8 Excellent TV Series & Characters That Ceased To Exist In 2013

6. Breaking Bad

2013 found Breaking Bad's last season finally getting the recognition in terms of ratings that it had long deserved, becoming AMC's highest rated program and even trouncing the on-the-decline Mad Men. Its final episode brought about fevered media coverage and myriad speculation about just how the tale of former suburban science teacher turned meth chef and brutal drug kingpin Walter White, and his eternally put-upon cohort in crime Jesse Pinkman, would conclude. As it turned out, the answer involved a very large gun and an even larger pile of corpses, with Walter aka "Heisenberg" mortally wounded from his own weapon and dying on the floor of his enemy's meth lab. Many unanswered questions still existed after the finale aired (What happened to Brock? Where did Walter's money end up? And most importantly, did poor Huell ever leave that safe house?), but it was so well crafted and executed you didn't care, with the moment the camera pulls back in Skyler's kitchen to reveal Walter has been standing there the entire time his wife has been talking to her sister on the phone being particularly well done and goosebump-inducing. And as with all good finales, speculation didn't cease after the episode aired, with speculation that the events of the final episode were merely the product of Walter's wish-fullfillment, as he dies in that Volvo in New Hampshire. Whether this was Vince Gilligan's intention or not, a sign of a timeless work is its ability to withstand multiple interpretations. Viewers certainly could have done without AMC's decision to split the final season into two parts for maximum profitability, but the final eight episodes were the finest television of the year, bar none, and also gave us a final meme-worthy catch phrase in Walter's veiled threat to his brother in law and DEA Agent Hank Schroeder: "Tread lightly".