| 1 | '''All spoilers will be unmarked! Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned''' |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder: Why the lab?]] |
| 6 | * When Mike and Victor were going to kill Walt at the end of season 3, why did they bring him to the lab? Wouldn't it have been easier and made more sense to drive him out to the desert and bury him out in the middle of nowhere? What did they plan on doing with his body? |
| 7 | ** Acid tub. Way easier than drive someone unwillingly across the desert. |
| 8 | *** But Mike didn't even know the acid would dissolve a body until Walt and Jesse explained it would work. And it's not like Walt could do anything while being driven to the desert with a gun to his head. |
| 9 | *** Mike is a former cop. He knows acid can dissolve a body. He just wonders if Jesse and Walt know what they're doing because Mike is not usually doing that. You will do a lot of things if someone put a gun on you and leads you to a place to kill you, like trying to escape when you see they are going to the desert, fighting for the gun, pleading the same way Walt did in the lab etc. Why would Walt do nothing when they are gonna kill him if he let them? |
| 10 | *** A) Driving him anywhere he was likely to be executed would've made it more difficult. They faked a gas leak in the lab to get him to come along quietly (although Mike made no real effort to hide what was really going to happen). And B)the lab was soundproof, no surveillance, easily cleaned, and Walt's body could've easily been stuffed into a drum marked "hazardous waste" and disposed of elsewhere. |
| 11 | ** According to [[WordOfGod the script]], they wanted to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident for Gale's sake. |
| 12 | * On a sidenote, notice the quantity of HF in the lab when they're putting Victor in the barrel. [[WeHaveReserves Is Gus expecting a high casualty rate?]] Because I'm pretty damn sure that hydrofluoric acid does NOT belong in any amphetamine synth. |
| 13 | [[/folder]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[folder: The murder of Don Eladio and his capos]] |
| 16 | * This always bothered me. Gus' plan was to poison Don Eladio with the tequila, along with all of his other capos. It works to perfection. But does this strike anyone else as one hell of a very chancy Batman Gambit? How did he know that EVERY one of the capos would be drinking? There didn't seem to be nearly enough for 10-15 men. Plus, how did they know only Gaff would be there as a guard? The mansion base of a bloodthirsty, murderous cartel (doubtlessly with many enemies) certainly should have been swarming with guards who would not have touched a drop of liquor on duty. The whole plan seems absolutely silly and sloppy. |
| 17 | ** When the Don asks for a toast, ''you drink the glass''. All the capos had to drink or they'd disrespect Eladio. Plus Gaff was a bodyguard while the fifteen capos could take care of anyone inside the place (Eladio even sends one to keep an eye on Gus). The moment the capos show they were poisoned the guards have no reason to kill Gus for people who would be too dead to pay them with the exception of Joaquin. |
| 18 | ** The plan may have been silly and sloppy, but maybe it was the best/only way to get close enough to Eladio. The poisoning maybe worked better than Gus expected. Mike tells Jesse they are either all going home or none of them would. Gus may have considered it to be a success even if he ONLY was able to take down Eladio, even at the cost of his own life. |
| 19 | ** Gus knew Eladio and how Eladio would behave. And remember, this was a revenge Gus took many many years to carry out. |
| 20 | [[/folder]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[folder: How did Walt know how to make meth quickly?]] |
| 23 | * He has been a chemistry teacher for years, and the most he uses his skills is explaining terms to an bunch of spoiled students. He had only learned how lucrative meth can be, and I doubt he would learn how to make it even before he left Grey Matter. Did Jesse teach him? |
| 24 | ** Walt accompanied Hank during the raid on Jesse's and Emilio's old lab in the first episode, and asked to see the lab itself, so he was probably able to infer a lot of the required equipment and chemistry at that point. Jesse would presumably have filled in any remaining gaps in Walt's knowledge during their first cook together. |
| 25 | ** Making meth is not complicated which is why so many illegal labs like Emilio's sprouted up in the first place and why prevention has focused so much on restricting precursors like pseudoephedrine. There were probably advanced chemistry books in Walt's school that described the basic chemistry. None of that would make sense to street cooks, but Walter would easily understand it. He probably wanted to check out Emilio's lab to see if there was some disconnect between what he read in books and what was being sold on the street, which after all could be some other chemical called "meth". It does seem a stretch that what is apparently Walt's first batch turns out so well. Though, he might well have experimented with a simple batch in the school's lab. |
| 26 | ** The series establishes that Walt isn't "just" a chemistry teacher, he's a ''very'' talented chemist who was part of a Nobel Prize-winning team; he almost certainly knows all kinds of chemical formulas that most people wouldn't. Even if he didn't, all it takes to find that out is a five second Google search; as noted, meth is surprisingly easy to cook. So the making it part is, intellectually and relatively at least, the easy part for him. But like most essentially law-abiding people, he probably hasn't really thought about the buying-and-selling part of it that seriously beyond the basic fact people do in fact buy and sell it illegally. What surprises him is just ''how'' lucrative it can be to cook and sell meth. |
| 27 | [[/folder]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder: How did Walt poison Brock?]] |
| 30 | * It happened offscreen, so when would he have been able to do it, and how was he able to get close enough to Brock to get the poison to him? |
| 31 | ** Vince Gilligan admits this would be tricky, and might have involved putting it in his juice box. |
| 32 | ** Before Vince's explanation, I was on the lookout for hints of how Walt accomplished it. At one point, I think right before Hank and Gomez's deaths, Walt, in an attempt to have a casual chat, verbally remarks to Brock about his Froot Loops cereal and I thought maybe it was the cereal box he tampered with. |
| 33 | ** Wasn't Saul involved? He's pretty close to Andrea and Brock. |
| 34 | *** Saul helped steal the ricin cigarette from Jesse but he had no idea that Walt was going to poison Brock. Given that Brock wasn't even poisoned with ricin, I'm assuming that he didn't actually have anything to do with giving Brock the poison. |
| 35 | ** [[https://emiliajordan.com/2012/07/31/breaking-bad-how-walter-white-poisoned-brock-and-what-happened-to-the-ricin-cigarette/ Here's a detailed analysis suggesting how it most likely happened.]] |
| 36 | ** Murge Productions [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqyEYVFiPQk suggests]] he poisoned a juice box, went to Brock's school and planted the juice box in his bag. |
| 37 | [[/folder]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[folder: Walter, Jesse, and Andrea]] |
| 40 | * During the scene in S5E03 with Jesse and Walter on the couch enjoying a beer, was Walter purposefully manipulating Jesse into breaking up with Andrea? It's fair to say that that conversation is what prompts their break-up but it's always puzzled me whether Walter intentionally did it or not. |
| 41 | ** That was always my impression, yeah. |
| 42 | ** The safest assumption at any time is that Walt is acting deliberately, particularly where it involves manipulating Jesse. It's the same manipulation as when he was trying to manipulate Jesse's suspicions about Brock. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder: Barrels and Barrels]] |
| 46 | * Is there any reason, other than dumb luck, why Hank, Gomie and Jesse knew exactly which barrel color and material to buy? It's very plausible that Walt overlooks the ground around it because of the adrenaline, how little attention people give to soil color, and the similarity between different samples of New Mexican desert soil, but if the barrels were metallic or blue or yellow, it would've been the kind of detail he'd immediately recognize and the jig would be up. It's also pretty clearly implied that Hank & Gomez's onscreen conversation with Huell (in which, IIRC, he gives no particulars on the barrels) is the only one they have, so is it just a ContrivedCoincidence? |
| 47 | ** Huell actually does give them the size of the barrels and exactly which store he bought them from. Maybe they got lucky, and that particular store only happened to carry one color of barrel in that particular size. Or if it did become an issue, I'm sure they could have consulted with Huell off-screen. It's not like he wasn't available. |
| 48 | ** Huell says "plastic, black, 55 gallon type. I got 'em at Home Depot." |
| 49 | * Speaking of which, where were those barrels when Jesse needed one to stuff Emilio's body in? |
| 50 | ** Odds are despite what he told Walt, Jesse didn't look too hard for a barrel out of laziness. |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder: A Talk with Past Walt]] |
| 54 | * This is question kind of combines Headscratchers with WildMassGuessing: Knowing that Walt [[spoiler: admitted he enjoyed making meth]] what advice would last episode Walt give to first episode Walt? |
| 55 | ** "Don't cook meth." Sure, it got him money for his family, but it also completely alienated them from him. I think he realized this in the last episode. |
| 56 | *** Actually, if anything, I'd say it would be the opposite. Something more along the lines of 'Cherish every minute.' meaning both with his family and with the meth. It's clear that Walter's choices caused him a lot of grief but, in the kitchen with Skyler, he really does seem to be saying he regretted none of it. For the first time in as long as he could remember, '(he) was alive.' |
| 57 | *** "Stay away from Gus." His repeated attempts to start and keep his business with Gus Fring were arguably the biggest contributors to his and his family's destruction. |
| 58 | ** Though, in the more practical realm, he'd probably warn himself not to call Uncle Jack when he's cornered by Hank and Jesse. Though it isn't given much attention in the show, I think it's fair to assume that Hank's death is among the things that caused him the most grief. |
| 59 | ** Or to get rid of the ''Leaves of Grass'' copy Gale gave him. Without that, Hank presumably never would have discovered he was Heisenberg. |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder: Was Mike's death impulse or premeditated?]] |
| 63 | * It's always puzzled me: Was Walt planning on killing Mike before he did so? I think the commonly accepted interpretation is that it was a mark of utter impulsivity and scorned hubris; showcasing just how far Walt has degraded from his former self but there are a few things I've noticed that might suggest otherwise. |
| 64 | ** First off, Walt shot Mike with the gun from his Go-Bag, which obviously means he removed it before he confronted Mike. In my mind, there are three broad motives behind this: 1) He had no intention of killing Mike 2) He considered the possibility of killing Mike or 3) He was definitely planning on killing Mike. #1 seems the easiest to dispense with: It's possible Walt removed the gun because he feared for his safety when confronting Mike alone. But if this was the case, then why did he leave it in the car rather than have it on him? A gun is only as useful as it is accessible. The same line of reasoning can used to write #3 off since it would be very risky for Walt to leave himself (temporarily) vulnerable to a man he knew he was going to kill. So, this leaves #2 as most likely by process of elimination. And this is my first piece of evidence: The fact that Walt considered the possibility of killing Mike before Mike had a chance to piss him off. |
| 65 | ** The second point is with regard to that dialogue Walt had with Jesse about Victor at the end of "Hazard Pay". It always bothered me why exactly Walt decided to bring up Victor. The first time I watched it, I assumed it was just the writers' answer to a question that fans had been asking since Victor's death and on a technical writing level, I still believe this was the core motivation for including it. However, from a narrative viewpoint, there can't not be significance in Walt saying he understands that Gus killed Victor "for taking liberties that weren't his to take" immediately after the heated expenditure meeting between him, Jesse, and Mike. It has been established both in and out of the show that, in Season 5, Walt was beginning to think of himself as The New Gus. And if Walt sees himself as Gus, then perhaps he sees Jesse as Mike, and Mike as Victor, and the "liberties" refer to the hazard pay to Mike's employees, which Walt loathed paying. At the very least, it seems possible that killing Mike entered his mind then. And this, I say, will be my second piece of evidence. |
| 66 | ** It's with these two points in mind that Mike and Walt's general relationship can be shaped around. It is well-established that Walt resents anyone who challenges his pride and by the first half of Season 5, the only two who are willing to challenge it are Mike and Skyler. It does seem fully possible that Walt grew to loathe Mike through the course of their business dealings because he was, in a way, the last barrier to the peak of Walt's pride. And because so much of Walt's story can already be understood as a series of eventual triumphs over others toward full self-actualization, it remains more consistent with the theme to see killing Mike as another one of those "triumphs" rather than a simple rash act. |
| 67 | ** And finally, there's Walt's insistence for the names from Mike during their confrontation. There doesn't appear to be any good reason for why Walt needed the names other than so that he could carry out the prison assassinations in the very next episode. From that, it seems likely that Walt was planning on the assassinations as or before he asked Mike (possibly as early as the aforementioned expenditure meeting). Yet, Walt must've known as well as everyone else that Mike would never stand for his men being shanked in prison. It seems very unlikely Walt would even consider the possibility of executing a plan and leaving a huge loose end like Mike in the mix. When Walt finally does execute the plan, in no way is the set-up presented as a "well, Mike's dead now so I might as well get rid of his men too." |
| 68 | ** And it's with all this that I believe the most reasonable interpretation is that Walt had intentions of killing Mike before he met with him. Because the circumstances of their meeting were little more than shitluck, it doesn't seem very likely that Walt had this premeditated past the drive to see him. But nonetheless, I feel Walt might have pulled the trigger even had their meeting gone cordially. |
| 69 | ** The thing that gets me is the way Walt did it. He took the gun out of the Go-Bag, yeah, but that could've just been because he didn't want to piss off Mike by bothering him about the names, then hand him a pistol -- that would be suicide. But he didn't actually confront Mike with the gun, and he didn't just take it out and shoot him. He walked back towards the car after his pride was stung, like he wanted to walk away, but then returned in a fit of rage and shot Mike. Then, the face Walt makes afterwards really gets me; it was almost like he was thinking MyGodWhatHaveIDone. Killing Mike may have crossed Walt's mind while he was driving there, but I don't think he went to that meeting planning to kill him, rather he was planning to get Mike to finally stroke his ego. He wanted Mike to give in and give up the names because he was the last person in the drug trade who wasn't six feet under or kissing Walt's feet, and Walt resented him for it (which ties in with the above point about Mike being the only person other than Skyler who has the spine to challenge Walt's pride). Mike giving a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and denting Walt's pride was just the last straw. |
| 70 | ** Killing Mike was most likely not planned; Walt flat-out apologized to him for his rash action after realizing that he could have just gotten the names off Lydia, making the whole meeting with Mike unnecessary to begin with. |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Catching Mike at the park]] |
| 74 | * I keep thinking, Hank could've done better with trying to grab Mike at the park, couldn't he? I mean, why did he have the local police stake out the park, when as ASAC he has the authority to send a few DEA agents there who know what Mike looks like? Furthermore, why not do something similar to what Hank does with Jesse later, and have Dan Waschberger meet with Mike while wearing a wire? |
| 75 | ** He is a septuagenarian who had to abandon his granddaughter to escape the police, they don't need a wire mole since they know he is behind it and won't meet Dan for no reason (Dan probably told them that Mike and him were done and wouldn't have believe he needs to meet him a week later) just a few cop to arrest him since he won't open fire in a park. Mike is still an old man not a supreme commando if he wasn't lucky and willing to go outside his character he would have been arrested. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder: Scales]] |
| 79 | * How come no one tares their scales before measuring meth? |
| 80 | ** I got the impression that they did but it happened offscreen. |
| 81 | ** Same reason as people almost never go to the toilet onscreen. It happens but it doesn't advance the plot in any way. |
| 82 | *** [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E8GlidingOverAll Until it does.]] |
| 83 | [[/folder]] |
| 84 | |
| 85 | [[folder: Raisins]] |
| 86 | * Why in the hell was there a raisin in Gus's lab? |
| 87 | ** I remember Walt packed a lunch to the lab in some other episode.. |
| 88 | *** For a professional chemist, he certainly has poor lab etiquette. |
| 89 | *** To be fair - it was probably Jesse's. |
| 90 | *** It may have been Gale's as he was vegan and would have to pack a lunch. Jesse was a Funyuns and frozen food warm-up guy. |
| 91 | *** He did pack a lunch in "Sunset," the episode where Gale was first introduced. I assume Walt probably was professional enough not to eat in the lab, or at the very least, set up an eating area that was far away from any equipment he was going to use for work. |
| 92 | *** The lab did have a kitchen. It was where Walt discreetly made the ricin. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder: Hank's Promotion]] |
| 96 | * I don't get everything behind Hank's promotions. Yeah, he's done a lot of good at his job--taking care of Tuco and his cousins, suspecting Gus Fring when no one else did, even though he didn't really contribute much to taking him down--but he's also done a lot of not-so-good. However many drug dealers you catch, I feel like you don't get a big promotion so soon after you follow Jesse into his home to beat him up without a warrant. Hank was also acting really erratically before that, with the beating the random guy in the bar and whatnot, and while he was right about Gus, he was going about it in a way that is legally suspect, at the least; he got his civilian brother-in-law to drive him around so he can stalk people he's been told are no longer suspects. Hank has good intuition, but he's pretty awful at everything else. He doesn't even speak any Spanish, which seems like something a DEA agent in New Mexico should be able to do. |
| 97 | ** It might be a political thing-promote the hero who exposed a guy no one else even suspected? I think that's how he got put on the Juarez taskforce after Tuco's death, at least. And Jesse's refusal to go to trial against Hank also got him off the hook with internal affairs. Not speaking Spanish isn't a big handicap when 90% of his work is behind a desk, if anything it was a bigger problem when he was in the field. |
| 98 | ** I'm surprised he didn't have any mandatory counselling; he probably could have benefitted from it, especially after the Tortuga bomb. |
| 99 | ** What I'm wondering now is how Hank could possibly think it's a good idea to be alone in a room with Jesse when he's not even supposed to be there, with the expressed purpose of making Jesse angry. |
| 100 | ** Hank's behavior prior to beating up Jesse wasn't known to the DEA because Gomez was covering for him. Him beating Jesse to a pulp probably dropped off everyone's radar since Hank got shot right afterwards (and like stated previously, he was never officially charged; not to mention that it would be in poor taste to continue with the charges given the circumstances). |
| 101 | ** It was most likely an attempt to keep him under control, his boss even berates him for serving search warrants and "knocking down doors". ASAC is apparently a purely office job, and he's told to stop looking into the Fring case. |
| 102 | ** The promotion reeks of hypocrisy, which is likely typical of office politics. The DEA decides to make Hank the new ASAC for his work in exposing Gus Fring, but then they don't allow him to pursue his hunches against Heisenberg, practically forcing him to go rogue and conduct those investigations on his own. It's like the DEA is only interested in appointing an ASAC that looks good for the DEA, not one that can crack a major case. So Hank was not cut out to be a pencil-pushing ASAC, sitting behind a desk, but he just couldn't turn down another promotion offer...due to both the DEA and Marie pressuring him into accepting it. |
| 103 | ** I'm assuming Hank applied for it. It's stated Marie wants him to move up to DC level so she probably wanted him to get the job. He has displayed excellent charismatic leadership skills and after his severe wounds, he's probably not expected to be a street agent much longer. Plus, he single handedly took down the Salamanca cousins while unarmed, and that cred is more valuable as a leader than just another agent. |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Hank's job security in light of finding out the truth about Walt]] |
| 107 | * Okay, we know that Merkert was forced to resign in light of his association with Gus Fring. So I can sort of understand why Hank says his career at the DEA will be over the moment he brings in Walt. But would he have lost his job or not? Because I think there are a few things that might be in favor of Hank keeping his job: |
| 108 | ** For one, there's the way he said "At least I can be the one that caught Walt". It made me wonder if deep down, maybe Hank felt that turning in his own brother-in-law, on his own (with just Gomez) would be the one thing that would save his job. So when Hank said that, maybe that was just pessimistic thinking. Considering that Hank was the only one in the DEA that figured out Gus Fring was behind the even larger meth lab operation when no one else did and that was in part behind why the DEA made him the new Albuquerque ASAC, ''maybe'' that would have bought him some leniency that Merkert never had. Like, at worst, Hank gets busted back to the job he was meant for, in the field (sort of like Admiral Kirk being demoted back to Captain Kirk in the fourth ''Star Trek'' movie), and possibly gets transferred out to another field office. As long as there was no evidence to implicate him as knowing about Walt's criminal activities any sooner than he did (and assuming Walt never gave his faux confession tape to the DEA), Hank might have been in the clear. In fact, if Hank had formed a task force to investigate Walt, he would have likely put Walt in a position where Walt would cave and turn himself in. Walt would have had less to gain by continuing to turn on Hank at this point, with the money being found, and the best Walt would likely hope for is for himself to confess to everything and take a plea for a life sentence as part of a deal that keeps Skyler, Hank, and Jesse out of any serious legal trouble. |
| 109 | ** Some of us have said that pride is why Hank never brought more agents in to help him bring down Walt, and maybe that pride affects his view of things. The way Hank said, "How can I look them [Ramey, and every higher-up] in the face after all this?" makes me think he doesn't want to be seen as weak in front of his bosses. Especially after all that happened with Merkert, and Hank's relationship with Walt is certainly a lot closer and a lot stronger than Merkert's association with Gus. |
| 110 | ** In hindsight, there's a bit of cruel irony at play: if it had been Gomez or anyone else in the DEA who had first suspected that Gus was running a meth operation before Hank figured it out, the case would have more likely ended with Gus being arrested, rather than him get blown up while the DEA was busy trying to protect Hank in light of Gus's death threats. By getting involved in the investigation, Hank unwittingly sabotaged it since he enlisted Walt to be his driver, and he kept telling information to Walt, not knowing that Walt was part of Gus's operation and was jumping through hoops to protect the operation as well as himself. Hank does seem to realize this in hindsight, so perhaps his worries aren't about his association with Walt, but about the possibility that Ramey will be pretty pissed to learn that Hank (unknowingly) leaked extremely sensitive information (not just on the Gus case, but overall in the course of the entire series) to the very person they were trying to catch. That Hank is Heisenberg's brother-in-law is little more than a trivial coincidence in the grand scheme of things. |
| 111 | *** Hank wouldn't get fired for not knowing that his brother-in-law was Heisenberg for so long; what would have killed his career (and possibly would lead to jail time) would have been the DEA finding out that Hank's medical bills were paid with Walt's drug money. It would only be Hank's word against Walt's that he didn't know about what Walt was up to until recently. And having drug money used to pay for his medical bills makes him look like an accomplice to Walt's drug business, or worse, a mole in the DEA. Hank felt he was in the clear until he saw Walt's faux "confession". Once that happened, he had no choice but to go off the books trying to find some other sort of evidence linking Walt to criminal activities, anything that could possibly discredit the medical bills. |
| 112 | *** Not necessarily. The rational thing for Hank to do once he found out that Walt's drug money had funded his rehabilitation treatment would've been for him and Marie to get their stories straight and hire a lawyer to navigate this. If Hank's lawyers could argue that he had no knowledge that his therapy was being paid for with drug money until he came into possession of the video, he'd be in the clear. Same for everything else in Walt's "confession" as all of that is just half-truths that a good lawyer would be able to discredit with character witnesses. Of which Hank has countless colleagues and bosses who could vouch for his activities, dedication to the job, and his character. Not to mention his obsession with nailing the mysterious Heisenberg for a whole year not realizing that Heisenberg was Walt. The reality of the matter is that Hank had little to fear if he went all-out to bring down Walt. However, fear is a powerful self-defeating weapon which causes poor decision-making, something inherent in all the characters' decisions as their lives are touched by Walt/meth. In this case, Walt's "confession" tape was designed to exploit that. From the looks of it, it seems Walt was just trying to scare Hank into backing down. If Hank didn't buckle, well, Walt would probably just eventually come clean in due time (remember that he'd blown off Saul's suggestion that he put a hit out on Hank). |
| 113 | *** It's worth pointing out here that, if they try to plead innocence, Marie will be the one going down instead. Marie accepted Skyler's offer to pay for the treatment under the assumption they were using gambling money which, while nowhere near as bad as drug money, is still a crime. And if they try to plead ignorance of that, they'll be left with the bad question of "so your sister's husband has expensive medical bills but they're suddenly rich enough to also pay for yours? And this wasn't suspicious?" Hank may have been genuinely ignorant of the money being used, but Marie was not, so if they try to argue their case, one way or the other one or both of them are getting in serious trouble. Though again, that's what one hires a lawyer to do: navigate their options to find the one that would best persuade a jury that they were innocent victims. |
| 114 | *** Of course, if Hank didn't cave in to his fear of the inevitable fallout, he probably would have turned the tape in right away, and taken direct action, maybe add extortion and blackmail to Walt's criminal charges and obstruction/aiding and abetting to Skyler's charges. Walt admits to being Heisenberg (or more specifically, to being "the chemist") on that tape. With him confessing to that, it would only be a matter of the lawyers disproving Hank's participation, which shouldn't be too hard, since the only "evidence" of Hank's involvement at this point is Walt's tape. And who is the DEA more likely to believe, their own ASAC or Walt? On top of all that, Hank spent the second half of season 3 and all of season 4 out of commission due to getting shot and being driven into traffic by Walt and such, so there were times when Heisenberg was very active and Hank was in no condition to be doing anything, much less oversee a drug empire. |
| 115 | *** And Hank probably was right in his assertion that his career was over the moment he turned Walt in, and it's because he unknowingly leaked copious amounts of information of their investigation ''to his lead suspect'', which probably prevented the DEA from getting to Gus Fring, and thus allowed Gus's death to happen without the DEA being able to react in time. |
| 116 | ** Hank was toast and likely to go to prison if Walt's confession tape were uncovered unless Walt himself recanted it. Walt's tape was pretty damning and far more plausible than what actually occurred. Aside from Walt's claims, there's a serious amount of alarming circumstantial evidence pointing at Hank: |
| 117 | *** Hank frequently goes solo, against policy and sometimes orders, ostensibly investigating Heisenberg, but also gives him private time to conduct another kind of business. |
| 118 | *** Hank (operating alone) shot Tuco Salamanca-- justified? Or a deal gone bad or even an assassination? |
| 119 | *** Hank was involved in the bizarre altercation with the Salamanca cousins, resulting in both their deaths. Note that the cartels almost never take action north of the border, and even rarer than that against DEA, so again, it's easy to read this as some deal that went wrong or a business feud. |
| 120 | *** Hector Salamanca demanded an apparently pointless meeting with Hank right before the nursing home bombing. |
| 121 | *** Tortuga was murdered very soon after Hank arrived in El Paso. Note also that Hank threatened Tortuga, AND he retreated from the turtle bomb immediately before it exploded. |
| 122 | *** That's not even all of it. I think there's easily enough circumstantial evidence that the DEA would be convinced of Hank's guilt, and if they couldn't prove it, they would threaten to bust Marie for taking the drug money to force a "confession" from Hank. Even without the tape, it all looks really suspicious if someone connects the dots. (I would expect in real life that Hank would have been transferred out of state and far from Mexico after the first issues came up.) |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Hank and the Nursing Home Bomb]] |
| 126 | * During Walt's "confession" blackmail tape, he claims that he built the bomb on Hank's orders.... |
| 127 | -->''"Upon recovery, Hank was bent on revenge. Working with a man named Hector Salamanca, he plotted to kill Fring. '''The bomb that he used was built by me, and he gave me no option in it'''."'' |
| 128 | * ...Thing is, shouldn't that part be easy to disprove if the DEA ever got the tape? I mean, Gus's death happened while Hank ''was under constant protection at his house'' - which seriously contradicts with/disproves Walt's direct claim that Hank gave the bomb to Hector. Sure he could have done that when Hector was visiting the DEA, but there were a bunch of agents in the room with Hank during that scene who could point out that either they were grasping the IdiotBall or Walt is a huge liar. |
| 129 | ** Easy to disprove or the best fake alibi ever? "Oh look, guy who just recovered and spent most of his days off spying on Fring (he even had his brother in-law helping with the stake out as the car accident prove) suddenly get a threat call so he must be under surveillance and get the visit of Hector Salamanca who apparently just wanted to insult him and not just signal that he received his package. Good thing we were watching on him while his coward brother in-law was away not following his bidding I hope otherwise we might think he was linked to this". |
| 130 | ** To sink Hank's career, it only has to be plausible. "The bomb he used" doesn't necessarily mean "Hank directly planted it himself". There could be a third party involved, which for someone building an empire and already having a chemist on contract would not be at all unexpected. |
| 131 | [[/folder]] |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder: Jesse's Loud Parties]] |
| 134 | * When Jesse is throwing those massive, loud, drug-fueled parties at his house, with presumably-under-21 year olds, where the hell are the cops? It's not like he lives in a bad neighborhood where that sort of thing happens every night or the cops are preoccupied with other thiings. He lives in a $200,000 house in the same nice, middle-class neighborhood that Saul's brother used to live in. Not to mention his house was covered in graffiti and his lawn went to shit. He didn't even get so much as a single neighbor complaining. How did Jesse get away with throwing these loud raves night after night? Does he live next to a bunch of deaf people? |
| 135 | ** Huh...that's actually one hell of a good question. |
| 136 | ** Jesse still holds leverage over Hank, who, in turn, likely told the AQPD to give him a wide berth. |
| 137 | ** For what it's worth, Jesse's parents were selling it for $800,000, and were coerced into selling it to him for $400,000. |
| 138 | ** Maybe complaints were made, but he only had to pay fines. He sure as hell had the money to spare at that point. I guess it probably never went too much further or the police probably would have discovered something, which would be strange, but not incredibly unlikely IMO. |
| 139 | ** Music from Jesse's place is heard as distant and muddled even from outside his front door. Even if the neighbors could occasionally hear a bass thumping, unless their specifically bothered by the noise, they wouldn't have any reason to complain to the police. So my neighbor likes his music loud. Who cares? Only certain people would call the police for this unless they were being specifically aggravated, and there's no evidence that Jesse is bothering anyone. |
| 140 | ** Mike and Gus's guys had the house under surveillance the whole time to prevent the situation from getting out of control. Maybe they were the ones who were behind the scenes taking care of any complaining neighbors, or somehow diverting law enforcement attention. Notice how easy it was for Mike to go ahead and shut the whole thing down and send everyone home the minute they caught the guy stealing Jesse's money. |
| 141 | [[/folder]] |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[folder: Castor beans]] |
| 144 | * Where does Walt get castor beans? He doesn't have time to order them and they don't grow in the states. Where does he get them? |
| 145 | ** There are variants grown in North Texas. |
| 146 | ** The plant isn't grown commercially for oil in the US (it's a tropical plant), but it is grown as an ornamental/annual, even in places that get far colder winter temperatures than Albuquerque. It's entirely possible that a quick stop at a large home and garden store was all he needed. |
| 147 | ** There's a scene where Walt tells a story about how old baby rattles contained the beans before people knew what kinds of things you could make from them. This is probably where he got them, spotting an old rattle at a garage sale or something similar. |
| 148 | [[/folder]] |
| 149 | |
| 150 | [[folder: Asleep at the Wheel... Yoke... Whatever Planes Have]] |
| 151 | * Were the pilots of the two planes in ABQ all asleep? How does one not notice a plane coming towards your plane? |
| 152 | ** It's actually hardest to see a plane coming right for you - when you're looking at a plane nose-on as it is just a round thing with narrow flat parts coming out of it. Also aircraft travel at high speed so it doesn't leave a lot of reaction time. A real-life example would be the 1986 Cerritos mid-air collision - the aircraft were closing on each other at about 1100km/h (300m/s) and neither pilot was able to react in time to avoid a collision. |
| 153 | *** Yep. Stand by a curb and watch a car go by at 80mph or so. Now multiply that speed by EIGHT. Pretty fast, eh? Well now imagine ANOTHER car going the opposite direction, going just as fast. By the time either crew saw the other plane, they'd have a nanosecond to react. And even if they did, there was no way the planes could clear each other. It's likely neither plane knew what hit them. |
| 154 | ** They also had confirmation from the control tower that they were both good to go. A controller saying that your flight path is clear is supposed to be the end all, be all for pilots. Even if they had automated warning systems or any sort of fail-safe, it's likely they would have disregarded them in favor of the controller's go-ahead. |
| 155 | *** Actually, airplanes have a system called Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and it should override any directions from the air traffic controller should there be conflicting directions. |
| 156 | *** But that relies on the pilots reacting to it the right way. Remember the Uberlingen disaster of 2002 where a Boeing 757 and a Tupolev collided over Germany: the avoidance systems kicked in and advised to the collision; one pilot listened to the system and followed the suggested path, the other resorted to his instincts and made a judgement call for a different path, causing both to collide anyway. |
| 157 | *** The smaller plane would be unlikely to have the correct transponder type (modes C or S) that TCAS needs to work correctly. |
| 158 | ** This was loosely inspired by the real life Cerritos incident mentioned above: https://en.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". |
| 159 | ** 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.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Japan_Airlines_mid-air_incident |
| 160 | ** Probably the most similar real-life occurrence was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Flight_1907 Gol Flight 1907 over Brazil in 2006]], 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. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder: Blaming Walt for Brock]] |
| 164 | * When[[spoiler: Brock is poisoned, why does Jesse immediately think that Walt did it? The more obvious conclusion, to me, was that Brock stole Jesse's "lucky cig" and smoked it.]] |
| 165 | ** Jesse knew he had it after seeing Brock for the last time, because he swapped it out to a new pack. He says so when he confronts Walt. Walt even suggests perhaps Brock got it somehow. And because only Walt knows it exists and where. |
| 166 | ** If Andrea is a smoker too, she's probably told Brock many times to keep his hands off other people's cigarettes. Jesse would know this, so he wouldn't assume Brock stole his poisoned cigarette. As far as Jesse knows he and Walt are the only ones who know about the ricin. So the only logical possibility is that Walt stole it somehow and poisoned Brock to punish Jesse. |
| 167 | ** It's also never established if smoking the cigarette with the ricin capsule in it would even allow the poison to enter the smoker's system. The show presents it more so that one would need to apply the poison in food, which would take planning. |
| 168 | *** Ricin ''is'' effective if inhaled (as dust), but it's also a protein, and those tend to denature (and therefore become inactive) and even decompose at much lower temperatures than are required to vaporize them. Whether Jesse would have known this or not is questionable, but it's certainly possible that Walt and Jesse had a discussion offscreen in which Walt pointed out explicitly they needed for Tuco to snort or eat the ricin, not smoke it. |
| 169 | *** You say "never established" but Walt warns Jesse when he first rolls the cigarette, "Just don't smoke it." I think we can take Walt's word for it that might be a bad idea. |
| 170 | *** Since the ricin's in a little glass vial I imagine all that would happen is the vial would fall out on the floor once the cigarette burned down so much, whereupon Jesse would go "Derp, I wasn't meant to smoke this one", & someone else would wonder who was trying so incompetently to assassinate them. I think Walt's line was more a joke than anything else. |
| 171 | ** Why would Jesse immediately think Walt did it? Because he knows from firsthand experience that Walt has the skill to make and the balls to give people poison. Suddenly Brock is "sick", so naturally Jesse's first suspect would be the guy ''he watched put poison in Tuco's food.'' |
| 172 | ** As [[https://emiliajordan.com/2012/07/31/breaking-bad-how-walter-white-poisoned-brock-and-what-happened-to-the-ricin-cigarette/ this blog notes]], Jesse's realizing that Walt really ''was'' behind Brock's poisoning the whole time is like someone confronting their spouse over infidelity: |
| 173 | -->''"You find something that makes you think your spouse/partner/lover/sex friend/whoever is cheating. They give you a plausible (maybe not 100% convincing but plausible) story that explains things away. They appeal to your emotions and swear that they would never do that, they love you and you are their one and only sex friend or whatever. You believe them because you want to believe them, because they seem like the kind of person who would never cheat. And maybe they orchestrate some corroborating evidence to their story (ricin decoy in the roomba equivalent). But all it takes is one tiny little hole in their story–a receipt in a pocket, something out of place in the house, another person who was involved in the cover story (the boss they were supposedly working late for, let’s say) saying something just the slightest bit out of sync with the story, catching a wayward look in a crowded room, a whiff of mysterious cologne or perfume–and suddenly you KNOW. All of it. You were played."'' |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder: Walt's Pride and Charity]] |
| 177 | * "Skyler, it's ''charity''." "Why do you say that like it's some dirty word?" That's an excellent question: Why ''does'' Walt say that like it's dirty word? I admit I've met people who were too prideful to accept charity but only when their money troubles were somehow their fault (bad investments, a gambling problem, whatever). But Walt's cancer and subsequent medical bills aren't his fault at all. So why does he have so much trouble accepting even the slightest bit of help? (Full disclosure: I'm still finishing up season 2 right now so if it's been explained since then I apologize). |
| 178 | ** ''Pride''. That's Walt's personality in a nutshell. He has an insane pride, and he feels weak if he can't be self-sufficient. Skyler implies at one point that he was raised that way, and of course the fact that he's never really lived to his full potential (with his chemistry skills, he could have done a ''lot'' better than being a high school chemistry teacher) has made his ego easily-bruised. The idea of taking money from his former partner, his falling out with whom caused his current financial condition, is like salt in his wound. |
| 179 | ** Walt's tragic flaw is very much his pride. This becomes more and more obvious as the series continues. His breakup with Gretchen, the fallout with Schwartz, his refusal of their money, and his decision to cook meth are all these impotent attempts to wrest control of his life from an indifferent universe. He's always felt put-upon and bitter. There's always been this feeling, boiling just beneath the surface, that the world owes him something. And then he got cancer. |
| 180 | ** Because he's already making way more on meth and doesn't want people to have to sacrifice for no reason? |
| 181 | ** Some of this is personal: Gretchen and Elliot bought out Walt's shares in Grey Matter when it was a small startup and he feels like they cheated him out of millions. This isn't just charity, it's money that Walt feels is rightfully his-taking their money means he either the buyout was fair or he has to take his own money and let everyone think it was a gift from Gretchen and Elliot. |
| 182 | *** The irony is that that's ''exactly what he's doing'' with his meth money anyway. |
| 183 | ** Walt's really obsessed with this rather irrational idea of being viewed as the provider for his family. Look at the way he objects to Saul's plan to launder the money through Walt Jr.'s donation site; he doesn't even want his family ''thinking'' that the money is from strangers, he wants them to know that he is the big man and he has it all taken care of. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder: Timeline Troubles]] |
| 187 | * The series starts with Walts 50th birthday on September 7th, 2009. In season 5, Walt turns 51, making it September, 2010. 4 episodes later (approximately September 9th, 2010), one of the gang members Walt hired complains that "whacking Bin Laden wasn't this complicated" - an event that would happen more than 7 months in the future to them. |
| 188 | ** WritersCannotDoMath. |
| 189 | ** The episode was supposed to be set in 2010, Vince Gilligan admits the line was a mistake. |
| 190 | *** A mistake in writing. Though you could fan wank it and say Jack's gang believe in those conspiracy theories that Bin Laden was taken out before then. |
| 191 | ** Quite possibly a mistake, but Jack could also be either meaning that finding Bin Laden would probably be easier than ordering hits on people in different prisons or referencing a lot of theories that Bin Laden was dead before he was found in 2011. |
| 192 | * Walter's birthday is in September. Up until a few days before his 52nd birthday, he is living in New Hampshire in a cold, snowed-in environment... in late summer. I don't know what Vince Gilligan knows about New Hampshire, but... |
| 193 | ** The New Hampshire scenes were filmed up in the Sandia Mountains, probably in or near Tijeras. It's one of the only spots in New Mexico to get snow regularly, and they likely had to take advantage of the timeframe, as the Sandias in summer look ''nothing'' like New Hampshire. |
| 194 | ** This one probably just has to be chalked down to RuleOfSymbolism; it's cold and snowy to emphasise Walt's essential loneliness, isolation and pathetic fall from grace. It's not fitting for the timeline, but it wouldn't work nearly as well if everything was nice and sunny. |
| 195 | [[/folder]] |
| 196 | |
| 197 | [[folder: More Brock Questions]] |
| 198 | * Okay, so in the season 4 finale [[spoiler: we find out Brock was poisoned by much less lethal Lily of the Valley berries instead of ricin. Walt conveniently happens to own this species of plant. I'm guessing Walt was still the one who made the ricin cigarette disappear so Jesse would assume that was the source of Brock's sickness and he could turn it around and blame Gus. Now, between Gus constantly watching Walt, Walt being driven to paranoid insanity over getting his family killed, and Walt being terrified to leave his house, how the HELL did he actually do it? How was he logistically able to get the berries from the plant beside his pool (Point A) to Brock's mouth (Point B) in the window of a few hours while remaining completely transparent and not even having a plan before that morning?]] |
| 199 | ** Saul, Huell and Kuby. They had direct access to Andrea and her kid, since Saul was giving her the money from Jesse himself. Saul is VERY eager to give Jesse his share, even though Jesse is in no real danger. Sure, Saul was in a hurry, but it didn't stop him from meeting with both Jesse and Walt in the finale. Also, pay attention to Huell when he pats down Jesse - it looks like he hides something in his pocket. |
| 200 | ** This is proven correct. Huell did indeed steal the ricin from Jesse. Jesse realizes this when Huell steals something else from him in a later episode, as he understands that he pulled this same "bump and snatch" trick before... |
| 201 | *** [[spoiler:Huell and Kuby have been consistently developed as nothing beyond bumbling, incompetent comic relief before this event. Yeah, they helped Walt and Skyler get the car wash, but Skyler was the one who did most of the heavy work there. Did these same goons manage to flawlessly pull off Walt's improvised master plan in a split second of time between episodes 11 and 12?]] |
| 202 | *** In ''Better Call Saul'', Jimmy used Huell to plant a phone battery on Chuck, so timeline-wise he knows he has the skills to pull it off. |
| 203 | *** [[spoiler:They may not be smart, but Saul is. He's been giving candy to Brock, too. And there was time - it's been at least a couple of hours between Walt's Russian roulette and Jesse getting the phone call from Andrea. Besides, these guys are stupid: the only real time they screwed up was when Ted got crippled, but in that situation would anyone, Walt, Gus, Mike, Saul, etc. expect Ted to act like such a fucking moron?]] |
| 204 | *** [[spoiler: But, why would Saul help out Walt? Just before this, Saul had to be begged by Walt to alert the DEA to Gus's death threats against Hank, yet Walt talked him into poisoning a kid he has previously showed affection for. Also, this plan doesn't fit Saul's usual motivation of self-preservation.]] |
| 205 | *** [[spoiler:He's a paranoid crook. He was one even when he was Slippin' Jimmy. And Walt's plan fits his motivations perfectly - Gus could easily consider him a loose end, especially after Walt's disappearance plan failed. Also, he's helping in a perfect opportunity to create a power vacuum in the meth business, and Saul's greedy enough to think of becoming Walt's Tom Hagen.]] |
| 206 | *** Not to mention that Saul was more worried about Gus finding out he called the DEA on him, than he was actually making the call for Walt. Once Walt says he doesn't have to mention Gus at all then he has no problem doing it. |
| 207 | *** The answer is that they didn't execute the WHOLE poisoning phase of the master plan. Huell and Kuby palmed the ricin cigarette and that was it. Walt was the one who found Brock and gave him Lily of the Valley hidden in something, probably candy or chocolate. There were some pretty well-sized chunks of time he spent offscreen when he could have done this. If you don't believe it, check out the focused, almost fearful way that Brock eyes Walt when he visits Andrea's house in late season 5. |
| 208 | ** Why do people consider this part of the plan some kind of incredible coup? All right, yeah, a '''lot''' of the stuff having to do with Jesse and Hector were insane masterstrokes, but come on. Getting a six-year-old to eat something? Anybody over the age of 13 could pull that off, no problem. |
| 209 | *** You have to remember it's poison. Maybe anyone ''could'', the remarkable thing is that Walt ''would''. |
| 210 | *** Remarkable as this may be, it doesn't really have to do with the question at hand of how he ''could'' do that. |
| 211 | ** There is a small reference to this early in season 5 that vaguely confirms that Saul helped, though there's never any explanation besides Saul saying something like "I didn't know the kid would end up in the hospital." Basically we have to assume it somehow, since the show never explicitly tells us. This is admittedly a place where the writers dropped the ball and it probably would've been beneficial for the show to give us a flashback as to how Walt did it during season 5 (seriously, we get a relatively trivial flashback about how Jesse squandered money for the RV at a strip club, yet the show skimps on a major plot/character development point in the season 4 finale?) It's done for dramatic delivery of the twist at the end of the episode, but that's still a somewhat weak excuse. |
| 212 | *** It actually seems more likely that Saul didn't help in the actual poisoning of Brock, since he's disgusted with Walt when he talks about having lifted the ricin cigarette off Jesse, and when Jesse storms into his office and attacks him, Saul tells him point blank that he would never have done it if he'd known what Walt was planning. For all that Saul bends the truth and minces words both here and in ''Better Call Saul'', he rarely outright lies to his clients, and Jesse at that point was blinded by rage to the point that he was nearly impossible to talk down, even for master manipulator Heisenberg - the fact that Jesse was able to stop himself from attacking Saul any further is a pretty good confirmation that he was being truthful, because even though Saul is manipulative in his own right, he wouldn't have been able to lie his way out of that one. |
| 213 | ** Thanks to Vince Gilligan revealing that Walt snuck it into a juice box, here's the full plan: |
| 214 | *** First, Walt makes the Lily of the Valley berries and crushes them into juice, putting it in a standard juice box you can easily buy at a store. |
| 215 | *** Next, he calls Saul to get Brock's schedule at school (it's incredibly subtle, but a single shot in the scene when Huell pats Jesse down shows Francesca shredding school schedules), then actually plants the juice box in Brock's locker and goes back home. |
| 216 | *** Meanwhile, Huell switches out the boxes of cigarettes in Jesse's pocket, making him believe that ricin was used to poison Brock, and since only Walt and Jesse know about the ricin cigarette, Walt is counting on Jesse putting the pieces together and believing that Walt did it. Saul and Huell never have to know why they're switching the cigarettes, they just know they are, so they probably never knew about the ricin at all. |
