Walter White (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)
Walter White (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)Walter Hartwell "Walt" White (also known by his alias, Heisenberg) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan. Once a promising chemist who was one of the founding members of the fictional, now multi-billion company "Gray Matter Technologies", Walter left the company for personal reasons and became an unhappy and disillusioned high school chemistry teacher. After being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, he resorts to manufacturing methamphetamine to ensure his family's financial security when he dies. As the series progresses, Walter gradually becomes dangerous and takes on a more villainous role.
Walter White is a talented chemist who, as a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, contributed to research that helped a team win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After graduate school, Walter founded the firm Gray Matter Technologies with Elliott Schwartz, his former classmate and close friend.Around this time, Walter dated his lab assistant, Gretchen. However, he abruptly left both Gretchen and Gray Matter Technologies, retaining financial interest in the company. Gretchen and Elliott later married and made a fortune, over which Walter secretly harbors animosity.
By the start of Breaking Bad, Walt has been forced to work as a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, providing instruction to uninterested and disrespectful students.The job pays so poorly that he is forced to take a second job at a car wash, which proves particularly humiliating when he must clean the cars of his own students. Walter is married to Skyler White; they have a teenage son named Walter Jr., who has cerebral palsy. Skyler is also pregnant with their second child, Holly, who is born at the end of season two.Walt's other family includes Skyler's sister, Marie Schrader, and her husband, Hank, who is an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The pilot episode of Breaking Bad begins on Walt's 50th birthday, when he watches a local news report about a methamphetamine drug bust and is impressed by the amount of money recovered from the dealers. The following day, Walt is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and is told that he likely has only a few more months to live. Knowing that his family is in serious financial straits, and remembering the earlier news report, Walt considers secretly cooking meth as a way to ensure his family has money and security after he dies. He accompanies his brother-in-law, Hank, as a ride-along during a DEA drug bust against a local dealer named "Cap'n Cook". During the bust, Walt sees a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), fleeing from the scene, and realizes that Jesse is the dealer Hank is investigating. Using the school's records, Walt tracks down Jesse and blackmails him into letting him enter the drug trade. The two form a partnership in which Walt will manufacture meth and Jesse will sell it, producing the product in an RV that Jesse purchases with Walt's life savings.[9][14] Because of Walt's expertise in chemistry, he produces exceptionally pure supplies of meth.
Walt is nearly killed when Jesse brings meth distributors Krazy-8 Molina (Max Arciniega) and Emilio Koyama (John Koyama) to the RV, and Emilio recognizes Walt from Hank's bust. He survives only by mixing chemicals to produce a deadly gas, killing Emilio in self-defense and incapacitating Krazy-8. When he hears sirens, Walt falsely believes his arrest to be imminent and attempts suicide, but survives after he forgets to remove the safety on his handgun. Krazy-8 survives the encounter and is held captive in Jesse's house. Walt wishes not to kill Krazy-8 and, after getting to know the man, plans to release him. However, upon realizing Krazy-8 plans to kill him with a makeshift weapon once released, Walt strangles him to death with a bicycle lock.
Elsewhere, Walt keeps his activities secret from his family, but when Skyler learns about Jesse and confronts Walter about him, Walter claims Jesse is his marijuana dealer. Walter eventually tells his family about the cancer and, although he initially insists he does not want treatment due to the medical costs and concerns over loss of dignity, he ultimately agrees to seek treatment.
Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz offer to give him a job and to pay for all of Walt's treatment, but he refuses to accept, apparently due to pride and animosity over their past. Instead, he resumes cooking meth with Jesse, despite his initial plans to abandon the partnership following the incidents with Krazy-8 and Emilio. Walt insists he wants no part in the drug dealing end of the business and that he wants no more bloodshed, but also expresses impatience at the rate at which Jesse is selling and demands that he find a distributor. Jesse makes contact with Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz), a drug kingpin who beats him so badly that he becomes hospitalized. Walt confronts Tuco – using the alias "Heisenberg", after Werner Heisenberg, the author of the Uncertainty principle – and demands $50,000 for the drugs and Jesse's pain and suffering; after Walter uses an explosive crystal of fulminated mercury to nearly blow up Tuco's office, Tuco agrees to the proposal and they form a lucrative, albeit, unstable partnership.
Walt starts producing meth more quickly and, to circumvent sales restrictions on the organic pseudoephedrine compound, opts to use phenylacetone reacted with methylamine, which produces racemic meth, which is then purified to the same pure dextrorotatory form as before, except in a blue color that becomes a signature for Walter's product. The first season ends with Walter and Jesse's delivering a fresh batch of meth to Tuco, who viciously beats one of his henchmen, No Doze (Cesar Garcia), for making a single comment as a shocked Walter and Jesse look on.
When No Doze dies as a result of Tuco's beating, Tuco becomes increasingly paranoid and kidnaps Walter and Jesse out of fear they will turn him in.[25][26] They are kept hostage for several days in a trailer in the middle of the desert, but after a struggle, Jesse shoots Tuco and escapes with Walter. Shortly afterward, Tuco is shot to death in a gunfight with Hank, who tracked Jesse's car to Tuco while searching for Walter.[27][28] To explain his absence, Walter wanders naked into a grocery store, feigning confusion, and later claims he has no recollection of the past several days. Although Hank knows nothing about Walter's role in the drug trade, he starts investigating the recent upsurge in blue meth and the mysterious manufacturer known as "Heisenberg", unaware it is his own brother-in-law. Walter's constant lies start straining his marriage, as Skyler seems to sense his dishonesty and grows weary of his coldness. Meanwhile, Walter grows more and more aggressive in his role as a drug manufacturer; when Jesse tells him they are short of money because one of their dealers was robbed, Walter demands that he "handle it" by whatever means necessary.
When Walter's medical bills start mounting, he promises Skyler he will seek assistance from Elliott and Gretchen after all, but continues to pay with his drug money. When Skyler calls Gretchen to thank her for their help, Gretchen confronts Walter and asks how he is paying the bills. Walter becomes angry, insisting it is none of her business and condemning her and Elliott for making millions of dollars on his research. Meanwhile, one of their dealers, Brandon "Badger" Mayhew (Matt L. Jones), is arrested and, fearful it could lead the police back to them, Walter and Jesse seek advice from the sleazy and unscrupulous criminal attorney Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). Saul arranges for a career criminal, who willingly goes to prison for crimes he does not commit, to pose as Heisenberg and be arrested. Although Hank remains suspicious that the real Heisenberg is still loose, the arrest takes some heat off of Walter, and Saul uses the experience to become Walter's consigliere-like adviser.
