[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I had no idea this was THE last show of the entire series! What the?? Why would they be insane enough to end a show with this kind of audience?

[Timber Rattler]

Why would they be insane enough to end a show with this kind of audience?

That was the whole premise of the show from the beginning...Walt was a dead man walking...it was only a matter of how and when.

[vladimir998]

I think the creative teams behind some cable shows like to have definitive endings to their series (not that every issue is resolved in every finale, but that the show comes to a definite planned end rather than just being canceled one day if or when the show gets stale). I actually like that. Although I might miss a series once it’s off the air, I like the idea of a show I like going out in style in a well planned way.

[ClearCase_guy]

I guess one alternative would be for Walt to recover, avoid prosecution, retire to Florida with his family and take up water skiing. I can see it now, he'd be out on the water when some ferocious fish would head straight toward him, and he could just jump over the shark and give a big thumbs up to the audience. Then, we could all tune in to another fun season of Breaking Bad.

But Vince Gilligan decided not to go that route.

[Lazamataz]

I had no idea this was THE last show of the entire series! What the?? Why would they be insane enough to end a show with this kind of audience?

I think its a stroke of genius. Finally, a show that is willing to die before every last dollar is wrung out of it. It makes me MUCH more willing to watch Vince Gilligans work, in the future. I know he's not playing me for a sap.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Why would they be insane enough to end a show with this kind of audience?"

Good Writers know that a good story ends when all the conflict is resolved. Stretching out the story for the sake of money ruins a good story.

AND these writers are not merely good, they are the tiptop of the heap for TV writers. It doesn't get any better.

[x]

It's going out on top, not running the show into the ground with ever worse seasons, giving the whole show an arc that begins and ends, rather than stretching things out in ever more tired ways.

The Brits like to talk about that -- about letting a television show just die a natural death, rather than prolonging it unnecessarily -- but then they just bring the same stuff back with another name.

Here's hoping Gilligan & crew find something really new and exciting to amaze us with in the future.