Breaking Bad is one of the best shows in TV history, and after five seasons, it all led to an ending that people still talk about today. But if you need a helping hand to understand that final episode, well then, let’s cook.
Creator Vince Gilligan had one of the best high-concept hooks for Breaking Bad that any show has ever had. As Gilligan put it:
“This is a story about a man who transforms himself from Mr. Chips into Scarface.”
The appeal of Breaking Bad is pretty simple because it asks a question we’ve all probably wondered at least once. How far would a regular person, a Mr. Chips type, go if they knew they were dying and had to provide for their family?
With that theme in mind, it’s easy to see how Breaking Bad is about the American dream, the idea that if you do good work, then the people in charge will see your value and reward you for your skills. Of course, most people would prefer their paychecks come from legitimate bosses and not various criminal drug lords in the crystal meth trade. Not so for Walter White. After all, the longer he stays in the game, the higher he rises. But the higher he rises, it gets harder and harder for him to argue that he’s just leaving a nest egg for his family, and he transforms from a sympathetic and unlikely anti-hero into a full-fledged villain.
So we’ve spent a lot of time talking about Walt, but what does the actual ending of Breaking Bad mean? Well, first we need to specify which ending we’re talking about. Each of the final three episodes, “Ozymandias,” “Granite State,” and “Felina”, can function as a kind of ending for the show. In the case of “Ozymandias,” it’s a poetic, circular ending. Keep watching the video to see the ending of Breaking Bad finally explained!
#BreakingBad #EndingExplained
American nightmare | 0:12
King of kings | 1:14
Things left to do | 2:41
Chance to make things right | 3:54
The hunt is on | 4:50
What he deserved | 5:50