Breaking Bad vs. The Sopranos | Finale Face-off

hello everyone and welcome to the first installment of my finale faceoff series in which I take two television series I consider to be thematically similar or complementary if you will and I break down why I consider one serious conclusion to be a finale that worked which is to say I found out to be thematically consistent with the series as a whole while I consider the other show's conclusion to be one that did not work in that the resolution of the narrative didn't quite mesh with what preceded it and in good ol coming in strong fashion we are to begin this series with two of the towering juggernauts of the golden age of television shows that broke ground while simultaneously setting a benchmark for all of the television shows to come and which are positively unarguably two of the greatest television programs of all time Breaking Bad and The Sopranos at first glance outside of some rather surface-level similarities such as both being classified as crime / family dramas and featuring an archetypal antihero it would be difficult to find a common thematic element to anchor these two shows together seeing is how different each story is as well as how each story is told Breaking Bad tells the story of meek marr'd high school chemistry teacher Walter White who after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer puts his degree from Caltech to good use and begins cooking methamphetamine in order to ensure a future for his wife son and unborn daughter as the series progresses we see the milquetoast and feeble Walter begin to transform into his ruthless alter-ego Heisenberg who resorts to the most extreme of measures in order to survive the show is heavily serialized in that the entire series almost plays out as one big movie features a limited cast of characters with only a handful so I would consider main characters and utilizes slow-burn white-knuckle tension capped off by exhilarating set pieces The Sopranos tells the story of New Jersey mob associate Tony Soprano who along with the most severe case of mommy issues ever put the screen suffered from anxiety and depression and begins to see psychotherapist dr. Jennifer Melfi to ascertain the cause what follows is a sprawling six season saga featuring a massive cast of characters that aims to explore and satirize Jersey mob culture as well as American culture as a whole anchored by a deep dive into its protagonists and whether or not he can walk away from the life he is always known before it cost him everything the show was groundbreaking at time of release due to its audacity to explore mature and controversial themes while it was one of the first shows to utilize heavily serialized story telling the show is still primarily episodic especially in its earlier seasons in contrast to the pedal-to-the-metal tension driven storytelling of Breaking Bad The Sopranos utilizes the far more contemplative approach to its narrative episodes rarely end with any sort of cliffhanger and any action or violence in the series is treated in a very matter-of-fact style rarely is non-diegetic music utilized and when it is it is often used for ironic purposes in contrast to the heavily stylization found in Breaking Bad The Sopranos is incredibly stark and it's filmmaking in fact as the series goes on the entire aura of the show from the overall tone to the cinematography becomes darker and darker reflecting the increasing hopelessness and pessimism of its protagonists let me not be misunderstood in no ways one shows approach to storytelling superior to the other each style is perfectly suited for the different kind of story each is trying to tell so what could possibly be the thematic element that ties them together what is the main theme that exists at the core of both of these shows that theme is change in Breaking Bad we see Walter White solely morph into a ruthless criminal and yet while many of the amoral decisions that Walter makes throughout the series are out of self-preservation there are just as many choices that are driven by his own ego in his essay bad decisions Chuck Klosterman illustrates how Breaking Bad sets itself apart from other acclaimed antihero dramas such as The Wire Mad Men and of course The Sopranos Breaking Bad is not a situation in which the characters morality is static or contradictory or colored by the time frame instead it suggests that morality is continually a personal choice while the characters of The Sopranos do make plenty of amoral choices one must also take into account the milieu in which they exist oftentimes the characters don't necessarily want to do these immoral things but end up doing so due to societal pressure desperation self-preservation etc this is not to excuse their actions merely to say there are additional things that must be taken into account as opposed to just personal choice but in Breaking Bad Walter is not driven to take immoral action by his environment or upbringing yes he does begin selling meth through his cancer diagnosis thus needing financial security for his family but throughout the series we see he has given many outs or chances to walk away but he doesn't he continues to push the envelope slamming his foot down on the gas pedal and ramping up the stakes even when he is faced with situations where he must take drastic measures to ensure his survival they are almost always brought about by the consequences of his own actions Breaking Bad purports that there is a fragile barrier between being a good man and a bad man and all it takes to break bad is to simply choose to do so in The Sopranos while Tony Soprano does commit an extensive list of horrible actions throughout the series and he most certainly should be held accountable for these actions the show goes to great lengths to show that Tony is not the way he is simply due to his own