User Reviews

"End Times" was the calm before the storm I had expected, but that isn't to say it was a bad episode. With little stuff actually happening, the intensity was sustained by director Vince Gilligan with a little help from his phenomenal cast.

Calling it calm is a bit incongruous, but the scenes at the Schrader household simply are the slower scenes and didn't have any effect on my sitting position (later scenes had me curling up into a ball due to the suspenseful atmosphere). Nevertheless, they include the by far best bit of screen writing of the episode ("Because it's not Nazi Germany, all right?"). Walt, who isn't aboard at this jolly family gathering, spends the time next to his pondering pool – or puking pool, depending on which character sits next to it – and later gets into a conflict with Jesse, in a scene that one can only describe with "Wow". Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston have had so many unforgettable scenes together over the course of Breaking Bad, but here's another contestant for number one. Paul additionally gets to participate in heart-wrenching hospital scenes and has another splendid conversation with Gus taking place, and this location decision is probably the best over the whole series, in a church.

As if my heart wasn't throbbing at a critical pace already, he then (in fact, that was before the aforementioned scene, but my text structuring is awful) also discovers that his ricin cigarette fled the coop and Walt fails yet again at the kill Gus mission. Oh, and if that just sounded dull, I should probably mention that the enactment was totally awesome. So, while "End Times" isn't as big of a deal as the episodes before and after, it's without a doubt the best slow episode of the series.

This episode is a great way to continue the major events of the previous episode, while also setting up the glorius finale! Walt now realizes he is in the endgame and there is no more messing around!

This episode is very intense at times! There is a feeling of unpredictability and uncertainty as surprises are thrown at you and you don't know what will happen next! This episode is also vital for Walt and Jesses relationship, both now and later on! Great scenes with the two! How far is someone willing to go to get what they want?

Amazing tension in the finale scene! Gus proces he is the smartest guy around! Now all hope seems lost!

One of the best set-up episodes for a season finale ever made.

Great episode and one of the best set-up for season finally, And one of best episode of breaking Bad, the acting in the episode was great especially from Aron Paul.

This episode stands as the strongest of the series so far. The acting is visceral and raw, the camerawork is chaotic but brilliant, and the writing is the perfect culmination of the show's ever building tension. Truely masterclass television.

'Breaking Bad' is one of the most popular rated shows on IMDb, is one of those rarities where every season has either been very positively received or near-universally acclaimed critically and where all of my friends have said nothing but great things about.

Very few shows in recent memory had me so hooked from the very start that before the week was over the whole show had been watched, especially when for a lot of shows now airing watching one episode all the way through can be an endeavour. 'Breaking Bad' had that effect on me, and its reputation as one of the best, consistently brilliant and most addictive shows in many years (maybe even ever) is more than deserved in my eyes. Its weakest season is perhaps the first season, understandable as any show's first season is the one where things are still settling.

Actually everything is established remarkably from the very start, but once the writing and characterisation becomes even meatier the show reaches even higher levels.

"End Times" is not quite as amazing as "Crawl Space", being more of a slow-burner it lacks that episode's tautness and not as red hot in tension. It is an intensity-filled and rich in complex emotion episode nonetheless of extremely high quality.

Visually, "End Times" is both stylish and beautiful, with photography and editing that are cinematic quality and put a lot of films today to shame, where there are a lot of visually beautiful ones but also some painfully amateurish looking ones. The music always has the appropriate mood, never too intrusive, never too muted.

The writing in "End Times" is a fine example of how to have a lot of style but also to have a lot of substance. The dialogue throughout is thought-provoking and tense, while also have a darkly wicked sense of humour, nail-biting tension and heart-tugging pathos. The story is texturally rich, intimate, tense and layered, with the pace of it consistently deliberate but not dull.

Can't say anything bad about the acting. Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as one of the most fascinating anti-heroes, or even of any kind of character, in either film or television. Aaron Paul has never been better and Anna Gunn is affecting. The characters are compelling in their realism, likewise with their chemistry, and the episode is superbly directed.

Overall, terrific. 9/10 Bethany Cox