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AMC honored the series finale of Breaking Bad with a five-day marathon, airing every episode from start to finish. Aaron Paul live-tweeted part of the marathon and sent out cryptic tweets counting down to the final episode. He also held a charity contest to win tickets to a viewing of the finale at the famed Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
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But if you weren’t lucky enough to get tickets to watch with Paul and the rest of the cast, another option was to watch it along with more than 17,000 fans on Reddit’s Breaking Bad subreddit.
Fans expressed a range of emotions — excitement, dread, confusion, loss — but one thing was clear: They all loved the journey they shared together. For weeks, members of the subreddit had exchanged theories on how it would all end and shared memes making jokes out of the show or exploring its hidden messages. Before the final episode began, a moderator of the subreddit posted, “I have been asked to say something tonight, and I just want to say … don’t be sad folks. It’s been all about the journey. Enjoy the episode, everyone. I’m really going to miss making these posts.”
The feeling was mutual, with one Redditor posting, “This community is amazing, and it definitely made watching more enjoyable when I could discuss everything with them,” with another writing: “I do think that having more people to discuss with enhanced the experience. There were a lot of details I would not have noticed without talking to other fans.”
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While insults were slung at side characters, Walter White remained mostly unstained to the Reddit community. When asked if they ever lost sympathy for Walt, a redditor named speckzo wrote, “He’s the only one I have kept empathy for throughout. Yes, he has made mistakes and let his ego and pride lead him to make terrible decisions, but I feel as though deep down he has always been trying to do best by his family.”
During the episode’s airing, the live thread went relatively quiet. Fans would post questions about possible symbolism in the episode, mentioning that they had predicted this or that, or just posting simple reactions to revelations from characters. By the end of the episode, the thread lit up with satisfied viewers. Breaking Bad, you may be gone but not forgotten — at least, not by redditors.
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