Can anyone believe Breaking Bad is over? This is the final episode recap for such an amazing show. It is very sad to see it go, but it was certainly the best way to go out. Josh provides the summary for Breaking Bad series finale, while both Josh and Violet put their final thoughts on what turned out to be one of the best shows in television history.
Don’t need the Breaking Bad episode recap for Felina? Click here to jump directly to Josh’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Violet’s thoughts on this week’s Breaking Bad episode Felina, click here to get directly there!
Breaking Bad Episode 16 Felina Recap Overview
Need a quick Breaking Bad episode recap of Season 5 Episode 16 titled Felina? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed Breaking Bad episode recap for Felina if you need more information!
- Walt steals a car, prays for it to start, and his prayers are answered from “above”. Time to head home.
- Walt confronts Gretchen and Elliott, forces them to make a trust for Walt Junior, and threatens them with hitmen (Pete and Badger)
- Jesse is still imprisoned, fantasizes about woodworking. Walt has his 52nd birthday, picks up the Ricin, and rigs his machine gun to be automated
- Walt feints interest in a business plan with Uncle Jack, and has Lydia and Todd arrange a meeting. Meanwhile, Lydia’s Stevia has a little something special
- Walt gives his goodbyes to Skyler and Junior. Skyler he gets to say goodbye to, Junior he simply gets to watch from afar
- Walt makes his final drive to Uncle Jack’s. He confronts Jesse, and learns of his slavery. Decimation of the Aryans commences.
- Jesse kills Todd. Walt and Jesse have their final moments. Jesse leaves, while Walt dies
Breaking Bad episode Recap: Felina, the Details
It’s Time to go Home
It is time for the beginning of the end. Actually, the beginning probably started a while ago, but the series finale of Breaking Bad is here. The episode opens up with a very cold Walt inside a parked vehicle, that is completely frozen over on the windows. He is desperately trying to get the car started, when blue and red sirens reflect through the windows. He realizes his plan could be over before it has started, and he silently prays to himself. The lights pass, luckily. He flips down the driver side sun visor and down drop some car keys. It is time to head back to Albuquerque. It is time to head back home.
Walt’s Final Meeting With Gretchen and Elliott
Back in Albuquerque, he first stops for gas, and we see he has packed the money in the trunk of the car. Walt then makes a phone call to a publicist for Gray Matter, and poses as a photographer that will be taking some photos of Gretchen and Elliott. He pretends to be a New York Times journalist to find out their address and ensure that they are home.
In his next scene, we see Gretchen and Elliot coming home from dinner or something. They are discussing food and wine, the stuff wealthy people talk about I suppose, and we see Walt follow them in. The Schwartz’s continue their conversation unknowing of their third guest. Walt admires the photos in the house, and the walls and seems to be almost thinking, “this could have been mine”. Finally, Gretchen spots Walt and screams. Elliott tries to act brave, but Walt quickly gets him to back down. So is Walt here to enact revenge or something else? There certainly is a little revenge for his reason to be there, but he is primarily there for Walt Junior. He has Elliott and Gretchen help retrieve his money. He then demands that his money that is close to 10 million dollars worth, will be put into an “irrevocable trust” that will be released on Junior’s 18th birthday. So why on Earth would they agree? Two red beams of light suddenly appear on Gretchen and Elliott’s chest. Walt lets them know that he used $200,000 of the remaining money to hire some hitmen to watch over the Schwartz’s in case they decided to not follow through on their promise. They, particularly Elliott, are “happy” to comply after their warning. Walt satisfied with their answer, leaves.
When Walt leaves, and arrives at his vehicle, we see two men running from the bushes–the hitmen? No, only two pretend hitmen–Skinny Pete and Badger–their final scenes of the show. They were merely using laser pointers. They feel bad about what they did, but the money Walt offers them seems to settle their conscience. Somewhere between Walt’s arrival into New Mexico and “now”, he has heard blue meth is back, and questions the two knuckleheads about it. They were certain that it was him making it. This makes Walt realize something–Jesse is still alive, and partnered with the Aryans.
Jesse’s Box, Ricin, Machine Gun and Birthday Revisited
We get a brief scene of Jesse before his final moments–He is in a woodworking shop. Making a wooden box. He seems at peace in what has a halo of serenity about the area. But then reality pushes its way to Jesse’s mind, and we see that he is still working as a slave for the Aryans. Still cooking meth. We also learned from Badger and Pete that it is as good or better than ever now.
The next scenes catch us up on what happened at some of the prologues for other episodes: we see the 52nd birthday breakfast at the restaurant and the retrieval of the Ricin from his house. Also, Walt has returned to his inventive nature–the machine gun in his trunk has been unloaded in the desert, and we see a garage door opener and a few other common household items dismantled, and remade into something else–something to hold and motorize a machine gun.
