Breaking Bad, Season 3

Breaking Bad (2008-2013) is a critically acclaimed American AMC drama about a 50-year-old high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, (played by Bryan Cranston) who discovers that he has terminal lung cancer. Walter decides to use his extensive knowledge of chemistry to enter the drug trade and produce crystal methamphetamine, using the profits to provide for his family after his death. The term to "break bad" is American Southeast slang meaning to turn against one's previously lawful lifestyle for one of criminal acts, usually at the cost of someone else's life or well-being.

Walter:
I've been to my oncologist, Jesse. Just last week. I'm still in remission. I'm healthy.

Jesse:
That's good. Great.

Walter:
No end in sight.

Jesse:
That's great.

Walter:
No. I missed it. There was some perfect moment that passed me right by, but I had to have enough to leave them. That was the whole point. None of this makes any sense if I didn't have enough. And it had to be before she found out. Skyler. It had to be before that.

Jesse:
Perfect moment? For what? To drop dead? Are you saying you want to die?

Walter:
I'm saying that I lived too long. You want them to actually miss you. You want their memories of you to be...but she just won't...she just won't understand. I mean, no matter how well I explain it, these days she just has this...this... I mean, I truly believe there exists some combination of words. There must exist certain words in a certain specific order that can explain all of this, but with her I just can't ever seem to find them.

Jesse:
Mr. White, why don't you just sit down.

Walter:
You know, I was thinking before the fugue state, but during the fugue state I didn't have enough money, so no, not then. And plus my daughter wasn't born yet. It had to be after Holly was born.

Jesse:
Mr. White...

Walter:
Definitely before the surgery. Ah Christ, that damn second cell phone. I mean, how could I possibly? [pause] Oh, I know the moment. It was the night Jane died. I was at home and we needed diapers and so I said I'd go, but it was just an excuse. Actually that was the night I brought you your money, remember?

Jesse:
Yeah. I remember.

Walter:
And afterward I stopped at a bar. It was odd, I never do that - go to a bar alone. I just walked in, sat down. I never told you.

Jesse:
You went to a bar?

Walter:
I sit down and this man, this stranger, he engages me in conversation. He's a complete stranger. But he turns out to be Jane's father, Donald Margolis.

Jesse:
What are you talking about?

Walter:
Of course I didn't know it at the time. I mean, he's just some guy in a bar. I just didn't put it together until after the crash when he was all over the news.

Jesse:
Jane's dad?

Walter:
Think of the odds. Once I tried to calculate them, but they're astronomical. I mean, think of the odds of me going in and sitting down that night, in that bar, next to that man.

Jesse:
What'd you talk about?

Walter:
Water on Mars. Family.

Jesse:
What about family?

Walter:
I told him that I had a daughter and he told me he had one, too. And he said, "Never give up on family." And I didn't. I took his advice. My God, the universe is random, it's chaos. It's subatomic particles and endless pings, collision - that's what science teaches us. What does this say? What is it telling us that the very night that this man's daughter dies, it's me who is having a drink with him? I mean, how could that be random?

[Walter stumbles, starting to succumb to the sleeping pills]

Jesse:
Hey, sit down.

Walter:
No, no, it's, uh... Oh, that was the moment. That night. I should never have left home. Never gone to your house. Maybe things would have... Oh, I was...I was at home watching TV. Some nature program about elephants...and Skyler and Holly were in another room. I can hear them on the baby monitor. She was singing a lullaby. Oh, if I had just lived right up to that moment...and not one second more. That would have been perfect.

Walter:
What can I do for you?

Mike:
Have a seat, Walter. I spoke to Goodman about Pinkman and this plan of yours.

Walter:
And?

Mike:
I'm not gonna do it.

Walter:
Why?

Mike:
Because it's moronic.

Walter:
Saul said you've done things like this before.

Mike:
That's not the moronic part.

Walter:
OK, so what's the problem?

Mike:
The problem is the boss wouldn't like it.

Walter:
Saul?

