In a flashback to Walt and Jesse's first cook inside the RV at the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation, Walt explains the chemical reactions of the cooking process as they wait for the batch to cool. Jesse brushes him off and nearly lights a cigarette before Walt tells him to do it outside. Stepping away from the cook site, Walt calls a still-pregnant Skyler and falsely tells her that Bogdan is making him work late at the car wash. The two consider the name "Holly" for the baby before exchanging goodbyes. Walt, Jesse and the RV all fade to the desert setting of To'hajiilee.
Act I[]
Eighteen months later, at the same location of the first cook, the shootout between Hank, Gomez and Jack's gang ends. Gomez lies dead on the ground, having been killed in the shootout, while Hank, who has been shot in the leg, hides behind the SUV and is out of ammunition. Hank tries to crawl towards Gomez's shotgun, but Jack approaches and prevents him from doing so. Todd finds their badges and informs his uncle that the men they just shot were DEA agents. Jack's response to the news is to ready his handgun and execute Hank. However, as the windows to the SUV have been destroyed, Walt yells at Jack not to kill Hank. Walt, who is still handcuffed, is then brought before Jack while Jack's men search the area for Jesse. Walt reveals that Hank is his brother-in-law and begs for him to be spared, although Jack responds that he cannot see an option where they spare Hank. Walt then offers to give Jack the $80 million that he has buried around them if they let Hank go.
Hank's final moments
Walt pleads with Hank to let them be, and when Jack refers to Hank as "Fed", Walt angrily corrects him that his name is Hank. However, Hank retorts that his name is ASAC Schrader and tells Jack "go fuck yourself." Walt continues pleading, but Hank turns to look at Walt and tells him that while he is the smartest person he's ever known, he is too stupid to realize that Jack already made up his mind ten minutes ago. Hank then tells Jack to do whatever he has to do, but before he can barely finish his sentence, Jack shoots Hank in the head, killing him. In horror, Walt collapses to his knees before falling onto his side and begins sobbing. Todd looks at Walt with sadness while Jack, who mentions that the coordinates he received were too specific, orders his men to start digging at that exact spot, which causes them to find the seven barrels of money.
Jack acquires assurance from Walt
While lying on the ground, Walt notices something beneath his car. Jack's gang load the barrels onto the back of their pickup truck and bury Hank and Gomez in the hole where the cash was buried. Jack however orders his men to place one the barrels inside Walt's Chrysler; when one of the men complain, since each barrel holds around $10 or $11 million, Jack chastises them for their greed and tells them to do it. Todd removes Walt's handcuffs and apologizes for his loss, and Jack reveals that he is letting Walt keep one of the barrels because of how much Todd respects Walt. He then offers his hand to Walt, telling him that he needs Walt to shake on it to let them know that they are not enemies, adding that otherwise they may have to deal with Walt. Walt then shakes Jack's hand.
Todd suggests torturing Jesse for information before killing him
Filled with anger, Walt tells Jack that they still have a deal to kill Jesse. When Jack responds that he is willing to still kill Jesse so long as they can find him, Walt informs him that he has found him, revealing that Jesse is hiding under Walt's car. Jack's men drag Jesse out, who screams and pleads for his life. Jack points his gun at the back of Jesse's head, ready to kill him, but Todd interrupts; he claims that since Jesse was speaking to the DEA, they should bring him back to their base and torture him in order to learn what he told the DEA, and assures Walt that they will still kill Jesse after. Jack asks Walt if this is okay with him, and Walt nods in approval. However, as Jesse is dragged away screaming, Walt asks them for wait for a moment. Approaching Jesse, Walt divulges to him that he was there when Jane died, that he had seen her choking and that he could've saved her but chose to let her die. The news stuns Jesse, who becomes limp as he is then dragged off. Jack and his gang then leave, towing the SUV behind them with a chain. Walt takes one final look at Hank's burial place before driving away in his car.
Act II[]
As he is driving through the reservation, Walt's car runs out of gas — a bullet from the shootout has pierced his tank. He decides to roll his one barrel of cash through the desert until he arrives at a Navajo man's house. He asks to buy the man's truck, but the man responds that it's not for sale. Walt then pulls out $10,000 in cash, and the man accepts. Walt then drives away in the truck.