predilections but rather the culture he was raised in the upbringing he was given by his insanely dysfunctional parents and the pressures and anxieties that come with maintaining the lifestyle he is cultivated for himself there are many times throughout the series where it is implied that deep down perhaps on a subconscious level Tony doesn't even necessarily want or prefer this lifestyle and wishes he could have a simple life free from the numerous complications that plagued his mind on a daily basis but he in a sense feels trapped constricted by the responsibility that comes with being the leader of men his own warped perception of masculinity of providing first family in his therapy with dr. Melfi Tony does end up coming to a number of semi epiphanies if you will taking melfi's advice on how to deal with the more toxic and stressful aspects of his life and yet he tragically ends up falling victim to his numerous bad habits and behavior either due to external forces or his own misinterpretation of the lessons that Melfi tries to get across to him and fails to take steps to change even as his decisions threaten to tear his life and family apart in The Sopranos Tony must make a concentrated effort to change his life and must overcome the numerous factors that prevent him from doing so before it's too late for a more concise summation of this thematic chorus shared by both shows as writer Ross through thought writes both shows are deeply interested in moral agency but in Breaking Bad for watching a protagonist who deliberately abandons the light for the darkness whereas in The Sopranos or watching someone born and raised in darkness turned down opportunity after opportunity to claw his way upward to the light so with all that said an established now it's time to indicate which show I believe has a finale that works and which has a finale that I believe does not work and this may be quite the hot take but based on my analysis of both shows the finale of The Sopranos works and the finale of Breaking Bad does not work a hot take indeed as even to this day the ending of The Sopranos while infamous is still one of the most contentious in television history whereas the majority of fans and critics alike felt that Breaking Bad stuck the landing and offered a satisfying conclusion before we begin our analysis we should establish what exactly happens in each finale let's start with Breaking Bad in the series finale Walter White having had his brother-in-law killed his partner imprisoned his fortune stolen and his family obliterated decides to rather than remaining on the lam returned to Albuquerque to set things right and make his final stand throughout the finale we see Walter secure a financial future for his family make peace with his wife say goodbye to his infant daughter take vengeance on his enemies come to the rescue of his partner thus reconciling their relationship and die satisfied before the police are able to apprehend him the storytelling is straightforward and is in no way ambiguous however there is an alternate theory proposed by comedian Noir McDonald that states that Walter never made it back to Albuquerque and succumbs to his illness while sitting in the snow-covered car in the opening of the episode and that everything we see play out in the finale is simply a dying fantasy now creator Vince Gilligan has come out and denied this theory however just keep it in mind as we will come back to it in the finale of The Sopranos Tony Soprano finds himself in the midst of a conflict with the lupertazzi crime family he and his family are forced to go into hiding until he can ensure their safety Tony is eventually able to come to a deal with the underboss of the rival family track down acting boss phil leotardo and take him out thus allowing his family to return home and achieving a tentative peace throughout the finale Tony seems to make sort of kind of peace with the people closest to him but it is made clear that despite the fact that he is safe for now he is not free from the numerous anxieties and tribulations that his lifestyle entails and then of course there is the final scene Tony is meeting with his family for dinner and arrives first his wife arrives then his son particular attention is also given to a mysterious man who seems to be eyeing Tony pretty hard in who we last see enter the bathroom to Tony's right as Tony's daughter meadow arrives and makes her way into the restaurant the bell above the door rings causing Tony to look up and the show cuts to black even to this day the exact meaning of the cut to black is debated with show creator David Chase refusing to give a definitive answer but allow me to set the record straight yes Tony Soprano dies in the final show of The Sopranos I could go into a painfully detailed analysis of the final scene as well as go over the many hints that David chase littered throughout the series the show that Tony does indeed die but for the sake of time I am NOT going to do so I may make a video in the future supporting my assertion but for anyone who disagrees in the description I will link perhaps the most thorough and detailed analysis of the finale of The Sopranos online offering a compelling case that Tony does indeed die in the finale so how does Tony dying in the finale fit in with the rest of the series and why do I fight to be a proper ending the inciting incident of the series is Tony suffering a panic attack and beginning his therapy with dr. Melfi we discovered that his attack was triggered by seeing a family of ducks who were frequent visitors of his pool flying away at the end of the pilot Tony comes to an epiphany as to what the Ducks leaving signifies this is a link a connection of kratom goes by family one of the biggest misconceptions about this series is at the title The Sopranos is in reference to the name of the crime family