"Fifty-One" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad and the fiftieth episode altogether.
Summary[]
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Walt and Walt Jr. visit an auto repair shop, where Benny, a mechanic, has made repairs to Walt's Pontiac Aztek. With Walt's insurance having paid for the damages, Benny mentions that he is very fond of the Aztek. As Walt looks into the vehicle, he sees his Heisenberg hat. As he smiles and picks up the hat, he offers to sell the Aztek to the mechanic for $100 and immediately lowers it to $50, which Benny accepts. Back at the White residence, Walt arrives in a brand-new black Chrysler 300. As Junior parks next to him in his PT Cruiser, Walt decides to trade it in towards a new Dodge Challenger. Father and son beam at each other as they rev up their engines in the driveway.
Act I[]
At the Houston office of Madrigal Electromotive, Lydia anxiously sits at her desk during a conference call with her colleagues in Germany. Thirty seconds after receiving a warning call from Mike, Hank and the DEA arrive to question her. She leads them into a warehouse and points them to the foreman, Ron Forenall, who is promptly arrested. Lydia calls Mike to tell him that the methylamine transport will be cut off due to Ron's arrest, as Ron was her inside man. Mike tells her that business must continue, to which Lydia responds that he could not possibly expect her to go to the warehouse, pick up a methylamine drum by herself and load it into a truck. Mike then states he will send someone to help her.
Skyler returns home to find two expensive cars on the driveway and immediately realizes Walt bought it for himself and Junior. She enters the house with Holly after parking on the side of the street. During dinner, Walt and Junior debate about who between them would win in a drag race while Skyler silently eats. In the bedroom, Walt tells her that despite their initial cover story, he believes no one will suspect their financial status because they would believe Walt bought his car as a birthday present for himself and then bought one for his son out of soft-heartedness. He then adds that he didn't technically buy the cars, since he got both on a lease. He then drops $20,000 on the counter next to Skyler, telling her that they can afford it. Looking at the money, Skyler breaks her silence and asks Walt if he's back in the meth business, which he confirms.
As the duo get ready to go to bed, Skyler offhandedly suggests sending Junior away to a boarding school in Arizona. Walt is confused towards this suggestion, wondering why they would send Junior to boarding school when he has just one year of high school left before college, and cites how uprooting Walt Jr.'s life would be detrimental to him. Skyler replies that she thinks it would be a better environment for him, prompting Walt to ask her what is wrong with Walt Jr.'s current environment, although Skyler chooses not to answer. Walt then tells her that he is looking forward to a party and chocolate cake for his 51st birthday the following day.
Act II[]
During breakfast, Skyler doesn't shape Walt's bacon into "51," in keeping with their family tradition. When Junior pressures her into doing so, she reluctantly obliges. When Walt Jr. tells her that the "1" is too small, she solves it by taking some bacon from Junior's own plate.
Meanwhile, at the DEA office, Hank and Gomez are concerned that none of Gus' jailed subordinates have revealed information in exchange for leniency and that Blue Sky has reappeared on the streets. Figuring someone is keeping them in line, they decide that Mike is their best lead and agree to follow him. SAC Ramey, visiting from El Paso, enters the room and asks to talk privately to Hank. He offers to promote Hank to the position of ASAC (Assistant Special Agent in Charge) for Albuquerque but tells him that accepting the promotion will require taking him off the Gus Fring investigation, as the ASAC's duty would be to oversee and manage all cases in the office rather than focusing on just one personally. Citing Marie's probable fury if he declined, Hank accepts the promotion.
At a house being fumigated by Vamonos Pest, Walt and Jesse break down their mobile lab. Walt then asks Jesse if he can handle the clean-up, telling Jesse that today is his birthday and that he believes there to be a party for him waiting at home. Jesse assures him that he can do it by himself and wishes Walt a happy birthday. When Walt arrives home, he is disappointed to see Skyler preparing a store-bought meal, with only Hank and Marie are coming over for dinner. Meanwhile, while driving to the White residence, Hank tells Marie about his promotion, although she seems distracted. When he asks why, she reveals that Walt told her about Skyler's affair. As the four sit down for dinner, Skyler continues to be silent and sullen. Walt makes a speech about how grateful he is for the family's support during the past year. As he's talking, Skyler slowly walks into the pool and submerges herself, holding her breath, much to the panic of Marie and Hank. Walt then jumps in and pulls her back to the surface.