Walter soon learns his cancer is in remission and the tumor has shrunk by 80 percent. In light of this news, Walter insists to Jesse that he will be getting out of the drug trade after unloading the last of the meth. However, there are signs he is embracing the criminal activity, such as when he threateningly warns a prospective competitor to "stay out of my territory". When another of Walter's dealers, Combo Ortega (Rodney Rush), is shot to death during a deal, Saul arranges for Walter to meet Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), a powerful drug kingpin who also runs a chain of fast food restaurants as a front. Walter seeks to sell his entire supply in bulk to Gustavo, but the extremely cautious and low-profile man expresses concerns about working with Walter, particularly due to the unpredictability of Jesse, whose addiction to meth has worsened. Nevertheless, Gustavo agrees to buy Walter's entire stock of meth for $1.2 million. The deal is nearly blown by Jesse's drug problems, but Walter makes the transaction, even though it makes him miss the birth of his daughter Holly.
Jesse demands his cut of the money, but Walter refuses to turn it over until Jesse gets clean. Later, however, Jesse's drug addict girlfriend Jane Margolis (Krysten Ritter) blackmails Walter, threatening to make his drug activities public unless he gives Jesse his money. Walter agrees to the demand and, later that same night, goes to a bar and meets Donald Margolis (John de Lancie), whom he does not realize is Jane's father. When Donald tells Walter one must never give up on family, Walter realizes he has paternal feelings toward Jesse and decides to help him. He breaks into Jesse's house, where Jesse and Jane lie passed out after a drug fix and Jane starts choking on her own vomit. Seeing Jane as his personal enemy, Walter chooses not to help her and allows her to die. Later, Jesse is distraught over Jane's death, unaware of Walter's role in it, and Walter checks him in to an expensive rehabilitation clinic. Meanwhile, Walter undergoes an aggressive, risky surgery to treat his lung cancer, which appears to be a success. However, incriminating statements Walter unwittingly makes while under anesthesia lead Skyler to discover the extent of many of Walter's lies, and she leaves him. The second season ends with Donald, an air traffic controller, making a mistake at his job due to his despair over Jane's death. From his home, Walter watches two commercial airplanes crash into each other, unaware that he is indirectly responsible for it.
At the start of the season, Walt is wracked with guilt after learning about the role Jane's death played in the plane crash. He has also moved out of the house. During a discussion about a possible divorce, Skyler accuses Walt of dealing marijuana with Jesse, believing it to be the only way he could have paid his medical bills. When Walt admits to manufacturing methamphetamine, a stunned Skyler says she will not tell anybody if he grants her a divorce, but he refuses. Meanwhile, Gus offers Walt $3 million to cook meth for three months. Walt declines, still despairing over the loss of his family. Walter breaks in to his house and stays there despite Skyler's insistence he stay away.Shortly afterward, while Walter is showering, the Mexican drug cartel hitmen Leonel and Marco Salamanca (Daniel and Luis Moncada) break into the house and wait with an axe to kill Walter to avenge their cousin Tuco's death. Walt is only saved by the last-minute assistance of Gus, who insists he needs Walter's help producing meth.Skyler threatens to turn Walter in to the police when she realizes he is home, but she fails to go through with it. Later, Skyler reveals to Walter she has had sex with her boss, Ted Beneke (Christopher Cousins).[49]
Walter becomes an emotional mess and, at one point, tries to kiss his own boss, assistant principal Carmen Molina (Carmen Serano), who places him on indefinite suspension as a result. Gus offers Walter a state-of-the-art meth lab concealed beneath an industrial laundry facility. Although Walter initially continues to resist, he eventually accepts Gus's offer, then reluctantly signs Skyler's divorce papers.[52] By this point, Walter and Jesse have had a falling out, and Walter is working with a new lab assistant, Gale Boetticher (David Costabile). When Hank asks Walter if he remembers whether his former student Jesse used a recreational vehicle, Walter realizes Hank is closing in on Jesse and tries to have the RV destroyed. Hank follows Jesse to the repair yard where the RV is kept, which results in Hank's finding the RV and pounding on the door while Walter and Jesse are inside. They escape the situation only after Walter arranges for Hank to receive a phone call that his wife, Marie, has been hurt in an accident, prompting Hank to rush off to see her. Walter and Jesse subsequently have the RV destroyed.
Later, a furious Hank beats Jesse to the point that he is hospitalized. Walter convinces Jesse not to press charges and the two make amends after Walter makes Jesse his full partner, resulting in Jesse's replacing Gale as his lab assistant.[55] When Hank is shot by Leonel and Marco Salamanca, Skyler insists that she and Walter will pay for Hank's medical bills, and she claims to Marie that Walter made his money by gambling.[56] Skyler gradually starts to become more involved in the dark side of Walter's life and proposes they buy the car wash where he previously worked for a front business to launder his drug money. She also reveals she never filed the divorce papers Walter had signed.[57] Eventually, Jesse learns the drug dealers who killed his friend Combo work for Gus, and that the dealers forced Tomas (Angelo Martinez), the 11-year-old brother of Jesse's girlfriend Andrea (Emily Rios), to commit the murder. Jesse starts making plans to kill them, and Walter seeks to stop this by informing Gus of Jesse's plans. This leads to a meeting of Walter, Gus, Jesse and the drug dealers, during which Gus warns Jesse not to harm the dealers and tells them to stop using children during their deals.[58][59]
Shortly afterward, however, Tomas is murdered by unknown gunmen, prompting an angry Jesse to seek revenge. Upon hearing local news broadcasts about Tomas' death, Walter realizes how Jesse will respond and seeks to find him. Just before Jesse is about to confront the dealers, Walter arrives and runs them down with his car. One is killed instantly and Walter executes the other by a gunshot to the head. Walter places Jesse into hiding, then later tells Gus that he has fled the state. Although Walter insists he wishes to continue cooking meth for Gus, he quickly realizes Gus is grooming his former lab assistant, Gale, to eventually replace Walter. He correctly predicts Gus will try to kill Walter once Gale is ready, so Walter tells Jesse they must kill Gale to prevent this. Jesse does not want to do it and suggests Walter turn himself in to the DEA, but Walter refuses and says he will kill Gale himself. However, before he can do so, Walter is abducted by Gus's henchmen, Mike (Jonathan Banks) and Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui), who plan to kill him. Walter claims he will arrange to turn Jesse over to them, but when they allow him to call Jesse, Walter quickly informs Jesse he must now kill Gale himself, or else Mike and Victor will kill him. The third season ends with Jesse's shooting Gale.
After Gale's murder, Mike and Victor kidnap Walter and Jesse. They are taken to the laundry and brought before Gus, who slits Victor's throat with a box cutter in a gruesome show of force. Walter is unnerved by Gus's actions, and fears he will kill them at the next opportunity. He plots to pre-emptively kill Gus, illegally purchasing a snubnosed revolver for the task. However, Walter is told by Mike and a new lieutenant, Tyrus Kitt, that Gus has eschewed all contact with him. Walter attempts to kill Gus at his home, only to be confronted by Tyrus. He also approaches Mike at a bar and asks for his help in killing Gus; however, Mike beats Walter and leaves.
