Walter White: The Conclusion

Talk about a letdown.

We finished Breaking Bad.

The six seasons took us under two months, and it was real weird to watch a series that way. Walter, Jessie, Skyler, Hank and Flynn became a part of our family.

We'd watch a couple of episodes and then I'd go to sleep and think of them. All through the next day I'd think about what had happened.

Then we'd watch a couple more.

So as we got close to the conclusion I felt a true sense of dread.

Not because of what I figured what was coming, but because it was finishing up.

I'd always felt the same way when I'd finish a long piece of writing. I'll never forget closing the black notebook when I finished up Eye in the Sky about 25 years ago.

"It's done," I whispered.

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I walked around in an absolute funk.

"What the hell do I do now?"

With the writing, back then, it was always about doing something new and finding a new angle.

I've sort of lost that too. The book-writing has felt done to me for about two years now. There's still a black notebook to my right, but I haven't opened it in awhile.

Yet that's the beauty of life.

We all want to move ahead and try our hand at something else once we've sort of drifted into a place that is too comfortable.

But Breaking Bad is done for us, and not a single thing about the series was disappointing to me. The writing was tremendous. The story was filled with drama. The production of each episode left me wanting more, and it concluded with me okay with how it all worked out.

The Sopranos kept us guessing.

Breaking Bad didn't.

Both shows hit the mark.

And I thought about it afterwards:

I still loved Gandolfini and the rest of the mob more.

But not by much.

Walter, Jessie, Flynn and Skyler will forever remain.

Until the next thing captures us.

Any suggestions?