that Tony Soprano was associated with this is not the case that would be the DeMeo crime family as the series goes on mainly due to the fact that Tony ends up becoming boss the family is often referred to as the soprano family but in the first season Tony is merely a captain so why is it called The Sopranos simply because the show truly is not about the crime family itself but rather his actual family particularly his wife Carmela daughter meadow and son AJ though the show does showcase the ins and outs of Jersey mob life there is just as much if not more time devoted to the menial details of Tony suburban family life and how his stash at the criminal associate both supports and threatens to destroy it and here is where we find the main conflict of the series the question that is posed in the pilot of the show will Tony be able to walk away from his life before he loses his family as Tony States a man his position a member of organized crime has to probable end games getting whacked or being sent to and most likely dying in prison while Tony has his brushes with both of these outcomes he always seems to narrowly avoid them and yet the fear of these outcomes of losing his family either by being killed or imprisoned is the main source of Tony's perpetual depression and anxiety and despite the fact that he is able to avoid being killed or sent to prison throughout the majority of the show his devotion and loyalty to his life of crime still threatens to the his family his lying infidelity manipulation temper and ego all of his numerous personality flaws result in him driving those closest to him away in season 3 we see a rift form between meadow and Tony which leads to her seemingly forsaking her father in the season finale in the season 4 finale Tony's wife Carmela finally has had enough of Tony's cheating in dishonesty and decides to leave him and as Tony leaves his home at the end of season 4 he sees his worst nightmare coming to fruition he has lost his family not due to being killed or being sent to jail but due to his inability to take responsibility for his actions though Tony is somewhat able to patch things up with his wife in return to his home by the end of season 5 we as an audience know that Tony has not changed one iota and that unless something completely unprecedented happens history will repeat itself and Tony will ultimately end up losing his family one way or the other well-said unprecedented act occurs in the first episode of the final season Tony while looking after his senile uncle jr. is shot in the gut by him Tony falls into a coma and seems to enter a semi dream / purgatory state with him taking on the identity of Kevin Finnerty a mild-mannered salesman unlike Tony Soprano Kevin Feherty seems to be free of the numerous anxieties and fears that Tony deals with every day towards the end of this purgatory sequence he arrives at a family reunion and it is made clear that this serves as a metaphor for his death however after hearing the voice of his daughter meadow calling out for him Tony wakes up just in time upon recovering from his latest brush with death we see that Tony has had an epiphany he has come to the realization that every day is a gift and decides to adopt a stop and smell the roses mentality it is here that we see Tony begin to make a deliberate effort to change himself and his life he takes a less Iron Fist approach in dealing with his criminal associates is shown to be a lot less generally pessimistic and hateful and even displays self-control when he refuses to be unfaithful to his wife we see that maybe just maybe Tony has come to his senses that if he just keeps pushing staying on the straight and narrow that he can salvage the time he has left and enjoy it with those who mean the most to him but despite all the progress he is seemingly made Tony begins to revert back to his old habits he cheats on his wife lets his ego get the better of him and allows the pressures of his toss as the boss of his crime family to lead him to offer up one of his captain's who was revealed to be homosexual to be killed and that is just in the first half of the last season is in the second half where the viewer sees the true downfall of Tony Soprano this is where we see Tony commit some of his most vile and horrendous acts of the series such as having his own brother-in-law the good-hearted Bobby commits his first murder out of spite having him consider killing one of his closest associates and friends for petty reasons but perhaps his most despicable act comes towards the end of the series when he kills his own nephew Christopher Moltisanti rather than feeling any sort of guilt or shame Tony is shown to feel absolutely no remorse for his actions and declares himself the happiest he's ever been it is here we see the absolute monster Tony has allowed himself to become it is at this moment that we as an audience see that there is virtually no chance of Tony ever learning his lesson and redeeming himself and by this point I think many viewers have no interest in seeing Tony being given a second chance seeing as he has had plenty and wasted every single one this is further solidified when dr. Melfi Tony's therapist of seven years decides to end their relationship considering Tony a lost cause even fearing that she is enabled or even abetted Tony's atrocious behavior not only does Tony's inability to change lead to his own moral degradation it also results in his family following suit though Carmela had at one point tried to salvage her relationship with Tony and steer their family away from ending up like the rest by the final season we see her revert back to her role as a cliche Jersey mob housewife though meadow was shown to have resented her father's lifestyle and sought to help those less fortunate by becoming a pediatrician by the end of the series we see her decide to become