With some help from Saul, the Whites force Bogdan into selling his car wash. However, Walter begins recklessly spending his money on other items, buying a Dodge Challenger for Walt, Jr.; when Skyler refuses to let the boy accept the less-than-inconspicuous gift, an angered Walter destroys the car in an empty parking lot. Walter's demeanor becomes increasingly sinister, frightening Skyler to the point where she contemplates leaving New Mexico. She stays, however, but tells Walter that she intends to "protect this family from the man who protects this family".
The relationship between Walter and Gus continues to deteriorate; Walter discovers that Gus has installed a surveillance camera in the superlab to track his movements, while the depressed Jesse's increasingly erratic behavior makes him a possible target. His troubles increase when Hank begins an unofficial investigation into Gus, having found evidence linking him to Gale's murder. The oblivious Hank asks Walter to place a tracking device on Gus's car in a Los Pollos Hermanos parking lot; a harried Walter informs Gus of the tracking device, which he later removes. Hank also has Walter drive him to Gus's laundry, which he avoids by deliberately causing a car accident. When Gus learns of this incident, his distrust of Walter deepens.
In another plot to kill Gus, Walter manufactures a small amount of ricin and gives it to Jesse, telling him to covertly poison Gus as soon as possible. However, Jesse fails to follow through out of fear for his own life. Upon learning this, Walter confronts Jesse and the two engage in a brawl, signifying an end to their partnership. Jesse subsequently joins Gus's organization as an apprentice to Mike.
Gus later takes Walter out to the desert and tells him he is "fired" and that if he tries to contact Jesse or interfere with his murdering Hank, Gus will kill Walt's entire family. (Gus couldn't kill Walter outright due to Jesse's adamant opposition, despite their falling out.) Jesse continues his relationship with Andrea and her son, Brock, who is hospitalized from poison, which Jesse believes to be from the ricin. Walter later regains Jesse's trust by pleading ignorance of Brock's poisoning and suggesting Gus was responsible, as Gus approved of violent measures against children in the past. Jesse and Walter attempt to kill Gus by rigging his station wagon with a remote-controlled pipe bomb, but Gus senses something is awry and Walt's plan is thwarted. Jesse later tells Walt of Gus's visits to Hector Salamanca at the rest home; Walt, in collusion with Hector (who weighs the many family members of his whom Gus has killed versus Walt's role in the death of only Tuco), rigs the pipe bomb to his wheelchair so that Hector may trigger it with his bell. When Gus visits him next, he is killed in the blast, along with Tyrus and Hector.
With Gus dead, Walter storms the superlab and kills two of Gus's henchmen to free Jesse, who had been kidnapped and forced to cook at gunpoint. The two proceed to set fire to the superlab, destroying the entire laundry facility. Afterward, Jesse tells Walter that Brock will live, as he was poisoned not by ricin, but by berries from a Lily of the Valley plant; because of this, Jesse realizes that Gus couldn't have been responsible for Brock's condition. Walter assures Jesse, however, that Gus's murder was necessary. The duo shake hands and part ways. Walter then calls Skyler to assure her that Gus is dead and he has "won". The final shot of this season fixes on a potted Lily of the Valley in Walter's back yard, suggesting he indeed poisoned Brock.
Walt's defeat of Gus leads him to develop a sense of arrogance and invulnerability. He and Jesse join forces with Mike to destroy evidence in police custody that would prove their involvement with Gus, which they narrowly escape. Afterwards, Walt convinces them to join him in establishing their own meth operation. While searching for new locations to cook, Walt devises a plan to periodically set up his lab in residential houses tented by a pest control business. However, Walt's alliance with Jesse and Mike becomes tenuous, especially when he realizes Mike is using some of their returns to pay off Gus' incarcerated underlings, causing him to make less money than he did while working for Gus.
Elsewhere, Walt continues spending his money frivolously, selling his Aztek for fifty dollars and leasing sporty cars for himself and Walt Jr. Relationship problems with Skyler begin to culminate, as she attempts to send the kids away from home, telling Walter that she wants to protect them from him. She is so afraid of what Walt's methamphetamine business might bring on their children that she tells Walt that she'll keep fighting him until he finally dies of cancer. On the business side, trouble with their supplier leaves Walter, Jesse and Mike without any methylamine precursor. Mike suggests ramping down production, but Walter disagrees, saying that they are "just getting started". Thus, Mike turns to an old, untrustworthy accomplice from his days with Gus. Their new supplier, Lydia, is an American executive for Madrigal Electromotive GmbH, the parent company of Los Pollos Hermanos and the supplier of Gus's methylamine.
Lydia assists Walt, Mike, and Jesse as they arrange to steal 1,000 gallons of Madrigal's methylamine from a train travelling through New Mexico. The heist goes without a hitch until a fourth member of their gang, Todd, notices that a young boy witnessed their crime and immediately shoots him. After disposing of both the boy and his dirt bike with hydrofluoric acid, Mike and Jesse express their desire to end the three-way partnership and sell the methylamine to a Phoenix-based competitor. Even though the competitor, Declan, initially wants the methylamine in exchange for having Walt's meth pulled off the drug market, Walt persuades him to sell his superior product. Walt has yet another falling out with Jesse over his leaving their meth operation, and learns that the DEA is poised to arrest Mike after flipping his lawyer. During an angry confrontation with Mike, Walt impulsively shoots and kills him. Walt then coordinates with corrupt prison officials to have the ten former Fring employees killed.
Walt makes a deal with Lydia to begin distributing his product overseas in the Czech Republic. After a few months, he amasses so much money that Skyler cannot even count it all. Walt reluctantly decides to end his involvement in the meth business, and his family is reunited. However, during a family gathering at the White residence, Hank goes to the bathroom and discovers Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass, given to him by Gale, which contains a handwritten note addressing Walt as "W.W." Remembering a conversation he previously had with Walt regarding those initials in Gale's lab notebook, Hank finally realizes that Walt is Heisenberg.
Jesse Pinkman (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)Jesse Bruce Pinkman was born in September 1984 into an upper middle-class family in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the time the series starts, he has long been estranged from his parents due to his drug abuse and lifestyle. After being forced to leave his parents' residence, Jesse moved in with his Aunt Jenny, whom he cared for until her death from cancer; afterwards, he was allowed to stay in her home, whose ownership fell to Jesse's parents.
Jesse was a poor student in high school, largely due to his inattention and apathy. Walter White, who Jesse almost always calls "Mr. White," was his chemistry teacher, and flunked him in his class. Walt himself later tells Jesse that he "never thought much" of him, although his mother recalled that Walt "must have seen some potential in Jesse, he really tried to motivate him. He was one of the few teachers who cared." Pinkman would later deliver on that potential, producing a product on his own which Walt begrudgingly concedes is as good as what Walt himself produced and superior to that which was produced by Gale Boetticher who held an advanced degree in chemistry. In "Say My Name," Walter refers to himself and Pinkman as "the two best meth cooks in America."
