Breaking Bad endgame speculation, part 1: Walt's fate (spoilers, obviously)

Yeah, I know, a silly poll, but I was bored.

badger

Badger kills Walt? I guess that'd be surprising, at least.

Supporting character.

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Gomie-Smile-Breaking-Bad-Season-5-Episode-7.gif

Breaking Bad endgame speculation, part 2: the other main characters (spoilers, obviously)

2 we came up with in a recent convo:
- everyone dies EXCEPT Walt
- Walt wakes from an induced coma he was put into cuz of the cancer and none of this shit was real (oh that would be DELICIOUS)

which one is walt again

One "it was just a dream" theory I've seen people seen mention is related to Skyler... During the first season it was mentioned Skyler is writing a novel or something, but the novel or Skyler's writing career is never mentioned again. Now, some people speculate that this is the ultimate Chekhov's gun, that all the crazy stuff that's happened since season 1 is revealed to be a novel Skyler's writing, based on the lives of Walt and other people she knows. In reality Walt was just depressed after hearing his cancer diagnosis, and decided to buy some weed from a former student and hang around with him. That would explain why the series starts getting more and more unrealistic after the relatively low-key beginning. Also, it could be that Skyler's novel becomes a big seller (maybe she even sells the rights for a TV adaptation?), so in the end you could say Walt does ends up saving his family from a financial crisis that'd follow his death, only it's Skyler's fictionalized version of him who does it.

Obviously the show will never pull an "all just a dream" ending, though apparently Roseanne actually did end kinda like the scenario described above. (I haven't seen Roseanne's final season, but I've read the plot synopsis.)

everyone dies EXCEPT Walt

ya, it feels like either Walt has to die or he has to have the ~ironic~ fate worse than death of his entire family dying.

I can't imagine they'd kill the whole family... Holly surely is protected by laws of mainstream TV (i.e. babies/infants never die by violence), and Walt Jr. is probably too sympathetic to be killed.

Holly is toast imo

everybody always trying to kill Holly

Yeah Gomez seems like the single most likely character to do it.

(Walt, not holly)

Omg fuck its was all a dream. There's no way Gillian would stoop to that but if he did I might lose my mind

I've already given my theory that skylar will die because of Lydia in the next couple of eps. Walt will die but not of cancer. Kids will end up living with hank and Marie. Jesse will either live or suicide.

cancer-ravaged walt pulls a private vasquez and kills himself in such a way that it saves someone else

Todd looks at Walt during a cook, says "we belong dead," ignites lab

It was all a lecture Walt gave to his class to make chemistry interesting

ok i like that idea

The second last scene shows Walter White falling into a deep sleep after sustaining a gunshot wound. In the last scene, a Roman centurion wakes up in a meadow just after sustaining a massive head wound during battle. He gathers his thoughts, then grabs his sword and charges into battle once again. Screen fades to black.
This ending puzzles viewers. Is it the case that the whole show was merely the fevered dying dream of a Roman centurion as he charges back into battle for one last futile attempt to gain ground? Or is it merely the case that the Roman centurion is a figment of Walter White's fertile imagination, giving the viewer a glimpse of how Walt would like to see himself? Or is it the case that the Roman centurion is in fact a real historical figure who goes on to survive his battle and become the ancestor of Walter White who will then in his own dying moments dream of his Roman centurion ancestor charging into battle? An eerie case of history becoming its own father and son.

It was all a dream walter white used to read chemistry magazines

Naw mean

What if Walt shoving all that money at Jesse was foreshadowing, and he just dies of cancer alone out in the desert, leaving everyone with all that money. Skyler can't turn it in, because it implicates her. Hank can't prosecute his dead bro in law, because it would destroy his own reputation. Everyone's left living the lives Walt destroyed, unable to make things right, stuck in a tragic feedback loop of complicity and guilt.

Two alternative endings:

http://reeldebate.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/the-killing.png

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTr6PTY0z5eM_5lHseM8nt5iYQ0h6Z6PnVlydZV2NBb-rXTanK4

It was all a dream walter white used to read chemistry magazines

the white walter white

voted for "Walt dies in an accident" because i'm expecting the series to end with some Rube Goldberg contraption of irony like the air traffic controller bullshit.

didn't Gilligan say it was, to his mind, a "happy" ending? what that means is up for interpretation, of course. but that would seem to preclude a Shakespearean tragic ending of everyone dying, at least.

"happy" probably means Walt does something to save Jesse from going down with him and we see a middle aged Jesse teaching chemistry to class full of wannabe futuro-gangstas.

Walt goes home after his confrontation with Hank and is livid, and planning to do something about it. Unfortunately, that night, he is haunted by the ghost of Combo, who leaves him racked with guilt, and he vows to atone for his actions. He visits Ted in the hospital and promises to pay all of his hospital bills. He starts a charity in the name of Jesse's exs brother who died. And he sends an anonymous donation to the family of the kid that Todd iced.

Suddenly, in a flash, he goes back in time, and wakes up in the hospital, and is told once again he has terminal cancer, and to the doctor's surprise, he just starts laughing hysterically. Then the plane engine from Donnie Darko crashes through the building and kills him.

"happy" probably means Walt does something to save Jesse from going down with him and we see a middle aged Jesse teaching chemistry to class full of wannabe futuro-gangstas.

This does sound kinda something that could happen, given the relationship they've established between Walt and Jesse, but I'm still not sure if the writers would actually do it. Even though saving Jesse obviously wouldn't make up for all the death and grief Walt has caused, concluding the story like this would still mean Walt is in some way redeemed, and I'm not sure if they want to give him such a nice ending. In another interview Gilligan said Walt dying of cancer would be "too good" for him, so redemption would probably be "too good" as well. Maybe a "happy" ending simply means Walt dies but doesn't drag Jesse or Skyler or Hank down with him, and everyone can start living their lives again without his influence.

Unfortunately, that night, he is haunted by the ghost of Combo

What about the ghost of Hugo?? The school janitor who was always kind of Walt but got fired because he was suspected of stealing the chemistry lab's gas mask (it was Walt) and then the cops found a joint on him? FUCKING HUGO. If that loose end is not tied up by E08 I am going to throttle somebody.

y'know that did bother me too!

kind TO Walt, rather

yeah

that's really, really small potatoes compared to the shit Walt did even in Season 1

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Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Walt doesn't die, as in ever? damn.

Seems likely now that the ricin cig is intended for himself but who knows if he'll get to smoke it.

it's crazy that most of these options are still theoretically in play. like other than hank killing walt obv i could probably be talked into any of this stuff being how things turn out for walt (though some more difficult than others, especially the winner.)

I take it as a sign of faith that this show will come up with something more horrible than jail or death for Walt

So it was a combination cancer-accident-suicide, I guess.

suicide by badfinger