9. The Flashback
"I prefer to think of it as the study of change"... So do I, Walt. The show had certainly come a long way from its roots. The character dynamic, atmosphere, tone, everything has changed within the five seasons that the show aired. Last night, we caught a great glimpse of exactly how much it changed in the closing moments. I know it's really small, but the flashback to where Hank was explaining his job, drug money, and offering to take Walt on the ride along, was all really telling to the series. It was once a fairly light show, but all that light went out when Hank did. Even Saul's demeanour had changed when we last saw him. So many shows take their ending too seriously, but to show the roots of the show, and do a flashback which memorializes that, it kind of takes balls these days. You see it on a sitcom finale a lot, but not often on a drama. It was that scene in the series' opening episode that really defined where it was heading. Without Hank, none of this would have happened. That flashback in the finale made everything else manifest in its existence. It was something small, but something so largely important to the over-all story. That leads us to...