Walt Arranges a Meeting With Jack, and Leaves Lydia a Gift in Her Stevia
We then see the cafe where Lydia and Todd have been meeting for what would seem to be some time now regarding their transactions. They sit at a table, and begin to talk after a weird compliment from Todd regarding Lydia’s shirt. As they talk, see we Walt “mosey” up to the table and have a seat. Lydia freaks out and begins to leave, but Walt talks her into staying for 2 minutes. He then says that he is broke, and has a new method of producing meth, and since he knows that Todd is running out of Methylamine, they are going to be in a bind. Lydia, seemingly interested, tells him that Jack should hear him out, and they work out a meeting. Walt leaves, and Lydia makes her tea, with her usual Stevia. Only this time it’s not the usual Stevia. Todd asks Lydia why they are working with Walt again, and Lydia says that they aren’t. Looks like they have a plan for Walt now as well.
Walt’s Goodbyes
Our last scene with Marie is a phone call to Skyler. She tells Skyler that there have been many tips and threats called in regarding Walt being back in town. She says she doesn’t know how many are real, but they have found a car from New Hampshire that was suspected stolen by Walt abandoned in New Mexico. Marie informs Skyler that Junior’s school is under watch and her house probably is too. Skyler heeds the warning and hangs up.
She then says to no one we can see: “five minutes”. The camera then pans, and a support column for the apartment reveals Walt is already in the house. This is also the final scene with Skyler. She asks why he did it. His response is probably the most truthful he has been about his “empire” in a long time. He says because he was good at it, and he felt alive. I think Skyler, while still hating him, understands the reasoning now, and finally is able to believe something that comes out of his mouth. Walt provides Skyler with one final gift–the lotto ticket with the coordinates of where the money had been kept. He tells her what the ticket now holds–the burial grounds where Hank and Gomez are. He then tells Skyler to tell the DEA he was there, and forced his way in. He says this will be a good bargaining chip to save herself. Before he leaves, he makes a final request from Skyler–to see Holly one last time. He sees her, and then makes his exit.
Before embarking on his final mission, He waits for Walt Junior to come home, outside the house. He sees Junior leave the school bus, and watches from afar, as police are watching Junior too. He moves his line of sight through another window, and we see Walt Junior for the last time–enter his house unaware of Walt’s presence.
Decimation of the Aryans
The final drive of the series for Walt ends with Walt arriving at the Aryans’ headquarters. He pulls up, and one of them hops in the car to direct him in. He tells him to park in a specific spot, but Walt, acting disoriented, seems to deliberately want it in a specific area of his own. Unaware of the plan, the Aryan gives up, and they exit the car. The Aryans pat down Walt, and they take his wallet and keys. On the keys we see a garage door opener. After the pat-down, Walt asks for his keys and wallet back–they tell him he will get them back later. We can see this is going to be a problem for Walt, since we know a garage door opener is somehow related to the machine gun he plans to use.
Inside a building, we see Uncle Jack. Uncle Jack isn’t happy to see Walt and immediately informs Walt that he is a dead man. Walt pleads, explaining he has a new method of making the meth, but Jack says they have all of that under control. As Walt argues for his “survival”, he keeps eyeing his car keys which have been placed on a pool table, slightly out of easy reach. Walt then resorts to yelling at Jack about Jesse being their partner. Jack is incensed about the accusation of Jesse being their partner, and out of some sense of pride, decides to show how much of a “partner” Jesse really is. He has Jesse brought in with his chains. As Walt and Jack wait for imprisoned Jesse, Walt manages to reach across the pool table and retrieve the keys.
Walt and Jesse come face to face, and look at each other for a second. Walt then leaps at Jesse, knocking him to the ground, seemingly angry with him. He is not so much angry with him though, as after he has Jesse on the ground, we see Walt reach for the garage opener, and click the button. Outside the building, from the car see we the trunk open up. The machine gun pops up, and a hail of bullets penetrates the building, strafing back and forth, shooting anyone not laying down. This turns out to be almost everyone.
Jesse’s Revenge and Walt’s End
Todd is not a part of everyone however, and he begins to investigate what was shooting outside. Walt gets up, and makes his way to a gun on the ground. Meanwhile, Jesse recovers, eyes Todd, and leaps at him, strangling him with his handcuffs still on, and chokes him out. He then makes for the hand cuff keys in Todd’s pocket, and frantically works to escape. Meanwhile, Walt has retrieved the gun, and looks at Jack, who is alive, but not doing well. Jack begins to tell Walt that if he is killed, Walt will never find the money. Walt seems disinterested however, and shoots Jack dead.
