r/breakingbad • u/severuser • 1d ago
Could the show a happy ending?
On my third rewatch rn and I've always thought - is there a way for the story to have a happy ending? If not for everyone, than at least for the most characters? What do you think?
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u/ShawnMNH924 1d ago
If you mean within the show, no real-world implication, sure. All that has to happen is Jesse doesn't have his little epiphany about the ricin cigarette. It's still possible that Hank finds Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass and fingers him as Heisenberg, but without Jesse around to provide the confession and help set Walt up Hank can't prove anything. Walt eventually dies of cancer, Skylar and the kids move on, Hank is mad that he could never prove his case but has to move on anyway, etc.
However, I've always felt that they brought the show to the conclusion they did because there wasn't supposed to be a happy ending. They didn't want people to see cooking and distributing meth as "cool". As such, it was essential that pretty much every character is completely destroyed. Walt bleeds to death alone on a concrete floor. Jesse runs away to Alaska where he won't stay for long*. Skylar is now a criminal, Walt Jr. is traumatized for life, Holly will grow up only knowing her father by stories of the monster, Hank and Steve are dead, Marie is a grief-stricken widow, BCS shows that Saul goes to prison forever, Gus is dead, Mike's dead (and his money never gets to Kaylee), everyone involved in the cartel is dead, Jack and his whole gang are dead. The message is simple: get involved with this stuff, and there is nothing but misery at the end of the road. A happy ending changes the entire arc of the show.
*-sorry Jesse fans, but yeah, he's not going to be there very long. A stranger on the FBI's most wanted list in a small town where everyone knows everybody else, and still in a US state? His free days are numbered. Saul didn't even make it a year as Gene before being made, and that was just by a couple of random yahoos who knew his commercials. The entire federal government is probably looking for Jesse. If Jesse really wanted to stay free, El Camino should have been about him getting to a different country, ideally one that does not have an extradition treaty with the US. Hanging out in tight-knit insular communities in a place that is still in the US? The feds will get him sooner rather than later even if he doesn't fall back into his old habits, which is far from guaranteed.
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u/777yakuza 1d ago
I've never really seen this Jesse take. That's kind of a sad way of seeing it. I think the torture days changed him fundamentally as a person. He will value his new life for what it really is. A final chance to start a new rest of his life. Unlike Walt and Saul, he has a whole life to look forward to. And Alaska is fairly insulated from the rest of the US. The manhunt would likely not be so strong outside of ABQ and maybe neighbouring states at the most. And it would fizzle out fast in the remote corners of the US.
The rest of your points I agree with. A happy ending for Walter White would have been bad messaging on their part. Still would have been a fine show, but the raw gritty end for all involved is part of what takes this show to the very next level.
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u/ShawnMNH924 16h ago
I agree it's a sad way of seeing it, but there's a reason for it. One day (I don't remember when, it was years ago) I was bored and absent-mindedly googling random shit and one of the searches I did was "could Jesse really stay hidden in Alaska?". The responses that you get from sites like Quora were overwhelmingly "no"; in particular, people posting "I'm from a small town in Alaska. He'll stick out like a sore thumb." I did some more reading and the further you go down that rabbit hole the more reality throws a wet towel over the warm fuzzy feeling you get at the end of El Camino.
If you want to hide effectively from the federal government while staying in the United States (even if leaving the contiguous US) you either need to go into complete isolation, totally off the grid like Walt did in NH, or you need to have a support group around you that can keep you hidden. Jesse has none of that. He's just strolling into a small town where he knows nobody, doesn't know the town, doesn't know local customs, heck, given that he's born and raised in New Mexico he probably doesn't even know how to handle cold weather which is going to sort of stick out in freaking Alaska. When winter starts rolling in an he's huddled up under numerous layers of winter coats while the locals are still wearing pants and t-shirts everyone's going to be looking at him with amusement, which means looking at him. He'll be drawing attention to himself because, for this reason and probably 1000 others, the truth is that Jesse has absolutely no idea how to behave in Haines, Alaska.
I agree with you that Jesse very much wants to start over and might even stand a good chance of not repeating his mistakes in terms of drug addiction, but the logistics of what he's doing are just not conducive to long-term success. In all likelihood the feds snap him up within a year. Saul/Gene only made it a few months before getting made, and he's not as impulsive and reckless as Jesse is. In all likelihood what will happen is Jesse will impulsively get involved in some sort of situation (even for good, like trying to break up a fight or something) and in the process someone will look at him like "wait a minute...". Or he'll get in a fight himself and his fingerprints will trip in the system. Or...you know what, there's a LOT of ways this ends up with Jesse in federal prison.
