Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul What IF is a web series by Murge Productions. It details possible alternate scenarios in the Breaking Bad universe if events played out differently than they did in the shows in the same vein as Marvel's What If…? (2021) series.
Alternate outcomes include Walt going to prison, saving Jane instead of letting her die, dying in the hands of Krazy-8, his shooting of Mike coming back to haunt him when Mike ends up surviving, and Jesse escaping neo-Nazi captivity without Walt's assistance.
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Tropes:
- Abled in the Adaptation: "What if Mike Didn't Get Shot in Mexico?" uses this as a starting point where the Salamanca gunman who shoots Mike is not present at the end of the episode "Salud", leaving Gus at full strength to deal with Walter when he returns to the US.
- Adaptational Badass: In the show, Gus' hit squad was ultimately easily outsmarted and taken out by Lalo. In "What if Mike killed Tuco?" they are able to assassinate both him and the Cousins.
- Adaptational Context Change:
- In the show, Gus stops Jesse from drinking the poisoned tequila by informing Don Eladio that he's a recovering alcoholic, so drinking may cause him to relapse and become useless. In the scenario where Lalo is at the party, Mike ensures Walt doesn't drink anything by lying that his cancer is getting worse and the alcohol could cause more damage, and since he's going to die soon anyway they need all the time left he can spare.
- In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Walter orders Mike's nine guys killed not only because they might talk, but also an attempt to draw Mike out.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In "What if Walt and Jesse Didn't Use the Magnet", Todd is brought in a couple episodes earlier than in canon to plant Walt's bombs to destroy the evidence in the DEA's case against Gus Fring.
- Adaptational Explanation: "What if Walter White was in El Camino?" shows what Jack could have done with the shares of Walt's money as a Point of Divergence: he used it to create an underground bunker.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Jesse has the wherewithal to stash away $1 million in cash away before disposing of the rest. He, Mike, and Saul use the money to disappear with Ed's help.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In "What If Lalo Salamanca Beat Gus", Walt and Mike have a very positive relationship since the canon reasons for their falling out (that being Walt's rivalry with Gus) have no reason to occur and they're united against Lalo from day one. Mike even essentially sacrifices himself to ensure Walt gets out of the Cartel compound alive (not that it ends up mattering).
- Hank being killed by the Salamanca twins makes Gus be far more open with Walt and Jesse about his plans to wipe out the Cartel, which makes all three of them solidly united against a common enemy.
- Adaptational Timespan Change: "What if Walter White was in El Camino?" pushes the events of El Camino back three months instead of taking place immediately after "Felina".
- Adaptational Villainy:
- In "What If Jane took Jesse's money?" Jane murders Jesse in cold blood to steal his money and attempts to frame Walt for it.
- In "What if Saul Goodman Killed?", Jimmy not only goes through with murdering Marion, but is unnaturally cold, brutal and remorseless about it and never shows signs of shame or guilt afterwards even when Jeff confronts him.
- In "Slippin' Jeffrey?", Jimmy strangles Jeff to death to cover up his involvement in the heist.
- In "What If Tuco Never Lost His Temper?", Gonzo turns out to be an informant for the DEA that gets himself, Tuco, No-Doze, and Walt killed in a drug bust that turned into a deadly shootout. In the original timeline, this was simply an unsubstantiated accusation Tuco leveled against Gonzo after he had already died.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: During "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?" when Mike takes out Jack and his crew, Todd gets shot in the stomach and is left writhing around for several minutes while Mike binds Hank's leg, picks up Jesse, and shoots Walt in the shoulder before finishing Todd off.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg:
- When Jesse spares Gale and Mike receives word that Jesse couldn't bring himself to kill him, Walt begins begging for his life (for real this time) before Mike kills him.
- In the scenario where Mike survives getting shot by Walt, after murdering the neo-Nazis who killed Gomez and almost killed Hank, Mike reveals himself and walks towards a handcuffed Walt, who meekly begs him not to kill him.
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?": Walter confessing to the DEA through a phone and shooting himself dead. Even then his family still hates him.
- "What If Jeff Was Genes Half Measure?": Jimmy, cornered by police in Jeff's taxi, shooting himself while remembering Chuck's words.
- "What If Walter White Went To Prison": Walter is arrested, sent to prison and later dies there, but manages to make amends with Hank and Walt Jr.
- All for Nothing:
- "What If Jesse Pinkman Let Gale Live": Walt is killed once his plan to kill Gale fails, meaning his empire never gets off the ground to begin with and the Whites don't get a cent of his money. The narration specifically notes that in the end, all Walt's various crimes did was feed his ego and ensure no one will ever know what happened to him.
- "What If Walt Outsmarted Hank And Jesse": Walt dies from his cancer as a free man, but Lydia, Jack, and Todd kill Walt's entire family except for Holly and the money is still buried in the desert, meaning all of Walt's crimes only led to the deaths of everyone he loves.
- "What if Walter White Went To Prison": Though Jack's crew is killed and Walt faces justice for his crimes, all of his money is confiscated in the process, meaning his family never gets the money like he wanted when he first started.
- "Walt's Perfect Death": Everything went exactly according to plan for him. He cooked meth without his family finding out, made enough money to support them, watched the birth of his daughter thanks to a sober Jesse, and passed peacefully from his cancer, his family none the wiser about his shadier dealings. Then everything goes horribly wrong: Gus, catching wind of Walt's impending demise and deeming him a sacrificial lamb, decides to sic the Cousins on Walt's grieving family (which he would've done anyway had a dying Walt lived long enough to see it) in a bid to take the Cousins out. They massacre Walt's family (with the possible exception of Walt Jr. who Hank never sees dead) with Hank arriving too late to stop them, with Hank himself being taken down by Leonel while managing to get a killing shot on Marco. Leonel himself is shot dead by Gomez shortly after, completing Gus's plan.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Mike to the Aryan Brotherhood as shown in "What if Mike never went to Belize?" when he takes them all out in a single firefight. Also counts as Assassin Outclassin' since the gang had been hired to kill him.
- Ambiguous Ending:
- "Mike vs. The Salamancas" ends with Walt giving himself up after exposing himself to warn Hank that Lalo has a gun. Although it's implied that Jesse gets away, Walt's fate is left ambiguous after he gives himself up to Hank. However, Murge's interpretation is that he goes to prison.
- "What If Walter White Had His Perfect Death?" ends on the Cousins killing Walt's family, with Hank and Gomez managing to take them out in turn (albeit not before Hank himself dies in the process)... and Mike having watched it all play out from a distance. And although he's seemingly okay with the situation given how he relays the information to Gus, many commentators have pointed out that Mike canonically is against the deaths of those not in the game, let alone the deaths of children.
- Amicable Exes: In "What If Mike Killed Tuco", while heartbroken, Jimmy accepts Kim divorcing him over Walter and moving to Florida to take up a partnership, telling her to give them hell.
- Anyone Can Die: In the series, almost any character can be killed off, be it Jesse, Skyler, Marie, Walt Jr. or even Brock.
- An Arm and a Leg: In "What if Hank Didn't Survive The Salamanca Twins Ambush?", Hank gets one of his legs chopped off by Marco.
- Apologetic Attacker: Walt apologizes over and over as he stabs Gale in "The Lost Tapes Part 3".
- Baddie Flattery: In the scenario where Lalo kills Gus, Lalo finds and compliments the hidden pistol and power cable Gus set up as precautions. He then uses both to kill Victor and Tyrus.
