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Help me remember (I'm drawing a blank)....how did Grey Matter (gratchen, etc) screw over Hank? I remember he had to sell his interest in the company before it took off, but I also seem to remember him getting screwed somehow. What exactly happened?

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We don't know the whole story, but a few things we do know:

1) Walt was dating Gretchen but was uncomfortable around her family. Sounds like he had issues of feeling inadequate. He basically just ditched her/disappeared, and one of the things she made clear in their last interactions was that he left her.

2) He sold his interest in Grey Matter out for $5000 around this time. "I sold my children's birthright for a couple of months rent." - his words to Jesse in the first half of season 5.

He screwed himself by pussing out and walking away, and then had to watch his colleagues (and former girlfriend) enjoy a lifetime of success that he never got to experience.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 9/23/2013 10:17a).]

FL : I've actually thought for some time too now that its very possible that the show goes completely dark with Walt just mowing people down in a public place after he exacts some revenge on a few people. Not saying it'll happen, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm just prepared for an ending that won't be a happy one, for Walt or Jesse.

It's gonna be a looong week.

But next Monday will be worse. Sad to think this is the last week of theorizing and discussion about this fantastic show.

I don't think Gilligan is going to give anyone a happy ending, and I doubt there's any redemption for Walt. It's just going to be a matter of whether there is any catharsis for the viewer.

The more I think about it, the more I don't think Jesse makes it out of the compound. He had a shot last night, but he rushed it and didn't take time to think before he acted, just like when he was planning to walk up and draw down on Gus's drug dealers. Todd was done with him for the night. If he had just taken his time, been a little more careful and patient, a little less impulsive, he probably makes it out of the compound.

So to protect his legacy as THE ONLY blue cook, maybe Walt poisons Jesse with the ricin so that the Nazis lose their cook. I wouldn't even be surprised to see Walt just outright give the vial to Jesse, who takes it himself as a way out.

[This message has been edited by MW03 (edited 9/23/2013 10:23a).]

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The one time that Walt finally ventures out of the house, he sits down at a bar, where the bartender is swapping between channels and he hits the Charlie Rose interview right when the Grey Matter couple is on there.

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I thought this too at first, but I am wondering if maybe this is one of those national "scott peterson/OJ Trial/Zimmerman" type stories that has the nation's full attention and is getting heavy media play?

It would probably be a pretty big story in reality...wimpy/nerdy HS science teacher becomes meth cooker and becomes drug kingpin and turns it into a huge empire and has killed how many people and there has been an ongoing manhunt and he is still on the run...everyone from Times to Rolling Stone would be running feature stories on it and Greta and Geraldo would be having a field day for sure. I am sure Charlie Rose would get in on it as well by interviewing any prominent figures who had anything to do with him.

Sometimes I wonder if Walt really is evil.

He seems to go back and forth. It appears he wants to be evil but then either doesn't have the stomach for it long term or can't with the people he cares about.

He threatens Hank, but then tries to trade all his money to save him.
Countless times he helps Jesse.
Tries to act tough to Skyler but then willing to give up everything for her and kids.

I don't have the series memorized. I'm trying to think of Walt hurting someone that didn't have it coming. I don't count Brock, I really think he knew enough that he wouldn't hurt him. And it doesn't take an evil person to kill bad people to save someone you love.

So is he really evil who's been playing nice his whole life, or is he really nice and trying to be evil to get something accomplished??

I've thought about that too. Can you imagine the media storm that a HS Chem teacher becoming drug dealer/cook/kinpin, with a DEA agent BIL.

How mad would everybody be if this show ended with some kind of universal healthcare message?

So the cops knew he was in New Hampshire, people at the bar saw him and could describe him, they know he's likely traveling to New Mexico, and there's a nationwide manhunt for him...seems unlikely that he'd just easily stroll back to Abq.

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thought this too at first, but I am wondering if maybe this is one of those national "scott peterson/OJ Trial/Zimmerman" type stories that has the nation's full attention and is getting heavy media play?

It would probably be a pretty big story in reality...wimpy/nerdy HS science teacher becomes meth cooker and becomes drug kingpin and turns it into a huge empire and has killed how many people and there has been an ongoing manhunt and he is still on the run...everyone from Times to Rolling Stone would be running feature stories on it and Greta and Geraldo would be having a field day for sure. I am sure Charlie Rose would get in on it as well by interviewing any prominent figures who had anything to do with him.

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Agree. Two missing DEA agents would be a big story regardless, but then mix all of the juicy details of Walt's HS teacher to meth kingpen legacy and the fact he's on the loose, and this is the type of story that would be all over the news and talk shows for a long time.

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Sometimes I wonder if Walt really is evil.

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It's the prevailing theme of the entire show. The notion of evil. At the very least, Breaking Bad takes the term antihero to new levels. More than the Sopranos, the Wire, Mad Men, etc.

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So the cops knew he was in New Hampshire, people at the bar saw him and could describe him, they know he's likely traveling to New Mexico, and there's a nationwide manhunt for him...seems unlikely that he'd just easily stroll back to Abq.

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This is why I think the waitress in the bar plays it off as someone making a prank call from the pay phone. She could say the person making the call didn't look anything like WW. Walt probably paid her and the bartender off and has the promised more money to keep them quite. How else can he use the interstate highway system to get all the way back home. Plus he probably got the car from the bartender/owner.

