Well that was one hell of a tense hour (and eight minutes), wasn’t it? I had quite a few scenarios for how this episode would go down, though none of them quite added up to what actually happened. It was pretty obvious that, to cap off the season, Gus Fring was going to die somehow. One big question was how that was going to happen, though Walt’s homemade bomb was a good guess. As Walt’s plan with Hector Salamanca started to play out, I was wondering how he was going to get that bomb under Gus’s car … and then it hit me, just as Gus pulled out the syringe. If Hector was going to die, there was no way he was going to do it with a wimpy shot in the arm: he had the fucking bomb right there with him!
I’m near certain there will be people claiming Gus could still be alive; I just can’t see that being the case. It would make for a very obvious premise for the show’s final season, but I wouldn’t buy that Fring could fake his death in front of all those people, never mind actually survive with what appeared to be half of his brains blown away. Here, see for yourself:
I guess maybe it’s technically just his eyeball that’s gone, but … really? Would they make him survive that, and THEN bother going hell bent after Walter? I just can’t see it. Talk about a bad ass death, though — he even adjusted his fucking tie before he went down!
If there was any doubt Walter has turned into a bad ass, that’s gone now. He quite quickly made short work of Fring’s muscle at the lab, with nary a hesitation. He also uncaringly sends his neighbor over to his house to take a bullet, in the event someone was in there waiting for him to enter. Oh, and then he took out Fring and Hector — let’s not forget that. Then, of course, there’s Brock. There’s no doubting now that Walter actually poisoned the kid — the final scene with the Lily of the Valley flowers in Walt’s pool area pretty much tell you all you need to know. Throughout the episode, Walter’s reactions to Brock’s well-being made it obvious that he was responsible for Brock’s sickness, and he was having a hard time dealing with it.
Probably the most tense I felt in this episode was during Walt and Jesse’s meeting at the top of the parking garage. There’s four minutes left in the episode, and Jesse’s telling Walter that Brock was not poisoned by ricin. Uh oh. I just thought Jesse might pull out a gun or show some sign of knowing it was Walt who poisoned Brock … but it didn’t come. Still, I was on the edge of my seat through that whole exchange.
Obviously we’ve got a lot of questions going into next season. Of thous, the highlights as I see them:
One thing I wanted to elaborate more on is that last point. I noticed in the past few episodes that Walter is coughing more as he exerts himself. I’d say that’s a pretty deliberate choice the writers or directors made, and I’m willing to bet we’re going to find out that Walt’s cancer is coming back. So, will that mean he’ll have to start making meth again to cover the new bills?
I’m sad we only have one more season of this incredible show, but I’m also glad we’re going to see it off with a proper full season. See you next time!
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Oct 09, 2011 @ 23:34 EST5EDT
I don’t think Jesse will ever find out about it. Just like he won’t find out about Walt’s involvement in Jane’s death. Gus’s death was very fitting. He died just like he lived: a two-faced monster.
I don’t think Skyler is going to take Gus’s murder very well and it wouldn’t surprise me if she suspects Walt of killing Ted.
Why would Skyler suspect Walt of killing Ted. She knows who went to the house to get the check signed and Walt had nothing to do with it. She sent in the A- team Saul used and there is no doubt when she figures it out she will go to Saul and get the explanation about his fall. I just don’t see how he fell so hard and actually died.
I ask myself this one question:
Who is the snitch Mike had feeding him information earlier in this series?
I fortell some betrayal in season 5……Gomie perhaps?
Gus will be back! Next week on Walking Dead.
LMAO
I don’t think Jesse will find out either. Ted broke his neck in the fall, at least that’s what it looked like how he fell and slid head first into the wall or whatever. The chances are slim but it could happen. Great episode!
At least we know why Gus had those Spidey sense in the last episode. He knew something was wrong when he found out the kid had been poisoned. Since, it wasn’t him, someone else must have done it to turn Jesse. He didn’t know about it until he got to the hospital, so he figured someone must have done it to get him there.
OK, so last week I was convinced that Walt would not fatally poison a child. I’d like to stand by that–does anyone know whether Lily of the Valley is serious, or easily treatable? I couldn’t quite tell from the show–it seemed like it was easily treatable. So Walt’s “poisoning” of Brock doesn’t come anywhere near what he did to Jane, in causing her to be on her back, and then not doing anything to help her when she choked.
