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It was you. All along, it was you! You son of a bitch. You drove into traffic to keep me from that laundry. (...) That call I got telling me Marie was in the hospital... that wasn't Pinkman. You had my cell number. You killed ten witnesses to save your sorry ass. You bombed a nursing home. Heisenberg. Heisenberg! You lying, two-face sack of shit.
― Hank confronting Walter White after finding out he was Heisenberg.[src]

Henry R. "Hank" Schrader is a high-ranking officer at the Albuquerque office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), starting out as a DEA agent alongside his close friend and partner Steven Gomez, and later being promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA (ASAC). Hank is the husband of Marie Schrader and the brother-in-law of Skyler and Walter White, as well as the uncle of Walter White Jr. and Holly, having a close friendship with his nephew. As a DEA agent, Hank lead the investigations of the methamphetamine cook "Heisenberg" (unaware for over a year that he was actually his own brother-in-law), as well as Gustavo Fring and his drug empire. Hank is faced with numerous threats from the rival drug cartels which take a toll on his mental health, causing him to develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a hobby, Hank home brews his own Schraderbräu beer, and also takes up mineral collecting. Despite his brashness, Hank is highly competent at his job and cares deeply about his family.


Warning, the following may contain spoilers.
During Walt's fiftieth birthday party, Hank shows off a news report covering a meth bust that he had led. Later, Walt takes up Hank's offer to go on a ride-along. Based on a tip from Krazy-8, Hank's team raids a meth lab while Walt stays in the car, where he witnesses his former student Jesse Pinkman escaping the bust, but does not say anything to Hank. Secretly, Walt engages with Jesse to start to produce their own meth using chemistry equipment from the school Walt teaches at. Due to the precursors they used, the product gains a unique blue tint but has an extremely high purity. Walt takes the name "Heisenberg" as he and Jesse sell the blue meth to the local drug trade. The blue meth and "Heisenberg" quickly draw the attention of Hank and the DEA. Hank's initial lead traces back to Walt's school, but Hank wrongly arrests the school janitor. Hank generally teases Walt through this period. However, when Walt tells the family that he is suffering from inoperable lung cancer, Hank promises to be there for him, and to take care of Walter Jr. and Walt's unborn daughter should he die. He also takes Walter Jr. under his wing, trying to "scare him straight" when he believes the boy is smoking marijuana. When Hank sees Walt interacting with Jesse, Walt explains that Jesse is supplying him with marijuana.


After a drug deal goes bad, Walt and Jesse are kidnapped by the unstable Tuco Salamanca and taken to a remote abode with his uncle, retired drug cartel boss Hector Salamanca. Hank helps with efforts to find Walt, and traces him via Jesse to Tuco's abode. Just before Hank arrives, Walt and Jesse manage to escape, wounding Tuco in the process. Hank kills Tuco in a shootout and arrests Hector. Meanwhile, Walt and Jesse flee back to Albuquerque, where Walt explains his disappearance to Skyler as the result of a fugue state. Hank questions Hector on the blue meth and Heisenberg, but Hector refuses to answer. Hank also questions Jesse, but Jesse provides no conclusive statements to provide leads to Heisenberg.
Hank is promoted and transferred to the El Paso, Texas DEA office for killing Tuco. Though initially happy, Hank quickly realises he doesn't fit in with his Spanish speaking colleagues and also starts having panic attacks. During a joint DEA/Mexican police operation, an informant, Tortuga, is beheaded and his head used to hide an explosive, killing several DEA agents and officers; Hank escapes unharmed as he had fled on having a panic attack upon seeing the head of the informant. Hank develops symptoms of PTSD and transfers back to the Albuquerque office to continue his investigation into the blue meth.
Some time later, Hank receives an anonymous call from Gustavo Fring, warning him that he is about to be killed by Leonel and Marco Salamanca in revenge for killing Tuco. Hank is able to kill one brother and mortally wound the other, but he himself becomes temporarily paralyzed. Hank struggles through his recovery due to his helplessness, and tries to collect minerals to pass the time. His interest is piqued when the Albuquerque Police Department ask him to help with looking over evidence from the murder of Gale Boetticher, who had been Walt's lab assistant at Gus' meth superlab under an industrial laundry. Among the evidence is a lab notebook with Gale's notes on the construction of the lab, the synthesis of meth, and other details that leads Hank to believe Gale was Heisenberg. During a shared dinner, Hank talks about Gale's notebook, and Walt drunkenly suggests Gale was merely copying the real Heisenberg's work.
Hank is curious at this comment, and reviewing the evidence again, makes a connection between Gale and Gus. Hank, only just starting to physically recover, leans on Walt to help him investigate Gus' activities, the Los Pollos Hermanos' restaurant chain and its parent company, Madrigal Electromotive, and properties they own in Albuquerque, including the industrial laundry. Walt panics knowing that this not only may lead Hank to discover that he is Heisenberg, but may lead to Gus taking deadly action to end Hank's investigation, since Walt and Jesse were already on thin ice for killing Gale. Walt has Saul fake a threat on Hank's life, and the DEA arrange for around-the-clock protection for Hank's and Walt's families, temporarily halting Hank's investigation. This also allows Walt to operate without interference to take out Gus by working with Hector after learning he and Gus are nemeses. Hector claims to want to talk to the DEA, and Hank is brought under protection to help with the interview, but Hector then refuses to cooperate and is returned to the nursing home. This was part of Walt's plan as Gus, learning of Hector's interview, goes to see Hector, upon which Hector triggers a pipe bomb Walt had planted on his wheelchair, killing them both. Walt and Jesse subsequently destroy the superlab.
The destruction of the superlab leads to evidence directly tying to Gus and the drug trade, and Hank is heralded as a hero. By this point, Hank's superiors have concluded that Gus was Heisenberg and tell Hank to drop the case, but Hank still believes there is more, and wants to pursue the informants tied to the accounts. Walt is forced to kill Mike to get the informants' names and arrange for their murders before they can be questioned. Several months pass, in which Walt has accumulated over $80 million and has left the drug trade. With no blue meth on streets and no leads, Hank has given up his investigation and moved on. At a dinner at the Whites, Hank goes to the bathroom and while there, pages through a copy of Leaves of Grass that Gale had given Walter. He recognizes the writing from Gale's notebook, and from Gale's dedication to Walt, is shocked to conclude that Walt is Heisenberg.
Hank feigns a stomach bug to leave early, taking the copy of Leaves of Grass with him, and suffers another panic attack. Later, he sneaks a GPS onto Walt's car. Walt discovers the copy of the book missing and the GPS device, similar to the one used to track Gus, and confronts Hank. Hank asserts Walt is Heisenberg, but Walt neither confirms or denies, only that his cancer has returned and by the time Hank can prove anything, he will be dead. Hank demands Walt to tell Skyler and the children to stay with him, but Walt refuses. Hank tries to talk to Skyler, but she stays silent on what she knows. Marie learns some details through Skyler, but Hank still has insufficient evidence to go forward against Walt.
Hank again approaches Jesse and finally convinces him they need to work together to stop Walt. Hank initially tries to have Jesse meet with Walt while wearing a wire tap, but Jesse backs out at the last minute, fearing Walt will kill him. Instead, Jesse suggests they target Walt's money, which they know has been hidden as cash somewhere locally. After trying to locate it on their own, Hank has Jesse call Walt pretending to have found the money and preparing to destroy it. Walt takes off to the money, and when he finds it intact, realizes Jesse has fooled him, and orders a hit on Jesse through Jack Welker. Jesse soon arrives with Hank and Gomez, and Walt tries to call off the hit, preparing to surrender himself to Hank. However, Jack's men arrive before then, and a firefight breaks out, which kills Gomez and critically wounds Hank. Walt pleads to Jack to spare Hank's life, offering his entire fortune to Jack. Hank refuses to beg for his life and asks Walt how such an intelligent man could be too naive to see that Jack had already made his decision. Hank then tells Jack to do what he has to do and Jack kills him with a shot to the head.

Jack's men bury Hank's and Gomez's bodies in the hole Walt had stored his money, stealing most of it but leaving one barrel totaling approximately $10M for Walt. The gang take Jesse back to their compound as a slave to punish him for helping Hank and Gomez. Six months later, after Walt had fled the state with a new identity, he returns to make his amends, and gives Skyler the location of the bodies, knowing it will help her to plea bargain her case. Hank and Gomez are avenged that same night when Walt poisons Lydia with ricin, kills Jack's crew with a modified machine gun in the back of his car and shoots Jack in the head, mirroring what Jack did to Hank months earlier. Walt lets Jesse strangle Jack's nephew Todd Alquist to death and escape, before dying from a shrapnel wound he received during the gunfire. Walt collapses on the floor with a look of contentment on his face, having avenged his much-loved brother-in-law.

History

Background information

Hank Schrader was born somewhere between March 13–28, in 1966. Little is known about Hank's early life. He met Marie after high school and asked her out repeatedly until she finally agreed. Hank joined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the late 1980s and befriended Steven Gomez at some point, and married Marie in 1998. He once recalled having a job tagging trees as a summer hire during his college years and having oral sex at a gay bar the night before his wedding with a drag performer by the name of Joan Crawford, who he took to be a woman. Shortly before he married Marie, Hank informed his brother-in-law, Walter White, about the affair. Walt told Hank to simply forget about it and that it wasn't an affair, and Hank chose to take his advice. ("Wedding Day")

Better Call Saul

Season 5

Hank in The Guy For This

Hank Schrader arrives to talk to Jimmy McGill and Krazy-8.

Hank arrives to work after the arrest of Krazy-8, complaining to Gomez about Marie. Hank and Gomez question Krazy-8 who offers information on dead drops in exchange for their help with his charges before the meeting is interrupted by Jimmy McGill (now practicing law under the name Saul Goodman). Hank is amused by Saul's name, recognizing the pun Saul used when choosing it. Despite Krazy-8's insistence that he doesn't need a lawyer, Saul pulls him aside and they briefly argue before Saul states that Krazy-8 wants a deal. However, Hank and Gomez prepare to leave, believing that they are just being strung along. Saul offers to have Krazy-8 give up the information in exchange for all charges being dropped once the DEA confirms it. Hank agrees and Saul adds on that he wants Krazy-8's identity as a snitch protected. After some haggling, Hank agrees to make Krazy-8 his and Gomez's person confidential informant and make it appear as if the charges were dropped due to simple lack of evidence before Krazy-8 tells them about the dead drops. Unknown to the agents, Lalo Salamanca, through Saul, purposefully set up Krazy-8 as an informant to use the DEA to disrupt Gustavo Fring's operation. ("The Guy For This")

At night, Hank and Gomez run a stakeout on one of Gus' dead drops which is located in a culvert. Hank complains about the location, causing Gomez to suggest that its moved during monsoon season. As the two men banter, they receive word that the target is approaching and Hank expresses confidence that Krazy-8's information is correct given the fact that the last two dead drops have also turned out to be real. The two agents watch and take pictures as Gus' henchman Diego retrieves the money from the dead drop before taking off, having apparently spotted the DEA agents. Correctly guessing where Diego will go, Hank is able to cut him off, forcing him to flee on foot. Hank and Gomez lose Diego, but recover the money which proves to be over $700,000 making the total recovered from the dead drops "just shy of a million dollars." Though Gomez is pleased by the result, Hank isn't as Diego got away. Hank then invites everyone who took part in the operation out for drinks. ("Namaste")

Breaking Bad

Season 1

HankDEA

Hank calls his wife Marie.

