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God DAMN. So I take it the final episode will be just Vince Gilligan whipping out his massive cock.

If anything, that last scene fits into the idea of the show being about what really happens when you go after what you think is "owed" to you.

You know, it occurs to me that, as the show's finale approaches, we'll be seeing all sorts of provocatively headlined web articles trying to score pageviews off the fact that the show will be trending insanely. Some pieces will be smart, some dumb, and some reasonable people will disagree about. Point is, there's going to be a shit-ton of them. Let's brace ourselves.

Great great episode.

I got it totally wrong that we would catch up to the flash-forwards with 2 episodes left. Luckily we got the set up for the climax that we needed.

First thoughts:

Walt Fucking Junior! Way to go Flynn. He hasn't been the most dynamic or important character on the series, but I'm kind of glad my prediction that he would kill someone by the end of the series (thus corrupting everyone in the White family) seems as though it won't play out. Granted, there's an episode left, but at this point it seems that his role was to be the one who finally pushed Walter over the edge into suicide-run territory...and that's awesome.

I actually jumped in my seat when Skyler walked in to check on Holly. I was genuinely surprised.

Todd is so crazy. The tiny smile he flashed when everyone found out he gunned down Drew Sharp might have been the creepiest thing anyone has done on the series.

It looks like basically every reason we could come up with about why Walt would come back was there: His family is in danger, revenge for both Hank's killing and the theft of his money, and his old buddies at Grey Matter pissing all over even his old legacy.

I'm wondering if Walter pays Elliot & Gretchen a visit before he goes balls to the walls against Jack's crew. I can't fathom Walt will let that slight go, considering the Grey Matter issue is one of the fundamental seeds of Heisenberg's character. It seems like a large detour to take (don't they live somewhere else?), but I feel like the writers couldn't hit Walter over the head with that so blatantly and then drop it.

Poor Jesse. Despite the fact that he's a fuck up and has made his fair share of bad decisions over the series (he should have just talked to Walter with the wire!)...that kid has just been through so fucking much. I was going "fuck yeah Jesse!" until I saw the camera come into frame, and immediately knew there'd be hell to pay. Still, it was brutal to watch the punishment. This show sure as shit doesn't pull punches.

I wonder if Saul stepping out means that's the last we'll see of him in the series. It'd be fitting, since he's been so utterly fucking terrified of Walter for so long. Walter tried to pull the normal power play and it just fell apart, finally allowing Saul to get out from under his thumb. It seems like a fitting end, much like Hank, if it is indeed the end.

I wish it was a 2-hr finale if only because I don't want there to be a single hour of this left.

The promo for the finale:

No new footage, but goddamn do I love that music choice

I love trying to come up with cheeky alternate titles for these episodes. All I could come up with for “Granite State” was “The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants” and “Todd Talks To Women.” (I guess “AmeriCone Dream” could work.)

The phone call to Walt Jr. didn't push him to a suicide run.  It finally broke him to the point that he gave up.  He was waiting for the police to take him in and had he not seen Elliot and Gretchen on the television he would have done just that.  He was ready to give up and try to get Skyler out of trouble and probably lead Marie to where Hank and Gomez were buried.  He was truly defeated at that point, realizing that after all that he had done, there would be nothing left that he'd tried to collect.  I think being faced with his potential legitimate fortune was a final kick in the teeth that sent him over the edge.  It mirrored what he said to Jesse in the previous episode.  Given Jesse's circumstances there was no reason for the Jane conversation to take place except to prove to him that he hadn't reached the full bottom of his existence yet.  Walt thought he'd hit rock bottom and was broken.  Then Gretchen and Elliot took away something that he didn't even recognize could hurt him.  His sense of entitlement.  They made a direct assault on his justification for the whole "empire business" line of thinking.  The fact that he was legitimately a founder of a huge company like Grey Matter was a sense of pride and the way that he carried himself even before the story of Breaking Bad takes place.  I'm sure there are people all over the world that claim they were partially responsible for the foundation of fortune 500 companies as a bragging point, even if they have no monetary profit from those companies "back in the day."

I wonder if Walt has figured out that Jesse is alive or not?  The fact that all of a sudden there's pure blue meth worldwide and the knowledge that Todd was fucking it up previously could easily inform Walt that Jesse is cooking for Todd and Co.   If Andrea's execution was in the paper as well, he could even deduce that it's against his will. 

I could see Walt threatening Gretchen and Elliot or outright killing them, depending on how much he's thinking or not thinking right now.  Since giving money to his family outright wasn't working, it would be interesting to see him threaten Elliot or Gretchen into giving monetary support to Skyler and the kids.

I'd add that while actions have unintended consequences, there are some things that you can't change no matter what (cancer.)

Ensure got some primo product placement.

The ending of “Granite State” was beautiful. It was mostly visual storytelling and Cranston's performance. Pretty cool how the theme music kicked in there. I'm a sucker for shit like that.

If anything will get Walter pissed off, it’s his old pals going on Charlie Rose and downplaying his role in Grey Matter. Walt’s secret criminal success compensated, to some extent, for not being the legitimate "somebody" he could have been. It's a clever touch, now, to have that criminal success be the cause of his old associates basically calling him a nobody publicly (well, on PBS, at any rate), even speculating that he's met his demise. (I love the idea of Walter White being this bin Laden-type figure — bearded, holed up, receiving portable medical treatment, watching people on TV speculating that he's already dead.) Ripping off that old scab, at that moment, might have been the only thing that could have gotten Walt off that barstool. A defeated Walt sat down, and an angry Heizenberg got up.

It’s funny to contrast Todd and Lydia’s coffee-shop rendezvous with the one Mike and Lydia once had. If I recall correctly, Lydia pulled the same you-sit-there-I-sit-here thing, but Ehrmantrout simply rolled his eyes, sat down in Lydia’s booth, and said hi to the waitress, who clearly knew him. But Todd is no Mike. Drink tea and put on a collared shirt all you want, Todd. She’s just not that into you. Is it possible Todd will do what Mike once wanted to do — kill Lydia? I can't tell whether Todd is the “If I can’t have you, no one can” type.

Is there a some kind of checklist of loose ends the finale has to resolve? The ricin. What else?

When Charlie Rose is going over the fact that the blue meth is still around, we're on a close up of Walt's face and there's a very distinct moment of confusion, followed by understanding. There's only 2 people on the planet that can make that meth.

While I guess it's possible that he could have read about Andrea's murder, it seems unlikely. I would think if he read that she was murdered, he would have assumed that Jack's crew was cleaning house -- thus he would also assume they were going to try and kill his family as well. That would lead to a whole different arc, it think.

I think he knows Jesse is alive and cooking. Logically it could be either a) Jesse doing it just to stay alive, or b) Jesse is being forced to do it. I'm not sure it matters to Walter at this point -- he wants Jesse dead for betraying him to Hank. The fact that he's alive, for whatever reason, is an affront to Walter and adds even more reason to go after Jack's gang (who swore they'd kill Jesse).

I took that completely the opposite way.  He turned into old Walt when he hung up the phone with Flynn and was ready to face the music.  He basically gave up and was waiting to be arrested.  Then the TV program pissed him off and turned him immediately back into Heisenberg.  Hence the Ricen and purchasing of oversized firearms at Dennys.

This should be the ending of every article written about Breaking Bad.