"Problem Dog" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the fortieth episode altogether.
Summary[]
[]
In his living room, Jesse plays a first-person-shooter video game in which he fires a gun at charging mutants, seeing flashes of Gale's murder. Distracted and disturbed, Jesse dies in the game. He catches his breath. The memory fades, and he restarts the game.
Act I[]
Walt looks at the explosion of the Challenger
At the car wash, Skyler explains her ordeal of convincing the dealership to take back the Dodge Challenger with only a $400 restocking fee. After Walt complains, Skyler pleads with him to return the car without making a scene. Instead, he drives to an empty parking lot and speeds around recklessly, burning donuts into the asphalt until the car runs aground on a parking block. Walt gets out, rolls up the dealership paperwork, inserts it into the gas tank, and sets it ablaze. He then casually calls for a taxi as he sits down to watch the car explode.
Later, Walt slumps in a chair in Saul's office while Saul handles the fallout from the "joy ride." As the car was his property, Saul talks down the explosion as destruction of private property and a misdemeanor that will not be listed on the official record, which will cost Walt $52,000. Walt admits that the pressure of dealing with Gus is getting to him and asks whether Saul can put him in touch with hit men. Saul points out that all the hitmen he knows were those Mike put him to touch with and that using them would cause Mike to discover their plans. Walt tells Saul that he tried to kill Gus himself but couldn't get near him. Saul's discussion of Jesse and how he still works with Mike gives Walt an idea, and he heads to Jesse's house.
As Jesse is repainting his graffitied/damaged walls, he informs Walt of their last meeting; Walt asks how close they got physically, and Jesse replies that the distance was shorter than the one between him and Walt right now. Pondering, Walt starts to question out loud why Gus would use Jesse as muscle. Jesse remarks, "He said he sees something in me." and Walt reminds him that Gus tried to kill them both, killed Victor and lied about not targeting children the day Andrea's brother Tomás was shot. Walt continues discussing the boy's murder and how Gus cannot possibly think Jesse would be so stupid to forget. Jesse, who is well aware that Walt is praising his intelligence and mentioning Tomás just to convince him to kill Gus, tells Walt to stop talking but agrees to kill Gus the next chance he gets.
Act II[]
The next day, Marie visits the car wash and tells Skyler that Hank's therapy and spirits have improved. Walt brings in $274,000, hidden in flats of soda cans. After Marie leaves, Skyler and Walt regroup. Skyler is stunned to realize that Walt's annual income is more than $7 million, telling him that it's too much to launder with any car wash, especially as Walt's money is all in $50 bills, which car wash customers usually do not pay with. Walt reminds her that this is a problem she wanted to solve; Skyler reminds him she wanted none of their present situation. She isn't pleased, but packs Walt's cash into the safe and mulls things over.
In the superlab, Walt has found a blind spot out of the surveillance camera's view. There, he cooks a batch of ricin. He visits Jesse's house that night and hands him the ricin in a glass vial, instructing Jesse to slip it into Gus' food or drink. Jesse conceals the slim vial inside a cigarette that he hides in his pack. The following day, Walt Jr. takes Skyler's car and drives Hank to Los Pollos Hermanos. There, Hank chats briefly with Gus, who recognizes him from his charity work with the DEA and refills Hank's soda free of charge. Outside the restaurant, Hank pours out the drink and slips the cup into an evidence bag and stashes it under his passenger seat.
Act III[]
Mike and Jesse at the factory farm
Mike and Jesse drive to the Pollos factory farm. Inside the office trailer, Mike asks Jesse to make some coffee while he discusses security arrangements with Gus. As an indecisive Jesse holds the pack containing the ricin cigarette and ponders putting the poison into the coffee, Mike startles Jesse by offering him a loaded gun. Three Cartel members arrive at the farm, with only one, Gaff, talking to Gus personally. Gus offers $50 million to the Cartel in return for ending their partnership and resolving their dispute. Gaff replies that Gus knows what the Cartel wants and bluntly tells him that this is not a negotiation. As the Cartel members leave, Jesse contemplates shooting Gus in the back with the gun Mike gave him, but ultimately decides against it. On the drive back to town, he asks Mike what Gus sees in him. Mike tells him that Gus admires his loyalty, but believes he's loyal "to the wrong person."