Act III[]
Jesse arrives at the Madrigal warehouse in Houston, having been sent by Mike to retrieve the methylamine from a hesitant Lydia. Lydia, upon confirming that Jesse is not an undercover agent, leads Jesse to a barrel of methylamine; she adds that they can only take one barrel and a specific one at that, as she was only able to remove one specific barrel from their inventory system. While Jesse is lowering the barrel with a forklift, Lydia spots a GPS device affixed to the bottom and yells at him to stop.
Meanwhile, at the White residence, Walt and Hank speak while Marie puts Skyler to bed. Hank divulges that Marie told him about Skyler's affair; when Marie returns to the table, Hank tells her that he told Walt that she told him. The Schraders suggest having Skyler undergo therapy before Marie offers to take Walt Jr. and Holly for a while, allowing Walt and Skyler a chance to work on their relationship. When she indicates that this would be beneficial due to a change of environment, Walt realizes this was Skyler's idea. He then asks Marie whose idea it was to have her take the kids away, and she admits it was Skyler's; Walt then agrees to it.
After the Schraders leave, Walt confronts Skyler in their bedroom, where he states that he is aware she tried to drown herself in front of Hank and Marie just to make her seem unstable enough for Marie to accept Skyler's proposal to take the kids away. When Skyler discusses their recent actions, Walt tells her that she shouldn't blame herself for what happened with Ted Beneke since it was out of her hands and that she was only trying to protect the family. Skyler is incensed at Walt shrugging the matter away, declaring that she does not want her children living in a home where killing people, selling drugs and committing crimes are shrugged off as "shit happens".
Walt retorts that her stunt in the pool was meaningless as Walt Jr. and Holly would only be gone for a few nights before they return back home, and asks her what her plan is then. Skyler responds that she would try to make herself seem unstable again in front of Hank and Marie so that they can extend their caretaking of the kids, although Walt replies that he could just have her committed to an institution, citing mental illness, while their children stay with him. Skyler then discusses giving herself bruises and a black eye and telling the police that Walt is abusing her, which would lead to Walt being taken away from her and the children, but Walt retorts that doing so would make their son think he is a wife-beater and that he would not tolerate that. Walt challenges her to come up with another plan, and manages to shoot down every single one she proposes; he yells that she will not be taking his children away from him. Skyler then admits defeat, telling him that does not have his foresight for plans and that she doesn't know how else to keep him away from the children and that she can't bring herself to stop money laundering or even being able to keep Walt out of her bed. She declares that all she can do is now is keep silent and bide her time. Walt asks her what she would be waiting for, and she responds that her only option is to hope that Walt's cancer comes back and kills him.
Act IV[]
The next morning, Jesse informs Walt and Mike that he couldn't retrieve the methylamine barrel because of the tracker on the bottom. Mike wonders why the tracker would be on the bottom and not inside the barrel, since the type of tracking devices that law enforcement use can handle liquid, and calls the placement of the tracker "sloppy, even by cop standards." He inquires as to whether the other barrels also had trackers on the bottom, but Jesse admits that he did not check any of the other barrels since Lydia said they could only steal the one specific barrel. Mike then asks whether it was he or Lydia who located the tracker, and Jesse confirms it was Lydia. Mike then gets up and declares that he is going to kill her. Jesse tries to stop him, but Mike claims that Lydia placed the tracker to deter them from taking the methylamine because she does not want to do business with them; since providing methylamine barrels was the only reason he spared her life, Mike intends to kill her. Jesse however believes they can use this knowledge to intimidate Lydia, as she is their only source of methylamine. Jesse asks Walt for his opinion, and Walt replies that their business will not stop any circumstances and that they will continue to procure methylamine.
Shortly afterward, in the parking lot, Jesse thanks Walt for siding with him before giving him a TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph watch as a birthday present. Returning home, Walt sees Skyler smoking in the living room by herself in the dark. He asks her if she will be joining him in bed but she ignores him. He then shows her the watch and tells her that the person who gave it to him did so as a birthday gift, but that just a few weeks ago, that same person tried to kill him. He muses that if that person could change their mind about him, then so too could Skyler.
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
- Despite the title being "Fifty-One", this is the 50th episode. The title is a reference to Walter White turning 51 in this episode.
- Skyler also uses an "Area 51" mug as an ashtray late in the episode.
- The time of Walt's watch is exactly 11:51 PM at the end of this episode.
- During dinner, Walt tells the family that it has been exactly one year since he received his diagnosis. Marie replies that it feels like it's been longer than that, a meta-reference to the fact that in real time, four years had passed.
