Scoring the Marty Robbins “El Paso” Theories for the Breaking Bad Finale [SPOILERS AHEAD!]

In an earlier post, I collected all the theories on why the finale of Breaking Bad was entitled “Felina” and it led back to a Mary Robbins song from 1958 called “El Paso.” (Read the original post here.]

1.  “Felina” is an anagram of the word “finale.” Nice, but too simple.

We hear the song early in the show and a Marty Robbins cassette falls out of the glove compartment of the stolen Volvo.

2.  Remember that Walt had a thing for Gretchen, the wife of Walt’s old business partner in Gray Matter, Elliott Schwartz.  Could Walt be gunning for Elliott just like the cowboy went after the his romantic rival for Felina?

Nope.  Missed that one by a light-year.

3.  In the song, the cowboy heads for the “badlands of New Mexico”after he murders his rival.  Then he’s killed by a bunch of cowboys in revenge. Okay, so Walt is going back to New Mexico from New Hampshire (motto: “Live Free or Die” and also known as the Granite State, the title of the penultimate episode), but maybe the avenging cowboys are a bunch of DEA agents out to get for him for Hank’s death at the hands of the neo-Nazis.  

It could be that the neo-Nazis get to Walt first.  The song speaks of “five mounted cowboys.”  Along with Todd and his uncle, there were three other Nazi freaks in the gang which precipitated the shoot-out that saw Hank and Gomez killed. 

Or–and check this out–will it be Marie (Hank’s wife) who shoots Walt? I mean she’s lost everything because of him. And wouldn’t it be fitting that someone in his family–and remember how deepy Walt feels about family–finally knocks him off?

Totally wrong, too.  Actually, it worked the other way around, didn’t it?  And Marie–well, she didn’t have much to do with this episode, did she?

4.  Is “Felina” a reference to the chemical symbols for iron (Fe), lithium (Li) and sodium (Na)? If so, why? There’s no such chemical as FeLiNa and none of those elements are present in crystal meth.  (There is, apparently, a way of making meth using lithium but if you’ve been paying attention to the chemistry Walt uses, he uses a completely different method.)

No. Not even a sniff of this–although Walt did mention that he had a different cook recipe.

5.  Is Felina a metaphor or Walt’s double life? (For a proper breakdown of that theory, go here.)

Maybe.  Draw your own conclusions.

6.  Now let’s get really weird and get into quantum mechanics.“Felina” could be read as felinae, a scientific classification for small cats. Knowing up much the show has liked to reference famous scientists (hello,Werner Heisenberg!), could this be a nod to the famous thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s Cat?  Might this foreshadow a super-ambiguous ending where Walt, like the cat in Schrödinger’s box, is both dead and alive?  If this is the case, we’ll all have to bone up on quantum physics to understand the ending.

Oh, and just so you know:  Werner Heisenberg’s theories on quantum mechanics–including the famous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (read up on it; it might be important when we finally get to the ending) were based on the work of Erwin Schrödinger.  SCIENCE, bitch!  Just sayin’.

I really wanted this one to be true, but Walt’s fate is clear-cut as is Jesse’s.  Then again, you could say that the old partnership is both alive and dead, which would fit the theory.  I know, I know.  I’m reaching.

I’m okay with this finale.  I think I’m satisfied.  What say you?