When Walt accompanies his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, as a ride-a-long during a DEA drug bust, he spots Jesse running away from the scene; he subsequently realizes that Jesse is "Cap'n Cook", a methamphetamine dealer Hank is investigating. Walt uses the high school's student records to track down Jesse, blackmailing his former pupil into letting him enter the distribution side of the illegal drug trade. Walt plans to use his knowledge of chemistry to cook potent crystal meth that Jesse will distribute, giving him $7,000 to purchase an RV which will be used as a rolling meth lab. It is revealed in Season 3 that Jesse wasted most of the money while partying at a strip club, but one of his friends, Christian "Combo" Ortega, let Jesse purchase his family's RV for $1,400.
Jesse is impressed with Walt's product and approaches Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina, an Albuquerque meth distributor, over the prospect of doing business with him. Unbeknownst to Jesse, Krazy-8 is a DEA informant who is suspicious of the proposal. When Krazy-8 drives to the desert to meet the duo, his partner, Emilio Koyama, recognizes Walt from the previous DEA bust. When they attempt to kill him, Walt produces a phosphine gas that kills Emilio and incapacitates Krazy-8, allowing him and an unconscious Jesse to flee. Walt has Jesse shop for a plastic container in which he plans to dissolve Emilio's body with hydroflouric acid. Jesse—too ignorant and headstrong to realize that hydroflouric acid does not eat through plastic—dissolves the body in an upstairs bathtub, letting the acid burn a hole in the bathroom floor and drop Emilio's remains into a downstairs hallway. After cleaning up the scene and disposing of Krazy-8, the duo are forced to sell their meth on their own.
Walt and Jesse move their lab from the RV to Jesse's basement. Their product becomes a big enough presence in Albuquerque's drug scene that it becomes the focus of an investigation by Hank. Unsatisfied with the miniscule amount of money Jesse is collecting, Walt convinces him to find a high-end distributor for their meth. "Skinny Pete", one of Jesse's friends, puts him in contact with Tuco Salamanca, a powerful Mexican drug kingpin operating in Albuquerque. However, at their first meeting, the psychopathic Tuco brutally beats Jesse and lands him in the hospital. After Walter strong-arms Tuco into a lucrative, albeit unstable, partnership, he and Jesse expand their operations by stealing a large drum of methylamine. This enables them to produce meth in larger quantities.[4] The first season ends with Walt and Jesse delivering a fresh batch to Tuco, who senselessly assaults one of his henchmen, "No Doze", as the stunned duo watch helplessly.
After the DEA conducts a raid on his Albuquerque operations, the increasingly paranoid Tuco believes that Walt and Jesse are set to betray him. Tuco kidnaps the pair and takes them to a remote house in the desert, where he cares for his infirm uncle, Hector Salamanca. There, Walt and Jesse are held against their will for several days, with Tuco stating his intention of taking them to a "superlab" in Mexico. However, the two escape after a struggle with Tuco. Walt and Jesse flee the scene, and watch as Hank—who has been guided to the house by chance while searching for the missing Walt—confronts and fatally shoots Tuco. Walt and Jesse wander through the desert before hitching a ride back to civilization. Unfortunately, Jesse's car and money are both seized by the DEA.
Realizing that the authorities will track him down, Jesse seeks help from his friend, Badger. They move the lab from Jesse's house back to the RV. The RV is subsequently towed away by Badger's cousin, Clovis, and stored on his lot for a $1,000 storage fee, which Jesse can only pay half of upfront. The next day, Jesse awakens to find his mother evicting him from his home, since his parents legally own the house and have discovered that he was cooking crystal meth in the basement. Unable to find a friend to stay with, he gets his remaining few belongings and his bike stolen as well, so he breaks into Clovis' lot and passes out in the RV ("Down").
Jesse eventually resolves to put himself back together. He buys an inconspicuous Toyota Tercel and finds a new apartment. The landlord, Jane, is a part-time tattoo-artist and also, as Jesse later finds out, a recovering addict. Living right next to Jesse in the same two-family building, it's not long before she and Jesse become romantically involved. Jane, however, tries to hide this relationship from her father, Donald, who is the property owner of their building.
Jesse spirals into a drug-fueled depression when Combo is murdered by rival drug dealers. He is introduced to heroin by Jane, who relapses back into addiction. Jesse becomes perpetually high and lethargic, nearly costing Walt a $1.2 million drug transaction with the powerful meth distributor Gus Fring; this leads Walt to withhold Jesse's half of the money until he enters rehab, causing a falling out between the two. When Jane learns about the money, she blackmails Walt into giving Jesse his share, hoping to use the money to escape to New Zealand. However, Jane overdoses and suffocates on her own vomit shortly afterward; Walt is present at the time of her death, but does not intervene and watches her die. Jesse blames himself for Jane's death and becomes self-destructively despondent. Walt rescues Jesse from a crack house and checks him in to a rehabilitation clinic.
While in rehab, Jesse is told by a counselor to accept himself for who he is. At this point, he has learned that Jane's father, Donald, an air traffic controller, was so distraught over her death that he inadvertently caused a deadly mid-air collision. Jesse tells Walter that he has taken the counselor's advice and accepted himself as the "bad guy" because of his perceived role in these two incidents, unaware of Walter's culpability in both of them. Jesse leaves rehab clean and sober, and sets out to settle unfinished business. First, with help from Saul, Jesse dupes his parents into selling him his aunt's house at a drastically reduced price.
Hank correctly deduces that Jesse's RV is the rolling meth lab used by Heisenberg, and tracks it down to a local junkyard. Only quick thinking by Walter and Saul lead Hank away from the RV, allowing them to destroy the vehicle in a compactor. An enraged Hank severely beats Jesse, leading to his suspension from the DEA. While Jesse is hospitalized, Walter—who has been hired by Gus as a meth cook—persuades him to renew their partnership. Despite his dislike for Jesse, Gus is convinced to have them work together. Jesse and Walt cook larger amounts of meth in Gus' underground "superlab", earning considerably more money.
Jesse becomes romantically involved with Andrea Cantillo, a single mother and recovering meth addict from his Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He eventually discovers that her eleven-year-old brother, Tomas, had killed Combo on behalf of two competing dealers. Pinkman concocts a plan to kill them with ricin, but is forced to abort after learning that the dealers are protected employees of Gus. However, after Tomas is found murdered, Jesse sets out to kill them. Walter saves Jesse at the last moment, running over the two dealers, killing one and fatally shooting the other in the head.