Act IV[]
That evening, Jesse attends his Narcotics Anonymous support group meeting and indirectly bares his soul about killing Gale, telling a story about a dog he put down. The other members are initially supportive, telling him he did it out of kindness to spare the dog's pain and that meth makes people do things they wouldn't normally. However, Jesse retorts that the "dog" wasn't sick and that he wasn't on meth when he did it. He states that the dog was a "problem dog" but never bit anyone. Another addict criticizes Jesse for animal cruelty, believing that he should've put the dog up for adoption rather than killing it and berates him harshly. The group leader cautions the others not to judge, telling Jesse that he can overcome his past. Jesse then lashes out, wondering why he is immune from judgment just because he is in rehab. The group leader attempts to inform Jesse that his action of "killing a dog" is something he should accept and move on from, but Jesse asks him if he accepted and moved on from the fact that he ran over and killed his own child. The group leader is stunned and hurt at his own trauma being mentioned while Jesse informs the others that he comes here just to sell them meth as he views them as customers. He then gets up and storms out of the building.
The following day, in the superlab, Walt secretly asks Jesse's progress of the assassination attempt. Jesse lies and tells Walt that he hasn't seen Gus yet.
Marie helps Hank walk to the DEA field office, where Gomez meets him at the door. The two meet with ASAC George Merkert where Hank hypothesizes that Gale was Heisenberg's former cook as he presents evidence that Gale produced blue meth. Hank shows them the Los Pollos Hermanos napkin from Gale's apartment and reveals that the numbers on the napkin is the serial number for an industrial air-filtration system that Gale received. Hank discloses that the air-filtration system costs $300,000 and is manufactured by a German company called Madrigal Electromotive, and adds that after speaking with one of Madrigal's receptionists, he found out that one was delivered to Albuquerque six months ago, although there are no records of anyone ever paying for it. Hank tells Gomez and Merkert that when he tried to discover more, Madrigal's offices closed down and the receptionist was no longer employed, and that instead he was speaking to a corporate attorney who demanded his badge number.
As Gomez and Merkert look on, confused, Hank informs them that he looked into Madrigal and found out that they own an American fast food company known as Los Pollos Hermanos. He reiterates that Gale was a vegan who even went as far as making his own lentil bread, and thus would not be eating fried chicken, and brings to attention the fact that the napkin Gale used is from Los Pollos Hermanos. Hank then states out loud that he believes Gale was working for Gus Fring, and points to a photo Merkert took with Gus. Merkert responds that he thinks Hank is reaching while Gomez scoffs and states that Gale visiting Los Pollos Hermanos for meth business purposes does not mean he was dealing with Gus, adding that if Gale had gone to KFC, it would not mean he was cooking meth for Colonel Sanders.
Gus Fring's fingerprints are found at Gale's apartment
Hank laughs and puts away his evidence, stating that his deduction seems ludicrous and that he should be wearing a tinfoil hat. However, Hank then pulls out two photos of fingerprints; the first photo is of Gus' fingerprints, and the second photo are matching fingerprints that the police found at the crime scene. Hank then asks: "What are Gustavo Fring's fingerprints doing in Gale Boetticher's apartment?"
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
- In the teaser, Jesse is playing the video game, RAGE. In the game, Gale's name can be seen on a wall in reverse.
- RAGE was released two months after the episode aired (October 20), well after this episode had undergone filming. The version of RAGE shown in the episode is a special version created to the specification of the Breaking Bad production staff.[1]
- The character Ben that was a student in Walt's class way back in Season 1 appears again in this episode at the support meeting.
- Steve Aoki features as an extra in this episode and Jesse Pinkman wears a shirt of his design.[2]
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
Uncredited
Filming Locations[]
- Walt takes the Dodge Challenger out for a joyride. In a large parking lot he does some donuts and burnouts. The lot is the Isleta Amphitheatre Parking Lot located at 5601 University Blvd, and is immediately south of the Albuquerque Airport (ABQ), just as Walt describes. Ironically, this parking lot is less than 500 yards from the actual Albuquerque DEA office (the in-universe DEA office is implied to be somewhere in Downtown Albuquerque).
Featured Music[]
- "Catch Me (I'm Falling)" by Pretty Poison (at the carwash)
- "Boots of Chinese Plastic" by The Pretenders (while Walt goofs around in the Challenger)
- "Saved by Zero" by The Fixx (at the carwash while Marie & Skyler talk)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Jesse: "So no matter what I do, hooray for me because I’m a great guy? It’s all good? No matter how many dogs I kill, I just what?–do an inventory and accept? I mean, you back your truck over your own kid and you, like, accept? What a load of crap!"
- Group Leader: "Hey, Jesse, I know you’re in pain."
- Jesse: "No, no. You know what–why I’m here in the first place? Is to sell you meth! You’re nothing to me but customers! I made you my bitch! You okay with that? Huh? You accept?"
- Group Leader: "No."
- Jesse: "About time."
- ―Jesse at his NA group meeting.
Notes[]
- ↑ Problem Dog commentary track
- ↑ Aaron Paul AMA, 13th August, 2013