Francisco and I just finished Breaking Bad. I watched the bulk of it back in the day, but had never watched the second half of the last season (I tend to fizzle out before the end even of tv shows I love: The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad).
I was very surprised by the very end. The whole series traces Walt's decent toward evil--initially, he wants to provide for his family in the face of his impending death. Then he gets a taste of power and excellence (excellence in a bad endeavor) and pursues it for its own sake. And it leads him all the places that you imagine drug-making and -dealing power will lead. And he's left without the family that he was wanting to care for, friendless in a cabin.
And then, at the very end, he masterminds a typically brilliant revenge on his enemies and provision for his "friends" (if you can call them that; you probably can't). And afterward, he dies in a state of peace and happiness--he recognizes that everything he did, he did for himself. He was active and alive and exerted power, even at the end. The end, more than the film, seemed a glorification of seizing the day and living passionately in light of your death.
(Previously here.)
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