[This message has been edited by Gigemags-99 (edited 9/23/2013 10:35a).]

Well, the guy responsible for the name Gray Matter has certainly spent 5 seasons living in the gray area between right and wrong.

Right. It's a bit of "the road to hell being paved with good intentions" syndrome. Most of Walt's actions could be tied back to some underlying good intention, but the deeper he got himself into the business, the darker the actions to protect himself and his family became (driven by pride and greed). The entire show is basically a series of unintended consequences that he then ended up having to make more (and darker) choices on how to deal with.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 9/23/2013 10:45a).]

He's not going to shoot up grey matter. That would be worst ending possible.

Did Jesse on the bucket remind anyone else of Jesse on the ladder in the fly episode?

I don't think he has been in gray area on right and wrong. Most everything his life has been about the last 5 seasons involved breaking the law. Just because he was doing to provide for his family doesn't make it gray.

I can't believe people keep bringing up a "ricin suicide." No way in hell that happens. I stake my posting privileges to this thread on it.

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they know he's likely traveling to New Mexico

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How do they know this?

Yeah, that's ridiculous. 3-5 days of absolute misery when he's got plenty of options to take care of it immediately.

I don't think Walt kills himself with it. I think Walt walks by Jesse in the cage and drops the vial in. Maybe because he can't get him out with all the Nazis watching and he can drop it in surreptitiously. Maybe because he's an evil MFer and the Nazis are dead and Jesse's choice is to either starve to death because the Nazis are dead or take the ricin and die.

Or maybe he drops it to Jesse, and Jesse poisons Todd in the lab during a cook. He uses it as his opening to escape, collects Brock, and they call the vacuum man together. That would make the the happiest. Jesse gets away with Brock safe. Todd dies horribly. Walt does something good. So pretty much guaranteed that won't happen.

No way this show ends on a happy note.

I just hope we see Todd sporting the khakis and sipping tea again. That was hilarious.

I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but just realized that on the promotional poster on pg. 1, Walt has both fists clenched, with one thumb out on display, and the other tucked away, as if to symbolize good vs. evil. Which indicates to me that there may be at least SOME chance for redemption. Thoughts?

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Help me remember (I'm drawing a blank)....how did Grey Matter (gratchen, etc) screw over Hank? I remember he had to sell his interest in the company before it took off, but I also seem to remember him getting screwed somehow. What exactly happened?

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Hank is a two faced zombie

Didn't Walt explain that ricin takes a while for it to kill someone, starting off with flu like symptoms?

btw, does anyone else want Saul's spinoff to focus on his new life as Cinnabon manager in Nebraska and not be a prequel?

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Where am I going with this? Walt is going to blame Gray Matter for everything. In his twisted mind, had he never been pushed out of Gray Matter, he would have had the money to provide for his treatment and his family without having to cook meth. Gray Matter is Walt's convenient scapegoat for losing his wife, his children, his brother-in-law's death, and pretty much everything bad that happened in his life. Walt has been incapable of accepting responsibility, and I don't see him doing it now. And as he's sitting there in the bar, about to lose even his freedom, he's reminded by Gray Matter of what he had and "they took from him" as he's being publicly discounted and disavowed.

I don't think Walt's done with Gray Matter. Maybe he rolls up on the Schwartz house with the M60 and just demolishes it.

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Well put. I think the Charlie Rose interview serves as more than just a catalyst to get Walt back to New Mexico to take care of the Nazi's. I can see him mowing down the Nazi's, rescuing or killing Jesse, then getting some type of closure or making some type of public statement involving Gray Matters.

It's going to be a long week until Sunday night.

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does anyone else want Saul's spinoff to focus on his new life as Cinnabon manager in Nebraska and not be a prequel?

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No

By no means in my previous post did I mean to imply that Walt shoots up the Grey Matter dedication ceremony or any such nonsense. I don't even think he kills anybody associated with Grey Matter. I just think he makes his presence known to Elliot and Gretchen somehow, most likely at the ceremony, and then maybe at the same time, maybe sometime later purposely confronts the police/DEA and makes enough of a move for a weapon to cause the cops to shoot him.

Death by police firing squad after he's taken out the Nazis for killing Hank and stealing his money, and after he's satisfied his ego by announcing to the world that HE was Heisenberg/the blue meth empire, he built it all on his own, and that it dies on his terms.

Just thought I'd add that this thread has more than 241,000 views.

[This message has been edited by MW03 (edited 9/23/2013 12:05p).]

Anyone know what the record is for a show thread?

I think some LOST ones have come close, but I'm not sure.

My prediction:

Walt inhales the ricin to off himself after he turns himself in -after mauling down the nazis, todd, and lydia during a meeting at the compound (when Lydia visits to check the purity of the meth at 92%), saving jesse, and getting all of his money back.

Inhaling the ricin will make it look like the cancer finally got him, while he is in custody at a hospital, and the family won't know this difference. He asks Jesse to take the money, hide it, and help distribute it to Walt's family for legal fees and college, Brock for having no parent (now), and for himself.

Actually, THAT I could see being a possibility. Walt mows everyone down and turns himself in, but only after ingesting the ricin.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 9/23/2013 12:15p).]