Season 4
Season 4The fourth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad premiered on July 17, 2011 and concluded on October 9, 2011. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length. AMC broadcast the fourth season on Sundays at 10:00 pm ET in the United States. The complete fourth season was released on Region 1 DVD and Region A Blu-ray on June 5, 2012.
Following Jesse Pinkman's murder of Gale, the chemist that Gus had planned on replacing Walt, Gus responds by killing one of his own men and taking steps to secure the lab, including installing cameras to monitor the lab at all times. Upon searching Gale's apartment, the police find two clues: disused trash from Gus' restaurant chain, and a lab notebook with detailed steps of cooking meth with an inscription "To W.W.". The police give Hank copies of this evidence, and Hank starts to suspect that Gus is a major player in the meth operation, and though still recovering and off-duty, tries to investigate on his own. Gus' background is completely clean, leading Hank to further suspicions, eventually connecting the industrial laundry service that fronts the laboratory to the meth trade. Meanwhile, Skyler tries to convince Walt to avoid excess spending as to keep the money laundering through the car wash as subtle as possible. When Walt splurges on a new car for Walt Jr. against her warnings, Skyler tries to leave but ends up returning to help her family. During events, Skyler learns that her former boss Ted had cooked his books and would face an audit that would likely reveal Skyler and Walt's illicit wealth, and instead funnels more than $600,000 to Ted to pay for the fine to the IRS to end the investigation.
Jesse cleans up his act and is surprised when Mike takes him as protection for picking up several dead-drops. One attack is staged (unknown to Jesse), and Jesse is able to thwart it, giving him confidence in supporting Mike and Gus. They learn that the Mexican cartel has been attacking Gus' trucks as a message, and after they attempt to attack Gus directly, Gus agrees to meet with them. Walt, learning of this meeting, gives Jesse a capsule of ricin, a deadly poison, to use to kill Gus. Jesse hesitates and doesn't follow through, infuriating Walt. Jesse is invited by Gus to join him and Mike to Mexico, where they have Jesse teach the cartel scientists how to cook the blue meth. A flashback reveals that Gus has a long-standing feud with the head of the Cartel, Don Eladio, as he had ordered Hector to kill his partner, Max, while trying to arrange for an amiable meth trade. Gus is able to poison Don Eladio and the heads of the cartel, while Jesse helps him and Mike to escape the few guards that survived. On Jesse's return, Walt finds himself again being rendered useless, and later is tazered and taken to the outskirts of town where Gus tells him that he is fired, and that he will take care of Hank. Walt tips off the DEA to an imminent attack on Hank while trying to arrange to get his family relocated, but finds without the $600,000 that Skyler gave to Ted, he cannot pay the fee.
Hank and his family, as well as Skyler and Walt Jr., are placed in protective custody; Walt refuses, trying to deal with the situation himself, realizing that Jesse is the key piece. Sometime later, Jesse learns that his girlfriend Andrea's son has suddenly fallen ill; he discovers the cigarette containing the ricin capsule missing and immediately assumes the boy had been purposely poisoned. Jesse confronts Walt, ready to kill him but Walt insists he couldn't have done it, and that it was likely Gus' fault. Jesse trusts Walt and returns to the hospital, refusing to return to work. Gus comes to the hospital to learn of this from Jesse, but agrees to allow Jesse to remain and come back to work in the week. This meeting has given time for Walt to plant a bomb on Gus' car, but as Gus returns, he appears uneasy, and simply walks away from the car. Walt learns from Jesse that the only place where Gus is vulnerable is when he is visiting the wheelchair-bound Hector at a local nursing home. Walt talks to Hector; and then Hector asks to be taken to the DEA. Gus decides to kill Hector for ratting out to the DEA, but Hector is ready to sacrifice himself; he detonates Walt's bomb, killing Hector, Gus, and his bodyguard. Walt returns to the lab, kills the guards, and informs Jesse that Gus is dead. They torch the lab and walk away, and Walt calls Skyler, letting her know that he "won." The final scene reveals that Walt used lily of the valley from his home to poison Andrea's son to goad Jesse into action.
© 2012 Taylor Hatfield
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