| 217 | *** Jesse realizes the ricin is missing and puts the pieces together, at which point Walt can turn the situation around and pin it on Gus instead. Since Gus already killed Tomas, why wouldn't he kill Brock? |
| 218 | ** And as soon as it hits the news, Saul himself puts the pieces together, realizes what he just helped Walt do, and, [[EvenEvilHasStandards while disgusted]], he doesn't betray his client. |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder: Gus' Organizations]] |
| 222 | * How exactly does Gus's organization ''work''? How does he have time to micromanage his fast food restaurant while also running a massive drug operation? How does he run a massive drug organization with what appears to be only two lieutenants- Mike and a random easily-replaced guy? How can Mike have the time to be a "cleaner" and a private investigator for Saul, respectively, if he's also doing all this work for Gus? How can the other guy have time to watch Walt and Jesse all the time they're at work, and Jesse long enough to figure out exactly which of his houseguests stole all his money, since he seems to be Gus' #2 guy? Why does Gus personally negotiate a dispute between a low-level drug crew and Jesse and Walt if he's so high up that barely anybody actually knows him? Given all these apparent limitations on his organization, how does he go up against the freaking ''Mexican Cartels'' and win? |
| 223 | ** To be fair, Mike was a cleaner before Gus got the meth lab running. We now see him being Gus's lieutenant full time. |
| 224 | ** Maybe this weird, small, tiny crew working inside legal boundaries (the laundry, Los Pollos Hermanos) is the reason why this operation works out. And Gus' settling the dispute between Jesse and the two drug dealers makes sense, coming how he wants to give the vibe of a BenevolentBoss all the time. Also, this dispute is crucial - if a lackey of his makes a mistake, it could cost him Walt, his Golden Goose. |
| 225 | *** His organization was never that large to begin with. After S4, we see all of Gus's soldiers arrested in jail or in hiding. There was maybe 10 people, it's implied it was small, but, huge and most the workers were illegal immigrants. |
| 226 | ** Also, [[OddlySmallOrganization most criminal organizations aren't very large]]. They're more or less the same size as Gus's operation, for the same reason Gus had; the smaller the number of independent thinking minds you have, the easier it is to maintain control and the less of a chance someone going to rat. This is the reason why even though Mike is the second-in-command, he still has to do a lot of mundane assignments like dead-drop pickups, guard duty for the truck drivers doing drug deliveries, and other things. The guys with the hazard pay accounts were all people on Gus's official payroll, which would infer that these henchmen had legitimate Los Pollos Hermanos jobs behind the scenes and many other duties besides provide muscle. |
| 227 | ** Actually, we see a lot of Gus's organization; the inspectors and packagers who prepare the meth once Walt and Jesse finish making it, the trucks that distribute it throughout the country inside buckets of batter, the street-level slingers, the drops where Gus's sellers leave the payments they received. Add Madrigal to the equation and we know where the chemicals come from. |
| 228 | ** Gus' organizations were Madrigal's: German-based, they supplied international trade, shipping infrastructure, and Pollos was just one more brand in their portfolio, conducted the taste testing, marketing/advertising - with tentacles in many interests to facilitate their above and below ground business interests, separate yet intertwined, owning all processes of meth making. It's like Weyland-Yutani: they just get bigger and scarier the further you go up. His footmen, were boys - a redux of Euro white elite preying on poverty prone children - The postWWII German collaboration with the US as elite nazis, and Jack's group as the white trash neo-nazi counterparts. In the end, we see Gus is also a cog, as his label sign was removed from Madrigal right after he was killed. It was especially sweet Madrigal/Schuler was tasting chicken nuggets with ketchup before offing himself when he was implicated. Gus was able to make it look smaller yet smooth and efficient because he had so much hidden support from above, and kids were expendable. |
| 229 | ** Gus clearly had more than 10 guys in ''Better Call Saul'', between Mike, Victor, Tyrus, Nick, and at least a half-dozen more. He had to have enough guys working to run the street work while others were tasked with guard duty on Werner's construction crew. |
| 230 | ** Some people are total workaholics. But also, his management of Pollos seems almost more his guise, especially the one in Albuquerque, which is really his meth empire office. In the real world, managing even a single fast food joint is incredibly time intensive, so this idea is almost laughable. However, Gus can afford to solve that by paying a premium to get really good managers and/or hiring way more workers than usual. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:Gus's Organization part II]] |
| 234 | * So, we see a considerable portion of Gus's organization, AKA all the people mentioned in the previous folder. But that doesn't explain, how did the meth actually get from the Los Pollos Hermanos franchises to the dealers? Does Gus have a single person in each restaurant who extracts the meth and distributes it? What happens if there's a fire, or if he gets stopped by the cops on his way to a delivery? |
| 235 | ** The truck doesn't even need to get to the restaurant. Just have the truck make some stops before arriving at the Los Pollos Hermanos. Even if the truck get bumped and the cops find the drugs, they might just assume the driver is doing it without Gus's knowledge. If the driver talks and the police do a surprise search of the distribution center that uncovers the meth packing line, Gus would probably still be in a position to maintain plausible deniability, as long as the offshore accounts were never found. |
| 236 | ** It's important to note that it's unlikely that anyone in the restaurants is involved in extracting the drugs. That job falls entirely on the drivers. Listen to the dialogue of the driver during the attempted hijacking Mike thwarts. He's clearly in on it: |
| 237 | --->'''Cartel guy:''' Andale! Mueve el culo cabron! ("C'mon move your ass, cabron")\ |
| 238 | '''Driver:''' Ya voy! ("I'm doing it")\ |
| 239 | '''Cartel guy:''' Andale, abrelo! ("Open it!")\ |
| 240 | '''Driver:''' You want me to open the doors?\ |
| 241 | '''Cartel guy:''' Qué estás haciendo, eh? ("What are you doing, eh?")\ |
| 242 | '''Driver:''' Here, the keys. Take 'em!\ |
| 243 | '''Cartel guy:''' Por qué me estás hablando en inglés? ("Why are you talking in English?") Why you talkin', eh? |
| 244 | [[/folder]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [[folder: Hank's Stakeout]] |
| 247 | * In season 3, where Hank starts staking out Jesse's house, why doesn't Hank just show the picture of Jesse to that girl from the gas station? If he gets a positive ID, then he has enough to get a warrant and search Jesse's house. |
| 248 | ** It does not work that way. That picture isn't enough for a positive ID. That's why the police have lineups. Hank couldn't get a positive ID without tipping Jesse off. And that wouldn't be enough to convict him. MAYBE they could get charges of selling meth to stick (maybe with help from that cop who happened to be at the gas station), but not for production. Hank needs to connect Jesse to the RV, and he can't do that if Jesse knows he's being watched. Also, a photo lineup would be just as useless. You need much more than just a static 2D visual. That's why TV cops are always telling each person to move forward (to identify gait or body language) and say something the witness heard them say (voice, pronunciation, etc). |
| 249 | ** I think there was a deleted scene where Hank tried to get Merkert to sign off on a wiretap on Jesse's phone, and it was brought up that the girl from the gas station WAS shown the photo of Jesse and had a 75-85% certainty it was the same guy. Merkert told him that no judge would sign off on it and that was the end of that. |
| 250 | ** Was it really Hank's goal to get into the house? That would give any surprise aspect away. The evidence Hank needed was in the RV, not inside the house. By doing what he did, just staking out his house, seeing who comes/goes, then following Jesse discreetly, led Hank right to the RV, which is exactly what he wanted. Where Hank ran into problems was running into Junkyard Joe, a guy who knew a little too much about warrants for private domiciles. In hindsight, I'd argue that Hank's mistake was that once he got to the junkyard and saw the RV, he should have called in for assistance and pursued the warrant first, and ''then'' tried his intimidation tactic, rather than the reverse. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder: Jesse and Badger]] |
| 254 | * So Jesse leaves Badger in the desert after an argument and fight. Then after Jesse and Walter escape from Tuco, Jesse is all of a sudden hiding out with Badger? What gives? |
| 255 | ** Badger isn't really smart. Like, at all. We're talking about a guy who starts humping a canister of [=P2P=]. And he does call Jesse out that he was left in the desert, so he could have some slack cut here. |
| 256 | ** Friends fight. Friends make up. It happens. Badger isn't the kind to hold grudges. I mean, we're talking about the same guy who clearly noticed that a drug deal he was about to make was a set up for a police sting but still went through with it. |
| 257 | [[/folder]] |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[folder: Why Doesn't Gus Just Kill Him?]] |
| 260 | * So, [[spoiler: why doesn't Gus just kill Walter, cut his losses and replace him already? Walt's reasoning is supposedly, with Gale dead, no one else can cook as high-quality meth as he can, but why exactly does Gus need 99% pure meth? Wouldn't Gus rather have an inferior cook that does what he's told instead of a loose cannon master chef who has this history of causing trouble for him? His customers are drug addicts, and probably used to much lower quality drugs. They're not going to stop buying because it's not premium quality.]] |
| 261 | ** Even if Gus really cares about the purity of the final product, it should be a non-issue; just repurify a lower-quality batch until it meets his standards. There'd be some loss involved, but he clearly doesn't have any problem getting the raw materials and they're cheap (if you can get them at all) compared to what he's paying Walt. |
| 262 | ** Explained in "Hermanos" in the flashback which showed a young Gus and Max pitching the idea of selling meth to the cartels. Max was a very good friend who is a talented biochemist. He probably stressed the importance of purity of the drug and he may sell only the best as to not disgrace his memory. |
| 263 | *** [[spoiler:I rather suppose that he absolutely MUST meet his quota. As Jesse said, he has no Gale left, and the guy who knew how they cooked was seen at the crime scene, and not reliable enough if something went wrong on the chemistry-side of things.]] |
| 264 | *** Exactly. In "Full Measure," Gus said that because of the enormous overhead costs of his operation, he can't afford to stop production even for one day. Plus, given the occupational hazards of the drug world (loss of product due to police raids, or the need to pack up and get the hell out of Dodge if the police catch a whiff and close in) Gus probably needs some "cushion money" to stay safe and afloat. |
| 265 | *** While the amount of overhead seems pretty high at the time, ''Better Call Saul'' shows that this is actually a pretty realistic figure, given how the architect responsible for excavating the lab basement broke down the process. |
| 266 | ** There's also the matter of finding someone smart enough or experienced enough to handle the superlab, but who's willing to break the law. Ordinary meth cooks don't know enough chem to run things smoothly, and most chemistry experts aren't criminals. Remember, Gale wasn't just some guy Gus recruited off the streets, he knew him through that scholarship thing. And Gus' meth needs to be a certain quality for the operation to be effective, his superior product allows him to charge more and gives him an edge over the competition. |
| 267 | ** The same reason Walter wouldn't cook with a fly in the lab. |
| 268 | ** It's revealed in late Season 4 that Gus was originally planning to have Walt come to Mexico to cook for Don Eladio's cartel (ultimately having to use Jesse instead because of the blowout between Walt and Gus), thereby smoothing relations between Gus and Don Eladio enough for Gus to get close to him. That way he gets to enact his revenge-by-poison plan that we see in "Salud." Having the purest possible meth is key to this plan; it's very likely that if Jesse hadn't been able to cook meth at such a level of purity, the cartel would have entirely dismissed Gus (or would never have invited him to their base at all). It's also a form of triumph for Gus to be able to come back so many years later with the knowledge that not only has meth become increasingly more relevant than cocaine, but that he can still provide better quality meth than Don Eladio can. So I'd say that Gus actually does need the highest quality meth to ensure all of his plans will come to fruition, and it's not just a matter of preference. |
| 269 | ** Gus initially didn't even want Walt's meth. Gale had to convince him that it was worth it. Even then, he didn't really trust Walt or Jesse - Jesse was an addict and Walt had too much of an ego. Had Walt not killed the two dealers, it's likely he'd have been sent to Mexico with Gus for the assassination plot on Don Eladio, with Gale being the first alternative and Jesse being the third option. |
| 270 | [[/folder]] |
| 271 | |
| 272 | [[folder: Wouldn't Jesse Object to Gus' Plans?]] |
| 273 | * So, Gus is planning on killing Walter's family if he attempts to interfere in his plans to kill Hank, and he just assumes that Jesse's going to be ok with this? The guy who was planned on getting himself killed to avenge a child's death is just going to be cool with Gus offing an innocent women, a teenager, and ''an infant''? |
| 274 | ** We don't know that Gus told Jesse the part about killing Walt's family. |
| 275 | *** In fact, it's made clear that he didn't tell Jesse about that, since Jesse had to hear about it from Saul. |
| 276 | ** It's possible that Gus was only bluffing to keep Walt in line. In season 3, Gus is highly offended when Walter suggests he may have had a hand in Tomas' murder. |
| 277 | ** Okay, Gus didn't tell Jesse, but still, he couldn't do it. If Walt's family was suddenly wiped out, Jesse would probably figure out that Gus was behind it. He must have been bluffing. |
| 278 | *** Gus was probably planning on killing Jesse, too, as soon as he could afford to. He had just manipulated Jesse into revealing Walt's formula and method in Mexico. |
| 279 | *** Thing is, the only survivors from that incident were non-chemists, and they would probably have to teach ANOTHER non-chemist without the benefit of another chemist training him. So, a brilliant chemist teaches a talented amateur, whose formula gets sorta copied by non-chemists, who then teach it to maybe another talented amateur. At that point, the purity has declined so much with each successive imitation, it will only be marginally better than the Chili P crap Jesse sold at the beginning. |
| 280 | *** Hard to say if Gus would bluff on such things. Seeing as in ''Better Call Saul'', he was perfectly content with threatening Nacho's innocent father to gain Nacho's cooperation. |
| 281 | ** Jesse doesn't have that much leverage. If he confronted Gus about it, he'd be chained up in the superlab just like he was in the season 4 finale, or worse, killed on the spot. With his revenge complete, Gus is only in it for the business and if someone doesn't want to treat it as such he'll have them cut loose and/or killed. Gus was basically saying that he won't tolerate any more of Walt's antics, and if Walt crosses the line again, Gus ''will'' carry out [[DeadlyEuphemism an appropriate response]]. |
| 282 | [[/folder]] |
| 283 | |
| 284 | [[folder: Gus' Operation Pre-Walt]] |
| 285 | * What was Gus doing before he hired Walt? He clearly had plenty of money, a distribution network, a chain of Los Pollos Hermanos, and was constructing the lab with the intent of having it run by Gale, but how did he get it to that point? Was Gale working for Gus for a lot longer? It seemed that Gale was going to start working for him, but Walt came in instead and pushed Gale down the ladder. |
| 286 | ** Gus tells the cops (Hank, Gomez, Merkert and Roberts) that Gale was an aspiring chemist and Gus had financed his education. So yes, they went way back. |
| 287 | ** When Gus is introduced in season 3 of ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', he is working with the Mexican cartels only as a distributor within the US. And he is in competition with Hector. As deduced by Walt, Gus's plans are to build his own superlab in Albuquerque, then sever all ties with the cartel and get the DEA to go to war with them, which is why Gus redirects the Cousins to attack Hank. And he tips off Hank because he wanted there to be a shootout, causing bloodshed on both sides of the law, and gets the authorities to crack down on the cartel. In doing this, Gus then gets to control production ''and'' distribution and eliminate his main competition. |
| 288 | [[/folder]] |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[folder: Gus' and Walt's Conflict]] |
| 291 | * The whole conflict between Gus and Walt bothers me. I mean, yes, Walt killed a couple of his dealers, but there were extenuating circumstances. Gus is nothing if not patient. This is a man who [[spoiler:saw his best friend murdered in front of him and waited ''twenty years'' to take revenge.]] But he feels the need to kill his best cook over the lives of a couple of street dealers who presumably mean nothing to him? And okay, I can see the need to get rid of unstable and disloyal elements in his organization, especially after Gale's murder. But then why does he try to replace Walt with ''Jesse''? Jesse, who defines the word unstable, who was responsible for the whole thing with the dealers, and who actually shot Gale? Seems to me that Gus should have just forgiven Walt a long time ago and this whole mess wouldn't have happened. |
| 292 | ** Gus wasn't just angry over Walt killing two lowlife dealers. Walt's actions created a grotesque murder scene and left bodies Mike had to spend the entire night cleaning up. Leaving bodies behind in a public place leads to police investigations, and the risk of such an investigation eventually leading back to Gus's entire operation is not one he's willing to take, making Walt a HUGE liability. Just look at how Gus reacted to Victor letting himself be seen in Season 4. Also, he recruits Jesse because Jesse can basically create Walt's product while still being younger, stupider, and more malleable than Walt. With Walt, all Gus sees is a man who is far too close to being his intellectual equal to ever be trained into serving under him. |
| 293 | ** Also, "Half-Measures" make it clear Walter and Jesse are loyal only to themselves, not to their employer. Jesse was already an unstable element that Gus allowed only out of respect for Walt and out of necessity. Gus was already dependent on Walt, letting this slide would give Walter a big mental advantage. Hell, trying to punish it STILL did that: just see how Walt acts in season 4 - he's both paranoid about his life and on a power binge after winning the battle with Gus. There was no way to control him anymore. |
| 294 | ** I dunno, the more I think about this the less sense it makes. OK, so here's the situation: Jesse wants to kill two low-level dealers who killed his friend, especially because they used a child. Walt rats him out to Gus (so that should be in Walt's favor). Gus calls a meeting, sternly admonishing the two who used the child, telling them to cut it out. They kill the kid, Jesse tries to kill them but Walt does it first. Why does Gus care about this so much? Either 1) the two low-level dealers disobeyed him in killing the kid (so they're at least as unreliable as Walt and Jesse), or 2) he ordered the death of the kid (which considering Season 4 seems more likely, but didn't at the time, to either the characters or us). Only in scenario 2 does it make sense for him to get angry at Walt and Jesse, BUT even then why wouldn't he just lie and say "Uh, hey guys, thanks for taking out those two dudes who totally disobeyed me and weren't supposed to do that, now get back to making me hundreds of millions of dollars"? Seems MUCH easier and more sensible for Gus, especially after he just made a big deal about being offended that Walt would dare suggest he ordered the death of a child. Things go back to how they were, with everyone content and making money--no dead Gale, no Hank on the trail, no dead Victor. Hell, no dead Gus. But that isn't just a mistake in hindsight--I don't think it made any sense at the time. Why was Walt's reaction after killing the two guys "run"? Shouldn't it have been "run...to Gus to tell him we killed two guys who disobeyed him and murdered a child"? |
| 295 | *** As soon as the dealers are dead, Gus is gonna assume that it's Jesse's fault (which it is). Walt is telling him to run because he believes he can handle Gus - if nothing else, he can say he was just defending his partner, at best, he somehow manages to convince Gus to let it go. The next episode even shows that Gus has declared Jesse fair game and Mike and Victor are planning to kill him on sight, yet he's still willing to hear Walt out. |
| 296 | ** Walt and Jesse are Gus' ''cooks'', not his assassins. Having them go off on their own to kill these two guys is not their job and it's a huge threat to his organization because they did it in such a public way. The killing proved to Gus that Jesse and Walt can't be trusted not to do something incredibly reckless and dangerous when they feel justified, and that makes them a liability. Also, Gus didn't order the death of the kid. He only said "No more children" in the scene, and the two idiots misinterpreted him. |
| 297 | ** True, but if Gus didn't order the death of Tomas (assuming that Tomas's death was done under orders), then his killing (a very public child murder) is way worse than what Jesse was planning on doing or what Walt eventually did (a pretty public gang shooting, which is probably relatively routine for Los Pollos Hermanos considering how much turf Gus controls). Considering that this was the first time Walt (or even Jesse) had ever done something like that, and the unique circumstances--Jesse's new girlfriend Andrea's brother is the one murdered--it just doesn't make sense for Gus to immediately decide that Walt and Jesse need to go. ''Maybe'' he decides that they're too unpredictable (though I'd think getting rid of them would be riskier), but if so the obvious thing to do is pretend to forgive Walt and Jesse and get rid of them later down the line. Gus all but announces that he's going to off Jesse and Walt immediately after they take care of a huge problem for him, albeit one that they weren't supposed to solve. |
| 298 | ** Gus is mad at them because the ''very last orders'' he gave to Jesse and Walt were to let sleeping dogs lie and let him handle it from here on out. In fact, Mike had already told Jesse that they were sparing his life in the first place as a favor to Walter. You do ''not'' kill a drug lord's dealers: as soon as somebody kills his dealers and gets away with it, it's open season on his men from anyone who wants a piece of his turf, because he's proven he won't defend them. Gus orders everybody to play nice and let him handle things, and the very next evening Jesse and Walt have killed those dealers even though they gave Gus their word that they would never even speak to them again. They've proven themselves both capable of violence and disobedient; Gus cannot afford to abide that. |
| 299 | ** Gus is supposed to be so cautious and yet these street-level dealers (or at most a half-step up from that) not only know who he is but meet with him personally? Either there's more to them than meets the eye, or Gus' vaunted caution is an InformedAbility. |
| 300 | *** No different from Hector taking his restaurant employees hostage that one time in ''Better Call Saul'', which easily could've earned some heat from law enforcement that Gus couldn't afford. |
| 301 | ** How exactly did Jesse fare so much better than Walt with Gus and Mike, when both killed the two low-level dealers and Gale. If anything, Jesse is the trigger that drags Walt into it, since Walt gets involved just to save Jesse from the shootout. Jesse is the impulsive meth-head that Gus and Mike both wanted Walt to write off before this, and no matter how loyal, clever, and useful Jesse can be while sober, he will always be an impulsive, unpredictable, meth-head at his core. It was also Jesse that stole from the superlab and wasn't happy with their very generous pay package, not Walt. I understand Gus and Mike having their issues with Walt; what I don't understand is how Jesse gets off nearly scott-free with them, especially when Jesse was seen as the problem and Walt's trigger before. I'll buy into the idea that Gus chose to build up Jesse's trust while moving him away from Walt, in order to subvert the bond between the two. I'll also buy into taking Jesse to Mexico, because his 96% cook is still good enough for Gus' plans there, and he is more expendable. What I don't get is how Gus breaks his no-addicts rule, and allows Jesse to get genuinely close to the hearts and safety of Gus, Mike, and the organisation, while all the while dumping the blame on Walt only. Gus and Mike seem like perfect pros, carefully planning and building for 20 years. Why not just keep Jesse busy (and away from Walt) while at the same time giving Walt a chance to clear the air and give Walt some monkey-help like those cleaning girls (with no hope of understanding, let alone copying the formulea), which is all he really needs. If Walt felt he and his family were safe, he would never have plotted to kill Gus (or Gale), and he probably would have kept on making 99.1 pure Blue Sky until the end of time (or cancer). I always felt Gus and Walt were both cold blooded reptiles (no offense to reptiles), but they were both interested in a stable profit, and it would have been in both of their interests to work it out amicably and realize that Jesse was the true unstable trigger that just needed to be kept busy and important elsewhere in the organization. If Gus and Mike had some fatal flaw (like Walt's pride and ego) that would cause them to blame only Walt for the transgressions or to declare him alone to be unredeemable or expendable (and not Jesse), in order to move the story forward, then I felt that was never clearly fleshed out. Also, if the plan was to divide and conquer, first getting Jesse to allow Walt's death, but then eventually planning to replace Jesse as well, once a new Gale-like cook was trained, that was never fleshed out either. If anything, Gus and Mike acquire a genuine fondness for Jesse that prompts them to take risks, yet they fail to see that Walt was just doing the exact same thing with Jesse. Even Mike continues to lay all the blame on Walt (post-Gus), conveniently forgetting that Jesse was in on it too, and so was Gus and his goons in the way they terrorized, intimidated, bullied, and planned to kill Walt. How did Mike seriously expect Walt to react, other than to try and save Jesse's life (in the shootout), and to protect himself, once it became clear that Gus planned to murder him (Walt), and in the meantime make the cook as difficult as possible without the needed help in the lab, which is also in no one's best interests. It all left me headscratching how Mike and Gus got to that point with Walt alone, and not Jesse. |
| 302 | ** My fridge brilliant moment was that the dealers must be Gus's '''kids'''. |
| 303 | ** Why Gus tried to replace Walt with Jesse? There's a lot above here, but to that specific question, I think Gus first made Mike babysit Jesse to try to calm Jesse down, then realized Jesse's instability was mostly driven by Walter. And while Gus was initially furious about the deaths of the two dealers, they did murder Jesse's girlfriend's literal brother. Jesse's and Walt's actions were out of control, but hardly unjustified, especially considering Gus's own long term plan of revenge. |
| 304 | [[/folder]] |
| 305 | |
| 306 | [[folder: Cousins' Motives]] |
| 307 | * Season 3 questions regarding the motives of Tuco's Cousins [[spoiler:Okay, so I'm just watching this through now and I don't speak spanish so I'm missing a lot of Season 3 dialogue - but why are Tuco's cousins so gungho about killing Walt, and only go after Hank when Gus says they can't kill Walt (at least, I think that's what's going on, again, no subtitles on Spanish dialogue). Tio knows Hank killed Tuco (That's why Tio wouldn't help Hank put away Jesse). Yes Walt did try to poison Tuco (and failed), but Hank is the one that killed him, yet it seems like revenge on Hank is an after-thought or a substitute for killing Walt.]] What gives? |
| 308 | ** The cousins originally thought it was Walt (Heisenberg) who had killed Tuco. What Gus told them was that it was actually Hank who had done the deed, which was the truth. This made them shift their anger and resolve towards Hank. |
| 309 | ** In the Cousins' eyes, Hank shot Tuco, but Walt was the one who manipulated Hank into going there, so that's why they're targeting Walt, until Gus tricks them into going after Hank. |
| 310 | ** Remember ''Film/TheGodfather'', when Michael Corleone carried out a hit on a corrupt police captain who happened to be in the pocket of a rival mob boss? In doing so, he had to break a longtime creed of the Mafia to never harm a police officer, and they made a very big deal out of the consequences of breaking this creed. It's applicable here too: Hank is a DEA agent. Killing a government official or law enforcement means a LOT of trouble for organized criminals, because usually the cops will respond with a large crackdown on the organization. The cousins didn't have permission from the Cartel to kill Hank, so they went after the next best target. Gus told them that they were operating in ''his'' territory, and that he was willing to give them permission to kill Hank if they laid off Walt. But it turns out that Gus had ulterior motives since he then tipped Hank off one minute before the attack: if Hank dies, the cops crack down on the cartel and Gus can corner the market for himself. If Hank lives, a similar outcome happens. |
| 311 | *** Take into account that Tuco's death took place outside, and Hector only heard what was happening. Walter admitted that they'd tried to poison him, then there was a struggle outside, and the gunshot produced by Jesse shooting Tuco in the abdomen. Then Hank pulled up and there were a lot more gunshots as the two fired away at each other, then a pause from them both ducking down to reload, then the single shot of Hank headshotting Tuco. Because it's entirely possible that the bullet wound that Jesse put in Tuco's abdomen may have eventually proven fatal on its own (provided he didn't get to a hospital) before Hank showed up, it can be open to interpretation whether Walt and Jesse (as the ones who initially wounded Tuco) or Hank (as the one who fired on Tuco and shot him in the head) is more responsible for Tuco's death. |
| 312 | *** Tuco's death would be in the front page section of the newspapers and the headline would read "Suspected Drug Kingpin Killed in Shootout with DEA Agent". Walt was the first target because he wasn't law enforcement and Hector named him as the person he wants dead. |
| 313 | [[/folder]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | [[folder: Mouth-to-Mouth]] |
| 316 | * In season 2 Tuco beats No-Doze so hard he starts convulsing and has no pulse. Tuco tells "Heisenberg" to "breath into his mouth" (perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation) but Walt refuses, saying "they don't teach that anymore, it doesn't work". Uh, what? Because they taught it to me when I got my CPR certification. |
| 317 | ** He's lying because he doesn't want to do it. Also, I don't think mouth-to-mouth is going to fix someone who's been beaten to death. |
| 318 | ** That's the part I was unsure about. I thought he might have been lying, but why? Why not just say "it won't work"? Or even "I'm a chemist, not a doctor"? But instead he makes up a very specific lie that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation doesn't work and isn't taught anymore. |
| 319 | ** It IS taught, but you're also taught not to do it unless you have the right mask, otherwise you're just asking to catch something deadly. So it's really a lie by omission more than anything. |
| 320 | *** There is some truth to it. CPR isn't taught as much as it used to be, primarily because of how ineffective it is and how dangerous it can be to perform. |
| 321 | ** I've heard that they don't do mouth-to-mouth in CPR anymore. If it's untrue, then it might simply be an urban legend getting repeated as fact. |
| 322 | ** It's one of those last ditch things that they prefer not to do. Emergency responders are prepared for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracheal_intubation intubation]], basically the same thing but without the possibility of catching hepatitis. Some docs complain that it ''used'' to be a rite of passage for a patient to vomit in your mouth. |
| 323 | *** There is an element of truth to it, depending on how up to date you are. So-called 'rescue breaths' are no longer taught as they are deemed to be a waste of time. Instead you are now taught to go straight on to chest compressions, followed by breaths into the mouth (with, as said above, a special mask to prevent transmission of disease). |
| 324 | ** It actually is not taught anymore for most situations ([[http://www.redcross.org/prepare/hands-only-cpr]]). Mouth-to-mouth is shown to be unneeded in many situations where hands-on CPR is just as fine, so now the Red Cross offers courses on being both Hands-only trained and full CPR trained. Getting a full CPR certification now features a section on when to and when not to use mouth-to-mouth. |
| 325 | [[/folder]] |
| 326 | |
| 327 | [[folder: Gus' Professionalism]] |
| 328 | * If Gus is so concerned with caution and professionalism, why did he demand Walt have the meth within an hour when he made the first deal? That's just inviting in sloppiness that could draw attention to them for no real reason. It doesn't prove Walt is loyal or competent. It might have proven Walt was eager to do what it takes, but it was shown earlier that Gus values professionalism over eagerness by a long shot. It's possible that Gus' lieutenant set up the deal without bothering to tell Gus specific details, but it's still basically the same problem since Gus shouldn't have people like that in his organization. Besides, Gus knew in advance how good Walt's meth was, he shouldn't have delegated the first deal to someone lower down in any case. |
| 329 | ** Because Gus doesn't really want to work with Walt. It's a test. He only really got around the idea of hiring Walt for when Gale kept prodding and prodding about Heisenberg during the superlab set-up. |
| 330 | ** First, we don't know if the time demand was Gus's idea, or if Victor just said that to mess with Walt. Either way, it's a test how committed Walter is. Gus later states "you can never trust a drug addict" and was critical about Jesse being late and high for their initial meeting. Gus and Victor both have reasons to believe Walt's operation is less than optimal. This is a way of testing their commitment. |
| 331 | ** Walter would've easily met the deadline with no haste, had Jesse been on point. Which is the reason for the deadline. Walter boasted that he had the product ready be moved "at a moment's notice" - so Gus tested his operation. As he said - the quality of the product is not the only decisive factor. |
| 332 | [[/folder]] |
| 333 | |
| 334 | [[folder: Hector in ABQ]] |
| 335 | * How did Hector Salamanca end up in ABQ? He seemed to be based in Mexico. How did Gus find him in the nursing home? |
| 336 | ** Tuco's safehouse was on the north end of the border. Gus has a network of private detectives and associates in the Cartel that could've told him. |
| 337 | ** Hector did time in San Quentin in the 80s and 90s, so he was already in the United States before the series began. |
| 338 | ** Season 2 of ''Better Call Saul'' establishes that Hector was already in Albuquerque in 2002/2003. He had to take over Tuco's operation after Tuco got sent away for attacking Mike, and this was well before Nacho tampered with his medicine to induce his stroke, and well before Gus then proceeded to interfere in his treatment. |
| 339 | [[/folder]] |
| 340 | |
| 341 | [[folder: More Timeline Troubles]] |
| 342 | * I love the show, but I've noticed a strange timeline error. The show mainly takes place in the year 2008, with it having recently had the year turn to 2009. However, Jesse is shown playing ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing]]'' on multiple occasions. However, this game came out in 2010, so it doesn't make sense that Jesse would have access to it. |
| 343 | ** Chalk it up to slightly alternate timeline. |
| 344 | ** Same goes for the game ''VideoGame/Rage2011'', which is even more recent (2011). I also wonder how well that '09 Dodge Challenger fits the timeline. One possible motive for anachronisms is promotional value. Both my examples are mentioned in the commentary as paid product placement -- the show is expensive to make, so they seize these opportunities when they can. |
| 345 | *** The raid on Osama bin Laden's compound is also referenced in Season 5, which in real life took place in 2011. |
| 346 | [[/folder]] |
| 347 | |
| 348 | [[folder: Gus' Idiot Ball]] |
| 349 | * Gus is smart enough to know to encrypt the [[spoiler: incriminating surveillance records]] on his laptop, but still writes [[spoiler: the account numbers down and hides it in a photo frame]]. So the only thing that can [[spoiler: not only bite Gus in the ass, but the entire operation]] is left un-encrypted and ready to be found. Seems like a big IdiotBall. Considering this was [[spoiler: an insurance to keep other key members of his organization in line if they ever get incarcerated]] it's a pretty big one. |
| 350 | ** Hiding a small slip of paper in a photo frame is arguably ''more'' hidden than putting it in an encrypted file on a laptop. Any laptop encryption can be broken, and if Gus uses that laptop for web-surfing the possibility becomes even more likely. On the other hand, the only way a piece of paper hidden in a photo frame would be found is if someone knew where to look for it ''and'' they had access to the place where Gus keeps it. |
| 351 | *** If Gus had chosen a proper encryption algorithm, the decryption without knowing the pass-phrase would take a considerable amount of time (centuries at least). But even if you want to have the benefit of hiding an encrypted data storage, just buy a 1Gb micro-SD and hide that. It's even smaller than a piece of paper. If I'd be cooking meth and murdering people, I wouldn't leave anything plain text anywhere. |
| 352 | *** ''Any laptop encryption can be broken'' - sorry, that's absolutely false. AES256 and several other easily-usable algorithms are considered [[http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/56685/are-rsa-2048-ecdsa-and-the-sha-uncrackable-in-the-sense-that-aes-256-is-uncrac completely unbreakable]] in any usefully short period of time, assuming the keys are never exposed (which doesn't count as "cracking the algorithm"). Even something as prosaic as a one-time pad with a random key stream is uncrackable. |
| 353 | ** And it works if he ever needs it quickly. Only he knows where it is and he could have quick access to it. And we don't know if he didn't have a backup or if it wasn't on the laptop - it's safe to assume that such a savvy man as Gus would have that information backed up in many ways. |
| 354 | *** Imagine a scenario where he had only a short time before the DEA were going to come in to bust him. He can fry the info on his hard drive- but he's going to need the numbers, both for himself and for the "retirement funds" he's set up for his top guys- which will keep them from talking. |
| 355 | ** It's a series of Cayman Islands accounts. Gus is wealthy through legitimate means. Under other circumstances, the police would probably think those accounts were Gus' way of dodging income taxes-sleazy but legal (or at the very least, less ''il''legal than drug-dealing; tax evasion is most likely fines, pay back the amount you owe to the government, and possibly time in a minimum security facility. Whereas the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine is RICO confiscation of everything ''and'' hard time in [[Film/OfficeSpace Federal Pound-You-In-The-Ass Prison]]) if they found out about them. Even if they did bust him for meth distribution, a personal photo would probably be left alone. It only wound up in evidence because he's dead, which gives the police way more discretion in searching his home & office. |
| 356 | ** Computers/hard drives crash. The cam footage was useful to Gus but not the end of the world if it were lost. |
| 357 | [[/folder]] |
| 358 | |
| 359 | [[folder: Skyler's Financial Knowledge]] |
| 360 | * Two things way back in season one. In an early episode, Skyler berates Walter for spending $15 to buy paper with a credit card that "we don't use". Why have a credit card if you don't use it? Secondly, she found out about that, but never found out about Walter draining all the money from their account to buy the RV? |
| 361 | ** In these types of scenarios, credit cards like that are usually for emergencies. I got nothing on the other one though. |
| 362 | *** People usually get bank statements monthly, so she probably wouldn't find out about it until then. By that time Walt would have enough money could replace it and come with an excuse for why he withdrew it. Not a perfect explanation, but it's a small enough issue that I'll be going with it. |
| 363 | *** The amount of time between episodes on this show is really vague, so he may have charged it the day before they mailed the statement. |
| 364 | *** Most banks automatically call the cardholder if there's suspicious activity and let the cardholder define "suspicious", so Skyler could have them call whenever the card is used. Albuquerque teacher pay sucks (and presumably it sucks in many parts of the country) and Skyler's writing career is floundering, so they can't afford the risk of someone fraudulently using that card. They might use it for emergencies, and a good credit score is required for many types of loans. |
| 365 | ** The credit union account is implied to be Walt's private savings account. |
| 366 | ** Depending on when they got the card, it could improve their credit score to keep it open, even if they don't use it. As for why they don't use it, it could be any number of things--high interest rate, fewer rewards, etc. |
| 367 | ** EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Walt is later shown to keep ''extremely'' tight hold on the reigns of the family finances, which she shrugs off as "just one of those weird quirks" and/or "he probably doesn't want me looking at a constant reminder that he's accepting the Schwartz's charity" (that being his cover story at the time)... at least until enough other holes have been poked in his story that she gets suspicious. |
| 368 | [[/folder]] |
| 369 | |
| 370 | [[folder: Jesse's Dirty Money]] |
| 371 | * How exactly is Jesse laundering his money? Unless I'm forgetting something, he rejected Saul's nail salon idea and we never heard anything past that, so as far as we know he is unemployed (on paper) but still has enough money to own his own home and pay bills without welfare. Wouldn't that arouse suspicion? |
| 372 | ** My thought: his parents are extremely well off and as the public perceives it, he got their house in a settlement along with some extra cash. |
| 373 | ** The house could be in Saul's name: His owning the house wouldn't be suspicious, and he could claim to be letting Jesse stay there for free. Jesse probably wouldn't care if the house was legally his. |
| 374 | ** The house may not be in Jesse's name. His parents didn't even know he was the buyer until after the deal was done. The check probably came from a "mortgage company" Saul set up. Plus, the government usually doesn't notice these sort of "income/outgo" disparities unless a person is already under investigation, or unless their income tax/property tax forms raise red flags. Since the whole series has taken place in about one year, it's unlikely anyone would have noticed anything yet- which is why setting up a money-laundering scheme would be, in time, important. |
| 375 | ** Jesse doesn't launder his money. He stopped caring about expenses after he killed Gale. And after the incident with Hank, it's likely no police detective or DEA agent would want to put the heat on him unless they absolutely had a reason to. It'd still be a few months or years before the IRS would get interested in his finances due to understaffing and a big case backlog (notice that Ted cooked his books for years before he found himself under investigation, and he leads a way more lavish lifestyle than Jesse). |
| 376 | [[/folder]] |
| 377 | |
| 378 | [[folder: Price and Bulk Discounts]] |
| 379 | * I was rewatching Season 2 and noticed something. After Walt encourages Jesse to expand his dealers' turf, he says they aren't charging enough and suggests they raise the price since they've cornered the market. Later on, after they cook the 40 pounds of meth in "4 Days Out," Walt asks Jesse how much they're charging and Jesse responds $40,000 a pound. Walt seems surprised at the high price and Jesse responds "You said raise the price." But wait a minute. When Jesse first started running his three man crew before any of that happened, he instructed them to sell for $2,500 an ounce. $2,500 an ounce is $40,000 a pound. So did Jesse raise the price or not? |
| 380 | ** That's by the ounce, not by the pound. It might be $2,500 an ounce and $30,000 for a pound for the bulk discount. At $2,500 ounces, they should be selling teenths at $150, but I vaguely remember a scene where a teenth was $300 or something. But yeah, drugs have price breaks at bulk. |
| 381 | ** I assumed that when Jesse said $40,000 a pound, he meant that he and Walt got $40,000 a pound after cutting the dealers in, meaning they each got $20,000 a pound. As it stood before, he and Walt got $16,000 a pound each. |
| 382 | ** Nope, this is a certified gaffe, people. It's all in the numbers. First, when Walt performs the calculations, he says, "$40,000 per pound, minus distribution charges", implying that the STREET price is $40,000/pound ($2500/ounce), not his and Jesse's cut. Second, Walt says he and Jesse each get $672,000 for their 42 pounds. That's $16,000/pound, or $1000/ounce, for each of them. So the street price is still $2500/ounce, and he and Jesse still get $2000 of that, split evenly between the two of them -- exactly the pricing they had before Walt told Jesse to raise the prices. |
| 383 | [[/folder]] |
| 384 | |
| 385 | [[folder: Walt's Insurance]] |
| 386 | * Don't most public school teachers get health insurance through their work? Insurance doesn't pay for everything, but I don't recall them saying that Walt got a dime from his own insurance. |
| 387 | ** Walt was going in for a special, more intensive treatment. Insurance companies don't like paying for terminal illnesses. |
| 388 | ** His health insurance would have paid for part of his treatment if he'd visited the (less skilled) doctors within his HMO network and stuck to only the (cheaper, less effective, less likely to work) treatment that his HMO covered. The copays would still have been steep, and the chances that it would all be a waste (the chances that he'd be paying all that money for a treatment that wouldn't actually work) would have been much higher. As it is, he went to a better doctor outside his HMO, and -- as HMO's do when you visit a doctor outside their network -- his HMO didn't cover it. |
| 389 | ** If you assume Walt is cooking meth ONLY for cancer treatments, this might be an issue. But cancer treatment is a gamble, no matter how good your oncologist. Marie and Skyler (coupled with the Schwartzes' money as Walt's alibi) talk Walt into seeking premium care. But he's as motivated to leave some money for his wife and kids behind (or more) as paying for treatment. |
| 390 | [[/folder]] |
| 391 | |
| 392 | [[folder: Walter White's Work Woes]] |
| 393 | * So Walter White is a genius-level chemist, an absolute master of his craft, correct? Why is it, then, that he was unable to find better work after Greymatter than as a poorly paid High School chemistry teacher? He says himself that he is extraordinarily overqualified for his job and yet apparently never acted on that fact. Certainly a chemist who has been recognized for work that won the Nobel prize would be able to find a more lucrative position in some chemical company than working in a public school, with part-time work at a car wash. |
| 394 | ** Walt was an underachiever before the start of the series. He spent his life doing work that was beneath him for people so much less intelligent than he was. That's part of why cooking meth was so intriguing. He was finally his own boss, doing something that only he can do. |
| 395 | ** Bad luck, pure and simple. Someone like Walt would normally lead a fulfilling and successful life, but due to a series of unfortunate circumstances he ended up stuck in a dead end job way below his qualifications and way below his pay grade. That, in addition to what the above troper said, is why Walt turned to crime. Deep down he feels the universe itself has conspired against him for decades, with lung cancer as the horrible rancid cherry on top of the shit sundae that is his life. So he feels morally justified in whatever he does. |
| 396 | ** Sooner or later, Walt fucks up everything because of his ego. He walked away from Gray Matter for what we can only assume was petty bullshit, and I seriously doubt that was the only time in his life he ever did something like that. He can't stand working with people who see themselves as his superiors or even his equals -- not for long. He can't even deal with his family getting money from outside sources -- he needs them to be dependent on him. Deep down inside, he stays with his teaching job because at least it gives him the satisfaction of knowing that he's smarter and more qualified than anyone he works with. He does better in the drug business than in legitimate business because in the drug business, the way that he naturally acts is more acceptable. If a chemist loses his shit over disrespect and demands that everyone acknowledge his superiority, he's insane -- but a drug dealer who does that is just a drug dealer. |
| 397 | ** Walt was working as a chemist when they bought the house and Skyler was pregnant with Junior/Flynn. So Walt has likely been teaching about fifteen years since he says he made $43,000 the previous year. Sadly that amount might include his wages from the Car Wash as well since Albuquerque has notoriously low teacher pay and even with his implied Master’s Degree and slight boost as Department Head he likely makes no more than $35,000 with APS. But that means he’s been able to hold that job for well over a decade and being promoted Department Head has nothing to do with his knowledge of chemistry but rather his experience and respect from his peers. |
| 398 | *** It's been implied in interviews with creators and such that Walt left Gray Matter (and Gretchen) because he couldn't handle Gretchen's family's extravagant lifestyle. Gretchen is some kind of trust fund baby from the sounds of things (not saying that she's not intelligent or has her own merits), and Walt was overwhelmed by the fact she's never really had to work for anything. Walt hates handouts, and much like how at the start of the series he and Skyler struggle to make ends meet, his family were incredibly poor growing up due to his father's Huntington's disease. He (probably) felt like staying with Gretchen would be marrying into a family of handouts and charity. This is mostly speculation though. |
| 399 | ** Walt worked at Los Alamos and Sandia, prestigious labs where many jobs require a [=PhD=], after leaving Grey Matter but wound up leaving both for unknown reasons. Walt Jr. was born shortly after the move to Albuquerque, so he probably took a teaching job to avoid uprooting his family. |
| 400 | ** For what it's worth: I had a physics teacher in high school who was roughly as overqualified as Walt. In the summer he'd go do research with prestigious institutions on the East Coast, and the rest of the year he'd teach basic physics and astronomy to a bunch of jerkass high-schoolers in Arizona, one of the worst states in the U.S. in terms of teacher pay and benefits. He'd routinely butt heads with the school administration and taught those of us he considered his favorites some relatively subversive political ideas on the side, and he got away with it because he was also an excellent teacher, very popular with the students and most parents, and finding a qualified replacement who was willing to work for so little money would have been very difficult. Some people just like to be a big fish in a small pond. |
| 401 | ** Walt seems to be the kind of guy who eventually will fuck up every workplace situation. The extenuating circumstances and short life expectancy may explain the examples in the series, but the fact of the matter is such things as his making a move on Carmen and going "deeeez nuuuts" on Bogdan are terribly unprofessional. Completely speculative, but he may have fucked up really badly (physical violence against a co-worker, for example) if he felt his boss/colleagues were stealing the credit for his work. The only way he could get a job after that was to get out of the chemistry research world, where it became a widely-known incident, and fake his references or apply to a place that he could get to hire him on the spot. High school teacher may have genuinely been the best job available. That being said, it really is a tough-to-explain Headscratcher, possibly so tough to explain the writers just gave up on it. |
