Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You know, there
is a very specific, like a very unique kind of
anxiety that comes with ending a story. Oh, yeah.
And I'm not talking about just finishing a book
you're reading or walking out of a movie theater.
Yeah. I'm talking about the actual creative act
of ending a massive multi -year narrative. The
landing. Right. Sticking the landing. It is honestly
the hardest maneuver in all of entertainment
gymnastics. It really is. Because, I mean, we
have all been burned before, right? Oh, totally.
You invest years in a show. You obsess over the
theories. Maybe you buy the merchandise and then
the finale airs. I'll just sud. Exactly. But
it creates this vacuum. It can almost retroactively
ruin the entire experience for you. Absolutely.
The Game of Thrones effect, if you will, or,
you know, the super polarizing cut to black of
The Sopranos. Endings are really where legends
are solidified or where they just completely
crumble. And that brings us to the subject of
today's deep dive. We are traveling back to September
29, 2013. The whole world was watching AMC. The
anticipation was just suffocating. We are talking
about Felina, the series finale of Breaking Bad.
Yeah. And this wasn't just a television episode.
This was a massive cultural event. It was the
16th episode of season five, the 62nd episode
overall. And Vince Gilligan, the creator, he
had the weight of the entire television world
on his shoulders. No pressure. Right. He had
to wrap up one of the most dense, morally complex
and honestly scientifically detailed stories
ever told. And yet. to do it in 55 minutes. Which
is an insane constraint when you think about
how many loose ends were dangling at that point.
So here is our mission for this deep dive. We
aren't just going to sit here and recap the plot.
If you're listening to this, you've probably
seen the episode. Right. You know Walter White
dies. You know Jesse escapes. Exactly. We want
to go underneath the floorboards today. We want
to unpack the mechanics of how Gilgan actually
pulled this off. We're going to look at the hidden
meanings in the title and the music. Specifically,
there's a Marty Robbins track that serves as
almost Rosetta Stone for the whole finale. Yes.
And we are also going to break down the engineering
of that machine gun turret, including the Mythbusters
test that proved whether it was actually physically
possible. And we'll look at the psychological
warfare Walt uses, the production secrets, and
the alternate endings that almost happen. Because
there is a version of this story where Walt goes
full Rambo. Oh, yeah. We will get to that. But
let's start at the very beginning. The title
itself. Felina. F -E -L -I -N -A. Now, when this
title was released before the episode even aired,
the internet went crazy. The Reddit threads were
on fire. Yeah. And the very first thing everyone
noticed was the anagram. Right. It's a very Vince
Gilligan style puzzle. If you just rearrange
the letters F -E -L -I -N -A, you get finale.
Which is, it's satisfying. It's neat. It appeals
to that part of our brains that just likes order.
It does. And there was actually another theory
floating around that broke the word down by chemical
symbols. Yeah. Fee for iron, lie for lithium,
gnaw for sodium, blood, meth, and tears. I remember
that one. Blood, meth, and tears. It sounds so
poetic. It is super poetic, but unfortunately,
it's completely incidental. Oh, really? Yeah.
The writers confirm that was absolutely not the
intention. The anagram for finale was intentional.
But if you stop there, you are actually missing
the thematic spine of the entire episode. Because
Felina isn't just a word scramble. It's a name.
It is. It is a direct reference to the character
Felina, though in the song it's spelled with
two E's. From the song El Paso by Marty Robbins.
That's the old cowboy ballad. My grandfather
used to listen to that. It's a classic. And Vince
Gildina didn't just pick it because it sounded
cool on the radio. The narrative arc of that
song is literally the narrative arc of this episode.
It is the exact blueprint. Okay, let's unpack
that. Because I think a lot of people know the
song exists in the show. Like we see the cassette
tape drop out of the glove box in the Volvo.
Right. But they don't realize how closely the
lyrics actually match the screen. So the song
El Paso tells the story of a cowboy who falls
in love with a Mexican girl named Felina. And
he's totally obsessed with her. But in a fit
of jealousy, he shoots another man. OK, so immediately
we have the parallel to Walt. He falls in love,
maybe not with a woman, but with the game, with
the empire. And he definitely kills to protect
it. After the murder, the cowboy in the song
flees. He rides away from El Paso into the badlands
of New Mexico. Which is Walt fleeing to the Granite
State, to New Hampshire. He's in exile. He is.
