Culture

Here's How Everyone's Reacting to the End of 'Breaking Bad'

The last ever episode of Breaking Bad is now out in the world. And the reactions seem to lean towards a positive consensus, rather than extreme polarization. 

By Abby Ohlheiser
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This article is from the archive of our partner .

The last ever episode of "Breaking Bad" is now out in the world. And the reactions seem to lean towards a positive consensus, rather than extreme polarization. We've rounded up a sampling of those early takes from critics, and from Twitter, for your perusal. But beware: while not quite as much of a spoiler as our recap of the ending, it gets a bit spoilery below as well.

The Critics:

The balance could shift as next-day reviews surface on Monday, but the early reactions are rather positive — reflecting the, well, conclusiveness of the series conclusion.

Variety/Brian Lowry: "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... as Sunday’s finale made eminently clear, this was a show whose narrative fearlessness was only matched by its boundless creativity and unpredictability."

USA Today/Robert Bianco: "In a stunning 75-minute extended finale, Vince Gilligan brought Breaking Bad to a supremely fitting close, tying up all the loose ends in his modern classic AMC series."  

Wall Street Journal/Marshall Cook  "In truth, as I write this in the two minutes after the show ended, I realize that I’m struggling – as I am sure many are – with the ending for Walter White that played this past week in my head versus the one that played out on screen." 

Fraizer Moore/Associated Press: "Any "Breaking Bad " fan could be forgiven for concluding that Sunday's finale held no major surprises.That's because this AMC drama series has delivered surprises, shock and OMG moments dependably since its premier five seasons ago. Just like it did on its final episode.

AV Club/Donna Bowman: "Tonight’s finale is quiet. It doesn’t try to impress. A legend has no need to do that...I don’t know if we’ll remember Walt’s fate with as much resonance as we remember the last shot of Vic Mackey in The Shield, still the gold standard for an antihero's dramatic catharsis. And “Felina” won’t be controversial the way the ambiguous last moments of Tony Soprano were. But Jesse survives. More than that—he’s alive, screaming with shock and joy as he drives away, the kind of alive Walt used to feel when he pulled off a victory. Those other shows didn’t have room for that kind of win, and so the best they could give us was vengeance or our own imagined possibilities." 

Twitter:

Twitter was mixed, but heavily leaning positive.

On the one hand: 

(That's Charlie Rose King is referring to, by the way.)

On the other hand:

One thing everyone seemed to agree on, however, was that Jimmy Kimmel seemed out of place at the "Talking Bad" cast and crew post-series interview session that aired right after the show.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.