| 402 | *** This makes a lot of sense especially in the context of the show's flashbacks. For instance, when we see Past Walt with Gretchen at Grey Matter or when he's house shopping with Skyler, he's very arrogant, acting a lot more like what we're used to seeing from Heisenberg, rather than the beaten down milquetoast we meet in the pilot episode. It's very easy to imagine that this arrogance not only cost him his job, but poisoned his reputation in his field--if word gets around that it's not worth the drama to hire him, his options are severely limited. |
| 403 | ** There is nothing unbelievable about this, it is actually one of the most realistic elements to the series. Walt is extremely skilled but lacks the social skills to negotiate the workplace. There are probably thousands of people in America and in the rest of the world who are as smart as Walt, but who can never make >$50k positions because of their egos/behavior/arrogance. |
| 404 | * A couple things here, which all revolve around the belief that Walter was never actually that nice of a guy -- he wasn't a generous man pre-cooking, he was simply soft-spoken and non-confrontational. |
| 405 | ** First, Walt appeared to still be working as a chemist when Skyler was pregnant with Junior and before they moved into their current home. It is possible that having a child who turned out to have cerebral palsy prompted some sort of drastic career change. Perhaps it was more important to be home early, to have a job that required less mental commitment. Perhaps Walter also let the stress of his situation get to him in his current job. |
| 406 | ** Walt also had held positions with other labs following Grey Matter, meaning he seemed to bounce around jobs. That could be a sign of someone who's difficult to work with, as well as someone who is becoming disillusioned with an industry. Here's the thing: Walt seems to relish in the fact that he's overqualified for his job. Plenty of people work jobs they're overqualified for, even if it seems like they're complaining about it, they don't quit because they enjoy being the big fish. Walt clearly struggled with an inferiority complex compared to Gretchen and Elliot, so it's possible that complex pushed him out of chemistry in a big way. |
| 407 | ** Lastly, Walt doesn't just like providing, he likes everyone knowing how much he's providing. That's why when Saul started laundering his money through Junior's website, Walt was so dissatisfied even though it was his own money. Having a son with special needs, Walt may have chosen a job that was shorter hours and less commitment and, yes, very obviously beneath him, not even because Junior and Skyler truly needed it, but because he liked the image of him making a noble sacrifice. He liked the idea of everyone thinking he was too good for his job. |
| 408 | * It’s entirely possible that Walter did not contribute much to Grey Matter besides the name. After all we have nothing more than Walt’s word for it that he was the real genius behind the company and sold his share for a paltry sum. It’s possible Elliott and Gretchen offered him a buyout. |
| 409 | [[/folder]] |
| 410 | |
| 411 | [[folder: Fulminated Mercury]] |
| 412 | * When Walter first meets Tuco, he uses a chemical compound to cause an explosion. An explosion that he sets off near his feet and is powerful enough to blow out all the windows in the room, yet it leaves Walter almost completely unharmed? |
| 413 | ** The compound was fulminated mercury. As for the event, chalk it up to RuleOfCool; fulminated mercury, while highly explosive, in such small amounts cannot produce enough force to kill a person. The effect on the building was a bit exaggerated but still cool as fuck. |
| 414 | *** The above was confirmed by the Series/{{Mythbusters}} in a special Series/BreakingBad episode. |
| 415 | ** Walt also threw the pellet across the room, not at his own feet. Quite possibly, it was much closer to the windows than humans, though the exact angle is not shown. |
| 416 | ** It's just an explosive not a bomb. There's no shrapnel or what have you so the only dangers to humans are whatever heat it puts out and increase in air pressure. The sudden increase in air pressure needed to blast those air conditioners out of the windows in that crappy building is far below what would seriously hurt humans. |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | [[folder: Better in Texas]] |
| 420 | * During his interview with Hank, Mike mentions that he's licensed as a private investigator in "New Mexico, Utah, Arizona; every state where we operate." Hank brings up Colorado, but neither of them mention Texas. But if you go back to Season 3, the opening of "Kafkaeseque" is a Los Pollos Hermanos commercial which fades into a glimpse of the meth operations, specifically the meth being packaged and hidden in buckets of batter. Two of the shipments of batter are being sent to Lubbock and Brownfield, both of which are in Texas. Does Los Pollos Hermanos operate in Texas after all? (Texas does require a license to be a private investigator, so it seems unlikely that both Mike and Hank would forget to mention it). |
| 421 | ** Hank was looking for any evidence of Mike's illegal or off-the-books work for Gus, and Mike was giving just enough information to shut Hank up and prove he wasn't breaking any laws. Hank realized the licensing question wasn't helping the case, so Texas didn't matter. So yeah, they are in Texas, it just didn't come up in the interview. |
| 422 | ** It might be a partial list of the states, simply omitting an "et cetera" at the end of the list. |
| 423 | [[/folder]] |
| 424 | |
| 425 | [[folder: Walt the Suspect]] |
| 426 | * It seems like Walter should have been at least suspected of something fairly early on. I understand why Hank wouldn't think his brother-in-law was up to something, but when a bunch of chemistry equipment goes missing, some very chemically pure meth turns up, a robbery is committed using a chemical compound, and this is all connected to the deaths of two major drug dealers. Not to mention that during the second drug dealer's death, Walter, the genius chemist with access to all this stuff, was missing for two days. Not to mention that Jesse was a major suspect in the Tuco case, and it is known that Jesse is an associate of Walter's. Somebody at the DEA should have at least been asking questions. |
| 427 | ** Hank has an idea of what a meth cook looks like before he investigates the chemistry equipment storage and Walt doesn't fit it, ditto for the parents. Hank also generally writes Walt off as book-smart but dumb at everything else. There are tons of chemists in this country, and even high-school dropout Jesse can turn out high purity meth. Jesse and Walt have alibis for the time they were with Tuco, and Hank thinks Jesse is too cowardly to be Tuco's killer. No one thought Walt's disappearance was drug related, so the APD and DEA would have no reason to talk. Skyler doesn't mention Jesse to the cops, and Hank probably doesn't care about the Jesse-Walt connection since it turned up jack. As far as the DEA knows, Emilio skipped out on bail and Krazy-8 is a missing informant, since their bodies were dissolved. Thermite is available from chemical supply stores and isn't tracked, you don't need to be a chemist to use that stuff. Hank is pushing the blue meth-Heisenberg case at the DEA harder than anyone else, so his biases are going to factor into the investigation. |
| 428 | ** The fact that Hank doesn't believe Walter when he bluntly states that the duffel bag contains $500,000 in the Season 3 premiere all but confirms this. |
| 429 | *** I think in that scene, Hank is just trying to humor his brother-in-law through the divorce. |
| 430 | ** Plus, even if they didn't focus in on Walt specifically, they still have a limited pool of suspects in the lab robbery due to no signs of forced entry. There should have been investigation for every one of those people with access, to the degree that discrepancies in how Walt was operating should have shown up. |
| 431 | *** I think it might partially be because Hank's killing Tuco and subsequent promotion and reassignment to the tri-state taskforce puts the chain of command for the investigation on hold, and by the time Hank is firmly reestablished as running the Heisenberg case there's a combination of the trail being assumed to be cold, and Hank's own distraction and uncertainty in his investigation. |
| 432 | ** Hank sees Walter as a mild-mannered underachiever who "who wouldn't know a criminal if he was close enough to check you for a hernia." Pick the dorkiest, gentlest person you personally know and imagine them as a ruthless drug lord. Hard to make that leap. |
| 433 | ** If none of that convinces you, it should be noted that Hank's actor Creator/DeanNorris confirmed almost all of these above points in [[http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/breaking-bad-dean-norris-interview.html an interview]] prior to the airing of season 5B. When asked why Hank didn't put two and two together earlier in time, he explained that it has to do with profiling. Because cops like Hank have limited time and resources to get their jobs done efficiently, they're going to focus on the likeliest bad guys. This doesn't always work, of course. Norris explained that, yes, Hank has this image in his mind of a drug kingpin, and it sure as hell ain’t his milquetoast brother-in-law. Walt is Hank's blind spot because he’s family and someone he’s known a certain way for twenty years. |
| 434 | ** Rewatching the show, I actually think that Hank may have started having suspicions about Walt being Heisenberg as early as "Sunset" in season 3. Specifically because of the whole "Marie's been in an auto accident" hoax call meant to lure him away from the RV while Walt and Jesse destroyed it. Just look at the fire in his eyes when Hank realizes he's been duped. He's clearly thinking "Who else would have the information to even set up such a devious trick like this?" To me, Hank must have deduced that Jesse was working with someone who knew Marie's name and knew Hank's cell phone number (given that while beating Jesse up, he's shouting "You had my cell phone number! You had my wife's name! How did you do it?! Talk! Who are you working with?!"; which leads me to think Hank figures that the call wasn't coming from Jesse, but from an accomplice; an accomplice who obviously is someone Hank knows personally). I don't think Hank is just upset about being duped, I think that he's pissed that he is starting to have suspicions that his own brother-in-law may have made the call (after all; it was ''Walt'' that Hank contacted when trying to figure out if Jesse owned an RV). However, beating Jesse unconscious and the subsequent Internal Affairs investigation, coupled with getting suspended, and of course getting shot by the Salamanca cousins, kept Hank from pursuing the possibility of Walt's involvement with Jesse any further. Then when he got out, he was busy first with the physical therapy, and subsequently was preoccupied with the investigation into Gus's drug empire. So subsequently, it wasn't until Hank found the copy of ''Leaves of Grass'' that he made the connection between Walt, Jesse, and Heisenberg. |
| 435 | ** All of the points above are valid, but consider this: if a family member of yours, no matter how meek, suddenly came into close to a million dollars, just imagine it, wouldn't you be the slightest bit suspicious about their card counting story? I mean at the least, Hank should have been curious to know if Walt's story was bullshit or not, and you'd expect Hank, as a sworn law enforcement officer, to maybe do one or two discreet checks to see if Walt's story checks out or not. With Walt being a family member, Hank should be even more curious. I mean, consider that Hank knew about Walt's second cell phone long before Skyler found out - it was when Walt was kidnapped by Tuco. There are only a few reasons why someone would have two cell phones in my mind: A) Their work has issued them with a phone. We know that can't be true, as teachers don't get issued with phones, B) They've recently just bought a new phone. Again, can't be true because Hank would know if Walt had a new phone, C) They are having an affair. Possible. Or D) they are a criminal. Again, possible. Oh, and remember when they stole the methylamine from the warehouse, Hank saw the CCTV, and even concluded when he saw them carrying the barrel, "So we're looking for 2 people who know their stuff, but don't have any street skills?" At that point, Hank knew they were looking for a chemist. Walt is a chemist, and an underachiever at that, with lots of money and is going missing all the time. I would think that, yeah, in real life, family biases or not, Hank would have figured out Walt's secret a lot earlier. |
| 436 | *** Well for starters, Hank assumed it was C) but Walt also had terminal cancer and hadn't yet had treatment, so that was off the table. And the story of a guy with terminal cancer suddenly getting lucky at cards and winning enough for his treatment is something people would probably prefer to believe, over "Walt is producing crystal meth and rubbing shoulders with people like whoever Gale Boetticher did business with", which is just as stupid. |
| 437 | ** Hank is the guy who figured out Gus Fring was a meth kingpin off a used napkin. Even though Walt was family, it didn't make much sense at all that it took Hank as long as he had when there was so much evidence pointing right at him early on. Maybe Hank is a case of DumbassNoMore? |
| 438 | ** Family is always going to be a blind spot. |
| 439 | ** I too agree Hank should have figured it out sooner. I get that he's known Walt for 20ish years and couldn't fathom Walt is a meth cook, but to even get to the "Walt a cook? Ha!" point, he'd first have to notice the increasing evidence pointing at Walt. Hank is very intuitive and the Walt/Jesse connection should have sent up alarm bells because it keeps resurfacing and Hank is convinced Jesse is connected to the blue sky. And the usually laid back Jesse goes rushing out fairly soon after Hank called Walt about him. And after Hank goes to the hospital to discover he's been punked, he drives to Jesse's house to beat him up. Sure, he's in a rage, but his entire thought process would have been "who is Jesse working with?!" |
| 440 | [[/folder]] |
| 441 | |
| 442 | [[folder: To Trap a Badger]] |
| 443 | * So, I might be missing something, here, but how exactly does Badger not get off scot-free due to entrapment in "Better Call Saul"? |
| 444 | ** EagleLand |
| 445 | ** Badger would have to show that if not for Getz's behavior, he wouldn't have tried to sell meth to ''anyone''. US criminal law has a really high standard for entrapment, and entrapment allegations would have to be made to a judge to get the charges dismissed. Given the circumstances, claiming entrapment would force him to admit meth possession without guaranteeing acquittal on the other charges. Cooperating gets Hank, Getz and Gomez to drop the charges. |
| 446 | ** If those circumstances were valid criteria for entrapment, then sting operations would be worthless. |
| 447 | ** Getz never actually says, "Could you please sell me some crystal meth?" The whole deal was done on a wink-wink/nudge-nudge basis, where both parties know that they're talking about meth, but don't say so out loud. So long as the cop doesn't ''explicitly'' ask someone to do something illegal, it's not entrapment. |
| 448 | *** This is not true at all. Police are completely permitted to ask people to do explicitly illegal actions. For entrapment to occur, the police must provide some incentive or coercion that clearly outweighs the defendant's initial disposition to commit a crime. The police merely asking "Hey, can I buy some meth?" creates no such incentive. Badger would be perfectly able to say "No." And he obviously was in possession of meth, in quantities intended for sale. Badger was predisposed to commit a crime, so there's no entrapment defense. |
| 449 | [[/folder]] |
| 450 | |
| 451 | [[folder: Hiding the Bodies]] |
| 452 | * I assume it probably wasn't an important plot point, but [[spoiler: does anyone know what Mike did with Chow and Chris' bodies?]] |
| 453 | ** Most likely broken down with acid the same way they did with Victor and others. |
| 454 | ** We see a photo of Duane Chow's body at the start of 5B when Hank is going through the case notes, and Mike himself never used acid and relied on Jesse and Walt for that. Most likely answer is he cleaned up all evidence of his connection to the crime scene, leaving the bodies as they were, and let the police handle it. For the most part, they probably thought it was a random hit. |
| 455 | |
| 456 | * Related note: what did Mike do with the bodies of the rival dealers that Walt killed? We know he cleaned up the mess, since he says to Walt, "You know I haven’t slept since Thursday? I was out all night cleaning up after you." Which suggests that Mike did clean up all evidence that the dealers were tied to Gus. But what did he do with the bodies? Did he leave them where they'd fallen or did he dump them elsewhere? |
| 457 | * Likewise, what about the bodies of the cartel guys that Mike killed at Chow's warehouse in "Full Measures"? There's no way he could leave them there without a police investigation, so what did he do with them, seeing how they never used acid to break down a body until they had to do this to Victor in the next episode? |
| 458 | ** With the rival dealers, he probably just cleaned up any evidence that could link to Walt or to Jesse, and left them there for the cops to find. The only times that bodies had to be dissolved were the Los Pollos Hermanos employees, like Victor and the guy that got shot in the head during Gaff's sniper attack, and later Drew Sharp. And there's a reason for this: Victor's body turning up (especially since he was seen at Gale's place) would lead to a police investigation in his workplace. Cartel members with bullet wounds, there is plenty of motives and lead, so Mike probably had a lot of options to make sure no one go to any of Gus related building. |
| 459 | ** With the cartel guys, that happened at Chow's chemical warehouse, which holds the chemicals until they're ready to go to the superlab. It's likely the body dissolving chemicals are kept there, too, so Mike may have dissolved the bodies there (the way in which Mike gets the drum to dissolve Victor makes me think he's probably dissolved bodies before). Or he had some of Gus's guys plant them somewhere, anywhere, cleaned up any evidence linking them to the warehouse, then left them for the cops to find. |
| 460 | [[/folder]] |
| 461 | |
| 462 | [[folder: The Train Job]] |
| 463 | * Walt, Jesse, and Mike were awfully lucky the train car they needed to rob happened to stop on the bridge above the tanks they buried. They only knew which car carried the methylamine a few hours before, long after the tanks were already in the ground. And they couldn't control where the train stops, since there was only one road for the decoy truck to break down on. What was their plan? |
| 464 | ** They had a lot of extra tubing and could have just run the hoses a few extra cars up/down as needed. |
| 465 | ** According to Vince Gilligan, a tanker full of a hazardous material like methylamine would have to be kept on the rear of the train, and this for very obvious reasons: if there's a derailment, there's less risk of it becoming damaged and causing a spill or an explosion. You see Jesse running a wheeled device over the tracks of the trestle before the robbery; he's measuring to figure out exactly where the car will be. |
| 466 | *** That only helps if you know how many and what length of cars will precede it. You don't. The [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/consist#Noun consist]] of a regularly scheduled freight train will usually be fairly constant, but isn't necessarily identical from one run to the next. Even if it's a [[http://www.railfreightportal.com/Block-Train-Full-Train block train]] (which it isn't, since Lydia said it's rebuilt in a marshalling yard) and all the cars were carrying freight for Madrigal, Madrigal might well have more to ship one week and less in another. |
| 467 | * I understand why you don't label it with "methlyamine inside", but why doesn't the methlyamine car have so much as a [[http://www.discountsafetygear.com/sign-classification-plastic-hazardous-materials-14x10-rp.html hazmat classification sign]]? |
| 468 | ** Maybe it peeled off with age. |
| 469 | ** This whole situation requires plenty of suspension of disbelief. I'm not convinced Lydia could predict the exact location of the car in the train. I'm quite convinced the car would clearly label it contains methyl-amine. Trains don't slink through the country with mystery boxes. These trains go right through your local downtown and they have huge labels. Methyl-amine isn't a DHS level threat, it's essentially contaminated water. DHS is worried about things like LPG tankers. The whole need to acquire methyl-amine is lampshaded in the Mexico episodes. Really, the entire heist, even if they needed it, they could just smash the bottom flow of the tanker to make it look like it leaked out and nobody would freak out. I seriously doubt that chemical is actually made in China and transported across the Pacific. |
| 470 | [[/folder]] |
| 471 | |
| 472 | [[folder: Dark Territory]] |
| 473 | * What was the point of having Lydia bring up 'Dark Territory' in Dead Freight? It's somewhat of a clumsy conversation over a topic that turns out to be completely irrelevant - the engineer and conductor make no attempt to call for help. |
| 474 | ** Trains are GPS equipped, so an unscheduled start or stop outside of dark territory automatically gets reported to Homeland Security, even if it's due to something completely mundane like something on one of the locomotives failing. Post-9/11, standard policy has been to treat any unscheduled stop as an emergency. |
| 475 | ** It seems safe to assume they make no attempt to call for help because they've done this route a number of times and they already know cellphones will be useless in that area. |
| 476 | ** Also, at the time Lydia made that suggestion, Jesse hadn't come up with his idea to rob the train without anyone realizing it. She was working under the assumption that they were going to board the train and capture/kill the crew, who certainly would have called for help if they got the chance. She proposed they stop the train there to prevent them from doing that. It still ended up being important (as it gave Kuby an excuse not to have called a tow truck) just not for the reason she initially suggested it. |
| 477 | [[/folder]] |
| 478 | |
| 479 | [[folder: Offing a DEA Agent]] |
| 480 | * In "Buried", Saul recommends [[spoiler:assassinating Hank]]. Wouldn't that cause way more problems than it solves? [[spoiler:Skyler knows that Hank knows, and killing Hank would lead to a crackdown]]. |
| 481 | ** Maybe, but if they got to Hank before Hank brought his concerns to the police, they wouldn't know to trace it back to Walt. The DEA would surely swarm all over looking for the killer, but if they didn't have any evidence, they'd be out of luck. It's a risky suggestion, but not a completely unreasonable one. |
| 482 | ** It's way less problems than having to deal with someone who knows for a fact you're guilty, has the whole operation drawn out, and has the resources to hunt you on his spare time with his position. |
| 483 | [[/folder]] |
| 484 | |
| 485 | [[folder: The Cousins' Travel Plans]] |
| 486 | * The Cousins. Can't they just book a plane to enter the United States? |
| 487 | ** And bring in guns with hollow-point bullets through customs? Uh uh. |
| 488 | ** *Sigh* Take the plane and buy the bullets in the States. |
| 489 | ** Right, because ''that'' wouldn't arouse suspicion at all. |
| 490 | ** *Sigh* If you're a Mexican national coming to the USA with the intention of murdering someone, maybe you would want to avoid Customs and Immigration? Especially if you know an easy way in? |
| 491 | ** I thought you pretty much needed a spotless criminal record to get into the States, especially from Mexico. What's the likelihood those two have clean records? |
| 492 | ** No, no, and no. First, buying weapons in the United States is less suspicious than blowing up a truck of migrants. Second, are you really going to tell Customs & Immigration that you came to the States to commit murder? Third, it's not impossible. Juan Bolsa gets to the States without problem. |
| 493 | ** Yes, yes, and yes. First, they are nutjobs who love their obviously custom-made axe, and probably their guns. Second, whatever you tell the ICE, there's now a record of you entering the country. Third, we have no clue as to how Bolsa got into the States, so your point is moot. |
| 494 | *** Crossing into the United States is not a crime, and records are useless if the cops can't link you to any crime. And yes, we have a clue as to how Juan Bolsa got into the United States. He says the day he can no longer cross the border is the day he retires. Either he is willing to be reduced to riding along with a bunch of illegals in the back of a coyote truck, or his record is clean. Take your pick. |
| 495 | *** "Records are useless if the cops can't link you to any crime." Um, what makes you think the cops wouldn't be able to link the Twins to a crime? They aren't exactly the most subtle criminals ever. Just for the record, they leave the body of the woman whose house they took over outside- they don't even make an ''attempt'' to bury it; they just leave it under a tarp with the legs exposed. And they attack Hank in broad daylight in a public parking lot (Marco even kills a passerby in cold blood and would've shot that one woman had his weapon not run empty at that point and he had to reload). Considering they also are the ones who massacred the Espinoza gang back in ''Better Call Saul'', they're clearly known killers, even if no one specifically remembers their faces. Remember how that one kid in the truck reacts when he realizes exactly what design is on their boot tips? That's not just an "ooh, they're bad guys" response- his reaction suggests that he probably knew something about "be on notice for these two identical looking men who travel around wearing boots with skulls on their toes". If anything, by the time they attacked Hank, the Twins were probably already on police radar or about to appear on it[[note]]they previously had to lay low in Mexico after the Espinoza massacre, which racked up a pretty high body count of its own[[/note]], and the Twins probably know that- so it makes sense to not draw attention to themselves by traveling in public, when there are trips across the border every day- trips where it's easy to destroy any trace that says they were ever there to begin with. |
| 496 | ** Booking a plane takes way more time than illegally smuggle in when you are part of the smuggling business. Also the Salamanca rep probably means they have a record that stops them from crossing legally. Lalo, for instance, had a record that's problematic, which would explain why in ''Better Call Saul'' he was traveling under the assumed name "Jorge de Guzman". |
| 497 | ** I'm just confused at why they murdered all those people on their way into New Mexico. I get that they killed the kid on the truck because he recognized them, and then they killed everyone else on the truck because they were witnesses. But first off, if they were THAT concerned about anyone knowing they were in New Mexico, why wear boots so distinctive that they would immediately give them away to anyone who had spent time in their cartel's territory? And second, how could they possibly think that murdering close to a dozen people, including one police officer, would draw less attention than one terrified illegal immigrant who just wanted to paint cars? And another thing, once they had fled the scene of the mass murder with the truck, what on earth was the point in killing the old native American woman and the tribal police officer? These guys are just about the stupidest criminals in the entire series. |
| 498 | ** They want the body count. These are the Cartel plague who show up with an axe and behead their enemies. After Tortuga, they don't really care about drawing attention. They want people not to know their faces, but that the Cartel is pissed and no one is safe. That's pretty consistent with what we see of Hector's M.O. in ''Better Call Saul'': plain bullying and intimidation. Remember how he took Gus's restaurant hostage after Mike shut down his supply line? Same thing here. |
| 499 | [[/folder]] |
| 500 | |
| 501 | [[folder:The Cousins and the border crossing]] |
| 502 | * So, about having to cross the border in the truck. ''Better Call Saul'' makes clear that the Cousins have been brought to the United States on several prior occasions since they're used to threaten Mike. Clearly they crossed the border by legitimate methods back then in 2002, so why now in 2010 do they have to resort to hiding in a smuggler's truck to cross the border? |
| 503 | ** In ''Better Call Saul'', Gus had Nacho manipulate the Cousins into an attack on the Espinosas' compound, killing a couple dozen thugs inside. The large number of dead bodies meant that the Cousins had to flee to Mexico until the heat died down, and if that case is still open, they have to be very careful. |
| 504 | ** Clearly? I'm pretty sure they just smuggled in the back of an ice cream truck even back then (they move heroin so persons isn't that far fetched). Remember that Tortuga likely gave intel to the feds about the Salamanca crew. It would also explain why they can't stay much longer in the U.S when Hector remains. |
| 505 | [[/folder]] |
| 506 | |
| 507 | [[folder:The Cousins' travel plans, part II]] |
| 508 | * A different question related to the Cousins. Where do they stay while they're traveling? I mean, I know they killed that woman Miss Peyketewa and took over her house, but did they stay there the entire time they were in the Albuquerque area or not? |
| 509 | ** Tuco's abuelita. |
| 510 | [[/folder]] |
| 511 | |
| 512 | [[folder: Does Saul Know About Mike?]] |
| 513 | * In "Blood Money" and "Buried" both Jesse and Saul correctly think Walt killed Mike. For Jesse it's the logical conclusion considering that Mike has disappeared without a trace and Walt had Mike's men killed. Does Saul think the same or does he actually know? |
| 514 | ** Saul knows. He made the comment about "sending Hank to Belize." |
| 515 | ** In "Blood Money", Saul asks Jesse rather pointedly if he's been in touch with Mike, and Jesse shakes his head slowly, as if to say, "yeah right". Saul likely suspects (he's no dummy), but uses the 'Belize' conversation to feel Walt out more fully on the matter. Walt's reaction ("I'll send YOU to Belize") is confirmation enough. |
| 516 | [[/folder]] |
| 517 | |
| 518 | [[folder: Hank and the Nursing Home]] |
| 519 | * How does Hank know, or rather correctly suspect Walt bombed the nursing home? Even if he knew about the connection between Heisenberg and Gus, Declan's thinking that Gus' death was engineered by the cartel makes more sense, even if it is wrong. Hank knows there are several people who were involved in Gus' illegal business, so why would he think that the maker of blue meth and the person responsible for killing Gus, Mike's men, and probably Krazy-8 and maybe even Gale (even if that one was Jesse) as well would be one and the same? |
| 520 | ** Because anyone who was anyone in the cartel was killed before Gus died. Taking that into account, Hank's assumption makes more sense than Declan's. Even if there were a few stragglers left over, like Hector, it would take a hell of an effort to pull off that kind of move from so far away with your manpower already crippled. Furthermore, Hank feels that it's a bit too convenient to be a coincidence that Gus was killed ''just'' as the DEA was starting to close in on him. It reeks of someone allied with Gus, i.e. Heisenberg, taking him out to cover their own tracks. |
| 521 | *** Hank also remembers how Walt insisted on staying behind when the DEA took the White family to Hank's house for protection. In hindsight, Hank realizes that Walt had something to do with planning Gus's death. |
| 522 | ** Here's why Declan might think Gus's death was a cartel hit: Gus' conflict with the cartel is clearly well-known by other dealers in the area, so when people heard that Gus died in an explosion along with a former cartel member (Hector) they automatically assumed that the Juárez Cartel was involved. The fact that Declan is able to figure out Walt is Heisenberg really quickly after he says that he killed Gus heavily implies that the "Cartel" story is either flimsy or so sparse that it's not hard to believe it's wrong. |
| 523 | [[/folder]] |
| 524 | |
| 525 | [[folder: Juice Box Man]] |
| 526 | * If Vince Gilligan's "juice-box man" theory regarding [[spoiler: how Walt poisoned Brock]] is canon, How does Saul know [[spoiler: Walt poisoned Brock]]? Why would Saul think there's a connection between [[spoiler: the cigarette box Walt got Saul to steal from Jesse using Huell and Brock getting sick]] unless Walt told him so? And if that's the case, why would Walt do that? |
| 527 | ** For the record, the "juice-box man" theory is that Walt put the lily-of-the-valley in a juice-box and gave it to Brock at his school. |
| 528 | ** From what was said in one of the last scenes of "Live Free or Die", Saul had no idea that Brock would end up poisoned, possibly thinking that the ricin was for Gus or one of his men. So, the best that we can extrapolate is that Saul must have put two and two together after news of Gus' death spread around. |
| 529 | *** Technically, Saul only said that he didn't know Brock would end up in the hospital. Walt could have just assured him that Brock would only end up with a mild fever and a stomachache or something. A couple days of bed rest, long enough for Gus to get killed, then up and back in action. |
| 530 | [[/folder]] |
| 531 | |
| 532 | [[folder: Half Measures]] |
| 533 | * What was Mike actually trying to convince Walt to do with the "half measure" speech? |
| 534 | ** Give up on Jesse. Not kill him or anything, but stop trying to save him. |
| 535 | ** He's not trying to convince Walt to actually ''do'' anything. It's an appeal to Walt's rational side. Jesse is a danger to the operation, including Walt, at that point, and Mike is pointing out the way to eliminate a danger is to '''eliminate''' it, not to wave your hands at it and hope things go okay. Mike really just wants Walt to understand this and not to try to protect Jesse or fly off the handle when he turns up dead. |
| 536 | ** Put it another way, it's the same logic used when cops have to shoot someone. With them the logic is, 'if someone is trying cause bodily harm to a cop, the response to eliminate the threat, and this is why they shoot multiple times at the center of mass (the torso) rather than shoot in the leg or shoulder and hope that blood loss takes over'. |
| 537 | ** Mike is saying, "Whatever you decide to do, don't half-ass it." He's got his own experiences in ''Better Call Saul'' with incidents where he half-assed something and it came back to bite him in the ass, like when he let Werner off with a warning for drunkenly divulging details on the lab's construction to some bar patrons, or when he manipulated the police into having Lalo arrested (only for it to not render Lalo fully out of the picture). |
| 538 | [[/folder]] |
| 539 | |
| 540 | [[folder: More on the Brock poisoning]] |
| 541 | * OK, so Brock was poisoned with Lily of the Valley and not ricin... so why exactly did Walt steal the ricin from Jesse in the first place? Back-up plan? Unconnected desire to keep him safe by taking it off him? Given Jesse's RightForTheWrongReasons EurekaMoment in "Confessions", that could turn out to be a major goof. |
| 542 | ** The plan was for Jesse to think Walt poisoned Brock, so Jesse would go after Walt. Then Walt could convince Jesse it was Gus who poisoned Brock. Then Jesse would find out that it wasn't ricin, but Lily of the Valley, but by then Gus would already be dead and Jesse convinced that killing Gus was the right thing to do and that Brock getting poisoned was an unrelated matter. Also, consider the relationship between Walt, Gus and Jesse at this point. Walt is disconnected from Gus and Jesse, so it's not like Walt could have poisoned Brock then called Jesse to tell him Gus did it. Walt doesn't know what Gus is doing at any given time. At the same time Walt knows that Jesse wouldn't stand a chance against Gus on his own. What Walt needed was a situation that would turn Jesse against Gus, and want him to team up with Walt. And Walt couldn't approach Jesse with this, he needed Jesse to come to him. But not thinking Saul and Huell would ever use the same bump-and-snatch technique again was an oversight, though it could be attributed to Walt's state of mind. |
| 543 | [[/folder]] |
| 544 | |
| 545 | [[folder: A fly, and then cooking in bug-infested houses]] |
| 546 | * A whole episode revolves around Walt's inability to cook with a fly in the room contaminating the process. But in season 5A, he and Jesse start cooking in houses undergoing pest control - that is, buildings that will be filled with insects. And this was Walt's idea. How does that work? |
| 547 | ** The portable lab is more like a little plastic tent area, separated from the rest of the house by its walls. Presumably, Walt made sure the tent area was immaculate, even if the rest of the house was bug-infested. And as far as I can remember, it was in the middle of the main living room, that is, away from your typical major infestation hotspots like walls, corners, and the kitchen. |
| 548 | ** Walt never did genuinely care about contamination. Whenever Walt feels pressured and out of control, he copes by focusing on small, practical problems (usually problems that absolutely nobody cares about but him). Remember that scene after Hank gets shot where Walt fixes that wobbly table leg in the hospital waiting room? Walt gets his sense of self-worth from solving problems. The events of "Fly" were essentially Walt grasping at something to make him feel in control. |
| 549 | ** For what it's worth, I think the whole bug-extermination thing was just a cover-up from day 1. It´s never made clear if the houses Walt and Jesse cook in are genuinely infested or if the pest control firm is ripping people off. And even if it was a pest-infested home, the Vamonos Pest guys just draw the whole operation out: They tell the homeowners that the process takes a full week when in reality the house is bug-free in three days. The other four days, it´s free for Walt and Jesse to cook in. A very strong sign that the pest control measures aren´t actually taking place while Jesse and Walt are in there is that they´re freely roaming the house which was supposedly filled with bug poison - either the gas has already evaporated or was never pumped in to begin with, or they wouldn´t just sit inside on the couch sipping beers and watching TV. |
| 550 | *** Unlikely. The company would have to do actual pest control in order to keep getting hired and not attract police attention. We know the houses really are infested; there's a nice shot of a roach crawling around in the foreground at one point. They probably spray for bugs once the cook is over. |
| 551 | [[/folder]] |
| 552 | |
| 553 | [[folder:Cooking in bug-infested houses cont.]] |
| 554 | * Isn't the choice to cook in bug-infested houses a bit out-of-character for Walt? There's always that risk factor. What if the owners come back early due to something they forgot or some emergency? And on the first house that Walt and Jesse cooked in, Todd said he disabled a nanny cam in that one house. I'm not sure it matches Walt's character to think it such a great idea as it will require always going into a new unpredictable environment for each cooking session. I'd have stuck with the RV. |
| 555 | ** It's not out of character at all. The risk factor was actually very low. The owners coming back early by surprise is unlikely. Given that they have to handover their keys to the extermination people, and/or would more than likely call first to make sure it was safe to go inside. After all, would YOU just go strolling into your house like that in the process of it being bombed? I don't think so. And let's say by some small chance the owners ''did'' barge in on them and catch them in the act. Most middle to upper class suburbanites wouldn't know what meth cooking looks or smells like. Walt and Jesse could have just made up a story about mixing the chemicals for the bug gas or something, and say it's really not safe for them to be in there and hurry and usher them out. No one would be the wiser. The RV was a dead issue. It was destroyed, and the police were hip to the RV game, and the RV wouldn't have been big enough to accommodate their larger demands of product that was needed. It took them a week to cook 40 pounds in the RV. With the houses they get 50 pounds in ''one'' cook. |
| 556 | [[/folder]] |
| 557 | |
| 558 | [[folder: Are the webisodes canon?]] |
| 559 | * Things like Walt talking to Hank before the wedding and Walt and Badger breaking into the old lady's house. |
| 560 | ** They don't contradict anything said in the show proper, so there's no reason to assume they aren't canon. |
| 561 | ** Jesse can be heard singing TwaüghtHammër's song "Fallacies" to himself a couple of times in S5; also unless I'm misremembering, "Marie's Confession" came before the show proper acknowledged Marie had a therapist, so that suggests yes. Most of the other webisodes are simply Saul's TV advertisements, so nothing implausible about those. The only one whose canonicity we might doubt is "Team S.C.I.E.N.C.E.", since it's hard to imagine the Jesse of Seasons 2 and 3 making such a high-schooler-level cartoon (& yet it features a thinly-disguised Jane). |
| 562 | [[/folder]] |
| 563 | |
| 564 | [[folder: Hector and the DEA]] |
| 565 | * In the season 4 finale, Gus sees Hector leaving the DEA and assumes he gave them information. So he doesn't think Hector turning up dead within a few hours of telling the police he's a criminal would be suspicious? |
| 566 | ** Suspicious, sure. But presumably the needle he was going to shoot him with would make it look like Hector died of natural causes, and if there was no hard evidence to link Gus to Hector's death, there wouldn't be a lot the cops could do. |
| 567 | *** Well Gus did go to see Hector many times, including the time before Gus was planning to kill him, which the nursing home would have a record of. So there's that. |
| 568 | *** I dunno, that nursing home seems to let just about anybody wander in and out as they please. |
| 569 | *** Actually, based on a deleted scene the nursing staff seem to be acquainted with Gus (it's from "Crawl Space" and has Jesse ask Gus about why he has a beef with Hector). |
| 570 | * But if Hector told the DEA about Gus, wouldn't they put him into protective custody, so Gus couldn't kill him? How come this didn't occur to Gus? |
| 571 | ** Organized crime culture absolutely forbids talking to the cops. That's the reason Hector refused to rat on Jesse after Tuco's death even though he fully knows Jesse was there. Gus' disgust with Hector's actions, and fear that he might have said something incriminating, trumped his instincts. Notice that he went from deliberate and patient to wanting Hector dead the second he heard about the meeting with the DEA. |
| 572 | *** Gus wasn't completely blinded by rage. If he were blinded by rage, he'd probably have not first sent in Tyrus Kitt to scope out Hector's room in case it was bugged. It wasn't, so Gus thought it's not a trap. But why would Hector break that important rule of crime culture and talk to the DEA if he's not saying anything important and not setting up a trap? |
| 573 | *** Not everyone who goes to the DEA qualifies for protective custody-Hector would need to show that his life would be in imminent danger if he's not given DEA protection, and that's assuming everyone at the DEA bought Hector's story. Like many other things in the show, like Walt's "confession" tape designed to pin Hank as Heisenberg, the truth is stranger than fiction here. And remember, Hector didn't go to the DEA office to rat anyone out. He just went there and trolled them with his crude profane insults, and then was returned home, but this was all so that Gus would think Hector ratted him out. (And at the same time, it's kinda hypocritical for Gus to take a position of "What kind of man talks to the DEA? ''No man''," when in ''Better Call Saul'' he wasn't above manipulating the police into arresting Lalo.) |
| 574 | [[/folder]] |
| 575 | |
| 576 | [[folder: We Don't Need No Stinking Badges]] |
| 577 | * Hank and Gomez don't show their badges when confronted by the Neo-Nazis? |
| 578 | ** They knew damn well the Nazis didn't care about seeing the badges, they just wanted to trick Hank and Gomie into putting their guns down so they could shoot them. |
| 579 | *** But Hank and Gomez were hopelessly outgunned. A pistol and a shotgun (ineffective at that range) against more people with much better weapons. It's highly unlikely Jack's crew would want to gun down federal agents. The best move would have been H&G agreeing to duck down and throw the badges, because there was simply no way they could win that fight. My assumption is that didn't happen because someone started shooting too quickly. |
| 580 | *** Even if Hank and Gomez decided to do that, then what? You really think the Nazis would just say “Thank you, have a nice day” and leave? |
| 581 | *** It was a possibility. Even the Cartel normally hesitated to cross the "federales" - the Twins had to be tricked by Gus into attacking Hank, and when they did (not actually killing him, mind you), there was a huge scandal and a retalliation. So yes, I think "Get the hell out and we'll forget we saw you" might look preferable to the both parties. And yet, curiously, the murder of two federal agents has no consequences, as far as we see. |
| 582 | *** Bear in mind, Jack and his gang let Walt go, primarily, to take the heat for the deaths of Hank and Steve. And it works-everyone thinks Walt was responsible, while the Neo-Nazis slip under the radar. We don’t see the specifics of the investigation into the murders, so we don’t know if the Feds thought Walt had help in killing them or not-even if they did, they would only have found out it was Jack’s gang responsible after Walt killed Jack and his gang-though even then, the finale of ''Better Call Saul'' reveals that Walt is still blamed for the deaths of Hank and Gomez. With the only living witness to what went down on the reservation (Jesse) being on the run, the authorities likely concluded that Walt called the Neo-Nazis in to deal with Hank (which is half true). |
| 583 | *** That's another thing by the way. Yeah, sure, Todd respected Walt, but come on. Jack just saw that Walt was willing to give up $80 million to keep Hank alive and how devastated he was after the kill. What made Jack so sure Walt wasn't going to go to the police or at least to tip them off? They knew Walt wasn't a hardened criminal with a strong code prohibiting that sort of things. Hell, what made him so sure Walt wouldn't go after them himself? $10 million is more than enough to buy weapons and/or hire hitmen, and he was even planning to do that until he suddenly wasn't. Yes, sure, "they underestimated him", but this is still bizarrely sloppy and ultra-magnanimous for the actual hardened criminals. |
| 584 | *** There was a period of silence (albeit slowed down for dramatic effect) where both parties were contemplating the others' moves. When Hank and Gomez refused to stand down, Jack gave his second-in-command the signal to fire. |
| 585 | [[/folder]] |
| 586 | |
| 587 | [[folder: Extracting Saul]] |
| 588 | * This might be a dumb question, but how much danger would Saul be in exactly that he had to use his extractor? I'm sure he's had clients before that went belly up in the judicial system, so to speak (as well as being involved in the exposed Gus empire). |
| 589 | ** With Gus, Saul was a bit player and was mostly protected by his role as a lawyer. Mike was probably the only one who could seriously incriminate him. With Walt, Saul is knee-deep in the entire mess; the Feds will have enough probable cause to go through his life and finances with a fine-tooth comb. It's explained under HollywoodLaw pretty clearly: attorney/client privilege doesn't apply if your lawyer is actively assisting you in the commission of your crimes, which is the case here. Huell already talked to Hank so he will probably spill everything to the feds which will link Saul directly to the money. Plus, the neo-Nazis might want to silence him permanently. |
| 590 | ** Gus' empire is legally irrelevant since everyone who knows the details is dead or refusing to talk. Saul is likely facing charges of criminal conspiracy, incitement, money laundering, drug trafficking by association (for knowingly handling Walt's drug money), real estate fraud, blackmail, and extortion. If he's considered a leader of the drug empire, then under racketeering laws and RICO statutes, he could also be charged with anything he ordered Huell and Kuby to do, which includes fraud (with blackmailing Ted) and impersonating a federal agent (when it came to blackmailing Bogdan with phony water violations). While he's awaiting trial for all of this, his home and office are probably under 24/7 surveillance, including wiretaps and police stakeouts, so his vaguely respectable lawyer job also collapses in the process. Many of Saul's clients have gone to prison before, but this might be the first time where he's at risk of going to prison himself. |
| 591 | ** This is a long one, but, Saul fled because the walls were closing in around Walt and Jimmy didn't want to be there when shit hit the fan. Walt was a dangerous man who put a hit out on Gus' men in prison. He was also wanted by the police and about to go to war with Jack and the other Nazis. More than once, Saul insists in laying low while there's a lot of heat, such as after Gus threatens Hank's life. Saul was always more worried about someone coming after him to kill him than he was about the police finding him.\ |
| 592 | Plus, what stuff could indicate that Saul was wanted for questioning? The evidence was shredded and Jimmy was gone. Unless there was some documented evidence, anything said against him would be hearsay...and who could possibly out him? Skyler? Not likely as she hadn't even mentioned Lydia to the authorities. Huell and Kuby? There was no evidence left of criminal dealings and none of it documented. At most, he could be QUESTIONED by the cops but, to me, it's clear that Saul used the fixer because of the dangerous ground Walt was standing on/bringing down upon everyone.\ |
| 593 | Plus, (as others have speculated) who's to even say how long after "Granite State" the opening "Jimmy at Cinabon" scene of ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' even takes place? For all we know, as has been said on the WMG page for that show, it could be taking place during the 3-6 month interim that Walt was still in New Hampshire. Plus, there are rumors that Season 2 of that show will include another future scene with "Gene" attending what many believe to be Walt's funeral.\ |
| 594 | Examine ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul'' together--Saul's constant fear was fallout from his criminal associates--not the police. He's never even been brought in for questioning by the cops and the people who directly knew of his dealings with Walt were all either dead, in the wind or in a position where revealing their dealings with him would only worsen their own circumstances. People could point the finger at Saul all they'd like--but they'd be hardpressed to find any incriminating evidence outside of suspicion as to why he fled Albuquerque.\ |
| 595 | I mean, look at Jimmy in "Uno" when he's running the Cinnabon counter and he sees that one guy--he's terrified because that guy looked like a thug. Or, look at Hank, Gomez and the rest of the DEA--none of them even suspected Saul. Hank was convinced that Saul was just an ambulance chaser--small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Hank and Gomez were the only ones who even heard Huell's "testimony" about Saul as Hank was keeping his operation a secret. If you really think about it, Jimmy could be more in the clear than you think. He's only in Omaha because he fears for his life, and he plans on heading back to Albuquerque to resume his job once the coast is clear. |
| 596 | * Walt is on the run, Jesse is simply missing and the Neo nazis are making a hostile takeover. Saul might prefer disappearing over explaining he is not really Jewish when they come asking what the lawyer is saying under cop's custody. |
| 597 | [[/folder]] |
| 598 | |
| 599 | [[folder: Gale's Address]] |
| 600 | * In "Full Measures," why did Walt recite Gale's address when Mike had him at gunpoint after he ordered Jesse to kill Gale? Doesn't seem useful to his plan to possibly have Mike or Victor save Gale before he can get shot. |
| 601 | ** Mike and Victor are literally moments away from killing Walt. Walt recites the address to prove that he knows where Gale lives and credence to his claim that Jesse's on his way to kill him, which provides an incentive for them to make sure their backup cook is safe before following through. |
| 602 | ** Also, he said that if he could make a phone call, he could give them the place where Jesse is right now. Before he called, he didn't know exactly where he was. After the call, he knew Jesse would go kill Gale, so he knew where he would be. It's not the reason why Walt recited the address (that was to stop the others from killing him), but he also made a point of not lying to them when he said he would tell them where Jesse is. |
| 603 | [[/folder]] |
| 604 | |
| 605 | [[folder: Tuco's CCTV]] |
| 606 | * Tuco's HQ had a CCTV on it. The DEA should have known who Heisenberg is sooner, then? |
| 607 | ** I don't think the DEA investigated the building explosion, just local police (based on the sirens at the end of that episode). So either Tuco's surveillance equipment was also damaged in the explosion or Tuco lied to cover Walt if he was questioned about it. |
