FAQ for
"Breaking Bad" (2008) More at IMDbPro »

The Breaking Bad minisodes are short episodes that portray events in the Breaking Bad world that do not fit in the regular episodes. They are meant to give the audience some smalls insights in the lives of the characters.

For people in the US, you may watch them on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/show/breakingbad

It's not unheard of for some Mexicans to crawl toward a statue of a saint in supplication, and that's what they're doing in the Breaking Bad episode. They're going to a shrine of Santa Muerte, the Mexican "Saint of Death", who is worshipped by drug traffickers because she does not differentiate between requests that are good or evil. The brothers are seeking Santa Muerte's help in killing Walt, and the other worshippers are probably looking for help to alleviate them from their poverty, protection from them from the cartels or any number of other requests.

National Geographic has an article about the wide variety of Mexican saints (some recognized by the Catholic Church, others not): http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/05/mexico-saints/guillermopriet o-text/1. They specifically mention the crawling to St. Jude on the 3rd page and have a bit about Jesús Malverde in there too.

Jesus Malverde is referenced in the show but this shrine and other scenes clearly show the Salamanca twins worshipping Santa Muerte- not Jesus Malverde.

In the final scene, we're in Walter's back yard and the camera zooms in on the plant we saw one episode earlier. It is revealed, that it's a "Lily of the Valley", the plant that was used to poison Brock. This is the twist ending to the fourth season, because it's meant to imply that it was in fact Walter who poisoned the boy, not Gus. This has been confirmed by Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston.

As revealed in the season 4 finale, it was actually Walt who was responsible for the poisoning, not Gus.

How exactly it went down has been the subject of discussion since the episode aired. Since it hasn't been directly adressed in the season, it requires a certain amount of speculation.

Most people agree, that this is the most likely theory:

When Jesse visits Saul, Huell pats him down and switches his pack of cigarettes with another one, so that he thinks his ricin cigarette has been stolen. This is an easy move for trained pickpockets and can be done quickly without the other person even noticing. You can see Huell putting something in his pocket after the pat down.

Many people have a problem imagining how Walt could have possibly gotten the poison to Brock. But they forget that it wasn't even necessary for Walt to do it himself. He easily could have told Saul to do it, which is not a stretch of imagination since Saul has been to Brock's home several times and even talked to him. Walt could have prepared some kind of poisoned candy which Saul could have given to the boy.

What exactly happened that day most likely will be addressed in Season 5, but it's not hard to imagine a consistent way of how it could have gone down without plotholes.

After Don Eladio and his capos are killed and Mike, Gus and Jesse make their way to the car, there's a brief moment where Mike seems to be aiming his gun at Jesse, just before he is wounded by a bullet himself. Some have suggested, that this means he wanted to kill him before they drove off.

This theory is rather unlikely because there was no reason or indication that Gus wanted Jesse dead. Since Gus didn't plan to keep working with Walter any more, he wouldn't have a cook if Jesse was killed. Plus, if that was his plan, he could have easily killed Jesse at some point later on. Gus also could have had Jesse ingest the poison that killed the members of the cartel but Gus stopped him from drinking it.

Also, at the improvised hospital after the shootout, there are also packages with Jesse's blood type indicating Gus had prepared to take care of Jesse in case he was injured.

The only time we were given any information that hint at Gus' sexual orientation was, when he invited Walt into his home and mentioned that he had kids.

However, his kids are never seen and there is no other indication that Gus was ever married or had children.

It has been speculated, that Gus' reaction to the death of his business partner Max might imply a homosexual relationship between them. However, when asked about it, neither Vince Gilligan nor Giancarlo Esposito confirmed that it was intended to be interpreted in that way, but rather up for the viewer to decide on their own.

In the finale of Season 5.1, Hank finds a book by Walt Whitman in Walt's bathroom. There's a handwritten dedication on the first page, saying:

To my other favorite W.W. It's an honour working with you.

Fondly

G.B.

Then, a flashback shows how Hank is remembering an earlier scene between him and Walt, where they talk about how Gale Boetticher had dedicated his book with the labnotes to W.W. (Walt Whitman). Although there's no dialogue in that scene, Hank's shocked facial expression and the flashback strongly imply, that he finally puts all the pieces together.

There is no reason to assume, that Hank had suspected Walt at any time prior to this scene. Especially, because Vince Gilligan stated to in this interview which took place after the second-to-last episode of Season 5.1 had aired:

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[And] Walter White has this perfect camouflage of hiding in plain sight, right underneath his brother-in-law's nose. In the world of our show, Hank is the smartest DEA agent around, but he has that big blind spot for his brother-in-law.

[...]

It follows the time-honoured way that human behaviour tells us that we size people up when we first meet them. Hank met Walt many years ago, if not a decade or more, before Walt ever decided to become a drug kingpin. Hank's opinion of Walt is kind of set in stone. The way Hank sees Walt is that he's a sweet, bumbling fellow who's too smart for his own good and a sort of sweet-natured, ineffectual cuckold, now that his own wife is cheating on him. Hank thinks he makes a lot of mistakes. If the time ever came, he would have a very hard time accepting who Walt really is.

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The pilot is about 10 minutes longer than all other episodes, at least in the original version. However, it was shortened for the international broadcasts to have the same length as the other episodes, as was the case with The Walking Dead, for example. These cuts concerned the plot of the episode. Additionally, there is also a lot of alternative or completely new footage. This altered version could be seen e.g. on the UK channel FX. A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here.

There is also an altered version of the original cut, which features a few censorings like blurred breasts and muted swearings. This version was shown on AMC, where the episodes always can be seen first. However, only one month later IFC showed the same episode "Uncut & Uncensored" to the US audience. A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here.

Gale Boetticher.

If Hank were to compare the handwriting of the dedication in this book to the one in Gale's labnotes, he would see that they are written by the same person.

As you can check for yourself: http://i.imgur.com/ALpMK.jpg

It has also been confirmed by Vince Gilligan (http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/breaking-bad-creator-vince-gilligan-on-poetry-books-time-jumps-and-the-end-for-walter-white :

Alan Sepinwall:We have to start with the poetry book. First of all, I know we had seen the book before, but was this the first time we saw that it had that inscription from Gale?

Vince Gilligan: That's the first time we see it. We were very obtuse about it, in all honesty. Way back when, when Gale gave Walt the book, it is there, in that episode where Gale talks to Walt about Walt Whitman, he recites the poem, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer," and the next scene we see after their first cook together is Walt reading that very book. To be honest, at the time we came up with that episode two seasons back, we were not thinking about that book playing in the very important way that it plays. But having said that, it seems to fit right in. It was always in our mind that that was a gift from Gale, so we figured why wouldn't he have written something like that?