The reviews are in, and Breaking Bad's season finale has swept the critics away. Entertainment Weekly calls Episode 13, "tremendously satisfying," while Newsday's Verne Gay considers it "TV"s best finale of the season." In California, The Los Angeles Times says the episode was "audacious in scope and flawless in execution," and The San Francisco Chronicle raves the show is "unbelievably impressive." Online, TV Squad noted that it capped off a "stellar" sophomore season, while AV Club hailed Season 2 as "one of serialized drama's greatest accomplishments."

Critics have the E-word (Emmy) on their minds as well, and not just for Bryan Cranston -- who won the best actor statue last year. "Emmy nominations all around, please," The Seattle Times pleads, citing Cranston's portrayal of Walter White as "raw, tense and soulful." Anna Gunn (Skyler) in particular is singled out by The San Francisco Chronicle: "If she doesn't join Cranston as an Emmy nominee, then the whole process has come undone (yet again)." Aaron Paul's performance as Jesse wins kudos from the The Los Angeles Times, as does the cinematography of Michael Slovis: "No other show looks quite like this, with the haunting close-ups of a teddy bear interwoven with amazing vistas of the New Mexico desert."

Fittingly, creator Vince Gilligan receives his fair share of credit, especially from Crave Online, which credits him for blazing "new trails in the world of TV drama, throwing out the rulebook for etiquette and structure and coming up with sheer white-knuckle brilliance week after week." In an interview with The Hartford Courant, Gilligan talked about keeping the show's audience guessing --"We need to zig when they think we're going to zag" -- and offered this question to mull over during the off-season: "Once you no longer have an excuse to be a criminal and you continue to do so, what does that say about you?"