How Will Breaking Bad End?

(SPOILERS UP TO LAST WEEK'S EPISODE AHEAD)

Less than 72 hours to go until everybody's (and I mean everybody's) favourite TV show, Breaking Bad, ends for good. One of the greatest shows of recent years, both writer Vince Gilligan and many of the actors have teased a ground-breaking grand finale. But how will it end? Here's the CollegeTimes verdict.

What we know for sure:

• It's Walt's 52nd birthday. He's alive, so either the cancer has gone away, or he's just ignoring it.
• Walt has a tonne of guns in the boot of his car.
• The ricin pill is for someone - Walt went home specifically to pick it up.
• Walt's identity has been revealed, as exemplified by his neighbour's scream, and his trashed house.
• Skyler, Flynn and Holly have left the house. Are they hiding, kidnapped, or oblivious to what's going to happen?

There are so many possibilities: will Marie show the police Walt’s ‘confession’ tape? Are Lydia’s European ‘friends’ a complete red herring? All bets are off. Two internet theories seem particularly likely:

Hamlet Theory:

How many of you have read Shakespeare's classic play Hamlet for school, college or, heaven forbid, pleasure? Well, you may recall that Hamlet, a gloomy and sullen misanthrope, bears more than a passing resemblance Jesse Pinkman. Just look at the way he moped around his living room while Badger and Skinny Pete (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) debated Star Trek ideas, consumed with guilt over the death of Mike - the father figure whom he has slowly realized was almost certainly killed by Walt. So Walt is Claudius, Mike is Hamlet's dad. Hamlet ended with the wrong person (Gertrude) drinking the poison; is Skyler destined to take the ricin? Will a fight erupt between Jesse and Todd, the show's Laertes? Breaking Bad is so well-written that taking a literary turn wouldn't be a mad idea.

Kirby Theory:

You know Kirby, the pink Nintendo character named after a Japanese brand of hoover? His gimmick is that he gains the powers from any bad guy he eats. Walt may not be chowing down on his fallen enemies (that would be weird), but clever internet people have noticed that he does adopt certain character traits of those he eliminates: when Walt and Jesse are holding Krazy-8 hostage, for example, the dealer makes Walt cut the crusts off his sandwich. After Walt strangles him to death, he begins doing the same to his own bread. Mike and Walt order drinks early on in their relationship, Walt asking for his straight, while Mike prefers his on the rocks. Once Walt kills Mike, he orders on-the-rocks, and takes Mike's preference for fancy estate cars (as seen in the flash-forward). Walt also adopted Gus's neat-and-tidy habit of laying down a towel to kneel on in front of the toilet to puke. It develops a small but ultimately water-tight pattern that's hard to ignore when thinking about the show's conclusion. In the flash-forward, Walt arranges his bacon to spell the number "52"... Skyler is seen doing this for his previous two birthdays. Is she toast?

Way more important than any other internet theory, we at CollegeTimes have come up with our own ideas.

CT Staff Theories:

Shane Johnston (Editor): In the end, Walt Jr is revealed to be the real criminal mastermind. After murdering literally everyone, he drops his crutches and walks away from the house like Keyser Soze in the Usual Suspects. He spends the millions of dollars on a lifetime supply of pancakes, bacon and general breakfast foods.

Simon Mernagh (Entertainment Editor): Lydia has been threatening something big for a while now. Only appearing in a handful of scenes in the last few episodes, her most recent conversation with Todd showed her uneasiness with letting Skyler live. This is of course due to Skyler knowing her face. Seeing as Todd has a crush on Lydia, and has already made Jesse cook meth just for her, perhaps he captures Skyler, Flynn and Holly on Lydia’s command. Walt finds out, and promises to cook meth for the Neo-Nazis in exchange for their help in rescuing his family. That’s where he’s going with the guns. The ricin is for Jesse, because he knows too much now.

Keith Fitzpatrick (Sports Editor): Walt brings the fight to the Neo-Nazis, and in doing so sacrifices himself to save Jesse who then goes after Todd and the Nazi crew. Thus Jesse gets his revenge for Andrea’s murder as well as his own imprisonment, while Walt bites the dust with a tiny bit of redemption for himself. Skyler goes down in battle, Flynn and the baby are fostered by Marie, and everyone (that doesn’t die) lives happily ever after.

Andrew Carolan (Music Editor): There has been a lot of speculation on the ricin Walt acquired at the start of this part of the season. Many believe it could be for Lydia (considering the focus they give her herbal tea) but I think it could be Walt just as easily, sort of like German soldiers’ cyanide pills from WWII. Either way, it would be interesting to see the ricin finally used, having stuck behind that electricity socket for so long. I think it will end in a big blaze of bullets too, but a part of me hopes Walt will get away with it somehow. That tape he made to threaten Hank and Marie gets out, and Marie ends up being accosted while Walt dies. Jesse will probably live because he’s been through so much shit at this stage he’s basically immortal.

Breaking Bad's finale airs this Monday, September 30th. Watch the trailer here.