Hank is demonstrating to the other men at Walt's 50th birthday how his gun works. When Walt holds it and mentions that it's heavy, Hank jests that it's "made for men." Hank gives Walt a quick birthday toast before urging everyone to watch an interview he did in regards to a local meth lab bust. Walt asks him how much money the rolls of cash add up to, to which Hank states is about $700,000. Hank invites Walt on a ride-along, telling him he needs some excitement in his life.

After Walt calls him one morning to take up his offer, he's seen with Walt and his fellow agent Steven Gomez waiting to bust a house. Hank and Gomez have a bet on the cook's ethnicity before the SWAT team bust through the door. Walt asks Hank if he could go inside to see the setup. Hank tells him he'll scope the lab out first and makes Walt wait outside, where he sees that his former student Jesse Pinkman escape from the neighbor's bedroom ("Pilot").

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Hank with Walt. Jr at the Crossroads Motel.

Hank is later seen during a drug bust when he gets a call from his wife, Marie, informing him of Walter White Jr.'s usage of marijuana. Though initially stating that it's Walt's job to talk to him, he eventually agrees to have a chat with his nephew. Hank brings Walter Jr. to a run-down motel that's home to many junkies—which Hank calls the Crystal Palace—tricking Walt Jr. into believing the two of them were going to get Cold Stone ice cream. Hank tries to startle his nephew out of doing drugs (unbeknownst to Hank that he wasn't doing any of them) by showing him the results meth has had on a prostitute by the name of Wendy, commenting on her rotted teeth. He then tells her to get lost and mentions that he'll bust her if he sees her working here again. Hank and Gomez are later seen out in the desert at the location of Walt and Jesse's crash site. The two of them deduce that a mobile lab caught fire and the culprits bailed. Hank wonders why a low-rider was left behind before finding some meth behind the stereo ("...and the Bag's in the River").

Hank informs his team that there is a new group of meth cooks in town, making some of the purest meth he's ever seen. He describes these "new players" as having a high skill set. Hank is later seen having dinner with the Whites, giving dating advice to Walter Jr. He's listening to Walt tell the story of how he and Skyler met until she breaks out in tears. Walt confesses that he has lung cancer. When discussing Walt's situation, Hank tells him that if anything happens he will make sure his family is safe and taken care of ("Cancer Man").

HankAndGomez

Hank showing Steven Gomez the meth found at the cook site.

Hank is disappointed with Walter Jr. for calling him instead of his father after he got in trouble for trying to purchase alcohol as a minor. Along with the pot use earlier, Hank believes Walter Jr. is lashing out because of Walt's illness. When Walt returns home one night, Hank is found sitting with the rest of the family, waiting to give Walt an intervention on the future of his condition. When it is Hank's turn to speak, he explains through a baseball metaphor that Walt should take the money Elliott Schwartz offered him, briefly changing his mind when Marie mentions that Walt should do whatever he wants to do, believing that Walt has the right to die like a man ("Gray Matter").

Hank meets with Gomez in a parking lot, who hands him the mask they recovered at Walt's cook site. The mask was traced back to Walt's high school. Hank pays a visit to Walt after school hours and tells him that the mask was used to cook meth. After doing an inventory of the equipment, Hank notices that two respirators are missing, along with some glassware. He tells Walt to take better care of his lab equipment, and then jokes about people suspecting him. Hank is later seen arresting the janitor at Walt's school, Hugo Archilleya, as he had fit the profile. Later on, during a family poker game, Hank admits that they only found pot in his car, saying that he would nonetheless lose his job and serve time in county jail. During the game, Walt puts all his chips in, causing Hank to fold. He was disappointed to see that Walt had nothing noteworthy in his hand. ("Crazy Handful of Nothin'").

During Skyler's baby shower, Hank and Walt share drinks and Cuban cigars outside, with Hank letting Walt know that he did a favor for an FBI guy in exchange for the illegal cigars. After a brief discussion of what is and isn't legal, Walt states that the line is arbitrary. Hank responds with saying that many guys in jail have the mentality that a lot of illegal things shouldn't be, including meth ("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal").

Season 2

Hank reminds Marie that her therapy appointment was the same time she planned to have dinner with Skyler. She tells him he's mistaken and runs over a neighborhood kid's remote-control car as she's leaving. Hank apologizes to the kid and whips out his wallet to compensate him. Later, Gomez shows Hank surveillance footage of a recent burglary at a chemical warehouse. Unaware that the pair of burglars are Walt and Jesse, makes fun of their criminal methods but commends their knowledge of chemistry. Hank states that they must be needing to cook a lot of meth if they needed to steal a whole barrel of methylamine and that they'll be lucky if he and his team catch them before the Cartel does.

Hank pays Skyler a visit to ask why she doesn't return any of Marie's phone calls. When he says that they all need to support Marie through this, Skyler exclaims that she is the one in need of support, as she's a 40-year-old pregnant woman with a detached husband with lung cancer and a moody son, before breaking down in front of Hank. Later on at a crime scene in a junkyard, Hank sends a photo of Gonzo and No-Doze to Walt, claiming they're the "world's dumbest criminals," ("Seven Thirty-Seven").

Hank tells his team at the DEA office of the raid on Tuco Salamanca's headquarters, telling them to "get a big-ole raging hard-on" at the thought of catching him. After getting the room to chant, he tells Gomez that he needs to take a personal leave to search for Walt, who has just gone missing. While rendezvousing at the White residence, Skyler asks about Walt's second cell phone, to which Marie suspects he was using to buy weed from a former student of his named Jesse Pinkman. Hank feels they're grasping at straws, but insist Hank question him. Hank pays a visit to Jesse's mom, Diane Pinkman, in an attempt to get any info on her son. She reveals that Jesse owns a red Monte Carlo that he converted to a low-rider. Hank calls Gomez to inquire about whether or not the low-rider may be equipped with a LoJack car tracker. This leads to Hank driving out to a shack in the desert, where Jesse's car was presumably reported to be. There, he stumbles upon a wounded Tuco, from whom Walt and Jesse have just escaped captivity. Hank briefly confuses Tuco for Jesse before the two enter a shootout. After a brief pause in fire, Hank steadies his aim while Tuco reloads his assault rifle. As he exits cover to resume fire, Hank puts a clean shot through Tuco's skull ("Grilled").

2x2 Hank kills Tuco

Hank moments after killing Tuco.

Hank is later seen giving an official statement of what went down at the desert shack. Hank diverts his attention to Jesse, whose car and money he found at the shack. After being tipped off by Badger (set up by Jesse), Hank's team raids the room Jesse and Wendy were staying in at the Crossroads Motel, bringing Jesse in for interrogation. Hank tries to intimidate Jesse into confessing he was at Tuco's shack, despite Jesse saying he was partying with Wendy all weekend and had no idea his car was stolen. During his interrogation of Wendy, she recognizes Hank from his earlier encounter with her when he tried to scare Walter Jr. into not doing drugs and she decides to vouch for Jesse's story. Gomez tells Hank to let it go, as there's no solid evidence to charge him with the crime. Having one more idea, Hank brings in Hector Salamanca, Tuco's uncle, to identify Jesse. Due to being an old-school cartel member, Hector refuses to rat Jesse out, despite being at the shack with Walt and Jesse. Hank has no choice but to buy Jesse's story.

Hank is reviewing the footage of the chemical warehouse burglary, believing that the thieves cooked the blue meth recovered from Tuco's shack, as it was the purest meth seen since the batch recovered from Walt's first cook. Hank's colleagues throw him a party in celebration of his busting of Tuco. After the party, he visits Walt (who was resting in the hospital after being found). He shows Walt the gift his colleagues gave him during the party: Tuco's grill encased in a lucite cube. Walt apologizes to Hank for putting him at risk searching for him, but tells him not to worry, as his praises are being sung back at the office ("Bit by a Dead Bee").

Hank tells his boss, ASAC George Merkert, that nobody has yet to replace the meth-supply void created by Tuco's death, though the name "Heisenberg" is being tossed around. Impressed by his work, Merkert promotes Hank to the Tri-State Border Interdiction Task Force in El Paso, meaning that he will be dividing his time between Albuquerque and El Paso. Hank thanks him and heads down to meet his co-workers for lunch, but on the elevator down, he begins to suffer a panic attack, only managing to compose himself shortly before exiting. The next day, Hank calls in sick and is found by Marie making some of his original home-made brew called Schraderbräu in his garage, much to Marie's dismay. Later, Hank and Marie invite the Whites over for a barbecue. Hank shares his experience with Tuco to Walter Jr., telling him that criminals are like cockroaches and that you should stomp them down when you see one without thinking. That night, Hank is awoken by loud gunshot-like pops coming from inside his house. Tense and alert with gun in hand, he heads to the garage, realizing that the noise was made by his beer bottles popping off. In response to the toll Tuco's death has taken on him, Hank throws the grill in a local river ("Breakage").

Once transferred to El Paso, Hank has a hard time fitting in with his new co-workers. His usual quips and racial humor that got a rise out of the department in Albuquerque are brushed off by the Mexican officers in El Paso. Hank is the only one laughing when he mocks the idea of drug dealers praying to their patron saint, Jesús Malverde. When he asks Vanco why the saint's statue sits on his desk, Vanco states that it's to help him know his enemy, an idea based on the teachings of Sun Tzu.

HankNyA

Hank during the stakeout in El Paso.

Hank joins Vanco and a few others during a visit to a cartel informant named Tortuga. After being mocked for not understanding Spanish as well as becoming increasingly impatient with Tortuga, Hank attempts to intimidate him into giving them the information they're after. Tortuga quickly shuts him down, stating that he may take his time, but he always wins. Hank and the others are later seen at a stakeout in Mexico. Hank is mocked behind his back in by his co-workers in Spanish, mentioning that his promotion was nothing more than politics. After Hank asks them if they're mentioning anything he should know about, they reassure him that they are only complementing him. Shortly after, Tortuga's head is spotted moving slowly in the distance. Upon getting closer, they see that it was Tortuga's severed head on a tortoise with the words "Hola DEA" painted on the side of the tortoise's shell. Hank begins to heave and runs back to the truck to catch his breath. The others surrounding the tortoise laugh at him. As one of the DEA agents begins to 'welcome him to Juarez," another touches the severed head, causing the tortoise to explode, killing the latter and severely injuring the others, Vanco in particular having his leg blown off. Despite being shaken up by the blast, Hank goes to help the injured agents ("Negro y Azul").