After Jesse goes into hiding, Gus replaces him with Gale Boetticher, Walter's previous assistant in the superlab. Walter realizes Gus is plotting to have Gale master the "blue sky" formula as part of a larger plan to be rid of him. To prevent this, Walter plans to pre-emptively kill Gale. Jesse unsuccessfully advises Walter to go to the police instead. When Walter is cornered by Mike and Victor at the superlab, Jesse is forced to kill Gale himself, confronting him at his apartment. Despite Gale's pleas and his own reservations, a tearful Jesse shoots and kills him.
Immediately after Gale's murder, Walter and Jesse are brought back to the superlab, where Gus slices Victor's throat with a box cutter in a gruesome show of force. Jesse ignores Walter's fears that Gus is planning to kill them, preferring to escape his guilt by setting up a perpetual rave at his house. He also places a large of amount of drug money in Andrea's mailbox, urging her to leave Albuquerque with her young son, Brock. Jesse becomes increasingly indifferent to his own welfare, stealing meth from the superlab to fuel his drug-laden parties.
Mike informs Gus of Jesse's recklessness, but instead of ordering his execution, Gus has Mike take Jesse on an errand to collect drop money. On the last pickup, Jesse sees a man approaching the car with a shotgun and attempts to run over the man and ultimately rams the man's car and drives away. It is revealed that the man with the shotgun was working for Mike and this was all just a test for Jesse, a test which he passed prompting Mike to call him a hero. A relieved Walt finds Jesse in the lab where Jesse tells him that he will be doing more work with Mike. When Walt informs Jesse of his suspicion that the alley incident was a setup, Jesse reacts with hostility, while Walt declares his belief that Gus is trying to wedge their partnership. During Jesse's next assignment with Mike involving the retrieval of a stolen bag of product, Jesse shows some craftiness by getting one meth addict fixate on digging a hole in the yard and disarms another wielding a shotgun, which at a later evening rendezvous draws praise from Gus. Shortly after this point, Jesse has resumed a relationship with Andrea and her son Brock, whom Jesse treats as a son.
Walt tasks Jesse with killing Gus by the use of a vial of ricin, which Jesse hides in a cigarette. Later on, when Gus is having a meeting with members of the cartel, Jesse considers spiking his coffee with the ricin, but refrains from doing so upon realizing that he could poison the third parties present. At one of his NA meetings, Jesse breaks down and reveals that he is only attending to sell everybody meth. Walt pushes Jesse to try to set up a meeting when he learns that Hank is investigating Gus, but backs off when he sees a text message implying that Jesse has been lying about not meeting Gus since the diner. Walt uses a bug to track Jesse's vehicle, learning that he had dinner at Gus's house the night before. Walt confronts Jesse about his betrayal, causing a fight, which Jesse wins. The pair have a violent falling out as a result.
Gus and Mike take Jesse on a trip to Mexico in order to have him teach Walt's formula to the cartel's chemists. Impressed with Jesse's skill, Gus seemingly arranges to leave Jesse behind with the cartel. However, during a party, Gus uses a poisoned bottle of tequila to kill off the cartel's leadership, including Don Eladio. Afterwards, Gus offers to hire Jesse as his full-time cook. Jesse accepts on the condition that Gus spare Walt's life. When Walt's wife Skyler seeks protection from the DEA, Gus uses this information to portray Walt as an informant in an attempt to further the gap between him and Jesse. Walt goes to Jesse's house to pleading for help, but Jesse throws him off his property.
Shortly afterwards, Brock falls mysteriously ill. Jesse seems to correctly guess that Brock has been poisoned by ricin, arousing Andrea's suspicions. Jesse immediately assumes Walt is behind the poisoning, showing up at his house to confront him at gunpoint. However, Walt convinces Jesse that it was Gus who poisoned Brock, reminding him of his propensity for killing children. Jesse eventually tells Walt about Gus' visits to Hector's retirement home, leading Walt to visit Hector himself and talk him into luring Gus to the location. Gus is subsequently killed when Hector activates a pipe bomb beneath the elderly drug lord's wheelchair. After learning of Gus' death, Walt storms the superlab and rescues Jesse.
After they destroy the superlab, Jesse reveals that Brock was not poisoned by ricin, but by poisonous Lily of the Valley berries. Jesse realizes that Gus couldn't have poisoned Brock, but Walt assures him that killing Gus was the only acceptable course of action. The final scene of the fourth season shows a potted Lily of the Valley in Walt's backyard, suggesting that Walt had poisoned Brock all along.
In the first half of season 5, Jesse is torn up about what happened to Brock and can't rest not knowing what happened to the ricin. Jesse has Walt help him search his house for the cigarette containing the poison. Walt manipulates Jesse further by planting it in his vacuum cleaner. This causes Jesse to feel guilty about threatening to kill Mr. White, thinking he had poisoned Brock.
Jesse agrees to continue cooking meth with Walt as a result. He remains happy doing it up until the point where one of their workers kills a child that witnessed them robbing a train of Methylamine. From there Jesse wants out. When Walt refuses to pay him the 5 million dollar buyout, Jesse storms off saying he no longer cares about the money. Walt eventually apologizes and pays the remainder of the buyout, after which Jesse has a breakdown.
Skyler White (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)When Walt is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he initially does not tell his family. When she learns about the diagnosis, Skyler is both devastated by the news and outraged that Walt witheld the information. Their relationship becomes strained, both from Walt's reluctance to seek treatment and from his unexplained absences following his diagnosis. Skyler figures out Walt's connection to his former student, Jesse Pinkman, and confronts Jesse at his house; when she confronts Walt, he claims that Jesse is his marijuana dealer. Unbeknownst to Skyler, Walt has taken up cooking methamphetamine with Jesse in order to ensure his family's financial security after he dies.
Skyler faces other problems, as well. When her sister Marie offers an expensive diamond tiara as a gift for Holly's baby shower, Skyler attempts to return it to the jewelry store, only to learn that her sister — a kleptomaniac — had stolen the item. Skyler is detained by the store's owner, escaping arrest only after faking labor. The incident causes serious problems in Skyler's relationship with Marie, who pathologically denies that she has done anything wrong.
When Walt is kidnapped by Mexican drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca, his family — unaware of the connection to Walt's criminal activities — organize a search for him as a missing person. When Walt escapes, he attributes his disappearance to a non-existent "fugue state". The marriage continues to go downhill thanks to Walt's continued absences, devolving to the point where Skyler refuses to speak with him. Skyler is also perturbed by Walt's resistance to his son's efforts to raise money for his exorbitant cancer treatments, unaware that most of the donations actually constitute drug money laundered by Walt's corrupt lawyer, Saul Goodman.
Continuing to be unaware of Walt's meth business, Skyler believes that his illness has strained the family's finances and returns to her old job working as an accountant for Ted Beneke, whose sexual advances had caused her to quit earlier. She increasingly relies on Ted for emotional support as her husband grows distant; she also reluctantly covers up Ted's tax fraud. Shortly afterwards, Skyler gives birth to a daughter, Holly; Walt is absent for the occasion, being forced to appear for a meth transaction with the drug kingpin Gus Fring.
