Ok, so we've all had a good laugh at the Breaking Bad alternate ending - Malcolm in the Middle Dad and all that - but it's worth noting that there are some serious theories concerning the ending of the AMC show, considered to be one of the greatest television dramas of all time.

breaking Bad finaleWalter White In The Breaking Bad Finale

Of course, if you're a Breaking Bad nut, you're probably aware of a couple of these theories - but what the hell, let's go over them anyway. 

The 'El Paso' theory is one of the most intriguing theories. Before the Breaking Bad finale aired, Andi Teran at Previously.TV linked the episode to Marty Robbins' song El Paso, which is about a cowboy's love for a girl named, you got it: Felina.

Teran speculated that the "Felina" referred to Marie Schrader, who would play a critical role in bringing Walter White down. That didn't materialize, but a Marty Robbins tape was in the glove compartment of the car that Walt stole in New Hampshire and the song El Paso plays as he drives away.

Scott Johnson at ComicBook.com offered a more direct connection to the story, saying, "The lyrics of 'El Paso' are about a gunfighter who falls in love with a Mexican girl named Felina. Near the end of the song, the gunfighter gets in shootout, where he gets struck in the side by a bullet. At the end of the song, the gunfighter lays dying, while Felina kneels by his side."

Of course, Walt is shot in the side and dies with a meth lab by his side - this after he admitted to Skyler that cooking became his true passion; that he did it for himself. That he enjoyed it.

During his appearance on The Colbert Report, series creator Vince Gilligan added credence to the theory with a Lord of the Rings reference, saying, "I think he's coming back for his Precious and his Precious is the blue meth and the lab, the lab he constructed. He's patting his Precious, in Lord of the Rings terms. He's with the thing he seems to love the most in the world, which is his work and his meth lab and he just doesn't care about being caught because he knows he's on the way out."

Next page: the theory that Walter was already dead.