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Here Are 58 Or So Theories How <em>Breaking Bad</em> Will End
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 27, 2013
Modified Sep 28, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 27, 2013
Modified Sep 28, 2013
Share
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The RV is gone, the meth empire has crumbled, and breakfast is no longer being served: after 61 episodes of vicarious thrills and agonizing sympathy pains, Breaking Bad will air its finale this Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC. And while some people haven't watched the show due to some mixture of laziness and stubbornness, many more are salivating at the prospect of one last ride through the ABQ. And many of those people are positing their own (likely wrong) theories about the finale online.
Bryan Cranston has called the ending "perfect" and "unapologetic"; creator Vince Gilligan has said he and the writers took inspiration from Casablanca, and notes the ending is "polarizing." Other than that, all we know is that "woodworking" will somehow come up (Gilligan mentioned that on "Talking Bad" last week). In an age of leaked episodes and rampant spoilers, it's kind of amazing to realize that no one really has any solid idea what is going to happen in the finale. But that hasn't stopped rampant speculation!
- The Independent has 12 theories on how the show ends, which they rank "in ascending order of idiocy."
- Not to be outdone by The Independent, The Guardian has 12 theories—including "The Scarface Solution" and "The Pink Bear Theory."
- NME, a British music magazine, weighed in with four theories of their own—including one by the band the Arctic Monkeys.
- NPR writer Linda Holmes created "Claim Your Cockamamie Theory", a forum for readers to put "your stake in the ground so that you can prove that you, yes you, knew what was going to happen on Sunday night's Breaking Bad before it happened." She offers her own theory, but there are already dozens more in the comments from many of the best TV writers working today.
- Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post has eight theories—that includes a Sopranos cut to black joke, which (unfortunately)pops up in a lot of these theories.
- Hypable goes through their theories on who will live and die.
- The Wall Street Journal places the BB finale in context with other major shows, and tries to theorize what viewers desire from the end.
- Newsday tries to organize their theories by evidence, only to conclude, "I haven't got a bloody clue what will happen Sunday night. Thanks for reading."
- The NY Times asked readers what they think is going to happen, and it seems there are roughly four dominant theories (everybody dies, Jesse is redeemed, a pitiful ending for Walt, the importance of Gray Matter.
- The Huffington Post rounded up many excellent critics and writers to give their two cents, including Will Leitch, Dave Itzkoff, Scott Tobias and many more (for the record, Itzkoff has the best one).
- And Todd Barry knows exactly what is going to happen, basically.
Most likely, most (if not all) of these theories will be wrong, but that doesn't change the fact you still have approximately 52 hours to fill until the final episode. In the meantime, you can revisit classic old episodes, watch emotional supercuts, and recall every horrible thing that has happened to Jesse Pinkman. You should also probably tune into SNL, just in case.
Our only prediction: we wouldn't be shocked if the finale's cold open showed Walt back in the classroom taking attendance, meeting new student Jesse Pinkman for the first time. But like all Breaking Bad theories, we're probably dinging up the wrong tree.
Tagged
breaking bad
finale
speculation
television
tv
original
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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