| 608 | *** He probably would lie to cover Walt because remember how organized-crime culture prohibits ratting on anyone. |
| 609 | ** I'm talking about the DEA raid in Season Two (the episode's called "Grilled", yeah). Anyway, Tuco's CCTV is on the first floor, and Tuco had fled his HQ before Hank arrived. So? |
| 610 | ** I think the CCTV was simply for security, see who's coming up the steps in the next five minutes. Tuco is crazy, but he isn't dumb enough to record his interactions during the course of his drug business, not to mention, it probably wouldn't occur to him to record anything. |
| 611 | ** In the same episode, Tuco has Walt and Jesse's driver's licenses and other ID--remember how he said he likes family men. He left all that on the counter, and Walt and Jesse didn't have time to take it with them when they escaped. Yet Walt isn't connected to the incident at all, and Jesse's only link is his car. |
| 612 | *** Actually, Tuco let Walt and Jesse pick their stuff up after he's done going through them. |
| 613 | [[/folder]] |
| 614 | |
| 615 | [[folder: "Say My Name"]] |
| 616 | * In "Say My Name", why didn't Mike let Jesse bring him the bag when Jesse offered to do so? Mike has firmly established a pretty solid relationship with Jesse by this point. By contrast, he utterly despises Walt and pretty much does not trust him with anything. Why then let Walt bring him the bag? I can't help but get the feeling that things would have gone a lot better, at least for Mike... |
| 617 | ** Probably because Mike has a fatherly care for Jesse and didn't want to involve him in any further business knowing that Jesse, too, wanted out (and there seems to be an implication that Mike learned from the mistakes that got his own son Matthew killed). It was obvious to Mike that Walt would do whatever it took to keep Jesse under his control, so Mike probably just wanted to leave Jesse out of it and deal with Walt himself. Obviously he wouldn't [[spoiler:have died]] if he'd just let Jesse get him the bag, but on the other hand he did say some well-deserved truths to Walt. |
| 618 | ** 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 TheReasonYouSuckSpeech 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. |
| 619 | * What I wonder is why did Mike ''only'' tell Walt off? He hated the man with passion, blamed him for everything going to hell and... nothing? There was no Jesse to stand in the way, no henchmen to defend Walt (which was very stupid on his part, btw), no witnesses, and Mike was going to flee anyway. It was a golden opportunity to at the very least trounce Walt, if not kill him and dump him in the river. So, what stopped Mike? |
| 620 | [[/folder]] |
| 621 | |
| 622 | [[folder: Why "Flynn"?]] |
| 623 | * What is with Walter Jr's choice of the name Flynn? |
| 624 | ** It might not have any specific meaning, but the fact that the name is heavily associated with Errol Flynn, the legendary swashbuckling badass and ladykiller, makes it evoke the kind of image that a teenage boy would like to assume. |
| 625 | ** Isn't it his middle name? I think he's just using it symbolically to show that his identity is independent of his father and family. He's not gonna make up an entirely new name, so Flynn it is. |
| 626 | ** I assumed his middle name was Hartwell, like his father's. A friend of mine whose name is William and whose dad's name is William says he is not "Junior" because they have different middle names. |
| 627 | ** According to the show's wiki, his middle name is Hartwell. |
| 628 | [[/folder]] |
| 629 | |
| 630 | [[folder: Saving Jesse]] |
| 631 | * Why did Walter attempt to save Jesse in the first place? The last time they saw each other, Walter was the one who intentionally got Jesse captured in the first place. Walter stood by as Jack and Todd discussed how they would torture and kill him. And finally, he told Jesse he watched Jane die for the sole purpose of causing him as much pain as possible. So what changes between that and the finale? It's a complete 180 for Walt to go from trying to cause him as much pain as he can to trying to save him. |
| 632 | ** He didn't go there to save Jesse, he went there to eliminate Jack and his gang, as they were a lingering threat to his family. As for why he pushed Jesse down to avoid the bullets, seeing how Jesse looked after months of torture may have made him feel like the kid had suffered enough. |
| 633 | ** I didn't have any problem with that, Walt had really tried to keep Jesse alive throughout most of the series (at times even hinting he actually thought of Jesse like a son). Walt's arc towards the last 2 episodes or so is closure; accepting he's been an a-hole. Wanting to kill/hurt Jesse was part of his a-hole days. It stands to reason he would not want to do that anymore now that he's left his a-holeness behind to die peacefully. |
| 634 | ** WordOfGod states that Walter went to the Nazis' camp to not only kill them, but Jesse as well, as he assumed that Jesse was working with them willingly as a partner because his Blue Sky was still on the market. However, when Walter saw Jesse's broken, enslaved state, he realized that he had suffered more with them than Walter could ever have managed, and felt something for him in that moment - whether it was pity, love, regret, or whathaveyou is left up to the viewer. Ultimately, though, whatever emotion overcame Walter led to him making the split second decision to shield Jesse's body from the bullets with his own, sparing Jesse's life but leading to the death of everyone else in the room, himself included. |
| 635 | [[/folder]] |
| 636 | |
| 637 | [[folder: Whatever Happened to the Jesse-Mouse?]] |
| 638 | * Despite the narrative implying otherwise, isn't Jesse still completely screwed? The cops are after him. They're sure to be watching his house. He has no money. He's homeless. The tape of Jesse confessing all the things he did is still probably in the clubhouse the cops are sure to search. And to top it off, the last time an innocent was indirectly killed because of him, Jesse pretty much broke down. Is he likely to do any better with Andrea dead? How could things possibly go well for him? |
| 639 | ** It's not supposed to be a happy ending. Jesse has done terrible things and hasn't earned one. What he gets instead is the ''chance'' at a happy ending. |
| 640 | ** One could also argue that Jesse is presumed dead, he has been missing for several months, and the last living person to see him is Marie, who probably assumes that he died along with Hank and Gomez. |
| 641 | ** As for the tape, it's likely Jack's gang destroyed it to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. |
| 642 | *** That would imply they are intelligent rational people. Which they are not. When they watch that video, they laugh at the fact that Jesse was crying throughout it all. Then they talk about how Todd was implicated. They also talked about how they have more money than needed without any word about how they are going to spend it, since the IRS would track them down in an instant if they spent one dime (getting arrested for undeclared revenue). |
| 643 | *** They are not nice people, to put it mildly, but I don't think they're entirely stupid. After Jack saw Jesse on the tape flat out saying his nephew Todd Alquist killed the kid, Jack immediately marches to Jesse's cage intending to kill him. He is, once again, talked out of it by Todd. Most likely they destroyed the incriminating tape soon after. As for them joking about Jesse crying, that was a bit of a meta joke in that Jesse does spend quite a lot of time in the series crying. |
| 644 | ** It would look terrible if Jesse was publicly prosecuted after he spent the last ~4 months in a Neo Nazi dungeon, especially if he said he got coerced into working with Hank and Gomez. He might be able to get a settlement and even therapy since the media would be more likely to portray him as a victim at this point. |
| 645 | *** Pretty much what would happen, yeah, considering that when the police enter the compound, they are going to find all the evidence that Jesse was being kept captive there: the pit, his chains (that will have blood from Jesse killing Todd and Todd's DNA), the gun that Todd used to kill Andrea (assuming he didn't dispose of it), the crapper bucket, Jesse's DNA all over the pit. All of it giving Jesse a good argument for self defense if anything is found to tie him to the scene. He also will have a good argument against the DEA if he had to, since Hank put Jesse at risk by taking him to the money spot, leading to Jesse's capture by Jack, his slavery, and the death of Andrea. Given Hank's previous attack on Jesse and his putting a witness at risk, that might be another reason the cops wouldn't want to prosecute Jesse. They'll also undoubtedly find the guns that killed Hank and Gomez, given that their bodies will have been found by the time the compound is processed. |
| 646 | *** Marie could also testify that Jesse was working with Hank at the time, making him an informant. Jesse would probably walk simply because he suffered so much because Hank didn't want to call in the full DEA to catch Walt, simply because he didn't want to commit career suicide by admitting Walt hid under his nose for so long. Keeping him out of the official informant process was illegal, if I recall correctly. |
| 647 | ** Also, Badger and Skinny Pete are still out there. They pretty much consider Jesse a hero, so they'd definitely help him. |
| 648 | ** [[http://imgur.com/a/pbKWU The newspaper article props from "Granite State"]] make it clear that the police knew about Jesse's involvement with Heisenberg. |
| 649 | ** Here's an Website/IMDb user's suggestion that Jesse might be able to walk on all charges: There's a lot to this case that the DEA might not want the public to know about. Like how Hank kinda-sorta turned rogue trying to bring down Walt, to the point that some might be led to believe that Hank technically held a witness hostage at his house, and Jesse's confession video was practically extracted from him, possibly under duress, without the right to legal consul; all of this certainly not under the accepted protocols at any law enforcement agency, plus taking that witness to a scene, without backup, where he would be properly protected from a criminal such as Jack or Todd. There's also Hank's behavior throughout since Gomez also was killed as a result of this action, in addition to Hank (and we know from dialogue in season 3 that Gomez is married; what's to say his widow won't file a wrongful death lawsuit against the DEA?). It would get very ugly for law enforcement, especially for the DEA, if the media takes an avid interest in what stories Jesse might have to tell them about it all - how it was a DEA agent who was responsible for the situation that got kidnapped, tortured, and pressed into being a meth slave for the neo-Nazis. Thus, it stands to reason that the police might want to downplay Jesse's role in the whole shermozzle of a cockup Hank created for them. There will have to be some serious damage control to try to withhold as much damaging information as possible from the media. 'Cause the deeper the media digs, the uglier it all gets. |
| 650 | *** In addition to this, Hank DRUGGED Jesse while Jesse was at his house and even told Marie about it. And Hank apprehended Jesse while Jesse had just doused Walt's house in gasoline and was about to light it on fire--- while standing in it. Jesse was showing signs of severe mental alteration and should have been taken to the hospital, not Hank's house. |
| 651 | ** ''El Camino'' establishes that Jesse eventually made it to Alaska, where he became a carpenter and opened a wood shop. He never went to jail for his involvement in the Heisenberg case, as he would likely have never gotten out if he had. It seems likely that the tape of Jesse confessing was still around, and as Hank had promised Jesse amnesty, it would make sense for law enforcement to grant it to him as well. |
| 652 | [[/folder]] |
| 653 | |
| 654 | [[folder: Walt Can't Hotwire]] |
| 655 | * So Walt can [[spoiler: rig a bomb to blow when a bell gets rung, he can help hook up a giant magnet to a truck to wipe out a laptop, and he can jury-rig a machine gun and a garage door opener into a Gatling gun and hook it into his remote keyless system, but he can't hotwire a car?]] |
| 656 | ** It does not seem that he cannot do it, but rather he thinks of an easier solution after he shocks himself. |
| 657 | ** The only one of those things that's even remotely complicated is [[spoiler: getting the opener to pull the trigger ''and'' wiggle the machine gun ''and'' not jam the feed while doing so]] and all of them are at least plausible given sufficient time to study the situation and possibly test a couple of ideas out first. The one that gives Walt trouble is the one where the method isn't necessarily immediately apparent from inspection (because the parts you need to inspect are concealed or at least awkward to get to) and where he doesn't have time to spend analyzing the problem. I suspect most people with a science background would find their experience similar to Walt's: trivial, some work and considerable expense but doable (and we ''watch'' him doing the testing), tricky but possible given a little luck, ''freaking impossible'', since [[spoiler: automotive theft]] is not likely to have been a major factor in their prior careers. |
| 658 | [[/folder]] |
| 659 | |
| 660 | [[folder: Los Pollos Hermanos]] |
| 661 | * What kind of restaurant is Los Pollos Hermanos? I assume it's fast food but the commercial explains they slow cooked their chicken like Kenny Roger's Roasted so which is it? |
| 662 | ** It's a fast food place. The real life version of the place is Twisters. The chicken is probably cooked way ahead of time and then held in a warmer. |
| 663 | ** Even Burger King will run advertisements about how their meat is the best and made with love. |
| 664 | [[/folder]] |
| 665 | |
| 666 | [[folder: Walt's Overqualification]] |
| 667 | * Was Walt really as "grossly overqualified" for teaching as he claims? We know he's a brilliant chemist. We know he's both book smart and street smart. We also know he spent his twenties and early thirties getting his master's degree(s). But it's never stated that he has a [=PhD=], and given Walt's incredible pride it's hard to imagine he'd tolerate being called Mr. White instead of Dr. White. More than half of all teachers, and especially those Walt's age, have their master's degree(s). Many are also very skilled at their subject matter as well. They enter teaching accepting that they'll never make as much as they potentially could. So while Walt is underachieving in his mind. Calling himself grossly overqualified is likely just his pride. |
| 668 | ** It's definitely a point of pride for him, but that doesn't mean it's not also true. I think it's safe to say that most high-school chemistry teachers can't do half the things Walt can, up to and including co-founding a company that's now worth billions. If skills like Walt's could be found on half the teachers in the country, Walt never would have been as valuable to Gus or the meth industry as a whole as he was. And on a purely professional level, depending on just where you're working and how long you've been there, even a single master's degree ''can'' make you overqualified for a teaching position. I'm an aspiring teacher myself, and it's something my professors have repeatedly warned me about. |
| 669 | ** "Grossly overqualified" is probably an exaggeration, at least on paper. Walt never actually got his doctorate, probably because doctoral degrees are expensive and time-consuming to get, but he's certainly intellectually capable of doing doctoral-level work and probably wouldn't have had much trouble doing so if he'd ever had both the time and the money at the same time (and if he'd stuck with Gray Matter he probably would've gotten tossed an honorary doctorate at some point even if he never took the time away from corporate work to return to academia). Call it "grossly over-TALENTED" and you're probably closer to the mark. He's capable of far more than he actually achieves until he breaks bad. |
| 670 | [[/folder]] |
| 671 | |
| 672 | [[folder: "Cornered"]] |
| 673 | * OK, really minor question, but it'll bug me for days if I don't ask. In "Cornered," ''what'' was Jesse digging for (or, probably more accurately, pretending to dig for)? Is it just that he knew Tucker was high and would get curious? |
| 674 | ** Yeah, that's what he meant with 'I know how meth-heads think'. Not very clear-thinking, paranoid, and easy to distract. |
| 675 | [[/folder]] |
| 676 | |
| 677 | [[folder: Have an A1 Day]] |
| 678 | * What's a "car-wash professional"? And for that matter, what's the disc with the car-wash logo that the Whites tell their customers to give to their car-wash professional for? |
| 679 | ** I figured 'car-wash professional' is their word for 'person who is assigned to wash your car', and the disk is a sign that you paid for the wash. |
| 680 | *** She actually says "car care professional". It still means the same thing though. |
| 681 | ** I always assumed they had different disks depending on what service you ordered. So ''this'' color means a basic wash and ''that'' color means a premium wash, while ''this'' border means a hot wax treatment and ''that'' symbol means vacuuming the interior. |
| 682 | ** The terminology is to make the service sound fancier, just like "sandwich artists" and "baristas". Do you want your car done by a "car care professional" or "all the illegals we could find"? |
| 683 | [[/folder]] |
| 684 | |
| 685 | [[folder: Kidnapping Jesse]] |
| 686 | * What was Gus thinking, kidnapping Jesse at the end of Season 4 and making him cook at gunpoint? A big chunk of the season focuses on how Gus needs Jesse to work for him ''willingly,'' and the steps he takes to try and win Jesse's loyalty. And then he throws everything away and decides to force him because a batch is running late? Did he expect Jesse to keep cooking for him voluntarily after his mooks tasered and kidnapped him? |
| 687 | ** This is after he has a moment of clarity in the parking garage, realizing that Walt is trying to kill him. He likely assumed (correctly, given that at this point Jesse is back in Walt's corner) that Jesse lured him in on purpose as part of the plan. Cooking at gunpoint is probably a temporary solution while he deals with Walt and sorts everything out. Jesse was probably going to disappear not long after that. Gus states previously that he doesn't believe in using fear for motivational purposes, but by then things are falling apart and he starts making decisions that don't gel with his established m.o in effort to keep things moving. I think he always knew Jesse wouldn't be a permanent part of the operation, but having him work with Mike was a way to keep him out of trouble as they worked around Walt, who was a lot more of an issue. To paraphrase Walt in season 2: "He does what I say.". Gus finally understood that Jesse's loyalty would always be to Walt, and that came on the heels of Jesse asking him to let Walt go a few episodes ago. |
| 688 | *** Speaking of which, how DID Gus know about the bomb under his car? He walks towards it, sees it stand there in the same spot as before, unchanged, stops, then looks out the parking garage, trying to find anything suspicious there, and when he doesn't, he decides that it's a trap and leaves. How would he? Walt suspects that Jesse slipped up talking to Gus, but there's literally NOTHING in their dialogue one could be suspicious of. Did Gus just read in the script that there was a bomb under his car, or what? |
| 689 | *** It's unlikely Gus figured out exactly what would happen if he got into his car, but on the assumption that his moment of clarity clued him into something being up, then it was safer to ditch the car. |
| 690 | *** There's a healthy measure of luck required to be as successful as Gus was for as long as Gus was. Call it "luck," call it a "sixth sense," call it an abundance of caution, Gus has a knack for survival and sniffing out plots. Walt was only able to kill Gus because he took advantage of the one thing that made Gus lose control: his hatred of Hector. |
| 691 | *** In more practical terms, Gus walks to the parking garage after Jesse reveals Brock was poisoned, after which Gus asks, "How did that happen?" Gus is trying to put two and two together, and this is a man who already knows not to let Walt anywhere near him. Gus's pause in the parking garage need not be any more mystical or complicated than a proven chessmaster trying to calculate whether he has been deliberately maneuvered. Even if he doesn't know for sure, he decides to err on the side of caution. Not a bad conclusion where Walt's considered. |
| 692 | [[/folder]] |
| 693 | |
| 694 | [[folder: Resemblances]] |
| 695 | * Season 4, episode 2: Jesse has just started The Party That Never Ends. He's leaving to go to "work" at around 19:30 into the episode. Just as he steps out the door, a guy that looks a lot like Walt (in particular, he looks like Walt in "Granite State" with longer hair, though of course at the time we don't know that yet) sits up right in front of the camera. It clearly can't ''be'' Walt (in addition to that ''making no sense'', Walt is shaved bald at the time). So what's it supposed to mean? |
| 696 | ** Probably nothing. It was just some dude being awoken by the music suddenly, like everyone else in the room. |
| 697 | [[/folder]] |
| 698 | |
| 699 | [[folder: ''Leaves of Grass'', My Ass]] |
| 700 | * Walt leaving ''Leaves of Grass'' in the bathroom. Did the possibility of Hank finding it really never occur to him? |
| 701 | ** One of my favorite lines was Walt admitting, "I screwed up," on this very point (because he so rarely admits it). I think it's less than the possibility of Hank finding it that Walt overlooked: Hank finding it, opening it, bothering to read a front page inscription and making the connection is a specific series of events that never occurred to Walt. It's more evidence of Walt's hubris, a tiny symbol that he thinks he can now get away with anything. And he's wrong. |
| 702 | ** Walt's hubris ''would'' be a good explanation, but Walt always TRIED to get rid of incriminating evidence to his crimes (even if it doesn't work out). He never at least thought of ripping that signed page out? |
| 703 | ** Nope. Like the troper above you pointed out Walt never considered that it could be incriminating against him, and by that point in the series he had the book in his possession for months with no ill consequences. The evidence that Walt did get rid of were all immediate, pressing matters that he had to deal with then and there (I.E. getting rid of evidence that he made the bomb and poisoned Brock happened on the day he did them, taking care of the camera footage was a massive threat to him, etc.), whereas the book wasn't any of those things. |
| 704 | ** I get that, but wouldn't getting rid of the signature in that book have been an immediate and pressing matter right around the time he helped Hank go through Gale's lab notes after Gale's murder? Way before he thought he was untouchable? I can understand Walt keeping the book all this time, but to not rip out that page or at least sharpie that signature out is just plain stupid. Especially after having a conversation with Hank where he threw him off the trail of Gale's "W.W". |
| 705 | ** Yes it's plain stupid. Just like after throwing Hank off the trail of "W.W" he gets drunk and basically tells Hank that Gale isn't Heisenberg right after he was ready to give up the search. If Walt remembered that he had the book at that time he didn't think it was enough of a risk to take care of, since only one page of it was a threat and that would require Hank to go to his apartment, find one book out of many and look at one page in particular, which just would not have happened under those present circumstances. The only reason Hank finds the book is because Walt at his most egotistical leaves it someplace that is encouraging people to read it. |
| 706 | ** Some discussions on a Stack Exchange page theorise that Walt simply skimmed the book and as such didn't read the first, signed page. As careful and methodical as he is, he's still human, and didn't think to comb a gift book for clues which might point to his identity. |
| 707 | [[/folder]] |
| 708 | |
| 709 | [[folder: Mike's Work for Saul]] |
| 710 | * I understand Mike's work as a P.I., it's a legitimate job and can be used as a cover story, but why was he doing illegal jobs for Saul, like the cleaner job he's introduced doing or bugging Walt's house? Saul couldn't have been paying him enough to be be worth the risk, especially compared to the money Gus was likely paying him, considering how much he was going to leave his grand daughter |
| 711 | ** Connections. Mike does the job as a favor to Saul, and in return Saul gives him Saul's connections. Yes, Saul himself has once said that Mike has far larger connections than himself, but to Mike, having an AmoralAttorney on his friend list doesn't hurt. |
| 712 | ** ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' establishes that Mike and Jimmy[=/=]Saul are on a ''quid pro quo'' relationship. Mike provides advice to Jimmy that helps him locate the Ketttlemans. In exchange, Jimmy helps Mike with his legal issues regarding potential murders he's alleged to have committed. In return, Mike helps Jimmy with his Kettleman problem by breaking in to their house to extract their embezzled money. Mike hires Jimmy to defend Daniel Wormald with the "squat cobbler" lies, in return, Jimmy represents Mike in regards to Mike's legal problems with Tuco. Then Mike hires Jimmy to spy on a guy in Los Pollos Hermanos, and in exchange, Jimmy and Kim hire Mike to infiltrate Chuck's house to take photographs. It's not yet established if this is still going on in ''Breaking Bad'', but it may be something like "Mike bugs Walt's house, in exchange for Saul providing him information about Walt that could be of use to Gus". |
| 713 | [[/folder]] |
| 714 | |
| 715 | [[folder: Blue Sky]] |
| 716 | * So before I ever watched the show, had discovered by reading about the show online that the name of Walter's blue meth was Blue Sky. Well now I've watched the entire series and never remember anyone referring to the meth by that name even once. Did I miss it? |
| 717 | ** Yeah, they call it that at least once, in the season 2 finale. It's during Hank's briefing of his DEA pals, right when he announces Walt's recovery fund. |
| 718 | ** Blue Sky is likely a ShoutOut to the New Mexico Tourism Board. The state is well known for the deep blue color of the sky. You’re likely to notice that in many of the establishing shots or other SceneryPorn throughout the series. |
| 719 | ** Blue Sky could also be a ShoutOut to a popular local soda originally bottled in Santa Fe (it has since been bought by Coca-Cola). |
| 720 | [[/folder]] |
| 721 | |
| 722 | [[folder: Even More on Brock]] |
| 723 | * So just for the sake of clarity, I would like to hear a more descriptive opinion on how Walter's plan to poison Brock was supposed to play out. Because everyone seems to have the impression that getting Jesse to initially suspect Walter was part of his plan. But I always interpreted it as Walter was simply expecting Jesse to blame Gus in the first place and the fact that he blamed Walter was totally unexpected to him (though Walter was fully capable of working around it, as we would expect of him). Am I crazy or is there something I'm missing? |
| 724 | ** I don't think Jesse ever would have made the jump from "Brock is poisoned" to "Gus must have done it" by himself, and I don't think Walt ever would have expected him to, either. The more natural and immediate conclusion would be that Walt did it himself, since Walt, unlike Gus, definitely knew about both the ricin and Jesse's connection to Brock. So, Walt's plan was to have Jesse come after him, then redirect him to Gus. |
| 725 | ** Why the heck wouldnt he have made the jump by himself?. Bet you more then 3/4 of the people watching that episode when it aired pinned Gus as their first guess right off the bat. If Vince Gilligan saw Walter being the culprit as a twist, Why wouldnt Walter, someone who has demeaned Jesse's intelligence numerous times over the course of the show, Think the same thing? |
| 726 | *** I think to better explain the misdirection, you have to watch the entirety of the movie ''Film/ShutterIsland'' (I apologize for spoilers, but the very nature of the metaphor I'm constructing hinges on them). There comes a moment in the first time you watch the film where you suspect that Teddy Daniels is insane. However, once he enters the cave and you meet "the real Rachel Solando," you suddenly know for a fact that Teddy is not insane. What she is saying makes too much sense. But then the ending is revealed, and the twist is that Teddy was insane all along. You predicted the twist from the beginning, but you were misled, and when you were finally revealed to be correct, you were surprised. It works the same way here: Jesse heard that Brock was sick, and the logical next step in his reasoning is that Walt was responsible. He confronted Walt, who explained point by point how this conclusion doesn't add up, and the blame shifts to Gus. The twist at the end of the episode is the revelation that Walt had the Lily of the Valley plant in his backyard, and he was the one who used it on Brock. Jesse was right from the beginning, but Walt misled him. I hope that helps. |
| 727 | *** Jesse's first suspicion was that Walt poisoned Brock to get back at him for helping Gus. Not being a Chessmaster, the idea that it was a part of a larger plan on anyone's part wouldn't occur to Jesse on his own. |
| 728 | [[/folder]] |
| 729 | |
| 730 | [[folder:Watching Jane die]] |
| 731 | * Minor point, but: what was Walter's motivation for telling Jesse that he (Walter) watched Jane die? Most people seem to assume that it was petty, meant solely to hurt Jesse as much as possible, but the way the line was read, I disagree. Up until that point, Walter keeps trying to protect Jesse. Even after Jesse turns completely against him and begins threatening his family, he has to be brought around to the idea of having Jesse killed. And he keeps insisting that he wants it done quickly and painlessly. I think this was, in part, his way of saying, "I'm not protecting you any more. No more secrets. You deserve to know the truth." Cruel, yes, but he was also acknowledging Jesse as an equal. And in part it was also a confession. Walt was never quite as confident about letting Jane die as any of the other lines he crossed. For all Walt knew, this was the last time he'd ever see Jesse, and he wanted Jesse to know the whole truth so that if Jesse hated him, he could hate him for the right reasons. |
| 732 | ** It was petty. He saw Jesse working with Hank as the ultimate betrayal, plus he blamed him for Hank's death. |
| 733 | [[/folder]] |
| 734 | |
| 735 | [[folder:"I watched Jane die, and I killed Mike."]] |
| 736 | * Telling Jesse that he watched Jane die, could have saved her, but didn't, was the worst thing Walt could say to him. But why didn't he twist the knife further, and start off by telling Jesse that he killed Mike, ''then'' admit to not doing anything while Jane choked to death? |
| 737 | ** Because that would have killed the tension if Jesse goes "no shit" before he says Jane died. He already knows Walt killed Mike he just doesn't care at this point since he wants out and they were at each other's throat all the time. If Walt is alive and call hit on every Poolos Hermanos then Mike is dead in Jesse's perspective. |
| 738 | [[/folder]] |
| 739 | |
| 740 | [[folder:Waltsenberg]] |
| 741 | * I know this may sound stupid, but I've been thinking and, how did exactly everyone find out about Walt being Heisenberg? [[spoiler:After Hank and Gomez's deaths all the evidence was stolen from his house by the Aryans]]. In "Ozymandias", Skyler claimed to be "just a victim" of Walt's actions and she "shouldn't" known anything about him being Heisenberg (And, anyways, I don't think Skyler ever heard that name). Yet, after Walt escapes everyone knows that he's Heisenberg, that he's the manufacturer of the blue meth, that he killed Gus, etc, etc. Pretty much ALL he did. When all the police actually had was what Skyler and Marie could tell them. |
| 742 | ** Marie did know all of that because Hank told her everything he had figured out, and brought up in his confrontation with Walt in "Blood Money". |
| 743 | ** ''Breaking Bad'' works more or less like real life. This isn't ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', where a cop is killed and there's no fallout whatsoever. The disappearance of Hank and Gomez under suspicious circumstances would prompt a full investigation from pretty much every law enforcement agency in New Mexico: Albuquerque Police, New Mexico State Police, the DEA, and the FBI, especially since Hank was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge, or the most senior official, in the Albuquerque DEA office: |
| 744 | *** A.) Debriefing Marie and Skyler would confirm that Walter White was Heisenberg, Jesse Pinkman was his former distributor, and Skyler White laundered his money. The DEA would undoubtedly seek to squeeze Skyler as hard as they could, freezing her assets (when we see her in "Felina", she is supposedly working a crap minimum wage job and living in a ratty little hovel, as a result of the feds seizing all her assets) and pressure her into talking with the threat of massive jail time. |
| 745 | *** B.) When the police get a copy of Walter's faux confession speech (which Skyler would've doubtlessly confirmed was bullshit), they would have an almost complete map of the Gus Fring/Walter fiasco. Remember, the video that was stolen from Hank's house by the Aryans was Jesse's confession video, not Walt's faux "confession" that was intended to implicate Hank as Heisenberg. So the cops do have that entire faux-confession in their hands. |
| 746 | *** C.) If Hank made a backup copy of Jesse's confession that the Aryans had no knowledge of, that implicates Walt in the deaths of Drew Sharp and Gale. |
| 747 | *** D.) Once the police get hold of Huell and Kuby (yeah, we all like to joke they're still in hiding and waiting but...) that would've exposed the Saul Goodman angle and complicity, which is the reason why Saul has to skip town. |
| 748 | *** E.) When Andrea Cantillo is killed, the police will investigate and they might or might not connect her back to Jesse, since they'll probably question her parents, not to mention that they probably still know about Brock being poisoned. Of course, it's possible as well that Andrea's murder will go unsolved and only gets solved when forensics tests all of the guns recovered from the Neo-Nazis' compound and finds that one of them matches the bullet dug out of Andrea's head. |
| 749 | *** F.) At some point in time, the police would've had Badger, Skinny Pete, and Jesse's other friends rounded up and hauled in for questioning. Badger knew Walt was Heisenberg, and the police can't have forgotten about him implicating a man who perfectly fits Walt's description when he got arrested in Saul's introductory episode. |
| 750 | *** G.) Most importantly, you have to remember that "Granite State" took place during a timeframe as long as the entirety of seasons 1-4. There was ''a lot'' going on behind the scenes. |
| 751 | [[/folder]] |
| 752 | |
| 753 | [[folder: "Hazard Pay"]] |
| 754 | * In the episode "Hazard Pay", why the heck was Marie wearing her lab coat outside the hospital? |
| 755 | ** She was probably off to work, or on a break from work. She wears her lab coat outside the hospital a few times in the series. |
| 756 | [[/folder]] |
| 757 | |
| 758 | [[folder: Taking the Bullet]] |
| 759 | * How exactly Walt get shot? His back balloon when the M60 starts shooting? |
| 760 | ** He appears to be hit with his own gun while keeping Jesse down, effectively taking a bullet for him. |
| 761 | *** He is already down. How does the bullet get him? |
| 762 | *** Ricochet? |
| 763 | *** Either that, or a bullet simply managed to hit him. Heavy machine guns aren't the most accurate weapons, so it's not unlikely that a bullet or two out of hundreds would stray off-target. |
| 764 | *** Most likely ricochet. Right before Walter is shot, we see a bullet bounce off of something low to the ground, so we can assume that's the bullet that hit him. |
| 765 | *** 7.62 rounds actually don't ricochet; however, they do have a tendency to fragment when they hit their target. Walt most likely just got hit with a shard of a bullet exploding against a target. This would also explain how he was able to stay conscious for so long after the injury - he wasn't hit with a bullet, just a shard. |
| 766 | [[/folder]] |
| 767 | |
| 768 | [[folder: Protective Custody for Skyler]] |
| 769 | * After Walt was exposed, why weren't Skyler and the kids moved into protective custody? As far as the world at large knows, he's a dangerous crimelord on the lamb and an abusive husband. For all they know, he could have them killed at any time. |
| 770 | ** There were cops stationed outside of their new house when... hehe, Walt broke in. May seem a tad lax for the situation, but it was nonetheless a preemptive action. Not knowing Walt's dangerous cunning, the cops probably figured it was enough. |
| 771 | ** It's implied that was just in response to Walt being spotted again. |
| 772 | ** The cops were hoping Walt would make contact with his family. |
| 773 | ** The point is, Skyler and her family were under police protection, even if they were trying to bait Walt. |
| 774 | [[/folder]] |
| 775 | |
| 776 | [[folder: Saul's Dirty Cash]] |
| 777 | * By the end of the show, Saul should be very, very rich. At a minimum, he's been taking 5% of Walt's profits, per their agreement. So why is he still working as 'two-bit bus bench lawyer', as Walt calls him, operating out of a strip mall? I suppose it could be explained by Walt needing him to maintain his low-class 'cover' while laundering his money, but by the time he has to seek the vacuum cleaner repair guy's help he's talking to Walt about being forced to work a crap job in Omaha as his best bet. Even if he can't flaunt his wealth without drawing attention, shouldn't he never have to work another day in his life given how much money Walt brought in for him? Certainly Saul is smart enough to have started getting his money ready for transport, like Walt, the moment things started to unravel for them. |
| 778 | ** Saul "only" laundered enough money to pay for Walt's operation and then pay for the car wash. That's ~$170,000, and then, what was it Skyler brought the price down to, $650,00? So about $820,000 overall. Saul's cut would have been about $41,000. Not that much. A lot of money to make in a few weeks, but not "live the rest of your life in comfortable seclusion" money. |
| 779 | ** I imagine he'd need a legitimate paying job for the same reason Walt had the car wash: You can't live purely off of dirty cash. And the job is crap because he has to stay low-profile to avoid drawing attention. It'd be very suspicious if some big, huge business guy just appeared out of nowhere one day, and it'd be even more suspicious when he happens to look kinda like that sleazy Albuquerque lawyer whose cheesy late night TV commercials have gone viral on [=YouTube=], Twitter, Facebook and all the other usual social media outlets by this point due to his association with Heisenberg. Managing a Cinnabon? Well, that's something he can do. It's peaceful, it's quiet, it's low-key. It's a good gig for him. And it makes honest pay that doesn't come off as fishy. |
| 780 | ** On that matter, Cinnabon is practical with the 'keep low profile stuff'. Why not work in such an occupation as a bus driver or even a subway operator in a big city like New York? I mean, those are occupations that are kinda low-key as well. |
| 781 | ** It's a lot easier to become the manager of a Cinnabon than it is to be a bus driver or a subway operator, in terms of technical knowledge and background checks. The last thing Saul wants is a government agency testing his fake identity. |
| 782 | ** The identity eraser told him or he probably figured it out that it's not because he has different I.D that he should test them, even the best fake identity is still limited by the fact that it's not matching reality under scrutiny. So even with his money he is probably not gonna try buying expensive stuff that draw attention when paid in cash. ''Better Call Saul'' shows he's paranoid to the point that he'd rather stay in a locked room until morning than have the cops helping him. And he's pretty paranoid when he collapses in a moment of stress and gets picked up by a cab driver who might be from Albuquerque. |
| 783 | ** In "Hazard Pay" Mike takes $18,000 from each of the three leads as "Goodman's cut", so a total of $54,000 from one cook. He's clearly making bank and being cut in on everything, even if he doesn't directly launder the money. And in "Saul Gone", Goodman himself says that he made millions from his partnership with Walt. As for why he remains a bus bench lawyer, it keeps him out of suspicion, and people underestimating his (very real) legal skill because they assume he's a low-rent seedy lawyer repeatedly works out well for him (e.g. when negotiating with Jesse's parents.) |
| 784 | [[/folder]] |
| 785 | |
| 786 | [[folder: Walt's Mom]] |
| 787 | * Why doesn't Walter's mother play a bigger part in the series? It's mentioned that she's still alive, but we never see her or learn much about her. If we knew more about her, it could shed some light on what made Walter who he is and possibly his motivations for his actions in the series. |
| 788 | ** We probably don't see her for the same reason we never see what led to the falling out between Walt, Gretchen and Elliot. Introduced into the story directly, it would serve as a distraction and unnecessary plot thread. Hinted at indirectly, it gives subtle hints about Walt's character without ever revealing anything for certain. All we really know about Walt and his mom is that he has so little interest and involvement with her that he never bothers to tell her he has lung cancer and speaks about the possibility of visiting her with distaste. I think the writers simply made the judgement call that anything beyond that was unnecessary to the story. |
| 789 | [[/folder]] |
| 790 | |
| 791 | [[folder: Sparing Walt]] |
| 792 | * Why don't Jack and the Neo-Nazis [[spoiler:kill Walt after they kill Hank]]? They clearly have no loyalties to him, or anyone but themselves, and since they [[spoiler:shoot Hank]] right after Walt begs them to spare him and then steal most of his money, he's probably going to do anything he can to get revenge. Maybe they think he's in no position to get revenge on them, but [[spoiler:with a DEA Agent dead]] it justs seems beyond reckless and stupid to leave a living witness free to go, especially one who they know must now despise them. |
| 793 | ** Because [[spoiler: a.)as Jack said, Todd really liked Walter and would've be devastated if they killed him b.) I always thought that Jack liked or at least respected Walt c.) that $11 million dollars they "give" to Walter is hush-money. There's no way he can go to the police without losing it d.)Hank died because of Walt. When the investigation begins the heat will be on him which will easier if he's still alive and e.) like Jack says, he's in an incredibly good mood because of the $69 million dollars they procured.]] |
| 794 | *** An additional consideration: At this point, they have no idea how much the DEA knows. If Jack were to kill Walt and the DEA found his body, they would know that there was a new player in town and start searching for Jack's crew. By leaving Walt alive and giving him enough money to disappear, they insure that the heat stays on Heisenberg and off themselves. |
| 795 | *** If they killed Walt, they'd probably have thrown his body into the same hole they threw Hank's and Gomez's bodies into. |
| 796 | ** Why show up in the first place when [[spoiler: Walt told them not to come?]] Because they do have loyalty to him. |
| 797 | *** The first explanation was satisfactory enough, but 'Because they do have loyalty to him'? I'm not sure what word I'd use to describe [[spoiler: showing up unannounced and unwanted at a site where they start a shootout with Walt's brother-in-law, kill him and his partner, then steal nearly all of Walt's money]], but I'm pretty sure 'loyalty' is about as far away from it as I could imagine. |
| 798 | *** There is no loyalty to him. [[spoiler: Jack's only reason to help Walt at all was to get him to train Todd to have a better purity in their meth and thus increase their own profits. They showed up because as far as they knew Walter was alone with someone who was going to kill him and they still need one cook out of him.]] |
| 799 | *** They show up because Uncle Jack knew there would be something there to find. He even says to Walt that most people give very vague addresses or directions when they want you to go somewhere, but Walt gave him specific GPS co-coordinates. If that isn't where Walt was hiding his money then what else could it be? |
| 800 | ** Why would they kill him? To them he is just a cook who tried being a Corleone, better let him have the heat instead of people investigating other sources for who killed Declan and DEA agents. |
| 801 | ** Jack doesn't have loyalty to Walt per se, but he does have some sort of "honor among thieves" mentality and despises treachery. Most directly, he won't abide being considered a liar or dishonest. Killing the man that paid for protection would be treachery of the highest order. |
| 802 | [[/folder]] |
| 803 | |
| 804 | [[folder: Shaggy Dogs]] |
| 805 | * [[spoiler: Did anybody else get the feeling that 75% of the plot turned out to be ShootTheShaggyDog? Most of the charactors: dead. Skyler loses the carwash, completely negating that plot arc. Walter is exposed, so all those episodes revolving around hiding his secret identity (the 5th season premiere, killing the ten witnesses, the climax of Sunset, and so on) turned out to be for nil. Its like nothing was really *accomplished*, save the money Flynn and Skyler may never even see.]] |
| 806 | ** That may be the point, crime really ''doesn't'' pay. |
| 807 | *** The above is correct. While Walt is the main character, he is still a conniving, murderous, self-centered crook. We may have been rooting for him, but we must not forget that he is a criminal, and him and his family living happily ever after along with the rest of the characters would totally destroy the realism the show is famous for. |
| 808 | *** Also, the show is an old-school {{Tragedy}} (as in: Shakespearean) and makes no bones about it. The fundamental narrative arc of tragedy is a man whose character flaws cause a fall from grace that results in his destruction and that of those around him, and this set up from practically the first scene -- the very first episode establishes the premise that Walter White is an unhappy and frustrated man who learns he is living with a death sentence over his head and who turns to crime to address the problems this creates for him. All of these elements should only serve to generate foreboding about how well things will turn out for him and those around him. A happy ending would fly in the face of the narrative the story sets up just as much as a happy ending would ruin ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''. |
| 809 | [[/folder]] |
| 810 | |
| 811 | [[folder: Jesse's House]] |
| 812 | * Other than the apartment he rented from Jane, Jesse's house is supposed to be the same throughout the entire show right? So the house that he has his destructive parties in with hobos is still supposed to be his aunt's old house? Because he bought (or scammed I guess) it off the parents right? Why then does it look completely different after he moves back in? I know it was renovated, but the stairs aren't even in the same place, the exterior is completely different, the lounge is never seen before season 3/4. I can't see even one similarity between the house from season 1 and the house from season 4. |
| 813 | ** The rest of the house in season one isn't featured primarily in season 4. It looks different because we are never shown anything beyond the bedroom and the living room. The layout is the same; we just don't see it exactly like with the White household. |
| 814 | ** Actually, that part of the house was seen before. In season 1, when Jesse and Walt discuss Krazy-8 and flip the coin, it is the same room that we see in Jesse's house from season three onwards. In reality what happened was, they used a real house as a location, someone new bought the house and didn't want a film crew around. Later it was recreated as a set. Unfortunately the geography of the set makes no sense. The front door has moved, leading outside where it used to lead into another room. This is hand waved in season three (once the production company was able to make a new agreement with the homeowners) when Jesse comments on his parents' renovation, he mentions they "moved the garage, bold move". |
| 815 | [[/folder]] |
| 816 | |
| 817 | [[folder: Gus's "sixth sense"]] |
| 818 | * OK, Gus was able to know someone placed a bomb in his car even being meters away, so how could his "sixth sense" not tell him that there was a bomb in Hector's wheelchair when he was just a couple of centimeters away? |
| 819 | ** There was no sixth sense involved. He didn't "know" that Walt rigged his car to explode, he stopped and began thinking about why someone would poison Brock, and ran through his head everything he knew to conclude that it was to bring him out to somewhere specific. With Hector, though, Gus has ''always'' let his emotions and desire to make him hurt get the better of him, which is why he didn't consider that it was a trap (and to be fair he did send Tyrus in first to scope out the room). |
| 820 | [[/folder]] |
| 821 | |
| 822 | [[folder: Walt's "electric" escape]] |
| 823 | * When Walter escaped the radiator Mike tied him to, how did he just burn his wrist with the current he took from the cables? Shouldn't that have electrocuted him? |
| 824 | ** From what I remember, Walt only stripped the ends of the wires of their insulation, and his skin was up against the protected parts. Since he's not actually part of the completed circuit when he puts the wires together, he can't be electrocuted, just burned from being too close to the reaction. |
| 825 | ** Honestly, the real problem with that scene is where on his wrist he places the wires together to burn the zip-tie. He places the wires together almost exactly where his major artery is, which is incredibly dangerous. It would have been much smarter to do it by the edge of his wrist, or on the back where there aren't any major veins. |
| 826 | ** In actuality that entire scene wouldn't have worked. First of all trying to strip wires with your teeth would be excruciating at best, impossible at worst. But assuming he managed to do it, the breaker would have tripped the second he shorted the wires together. Chalk this scene up to artistic license. |
| 827 | [[/folder]] |
| 828 | |
| 829 | [[folder: Why would Gus bother getting into the Meth business in the first place?]] |
| 830 | * In the flashback to Maximo's death, Gus is mentioned to already be running Los Pollos Hermanos. If this is the case, why bother getting into drug making at all [[CutLexLuthorACheck when he's already making plenty of cash safely, legally, and ethically?]] |
| 831 | ** We don't know whether Gus' restaurant business was profitable at the time; it seems to be doing just fine by the "present," but that may have been due to an early cash infusion from the drug trade, and by the time it became self-sufficient he may have been in too deep to quit. Or it may not have been about the money at all; like Walt, he may have been in "the empire-building business" first and foremost. |
| 832 | ** Moreover, he was using the drug side of the business to get closer to the cartel. |
| 833 | ** Moreover, was there a point where Gus was planning to retire only to be sucked back into the entire distribution business? |
| 834 | ** Remember, Los Pollos Hermanos was always a facade, Gus did a bunch of nasty shit in Chile before even trying the meth business, and if Madrigal's higher ups suicide and arrest is any indication Gus never became that big by selling chicken. |
| 835 | ** To piggy back off what another troper was saying above, Gus was in the empire-building business. He wanted something that HE could be the sole, unquestioned master of. As we see with Los Pollos Hermanos, it was a good front company but it wasn't solely owned by him. It's operated under a parent company. Meaning Gus still has bosses. With his meth business, once his cartel enemies were out of the way, he answered to no one but himself. He's willing to swallow his pride and let Schuler be the boss he answers to with his legitimate businesses because he's indebted to Schuler. |
| 836 | [[/folder]] |
| 837 | |
| 838 | [[folder: Walt's Exile]] |
| 839 | * "Granite State" shows us all the gritty details of Walt's exile in hiding from law enforcement. While Walt's reasons for going through with it are fairly clear (determination to give his family the money he has left), Ed Galbraith the "Vacuum Cleaner Repair Guy" must have known that Walt's living conditions were no better and possibly even worse than imprisonment, especially with Walt's cancer returning. So why even bother? Chances are Walt was going to die sooner rather than later and even if he wasn't, that money would have dried up because of the expenses. There wasn't really any point to it short or long term except for Walt's refusal to go to prison. |
| 840 | ** Hell, considering that his whole schtick is to disappear someone so thoroughly that ''there is no coming back ever'', what incentive does Ed have to actually do his job? Who would know the difference if he killed his clients and threw their bodies in an incinerator? |
| 841 | ** Ed is a ConsummateProfessional. It's not that he couldn't cheat his clients; it's that he chooses not to. Of course, once the client dies, he is no longer bound to them. |
| 842 | ** One doesn't get a reputation like Ed by offing people over the years. Even the best murderers will slip up and if it gets out that someone who was supposed to be disappeared by Ed turned up dead soon after, his reputation is ruined because people see that he either killed the people himself or he didn't do a good job of disappearing his clients. Even in the criminal world, there are times when it's easier to just leave someone alive. We see in ''Better Call Saul'' and ''El Camino'' the sort of fallout Walt's actions have caused for Ed. |
