And so it is finished.
My thoughts are racing through my mind trying to process everything, but I know that I have to slow down and pace myself in order to really let it all soak in.
Breaking Bad is intricate. It is a game of chess, a series of carefully planned out moments and images that combine to form something so much larger and more effective than the pieces ever could be on their own.
Take "Ozymandias," for example. This fantastic hour of television, this wonderfully heartbreaking series of moments, is to
Breaking Bad what the midseason episodes of
Battlestar Galactica are to that show. "Ozymandias" is the finale that I approached the show expecting, and while it was perfect in every way it never could have been the end.
If you're reading this I'm sure you've already seen the finale. I don't have to describe it to you. I just want to leave one thing, one image. The final image.
Spoiler
Breaking Bad's cinematography is beautiful. The gorgeous landscapes and time lapses, the perfect placement of the characters and objects on screen, even the comparatively less focused but still eccentrically amusing POV shots achieved through the use of a GoPro camera. It's wonderful, all of it, and this final shot is no exception. It is simple; the camera merely pulls us and away from Walt's corpse. His arms are outstretched in embrace, and the beams above him twist along with the camera, forming an X over his body. It is finished, crossed off, all of it. No pieces are left behind.
