You're a fine chemist, really. With a promising future. It's just that... that I–that we–just have different rhythms, Gale. You see, it's as if I'm classical, but you are more... jazz.
Jazz, yes. And God knows there is nothing wrong with jazz. It's simply that I require...
[Jesse enters Gus' superlab]
Oh, shit! Man, this is the bomb! [to Walter] What's up, partner?! Oh, I can't believe it!
GGale
This is my replacement?
GGale
Hi, I'm Gale. Nice to meet you.
'Sup? [to Walter] Man, we should have ditched that RV months ago. It's all, like, shiny up in here.
GGale
I'm sorry, I must be missing something. I don't mean... I don't mean to be... This makes no sense.
[Walter gives a book to Walter Jr]
WWalter
I skimmed through it. Looks interesting.
Yeah. Uncle Hank gave it to me.
WWalter
Well, what's it about?
Pablo Escobar, this big drug guy in the '80s.
WWalter
Yeah. Yeah, I remember seeing him on the news.
Well, it's more about the guys who investigated him and tried to bring him down. Some of them were DEA, you know? Uncle Hank said that they were worth learning about. That everybody knows who Pablo Escobar is but nobody knows about the guys that brought him down.
WWalter
I guess I never thought about it.
He said that good guys never get ink like the bad guys do.
[Walter confronts Gus in the hospital lobby]
You knew. You knew my brother-in-law was with the DEA.
I investigate everyone with whom I do business. What careful man wouldn't?
He is not a problem for us or our business, but your being here... is this some sort of message?
I'm supporting my community. I hide in plain sight, same as you. Are we done?
No, listen, I, uh... This attack on my brother-in-law, I don't understand it, I don't know what it means. Please, if you may have some knowledge that you can share with me. I fear for my family.
I'm sure they'll be fine. I am told the assassin that survived is gravely injured. It's doubtful he'll live. Now thank me and shake my hand.
[Gus is working the late shift at Los Pollos Hermanos when he gets a phone call from Juan Bolsa]
JJuan
I assume you heard the news.
Your man died. I heard. It's unfortunate.
JJuan
Yeah, unfortunate. And meanwhile I have federales surrounding my house. You know what I think, Gustavo? I think you're behind all this.
Why would I do this? How would it serve me?
JJuan
That's the part that I'm trying to figure out. Go off on your own, maybe? You actually think that would work?
Juan, you sound like you're under a lot of stress. Maybe you should call me back when you're seeing things more clearly.
JJuan
I see things clear enough. One DEA gets shot, all of Washington starts barking. The DF suddenly has to put on a big show and I wind up with federales in my rose bushes. And just for a while, appearances, politics... Are you still there, Gustavo?
JJuan
I'll weather this. I always do. My brother is a police chief. I got connections. They'll get me through. And when I get proof and the others find out what you've done, maybe we come pay you a visit. Maybe—
[Glass shatters. Juan and his men begin shouting and run to the source of the noise but they are gunned down on sight. Gus listens eagerly, smiles, breaks apart his phone and throws it away]
[vaguely describing his work in Gus' secret meth lab to his rehab group] Been working a lot... It's in a laundromat, it's totally corporate... It's like rigid, all kinds of red tape, my boss is a dick, the owner, super dick. Don't know if we're ever going to meet him, everybody's scared of the dude. Place is full of dead-eyed douchebags, the hours suck, and nobody knows what's going on.
My brother-in-law, moments before he was attacked, someone called to warn him. I believe that same person was protecting me. Those two men–the assassins–I believe I was their prime target, but that somehow they were steered away from me to my brother-in-law. Because of this intervention, I am alive, and yet, I think that this person was playing a much deeper game. He made that phone call because he wanted a shootout, not a silent assassination. In one stroke, he bloodied both sides, set the American and Mexican governments against the cartel, and cut off the supply of methamphetamine to the Southwest. If this man had his own source of product on this side of the border, he would have the market to himself. The rewards would be enormous. We're both adults. I can't pretend I don't know that person is you. I want there to be no confusion. I know I owe you my life, and more than that, I respect the strategy. In your position, I would have done the same. One issue which troubles me: I don't know what happens when our three month contract ends.
What would you like, then?
You know why I do this. I want security for my family.
Then you have it. Three million for three months, that was our agreement. Extended annually, twelve million a year. Call it fifteen. Open ended. Would that be agreeable?
Humor me here for a second. Now, you know you need to launder your money, right? Do you understand the basics of it: Placement, layering, integration?
I ain't buying no damn nail salon, so just forget it.
You want to stay out of jail, don't ya? I mean, you want to keep your money and your freedom. 'Cause I got three little letters for ya, IRS; if they can get Capone, they can get you. Hey, look. [picks up a nail polish bottle] Here's you, right? Pink—Pinkman, get it? [picks up cotton balls] Here's your cash. You're out on the town, yeah? You're partying hardy, you're knockin' boots with the chicky babes and oh, who's this? [picks up paddle] It's the taxman, and he's looking at you. Now, what does he see? He sees a young fella with a big fancy house, unlimited cash supply and no job. Now what is the conclusion the taxman makes?