Jesse stands up, faces Walt, and seems to not know what happens next. Walt faces Jesse, puts the gun on the ground, and slides it towards Jesse, and says, “You want this”. Jesse retorts with, “Say it! Say the words! You want this! Nothing happens until you say it!”. Walt calmly says, “I want this”. Jesse, now completely defiant of Walt says, “Then do it yourself”, and Jesse walks out.
Meanwhile, Todd’s cell phone has rang, and the ring tone has the name Lydia in the song. Walt retrieves the phone from Todd’s lifeless body, and answers it. On the other end, we see Lydia, sick and asking if “it is done”. She hasn’t caught on yet that it is Walt on the line, until Walt reveals it. He then tells her about the Ricin and hangs up. Lydia freaks out, and that is the last we see of her.
Outside, Walt faces Jesse one last time. He seems to make a slight nod to him, and Jesse hops in a beat up car. He speeds off, laughing and crying all at the same time it seems, and busts through the closed gate, and we never see Jesse again.
Walt heads into the lab that Jesse had been working in. He goes through it, seeming to long for the simpler days when he could just cook. We hear sirens and then see police cars pull up. Before he can be arrested however, he gives a tank one last bloody, loving rub, and collapses to the ground. He seems to have a smile on his lifeless face, as the cops swarm in. Then it ended.
Josh’s Thoughts: Breaking Bad Series Finale: Felina
It has finally come to an end. The end of one of the best televisions shows I have experienced. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it I suppose), Violet and I got into Breaking Bad when the fourth season was airing. We started watching, and for myself, I could not stop watching. There are only a handful of shows that can grab my attention this well. Breaking Bad had something really going for it. What it was is hard to place, but it was magical. I am sure a lot of it has to do with the moral ambiguity of the characters. Who is bad? Is Walt bad? I would say universally most people would say yes, but how can people still root for such a bad guy? Maybe because he isn’t all bad, or the reasons he has lead us to believe he is bad for five seasons are good intentions. As for Jesse, is he bad? Certainly many people have felt sorry for him, and hate Walt because of his influence over Jesse, but is Jesse not his own man? Did he not start out cooking meth before Walt even entered the picture? Where would Jesse be had Walt not shown up? All tough questions to answer, and I think everyone who has seen the show has these questions in the back of their mind every episode.
The finale was extremely predictable. This generally for an episode, especially the season finale, could be detrimental to it. But, despite knowing the general outline of the episode going into it, and not being surprised by it too much, I think Vince Gilligan and the entire cast and crew did an excellent job with the finale.
I was going to talk about some of my favorite scenes, however, I have a hard time picking the “best” ones. The scene where Walt confronts Gretchen and Elliot was great. I was sincerely emotionally invested in this scene, and it was probably the scene I was least certain about the outcome. What is funny is, if Walt had killed them rather than execute his plan for his money (let’s face it, most people thought this could be a possibility right?), I sincerely would have been angry with Vince Gilligan and the staff. And then to have the plan develop, it was amazing seeing it unfold. And once more, in most situations I would disbelieve what I was being fed, however the way this scene played out, I was enthralled, and completely believed Gretchen and Elliott would follow through on their bargain.
And then the poisoning of Lydia. I had known that the “gift” of Ricin was meant for Lydia. I first thought Jesse would be the recipient, before seeing the last few episodes, but as Jesse’s story played out, I knew it couldn’t be him. This really only left Lydia, as the Aryans were not going to get off so easily, knowing that Walt has a M60 machine gun in his trunk.
Of course Walt would get his final goodbye with Skyler, but I did not pick up on behind the post right away. I did as the camera began to pan, but having that “ah ha” moment before seeing him was fun. His emotion, yet mute confession to Skyler was moving as well. He admits his “career” was for himself and his ego. I would like to know from the beginning though, what were his initial intentions? To start, I thought that his intentions seemed pure, but maybe in the back of his mind he thought, “This is something I can be good at”. I guess he had to have, as for him to even try it, he had to think he could get away with it.
Walt’s silent goodbye to Junior was great as well. The movement of Walt from the two windows and the camera following his perspective for some reason made the scene just a little more moving.
Working up to the climax of the episode, I have to mention Walt’s MacGuyver-ing. It is simply great that we get to see Walt use his brain one last time before the end of the series. These scenes through the show’s life have been my favorite. To have one last hurrah (literally for Walt) made me feel giddy leading up to the end.
Finally, before discussing the final moments, I have to say that Bryan Cranston in his episode (and whole series) nailed it. The deadness and resolve that Walt shows in this final episode oddly make you feel for him more than he seems to feel for himself. This man has done so much bad in the world, yet in the end, I can’t help but feel sorry for him.