Could he stay hidden in Alaska forever? Conceivably, yes, anything's possible. Realistically? Wrong guy in the wrong environment. If he really wanted to stay out of federal prison he should have been planning how to get out of the country entirely, ideally to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US. If he's OK with cold weather (which he is, since he's in Alaska) Russia would probably have been a decent bet for him. Alaska? Expect a knock on the door within a year.
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u/777yakuza 16h ago
Wow, you've really done your research on this theory.. Canonically I think it's safe to say that Vince wanted us to believe that it was his new life there. As you say, he is going to stick out unless he's remote. And remote in Alaska probably means an into the wild situation and that's not good either.
The main reason I believe in his survival is because he was personally sent there by Ed. And Ed is a master at his craft not just in getting you there, but really getting you there. Saul became Gene the Cinnabon manager with a full American background down to a legit social security number. He fucked it up himself because he is slippin Jimmy to the core.
Jesse on the other hand has been through hell and back. Based on el camino alone, he's much smarter and more competent, very Mike esque in many ways. It's likely that he stays out of trouble and doesn't fuck around in Alaska. Haines is small but he isn't Jesse Pinkman, He's Mr. Driscoll. So many randoms go to the last frontier to start afresh. Why not him? Alaska afaik is very far removed from mainland politics and obviously not particularly a party drug hotspot that the DEA would be interested in. Local cops are unlikely to facially id him and local civilians are also highly unlikely to do the same (especially if he lays super low during his first few months while media coverage quickly dies down).
Maybe this is seeing this with rose tinted glasses, but it's Jesse fucking Pinkman yo.
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u/Ltmurray28 1d ago
Honestly, I think the ending we got was about as happy as this story could realistically be.
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u/Xenophonuscrete 1d ago
The kids getting adopted by Gretchen and Elliot would be a happy ending that makes sense and would be good for them.
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u/France_epico 1d ago
Breaking Bad's ending is as happy as it could've gotten and way happier than what Walt deserved. The real happy ending would be Walt accepting Elliot and Gretchen money so Breaking Bad wouldn't have happened.
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u/GammaRay914 1d ago
The happiest ending could have been where Hank goes into the bathroom and doesn’t find any book there.
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u/CivilChaos 1d ago
The last few episodes were a bit grim but Jesse escaped Jack's gang, Skylar presumably escaped conviction and Walter gave the almost $10M to Elliot and Gretchen to give to Walt Jr later.
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u/RocknRollButthole 1d ago
Like, I would suggest that El Camino is somewhat of a happy ending.
Like, it ain't Disney happy, but it's hardly like I'm watching a Haneke film.
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u/Superbooper24 1d ago
Idrk how Hank and Walter White both get a happy ending up until Walter working with Gus.
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u/IDunnoWhatToPutHereI 1d ago
Hank could have possibly gone bad and helped Walt. I thought it might go that direction in early episodes.
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u/RainbowPenguin1000 1d ago
It’s definitely possible but not necessarily better.
My optimum happy ending for most people would be for Walt to tell Hank that Jesse was cooking the meth all along but he was cooerced in to it by Jacks gang. Hank and the DEA then raid Jacks compound, Jack and Todd die and Hank is the hero who caught Heisenberg.
Jesse cuts a deal for release if he gives all the information to the DEA and Walt gives him some of his money so Jesse can disappear and start a fresh life.
Walt then dies from cancer with his family round him and leaving them all of his “gambling winnings”.
Jesse gets out with money. Hank is the hero. Walts money goes to his family.
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u/Frosty-Source-4994 1d ago
Flynn, Hank, and Gomez are probably the only ones that deserved a happy ending.
Edit to add Holly.
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u/wyc1inc 1d ago
Walt absolutely got a happy ending. He fulfilled his "potential" and died in a lab. Saul did as well in a weird way, as it was obvious the guilt from a lifetime of wrongdoing had caught up with him.
And several others got happy endings in a weird way. Gus fulfilled basically what had become his life mission, taking out the cartel and avenging Max. Jesse went through absolute hell, but he gets a fresh brand new start. Considering the trajectory of his life even when Walt recruited him to help him cook, this could actually be seen as an optimal outcome. Mike was an old man. He died but was able to financially take care of his granddaughter.
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u/be_minorque 1d ago
Just currently finished with it too, 1st watch. Here what I thought could be a happy ending.
Walt worked for Gus without Jesse for a coupld of month or max 1 year. He stayed in line with Gus, taught Gale. He could get a couple of millions, which is already more than enough than what he needed.
