The Big Question Some Breaking Bad Fans Still Have About The A1A Car Wash
For many, "Breaking Bad" is about as perfect of a TV show as you can get. The show expertly weaved together various plotlines into one cohesive narrative. The progression of watching Walter White (Bryan Cranston) go from a friendly neighborhood chemistry teacher to a drug kingpin is unparalleled. Plus, the show knew how to make callbacks, such as when it revived Walt's old cohort Elliott Schwartz (Adam Godley) and his wife for the final season in order to serve as the motivation Walt needed to return to New Mexico and free Jesse (Aaron Paul).
However, as immaculate as the series may have been in hindsight, it wasn't without a few loose ends. After all, no work of art is perfect, and "Breaking Bad" certainly isn't an exception. It's not necessarily a plot hole; it's just something the writers obviously felt wasn't important to the story, so a definitive answer was left in the air. It's caused plenty of fans online to argue over what was the ultimate fate of A1A Car Wash.
The feds likely seized the car wash
Redditor u/shimmiecocopop1 raised an excellent point when they asked, "What happened to the car wash after Ozymandias?" They run through various scenarios that could've played out, from the feds seizing the car wash since it was used to launder money to Skyler selling it to pay for her inevitable legal fees. It would explain why she's living in a small apartment by the series finale.
One Redditor offered a suggestion with context clues from the show itself that actually makes a lot of sense: "Same thing that happened to Los Pollos Hermanos after Gus's death. Everything got impounded either as evidence or seized. The money got seized by the DEA, which they won't get a lick of." Honestly, that probably makes the most sense. As to why it wasn't mentioned in the show, the writers probably felt it didn't matter and wanted to focus on more pressing concerns. There was a lot transpiring in those final few episodes, and spending time talking about the car wash most likely wasn't on anyone's priority list.
Based on what legal information online has to say, money laundering would certainly fall within the parameters of civil asset forfeiture, where the feds can seize businesses that aided and abetted crimes. It seems Occam's razor (the simplest solution is most likely the right one) applies in this situation.