I find it a little bit of a stretch that Tyrus was so careful about checking for bugs, yet didn’t notice the big bomb attached to the bottom of the wheelchair. Also, would Walt know how much damage his bomb would do, or was he risking killing other people in the hospital? I guess after sending your kindly neighbor into a house you expect is either rigged to kill you or has killers waiting inside, you don’t have much of a moral compass left anymore. I was waiting for Mike to reappear. I certainly hope he’s coming back for the final set of episodes!
The biggest compliment I could give the show was that after such a fantastic season and build-up, it was a satisfying ending. It felt like they nailed it.
*POST AUTHOR*
Hey Scott. Couple of things. My guess is that the reason Walt was even hanging around outside Hector’s window was to come back in and rig the bomb once Tyrus left. I risky move, given that he’d have to guess that’s how things would go down, but that’s one way to look at it at least.
About the bomb — I would say the bomb was only big enough to have been able to adequately blow up a car’s fuel tank, not necessarily the entire car. I’m pretty sure Walt is smart enough to have carefully calculated the power of the bomb along with the poison potency.
I’m willing to bet Walter was equally relieved that he heard that *only* three people died in that blast and not more.
walt didn’t “cause” jane to be on her back. it wasn’t necessarily on him to turn her either. i mean, he didn’t kill her. he just didn’t save her.
btw, i still don’t think walt poisoned the kid. i don’t remember any contact with him other than when he was like, “oh. a kid.”
and here’s a link to some information about lily of the valley or other plants containing cardiac glycosides. it looks like the prognosis is generally good.
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/816781-treatment#a1126
ryan
So did Walt take the Ricin from Jessie’s cigarette pack? Jessie said he had it in his pack that day.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m *pretty sure* that Walter did not take the cigarette out of the pack himself, and instead Jesse handed him one.
That was not the answer I was looking for. We all seen that Jessie pulled out the pack and gave him one. lol Where did it go? Someone has it. Obviously, it happened when no one was looking.
*POST AUTHOR*
Pretty sure Walt had Saul help: https://cliqueclack.com/tv/2011/10/07/who-took-jesses-cigarette/
Gilligan said that Reuell took the cigs out of Jesse’s pocket as well.
Well, it just dawned on me. Gus’ guys were in the back yard of the house, where the plant was. He could have pulled the Risin and planted the plant.. lol
From Vince Gilligan about Walt poisoning Brock,
“I like not nailing things down completely. I like letting the audience ask those questions. But … yeah, I mean, as far as I’m concerned, he did poison Brock.”
Totally awesome board here. Sorry I found it so late. See you next season I hope! The finale was excellent. I had to watch it 3 times. Effing fantastic.
Did anybody else hear somebody breathing from inside Gus’s Volo still parked when showing Walt and Jesse from that angle?
Why do I think that Walt will turn into a drug kingpin, sort of like Gus was. Not sure. I think, and this is just my opinion, that Jesse will end up killing Walt in the last season. OR Walt may kill him. I like that fact that no matter how hard you try to PREDICT what will happen…you can’t…the writing is just that good!
Dammit, I hate to see this show go. I was with it since the first episode. Shows like this don’t come around often. And Cranston’s morph from a silly dad in “Malcom in the Middle” to a cancer stricken meth dealer in “Breaking Bad” is unbelievable. This show is like watching a blockbuster movie each week. Dammit gonna miss this show!
I like Giancarlo Esposito’s portrayal of (equally likable) Gus Fring so much that I hate to Gus dead. Will he return in Season Five?
I am looking at the still above of Gus post-explosion. The bomb was attached on the right-hand side of the wheelchair. Gus faced Hector as he was about to lethally inject him. Yet the damage to Gus is on his right side, opposite of the bomb’s location. Unless …
Before leaving to the nursing home Gus changes clothes from a yellow shirt and blue tie to a blue shirt and matching tie. Given the close of the previous episode where Gus is on high alert (he won’t even get in the Volvo that drove him to visit Jesse in the hospital), wouldn’t a hyper-aware Gus put on some Kevlar?
(Stick with me.)
There was a second between Gus’s yell and the explosion. The viewers experience the detonation from outside the room. Could Gus have turned his back to Hector’s exploding wheelchair and ducked his head low, into his chest, thus the damage to his shoulder, side of and top of his head?
Maybe I’m just too hopeful.
Come onnnn. You hopefuls are driving me insane. He got half his face/jaw blown off and would have insane internal damage from being beside a blast that size.
Also, thematically it would be totally retarded to kill off gus in a huge, cinematic way and then have him immediately come back as a faceless, physically destroyed goon.
Gus is dead. Vince Gilligan HAS SAID SO. Move on.