Hank's experience at Juarez has a profound effect on him and is shortly after sent back to Albuquerque. Hank refuses to confide in Marie, so she asks Walt for help. As Walt speaks with him, Hank tells him that the conflict in El Paso is like Apocalypse Now. He refuses to see a shrink, believing that doing so can damage his reputation and tarnish his career. When Walt states that he could talk to him about it, Hank mentions that the two of them have an "experiential overlap," as he believes Walt would fail to understand. Instead, Walt tells Hank that his experiences with his lung cancer have helped him to overcome his fears of everyday life. He urges Hank to "get out in the real world" and "kick that bastard as hard as you can, right in the teeth."

Hank arrives back at his old department and is informed by Gomez that blue meth was being sold by a man named Brandon Mayhew, also known as Badger. The two head over to the police station to question him. The two run into Saul Goodman, a local criminal attorney. After a brief exchange of insults, Saul mentions that they are only after Badger looking to find "bigger fish." Badger later informs Hank that Heisenberg is an older man in his 50s or 60s and is even balder than Hank himself.

Hank is later seen with Gomez and Detective Getz staking out the bus stop where Badger was arrested, planning to have Badger take the meth from Heisenberg in order to arrest the latter (unaware of the fact that Saul hired another man to fill in Walt's place). As they watch on, Walt pulls up in front of them and begins to feign naivety in order to buy Badger some time, as he had sat down at the wrong bench and began talking to the wrong man. Much to Hank's frustration, Walt finally leaves. Badger is seen taking the meth from James Kilkelly and the DEA go in for the arrest. Despite all this, Hank suspects that Kilkelly isn't the true Heisenberg ("Better Call Saul").

S2Over

Hank with Walt and Walter Jr. at the party in celebration of Walt's remission.

Hank is later seen with Walt and the rest of his family when Dr. Delcavoli informs them that Walt has entered remission and that his cancer has shrunk by 80% ("4 Days Out"). In support of the good news, Hank helps Skyler throw a party for Walt, where Hank is complemented for his margaritas. Hank was caught off guard when Walt ended his speech on a depressing note. Later on, Hank is seen sitting with Walt and Walter Jr. by the poolside sharing stories of his time in El Paso to Walter Jr., stating that the cartel was being 'poetic' by putting Tortuga's head on a tortoise and rigging it with an explosive. He jokingly mentions that tortuga is "bean-speak" for tortoise. Walt begins pouring shots for the two of them, only to pour one more for Walter Jr. In good faith, Hank tells Walter Jr. to make sure Skyler doesn't see. After Walt gives his son another shot, Hank questions if he's going for "father of the year." When Walt refuses to stop giving Walter Jr. shots, Hank decides that they've had the bottle for too long. When Walt angrily demands he give him back the bottle, the two have a brief stare-down before being interrupted by Walter Jr. vomiting into the pool ("Over"). After the tension between Hank and Walt were settled, the Whites invite Hank and Marie over to their house for dinner. Hank brings over some chicken from Los Pollos Hermanos, commending them for their taste ("Phoenix").

At the DEA office, Hank asks his co-workers for donations to fund Walt's surgery. Afterwards, he is seen talking about the recent murder of Combo. He regards him as a "dipshit, wannabe banger" and wonders why he was dealing blue meth. Hank notes that after his death, the aforementioned blue meth is nowhere to be found in Albuquerque, appearing instead in areas to the Southwest. He states that Heisenberg wised up and stopped "shitting where he eats." Hank concludes by believing that Heisenberg is still in town.

Some time later, ASAC Merkert introduces Hank to three local businessmen donating funds to the department. Among them is Gustavo Fring, owner of Los Pollos Hermanos. After briefly discussing the meth issue in the region and thanking them for their contributions, Gus asks Hank about Walt's photo on the donation jar. Hank informs him that Walt is his brother-in-law and is currently fighting lung cancer. After Gus generously donates some money, Hank gladly thanks him ("ABQ").

Season 3

Hank is helping Walt move as well as trying to offer advice to Walt about his relationship troubles. He struggles for a second with Walt when trying to store a bag (filled with Walt's drug money) into his car. When Hank jokes about what he might have in there, Walt tells him that he has half a million in cash. Hank laughs and brushes it off ("No Más").

CaballoSinNombre-0

Hank and the other members of Walt's family having dinner without Walt.

Hank is discussing a recent truck explosion near the border with his team, indicating that it must be high-end cartel work, before receiving a call telling him that Walt has been arrested. After releasing him, Walt tells Hank that Skyler is divorcing him and doesn't want him near the kids. Later, Hank and the family have dinner without Walt. Hank asks Skyler why she's keeping Walt away from their kids, to which she replies "It's none of your business." Marie tells Hank that she suspects Walt of having an affair ("Caballo Sin Nombre").

Hank later tells his partner, Steve Gomez, that El Paso wants him back. He tells Gomez that errands are delaying his return to El Paso, to which Gomez questions why he isn't jumping at the opportunity to return. After a brief anxiety attack in the bathroom of a bar, he returns to his car to stash his gun before going back to the bar. He picks a fight with two "dirt-balls" and proceeds to beat them up, informing them that he's part of the DEA. Hank is later confronted by ASAC Merkert, stating that, as far as he knows, Hank was confronted when Gomez was outside calling for backup. Gomez tells Hank that he didn't mention putting his gun away before going back inside in his report ("I.F.T.").

S3BarFight

Hank starting a bar fight.

Hank is dropped off at the airport by Marie en route to El Paso, but he gets a call shortly afterward informing him that the blue meth has returned to the streets of Albuquerque. After a brief questioning of a tweaker in an interrogation room, he is told that the blue meth's source comes from a guy whose name starts with an "M." Gomez, feeling the information is inconsequential, tells Hank he should just report to El Paso, to which Hank replies "I'm getting tired of all the second guessing." After a stern voicemail left by ASAC Merkert informs Hank that the folks in Texas are "breathing down his neck," Hank follows up on the tweaker's lead. He arrives at a gas station, where he convinces the cashier lady to tell him how she got some of the meth. She states that a man with blue eyes and an RV sold it to her, then proceeded to give it to a friend named Matt. Outside, Hank notices a camera on an ATM facing the gas pump before stating "Bingo," When Merkert asks him if he's going to El Paso, Hank tells him no, only due to being on the verge of something big ("Green Light").

Hank continues his search by staking out an RV with Gomez. He climbs up back and peers through a latch on top, only to startle an older couple playing cards. Hank suggests they keep up their search, but Gomez tells him he won't be able to, as he has to pack for El Paso. Back home, Marie asks for him to share his thoughts on Gomez going to El Paso instead of him, saying that it makes sense for him not wanting to return after what happened. Hank shouts that Mexico has nothing to do with it and that the only reason he's staying behind is to pursue leads on Heisenberg. Marie is later seen talking with Skyler on the well-being of her husband.

Back at the office, Hank asks his secretary, Janice, to check the DMV and look for any RVs they may have missed. During Gomez's farewell party, Hank gives him a statuette of Jesús Malverde after learning of his importance back in El Paso. Janice then tells Hank that she found an additional RV whose registration was never renewed, but was never reported as non-operational, stolen, or destroyed. This leads him to the home of Combo's mother, Mrs. Ortega. She tells Hank that she never reported the RV as stolen because she did not want to have her son arrested. In Combo's old room, he finds a picture of him with Jesse Pinkman in a strip club ("Más").

Hank is watching Jesse talk with Skinny Pete and Badger from afar. He gets a call from Marie asking when he'll be home. Hank tells her that he can't return until Jesse gives him a lead. She suggests he give Walt a call, as he might have sold him marijuana at some point. After Hank gives Walt a call about his theory of the RV being a mobile meth lab, Walt realizes Hank suspects Jesse. Hank continues to follow Jesse until he arrives at a junkyard where Walt and Jesse takes the RV. Hank pounds on the RV door, telling Jesse to do things the easy way. After some resistance, Hank attempts to pry the door open with a crowbar before being confronted by Old Joe, informing him that he cannot search the RV without a warrant. After finding bullet holes behind duct tape on the door, he heads back to his car to call ASAC Merkert and ask for a warrant. During this time, Saul's secretary Francesca calls Hank's cell under the guise of a police officer, informing him that his wife was in a terrible car accident as is being taken to the hospital. He leaves immediately and enters the hospital in a panic before getting a call from Marie herself, telling him about dinner plans. Hank immediately realizes he was tricked ("Sunset").

OneMinute

Hank beats up Jesse after he believes he was responsible for the call informing him of Marie's fake hospitalization.

Infuriated, Hank confronts Jesse at his house and proceeded to beat him to a pulp, asking him who he's working for and how he know his wife's name. After beating him unconscious, Hank realizes he's gone overboard and calls the paramedics. Merkert tells him that he'll want to talk to a lawyer. Later, Hank makes a statement about what happened at the junkyard, but he pleads the Fifth in regards to assaulting Jesse. He is informed that Jesse is pressing charges and is asked to have pictures of his hands taken for the record. Hank meets Marie at the elevator and proceeds to break down, composing himself before the door opens.

Back home, Hank refuses to take Marie's advice on lying about his confrontation with Jesse, stating "I'm supposed to be better than that" despite Jesse being a mere 'low-life." He admits to becoming unraveled after his encounter with Tuco Salamanca and decides he's done being a cop. Back at the DEA office, Hank admits to assaulting Jesse, refusing to amend any statements on placing himself or the department in a better light. ASAC Merkert has no choice but to suspend Hank without pay and to confiscate his gun. Afterwards, Hank is told by Merkert that Jesse chose not to press charges after all. Hank asks why, to which Merkert replies, "Maybe you have a guardian angel."

3x07 One Minute 2

Hank before shooting Marco Salamanca in the head.

Relieved and ecstatic, Hank stops by a shopping center to purchase some flowers for his wife, Marie, telling her that everything's going to be alright after all. Shortly before leaving, he receives an ominous call from an electronic voice informing him that he has one minute to leave before two men arrive to kill him. Panicking, he calls Gomez, believing it to be some sort of prank. He reaches for his gun, only to realize it was confiscated. After scanning the area for one minute, Leonel Salamanca appears behind Hank and begins shooting at him from the back of his car. Hank immediately puts his SUV in reverse and floors it, pinning Leonel between another car, despite sustaining a bullet wound to the arm. Marco Salamanca appears from the side and begins firing at Hank, who grabs the gun Leonel dropped in the back seat and dives out of the car. After Hank escapes, Marco frees Leonel, who tells him to finish off Hank. While searching for him, Hank gets the drop on Marco, only to have his shots be stopped by a Marco's bulletproof vest. Marco shoots Hank twice in the chest before going back to his car to grab an axe, as shooting him in the head would be "too easy." Meanwhile, Hank spots a bullet dropped by Marco as he was looking for him and loads it into Leonel's gun. Just before Marco returns to swing the axe into Hank's skull, he shoots him in the head, killing him instantly ("One Minute").