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- Played straight in the scenario where Kuby trades places with Todd during the train heist. Though it ends with Walt exiting the meth business, he essentially gets away with all of his heinous crimes scott-free since in this timeline, he was smart enough to make sure the Walt Whitman book wasn't in his bathroom and Mike puts Saul in charge of paying off his nine guys, and since Walt never asked Jesse to leave town, he never got to chance to discover the truth behind Brock's poisoning. With Blue Sky disappearing from the streets and Mike's nine guys refusing to talk, the trail to Heisenberg goes cold and Hank is forced to close the investigation.
- If Huel and Kuby took Walt's money, Walt uses this setback in his favor to get away with everything. He destroys Hank's career, has Jesse killed in prison, and easily makes back the $80 million Huel and Kuby stole from them by mentoring Todd until his meth is up to par before cutting ties with the criminal world and moving himself and his family to another town. The only caveats being that his family's relationship with Hank and Marie is irreparably ruined and his original $80 million is lost when Saul refuses to sell Huel and Kuby out and flees town himself.
- Gus Fring gets off scot-free in a few scenarios.
- If he lets Hank be killed by the Salamancas, he takes his revenge on the Cartel even more smoothly than in canon because Walt is convinced to assist so he can avenge Hank and cooks until he dies with his money for his family, and reaps endless profits with Lydia and Gale's help after letting Jesse leave provided he finish up Gale's training as meth cook.
- If Jesse spares Gale, Mike kills Walt and even though Jesse disappears, he still has Gale who's able to get his meth to 96%, meaning the mass poisoning is still on.
- If Jesse kills Walt, Gus has Mike frame Hank as Heisenberg, Saul gets Skyler to corroborate the case against Hank, and Jesse disappears with Andrea and Brock with Gus's blessing.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: Used in "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize". When Hank is held at gunpoint by Jack and he's just about to fire, a shot rings out... and Jack falls dead with a bullet in his head courtesy of Mike.
- Beard of Sorrow: Walt is portrayed with a long, scraggly beard in "The Lost Tapes Part 3", which is after his entire family (sans Marie) and Jesse are all dead.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mike in "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize". Before Jack can murder Hank, Mike opens fire on Jack and the rest of his neo-Nazi crew, saving Hank and Jesse's lives (unfortunately not Gomez's).
- Bittersweet Ending:
- "What If Jesse Let Gale Live": Jesse can't bring himself to kill Gale, so he survives and is taken to a safe house. Mike kills Walt on the spot and buries him in the desert, so while he's reported missing, he's never found, Skyler is never able to prove his status as a drug manufacturer, and none of his money gets to them. Jesse uses Ed to disappear from Albuquerque and start a new life away from his one-sided partnership with Walt, and with Gale able to get his cook purity to 96.2%, Gus and Mike's plan to wipe out the Cartel is still on.
- "What If Jesse Escaped Earlier In El Camino?": After Jesse prematurely escapes the neo-Nazis and disappears to Alaska, things go From Bad to Worse for everyone else involved. Brock and his great grandmother are assassinated by Jack in retaliation for Jesse's escape, Skyler is silenced permanently by the neo-Nazis on Lydia's orders, leaving Walt Jr. and Holly orphans (and the former traumatized), and Walt never gets the chance to see his kids again. While he still gets the money to his kids via Gretchen and Elliot and kills Jack and his gang to avenge his family, Lydia still gets away because he didn't get the chance to poison her.
- In "What if Jesse killed Walt?", Walt's plan to kill Gus is foiled when Jesse pulls the trigger on him. While Jesse got his revenge on Walt for poisoning Brock, his death leads to nothing but hardship for the surviving Whites and Schraders. Both Skyler and Hank are implicated as accomplices to Walt's drug empire (the latter thanks to Mike planting Blue Sky in his house), and while Skyler is able to play the victim card to escape prison, she is forced to throw Hank under the bus in the process who is convicted and sentenced to thirty years, effectively turning the rest of her family against her. Jesse, on the other hand, quits the meth business with Gus's blessing on the condition that he leaves Albuquerque, and Andrea and Brock go with him to Alaska presumably to be a family together.
- In "What If Lalo Salamanca Beat Gus", the story ends with Lalo, Mike, Jesse, Walt, Hank, Skyler, and Walt Jr. having died, Hector gets to live and die on his own terms knowing his worst enemy was killed by his nephew, and Jimmy and Kim spend the rest of their lives living in paranoid fear that they'll eventually be recognized. On the other hand, the Salamancas and the Cartel are completely wiped out, Mike dies knowing that his family will be safe from Lalo's wrath, Marie adopts Holly and leaves Albuquerque entirely to live a normal life as mother and daughter, and while they're paranoid for life, Jimmy and Kim still get to live their lives together and never go to prison.
- "What If Walter White Went To Prison": Walt faces justice for his crimes, but in the process his money is confiscated, making all of his crimes All for Nothing. Skyler hates him, Jesse is serving a 25-year sentence in North Carolina, Saul is hidden in Omaha, and his empire has crumbled to dust. However, he makes amends with Walt Jr. and Hank before they move to Omaha to get away from him, with Jr. promising to remember who he used to be instead of who he became and Hank promising to take care of Walt's family, giving him closure before he dies in prison, and he confesses in court that he largely committed his crimes for his own gratification instead of for the family, so he dies a relatively honest man. Just to top it off, Jack and his crew are killed in a shootout with the DEA, and Hank ends the video about to track down Gene Takovic.
- "What If Hank Didn't Survive The Salamanca Twins Ambush?": The Cartel is annihilated by Gus, Walt, and Jesse's partnership, including the trio killing Hector in his nursing home and officially completing Gus's vengeance. Walt cooks for Gus until he dies content having made his nest egg for his family, Jesse leaves the meth business after Walt's death and takes Andrea and Brock with him (plus Tomas is still alive), and Gus turns his empire international with Lydia and Gale's help. Unfortunately, such good fortune for everyone comes at the cost of Hank's life with Gus never facing justice for his role in it, but it's probably for the better.
- "What if Mike Didn't Go To Belize?": Mike's survival means that Hank and Andrea survive their respective deaths, Mike, Jesse, and Saul escape Albuquerque without a trace, the Aryans are wiped out, and, though Walt originally sells Hank out with the fake confession tape, his conscience gets the better of him and he confesses before committing suicide; plus, Jesse never learns that Walt watched Jane die. However, Mike can't save Gomez from the Neo-Nazis, and Walt's downfall, while well-deserved, is so pathetic that it becomes tragic; he becomes so focused on revenge that he alienates his entire family, Walt Jr. included, and he eventually commits suicide out of pure regret and paranoia, only able to leave the lottery ticket pointing to one last barrel to his son in the hopes he will find it.
- "What If Walter Saved Jane?": Walt cooks for Gus for three months before peacefully retiring from the business with his nest egg and the car wash to launder the money. Hank accepts the job in El Paso, and though the Cousins try to ambush him, he and Gomez successfully take them down with no injury, so he and Marie move to El Paso for a better job. Gale is never killed, Walt and Gus don't fall out, and all of the deaths of seasons 3-5 are prevented. Unfortunately, all of this comes about because Jesse and Jane overdose less than a week after Walt gives them Jesse's cut of the money, Walt blames himself for their deaths (and Donald Margolis's subsequent suicide attempt) for the rest of his life, and the video ends with Walt hanging a respirator on Jesse's gravestone and apologizing.
- "What If Mike Killed Tuco": Howard is alive, and Walt and Jesse leave the meth business early and live out the rest of their lives in peace. Mike retires from the criminal lifestyle having secured his trust fund for Kaylee, and the feds are none the wiser about any of their criminal activities and anyone who can implicate them are either dead or paid off. Since Walt and Jesse never made contact with the Salamancas, they never figure out their identities and go after them. However, Gus failed to take revenge on the cartel and dies in their hands, Hank dies in El Paso, Badger was killed for selling on Salamanca territory, Kim divorces Jimmy anyway, who continues to be Saul Goodman, Howard's reputation is still ruined from Jimmy and Kim's antics, and the cartel is still at large.