He's hiding out in that freezing cabin. He's
safe there. The authorities can't find him. He
could technically just stay there and die of
cancer in peace. But in the song, the cowboy
is tormented. The lyrics literally say, my love
is stronger than my fear of death. Wow. He knows
that if he goes back to El Paso, he's going to
be killed. He knows he's riding into a trap.
But the need... foreclosure the need to see felina
one last time is just overpowering i saddled
up and away i did go riding alone into the dark
precisely walt gets in that stolen car and drives
across the country He is riding back to his own
personal El Paso, which is Albuquerque, knowing
full well this is a one -way trip. Yeah. He isn't
planning to escape to a beach in Mexico. He is
planning to die. So if the cowboy returns for
Felina, who or what is Walt's Felina? And that
is the central question that defines the episode.
Is Felina his wife, Skylar? Is it his children?
Or is Felina the blue meth? Is it the notoriety,
the legend of Heisenberg? I feel like the answer
actually shifts as the episode goes on. But let's
look at his arrival, act one. He lands in New
Mexico. He doesn't go to the police and he doesn't
go to his family immediately. He goes straight
to the source of his original trauma. Gretchen
and Elliot Schwartz. The founders of gray matter.
The billionaires living in that stunning house
with all the beige furniture and the abstract
art. This scene is so crucial because it closes
the loop on Walt's core motivation. Remember
that cancer was the catalyst, but the resentment.
about gray matter that feeling that he sold his
share of a billion dollar company for pennies
yes that was the fuel that's what made him so
incredibly bitter so he breaks into their house
and this is a very different walter white than
we've seen in previous seasons he's not storming
in with a gun screaming at people he's almost
ghostly he's quiet he just walks around examining
their photos and when they finally notice him
he doesn't attack them he uses them because he
has a problem to solve He has $9 .72 million
in cash in the trunk of his car. Literally a
barrel of money. But he can't just give it to
Schuyler or Flynn because the DEA will seize
it immediately as proceeds of crime. Right. It's
dirty money. So he concocts this genius money
laundering scheme on the fly. He forces Gretchen
and Elliot to take the money. And the deal is
they put it in an irrevocable trust for Walter
Jr., who is going by Flynn now, to be given to
him on his 18th birthday. But it has to come
from them. Exactly. It has to look like a charitable
donation from his wealthy benefactors. You know,
the poor son of our fallen friend. It creates
such a beautiful irony. Because Walt has spent
the entire series trying to build his own empire.
Specifically so he wouldn't have to take charity
from Grey Matter. Yes. And now at the very end,
he has to disguise his life's work as charity
from Grey Matter. just to get it to his son.
He really has to swallow that final piece of
pride to ensure the money gets there. It's brilliant
writing. But he doesn't trust them to do it out
of the goodness of their hearts. Oh, not at all.
He knows people. He knows once he's dead, they
might just call the police or even keep the money.
He needs to instill absolute primal fear. And
here come the laser pointers. Yeah. This is easily
one of my favorite reveals in the history of
the show. It's so good. He stands them by the
window. He tells them he has used the last of
his fortune to hire the two best hitmen. West
of the Mississippi. He says they will be watching
Gretchen and Elliot forever. And if that money
doesn't make it to Flynn. We see the red dots.
Yeah. These little red laser dots just dancing
on their chests right over the heart. The acting
from the actors playing Gretchen and Elliot here
is just phenomenal. They are shaking. They are
legitimately terrified. They fully believe there
are professional snipers out in the bushes. And
honestly, I believed it too for a second when
I first watched it. I thought, did he hire Jack's
crew? Who did he hire? And then Walt leaves.
He gets back in the car. And out of the darkness
come Badger and Skinny Pete. The two biggest
stoners in the Southwest. Holding laser pointers.
Basically cat toys. It's funny, but it's also
a profound statement on Walt's power at this
stage. He doesn't need actual hitmen anymore.
