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"End Times" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the forty-fifth episode altogether.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

Walt and Skyler frantically pack their family's belongings. As DEA agents arrive to take them into protective custody at the Schrader residence, Walt tells Skyler that the hitmen are after him and that his presence will only make the situation more dangerous. She protests, but he admits that he's been in danger all year and that he made choices he must pay for. Skyler reluctantly leaves him behind as she takes Holly to her sister's.

Act I[]

Walt sits next to the pool, his revolver at his side, anticipating the worst. He mulls over his options, spinning the gun on its side as he does so. The first two times the barrel of the gun stops pointing at Walt, while the third points at a nearby potted plant. Walt continues his musings in sullen silence. Meanwhile, at the Schrader residence, Hank tells Gomez that his pursuit of Gus has resulted in the death threat, revealing to Marie, Skyler and Walt Jr. that Gus is his target. When they question it, Hank admits he believes Gus is a meth distributor. Hank asks Gomez to investigate the industrial laundry; Gomez, who does not believe Gus is involved, states that a judge would never give him a warrant. Hank then derides him for not using the "good old fashioned knock and talk" approach.

4x12 - End Times 4

Jesse and Tyrus in the superlab during Gomez's investigation

Gomez arrives at the laundry and, using a fabricated story about finding heroin in the laundered clothing of a senator's son, talks the foreman into letting him search the facility without a warrant. When the foreman agrees, Gomez brings out a dog to sniff out the place, to no avail. Beneath the laundry, Jesse shuts off the lab equipment and waits silently with Tyrus. Gus calls Jesse and tells him that Walt is behind this development. Jesse sympathizes, but again refuses to cook if Walt is harmed. Gus answers that he will carry out an appropriate retaliation and hangs up.

Act II[]

After Gomez leaves, Jesse continues his cook. Afterward, a laundry truck drops him off near his car on a remote street. Jesse attempts to contact Walt without success, but finds several panicked voicemail messages from Saul. When he arrives at Saul's office, Huell, acting as Saul's bodyguard, pats him down for weapons. Saul gives Jesse the rest of his money that he had stored and says that he is fleeing for his own safety after Gus threatened Walt's family. At home, Hank looks at Gomez's photos from the laundry, frustrated at the apparent dead end.

At home, Jesse receives a phone call from Andrea and rushes to the hospital, where Brock has been admitted to the emergency room. After he and Andrea visit him in the pediatric ICU, Jesse steps outside to smoke a cigarette. Upon noticing that his cigarette with ricin is missing, he desperately searches his cigarette pack, breaking open all of the remaining cigarettes. Not finding the one with ricin, he runs inside to tell Andrea that Brock may have been poisoned and tells her to tell the doctors that it might be ricin. Andrea begs him to tell her what is going on, but he can only apologize and hurriedly runs off.

Act III[]

Jesse goes to the White residence and is let inside by Walt, who has barricaded himself inside. After Walt lays his gun down, Jesse picks it up and points it at him. Walt tries to talk Jesse into lowering the gun, but Jesse is convinced that Walt has poisoned Brock to get back at him for not backing him up and angrily demands that Walt admit why. Walt talks Jesse through the evidence, attempting to persuade him that he would have nothing to gain by killing a child. Suddenly Walt pauses, then falls into panicked laughter as he states that Gus must've poisoned Brock with the ricin, knowing Jesse would suspect Walt, thereby doing Gus' dirty work for him. While Jesse is initially in disbelief, Walt reminds him that they both already know that Gus has no problem killing children. Jesse finally lowers the gun and tries to leave in a hurry. When he states he's going to go kill Gus, Walt tells him that they will see him coming and will kill him, and that they should instead work together.

Act IV[]

At the hospital, Jesse continually attempts to re-enter the ICU, but is stopped by the nurse when Andrea refuses to let him in. Still at the hospital the next morning, Tyrus awakens Jesse and notifies him that Gus wants him return to the superlab. Jesse refuses, and tells Tyrus that if Gus wants to say something, he can come in person rather than sending an errand boy. When Tyrus attempts to strongarm him into moving, Jesse yells out loud that he is being harassed by someone he doesn't know. Due to onlookers, Tyrus begins walking away and calls Gus to inform him that they have a situation. Jesse then sends a text message to Walt saying "I think I got his attention." At home, Walt is creating a makeshift pipe bomb in his kitchen.

Later, Tyrus returns to the hospital with Gus. He approaches Jesse and says that Gus is waiting to talk to him downstairs. Initially, Gus is insistent that Jesse follow the schedule to complete the cook and states that Jesse can come back to the hospital after work. Gus adds that as he is on the board for the hospital, he can arrange for Brock to receive the best care. Jesse then tells him that Brock is not sick but is dying, as he was poisoned. Gus asks how this happened, but Jesse responds that he doesn't know. Gus then allows Jesse to take a week off from work.