- With a rating of 8.8/10, this is the last Breaking Bad episode to have a score lower than a 9/10 on IMDb.
- The watch that Jesse gives Walt is the Tag Heuer Monaco, a watch forever linked to and made famous by Steve McQueen in the movie Le Mans (1971). Steve McQueen died of a rare, inoperable lung cancer.
- The ending scene of the episode with Walt's watch ticking is almost a metaphorical meaning that his time is running out.
- Jr. gets the same type of car (Challenger) as he did in "Cornered", albeit a different model.
- Mike saying how he spared Lydia one time is similar to a situation he described earlier to Walt as an example to why full measures are important.
- Walt mentions Ratatouille.
- During this episode, Walter says: "The methylamine keeps flowing, no matter what... Nothing stops this train," which foreshadows the next episode's train heist.
- As Walter returns home and finds Skyler smoking on the couch, the smoke from the tip of her cigarette drifts upwards from the bottom left to the top right of the frame, while the smoke she exhales blows from the bottom right to the top left, creating a giant X over Walter's place in the shot.
Goofs[]
- Walt and Walt Jr.'s new cars are a 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT-8 and a 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 respectively. However, while this episode was released in 2012, in-universe the current year is 2009, making the cars anachronistic. When Walt purchased a brand-new Challenger for Walt Jr. just a season earlier, it was a correct, time period-accurate 2009 Dodge Challenger.
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
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Guest Starring
Co-Starring
Uncredited
Featured Music[]
- "Good and Lonely" by Easterling & Gildersleeve (in the background at Benny's garage)
- "My Good Thing's Gone" by Mark Denny Preston (aka Mark D. Preston) (in the background at Benny's garage)
- "Bonfire" by Knife Party (as Walt and Walt Jr. arrive home with their new cars)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Hank: "What about that Lydia what's-her-name? Lady Banjo-Eyes at the warehouse?"
- Gomez: "In this world? No way. Too uptight. Too together."
- Hank: "Maybe. She was wearing mismatched shoes. How together can she be?"
- ―Hank and Gomez discussing Lydia's involvement.
- "Sorry, but I'm not gonna apologize for being careful — with all that's been happening, for all I knew you were one of those undercover people they send into high schools, so, yeah, I'll take paranoid any day over getting gang-raped by prison guards."
- ―Lydia talking to Jesse.
- Walter: "You didn't set out to hurt anybody. You made a mistake, things got out of control, but you did what you had to do to protect your family and I’m sorry, that doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a human being."
- Skyler: "I don’t need to hear any of your bullshit rationales. I’m in it now, I’m compromised, but I will not have my children living in a house where dealing drugs and hurting people and killing people is shrugged off as ‘shit happens!’"
- ―Walter and Skyler arguing.
- Walter: "Oh. Now here's the conversation: "So honey, I know you've only got one year left in high school, but I would love it so much if you would drop everything, leave all your friends behind, and go to boarding school in Arizona." Do you have any other ideas? Because I'm not hearing a solution to your problem. How are you going to save our kids from this "terrible" environment?"
- Skyler: "I..."
- Walter: "What are you going to do? What, are you going to run off to France? Are you going to close the curtains, change the locks? This is a joke. Come on, Skyler! You want to take me on? You want to take away my children? What’s the plan?"
- Skyler: "I don’t know! This is the best I could come up with, okay? I—I will count every minute that the kids are away from here—away from you—as a victory. But you're right. It's a bad plan. I don't have any of your magic, Walt. I don't know what to do. I'm a coward. I—I can't go to the police, I can't stop laundering your money, I can't keep you out of this house, I can’t even keep you out of my bed. All I can do is wait. That's it, that's the only good option. Hold on. Bide my time. And wait."
- Walter: "Wait for what? What are you waiting for?"
- Skyler: "For the cancer to come back."
- ―Walter and Skyler arguing.
- Mike: "You don't know this woman like I do. I had a chance to deal with this before, and I gave her a pass. That's what I get for being sexist. Now if you'll excuse me..."
- Jesse: "Mike, you can't, just—Look, that's our precursor. We need her."
- Mike: "Kid, if we have to ramp down for a while, so be it. It beats working with a lunatic who's gonna get us arrested or killed."
- Jesse: "Look, she didn't seem crazy to me, you know? She just seemed, like, uptight."
- Mike: "And now you're being sexist. Trust me, this woman deserves to die as much as any man I've ever met."
- ―Jesse and Mike discussing Mike's plan to kill Lydia.