- "What If Hector Salamanca Recovered?": The ending has Gus, thanks to Walt's warnings, wiping out the Cartel and the Salamancas (including Hector) several seasons early, sparing Gale and many of their future casualties. Walt is reunited with his loving family after months of captivity and, while he does go to work for Gus again, without Jesse to muck things up the odds of a fight between them is low. Tragically, none of this erases his trauma from witnessing Jesse and Hank's deaths, as well as the knowledge that it's his fault they both died to begin with and that he can't be honest with his family about what really happened to them.
- "What If Walter White Died During The Pilot?": Walt killing himself during the Pilot episode ruins the lives of everyone he leaves behind. Skyler blames Hank for it and never speaks to him and Marie again, and though she begins a relationship with Ted and he becomes a father figure for Jr. and Holly, it never heals the hole in her heart. Hank resigns from the DEA out of shame and loneliness, Saul never repents for his crimes, Gus and Mike die in a failed attempt to wipe out the Cartel, and Kim lives the rest of her life in the hell that is Florida. However, Jesse quits manufacturing and taking drugs and he and Jane get their happily ever after, and while Gus fails to kill all the Salamancas, he does kill Hector before he's shot, so he dies in peace.
- Call-Back:
- Walt, Hank, and Walt Jr. talking together in Walt's prison is both narrated and visually presented as similar to the scene in the show when they were chatting by the pool.
- "What If Hector Salamanca Recovered?" features Tuco shooting Jesse dead next to Walt in a similar manner to how Hector killed Max while Gus sat next to him.
- "What if Mike didn't go to Belize?" features a shootout between Mike and the Aryan Brotherhood that looks similar to Mike's shootout with the gang in "Bagman", even using similar shots (Todd for example takes the place of the gang member Mike finishes off at close range).
- Calling Parents by Their Name: In "What If Jesse Escaped Earlier In El Camino?", Walt Jr. is even more furious at his father due to Skyler getting killed and addresses him as "Walter" during his call.
- Cassandra Truth: After Jesse kills Todd and escapes, he immediately goes to the Cantillos residence and attempts to warn the surviving Cantillos that they will be killed. Andrea's grandmother doesn't believe him, and calls the police on him and turns over the money Jesse gave them. Jack's crew later kills her and Brock.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Happens to Jane in "What if Walter saved Jane?". Despite Walt saving Jane from choking on her own vomit, she and Jesse overdose sometime later.
- Cliffhanger: "What if Jack Spared Hank?", which features Hank coming under heavy suspicion of Walt's crimes, ends with Walt Jr. discovering Walt's fake confession tape accusing Hank of being Heisenberg.
- Comically Small Bribe: Played for Drama and Subverted. When Jesse gets his hands on Todd's gun while enslaved, Todd attempts to talk him down with the promise of pizza and beer. Instead of breaking down like he did in El Camino, Jesse is only further determined to kill Todd and shoots him dead mid-sentence.
- Composite Character:
- In "What if Hank Didn't Survive The Salamanca Twins Ambush?" when Gus goes to kill Hector once and for all, Walter replaces Tyrus in loading up a syringe of poison which he hands to Gus.
- In "What if Walter White was in El Camino?", Walter takes Jesse's place in shooting Neil dead.
- Cowboy Cop: Deconstructed in "What if Mike didn't go to Belize?" after the shootout with Jack's crew. Sure Hank finally caught Walter dead to rights but because most of his evidence was gathered off the books and anyone who could collaborate him is either dead (Gomez) or missing (Mike and Jesse), his involvement in the case starts to look suspicious.
- Crazy Survivalist: In "What if Walter White was in El Camino?", Jack is shown to be one of these as he observes Declan's rudimentary underground lab and gets an idea to create a bunker.
- Cruel Mercy: In "What if Mike didn't go to Belize?", Mike shoots Walt in the shoulder and leaves him to be arrested.
- Dark Horse Victory:
- Joaquin Salamanca, of all people, ends up a big winner in "What If Mike Killed Tuco?". With the early deaths of Tuco, Lalo, Leonel, and Marco, Joaquin is promoted to Don of the Salamanca's operations and does surprisingly well. After Gus' plan to poison the Cartel fails and Gus is murdered by Don Eladio, Joaquin is left as the sole head of the Cartel's operations and drug trade in New Mexico.
- Saul can be considered this in the "Breaking Bad: The Lost Tapes" timeline despite not having been mentioned in it. He may not be making millions like the other timelines, but Gus, Mike, all the Salamanca, and everyone else he was afraid of are all dead, he is doing well for himself, and he never has to go into hiding, all without him having to do anything. And all because he never met Walt.
- Darker and Edgier: Not that the show itself was lighthearted, but the various divergence points tend to end up making the final situation for everyone involved much worse instead of better. Walt's family are often casualties to his actions, Jack and Lydia often get away with their crimes, and Walt and Jesse themselves often wind up dead from the consequences of their actions.
- Death by Adaptation: Jesse is very frequently killed off in the scenarios, as occasionally are Skyler, Marie and Walt Jr. In fact Skyler's death is the starting point for one of the videos called "What if Walt sent Skyler to Belize?".
- Defiant to the End: For once, Walt in "The Lost Tapes". When Mike points a gun at him as he's about to destroy the Super lab, he doesn't beg for forgiveness or plead with Mike to spare him. He actually stands up to Gus for crossing him and faces his death with dignity. Even when Mike shoots Walt down, he activates the fire trap he set up in the lab, taking down Gus's empire with him.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- "What If Walt Sent Skyler to Belize?":
- Walt Jr. undergoes one deeper than in canon. He blames himself for his mother's death, stops going to school, and starts taking his father's blue sky and alcohol.
- Seeing Walt Jr. addicted to drugs and alcohol after Walt kills Skyler and kidnaps Holly drives Marie to a suicide attempt. Thankfully, she survives it.
- "What If Walt Sent Skyler to Belize?":
- Dies Different In Adaptation:
- "What If Lalo Salamanca Beat Gus": Gus, Victor, and Tyrus all die in the Superlab on the same night as Howard instead of by box cutter or wheelchair bomb, Hank is killed by the Twins instead of Jack, Mike and Lalo are killed by Mike's poisoned tequila alongside the rest of the Cartel heads instead of being shot by Walt and Gus respectively, Walt is shot and killed by Lalo instead of by his own M60, the Twins are killed in a shootout with the DEA instead of by Hank, and Hector dies peacefully in his nursing home instead of blowing himself up.
- "What If Jack Spared Hank": Walt is killed by the Neo-Nazis instead of being shot while killing the Neo-Nazis.
- "What If Walt Outsmarts Hank And Jesse": Hank is killed by the Neo-Nazis in a home invasion instead of during a shootout and Walt peacefully passes from his cancer instead of being shot by his M60.
- Instead of getting strangled, Todd gets gunned down in three different scenarios: by Jesse in "What if Jesse escaped sooner in El Camino?", by Mike in "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", and by the DEA in "What if Walter Goes to Prison?".
- "What if Hank Didn't Survive The Salamanca Twins Ambush?" has Hank getting an axe to the face from Marco Salamanca, and later on Hector is poisoned via lethal injection by Gus while Walt passes away peacefully from his cancer.
- In the scenario where Walt kills himself in the pilot, Mike blows himself up to give Gus an opening to kill Hector, which leads to Gus getting mowed down by the Cousins.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In "The Lost Tapes Part 2", Gus decides to dispose of Walt for the cardinal sin of trying to contact his (unbeknownst to him, dead) wife, fearing a repeat of the incident with Werner Ziegler. The assassination attempt fails, and while it does lead to Hank's death as well as Marco's, it ends up putting Gus in Walt's crosshairs.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Invoked in "What if Mike was Around for the end of Season 4?" where Mike explicitly compares crime to being on drugs to explain Walter's fate to Jesse.
