"End Times" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the forty-fifth episode altogether.
Walter White and Skyler White frantically pack their luggage in their bedroom and discuss preparing Walter White Jr.'s belongings. As DEA agents arrive at the White Residence to take them into protective custody at Hank and Marie Schrader's, Walt tells Skyler that the hitman is after him, not Hank and that his presence will only make the situation more dangerous. She reluctantly leaves him behind as she takes the baby to her sister's.
Summary
Walt sits at home, alone, with his .38 snub at his side. He mulls over his options, spinning the gun three times on its side as he does so. The first two times the barrel of the gun stops pointing straight at Walt, while the third points at his nearby flowerpot. Walt continues his musings in sullen, hopeless silence.
At the Schrader residence, Walter White Jr. complains that Skyler White didn't do enough to convince Walt to come, and that his father is too stubborn to realize his own life is more important than a car wash. Hank calms everyone down and convinces Steven Gomez that his wild goose hunt against Gustavo Fring led to the death threat. Gomez agrees to investigate.
Jesse and Tyrus in the superlab during Gomez's investigation
Gomez arrives at the industrial laundry and talks the foreman into letting him search the facility. He brings a drug dog to sniff out the place, but the dog never finds anything. Beneath the facility, Jesse Pinkman and Tyrus Kitt wait silently. Gus calls Jesse and tells him that this is why he couldn't trust Walt. He then tells Jesse that he will make an appropriate retaliation and hangs up. Gomez leaves, and Jesse continues his cook. A laundry truck drops Jesse off by his car parked on the side of an abandoned street. He attempts to call Walt with no success but does check his voicemail only to find several panicked calls from Saul Goodman.
He goes to Saul's office where Huell Babineaux pats him down for weapons. Saul gives Jesse the rest of his money that had stored, and tells him that he is hitting the road because he fears for his own safety after Gus threatened Walt's family. Hank looks at photos from the industrial laundry, but is upset as the investigation led to no avail. Skyler tries to offer him silent condolences, and steps outside to smoke a cigarette.
Jesse sits on his couch at home, thinking over the intense developments of the day. He receives a phone call and rushes to the hospital where Brock Cantillo has been admitted to the emergency room. His condition is getting worse and worse, and when Andrea Cantillo goes in to see him in the pediatric ICU, Jesse steps outside to smoke a cigarette. He notices his cigarette with ricin is missing, runs inside to tell Andrea that Brock may have been poisoned with ricin, and rushes off.
At Walt's house, Jesse knocks on the door. Walt has barricaded himself in, but lets Jesse in. They talk about Walt's situation. Walt lays his gun down and as he faces the other way, Jesse picks it up and points it at him. Walt notices and tries to talk Jesse into lowering the gun, but Jesse is convinced that Walt has poisoned Brock. Walt talks Jesse through the evidence, attempting to convince him that he would not have anything to gain by killing the child. Walt then falls into panicked laughter as he realizes that Gus has arranged all of this so it would be Jesse who kills Walt. Jesse lowers the gun and Walt convinces him to team up to kill Gus.
That night at the hospital, Jesse continually attempts to enter the ICU, but is stopped by the nurses since Andrea refuses to let him in. The next morning, Tyrus roughly awakens Jesse in the waiting area and orders him to return to the lab to continue cooking. He refuses and calls security on Tyrus. He then sends a text message to Walt, who is preparing a pipe bomb in his kitchen. Later, Tyrus meets Jesse again in the hospital and tells him Gus is waiting to talk to him. Gus tells Jesse to wait in the hospital for however long Brock needs to recover. Jesse seemingly manages to lie to Gus that he doesn't know how Brock was poisoned.
Gus and his bodyguards walking to his car
Gus leaves the hospital and walks toward his car. From a rooftop, Walt holds the detonator and watches with binoculars. As he nears his car, Gus stops and looks out over the rooftops from the parking garage. He surveys the rooftops in silence and ultimately decides to walk away from his car. Walt, detonator still in hand, looks panicked and helpless.
Credits
Main Cast
- Bryan Cranston as Walter White
- Anna Gunn as Skyler White
- Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
- Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
- RJ Mitte as Walter White Jr.
- Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman
- Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo Fring
- Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut
Supporting Cast
- Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez
- Emily Rios as Andrea Cantillo
- Ray Campbell as Tyrus Kitt
- Mike Batayeh as Dennis Markowski
- Lavell Crawford as Huell Babineaux
- Tina Parker as Francesca
- Ian Posada as Brock Cantillo
- Virginia Montero as Mrs. Cantillo
- T.C. Warner as Pediatric Nurse
- Matt Berlin as DEA Agent
- Mike Valverde as Dog Handler
Trivia
- This is the third episode of Breaking Bad to be directed by Vince Gilligan.
Featured Music
- "We Are Born When We Die" by Apollo Sunshine (as Walt sits by the pool spinning his gun and the DEA sit outside the Schrader residence)
- "Nuevos Ojos" by Pistolera (in the background at the laundry as Steve Gomez talks with Dennis)
- "Building a Bomb" by Dave Porter (as Walt prepares the pipe bomb in his kitchen)
- "Parking Garage Standoff" by Dave Porter (as Gus and his men return to his car)
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