Hank is rushed to the hospital via ambulance and is seen being wheeled inside by Jesse, whom was just released. Merkert tells his family that Hank was attacked by two cartel hitman and, despite being shot four times, managed to kill one and critically wound the other. Numerous police officers and DEA agents donate their blood in support of Hank. A doctor announces that Hank is stabilized and out of surgery, but cannot have any visitors. Nonetheless, Marie insists on staying at the hospital. Walter Jr. later shared with his dad a book that Hank gave him about infamous druglord Pablo Escobar. He quotes Hank by stating "Good guys never get ink like the bad guys do." While Hank's family is sleeping in the waiting room, a doctor informs them that he is finally able to have visitors. Hank lies asleep in the room. Marie leans over and kisses his forehead ("I See You").

BBS3Hank

Hank is hospitalized after his encounter with the Cousins.

Steve Gomez visits Hank in the hospital and shows him a map detailing the blue meth's reappearance. Gomez tells him that he's the only one who saw it coming. Little to reaction is given by Hank due to his current state, however. Later, a more cognitive Hank is having the nerves in his legs tested, noting that feeling seems to be slowly returning. Marie and Skyler are pulled aside by the doctor to discuss Hank's condition, stating that a recovery is stacked against Hank's favor and that therapy could land the couple bankrupt. Despite this, Marie vows to get Hank the best physical therapists she can find ("Kafkaesque").

Hank is seen working with his physical therapist in an electromagnetic patient lifter. He struggles in pain to take another step and forces the lesson to be cut short. Marie later joyfully informs Hank that he'll soon be released, as a hospital bed and the equipment necessary for physical therapy have been installed in their home. Furious, Hank tells her to remove all the equipment from his home and that the only time he'll be leaving the hospital is when he's walking out of it by himself ("Abiquiú").

Marie and Walter Jr. are playing cards with Hank in the hospital. Marie mentions to Walter Jr. that Hank is well enough to leave the hospital, but angrily retorts that he cannot move his legs. Walter Jr. asks him if everyone in a wheelchair or crutches should be in a hospital before asking "Should I be in a hospital?" Hank does nothing but grumble. Marie is later seen giving Hank a sponge bath and playfully bets him that if she can successfully give him an erection using her hands he has to check out. Hoping to get her out of there sooner, Hank agrees, as he feels she's beating a dead horse. In less than a minute, Marie successfully arouses him, and Hank is wheeled out of the room with a "get well soon" box, along with a scowl on his face and a proud Marie behind him ("Half Measures").

Season 4

Hank, now bedridden at home, is seen bidding on a magnesite crystal online when Marie begins to praise his progress in physical therapy. He dismisses her compliment, stating that he's only covered 16 feet in 20 minutes. Humiliated, he asks her for his bedpan ("Box Cutter"). Marie finds Hank up late at night examining the minerals he's been collecting. When she mentions how late it is, he dismissively informs her that there are other bedrooms in the house. During another session of physical therapy, Hank pushes through the routine on the way to his bedroom, indicating great improvement. Elated, Marie begins to compliment him, but once the therapist leaves, he coldly tells her to get out. The next day, a deliveryman arrives with numerous boxes of minerals. Hank asks Marie to check the boxes for damage, to which she replies, "They're rocks!" Hank corrects her by stating that they're minerals and that some of them are very delicate ("Thirty-Eight Snub").

HankS4

Hank, still bedridden, meets with Tim Roberts.

Hank is seen watching porn when Marie returns home. He promptly turns off the TV as Marie begins to unpack her shopping. Among the items is a figurine she stole, indicating that her kleptomania has returned and that Hank's hostility towards her is likely the reason. Hank later receives a phone call from Marie when she's arrested for stealing from an open house, infuriated that she's "doing this to [him] again." He tells her to sit tight while he makes a call. Later that day, APD Detective Tim Roberts, a colleague of Hank's, pays him a visit after he helps get Marie out of the police station. As a way to repay the favor, he asks for Hank's help in solving the recent murder of Gale Boetticher, speculating that the notes he has from a copy of Gale's notebook indicate a meth superlab. Hank dismisses Tim's favor as "charity," but nonetheless he halfheartedly agrees to help. Once Tim leaves, he tosses the notes on a pile of minerals and begins to watch TV. Later that night, Hank is unable to sleep. Out of boredom and curiosity, he begins to look through Gale's notebook ("Open House").

Hank invites the Whites over for dinner. During their stay, he shows a DVD of Gale Boetticher performing karaoke to Walt and Walter Jr., during which he laughs uncontrollably with Walter Jr. while Walt stares in shock. At dinner, Walt and Skyler confess to Walt having a 'gambling addiction' that landed him hundreds of thousands in winnings, explaining how they're able to afford to pay for Hank's treatment. Later, Hank goes to check up on Walt after he left to go to the bathroom (unbeknownst to him that Walt wanted to dig through Gale's lab notes in Hank's room). When he runs into him in the hallway, Hank offers to hear Walt out if he ever has any issues with gambling. In turn, Walt offers the same pertaining to anything Hank might want to share with him in regards to casework. Hank and Walt are then shown in his bedroom, discussing the files. Hank believes Gale was the infamous 'Heisenberg,' showing regret in not being the one to catch him red handed and cuff him. Hank indicates that the operation must have been making hundreds of pounds of meth weekly, if not more. Hank shows a quote written by Gale dedicated an unknown 'W.W' to Walt. Walt concludes that it was addressed to Walt Whitman, whom Gale was a fan of ("Bullet Points").

4x04BulletPoints

Hank and Walter Jr. laugh at Gale's karaoke video as Walt stares lifelessly.

Tim Roberts visits Hank once more. Hank is joking about the odd personality displayed in Gale's notes, stating "it's like Scarface had sex with Mr. Rogers." He reveals that Jesse and Badger were the only people directly tied to the blue meth that he knows of. After revealing he has a 'history with Jesse, Hank says that he doesn't think Jesse was the murderer. After finding closure in seeing Gale - the man he thinks is Heisenberg - dead, he states to Tim that he's done with the research.

Hank and Marie have the Whites over for dinner again, where Walt is becoming increasingly drunk off of wine. Hank complements Walt on his gambling skills, only to be scolded by Marie for enabling him. When Walter Jr. asks Hank about the Boetticher case, he states that he's no longer looking into it. He states that Gale was truly a master at his craft and a genius who could've been something great had he put his talents to good use. Annoyed and tipsy, Walt dismisses the notes as likely being copies of someone else's work, telling Hank that the true mastermind might still be at large. And thus, Walt's hubris pushes Hank to pick up the case once more. The next morning, Hank tells Marie that he's continuing to look into the Boetticher case after apologizing for making a mess, indicating that his attitude towards her has been greatly reduced since returning to his usual line of work. Hank notices a leaflet from Los Pollos Hermanos in one of the pictures of Gale's house, with numbers and letters scribbled on the bottom. He asks Marie, "Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?" ("Shotgun").

Walter Jr. drives Hank to Los Pollos Hermanos, where Hank has a brief chat with Gus Fring, who recognizes him from his charity with with the DEA. Gus refills Hank's soda and offers to pay for any future meals, even offering Walter Jr. a job if he were to ever be interested. Hank thanks him and proceeds to slip the cup into an evidence bag once Gus is gone and stashes under the car seat.

Hank meets with Steven Gomez and ASAC George Merkert at the DEA office. He describes the murder of Gale Boetticher and hypothesizes that he was Heisenberg's cook. The lettering scribbled on Gale's Los Pollos Hermanos were the parts number for an industrial air-filtration system that Gale took part in delivering. Hank mentions that the unit is perfect for the "biggest meth lab north of the border." In addition, the manufacturer of the air-filtration unit, German-based Madrigal Electromotive, has a stake in Los Pollos Hermanos. He states that a vegan such as Gale would have no business going to a chicken restaurant unless he was meeting with somebody, deducing that Gustavo Fring might just be the guy. When Merkert tells Hank that he's really reaching, Hank brings out both the soda cup Gus held earlier and prints from the crime scene, indicating that they are one and the same and questions why Gus was ever at Gale's apartment ("Problem Dog").

4x08 - Hermanos 3

Hank and other members of the APD and DEA questioning Gus.

Hank meets with the APD and DEA when Gus Fring is summoned to the APD headquarters for questioning. Gus states that Gale was the winner of a chemistry scholarship Gus established in honor of his late friend Maximino Arciniega. Gus continued by stating that Gale reconnected with him and, after inviting him over for dinner, offered a business proposal to him that he promptly declined. Hank wasn't buying his alibi, however. Hank asks if Gus Fring was his real name and proceeds to reveal to his colleagues that Gus emigrated as a Chilean national in 1986 and has no official records of himself from Chile, to which Gus explains was a result of unreliable records under the Pinochet dictatorship. After Gus leaves, Hank's colleagues seem convinced. Hank, on the other hand, finds it strange that a man who strongly supports local law enforcement didn't come forward on a murder case he's clearly aware of. The head detective informs Hank that they cannot go around investigating people on the grounds that they haven't volunteered any information.

Later at dinner, Marie brings up Hank's meeting as being something secretive, to which Hank quickly changes the subject. He asks Walt if he could drive him to a mineral show the next day, to which Walt agrees. During the drive, Hank reveals that where he really wants to go is Los Pollos Hermanos. He shares with Walt that he thinks Gus Fring is a major drug distributor and asks Walt to plant a bug on his car. After some time trying to convince Walt, he reluctantly goes to plant the bug, but not before going inside to buy a drink. As Walt returns, he goes back to actually plant the bug, much to Hank's dismay over Walt's clumsiness. Walt explains to him that he was checking to see if the device was firmly planted ("Hermanos").

4x09 - Bug 2

Hank checking the bug he had Walt plant on Gus Fring's car.

After some time, Walt takes Hank back to Los Pollos Hermanos and retrieves the bug for him. Hank shares disappointment that Walt didn't go inside this time, as he was hoping for a vanilla milkshake. Upon checking the GPS data at home, he notices that Gus has only gone between his home and one Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant. Hank commends Gus for being either squeaky clean or very careful, wondering how he could catch him. Hank later proposes to Walt that they drive out to what he believes to be Gus Fring's drug distribution center, but Walt fakes an illness, delaying the trip ("Bug").

