now, while i’m pretty sure they did that as a sort of character ret-con, there’s a more chilling interpretation: that any kindness she showed was part of a sort of condescending smokescreen as she counted the days until walt either died or recovered enough that she could leave him. i hadn’t thought of it that way before.

Walt got where he is today by taking huge gamble after huge gamble, relying on his own wit and improvisation to win against impossible odds.  That’s why we keep watching, and even rooting for him, despite the fact that the man is a cancer upon humankind who wants to build a meth empire.  The sensible place to stop the story is when his luck finally runs out.  

In my mind, that means he dies.  Another interesting ending might be, “he’s behind bars, but here’s a hint that he’s going to keep running his empire from inside the prison walls.”  You could also give him his smooth-running meth empire, if he had to sacrifice the last thing he cared about to get it (Jessie).  

But those are all “Hollywood endings.”  There are a million ways to end the series with “life isn’t like a story and nothing really means anything.”  But honestly, that’s a worn and uninteresting story in itself, and not one worth telling.  People don’t tune in for “rocks fall, everyone dies,” and why should they?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RocksFallEveryoneDies

see also:  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShootTheShaggyDog

We see it already: he’s becoming increasingly reckless and careless, and all the people in his life are falling away.  Skylar is starting to put up a fight.  Jessie is wondering what the hell it’s all for.  Hank is closing in.He’s gone from lovable loser to system-fighting rebel to midlife crisis thrill-seeker, only to wind up at irredeemable megalomaniac.  His character arc has been like watching a Shakespearean tragedy.  But we all know how those end.

To boot, she can’t really complain or even talk about her problems with ANYONE other than Walt, who’s completely unsympathetic, wrapped up in his own problems, oh…and completely made of angry.

I’ve long felt that people that absolutely hate a TV character are just projecting their own personal life issues onto what they see on screen.  I think a lot of men really have it in for TV wives that don’t play a quiet play-along supporting role to their husband.  It’s petty and shameful IMO.

I really wonder if Marie’s quite extensive powers of storytelling and kleptomania will figure in the final episodes. I’d love to see her skills used in bringing down Walt.