a lawyer instead and it is implied that rather than helping the needy she will be defending white-collar criminals but perhaps the one who faces the most tragic tribulation is AJ though AJ is portrayed as a petulant brant throughout the majority of the series he is shown to have the same propensity for anxiety and depression as his father AJ falls into a downward spiral in the final season of the show culminating with a suicide attempt from which Tony saves him Tony's inability to remove himself from the mob wife not only led to his own moral degradation but his family becoming products of that life and of course his eventual demise so already we see the clear contention and moral lesson of the series displayed that refusing to make an effort to change your life will lead you to ruin and that redemption is not defined by a singular moment but rather a continuous and deliberate effort to change your behavior and with Tony's false epiphany his downward spiral brought about by his inability to change and eventually death the lesson is cemented and yet the tragedy does not end there Tony's death not only serves at the perfect ending to this tragic tale of a man not realizing the error of his ways but it becomes even more so when you realize that Tony actually does come to this realization before he meets his death while most know of the infamous final scene of The Sopranos the most important and significant scene of the series is actually the scene just before it in the second-to-last scene of the series Tony decides to visit his uncle jr. their first interaction since jr. shot Tony at the beginning of the season the brilliance in this scene is that at first glance it seems like nothing happens when in actuality everything happens Tony visits jr. after learning that his sister Janice the widow of Bobby had visited jr. and seems to be scheming to take Jr's remaining assets Tony arrives and tries to convince jr. to give the money to Bobby's children but sadly jr. has fallen into senility and doesn't even recognize his nephew through jr. we see one of Tony's other most pressing and prominent fears though Tony may be able to dodge death or incarceration he is equally horrified at the prospect of growing old and forgetting who he is and everyone he loves despite Tony's indignation for his uncle for shooting him we see that Tony pities his uncle and his heartbroken had seen the fall of a man he once held in such high regard Tony does his best to jog Junior's memory speaking of his father but nothing gets through until he mentions dishtv loss which alludes to La Cosa Nostra aka the Mafia and surprisingly it seems as if jr. momentarily regains his memory or at the very least is given a sliver of clarity and we see that Tony is proud almost relieved by this that despite everything that even if he is able to avoid a premature death or a lifetime sentence even if he ends up forgetting who he is that the organization that he pledged himself to that he put so much pride in that he sacrificed so much for when all is said and done will be his legacy something he can look back on and be proud of despite his tragic mental degradation Jr remembers the time he spent running North Jersey and what Jr's reaction to recalling this time hmm that's nice and it's at this moment that Tony finally realizes something in the season 1 finale Tony is sitting with his family for dinner when he says someday soon you're gonna have families of your own and if you're lucky you'll remember the little moments like this that will good align that quite fittingly is referenced in the final scene of the series the tragedy of Tony Soprano was his inability to see what was right in front of him of him honoring and cherishing his mob family more than the family sitting with him at the dinner table his desire to prioritize his mob lifestyle was the source of always anxiety his fear his insecurity his suffering it was what led to him nearly losing his daughter his wife and though he ended up bringing his family back together all it did was allow him to bring them with him into his downward spiral even a bullet to the gut and a miraculous survival was not enough to convince him to leave it all behind but here we see Tony finally learning his lesson that this thing of theirs that he put so much stake in that he put above all else that he thought would be the source of the good times he would look back on and cherish his pointless fruitless meaningless through jr. he realized that years from now as a frail confused old man his time spent as a part of La Cosa Nostra will not be what he looks back on that made it all worth it but rather the times he spent with his wife his daughter his son as Tony exits leaving the old frail senile Junior alone no wife no kids no family all he wants is one thing in the final scene of the series as Tony enters the diner and waits for his family we see an eagerness within him to be with the ones he cares for the most when Carmela arrives and takes her seat we get a shot of Tony seemingly admiring her a far more appreciative and thankful glance than we have seen him give her in quite a while when AJ arrives and sits we see his father take his son's hand perhaps thankful that he arrived home that fateful day when he did the only one left is meadow who throughout the series has been referred to as Tony's saving grace his guardian angel the one who called him back from the brink of death who had she arrived a few moments earlier would have been sitting next to her father and would have once again acted as his guardian angel blocking the man and the Members Only jackets line of fire who indicated by numerous hints in the last season and even in the final scene had most likely just found out she was pregnant and was racing to inform her family of the news perhaps if Tony knew his grandchild was on the way it would