Skyler and Marie discuss Walt's arrest
Meanwhile, at the car wash, Skyler becomes worried by Walt's swift departure and leaves him a voicemail. Marie, unaware of what has transpired, appears and informs Skyler that she received a call from Hank that he had arrested Walt. Marie mentions that as much as she is upset and angry at Skyler, she remembers how Skyler wanted the kids out of the house and believes that there is still good left in her sister. Marie stipulates that she and Hank will try their best to help Skyler out, but under two conditions: Skyler must turn over every copy of the slanderous video that they recorded, and the second being that she reveal Walt's secret to Walt Jr. Skyler refuses at first, not wanting Walt Jr. to know, but Marie states that with Walt being arrested, Walt Jr. is going to find out anyway and that he deserves to hear it from family first, threatening to tell him herself if Skyler does not do it.
Jesse is forced to cook meth
Sometime later, a badly beaten Jesse, with a bloody face and an eye swollen shut, wakes up chained in the bottom of a concrete cellar at Jack's compound. As Todd drops down a ladder, Jesse begs not to be tortured anymore, crying that he has told them everything already — that Hank and Gomez were working alone and that his video confession is at the Schrader residence. Todd assures Jesse that he's fine and ushers him to a Nissen hut where Jack's gang have set up their meth lab. Inside, Jesse is tethered to a hanging wire on a rail to keep him from escaping. As Jesse approaches the cooking station, he spots a surveillance photo of Andrea and Brock, much to his horror. Todd then reappears in a yellow hazmat suit and nonchalantly says, "Let's cook" with Jesse realizing he has no choice but to comply in order to protect Andrea and Brock.
Act III[]
At the car wash, Walt Jr., incredulous at what he is hearing, curses at his mother and aunt and accuses them of lying. He tries to call Hank, then furiously storms out of his mother's office. Marie tells Skyler to get her kids home, since it's better for them to regroup as a family at the moment. Walt arrives home first, frantically packing suitcases for his family. Skyler and Walt Jr. arrive home, and Skyler wonders whose truck is on their driveway. She parks her SUV behind the truck and is shocked to see Walt emerging from the house, throwing suitcases into the truck bed.
Walt tells his family that they need to leave town
Walt Jr. inquires about the allegations of his father selling drugs and Skyler asks how Walt is at home, but Walt ushers them all inside the house and tells them to pack. Walt Jr. demands to know answers to his questions while Skyler stops by the front door and demands to know what happened, since Marie had told them Hank had arrested him. Walt lies that he got out of it by negotiating, but Skyler calls him out on the lie, saying that Hank would never agree to any negotiations. She then realizes Hank is dead and accuses Walt of having killed him, much to Walt Jr.'s horror. Walt yells that he didn't kill Hank but was actually trying to save him, and tells them to pack their bags.
Skyler holds a knife against Walt
Skyler then heads to the kitchen and grabs a knife, and putting Walt Jr. behind her, tells Walt to get out of the house. When Walt doesn't comply, she slashes his hand with it. Walt then attacks Skyler and the two get into a physical fight, tussling on the floor as Walt tries to disarm her, causing them to tussle onto the floor. Walt manages to grab the knife while he is on top of Skyler and in a blind fury is about to use it, but as Skyler screams, Walt Jr. tackles his father to the ground. Walt gathers his bearings and yells at them that they are supposed to be a family, but is stunned when he realizes that they are terrified of him and see him as a monster. Walt Jr. then pulls out his cellphone and calls 9-1-1, where he claims his father took out a knife and attacked his mother and that he thinks Walt killed someone as well. As Walt Jr. gives them their address, Walt flees the house, although not before grabbing Holly. When Walt Jr. groans in response, Skyler turns and notices Walt's actions. She then runs out of the house, screaming and begging for Walt to not take Holly as Walt gets inside his truck and locks the door. Walt then reverses out of the driveway, pushing Skyler's SUV onto the middle of the street, and begins driving away. Skyler chases after the truck, yelling at him to not take Holly away, but Walt turns the corner. Skyler, defeated, falls onto the asphalt and cries.
Act IV[]
Walt, his injured hand wrapped in duct tape, tenderly changes Holly's diaper in a public restroom. When Walt picks up the now changed Holly, she appears sad and utters "Mama" which causes Walt to realise how far he's fallen.