Hank and Walt eventually find themselves watching Gus's factory farm in hopes of getting a lead. Hank mentions that a big cartel incident involving many deaths occurred in Mexico before bringing up Walt's bruised face. He lets Walt know that if he's in over his head with his gambling issue, he is the first guy he should come to. As the two head out another day for the farm once more, Hank tells Walt to take a different direction and instead tells him to drive to a local industrial laundromat. He informs him of the connections the laundromat has between Madrigal Electromotive, Gus Fring's operation, and Gale Boetticher and fully believes it to be the location of the superlab. Walt, panicking from Hank's sudden state of knowledge, deliberately drives past the laundromat and into oncoming traffic. Luckily, all Hank needed from the crash was a neck brace. He mentions back at home that he's getting a car that can be driven without using floor pedals and makes fun of Walt's driving abilities. Later, Marie gets a call (set up by Walt) stating that Hank's life is in danger by the cartel and, in a panic, informs Skyler of the attack ("Crawl Space").

Skyler and her kids have taken shelter with Hank and Marie at the Schrader residence. After some arguing, Hank tells everyone to calm down and claims that this threat was only because of his insistence on tracking Gustavo Fring's operations. Gomez finally agrees to help Hank with the investigation. Hank is later seen looking at clean photos of the laundromat, frustrated that his investigation seemed to have led nowhere ("End Times").

Steve Gomez returns to Hank's house and informs him that Hector Salamanca wants to speak only to him. At the office, Hector only attempts to spell out insults to Hank before he stops him. Hank, feeling the encounter was a waste of his time, jokes that he at least "didn't shit himself this time" ("Face Off").

Season 5

After Gus's death, Hank surveys the remains of the superlab in awe that he was correct, but anger that it wasn't him who brought him down ("Live Free or Die"). George Merkert, Hank's boss, gets forced out as ASAC and the job given to Hank after the unheard success of his fixation with Gus. After Walt and Jesse's magnet heist revealed bank accounts for Gus's associates, Hank becomes obsessed with following Mike Ehrmantraut to track down the loose ends of Gus' Drug Empire ("Madrigal"). He is informed by his boss multiple times that he is to suspend the Fring/Ehrmantraut investigation, but he asks Steven Gomez to keep following Mike. He and Marie offer to take the kids from Skyler and Walt as they sort out their marital issues ("Fifty-One").

5x4 Fifty-One (02)

Hank investigating Gus' Drug Empire.

One morning, Walt talks with Hank about Skyler and begins crying. Hank excuses himself to get coffee and while he is along, Walt bugs Hank's office ("Dead Freight"). Jesse and Mike use the bug to plan their next big move which is to sell their methylamine to Declan. Mike does this by issuing a restraining order against Hank, which pisses him off("Buyout") . After Walt thwarts Mike's deal with Declan and replaces it with his own, Mike retires with his $5 million but his house is searched by Hank and the DEA, who turn up nothing. Hank is instructed by his boss to end the Fring/Ehrmantraut case for once and for all, but they manage to track Mike's lawyer who is giving cash to the henchmen's families ("Say My Name").

Without incoming funds, the henchmen begin itching for deals with the DEA. Since there are 10 men, Hank had his pick of the litter for which deal he wanted to make. Walt, however, makes a move and has all ten get shanked in jail within the same two minute span. Three days after the attack, Hank and Walt share a drink and Hank wonders if his first job, a backbreaking outdoor job was better than his current job of "hunting monsters". Weeks later at a cookout at the White's, Hank excuses himself to use the restroom, where he finds a copy of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman while searching for reading material. Hank notices that the inside cover was signed by "G.B." and addressed to "my other favorite W.W." Remembering his conversation with Walter, in which the two joked that the "W.W." mentioned in Gale Boetticher's notes referred to Walter White, Hank comes to the shocking realization that his brother-in-law was the Heisenberg he has been chasing all along ("Gliding Over All").

Hank finds out

On the toilet, Hank discovers that Heisenberg is actually his own brother-in-law, Walter White.

Hank exits the bathroom, stunned and transformed. He stows Leaves of Grass in his bag, returns to the poolside, and departs the get-together with Marie, claiming that he feels sick. The overwhelming realization of how Walter has deceived, endangered, and crippled them all blurs Hank’s vision and steals his breath, causing him to careen off the road and hit a neighbor's mailbox. Hank, fuming with rage, shame, and vertigo, is left panicked and gasping. Armed with this new lead, Hank decides to take time off work and revisit all the evidence boxes relating to the blue meth, Heisenberg, and the drug empire of Gustavo Fring. Suddenly, the boxes of evidence tell a whole new story. Hank even peers at the surveillance video of the methylamine precursor theft, and the grainy figures now clearly resolve into Walt and Jesse ("Blood Money").

Walter later discovers that Leaves of Grass is missing, connects the dots to Hank's discomfort, and confirms his suspicions by finding a tracking device on his car. Walt travels to Hank's house, where they meet in the garage. After some cordial discussion, Walt brings up the GPS device, all but sneering at Hank for his clumsy use of the same tracking device the two of them planted on Fring’s car. Hank closes the garage door, enraged, and punches Walt in the face, shouting his knowledge of Walt's true criminal nature and vows to put him under the jail. Walt does not seem concerned at all and argues that he will be dead before Hank and the law will see him put behind bars. After Hank claims he does not know who Walt is anymore, he warns a shaken, awestruck Hank: "If that's true, if you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course... would be to tread lightly" ("Blood Money").

BloodMoney

Hank confronts Walt about the atrocities Walt has done under the name Heisenberg.

As soon as Walt leaves Hank's house, both parties are frantically attempting to call Skyler, with Hank reaching her first and asking her to meet up in a local coffee shop to talk about everything. When they meet, Hank's demeanor is initially comforting and respectful, but soon changes to demanding and hasty as Skyler begins to see that Hank's true intention seems to be apprehending Walt rather than the welfare of the extended family. After repeatedly asking if she is under arrest, to which Hank does not directly answer, Skyler angrily leaves the premises leaving Hank to ponder his next move once more.

Some time later, Hank sends Marie to speak with Skyler but after a short but tense confrontation, he leaves with Marie who now also sees what Walt has done to her sister and he stops her from kidnapping Holly. Hank tells Marie that he requires concrete proof of his brother-in-law being Heisenberg but if he tells the office that it is Walt without evidence, his career will be over due to his familial relationship with the man. He vows that when he tells his colleagues he will bring them proof rather than suspicion and can at least be the man who ended Heisenberg and caught him. Hank returns to the DEA office, where he is notified by Steven Gomez that Jesse has been mindlessly throwing large amounts of money around Albuquerque. Meeting with the two agents who spoke to Jesse when Brock was poisoned, Hank suggests that he speak to Jesse to see what information he can draw from him. He then enters the interrogation room where Jesse remains silent ("Buried").

Hank watches Walt's confession

Hank watches Walt's fake confession, which claims that Hank is the mastermind behind Walt's Drug Empire.

Hank fails to extract any information from Jesse, and a short time later he meets with Walt and Skyler. At the meeting he accuses Walt of being weak and that his only option is to admit all of the bad things he has done. Walt leaves a DVD on the table and departs with Skyler. Upon watching the DVD, Hank and Marie realize that this is not a confession, as Walt speaks of how Hank is the mastermind behind his drug empire and that he was held against his will as a chemist, while Hank used his connections to the DEA. Walt references several events that did occur and ties them in to the story (such as the attempt on Hank's life by Gus, as well as the mark left by Hank when he punched Walt), weaving an increasingly believable web. Hank finds out that Walt and Skyler paid for his medical bills when he was shot by The Cousins as Marie did not know it was drug money when she accepted it from Skyler. He claims that this has killed him, and that this is the last nail in the coffin. At the DEA offices, Hank calls off Gomez's guys as they are watching Saul's office. He decides to leave his office, cancelling a meeting in the process ("Confessions").

Later, Jesse careens Saul's car into Walt's driveway and snorts some meth before storming into the house with a gas can. He douses the living room with gasoline and attempts to spark a lighter. Hank bursts through the door and stops him, offering to help Jesse bring him down. Jesse agrees. Hank buckles Jesse into his car, and drives away just before Walt's car pulls around the corner, in a near miss. Hank suggests that things will go easier for Jesse if he agrees to act as a witness. Jesse scoffs, reminding Hank of the brutal deaths of the last witnesses against Walt in the local prisons. Hank meets Marie at the door when she arrives home and attempts to send her on an impromptu spa trip. Refusing, she demands to know why he's trying to get her out of the house. Hank shows Marie the guest bedroom, where Jesse is fast asleep. He launches into a lengthy explanation about why their house is the safest place for Jesse. Marie interrupts, and asks if having Jesse there will be bad for Walt. Hank confirms. Jesse's cell phone rings. Hank checks the voicemail and listens to Walt's message, a plan already forming in his mind ("Rabid Dog").

Jesse wakes up to find Hank and Gomez waiting for him in the Schraders' living room. Jesse argues that it's his word against Walt's, now that Walt is retired. Hank waves off Jesse's misgivings, and asks him to describe on camera everything he remembers about Walt's business dealings and criminal activity. Afterward, Gomez tells Hank privately that he believes Jesse, but agrees that they have no physical evidence against Walt. He's at a loss as to how to proceed: should they pursue Lydia, Vamonos Pest, or maybe follow up with Drew Sharp's murder. Hank answers "I say we start with this", pulling out Jesse's cell phone.

Hank plays Jesse the voicemail that Walt left him, in which Walt asks Jesse to meet him at noon the next day in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza "to talk." Jesse begins suspecting that Walt will kill him at the meeting. Hank admits that Jesse's right, but points out how much Walt seems to care for Jesse. He argues Walt would never try anything in public, and doesn't allow Jesse to refuse. While Jesse is in the bathroom, Gomez tells Hank that he agrees with Jesse that Walt might be setting a trap. Hank is unperturbed, pointing out that Jesse is a "junkie murderer" and claims that if he is killed by Walt, they will get it all on tape. ("Rabid Dog").

Later at Civic Plaza, Gomez sets up surveillance while Hank tapes a wire to Jesse's chest. After giving him a quick pep-talk, Hank ushers Jesse out into the Plaza. Jesse nervously approaches the meeting point and spots Walt sitting on a bench. Nearby, a hard-looking dude in a leather jacket is surveying the crowd. Suspecting he's a hired gun (which is false), and seemingly with new purpose, Jesse veers away and heads to a pay phone, where he calls Walt and then departs. Hank hurtles toward Jesse and forces him into the car, blasting him for backing out of the meeting. ("Rabid Dog").

