Alternate ‘Breaking Bad’ finale leaks online

It’s been more than a month, and everyone is still talking about the conclusion to AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” But now talk has moved to the new “alternate” ending to the series that leaked online over the weekend.

In this ending, which should be seen as more of a well-produced gag and not a legitimate alternate vision, Bryan Cranston wakes up from a dream that he was Walter White/Heisenberg, but in fact he’s still Hal, the beloved dad from the Fox sitcom, “Malcolm in the Middle.” And he’s traumatized by a dream where he was cooking and dealing crystal meth, making bombs and killing people.

Cranston’s former “Malcolm In the Middle” costar, Jane Kaczmarek, makes a return as his wife, Lois, in the clip, disinterested in the “Scarface”-like nightmare Hal is describing. In other words, all of “Breaking Bad” was a dream within the world of “Malcolm in the Middle.”

PHOTOS: Before they were actors on ‘Breaking Bad’

If this premise sounds familiar, it’s because the scene is a direct homage to one of the most famous sitcom endings of all time. The final scene of “Newhart,” the CBS comedy series starring Bob Newhart as a Vermont innkeeper, revealed the entire series to be a dream inside the head of Newhart’s other famous sitcom character, Chicago psychologist Robert Hartley from his series “The Bob Newhart Show,” which ran from 1972 to 1978.

The “Newhart” ending was a homage to an infamous “It was all a dream” resolution to a cliffhanger on the prime-time soap “Dallas.”

This alternate “Breaking Bad” finale takes the reality twisting one step further by revealing Heisenberg’s distinctive porkpie hat sitting next to Hal’s bed, making us wonder just which reality is the real reality. It’s all a very “Matrix-y” conclusion to the series.

The scene was intended as a special bonus on the upcoming “Breaking Bad: The Complete Series” DVD box set and Sony Picture Television pulled it from YouTube citing copyright violation.

But that doesn’t mean the clip is gone forever. It can still be viewed here on Buzzfeed.

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