Walt makes his phone call to Skyler
Meanwhile, the White residence is swarming with police while Skyler, Walt Jr. and Marie are sitting in the living room. Just then, the phone rings, and the police, who are recording to the call, indicate to Skyler to answer it. When she does, Walt asks if the police are present, to which Skyler lies and states that they aren't. Skyler demands to know where Holly is. However, Walt begins a tirade, telling her that everything that happened was her fault and that she was being disrespectful. Skyler continues to ask where Holly is, but Walt states that Skyler never supported him or did a single thing to help his drug business, which he had done only for the sake of providing, and talks about when Skyler recently found out, he had told her not to tell anyone or else he would harm her. Skyler's expression changes to surprise when she realizes that Walt is lying about her involvement, knowing full well that the police are listening, in order to exonerate her for her participation in his crimes.
As Walt calls her a bitch, Skyler merely apologizes and asks what happened to Hank. Walt struggles to compose himself for a moment, but firmly says "You're never going to see Hank again," which causes Marie to break down and sob. Skyler then asks Walt to return Holly, but Walt, fighting back tears, responds that he still has things left to do and hangs up the call. Walt then destroys the cell phone and heads to a fire station, where he places Holly in a fire truck and turns on the lights to alert the firefighters inside. Early the next morning, Walt waits on a roadside with his luggage and his barrel of money, having hired "the disappearer" to evacuate him and give him a new identity. When the man arrives in his minivan, Walt loads up his belongings and enters the vehicle before he is driven away.
Due to their performances in this episode, Bryan Cranston won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series while Anna Gunn won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. The episode's writer, Moira Walley-Beckett, won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for her writing on this episode.
Writer Moira Walley-Beckett as an extra
Moira Walley-Beckett also appears as an uncredited extra as a customer in the car wash, although her title credit appears while she is on-screen.
The opening flashback scene was the last scene to be shot for the entire series. The crew waited to film this scene much later in order to allow for Bryan Cranston's and Aaron Paul's hair to grow in so they would look like they did in the pilot episode, before Walt began shaving his head and Jesse had a buzz cut. Although it was filmed months after the rest of the episode, Rian Johnson was able to return to direct the scene.
This is the final episode to feature all of the show's original cast in new footage, as Hank appears in the series finale during a brief flashback to the pilot episode.
To preserve the impact of Hank's final moments, the show sought and secured special exemptions from Hollywood guilds in order to delay displaying the cast and crew credits onscreen until nearly halfway through the episode.
This episode was the series' most-watched episode at the time of its airing with 6.37 million viewers, a record that was broken by the very next episode, which had 6.58 million.[1]
In a September 13 interview with TV Fanatic Vince Gilligan called the episode "Ozymandias" "the best episode we ever have had or ever will have."
When the episode first released, there was immense fan debate about whether the call Walt made to Skyler was genuine or if he was trying to clear Skyler's name. Episode writer Moira Walley-Beckett stated that the scene was not intended to be open to interpretation and that audiences were supposed to realize it was a ploy.[2]
In an interview, director Rian Johnson revealed that Holly's crying "Mama" in the bathroom scene was improvised by Moira Bryg MacDonald. Her mother was standing behind Bryan Cranston on set, and she locked eyes with her and started saying "mama" repeatedly. Cranston simply went with it and the shot ended up in the episode.[3]
Walt's physical reactions where he collapses onto the ground after Hank's death is similar to Gus's reaction after Max Arciniega's death. This is also reminiscent of a picture portrayal in the poem "Ozymandias".
While rolling his barrel through the reservation, Walt passes the same pair of tan pants that he lost in "Pilot" after they flew off of the RV.
Guillermo del Toro desperately wanted to direct this episode. When he expressed this desire to Rian Johnson, who ended up directing the episode, Johnson responded "Yeah, sorry, I'm the one who gets to fuck the prom queen".
Within the flashback, Jesse is shown playing with a stray stick while waiting for Walt, something he also did while waiting on Mike in "Shotgun".
The final shot is a stray dog crossing the street after Walt goes into hiding. This is the third of three major "dog" references in the show. The first is in "Problem Dog", where Gale Boetticher is described as such, albeit in metaphor, by Jesse to his therapy group. The second is "Rabid Dog", which describes Jesse as a dog that may have to be killed before he attacks. This final one, the "Stray Dog", is an obvious reference to Walt, who is now homeless and without his family.
The actor who plays the firefighter that discovers Holly is Noah Segan, who has had starring roles in two of Rian Johnson's films, Brick (2005) and Looper (2012).
The extractor's van picks up Walt at John B. Robert Dam in Northeast Albuquerque. When the van arrives, a long shot reveals that it is on Juan Tabo Boulevard, a four-lane road, and is driving north. Walt enters the van, and when it starts moving, it is suddenly on a two-lane road driving west, whereas Juan Tabo travels north and south.