have been the final push he needed to leave his life of crime behind perhaps by becoming a government and Foreman just as former wise guy Vincent Palermo the man who inspired the character of Tony Soprano did in 1999 Tony was so close to finally coming to his senses so close to finally making the decision to truly cherish what is truly important to him but as he looks up at his beautiful little girl his saving grace his guardian angel his life has ended in an instant and the show comes to an end no blood no screaming just bleak relentless silent blackness the lesson is clear not only will a lack of resolve to better yourself as a person lead you to ruin but that life is so precious and yet so so short and thus you must discover what truly matters in this world and cherish it before it's too late so now let's move on to Breaking Bad as I said the finale was widely acclaimed and was deemed a satisfying end to the series keep in mind the word satisfying which was a word thrown around a lot in numerous reviews of the finale I want to come back to that now there is no denying that Breaking Bad is one of the most revolutionary and acclaimed television series of all time and there is no denying that episode 6 of the second half of season 5 Ozymandias where we finally see Walt receive his comeuppance is one of the finest hours of television history however despite the brilliance of Ozymandias and the quality writing found in the fifth and final season of the show it is also completely and utterly unnecessary as for why find season 5 as a whole to be unnecessary we need to establish what story Vince Gilligan sought out to tell and as he puts it with the character of Walter White he sought the turn mr. chips into Scarface to take a rather meek and agreeable character and turn them into a ruthless criminal now I have heard many refer to Breaking Bad as an example of a classic tragedy a protagonist whose personality flaws lead to their inevitable downfall I would argue that the final episode in many ways walks back on the tragic elements found in the show especially in the final season but we'll get to that and Breaking Bad we see Walters eventual rise and his inevitable fall so if we were to say that Ozymandias was the finale of the show well yeah then Breaking Bad would serve as a classic tragedy however there are many thematic elements found in seasons 1 through 4 that actually set breaking that apart from more standard tragic tales take the Godfather saga for example which tells the tale of Michael Corleone a decorated World War 2 veteran who despite his reservations against the lifestyle of his father and brothers who are part of an organized crime family ends up becoming the head of the family and devolves into a ruthless monster now in place side by side we see many parallels between the stories of Walter White and Michael Corleone good men who were driven to become evil men but there is one significant difference in the first few episodes of the series it is difficult to not feel extreme sympathy for Walter a man who is dull perhaps the worst hand one can be dealt when his family is already financially struggling and they have a second child on the way with that in mind it is difficult to truly judge or condemn him when he decides to begin cooking meth in order to provide for his family but as the series goes on and we learned more about the man who why tis we begin to see a much darker narrative playing out at first glance you may think that Breaking Bad is the story of a good man who must resort to committing immoral acts in order to protect himself and his family and yet we see multiple instances of wolf being given an out in episode 5 of season 1 walter is given the offer to have his medical costs covered by an old friend and business partner but Walter refuses and continues to cook meth now we could just chalk this up to Walters ego gain the better of him having him resent his friend offer and feeling as though that he must be the one who provides for his family but there is a moment in season 2 that truly changes our perception of Walt and everything that has happened previous in episode 9 of season 2 Walter is given the news that his cancer is in remission while his family rejoices Walter excuses himself to the bathroom and has an angry outburst and with this short and startling scene a major revelation about the series and Walter the character is brought to light Walt's cancer diagnosis was not a traumatic event that led a desperate man to turn to crime in order to support his family the diagnosis was the moral justification that Walt needed in order to unleash the evil man that has been bubbling just beneath the surface all along throughout the series we get glimpses into Walters past such as his past relationship with Gretchen Schwartz now married to Elliot the same man who offered to cover his cancer treatment it is implied Walter left Gretchen due to feeling threatened and/or emasculated by her family's wealth they're seen together in season two showcases that for years Walt has been stewing in resentment bitterness but also delusion in his exchange with Gretchen Walt speaks of how Gretchen and Elliott cut him out of their company but later in season five Walter tells Jessie that he took a buyout from Gretchen and Elliott leaving the company on his own accord Walt has spun this story in his own head in order to frame himself as the victim as the one who was wronged and this is exactly what Walt does with the reasoning behind him cooking meth he is able to convince not just himself but the viewer that he was a poor feeble man who had no choice but to become a drug manufacturer to support his family a facade that quickly falters as this series progresses unlike say Michael Corleone a man who was truly good and righteous who we saw become corrupted and Breaking Bad we are simply seeing the true Walter White finally getting the chance Shyne now while this may seem like splitting hairs it is actually rather important in terms of determining the dramatic question of the series in the Godfather the question is will this good man succumb to the corruption of power in The Sopranos will this immoral man learn his lesson before it's too late as for Breaking Bad the dramatic question isn't necessarily the same as in The Godfather since it has indicated that Walter is only ostensibly a good man when we first meet him before he decides to break dad so it isn't a fall from grace so to speak the dramatic question of Breaking Bad isn't will this good man go bad it's how bad will this man reveal himself to truly be but what was all that about season 5 being pointless in order to conclude the series wouldn't we have to eventually see Walter reap what he is sown as he does in Ozymandias well no not necessarily in The Sopranos the dramatic question as proposed requires us to see Tony's eventual fate whether he decides to become a good man and stay with his family or to keep on his course and lose everything an argument could be made at the end of season 4 where Tony's wife ends up leaving him and he is forced to leave home could serve as a proper series finale whereas the end of season 5 when Tony returns home after rejoining his family would not work since while we do see him reunite with his family we do not have any indication that Tony has changed it's change and be with your family or suffer the consequences but in Breaking Bad Walters ultimate fate whether he ends up succumbing to his cancer losing his family being arrested isn't all that necessary to the story the dramatic question is how bad will Walter reveal himself to be and the answer continues to change as the series goes on from killing a man who would have truly tried to kill him and his family to refusing to save a woman who tried to extort him to or during the death of a man who truly never did him any wrong again the question is how evil will Walter reveal himself to be not will he end up paying for his misdeeds but wait isn't Breaking Bad a morality tale don't we have to see Walter pay for his numerous crimes again not really in contrast to the likes of SATA Sopranos and other tragic stories of the like Breaking Bad doesn't necessarily operate with a rigid view of morality in The Sopranos the entire premise of the show was built around the idea of karmic justice that Tony's actions would eventually catch up with him but in Breaking Bad the concept of morality is a lot more vague and at times the show borders on having a nihilistic view of good and evil if you just do stuff and nothing happens what's it all mean what's the point the show explores the concept of action and consequence and the idea that just because you may do immoral things doesn't mean you were in fact a bad person this is demonstrated beautifully with the character of Jesse Pinkman while jesse is shown to do numerous immoral and bad things throughout the course of the show he is clearly shown to be a person of great empathy in moral conscience the question then becomes should Jesse be ultimately judged by his actions or the contents of his heart in Walt we also see this contradiction play out simply inverted in the beginning of the series Walt is obsessively a good man in that he is in the criminal he straight-laced he obeys the law but as we see Walt is not a good man in his heart in his heart he is bitter sinister filled with rage the only reason Walter never acted on his true nature was due to the risk of consequence but when that risk was removed from the equation when Walt was given the news he only had a few years left to live we saw the true Walter White reveal himself so to recap we don't necessarily need to see Walter reap what he is sown based on the dramatic question proposed by the show we simply need to see the extent of Walter's immorality just how far is this man capable of going and thus the proper ending of the show would be the moment we see Walter commit his most heinous unforgivable act where we truly see just how bad this so-called good man really is and what is that moment what's this you what happened I won the fourth season of Breaking Bad is in my opinion the best season of the show one of the greatest seasons of all time and culminates in perhaps the greatest final run in television history a slow burn start building to a nail-biting and explosive finish all anchored by a solid and clear chess match like one on one between Walt and his nemesis fellow narcotics entrepreneur Gustavo Fring the ending a season foresees the conflict between Walt and Gus reach its peak though Gus has been one step ahead of wall for pretty much the entire season it is Walt who comes out on top by capitalizing on gusset one weakness the season comes to a close with Walter victorious but as we cut to the final shot we realized that truly evil deaths that Walt has succumbed to in order to defeat his nemesis namely poisoning Brock the son of Jesse's girlfriend Andrea in order to manipulate Jesse into turning against Gus forget killing krazy-8 allowing Jane to choked on her own vomit or ordering Jesse to kill Gayle Walter gambled with the life of an innocent child in order to ensure victory somatically season four acts as the perfect ending to the series a four season long constant ramping up of tension as we see our hero continue to delve deeper and deeper into the depths of hell culminating in his most heinous act of the series and yet to him is perhaps the most elated and powerful he has ever felt in his life now season 4 was the last season the show would have ended with a number of loose ends we would have never found out what happens to Mike we would never know if Jesse would eventually find out the truth about Brock's poisoning we would never see