Breaking Bad
Season 2, Episode 3
Air date	March 22, 2009
Written by	Peter Gould
Directed by	Terry McDonough
Episode Guide
previous Grilled	next Down
Images from "Bit by a Dead Bee"

"Bit by a Dead Bee" is the third episode of the second season of Breaking Bad and the tenth episode altogether.

TeaserEdit

Walt and Jesse bury Tuco's gun in the desert, then split up, hatching a plan to explain away their days of absence. In a supermarket, a clerk follows a trail of clothes littering the floor to find Walt, weak and confused, walking naked down an aisle.

SummaryEdit

Hospitalized back in Albuquerque, Walt joins Skyler and Walter Jr. in a tearful reunion. He says that he can't remember the last couple of days, but that he feels fine now.

Jesse, also back in Albuquerque, sits in his friend Badger's car across from his house as police officers peer into the driveway. "Why don't they just kick your door down?" asks Badger. "They need probable cause," Jesse responds.

"You are Willy Wonka and I've got the golden ticket," says Badger when he sees the meth-cooking setup in Jesse's basement, but Jesse says they can't cook anything now. They toss the supplies into the broken-down RV and Badger's cousin, Clovis, tows it away—for a $1,000 fee, half of which Jesse pays up front. Jesse then instructs Badger to make a call from a pay phone. "They need probable cause," he explains. "I'm giving it to them."

A doctor quizzes Walt about his experience, but Walt says he can't remember much of anything. Walt suggests that his disappearance and memory loss could have something to do with all his medications. He's informed that no matter the cause, he won't be released until the doctors are confident it won't recur.

Based on the tip they received from Badger, DEA agents knock down the door to a motel room at "The Crystal Palace." Jesse is sharing it with Wendy, the same prostitute whom we saw him with last season ("...and the Bag's in the River"). At the DEA office, Hank questions Jesse, who insists he was partying at the motel all weekend even though his car was found at the shack of Tuco's uncle. "You found my car? Awesome! DEA all the way!" Jesse says, denying that the $67,920 recovered from the vehicle is his. Hank tries to intimidate Jesse, saying he knows Jesse was at Tuco's shack, but Jesse sticks to his story.

Hank turns his attention to Jesse's "girlfriend," but Wendy, remembering Hank's previous encounter with her when he tried to scare Walter Jr. straight, backs Jesse up. Gomez says they have to let Jesse go, but Hank wants one more shot at cracking him.

After a psychiatrist tells Walt it could be "days, weeks, months," before he is released, Walt confesses under doctor-patient confidentiality that he made up the amnesia story to cover for taking a few days off from his family.

Hank brings Tio to Albuquerque, hoping to get Tuco's uncle to ID Jesse, but Tio refuses to cooperate. After Hank asks, "Don't you want to help us out?" Tio lets out a nasty fart and relieves himself in his wheelchair. Tio is an "old school gangbang Mexican," Gomez tells Hank—he won't help the Feds under any circumstances.

Jesse, outside of the DEA office where he's been released, calls his dad and tells him he's close to getting a data-entry job, but Mr. Pinkman isn't interested in a reunion.

That evening Jesse calls Walt at the hospital and they bring one another up to speed. Hank bought his story, says Jesse. Walt asks him if Badger's cousin can get the RV working so they can start cooking again. "What's changed?" Walt asks when Jesse balks at the idea of making meth again.

In the hospital bed analyzing his finances, Walt remembers stashing his cash and Jesse's gun in a diaper box at his house. Sneaking into the house he returns them to his hiding place in the vent. Unseen, he witnesses Skyler and Walter Jr. share a close moment over a bowl of cereal—a glimpse of what his family's life will be like without him—and rides a bus back to the hospital.

Back at the DEA, Hank reviews footage of the chemical warehouse break-in and sketches out his theory for Gomez: The chemical thieves cooked the blue meth recovered at Tuco's house. "Lab said that blue meth is the purest they've seen. At least since this," he adds, holding up the batch Walt made for Krazy 8.

Hank's colleagues throw him a party to congratulate him for busting Tuco and hand him a small gift. Later on at the hospital, he shows Walt the gift: Tuco's glittering dental grill, set inside a glass cube. Walt apologizes for putting Hank at risk, but Hank tells Walt not to worry—he's being treated like Eliot Ness at the office.

"I can't tell you how good it feels to be home," Walt says upon his return. In bed that night, he assures Skyler that he won't go missing again, but her reply is a question: "Do you have a second cell phone?" Walt says he doesn't remember much about the weekend but is sure he doesn't have a second phone.

Walt leans in to kiss Skyler, but she turns away.

CreditsEdit

Main CastEdit

• Bryan Cranston as Walter White
• Anna Gunn as Skyler White
• Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
• Dean Norris as Hank Schrader
• Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
• RJ Mitte as Walter White Jr.

Guest StarsEdit

• Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez
• Michael Shamus Wiles as ASAC Merkert
• David House as Dr. Delcavoli
• Matt L. Jones as Brandon "Badger" Mayhew
• Mark Margolis as Tio Salamanca
• Tom Kiesche as Clovis
• Julia Minesci as Wendy
• Todd Terry as SAC
• Harry Groener as Dr. Chavez
• Christopher Dempsey as Hospital Medic
• Kat Sawyer-Young as Dr. Soper
• Sheran Keyton as Tio's Nurse
• David Priemazon as DEA Point Man
• Ramsey Williams as Supermarket Clerk

TriviaEdit

• The episode title refers to a quote from the film To Have and Have Not (1944).
• The painting Walter glances at while overhearing Skyler's questions in the hospital, and later focuses on in his sessions, is found later in Season 5 on Gliding Over All. In Gliding Over All, Walter claims to have seen the painting before.
  • The picture is a symbol of Walt's life, and possibly a flashforward of him leaving his family in the Season 2 finale.
• When an IV is inserted, the needle is removed and only a plastic catheter remains. Walt would not have a needle left in his hand and would therefore be unable to reestablish IV access without new equipment. Also, the angle he inserted the needle would have pierced completely through the vein and the IV fluids would not flow through the tubing.

Featured MusicEdit

• "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Bob James
• "Waiting Around To Die" by The Be Good Tanyas

See alsoEdit

• Bit by a Dead Bee subtitles

Breaking Bad EpisodesEdit