Those aren't loose ends - this is the story of Walter White, not every person he ever spoke with more than twice.

Yup.  The Nazis are thinking that as long as he walks in without a weapon on his person, he's done.  Which he nearly was.

Not even there, I don't think.  Walt's face in the scene where he's watching Flynn for the last time is the face of a man who has accepted that he's destroyed his own life and family.

Well, this will always be the point of contention about this show.  Obviously he did care about his family even when he was at his worst and darkest, and in the end he did go to great lengths to get them the money and protect them, to some extent, from legal prosecution and the threat of his enemies (who are now all…

Yep.  This show always did a great job with twists and turns that made sense, but it was easier because they had upcoming episodes to resolve the ensuing insanity.  I don't feel like there's much they could have done in this last hour to really shock us without flying off the rails.  This was more about sweeping the…

@avclub-1d392d6cd50709b355aa35602cb1b7cc:disqus It seemed necessary to me.  I posted this basic sentiment elsewhere (it might have been over at Hitfix actually), but "Breaking Bad" has always been about two things: Walt self-actualizing through crime and becoming a more powerful person, and how that choice destroys…

I think it looks even better when you view it as part of the whole series and not as "The Last Breaking Bad Ever OH MY GOOOOD."  It's a very satisfying conclusion on multiple levels.  I think if you were just plowing through the series on DVD, it would be a great way to go out.  Maybe the week-long (and series-long)…

It's never been that kind of show.  This was the ending of a multi-season story of really just one person's transformation.  While I do think this very last episode could have been a little more surprising (though not much more, without shocking us just for the sake of it), a lot of it had to be the way it was to wrap…

Yep - this thing (Walt finally seeing himself for what he is and admitting it, especially to Skyler) was an important last piece of the show to fall in place.  Saving Jesse is a nice plus.  But let's not forget he wasn't even there to save Jesse; he was there at least as much (in my mind) to protect his family and to…

This is my only nitpick - however, the entire Gretchen and Elliott thing surprised me.  I was surprised that they even were in the episode, and then I was surprised (and happily so) with how they played with expectations, then subverted them with a very logical, Walt-esque maneuver.

Because I never felt Walt was a completely inhuman monster.  No matter how low he sunk, it was almost always with some aim other than satiating his own ego with blood.  The only time he stooped that low was killing Mike, and that was very much a heat-of-the-moment action; besides, Mike was at least in the game and had…

Well he really had few known resources to fall back on, at that point.  One nice thing of keeping their universe so small and tidy is that when they bring back characters like this, it makes perfect sense.  Saul's gone and probably his guys have relocated or gone to jail - so who is left that Walt knows he can get to…

I think this is about right.  This is a show that was always aware of its audience and what they wanted, and also very aware of its own identity and themes; this was definitely the writers wanting to live up to both sets of promises.  I do think the last episode could have been more surprising (much of this was…

It's a rather thin redemption.  He still destroyed his family and ruined (or borderline-ruined) multiple lives, as well as getting Hank killed.  That he finally was able to be honest with himself and Skyler, and do the only thing left that could be done for Jesse, is a nice bit of uplift at the end of a very grim…

LOTS of people thought that, and it really irritated me.  They seemed to think Walt was coming back to slaughter the entire city of ABQ.  I just don't feel like they ever understood the show or Walt's character very well.

What really impressed me about it was multiple things:
1. It made bringing them back into the show more important and less random-feeling (not that that bothered me, but I know it bothered some others).
2. It played nicely with the prediction a lot of people made that Walt was coming back to murder them both, which I…

I better not see any likes on this one.

The Gretchen/Elliott stuff proves with finality that Vince Gilligan is smarter than us.

Dennis and Mac get pairing points just for producing the brilliant "Because of the IMPLICATION" scene.

Yep.