Jesse gives Hank and Gomez the idea to go after Walt's money instead, as it is the only evidence that he would never destroy and finding it will be enough to put him away. While he does not know where Walt keeps his money he suspects someone who does. Hank and Gomez then go to Saul's assistant, Huell, who is being held in a DEA safe-house. In order to extract information from him they falsely tell him that Walt is on a killing spree tying up loose ends and has already killed Jesse, showing him a fake photo (taken in his kitchen) of what seems like Jesse with his brains across the floor and that Kuby is also missing and presumed dead due to his and Huell's help of moving Walt's money and Huell is next on the hit-list and that Saul has betrayed him. Huell falls for the ruse and gets worried and tells them all he did was help him move some barrels filled with money and tells them of the rental agency where he and Kuby rented the van that Walt transported the money with. Hank goes to the rental agency however the van does not have GPS due to a previous lawsuit that caused the company to get rid of it. He also intercepts a message on Jesse's phone from Andrea claiming that Walt is at her house worried about him as is she. Knowing Walt is setting a trap, Hank deletes the call and does not inform Jesse of the danger.

Gomez claims it's game over upon hearing the rental van had no GPS but Hank claims it isn't over. He realizes that Walt buried the money somewhere in the desert and is unaware that his van didn't have GPS as he didn't procure the van himself. The three then formulate a plan: Hank buys a barrel matching the ones Walt used for his money, and with the help of Jesse fills it up with some money and buries it in his backyard in an area similar to desert terrain, thus simulating the real barrels. The plan is to send Walt a photo of the open barrel as if discovered and dug up under the ruse that Jesse found the location of all 7 barrels by beating the information out of Huell and that he will burn it all unless Walt goes to the location, thus learning of the spot and gaining the necessary evidence to arrest Walt.

Hank arrests Walt

Hank's Miranda warning to Walt.

The plan works and Walt rushes to where his money is buried, as Hank, Jesse and Gomez follow not far behind. Jesse also gets him to unwittingly confess to a multitude of his crimes such as the money being his, that he poisoned Brock, that he killed Gus and his two dealers and also Emilio and Krazy-8. When Walt gets to the spot he realizes Jesse had just manipulated him, and runs behind a rock upon seeing a vehicle approaching and calls Todd and Jack, saying he found Jesse and needs backup. He then sees Jesse get out of the car with Hank and Steve and calls off Todd and Jack. He hangs up the phone and gives himself up. Hank handcuffs him, and puts him in the car. Hank tells Steve he is going to call the police to come and dig up the money, but instead (or before he was going to) he calls Marie, and tells her "I finally got him" as she smiles in the phone. He tells her that it will be rough the next couple of weeks but things will get better and tells her he needs to go and he tells his wife he loves her, to which she says the same. Just after he hangs up, two cars come from a distance, containing Jack and Todd, and Jack's crew who ignored Walt's cancellation of coming to protect him from Jesse. Hank and Gomez draw their weapons and reveal themselves as the police and order the thugs to drop their weapons, though Jack demands they show him their I.D. After a tense moment, both sides face off into a stand-off. Despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned, and facing almost certain death, Hank stands his ground ("To'hajiilee").

5x14 Ozymandias 1

Hank during his final moments.

Following the shootout, Hank is injured with a bullet wound in the leg, his gun empty, and his partner, Steve Gomez, lying on the ground dead. Hank, realizing how lost the situation is, sees Steve's gun out in the open and makes a desperate crawl to it to defend himself but as soon as he's about to reach it, Jack's foot is on it and he takes it away, rendering Hank helpless. After Kenny discovers Gomez and Hank are DEA agents, Jack prepares to shoot Hank but Walt screams for them to stop and comes out of the car trying to bargain with Jack to let him live, even offering his money. Jack plays along and questions Hank if he should let him go but Hank smarts off to Jack, knowing full well that the murderous gang leader intended to kill him the minute the shootout began and will never let him walk out of the desert alive and can now get his hands on Walt's money either way.

Bb-ozymandias-5x14-hankdead

Hank is executed by Jack.

In his final moments, Walt begs Hank to tell the Nazis that they can work their feud out but Hank states to Walt; “You want me to beg? You’re the smartest guy I ever met, and you’re too stupid to see—he made up his mind ten minutes ago.” Hank then looks over to Jack and tells him "Do what you're gonna do", before Jack shoots him in the head, killing him. After Jack's gang digs up Walt's money, Hank is buried alongside Gomez in the middle of the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation. In a sad and ironic twist, they are buried in the same hole Walt had dug to hide his money in, a symbolic representation of the same greed and violence that they had fought against as DEA agents. ("Ozymandias")

Legacy

Ironically, despite ultimately failing to arrest Walt and being murdered, he gets his revenge on Walt and exposes his criminal activities to the world, as Marie (unaware of his death), forces Skyler to reveal the truth to Walt Jr, and the news of his death finally causes Skyler to turn on Walt, something Hank had tried to convince her to do previously. He is later mourned by his sister-in-law, nephew and widow (and, presumably, all his fellow DEA agents) after Walt takes credit for the deed in order to help clear Skyler from his criminal activities (and to ensure the Nazis didn't seek retribution against her or Walt Jr). However, it is readily apparent he is beyond devastated about Hank's death and his role in it. ("Ozymandias")

Hank's voice is heard when the Nazis are watching a confession tape of Jesse telling everything that went down between Walt. ("Granite State")

Jack's Death

Jack being executed by Walt, avenging Hank's death.

When Walt returns to Albuquerque, he meets with Skyler, and gives her the lottery ticket containing the co-ordinates to where Hank and Steve were buried. Walt also visits their old house, now vandalized, and remembers Hank's offer of a ride-along to Emilio's lab to get some excitement in his life and looks back with immense regret, since that action ultimately led to Hank and Gomez's deaths. Both Hank and Steve's deaths were avenged by Walt, who kills Jack in the same manner that he killed Hank and kills his entire crew as well ("Felina"). Walt lets Jesse strangle Jack's nephew Todd Alquist to death and escape, before dying from a shrapnel wound he received during the gunfire. Walt collapses on the floor with a look of contentment on his face, having avenged his much-loved brother-in-law. ("Felina") After Walt's death, Skyler uses the ticket to secure a plea deal with the prosecutor, indicating the bodies of Hank and Gomez were recovered by the DEA and given a proper burial. ("Breaking Bad")

After Saul Goodman is finally arrested, one of the crimes that he's charged with and ultimately imprisoned for is accessory after the fact to Hank and Gomez's murders. During the plea negotiations, Marie tells Saul about the kind of man that Hank was and is disgusted at the idea of Saul getting a plea. In turn, Saul offers Marie his condolences over the loss of Hank, having met him a few times and known that he was a good man. ("Saul Gone")

Personality and traits

"Hank is a dogged investigator who is going to be sorely disappointed when he finds out who he's been chasing all this time."
Vince Gilligan
Season 2 promo (1)

Boisterous and outspoken by nature, Hank can sometimes come off as rude or insensitive to the viewer or to other characters. His cavalier attitude causes him to believe that having friends and co-workers of color gives him a free pass to call Mexicans "beaners," and that working for the government entitles him to certain contraband perks, like Cuban cigars. In some ways, Hank is introduced as the antithesis of Walt, in a good way: he's popular, cheerful, successful, and constantly bragging about his skills. Walt dislikes it when Walter Jr. looks up to Hank, yet he loves Hank on some grudging level, at one point making it very clear to Saul that Hank is family. Hank has shown himself to be a good law enforcement agent and competent investigator who was able to expose Gustavo Fring for what he truly was. Despite his skills, Hank's image of Walt as a mild-mannered chemistry teacher blinded him from discovering, for a whole year, that the mysterious drug kingpin "Heisenberg" he was pursuing so vigorously was under his nose the whole time (although, admittedly, Walt's cunning schemes and lies to cover his tracks can be credited for Hank's continued ignorance as well).

In the course of his work, Hank is promoted to the prestigious yet more dangerous base in El Paso, Texas from Albuquerque for a short time, but experiences a traumatic event courtesy of the Mexican drug cartels and moves back to Albuquerque. This experience leaves him with enduring, debilitating anxiety attacks. These attacks, which reveal a more vulnerable side to Hank that he tends to disguise, increase in intensity after two brutal members, The Cousins, ambush Hank leave him with a debilitating injury. After the Cousins' shootout, Walt realizes he's partly responsible for Hank's situation and thus saves him from Gus.

Hank has a cavalier exterior, but the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit. Despite his considerable shortcomings, Hank is basically a good-hearted family man. Although he is loud and opinionated, he is competent at his job and, before learning Walt's secret and Skyler's complicity, cared deeply about his in-laws. Hank brews his own beer, which he has named "Schraderbräu", in his garage, and enjoys playing fantasy football. Hank drives a midnight blue 2006 Jeep Commander until he is attacked by the Cousins. After he is well enough to drive, he drives a silver 2011 Dodge Durango. During his incapacitation following the attack by the Salamanca cousins, Hank started collecting minerals as a hobby. On several occasions, he irritably corrected people (especially Marie) when they referred to this activity as "rock collecting" ("Thirty-Eight Snub").

When Hank finally finds out that Walt is the meth kingpin and mastermind "Heisenberg" he has been searching for, he feels betrayed, humiliated, and vengeful towards Walt, swearing he will put Walt "under the jail." He plots even more feverishly to destroy Walt, trying to gather the evidence from Skyler and trying to persuade Jesse to give Walt up. Hank's single mission in life becomes trying to get Walt to pay for his crimes, and he becomes deeply invested in making sure Walt doesn't die of cancer before he can be convicted. Even after being blackmailed into silence by Walt and Skyler, Hank refuses to give up and continues to try and find a way to put Walt behind bars. Despite knowing that exposing and arresting Walt would mean the end of his DEA career, due to Walt operating for so long beneath his nose, he continues anyway. Jesse, furious at Walt for other reasons, forges an uneasy alliance with Hank, and Hank allows Jesse to stay at his house, seeing him as his only option of bringing Walt down and refuses to risk his safety by putting him in DEA protection. Hank's strong desire to bring Walt down is evident when Jesse states that he is afraid Walt will kill him at a proposed meeting and after leaving the room, Gomez is worried that the "kid" might be right about the meet being a trap and Hank corrected Gomez by saying "Oh, you mean the junkie murderer?" Hank clearly believes Jesse is just as guilty as Walt is for the crimes they have committed (most notably the Gale murder, and the manufacturing of crystal meth under Walt's drug empire). Hank tells Gomez that if Walt does kill Jesse, at least they'll get it on tape, showing that he does not care for Jesse much and is willing to sacrifice him in order to catch Walt. After tricking Walter into leading them to the location of his buried drug money and confessing to a multitude of his crimes, Hank finally succeeds at his mission to bring his brother in law to justice and is filled with joy. Unfortunately, this is short lived as Hank is almost immediately caught in a gunfight with Jack and his gang, whom Walt had called to rescue him, leaving him wounded and defeated.