Walt wrote down the coordinates of his stash - which became the location of Hank and Gomez's bodies - to the second (as in degrees, minutes, seconds). But plus-or-minus half a second of latitude and longitude describes a rectangle about 100x80 feet. The DEA would find the grave eventually, but Jack's gang were lucky to hit pay dirt so quickly.
Jack: "Didn't cross your mind to maybe tell us you had a DEA agent for a brother-in-law? [to Todd] Did you know about this? [Todd shakes his head]"
Walt: "I called you off, remember? I told you not to come."
Jack: "Well, it seems to me we did you a solid."
Walt: "You weren't supposed to be here."
Jack: "Too late now. How about you telling me what was going down out here? Hmm? Yeah, you and your brother-in-law don't seem to be getting along too well."
Walt: "It doesn't- doesn't matter. It doesn't concern you."
Jack: "We just wasted his partner here and he's wearin' a bullet, so yeah, I'd say it does concern me."
―Jack being told by Walt not to kill Hank.
Walt: "This is... between him and me."
Jack: "No cavalry comin'?"
Walt: "No."
Hank: "You bet your ass the cavalry's comin'."
Walt: "[to Jack] No! No, no. Jack, Jack! No. The DEA doesn't know about this. Not yet. [to Hank] Hank, nothing can change what just happened, but you can walk out of here alive if you just promise us that you'll- you'll let this go. [Hank scoffs]"
Jack: "Yeah, I thought as much. Sorry, man, just no scenario where this guy lives."
Walt: "No, no, no, listen! I have money! It's buried right here. It's here. It's $80 million. $80 million."
Jack: "So, that's what got this party started, huh? But this money of yours won't do me much good in prison."
Walt: "You can- you can go anywhere. You can do anything. Just think about that. You can have any future that you want. Jack. Eighty. Million. All you've got to do is let him go."
Kenny: "That's a hell of an offer."
Jack: "What do you think, Fed? Would you take that deal?"
―Jack and Walt on sparing Hank's life.
Walt: "It's Hank. His name is Hank."
Jack: "How about it, Hank? Should I let you go?"
Hank: "My name is ASAC Schrader. And you can go fuck yourself."
Walt: "Hank... listen to me. You gotta tell him. You gotta tell him now that we can work this out. Please. Please."
Hank: "What? 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. [to Jack] Do what you're gonna do-"
―Walt and Hank's final conversation before Jack kills Hank.
"Hey. I'm leavin' you a barrel. The boys are gonna load it for ya. You got the keys to these cuffs? My nephew here, he respects you. He would never forgive me if... things... went another way. Also, I'll be honest, you caught me in one hell of a good mood. So, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get in your car and you're gonna drive out of here. Alright? No hard feelings. Understand me? We square? Hey, man, I gotta know we're square or I'm gonna have to go that other way."
―Jack forcing Walt to be "square" after Hank's death.
"I watched Jane die. I was there. And I watched her die. I watched her overdose and choke to death. I could have saved her. But I didn't."
―Walt revealing to Jesse that he watched Jane die.
"You’re completely out of your mind. (...) Then both of you are out of your minds. You’re full of shit, is what you are. Both of you. If– if this is true, then how could you keep this a secret? I mean, why? Why would you go along? (...) So you’re saying all of this time you were lying about this? I mean, so you’re saying… you’re a liar. You… you just admitted it. So were you lying then, or are you lying now? Which lie is it? (...) You know what? This– this is bullshit. This is bullshit."
―Walter Jr after learning the truth about his father.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! We're a family! We’re a family..."
―Walter, after Skyler attacked him with a knife and Walter Jr. intervened in favor of his mother.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why can’t you do one thing I say? This is your fault! This is what comes with your disrespect! I told you Skyler, I warned you for a solid year, you crossed me there will be consequences. What part of that didn’t you understand? Maybe now you’ll listen. Maybe now you’ll use your damn head. You know, you never believed in me. You were never grateful for anything I did for this family. ‘Oh no! Walt! Walt! You have to stop! You have to stop this! It’s immoral! It’s illegal! Someone might get hurt!’ You’re always whining and complaining about how I make my money, dragging me down while I do everything. And now, now you tell my son what I do? After I’ve told you and told you to keep your damn mouth shut? You stupid bitch! How dare you?"
―Walt orchestrating his phone call as a ploy to release all possible charges and suspicions against Skyler.