When Skyler becomes suspicious that Walt owns a second cell phone, Walt emphatically denies the charge. However, while Walt is doped up prior to cancer surgery, he indicates the opposite when he asks "which" cell phone she has packed for him. After Walt recovers, Skyler confronts him over his lie and leaves him.
In the third season, Walt has moved out of the house. Skyler appears at his apartment, having deduced that he is in the drug trade. When she confronts Walt with her idea that he is selling marijuana, he admits instead that he is a meth manufacturer. Skyler demands a divorce from Walt in exchange for her silence about his criminal activities. She also demands that he move out of the family's home. Her subsequent cold behavior towards her husband, arouses curiosity in Marie and her husband Hank, as well as anger and rebellion from Walter, Jr. When Walt forcibly moves back into their home, she retaliates by initiating an affair with Ted Beneke and coldly informing her husband. She enjoys her affair with Ted, as they skip work frequently to go to his home.
Even in her anger, Skyler is conflicted; she permits Walt to take care of Holly and defends some of his actions to her lawyer, who advises that she leave him immediately. She later finds that Walter has signed off on their divorce and left the house for good. When Ted arrives at her home and tries to clarify the nature of Skyler's feelings, she refuses to answer and asks him to leave.
Following Hank's shooting, Skyler tells Marie that Walter earned millions through card counting at underground blackjack games, and offers to pay for Hank's physical therapy and anything else not covered by insurance. She later admits to Walt that she never filed the divorce papers, slyly beginning to work her way into Walter's criminal activities by reminding him that spouses cannot be forced to testify against each other. She suggests an alternative money-laundering scheme after being thoroughly unimpressed by Saul's plan to launder the money through a laser tag facility. Skyler suggests Walter instead purchase the car wash facility where he worked in the pilot, and offers to run the business for him. She tries to frame these decisions as being forced on her by Walt's criminal activities, but she ends up letting Walt spend more time with the kids and having dinners as a family when Walt, sensing an opportunity to regain his place in the family, tells her that's the only way her cover-up can succeed.
Skyler, through a combination of business planning and underhanded tactics, buys the car wash and begins laundering Walt's drug money. There is a growing perception that Skyler is starting to enjoy her new life as a criminal accomplice, becoming much more confident in her abilities to carry out the money laundering operation and becoming less concerned about his criminal transgressions. She and Walt eventually have their first sexual encounter since the separation and slowly begin to rebuild their relationship. Her fear of Walt is brought up however, as she begins to understand what kind of man he has become and what troubles he has gotten himself and their family into. At one point, she's so consumed with panic that she considers fleeing the state with Holly. Later, when Hank and Marie are under witness protection at their house, she, Holly, and Walter Jr. join them while Walt deals with Gus.
As Skyler comes to the unspoken realization that Walt was responsible for the death of Gus Fring, Skyler's attitude toward Walt takes a drastic turn. Where she once considered the notion of Walt as a formidable gangster ludicrous, the prospect now terrifies her. After a nervous breakdown in front of Marie at the car wash, Skyler lapses into a deep depression. She realizes that Walt insists on staying in the family home, and she loses the will to speak or get out of bed. During a tense dinner with Hank and Marie, she stages a spectacular suicide attempt in an attempt to convince the Schraders to temporarily take custody of Walt Jr. and Holly. With the children gone, Skyler makes plain to Walt that she will do anything she can to keep the children out of the house until Walt's lung cancer takes his life, demonstrating her hostility by smoking in the house. Walt explains Skyler's emotional distress to the Schraders as the effects of serious marital discord, exposing her affair with Ted Beneke in the process. This taints Skyler's relationship with her sister Marie, closing off a potential path of escape. Skyler effectively becomes a hostage in her home. While she continues to launder money through the car wash, her attitude toward Walt devolves into a barely-concealed hatred that shocks Jesse when he is exposed to it in an extremely uncomfortable evening as their dinner guest.
Hank and Marie Schrader (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)Henry R. "Hank" Schrader (played by Dean Norris) is a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. He is also Walter's outspoken brother-in-law, and Marie Schrader's husband. Hank drives a midnight blue Jeep Commander. He is currently investigating a new meth kingpin in the area named "Heisenberg", unaware that Heisenberg is actually Walter. Hank has a cavalier exterior, but in reality the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit. In the course of his work, Hank is promoted to El Paso, Texas from Albuquerque for a short time, but experiences a traumatic event courtesy of the Mexican drug cartels and moves back to Albuquerque. Although he is loud and opinionated, he is competent at his job and cares deeply about Walter and his family.
Marie Schrader (née Lambert) (played by Betsy Brandt) is Skyler's sister, Hank's wife, and Walt's sister-in-law. Marie works as a radiologic technologist. She doesn't hesitate to offer advice to others, but often fails to practice what she preaches. She shoplifts obsessively due to kleptomania, for which she sees a therapist. She appears self-centered and shallow but is very devoted to her husband and cares deeply for her sister's family. In season 3, Marie becomes a major source of comfort and support to her husband, who proves to be more emotionally fragile than he lets on. When Hank is shot and nearly killed by The Cousins, Marie angrily accuses Hank's DEA colleagues of not doing enough to support and protect their fellow agent. With Walt and Skyler's help, she arranges for Hank to undergo an aggressive physical therapy program that is not covered by their insurance. Marie loves the color purple, and nearly all her household and clothing items are various shades of purple. She drives a blue Volkswagen New Beetle.
Walter White JR. (Season 1 - Season 5 Part 2)Walter Hartwell White, Jr. (played by RJ Mitte) is Walter and Skyler's teenage son. He has cerebral palsy, manifested in speech difficulties and impaired motor control, for which he uses crutches (which Mitte does not require). He grows apart from Walt due to his father's absences and bizarre behavior, being taught to drive by his friends and wanting to be called "Flynn." In an effort to help his father pay for cancer treatment, Walter Jr. sets up the website, "www.savewalterwhite.com", asking for donations. As part of a plan to launder Walt's drug profits, Walt's lawyer, Saul Goodman, arranges for a wave of donations drawn from Walter's drug money. When Skyler and Walter separate due to Walt's deceptions, Walter Jr. ultimately takes his father's side, and stops answering to the name Flynn. As of the end of season 4, Walter Jr. remains completely oblivious to his father's drug business and its role in his family's life.
