Comments on: Recap: ‘Breaking Bad’ Bids A Wobbly Farewell In Finale Season 5, Episode 16 ‘Felina’

By: Travis

Travis — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

While I personally interpreted things differently, and feel that some of the choices that Kevin disliked were quite brilliant, I respect his opinion, and allow him to believe so. Keep it up, Kev

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

The finale was awesome. What show were you watching last night. They tied up all loose ends and it was a satisfying way to end. Would you rather it cut to black? You are a moron. I can't believe you get paid to write this crap.

By: bear_baire

bear_baire — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Yikes. Way to completely miss the point.

By: JO

JO — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

I'd say Walt jumped at Jesse, not the other way round.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Dude, you seriously need to lighten up.

But then again you are The Playlist, the Ebenezer Scrooge of movie review websites… so as you were, I guess.

By: Jerad

Jerad — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

If you want to read a review of the episode in which someone actually grasps what the creator was doing, then read Donna Bowman's review on AV Club.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

I actually agree with most of your points.

By: TimParker

TimParker — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Gretchen and Elliot would have no reason to deceive Walt? What? They would have every reason to not do as he asked. Had he not threatened them that way Walt had to know that Gretchen and Elliot would immediately turn to the police. It's meth / murder money! That's their view of it of course. The threat whether in the fictional future it would work or not, was necessary on Walt's part and certainly increased the chance.
As for why Badger and Skinny Pete were involved? It's not contrived…how could Walt have actually come across 2 people to do this? Not that he could wholeheartedly trust 2 of Jesse's friends but, however he found them, they definitely are more prime candidates for this job than 2 complete strangers.

By: Najo

Najo — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Seriously, this is why I keep coming to this site. Honest, critical and unpopular if need be, but mostly on point reviews. Keep it up KJ and The Playlist writers.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

I probably would have liked this finale better if they didn't come up with such a great second-to-last episode that would have worked so much better. Walt, lonely, dying, wasting away carrying all of his sins escaping a world that he left in utter shambles finally gives up only to get that one last motivator in the TV interview. The cops rush in too an unfinished drink with the main theme placed really well over the whole thing. Reminds me of The Shield finale, probably my favorite finale of all time.

By: Everyone At The Playlist

Everyone At The Playlist — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Did you guys see where we weren't enthusiastic about a thing that other people liked? Wasn't that awesome? Are we cool? Please tell us we're cool.

By: No one's saying it was perfect

No one's saying it was perfect — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

No body is saying it was perfect. Does it need to be perfect? What would had been perfect?

Most of the points mentioned by Kevin are obvious.

However, they didn't need to explain everything in that one hour. The fact that Walt is a genius devil and luckier than everyone else when it comes to seeing a plan through is well established throughout the earlier seasons and episode.

When you say that everything was resolved- except Walter and his meth empire, what else is resolved?

By: yer

yer — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

The finale was such a cop-out. They ended everything way too neatly. Also that last shot was Scorsese as hell.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

What's a C+ to KJ is an A+ to others. What would've been an A+ to KJ might've been a C- to others. There was no way the ending could've pleased everyone. People need to stop thinking every show or movie has to be "perfect." Of course there were things wrong with the finale, it didn't make it any less enjoyable to me or a bunch of others I'm sure. I was pretty happy with how things turned out.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

It's funny to finally see a review for a en episode that gives a grade lower than A.

I'll admit, after mulling it over last night, it's not a terrible ending. The song is kind of black comedy, which how the show started.
But yeah, it was too perfectly planned in Walt's case. And the writers (the choice that Walt just happens to catch a stray bullet).

It was an alright finale.

By: cattt

cattt — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

IMO the last three episodes were the finale. Ozymandias works well as a finale, sh*t hit the fan and Walt lost everything and had to leave. The next two episodes were almot like an epilogue. Granite state showed the worst possible ending to Walt's adventures and Felina, on the other hand, was the best ending Walt could hope for.

The last episode was satisfying, It was a bittersweet victory for Walt and for the first time he was honest. "I did it for me" has to be one of the best lines in the show's history.
The finale was also ambiguous in a good way. We don't need to see What happens to Jesse after he drives away. He's free in more than one way.