He just needs the reputation of Heisenberg. He
wields his own legend as a weapon. Exactly. It
connects his two worlds beautifully. You have
the high society world of the Schwartzes and
the gritty street world of the meth trade colliding.
And this interaction with Badger and Pete provides
the most important plot pivot of the episode.
Right, because Walt hands him a stack of cash
for their trouble. And he asks a question. He
asks about the blue stuff. He assumes that with
him gone and with Todd taking over the cooks,
the product has just become garbage. He assumes
the blue meth is a thing of the past. But Badger.
who still totally idolizes Walt, tells him, no,
man, it's better than ever. It's distinctly blue.
And you just see the gears turn in Walt's head.
This is the massive aha moment. Because if the
meth is still blue... It means the formula is
being followed exactly. And Walt knows Todd isn't
smart enough to replicate it perfectly. There
is only one other person on the planet who knows
the chemistry that well. Jesse Bickman. Exactly.
Up until this moment, Walt assumed the neo -Nazis
had killed Jesse. That was their deal. But if
the blue meth is flowing, Jesse must be alive.
And he must be cooking. So does Walt think Jesse
is a partner here? Or does he realize he's a
slave? I think initially Walt feels betrayed.
He thinks, I left, and Jesse just partnered with
Jack to keep the empire going. He feels replaced.
And that anger is what drives him to the compound
later. He isn't going there to save Jesse, at
least not yet. He's going there to kill the competition.
So the mission profile changes completely. He
secured the money for his family. Now he has
to secure his legacy. But first, he has to say
goodbye. The scene with Skyler. This scene hurts.
It takes place in their old kitchen. Or rather,
the grim little apartment Skylar is living in
now. She's working as a taxi dispatcher. She's
chain smoking. She just looks broken. And the
cinematography here is incredibly stark. There
is a physical column in the room that blocks
the view between Walt and Skylar for part of
the shot. It perfectly visualizes the wall that
has been built between them over the years. Skylar's
terrified he's going to hurt her or bring the
police down on her. And she totally expects the
same old speech. She says, if you tell me one
more time. that you did this for the family.
And he interrupts her. And he says the words,
we have literally been waiting five seasons to
hear. I did it for me. I liked it. I was good
at it. And I was really, I was alive. Why does
this confession matter so much? Because we as
the audience knew it, didn't we? We knew it,
but Walt never admitted it to himself or to her.
He always hid behind the shield of being the
provider. Every single murder, every lie, poisoning
Brock, it was all justified because a man provides.
By stripping that lie away, he is finally just
being honest. It's pure validation for Skylar.
You can almost see her exhale in that moment.
She isn't crazy, he was a monster, and he's finally
admitting it to her face. It's really the only
gift he can give her emotionally. But he also
gives her a very practical gift. The lottery
ticket. Right, the ticket with the coordinates.
He tells her that the ticket contains the exact
GPS location of Hank and Steve Gomez's bodies.
Which is pretty morbid. but highly valuable.
In the legal world, it's incredible currency.
He tells her to trade the bodies for a deal with
the prosecutor. He says, I give you the bodies,
you give me immunity. It ensures that Skylar
won't go to prison for being his accomplice.
He cleans up the legal mess he made for her.
It's a very practical form of love. It's not
a hug. It's a plea bargain strategy. Which is
quintessentially Walter White. And then the goodbye
to the kids. He watches Holly sleep. He watches
Flynn get off the school bus from a distance.
He knows he can't approach them. That distance
is just heartbreaking. He is a ghost to them
now. If he walks up to Flynn, Flynn will just
scream for the police. He has to love them from
the shadows. So he settled the money. He settled
the truth with Skyler. Now we move to the final
act, the revenge. And this is where the show
leans hard into the science aspect of things.
The trunt gun. The M60. The M60 machine gun.
It's a belt -fed 7 .6 2mm weapon of war. We saw
him buy it in the Flash Fired way back at the
start of Season 5. We saw him retrieve it. But
what he actually does with it, that's the engineering
marvel. Because he doesn't just plan to walk
in shooting like Scarface. No, he's too weak
for that. He's dying of cancer. He can barely
lift the gun, let alone manage the incredible
recoil. So he builds a robot. A literal robot.
