Buyout 

In the aftermath of the train heist, Jesse and Mike decide to quit the business, leaving Walt to handle things on his own. Mike is being followed by the DEA.

Director:

Colin Bucksey

Writers:

Vince Gilligan (created by), Gennifer Hutchison

Stars:

Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Bryan Cranston	...	Walter White
Anna Gunn	...	Skyler White
Aaron Paul	...	Jesse Pinkman
Dean Norris	...	Hank Schrader
Betsy Brandt	...	Marie Schrader
RJ Mitte	...	Walter White, Jr. (credit only)
Bob Odenkirk	...	Saul Goodman
Jonathan Banks	...	Mike Ehrmantraut
Jesse Plemons	...	Todd
Steven Michael Quezada	...	Steven Gomez
Louis Ferreira	...	Declan
Kaija Bales	...	Kaylee Ehrmantraut (as Kaija Roze Bales)
Sam Webb	...	Drew Sharp (as Samuel Webb)
Morse Bicknell	...	Declan's Driver
Phil Duran	...	DEA Agent

Storyline

With blood on their hands, the Walter, Jesse, and Mike partnership must first decide what to do about Todd. After that's settled, Walter is ready to cook again, but Jesse and Mike have another idea. Skyler spends some time with her daughter and with Marie, and Walter's invitation that Jesse stay for dinner adds to Skyler's misery. Hank and his team put nearly round-the-clock surveillance on Mike, and a meth producer in Phoenix has a plan.

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Plot Keywords:

methylamine | restraining order | chained to a radiator | time lapse photography | dinner invitation | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scenes before the opening credits roll, after the boy and his motorcycle are "barrelled": Jesse, played by Aaron Paul, is standing next to a white tanker truck, lighting and smoking a cigarette. The light bouncing off of the tank makes the buzz-cut hair on the side of Jesse's head look grey, as though this lifestyle is prematurely ageing him.

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Goofs

When Walter used the coffee maker's power cord to burn through the tie-wrap holding his wrist to the radiator, the spike in amperage would have easily tripped the breaker on either the surge protector the power cord was plugged into or the breaker at the main electrical panel. He could not have used the stripped wires as an improvised arc welder to cut his bonds.

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Quotes

Saul Goodman: [Talking to Mike] Meanwhile, Schrader's hard-on for you just reached Uncle Milton proportions, so have fun with that.

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Crazy Credits

Bryan Cranston is credited both as an actor and a producer. For his actor credits (Br) is highlighted and for his producer credits (Y) is highlighted for chemical elements Bromine and Yttrium from periodic table.

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Connections

Referenced in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

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Soundtracks

Lily of the Valley
(uncredited)
Written by Freddie Mercury
Performed by Bryan Cranston

User Reviews

Tension's heavily increasing in an episode with too little plot to perpetually stay interesting

"Dead Freight" left audiences with mouths and eyes wide open and with "Buyout", the series gets back to a calmer state. However, the word 'calm' can only be used to describe this episode in comparison to one of Breaking Bad's most awesome yet devastating episodes, as there's tension increasing in so many relationships in "Buyout" and the atmosphere is thereby kept on an immensely uncomfortable level.

This becomes clearest in a dinner scene at the White household, marking the first encounter between Skyler and Jesse since Breaking Bad's very first season. As you could guess, the small talk they share is as awkward as it gets, especially once Mrs White feels the need to make her affair with Ted the subject of discussion, something she's discussed with her sister in a weird and protracted scene earlier on in the episode. Jesse is surprisingly similar to his pre-Walter-White self during that chat and is outstanding in his failing attempts to act normal. While less entertaining, the business talk is more important story-wise and in "Buyout", there's quite a difficulty arising for the three amigos in the wake of the preceding episode's finale. Seeing Walt, Jesse, and Mike deal with their assistant having killed an innocent boy in order to protect them from legal persecution is excellently showcasing their different states of mind – the top of that being Walt assuring Jesse that that murder has been keeping him awake for nights while looking as if much more interested in the creation of the next meth badge.

Besides a short Saw-reminiscing release operation, "Buyout" is really all about the story evolving and excludes action of any sort. That wouldn't be something I'd have a problem with, were it not for the fact that nearly every scene in the episode is stretched out for a tad too long and that I was checking on my watch more than once.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 August 2012 (USA)

Filming Locations:

2060 Ridgecrest Dr SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

High Bridge Productions, Gran Via Productions, Sony Pictures Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD