Breaking Bad's Felina - The Alternative Endings of Walter White

this video was sponsored by surf shark vpn [Music] i remember the first time i saw breaking bad's final episode felina there was so much anticipation and expectation that when it was over i had mixed emotions simultaneously trying to enjoy an episode while grieving that i'll never have another episode to feel this way about the writers did successfully tie up all loose ends but it took some time to process it and recognize that the final episode did about as good a job as you can do in ending a show but i thought it would be interesting to look over the key points of this episode and just examine could it be better by offering potential alternatives for how walt's relationships could have ended with various characters and you can explore and comment whether you think the breaking bad writers chose the best possible option or if they missed an opportunity maybe this makes you rethink your perception of the episode or it simply reinforces how solid the writing is that the writers did in fact go with the best possible option each and every time so here are the key points we're going to go over based on the setup of the preceding episodes with walt returning to town and of course there will be spoilers so if you've somehow not seen the final episode of breaking bad but are still randomly clicking on video essays analyzing it this is your time to tune out but first a thank you to the sponsor of this video surfsharkvpn surfshark are a company that encrypts your data and hide your virtual location this means that it protects your online activity from your internet service provider the government and potential hackers they keep no logs of your search or download history keeping all of your activity private with the click of a button you can reset your virtual location to any of surfshark's 65 available countries which gives you access to what would be otherwise blocked content from certain regions on youtube as well as access to your favorite streaming services different libraries for example if i want to watch the office in the us then it might not be available but if i switch to the uk then i can binge the entire series so if you click the link below and enter the promo code observation you'll get 83 percent off plus four extra months for free and with the 30-day money-back guarantee there's no reason not to at least try it so start surfing the net in the safest and smartest way by clicking the link below and using the promo code observation so in breaking bad's felina essentially waltz has two goals that must be achieved within this episode leave his family money and seek revenge other things still happen but these are the two guiding motivations which will influence everything else the first ending in felina is walt's relationship with gretchen and elliot he devises a plan to have his former colleagues and philanthropic billionaires to give over nine million dollars to his son on his 18th birthday as walt can't get the money to his family as they hate him but also any money that's given to them has to be legally accounted for or it will be confiscated by the authorities they agree to do it but walt guarantees they will follow through with it by pretending there are two hitmen that he has paid to watch their every move until they make the payment as it turns out these alleged hitmen were just skinny p and badger with laser pointers they then inform walt that his blue meth is still on the market and they assumed he was still cooking it as it's just as good as ever this makes walt realize it must be jessie cooking his famed recipe this option ties up a lot of loose ends it confirms walt's family will legally get some of the money he earned for them making walt's endeavors for the last five seasons somewhat worthwhile as he did claim he was doing it for his family all along it also brings skinny p and badger in for a final scene and they are the perfect characters to inform walt about the blue myth as they know jessie and they also smoke let's look at some alternative options number one when walt first enters the house he's an intruder and the scene has a violent feeling to it when gretchen sees him she screams and elliot runs to her side with a small knife so the first obvious option and initial suspicion for the viewer is that walt kills one or both of them demonstrating that he was never over what happened with greymatter and that he's about to go on a bloody tarantino-esque rampage to settle old scores this would show that walt has fully been taken over by heisenberg and it could be exciting however it would be a dramatic shift in tone for the series where generally speaking characters are only killed pragmatically it would also make waltz less empathetic there would be no progress with getting his family any money after he's gone and would make the show less re-watchable as we know he ultimately just turns into someone with no redeeming qualities number two walt could have just held them both hostage and physically watched them wire the money to walter jr or skyler the problem with that is that it would be too suspicious especially if he ends up arrested or killed the following day so the money is more likely to be confiscated and gretchen and elliot could easily turn on him number three he also could have tied them up and just used their home as a base for the final episode as he only needs it for 24 hours number four instead of skinny p and badger he could have hired kooby and huel to intimidate them instead like they did to ted this could be more entertaining but the longer they spend with the characters the more likely it is something goes wrong such as the police getting called someone getting killed or a work obligation arising or walt could have never gone to gretchen and elliot instead he could have planted the money somewhere new and given his family the coordinates but then there's no guarantee they accept it or that the police don't intercept it in terms of finding out about his blue crystal still being on the market when he calls into his home that's been vandalized maybe some junkies now use it as a drug den in his name and he talks to them and examines the blue crystal and realizes jessie must still be cooking it or number six similar to the end of bad santa walt could have been in a police chase racing home with a car full of cash that he wants to hand to his kids directly and then gets shot as he's entering this would be less calculated for walt but could demonstrate that he only cares about his family and the money of the available options i think the writers chose the smartest one in a pretty airtight situation gretchen and elliot are the only clean legal way for walt's family to get the money even if he doesn't get any of the credit the next ending is walt's relationship with lydia having heard his blue crystal is still on the market he's led to lydia and discovers she's still meeting up with todd walt uses this opportunity to deceive them acting like he needs cash and has a new cooking technique to show jack that can save the money long term knowing lydia is a woman of routine same time same table same drink walt spikes her same stevia packet with ricin so she ends up poisoned this was a pretty clean cut right move by the writers but the alternative options could have been walt doesn't kill lydia at all which wouldn't be as satisfying walt places a bomb in her car or finds a more instant creative way of killing her using chemistry or walt kidnaps lydia and has her bring him to jack's compound at gunpoint and we know todd would do anything to protect her which could lead to a big shootout but all of this would arouse suspicion as walt would be entering as the enemy as opposed to presumed to be harmless which is what he needs to do but more on that later the next ending is walt's relationship with skyler skyler gets a call from marie telling her that walt is back in town he's been seen and is making various calls threatening various locations to spread the place pretty thin she says the police are monitoring her house so it's a million to one chance that walt gets to her that arrogant thinks he's some criminal mastermind but he's not on the million to one chance you'll be on the lookout okay personally i would have cut these lines about walt falsely thinking he's a criminal mastermind and emphasizing the one in a million chats it does build up to seeing walt in the room already but feels out of place like something out of sherlock or a superhero movie we could just as easily have skyler talking to the police outside and when she goes inside walt is already there but that would be harder to explain how walt got around the cops if they were literally everywhere this phone call from marie technique allows our imaginations to do the work but walt wasn't exactly notorious for his subtle ability to sneak into buildings in terms of the conversation walt achieves three things here he gives skyler coordinates to hank and gomez's burial site which he tells her to trade for a deal with the prosecution he finally admits he did all of this not for the family but for himself i liked it i was good at it and he gets to see his daughter one last time he then walks out without saying anything more so what could have been done differently here firstly skyler could have just been scared of him and tried to run for the police and walt has to stop her or silence her creating far more conflict in the opening stages of the scene but that tone would be hard to unwind once it's established skyler could have tried to kill or attack walt for all that he has done to her and the family but we already had glimpses of that in earlier episodes and since then walt did do her the favor of making it sound like she knew nothing about the business on the police recorded phone call stating that she was always against it number three skyler could have argued a lot about hank and told walt about the horrors that the family and marie have been going through the past few months number four they could have slept together one last time showing that there is still strong feelings there even if they're mixed with hatred but realistically schuyler has been through too much to find him appealing and given her affair with ted along the way it might be a bit too weird or number five walt could have gone rogue kidnapped skylar and the kids and tried to drive them to alaska with him until the police show up and they have a big shootout and he dies or he could drive them all out to the desert and then off a cliff like thelma and louise but that would serve none of his goals and easily be the worst possible ending or finally on his way out walt could have simply closed with an i'm sorry instead of nothing and skyler could have responded no you're not which would further underline the point that walt did all of this for himself ultimately aside from the intro to the scene i think the writers made the right choice time has passed since their last interactions which helps emotions to settle skyler knows walt won't hurt her having waltz finally admit he did this for himself is enough of a final moment between husband and wife could he have said something on his way out the door yes and maybe you can come up with a better suggestion in the comment section but after five seasons i think they both understand one another enough to not need to say anything else less is more on this occasion next is walt's final moment observing walter jr enter the house he's well aware the police are waiting outside nearby so he just watches him were there any other plausible options here number one waltz could have whispered to him and beckoned him over for a final hug but they already had a phone call that went very poorly in an earlier episode why are you still alive why don't you just just die already just just die number two walt could have left him a letter by the front door or number three walt could have tried to reason with him be seen by the cops a potential shootout and suddenly he's being chased away in a dramatic sequence but after everything that just happened with skyler before any more drama would just undermine the preceding scene so i think a quiet moment of a father watching his son walk home is enough as walt is left with the unsettling reality that he won't see him grow up anymore we then come to the final chapter where walt concludes his relationship with jack's men he's orchestrated a machine gun to pop out of the trunk of his car which wipes all of them out the whole dynamic here could have been changed firstly walls could have just showed up armed to the teeth like scarface and go on a rampage like the series that hinted he might in earlier episodes but walt is now marksman and is vastly outnumbered so it would have been even less plausible if he shot his way in secondly this whole scene could not take place at jack's compound instead walt could have kidnapped lydia and perhaps even todd too and brought them out to the desert it is a bit unusual that breaking bad a show that spent most of its time out in the desert or in certain locations ends in jack's compound a character that didn't even enter the show until season 5. however we already had the desert shootout two episodes earlier so it may have been too repetitive to set up the finale there again but continuing on with the scene jack rejects walt's offer to teach them a new money-saving cooking technique and tells his men to take walt out back and shoot him walt's car keys are out of reach so it seems all is lost but then walt says jack owes him as he never killed jesse and partnered up with him instead out of character jack takes huge offense to this so much that he delays killing walt that has jesse revealed as a prisoner not a partner just so he can gain walt's respect before killing him this decision gets jesse in the room which is what the script needs but is it that realistic not really there are some alternatives to how the scene unfolds number one instead of rejecting walt's offer jack could have sucked every last drop of information out of him and brought him to the lab to show them his new technique then walt would have discovered jesse is a slave there and told them to get him out of his sight that he doesn't want jesse seeing his new cooking techniques and then unexpectedly blow up the lab killing everyone else but jessie alternatively they could have taken walt's prisoner and held both him and jesse in the lab as prisoners cooking meth and the two have to put their differences aside to find a way to escape one last time they could then have a final moment where walt could escape with jesse but has a cheesy no you go i'll slow them down moment but that would take several episodes or it would have to be a double episode not just one finale alternatively jack could have wanted to hear walt's idea but brought jesse up to have it explained to him instead as jesse would be the only one who would understand it in practical cooking terms and then from there walt's original plan still goes ahead having walt not being killed and jessie being brought into the room just being about respect and pride feels a bit too unrealistic for jack especially when we have to have this awkward waiting for jesse to arrive scene where jack paces the room apparently raging at the idea anyone would question his word despite him being both a thief and a murderer walt's car keys being taken away from him is actually the only real conflict in the story so far for a breaking bad episode walt's plan uncharacteristically just goes off without a hitch he can script gretchen and elias no problem see skyler no problem poisons lydia no problem and then winds up here it seems like something should have gone wrong at some point and walt should be pushed to the brink before executing his plan so it could be that walt had to figure something out first and then just when he's about to be killed he pushes the button and wipes them all out or half of them out it just seems a little strange that for exclusively the last episode everything just goes perfectly however the way walt shoots jack cutting him off mid-sentence like he did to hank feels right then it comes to walt's final moment with jesse after walt gets shot while trying to save jesse's life walt gives jesse the gun and asks him to do it but once jesse sees walt has already been wounded tells him to do it himself still worse say you want this the dialogue between them both is short it doesn't go into detail about who did what when it's clear and simple after jesse feels exhausted by walt's consistent manipulation and refuses to be told what to do even one more time outside they exchange a final look and nod to one another and that's it jesse symbolically turns his back and leaves all of this behind him what are some alternative endings number one jesse shoots walt but that would make it seem like their relationship was only contentious and sour which it wasn't they have saved each other's lives multiple times and they have a father-son dynamic number two jesse immediately looks for and finds the money and offers to split it with walt but walt tells jesse he wants him to have it all number three walt falls to the floor choking on his own blood like jane did and jesse just watches him instead of doing anything the ultimate karma for what happened to jane number 4 walt apologizes for everything that he never meant for him to get wrapped up in all of this they hug and jesse leaves this would be warmer but after everything walt has done it could be a bit too warm and cheesy the classic rule of show don't tell makes the original way a little more concise to not have long streams of dialogue explaining the character arcs number 5 jesse tries to bring walt to the hospital as he just saved his life but walt refuses and just tells him to get out of here as soon as possible before the police arrive number six walt and jesse drive away together and have their final scenes somewhere else somewhere peaceful where walt fades away from his bullet wound at sunset or sunrise similar to mike or number seven a final handshake of respect between the two as while saving jessie makes them all square i think the writers largely got it right with the risk of the police arriving any moment the scene has to be cut short so their final exchange is symbolic of the undercurrents within their dynamic which is both efficient and fulfilling storytelling the audience don't lose respect for either character due to their decision here only gain more walt made a sacrifice for jesse and jesse didn't kill walt even if that's what he wanted the final ending of the episode is walt's death where he walks through the lab and looks at the tools of his creation proud of fulfilling his potential as the song baby blue plays he then falls to the floor leaving his hand print almost like a signature on the side of the apparatus but what are the alternatives walt could turn on the gas with a timer and blow himself up with his creation this would be visually interesting but perhaps a bit much however rather than just looking at the lab what if walt for the first time actually smokes his precious baby blue gets high on his own creation and then dies finally understanding why his product was so popular this would make the ending a little dirtier as he goes out on drugs but it is the one thing that never happened throughout the show as he has lung cancer and needed to think clearly but now there's no reason not to try it or finally walt could decide to cook a final batch and when the police arrive he doesn't stop so they gun him down meaning walt goes out doing what he loved most cooking personally i think walt's smoking his baby blue just once before he slips to the floor and dies could have been interesting but the ending as it is is pretty damn perfect and doesn't necessarily need anything more so that was a look back on the finale of breaking bad but what do you think were you satisfied by the ending would you have rather had ended in the desert rather than jack's dark compound did you want walt to go out in a blaze of glory do you think any of my potential alternatives would have been better or do they only further underpin how perfect the last episode is as it ties up all loose ends or do you have some ideas of your own that you think would be better so don't forget to check out the surf shark link in the description and if you enjoy videos like this please do like the video and consider joining my patreon community as it really helps me to pump out more and more content when i know i have your support and you can have more direct influence over what type of videos i make moving forward

Channel: Just an Observation

Views: 780,321

Keywords: breaking bad walter white, breaking bad felina, breaking bad alternative endings, breaking bad alternate endings, breaking bad writing, breaking bad review, felina, felina review, breaking bad ending, how does breaking bad end, how does walter white die, breaking bad end of walter white, breaking bad changes, bryan cranston, jesse pinkman, just an observation, felina criticism, breaking bad video essay

Id: Oai84s8kkgk

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 01 2021