- Downer Ending:
- "Slippin' Jeffrey":
- Scenario 1: Frank spots Jeff on the floor and calls for backup, Gene making a hasty exit. Jeff rats on Gene, who is arrested and imprisoned shortly after.
- Scenario 2: Jeff cracks his skull as he falls and falls unconscious. While Frank is distracted going for help, Gene chokes Jeff to death and escapes with Ed's help.
- In "What if Saul Goodman Killed?", after Jimmy kills Marion and Jeff rats him to the police, instead of accepting arrest, Jimmy tries to make a run for it. As a result, he gets shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down. Jimmy is then sentenced to life without parole, and with Kim not forgiving him in this timeline, he is condemned to living in a jail cell confined to a wheelchair, all alone.
- "What if Walt outsmarts Hank and Jesse": Walt essentially failed to do everything he set out to do. Jesse dies painfully in the neo-Nazi's hands on Walt's orders, but instead of tying up all loose ends, it only makes things even worse. Hank begins following Todd around for any leads on Walt, throwing away his friendship with Gomez in the process. When Todd notices Hank following him around, the neo-Nazis follow Hank back to his house and mow down Hank and Marie in their own home. Walt is unaware that this was Jack's handiwork as all he knew was they were killed in a home invasion. Walt subsequently passes from his cancer before he can reveal the location of his money to anyone, and Skyler and Walt Jr. are silenced permanently by Todd on Lydia's orders. Not only did Walt fail to get his drug money to his family, but everyone he loved died all because of him.
- "What If Kim Wexler Died In Season 6": Kim kills Gus's body double and is gunned down by Tyrus, leaving Jimmy even more traumatized than before. Everything goes largely the same until Jimmy is arrested in Omaha; because he has no reason to confess to his crimes, he takes his plea deal and gets a light sentence at a lower security prison, eventually getting released, attempting to get his bar license back, and granting none of the survivors of the Salamanca/Fring/Heisenberg drug campaigns any closure.
- "What If Nacho Escaped?": Nacho escapes the desert standoff, but Krazy-8, a former friend, sells him out to the Salamancas, who kill Nacho as slowly and painfully as they possibly can. The only consolation is that Bolsa dies too, but that benefits Gus, one of the people responsible for Nacho's death, more than it benefits anyone else. In short, Nacho dies an agonizing death, Hector gets revenge on the one who crippled him, Gus's position is stronger than ever, Krazy-8 gets a promotion for selling Nacho out, and Walter White's about to enter the scene to inevitably destroy all of it anyway.
- "Slippin' Jeffrey":
- Driven to Suicide:
- At the end of "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Walt is a paranoid, cancer-ridden, empty shell of his former self. Mike, Jesse, and Saul escaped, Walt attempted to track them down to no avail, his family hates him for pinning all of his crimes on Hank and sending him to prison, and Walt is terrified that Mike and Jesse will return and kill him. Eventually, Walt calls the DEA to confess, writes a suicide note acting as a written confession, and shoots himself, leaving behind his barrels of drug money for the DEA, and a receipt for Walter Jr. with the coordinates of his remaining barrel.
- With Skyler and Hank dead, Junior doing meth, and Marie in the hospital following a botched suicide attempt, and Walt finally feeling the weight and guilt for his actions, he doesn't ask Jesse to kill him, he begs him. This time, Jesse obliges to avenge Jane.
- If No-Dose kept quiet during the end of the Season 1 finale, Hank would've set up a sting-op to catch Tuco and Heisenberg. Walt is caught up in it, and Tuco takes him as a hostage. Similar to the pilot, Walt is unwilling to face the consequences of his actions and provokes Tuco into shooting him.
- In "The Lost Tapes Part 2", the despair of losing both Jr. and Holly combined with the media demonizing her and the police investigating her involvement with Tuco's captivity leads to Skyler hanging herself.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: In "What If Mike Killed Tuco?" Walt, Jesse, and Mike all retire from crime and live out their lives with their families loving them and never have to worry about money ever again. After his wife convinces him to forget about Kim and Jimmy, Howard also lives and accepts his ruined reputation, retiring as a rich man and reconciling with his wife. Considering what happens to them in the main timeline and most other timelines, it doesn't get much better.
- Epic Fail: Gale pulls one and then some in "What If Mike Killed Tuco". Since Walt is busy with his family grieving Hank's death, Jesse instructs Gale on how to cook Walt's recipe instead. Gale is so resentful of having to learn from Jesse that when Gus brings Gale to cook for the Cartel, Gale purposefully disregards some of Jesse's teachings. This leads to Gale's Meth barely passing 90%, 6% less than Gale's best before Gale convinced Gus to hire Walt. That drop-off makes all the difference as it leads to not only Gale's death, but the deaths of Victor, Tyrus, and even Gus as well when Don Eladio kills them all for Gale's failure.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Besides his biological family, Walt is consistently shown to love Jesse like a son. In any scenario where Jesse dies first, Walt has an emotional breakdown (often visualized with the footage of his breakdown in "Ozymandias"), even if he was somehow responsible for it. Walt also feels guilty for sending the neo-Nazis after him, even having second thoughts about having Jesse killed when he convinces Jack to spare Hank. Unfortunately, Jack executes Jesse on the spot after viewing his confession tape and seeing him rat out Todd, something that horrifies Walt into silence.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Unlike the show, which kept Gus's involvement in Tomas's death ambiguous, Gus explicitly denies having ordered the death of a child and is mentioned to have "dealt with" the dealers who killed Tomas.
- While thinking of ways to lure Mike back out after Walt shot him in the shoulder, Walt considers using Kaylee as bait before deciding against it, recalling the incident with Brock.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: In "What if Walt outsmarts Hank and Jesse", Walt's successful hit on Jesse results in Hank tailing Todd himself, which gets him and Marie gunned down by the neo-Nazis when they follow Hank back to his house. Walt succumbs to his cancer, and Todd murders the rest of the Whites on Lydia's orders. Only Holly is spared by Todd, but her fate is otherwise left ambiguous. Only Saul comes out unscathed when he uses Ed's services to disappear for a few months.
- Evil Power Vacuum: Discussed in the video where Kuby and Todd switched places, sparing Drew; as Murge narrates that Walt, Jesse, and Mike bowing out of the meth trade leaves someone else to take their place, we see Jack kill Declan's crew on Lydia's orders, indicating they're going to fill the vacuum.
- Golden Ending:
- "What If Mike Killed Tuco?" is generally considered by viewers as the best-case scenario of all the possible ways the event of both shows could have played out. It's admittedly a bit downplayed what with Nacho, Combo, Jane, Gale, and Hank all still dying in addition to Badger dying too, and with Saul and Kim divorcing anyway, but otherwise things turn out as best as they possible could. You won't find another timeline where Walt, Jesse, Mike, Howard, and Steven Gomez all live and the former four all retiring happily with their families provided for.
- "What If Walter and Jesse Didn't Use The Magnet?" effectively turns "Live Free or Die" into a Dénouement Episode, and ends the show one season early: Mike bails at the first opportunity rather than stick around, and while Walt's plan to blow up the evidence room fails, word getting out that the laptop was encrypted means it didn't matter. The DEA, having not learned about the list of associates, closes the Gus Fring case, Mike decides to retire, Jesse leaves town with Andrea and Brock, and the car wash starts turning a legitimate profit. And while Walt starts cooking meth again in private, it's just for "the chemistry".
