History Headscratchers / BreakingBad

'''All spoilers will be unmarked! YouHaveBeenWarned'''

** Walter's fatal flaw was his pathalogical inability to admit weakness or loss of control. Fleeing meant exactly that, and unless pushed completely into the corner, he simply couldn't do it. Hank's lack of concrete evedences, having leverage in the form of the false confession and Skyler, for once, enabling his delusion instead of challenging it allowed him to pretend that he was still in control

* On a sidenote, notice the quantity of HF in the lab when they're putting Victor in the barrel. [[WeHaveReserves Does Gus expect a high casualty rate?]] Because I'm pretty damn sure that hydrofluoric acid does NOT belong in any amphetamine synth.

* If Walt employed Saul for money laundering, then why did he need to buy the carwash? Or, on the other hand, if he was laundering his money through the car wash, then what did Saul get 5% for? The sceme seemed pretty straightforward - Skyler simply adds several non-existant cars to the ones they actually service. Where did Saul fit in? Sure, he would've got paid for providing them Kuby to scam Bogdan, but that's a one time gig.
** Buying the car wash was due to Skyler becoming involved. As for paying Saul 5%: Walt might quibble with that percentage going forward, but what he's really buying is Saul being his full time legal goon. Whatever other work Saul might be doing, anything from or relating to Walt takes absolute priority. This includes Saul helping guide/babysit/etc Jesse and alerting Walt of Jesse problems. That's a gross violation of Saul/Jesse attorney-client privilege (to put it mildly) and that ain't cheap. And, of course, you don't want your legal counsel-- the man most able to boil you alive if he decided to go to the state-- to feel like you're being cheap.

** We don't really see it happen, but Mike's lawyer is sloppy and unaware. (If he weren't, he'd have noticed the bank employee's nervous demeanor and aborted the drop.) Saul even briefly comments that Mike was stupid for choosing this guy. There was enough evidence he dropped for the DEA to pick up. When they show up in the vault it's clear they have a warrant.

** LawOfConservationOfDetail. We don't really see it happen, but Mike's lawyer is sloppy and unaware. (If he weren't, he'd have noticed the bank employee's nervous demeanor and aborted the drop.) Saul even briefly comments that Mike was stupid for choosing this guy. There was enough evidence he dropped for the DEA to pick up. When they show up in the vault it's clear they have a warrant.

* When Gomez and two other cops bust Mike's lawyer while he's depositing the hazard pay, what legal justification did they have to be there? Wouldn't they need some probable cause before they'd be allowed to enter the vault while a customer was in there? I assume that by default the client has the right for privacy while in there, doesn't he? What, did they march to the bank manager and told him: "we just ''know'' that your client is involved in illicit dealings, let us in on him"? I guess there were some photos of the vault shown later in the pricint, by again, what cause would they have to spy on the lawyer in the first place?

** Mike was trying to make sure Jesse could stay 'out.' As for why he accepted Walt's help, Saul was refusing, and deep down, Mike likely wanted one last chance to deliver his TheReasonYouSuckSpeach to Walter. I think that is the real reason Mike let Walt get the go-bag. He knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't resist the temptation to blame Walter, face to face, for their predicament. Up to then, he'd been mistrusting of Walt, but never confronted Walt directly for what he did to Gus and their entire operation which (as Mike put it) ran like clockwork.

[[folder: DEA busting the lawer at the bank]]
* When Gomez and two other cops bust Mike's lawer while he's depositing the hazard pay, what legal justification had they to be there? Wouldn't they need some probable cause before they'd be allowed to enter the vault while a customer was in there? I assume that by default the client has the right for privacy while in there, doesn't he? What, did they march to the bank manager and told him: "we just ''know'' that your client is involved in illicit dealings"?

** Probably the most similar real-life occurrence was Gol Flight 1907, the major difference being in that case the smaller Embraer aircraft survived although the larger Boeing 737 was destroyed. Air Traffic Control placed both planes at the same altitude and on opposite headings. Due to inadvertent action by pilots on the Embraer, the TCAS system couldn't detect the impending collision. A lot of things have to go wrong for two planes to collide, but sometimes, rarely, a lot of things ''do'' go wrong. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Flight_1907]]

*** Feds are forbidden from doing things they have jurisdiction to do. At any rate, it wouldn't have mattered because the fact of the rv having been stolen or not months ago isn't a trump card over the claims Joe and the others are making that the rv is a domicile.

** Probably the most similar real-life occurrence was Gol Flight 1907, the major difference being in that case the smaller Embraer aircraft survived although the larger Boeing 737 was destroyed. Air Traffic Control placed both planes at the same altitude and on opposite headings. Due to inadvertent action by pilots on the Embraer, the TCAS system couldn't detect the impending collision. A lot of things have to go wrong for two planes to collide, but sometimes, rarely, a lot of things ''do'' go wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Transportes_A%C3%A9reos_Flight_1907

** This was loosely inspired by the real life Cerritos incident mentioned above: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroméxico_Flight_498 , involving a DC-9 and a Piper Archer. The name of the air traffic controller involved was "Walter White".
** Also, in 2001, there was a near collision of a 747 and a DC-10 over Japan. They came within less than 500 feet of each other. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Japan_Airlines_mid-air_incident

** Chalk it up to slightly alternate timeline. :{dd