Essentially, yes. He mounts the gun on a pivoting
turret inside the trunk of his Cadillac. He connects
it to a high -torque motor, likely a garage door
opener mechanism, and he wires the trigger servo
to the car's remote keyless entry system. So
when he presses the unlock button on his keychain...
The motor spins the gun back and forth on an
axis, and the solenoid pulls the trigger. It
just sweeps the entire area behind the trunk
at waist height. Now, I have to ask, because
you're the expert here. Is this real? Could you
actually build this in real life? Or is this
just pure Hollywood magic? It sounds totally
absurd, right? But the team at Mythbusters, Adam
Savage and Jamie Heineman, actually dedicated
a whole episode to testing this specific Breaking
Bad finale setup. And what was the verdict? They
built it. They used the same car model, the same
gun, the same rudimentary materials Walt would
have had access to. And they tested it on a firing
range with wooden cutouts representing the Nazis.
Did it actually work? It worked terrifyingly
well. The final verdict was plausible. The gun
swept back and forth and completely decimated
the targets. The only caveat they found was that
the M60 fires very fast, about 500 to 600 rounds
per minute. So a standard ammo belt might only
last 10 to 15 seconds. You don't have a long
time. It's just a short burst. Right. It's a
room clearer. You have one shot to wipe everyone
out. And that's exactly how Walt ends up using
it. But before he gets to the compound. He has
one more loose end to tie up. Lydia Rodarda Quayle.
The corporate face of the operation. The woman
who is completely obsessed with Stevia. He meets
her at the coffee shop. Todd is there too. Walt
plays the part of the defeated man again. He
looks totally disheveled. He offers them a new
formula for methylamine -free meth. He says he's
broke. And it's all a ruse just to get close
to their table. He knows Lydia's routine perfectly.
She sits down. She orders chamomile tea with
soy milk. And she always asks for stevia. And
while they are dismissing him, telling him to
just get lost. We see the single packet of stevia
on the table. The only one left in the bowl.
Which he planted. Which contains the ricin. That
vial of ricin has been a Chekhov's gun since
Union 2. We've been waiting for someone to eat
that poison for years. Tuco almost ate it. Gus
almost ate it. Finally, Lydia eats it. It's such
a quiet kill. He doesn't even wash or die. He
just walks away. He confirms it later. In that
phone call to Todd's phone, Lydia answers, looking
super sick in bed. And Walt just coldly says,
I slipped it into that stevia crap you're always
drinking. Goodbye, Lydia. Ice cold. It really
shows his commitment to a totally clean slate.
No one who knows the business is allowed to survive.
Which brings us to the neo -Nazi compound. Jack
Walker's clubhouse. Walt pulls the car up. And
notice how he parks. He doesn't pull into a spot.
He pulls parallel to the building, specifically
angling the trunk towards the clubhouse wall.
He's aiming the car. Exactly. He gets out. He's
frisked immediately. They take his wallet, and
crucially, they take his keys. This is the massive
tension point. Jack throws the keys on the pool
table. They are completely out of Walt's reach.
If he can't get to those keys, the entire plan
fails. And Jack is not in a listening mood. He
just orders his men to take Walt out back and
put a bullet in his head. Walt is desperate here.
He's shouting. And he uses the only leverage
he has left. He attacks Jack's ego. He shouts,
you owe me. You said you'd kill Jesse Pinkman.
Instead, you partnered with him. You're partners
with a rat. Now, Jack is a white supremacist
gang leader. His reputation in that world is
everything. The idea that he is business partners
with a snitch, he absolutely can't let that stand.
It insults his twisted code. To prove Walt wrong,
Jack stops the execution. He says, bring him
up. He wants to show Walt that Jesse isn't a
partner. He's a slave. And when they bring Jesse
in. It is honestly one of the most disturbing
images in the entire show. Jesse has long hair,
terrible scars on his face. He's in chains. He
looks like a completely broman animal. Walt looks
at him. And you can see the anger just drain
out of Walt's face. He came there thinking Jesse
was a rich partner. He sees that Jesse is a torture
victim. And in that split second, the plan changes.
Walt dives at Jesse. He tackles him to the floor.
Jack thinks they are fighting. He yells, get
him off him. But Walt is actually shielding him.