- Gone Horribly Right: In the scenario where Mike is only wounded by Walt, Walt has Mike's nine guys killed to lure Mike out so that Jack's neo-nazi gang can assassinate him. It works: Mike is lured out, intending to kill Walt in the desert with a sniper rifle, leaves him alive when Hank and co. show up to arrest him, kill all of the neo-Nazis when they show up and get into a shoot-out with Hank and Gomez, and shoots Walt in the shoulder for shooting him, taking Jesse and leaving Walt for the police.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: In "What If Mike Killed Tuco? Part 2", Gus goes through with his plan to poison the cartel, but in this timeline, he takes Gale to cook meth for the cartel (intending to pass him off as Heisenberg) instead of Jesse, with Jesse training him up beforehand since Walt wasn't available. When they get to Mexico however, the plan immediately goes awry as Gale disregards some of Jesse's teachings, resulting in an inferior product that barely reaches 90% purity and lacks its signature blue color. Don Eladio executes Gale for his failure, and having decided that Gus is untrustworthy, kills Tyrus and Victor too and forces Gus to drink several shots of the poisoned tequila until he collapses on the ground before crushing his head under his shoe.
- Heel Realization:
- In the timeline where Drew Sharpe survives because Kuby and Todd switched places in the train heist, Mike has his after putting together Kaylee's treehouse and thinking to himself that Matt would be ashamed of him for turning to crime as much as he had. In the same video, Walt finally realizes how far he's fallen when Jesse asks him "How much is enough", as it makes him realize that he completed his goal of financing his family long ago yet he's lost his way and is still going. Both Mike and Walt decide to quit the business after these realizations.
- Walt has a similar epiphany in the timeline where Mike kills Tuco. A few months after Gus's death, Walt wants to go back to doing a solo operation and tries to talk an unwilling Jesse back into the business. When Walt sees Andrea and Brock however, he is reminded of why he started cooking in the first place and finally decides to abandon the drug trade forever.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the scenario where Lalo survives to the Breaking Bad timeline, Mike poisons himself alongside the entirety of the Cartel and purposefully doesn't make himself throw up to ensure he's at the scene when Lalo starts dying so he can finish him off. He kills Lalo and thus ensures his family's safety, but the poison kills him almost immediately after.
- Hope Spot:
- Inverted. After escaping the neo-Nazis, Badger and Skinny Pete drive Jesse to Best Quality Vacuums where the Disappearer works. However, a cop pulls them over, putting Jesse at risk of arrest. Thankfully, the cop pulled them over due to a non-working tail light and fails to recognize Jesse. Once the cop leaves, Jesse cries tears of relief, says goodbye to the duo and enters the shop to assume a new identity.
- In "What if Mike Didn't Get Shot in Mexico", Walt comes up with a plan to avenge his pride by sneaking into the superlab and burning it down. While he's successful in sneaking into the laundromat, he once again encounters Mike at the lab entrance who was expecting him to show up. As punishment for ignoring Gus's warning, Mike executes Walt in the lab for real, as this time, Walt's desperate pleading falls on deaf ears.
- History Repeats: Gus' failed attempt at taking out the cartel in "What If Mike Killed Tuco?" plays out almost identically to what happened in 1989 when Don Eladio had Max killed. Upon realizing the whole situation with Gale feels familiar, Don Eladio has him promptly shot in the head, causing him to fall into the pool; and once Tyrus and Victor are dealt with, he forces Gus to drink multiple shots of the poisoned tequila, whereupon Gus collapses in the same spot he did back in '89, where upon his head gets stomped.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- No matter what other changes occur during the videos, if the desert shootout between Hank/Gomez and Jack's gang happens, Gomez dies in it.
- The video in which Chuck doesn't die in season 3 changes basically nothing about the rest of the show, even when it means he stumbles on Jimmy's relationship with the Cartel once Howard is killed (as Mike kidnaps him to make him promise his silence, so Chuck basically disappears from Jimmy's life until he's arrested in Omaha).
- In the video in which Jesse kills Todd and escapes during El Camino, Walt's final plan for getting the money to his children and wiping out Jack's gang is completely unchanged, with the only caveat being that Walt doesn't save Jesse before activating the gun and thus is killed instantly.
- In the video in which Lalo survives BCS, the plan to wipe out the Cartel is basically unchanged, with the only change being that Walt goes instead of Jesse and Mike ends up drinking the poison as well. Mike even still strangles someone to death while everyone is keeling over, though this time it's Lalo himself.
- "What if Walt and Jesse Didn't Use the Magnet?": Walt and Jesse's attempt to bomb the evidence lockup fails to destroy the evidence as with the magnet, and merely attracts the cops' attention. The difference is that the bombs aren't powerful enough to knock over the photo with the offshore accounts written, meaning the laptop is still encrypted and the work to destroy the lockup was unnecessary.
- Internal Reveal: Mike reveals his past as a Dirty Cop to Jesse in "What if Mike was around for the end of Season 4?".
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Walt refused to give Jesse his share of the meth profits when he was getting high with Jane, he reasoned that he would just use it to buy more drugs and eventually overdose. In the scenario where Walt saves Jane from ODing, Walt is proven right in the worst way possible when she and Jesse hide in the Crystal Palace to abuse heroin some more instead of fleeing to New Zealand like they planned, leading to their demise. It leads to Walt having a Heroic B So D when he quits the business out of grief (doesn't stop him from coming back later though).
- Joke Ending: The April Fools episode "The Return of Hank Schrader" throws any semblance of realism out the window. It turns out that Blue Sky is the cure for death itself, which is how Hank and Gomez revive, a zombie outbreak occurs since Blue Sky also has the power to reanimate corpses, and Walt survives his Suicide by Cop with Blue Sky so he can further manipulate Saul.
- Just Eat Gilligan:
- Unlike in the show, people are able to solve a wide variety of their problems by just killing Jesse Pinkman at the first opportunity. Murge noted in "What If Walt Let Krazy-8 Go" that, contrary to Jesse's survival rate in his videos, he actually likes Jesse as a character, but sometimes he just has to go.
- Also unlike in the show, people will dispose of Hank the moment he becomes an issue, usually killing or otherwise restraining Walt in the process so that he cannot intervene, or if that's not possible, they Make It Look Like an Accident so that Walt doesn't look for revenge. Even Walt and Skyler partake in this by sending him to prison when he becomes an inconvenience. Granted, this turns the rest of their family on them when they do this.
- Karma Houdini: Lots of characters who got what they deserved in the canon timeline get away with their crimes in these new timelines. The most common one is Jack Welker and his nazi gang, as just about any timeline where the events of "Ozymandias" are prevented naturally results in them living (this includes timelines where they don't show up as, unless Murge clarifies otherwise, the implication is that they are still at large).
- In the scenario where Hank is killed by Marco Salamanca, all the Villain Protagonists come out ahead one way or another. Since Walt doesn't try to undermine or kill Gus because they're all on the same page against the Salamancas, Gus gets his revenge on the cartel without dying and takes his trade international with Gale and Lydia's help, Walt dies content having made enough money to provide for his family, and Jesse retires to spend his life with Andrea and Brock after training Gale up as a replacement. All it cost was Hank's life.
- In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize", Mike, Jesse, and Saul skip town with Ed's help after Mike kills Jack and his gang and leaves Walt for the cops.
- In "What if Drew Sharp Survived", everyone associated with Walt qualifies in one way or another. Walt, Jesse, and Mike sell their shares to Saul, who sells the business to Declan and keeps up the hazard payments to Mike's guys to stay quiet, making the Heisenberg trail go cold.
- One of the few black spots on the happy ending of "What if Mike killed Tuco?" is that both Don Eladio and Joaquin Salamanca get away with all their crimes after Eladio figures out Gus' plan and kills him. Walt, Jesse, Mike, and Saul also never receive any punishment, though, with the exception of Saul, this is meant to be to be seen as a good thing.
