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With your knowledge of how the books got the way they are, maybe there’s some way you could undo what’s in there.
― Ted begs Skyler to help him out of IRS trouble.[src]

Theodore "Ted" Beneke is the former president and owner of Beneke Fabricators, a company he inherited from his father, Mr. Beneke. He was the former boss and brief affair partner of Skyler White.

Ted gives Skyler her old job back as his accountant. Ted has always been attracted to Skyler but does not make any advances after she returns. Ted commits tax fraud to keep the company alive and save everyone's jobs, which he admits to Skyler when she finds irregularities in the company's books. Skyler has an affair with Ted in season three to exact revenge upon Walt, but ignores Ted's offer to leave some of her things at his house. When Walt finds out about their affair, he tries to confront Ted, who hides in his office. This escalates into a scene where Walt is escorted out by security guards and the company staff becomes aware of Skyler's relationship with Ted. Skyler gets angry at Ted when he shows up at her house to ask about their relationship, and she later severs both her personal and professional ties with him.

Ted later meets with Skyler, who is now running a car wash, and notifies her of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation into his company's taxes. Since Skyler kept the books, she can be linked to Ted's tax fraud, likely placing her entire family under surveillance, so she intervenes by pretending at Ted's meeting with the IRS to be an unqualified bookkeeper hired only for her looks. Her supposed incompetence forestalls a full investigation, provided Ted pays the back taxes and penalties. Skyler arranges to provide Ted the money by using the proceeds from Walt's meth production to have Saul pretend a long-lost dead relative in Luxembourg left Ted an inheritance. Saul discovers that instead of paying the IRS, Ted leased a new Mercedes and is using the funds to reopen his business. When Skyler urges Ted to pay the IRS first, he refuses, so Skyler tells him the money came from her. Ted still refuses to pay the IRS and Skyler perceives him to be blackmailing her into paying both his tax bill and the costs to reopen his business. Skyler has Saul send two of his men—Huell and Kuby—to force Beneke to write the check to the IRS. They succeed, but Ted panics and attempts to flee, tripping on a loose rug and crashing headfirst into a counter.

Later on, Saul informs Skyler that something happened to Ted, causing her to conclude that he died. Saul tells her that Ted is alive, but hospitalized. When Skyler visits him, she sees that Ted is rigidly sitting upright and wearing a halo brace. Ted tells Skyler he lied to medical personnel and police, claiming his broken neck resulted from an accidental fall, and that because he fears for the safety of his family, he will never mention how the injury occurred. Recognizing that Ted has been intimidated into keeping quiet about the source of his money, Skyler goes along with Ted's perception by coldly replying "Good" to his promise of silence.

History[]

Background information[]

Ted is a divorcee with twin daughters. He took over his family's business at some point during his adult years and developed a close bond with his employees. Ted harbored feelings for Skyler White during her brief stint at the company when she was young, and eventually made a drunken pass at her (for which he later apologized profusely). Skyler left the company soon afterward, but Ted's feelings for her remained intact for years.

Around 2003, his company announced a job opening for currently unemployed civilians. ("Smoke")

As Beneke Fabricators began a financial downward decline, Ted resorted to committing major fraud in order to keep the company alive, by cooking the books.

Breaking Bad[]

Season 2[]

Ted gave Skyler her old job back as their primary bookkeeper after she burst into his office against the wishes of his secretary. ("Negro y Azul")

Working late one night, a teary-eyed Skyler confesses to Ted that she feels guilty for not being more upbeat after receiving the good news about Walter White's lung cancer remission. "Being that rock" for one's family "takes everything you've got," Ted tells her, putting his hand on hers. ("Over")

A few days later at his birthday party, Ted requests that Skyler perform her sultry rendition of Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in front of their co-workers. Though reluctant at first, Skyler relents, finishing the ditty by kissing Ted on the cheek. After Skyler discovers some accounting irregularities, she consults Ted, who admits to committing major fraud to keep the company alive. She says she won't turn him in, but adds, "I can't be a part of it." Despite her disavowal, she returns to work the next day. ("Mandala")

When she goes into labor and Walt doesn't respond to her calls and texts, Ted accompanies her to the hospital and witnesses the birth of her daughter, Holly White. ("Phoenix")

Season 3[]

Episode-5-Ted-Skyler-760

Ted with Skyler.

Ted continued for days to have Skyler's assistance in cooking the books. When she attempts to make a move on him in the break room, following the discovery of Walter being a meth dealer, he acts on his feelings for her and the two begin an affair. His attempts in convincing her to move in with him ultimately proved unsuccessful.

