Breaking Bad’ Season 5 Finale Review Roundup: “Felina”; What Did The Critics Think? As If You Had to Ask; `Breaking Bad’ Season 5 Spoiler, Satisfying, Game Changing

“Breaking Bad” Season 5 Finale Review Roundup, probably spoilers, but is there anyone who hasn’t seen it? I’ll keep them at a minimum.

Breaking Bad’s Walter White finished all family business last night. Yes, the ending was completely satisfying, the acting was top-notch, the writing and direction was 99.6 percent pure blue. But I wasn’t happy. I wanted Walter White to thrive. I wanted him to get the remaining $69 million that Todd’s uncle had buried on his compound and retire to Tahiti or something. I wanted Walter White to get away with it. Yeah, I know he did. But I wanted him to thrive. Was happy to see Jesse Pinkman go speeding into the distance.

“Breaking Bad” ruined television for me. Besides what they run on HBO, it redefined what you could do on TV. How far you could push your villainous heroes. The depth of misery they can sink to. The depths of depravity they can resort to. I always prefer criminal shows to cop shows, and “Breaking Bad” was the ultimate criminal show. He could have given Tony Soprano a run for his money.

But don’t take my word for it, here are some official Breaking Bad Season 5 Finale Reviews:

Time said the Breaking Bad Finale, “`Felina,’ the last episode ever of the magnificent series Breaking Bad, was a kind of machine gun of narrative, knocking down all of those questions with auto-fire efficiency. (Well, almost all. Sorry, Huell!) It was not flashy. It wasn’t structurally ambitious, in the way other Breaking Bad episodes have been. It was not, in most respects, surprising. (Except for Walt’s laundering scheme with Gretchen and Elliott, I think I saw nearly everything predicted, at least in general terms, by people besides me in the last week.) And that’s OK. Because what “Felina” was–as effective, satisfying series finales are–was true.”

The LA Times reviewed the Breaking Bad finale as “Not only did Vince Gilligan's five-season, hyper-violent prose poem to midlife male frustration tie up virtually every loose end in sight, it contained the Holy Grail of all storytelling: an Actual Moment of Truth. And not just this particular story's truth, but one that extended to the beloved and bloated genre Gilligan both elevated and mocked.”

Den of Geek US said, “There’s no telling how long it will be before another show like Breaking Bad comes along. Expertly written, virtuosic with its direction, and flawlessly performed, Breaking Bad is everything you could want in a drama. Critics will spend the next decade dissecting and arguing about what made it great, but the reasons are endless and already well documented. Breaking Bad went out at the top of its game, and for that, I’m thankful, but it’s the ultimate bittersweet goodbye. Thanks for the memories, Vince Gilligan. Have an A-1 day.”

Variety said “In today’s hyper-caffeinated age, precious little lives up to its hype. But the “Breaking Bad” finale — perhaps appropriately — got the chemistry just right.” And “Everything that happened before and after that was just routine cleanup. Splendidly accomplished to a rattling good soundtrack with lovely grace notes throughout, but nothing like that moment of true confession.”

TV Fanatic said, “Breaking Bad owns a place in the pantheon of all-time television shows for a number of reasons, from its acting to its direction to its attention to detail. This wasn't a jaw-dropping finale, but that's largely because it was a jaw-dropped television show. Gilligan didn't save any rounds for the concluding episode. He emptied them as he went along. Episodes and seasons weren't crafted with a bombshell reveal in mind; there was never anything contrived to tease the following week. The series was logical and detailed and precise, taking viewers on the journey of a chemistry teacher who believed he worked the same way. Unlike The Sopranos and unlike Lost, this isn't a finale we'll be talking about for months and years to come. We'll be talking instead about the series as a whole. Much like Walter White on everyone he touched, it left a significant mark on the TV landscape.”

Now, let’s talk about Talking Bad. Enough already with that. Please.

I'll compile more tomorrow. Have an A1 Day.