One point I am still a bit confused on: didn't Walt manufacture the ricin in the loaded cigarette?  If so, why does Walt somehow managing to retrieve the cigarette even factor in?  If he really wanted/needed it, wouldn't he just make more?

Way to blow my concentration at work for an entire week, thethirdman.  My employer will be contacting you for reimbursement.  This would be one fustercluck of an ending, and the best scenario I've heard yet for ending this incredible season. 

Oh God, whoispraetorian.  The only thing that is stopping me from getting the shakes at this idea is the videotape they made down in Mexico, which would allow pretty much anyone who watches it to see exactly how the Blue is made.  Except…oh crap…it now occurs to me that Walt has no idea this video exists. …

This sounds intriguing, adamwells.  Could you explain it for us a bit, please?  I'm not familiar with the reference.

But…wouldn't Jesse then turn evidence on Walt? 

Unless they meant the danger that having Walt in one's life poses to everyone else?

Shut the front door and come to Jesus.  Whoa baby.

Heck yeah, Melted Kojak.  I've got a bad feeling I'm going to be seeing — worse, hearing — that last 10 minutes in my dreams for quite a few years to come.

Yes, Principal Blackman!  I actually had that thought myself the other day — I wonder if Vince Gilligan could qualify for a MacArthur award for this show.  They do allow it for artistic enterprises even if they make money.

Amen, pilot, amen.  I only cry when I'm happy or scared.  And I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever been that scared in real life.  Ironically, most of those moments also involved violent drug addicts/dealers.

I think B, Lack of Name.  Walt's not going to let Hank die if he knows there's a viable option, even if that option is he and the family disappearing into the air.  He just didn't anticipate the money being gone and precluding the disappearance option.  If he had known that, I hate to say it, but I think there's a…

I started saying the rosary during that last scene, chanting it out loud, trying to calm my breathing down.  Walt's scream and cackles…that unearthly crazed laughter reverberating in the background while Skyler says, "I'm here, Marie, I'm here" so calmly…please God, let Tyrus and Mike be gentle and kind when they put…

It's funny, but I actually thought Gus was taking Xanax or something similar.  Something that would let him continue to appear cool as a cucumber when he was actually scared out of his mind, similar to the elevator scene after his DEA interrogation.  I didn't see the poison antidote angle coming at all.

I think James Poniewozik over at Time.com got it in one: "Walt is the one who knocks, all right. Apparently, at his own damn door."

Just a rumination: I could see a plot twist where Gus, having now achieved his long-standing personal goal (painful revenge on Don Eladio), having earned more money than he could ever spend in one lifetime, and risked his very life in an incredibly perilous, painful manner to achieve the above…just walks away. …

Badger to the rescue? ;)

Ohh, man.  Jesse doesn't speak a word of Spanish, he has no idea where on earth he even is (remember the blindfold?), and he's got two mortally ill/wounded people riding shotgun.  If he can get the three of them out of this jam, Gus ought to make him North American division chief.  Or, at the very least, employee of…