Here is my Throwback Thursday review:
Walt goes to a nearby gas station to use a pay phone. He pretends to be a journalist from the New York Times, who did an article on Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz. They both tried to help contribute to his cancer back in Season 1 and the early stages of Season 2. He requests for their address over the phone. Uh-oh!!! Here comes trouble.
Walt scares them with laser beams because it will lead the Schwartz couple to predict that they are about to die. He tells them that if they go to the DEA and/or if Walt. Jr. does not get his portion of the $9.72 million in Walt’s trunk, they will be killed when they least expect it. The money will also be used for Walt Jr. to take care of his mother and his baby sister, Holly. It causes them to cry to each other. Skinny Pete and Badger were all behind this and pointed the lasers at the couple. Walt pays the men $10,000 each for their role in scaring and threatening the couple.
Meanwhile, Jesse is still a prisoner and is cooking meth for the Jack and the gang at the warehouse. The next day, it’s Walt’s 52nd Birthday and celebrates it at Denny’s. Later on, Walt interjects a conversation between Lydia and Todd. She has no idea that he poisoned her with ricin. Then, he makes his next move on how to take out Jack and the gang, which is a machine gun installed in the trunk to possibly kill the bad guys out.
Later on, He stops by to say his goodbyes to Skyler. Before then, Marie is revealed to still be alive and she lets her know that agents are watching her house and Jr.’s school in case Walt or any of the bad guys comes into one of the places. Walt promises her that everything will be fine after tonight and the police will come for him instead of himself turning into the police. He tells her that she must tell the police that he went into her apartment without permission, forced her to make bacon and eggs for his birthday, and that he gave her the latter ticket. The key to the ticket is the GPS coordinates, which will end her way to the bodies of Hank and Gomez, who were killed off in “Ozymandias”. Skyler allows Walt (after asking her) to see Holly one more time. As he’s on his way to leave the apartment, he sees that his son, Jr. (had no speaking lines) is safe and agents are looking out for him.
That night, he goes over to the place but Frankie (one of the gang members) makes sure there isn’t anything explosive to kill them. Then, Walt stages a fake fight against Jesse so he can push the button of the trunk to open so the machine gun will kill all they bad guys (Frankie, Kenny, Lester, and Matt). Jack and Todd are still alive along with Walt and Jesse. Todd tries to find out who is shooting. Just before he can find out the culprit was in the shooting, Jesse strangles the chain of his handcuffs against him. Todd tries to put up a good fight with him until Jesse strangles him until his neck snaps. Jack begs Walt for his life until he shoots him dead with a cigarette in his hand. His final words to Jack that killing him is more important than money after what he did to Hank.
In the final showdown, Walt asks Jesse to kill him but he asks that he kills himself with the gun. Walt saves Jesse in the end. Before one last interaction between them, Todd’s phone rings and Walt ends up answering. She thinks it’s Todd’s voice until Walt reveals that him and his gang are dead. She is shocked to hear this. He admits that he poisoned her Stevia in her tea with ricin. She panics and it is implicated that she is dead. With no remorse, he tells her goodbye and throws the phone on the ground. Jesse and Walt nod at each other. He gets in Todd’s car and caries hysterically because he now has freedom and he survived!!
At the end, blood is coming from Walt’s shirt and he surrenders to his injuries. He later dies as police officers come to his aid. The soundtrack, “Baby Blue” by Badfinger is played in the final minutes of the series finale.
Overall:
This was a perfect way to end a wonderful show. Every loose end (with the exception of the fates of Huell & Brock, but both are probably still alive) was solved. I loved how Vince Gilligan wrote a humorous storyline (as the show was unintentionally funny at times) about Skinny Pete and Badger one last time. That was such a calculating and bold move on Walt with the machine gun in the trunk after Frankie confiscated any explosives her had on him. He set up an excellent booby trap on the men. Do I think Walter White deserved to die? I had mixed feelings throughout the whole season on whether he should die at the end. However, I am glad that Gilligan killed him off after the mess he got his family into. Although Jesse ran into a lot of trouble at times, I was glad Walt spared his life after fighting so hard to stay alive. What did you think of this final episode that aired on Sunday, September 29, 2013 on AMC? I hope you all enjoyed my review.