He pins Jesse to the ground, covering his body.
And as he hits the floor, he grabs the keys off
the pool table. And presses the button. The trunk
pops open, the mechanism whirs to life, and the
M60 just unleashes hell. The sound design here
is incredible. It's totally deafening. The bullets
rip through the wall like it's made of paper.
It's not a precision strike at all. It's a lawnmower.
It shreds the clubhouse. Glass is shattering.
Wood is splintering. The Nazis are literally
dancing as the heavy rounds hit them. And because
Walt and Jesse are on the floor. The kill zone
is exactly at waist height. The bullets fly right
over their heads. And then the fire. Silence.
The room is destroyed. Everyone is dead. Except
Todd. Todd crawls out from behind cover. He looks
out the shattered window at the car and says,
Mr. White, he's almost impressed by the ingenuity.
And this is Jesse's moment. Jesse, who has been
brutally tortured by Todd for months. who was
forced to watch Todd kill Andrea. Jesse just
screams. He wraps the chain of his handcuffs
around Todd's neck, and he strangles him. It
is visceral. He snaps his neck. It is pure poetic
justice. The very chains that Todd used to enslave
Jesse become the weapon Jesse uses to kill him.
It's the ultimate reclamation of power. And then
there's Jack. Jack is wounded. He's sitting slumped
against the wall. He grabs a cigarette. He tries
to play his final ace. He says, you want your
money. You pull that trigger. You'll never find
it. This directly paralyzed the death of Hank.
Remember, Hank looked Jack in the eye and said,
do what you're going to do. He didn't beg. Jack
begs. He tries to buy his life. And Walt. Walt
shoots him mid -sentence. Boom. He doesn't care
about the money anymore. The barrel's in the
desert. They don't matter. He just wants it finished.
So now the room is quiet. It's just Walt and
Jesse. The father and the son, the master and
the student. Walt kicks the gun over to Jesse.
He stands up and spreads his arms. He offers
himself. He says, do it. You want this. Does
Jesse want it? I think every fiber of his being
wants to kill Walt. Walt completely ruined his
life. But then Jesse looks down. He sees the
blood on Walt's side. Walt was hit. A stray bullet
from his own machine gun caught him in the abdomen.
He's dying. And Jesse realizes the game. If he
shoots Walt, he is doing what Walt wants. He
is giving Walt the suicide by cop ending. He
is following orders one last time. So he drops
the gun. Do it yourself. That line, it honestly
gives me chills every time. It is Jesse finally
breaking the spell. He refuses to be Walt's tool
anymore. He refuses to give Walt the twisted
satisfaction of being punished by him. He actively
chooses to walk away. And we get that final look
between them. Just a nod. A silent acknowledgement.
Goodbye. Jesse gets in the El Camino, Todd's
car, and he smashes through the fence. And the
reaction shot on his face. He's screaming. He's
crying. He's laughing. It's total hysteria. It's
the release of months of physical and psychological
torture. He is finally free. Now, I know the
story continues for Jesse in the movie El Camino,
which came out in 2019. Does that change how
you view this final moment? It definitely adds
context. In the finale, his escape is slightly
ambiguous. Is he really free or is he just going
to get caught by the cops five miles down the
road? El Camino confirms that he does actually
get away. He makes it to Alaska. He finds peace.
So looking back at Felina, that scream is truly
a scream of survival. But the camera doesn't
follow Jesse into the night. It stays with Walt.
Right. And the music swells. Baby Blue by Badfinger.
A song choice that apparently Vince Gilligan
had to really fight for. He did. The music supervisors
originally wanted something else, something maybe
more ambient. But Gilligan was totally adamant.
And when you actually hear the lyrics, guess
I got what I deserve. The special love I have
for you, my baby blue. It completely reframes
the entire show as a twisted love story. Not
between a man and his wife, but between a man
and his creation. Exactly. Walt W. He's home.
He is. He's in a lab. The one place where he
was a true genius? The place where he was powerful?
He collapses on the floor. And we get that famous
final shot. The camera on a crane pulling straight
up towards the ceiling. The God's Eye View. Walt
lies there, bleeding out, surrounded by police
officers rushing in. But if you look closely
at his face... He's smiling. He is smiling. He
died on his own terms. He didn't die in a sterile
hospital bed. He didn't die in a prison cell.
