful visual metaphor for all the things that make us who we are.

17. When it comes to finales, it's always hard to balance what you personally want with the judgement made by the people who actually make the show. I wanted Walt to answer for his sins in a more brutal way. But for me, this episode was WAYYY too much of a happy ending. Don't try to tell me it wasn't, here are the things that work out for Walt:

• Establishes a fund for Flynn & Holly
• Scares the shit out of his old nemesis and the woman that scorned him
• Got to show some love for Badger and Skinny Pete
• Make relative peace with Skyler and Holly
• Killed Lydia
• Killed all the nazis who killed his brother in law.
• Specifically blew the head off the dude who specifically killed his brother in law.
• Made relative peace with Jesse his true son.
• Died in the only place that really made him feel alive - the lab.

Yeah I'd say that it was a happy ending for Walt the sociopathic drug lord. Not what I would prefer but I guess in the end he wasn't really a bad guy. Just a down on his luck cancer patient trying to provide for his family. Right?

18. Ultimately though I'm satisfied with it, I just wish that it took some more risks. Vince Gilligan said there is a much darker and rougher ending that they considered but opted to go for it. I just wished that they didn't feel that Walt needed his happily ever after.

It's  been a real  blast writing these recaps. Thanks for reading and be sure to stay tuned as Game of Thrones returns next year!

Breaking Bad Aims For It's Scarface Moment (And Drake Came Along As Well)

From Mr. Chips to Scarface - Vince Gilligan

As we near the final episode of Breaking Bad we must revisit the season's essential opening image. Yes I'm talking about that gigantic machine gun featured above. Now I've covered the machine gun before in my opening post on the season a year ago. There I get all excited about a Hank-Heisenberg showdown, and while I'm still excited for the finale, I'm feeling more than a little nervous as well. The reason has to do with the above quote from Vince Gilligan the show runner. If the show started with Mr. Chips then it's going to end with "Scarface" and based off the image above and the set-up last week, I'd say we're going to get Walter White's Tony Montana moment soon. And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

"Scarface" is a fantastic movie that has reached cult-status for a variety of reasons including Pacino's titanic performance, hip-hop culture latching onto it with a vice grip, and a pretty tight script written by Oliver Stone. Even now rap golden Boy is still referencing the film in his latest music video. Like many others Drake seems to latch onto the violence of the film.  The final iconic images of the film are Tony Montana with his gigantic machine fighting to the death versus his enemies/the world. I worry if Mr. Gilligan has latched onto that image as well. If he has we may be due for an ending that could disappoint us.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in that last sentence. If at any point in this finale we get former teacher, cancer suffering, Walter White blasting people with that much firepower I will be disappointed. Sure I have no doubt it will be shot spectacularly, but I don't think it will resonate. The reason for that is that Heisenberg is almost purely built on the power of his mind, which is what makes him a unique anti-hero. The great Heisenberg moments have involved more careful planning and science that physical force. Sure the Gus Fring bomb was badass, but it was the set-up that was more brilliant. Dispatching all of his foes at once even while some in prison, cunning and smart, but not physically hard for Heisenberg. As a kingpin, Walt works well without having to do the dirty work himself. 

Now the times when Heisenberg himself, mainly the early days of killing low-level dealers, including the ones he so memorably ran over have all been born of out circumstance and need not careful planning. If you need more evidence that Walt isn't that good of assassin just look how he almost botched killing Mike last season. For this reason Walter White is much more Michael Corleone (that's the Godfather yo) than Tony Montana. Michael does get dirty himself, but it also much more calculating and deeply sinister than Tony Montana. Gilligan has said that he cribs from the Godfather for the show all the time and that's OK with me, because the parts of the Michael character he has put in Walter White are the best.

So if he's cribbing from "The Godfather" but referencing "Scarface" what are we going to get on Sunday? My hope is that by referencing "Scarface" in that legendary quote, Gilligan was just trying to pull in all the worshippers of that movie and we will actually get a finale where Heisenberg plans his attack with the careful precision of a scientist scorned. Leave the shootouts in Miami, give us the psychological showdown. That's the true Heisenberg.

TPG's Chemistry Class: Season Finale "Face Off"

REST IN POLLOS!

DING! DING! DING! That is the "Holy Shit Got Dayummmmmm" bell ringing in my brain after last night's totally bananas season finale. I got multiple special guests contributing including the return of the REAL LIFE SCIENTIST and a new contributor JOHN MARSTON.  So let's call up Badger and Skinny Pete get some blue sky and get our river dance on with this finale!