Saul Goodman (Season 2 - Season 5 Part 2)Saul Goodman (played by Bob Odenkirk), real surname McGill, is a sleazy "criminal lawyer" (in his own words: "a lawyer who is a criminal") who acts as Walter and Jesse's consigliere and up to a certain point, the series' comic relief. He uses the name "Saul Goodman" because he thinks his clients feel more confident with a Jewish lawyer; this name is also homophonous with the expression "[it]'s all good, man". Dressed in flashy suits, Saul maintains extensive connections within the criminal underworld, and serves as a go-between connecting drug distributors, evidence removers, impersonators, and other criminals-for-hire. Despite his flamboyant appearance and mannerisms — punctuated by his outrageous low-budget TV commercials — Saul is a highly competent lawyer who is able to solve problems and find loopholes in order to protect his clients. He is also reluctant to be associated with violence or murder. He has served as an adviser for Walter, Jesse, Gus, Mike, and even for Skyler, whom he also helped acquire a car wash in order to launder Walter's drug money.
Mike Ehrmantraut (Season 2 - Season 5 Part 1)Mike Ehrmantraut (played by Jonathan Banks) was a former Philadelphia police officer who worked for Gus — and, on occasion, Saul — as a private investigator, head of security, cleaner, hit man and consigliere; he became a reluctant partner in Walt and Jesse's meth operation after Gus' death. Mike was a calm and calculating individual who efficiently performed his duties for Gus, using his extensive knowledge to do so without detection. Like Walt, Mike was a family man who enjoyed an affectionate relationship with his granddaughter; it is the DEA's seizure of off-shore money meant for her that leads him to join Walt, despite his strong dislike for the man. About to be arrested by the DEA, he was forced to attempt to go on the run, but Walt killed him after Mike berated him for his egotism.
Gustavo Fring (Season 2 - Season 4)Gustavo "Gus" Fring (played by Giancarlo Esposito) was the Chilean-born proprietor of Los Pollos Hermanos, a highly-successful fried chicken restaurant chain. He is also a public booster for the local DEA office. However, despite outward appearances, Gus is a major drug kingpin initially affiliated with the Mexican Juarez Cartel, using his restaurant as a front for methamphetamine distribution throughout the American southwest. Like Walter White, Gus is a criminal who "hides in plain sight", using his anti-drug philanthropy to conceal his true nature. Gus originally established Los Pollos Hermanos in Mexico several years previously, but emigrated to the United States when Don Eladio and Hector Salamanca murdered his cook and close friend, Maximino Arciniega, in retaliation for cutting into their business.
When Walt seeks a buyer for his chemically-pure meth, he is put in contact with Gus. However, despite recognizing Walt's "excellent" product, Gus refuses to do business with him because the erratic and careless behavior of his partner, Jesse Pinkman. Walt manages to persuade Gus into purchasing thirty-eight pounds of his meth for $1.2 million; after the product yields good returns, Gus offers Walt $3 million for three months of his time. Gus' hiring and protection of Walt puts him at odds with the cartel's leadership, which considers him responsible for the death of Hector's nephew, Tuco. Gus directs Leonel and Marco Salamanca, two cartel assassins, to kill Walt's brother-in-law, Hank Schrader. He arranges for the hit to fail, ensuring that the U.S. and Mexican governments crack down on the cartel and leave control of the methamphetamine market to Gus alone.
Despite Gus' initial protection of Walt, the collaboration between the two men becomes continuously strained. Walt learns that Gus is grooming his regular cook, Gale Boetticher, to replace him, leading him to task a reluctant Jesse with killing Gale. When the hit succeeds, Gus silently slits the throat of one of his henchmen, Victor, in front of the horrified duo. Walt becomes increasingly fearful that Gus will kill him and his family, causing him to look for numerous ways to kill Gus first.
Little is known about Fring's past. He was born in Chile and emigrated to Mexico in 1986 during the reign of Augusto Pinochet With his longtime friend and partner, Maximino Arciniega ("Max"), Gus started a chicken restaurant called Los Pollos Hermanos. Max was murdered by the Juárez cartel, leading Gus to emigrate to the United States in 1989, where he re-established Los Pollos Hermanos as a chain of fast-food restaurants. Using his restaurants' supply chain as a front, Gus began distributing drugs in the American southwest on behalf of the cartel, an operation that eventually grew to encompass methamphetamine.
Gus claims to have children, yet they have never been seen and little else about his family life has been revealed. It is implied that Fring may be using an alias; neither Hank nor Mike can find any record of his existence before his arrival to Mexico. Don Eladio, the cartel's leader, mentions that he spares Gus' life only because he knows who Gus is, and warns him that he "isn't in Chile anymore"; in a flashback scene, Hector Salamanca mockingly refers to him as "Grand Generalissimo". Gus drives a Volvo V70, stating that he chose it for its "safety record".
When Walter White seeks a buyer for his chemically pure meth, his lawyer, Saul Goodman, puts him in contact with Gus. Walter and his partner, Jesse Pinkman, arrange a meeting with the seldom-seen Gus at a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant, but Gus seemingly never shows up. Walter later realizes that Gus is the restaurant proprietor, and that he had purposely scheduled the meeting at his own restaurant in order to observe Walter and Jesse. Upon being confronted by Walter, Gus tells him that he is not interested in conducting business since Jesse was late and high during the meeting, and thus potentially unreliable.
Walter persuades Gus to reconsider his decision, promising that he will never have to deal with Jesse and that their product will earn him enormous returns. Gus eventually buys thirty-eight pounds of Walter's meth for $1.2 million; the timing of the transaction forces Walter to miss the birth of his daughter, Holly. Shortly afterwards, Gus is given a tour of the DEA's Albuquerque field office, along with other local boosters. While there, he discovers that Walter is dying of lung cancer and that his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, is a DEA agent.
Pleased with how well Walter's product has sold, Gus offers him $3 million for three months of his time. Walter, whose family life is in a shambles and who has no desire to continue cooking, respectfully declines the offer. Later, Gus intervenes in a plot by the cartel to kill Walter, narrowly saving his life. Gus finally persuades Walter to accept his offer after showing him a large-scale "superlab" housed under an industrial laundry facility that he owns, outfitted with top-of-the-line equipment and capable of producing at least two-hundred pounds of meth a week. He partners Walter with Gale Boetticher, the talented chemist who set up the superlab.
Gus' protection of Walter puts him at odds with the cartel, which holds him responsible for the death of Tuco Salamanca, Hector's nephew. Gus promises one of his superiors, Juan Bolsa, that the cartel will be free to kill Walter once his cooking tenure has been completed. When Leonel and Marco Salamanca, Hector's twin nephews, push back against this agreement, Gus attempts to appease them by offering his permission to kill Hank. However, Hank manages to survive the hit, killing Marco and critically injuring Leonel. Gus later sends his enforcer, Mike Ehrmantraut, to poison Leonel in his hospital bed.