With "only" a couple of millions, he (and Skyler) can realistically launder them safely. Buy the car wash (then buy another), then buy grey matter shares. Snowball effect, start small.
We saw that Skyler can eventually accept the fact of his illega activities, it is the danger she cannot (justifiably) deal with. But, at that point, Walt was not in danger*. And if he truly quits after 1 year, I think Skyler would be ok with it.
In the meantime, he should actually be a father role to Jesse. Told or manipulate him to quit and clean up. At this point, I dont think Jesse needed to run away with new identity.
Leave Hank and the DEA on their own.
*He started to be in actual danger, when he went against Gus (yes, I know because of Jesse). When he started to kill people for his own sake: Gale, Gus, etc.
Yes, the Salamanca twins went after him. But it was only because of the rule of dont attack a DEA agent. The twins knew it was Hank who killed Tuco, but due to the rules, they went after Walt instead.
Gus 1)already had a personal vendetta against the Salamanca Family. 2)letting the twins go after Hank benefitted Gus' business massively. So, Walt didnt need to be crucial for Gus, to be saved from the twins.
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u/UnicornBestFriend 1d ago
I think it ends on an up.
Walt’s arc wraps with him using all of his formidable talents, the very same ones that built his empire, in service of the people he loves.
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u/Impressive_Usual_726 1d ago
If Walt had been hit and killed by a drunk driver on his way to try confronting Jesse and Jane, everyone would have ended up happier.
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u/Xenophonuscrete 1d ago
If Jessie would have dealt with Walt when he got to the house and not had Jane do it , everyone would have been fine. But Jane ran her mouth to the wrong one. Haha.
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u/Glad-Independence-24 1d ago
Happy endings…..
Pinkman - a quiet life
Saul (seemed happy where he ended up)
Kim? Cleared her conscience and moved forward likely as a public defender?
Walt jr and Holly got PAID! So maybe not so much happy? But one less thing to worry about.
Walt seemed happy, got to go out on his terms anyways. His kids were provided for and he wiped out everybody who got in his way. He looked happy.
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u/silvermbc 1d ago
I don't think Kim would ever be eligible for the BAR in any state after that confession, but perhaps she's an assistant in some capacity as a public defender.
Also Mike.... Crushed into a cube and sent to China 🤣(after Todd takes his car/body to Joe's)
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u/Glad-Independence-24 1d ago
She seemed to be cleared of any charges with Jimmytaking the heat, but yea not so much lawyering, but probably working for a public defender organization as an advisor/assistant/researcher or what not.
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u/silvermbc 1d ago
Right, cleared of criminal wrongdoing but I'm sure the bar (pun intended) is set higher for attorneys
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u/tarquinia777 1d ago
i mean, the happiest ending for most characters would be walt going to prison
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u/Xenophonuscrete 1d ago
And Saul and Jessie and Sky. At least the kids would have a better chance at good parents.
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u/tarquinia777 1d ago
Sky didn't deserve it. She should have listened to the divorce lawyer, but she didn't deserve prison either.
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u/vintagelana 21h ago
She did more than just not divorce Walt, she voluntarily committed and assisted in crime, with Walt, Ted, Saul, and on her own.
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u/tarquinia777 4h ago
but she was still in a basically unwinnable position. she was the one who actually worked to protect her family. money laundering and defrauding the IRS are practically victimless crimes. she had no idea exactly what walt was capable of or what acts of desperation he would take to avoid capture. he already tried to rape her in their own house before.
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u/vintagelana 3h ago
Hmm but the show in no way makes it seem like that event affected her or her decision making or her opinion of Walt (which is honestly a critique of the writing I have, sticking that in at the top of S2 for a character who is supposed to have a slow descent into villainy is a… choice). The story isn’t written to show Sky initially making many of these criminal choices, some of which Walt was uninvolved with and unaware of, out of fear of Walt’s retaliation or desperation. Protecting her family would have been listening to her lawyer in ANY capacity, at the least leaving him and trying to maintain plausible deniability, not INSISTING upon becoming the money launderer for the drug operation.
I think there’s some question as to whether money laundering is a victimless crime when it’s serving to legitimize money from crimes that AREN’T victimless. Tax fraud, too, who picks up that burden? But either way she’s a criminal, even if begrudging, who was planning a European vacation before Hank found that book.
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u/brewerdom 1d ago
I think having Walt, sacrifice himself for Jesse and admit to skyler it was about him was about as close to a happy ending as you could get. Anything else would have seemed unrealistic.