Even in his final moments, Hank maintained his composure and a remarkable display of courage, even though Jack sadistically played along to Walt's offer that he would spare Hank if he agreed to let them go. Hank saw through this facade and refused to sacrifice his dignity and beg Jack for his life. He possibly gains back some small amount of respect for Walt, due to his pleading for his life and no hesitation of offering up his money to save his life, despite everything Hank had done to Walt to try and take him down. To this end, Hank accepted his death despite Walt's pleas, knowing full well that Jack intended to kill him anyway. Hank met his fate with the same disposition that he carried throughout his life. This is a direct contrast to Jack himself, who lacked the intuition Hank possessed and attempted to save his own life by attempting to bribe Walt with the promise of telling him the location of his money when faced with death, even though Walt had already made up his mind for revenge after Jack killed Hank. And despite everything, he respected Walter enough to call him the "smartest guy he's ever known".

Deaths

Murders committed by Hank

Murders connected to Hank

Quotes

Better Call Saul

Hank: "[pause] And you are?"
Jimmy: "Saul Goodman. I'm Mr. Molina's attorney, and you're in violation of his constitutional rights."
Hank: "Heh-heh. S'all good, man! [he and Gomez laugh] Really? Come on. That's your name?"
―Hank laughing at Jimmy McGill's nickname.[src]

Hank: "Okay, Domingo! Start talking."
Jimmy: "Go ahead."
Krazy-8: "Like I said, the dealers kick up the cash. I don't know who picks it up. All I know is that there are three dead drops they run on Thursday nights, and-"
Jimmy: "Hold on."
Hank: "What? What!?"
Jimmy: "Look, I know how this goes, alright? My guy talks to you, you squeeze him out like a sponge, then you dump him back on the street. Word gets out that he's a fink, he ends up bleeding out in front of his mother's house."
Krazy-8: "What?!"
Jimmy: "No, it's not gonna happen, okay? Do you hear what I'm saying? My client is not leaving here with a target on his back."
Hank: "[taps on the table] Fine. We'll take care of him. Assuming this isn't one big jag-off, it'll look like he got out because... his lawyer's a genius."
Jimmy: "Okay, and he's... he's not just anyone's CI, either, alright? You don't pass him around like a venereal disease. He's your personal CI. So, he gets picked up: you call me, I call you, it gets taken care of, no questions asked."
Hank: "Okay, but it's contingent."
Jimmy: "Sure."
Hank: "And it better be worth it."
―Jimmy demands protection for Krazy-8 as a confidential informant of Hank and Steven Gomez.[src]

Breaking Bad

Walter: "Hank, how much money is that?"
Hank: "It's about 700 grand. It was a pretty good haul."
Walter: "Well, that's unusual, isn't it? That kind of cash?"
Hank: "Mm. Well, it's not the most we ever took. It's easy money, till we catch you. Walt, just say the word and I'll take you on a ride-along. You can watch us knock down a meth lab, huh? Get a little excitement in your life."
Walter: "Yeah, someday."
―Walter and Hank at Walter's birthday party.[src]

"So be on notice: We got new players in town. Now we don’t know who they are or where they came from, but they possess an extremely high skill set. Me personally, I think Albuquerque might just have a new kingpin."
―Hank talking to his DEA team about Heisenberg's arrival.[src]

"Chick’s got an ass like an onion... makes me wanna cry."
―Hank after meeting Principal Carmen.[src]
Hank: "All right. Other than Gomie here pees sitting down, here's what we know. Christian Ortega, a.k.a. Combo. Shot dead by an unknown assailant last month. "Combo?" I hear you say. "Why, I'm unfamiliar with that name. Was he a Nobel laureate perchance?" No. He was a dipshit wannabe banger. Now, no arrests, save for stealing a baby Jesus from a Knights of Columbus manger back when he was 17. This dude was so low-rep, he never showed up on our radar. So why am I talking about him? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?"
Steve: "He was dealing Blue Sky."
Hank: "That's right. Now, how is it that the purest, most professional grade of meth we've ever come across is being slung by the likes of that? But wait. It gets better. Since baby-Jesus thief there slowed a bullet with his neck the blue stuff's vanished from town, okay? Not a speck to be found in Albuquerque. Now, why is that?"
Steve: "Well, because maybe your "Heisenberg"'s in prison. So says A.P.D. They think they got their man. (Hank laughs) I know you don't buy it, but maybe it's true."
Hank: "James Edward Kilkelly, yeah. A.P.D. thinks this is our mastermind. You believe that, I got a bridge to sell you."
Steve: "He copped to it, didn't he?"
Hank: "For an extra pudding cup every night at Los Lunas? Maybe if you give him a pack of cigarettes, he'll tell you what he did with Jimmy Hoffa. No, no, no. I've been thinking. Top-shelf product like this? It doesn't fall off the face of the earth. Raw talent's bound to pop up somewhere. It's like Whack-A-Mole. So I've been making phone calls. Local police departments, small-town sheriffs. Haven't had much luck inside the Land of Enchantment. But outside, I've got reports of the blue stuff making a scene here in Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. In fact, everywhere but here. Almost as if somebody wised up, stopped shitting where they eat. Now, I say Heisenberg's still out there. I say he's gone regional. Only he's still right here in town."
―Hank suggests some details about Heisenberg.[src]

"It wasn't one mistake. I've been... unraveling, y'know? I don't sleep at night anymore. I freeze, I freeze up. My chest gets all tight, I can't breathe. Just... I panic. Ever since that Salamanca thing. Tuco Salamanca, if ever a scumbag deserved a bullet between the eyes... It changed me and I can't seem to control it. I try to fight it, but then El Paso. It just got worse. What I did to Pinkman...that's not who I'm supposed to be. All this, everything that's happened, I swear to God, Marie, I think the universe is trying to tell me something and I'm finally ready to listen. I'm just not the man I thought I was. I think I'm done as a cop."
―Hank talking to his wife, Marie.[src]

"I walked sixteen feet in twenty minutes, which is up from like fifteen-and-a-half yesterday. And I had maybe this much less shit in my pants. So, yeah, Marie, if you and him and everybody else in America secretly took a vote and changed the meaning of the entire English language, yeah, I guess I broke new ground."
―Hank while recovering from The Cousins' attack.[src]

"I mean, what do we know about Gustavo Fring, huh? This whole friend of law enforcement thing? Could be a case of keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. I mean, he's got the money to finance this operation, maybe he's got the connections, too. Maybe – just maybe – he's our guy."
―Hank correctly suspecting Gustavo Fring is a drug kingpin[src]

"Yeah. It seems that, uh, Fring had all these secret offshore accounts that he would deposit money into. Like, uh, well, an even dozen of them. And they're all in the names of certain people on his payroll. There was the, uh, the manager of the laundry, umm, a couple guys from the Pollos distribution center. Uh, there was the owner of a chemical warehouse, a bunch of others, you know. Guys that must've been getting paid off the books. Anyway, one of the names...was Kaylee Ehrmantraut. Ten years old and just cute as a button. Yeah. $2 million and change we found on deposit for her. Way more than anybody else. Now, my partner here? He took one look at that and said, "Shit, man! This fifth-grade girl is the muscle behind Fring's entire operation!" I said, "Whoa, whoa, hey, partner, slow down there. Maybe it was actually her dear old granddaddy." Impressive, no? That... level of insight? He's not impressed, Gomie."
―Hank questioning Mike Ehrmantraut in a DEA interrogation room[src]

"It was you. All along, it was you! You son of a bitch. You drove into traffic to keep me from that laundry. That call I got telling me Marie was in the hospital... that wasn't Pinkman. You had my cell number. You killed ten witnesses to save your sorry ass. You bombed a nursing home. Heisenberg. Heisenberg! You lying, two-face sack of shit."
―Hank confronting Walter White after finding out he was Heisenberg.[src]

"I swear to Christ..... I will put you under the jail."
―Hank threatening Walt.[src]

"Skyler, my– my head is spinning. And yours... I–I can't even imagine. So much makes sense to me now. You jumping in the pool. You sending us your kids, I get it. I just wished I'd seen it sooner. He's a monster. He's a– Look, I don't know what he did to you to force you to keep his secrets. If he threatened you, or whatever mind games he played. I don't know if there was abuse. But I want you to know that you can be open with me. Don't hold anything back, okay? I mean, I don't even understand if you know the full extent of this, what he's done. Not just the meth cooking, but the lives he's destroyed. But look, that's all behind you. Starting now, you're done being his victim. Because here's what we're gonna do. Sky, here's what we're gonna do: you and the kids are gonna move back to our house where you'll be safe, where he can't get to you."
―Hank to Skyler about Walt.[src]

Hank: "I mean, you see, building a case this big, gathering all this evidence, enough to get a conviction, we're talking a long-haul proposition here, and I don't want that bastard running out the clock. But with your testimony--"
Skyler: "Wait, what do you mean running out the clock?"
Hank: "His cancer. His cancer's back. So he said. He didn't tell you? Who's to say it's even true? Lying piece of shit. Look, regardless, I mean, we'll just assume. Fine. Okay? You know what? That son of a bitch looks me in the eye and he says if what I know is true, if... he'll be dead before I can prove it. The balls on that son of a– I got all these little pieces. They're all part of the story, right? But they don't mean much on their own. But when you start telling me what you know, when you start filling the gaps, I'll have him in lockup before the sun goes down."
―Hank to Skyler about Walt.[src]

"Look, the day I go in with this, it's the last day of my career, Marie. I'm going to have to walk in there, look those people in the eye and admit that the person I've been chasing the past year is my own brother-in-law. It's over for me. Ten seconds after I tell this story, I'm a civilian. Then how can we help Skyler if she comes to her senses? When I go in there, I'm bringing proof. Not suspicion. I can be the man who caught him, at least."
―Hank to Marie.[src]

Walter: "This investigation, Hank-- Do you realize what this will do to him? Hearing these things?"
Hank: "He's gonna hear it when I kick in your front door and arrest you."
―Hank to Walt about Walter Jr.[src]

Walter: "Look, Junior just found out that my cancer is back. He's already facing the idea of living without his father. To put this on top of that? It's just not right."
Hank: "I swear to God, you start throwing the word "right" at me- (...) Was it right to run a drug empire?"
Walter: "There is no drug empire."
Hank: "Lying to your son, to all of us-- is that right?"
―Walter and Hank arguing.[src]

"No, it's not a solution. He's not getting off that easy."
―Hank after hearing Marie's suggestion for Walt to kill himself.[src]

Hank: "Both of you think you're just gonna walk away from this thing? Never gonna happen."
Walter: "That is not what we're saying--"
Hank: "Enough with the bullshit. You're not gonna negotiate your way out of this thing. There's only one solution-- step up, be a man, and admit what you've done. That's it. There is no other option."
―Hank threatening Walt and Skyler.[src]

