1. Marie Kills Walt
My personal favorite theory, and the one I suggest as the most likely "surprise" ending. There are two reasons I think the writers may go this route. My first reason: Marie has always appeared to be the most annoying and useless character on the show. For the first two and a half seasons her only notable arc was "Kleptomaniac." Not particularly interesting. Nor did it seem to fit into the grand scheme of the show. It just felt like the writers didn't care about her enough to give her a worthy arc. But considering how well the writers have plotted every other characters arc, I think it's highly unlikely they were content to let Marie be useless. She became a bit more interesting after Hank's injury in season three, and e began to see more of her complexities and less one-note compulsive stealing. But she still has done less, action-wise, than virtually every other character. She's always been a sideliner. How awesomely ironic would it be then, if Marie were Breaking Bad's ultimate monkey wrench? What if the bench-sitter suddenly became the star player? What if she pulled the ultimate coup, shocking audiences everywhere? She would transform from worried housewife into the One Who Knocks on Walter White's door. The writers would be so damn slick to pull this off. My second reason: Honestly, the show has been building towards it. Remember the episode a few weeks back when Marie was sitting with her therapist and going over all the ways she could kill Walt? She went over a lot of potential options, more than you'd expect from someone who didn't intend to follow through. At the time the scene felt like a throwaway. Or it might have just been a window into Marie's head. But it hasn't really gone anywhere. Yet. Think about it. That scene was in there for a reason the writers never include anything they don't intend to follow up on. She was practically consumed by the desire to kill Walt, so think of how much more she'll want to kill Walt now that her husband has been murdered at Walt's hands. Marie was mysteriously absent from most of "Granite State," and she's the only character who's current status wasn't explored. Skyler's doing taxi dispatch, Walt. Jr's still attending school. What the hell has Marie been up to? Sitting in a corner weeping over her husband's death? I think not. She's clearly been busy with something during the show's time jump (3 or 4 months I think). My guess is she's been plotting to find Walt, probably obsessing over it the way Hank once did. She probably feels she has nothing left - nothing but Walt. Just notice the way she looked in that brief shot of her in the back seat of the car. She was completely absent, like her mind was somewhere else completely. Either she was sitting there in denial, or the laughing face of Heisenberg was swimming before her eyes. I think the latter. She'll probably feel that the best way to honor her husband's memory is to continue the work that got him killed. She wants revenge, but more importantly she wants justice for Hank. She doesn't want all of Hank's work to have been for naught, so in her mind, killing Walt will be the only way to find peace for her husband. Really it's the most dramatically justified end I can imagine. Yes, Jesse may technically have more reasons to kill Walt than Marie, but for Jesse to pull the trigger would be too obvious. It would also go against his character. Jesse may be willing to kill in moments of rage, but he's never been a cold blooded killer. And again, I suspect that Walt is going to attempt to make peace with Jesse. And if Walt offers to let Jesse kill him, Jesse, wanting to put everything behind him, would probably let him go. And everything will appear safe and sound for Walt... until Marie shows up in a last act twist. Most likely she wont even appear until the end of the episode, as the writers will hope to throw us off and make us forget about her completely. But she'll show up. This is entering into major hypothesis mode, but hear me out. Perhaps this is how the ricin might finally be used. Recall that when Marie was going over the potential options for killing Walt, her favorite one seemed to be poison. That certainly stuck out in my mind. The one poison we know about that has yet to be used is Walt's ricin, and I suspect that even though Walt is bringing it with him for his final battle, he wont end up using it. The ricin has always been a red herring, and it's been built up for so long that I don't think it will be particularly satisfying if Walt uses it on someone. The only dramatically satisfying use of the ricin will be on Walt himself (the poisoner becomes the poisonee, so to speak). After all his threats and taunts and would-be victims, what sweet poetic justice it would be if Walt winds up the victim of his own concoction? And Marie would be the perfect person to use it. Why? Because she's the only one he wont see coming. Never in a million years would Walt imagine that she would come after him. This would cause Walt to let his guard down. Maybe, somehow, Marie will get her hands on it. I believe she'll have been attempting to track Walt's whereabouts. She's smart enough to know that loudly going after Walt with a gun would be a fool's errand. She's learned from the example set by both Walt and Hank to be shrewd and calculating. She'll know that the only way to both take out Walt and protect herself is to do it quietly and stealthily. Poison is the perfect weapon. Think about it. Us viewers won't want Marie implicated in Walt's death. If she is indeed Walt's killer, it would be unfair and unjustified for her to be arrested afterwards. If the writers intend for Marie to kill him, they have to do it in the slickest way possible. The only way that can happen is with the untraceable ricin. Or if not the ricin, then some other untraceable poison. How freakin' badass would it be if, at the end of the show, Walt sits nursing his wounds in a coffee shop, sipping on a mug. Maybe there's a brief montage of Walt hanging out in shops, sipping coffee for a few days while he figures out the rest of his life. Maybe each day there's a mysterious woman in a coat behind him who's just out of focus. We assume it's Lydia. Then, on the last day, Walt suddenly starts to cough and splutter. The woman behind him gets up and heads to the door. Walt turns around to look at her. The woman stops to look him in the eye. It's Marie! Turns out she's been slipping ricin into his coffee for days. A collective gasp is heard around the world as Walt looks upon his killer in horror. Then he falls onto the table face-first and dies. It would be amazing. Of course, I'm completely theorizing. I have no idea whether the final scene will be anything like this. But I think a death at Marie's hands could be the most satisfying way to end the show while keeping everyone's dignity intact. It would deliver all the blows we want delivered. Walt would get revenge on the Neo-Nazis and retrieve the money for his family. Jesse would get justice for his girlfirend and ultimately decide to forgive Walt, keeping his honor and moral code intact. But justice for Hank will remain a loose thread. Marie delivering the final blow would give us that justice, and finally bring Walt his long overdue comeuppance. Everybody wins the thing they deserve most. I think, after a morally torturous run, this is the happy(ish) ending we all deserve. The best way for Breaking Bad to finally break good. So there you have it, my top 5 ways Breaking Bad could end! We'll all find out what happens on Sunday. Most likely the writers will have come up with an ending way cooler than anything I've theorized. Then you can all come back here and rub it in my face just how wrong I was. Until then, let us know what you think! Agree? Disagree? List your own theories in the comments below!