| 843 | [[/folder]] |
| 844 | |
| 845 | [[folder: Walt's deal for Declan]] |
| 846 | * I understand that writers are not great at math sometimes, and we've seen the math be fuzzy in this show before, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around the partnership Walt and Declan had for a few months. Here's how I understand it. |
| 847 | ** Declan's original plan was to spend 15 million on 1000 gallons on methylamine, which he would have cooked by his chemist and sold. How much could it be sold for? Well, a deleted scene in "Dead Freight" indicates that the methylamine was good for nearly $300 million worth of meth in the hands of Walt, and Walt's offer in "Say My Name" mentions a loss of $130 million if the meth is handled by a substandard cook (implying he's talking about Declan's cook). Now, the $300 million scene is deleted and perhaps not canon, but in Season 2 in his first meeting with Gustavo he claims that his meth can be sold for double its usual rate, so I'm comfortable with the estimate at least being close. So that 1000 gallons becomes $160-170 million in Declan's hands. Then you have shipping and distributing costs, plus lab upkeep and other materials and substances required for the cook, and of course the cook gets paid. I won't try to make guesses about cost in those categories, but the series seems to indicate that the overhead of cooking meth is mostly in the cost of methylamine. In any case, $160 million of meth, minus $15 million, makes $145 million. |
| 848 | ** Walt's audible is for Declan to spend $5 million for 35% of Walt's empire, where Walt cooks the methylamine, for apparently $300 million dollars worth if he uses all 1000 gallons. So Declan's cut of that would be $100 million or so. It seems like Walt was sending half of his product through Madrigal to the Czech Republic (I believe Lydia uses the figure 25 pounds in "Gliding Over All", and Walt cooks 50 pounds a week, so this is the estimate I came up with), and I doubt Declan was seeing any of that since he couldn't have been distributing it. Now we're down to 50 million for Declan. Subtract the $5 million he gave Mike, $45 million. He still has shipping and distributing costs (since that's his role in Walt's empire), he may or not be responsible for non-methylamine cook ingredients (I would guess he's not but it's not impossible) and he doesn't have to pay his own cook anymore. That looks like a drop in profit for Declan that might be nine figures. Why would he agree to this? You can't even say it's safer for him since he's still doing distribution, which is the hardest part. Hell, even if you assume Declan's take got bigger when Jesse left, to maybe 50% (which is very generous) it's still a crap deal for him. Why'd he take it? |
| 849 | ** Because he's the cook. He's the man who killed Gus Fring. Now. Say his name. |
| 850 | [[/folder]] |
| 851 | |
| 852 | [[folder: The math of Walt's three month cook-spree]] |
| 853 | * Again, writer's can't do math, but I've been thinking about those three months in Gliding Over All where everything worked perfectly for Walt and the money he made. Ignore for a moment that the size of the pile of cash shown in the storage locker is very inconsistent with the claims of the characters in Ozymandias and onward. The show keeps using the 80 million number, so I'll use that even though that pile couldn't have possibly been more than 35 million and probably closer to 20 million. In any case, we know that as of Madrigal, Walt is broke (and actually 40 grand in debt) because of the 620k given to Ted, 800k for the car wash, 5% cut to Goodman, and assorted other expenses. The cook in Hazard Pay gets Walt back in the black by a little bit. It's implied that this was the only cook Walt did prior to Dead Freight since the methlyamine supply had been cut off. So basically, as of the start of Gliding Over All, Walt basically had nothing. He seems to cook 50 pounds a week, since the limited space in the tent doesn't allow for any more. 25 pounds go to Declan, which Walt got 65% of, and 25 pounds go to Lydia, which Walt got 70% of (Declan's deal was for 35%, and Lydia's deal was for 30%). We're never told what Walt's product sells for at this point but Declan's probably selling for around 40k a pound still, which would be a million dollars a week, Walt getting 650k. Lydia's half might be going for more since the Czech Republic is accustomed to such poor quality meth, so let's go crazy and say 60k a pound. 1.5 million, of which Walt gets 1.05 million. That's 1.7 million per week, then Todd has to get paid (he probably started getting paid at some point, right?), then Saul has to get paid (although at this point I'm not 100% sure what he's even being paid for since Skyler is laundering the money)...and we're supposed to believe 13 weeks of this got Walt 80 million? Even if Todd never got paid a dime and Saul was just taking 5%, that's 1.6 million a week, or about $21 million. Ironically, the size of the cash stack might have been accurate, but the 80 million dollar figure actually used isn't even remotely close. Walt would need to be doing 4 cooks a week, which seems impossible, or cooking 200 pounds per cook, which seems slightly less impossible. Is there anything I'm not accounting for? Or is this just a whiff on the part of the writers? |
| 854 | ** He pays Todd way less than Jesse (we already saw Mike removing the share for Vamonos Pest and it's like $20,000 each), Mike's dead and the Neo-Nazis are just contractors, so he doesn't need to pay them until he wants the job. There is no competition after his deal with Declan (the whole reason Declan wanted to buy was so that he can juke the price up with the blue meth gone), Gus out of the picture and methylamine being restricted (no one can produce cheaper crack without it) he can raise his price to equal his marginal cost if he wants since he has the monopoly of meth. Basically he is at the level where he needs to open a franchise like Gus did to launder his dirty money. |
| 855 | ** So Declan was selling for, what, $200,000 a pound? Who could even afford that? Even if that's possible, unless Lydia is price gouging to a similar degree, the math's still not there. |
| 856 | [[/folder]] |
| 857 | |
| 858 | [[folder: Gus's Caution (or Lack Thereof)]] |
| 859 | * Why would the otherwise cautious Gus discuss with Walt whether or not he knew anything about the attempt on Hank's life as well as their business in the middle of a crowded hospital full of police and DEA agents? |
| 860 | ** There are a lot of conversations going on in that lobby at the same time. All of the other conversations are filtered out so that we explicitly only hear the one between Walt and Gus. |
| 861 | *** But why even leave such a thing to chance? All it would potentially take is one cop or DEA agent to hear their conversation to start asking questions like "Why does Hank's brother-in-law think Mr. Fring here has any special knowledge about this?", "What did Gus mean by "...[hiding] in plain sight."?", "What business are these two involved in, and why would Hank be a problem for it?", which are the kinds of questions that might get a cop to open an investigation into Gus. It just doesn't seem like a risk Gus would take. |
| 862 | *** I think that Walt and Gus were actually talking in very low voices, as in, almost a whisper. Enough that they can hear each other, but not enough that their voices would carry and be picked up by anyone nearby. Anyone passing by might think that Walt and Gus were talking about something very mundane like the weather or baseball. |
| 863 | *** Watching that scene again, [[DeliciousDistraction most of the other cops are preoccupied with the free food that Gus catered to them]]. |
| 864 | [[/folder]] |
| 865 | [[folder:Police aren't upset about Leonel's death?]] |
| 866 | * So, Gus had Mike kill Leonel. When the cops get to his room just as he's declared deceased, Gomez's response is, "Burn in hell, you piece of shit." While I can understand why Gomez would feel that way, I keep thinking, shouldn't Gomez and the other cops be a bit upset that they've just lost their best potential shot at figuring out who was behind the attack on Hank? |
| 867 | ** The Cousins tried killing him in retaliation for killing Tuco. this is not a mystery to them why the Cartel goons decided to get mad at some cop screwing up their operation and killing their family member. |
| 868 | [[/folder]] |
| 869 | |
| 870 | |
| 871 | [[folder: Why Didn't They Wear Masks?]] |
| 872 | * Why didn't Walter, Jesse and Todd wear masks when they robbed the train? The engineers wouldn't be able to identify them if they were caught in the act and able to run away and Todd would probably have felt less inclined to shoot that kid who stumbled upon them at the end of it. |
| 873 | ** I don't know. If I were Drew, I'd probably be more suspicious and wonder why there are three or four men hanging out underneath this railroad trestle in the middle of the day wearing masks for no apparent reason, and I'd think they were up to something. |
| 874 | ** It wasn't being identified that they were afraid of so much as the robbery being discovered at all. As Jesse told Todd, "''nobody'' can ever know that this train got robbed." Had they been seen by the engineers, they would have been forced to kill them, abort the heist, and get the hell out of there, not to mention that the crime would be discovered since they might not have time to remove the engineers' bodies; alternately, even if the bodies were removed, there's no way you can make a freight train disappear into thin air, not to mention the authorities would have probably found the pit where the underground tanks were. All of that aside, for all we know they might have had bandannas or masks hidden in their pockets anyway. Not to mention, masks might eventually become a bit uncomfortable to wear in hot weather. I mean, they'd make you all hot and sweaty. |
| 875 | [[/folder]] |
| 876 | |
| 877 | [[folder: How do you build the pit?]] |
| 878 | * When Jack and his crew are holding Jesse, they keep him in a 10 feet deep concrete pit in the middle of their compound that can only be accessed by ladder. Since that gang has neither the smarts or resources to build that place, I assumed they took over an existing or abandoned business. What could that pit have been used for, legitimately? It seems pointless for anything except a prison. |
| 879 | ** I believe their compound used to be a sawmill. At least, that's what the old filming location was used for. |
| 880 | ** How much intelligence or resources does it take to build a concrete pit? Don't you think these guys might have some blue collar construction friends? And the dumbest seeming one (Todd) is able to cook the blue sky while partnered with Walt or Jesse. I assume you think they are stupid because of their abhorrent values, but the actual Nazis themselves weren't imbeciles (except in their value system). |
| 881 | [[/folder]] |
| 882 | |
| 883 | [[folder:Los Pollos Hermanos after Gus's death]] |
| 884 | * Given Gus's death and the revelation that he's a drug dealer, isn't Los Pollos Hermanos as a business going to suffer some loss in revenue? |
| 885 | ** It was strongly implied that the company went defunct after his death, as evidenced by the Los Pollos Hermanos sign being taken down at Madrigal in the episode of the same name. As for the fate of the restaurants, they either were shuttered or converted into establishments of the other restaurant chains that Madrigal GMBH owns, like Whiskerstay's, Burger Matic or Polmieri Pizza. The Albuquerque location may have even become the Twisters restaurant that was used for filming in real life. |
| 886 | *** I actually think that Los Pollos Hermanos didn't get shut down due to Gus's death and the reveal that he was a drug lord. In "Madrigal," when Hank and Gomez are interrogating Mike, there's dialogue that suggests that Los Pollos Hermanos may have just received new management: Hank says, "You're ''currently employed'' by the Pollos Hermanos chain. Is that correct?" If LPH had gone defunct, Hank probably would have said, "You were ''formerly employed'' by the Pollos Hermanos chain." And when asked if his job as head of corporate security is a full-time occupation, Mike says, "We have 14 locations. So, yes, it's a full-time job." If LPH was defunct, he'd have said, "We had fourteen locations. So yes, it was a full-time job." So, that's my evidence that makes me think Los Pollos Hermanos didn't cease business due to the reveal that it was a front for a drug empire. In fact, for what it's worth, in the scene of the workers taking down the Los Pollos Hermanos logo at Madrigal headquarters, it's possible that they're just taking the logo away for cleaning or are replacing it with a new LPH logo. Los Pollos Hermanos got new management, like a new CEO and new top level executives who weren't involved in the drug business. |
| 887 | ** Better way of putting it: look at KFC. If the CEO of KFC got arrested for running an underground meth operation, every KFC franchise in the world wouldn't suddenly implode. Yum Brands would simply hire a replacement, issue a public apology, and continue with business as usual. Yes, KFC is an international chain while Los Pollos Hermanos is a regional chain that only operates in the Southwest. But, basically, Gus's death and the reveal that he was a drug kingpin wouldn't shut down Los Pollos Hermanos. A new CEO would be hired to replace him or promote someone in the upper levels of LPH management to acting CEO until a replacement could be found; the company's PR team would issue a public apology, then the business continues on like nothing ever happened (I'd say Gus is kinda like a CEO of sorts). |
| 888 | [[/folder]] |
| 889 | |
| 890 | [[folder:The refrigerator truck ambushes]] |
| 891 | * Are they happening on the north side of the border or south? If on the north, wouldn't the ambushes of two different Los Pollos Hermanos refrigerator trucks make the police suspicious? |
| 892 | ** I guess the one which Mike survives in was never made known to police. |
| 893 | *** Yeah, that's possible. Except, in the second hijacking, the successful one, Gaff and his guys left, in their wake, a refrigerator truck stopped on the roadside with a shot-dead driver, as well as two dead men in the back of the truck armed with automatic carbines. Even the most inept investigator should be suspicious enough to wonder why a small fast food company would need to hire armed guards for its trucks. |
| 894 | *** As with the two dead dealers that Walt killed before Jesse got to them, Gus has the resources to clean up messes fairly quickly. I imagine his trucks have GPS on them and some way of signaling that something's gone wrong (perhaps the driver is told, "If your truck is ambushed, press this button and it will automatically radio a distress signal"; it's not entirely unrealistic either because many shipping companies use such devices on their own trucks). Mike and a crew could come in and clean up before highways patrol finds the truck. |
| 895 | *** After watching Mike's crusade against Hector Salamanca in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', I think a few things came up: 1) the attacks definitely were happening on the north side of the border since there's no way the trucks would be allowed through a border crossing with heavily armed guards without arousing suspicion. Not to mention that Los Pollos doesn't seem to have any locations in Mexico. And 2) after Mike attacked one of Hector's trucks, Nacho mentioned that Hector's crew cleaned up the scene so that officially it never happened. Gus has a similar thing going on, since he sends men in "Bad Choice Road" to remove the bodies and vehicles of the gang that tried to rob Jimmy of Lalo's bail money. |
| 896 | [[/folder]] |
| 897 | |
| 898 | [[folder:When body disposal is necessary]] |
| 899 | * Watching "Dead Freight", I have to ask, was it necessary to dispose of Drew Sharp's body? Couldn't they have left the body there and everything afterwards would be unchanged? |
| 900 | ** Walt and crew were far too careful and cautious for that. Drew's body would have been found relatively soon. Coroners can determine how long a body has been sitting there, and although the natural elements might mess them up, they'd determine from how long he'd been there exactly ''when'' he'd died, which could conceivably led them to the train which was robbed. Now, it might be extremely unlikely that it ever could have led back to Walt and the others, but it would have been uncharacteristically careless of Walt to just leave the boy's body there and hope that something like a coyote gets there before the cops do. |
| 901 | *** I'd like to add on to this. Suppose someone stumbled upon and found the body, the cops matched the time of death to the time a train passed by. They question the crew, who mention that suspicious truck driver who was stuck on the track. Using either the physical description or the license plate of the truck, they track down Kuby. While it's unlikely he'd talk, the mere possibility of him spilling the beans would be too much of a risk for someone like Walt. |
| 902 | * Speaking of body disposal, there's the matter of Hank's and Gomez's bodies. After they're killed by Jack and his gang, the gang throws their bodies into the hole where Walt's money was found. From a writer's standpoint, it looks to me like this was done so Walt would have something to give to Skyler as leverage so she could cut a deal with the prosecutor (the lottery ticket with the coordinates to the burial site), but in-universe, was it necessary? It seems to me it wasn't necessary because it was mentioned in another folder that Jack and co. spared Walt possibly because they wanted the heat to stay on Heisenberg and the heat would eventually turn on them if Walt's body turned up. And the only evidence that I think Jack's crew left behind would be all those spent shell casings from their guns (can they even trace spent shells back to the gun that fired them?) and the tire tracks from their vehicles. |
| 903 | ** The Neo-Nazis just spent ages digging up the cash barrels. Now, they've got a big, deep hole that they need to fill in anyway. They probably don't feel like going off with the bodies (thus increasing their chances of getting caught with them), finding a new spot, digging a new hole, & filling in ''that'' hole. They don't anticipate it mattering to them that Walt happens to know the coordinates of the grave site (& indeed, in the end, it never does). |
| 904 | |
| 905 | [[/folder]] |
| 906 | |
| 907 | [[folder:What if Hank was spared?]] |
| 908 | * Had Hank been spared after the shootout in the desert, instead of being executed by Jack, what would've happened next for him? Would he reluctantly work with Walt to bring down the Neo-Nazis if Walt agreed to turn himself in? |
| 909 | [[/folder]] |
| 910 | |
| 911 | |
| 912 | [[folder:Could Lydia have survived?]] |
| 913 | * When Walt tells Lydia that she is sick and will die from ricin poisoning, Lydia has what otherwise appeared to be a bad flu. Could she have made it to a hospital and used her connections and money for treatment? She may also have to use said resources to hide, perhaps in a secret hospital (like the one Gus had arranged) or in an isolation ward in a legitimate hospital. Depending on the interval between ingesting the ricin at the cafe and Walt's phone call (and other factors), what could she have done? |
| 914 | ** Well, ricin is treatable, as ''Series/{{Monk}}'' showed in his finale. However, once the symptoms start showing and it enters the bloodstream, for the most part, you're probably doomed. However, Lydia was administered ''weapons-grade'' poison that was brewed by a master chemist, not something that was probably derived from castor beans that also gave his victim more time to get treatment. This means Lydia probably keeled over less than a day later. |
| 915 | ** Maybe she can make it but by that point it's not like Walt cares. |
| 916 | ** ''El Camino'' makes clear she died. |
| 917 | [[/folder]] |
| 918 | |
| 919 | [[folder:Gus's warning to Hank in "One Minute"]] |
| 920 | * To play both sides against each other, Gus puts out a hit on Hank but then tips Hank off by calling him and using a scrambler to disguise his voice. But when he makes the call, he says "They're approaching your car. You have one minute," as if he knows that Hank is sitting in his car right at that very moment. So how would Gus know that? Was he watching the attack from nearby or did he have his foot soldiers like Victor and/or Tyrus Kitt informing him on both Hank's movements and the Cousins' movements? |
| 921 | ** Likely the latter. Gus rarely conducted meth business publicly, so the likelihood that he himself would go out in the open where he knew a hit was about to take place is pretty low. |
| 922 | [[/folder]] |
| 923 | |
| 924 | [[folder:A "One Minute" / "I See You" question]] |
| 925 | * On the recap page for "One Minute," it was noted that realistically, Marco should have had several of his ribs broken and his lungs punctured when Hank shot his vest at close range (seeing how we saw that accurately portrayed earlier in the same episode when they tried out the effectiveness of the vests by shooting the one being worn by the arms dealer who sold to them). So in this case, both Cousins would have survived. Had both Cousins lived, wouldn't it be a bit more difficult for Gus to silence them to keep them from talking to the police? Also, wouldn't this greatly affect the rest of the series (seeing how Hank wouldn't have been shot twice in the chest and thus, probably wouldn't be bedridden)? |
| 926 | ** Potentially, but not necessarily. Remember Hector Salamanca's refusal to talk to the DEA, even when it was to incriminate a man he despised? He hated Walter, but he hated the DEA even more. Chances are, this is a hatred he's instilled in his nephews, so the chance that they would go to the police isn't so great. |
| 927 | *** When Bolsa called Gus demanding answers, he talked about getting "the best lawyer" for the surviving Leonel to find the truth, implying that due to the special circumstances (attacks on law enforcement are generally frowned upon for the heat they bring), they'd be lawyering up Leonel to get the truth about the shooting out in the open. Bolsa also mentioned having a brother who was a police chief for a town or a city(?) right before he died. |
| 928 | [[/folder]] |
| 929 | |
| 930 | [[folder:About "Dead Freight"'s train]] |
| 931 | * Lydia explains that the methylamine tanker car departs from Long Beach and travels on via Flagstaff and New Mexico to get to Texas and Oklahoma. The heist supposedly happens in [=McKinley=] County, and, true, the Southern Transcon (which this tanker car likely is traveling on) does travel through that county. Wouldn't it be more likely for the tanker car to be in the middle of a long haul BNSF freight train as opposed to in the middle of what looks like a local branch train that delivers goods to local industries? |
| 932 | ** The Southern Transcon line through [=McKinley=] County is a very busy double track line. It also parallels I-40 through the entire county. At no point are the tracks out of sight from the Interstate and at some points it’s no more than about 50 feet from the road. So in short they never would’ve been able to pull off the heist in the manner in which it was done since they would’ve been seen by thousands of people. This is pretty much the case with every major rail line in the state as they all parallel major roads. This is clearly just some artistic license. They also clearly filmed it on some rarely used single track spur line and the Sandia Mountains are clearly visible in the background of a few shots so it had to be somewhere near Albuquerque which is more than 100 miles from the nearest point in [=McKinley=] County. |
| 933 | [[/folder]] |
| 934 | |
| 935 | [[folder:The blame for Hank getting shot]] |
| 936 | * In "I See You," after Hank gets shot and is hospitalized, Marie projects her anger on Merkert and Gomez and blames Merkert for putting Hank into the situation since he was forced to follow protocol and confiscate Hank's gun; and once they remove themselves, she turns on Walt and blames him for causing Hank to learn Jesse's name. So who has the most blame outside of the Cousins for setting up the circumstances for Hank to get shot? Did Hank's superiors have some liability or was Marie just trying to find someone to blame? |
| 937 | ** Marie was just looking for someone to blame, a very understandable thing for someone in her shoes to do. Skyler even mentions this to her after she starts trying to blame Walt. |
| 938 | ** Marie is, understandably upset. This is her husband who just got shot and it's perfectly understandable that she'd want someone to blame. I'm sure many people have been through the same experience Marie goes through in this episode. From an out-of-show standpoint, I think that Walt has the most responsibility for causing Hank to be unarmed when he got shot: it was on Walt's orders that Saul had his secretary make that phone call to Hank to lure him away from the junkyard while Walt and Jesse got the RV destroyed. However, it also seems to me that there is no way anyone could have foreseen that Hank would be so pissed off upon finding that the call was a hoax that he would respond by assaulting Jesse. ASAC Merkert has a tiny bit of liability for stripping Hank of his gun, but it's very small because he was merely following policies; and at the time that he asked Hank to surrender his gun and badge, the only person who knew that there was a contract out on Hank's life happened to be the very person who sanctioned the attack: Gus. |
| 939 | [[/folder]] |
| 940 | |
| 941 | [[folder:Fingerprints aren't used?]] |
| 942 | * After Tuco's death, Jesse is brought in for questioning. Hank is certain that Jesse was at Tuco's place because his car was found there. Why not use fingerprints to place him at the scene? I know he'd be able to explain away fingerprints on his car considering that he's the owner of it, but I doubt he'd be able to explain away any fingerprints of his inside the cabin (and I think he left prints on a couple of things, such as a water jug). Furthermore, Walt held the assault rifle that Tuco used at one point, so shouldn't some of his prints be on that gun? Or were they contaminated? |
| 943 | ** Contrary to popular belief, it's actually quite difficult to get viable fingerprints from a crime scene because a lot of people have touched things in an environment, and one would need to dust every surface and catalog and collect every print, assuming any of them are complete enough to identify. Also, guns are not the best items to have prints on them due to the material, uneven surfaces, and the number of people that touch them. |
| 944 | [[/folder]] |
| 945 | |
| 946 | [[folder: Ignored confession]] |
| 947 | * So in the episode "Fly", Jesse gives Walt sleeping pills which causes Walt to babble as he starts drifting off, and one of the things he admits in passing is that "I went to [Jesse's] house" the night Jane died. How come Jesse doesn't react to this at all? |
| 948 | ** Walt went there twice on the same night. The first time was when he decided to bring Jane the money in the evening. Then after talking about parenting and stuff with her father, he decided to come back when they were dead asleep. Jesse just assumed he was talking about the first time, that he could just not give in to Jane's blackmailing (and the realization that her threat would have probably sent Jesse to prison too and rid them of any hope of getting money anyway) and stick to not giving money for heroin. And Walt, though he surely feels most guilt about coming back, is also talking about the first time, as he mentions how he shouldn't have left home at all that evening and die right before he stepped out, not getting involved with Jane and her father ever. |
| 949 | [[/folder]] |
| 950 | |
| 951 | [[folder: Hank's internal thinking]] |
| 952 | * I'm not the best at interpreting, but it's clear that Hank immediately has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction upon beating Jesse unconscious. Obviously, part of it is, "Oh my gosh, I just let my anger get the better of me". But during that scene, and when he's watching Jesse get loaded into the ambulance, could Hank have also been thinking, "What should have I done instead"? If he were thinking about what he should have done in response to the hoax phone call had he not let his anger cloud his judgment, what would be going through his head? To put it another way, what would Hank have done if he didn't beat Jesse up? |
| 953 | ** Who can say? What Jesse did was technically a prank call, and, to my knowledge, prank calls aren't illegal. Even if Hank confronted Jesse about the fake call, there isn't much legally that he could have done to get Jesse in trouble with the police. They'd think he was a scumbag, sure, but that's it. Essentially, the scene would have been irrelevant had Hank not beaten Jesse up. |
| 954 | *** They ''are'' illegal when you pose as a cop or firefighter or government official, and it is illegal to prank-call government officials, police departments, fire departments, ambulance services, etc. I mean, "swatting" incidents are prank calls. So there's that... |
| 955 | ** Can he prove Jesse arranged the prank call? Gonna be hard since he was talking to him the whole time. It could have been a coincidence and after sending the guy to the hospital it doesn't matter what he should have done he fucked up and it's over. |
| 956 | ** Speaking of proof, could Hank even definitevely prove that it was Jesse he was talking to? All he heard was a voice coming out of the RV, he never saw anyone's face and Jesse never said his name or gave Hank any confirmation of his identity. Jesse could have just flat out denied being in the RV at all. |
| 957 | ** I would suspect Hank was still mainly freaking out over how Jesse (he believes) managed to stage the call considering there was a least one accomplice (the caller) and that somehow they had Hank's phone number and wife's name. While he was beating Jesse, he keeps asking Jesse who he works for. The bizarreness of the entire situation would be quite something to ponder. |
| 958 | [[/folder]] |
| 959 | |
| 960 | [[folder:"I know a guy who knows a guy who knows Gus"]] |
| 961 | * In "Mandala", Gus's introductory episode, Saul says he doesn't know the name of the distributor he can get Walt and Jesse hooked up with, only knowing that the guy's got a reputation for being low-profile and has been in business for 20 years without being caught. However, it's suggested that the meeting with Gus was probably brokered through Mike. ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' makes it clear that Saul and Mike go back seven years back when Saul was just Jimmy [=McGill=] the underpaid public defender, and Mike was just a parking lot attendant. Since it's clear they've known each other for at least seven years, does Saul legitimately not know the name of the distributor or does he just pretend he doesn't know Gus to maintain plausible deniability? |
| 962 | ** Two possibilities: |
| 963 | *** A) Mike acts more like Gus' fixer, and he is not involved with the big decisions in the drug business with Gus usually, at least as far as bringing on a brand new supplier/manufacturer. In that case it could be that Saul would call Mike, but he'd relay it through to Victor, then onto Gus. Take into account that it was Victor who stopped Walter at Los Pollos Hermanos and told him where to make the drop and the deadline. So, off that, Victor seems to be more coordinated in the dealing aspect of the business, whereas Mike seems to be more into the "fixer" type stuff and running security details. Now one argument against this theory would be Gus' discussion in season 3 with Mike where Gus gives him the green light to take on Jesse's solo cook/product. So maybe any situation with brand new suppliers has to be run up the chain of command for that portion of the business first, and Victor has a closer correspondence with Gus in that case. |
| 964 | *** B) Saul is genuinely fearful of Gus and wants to stay as far away from any communication with him as possible so in some psychological way, he adds another middle guy to make him feel more distanced and to stay as far away from him as possible in the event that Walt ever wanted Saul to talk to Gus personally. He might not want any part in that. It's interesting how, at least in ''Breaking Bad'', Saul and Gus remain at as far a distance as any in that world throughout the show to the point that they're never onscreen together. Almost everyone else in the business has some interaction or another of some kind, or at least come close, but Saul never goes anywhere near Gus. Or maybe Mike doesn't want Saul to know how close to Gus he is, so he makes it seem like he has to talk to someone else (like Victor) to get to Gus, because Gus doesn't want himself to appear easily accessible to Saul to keep his mysteriousness up, which draws in with the entire "hiding in plain sight" mantra that Gus lives by. If Gus was easily accessible, Saul could get the impression he could send anyone to him, whereas Gus wants to be like an exclusive country club for elites (and the answers to other questions make clear that Gus might be very particular about who he'll take on as suppliers). It's like that conversation after Victor's death where Mike tells Walter that he'll never see Gus again- Gus basically completely severs all contact with certain people and uses Mike as his shield from anyone he finds trivial or untrustworthy. |
| 965 | ** ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' season 3, as of "Sunk Costs", seems to suggest that Jimmy probably was lying to give the impression that Gus was hard to reach. He interacted with Gus when Gus caught him snooping in the trash can, trying to follow the bag man Mike had been tailing. |
| 966 | *** He did, but Gus was nothing more than the restaurant owner at that point. Jimmy was spying on the other guy and had no reason to suspect anyone else. |
| 967 | *** After that episode, Jimmy never met Gus again. And Mike clearly told him that he should mind his own business for his own good. |
| 968 | [[/folder]] |
| 969 | |
| 970 | [[folder:Hank didn't try calling 911?]] |
| 971 | * In "One Minute," Hank gets a phone call from Gus, who's using a scrambler to disguise his voice, telling him that the Cousins are coming. The moment Gus hangs up, Hank immediately calls Gomez, because he thinks it's a prank call but gets his voicemail. Then he sits in the car, looking for the two hitmen. Approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds later, they attack. In that 75 seconds that Hank had between when he attempted to call Gomez and when the Cousins attacked, why did he not bother to call 911? I keep thinking that while this might not prevent Hank from getting shot, it would've prevented the Cousins from getting away seeing how instead of the police knowing of the attack the moment 911 calls start flooding in from bystanders in the parking lot, there'd already have units en route by the time the Cousins attacked. |
| 972 | ** I think Hank didn't want to look like a little boy scared over a prank call. Before the twins appeared there wasn't any other indication that something really is wrong and he probably didn't want anybody to see him that nervous because of nothing, as it would damage that big tough guy image he's so inclined to keep. What I do wonder is why Hank didn't just drive the hell out of there... |
| 973 | *** OP here: Watching the scene again, Hank calls Gomez because he thinks it's a prank call. But in the middle of starting to chew out Gomez on voicemail, Hank suddenly stops and says, "Call me when you get this," which to me suggests that Hank ''did'' realize, "That was ''not'' a prank call." Admittedly, driving away probably would be an okay option. If anything, I might have done it like this - drive as fast as I can to the nearest police station where I know there will be armed backup to thwart any assassins who might be after me. I don't know how far the nearest police station is from that parking lot in real life, but I might consider that option. |
| 974 | ** There's also no way the police would have made it there in time to help anyway. Even if Hank had assumed the call was real and immediately called 911, the chance that they would have made it to him quickly enough to provide back up or prevent it is almost zero, as the twins were already on the scene and arrived at his car in barely over a minute. |
| 975 | ** He was in a courthouse no? Wouldn't there already be cops to rush in? |
| 976 | *** He was at a shopping center. |
| 977 | [[/folder]] |
| 978 | |
| 979 | [[folder:The search for Hank's body]] |
| 980 | * Weird question: [[http://imgur.com/a/pbKWU based on the newspaper props from "Granite State"]], it seems like Hank's and Gomez's bodies hadn't turned up even two months after the events of "Ozymandias". Yet, why didn't the authorities try to get the GPS coordinates for the last phone call that Hank made before the Neo-Nazis showed up? They should have methods to determine where the phone call was made. Or, shouldn't someone have eventually driven through that part of the To'hajiilee reservation and noticed the shot-up car on the side of the road? I think that would narrow down the search area. |
| 981 | ** Hank's phone was a flip phone; it never looked to be a phone that would have GPS. Even phones with GPS don't send their coordinates with every call. The cell system would know which tower the phone was using (even if it wasn't in a call; as long as the phone had a signal) and a very approximate (especially considering how far apart towers are in the New Mexico desert) azimuth... say within about a 60 degree angle... from tower to phone; an even more approximate estimate of distance might be obtained from the signal strength received by the tower. That would be a very slim clue. The shot-up Chrysler is a much better bet. |
| 982 | [[/folder]] |
| 983 | |
| 984 | [[folder:The motive behind Victor's death]] |
| 985 | * I won't deny, Victor's death was impressive, shocking, and very well done since it made clear what Gus is capable of. But what was Gus's immediate or strongest motive for getting rid of Victor? So far, I can think of a few reasons why he chose to kill Victor, and chose to do right there and then in the way he did it: |
| 986 | ##It's a horrifying and gruesome intimidation tactic. I say this because in my opinion, it is the most shockingly violent scene of the entire series, even more so than the prison assassinations in "Gliding Over All" or Gus's own death. |
| 987 | ##Killing Victor means destroying a potential link to Gale's murder. |
| 988 | ##In doing so, Gus quite literally corners Walt and Jesse, imprisons them, and forces them to be his only cooks. He removes the only other person (Victor) who purports to know Walt's formula. When he says, "Well? ''Get back to work,''" as he's leaving, in no uncertain terms, he's really saying "so long as you are alive, you '''will''' cook for me and you have no say in the matter." As Jesse notes to Walt in the following scene at the diner, while they made it out alive, Gus just made their lives a living hell. |
| 989 | ##This is a bit of a stretch and actually ties in with reason #2: a fourth possible reason is that Victor had become a serious liability. After bringing in Jesse, Mike asks Victor if Jesse was seen. Victor says "No." Mike then asks, "What about you?" Victor reluctantly replies, "Yeah. So what?" as if being spotted by eyewitnesses was no big deal. Mike certainly called Gus off-camera and told him what had just happened, since Gus is aware that both Jesse and Walt are in the lab when he arrives. I think he went to the lab with the full intent of killing Victor in front of everyone. I see no hesitation or self-doubt in the killing, as it feels typical of the hyper-calculated Gus. He walks in, suits up, searches for a killing tool, paces around Walt and Jesse, and then kills Victor. |
| 990 | ##Also tying to #2: Gale was Victor's responsibility. Failing to protect him was an act punishable by death. If you watch the scene again, you notice that Mike pulls out his pistol and points it at Gus the moment Gus starts slicing Victor's jugular vein. Perhaps Gus was putting the fear of failure into his "employees." His intent, as I see it, was to intimidate Walt and Jesse (and to some extent, also intimidate Mike, which explains Mike's unwavering loyalty) while also getting rid of a loose end. This action doesn't become justified until "Hermanos" when he's brought to the DEA for questioning and sees the police sketch of Victor. |
| 991 | ##Relating to that is that perhaps, in Gus's eyes, Victor ''and Mike'' could also be partially responsible for what had happened to Gale. They had allowed Walt to find out where Gale lived, while he hid Jesse under their noses and carried out another act against Gus. Someone had to be killed as the penalty for failing to protect Gale. Victor knew this, and, for what it's worth, I think that he also knew that Gus would choose the one who held the least amount of importance to his business. That would at least explain why Victor decided to cook that batch of meth: he was desperately trying to show Gus he was more valuable, and that he could take Walt's place and that it would be Walt who would die, not him. Unfortunately for him, it just didn't work. |
| 992 | ** There is no real order of importance. Gus probably didn't know Victor was spotted at the crime scene since Mike didn't told him. He likely just snapped at how everything went poorly. |
| 993 | ** My assumption is that Victor's unprofessional and extraordinarily reckless behavior at the crime scene is what sealed his fate, and Mike did have the private call with Gus where he no doubt explained it all. Gus's actual method of killing Victor was to threaten Walt and Jesse, but also a very convenient place to do it. (It's also possible there's a hidden side story here regarding Victor and Gale. Victor was crazy reckless at the crime scene and flippant to Mike about it, extraordinary behavior for a long time lieutenant of Gus. Victor is far more emotional here than seems warranted, which leads some to believe Victor and Gale were lovers. Gale might have even been tutoring Victor on the lab process.) |
| 994 | [[/folder]] |
| 995 | |
| 996 | [[folder:Was there another solution other than poisoning Brock?]] |
| 997 | * Walt's poisoning of Brock was not a good thing to do at all. That said, there were very concrete reasons for doing it: Gus had just put a death sentence on Hank, and threatened Walt's family. Obviously Walt had to do something about this, and he felt that the only way he could do this was to get Jesse back on his side. Poisoning Brock and manipulating Jesse into thinking Gus did it was what he chose to do. I am not saying it was a good thing to do. But in Walt's twisted view of the greater good (the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few), which was saving his family and Hank, maybe it wasn't so despicable as many make it out to be. That aside, was there any other solution that could have gotten Walt out of hot water with Gus, and averted danger, that ''didn't'' involve poisoning Brock? |
| 998 | ** Well I suppose if Walt wasn't so arrogant in his interactions with Jesse, telling him to go to Mexico, screw up like a dumb fuck he is and die or that nobody actually needs Jesse, they're just using him to get to Walt (even if it's true, there's really no need to tell your only possible friend there that he's nobody), he could be just talked into helping easily, especially with some crying over baby Holly fate promised by Gus. No? |
| 999 | ** Going to the cops. |
| 1000 | [[/folder]] |
| 1001 | |
| 1002 | [[folder:Hank and Gomez going out into the desert by themselves?]] |
| 1003 | * I'm curious as to why Hank went out alone with Gomez. In real life, would Hank lose his job because he never guessed Walt was Heisenberg? ICYMI, Hank was the one who suspected Gus when everyone else didn't, so he's clearly one of the best DEA agents on the team. If Hank didn't suspect Walt, you can be sure nobody else would have done. So I don't understand why he did that fateful desert run with just Gomez and didn't bother to bring, say, a whole SWAT team along just in case things got dicey. I mean, OK, they probably couldn't account for Uncle Jack's crew showing up, but still, oversight maybe? Or did Hank's pride control his fate? |
| 1004 | * On a related note, why didn't he call for backup before confronting Jack's crew? Obviously backup would have gotten there late but at least it would have given the police something to work with and I'm sure his car had a GPS or something to locate it. Or was it his own ambition that he did not want to tell his colleagues since it was a 'secret' operation only he and Gomez knew of, and he wanted to benefit once he had Walt? |
| 1005 | ** Hank and Gomez were working this case off the books. They withheld information, kidnapped Huell, made a deal with Jesse without consulting anyone, and essentially were taking the law into their own hands. No one knew about the intricacies of the case, specifically that Walter was Heisenberg, but the two of them, because Hank knew no one would ever believe his story that a former high school chemistry teacher with lung cancer was really a meth kingpin. Calling for backup would have meant having to explain what was happening, which was out of the question for Hank. As for why they didn't call after Jack's crew arrived, it's simple - there was no time. They were already in the middle of a standoff the minute they rolled up. |
| 1006 | ** Hank mentioned he knows he'll have to face the music, but he'll rather get fired than let a meth kingpin get away with murder. |
| 1007 | ** Partly Hank's pride at being fooled by Walt, partly his repeated tendency to go off half cocked on emotion. They should have at least called the tribal police for backup on the way there. It doesn't take rocket scientist to realize someone might have hired their own security to protect tens of millions. And they should have IMMEDIATELY called the DEA after arresting Walt. Are Hank and Gomez going to dig out the money themselves or just leave it there while they take Walt in? |
| 1008 | [[/folder]] |
| 1009 | |
| 1010 | [[folder:Why did Walter Jr/Flynn call the cops on Walter?]] |
| 1011 | * From my recollection of "Ozymandias," ''Skyler'' was the one in that scene acting completely erratic and out of control by stabbing Walter's arm with a kitchen knife, without any provocation whatsoever. Then all Walter did, in what I think anyone would see as self-defense, was try to restrain her and make her let go of the knife. Then Walter Jr/Flynn jumps between them, blocking Walter from Skyler, then calls the police claiming his dad is "being violent and attacking my mom." How is Walter the aggressor here? Look, I've heard this happens very often in real life domestic abuse cases where a girl attacks a guy, and if the guy retaliates in the slightest form possible, he's seen as the one in the wrong.\ |
| 1012 | \ |
| 1013 | I mean, okay, I can understand how Walt Jr. immediately deduced that Hank had been killed (he's just been told that Walt is a drug kingpin who has been arrested by his DEA agent uncle. Skyler has admitted to enabling him, hence the exchange in the car. Then Walt turns up, apparently not in handcuffs, disheveled, panic-stricken and desperate to get the family out of the house, without explanation. The obvious - and correct - conclusion is that Hank is dead, as nothing else could explain Walt's not-arrested presence in the house), and I can understand why Walt Jr. was obviously extremely disillusioned and furious with Walt, having learned that Walt was a drug lord and appears to have killed Hank. It just, in my opinion, it doesn't explain to me, why was Junior so quick to defend his ''mother'', who is also far from being an innocent woman - since she was involved in the money laundering and whatnot - and whom he had just witnessed stab his own father with a knife, to which his father reacted to quite harmlessly, then felt obligated to tell the dispatcher "my dad is acting crazy and attacked my mom"? |
| 1014 | ** I feel like you answered your own question. Skyler was passively involved in helping launder the money, and Junior was rightfully pissed about that, but as far as he knows, Walt just ''killed a man'' -- a family member, to boot. Of ''course'' Junior's going to side with his mom over the man who literally just slaughtered his uncle. |
| 1015 | *** That aside, it's an extremely gratifying moment - Walter Jr. spends the entire series siding with his father, insulting his mother to her face about the divorce and calling her names, not knowing that she's trying to escape Walter's increasingly tight grip. To have him finally understand in that moment what Skyler's been going through and been trying to do all along and stand up for her, defending her physically from Walter, was one of the best parts of that episode. |
| 1016 | ** To explain their behavior a little more, this isn't a case of Skyler attacking Walter for funsies and her son taking her side. The provocation was that as far as they knew, Walt--a dangerous drug-dealer whom Skyler knew had blown up a nursing home and who knows what else--had just killed Hank and was refusing to leave their house and leave them alone. Watch the way she approaches the knife, with nothing else in focus--she was on MamaBear autopilot. We, the audience, know that it was uncalled for, but they don't. That said, Jr. appeared to be struggling with himself until that moment. Having just watched the scene, I definitely heard him yell "Mom! Stop!" while the two of them are fighting, and then he says "Dad! Stop!" when Walter starts to get the upper hand. In the last moment, Walt is pinning Skyler and holding the knife, and for all Walt Jr. knows the next step is that his dad, who has apparently just killed Hank, is about to stab his mother as well. Walter was in reality just defending himself from Skyler, yes, but both Skyler and Walt Jr. were under the very vivid impression that he ''was'' crazy and dangerous, and that is why Walt Jr. said what he did to the police. |
| 1017 | [[/folder]] |
| 1018 | |
| 1019 | [[folder:Question about what was going through Walt's head in To'hajiilee]] |
| 1020 | * When Walt drove out to the place where he buried his money, he is expecting Jesse to be there, but he's not. Walt then takes the battery out of his phone and ditches it. He then sees a vehicle coming up the road and then puts the battery back in the phone to call Jack. He tells Jack that Jesse is coming for him and to get down there right away to kill him. However, could Walt have taken the battery out of the phone because he realized it was a police set up? Jesse does not have the technology available to trace a cell phone call, so why would he take the battery out of his phone if he did not believe the police were after him? When he puts the battery back in, he tells Jack that it's Jesse who is after him. So since he took the battery out of his phone cause he thought it was a police set up, then wouldn't he assume that the police or Feds are in the vehicle, instead of just Jesse? |
| 1021 | ** Hank, Jesse, and Gomez explain this when they cuff Walter - the details didn't matter, because all that Walter knew was that Jesse sent him a photo of a barrel of money, and claimed that this was his, and Walter went into a frenzy at the thought of losing his money, inadvertently driving to the real location and leading them there. The point of Jesse demanding that Walter stay on the phone was so the police could track him. As for why he takes the battery out of the phone, it's probably force of habit at this point; he's frequently discarding phones to keep from being tracked. |
| 1022 | [[/folder]] |
| 1023 | |
| 1024 | [[folder:Mike the Alcoholic]] |
| 1025 | * After Gus kills Victor, we eventually see Mike having a drink in a bar. But this contrasts with what we know of Mike from ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' where he tells the investigators asking him about Hoffman and Fenskes' deaths that he's been trying to stay away from the bottle since he moved away from Philadelphia. Did Mike actually become an alcoholic after his son was killed, whether it was just an act so no one in the department would know he was looking into his son's death, or did Victor's death unhinge Mike just enough that he felt he needed to have a drink? |
| 1026 | ** In ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', Mike was lying or at least had weak resolve. He was shown paying rounds for the house after hitting Hector's first truck, he keeps beer in his fridge, and he has a pretty bad relapse after he kills Werner. |
| 1027 | ** He didn't say he was trying to stay away from the bottle. In Five-O, Mike told the two visiting cops that he felt like he had "crawled from the bottom of a bottle and is working hard to stay there". That's probably true but he is also trying to steer (basically derail) the conversation. In that BCS episode, he also convincingly plays drunk well enough to fool two other cops. As for relapsing or whatever, that implies Mike is following an abstinence only philosophy like AA, but I don't believe there's any indication he's doing so. |
| 1028 | [[/folder]] |
| 1029 | |
| 1030 | [[folder:Gus's family]] |
| 1031 | * In "Abiquiu", Gus has Walter over to his home for dinner. In this scene, Gus says that he doesn't have many opportunities to cook this particular dish because his kids won't eat it. This seems to imply that Gus has a family of some sort, but we never see them or hear about them again. It's possible that he may have been lying as a way to earn Walt's trust (since he knows from using Mike to do background checks, that Walt is a family man) but it's also possible that Gus really does have a family but keeps them at a safe distance from his business so they won't get hurt. Or maybe he was talking about someone else's kids altogether. It's a strange line that has always stuck out and made me wonder: does Gus have a family that he keeps at a distance or not? |