- If Walt kills himself in the pilot, most of the cartel comes out unscathed and crushes Gus and his organization; the sole exception is Hector Salamanca, whom Gus kills in a Taking You with Me measure when all is lost.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Any scenario where it looks like Walt will get away with everything scot-free when he passes from his cancer ends with his family being brutally massacred, ultimately punishing him in his grave and rendering his criminal doings All for Nothing.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- In the April Fools episode, Hank anonymously gives Jesse's confession tape to the police, alerting them of the neo-Nazis' involvement in Walt's drug empire. They put out an arrest warrant for Todd for his murder of Drew Sharp, and the resulting shoot-out with the neo-Nazis end with the police overpowering and killing Jack and his gang.
- In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Mike shoots Walt in the shoulder close to the same place Walt shot him.
- In "What if Jesse killed Walt?", Walt's plan to turn Jesse on Gus by poisoning Brock backfires spectacularly when his words fail to convince Jesse and Jesse blows Walt's brains out.
- Mêlée à Trois: The Mexican Standoff between Hank and Gomez and Jack's crew is even bigger in "What if Mike didn't go to Belize?" thanks to Mike having a sniper rifle trained on the latter. When Jack prepares to execute Hank, Mike opens fire.
- Murder by Mistake: In Part 1 of 'The Lost Tapes', Walt intended to shoot Tuco at first, but unintentionally kills Hector while he was in front of Tuco.Gus: And can I assume you also killed his uncle? A wheelchair bound man with a bell on him?Walt: That was an accident... the old man... he didn't deserve it....Gus: (scoffs) Similar to you, that old man murdered someone that I cared about... and yes, he didn't deserve a bullet... he deserved much worse...
- My God, What Have I Done?: Discovering that Junior began using Blue Sky to cope with the deaths of Hank and Skyler is what finally caused Walt to realize how horrible his actions were.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- In the scenario where Walt returns to Grey Matter, Walt repays Elliot the favor of rehiring him by sleeping with his wife, marrying her and together they hire Saul and force Elliot out of the company. Murge suggests he later gets with Skyler as revenge.
- In the scenario where Walt frees Krazy-8, he is immediately stabbed to death by him in retaliation for killing Emilio and locking him in a basement.
- Non-Indicative Title: Downplayed: "What If Walter White Had His Perfect Death?" is actually more asking how he would be able to get his perfect death. And it boils down to two particular bullet points: Combo managing to avoid getting gunned down in the street, and Walt being given six months to live rather than being told he's in remission.
- Not Helping Your Case: When Hank is suspected of being one of Walt's associates after his death in the hands of Jesse, Hank volunteers to have his house searched under the advice of ASAC Merkert. Instead of clearing him, the DEA finds the meth and drug money that Mike planted to frame him and he's arrested.
- Obfuscating Post Mortem Wounds: Downplayed; in "What if Jesse killed Walt?", Walter is shot in the head, then his corpse is placed in his car and Mike and Tyrus shoot the car up several more times to make it look like Walt was killed in a drug deal gone bad.
- One Bullet Left: The scenario where Hank gets killed by the Salamanca Twins opens with Hank struggling to load one last bullet into Leonel's gun as Marco advances on him with an axe.
- Out of the Frying Pan: In the April Fools episode, Saul makes the smart call of choosing to leave Omaha instead of attempting to fix the problem himself (which in the actual show leads to his arrest). Bad news: this leads him right back to Walt, who is implied to keep Saul under his thumb.
- Pet the Dog:
- "What If Jesse Escaped Sooner In El Camino" has a particularly twisted variant; when Walt arrives in Jack's compound and Jack decides to kill him, Jack decides to give him some closure over Skyler's death by admitting that he was the one to kill her. It would be unambiguously cruel if he didn't mention that he never got closure for Todd's death, hinting that it was a (admittedly horrifying yet genuine) attempt to ease his mind.
- In "What if Kuby and Todd switched places?", Walt gives Jesse his own lab to run. Jesse is also later able to walk away from the business without the conversation with Walt devolving into abusive insults and attacks against Jesse's character, and is even able to help Skyler convince Walt to retire himself.
- In "What If Hank Didn't Survive The Salamanca Twins Ambush?", Gus gives Jesse his blessing to retire with a handsome nest egg after Walt dies, knowing that the two were a partnership and that he's going to want out. The only stipulation is that he train Gale to take his place before he goes, but unlike other scenarios, Gus genuinely lets him go free and live the rest of his life.
- When Walt is arrested by Hank and sentenced to life in prison, their last conversation has Walt beg Hank to take care of his family since Walt, regardless of his prison sentence, knows he is going to die shortly. Hank, despite their previous animosity, tells him he will "always" protect them, and the two part on friendly terms.
- Point of Divergence: The videos always show how small changes have massive consequences for everyone.
- If Walt let Krazy-8 go, Krazy-8 would kill Walt and leave him in the basement, then report back to Hank and Gomez about what happened to him and Emilio. Hank would thus be forced to break the news to Skyler that Walt is dead after a drug deal gone bad, while Jesse would trade some meth to Badger in exchange for a car to get out of town. Basically, the series would end three episodes in. Similarly, if Walt freed Krazy-8 but Krazy-8 didn't have the shard of plate, he would leave Walt peacefully and kill Jesse in a drive-by shooting a few days later. The experience would inspire Walt to come clean about his cancer and take Gretchen and Elliot's job offer at the birthday part later on, but he'd take his short list of crimes to the grave.
- If Lalo chose to kill Gus instead of give him one more minute to speak, he would've survived for three more years and elevated the Salamanca name to new heights in the Cartel before being killed by Mike and Walt, who both would have died in the process. The resulting bloodbath would result in the deaths of the entire White family except for Marie and Holly, and Jimmy and Kim would have to fake their deaths to hide for the rest of their lives.
- If Kuby and Todd switched places in the train heist, Drew Sharp wouldn't have died, meaning Walt and Jesse's relationship wouldn't have been irreversibly damaged, Walt's meth operation would've continued without further incident, and Walt would've parted ways with Jesse, Mike, and Saul more amicably. Mike would've still been alive, and Jesse would never discover the truth of Walt's poisoning of Brock.
- If Walt saw through Hank and Jesse's plan to lure him into the desert, Jesse would've been killed in prison on Walt's orders, Hank would incur the wrath of Todd and the Nazis by trying to follow them and get himself and Marie killed, Walt would've died from his cancer without anyone knowing where his money is buried, and Lydia would order Skyler and Walt Jr. killed to cover up her crimes.
- If Hank had been killed by the Twins' ambush, Gus would've used the opportunity to relate to Walt and Jesse, bringing them into the fold for his plan to wipe out the Salamancas and the Cartel. Having them actively involved in the plan from the beginning makes it go even smoother, with the trio killing the entire Cartel and then Hector in his nursing home. Walt would then cook for Gus until he died while Jesse would retire with Andrea and Brock, and Gus would use Lydia and Gale to take his empire International.
- If Jesse killed Todd during El Camino and disappeared to Alaska, Brock and his grandmother would have been killed on Jack's orders, Lydia would hire Jack to kill Skyler (now that Todd isn't around to circumvent that), and Walt would have still returned to get the money to his kids and kill Jack and his gang, but he would've missed Lydia since he never got the chance to poison her.
- If Walt convinced Jack to spare Hank, Jack would have killed Jesse, learned how to make Blue Sky before killing Walt as well, and gotten away with all of his crimes, while Walt Jr. would not only refuse to accept that Walt was truly a meth kingpin like Hank accuses him of being, but would've discovered Walt's fake tape implicating Hank for everything.