Capture 15

Gus and his bodyguards walking to his car

Gus leaves the hospital and enters the parking garage. From a nearby rooftop, Walt holds the detonator and watches with binoculars. As Gus nears his car, he suddenly becomes suspicious. He stops and scans the nearby buildings for several minutes. He ultimately decides to walk away from the car rather than take the chance. Walt is left in despair as his assassination plot is foiled.

Official Photos[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the third episode of Breaking Bad to be directed by Vince Gilligan.
  • This is the only episode to be directed but not written by Vince Gilligan.
  • On the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast, Vince Gilligan reveals that the crew faced time constraints during this episode's production, which led to them cutting a scene wherein Walt and Jesse formulate a plan to kill Gus. In addition, the episode was filmed concurrently with the following episode in order to save time
  • The hospital in this episode sports a nod to the Breaking Bad logo all across its tiled floor.
  • In this episode Jesse accuses Walt of poisoning Brock, and Walt gives a highly believable denial, one far more convincing than Walt's ability to lie. It is later revealed (at the end of "Face Off") that he did in fact poison Brock. Bryan Cranston has since said that when he gave this performance, he had not read the script for the next episode and was not told that the denial was a lie.
  • The scene where Huell pats down Jesse is later revealed to be the moment that he lifted the ricin cigarette off Jesse, just as Jesse had suspected. This contributed to Walt's ruse to fool Jesse into thinking that ingesting the ricin caused Brock to be hospitalized.
  • Steve jokes that he's as likely to find heroin at the laundromat as he is to find Jimmy Hoffa buried there. Better Call Saul episode "Point and Shoot" reveals that there are in fact bodies buried under the laundromat, making Steve's joke closer to reality than he realized.

Production[]

Credits[]

Featured Music[]

  • "We Are Born When We Die" by Apollo Sunshine (as Walt sits by the pool spinning his gun and the DEA sit outside the Schrader residence)
  • "Nuevos Ojos" by Pistolera (in the background at the laundry as Steve Gomez talks with Dennis)
  • "Crawl Space" by Dave Porter (as Jesse accuses Walt of poisoning Brock and threatens to shoot him)
  • "Building a Bomb" by Dave Porter (as Walt prepares the pipe bomb in his kitchen)
  • "Parking Garage Standoff" by Dave Porter (as Gus and his men return to his car)

Filming Locations[]

  • The time lapse B roll is the Zia Motor Lodge sign located at the corner of Madison & Central Ave SE. Part of the historic Route 66 Signs.
  • Immediately after the time lapse is a short shot of a train bridge and then the power lines where Jesse gets dropped off to his car. The power lines with the gate beneath them are located on Dragway Rd, near the Isleta Amphitheatre and the Dragway (GPS 35.011493, -106.596564).
  • In the scene where Walt is on a rooftop waiting for Fring to return to his vehicle you can see the parking garage slants to the center on both sides, also hes viewing over a building with an arched roof and a triangle roof. You can find Walts position here and Gus's position in the parking garage here.

Memorable Quotes[]

Skyler: "Walt, how long till you’re safe, till you can work this out?"
Walt: "Oh, Skyler. I have lived under the threat of death for a year now, and because of that, I’ve made choices…. I alone should suffer the consequences of those choices, no one else. And those consequences–they’re coming. No more prolonging the inevitable."
―Walter explaining to Skyler that he is the real target and that he can not just flee.

Jesse: "Hey–Stop laughing. Stop laughing!"
Walter: "I have been waiting. I have been waiting all day, waiting for Gus to send one of his men to kill me–and it’s you. Who do you know who’s okay with using children, Jesse? Who do you know who has allowed children to be murdered? Hm? Gus! He has–he has been ten steps ahead of me at every turn, and now the one thing that he needed to finally get rid of me is your consent, and boy he’s got that now. He’s got it. And not only does he have that, but he manipulated you into pulling the trigger for him."
Jesse: "Only you and I knew about the ricin!"
Walter: "No! You don’t even believe that–Gus’ cameras everywhere. Please. Listen to yourself. No. He has known everything all along. Where were you today? In the lab? And you don’t think it’s possible that Tyrus lifted the cigarette out of your locker? Come on! Don’t you see? You are the last piece of the puzzle. You are everything that he’s wanted. You’re his cook now. You’re the cook, and you have proven that you can run a lab without me, and now that cook has reason to kill me. Think about it! It’s brilliant! So go ahead. Go ahead. If you think that I am capable of doing this, then go ahead. Put a bullet in my head and kill me right now. Do it! Do it!"
―Jesse and Walter in Walt’s living room
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