After Skyler comes clean to Walter White concerning her current relationship to Ted, Walt becomes enraged and unsuccessfully attempts to confront Ted at Beneke Fabricators. ("I.F.T.",  "Green Light")

Their affair comes to an abrupt end when Skyler spends most of her time supporting Marie in the hospital following Hank Schrader's shooting. She never returns to work for Beneke Fabricators afterwards. ("Kafkaesque")

Season 4[]

The IRS catches up with the irregularities in the Beneke Fabricators books, which not only threatens to bankrupt Ted but could also send him to prison. He tries to get help from Skyler, who now runs the car wash, but she refuses. When Ted meets with the IRS, Skyler unexpectedly shows up dressed provocatively. She performs a ruse that makes the IRS agent conclude that Ted's bookkeeping problems are due to her ignorance. Ted is saved from jail assuming he pays $617,000 in back taxes and fines, which is more money than he has. ("Bug")

Miraculously, Ted is called to Saul Goodman's office, where he is presented with a windfall from his "Great Aunt Birgid's" Luxembourg estate, of which Mr. Beneke is the sole remaining heir. Ted doesn't recognize the name but is amazed to have some good news for a change; when Saul produces the figure of $621,552.33, he signals his acquiescence with a bemused "Wow!" Ted then proceeds to take the money and immediately lease a new, expensive Mercedes and make preparations to reopen Beneke Fabricators. Unknown to him, the money is actually from Skyler and is meant for paying his IRS debt. ("Salud")

4x11 unconscious Ted

An unconscious Ted.

When Skyler tells him that she was the source of the money (she uses the Walt gambling story), Ted tries to return the money supposedly because it's the right thing to do, but possibly because he's blackmailing Skyler for an even greater sum when he openly claims settling the debt will not prevent him from going bankrupt ("Crawl Space"). Skyler contacts Saul for help, who sends his "A-Team", Huell Babineaux and Patrick Kuby, to Ted's home to strong arm him into writing a check to the IRS and then keep him company at home for a few days until the check clears. Panicked, Ted runs past Huell in an effort to escape from the house, but trips on an area rug, crashing headfirst into an island counter. It appears that he may have broken his neck, but as of the end of the episode, his status is unconfirmed. Later in the episode Walter returns to Saul Goodman's office, where Huell and Kuby are already present. Upon seeing Walter, Saul exclaims "How the hell did you find out so quickly?" implying that Ted may be dead or severely injured. ("Crawl Space")

Season 5[]

5x1 Ted in hospital

Ted in the hospital.

Saul Goodman stops by the A1A Car Wash to tell Skyler White that there's something wrong with Ted. Skyler - who doesn't know about his earlier accident - first assumes that he has died, upon which Saul explains that Ted has actually woken up from his coma. Skyler visits Ted at the hospital and finds him in very poor health due to his severe neck injury. He promises her that he will not say a word of what has happened to him to anybody. ("Live Free or Die")

Later on, doctors predict Ted will never walk again after receiving a concussion and fracturing several vertebrae. ("Hazard Pay")

Personality[]

Ted4

Ted is laid-back, sincere, and very charming - he appears to have not wished to do anything criminal, but merely wished to protect his father's business and its employees. Failing to understand the gravity of his situation, he believes that, if people understood his supposed lack of agency in the matter, they might be willing to look the other way. Ted proves to be very supportive to Skyler, being nonjudgmental and lending a sympathetic ear when she was going through marital troubles with Walt.

During the IRS tax fraud incident, he insisted to Skyler that he would pay the money back just as soon as he got back on his feet, but this may have simply been lies to get her to stop bothering him about it, as is evidenced when he tries to start up the business again and leases a new Mercedes (a 2009 SL550). Despite Skyler's best attempts to help Ted pay off his debt, he remained stubborn and refused to pay as settling the debt would not prevent him from going bankrupt and even seemed to try and blackmail Skyler for an even greater sum to solve all his problems. Eventually his greed and stubbornness resulted in him becoming permanently disabled.

In spite of this, Ted may not entirely be a bad person. His actions were partly driven by his desire to not ruin the lives of his daughters, whom he appears to care about deeply, as well as the livelihoods of his employees, whom he considered like family.

Quotes[]

"Paying my debt with illicit gambling winnings, I don’t know. It feels wrong."
―Ted Beneke talking to Skyler.[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

Trivia[]

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