| 1032 | ** Given how little we actually know about Gus's backstory, either possibility is valid. It seems the most likely that Gus does not have a family, as he is a businessman first, and having a family is a dangerous liability for someone in such a business. It's also implied that he and Max were a couple, with WordOfGod stating that this is a valid interpretation of their relationship, so if one subscribes to that belief, then it makes it even more likely that Gus does not have a family, unable to get over the violent murder of his lover. |
| 1033 | [[/folder]] |
| 1034 | |
| 1035 | [[folder:How come the DEA never thought of Jesse as a suspect in Hank's shooting?]] |
| 1036 | * Yes, Leonel and Marco had tattoos on them denoting cartel affiliations. But why didn't the DEA suspect that ''Jesse'' could have hired those two to do it (yes, I know Jesse didn't hire them, Gus did)? I mean, look at it without knowing that Gus was the one who sent the Cousins after Hank. Here's what the DEA knows: Hank beat up Jesse, then barely a few hours after getting suspended for that, he got shot, but still manages to kill one of his attackers and cripples the other one, who conveniently dies before he can be questioned about the shooting. How can the DEA not possibly think Jesse may have hired them? For all they know, Jesse told one of his visitors in the hospital "[[Film/TheUntouchables I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Hank Schrader, I want him dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burned to the ground! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna piss on his ashes!]]" and then that visitor could have hired the Cousins. Yes, it is assumable that the Cousins are cartel guys, but by disregarding Jesse completely, it is rather sloppy police work, because it is just as likely it could have been Jesse who hired them because of the coincidental timing of events. Yes, they fit the appearance of cartel guys, but until positively identified as Tuco's cousins, I think it hard to believe that the DEA would throw a coincidence out the window, without even considering it. |
| 1037 | * Put it another way, I would think the DEA would want to question Jesse about Hank getting shot. If I were Gomez, I would start by looking at suspects who had recent problems with Hank (and Merkert even says to Walt at the hospital something along the lines of "the shooting could be related to an investigation Hank was working on or a message to the DEA in general"). And it was only a few days since he beat Jesse up, so I think they would naturally think of that first. Jesse should be the first suspect they look into as well, before anyone else, or at least that's how I would treat it if I were Gomez: go to the most recent suspect, instead of skipping over him. Jesse would end up on radar because of that. |
| 1038 | ** Because A) they will look like dumbasses harassing the same guy again ("oh before he killed Tuco but now he is best buddy with ''his cousins''") and B) to the DEA Jesse is still a small fry. |
| 1039 | ** Except there are a few things to consider, which is the entire reason I think the police would want to question Jesse: |
| 1040 | *** 1. Jesse drops the charges against Hank for the assault. A couple of hours later, Hank gets shot by two cartel assassins. You could argue Jesse dropped the charges because he knew Hank would be dealt with another way. Jesse may be "small fry," but he ''does'' have a cartel link. After all,.... |
| 1041 | *** 2. ....remember how Jesse's Monte Carlo turned up at Hector/Tuco's desert compound, and it was the Lojack on that car that led Hank to Tuco and thus that gunfight? Well, someone might float the possibility that Jesse escaped a deal gone bad in which Tuco had been injured prior to Hank showing up. |
| 1042 | *** 3. Jesse did create himself an alibi for the time that he and Walt were Tuco's captives. And yes Hector didn't ID him, of course because he was hardcore cartel, but you could argue in the case of making him a suspect that it was because Jesse was actually a cartel partner moving blue meth for the Salamancas on the US side of the border. |
| 1043 | ** The point in all this is that the DEA's handling of the post-Jesse beating situation was a little weak. On a second look, it's almost like they steered clear of Jesse simply because of the threat of a civil suit. I can get that bad publicity would be damaging to the DEA, but it was just one dealer and one agent with anger issues. Like someone figured it was better for the DEA if Hank remained on the job with them (which is ironic because when Merkert ultimately took the fall for his mishandling of the Fring case, Hank took over as ASAC without much turbulence). |
| 1044 | *** It was just one alleged dealer (no proof yet) that got sent to the hospital by someone investigating outside his boundaries who had several issues since he killed Tuco (the bar brawl in a past episode, for example, and his experience with Tortuga didn't help) if someone actually decides to dig deeper, they're going to find out that Hank shouldn't have been working on the case. It also really doesn't make sense to scrutinize Jesse, especially since the smallest check on Jesse's record will show him to be the last person who'd hire cartel assassins, and because the DEA would come off more like they were trying to scapegoat Jesse to justify Hank's earlier behavior. |
| 1045 | ** One does have to consider that the blue meth providers were always Hank's white whale. That might be why when Hank got the lead on the RV, that they only narrowed it down to 21 possible RV's to check out...too many for Merkert's liking to spend time on, with other cases to follow. And then there's the fact that Hank had just been given an unpaid suspension hours before he was shot, and he'd pretty much told Marie that he was done as a cop...so it wasn't until after well into his rehab that he got back into it (once he had Gale's lab notes). With Hank sidelined, the DEA maybe did have reasons to not go back into investigating Jesse. Perhaps again, it would be potentially bad publicity for the DEA. Perhaps because in doing so, they might cause Jesse to go back to pressing charges against Hank (can you even do that after the fact?). Probably felt bad enough for Hank, not to go there. |
| 1046 | ** I'm going to assume at least Merkert and Gomez briefly discussed Jesse offscreen because of the timing. Hank beats up Jesse then a few days later is attacked. But they would both be skeptical because Jesse isn't known to be significant. If they had heard the phone call Hank got from Francesca, they might have considered that. But with Hank's repeated bizarre behavior, they probably aren't convinced the phone call even happened. As for Albuquerque police, they wouldn't connect Jesse to the attack at all. |
| 1047 | [[/folder]] |
| 1048 | |
| 1049 | [[folder:Did Walt actually do the right thing by letting Jane die?]] |
| 1050 | * A lot of people keep harping on Jane's death as a major step towards, "Walt's descent into Hell", or a significant moment towards his Breaking Bad. While he certainly did make a pragmatic decision not to help Jane as she asphyxiated, I don't think he necessarily did it out of selfish or self- serving reasons. It is definitely true that she blackmailed him, and even threatened to potentially cause problems in the future, and that alone would be justification for him not helping her.\ |
| 1051 | \ |
| 1052 | However another reason that doesn't really get addressed is, did Walt do it for Jesse? If you recall, the reason he ended up at that house was because he had just had a conversation with Jane's father about never giving up on family. That spurred him to go there to try and talk some sense into Jesse, in the hopes that he wouldn't throw his life away to addiction. When he saw Jane choking, and decided not to help her, I honestly think that what was best for Jesse was just as paramount in his head, if not more, than saving himself. It can't be a coincidence that right after that talk with Jane's dad, in the next scene he let Jane die. It was to save Jesse from her clutches, and simultaneously, himself. He knew that Jane had her hooks into Jesse, and Jesse being the weak-willed idiot that he was at the time, would follow her straight into a life of addiction and squalor. I don't think he was thinking of her blackmailing him, much as he was thinking about what was best for Jesse, because guess what? ''That's the sole reason he came to the house in the first place''. It may have seemed cold, but considering that and what I've seen of some behind-the-scenes Bryan Cranston interviews, I think any father would have done as Walt did, if their son (or, in the case here, surrogate son) was on the path to full-blown degeneracy.\ |
| 1053 | \ |
| 1054 | It is with all that in mind that I think Walt may have done the right thing by letting Jane die. He saved any potential future turmoil for his biological family, and saved Jesse, who he considers a surrogate son, from a sure life of disaster and destruction. |
| 1055 | ** Walt can perfectly make Jesse's life one of disaster and destruction without any heroin, and I wouldn't exactly call offing your son's girlfriend a thing every father would have done, but yes, there's some truth in that he was genuinely worried and came to talk, not to kill. But he also needed Jane's clutches out of Jesse to stick his own into, he just needed him sober while she liked him high, and when the opportunity to get Jane out of picture without making anyone suspicious presented itself, he went with it. I think that while he was on his way he was sincerely set on acting out of care, showing some love and offering help at last instead of scolding Jesse all the time - that's what Jane's father inspired him to do and that's why he went. But then he was suddenly given a chance to end a bunch of problems with a selfish easy solution and it got the best of him. And he recognizes that he wasn't exactly right when he dreams of dying a moment before he went and messed Jesse up thoroughly. |
| 1056 | ** At no point letting someone die next to your surrogate son is right. What the hell? He might as well have been right blowing up a nursing home with that logic (what if old people or a nurse get injured he is protecting his family). |
| 1057 | ** The "right" thing to do in that situation would have been to lay Jane on her side and let her live, and then to actually talk sense into Jesse (and maybe if he hadn't been treating Jesse like nothing but a screwup up until that point he may have had a better chance at that) like he came over to that house to do. There's no "right" thing to do that involves intentionally letting someone choke to death. Letting Jane die wasn't the "right" option, it was just the most convenient option, the definition of the low ground. That's why people harp on this moment as Walt descending into hell. He certainly had enough motivation to stay sympathetic to the viewer (or some viewers), but it's ''not'' Walt at his best. |
| 1058 | ** What it boils down to is Jane wounded his pride by getting the best of him. Plus she's both a junkie and one of the few people alive not involved in the meth trade who can name him as a manufacturer. The reasons were both pragmatic and personal. |
| 1059 | [[/folder]] |
| 1060 | |
| 1061 | [[folder:Why do a lot of fans blame Hank for Mike's granddaughter?]] |
| 1062 | * I've seen this on the Website/IMDb boards. Even though Hank and Gomez threatened to seize Mike's hazard pay money from Kaylee, he was just using that as an interrogation method, to try to coerce Mike into telling them information that they want. Hank has no real authority over what would happen to Mike's money. He is just a DEA agent. The decision of what happens to Mike's money would rest in the US Attorney's office if you wanted to try to overturn it.\ |
| 1063 | But if Hank does have that power, why do fans often blame him for where the money went afterwards? This is the United States and we have the Son of Sam laws, which basically keep criminals from profiting off their crimes, laws that were approved by the American public. I doubt a lot of people who feel sorry for Kaylee would try to get that law overturned, just because of one episode of Breaking Bad.\ |
| 1064 | People still believe in the law, yet they come down on Hank, even though it wasn't his call. Plus there doesn't seem to be any specific information on what would happen to Kaylee after. After all, she's being raised by her mother (Mike's daughter-in-law) and the money in her name was more or less meant to be part of a trust fund, correct? |
| 1065 | ** Basically Mike is popular and Kaylee seems like a cute kid. The idea of a grandpa who despite the actual themes of the show makes the idea of a {{punch clock villain}} really cool leaving his little girl a LOT of money is cool, especially when we see it from his perspective. At the same time people are reasonable enough to know that Mike shouldn't be allowed to leave this money for Kaylee; the law is completely right, but in their minds it's like, "make an exception for Mike, he did it all for his grandchild". And Kaylee probably didn't even *need* that much money and would be fine if you don't count missing her grandpa. Viewers know the law isn't wrong, but it's a TV show and they want the character they root for to succeed, so they find someone to blame and it happens to be Hank. People, especially in internet forums, blame fictional characters for stuff they couldn't know, do or prevent all the time. They don't mean a lot by it. |
| 1066 | [[/folder]] |
| 1067 | |
| 1068 | [[folder:The train robbery wouldn't work in real life, would it?]] |
| 1069 | * I really liked the set up for the job, and there was a heck of a build up with the good Samaritan helping Kuby get the truck off the track before they were done.\ |
| 1070 | Except, would it be possible in real life? I keep thinking 'no' because there are several holes in the heist: For one, why aren't the train engineers suspicious? Just for the record, what are the chances a truck would break down perfectly on the tracks in the middle of nowhere? Usually when you break down you are rolling, you could avoid stopping exactly on the tracks. Once again, Kuby stopped the truck in the middle of nowhere, so you would assume as an outsider with no knowledge of the heist, that if he broke down he would have some momentum to either stop before he was exactly on the tracks, or be able coast beyond the tracks. No one in their right mind would stop exactly on the tracks unless they were deliberately stopping the truck there.\ |
| 1071 | To me, this should have sent a red flag to the engineers of the train that something might be up. I wouldn't think they would just get out of the train and see "what's up". I'd think there would be some protocol if something like that happened, even in dark territory. I'd imagine they would notify the police that there was someone on the track. Yes, they may have been in dark territory where cell phones didn't work, but they could've told the cops about this once they got to an area with reception. I mean, if I was an engineer I would probably think something was up with a guy parked on the tracks in the middle of nowhere.\ |
| 1072 | Also, how did they get the train to stop? It's very hard to stop a train with just a guy in the middle of the road waving his hands to get the attention of the engineers to stop. In real life, I don't think this would work because at that point it's too late for the train to get stopped completely. Plus, fully loaded freight trains can take up to a mile to stop (which is why you're always warned to NEVER try to beat a train at a grade crossing because the train can't stop on a dime). The train would be more than likely to hit the truck and move way past the intersection. This would ruin the heist considering that now the police are going to get called to investigate the collision between the train and the truck. Not to mention that they'll find evidence in the remains of the truck that might suggest it was deliberately parked - like the transmission being in the parked position.\ |
| 1073 | Plus, the methylamine tank had seals on it. Jesse breaks a seal on the bottom, and Todd breaks a seal on the top. But these seals have numbers on them and they usually check to make sure the seals match the seal number on the Bill of Lading. Jesse and Todd put new seals on before the train takes off, but there is no way the new seals they put on would have the same numbers. There would have been no way of knowing what the seal numbers would have been. So the heist would be discovered a lot quicker, right? |
| 1074 | ** It's likely they would say the seals were shit and even if they think a heist happened they can't tell when it did for sure. |
| 1075 | * Also, how come the engineers didn't hear the pump motor running? Ok, the train is long, but on the other hand, it was completely silent there, except for, maybe, light wind. You'd think the team would've taken some precautions against it, put some silencer on it or something. |
| 1076 | ** The engineers probably wouldn't hear the pump at all. It's almost 1,000 feet away and down in a gully. Sound won't travel far at all there. Even if the engineers could possibly hear it, they probably left the train running. And they don't usually stop there so they wouldn't know what was around there making noises. |
| 1077 | ** Would the engineers be suspicious of this truck stalled out directly on the tracks? Maybe, maybe not. People do idiotic things with trains all the time and it's probably the number one drama engineers have to deal with. They probably think Kubby is lying about why he's stalled out on the tracks, but they think he is covering for something even dumber. They're not hauling uranium or gold so there's little reason to expect a heist like what occurs. |
| 1078 | ** Could the train have stopped? The train is oddly short, only about a thousand feet, and could well be mostly hauling empties. Lydia would have been able to provide this information. Obviously there's all kinds artistic license in this entire heist, like methyl-amine being far easier to synthesize this doing this heist. |
| 1079 | [[/folder]] |
| 1080 | |
| 1081 | [[folder: September 2011 doesn't add up]] |
| 1082 | * As many have pointed out, the gaffe regarding Jack's remark about Osama bin Laden's death puts the show's dates into question, as the episode was set before, but written after, he was killed. Now, I could've ignored it as a parallel universe where Bin Laden was found earlier, but there is another issue, not with the year, but the ''month'': in New Hampshire, when Walt prepares to return to Albuquerque, he escapes by hiding in a snow covered car. Now, New Hampshire is pretty snowy in the winter; hell, even as little as a month later, snow would have been plausible in the mountains. But not in early September. |
| 1083 | ** The timeline is wanky. Here's my best guess: I think by the time Hank found out Walt was Heisenberg, it was sometime around January or February 2011, given Walt's and Todd's three month-cooking spree and 2010 being Walt's 51st birthday. I think, and this is just an educated guess: perhaps "Ozymandias" happened around late January or February of 2011, same for the first events in "Granite State", seeing how there's snow on the ground when Walt is disappeared and is dropped off at the cabin. "Granite State" ended sometime around, I think, late November/early December. That would give Walt almost nine months to grow a full head of hair. And maybe Walt's New Hampshire ID has a different birth date from his real one, which explains why he can have his meal free at that Denny's in November/December when his real birthday is in September. That's just my best guess. |
| 1084 | [[/folder]] |
| 1085 | |
| 1086 | [[folder:How plausible would the prison assassinations be if they happened in real life?]] |
| 1087 | * The assassinations are great entertainment, I'll admit it. Quite Five Families-esque in its execution. But in real life, could you even take out ten guys in three jails in two minutes? Okay, somehow Uncle Jack was able to do it, but the logistics of it have to be insane to pull off that many hits in one go. Not to mention, all the guys who are doing it know they are being recorded on camera and that, when identified as the killers (either through video or fingerprints), they're going to have first-degree murder charges added on to whatever charges they were already facing (not to mention, in my opinion, the police probably will get them to talk and say who hired them). Furthermore, they are doing it in the central/day area where there are cameras everywhere. Now, okay, it's pretty clear that the guards were in on it, but that doesn't explain the cameras. Shouldn't the authorities have been able to link it back to Jack, and in turn to Walt, a lot faster? |
| 1088 | ** In part, the murders are extremely unusual in the sense that they all happened at once. It's going to be blatantly obvious to even the most incompetent investigator that this had to be a coordinated assault, and the fact that nine of the ten were former associates of the Los Pollos Hermanos drug empire and the tenth was their former lawyer would reek of someone allied with Gus, like Heisenberg, killing them to cover his own tracks. A coordinated assault of this scale would naturally make the authorities - not just prison authorities, mind - extremely interested, especially the DEA and those who were trying to get information on Gus's drug empire out of them. They're going to quickly realize how those men are connected. I mean, the assassinations practically made the prison system look completely porous and incompetent, like it's open-season on inmates by whoever wants to settle a score or make sure no one talks. Stabbings, people set on fire, you name it. I very much doubt that law enforcement would let this massive assault pass. They're not just going to see it as an assault on prisoners, they're going to see it as an assault on their authority and power, period. A lot of hard questions are going to come up, externally and internally. They'd go all out trying to track down the plot's masterminds. |
| 1089 | *** Weirder things have happened in a New Mexico prison before (See: New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot). While authorities would be very motivated to find out who was responsible for the killings, there is very little for them to go on. You're not going to get any answers out of an Aryan Brotherhood member (nor any inmate, for that matter). It's obvious that the murders were to silence any witnesses, but that's a motive from a suspect (or suspects) that hasn't been identified yet, not evidence. The most the department of corrections can get out of an investigation is adding on a couple more life sentences to guys who are already doing life. |
| 1090 | ** Having hits done in jail isn't rare. It's just not as cinematically done as it is here. |
| 1091 | ** No, they'll try to pin Mike for it, guy lost his hazard pay twice so he decided to skip town and kill all the witnesses before they talk about his hideouts and stuff. |
| 1092 | [[/folder]] |
| 1093 | |
| 1094 | [[folder:Mike's lack of caution]] |
| 1095 | * Okay, Mike is careful to wear nitrile gloves while cleaning up Jesse's apartment after Jane's death, but he removes them before leaving, so he left fingerprints on the doorknob. Isn't that a bit reckless for someone as meticulous as Mike? |
| 1096 | ** How many people touches doorknob? It's not a precaution since it's not even a risk. |
| 1097 | ** As far as police or anyone else knows, it was an accidental overdose death, not a murder scene. As Mike says, the cops won't even bother to show up, let alone send detectives or a forensics team. He had nothing to worry about as far that. All he really had to do was make sure there was nothing incriminating in the apartment. And he wasn't wearing the gloves because he was worried about fingerprints, he was wearing them because he didn't want to go picking up used heroin needles, and cleaning up a junkie's apartment with his bare hands. |
| 1098 | [[/folder]] |
| 1099 | |
| 1100 | [[folder:Isn't Don Margolis a bit too old to be an air traffic controller?]] |
| 1101 | * I say this because the FAA has a mandatory retirement age of 56, due to the job's inherent stress, and John de Lancie was 61 at the time the episode was filmed. |
| 1102 | ** Could just be a minor case of DawsonCasting. Given the amount of stress Margolis is under both at work and in his family life, he could easily be a beaten-down 50something. |
| 1103 | ** There's nothing in the story indicating Margolis's age and middle aged adults can easily look very different ages. The actor's personal age is not canonical to their character's age. |
| 1104 | [[/folder]] |
| 1105 | |
| 1106 | [[folder:Why do some fans criticize Hank for turning against Walt so easily?]] |
| 1107 | * On some threads, I've seen a lot of fans hate how Hank turned on Walt so quickly and unquestionably, without maybe trying to understand Walt, and give him a chance. However, looking at it from Hank's point of view, can you really blame him? Walt murdered 10 people in prison. If I were Hank, and my brother-in-law, who seems like a completely innocent, honorable man, did that and I found out about it, I would probably turn against him in a heartbeat as well. How would I trust someone like that, that they wouldn't have you wacked for finding out too much information? What Hank did was just as much out of self-defense as it was out of seeking justice. He did become self-righteous later, like when he says "at least I can be the one who caught him", but again he might as well get some satisfaction out of it, since he has to protect himself and his wife, from a mass murderer, who is a threat to him. It's not like he aimed to kill Walt or anything, he just wanted to put a murderer behind bars. |
| 1108 | * Furthermore, when you think about it: Walt made things personal for Hank. It was in a moment of clarity that Hank realized that Walt masterminded the Marie automobile accident hoax to keep him distracted while Jesse and Walt destroyed the RV. He also realized that Walt knew his cell phone number and his wife's name. That tore Hank up, emotionally, when it happened. I wouldn't go so far as to blame his assaulting Jesse and getting suspended on Walt because that was just Hank letting his justified anger get the better of him. Nevertheless, Walt did this to protect his own ass. He knew Hank would bust him so he went below the belt and made it personal. It was a despicable act by a guy who claimed he was doing all this for his family.\ |
| 1109 | Furthermore, in "Crawl Space," while Walt was chauffeuring Hank around on unofficial stakeouts and surveillance work, Walt drove him into a traffic accident, despite the fact that Hank was willing to find another ride to the laundry (and in fact, in the very next episode, was able to send Gomez to do a preliminary search). Not only that, watch the accident again: Walt turned the car in such a way that the oncoming vehicle T-boned them on ''Hank's'' side of the car. If I were Hank, I'd have come to the conclusion that not only was Walt trying to keep me from finding out about his wrongdoings, he was also trying to paralyze me to stop any and all investigation efforts I've made.\ |
| 1110 | Then, there was the murdering of Mike's guys. To me, this wasn't what really pissed Hank off. It just confirmed how ruthless Heisenberg really was.\ |
| 1111 | I don't blame Hank for turning on Walt. I think he would have been disgusted by Walt making meth to begin with given how much that association could have jeopardized his career, which is even seen in the show when he realizes that drug money was used to pay for his rehab/physical therapy after he got shot. But you could tell his real anger during that garage scene came from the first two points I mentioned above. |
| 1112 | ** And there was never an overreaction on Hank's behalf. Consider that once Hank found out he gave Walt an opportunity to come clean. If you also recall Walt threatened Hank in the scene inside his garage (even if he was never going to make good on his death threats because of what was mentioned above about Walt's reaction to Saul suggesting Hank be killed). Also consider everything Hank has gone through all because of Walt; this includes the shootout with Tuco that caused Hank some PTSD, him getting shot by the Cousins, leaving him confined to a wheelchair and having to learn to walk again. The car crash that Walt deliberately put him in, the incident with Jesse that almost cost him his career and all the countless deaths caused by Walt. And to think the entire time this was someone you trusted and was your family. |
| 1113 | ** It's very simple - Walter is the protagonist. We follow Walter for two years, see things from his point of view, unconsciously root for him, whether we want to or not. Hank is the antagonist in this scenario, no matter what. For fans who genuinely liked Walter, they're going to automatically state that Hank was in the wrong for turning against Walter, although, objectively, Hank is reacting just as anyone experiencing such a dramatic betrayal from a loved family member would. |
| 1114 | ** Hank may have been slow to figure out Walt was the man he was chasing, but once he caught on, it would seem all kinds of things Walt did over the last year that may have confused him suddenly made sense. Personally and professionally, Walt has been the architect of ''a lot'' of Hank's misery over the last year. Not by intention, but it's not hard to guess Walt was involved at least peripherally with the cartel's attack on him. More than once Walt made a fool out of Hank, including dismissing Gale as Heisenberg right under his nose. |
| 1115 | [[/folder]] |
| 1116 | |
| 1117 | [[folder: Hank threatening to shoot Jesse...]] |
| 1118 | * ...in ''Rabid Dog.'' I know cops are allowed more discretion than your average person in a similar situation would, but Jesse was clearly threatening ''property'', not human life. Even if he burned the house, he and Hank could both get out. So, why not stick to talking him down, tackle him, or just let him burn the damned house and throw arson onto the pile of charges that may or may not get dismissed if he testifies against Walt. In general I don't get why "burning down a house" is seen as a MoralEventHorizon on ''this'' of all shows. |
| 1119 | ** Maybe, maybe not. What's more baffling is that even though Walt may have come home just minutes after Jesse and Hank had left, the house realistically should have exploded, because gas sitting in a closed room like that would build up fumes and explode at the slightest spark. There are stories where garages went up in flames because someone left an open gas can lying around and the fumes built up. |
| 1120 | ** You can shoot an arsonist to stop him from starting a wildfire. Fire isn't the kind of stuff that just hit one place and never hurts anyone; it spreads and fumes the whole neighborhood. |
| 1121 | ** Someone setting fire to the gasoline drenched house you're standing in is a clear immediate threat to your life so lethal force is warranted even if you could probably escape. Also, there could be a child or whoever in the house. |
| 1122 | [[/folder]] |
| 1123 | |
| 1124 | [[folder:If Mike hadn't been shot, would he let Gus threaten to kill Walt's family or not?]] |
| 1125 | * It's convenient that Mike got shot during the escape from Don Eladio's place for the simple fact that it keeps him incapacitated during Walt's final showdown with Gus. Gus fires Walt and threatens to kill Hank and the rest of Walt's family ''including infant Holly''. It's just me, but does anyone else think that, no matter how loyal he is to Gus, Mike would probably NOT be okay with Gus threatening to kill Walt's family (including infant Holly)? I mean, I can't imagine Mike being okay with Gus killing or threatening to kill a woman or an infant. I point to the "half measures" story Mike told to Walt about the wifebeater. The way Mike told the story, he seems genuinely against women or children getting hurt (although he almost made an exception to this rule in the form of Lydia). And there's the fact that Mike has greatly cared about providing financial support for both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter ever since the death of his son Matty. Given all this, would it be realistic to think that if Mike hadn't been shot, and Gus made the threats he did, Walt would probably have been able to coerce Mike into betraying Gus, under the right circumstances? |
| 1126 | ** I further support this by pointing out how in ''Better Call Saul'', Mike didn't exactly look too pleased about Hector threatening Kaylee's life. |
| 1127 | ** Mike won't like it, but at worst he'll quit, he kind of owed Gus a favor. |
| 1128 | [[/folder]] |
| 1129 | |
| 1130 | [[folder:Lydia's poisoned Stevia]] |
| 1131 | * How exactly did Walt get the ricin into Lydia's Stevia packet...and then manage to make the package appear factory sealed? I'm guessing he showed up before her and Todd's meeting and planted it in the little caddy that sits on the table. I know that sugar packets, at least the ones I've seen in similar restaurants, have that crimped end on them also, so how did he manage to replicate that seal? |
| 1132 | ** Most likely when he was devising the plan, he obtained a tool to crimp such packages, put the ricin in, and sealed it up. He arrived at the restaurant before Lydia, and he mentions that she's a creature of habit, so most likely, she was seated at the same table as usual. He probably removed the extra Stevia packages and replaced them with the ricin package, since Lydia states that she needs more Stevia as she's putting the poisoned one into her drink. Really, though, I wouldn't think about it too hard. |
| 1133 | [[/folder]] |
| 1134 | |
| 1135 | [[folder:The "Marie's in an accident phone call"]] |
| 1136 | * So Walt lures Hank away from the junkyard long enough for the RV to be destroyed by arranging for Saul's secretary to call Hank claiming Marie has been in an accident. Watching it, I can't help but point out: the ruse only worked because Hank was investigating by himself with no backup. What would Walt have to do if Hank had backup with him when he first arrived at the junkyard? I mean, if Gomez had been with Hank as opposed to being in El Paso (it strikes me that this is the entire reason from a narrative standpoint that Gomez even took that promotion to begin with), wouldn't Hank just leave him to secure the scene until the warrant arrived? |
| 1137 | ** I think we have to remember that Walt didn't go in with a plan in the first place. He wasn't expecting to get cornered. He only made up the phone call thing on the spot, precisely *because* he knew that Hank was (at least apparently) alone. If Hank *hadn't* been alone, presumably either Walt would have figured out something else or...the series might have been over right then and there. |
| 1138 | [[/folder]] |
| 1139 | |
| 1140 | [[folder:Why is Todd Alquist such a shitty meth cook when he's doing it by himself?]] |
| 1141 | * This is something I'd been bothered by, but I always thought it odd, why is Todd Alquist's meth complete garbage without Walt there to help, to the point that the Neo-Nazis' enslavement of Jesse was partially motivated by getting the purity level back up? But I couldn't help but notice a few details in earlier episodes: |
| 1142 | ** In "Green Light," Walt gets upset at Jesse for cooking their formula by himself without Walt present. Walt calls it ''his'' formula, and Jesse calls it ''their'' formula. With Walt's sensitivity to people using his formula without permission, I was led to think that while maybe Todd wasn't nearly as good a cook as Jesse (FWIW, Todd doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd take chemistry classes), it could have a bit to do with the possibility that Walt deliberately left out a few steps with Todd. |
| 1143 | ** Except, given how the idea above doesn't make sense since that would imply Todd was cut out of the cooking process during those key steps, I call back to the events of "Box Cutter", when Gus killed Victor. Right before this, Victor tried to cook a batch of Blue Sky by himself to prove that he'd learned the steps to Walt's process from observation. Now, for Victor, this was him making a last-ditch attempt to convince Gus to spare him. But Walt points out that being a "short order cook" following the recipe doesn't cut it. You need knowledge and experience to make a pristine product. Given how long Walt and Jesse had been cooking meth together even before they got involved in Gus's operation, it is easy to assume that Jesse got down all the nuances of the process, which is why the purity didn't drop at all even during the few times Jesse cooked by himself post-partnering-up-with-Walt. Todd may have been following Walt's meth recipe, but didn't factor in the nuances that Walt had been using. That could explain why Todd's product only got a 70% purity rate after Walt cashed out of the drug business. |
| 1144 | ** Todd isn't a shitty cook, he is better than Declan's crew who may cut corners but were in the business longer than him. 76% pure when he only watched a few cooks is...decent enough. Just not perfect as Walt and Jesse, who put an insane amount of precaution and can react if something is slightly off. |
| 1145 | [[/folder]] |
| 1146 | |
| 1147 | [[folder:The superlab, pre-Gus]] |
| 1148 | * So was the superlab beneath the laundry specifically excavated for the purpose of a meth lab, or was it created when the business was built as a basement area? Either way, they did significant modifications, like give the lab its own electrical feed (as identified by Hank) as well as HVAC for filtering and venting the lab equipment, which blended in with the laundry system. |
| 1149 | ** ''Better Call Saul'' answers it: Gus and Lydia purchased the laundromat, and then Gus recruited a team of laborers led by Werner Ziegler to dig the lab in secret. |
| 1150 | [[/folder]] |
| 1151 | |
| 1152 | [[folder:Superlab access]] |
| 1153 | * Access to the lab is a bit vague, from what I could tell. Sometimes, characters enter by going down a set of stairs from beneath the one laundry machine...but then you enter the lab area through a door and then go down some steps...so there's an intermediate area between these? Why not just have the elevator there and no staircase? Wouldn't it be less suspicious than tipping the machine over? And why didn't Gomez see the elevator when he did his preliminary search of the laundry? Presumably Gomez took the drug-sniffing dog all over the laundry, surely they should've seen the elevator at some point and wondered where it went? |
| 1154 | ** There's an elevator shaft. ''Better Call Saul'' shows the lab's construction process. |
| 1155 | [[/folder]] |
| 1156 | |
| 1157 | [[folder:Walt figuring out Gus is the contact]] |
| 1158 | * How did Walt know that Gus was the man he was doing business with? |
| 1159 | ** Walt's good at reading people to judge how they'll react. That's how he's kept Jesse under his thumb, and in part factors into what he was expecting when he poisoned Brock. In the case of "Mandala," how Walt deduces that Gus is the mystery guy Saul has put him in contact with is visible onscreen: it's after nightfall, when Walt is pretty much the only customer still at Los Pollos Hermanos. [[https://youtu.be/6sHpwQgoC9k?t=1m16s He looks out the window at this point]], and in the reflection, you can see Gus is behind Walt, cleaning tables. There's a moment where Gus looks up at the window. But look at the expression on his face: it's NOT the typical friendly demeanor we'd seen him using earlier when he was observing them in his managerial duties. From that, Walt put two and two together, being suspicious to begin with, and recalling what Saul told him prior to the meeting that the guy being a bit like Walt. |
| 1160 | ** It's also possible Walt realized he missed a clue from the first visit to Pollos... Gus showed up at their table about a minute after Jesse arrived. And Jesse was actually late. It's not much of a clue but it was convenient timing. |
| 1161 | [[/folder]] |
| 1162 | |
| 1163 | [[folder:Fingerprint problem]] |
| 1164 | * After Tuco was downed by Hank, there had to have been a crime scene investigation. But did the police/DEA dust for fingerprints? From Hank's statement, not to mention an autopsy report, it would be obvious that someone else shot Tuco in the abdomen no less than five minutes before Hank arrived at the scene, and this other shooter can't have been Hector. Walt's prints likely weren't in the system (Walt probably hasn't had any arrests in the system), but there'd be numerous prints belonging to Jesse inside the compound, not just on his car (those can be explained away for obvious reasons). |
| 1165 | ** A similar question was asked before - like the previous reply stated, fingerprints aren't as easy to obtain as one thinks, because of how many people are touching any given surface. And if someone isn't in a database, it's kinda hard to get past that. |
| 1166 | [[/folder]] |
| 1167 | |
| 1168 | [[folder:How many hours per week did Walt work in Gus's lab?]] |
| 1169 | * Gus's quota for Walt is to cook 200 pounds of meth per week. Yet Walt was able to make 42 pounds in one cook with just the small lab of the RV. The superlab has to be able to at least make double that in one cook session. Probably more. It seems like the maximum number of cooks per week he would need at the superlab would be 3. So does that mean he only worked 3 days a week? |
| 1170 | ** Gus did tell him that he'd be able choose his own hours, so apparently it wasn't a full time job. It's a nice extra incentive, and also less conspicuous this way. |
| 1171 | ** Actually, it took them almost 4 days to make 42 pounds in the RV. Hence the episode title "4 Days Out." The lab can output double that amount in a single day's time. So Walt only needs to be in the lab for three days a week at minimum to meet Gus's quota. |
| 1172 | [[/folder]] |
| 1173 | |
| 1174 | [[folder:Coordinates]] |
| 1175 | * Walt wrote down the coordinates of his stash - which became the location of Hank and Gomez's bodies - to the second (as in degrees, minutes, seconds). But plus-or-minus half a second of latitude and longitude describes a rectangle about 100x80 feet. The DEA would find the grave eventually, but the neo-Nazis were damned lucky to hit pay dirt so quickly. |
| 1176 | ** Well Jack was really on a roll before Granite State so I can imagine him being that lucky but maybe him and his crew just know how to spot moved earth. I don't think Walt went that overboard after burying his money that even he would have to spend hours digging so he probably left some tell. |
| 1177 | ** Also, if you know roughly where to look, perhaps a plot of freshly replaced dirt is not too hard to tell from the rest. |
| 1178 | [[/folder]] |
| 1179 | |
| 1180 | [[folder: Two Minutes]] |
| 1181 | * In ''Gliding Over All'', Walt pays Jack and his gang to eliminate ten inmates in three prisons within two minutes. But why exactly did it have to be all within two minutes? It seems like it would have been less complicated to spread the window to, say, a couple hours, unless there was some good reason for such a short time span. Was it perhaps to avoid the chance of news getting out about some of Gus's associates being murdered in prison in time for the prisons to start increasing security for the remaining men? |
| 1182 | ** For a simple reason: if you kill them all within just two minutes, there's no time for any of them to get placed into protective custody. If they were done one at a time, you can bet the other members of the Fring crew would've have been placed into protection. |
| 1183 | [[/folder]] |
| 1184 | |
| 1185 | [[folder:Was it the wifebeater incident that caused Mike to develop his "no half-measures" policy, or the truck heist?]] |
| 1186 | * I like the "Half-Measures" speech Mike gives to Walt. It's him trying to explain to Walt that Jesse is a lost cause. Now, he describes the entire case with the wife-beater. But I keep thinking, why use that example? Why not use the fallout from his attack on Hector's money runner in ''Series/BetterCallSaul''? That was also a perfect (and more recent) example of Mike using a half-measure when he should have taken a full measure.[[note]]The "full measure" would have been to kill the driver, which would have achieved Mike's goal of putting Hector under police surveillance. But Mike took the "half-measure" and spared the driver. Subsequently, an innocent motorist got killed by Hector for stumbling upon the scene, and the police never found out about the heist[[/note]] |
| 1187 | ** Well besides the obvious it didn't exist yet it's not that much of a half measure than dumb bad luck. There was multiple ways the passerby could have lived if he didn't kill him and he could have also died for reporting the truck driver's corpse to the police on top of a gang war happening. Killing the truck driver isn't a full measure as much as oh I kill someone for fun now. |
| 1188 | ** Mike's tale seemed mostly his way of informing Walt, "Whatever you plan to do, make sure you're dotting all your i's and crossing all your T's so that it won't come back to bite you later." |
| 1189 | [[/folder]] |
| 1190 | |
| 1191 | [[folder:Hank couldn't pay his own medical bills?]] |
| 1192 | * So $144,000 of Walt's drug money was used to pay for Hank's physical therapy. But part of me thinks that Hank, as a DEA agent, should have already had a pretty decent health plan that would cover the therapists. |
| 1193 | ** Just like Walt's cancer treatment, Hank's therapy was a premium treatment that wasn't covered under his insurance. It's meant to be a parallel of sorts. |
| 1194 | ** Plus, the doctor and insurance coordinator robotically explained the daunting and glacial process of pre-authorizations/-approvals plus potential for no reimbursement, and time was of the essence with early therapy for Hank to walk again. It's the show's indictment of the health care "for profit" industry. And Marie would take nothing less than the best for her beloved husband. It's also Marie's "only wanting the best" mindset that most likely has them living beyond their means with a huge house in a great location, add her shopping sprees when it's just the two of them. |
| 1195 | [[/folder]] |
| 1196 | |
| 1197 | [[folder: Hank and fund run calls]] |
| 1198 | * Why is Hank the one making fund run calls in "Say My Name"? Being in charge of an entire district office, you'd think he'd be too busy for such things, and such a job would be someone else's responsibility. |
| 1199 | ** You'll be surprised how higher ups have to pitch in for publicity purposes, or simply to make things roll faster. I knew a logistic director who sometime helped disposing of cardboard when things was too slow or use forklifts when no one was available. Or look at Mike, who chose to start doing his "security consultant" job at Madrigal for real because he wanted to feel like the money Gus was laundering for him through Madrigal actually meant something. And Gus himself has to personally do this sort of thing for the sake of appearances. |
| 1200 | [[/folder]] |
| 1201 | |
| 1202 | [[folder: Money Laundering]] |
| 1203 | * Couldn't Walt launder his money through gambling? It is the one area where you can (at least in theory) legitimately obtain a large sum of money in a short time with little to no effort. Blind luck doesn't care for backgrounds or personalities, and while everyone knows how unlikely it is to hit the jackpot, blind luck is also kinda hard to disprove. You don't need to cook any documents, leave any traces - the casino just lets the customer win for once. So what's stopping him from finding some less scroupulous casino owners, cut them in and "win" the money he needs? I understand that I cannot possibly be the first to think of this, so there must be some pitfalls, but at a glance I cannot see them, at least compared to the hardships and dangers they go through with their chosen method. |
| 1204 | ** It's important to realize that such a tactic had been used earlier in season 3. |
| 1205 | ** Exactly, and it worked without a hitch on a rather large sum. Granted, it was only used on Marie, but on the other hand, they didn't even actively ''do'' anything to back it up. Also it'd be quite plausible that Walt lapsed back into old habits. |
| 1206 | ** That would completely collapse under any kind of scrutiny. Saying someone went on a hot streak for a couple weeks and won a sum of money is one thing, but the point of getting the car wash to launder Walt's money is that a) there's a shitton of it and b) it keeps coming. Reporting continuous gambling income will raise IRS red flags all over the place, and it wouldn't be correlated by the casino's books. Further, you'd be hard pressed to find a more heavily surveilled place on earth than a casino gaming floor, and Walt would never be on the tapes. When most people talk about casinos laundering money, it works in the opposite direction: players come in with dirty money and 'lose' it to the house. If Walt had gotten to own a casino, he'd be made in the shade, but it never got to that point. |
| 1207 | ** The gambling story at first was to launder what money Walt had already made, with some of it going towards Hank's bills and another sum being the money used to buy the car wash, and then some rainy day money. Saul did say that he knows some casino owners who are willing to report false losses to allow phony documentation to be created. If done with, say, the meticulousness of forging documents he used to gaslight Chuck in the Rosella Drive fiasco, it might be possible to throw the government off the scent. |
| 1208 | ** It's important to remember that ''Breaking Bad'' is, for all intents and purposes, a nighttime soap opera, and it must sell advertisers' soap - the show is a looping infomercial about consumerism, after all. Hence, lots of soaps, lotions, food, plants and chemicals being used. What are the most innocuous and ubiquitous businesses to demonstrate the A-Z process of manufacturing product and laundering profits - on ''Breaking Bad'' and real life? Laundromats and car washes - fast food chicken [industrialized farming] and pizza chains. Hiding in plain sight. |
| 1209 | ** Casinos won't write up such massive losses. At one point someone will realize it doesn't make sense when Walt can't play any gambling game correctly, yet somehow has $50,000 income a week. |
| 1210 | [[/folder]] |
| 1211 | |
| 1212 | [[folder: Showdown in To'hajiilee]] |
| 1213 | * Walt was clearly distraught when he saw that Jesse's "backup" turned out to be Hank, he tried to call Jack off, and when the Neo-Nazis did came, he screamed at them to back off. With all that in mind, why didn't he try to ''warn'' Hank? He wasted a lot of time hiding, then slowly coming to them, then fighting Jesse. He had to realize that Jack was very likely coming regardless, and that if he does come while the DEA are still there, it could only end in blood, didn't he? Neither would Hank have any reasons to disbelieve him - the money stash was already busted, there was no use for ruses at that point. It makes sense for him to keep quiet if he hoped that Jack's crew would free him, but again, the chances of it happening without Hank dying were next to none and he clearly didn't want that. |
| 1214 | ** There are a few possible reasons why: |
| 1215 | ** 1) He thought he could somehow talk everyone out of shooting. Walt was genuinely distraught when Jack shot Hank in the head, so it's clear that was not the outcome he intended for. |
| 1216 | ** 2) Walt thought the Neo-Nazis thought too highly of Walt to disobey him. He made the mistake of working with people he couldn't trust and then doesn't have the street smarts to even realize it. We've seen Walt try to emulate Gus throughout season 5, but he's always failed because he doesn't have the same judgment that Gus ever had. |
| 1217 | *** One of Walt's fairly consistent flaws/blind spots is thinking that he can always manipulate people into doing what he wants. Presumably he was hoping that he could somehow spin all of this to make it end to his advantage. |
| 1218 | * In the same scene, why ''didn't'' Hank and Gomez produce their badges as requested? Surely, it wouldn't have hurt? Whoever those sudden criminals were, they couldn't have been more willing to kill a couple of cops then a couple of Jesse's random mooks, could they? |
| 1219 | ** They were dead men regardless. To produce their badges would mean taking their hands off their weapons. And these guys also have automatics. |
| 1220 | ** Plus Hank is no dummy, they showed up because Walt called them and for all he knows Walt already told them about his obnoxious in-law cop. |
| 1221 | * What would have happened if the Neo-Nazis had left Hank alive? |
| 1222 | [[/folder]] |
| 1223 | |
| 1224 | [[folder:Does that nursing home have really crappy security?]] |
| 1225 | * After Gus's death, it must not have taken long for the police to identify Gus. But wouldn't the police view cameras and whatnot to track Hector's activities and visitors on the days leading up the explosion? I am sure what seems like a fairly upscale nursing facility would have cameras in the halls and common rooms. I mean, assisted care facilities must have video cameras by law or at least insurance. |
| 1226 | ** Put it another way: when Walt first pitched his plan to Hector in the nursing home, he was right in the common area, not Hector's room. This means that Walt would've had to walk right through the front door through the halls, in order to get to the common area to see Hector. So any cameras would've definitely picked up Walt. In fact, two episodes later, Hank, Gomez, and Merkert are talking about the investigation into Gus's death and acknowledge that, given Hector's immobility, it's obvious that another party supplied Hector with the bomb. Which would provide the police another reason to look at surveillance tapes. |
| 1227 | ** They don't have cameras in the residents' rooms. They are elderlies, not criminals or reality show stars. They have a right to privacy. Especially when their sphincter is failing, the last thing they want is to be caught on tape. So all they have to go with is white bald person which describes pretty much every male over 20 in this alternate-reality of Albuquerque. |
| 1228 | ** Everyone assumes that the Fring case is open and shut, with Declan implying that the cartel took responsibility for the bombing (it was a cartel member who detonated the bomb, after all). The only person who cares about investigating further is Hank, who wasn't in any position to investigate in the official capacity that would be needed to acquire whatever nursing home surveillance tapes existed. |
| 1229 | [[/folder]] |
| 1230 | |
| 1231 | [[folder:Hank's surveillance logistics]] |