1. This episode was called "Face Off" and right away I can think of multiple ways to interpret this title. The first obviously is that Gus Fring literally gets his face blown off. When he walked out of that room and I yelped because I thought he was alive and then the camera turned to show this. Cage and Travolta would have been proud. The second face off also pertains to a face getting blown off, but instead of literally like Gus, it's metaphorically, as in we know now Walter White's true face as a criminal mastermind. The third and final one is the future showdown that will be the final season of Breaking Bad. Jesse vs Walt, Hank vs Walt, Badger vs Skinny Pete, Gale vs Space.

2. Bryan Cranston appeared recently on the excellent WTF Podcast with Marc Maron where he revealed the whole plan for the show is to show how Mr. Chips becomes Scarface. We now are close to the end so if Scarface goes out in a hail of bullets, can we expect the same for Walter?

3. In addition to the deaths of Gus, Tyrus, Hector, and ambiguous henchmen, let's take a moment of silence for Gale's coffee machine. For all you coffee lovers out there, it was a real tragedy.

4. You asked for it, and now he's back, yes folks the return of the Real Life Scientist and he's hypothesizing and realizing shit that no one could have thought of, not even you Brandon (yes you!)

I'm sure you noticed that last week Walt spun the gun three times last week twice pointing at himself insinuating to kill himself and then to the plant! Also up for argument was whether big black took Jesse's cigs because some way Walt took the cigarette when he smoked it with Jesse which is why he only took a couple of drags. Also if you look at the paper being shredded, it looked like a school schedule, where someone wrote out Monday through Friday suggesting it was Brock's schedule and he was poisoned at school (WHAAT)

Dayum that's a mind melt with some blue sky crossed together with some Pollos Hermanos. Big thanks to the Real Life Scientist for all his insightful comments.

5. I loved how at the end Hector, just like Walt was motivated by his family. The Salamanca portrait was goofy considering what the family became but it was bizarrely touching to see crazy ol' Hector look to the portrait before he rang in the spirit of vengeance.

6. You ever notice how everyone on the show is also nice ass jackets.

7. At the start of the season we saw Gus getting dressed up to ice somebody. Once again he put on his best clothes to kill as well. And while the death of Gus was WILD, I still hope we learn more about him, specifically his probably Chilean background in the military.

8. When those guys in the van grabbed Jesse I had a flashback to Lost and I thought for a second that they were gonna ask if Jesse was a candidate. BTW if you care:

•  Walt  = John Locke
•  Jesse = Sawyer
•  Gus =  Ben Linus
•  Saul = Jacob

9. I've been watching this season with "THE GUY" over at the excellent Lifting Fog blog. A major TV junkie I tracked him down at the car wash. Since he's an avid fan of the western genre and this season has had a particular Western flare to it, let's call him John Marston! Here are his thoughts on three potential "Breaking Bad" spin-offs for network television:


- 'Love Thy Neighbor': A game show wherein contestants are offered increasing amounts of cash/drug power to inflict potentially lethal harm on the people who water their plants when they're out of town. It's like that sociological experiment at the university that I heard about one time in some class. Milgram? Something. Anyway, it's on after 'Biggest Loser'.


- 'Nursing Home Hijinks': In an alternate outcome to Tio's bell-bomb, Gus survives…but has lost the majority of his motor skills, and for whatever reason is also 30 years older. Anyway he and Tio are now roommates in the Casa Bonita Retirement Home, constantly trying to kill and/or out-stare each other. They are all bottle episodes.


- 'Hank 24/7': In which we follow DEA agent Hank Schrader through every lead, computer search, and jovially gruff repartee as he attempts to decipher the connection between Los Pollos Hermanos and the Mexican cartels (and get fidgety Marie off his back, good grief!). Hank is the best, and deserves the best show on television (besides the show from which he's spun off, and of course 'The New Girl').

10. With Gus dead and Walt/Jesse seemingly out of the business, where does the show go from here? Well, there are couple tantalizing set ups for next season that I've been thinking about. Hank is gonna learn that Walt and Jesse were at the laundry before it burned up, expect him to be 100% healthy and 100% on the offensive next time. Jesse is going to learn about the flowers plot and about Jane's death at some point and it's going to be full on Jesse vs Walt. The FBI is not done with Pinkman, no way. What was Saul's involvement in the finale events, who's side is he on? How does Mike factor into the end of this story? Who's going to run Pollos Hermanos? How will anybody last until the show comes back for it's final season....this show is so dayummm goooooooooooddddd.

A big thanks to everyone who read the Chemistry Class this season. It's been fun to write and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. I'll leave you with this parting gift. Yes that is Bryan Cranston as Hector.