- If Walt shoots Mike in the shoulder instead of the torso, Mike escapes and neither Walt nor Jack can find him, while Mike lies low and trails Walt. When Walt is lured into the desert by Jesse and the barrel of money, Mike follows him and takes out the Aryans, taking Jesse with him and leaving Walt and Hank for the cops. Mike, Jesse, and Saul use Ed's services to disappear while Walt uses his fake confession to frame Hank and avoid prison, but after months of futile searching and his family situation deteriorating, Walt succumbs to guilt and paranoia, makes a confession to the DEA, and kills himself, leaving a receipt for Walt Jr. to find the last barrel.
- If Walt successfully shot himself in the pilot, Skyler would cut herself off from Hank and Marie and begin a relationship with Ted, Hank would resign from the DEA, Jesse would get out of the meth business and live his life with Jane, and Mike and Gus would die in their attempt to wipe out the Cartel; while the attempt would fail, Hector would be killed.
- The "Breaking Bad: The Lost Tapes" mini-series can be boiled down to one key change that causes the chips to fall where they did: The moment Tuco makes it to Hector's house with Walt and Jesse, the latter comes to conclude they aren't making out of this alive, and openly tells Tuco to just get it over with and kill them... except instead of doing that, Tuco forces Walt to kill Jesse.Jesse: Hey, yo... if you're gonna... if you're gonna kill us, just... just get it over with, yo...
- If Mike left New Mexico instead of helping take care of Gus' laptop, Walt would instead go all in on his plan to use a bomb to take out the evidence room. However, it would fail to blow up the building, instead forcing Walt and Jesse to lay low for a while, even after Saul points out Gus most likely had it encrypted. Eventually, a few days later, with no further evidence uncovered, the DEA decide to declare the Gus Fring case closed. As such, Mike decides to stay in town with his daughter and granddaughter, Jesse decides to move out of town with Andrea and Brock, and Walt decides to start cooking again on his own.
- Prematurely Grey-Haired: Walt's hair turns gray from the stress of losing everyone he's ever loved.
- Pull The Trigger Provocation: When Walt begs Jesse to kill him after disposing of the neo-Nazis, Jesse asks if he really watched Jane die. Walt, on the verge of tears, responded that he did indeed watched Jane die and did nothing to try and save her. Jesse, enraged by this fact, shoots Walt in the head and flees the compound.
- Pyrrhic Victory:
- In "What if Walt Outsmarted Hank and Jesse", Walt successfully evaded arrest, and with Hank dying when his home is invaded (by Jack and his crew, unbeknownst to Walt, who thinks it was a random robbery) and the hit on Jesse successful, nobody left is alive to suspect Walt of him being Heisenberg, and he peacefully passes away from his cancer. Unfortunately, the location of his money is lost with his death, and his family is gunned down by the neo-Nazis in their own home after Walt's death on Lydia's orders, ultimately rendering Walt's entire reason for cooking meth in vain.
- It happens again in "Walt's Perfect Death". Though Walt's secret meth operation goes without a hitch, the Cousins arrive to murder the grieving White and Schrader family. Walt did everything perfectly and he still failed in the end.
- "What If Huel and Kuby Took Walter's Money?": Huel and Kuby successfully steal all of Walt's money and flee to Mexico to buy a huge mansion with their ill-gotten gains, but now they live in constant paranoia that Walt will track them down and have them assassinated for their betrayal. Even worse is that their paranoia is justified as Walt tries to do just that, though Saul refuses to sell them out and disappears using Ed's services. It's then suggested that Huel and Kuby slowly turn on and subsequently kill each other.
- Reformed Criminal: In the scenario when Walt kills himself in the first episode, Jesse attempts to carry on his cook without him and even has Skinny Pete arrange a meeting with Tuco to distribute his "Chili P" meth. One problem: Tuco hates chili powder, and for selling meth on his territory, Tuco beats Jesse within an inch of his life. Jesse gives up the meth business afterwards and decides to go straight, getting a regular job and kicking his meth habit. He meets Jane at rehab shortly afterwards and the two are able to stay off the drugs.
- Refuge in Audacity:
- In "What if Saul Goodman Killed", when confronted on Marion's death by Jeff, Gene acts dumb and later incredulous, suggesting that Jeff accidentally brought the wallet with him. This actually works for a minute and Jeff even initially stalls the police when they arrive and interrogate him, but he soon realises his deception and sells Gene out.
- In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Walter walks into Ed's store to get him to reveal where Mike, Jesse, and Saul went. Ed rebuffs him and even gets halfway into calling the police before Walt gives up and leaves.
- Revenge Before Reason: In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", Walt spends months trying to find Mike and Jesse thinking they'll come back and kill him, leading him to neglect his family. By the time he tries to turn this around it's too late and they want nothing to do with him.
- Reverse Psychology Backfire: In "What if Jesse killed Walt?", Walt goads Jesse into killing him if he truly thinks he's capable of poisoning a child. Here, Jesse actually goes through with it.
- Run for the Border: In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", the first thing Mike does after escaping Walter is drive as fast as he can to Gus' doctor and get his shoulder patched up.
- Running Gag: Jesse meeting an unceremonious end in damn near every video he's in has become such a recurring plot point that Murge has commented on it multiple times; in one video, he felt the need to point out that he actually does like Jesse as a character, and the video where Walt lets Krazy-8 go leaves Jesse's fate ambiguous because he didn't want to kill Jesse again. While characters die often in the videos, even Brock, Jesse's deaths are so common that the comment sections tend to focus on it.
- Inversely, whenever Jesse does manage to survive by leaving Albuquerque, it usually leads to Walt and/or his family meeting a grisly end instead.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- When Jesse decides not to kill Gale, he calls Saul, who has him disappeared from Albuquerque to escape Mike and Gus. The narration notes that one day, he'll realize that he hasn't thought about anything that happened during his partnership with Walt for a long time.
- When Walt kills himself in the pilot episode, Jesse flees the scene not wanting to look like he was responsible for the deaths that transpired.
- In the scenario where Mike survives getting shot by Walt and comes back to take out the Aryan Brotherhood, he, Jesse, and Saul use Ed the Disappearer to escape Albuquerque, knowing that Walt will probably throw one or all of them under the bus to avoid prison (as indeed happens to Hank).
- Self-Poisoning Gambit: Much like Gus did in the show, Mike purposefully drinks poisoned tequila so that the rest of the Cartel will drink it with him. Unlike in the show, Mike makes no attempt to lessen the poison or throw it up, and he ends up dying almost immediately after he kills Lalo.
- Sex with the Ex: In "What if Walt Took Elliot's Offer", Walt eventually starts seeing Gretchen again and they fall back in love. Their respective partners divorce them and Walt and Gretchen marry.
- A Shared Suffering: Invoked in the scenario where Hank is killed by Marco where Gus brings Walter and Jesse onboard to wipe out the cartel since both have lost people they care about to the Salamancas (except that Gus got Hank killed).
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Gus berates Walt for trying to burn down the super lab in "The Lost Tapes Part 3", telling him it will never bring his family back. Walt responds that he's doing it for himself.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Used every so often as a cause or effect.
- In the scenario where Todd and Kuby switch places in the train heist, since Kuby sees Drew Sharp instead of Todd, Drew survives and so does pretty much everyone who dies in Season 5B except for Declan.
- "What if Mike didn't Go to Belize?" is built around Mike getting shot in the shoulder instead of the chest by Walt. Consequently, Mike attacks and kills Jack and his crew, which spares Hank and Andrea (though Hank goes to prison for some time because Walt uses his fake confession).
- "What if Jesse let Gale Live?" starts off with Jesse sparing Gale. Consequently Victor survives because Mike tasks him with taking Gale to safety while Walt is killed by Mike (and Victor assists Mike in burying Walter).