I think my biggest complaint is the final scene. It is a bit of a knit-pick I would say, but the ending felt a little too “easy” for Walt. I actually think the plot device of taking Walt’s keys actually hurt the episode more than it helped add tension. I do not think anyone watching actually thought that Walt was not going to get those keys back. I also thought it was a little odd that Jack had to “prove” the Walt that he isn’t a liar (despite him lying and not killing Jesse). It felt like a convenient way to get Jesse into the same scene, and to provide some delay for Walt to grab the keys. This scene probably could have been done a little better, but the aftermath of the machine gun does get good again.
I was certain that Todd had not died in the spray of bullets, not because I had seen him avoid the bullets, but I knew that Jesse had a better end for him. When Jesse is strangling Todd, I could not help but feel vindication for Jesse, despite Jesse again, committing murder. Also, while I saw Walt’s saving of Jesse coming, I am perplexed by it. I guess perhaps in Walt’s final moments, he felt he could do a couple good things before the end. Maybe he realized how much he played Jesse for his own benefit. Or maybe, he just felt sorry for the torture he had to endure for those past few months.
The last final disappointment I have is with not knowing where Jesse goes, after speeding away. I am sad to not have any closure on that character. For all we know, he gets grabbed by the police in a mile, and goes to jail. Maybe he gets lucky and starts a new life. Maybe he falls back into his addiction and is doomed to the life of an addict. I guess Vince Gilligan and company didn’t want to pigeon-hole Jesse into one ending, and wanted the discussion to continue after the shows end. My personal opinion for Jesse is, unfortunately, a negative one. I would feel in order to cope with what has happened to him, he would turn back to drugs, and his end, whether in prison or dead, would be sooner rather than later.
There are other scenes, I enjoyed (Lydia’s death, the last scene of Badger and Pete, the flashback), but I think I have rambled on enough about this amazing show. Here’s to hoping there is more TV out there worth watching. Not something that is simply “good” or “entertaining”, but something that is riveting, and actually tickles our emotions. Not many shows can do that, for me at least. Breaking Bad just had the perfect culmination of actors, writers, and story that I truly think will make it a once in a lifetime experience for a TV show.
Violet’s Thoughts on the Series Finale of Breaking Bad: Felina
And I thought I was the long-winded one! Well, when it comes to writing, that is. I’m not much of a talker. But seriously, how can I hope to follow that great review by Josh?? I’ll try to keep mine short and sweet.
I thought this was a great series finale. Not perfect, as so many people are touting, but pretty close to it. It was, for the most part, satisfying, especially when compared to a recent series finale of another one of our favorite shows (coughDextercough). It was not as fast paced, and far less exciting, than I expected it to be. Rather, it was more of a slow burn. Indeed, there were several scenes that seemed very slow, yet each culminated in a rewarding payoff, despite the fact that most of the events were predictable. But I’m sure it was intended to be that way. Even though we knew that the machine gun bullet bath was coming, that didn’t make the massacre any less sweet.
When Walt had the “hit men” supposedly take aim at Gretchen and Elliott, I thought to myself, couldn’t he easily have gotten people to shine laser pointers at them? And sure enough, I was right, though it didn’t cross my mind that he would have gotten Badger and Skinny Pete to do it! Then when there was only one packet of Stevia left, and we found out Walt was in the vicinity after picking up the Ricin, it was pretty obvious what was in that Stevia packet. Walt’s scene with Skyler, I didn’t suspect that Walt was standing in the kitchen while Skyler was on the phone, but as soon as she said, “Five minutes,” I knew Walt was standing just out of our view. I’m glad that Walt finally admitted to himself and out loud that what he did wasn’t just for his family, but for himself. Even so, he tries to make up for his mistakes and protect his family as best he can right up until the end. That includes Jesse. Speaking of Jesse, I would have liked to have seen what happens to him next. All we see is him driving away — but to where? I felt that this aspect of the story was very unresolved.
Was I a little disappointed that the finale was not as crazy as I expected it to be? Yes. But overall, was I satisfied with the finale? Yes. Felina was a great ending to an amazing show with a superb cast. Breaking Bad, you will be missed.
At least we have cameos by Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston to look forward to in the Better Call Saul spinoff.
Fantastic finale and about what I’d expected the final episode to be about. At the same time, it was twice the finale I thought it’d be, so that’s pretty awesome.
After such a weak Dexter finale just a few weeks earlier, Breaking Bad redeemed the epic series finale standard. I don’t know of a character on television in recent years that has been more dynamic and had such a transformation of character than what was accomplished with Walter White. From a pityable plight that you wanted to succeed to a real life super villain you wanted to see fall and burn it was an amazing journey to watch. The end was everything it needed to be and more and the final image as the camera panned out from Walter was the perfect icing onto a delicious cake.
I don’t think that the bullets should have been low enough to hit him, but it was a good finish.