Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring and Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad
Crime dramas don’t get any more impressive than Breaking Bad and its spinoff series Better Call Saul. The two shows raised the bar for television during the course of their combined 125-episode run. But it was their closing moments that each series really cemented its status as a TV masterpiece.
Breaking Bad ends with “Felina”, a finale episode which gives Walter White the perfect send-off. Meanwhile, Better Call Saul’s ending is almost as poetic in its treatment of titular character Saul Goodman during “Saul Gone”. Both episodes are rare cases of acclaimed serial dramas which managed to stick the landing in their finales, despite the burden of expectation they faced. While TV endings tend to divide opinion, regardless of the goodwill fans may feel towards a show, almost everyone is united in their praise for how Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul ended. A key reason for the success of their finale episodes – and their masterpiece status overall – is the extraordinary brilliance of their respective final scenes. Despite concluding in very different ways, the two series both give their central characters the parting scene they deserve. Breaking Bad’s last sequence leaves our jaws on the floor, whereas Better Call Saul’s final shots inevitably bring a tear to the eye. Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul Had 2 Of The Best Final Scenes In TV History It isn’t overstating things to suggest that both network series in the Breaking Bad universe are among the shows with the best final scenes in TV history. These scenes are major highlights in the franchise, each raising the bar even by the incredibly high standards of their shows. The last moments of Breaking Bad itself make for a stunning climax to Walter White’s story. The show’s protagonist breathes his last breath after killing an entire gang of neo-Nazis and freeing his drug-dealing protege, Jesse Pinkman. In the closing shots, we see Walt taking one last look around a meth lab, before finally succumbing to a fatal bullet wound. Better Call Saul’s last scene centers on a meeting between protagonist Jimmy McGill – better known as Saul Goodman – and the love of his life, Kim Wexler. Kim has managed to get into Saul’s prison by posing as his lawyer, using the professional ID number she had before giving up legal work.The two characters share a touching moment, before parting ways forever. Saul will be serving out the rest of his life in prison, having taken the fall for the role both he and Kim played in Lalo Salamanca’s brutal murder of Howard Hamlin. It signals the end of an era, as Jimmy McGill has owned up to his wrongdoings properly for the first time in his life. How Breaking Bad’s Final Scene Compares With Better Call Saul’s Ending Better Call Saul’s final scene is more understated than Breaking Bad, but it still packs an emotional punch. As with the entirety of Saul’s story in the final few episodes of the series, once his criminal career with Walter White is over, the scene is shot in black-and-white. It consists of a few simple lines spoken between Jimmy and Kim while they pass a cigarette back and forth. There’s tenderness between them, and it’s clear that they both still care about each other deeply. They’re forced to hold back from expressing the full extent of their feelings, though, as they both know they’re about to part ways for good. The one flourish to the scene comes when Jimmy shoots imaginary pistols in Kim’s direction with his fingers, from behind the prison fence as she walks away. This gesture is a callback to an earlier scene in season 5 of Better Call Saul, when Kim commits to a life of crime with Saul. It’s a heart-rending moment, which reflects how much Saul depended on Kim. If Breaking Bad’s original death plan for Saul Goodman had been carried through, this moment would never have happened. Instead, however, the last scene of Breaking Bad’s finale is all about Walter White. Taken as a whole, you could argue that the final scene is 17 minutes of scintillating, suspenseful action, which casts Walter as something of a hero. Yet, it’s more accurate to say that the show’s final scene is the two and a half minutes in which we see Walt alone in a meth lab, on the verge of death, contemplating his time as a drug kingpin. In visual terms, this scene is superior to the end of Better Call Saul. The moment of Walt’s death, introduced as a close-up of his bloodied fingers slipping down a gas canister to the sound of Badfinger’s song “Baby Blue”, is beautifully sequenced. What’s more, the final overhead shot of the police arriving to find Walt’s bloodied body is a direct reference to the end of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul’s Last Scenes Both Suited Their Central Characters Perfectly As much as they both spell the end for their respective protagonists in similar ways, the final scenes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul mean very different things. The parent show’s ending reflects the fact that Walter White was never really acting for his family in Breaking Bad. He dies alone in a meth lab, where he ultimately feels most at home. On the other hand, Better Call Saul’s ending with Jimmy in jail, while more somber in tone and equally as tragic in outcome, is actually far more redemptive for the character. The inmate formerly known as Saul has taken responsibility for his crimes, and sacrificed himself to spare Kim a criminal conviction and the loss of her livelihood. In reality, Walter White is a darker character than Saul Goodman. He may have seemed squeaky clean before cooking meth whereas Saul was always something of a fraudster, but Walt turned out to be more selfish and destructive in the end. As a result, on balance Breaking Bad is also a darker series than its spinoff, Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg. Powered by Expand Collapse Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Leave a Review Your comment has not been saved Like Follow Followed Better Call Saul TV-MA Crime Drama 10/10 122 8.6/10 Release Date 2015 - 2022-00-00 Network AMC Showrunner Peter Gould Directors Vince Gilligan, Thomas Schnauz, Peter Gould, Michael Morris, Adam Bernstein, Colin Bucksey, John Shiban, Michelle MacLaren, Melissa Bernstein, Larysa Kondracki, Terry McDonough, Gordon Smith, Minkie Spiro, Jim McKay, Daniel Sackheim, Andrew Stanton, Norberto Barba, Rhea Seehorn, Scott Winant, Michael Slovis, Keith Gordon, Deborah Chow, Giancarlo Esposito, Bronwen Hughes Writers Ann Cherkis, Marion Dayre, Ariel Levine, Jonathan Glatzer Cast See All Better Call Saul follows small-time lawyer Jimmy McGill as he navigates the legal world to make ends meet. The series, set six years before his encounter with Walter White, chronicles Jimmy's evolution into Saul Goodman, with notable interactions alongside fixer Mike Ehrmantraut.
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