'Breaking Bad' Finale Review [SPOILERS]: Walter White Makes The Ultimate Sacrifice In The Heartbreaking Series Finale

Well folks, it’s the end of an era. Breaking Bad is officially over. Warning: what follows may contain spoilers.

Walt (Bryan Cranston) stated before that he still had things left to do. The episode begins with him returning home to New Mexico where he slips Lydia (Laura Fraser) some ricin. He then proceeds to blackmail his former Gray Matter partners into giving Flynn (RJ Mitte) nine million dollars on his eighteenth birthday. He pays a visit to Skyler (Anna Gunn) to say goodbye and goes on to get Jack and his men. It’s a heartbreaking and touching episode – Walter dies in peace right before the police can apprehend him.

The finale was filled with the drama we’re used to from Breaking Bad, but there was the fulfilling sense of closure that we so anticipated for the end of one of the television greats. The mood was somber and almost heartbreaking throughout the episode, but we seemed to have left the characters with some sort of finality. Jesse (Aaron Paul) kills Todd and escapes to a new life, Walt and Skyler part ways, even Hank’s burial site is divulged, may he rest in peace. We’re nostalgic to see Walt go, but Walter White’s final hour is breathtaking and heartfelt. Jesse is beaten down and probably traumatized, but there is a sense of freedom in the air as he laughs, speeding off into the night.

The mechanics of the final shootout are pristine; we see Walt preparing some sort of motorized device earlier on, but we don’t realize at the time that his plan all along was to serve justice for Hank and his family. In a moment of understanding, Walt tells Skyler, “I did this for me. And I was good at it. I was alive.” Reaching some sort of understanding, she lets him see Holly for the last time before they part ways.

As viewers, we are left with the solace that Flynn and his family will receive Walt’s money disguised by the shield of Gray Matter, Jesse, our favorite protagonist, will be liberated and Skyler will trade the coordinates of Hank’s grave for a lesser sentence in court. All is well; we’ve tied up the loose ends.

Goodbye Breaking Bad, you will be forever missed.