The attempted assassination of Hank causes the U.S. and Mexican governments to launch a crackdown on the cartel. The Mexican Federales kill Bolsa, who realizes all too late that Gus has engineered the entire fiasco in order to seize control of the methamphetamine market. After learning that Hank was contacted moments before the hit, Walter makes the same conclusion. He requests a meeting with Gus to discuss the future of their arrangement. Gus offers to extend their agreement to a long-term, $15 million-a-year deal, which Walter accepts. Gus reluctantly lets Walter keep Jesse as his cooking partner, but makes it clear that he dislikes Jesse and only tolerates him because he respects Walter's abilities.
Walter's relationship with Gus is jeopardized when Walter kills two of Gus' dealers to protect Jesse. Gus, along with Mike and Victor, meets Walt in the desert and demands that he explain himself. Walt implies that he suspects Gus of having ordered the dealers to kill 11 year old Tomas, which Gus angrily denies. Gus seemingly accepts Walter's plea to regard the episode as a "hiccup" and allow him to continue cooking meth, but re-appoints Gale as Walter's assistant. Gus visits Gale at his apartment and surreptitiously instructs him to learn Walter's formula so as to be able to cook alone should Walter die from cancer. Walter again deduces Gus' true intentions and plots with Jesse to kill Gale. Walter surmises that any delay in production would weaken Gus' position, and that without Gale, Gus would be forced to retain Walter as the only cook capable of producing the high-quality meth needed to sustain the operation. Walter sets out to kill Gale, but is intercepted by Victor and brought to the lab where Mike is waiting for him. Under the pretext of luring Jesse to the lab to betray him to Mike, Walter convinces Mike to allow him to call Jesse. Instead, Walter instructs Jesse to kill Gale. Victor rushes to Gale's apartment but arrives too late, finding Gale dead on the floor.
In the aftermath of Gale's murder, Walter and Jesse are taken before Gus in the superlab. Gus calmly changes into a hazmat suit and, in a gruesome show of force, fatally slashes Victor's throat with a box cutter in front of the horrified duo. Walter and Jesse are spared a similar punishment, although Walter knows that he has fallen out of favor with Gus and fears that he will eventually be killed. Walter decides to pre-emptively do away with Gus, illegally purchasing an untraceable snubnosed revolver for the task.
Jesse, guilt-ridden over Gale's murder, descends into a drug-fueled depression and attempts to cope by opening his house to strangers for a tweaker party that carries on for several days, even while he's away at work. In response to Mike's concerns that Jesse's recklessness at home could attract unwanted attention, Gus instructs Mike to take Jesse along as a passenger on a series of seemingly mundane pick-up runs around the city. Aware that Jesse can't be scared into behaving, Gus instead orchestrates a ruse to boost Jesse's loyalty and self-esteem. During the final pick-up of the day, one of Gus' henchmen posing as an armed robber approaches Mike's idling car, where Jesse is waiting for Mike to return. Jesse, unarmed, grabs the wheel and foils the robbery, which turns into a car chase that leaves Mike behind until Jesse meets up with him later that evening to explain why he drove away. Later, Jesse helps Mike retrieve stolen meth from a pair of junkies. Impressed with Jesse's mettle, Gus deems him ready to take on a greater role in the operation.
Meanwhile, Gus' conflict with the cartel escalates. The cartel sends several men to kidnap Gus' chemical supplier, but the operation is foiled by Mike. The cartel also attacks Gus' delivery trucks and distributes his meth to local junkies. Gus arranges a meeting with the cartel where he offers a one-time payment of $50 million in exchange for a settlement of grievances and a complete severance of their partnership. The cartel refuses, reiterating its demand that Gus hand over Walter. In a flashback scene, the origin of Gus' animosity toward the cartel is revealed: twenty years earlier, during a meeting in which Gus and Max sought to enter the meth business with the cartel, Hector shot Max in the head as Gus was forced to watch.
Hank is asked by an Albuquerque police detective for help in deciphering what appears to be information about a meth lab written in Gale's notebook. He begins to suspect that Gus is involved in "blue sky" when he finds a Los Pollos Hermanos napkin among the evidence collected from Gale's apartment, knowing that Gale was a vegan. Hank retrieves Gus' fingerprints during a visit to Los Pollos Hermanos and matches them with prints found in Gale's apartment. Gus is questioned, but his explanation satisfies both the DEA and the police. Hank remains suspicious, however, and investigates Gus on his own. He obliviously asks for Walter's help in attaching a tracking device to Gus' car at Los Pollos Hermanos; Gus is warned by Walter and removes the device before driving anywhere but home and the restaurant.
In an attempt to defuse tensions with the cartel, Gus agrees to share Walter's formula. Because he does not trust Walter, Gus and Mike take Jesse to Mexico, where Jesse cooks a demonstration batch of "blue sky" in the cartel's own superlab. To Jesse's alarm, Gus seemingly agrees to have Jesse work for the cartel on a permanent basis. However, during a party celebrating the agreement, Gus kills Don Eladio and the rest of the cartel's top leadership with a poisoned bottle of tequila. To convince Don Eladio and his crew that the tequila is safe, Gus drinks the first shot, having taken capsules that delayed the poison and allowed him to purge. Gus, Jesse, and Mike shoot their way out of Don Eladio's compound and drive to an elaborate medical tent that Gus arranged for in advance. There, Gus is treated by his private doctors and quickly recovers, but is still weak from the ordeal. Mike's bullet wounds require more time with the doctors, leaving Gus with no option but to give in to Jesse's demand to let Walter live in exchange for help crossing the border on foot.
Gus deems Jesse fit to cook Walter's formula and run the superlab on his own. However, Jesse insists that he will not cook for Gus if Walter is killed, offering Gus the option of firing him instead. Gus' henchmen kidnap Walter and take him out to the desert, where Gus fires him, tells him that he intends to neutralize Hank, and threatens to kill his entire family if Walter attempts to interfere. Afterwards, Gus visits Hector in his nursing home and tauntingly informs him of the deaths of the rest of the Salamanca family members and the end of the cartel.
Walter frantically searches for a way to kill Gus. He plants a car bomb in Gus' Volvo, but Gus manages to evade the trap. Walter then learns from Jesse about Gus' visits to Hector's nursing home. Realizing that Gus and Hector are enemies, Walter visits Hector and offers him an opportunity to exact revenge on Gus. The two hatch a plot to lure Gus back to Hector's nursing home, starting with Hector paying a visit to the DEA. Gus learns about Hector's visit from Tyrus, and decides that Hector must be eliminated. Against Tyrus' advice, Gus insists that he take care of Hector personally.
Gus and Tyrus return to the nursing home and visit Hector in his room. Gus prepares to inject Hector with a lethal poison, taunting Hector for the last time. However, Hector begins ringing his bell frantically, activating a homemade bomb Walter had attached to his wheelchair earlier. The subsequent explosion immediately kills Hector and Tyrus. A dazed and horribly disfigured Gus walks out of Hector's room, calmly adjusts his tie, and collapses dead outside the doorway.
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