As for the survivability of Gus’ injuries, I’ll point out that near the end of WWII, the late Greek composer Iannis Xenakis survived a bomb blast that destroyed one side of his face, including the eye (see his photo linked below). I met him at UCSD back in 1991. Strange to look at but he had all his marbles and spoke without difficulty. And, as my astute brother pointed out to me, they announced that 3 people had been killed in the blast but what if one of those three was the yoo-hoo lady in the next apartment?
https://www.furious.com/perfect/graphics/xenakis.jpg
The three people that died were Gus, Hector and Tyrus
Everyone is missing the Hank kills Walt angle. That’s my prediction for the series finale…..Then, maybe Skylar kills Hank and is then murdered by her own sister.
oh, nice prediction – I like it.
I have been waiting for a confrontation between Hank and Walt, whether its tied to the meth lab (like when Walt and Jesse throw their gloves away as they were walking out) or something else that happens in the new season is anyones guess however. But I’m sure Hank will find out eventually; you could see he was a little suspect in a few episodes this season, I can’t see the writing of Hank having those little ponderous/skeptical expressions regarding Walt for no reason at all.
But to be honest I’m a big fan on series finishing on a high, I would be perfectly fine with the series ending now, it has finished with enough closure to the plot whilst still allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions about what will happen next..
Either way, this has been hands down the best drama series I’ve seen to date. Not over-acted and such good character development. It hasn’t relied on the tacky elements that are so common nowadays like incongruous explosions hashed in to every scene, gratuitous use of highly-suspenseful music (cough* prison break) and predictable plots.
Well done Vince Gilligan
We’re all forgetting that there seemed to be some additional reason Gus was “untouchable”, something involving his Chilean (or wherever, German multinational?) past. This may show up as an issue next season.
I love men & boys.
Yes; We are all forgetting much.
(Besides the selective amnesia rampant in our “civilized” society…)
Straightup -That bomb would have been seen.
Don’t get me wrong; the setup,the chair roar sound,the hidden intent, the last change sad pain look, the death glare, the walk, the scene, the Face Off ROCKED.
However, That Bomb would be horribly visible on a non electric wheelchair.
They Showed his most recent operations manger/ muscle/body guard as unable to notice a pipe bomb on an enemies nonelectric wheelchair. I find it even more suspicious and unfortunate that, out of all of Gus’s men (shown), this guy (who F-d up bigtime) has the darkest skin color . Hhhhhhhmmmmm….wtf?
What made it a little easier to accept was the way Hector did hide his intentions well until the final moment;
unlike Walt’s silly self with that carbomb scene (Sending out vibes to someone who is too experienced not to pick up on them.)
Did anyone notice that when Walt left the crawl space from under his house, he left the grill open? That means the goons who were in the house would have seen the open grill when they left, could have gone into the crawl space and found all the money and stolen it. How terrible/wonderful would it be for Walk and Skylar if after all of this they are back to square one with no money, bc Walt in his speed forgot to put the grill back up and his millions were stolen. All they’d have left is the carwash…might force Walt into becoming the next druglord.
Walt only won against Gus. Now it’s the German conglomerate he has to worry about. They won’t like it that their chicken chain manager is dead and their superlab destroyed.
And ever notice how many German names there are in the show? ASAP Merkert. Hank Schrader. Ted Beneke. Gale Boetticher. Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz. Are the writers foreshadowing German problems? I know some Breaking Bad fans have suspected ASAP Merkert of being the leaker/source. If Merkert turned out to be the bad guy, has Br Ba jumped the shark?
one thing i can say for sure is the DEA is gonna hear about hector and gus dying and know immediately why he was there. they’ll also know theres no way he could act alone. this leads me to believe that lady next door to hector is gonna identify walt. if not, it still looks shady that he was nowhere to be found while this was happening.
edit: one thing i havent seen mentioned is there is NO WAY walt is dumb enough to leave that plant sitting right next to the pool.
*POST AUTHOR*
I believe the others assumed he was working at the car wash. At least Hank’s wife said something to that effect.
thats valid, and im not expecting to convince you but im sure something (the lady next door, someone says something about being at the car wash and not seeing him) will come up that raises suspicion. its only a matter of time before hank becomes suspicious of walt.
edit: i watched the finale for the 3rd time today and i couldnt stop thinking something has to happen with marie and/or walt jr. they have had no significance to the show so far so i feel like they (especially marie) has to play a large part in the last season, otherwise we’ve been tortured by everything about her for no reason. she seemed to care more than anyone else (esp hank and skyler) that walt wasnt with them, maybe she makes a huge deal out of it.
*the lady next door to hector, not walt