He died in a lab, having killed his enemies,
provided for his family, and freed his partner.
Which leads us to the big debate. The critical
reception of the episode. Because while fans
absolutely loved this and the ratings were historic,
over 10 .28 million viewers, critics were a little
more divided. Right. Generally, the acclaim was
universal. It's widely considered one of the
best finales ever made. However, there was a
very potent critique, most notably from Emily
Nussbaum at The New Yorker. I read that piece.
She called the episode a dying fantasy. Right.
Her main argument was that the ending was just
too neat. It was too perfect. She argued that
in the real world, or even in the gritty, consequence
-heavy world Breaking Bad established, things
don't work out this perfectly. Because everything
went Walt's way. The keys were perfectly within
reach. The machine gun didn't jam. He managed
to find Lydia's exact stevia packet. Yes. Nussbaum
argued that the show, which was usually entirely
about harsh consequences, essentially let Walt
off the hook. He got to be the hero of his own
story. He won. She felt it was almost a betrayal
of the show's underlying morality to let the
ultimate villain have such a victorious, clean
exit. It's a fascinating point. I mean, if he
had died in that freezing cabin in New Hampshire
alone and forgotten, that would have been a pure
tragedy. But dying in the lab. That's a triumph.
Exactly. And I think that specific tensions is
what makes it endure. Is it a happy ending? Only
if you are actively rooting for the bad guy.
And Vince Gilligan expertly tricked us all into
rooting for the bad guy for years. But you look
at a review from IGN, they gave it a 9 .8 out
of 10 and called it fully satisfying. Yeah, people
wanted him to win on some level. And it's interesting
because there were other endings considered.
Right. They didn't always have the machine gun
plot locked in. Oh, no. The writer's room was
reportedly a very stressful place. They considered
an ending where Walt breaks Jesse out of a literal
jail, shooting up a prison or a police transport.
Which feels a bit too action movie for Breaking
Bad. Completely agreed. They also considered
a really dark ending where Walt uses the M60
to shoot police officers who have him cornered.
Whoa. That would have changed everything about
how we view him. It would have made him entirely
irredeemable. Killing innocent cops is a line
they decided Walt shouldn't cross in the finale.
They also discussed a Rambo version where Walt
holds the heavy gun himself and just mows down
the Nazis by hand. But he's way too weak physically
for that. Right. And it completely misses the
point of the character. Walter White isn't a
soldier. He's a scientist. He's an engineer and
a genius. The automated turret in the trunk is
the perfect weapon because it is a triumph of
brain over brawn. It's basically his ultimate
lethal science project. It really is. So when
we step back and look at Flina as a whole, what
is the legacy of this episode? It's the gold
standard. You see shows like Better Call Saul,
the spinoff, having to live up to it. You see
every prestige drama series finale being constantly
compared to it. It proved that you can answer
the questions, close all the loops, and still
genuinely surprise the audience. Not to mention
Vince Gilligan won a DGA award, and the editor,
Skip McDonald, won an Emmy for it. And it proved
that you can use a Marty Robbins song to literally
foreshadow your entire plot. That too. It boosted
sales of Baby Blue by nearly 3 ,000%, by the
way. Streaming for that song went up 9 ,000%.
That is wild. Yeah. I want to leave you, the
listener, with a thought today. We talked about
Nussbaum's critique, the idea that Walt got off
too easy. Right. But think about the lyrics of
El Paso one last time. The cowboy dies in the
arms of Felina. Walt dies in the arms of the
lab. The blue myth. Was this ending a tragedy
for a man who completely lost his soul? Or was
it the ultimate victory for a man who finally
accepted who he really was? That is the enduring
question. And honestly, depending on the day
you ask me, my answer changes. Mine too. And
I think that's exactly why we'll still be talking
about it in another 10 years. Absolutely. Thank
you so much for joining us on this deep dive
into television history. It was a huge pleasure
to revisit Albuquerque. And thank you to you
for tuning in and nerding out with us. We'll
catch you on the next deep dive.