Marie: "Who do you think he's shown this to?"
Hank: "No one. It's a threat. It's what he will do if I don't back off."
Marie: "I think you should show this to Ramey. Just get ahead of it. That video is a bunch of lies, Hank. Anybody who knows you will know."
Hank: "$177,000? Hell's he talking about? Marie?"
Marie: "They told me it was gambling money."
Hank: "What was gambling money? Oh, Jesus Christ, Marie. Oh, God, no."
Marie: "How was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to know where it really came from?"
Hank: "Why were they paying for my medical bills? What about my insurance?"
Marie: "Insurance wouldn't have covered the treatment that you needed, and I... I just wanted the best for you."
Hank: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Marie: "Because I knew that you would refuse it, and without it, you may never have been able to walk again."
Hank: "Oh, Christ, Marie. You killed me here. I mean, it's the- that's the last nail. That's the last nail in the coffin."
―Hank and Marie after watching Walt's fake confession.[src]

Jesse: "He can't keep getting away with it! He can't keep getting away with it!"
Hank: "He won't. You really wanna burn him down? Let's do it together."
―Hank to Jesse about working together to take Walt down.[src]

Gomez: "What if the kid's right? What if it's a trap?"
Hank: ""The kid"? Oh, you mean the junkie murderer that's dribbling all over my guest bathroom floor? Well, then, he's right. Pinkman gets killed, and we get it all on tape."
―Hank to Gomez about Jesse.[src]

"Walter White, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney and have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you at the government's expense. Do you understand these rights as I have just recited them to you?"
―Hank reading Walt his Miranda rights after finally catching him.[src]

Hank: "Hey, baby. I got him. Dead to rights."
Marie: "You got Walt?"
Hank: "Yeah. I got him in handcuffs as we speak. Want me to wave to him for you? Huh? Well, he's not, uh-- he's not feeling too friendly."
―Hank to Marie about catching Walt.[src]

Hank: "Things are gonna be a little rough for the next couple weeks, but they'll get better. Baby, you okay?"
Marie: "I'm much better now."
Hank: "I gotta go. It may be awhile before I get home. I love you."
Marie: "I love you too."
―Hank and Marie during their final conversation.[src]

Jack: "How about it, Hank? Should I let you go?"
Hank: "My name is ASAC Schrader. And you can go fuck yourself."
―Hank refusing Jack's "offer" to be let go.[src]

"You're the smartest guy I ever met.. And you're too stupid to see... He made up his mind 10 minutes ago. [pauses] Do what you're gonna d-"
―Hank's last words before getting shot by Jack Welker[src]

Hank's Blog

"Hank Schrader here. Thought I’d give this whole “blog” thing a try. My nephew, Walt, Jr. was telling me all about his, saying I should get one to share my “kick ass” stories on. Finally had to give in, just to get the kid to shut up. I’m kidding — I love the little bastard. Anyway he helped me set this thing up. No idea how he did it. I’m telling you, the kid’s a freaking genius. Good looking too (just like his uncle)! Better grab him up quick girls, he’s not gonna be on the market long, I can tell you that. But seriously, he’s a great kid — not one of those punk-asses I gotta deal with all the time at my job. I’m a federal agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, so you can imagine, I deal with some serious morons. Gotta wonder about the dim-witted hordes that pass for today’s youth, but Junior here definitely gives me some hope. Not that he hasn’t had his moments, but his folks might read this, so I’m gonna stop there. (I’m joshing you Sky and Walt – you’ve got a great kid there!) Okay, this took me 45 minutes to type."
―Hank's first blog entry[src]

"What a week, you guys. It’s like everyone’s just trying to push my buttons. I mean, I’m an easy-going guy usually, but for some reason, everything’s driving me batshit right now. I’m trying to keep the peace, playing a little game of “No, everything’s NOT completely effed up with the family” for my poor nephew. Meanwhile, my wife’s curiosity about the specifics of this whole mess is making my head hurt. Stop looking for conspiracies… men just aren’t that complicated, I’m sorry to say. Like that wasn’t enough, my wife’s all pissed that I “stole” her idea for my entry about jury duty. Baby, please… now, who had a blog first? What was that? I didn’t hear you… maybe speak up a little… Oh, I did?! That’s right! I did! So, who’s stealing ideas, sugar? Hmm… little quiet there… Alright, then — I consider that matter settled. What else, what else? Oh, yeah… Gomie’s been driving me up a freaking wall about how since I haven’t seen a certain movie (that shall remain nameless) in 3D, then I haven’t really seen it. For chrissakes — I don’t give a crap about 3D. There, I said it! I don’t care. The glasses piss me off. When the all-knowing gods of 3D figure out how to do it without the giant dorky glasses, then maybe we’ll talk. Until then, I’m sticking with the 2D classics of ass-kicking. Gimme some Aliens over that fruity 3D crap, any day."
―Hank's second blog entry[src]

"Here’s a joke: three guys go to see this world famous doctor, who says he can cure anyone of anything. He just looks at you, knows what’s wrong, and then he fixes you: magic! Doctor calls the first guy in: “What seems to be the trouble?” Guy says: “I’m sad all the time and I want to kill myself.” Doctor says, “Aha! You’re depressed. Take some Zoloft, see a therapist, get over yourself. Next!” Next guy comes in limping. Doc: “What seems to be the trouble?” Guy says: “I cut my leg and now it’s turning colors and I can’t feel nothing.” Doctor looks at the leg, which is black from the knee down: pus, goo, blood, real nasty stuff. “Aha!” says the doc, “You’ve got gangrene. That leg’s gonna have to come off.” Final guy comes in; doc asks what’s the trouble. Guy says, “I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, and I’m bleeding from my ears and every orifice.” Doctor looks at the blood trickling out the guys ears, says “Aha! You have Ebola!” Then he prepares a syringe of green liquid — something weird, looks like jello or something — shoots it into the guy’s leg and sends him off: “You’re cured!” The guy wobbles out, still bleeding. Doctor’s nurse hears this and says: “Doctor, what are you doing? There’s no cure for Ebola.” Doctor: “Sure, there is.” Nurse: “What is it?” Doc says, “Death. Call the coroner, would you? I just injected that man with cyanide and he should be dropping over any second now.” I didn’t say it was a funny joke. I just keep thinking about it. I’m not a doctor but I feel like I’m fighting a disease. I know: calling crime a disease sounds like I’m in one of those old-time radio shows where the cops are serious all the time and never swear. But still, that’s what it feels like. I just used to think you could treat this shit. Help these douche-clowns see the error of their ways and turn back from sacks of feces into low-level human beings. Get control of the thing. Barring that, cut off the leg. You got someone on drugs, and you can’t get ’em clean?Lock that asshole up, because it’s only a matter of time before he gets it in his head to rape some kid or rob some grandma. There’s no way to know when, so you just take the scalpel and cut the rot out. You see where I’m going with this. Ebola. Incurable. Fatal. That’s the situation on the ground. Don’t believe me? I saw ten men killed today. Ten bodies, back to back, dead in ways you don’t want to think about. Mostly stabbed and bled out. You ever see a man that’s been burned alive? Yeah, I hadn’t either. It’s disgusting, man. Bloodier than you’d probably think. Pus and skin and a lot of fluid. It’s not all black char and skeleton. It doesn’t look like Luke’s Aunt and Uncle in Star Wars. And the smell: burnt hair and a stale stink like old pork rinds. That’s the fat, I guess, when it liquefies. Sticks in your nose. I hadda wash it out, use one of those saline snot-pots, no lie. Foul, foul stuff. I don’t care that they were shitbirds of the first order. I don’t care. You see something like that and you know: this isn’t a disease that has a cure. These aren’t patients any more we’re talking about. Calling them animals isn’t fair to animals. They’re not criminals, or drug-dealers, or even people. They’re monsters. Plain and simple. All you can do with a monster is all you can do with a guy with Ebola. Put him down. But first, you’ve gotta find him."
―Hank's third blog entry[src]


Appearances

Breaking Bad

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5A
Season 5B

Better Call Saul

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

Trivia

  • Hank's full name, "Henry R. Schrader", is given in "Sunset", when Francesca calls him posing as a police officer. It is likely she and Saul obtained this information from Walter, as he put them up to the prank call.
  • Hank has been in three gunfights throughout the series due to Walt. The first was the gun battle with Tuco Salamanca, as Hank was trying to track down Walt after his mysterious disappearance. The second was the shootout with Marco & Leonel Salamanca, who were hunting Walt due to the death of Tuco, and diverted to Hank by Gus. The third and final shootout was the battle with Jack Welker's Gang, whom Walt had called to come rescue him due to Walt thinking Jesse had come to kill him and came anyway despite Walt calling them off.
  • Hank is the only character besides Walt and Steve Gomez to have shared a scene with every main character.
  • Hank is the third main character of Breaking Bad to die, and the seventh main character overall in Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.
  • Hank's death in "Ozymandias" has similarities with the death of Howard Hamlin in the Better Call Saul episode "Plan and Execution".
    • Both characters have a large part of the final season built around their conflict with the main character (Hank's attempt to bring Walter to justice in Season 5B of Breaking Bad, and Howard being the target of Jimmy and Kim Wexler's scam in Season 6 of Better Call Saul).
    • Both conflicts end with a dramatic climax (Walter is caught by Hank before Jack Welker's gang intervenes with a shootout and injures Hank; and the scam against Howard succeeds, ruining his reputation, forcing the Sandpiper case to settle, and Howard having his final confrontation against Jimmy and Kim).
    • As soon as the climax is over, both characters are killed by a third party whom they don't know and had only just met (Jack and Lalo Salamanca) in front of the main character (Walter; and Jimmy and Kim) who watches in horror.
    • Both characters are killed mid-sentence in the exact same way: getting shot in the head with a pistol.
    • Both characters are buried in a hole alongside another deceased character (in Hank’s case his partner Gomez, in Howard’s case his own killer Lalo) at a (in Hank’s case former, in Howard’s case future) cooking location of Walter and Jesse (the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation, and the Superlab under Lavandería Brillante respectively).
  • In a 2015 interview, Vince Gilligan revealed that Hank almost died in season 1. In fact, he suggested the only reason Hank made it through was because of a writers strike in 2008 that shuttered production: “We were writing and shooting and editing in a vacuum, no one had seen the show yet, and I really had the feeling that I needed to throw the kitchen sink at it, that the writers and I needed to get every bit of drama. The writers strike came along, and we didn’t get to do our last two episodes. We had to end our season one with seven episodes instead of nine. Our ninth episode that year, we were seriously leaning toward killing off Hank, Walt’s brother-in-law, played by Dean Norris, in that first season... I was ready, willing to throw the kitchen sink at it, because I was afraid we wouldn’t hold people’s attention."
  • Hank wears his wrist watch, a Casio G-Shock, on his right wrist as seen in the final scene of "Problem Dog" and many other episodes.
  • On the spec script of the "Pilot", his last name was Weld.
  • Hank's blood type is O negative.
  • Hank's vehicles include:
  • Hank was shot 6 times over the course of the series:
  • A portrait of Hank can be seen hanging in the DEA office in the first El Camino trailer.

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