Hank discovering the truth about his brother-in-law and we would never see the fallout of Scour discovering the true nature of her husband all of which once again are completely unnecessary to the story the story being told is one of a man reaching his amoral potential and thus the moment we see him reach that potential the show at least from a thematic standpoint is over in The Sopranos there are even more loose ends left and answered following the final scene we don't see what happens at Tony's family after his death hell we are never even given a concrete answer as to who put the hit out on Tony and why again it doesn't matter the story was of a man not learning his lesson and suffering the consequences and thus once we see him suffer those consequences the show is over now while I do not believe season five of the whole is necessary to the narrative obviously seeing Walt eventually suffering the consequences of his actions is satisfying and the season is chock-full of golden moments and again gave us perhaps the greatest single hour of television ever produced however the season also suffers from a number of flaws and missteps that make the season especially the first half in my opinion the weakest segment of the show first off when season five kicks off there is a noticeable lack of pedal-to-the-metal tension that was pretty much constant throughout the previous seasons as soon as we got to the end of season three when the seeds of Walt's eventual conflict with Gus are planted the narrative grabs you by the throat and does not let up until the end of season four whereas in season five there is no lingering sense of a thread that is hanging over his head in itself this isn't all that big of a deal but there are a number of other factors that make this season the weakest of the series there is an influx of new characters who were introduced which is often a sign that the writers need them to generate conflict the villainous faction is significantly less threatening and interesting than the one that came before it but perhaps the biggest factor that brings season five down is the stalling of Walter's character development throughout the previous four seasons we see Walter devolve into the monster that is Heisenberg with his actions becoming increasingly immoral and unfathomable culminating in his most evil act at the end of season 4 and yet throughout the entirety of season 5 we don't see Walter do anything as worse as what we saw him do at the end of the previous season yes the death of drew sharp is tragic and sad but Walt was not the one who pulled the trigger and sure the ordering of the deaths of Gus former business associates was clearly wrong but these were all grown men who had willingly entered into a life of crime in terms of moral degradation I would still say none of the acts Walter commits in season 5 tops deliberately gambling with the life of an innocent child but nonetheless despite the first half of season 5 lacking the tension of the previous seasons and serving is more of a setting up the board sort of deal things kick in the gear come the second half of the season when Walter's brother-in-law DEA ASAC Hank Schrader discovers that the elusive mastermind he has been hunting has been right under his nose the entire time the second half of season 5 is a fantastic slow brand build up to Ozymandias where we see Walt finally suffer the consequences of his actions once again I don't necessarily think the narrative requires us to see walk getting what he deserves but the execution is so well done it would definitely get a pass from me however Ozymandias is of course not the finale Walter then flees the New Hampshire where he begins to plan his revenge against the men who killed Hank and to reclaim his money in order to pass it on to his family but due to Walt's TAS is the most wanted man in America and his deteriorating condition brought on by his cancer coming back Walt has left powerless Walt makes a last-ditch effort to give some of his fortune to his family but he is rebuffed left with only the prospect of dying slowly in some dingy cabin cold and alone Walt decides to turn himself in but after seeing Elia and Gretchen publicly disavow his contribution to their company Walt decides to return to ABQ and make his final stand and this is where we started to get into some problems as detailed the finale sees wall insuring his family will be taken care of financially making peace with his wife defeating his enemies and saving his partner before dying satisfied and at peace so let's say you personally think season four was not a fitting ending for the series and believe we need to see Walt pay for his crimes which he does in Ozymandias but then why capped the series off with Walt basically getting exactly what he wants the point I am getting at is that all the way up until Ozymandias we see the moral degradation of Walt and its consequences but then in the very last episode all of a sudden he is made out to be a quasi hero in that he seems to have completely learned the errors of his ways and over the course of about maybe a day or two manages to defeat all of his enemies and redeem himself for all the horrible things he has done over the last two years in her review of the finale writer Emily Nussbaum writes it's not that Walt needed to suffer necessarily for the show's finale to be challenging or original or meaningful but Walt's akia was so little true friction maintaining his legend reconciling with family avenging Hank freeing Jesse all genuine evil offloaded onto other badder bad guys in season four one of the reasons the face-off between Walt and Gus was so brilliant was due to the fact that as we see Walt becoming more of a selfish bastard we see Gus in a completely new light as we receive a surprising amount of insight into his past and gain a newfound empathy for him