By: Doodle God

Doodle God — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

I finally read a review that feels the way I do…C+ is average guys, and this ending resolved everything and I would say was an average ending when you consider how great the first few seasons of this show was.
The two big moments of this show (poisoning of Lydia, death by trunk gun) are firmly Hitchcock refrigerator moments…you know, the idea plot points should make sense until you leave the theater, go to bed, wake up for a mid-night snack and say 'hey, wait a minute…how did he know ____' or whatever. The problem is that the show generally never has these type of moments, where reflection on it makes it all the more brilliant instead of seeing all the holes.
Gilligan on another ending they were thinking about:
"There was a version we kicked around where Walt is the only one who survives, and heâs standing among the wreckage and his whole family is destroyed. That would be a very powerful ending but very much a kick-in-the-teeth kind of ending for the viewers."
So the result is an ending that is for fan service and I commend this reviewer for having the balls to write this honest review, all the while knowing that the fan boys will probably come on here and attack him today as their moms are waking them up to go to work.
Overall, good review kevin.

By: yup

yup — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

that ending was once upon a time in america as hell. which scorsese help restore last year so i guess you could make an argu…..no it was leone.

By: Xian

Xian — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

The Shield still has the best ending of any cable show. The comeuppance for Vic Mackey was was perfect, but the last shot still left open the question of Vic's future as a loose cannon (only now, without the backing of the Farm or his Strike Team buddies).

That said… Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias" episode was so powerful (and mostly conclusive) in and of itself, that everything that came after was anti-climatic (and, as another commenter pointed out, more of an epilogue to Walt's final descent into the hell of his own making).

By: Correct

Correct — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

the fact that your review elicits such intense reactions from people who liked the finale only suggests how right you are. this was a betrayal of the spirit of the show i loved. a reversal of everything breaking bad had done right over 5 years. shame on vince for not following through at the last second.

By: Mondo

Mondo — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

To criticize the events in this finale would be akin to criticizing the reason why Walt was able to safely walk away with money out from Tuco's second story lair after causing an explosion without a beat down or a bullet in the head, or get out from the RV situation by conviently calling in a fake accident for Schrader involving Marie. This show was illicitred at the edge of your seat thrills that were addictive because it was not a open ended show. This review hated the songs used of which I vehemently disagree with, The Badfinger song "Baby Blue" captured that moment pitch perfect as Walt dies open-eyed in a meth lab where despite having cancer, he "felt alive"and stares right at the camera, at us, as the song crescendos with the the fitting "My Baby Blue" and we see a scene that recalls the unseen closing to Reservoir Dogs. Since I was a fan of that song and was in the company of family, I happily sang along to it as it played out for this huge Breaking Bad fan in the last scene because for me, and I am learning for most others, it was a perfect song choice and was executed on par for a tv show with the iconic films of Scorsese, Tarantino and Wes Anderson, it compliments the drama. This last episode was like the whole series, Walt finds ways out from tough and impossible situations. Storytelling demands sometimes disbelief, yes, how did Walt cross borders without being caught, yes how did he seal up perfectly the Stavia sugar and have Lydia sit at that table and not a stranger and yes, he was fortunate that he parked the Cadillac in a perfect position and that the Nazis didn't search the trunk or notice him getting the car keys or simply just put a bullet in his head. Storytelling is worth telling for its sheer incredible inventiveness that events in this life went a certain way and this is something to preserve and worth passing on. And as Vince Gilligan has stated, this was a show that was meant to have closure, and what great closure it had. It feels to me that had the finale had a rhizomatic open-ended denouement ala The Sopranos, the true blue Breaking Bad fans would have not that satisfying emotion that most experienced last night as we watched our King Lear stare at the rising camera before fading to black.

By: Heisenberg

Heisenberg — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

You are an idiot.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

You know nothing, Kevin Jagernauth.

By: beth

beth — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

I personally liked the finale, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. One correction though – it was Walt who tackled Jesse, not the other way around. Walt tackled Jesse so that they would be on the floor during the hail of bullets. I agree about the stevia though – for someone known for following routine, it appeared that Lydia was not in her usual seat! I think Walt has proven many times that he could've rolled with the punches if someone else grabbed the packet etc though.

By: sati

sati — Fri, 13 May 2016 08:56:20 +0000

Fantastic review! The finale was average and those who call it 'the greatest ever' need to see some real quality finales like Six Feet Under or the Wire.

And all of you coming here calling reviewer an idiot just because he is not screaming about finale being awesome – this is why Breaking Bad fanbase is considered to be one of the most childish and idiotic ever.