Breaking Bad’s third season went out with a literal bang last night, but given some ambiguity in the way the scene was shot and edited, many fans have been left wondering about what actually happened. Well, as it turns out, the ending wasn’t meant to be ambiguous at all. Spoilers ahead.
In interviews with both the AV Club and Alan Sepinwall today, show creator Vince Gilligan — who wrote and directed the episode himself — reveals that Jesse Pinkman indeed shot and killed Gale, the hapless meth chemist. Gilligan isn’t too surprised by the confusion. Before the episode aired, his editor had pointed out that the way the camera moves gives the impression that Jesse was shifting his aim, and since we never actually see what happens after the shot is fired, we have reason to believe that Jesse wasn’t successful in murdering his mentor’s rival. Nonetheless, Gilligan insists that none of that was intentional, and that Gale is indeed a goner. Now you know!
Interview: Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan Post-Mortems Season Three [HitFix]
Vince Gilligan [AV Club via Gawker]