Mike:
My boss. Your boss. This is a professional courtesy. No one knows I'm here, understand? But our employer would find out like always, and if Pinkman were arrested, he'd take it as a problem. Walt, you got a good thing going here. We all do. You want to risk it all on one junkie? Now I realize you two have a history, but this kid's been on the bubble a while now. It's a long time coming.

Walter:
What is?

Mike:
[Chuckles] Um... I used to be a beat cop, long time ago. And I'd get called out on domestic disputes all the time, hundreds probably over the years. But there was this one guy, this one piece of shit, that I will never forget: Gordy. He looked like Bo Svenson. You remember him? Walking Tall? You don't remember?

Walter:
No.

Mike:
Anyway. Big boy; 270, 280. But his wife, or whatever she was, his lady, was real small. Like a bird, wrists like little branches. Anyway, my partner and I get called out there every weekend and one of us would pull her aside and say, "C'mon, tonight's the night we press charges." And this wasn't one of those 'deep down he really loves me' setups, we got a lot of those, but not this. This girl was scared. She wasn't gonna cross him no way, no how. Nothing we could do but pass her off to the EMTs, put him in the car, drive him downtown, throw him in the drunk tank. He sleeps it off, next morning out he goes, back home. But one night, my partner's out sick and it's just me. And the call comes in and it's the usual crap. Broke her nose in the shower kind of thing. So I cuff him, put him in the car and away we go. Only that night, we're driving into town, and this sideways asshole is in my backseat humming 'Danny Boy'. And it just rubbed me wrong. So instead of left, I go right, out into nowhere. And I kneel him down and I put my revolver in his mouth and I told him, "This is it. This is how it ends." And he's crying, going to the bathroom all over himself, swearing to God he's gonna leave her alone, screaming - much as you can with a gun in your mouth. And I told him to be quiet, that I needed to think about what I was gonna do here. And of course he got quiet. Goes still, and real quiet, like a dog waiting for dinner scraps. And we just stood there for a while: me acting like I'm thinking things over, and Prince Charming kneeling in the dirt with shit in his pants. After a few minutes I took the gun out of his mouth and I say; "So help me if you ever touch her again I will such and such and such and such and blah blah blah blah blah".

Walter:
Just... just a warning?

Mike:
Hmph. Of course. Just trying to do the right thing. But two weeks later he killed her. Of course. Caved her head in with the base of a Waring blender. We got there, there was so much blood you could taste the metal. The moral of the story is, I chose a half measure when I should have gone all the way. I'll never make that mistake again. [stands up] No more half measures, Walter.

Gus:
Has your condition worsened?

Walter:
Excuse me?

Gus:
Your medical condition, has it grown worse?

Walter:
Not that I know of, no.

Gus:
Is there a ringing in your ears? Are you seeing bright lights or hearing voices?

Walter:
I'm quite well, thank you.

Gus:
No. Clearly you are not. No rational person would do as you have done. Explain yourself.

Walter:
My partner was about to get himself shot. I intervened.

Gus:
Some worthless junkie. For him, you intervened and put us all at risk? Some contemptible junkie who couldn't keep the peace for eight hours?

Walter:
That's right, he couldn't. He was angry because those two dealers of yours had just murdered an 11-year old boy.

Gus:
I heard about it. He should have let me take care of it.

Walter:
Maybe. Then again maybe he thought it was you who gave the order.

Gus:
Are you asking me if I ordered the murder of a child?

Walter:
I would never ask you that.

Gus:
Where is Pinkman now?

Walter:
I wouldn't know. Couple of time zones away at least. Beyond that I'd only be guessing. He has enough money to last forever. He knows he has to keep moving. You'll never find him.

Mike:
I don't know, Walt. It's what I do after all.

Walter:
He's out of the picture. I saved his life, I owed him that, but now he and I are done, which is exactly what you wanted, isn't it? You've always struck me as a very pragmatic man, so if I may, I would like to review options with you, of which, it seems to me, you have two. Option A: you kill me right here and now. Apparently I have made that very easy for you. You can kill me, no witnesses, and then spend the next few weeks or months tracking down Jesse Pinkman and you kill him, too. A pointless exercise, it seems to me, but that is option A.

