And in an instant, the reign of Dictator Pink is brought to an end, brought about not by years of war and futile sacrifice but rather by human accountability. It is one of the most sudden shifts in character yet one that perfectly reflects Waters's view of both social and personal responsibility. All of the world's ills, the oppression, atrocities, and violence, all come down to one thing: reasonable choice. One either decides to act for the betterment of himself / herself or their society, or one doesn't act and lets decay set in. Life is full of potential, both positive and negative. Everyone has the potential for redemption just as everyone has the potential to become self-imprisoned and closed-minded, like Dictator Pink. But once one decides to make a choice and act, the effects, both good and ill, are seemingly instantaneous. Earlier in the album, Pink regressed into his tyrannical state and the effects of his actions were immediately felt, even if they only registered within his own disillusioned mind. Similarly, Pink has once again decided to act at the end of "Waiting for the Worms," screaming his defiance to his despotic self in the simple yet powerful word "stop." He is tired of the show, of living life behind masks and disguises, and wishes to "take off this uniform" (a bookend symbol, so to speak, alluding to everything from his father's military death to this latest fascist delusion), to rid himself of the burdens he has accumulated throughout his life. But most importantly is his decision to remain in his mental cell long enough to see if he's "been guilty all this time." He is starting to realize just how much of a role he has played in the creation of his wall, seeing that he has always been an active participant in his own isolation rather than a hapless victim doomed to suffer the ills that the world placed upon him. Put simply, he has gained "feelings of an almost human nature," that is self-accountability. Pink has journeyed from egotistical martyrdom to taking full responsibility for his actions. As if summoning the resultant trial of self-judgment, parts of Pink's last words [in italics] ("I'm waiting in this cell cause I have to know / Have I been guilty all this time?") echo and coalesce into a single background phrase, repeating "time…to know" over and over.

Like the instantaneous transformation between Pink's dictator and reasonable selves on the album, the movie sequence for "Stop" immediately propels the viewer from the army of oppressive hammers to a public bathroom in which we find Pink cowering in a bathroom stall and reading from his "little black book" of poems. With the crowd cheering faintly in the background and the presence of the same security guard from "Young Lust," we come to realize that the scene is taking place in one of the concert hall's lavatories, further intimating that the previous songs were merely delusions within Pink's decaying, isolated mind. Far from being the devastating power of oppression that he was only moments ago, Pink now broods in one of the bathroom stalls, reading selections of poetry from his book before reciting the lyrics of "Stop." It's interesting to note, however, that the lyrics he reads from his book before getting to the main part of the song are far from random snatches of verse. In yet another example of Waters's use of self-reflexivity, (for example, Pink's poem in "Happiest Days" is actually the Pink Floyd song "Money") the lyrics Pink reads in the bathroom are culled from the Floyd album, "the Final Cut," and Waters's solo album, "the Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking." The first fragment heard as the camera pans over the bathroom stalls is from the song "Possible Pasts" and reads as the following: "Do you remember me? How we used to be? Do you think we should be closer?" The second snippet, from "Pros and Cons," reads: "And I put out my hand just to touch your soft hair / To make sure in the darkness that you were still there/ And I have to admit/ I was just a little afraid, oh yeah/ But then…." While some might argue that these lyrics were included as a sort of inside joke for Floyd fans, like the inclusion of "Money" in "Happiest Days," it's nevertheless interesting to note the common themes between Pink's story and the lyrics that he repeats. Many go so far as to consider the album "the Final Cut" an unofficial sequel to "the Wall" in that many of the songs contained on this follow-up album were either cut from the original "Wall" record or are deal with many of the same themes as Pink's story, such as war and isolation. Whether "Possible Pasts" was written with Pink in mind or not, the lyrics still apply to his story as he desperately tries to rediscover his true self and those he has wronged, such as his wife. And so it is quite feasible that Pink is asking himself, his estranged spouse, or even both if reconnection with what was and what can be is possible. Similarly, the lyrics from "Pros and Cons" can seemingly apply to both, with Pink reassuring himself that yes, his true self still exists or that his wife is still within his reach. Either way, it's reassuring for us to see Pink, even in this greatly disturbed state of his, trying to reconnect with the two people that he has arguably wronged the most: his wife and himself. Yet whether it is too late or not to rekindle these and other past relationships is still undecided, ultimately coming down to the final judgment concerning his life, his self, and his wall.