| 1232 | * OK, so Hank had Gomez keep a couple officers on Jesse on this day, prior to Jesse heading to burn down Walt's house. They were stationed at Saul's office. So how did they know Jesse was there? On that day, Saul drove Jesse to the desert to meet with Walt, then took him back to his office and called Ed to arrange for Jesse's new life. Now, it's assumed Huell drove Jesse to the pickup point. Jesse comes back to Saul's upon realizing Walt's role in poisoning Brock, and left for Walt's house in Saul's car. Assume Jesse did not have his car at Saul's office. Assume Jesse never drove his car to any of these places, but they were watching him at Saul's. How would they know he was there?\ |
| 1233 | Yet at some point that day, Hank pulled the surveillance, then began trailing Jesse himself. Are we to believe that in that short window, they went to the desert and to the pickup point, while not being trailed? How unfortunate for Hank...they could have caught Walt in the desert[[note]]which while not conclusive should have been enough to get a judge to issue some sort of surveillance warrant[[/note]] and/or followed Ed back to his shop, if this is the case. |
| 1234 | ** Most likely, they were parked outside Saul's office, as Hank knows that Saul is Jesse's lawyer. Jesse most likely burst out of the office in a rage and made a scene, so Hank would know to keep an eye on him and follow him when he got into Saul's car. Alternately, there may have been police officers parked outside Walt's house, or even Hank himself may have been waiting there, expecting something like this to happen. |
| 1235 | [[/folder]] |
| 1236 | |
| 1237 | [[folder:Jesse's parents and Jesse's neo-Nazi captivity]] |
| 1238 | * Do you think Jesse's parents cared at all when Jesse was taken captive by the Neo-Nazi gang? In "Granite State", Lydia tells Todd that the police are looking for Jesse, which means that his disappearance was probably reported on the local TV stations in Albuquerque. Obviously Jesse's parents wouldn't know where he'd be if he was reported missing, but would they even care? |
| 1239 | ** They probably reacted like Combo's mother. On the one hand, they are worried but on the other [[Music/ImmortalTechnique that's what happen when you sell rock.]] |
| 1240 | [[/folder]] |
| 1241 | |
| 1242 | [[folder:"I suggest you tread lightly"]] |
| 1243 | * When Walt said that line to Hank, was it a death threat directed at Hank, or was it a thinly veiled warning to Hank that he'd be getting into deep shit with Walt's former associates? I mean, the threat may not be necessarily "Walt is a danger to Hank's life," but because Walt knows that Hank's ruthless investigating into Walt's activities may cause him to encounter Uncle Jack and the skinheads and Lydia, people who'd be more than capable of killing him if he gets too close to their business. Consider that the worst thing Walt was planning to do to Hank was blackmail him with a mind game video "confession" that painted Hank as Heisenberg. |
| 1244 | ** Most likely a threat. Hank says he doesn't know who Walter is - well, Walter is Heisenberg, the ruthless drug kingpin who could have Hank killed in the time it took him to blink. He doesn't want to do that, of course, but Hank doesn't know that, and Walter is using the vagueness of his words to instill some fear in Hank, and to hopefully get him to back off. |
| 1245 | ** This threat also points to the freshly co-opted IRL "Don't Tread on Me" flag that Gale's [and now Walt's] Ron Paul/Libertarians waved, esp post-9/11, alluding to the political climate at the time. |
| 1246 | ** It was absolutely a (very slightly) veiled threat. Hank had just correctly pointed out that Walter had murdered at least 13 people and had staged the false phone call against the Schraders, all of which required elaborate assistance. Walter was directly responding to Hank's statement that Hank didn't even really know who Walter is. It wasn't specifically a death threat (though certainly could be read as one), it was a blatant "you really need to back the F off because you can barely comprehend what I am capable of." Considering Walt's crimes, it was a rather frightening threat. |
| 1247 | [[/folder]] |
| 1248 | |
| 1249 | [[folder:Gus avoiding the car bomb]] |
| 1250 | * So we know how Gus avoided Walt's attempt to kill him in his car at the hospital parking garage: he'd come to the conclusion that Brock had been poisoned to lure him into the open, and while he didn't know what would happen when he got in the car, he felt it was safer to just ditch it. But my only problem with this scene is, if Gus has a feeling that his car may have been tampered with, why doesn't he have one of his men remotely keep an eye on the car, at which time they would have caught Walt removing the bomb? I mean, they had to eventually go back and get the car, a day or so later. |
| 1251 | ** Gus probably did so, but Walt ran and took the bomb seconds after he left and after that his goons would have seen nothing and it was just Gus being paranoid. |
| 1252 | ** That couldn't have worked out, since Walt was hiding on a roof across the street. Getting to the car had to take him some time. Hell, I'm surprised the super-careful Gus didn't have his car under survelliance at all times. |
| 1253 | ** Perhaps Gus was more worried about the isolation of the garage rather than specifically a bomb threat. He might have figured that a sniper could draw a bead on him there, or hell, a killer could be hiding right there around a corner or even inside or under the car ready to pop him and his friends. With nobody there (at least right then when they were preparing to take the car) to witness the crime. And from what he knows about Walt, he can't put it past him to try these methods; mind you, Walt has met an arms dealer before and can afford more guns. So if he leaves the hospital by a pedestrian exit to be picked up by another car, there are more witnesses which may dissuade the careful and methodical Walt. In this case, Walt doesn't need to be concerned about people waiting behind, because ''they'' will be too concerned about being sniped or shot by a pistol if they linger around the car. Also, if he isn't specifically thinking car bomb at this point, then he's unlikely to think about a bomb being on Hector's wheelchair. |
| 1254 | [[/folder]] |
| 1255 | |
| 1256 | [[folder:Why doesn't Hank take cellphone photos?]] |
| 1257 | * After Walt arranged that hoax call to Hank, I have to wonder, yes, it's understanding that Hank is panicked over thinking Marie is hurt, but I'd have thought he would also have some presence of mind to know the RV would be long gone once he left, and thus he would take photos of the RV with his cell phone (assuming it was one that could take pictures), ''then'' go to the hospital. Would that be enough to bring Jesse in for questioning? |
| 1258 | ** No because he just beat the shit out of Jesse afterward and there is no pictures of him near the RV. He could have brought him for questioning even without photos if it wasn't for the fact he punched him repeatedly in the face (that's why Jesse refused to answer those questions without a lawyer). |
| 1259 | ** OP here: the question I asked was on the assumption that had Hank taken photographs as evidence before leaving, the RV could've been destroyed but it would mean Hank would be less likely to have followed Jesse home and attacked him. In fact, had Hank had enough state of mind to think at the time that the call could be a diversion, I think he would've called someone at the DEA office and ask them to go to the hospital. |
| 1260 | ** Why would he send a DEA? She was supposed to have been in a car crash, this is like receiving a call during a meeting saying your mom just had a heart attack, you don't send an intern. And the RV destroyed isn't the problem as much as Pinkman apparently knowing his number and pranked him like that so he would still be pissed regardless. |
| 1261 | ** What good would taking a picture of the RV do? He can't see inside of it, there is no footage of Jesse anywhere near it, and it would just be a picture of an RV that is identical to 21 others just like it in the state. Hell, he couldn't even conclusively prove that that was Jesse he was talking to INSIDE the RV. All he heard was a voice coming from in there. No real evidence of who it actually was. |
| 1262 | ** A picture would certainly provide proof the RV was there, especially if it can be time-stamped accurately. |
| 1263 | ** The phone call was designed to make Hank lose his mind: Marie has been *air lifted* to the hospital (only done for severe injuries) and when he asks how she is, the caller (actually Francesca) in a broken voice urges he get there as soon as possible, which implies Marie's probably going to die. At that moment he couldn't care less about Jesse or Heisenberg. |
| 1264 | [[/folder]] |
| 1265 | |
| 1266 | [[folder:Hank and the El Paso assignment]] |
| 1267 | * In season 2, I'm not entirely sure why, after Tuco's death, the DEA pushed so hard for Hank to go down to El Paso. Once he was there, he was clearly a terrible fit for that office. Now to their credit, I think the higher ups may have had their reasons. Maybe they thought that Hank could bring some of his tougher style to that group, since they appeared a bit soft - at least, that's what I took from how they (versus Hank) dealt with Tortuga in the motel room (what with the Sky Mall deal and whatnot). But Hank's inability to speak Spanish put him on the outs down there. For that reason and maybe a few others, I think that they initially should have given the offer to Gomez as he would have been a better fit (and let's remember that Gomez went in Hank's place the next time this happened, in season 3). |
| 1268 | ** Gomez didn't crack down on cartel activity or kill Tuco. That's why they kicked Hank upstairs - because he proved he could get results but people there hated his guts since he was the new guy. So it's not that he wouldn't be good for the job as much as people didn't gave him a chance. |
| 1269 | ** Hank's promotion here, just like his eventual promotion to ASAC in season 5, seems to have been a matter of politics. His {{jerkass}} colleagues down there certainly seem to think about it. |
| 1270 | ** There are many possibilities. The DEA may have wanted a total outsider because they suspected corruption in El Paso. |
| 1271 | [[/folder]] |
| 1272 | |
| 1273 | [[folder:Was Drew Sharp's death necessary?]] |
| 1274 | * This is one of the most difficult questions to answer because Todd does give a very good reason when arguing in Vamanos Pest headquarters prior to the voted decision by the team of Walt, Mike, and Jesse. But is his reason for killing that kid good enough? It did fit the "rules" of the train job: leave no witnesses. And it allows the writers a reason for Jesse to want out of the meth operation. But I wonder, would Drew have presented a legitimate problem in the long-run? Could they have let him go? I mean, I noticed a few things about the train job, namely: |
| 1275 | ** What situation would have to exist where Drew WOULD give a description to the cops? Would he think he even was witnessing a crime? Even if he was suspicious, do young adventurous kids immediately go to the cops under suspicion something may have been going down? Would this be something that would be reported on the news that would trigger him to call the cops? Would the cops be investigating later and if Drew came by on a bike they would ask him if he saw anything recently? Todd makes a good point that it's safer to not take any chances and he acted impulsively, but I also don't see the likelihood where Drew would be in a situation to give descriptions to the cops in the first place. |
| 1276 | ** It's not clear how much Drew saw. If he saw Todd on top pumping off the wagon he will probably tell people about it. If his parents don't call him a liar, they can go to the place see the freshly refilled hole where they had their tank and maybe check with the cops, which won't help when they check the wagon and find out it's all water, it will give a lead other than Walt's original "blame the manufacturer for ripping us off". Now they could have gambled on it. I mean they aren't that recognizable and it's a stretch but, it's still a loose end. Also what would have happened if the kid stood there when they were digging up their stuff or kept buggering them with questions? |
| 1277 | *** In all probability? No, Drew wouldn't have presented a problem. He looked to be about nine, so the chance that he would understand what he saw is pretty slim. Even if he had told his parents about what he saw, the likelihood that he would describe it in such a way that criminal activity would be suspected is pretty unlikely too. It would have been simple for a quick thinker like Walt to make up some excuse for Drew to leave (such as "watch out kid, there's a nasty leak and the fumes might make you sick!" or something), but because Todd shot him within a millisecond, he didn't get the chance. But RuleOfDrama is in play as the show couldn't have progressed to where it did if Drew's murder hadn't occurred. |
| 1278 | *** He was actually fourteen, but yeah. |
| 1279 | ** For what it's worth, [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224534 Drew could've been paid off]]. |
| 1280 | ** It was not 'necessary' except only to show how Todd, an opportunist like Walt, is strategically advancing himself up the career ladder of corruption to impress Walt, proving his place in their hierarchy, not realizing Walt & Co think first, then shoot. It also illustrated that he had Walt's sociopathy and rationalizing skills, making him a fit. Drew most likely didn't understand what he saw since they 'didn't look like criminals' doing 'criminal' things. Jesse knew it too: "He [Drew] was just waving Hi!" He was more interested in his natural macro world of collecting tarantula specimens and tooling around on his dirt bike. Todd wouldn't understand the innocent wonder of being a young boy discovering nature. He was more a hot-house neo-nazi orchid. Like Walt before him, who takes on the habits of his victims (using a towel to vomit, like Gus; cutting the crusts off sandwiches, like Krazy-8) he too becomes interested in Drew's tarantula. Yet, the go-to is always "what's done is done" with complicity from others as they 'move on.' It was a great study in group dynamics and sociopathy, and how all these men of varied ages at one time started out as little boys out exploring with their lives before them - are now cold blooded killers with not much use for introspection and how they got there. But this death separated the men from the boys: Mike and Jesse wanted out. Walt and Todd advance to the next level. Drew Sharp is another BB character's name that exists IRL as more meta puzzle pieces. |
| 1281 | [[/folder]] |
| 1282 | |
| 1283 | [[folder:"What's one more?"]] |
| 1284 | * Walt did more bad things than Skyler, legally and morally, and that part of his reasons included ego and not just "for the family". But to the best of my ability, through at least "Rabid Dog," I believe Skyler only knew of three murders that Walt definitely committed - Gus, Hector and Tyrus - and cooked meth. I'm not sure, though, if Skyler was aware for certain of any other murders Walt had committed (though she at least had her suspicions, enhanced by "I am the one who knocks", etc.). So in her mind, as well as Walt's (based on his reaction), when she tells Walt that "He needs to deal with Jesse" and "What's one more?", that's pretty "bad". I mean, after Walt explained that Jesse had found out about his role in poisoning Brock (though he only told Skyler that Jesse was mad at him, he never mentioned why), and he explained that he just needed to talk to Jesse, Skyler didn't tell Walt to turn himself in or anything, she went right to "Jesse must be killed, for the safety of the family". Given Hank was onto Walt, going to the police was no longer an option at this point, but this suggestion seems to rank pretty high in comparison to Walt's criminal activities that Skyler is aware of. |
| 1285 | *** Skyler is not dumb, she knows Walt killed the nine criminals in jail so they don't strike a deal. Plus the three murders listed was done by blowing up a '''retirement home''' so yes what's one junkie compared to that? It's kind of in-character for Skyler too, she was always kind of passive-aggressive with Walt's choices but when it comes to cover up she is really proactive about it (hustling Bogden car-wash, trying to make Walt appears good at card for the casino story to hold true, destroying her professional image by pretending to be a ditz in front of the IRS etc.) so yes as things start looking bad for her she will take desperate measures and after her drowning attempt it's pretty clear she doesn't care much about the whole no killing thing. Walt look surprised by it but that's because he is blind to how bad his actions affected his family (Flynn even told him how horrible he was this whole year and that was before discovering he was a meth dealer). |
| 1286 | ** What's to consider is that Skyler's suggestion is about as bad as killing Gus, if she understands, as Walt has told her, how bad these people were, that there's no way of talking your way out of it with Gus, etc. On the other hand, Walt felt that ''maybe'' there was a chance he could have regained Jesse's trust, if he could just explain to him why he needed to poison Brock. At least that seemed to be his plan. But Skyler would not want Walt to try talking with Jesse. She went right to "he must be killed". |
| 1287 | ** I believe the writers had Skyler react this way because it's out of character, a radical departure from her consistent way of being, which was heavily influenced by her conscience. Since so much was now lost - including a belief in her own humanity, for being "compromised too" as she put it - she took an unenthusiastic step into the darkness where Walt lived. And Walt's "OMG" reaction was pretty genuine too as it's pretty shocking for Skyler to be saying something like this. He'd just had a similar conversation with Saul (not as shocking), who suggested the same thing, and Walt consistently shot that one down too, telling him not to float that idea again. He finally did give in, but not until talking failed and Jesse gave him a direct threat on his family "where he really lives". |
| 1288 | [[/folder]] |
| 1289 | |
| 1290 | [[folder:Hank's shooting and the aftermath]] |
| 1291 | * A few questions I've had about Gus's manipulation of the Cousins by sending them after Hank: 1) Did he have contingencies planned in case the Cousins got away / Hank died / whatever? and 2) What was the main reason for Leonel to be killed? Was it that he'd tell Bolsa that Gus was behind Hank's shooting, or was it that he'd tell Gus's name to the cops (IMHO, that "don't ever cooperate with the cops ever" probably isn't applicable in Leonel's case, given he and Marco just shot a DEA agent in broad daylight, and Leonel maybe also realized that Gus had double-crossed him and Marco)? |
| 1292 | ** Leonel would have a PTSD of his childhood with Hector beating him for snitching in school or something before he'll ever talk. Bolsa's death shows how the Cousins would have died if they succeeded and reported their actions to him, and as for killing Leonel, it's part of his revenge on Hector. |
| 1293 | ** Those rules fly out the window when the other party doesn't play by the same rules as you. The DEA were furious and were going to turn over heads trying to find the people who ordered Hank's shooting since it's pretty clear these guys were hired. They were going to lean on Leonel until he gave up the guy who gave the order. In the scene where Gus first learns from Bolsa that Leonel had survived, Bolsa mentions that he is going to get Leonel the best lawyer, in a tone that implies that what he intends is that Leonel ''will'' cut a deal with the authorities, which Gus immediately sees as a problem since he was the guy who sent the twins after Hank. |
| 1294 | [[/folder]] |
| 1295 | |
| 1296 | [[folder:Hank, Walt, and the RV]] |
| 1297 | * So when Hank is staking out Jesse's house, waiting for Jesse to lead him to the RV, he calls Walt to ask if he remember Jesse had a RV. Walt has the RV moved to the junkyard, and shortly after Jesse, hearing what's happened, sprints out to his car and drives off in a hurry. And this causes Hank to follow Jesse right to the RV. Walt then uses his diversion with the phone call from Saul's secretary to send Hank away on a wild goose chase while the RV is destroyed. From the dialogue while he's beating Jesse senseless, it's pretty clear Hank realized right away that Jesse had an accomplice make the phone call, and this accomplice knows Hank's cell phone number. Even though Walt technically did not speak to Jesse, wouldn't Hank (had his anger not clouded his judgment and sent him to Jesse's house) have been at least a little suspicious of Walt due to the timing of the events, and the fact this accomplice knew Marie's name and Hank's phone number? I mean, yes, at this stage, Hank still sees Walt as the last guy he could possibly conceive as a meth cook, but still.... |
| 1298 | ** After the call he receives saying "you got one minute before someone shoots you" by someone who is clearly not Walt, Hank might believe there is someone in the Cartel with his social security number so no, his phone number is not a secret and people are constantly watching him as far as he knows. |
| 1299 | [[/folder]] |
| 1300 | |
| 1301 | [[folder:Would Hank have accepted the therapy money?]] |
| 1302 | * Considering that Marie kept (what she perceived as) the truth a secret from Hank, I wonder if Hank would have resisted taking Walt's "gambling" money from Walt if Skyler had asked him instead of Marie. It's unclear whether Hank would have caved or not, given this out-of-network therapy was what got him walking again. |
| 1303 | ** Furthermore, when Walt asked why the gambling story had to be kept secret from Hank, Skyler reminded Walt about turning down Gretchen and Elliott's "charity" for his cancer bills due to ego issues. So would Hank's ego have him similarly at fault, in comparison to Walt, if he were told and turned down the money? And as disgusted and angry as Hank was at finding out Walt was Heisenberg, and that he received Walt's money for therapy, is there a part of him that realizes he probably wouldn't be walking if it weren't for that drug money (it probably wouldn't change his new views of Walt, but still)? |
| 1304 | ** Probably. Gambling is usually considered a far less offensive/morally reprehensible sin than the production and distribution of crystal meth, and I think Hank would have seen it that way too, even if he had to swallow his pride for the time being. It seemed Marie had little doubt Hank would take it as well. She just didn't want the drama at the moment. |
| 1305 | ** Marie would have forced Hank to accept the money. Skylar and Jr would have forced Walt to accept the Schwartz's money. They THOUGHT that's what he did. |
| 1306 | [[/folder]] |
| 1307 | |
| 1308 | [[folder:Why didn't Hank try to scare Skyler into turning more...?]] |
| 1309 | * Basically Hank finds out that Skyler is in on Walt's drug manufacturing, but he doesn't really make much of an effort to try to get her to betray Walt. He theoretically could have, for instance, shown Skyler photos of dead bodies linked to Walt (Gus, Gale, the assassinated inmates), and explained to Skyler, that as she is an accessory after the fact to all of Walt's crimes, plus her own crimes of money laundering, she ought to get on the side of the law now if she wants to even hope for a reduced sentence. |
| 1310 | ** Or she would have just say fuck the brother in-law, he just threatened me with a jail sentence and showed me dead bodies, so let's send him to Belize. I mean you think someone who is clearly working outside his work protocol is gonna get what he wants? At this point he might as well put a gun to her head. |
| 1311 | ** Fear is a powerful motivator, and yes, Hank would've probably gotten something if he'd managed to get her to flip and testify in court. |
| 1312 | [[/folder]] |
| 1313 | |
| 1314 | [[folder: Why would Gus accept Walt 'firing' Gale and replacing him with Jesse?]] |
| 1315 | * In Season 3, Walt is able to convince Gus to cut Gale loose so he can use Jesse as his lab assistant. His argument is that Gale 'isn't working out' and that Gus promised him he could run the lab any way he saw fit. However, this ''particular'' demand strikes me as something Gus would consider unreasonable and be very unlikely to accept. Gus' interests lie in not only producing the 99% pure meth, but also training someone ''he'' can trust to continue producing that meth at that same quality when Walt is gone, which (given Walt's lung cancer) is something that he needs to prepare for immediately. Gus has known Gale for years, even put him through school, and can have justified confidence in both his skill at chemistry and his loyalty. He can feel confident that, once Gale knows the recipe, he'll be prepared to take up running the lab the moment Walter no longer can. None of that applies to Jesse, so why would he so meekly allow Walter to replace his own trained chemist with a "worthless junkie"? |
| 1316 | ** Because at this point if it's all it takes for Walt to stop bitching and start working he was fine with it. Gus already has not one but ''two'' chemists that can make pure meth at a quality that will get the cartel on notice with Gale and Walt, so if he has to keep a junkie for a while until he kills Don Eladio he is fine with it, especially since Walt being his cook helps his BatmanGambit. If someone asked why the Cousins went after Hank instead of Walt, Gus can truthfully claim that they settled for Hank as a next-best option because he told them Walt was under his protection. And if Don Eladio is pissed about it he could have a demonstration of Walt's cooking at his place, and "Salud" would have happened earlier with Walt. After Eladio was gone, Gus could then cut Walt and Jesse out of the picture and have Gale taking back the lab. |
| 1317 | [[/folder]] |
| 1318 | |
| 1319 | [[folder: Is Hank allowed to do that?]] |
| 1320 | * When Hank goes to arrest Walt in the Indian reservation, does he even have the jurisdiction to do that? I'm aware that a lot of what he did prior to that episode was already illegal but wouldn't finally catching Walt in the reservation cause more legal problems? I'm not entirely sure how this works. |
| 1321 | ** Reservations are not international waters. It's just a problem if Walt doesn't say where the money is. Then they'd have to send in a team, dig the area blindly, and that would need the cooperation of the tribal police (guys like the cop that the Cousins killed in season 3). But just going there to arrest someone isn't a problem since even municipal cops can travel out of their jurisdiction to make arrests when need be (though it's more common for the local jurisdiction to arrest and then extradite the person of interest back to the jurisdiction where he's wanted for questioning). |
| 1322 | [[/folder]] |
| 1323 | |
| 1324 | [[folder: Walt's revenge on Lydia]] |
| 1325 | * Let's ignore the last minute moment where Lydia wanted Walt killed in the last episode. Is there a reason why Walt targeted Lydia along with the Neo-Nazis? She didn't even have a hand in Hank's death. |
| 1326 | ** To keep his family safe. Walt didn't plan on dying and Lydia was crazy enough to threaten Walt's family so she could keep selling blue meth in Serbia. |
| 1327 | ** What's interesting is how was Walt so sure that after he tells Lydia he poisoned her, she wouldn't decide to take some company with her, namely Walt's family, if she has nothing to lose. Yes, she was never the type to get her own hands dirty, and her first impulse would probably be to speed to the nearest hospital, sure, but still, that was a lot of unnecessary risk he put them in, just for the sake of letting her know it was him. Walt, of all people, should know that desperation pushes people into the most uncharacteristic actions. |
| 1328 | [[/folder]] |
| 1329 | |
| 1330 | [[folder: Hank and the Fourth Amendment]] |
| 1331 | * Regardless of whether or not an RV can be called a residence and therefore fall under the protection of the Fourth Amendment, Hank was still trespassing on Old Joe's property. Why then didn't Joe just threaten to report Hank to the police or the DEA unless he left? |
| 1332 | ** It's a junkyard during open hours. Hank isn't trespassing. |
| 1333 | *** Yes it is, Hank is searching Old Joe's property without a warrant. It doesn't matter whether it's during business hours or not, law enforcement cannot search your property without a warrant or the permission of the owner. |
| 1334 | *** Hank is not searching the property. He already found the R.V, which is in plain view and was reported stolen before Combo's mom asked the search to be dropped. A stolen vehicle in a place where they scrap vehicles for cash? That's enough for Hank to seize the R.V, or at least, impound it long enough for a warrant to arrive. Had Walt and Jesse not used the "Marie's in a car accident" phone call to send him away, Hank probably would have gotten that warrant. |
| 1335 | *** I have been to junkyards several times looking for car parts, and business hours or not, they don't let people just roam freely in and out as they please like it's a Wal-Mart. You go to the main office, tell them what you're looking for and either they'll send someone to find it or they'll let you in to go find it yourself, only AFTER you've signed in. In ''Better Call Saul'', Mike was shown having to do this when he took his clunker to the junkyard to strip it apart for pieces looking for the tracker that he suspected had been planted on the car. So by that definition, Hank was trespassing (unless Hank flashed a badge offscreen to a designated representative). Which brings up another question of how Walt and Tuco were able to go in and out of the junkyard to conduct drug deals with no one knowing, but that can possibly be chalked up to Tuco maybe bribing the guys to turn a blind eye to him. And as far as the RV, his mother never reported it stolen to begin with because she didn't want her son to be arrested. Hank even says that there is no record of it ever being stolen. |
| 1336 | *** It's mentioned that Hank has the right to claim probable cause, provided it's readily apparent. Jesse was a criminal suspect already under surveillance, and Hank actually did witness him driving into Old Joe's yard, so he had a much stronger claim for probable cause on that count -- which is probably why Joe calls Hank out for trespassing, but doesn't seriously push that issue and instead raises the matter of whether or not the RV counts as Jesse's domicile. |
| 1337 | [[/folder]] |
| 1338 | |
| 1339 | [[folder:Why was Mike so intent on keeping his men alive?]] |
| 1340 | * It would have been so much easier and cheaper to just have those guys killed rather than try to recuperate their hazard pay. Going out of his way to pay these guys off just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. And who's to say they wouldn't eventually talk anyway? The whole thing seemed very selfish of Mike. Especially when his crooked lawyer got busted and Mike had to go on the run, knowing that without the hush money and him being out of the picture they would likely turn state's evidence. |
| 1341 | ** Mike is a fairly loyal employee. As long as you abide by the terms of your agreement with him, he'll do the same for you. He believes in getting a dollar's payment for a dollar's worth of work. But here's the thing: The drug world and the underground is made up of snitches, despite what anybody would want to believe. Every now and again you get a stand-up person who accepts that a prison sentence is a likely possibility for them at some point in their life, but you can never really know who that person is until they're free (in fact, a common tactic investigators use involves repeatedly questioning a person they suspect of having information. Even if the person never divulges anything, the fact that they're repeatedly called in is noticed by other prisoners and the rumor that the person is a snitch will get spread really quickly). Mike believed that he had a group of guys who were dependable, and for the most part they were, as long as they had enough money to guarantee their families would be taken care of for the duration of their sentences. |
| 1342 | ** Mike was loyal to his men and he expected them to be loyal to him in return. If it got out that the other guys were getting killed off, then it wouldn't be long before somebody started talking in hopes of getting witness protection. They'd turn over Mike, and Mike would most likely turn over Walt (it's not like he was particularly devoted to Walt or even liked Walt; Walt killed Mike's boss, who was also Mike's best friend). To Walt and Lydia, the incarcerated nine were thorns in their asses, but to Mike, the nine were friends he valued. Maybe not to Werner Ziegler levels, but friends nonetheless. |
| 1343 | ** Every known associate of Gus except Mike suddenly died violently in jail. Who is the prime suspect? Whose name might come out when they ask the deceased family if they ever talked about their shady work (which they did since the hazard pay works because at least one relative is aware where the money come from)? Mike isn't in the same situation where like Walt he can just become a sociopath and kill everyone to keep his identity secret, because he is linked to those people. |
| 1344 | ** It's very much in character for Mike. His vouching for these guys is something that we saw start in ''Better Call Saul'' during his time with Werner overseeing the meth lab excavation crew. |
| 1345 | [[/folder]] |
| 1346 | |
| 1347 | [[folder:Hank misses a huge clue?]] |
| 1348 | * Right after the RV incident Hank goes to "ask" Jesse about where the latter got his phone number, but how could he not realize that, in order to pull that prank call, Jesse, or an accomplice, had to know ''a lot'' more about him than just his phone number. That he's married. His wife's name. That she drives. That she's currently in the city. And they had to know it in advance, because I doubt even the NSA could've just dug up all those details in a few minutes. I'm not saying Hank should've instantly made the direct connection, but this situation should be one that tells Hank "[[TheMole there's someone in your office or your family who is secretly cooking meth with Jesse]]", and yet Hank never seems to consider this possibility or try to find the rat. |
| 1349 | ** Hank was too busy driving angrily toward Jesse's house to even think about anything other than "that asshole deceived me and used my wife's name to get me out of the way while he destroyed the evidence". Then he was too busy with the whole assault charge. Then he got suspended, and then he got shot. With that much escalation, Jesse was the least of Hank's priorities at this point. |
| 1350 | [[/folder]] |
| 1351 | |
| 1352 | [[folder:8 Hours]] |
| 1353 | * Where is Gus getting his 8 hour figure in the beginning of ''Full Measure''? Remember, Gus arranged I the "peace" meeting between Jesse and the dealers sometime during daytime, then Jesse went home and heard about the death of Tomás sometime after dark. We then cut to the lab the next morning with Walt calling Jesse and telling him he's late, and only getting voicemail. After a morning to evening time lapse Walt is at home where he learns about the death of Tomás on the news, where the anchorwoman says it happened last night. So it has not been less than 8 hours since the peace meeting, it's been more than a day. So why does Gus say that Jesse "...couldn't keep the peace for 8 hours?" |
| 1354 | ** Walt and Gus clearly had different interpretations of when the official moment of peace time was clocked. Gus probably clocked the peace time the moment his dealers said they aren't using kids anymore, because before that they had yet to make official the change. |
| 1355 | ** Maybe he said 8 hours for emphasis. If Walt replied "actually Jesse couldn't keep the peace for 32 hours" it really wouldn't disprove Gus's point. Or maybe it's a subtle hint the usually fastidious Gus was enraged so not thinking clearly. |
| 1356 | [[/folder]] |
| 1357 | |
| 1358 | [[folder:Walt returning Holly after "kidnapping" her]] |
| 1359 | * Wouldn't it have hurt the story? Why would the monstrous Heizenberg he'd played up return his daughter instead of keeping her hostage or, if he felt he no longer needed her...? He knew there had to be a search for her, so if he'd just left her somewhere people were likely to find her, and pass her to the authorities, that would've at least looked somewhat plausible, but to almost literally wrap her up with a return address? And yes, I realize it's his daughter we're talking about, but I have trouble seeing how the story didn't collapse immediately afterwards. |
| 1360 | ** As Saul pointed out, even if the story was perfect the investigators would have started picking it apart and try to pin Skyler. For the moment they are likely to believe he was just talking big to cover the fact he fucked up "yes no totally my plan to kill the head of the DEA and run I'm too legit to quit". I mean all it says is he won't kill his infant daughter, it's not like he turned himself in after seeing how fucked up kidnapping her in the first place was. |
| 1361 | [[/folder]] |
| 1362 | |
| 1363 | [[folder:Hank's guardian angel]] |
| 1364 | * I might be misremembering but did Hank or the police ever try figuring out who was the guy that warned Hank about the Cousins or told him someone is gonna target his family afterward? Like at the end of the series it's clear having a brother-in-law in the meth empire might explain why two factions were playing with him but no one seems to have tried figuring it before. |
| 1365 | ** I think the unspoken conclusion was that a rival or a personal enemy ratted the Cousins out, but that lead was dead, so they didn't bother to follow it. |
| 1366 | [[/folder]] |
| 1367 | |
| 1368 | [[folder:Could Mike have rebuilt?]] |
| 1369 | * Let's pretend Mike took the money and didn't let Walter bait him. He drives away. His life has been pretty much wrecked, and he's wanted by the law. He also has no resources other than the money in the bag and he's an aging man about to enter his senior years. But Mike has proven to be very, very methodical and crafty. Do you see him rebuilding his life outside the USA, and possibly fulfilling his dream of securing a fortune for Kaylee? I don't think laying low on the lam until his death is Mike's style. How do you see him rebuilding? |
| 1370 | ** He'd probably do what he had been doing between when he arrived in Albuquerque and when he began working for Gus: wait to die. ''Better Call Saul'' shows that it was his original plan after his son's death. He has no pretense unlike Walt that his granddaughter won't forgive him for abandoning her on the playground and finance them with blood money. |
| 1371 | [[/folder]] |
| 1372 | |
| 1373 | [[folder:Was it necessary to poison Brock?]] |
| 1374 | * Couldn't Walt have just left Jesse a voicemail apologizing for what he said to him earlier? Couldn't he left Jesse a voicemail explaining to Jesse that Gus had threatened to murder his entire family? Walt got Saul to get Jesse on the phone, and Saul left Jesse a bunch of voicemails and Jesse listened to them. Jesse listens to his voicemails! And, right before he listened to them, Jesse tried contacting Walt himself, but Walt wasn't answering. Jesse found out from Saul that Walt's family was threatened, and Jesse clearly cared a lot. But then basically immediately, Jesse heard the news about Brock. My point is, Walt had the ability to contact Jesse, and given how much Jesse still cares about Walt at this point and how much Jesse cares about others (he wouldn't want Walt's kids to die), Jesse's resolve when it comes to planning to kill Gus would be strengthened. I know that Jesse didn't see the urgency of the Gus threat before, but I'm positive he would have been convinced after Gus threatened Walt's entire family. Literally, all Walt needed to do was try to talk to Jesse, but he chose the more corrupt option. And, even then, I'm sure Walt could have found a different way that didn't involve poisoning Brock. |
| 1375 | ** Put it another way, Jesse saw the reasoning in killing Gus, but he didn't see the urgency of the threat. He killed Gale to save Walt's life before, even though he clearly didn't want to, because it was an immediate life-or-death urgent issue. Jesse thought that Walt was safe because he kept expressing to Gus to not kill Walt. But I don't think Jesse had ever considered that Gus would be so cold as to threaten to murder Walt's family. You can tell that Jesse was extremely concerned when Gus said, when talking about Walt's helping Hank out, that there would be an "appropriate response". Jesse was immediately alarmed and asked what he meant by "appropriate response" and that's when Jesse decided to call Walt, but he wasn't answering and then he listened to Saul's voicemails. I'm convinced that if Walt had explained to Jesse what Gus did to him (blindfolding him in the desert to threaten his family), that Jesse would have seen how necessary it was to kill Gus as soon as possible, especially with how much he still cared about Walt and how much he cares about others (Jesse wouldn't have wanted Walt's kids, in particular, to be harmed), making poisoning Brock pointless. |
| 1376 | ** Of course, another big reason that Jesse was so hesitant in killing Gus before was because Walt was putting all the responsibility on Jesse to do that. He's the one that kept telling Jesse it was his responsibility to poison Gus with the ricin. But, if Walt had (1) told Jesse about the threat against his family and (2) brainstormed with Jesse together as to how to kill him that didn't involve Jesse directly killing him himself, then once again, I think Jesse would have agreed with Walt that Gus needed to go very soon. |
| 1377 | ** You'd also have to keep in mind, though, that the threat against Walt's family likely would only be carried out if he interfered in the hit against Hank, someone whom Jesse loathes at this point. While Jesse probably ''would'' have understood that there's no way Walt would step back and let his brother-in-law get killed and thus Gus needed to go, Walt ''himself'' may have figured that Jesse, at worst, would think that "if his family gets killed, that's Walt's fault for not keeping away from Gus's business". Or, alternatively, Walt was worried Gus could just tell Jesse he was just bluffing and wouldn't really kill the kids. Therefore Walt wanted Jesse to think that Gus had ''already'' hurt a child so that there would be no way for Jesse to reason it away to avoid killing again (and clearly Walt had to settle for Brock, rather than Holly, because he wouldn't exactly stoop that low). |
| 1378 | [[/folder]] |
| 1379 | |
| 1380 | [[folder:Why does Hank suspect Gus in the first place?]] |
| 1381 | * What makes Hank want to get Gus’s fingerprints off that soda cup to check if they’re his at Gale's? |
| 1382 | ** The incriminating clue was the evidence of a Los Pollos Hermanos meal at Gale's house. Now that, on its own, is not proof pointing a finger at Gus. For all you'd know, Los Pollos Hermanos was just a meeting place. As Gomez says, "If your guy had his meeting at KFC, you wouldn't immediately assume that he's sitting down with Colonel Sanders." Hank's outline of his evidence to Merkert and Gomez could explain his thought process on how he thought of Gus, if we're to assume that he did all this research before seeking out Gus specifically: on its own, the Pollos meal remains mean nothing. That is, until Hank got ahold of Gale's notebook. The notebook led him to an industrial air filtration system, which is manufactured by Madrigal, which happens to be a conglomerate that invests in Los Pollos. The owner of Los Pollos is probably the one who has the money and the connections to get such a machine without some sort of paper trail. |
| 1383 | [[/folder]] |
| 1384 | |
| 1385 | [[folder:Gus's Lawyer]] |
| 1386 | * What ''did'' Gus see in Dan Wachsberger to hire him as a lawyer? Certainly someone as meticulous as him could have found someone more competent to take care of the offshore accounts? |
| 1387 | ** Dan wasn't incompetent. His job was to make the deposits and tell the employees' families how the payments work. Sure he didn't expect being tailed, but that's because you don't put up a tail on a lawyer unless you have a damn good reason for doing so. The only reason that Hank even suspected Dan was because he found it weird that Mike would use Saul as a lawyer instead of Dan like the other guys were using. |
| 1388 | [[/folder]] |
| 1389 | |
| 1390 | [[folder:How would Gretchen and Elliot's "trust fund" work?]] |
| 1391 | * It's stated several times in the series that you simply can't carry out any "on-the-books" transaction worth any more than in roughly the low five-figure range without the IRS finding out about it. With that in mind, how exactly did Walt expect Gretchen and Elliot to set up the trust fund for Flynn -- he should have known full well that if the two had tried handing over $9 million in cash to their lawyers to set the fund up, the authorities would have immediately flagged it, investigated where the money was coming from, and likely ended up confiscating it. I can understand why Walt went down that route, as he was basically out of options by that point, but you'd think after spending the better part of a year having Skyler badgering him about cleaning their money, he'd realize the issues in handing over such a big pile of cash. |
| 1392 | ** Five figures if you are from a regular household, a billionaire couple can clean $9 million as a bet they had with a friend and no one will question it or even be able to prove it since private to private transactions like that are hard to trail. This is why Gus can cover billions in meth thanks to a chain of restaurants while a car wash owner can't. Ted was able to embezzle for years until the IRS audited him and he has a small business. |
| 1393 | ** Gretchen and Elliot were billionaires. Donating millions of dollars for charity purposes is nothing strange to them. They had just made the news for donating $15 million to some drug rehab facility. Thats what gave Walt the idea to use the Schwartzes in the first place. |
| 1394 | [[/folder]] |
| 1395 | |
| 1396 | [[folder:What if Ted Beneke hadn't paid his taxes?]] |
| 1397 | * Would Skyler and Walter really have gone to jail? Beneke wasn't the brightest bulb around. |
| 1398 | ** The danger wasn't that Ted might rat Skyler out, since he didn't know enough to actually do that. The problem she had was that her name was on a whole bunch of the company's accounts, and the IRS's usual ''modus operandi'' goes along the lines of A) Any financial discrepancies in accounts are deliberate fraud unless proved otherwise, and B) If an accountant or executive has committed fraud at one company, odds are they've committed it at every company they've ever worked at. Skyler would thus find the IRS coming down on the car wash with full force, and unless she had done a ''very'' good job of integrating Walt's drug money with its normal cashflow, odds are that she, Walt and possibly Saul would face a lot of time in prison. |
| 1399 | [[/folder]] |
| 1400 | |
| 1401 | [[folder:What if Jesse wasn't taken by the Neo-Nazis?]] |
| 1402 | * If Walt didn't notice him under the car, or chose to be silent about it to confront him later on when they're alone? |
| 1403 | ** If Walt didn't notice him, then odds are Jesse would have been unable to start the DEA car that was left at the scene due to it being too badly shot-up during the gunfight, and he'd probably have ended up dying of heatstroke. If Walt ''did'' notice him, he'd probably have just kept Jesse alive along to chew him out for getting Hank and Steve killed, then shot him. Either way, Jesse's not walking out alive. |
| 1404 | ** If Jesse had never been taken by the Neo-Nazis, Andrea never would have been killed, so he might have had a chance at living a "happy" life with her and Brock if he had some way for them to disappear with his cash. However, Hank was dead either way, and Marie knew that he and Gomez were working with Jesse to bring down Walt. So she would've shown Jesse's tape to the police, and they would pretty quickly track him down and arrested. He'd likely be compelled to testify in court against Walt and all of his associates (Todd, Jack, Lydia, Saul, Huell, Kuby) in hopes of getting a plea deal. He, Andrea and Brock would've also been placed in witness protection under assumed identities before, during and after the trial to keep themselves from being hunted down and killed by the Neo-Nazis, since even though the police would've been quick to track down and arrest Jack, Todd and his associates, Jack would still have some guys on the outside who could be tasked with tracking down Jesse while he's locked up awaiting trial. |
| 1405 | ** Without Jesse, the Neo-Nazis probably would've tried to get Walt to cook for them, maybe tried to lure/force him into some sort of partnership, although Walt would be very unwilling to do anything for them given they just killed Hank and Gomie. Their best bet would be to use Todd and have him cook his subpar crap, until they run out of methylamine, after which they'd be done, because Lydia wouldn't continue supporting them, since Todd's meth was far below her expectations. Or they could retire with Walt's stolen millions, which is what they already planned on doing anyway if it wasn't for Todd's crush on Lydia. |
| 1406 | [[/folder]] |
| 1407 | |
| 1408 | [[folder:What would have happened to Hank if he lived and took Walt in?]] |
| 1409 | * Would Hank’s career have been over? Sure he caught Heisenberg but he also single-handedly helped Walt keep the meth business running by providing him with so much confidential information. Surely the DEA isn’t going to look past all the things Hank did ...sharing case details, illegally obtaining evidence (the GPS trackers), etc. |
| 1410 | ** Hank would have gotten a lot of scrutiny from Internal Affairs at the DEA when his relationship with Heisenberg was revealed, but his superiors both present and former (Merkert and Ramey) and peers (like Gomez) had a lot of respect for him and they all saw how diligently he pursued the leads on the blue meth cases. Ultimately he would have been vindicated, especially if Walt was successfully prosecuted. The DEA would've known it was time to fight dirty, especially given the body count that Walt and his associates racked up. They'd been trying to do it the right way. Though Hank would've probably been forced to make an early retirement with pension for the sake of politics, as the press are likely going to want his head, viewing him like he were Whitey Bulger's brother William (a successful politician and longest-serving president of the Massachusetts State Senate; his brother Whitey ran the Winter Hill Gang until a tip-off from a mole in the FBI prompted Whitey to go on the run. William's reputation was tarnished by his mere association with Whitey). |
| 1411 | [[/folder]] |
| 1412 | |
| 1413 | [[folder:What if Mike hadn't been shot during the escape from Don Eladio's place?]] |
| 1414 | * It's pretty convenient that Mike was out of commission during those last few episodes of season 4, because that kept him from interfering while Walt was arranging Gus's death. But what if Mike hadn't been shot? What would he have done during those days if he had recovered and returned north with Gus and Jesse? |
| 1415 | ** It'd depend on whether or not Gus brought him to the retirement home. If not, then Season 5 would have turned out pretty much the same, except for Mike cursing himself even more for letting Gus get killed. If he did get brought along, however, he wouldn't have royally FailedASpotCheck like Tyrus did, and would have insisted on sweeping Hector's room and wheelchair for bugs or traps. Hector might have blown up out of spite, but then again, maybe not. Either way, if that were the case, Gus would have survived, and Walt, Hank, and however many other family members Gus decided to eliminate would be royally screwed. |
| 1416 | [[/folder]] |
| 1417 | |
| 1418 | [[folder:Skyler making a deal]] |
| 1419 | * What, exactly, makes Walt think that the coordinates he gives to Skyler will be enough to get her out of trouble? How is the burial place of two dead DEA agents going to be worth much when trying to cut a deal? I understand that him turning himself in, even as a corpse, might get her off the hook, but how are two long-dead bodies going to make a difference? If he thinks he needs to give Skyler a little extra leverage, given that he's not going to be taken alive, and it's a bit of an uphill battle to get Skyler the house back, then okay, but are those coordinates really going to help her? It's not like he's giving her the location of the rest of his drug money. |
| 1420 | ** Having the bodies (or at least their skeletons) for an autopsy would help link the neo-nazis to the case, helped by Jesse's testimony. Hank and Gomez' deaths are federal crimes of the utmost severity that Walt doesn't want hanging over his family's heads. Proving how Jack and Lydia were partially responsible for some of Heisenberg's worst atrocities means not everything will land on his family. On a personal level, it would also help to close the rift between Mary and Skyler once the true story of Hank's death comes out, and Walt Jr. can take some solace from the fact that despite being a terrible man, his father didn't kill his favourite uncle. |
| 1421 | [[/folder]] |
| 1422 | |
| 1423 | [[folder:Why didn't Jesse's parents turn Jesse in?]] |
| 1424 | * After Jesse managed to blackmail them into selling him their house at less than half their asking price, an event which pretty clearly seems to end in them disowning him, why don't Jesse's parents turn him in? Maybe they can't turn him in for the meth lab since they already tried to cover that up, but at the least they could probably turn him in for having a bunch of money that they know he shouldn't have. Jesse didn't launder any of the money he used to buy the house, and any decent investigation should reveal that he obtained that money illegally. Hell, forget Jesse's parents turning him in, how does Jesse not get tossed in jail for tax evasion after spending 400 grand on a house when he hasn't done anything to justify having that money legally? |