Gus:
What is option B?

Walter:
I continue cooking. You and I both forget about Pinkman. We forget this ever happened. We consider this a lone hiccup in an otherwise long and fruitful business arrangement. I prefer option B.

Walter:
How you holding up?

Jesse:
Mm...You?

Walter:
I got my old job back. At least until they kill me and Gale takes over.

Jesse:
So he's their boy, huh?

Walter:
He's their boy.

Jesse:
How long you think you got?

Walter:
Well, he asks a lot of questions about the cooking process. I try to be as vague as possible but I got that guy Victor watching me, listening to every word I say. Maybe the only thing saving me is Gale's fastidiousness. Once he feels confident that he knows my entire method...

Jesse:
So what do we do?

Walter:
You know what we do.

Jesse:
There's got to be some other way. Maybe it's better for you to just go the cops, alright? I mean, I can't believe I'm saying that and all, but for your family. Hey, the DEA would love you, the shit you tell them. Federal Witness Protection, that's a good deal. As for me, I'll hit the road, yo. I'll make it. We had a good run...but it's over.

Walter:
Never the DEA. The cooking can't stop. That's the one thing I'm certain of - production cannot stop. Gus can't afford to. So if I'm the only chemist that he's got, then I got leverage and leverage keeps me alive, and it keeps you alive, too. I think I can see to that. If I'm the only chemist that he's got...

Jesse:
I can't do it, Mr. White. Like you said, I'm not a...I can't do it.

Walter:
I'll do it. I'm gonna need your help. I mean, they're watching me day and night. They never leave me alone with Gale, not for a moment. Hell, I don't even know where the man lives. He's not in the phonebook, I can't find him on the Internet, I can't do it in the lab - Victor's always there. I mean, if I can just shake Victor, even an hour one night, I think then that...I may be able to...make it look like an accident.

Jesse:
There's got to be some other way.

Walter:
I'm all ears, but when it comes down to you and me versus him, I'm sorry - I'm truly sorry - but it's gonna be him.

Walter:
Please don't this. Mike, you don't have to do this.

Mike:
Yeah, unfortunately I do, Walter. Downstairs.

Walter:
I'll cook. I'll cook for free, and there won't be anymore trouble, I promise you...

Mike:
No.

Walter:
...OK, if I could just talk to Gus...

Mike:
No.

Walter:
...I know I could make him understand...

Mike:
No. Walter...

Walter:
...Please if I could talk to Gus, I could convince him, OK? Just let me please, please, PLEASE let me talk to him!

Mike:
SHUT UP! Shut up. I can't do it. I'm sorry.

Walter:
Look, I'll give you Jesse Pinkman, OK? Like you said, he's the problem, he's always been the problem and without him, we would...and he's in town, alright? He's not in Virginia or wherever the hell you're looking for him. He's right here in Albuquerque and I can take you to him, I'll take you right to him. What do you say?

Mike:
Where is he? Right now you give me an address.

Walter:
I don't know, he moves around, but if you let me call him. [Walter reaches for his phone. Victor reaches for his gun] No, no, please! No, it's just my phone. It's just my phone. I'll call him and I'll have him meet me, OK? OK?

[Walter dials Jesse as Mike listens in closely]

Jesse:
Did you do it? Mr. White? Did you do it?

Walter:
No, I didn't do it. I can't now. It's gonna have to be you.

Jesse:
What? No way, man!

Walter:
Listen to me. You're closer than we are. You have about a 20 minute lead. They got me at the laundry and they're going to kill me... [Mike and Victor attempt to grab the phone away] Jesse, do it now! Do it! Do it fast! Do it, Jesse! Do it! [Jesse grabs a gun and runs outside. Mike grabs the phone away from Walter]

Victor:
Son of a bitch!

[Mike and Victor point their guns at Walter]

Mike:
Just what the hell was that exactly?

Walter:
You might want to hold off.

Mike:
Yeah? [cocks gun] Why?

Walter:
Because your boss is gonna need me. 6353 Juan Tabo, apartment 6. [Gale's address. Mike and Victor look at each other, shocked] Yeah.


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