as a character by the time the ending comes around and Walt is about to finish Gus off once and for all I think many in the audience may be torn wants you to ask yourself is Walt really the lesser of two evils here which was of course the point but in the finale Jack and his gang are framed is so comically and over-the-top evil what with killing Hank Andrea threatening Holly enslaving Jesse and of course being Nazis that there really is no middle ground here Walt taking the mound the finale is framed as a completely good guy being the bad guy scenario which not only seems contradictory to the morally gray vibe of the entire series but it also seems like the exact scenario that Walt had built up in his head that he is simply a good man and everything he does is completely due to him being put in these situations by other people the finale frames him as a righteous Avenger coming back to set things right which again seems like the exact scenario that Walt could only dream of given how much damage he is done which is why that death fantasy theory that was put forth by Norm Macdonald seems to resonate as a better finale to the story if what we see in the finale is simply a dying fantasy of Walter as he succumbs to his cancer well this is actually right in line with what preceded it with Walt believing himself to be the good guy and all of his misfortunes being due to the actions of others rather than himself having the series end with Walt indulging in the delude fantasy while those around him continue to suffer from his actions fits well with the fact that throughout the entire series we have seen Walt indulge in a deluded fantasy as those around him suffer from his actions again I am not implying that Vince Gilligan in any way meant to imply the finale was some sort of death fantasy but rather the theory ironically would be a more fitting end to the story now you could say the finale sees Walt finally realizing the error of his ways and seeking to repent for all the horrible things he has done thus making his final stand a selfless sacrifice but there are two pieces of information that dampened this idea one as stated it is not a matter of Walt's sort of snapping out of it reverting back to his old self as opposed to Heisenberg since as we established Walt was never really all that good of a man even at the very beginning of the series sure he wasn't a criminal and paid his taxes and whatnot but he was not shown to be magnanimous or righteous for years he had been full of resentment and bitterness and anger but even if you think that the Walt we see in the finale is not the old Walter but a brand new Walter who was learned from his mistakes and decides to sacrifice himself to save the ones that he heard well this is utterly and completely voided by my cancers back by having Walt's cancer returned in the final season of the show it basically completely negates and ruins any notion that his choice to return is a selfless one as we see in the penultimate episode Walt's cancer may kill him in a matter of months so his options are either sit in a desolate cabin until he succumbs to his illness via a slow and painful death or make a final stand of course Walt would just say screw it and go out in a blaze of glory there literally is no other reasonable option conversely if Walt's cancer did not return the final season and he remained in remission it would have then made his final decision more selfless what if Walt was practically cancer-free come the end of the series and yet his life is left in ruins not due to a disease but his own actions it would have been a brilliantly ironic ending then again even if he was cancer-free by the end of the series Walt's options would still be limited if the show had introduced another way out for Walter perhaps a chance for him to escape to another country or something like that then his decision to return to ABQ would signify him finally putting the needs of others over his own wants but alas in the finale we see Walter return to mitigate the damage he is caused again some may say that season four would not work as an ending because we need to see Wahl pay for his crimes but if season five was necessary due to Walt need to pay for his crimes why capped the series off with Walt basically getting everything he is always wanted it is not a matter of whether or not Walter would realistically make the selfless choice in the end it's does Walter deserve such a personally satisfying end to his own story in The Sopranos despite the fact that Tony does in fact come to his moral Epiphany by the end of the series the writers still have him faced the consequences of his actions as this realization tragically came just a bit too late in Breaking Bad season five shows while paying for his crimes and yet in the end he still sort of goes out the best way he possibly could and exactly the way he would want to thus making the finale a rather contradictory conclusion let me know your opinions in the comments as I am sure the argument I have laid out will be quite contentious and thanks for tuning in for the first episode of finale face-off uncle Jun and I we had our problems with the business but I never should have asked him about eating [ __ ] this whole war could have been averted cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this yo you want to go shopping go do yourself alright I got plans plans in my book

Channel: Macabre Storytelling

Views: 152,378

Keywords: breaking bad, breaking bad movie, walter white, aaron paul, bryan cranston, breaking bad ending, the sopranos, the sopranos ending, tony soprano, jesse pinkman, james gandolfini, the sopranos vito, hbo, amc, tv, series finale, breaking bad movie trailer, el camino, breaking bad ending explained, the sopranos ending explained

Id: DRRU4pPTD7g

Length: 40min 57sec (2457 seconds)

Published: Tue May 05 2020