| 1425 | ** If they turned him in, the deal would probably be voided, the money confiscated, and the fact about the meth lab would've come up anyway, making it impossible for them to resell the house for any money. So they decided to just cut their losses and move on. As for Jesse, perhaps legally the house was purchased by a third party provided by Saul, who simply "let" Jesse live there. |
| 1426 | *** It wasn't their primary residence (it belonged to Jesse's aunt before she died from cancer), and buying a house isn't a criminal offense. Trying to unwind a deal after closing is difficult, and it would be compounded if Jesse and Saul had taken even a basic step to make it one step removed from Jesse, such as creating a trust or business partnership which bought the property. Their relationship may be heavily strained, but it would devolve into open warfare if they had pushed the issue. Quite honestly, Jesse's parents had more to lose. Saul had already embarassed them by calling them out on failure to disclose the meth lab, and they did the deal to keep it quiet. Their reputation was on the line, and one encounter with Saul made them painfully aware of how easy it would be to smear it. It may have been nothing that would hold up legally, but the gossip would hit their friends, family, business associates, and so on. People already know they have a drug dealer son; but it coming out might have people wondering if his bad choices were learned at home. |
| 1427 | *** Mr. Pinkman also gives an extensive list of the renovations that they did on the house -- and if it really was fumigated and cleaned like he said it was, they would have all but eliminated any trace that the lab was ever there. That would have made it purely their word against Jesse's, which wouldn't have been enough to amount to any meaningful legal threat. |
| 1428 | [[/folder]] |
| 1429 | |
| 1430 | [[folder:How did Walt pay for his initial treatment and surgery with drug money?]] |
| 1431 | * It isn't until late in season two that Saul starts using Junior's website to launder Walt's money, and even then never launders more than maybe twenty grand through it. The Whites buy the car wash in season four. So, before Walt was doing any money laundering, or even thinking about money laundering while we're at it, he was spending thousands of dollars on treatment, and later hundreds of thousands on surgery, using drug money. How was he going to justify having that sort of money to the taxman? |
| 1432 | ** The IRS would need something substantial but extraneous to arouse their suspisions. Like luxurious purchases, or extravagant antics, or just a sudden drastic improvement in life quality. As far as the doctors are concerned, Walt borrowed money from friends or took out loans, or sold something. They wouldn't know because it's not their business to check. |
| 1433 | [[/folder]] |
| 1434 | |
| 1435 | [[folder:Hit on Hank]] |
| 1436 | * What was the Cousins' plan exactly? Gus calls Hank right before he's about to drive away, and tells him that the Cousins will approach him in one minute. And so they do. But the only reason Hank was still there then is ''because'' of the call. I'm confused about both of them. Why would the Cousins choose that moment to attack, when, for all they knew, he was about to leave, and why didn't Hank leave? He knew he was unarmed, so even if he figures out who the assassins are there's little he could do. He was extremely lucky Leonel chose to shoot from behind and not from the side. I suppose he probably wanted to take the opportunity to identify the assassins for the future, but that just seems insanely dangerous, even for his new reckless self. |
| 1437 | ** We know from ''Better Call Saul'' that Gus likes to have long-term tails on people of interest. It's likely he had a guy tailing the Cousins (probably ever since that desert meeting where he redirected them to go after Hank). Hard to say how the Cousins found Hank, but it's likely Gus may have even had Hank's car bugged so that the guy doing the tail would know when the Cousins were about to make a move. This guy then made a call to Hank's phone when he saw the Cousins getting out of their car with their guns (the "one minute" warning was more like 80 seconds, so Gus must've told him offscreen, "When these two begin to move on Agent Schrader, you call his cell phone and give him a heads up so that he'll fight back against them"). |
| 1438 | ** OP: No, my question was why would the Cousins choose that moment for the attack. We've seen them perfectly willing to approach their victim at home, so wouldn't it make more sense to do the same with Hank? Again, if Gus (or his cronies) hadn't called, Hank would've simply driven away before they could approach him, and they would've had to chase him or go to his house, so why not do that from the beginning? It'd make sense if they'd been already waiting him on the lot, but then the warning would've had to come in a different way. |
| 1439 | *** The Cousins wanted to hit Hank when they thought he was at his most vulnerable. |
| 1440 | ** OP: And the second question is about Hank. He's been told that he's about to be attacked. Judging from his distraught, he took it at least somewhat seriously. So why isn't he immediately driving away? Nothing was blocking his way. He's acting like he's cornered. |
| 1441 | *** What he's doing is looking around, trying to see who's calling him, or for that matter, where these hitmen might be coming from. |
| 1442 | [[/folder]] |
| 1443 | |
| 1444 | [[folder:Why would Gale sign on the ventilation machine?]] |
| 1445 | * One of the key leads that Hank gets is the ID for the industrial ventilation/filtering machine that Madrigal produced and Gale signed for receiving. But why in the world would he do that? ''How'' would he do that? I would expect Madrigal to supply that thing for some facility of theirs, probably to replace a malfunctioning one. On paper that's what would've happened, while in reality the old machine would carry on working, while this one would be diverted to the super-methlab. Sure, Gale could've been working in that theoretical facility, but I would expect Gus to keep Gale (officially) as far away from all the lab preparations as possible, and instead he personally signs for a huge piece of machinery for it! That's very un-Gus-like. |
| 1446 | ** Arguably a bit of over-confidence on Gus's part. Would've made more sense to have had Lydia's name or the name of another third party on record. |
| 1447 | [[/folder]] |
| 1448 | |
| 1449 | [[folder:The nazi meth-lab]] |
| 1450 | * After seeing how much trouble every cook goes to in order to conceal their lab: setting it far in the desert, hiding it underground with a heavy-duty filtration system, or in the houses under sanitation, isn't it weird that Jack's crew simply stuff it in some club-house? The area cannot be that remote, seeing how the cops arrive mere minutes after the shootout, and yet they aren't afraid somebody might smell something? |
| 1451 | ** It's just as likely the cops had Jack's crew under surveillance on account of getting a copy of Jesse's confession to Hank (assuming Hank made a copy that the Neo-Nazis didn't get access to). |
| 1452 | *** Doubt that. Otherwise the cops would've raided it long ago. That being said, it is possible the cops were investigating them, either due to their relationship to the Heisenberg case, or-more likely in my opinion-relating to Andrea's murder. They could never get enough evidence for a warrant though. Or maybe they did, and the cops we see showing up at the end were sent to serve it, and happened upon the aftermath-though that might be a bit of a stretch. Simplest explanation is that the cops had no reason to suspect Jack and his gang were up to no good until they began digging around after Walt’s machine gun trick. |
| 1453 | ** Jack's pack has a gated compound, so nobody is going to get that close to their lab. |
| 1454 | [[/folder]] |
| 1455 | |
| 1456 | [[folder:The fuelling station in S03E04]] |
| 1457 | * What kind of fuelling station dispenses gas ''before'' receiving payment? |
| 1458 | ** Is this not common in America? I've seen many in the UK and Canada which operate on a trust system; the customer fills up their tank and proceeds to go inside the gas station to pay off their tarrif for it. |
| 1459 | ** It's common in rural areas in the US, places where there aren't many random travelers. This is definitely the case with this station considering the cashier said they would take a personal check which is even more rate than pump before you pay. |
| 1460 | [[/folder]] |
| 1461 | |
| 1462 | [[folder:What was Gus' plan?]] |
| 1463 | * The altercation between Hank and Cousins played in Gus' favor, but only because one of them was killed and the other incapacitated, allowing Mike to kill him. What was Gus planning to do, if the Cousins were luckier? If they survived and told Bolsa and/or the Cartel that he'd authorised a hit on a DEA agent? |
| 1464 | ** Judging by how quickly Gus was able to organize a delivery of chicken and get Mike into the hospital when it turned out that Leonel had survived, it's likely that Gus had plans in place in case either one or both cousins made it out of the confrontation with Hank alive. We can only speculate what it might have been, though judging by ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', it would probably have revolved around somehow exploiting the Cousins' AxCrazy and RevengeBeforeReason streaks. |
| 1465 | [[/folder]] |
| 1466 | |
| 1467 | [[folder:How come DEA didn't find Jesse's prints on the bag of money?]] |
| 1468 | * When Hank and Gomez question Jesse after the Tuco incident, they present his bag of money. Shouldn't it be covered in his handprints? Or is it not possible to leave/recover them from fabric? |
| 1469 | ** Fingerprint evidence is not as much of a smoking gun as ''CSI'' makes you think. |
| 1470 | ** Though yes, the kind of fabric the bag was made out of generally does a poor job of holding onto fingerprints, and probably wouldn't be considered acceptable evidence in court. |
| 1471 | [[/folder]] |
| 1472 | |
| 1473 | [[folder:To catch Mike Ehrmantraut]] |
| 1474 | * Why did the police need to come to the park to arrest Mike? He was living a "boring old man life" at that point, what was stopping them from nailing him at home, away from innocent bystanders? Sure, it actually wouldn't matter since Walt would've warned him either way, but they didn't know that. On the other hand Mike was already getting suspicious from the call with the lawyer. He could've bailed just from some healthy paranoia. |
| 1475 | [[/folder]] |
| 1476 | |
| 1477 | [[folder:Who Called In The Fire?]] |
| 1478 | * In very first episode at the remote cook site, Emillio throws a cigarette out the RV window which turns into a brush fire. Next thing you know fire trucks are on their way. If they were supposed to be a safe cook site in the middle of nowhere, who reported the fire? And how did fire trucks get out there so quickly? This leads me to believe that the site is not as remote as they thought it was, but this leads to another question: if a bystander was close enough to that area to see and report a fire, then how come no one was around when they heard all that machine gun fire during the Aryans' gun fight with Hank and Gomie? |
| 1479 | ** While it's been a long time since I've seen the show, it's possible that the fire did spread out to where somebody could see it or somebody drove by and saw it. |
| 1480 | ** I always took it as RuleOfFunny. There's no way a chaparral fire would be attacked by fire trucks with firefighters hanging onto the back like a big city fire department. InUniverse I would guess Walt (very much a freaked out noob at this point) is misperceiving what actually occurred. It's also possible he drove quite a distance before wrecking and the firefighters were responding to an unrelated fire. |
| 1481 | [[/folder]] |
| 1482 | |
| 1483 | [[folder:Number of guys with offshore accounts]] |
| 1484 | * Gus clearly seems to have more than a dozen guys on his drug gang's payroll. So why are there only offshore accounts for Mike and those 11 guys? What about Victor, Tyrus, and the two thugs who were holding Jesse prisoner in the lab? Or the dead drivers and guards from the truck hijackings? |
| 1485 | ** Who says there weren't? The DEA were actively investigating the accounts of Mike and his men because they were still alive and in a position to testify against the surviving members of Gus's organization, and taking away their money would give them more reason to flip. Gus, Tyrus and the others were already deceased, so while it's likely their financial holdings were looked into (and seized under the RICO Act where applicable), they would have been less of a priority. |
| 1486 | [[/folder]] |
| 1487 | |
| 1488 | [[folder:Merkert's resignation and Hank]] |
| 1489 | * When Merkert talks of his decision to resign over his closeness to Fring, Hank is seen with a somewhat 'knowing' expression on his face after Merkert says "I had him out to my house. Fourth of July, cooked out in the backyard. My son shucked the corn, my daughter cut up potatoes. Fring brought sea bass. Every time I grill it now, I make a little foil pouch, just like he showed me. That whole night, we were laughing, telling stories, drinking wine. And he's somebody else completely..." Did Hank have suspicions already at that point, or perhaps even before (such as during the "W. W." discussion with Walt in season four)? Or did he really have no thoughts about Walt being Heisenberg prior to finding ''Leaves of Grass''? |
| 1490 | ** Hank likely just has empathy for Merkert, like having someone explain how someone he saw as a friend was apparently faking it is a real fear some can bond over without having to experience it. Hank just thought Walt was cheating on Skyler until he found Gale's copy of ''Leaves of Grass'' in Walt's bathroom. |
| 1491 | [[/folder]] |
| 1492 | |
| 1493 | [[folder:Destitute Duane]] |
| 1494 | * Duane Chow owns Golden Moth Chemicals. Sure, it doesn't seem to be a huge operation, but it's enough that he has a small building and a secretary. So why is he shown as being so poor? His house is extremely modest, in a neighborhood of squalor. Even the Whites' starter home is a palace compared to his. Not to mention Albuquerque property values are pretty reasonable (since you're living in the desert). Gus Fring seemed to take good care of his subordinates and business partners financially, so this always struck me as odd that he's living like a guy barely making 30k. |
| 1495 | ** Perhaps it's a personal choice on Chow's part to live below his means, to not attract any suspicions from the cops. |
| 1496 | ** It's not rare at all for people that make a lot of money to live quite modestly. Warren Buffet lives in an incredibly modest house, for example. |
| 1497 | [[/folder]] |
| 1498 | |
| 1499 | [[folder: Where are the Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans?]] |
| 1500 | * One thing that has always driven me crazy (and I know I’m not the only one) is that there are so few Hispanic-American characters. Bear in mind that Latinos make up about 47% of Albuquerque's population. By comparison Anglos are only about 42% of the population. I know that originally the show was supposed to take place in Riverside, California, but that city has about the same ratio! I realize that main protagonists being Anglos in cities where Anglos are a relatively low percentage of the total population isn’t unusual. After all New York and Los Angeles are each only about 30% Anglo but you wouldn’t think that from TV. But Gomez is the only significant Latino-American in the cast (and Steven Michael Quezada is an Albuquerque native). Other significant Latinos like Tuco, Hector, the Cousins, and Gus are all outright stated to be from Latin American countries. But even a huge percentage of minor characters are also Anglos, and quite a few African-Americans have small roles despite the African-American population only being about 3% of the city’s population. Victor is the only significant Native American character in the show in the show and ultimately ends up being in fewer episodes than Tyrus. |
| 1501 | [[/folder]] |
| 1502 | |
| 1503 | [[folder: Why did Walt work part time at a car wash?]] |
| 1504 | * Almost every teacher has a second source of income, so there’s nothing unusual about Walt having a second job. But why a car wash? A job where none of his teaching or chemistry skills would apply in any way? Granted he had taken the job to be a cashier, a relatively low stress job. Likewise Bogdan was likely flexible with his hours. But even the cashier job was likely a little more than minimum wage, it just seems like there are tons of other options that would’ve been available for Walt. Also, did Walt and Bogdan know each other? The way they interact, the way Walt quits, the way Bogdan is so indignant about Skyler‘s offer to purchase, and the way Walt and Skyler essentially ruin him suggest that they may have a bit of a history. Bear in mind that this is a job that likely has an enormous turnover rate, and Walt did quit in a rather spectacular fashion, but Bogdan seems to have taken it particularly personally. |
| 1505 | ** Part of Walt's character at the start of the show is how much he under-values himself, and how unambitious he is. He could have a job that paid far better than teaching ''or'' washing cars, but chose not to. With that in mind, it's not too surprising that both his main and second jobs are ones that are far beneath his talents. |
| 1506 | [[/folder]] |
| 1507 | |
| 1508 | [[folder: Could the two cellphone problem have been averted?]] |
| 1509 | * The whole (or the majority of it, anyway) reason Skyler casts suspicion on Walt when he disappears is because he appears to have a second cellphone (and in fact does). This is flagged up because Hank runs a trace on the call on his primary phone, and it comes back blank. However. This might have been avoidable if he had had just one phone with the ability to take two SIM cards. I think so anyway? Would this prevent it from being tracked by his primary (and legitimate) network? And still allow him to conduct illicit business with the secondary SIM card? |
| 1510 | ** Certainly nowadays this would be doable since many smartphones are designed to handle two SIM cards at once, although it's a bit of a hassle to do so since you have to use a special tool to pop the SIM out and do the switch. |
| 1511 | ** (OP here): It's not even a case of "nowadays" because [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_SIM#History these types of phones were available since the year 2000]]. However, the question stands. |
| 1512 | ** This wouldn't have changed anything. The call still wouldn't have shown up on Walt's main number or phone line, which is what Hank checked, since changing the SIM cards changes the number/carrier/account. Hank still would have noticed the discrepancy and wondered what Walt was hiding. If we really want to dig into this concept it may have even been ''more'' suspicious, because there are many hypothetically legitimate reasons for somebody to have two cell phones (One for personal and one for work, one with a standard plan for regular use and one with X-number of prepaid minutes to use in the event of emergency, etc.) while switching SIM cards back and forth has no possible explanation in Walt's legitimate life. |
| 1513 | [[/folder]] |
| 1514 | |
| 1515 | [[folder: Does any type of acid melt down motorcycle parts?]] |
| 1516 | * The entry for ArtisticLicensePhysics on the Buyout recap staes that "While the acid would dissolve Drew Sharp's body, realistically, it wouldn't dissolve the parts for his bike.". Ok, but are we sure that some other type of acid besides hydrofluoric wouldn't do it? |
| 1517 | ** There's no type of acid that would dissolve all the parts of the bicycle with equal effacacy. You'd likely need nitric acid to dissolve the metal parts, sulphuric acid for the plastic parts, and acetic acid for the rubber parts. Additionally, using nitric acid to dissolve metal would lead to an additional problem in that the reaction produces large quantities of gas, which would likely blow the barrel apart long before it had finished dissolving it all. |
| 1518 | [[/folder]] |
| 1519 | |
| 1520 | [[folder: Why does Jesse assume that Walt poisoned Brock in ''Confessions''?]] |
| 1521 | * Jesse accused Walt of poisoning Brock the first time because he knew that his cigarette was missing right when Brock was sent to the hospital and believes that Walt did it to get back at him for helping Gus, with Huell being the one who got it off him. Walt defuses it by saying that Gus had Tyrus steal it, in order to frame Walt. In the end, Jesse concludes that it was all a mishap since it turns out that it wasn't even ricin, it was Lily of the Valley and it's somewhat common for kids to stubble upon it. After that Walter even makes Jesse believe that it got stuck in his vacuum and that's how it got lost.\ |
| 1522 | But it all clicks into place when Jesse realizes that Huell swiped his drugs since it also means that he swiped the ricin, and he's so sure that Walter poisoned Brock he attempts to burn Walters house down? How? He knows that Brock wasn't poisoned by ricin and he has no idea that Walter has Lily of the Valley at his house. Yes, Huell swiping his Ricin is suspect, but why would he connect Lily of the Valley to Walter? Maybe Walter needed the Ricin for something else. I just don't find it believable that he instantly connects everything just because Huell swiped his drugs. |
| 1523 | ** Well here are a few things to think about: |
| 1524 | *** Brock may not have been poisoned by ricin, but it seems rather coincidental that the cigarette went missing around the same time he ended up in the hospital. |
| 1525 | *** Walt had been trying to convince Jesse to help him kill Gus, and when Jesse first accused Walt of poisoning Brock, Walt insisted it was Gus who did it, and that finally gets Jesse back on his side. |
| 1526 | *** When Jesse has a breakdown after finding the “cigarette” in his vacuum, Walt tries to comfort him like a parent, which he only truly does when he needs a favor from him. He also tells him what happened was “for the best”, taking the incident a little too well. |
| 1527 | *** Walt convinced Jesse to break things off with Andrea after they had dinner with her and Brock, convincing him it was for his own good, when in reality he was probably afraid Jesse was going to find out what happened from Brock, who seemed to recognize Walt and what he did. |
| 1528 | *** When Walt tries to get Jesse to leave town, the latter knows he doesn’t actually care about his well-being and tries to get him to admit it, but Walt, much like before, continues to console him without admitting anything. |
| 1529 | *** When Jesse realized Huell lifted his weed, he remembers a similar ordeal with the ricin, and started connecting the dots, finally realizing why Walt wanted him to break up with Andrea and leave town. He may not have known about the plant in Walt’s backyard, but he knew Walt was capable of planning drastic and elaborate schemes that often put innocent lives at risk. |
| 1530 | [[/folder]] |
| 1531 | |
| 1532 | [[folder: The morality of poisoning Brock]] |
| 1533 | * Why is this portrayed as ''the'' irredeemable act or shocking act. It is this act that is treated as so bad, that it turns Jesse against Walt. Gus was threatening to kill his entire family which included his infant daughter. Him saying that the money was for his children is depicted as hypocritical by Jesse during the phone call in ''To'hajiilee'' even though this act was specifically to keep them safe. It was either two kids, their mother and uncle dying, or a boy being sent to the hospital for two days. Yes it was probably hell for Andrea during those 48 hours, but they are shown is being completely back to normal after that point.\ |
| 1534 | Walter has killed multiple people at this point, with the prison killings being the most despicable, but him making a child sick crossed the line? The show just seems to go out of its way to make this act justifiable when it could have made it seem more evil such as making it clear that the poisoning was a gamble, have Walt actually use the ricin, have Brock suffer from side affects, give Andrea stress problems as a result, or make it so that the "I have a family excuse" wasn't actually legitimate in that one instance. But no, it actually makes it seem like what he did was harmless, thus making Jesse's rage where he almost burns down his house to seem like an over exaggeration, considering all the other shit they've both done, Jesse himself having shot a man in cold blood. |
| 1535 | ** For whatever reason, hurting or otherwise mistreating children seems to be a major BerserkButton of Jesse's, as evidenced by Drew Sharp's death being his DespairEventHorizon, and the fact he seemed angrier over Spooge and his girlfriend's mistreating their son than their having robbed Skinny Pete. More significantly, however, Brock's poisoning was what caused Jesse to turn on Gus. Without that, he would have still been happily cooking for Gus in the megalab, Mike and Drew would still have been alive, and his overall personal situation would have been much better. It's likely that the realization of that was what caused Jesse to finally snap -- and the fact that it involved his Berserk Button (with a kid he knew personally and was fond of, no less; by contrast he only knew Spooge's kid for a few hours, and didn't really know Drew at all) just made things ten times worse. |
| 1536 | ** Partly it was just accumulated grievances ("he can't keep getting away with it!"). Partly it was Jesse's own loved ones Walt was messing with. Partly it was Brock being a little kid. What seemed to really set Jesse off though was that it was "just a move" Walt did to manipulate him. |
| 1537 | ** Brock survived the poisoning but it could have easily gone the other way. Children are far more badly effected by poisons than adults and their reactions are far more difficult to predict. Walter got lucky and if Brock had a worse reaction than what Walter imagined than he would have died. |
| 1538 | [[/folder]] |
| 1539 | |
| 1540 | [[folder: Is Hector a ShoutOut to the writer in A Clockwork Orange?]] |
| 1541 | * Mark Margolis bears a rather strong resemblance to actor Patrick Magee. Both are in wheelchairs (most of the time), while the writer does speak and Hector cannot the writer is mostly remembered for his over the top facial expressions which are the only way Hector can express himself. Finally both get revenge on the person they most hate. |
| 1542 | [[/folder]] |
| 1543 | |
| 1544 | [[folder: Why does Gus do business with Walter considering Hank, Jesse, etc?]] |
| 1545 | * It makes for great drama, of course, but that's obvious in-universe as well. Gus expresses complete ambivalence to Gale about the difference in quality of Walt's meth vs Gale's. He apparently brings in Walt only to placate Gale. Wouldn't it make more sense for Gus to just bring down Walt? That would eliminate the blue sky competition and Gus could just tell Gale "that guy they just busted with the brother on the DEA? He's that cook, isn't that crazy!?" |
| 1546 | ** Considering that Gus thought Walt only had a few months to maybe a year left to live, he probably thought it was worth the risk of bringing in Walt for a while in order to teach Gale how to make his meth formula and gain that edge in the market. Notice that even when Walt insisted on firing Gale and bringing in Jesse, Victor was clearly keeping a close eye on everything the duo were doing, doubtless with the intention of relaying it to Gale. Unfortunately for all involved, Gus's little gamble quite literally blew up in his face in the end. |
| 1547 | ** Gus might've already guessed that he'd have to use his chemist in his plan to take down the Cartel. Considering how dangerous that plan was, it was best to have a spare. |
| 1548 | [[/folder]] |
| 1549 | |
| 1550 | [[folder: How does Walter know where the RV is?]] |
| 1551 | * Jesse has sent Badger and the RV to get tuned up. Walter wasn't thinking of the RV at all until Hank called him asking if Jesse had an RV. Walter calls Saul about how to get rid of the RV, but Saul doesn't tell him and likely doesn't know. Then Walter drives to the junkyard where the RV is being tuned. How does he know It's there? |
| 1552 | ** Jesse made a deal with the workshop owner to park the RV back when they were partners with Walter. There was no reason to keept its location a secret. |
| 1553 | [[/folder]] |
| 1554 | |
| 1555 | [[folder: In Face Off, why does Gus's goon in the lab have a gun on Jesse and require he handcuff himself?]] |
| 1556 | Gus has spent considerable effort to charm Jesse, and this behavior strongly contradicts that. I could see Gus being wary of Jesse, but Gus falls for Walt's ploy hook line and sinker. Also, there's very little Jesse could do even if he decided to go rogue with a goon right there. |
| 1557 | ** Jesse nearly calls security on Tyrus, which is a huge no-no in their world. By this point Gus is 106% ''done'' with his insolense and with trying to play nice with him. |
| 1558 | *** So, is Gus planning to unalive Jesse after this batch or keep him hostage? I still can't see how this makes any sense. |
| 1559 | *** Why not? He was probably planning something akin to what Jack's gang eventually did (but more humane, of course) - keep Jesse prisoner in the lab, and arrange for some kind of living quarters right there. |
| 1560 | [[/folder]] |
| 1561 | |
| 1562 | [[folder: How does Walt know that he has $80 million?]] |
| 1563 | * When Skyler shows Walt the storage locker with the pallet of money, he asks her how much is in it; she responds that she doesn't know. At this point, it's clear neither of them know how much money they have. When Huell and Kuby go to pack it into barrels, the stack appears the same, certainly not as if anyone has gone through and counted it. Huell and Kuby don't count it when they pack it into barrels; when Hank asks Huell how much money there is, he answers "7 barrels worth", rather than a dollar amount. Yet when Walt is trying to bargain with the Aryans for Hank's life, he states that he has $80 million, which turns out to be accurate. How did he know the amount? |
| 1564 | ** He doesn't know, he can only guess. And when does it turn out to be accurate? |
| 1565 | ** It's not clear if Walter knows how much money he has when Skyler showed him the pallet or not. There are many reasons he could have asked Skyler that question. Even if he didn't know at that moment (he likely wasn't expecting her to show him the pile that night), he's intelligent and has been shown to keep detailed records before so he likely was able to calculate it later. |
| 1566 | ** It's Walter. He could take one small stack of cash and count it, then extrapolate the value of the entire pallet. Width times length times height is volume. It's basic math that Walt could do in his head. |
| 1567 | [[/folder]] |
| 1568 | |
| 1569 | [[folder: How could the cousins possibly be an effective team?]] |
| 1570 | * Two handsome near look alike men in nice suits with a notably weird affect. I don't know how the world works in Mexico, but north of the border, these guys might as well be wearing neon vests. Neither the federal government nor these state governments are remotely this asleep. |
| 1571 | ** Which is why they mostly operate south of the border and only venture north to resolve matters of familiar importance. |
| 1572 | [[/folder]] |
| 1573 | [[folder: How does Skyler using the location of Hank and Steve's bodies as legal leverage supposed to work?]] |
| 1574 | * Walter gives Skyler the coordinates of Hank and Steve's shared grave to use to get her out of legal trouble but shouldn't withholding that information count as obstruction of justice and put her in even more legal hot water? |
| 1575 | ** There's not much to be gained by putting her in that hot water. Her case is probably already a PR cesspit for the law - forcing a single mother of two to carry the sole brunt of what was mostly her violent husband's crimes just because the law failed to apprehend him does not exactly look like a triumph for the justice system. On such a background attempting to deny closure to the families of two heroic cops over red tape without any real justification (all the involved parties are already dead, it's not like missing Hank&Gomez' bodies actually prevented the law from solving any crimes or prosecuting anyone) would paint them in even less appealing colors. So they would probably be glad to get what little wool they can from this mangy sheep and get it over with. |
| 1576 | [[/folder]] |
| 1577 | |
| 1578 | [[folder: No dead-man hand?]] |
| 1579 | * Gus threatens to kill Walter's family in case Walter tries to get in his way. And yet he doesn't think to arrange all their deaths in case he is killed (and let Walter know it, of course)? Same goes for Lydia and Jack, they ''know'' how insanely dangerous Walt is, and yet neither think of the most obvious precaution |
| 1580 | ** Gus was just trying to intimidate Walt into backing off, knowing how much Walt’s family means to him. Gus was probably also on a high streak, having succeeded in his long-planner revenge against the cartel, and turning Jessie against him, so he reasonably assumed Walt had nothing to challenge him with. For Jack and Lydia, they were planning to kill Walt, but he outsmarted them by using their weaknesses (Lydia’s love for stevia, and Jacks hatred of rats) against them. |
| 1581 | ** Gus may not have thought it was necessary to plan for that in the first place. He may have thought that even if Walt wasn't scared off by his threats, Walt had no chance of killing him because he had survived much worse threats many times before. To Gus, Walt is a 50-year-old greenhorn who is in way over his head, and it isn't until Gus sees the bomb on Hector's wheelchair that he realizes he severely underestimated Walt. |
| 1582 | ** Lydia is vastly over her head in this world and couldn't believably create such a threat. Jack might be able to create this threat, but it seems way above his mental grade. (Though it's worth noting that Walt slaughtered Jack's entire clan to prevent any sort of revenge.) Gus simply grossly underestimates Walt's capabilities. |
| 1583 | [[/folder]] |
| 1584 | |
| 1585 | [[folder: "Animals. Does the lawyer know?"]] |
| 1586 | * This is more of a "what was the original intention", as Series/BetterCallSaul revealed all about Lalo and Jimmy's trauma over him and Mike/Gus's involvement, but I've always wondered - before that all existed - why Gus's first response to the Salamancas was wondering if Saul knew. It's not like he gives a shit about the guy. |
| 1587 | ** Probably because Saul could've blabbed to Walt. |
| 1588 | ** Mike caught the Salamanca Twins at the White residence whilst he was bugging the house per request of Saul. Assuming Gus knew the reason Mike was at Walter's house, Gus may have suspected Saul was inquisitive to Mike about how the job went and if Mike told Saul what he saw. |
| 1589 | [[/folder]] |
| 1590 | [[folder: Jesse's drug induced confession tape and related problems with Hank's tactics]] |
| 1591 | * Hank abducted a borderline psychotic Jesse who clearly needed immediate psychiatric care, imprisoned Jesse in his home, drugged Jesse with sleeping pills, then when Jesse awoke, coerced a lengthy confession tape with Hank prompting Jesse offscreen without benefit of a lawyer? Did he become KGB? What did Hank intend to use that tape for? Why did Gomez go along with this? Gomez mentions he'll stop it if Jesse decides to lawyer up, but the circumstances are so irregular, Gomez would probably lose his own job for going along with all this. That tape would never be allowed as evidence. There are real life cases where people have turned themselves into the Justice Department wanting to make statements but aren't allowed until they have a lawyer by their side. |
| 1592 | ** Sub-head scratcher: was Hank giving Jesse the sleeping pills a plot element to something that was later dropped? It's rather glaring. |
| 1593 | ** Hank’s behavior is a mirror to Walt. Despite hating Walt and treating all criminals as garbage, when it serves him, Hank is totally willing to go against the law by drugging Jesse and going under the table rather than using Jesse as a real criminal informant with legal protections. Part of the reason why is if he went ‘above-the-books’ with this, he wouldn’t be on the case (and could lose his job). But he’s totally not above acting criminal or abusive if it means he can ensnare Walt. His real ace in the hole was entrapping Walt, not Jesse’s confession. It drives in that Hank also completely misses the point of policing and why Walt needs to go down - to protect the public and his victims from him, because he treats Jesse, one of Walt’s victims as disposable. In fact, his treatment of Jesse is meant to strongly mirror Walt’s. Like Walt, he exploits the fact that Jesse’s vulnerable, that Jesse has no one to turn to, and Jesse’s guilt, for his own gain at Jesse’s detriment. Him drugging Jesse is meant to show how far he’s willing to go to exploit Jesse in order to get to Walt. He is willing to let people (Jesse) die if it serves his own ends, like Walt. It drives in that Hank is also not the hero of the story, even if he’s opposing the villain (Walt), even if he’s nowhere near as terrible as Walt. In the end, he’s just an abusive cop who uses the law to do his job, act like tough guy, and reenact his own prejudices but he never really helps anyone or shows anyone compassion. |
| 1594 | [[/folder]] |
| 1595 | [[folder: "Bribe"-- you keep using that word (Saul/Walt/Jesse)]] |
| 1596 | * How is Walt's offer to Saul of $10k a "bribe"? Saul's a private attorney, not a public official. Walt's just paying more for better service. Walt doesn't even suggest Saul do anything illegal. I could see maybe the idea is Walt and Jesse are clueless at this point but Saul should have just taken the money. He too calls it a bribe. |
| 1597 | ** Walt offers Saul the $10k to effectively throw Badger's court case. Deliberately messing up someone's defence would be a severe ethical violation and possible grounds for disbarment whether or not any money had changed hands, and doing it in exchange for cash would cross the line into an outright criminal act. |
| 1598 | *** How can the defense throw the case? If Saul bungles the case, Badger goes in, and this doesn't help Walt/Jesse. The only way I can see this making sense is that Saul interprets Walt's offer as paying Saul to "do what it takes"-- i.e. Saul uses the money to bribe the prosecution himself. |
| 1599 | [[/folder]] |
| 1600 | [[folder: Gale's book]] |
| 1601 | * Within the context of the show, why was Gale's book the thing that alerted Hank to Walt being Heisenberg when there was so many instances in which Hank ignored blatantly obvious evidence? It's so ambiguous compared to other things like Walt straight up telling Hank that Gale wasn't Heisenberg or Walt mysteriously not being around his family every time something important is happening in the crime world. It's a wonder to me that Hank didn't just think "Wow, what a wacky coincidence that Walt and this meth cook just happened to work together at some point!" |
| 1602 | ** I agree it does seem like Hank should have figured it out earlier. However, that book is practically a smoking gun. It sure looks like it's from Gale and that it's dedicated to Walt. And it is sitting in Walt's bathroom where there is no other plausible explanation. |
| 1603 | [[/folder]] |
| 1604 | [[folder: Walter, Jesse, and Andrea 2: Why would Walter want Jesse to break up with Andrea?]] |
| 1605 | * As discussed above, it looks like Walter was manipulating Jesse to dump Andrea. But why? Living with Andrea and Brock is by far the healthiest and most stable life Jesse has had. And even if she knew the particulars of what Jesse does (she doesn't), it's not like he tried hard to hide it from everybody. At least Andrea is mostly sober and not trying to use (or blackmail) Jesse. |
| 1606 | ** Walt is possessive. He and Jesse have a complicated dynamic in which Walt likes to control and loves Jesse best when Jesse needs him. He ''does'' care, but he also wants the kid ground down like a loyal dog. |
| 1607 | [[/folder]] |
| 1608 | |
| 1609 | [[folder: Stealing the tape]] |
| 1610 | * I just find it odd that some burly skinheads were able to break into the house of a federal agent, in the middle of the suburbs, in the middle of the day, without any of the neighbors noticing ad either calling the police, or telling them about it once the investigation into Hank and Gomez's 'disappearances' started up. I know, suspension of disbelief, but like I said, seems like it'd be a risky bet for the Aryans, given that their entire house of cards could be brought down by a random neighbor seeing them while taking out the trash (though granted the alternative is that the cops find said tape-which directly implicates Todd). |
| 1611 | ** Maybe they dressed up in Vamanos Pest outfits or a similar guise. They could very easily look like workmen of some sort and wouldn't be flashing their swastikas. And lots of neighborhoods like Hank's are virtual ghost towns during the day. |
| 1612 | [[/folder]] |
| 1613 | |
| 1614 | [[folder: Gustavo's crimes becoming public]] |
| 1615 | * How did Gustavo Fring's criminal activities become public knowledge after his death? Sure, seeing a fried chicken CEO's half-burned corpse at a nursing home of all places might be relatively suspicious, but how did Gustavo's drug dealing, killing, fraud and other dark deeds get exposed to the world afterward? |
| 1616 | ** They don't all become public knowledge exactly. Police found the ruins of the super-methlab under Fring's laundry, linking him to the drug trade, but that's pretty much it all they had on him until they learned of the secret bank accounts of his employees. |
| 1617 | [[/folder]] |
| 1618 | |
| 1619 | [[folder: Federales not taking Juan Bolsa alive.]] |
| 1620 | * Even if Bolsa wouldn't talk with the Federales, bringing in the co-founder of one of the largest drug syndicates in Mexico would probably be a huge win for the government. My best guesses or either A. Gus paid them off to not take him alive, or B. He was killed because he came out with a gun and they assumed he was gonna go down fighting, and the Federales decided to take him out before he had the chance. |
| 1621 | [[/folder]] |
| 1622 | |
| 1623 | [[folder: Only Tuco's fingerprints on No-Doze's body]] |
| 1624 | * Hank mentions that they found a bloody fingerprint on No-Doze's body. So, what about Walt? We see him briefly performing chest compressions on him. Shouldn't that have left some fingerprints or DNA evidence? |
| 1625 | ** Key word: a ''bloody'' fingerprint. Dry hands on clothes don't leave much prints, especially since Walt was pressing with his palms, not fingers. |
| 1626 | [[/folder]] |
| 1627 | |
| 1628 | [[folder: Hank and Gomez not preparing for a shootout]] |
| 1629 | * While it's been well established that Hank wanted to be the one who brought Walt in, hence why he didn't call for back-up. That said, why did he and Gomez go in with a pistol and shotgun respectively. Walt is not only the meth kingpin of the Southwest at this point, but also more than capable of violence (Gus's death comes to mind). Shouldn't they have considered the possibility he might come in with some hired guns (which is kind of what happens), and gear up with some assault rifles and SWAT vests in case things went south. They still would've been outnumbered in the gunfight with the Neo-Nazis, but it would've given them an advantage. |
| 1630 | ** It's unlikely that they had that kind of gear on hand or at home - they would've had to requisition it from DEA, and that would entail having to explain the whole situation. Which was absolutely the right way to go, for sure, but by that point Hank became obsessed with bringing Walt in by himself. |
| 1631 | ** Hank just never really accepted how powerful Walt was. He put it together on paper and had he not personally known Walt, he would have seen him as as dangerous as a Tuco. |
| 1632 | [[/folder]] |
| 1633 | |
| 1634 | [[folder: Why does Walt use hydrofluoric acid rather than lye?]] |
| 1635 | * Walt using hydrofluoric acid to dissolve bodies is bizarre both in canon and as an artistic choice. Someone with only some chemistry knowledge, or who knows just knows household cleaners knows that sodium peroxide, aka, lye is [[{{Squick}} very effective]] at breaking down organic material. It’s cheap and it can be bought in large quantities without alerting authorities (unlike a lot of forms of acid). It’s what the real life cartels use, [[NightmareFuel unfortunately]]. |
| 1636 | * In the first season, Walt using HF acid could be an [[ArtisticLicenseChemistry artistic license]] because the acid mishap establishes character dynamics. However, they accurately chose an acid that really does destroy porcelain, I guess to cater to chemists in the audience. But then it probably would confuse chemists in the audience, because real HF acid is so dangerous that Jesse could’ve died inhaling the fumes or it could’ve gotten through his gloves and poisoned him. |
| 1637 | * It could’ve be an in-joke that Walt is an inexperienced criminal that selects something overly sophisticated to do the job. But then why does Walt keep using hydrofluoric acid in later seasons, and even more experienced criminals like Gus have it stockpiled? Also, it totally would’ve made sense that a laundry mat would order lye, a common ingredient in soap. |
| 1638 | * The creators have mentioned for making meth, they intentionally fudged the chemistry so it wouldn’t inspire the criminal element who watches the show. Is this one of those situations? But if so, that’s a pretty vicious example because those ne’er-do-wells inspired by the show could easily die from handling it improperly (assuming they imitated how Jesse and Walt handled it). Or was it just that it’s actually relatively difficult to get large quantities of in real life, so they didn’t think criminals watching could actually get their hands on it? |
| 1639 | [[/folder]] |
| 1640 | |
| 1641 | [[folder: Hank doesn't use his trump card in the scene with the RV?]] |
| 1642 | * Couldn't Hank have declared that an RV just like this one had been reported stolen and he would therefore kindly ask the owner, who's so conviniently present inside, to present the proof of ownership? |
| 1643 | * In fact, why didn't he ask Mrs. Ortega to actually report the highjacking, since Combo was dead, and this could no longer harm him, but Hank would have a solid justification to confront Jesse about it, whether or not he manages to catch him cooking meth? |
| 1644 | ** How is Hank supposed to "declare" the RV stolen? He's federal and has no jurisdiction to do any such thing. Never mind he was acting as a free agent anyway. |
| 1645 | ** I mean just tell Old Joe and Jesse: "An RV that matches this one by description has been reported stolen by the owner. Would you mind presenting your registration for it?". I'm not an expert in USA law, but is it really ''forbidden'' for a fed to do something like that? |
| 1646 | *** Feds are forbidden from doing things they don't 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. |
| 1647 | *** "isn't a trump card" - why not? If an RV just like this was reported stolen (providing, again, that Hank would've actually had persuaded Mrs. Ortega to report it), how is it not a cause for Hank to check if it's not that one? At least check the VIN number. |
| 1648 | [[/folder]] |
| 1649 | |
| 1650 | [[folder: Declan and his crew not packing heat]] |
| 1651 | * How come none of them were armed when the Nazis pulled up? Just saying. You'd think an operation like this would have the guys packing at least a few pistols, just in case the cops or rivals show up. |
| 1652 | ** They probably had, but you saw the kind of heavy ordnance the nazis were packing, and that was for a guy who, as far as they knew, was no threat to them. Pistols are not very good against heavy machine guns. |
| 1653 | [[/folder]] |
| 1654 | |
| 1655 | [[folder: "No Mas: What was the driver thinking?]] |
| 1656 | * Why the hell would the driver decide to crawl away from the gunmen who still have a clear line of sight on him rather than, I don't know, play dead and wait for them to leave? |
| 1657 | ** Fear is the mind-killer. |
| 1658 | [[/folder]] |
| 1659 | |
| 1660 | |
| 1661 | [[folder: Laundry's employees not recognising Walt and Jesse for the police]] |
| 1662 | * I understand the manager keeping his mouth shut because of the hazard pay, but what about all the workers? Walter and Jesse never hid from them (which was very stupid, by the way), so at the very least they should've been able to describe the two that came out from the lab before it exploded. |
| 1663 | ** As far as the employees, most of them were illegal immigrants who high-tailed it out of dodge at the first hint of trouble, good luck finding them. And the ones they did find, would probably play dumb or legitemately not know anything. It isnt like Walt or Jesse were seen by EVERYONE who works there. |
| 1664 | *** Exactly. These are mostly illegal employees that have a whole bunch of reasons to not see nothin'. This would be true of any illegal immigrants in general, but Gustavo would be extra incentivized to hire people who won't talk. On top of that, the employees Walter hired to clean the lab were promptly shipped out. And even if they stole a glance here and there, at a glance would most people so easily distinguish between Walter and Mike? |
| 1665 | [[/folder]] |
| 1666 | |
| 1667 | [[folder: The security tapes on Gus' laptop]] |
| 1668 | * I get it that the showrunners needed an excuse to keep Mike from killing Walt, but why in the world would Gus keep the feed from the lab CCTV on his laptop? Hell, why record it at all? Walt and Jesse wern't even in there 24/7, so surely it wouldn't have been too much of a burden for one of Gus' men to keep watch over them from the security post. And if Gus himself wanted to peek in, he could've done it through an RDP or something like that. And fine, maybe they'd want to keep the feed from the latest cooking session, to rewatch it at their own leisure and make sure those two didn't get up to any mischief, but surely they would've deleted it afterwards, and surely Mike, who was in charge of Gus' security, would know all that? |
| 1669 | ** Gus was a control freak and liked information. This man somehow knew Jesse's medical history better than Jesse did, down to Jesse's blood type. There wasn't much reason for Gus to delete his recordings. He wasn't planning on dying or getting busted. |
| 1670 | ** Knowing Jesse's medical information served a practical purpose - he could've been wounded on that mission just as easily as Mike or Gus. And Gus ''did'' plan for the possibility of being busted - that's what hazard pay for his men was for. Recodings were evidence against him, there was no reason to ''keep'' them. |
| 1671 | [[/folder]] |
| 1672 | |
| 1673 | [[folder: Saul Goodman, money laundering and car wash]] |
| 1674 | * 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 scheme seemed pretty straightforward: Skyler simply adds several non-existent 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. |
| 1675 | ** 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 police-- to feel like you're being cheap. |
| 1676 | [[/folder]] |
| 1677 | |
| 1678 | [[folder: DEA busting the lawyer at the bank]] |
| 1679 | * 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 precinct, but again, what cause would they have to spy on the lawyer in the first place? |
| 1680 | ** We don't really see it happen, but Dan is clearly 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 to handle the hazard pay. 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. |
| 1681 | ** It's also possible the DEA cheated and this evidence wouldn't be allowed in court. Hank was pushing hard for results and Gomez was shown to be a not legally flexible as well. And I won't pretend to be a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure the Feds have expansive powers to seize vast amounts of cash. More importantly, they weren't after the lawyer, they were after his boss, they just wanted to sweat the lawyer. |
| 1682 | [[/folder]] |
| 1683 | |
| 1684 | [[folder: Waiting to Vanish]] |
| 1685 | * Why did Walter wait until Hank was dead before deciding to go with the plan to vanish? Yes it’s a PointOfNoReturn but I’d say that was reached when Hank made it clear he knew Walt was Heisenberg and would use any means nessecary to bring him down. Had Walt vanished the moment he found out Hank knew things might’ve gone better for him. |
| 1686 | ** 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 |
| 1687 | ** Walter never had any intention to vanish without his family until he had no other choice. Even when he did run, he fully tried to take his entire family. Walter only deployed the vanish card when was panicked and felt he had no other choice. And even if Walter's full family agreed to vanish, Flynn's cerebral palsy would likely be impossible to hide in general, let alone from the feds, which is essentially what Hank represents. |
| 1688 | [[/folder]] |
| 1689 | |
| 1690 | [[folder: Why is Walter convinced Gus can't pause production?]] |
| 1691 | Walter specifically and emphatically is certain Gus can't afford to pause production even for a moment. Is there anything shown that supports this? There are things shown that support the exact opposite. It's possible Walter is saying this to manipulate Jesse, I guess. |
| 1692 | [[/folder]] |
| 1693 | |
| 1694 | [[folder: Why destroy the lab?]] |
| 1695 | * Destroying the super-lab in season 4 was an iconic and cathartic moment, sure, but upon reflection, wasn't it also a collosally boneheaded move? Before that the DEA had nothing on Fring. His death doesn't prove anything - legitimate businessmen also get assassinated by competitors or by the mob. As for the lab, DEA has no real reasons to dig around the laundry or to go after Fring's employees, so it wasn't really a threat. Scour it clean from fingerprints and maybe disable the raising mechanism in the laundromat, sure, but blow it up? What did that achieve other than actually attracting DEA's attention and giving them the aforementioned reasons, and why would Walter want that? He didn't know about the hazard pay, and if it wasn't for that, the laundry manager would've sold them both the next day. Not to mention possible retaliation from the crew (especially Mike), whom the police obviously couldn't have arrested immediately. |
| 1696 | [[/folder]] |
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