- "What If Walter White Had His Perfect Death?" not only has Combo managing to avoid his canonical death thanks to Skinny Pete, but Jane doesn't relapse into her drug addictions.
- "What If Walter White was in El Camino?" is built around Walter White not getting shot by his automated trunk gun and how that resonates throughout the events of El Camino, particularly pertaining to Jesse.
- "What If Walt and Jesse Didn't Use The Magnet" results in everyone who died in Season 5 surviving because the offshore accounts aren't found, forcing Mike to work with Walt and Jesse again leading to Drew Sharpe's death, the Gus Fring case is closed so Hank and Gomez aren't killed, Jesse leaves town with Andrea and Brock, Todd is the only member of Jack's crew who is encountered, and Walt, who has no way to go into "empire building", cooks meth for himself for what remains of his life.
- Stating the Simple Solution: In "What If Walt and Jesse Didn't Use The Magnet"note , after Walt's "device" plan doesn't work, and he and Jesse reconvene at Saul's office, Saul brings up the fact that Gus most likely had his laptop encrypted, meaning the DEA can't get anything from it.
- Stylistic Suck: Every now and then, the videos edit a character into a scene they weren't in or over top a character who is there, such as having Walt and Lalo in the same shot, and when they do it's obviously a still photo edited overtop a body that isn't fully hidden and does not move at all during the scene. Given that the main focus is on the verbal narrative instead of the visual one, the clear amount of effort such an edit takes only adds more charm to it instead of becoming distracting.
- Suicide by Cop: In the April Fools Day episode "The Return of Hank Schrader", a now-revived Hank and Gomez surround Walt and order him to stand down. Walt simply tells Hank to "do it" in the same manner he told Jesse to shoot him, and Hank and Gomez kill Walt as he throws a set of keys on the ground. Subverted, as Walt was revived by the same method that revived Hank and Gomez and he goes into hiding.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The show has Jesse specifically state that Walt lasts as long as he does not just because he's intelligent, but he's also ridiculously lucky that things fall right into place for him. The videos tend to show what happens when Walt isn't so lucky and a piece of his plan falls apart - usually, he's killed on the spot.
- Taking You with Me:
- In "What If Jesse Escaped Earlier In El Camino?", right before the neo-Nazis are about to execute him, Walt activates his machine gun and is killed near-immediately by the barrage of bullets.
- One scenario deviates the timeline by having Hank die in the Salamanca Twins' ambush, but he still kills Marco before the ax splits his face in half.
- The scenario where Walt kills himself in the pilot culminates in Gus, all alone after Mike, Tyrus, and Victor are killed in the attack on the cartel villa, shooting Hector dead before being gunned down himself.
- "What if Lalo Salamanca beat Gus?" features a two-way one where, Mike, dying from the poisoned tequila, strangles Lalo with a garrote, but Lalo shoots and kills Walt before succumbing.
- In "The Lost Tapes Part 2", Walt realizes he's wanted for dead by both the Los Pollos syndicate and the surviving members of the Salamanca cartel. So Walt decides if he's going to die, he's going to take as many of his enemies as he can down with him. "Part 3" reveals that after months of planning that yielded no results that almost drives Walt to suicide out of despair, he ultimately attempts to burn down the super lab. Although Mike shoots Walt before he can ignite the electrical fire, the police arrive forcing Gus and Mike to stand down. Then with his last bit of strength, Walt pushed the live wire down on the methylamine-soaked floor, igniting the fire and subjecting Gus and Mike to a painful death via immolation, completing his revenge.
- Talking through Technique: In "What if Hector Salamanca recovered?", Walt is taken prisoner by the Cartel before Gus and Gale come to get a look at Walt's operation. While Walt and Gale talk science, Walt points to the symbols on a periodic table to spell out that he's being held hostage, which puts Gale on guard. For the rest of the conversation, they speak in double meanings, allowing Walt to explain the situation to Gale without the Salamancas catching on.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: In "What if Mike killed Tuco?" Cheryl convinces Howard to quit HHM after getting his reputation ruined by Jimmy and Kim and the two rekindle their relationship. While Howard still will probably be remembered as an unhinged drug addict, he at least manages to fix the problems of his personal life and live comfortably on the Sandpiper settlement and never has the misfortune of encountering Lalo.
- Tragic Mistake: After Jesse is killed in prison by the neo-Nazis when they fail to trick Walt into revealing the location of his money, Hank becomes dangerously obsessed with finding any dirt on Walt despite his boss's warnings, to the point where it alienates even Gomez. This proves to be fatal for him when Todd realized he's being followed by Hank and the neo-Nazis track Hank back to his home and kill him and Marie.
- Uncertain Doom: When Walt lets Krazy-8 go and is killed in return, Jesse flees town, and the narration notes that it's equally possible that Jesse manages to get somewhere and start fresh or that he'll be found dead in a ditch somewhere. Murge noted that he didn't want to kill Jesse again and that he might come back to that loose end if he could come up with a good storyline there.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Walt's actions tend to come back to bite him and his family in the worst possible way, usually leading to one or all of them dying.
- In the video where Chuck doesn't die, he doesn't intervene in Jimmy and Kim's scheme to ruin Howard's reputation out of a spiteful desire to make Howard feel what he felt when he was tricked into his Motive Rant in "Chicanery". It's then his idea to have Howard confront them in their home over it, which gets him killed by Lalo.
- After Walt passes from his cancer, Saul tries to get into contact with the grieving White family to get Walt's money to them by leaving messages on their answering machine. Skyler mistakes him for a telemarketer and turns off the ringer, ensuring Hank can't call to warn her about the Cousins when Gus anonymously informs him that they are after his family.
- Villain Respect: Though he threatens the lives of Mike's family to make him cooperate, Lalo is shown to respect Mike enough to get him directly on the Cartel's payroll, either out of respect for his status as a family man (la familia es todo, after all) or because Mike is just that good.
- Weapon Stomp: In "What if Mike Didn't Go to Belize?", after Mike takes out most of the Aryan Brotherhood, Hank crawls towards Jack's corpse, seemingly to grab his gun. Then Mike shows up and steps on the gun, takes it away from Hank... and removes Jack's gun belt to make a tourniquet.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In the scenario where Walt kills himself in the pilot, Emilio's corpse and Krazy-8 are left unaccounted for in the RV.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The aversion of this trope is the nail to "What if Lalo Salamanca beat Gus?" when Lalo decides to shoot Gus immediately after his "The Reason You Suck" Speech in the superlab.
- Witless Protection Program: In the scenario where Hank and Jesse's Batman Gambit to trick Walt into revealing the location of his money fails, Hank has no choice but to put Jesse in protective custody in an attempt to keep him safe from the neo-Nazis. They still get to him - it's implied they have an insider sabotaging the prison's security taking down the surveillance system, and the guard is either a member of the gang or is bribed to look the other way, as he does nothing to stop other inmates from stabbing him to death.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- When Walt follows through with his word and teaches Todd the recipe for Blue Sky, Jack decides he's too much of a liability to be kept alive and has him shot dead in the neo-Nazis' meth lab.
- Deconstructed in "The Lost Tapes Part 3". Walt really doesn't want to kill Gale, as he's the only friend he has left when every ally he's ever known before has either died or turned on him. However, leaving Gale alive risks him exposing his whole revenge plot to Gus, and so he's forced to kill him after revealing what he knows. Walt is clearly distressed and guilt-ridden after doing the deed.
- Zombie Apocalypse: No, seriously. In the April Fools Day episode, it turns out that Walt's Blue Sky can revive the dead. It revives a recently deceased Hank and Gomez, causes a zombie outbreak, and it even revives Walt who committed Suicide by Cop in this timeline.
