This image released by AMC shows Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, left, and Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, cooking meth. Picture: AP Source: AP
THE series finale of Breaking Bad has just aired in Australia and I would like to thank the protagonist for the gripping ride in an open letter (spoiler alert).
Dear Walt,
You had a bloody good run. Five series - or 62 episodes - to be exact. But as the episode 16 season finale cries, “all bad things come to an end.”
What began as one man’s good-intentioned quest to care for his family inevitably spiralled into an abyss of death and destruction, but I for one tonight am saying thank you, Walter White.
Here’s why.
1. YOU DIDN’T FAKE YOUR OWN DEATH AND BECOME A LUMBERJACK
Are you listening Dexter? That was a real soft way to end what was a great series when John Lithgow was the bad guy. And you didn’t confuse us with “others” and island hocus pocus like the Lost series. Now, some would argue you didn’t T-Rump the Six Feet Under series finale (watch it if you haven’t), but let me tell you, things ended the way they should for you Walt. On your terms. Kind of. Sort of. On The Talking Bad, show creator Vince Gilligan said the scene in which the 1972 song Baby Blue by Badfinger is used illustrated Walt’s love for his blue product. “I think in that last scene, he was with his Precious,” Gilligan said, referring to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings.
2. YOU KNEW HOW TO SPEND YOUR MONEY
Knowing that you have left $9,720,000 to Walt Jr (sorry, Flynn) and baby Holly makes sure what you did and went through wasn’t all for nothing. That’s got to be worth something. Even if your family hung you out to dry (and who can blame them, really?), you still did the right thing. Those old college chemistry mates Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz needed bringing down a peg or two and I had no idea laser pointers cost $200,000 - that’s cray cray.
3. EVERY MAN SHOULD HAVE A HOBBY
Walt, you reminded us that we should all do something we love in this life. It’s just a shame you loved crystal meth. Still, you were a handy chemistry teacher. And great work going all MacGyver there with the rotating turret machine gun. Well played. Uncle Jack and his white supremacist gang had it coming.
4. YOU WILL FOREVER REMIND US NEVER TO PUT WORK (AND HOBBIES) BEFORE FAMILY
Sure, work can be very lucrative and make you feel important, but if you have a family, you have to balance the positives and negatives. For me, the closest I want to come to being the next Heisenberg is having his haircut.
5. YOU DIDN’T KILL JESSE
Kudos to you for letting Jesse go in the literal sense of the word. Also, letting him finish off Todd clearly allowed him to exercise some rage he’d been internalising there. You both were looking a little worse for wear at the end, so I’m glad the show’s writers chose to paint a bleak picture of the meth business.
6. THE VOLVO IS A RELIABLE CAR
Just when we thought Walter White couldn’t get any colder, you’re breaking into a snow-covered Volvo and that baby took you everywhere you needed to go. And you can fit so much in the boot (trunk). Take note, rev heads.
7. YOU LIVED THE FINAL EPISODE LIKE A SONG
When you popped in that Marty Robins tape, it was like the earworm “El Paso” resonated with you. You’re even humming the song while you’re building the gun. Here are some lines: “Just for a moment I stood there in silence, Shocked by the FOUL EVIL deed I had done. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there; I had but one chance and that was to run.” Everyone needs a song to live and (maybe one day, a long way off) die by.
8. IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE PROPER, DO IT YOURSELF
You liked to control things and didn’t leave much to chance, but even when Jesse made you say: “I want this.” He replied, “Then do it yourself.” Kids, eh?
9. YOU WERE HONEST AT THE END (BUT NEVER TO THE VERY END)
Your meeting with Skyler proved you could finally tell the truth to your “Felina”. When held to task on who this was all for, you finally fessed up: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really ... I was alive.”
It was a fitting finale for a man left alone with his “Baby Blue”. Thank you, Walt. The TV drama landscape has been left all the more richer for your work. I’d say it was 96 per cent pure masterpiece.