[buzzer sound] Wrong! Million times worse–you're a tax cheat! What do they do? They take every penny, and you go in the can [tosses nail polish into the trash] for felony tax evasion. Ouch! What was your mistake? You didn't launder your money! Now, you give me your money, okay? That's called placement. Hand me that little thing- bin. [Jesse grabs a jar of Q-Tips and hands it to Saul] This is the nail salon, right? I take your dirty money... [opens the jar and puts the cotton balls in] and I slip it into the salon's nice, clean cash flow. That's called layering. Final step: Integration. The revenues from the salon go to the owner–that's you! [empties the jar onto the armrest] Your filthy drug money has been transformed into nice, clean, taxable income, brought to you by a savvy investment in a thriving business.
So you want me to buy this place so I can pay taxes? I'm a criminal, yo.
Yeah, and if you want to stay a criminal and not become, say, a convict, then maybe you should grow up and listen to your lawyer.
Right. So you can get your five percent.
No, that's seventeen percent.
I heard you say five! You said it right in front of me.
Yeah, that was for your partner. It's privileges of seniority and all. But for you, it's the usual: Seventeen percent, and that's a bargain.
[Skyler has concocted an elaborate lie involving gambling addiction to convince Marie to let her and Walt pay for Hank's medical expenses.]
How did you come up with that? I mean, where did you possibly...?
I learned from the best. Somehow, something tells me Hank is here because of you. And I'm not forgetting that.
There's been a contamination.
Wait, what? Whoa, hey, hold up!
Something got into the lab.
So, uh, what do we do? I mean, do we... Wait, wait! Shouldn't we be wearing masks?
No, no, it's not that kind of contaminant.
So it's, like, not dangerous? Mr. White, talk to me here!
Not to us, particularly, no.
[noticing Walter's homemade fly swatter] What the hell is that?
Exactly what kind of contaminant are we dealing with here?
What do you mean? Fly, like...like what do you mean?
I mean, a fly. A housefly.
Like, uh, one fly? Singular? What'd it do?
It got into the lab and I'm trying to get it out, okay? Understand?
No, man, not really. I can't say that I'm really following you here. Dude, you scared the shit out of me! When you say it's contamination, I'm thinking like an Ebola leak or something!
Yeah, it's a disease on the Discovery Channel where all your intestines sort of just slip right out of your butt!
Thank you, I know what Ebola is.
Now tell me, what would a West African virus be doing in our lab, hm?
So you're chasing around a fly, and in your world, I'm the idiot?
Jesse, listen. This fly–or any other fly, for that matter–cannot be in our lab. [overlooks Jesse from under his glasses] Do you understand, Jesse? It's a problem. It's a contamination, and that is in no way a misuse of the word, "contamination."
Okay, look, we're running late, so let's just get started. The sooner we do it, the sooner we're done.
[Jesse grabs a sack and just as he's about to put in the tank, Walt stops him]
Have you not heard a word I said? No cooking until this fly is dealt with. Have I been speaking to myself?
The timer went off, yo! How long is this batch gonna be good for? An hour? Two?
The batch will be good for nothing if we don't clear the contaminant.
"Clear the contaminant?!" We're making meth here, alright? Not space shuttles!
We're making nothing until we catch this fly.
What fly? Alright? Where the hell is this fly? Not like I even seen this thing! Maybe your positive pressure blew it out the door or something.
No, no. It is here. It is around, okay? He's around, and I'm not going to expose this batch to the open air and contamination, period. Now, you can leave to deal with this myself or you can help me. But you're right, we're running out of time. So I need you to answer right now. [Jesse drops the sack and walks off] Okay.
I've been to my oncologist, Jesse. Just last week. I'm still in remission. I'm healthy.
No. I missed it. There was some perfect moment that passed me right by, but I had to have enough to leave them. That was the whole point. None of this makes any sense if I didn't have enough. And it had to be before she found out. Skyler. It had to be before that.
Perfect moment? For what? To drop dead? Are you saying you want to die?
I'm saying that I lived too long. You want them to actually miss you. You want their memories of you to be... but she just won't.. .she just won't understand. I mean, no matter how well I explain it, these days she just has this.. .this... I mean, I truly believe there exists some combination of words. There must exist certain words in a certain specific order that can explain all of this, but with her I just can't ever seem to find them.
Mr. White, why don't you just sit down.
You know, I was thinking before the fugue state, but during the fugue state I didn't have enough money, so no, not then. And plus my daughter wasn't born yet. It had to be after Holly was born.
Definitely before the surgery. Ah Christ, that damn second cell phone. I mean, how could I possibly? [pause] Oh, I know the moment. It was the night Jane died. I was at home and we needed diapers and so I said I'd go, but it was just an excuse. Actually that was the night I brought you your money, remember?
And afterward I stopped at a bar. It was odd, I never do that–go to a bar alone. I just walked in, sat down. I never told you.
I sit down and this man, this stranger, he engages me in conversation. He's a complete stranger. But he turns out to be Jane's father, Donald Margolis.
What are you talking about?
Of course I didn't know it at the time. I mean, he's just some guy in a bar. I just didn't put it together until after the crash when he was all over the news.
Think of the odds. Once I tried to calculate them, but they're astronomical. I mean, think of the odds of me going in and sitting down that night, in that bar, next to that man.
I told him that I had a daughter and he told me he had one, too. And he said, "Never give up on family." And I didn't. I took his advice. My God, the universe is random. It's not inevitable; it's simple chaos. It's subatomic particles and endless pings, collision–that's what science teaches us. What does this say? What is it telling us that the very night that this man's daughter dies, it's me who is having a drink with him? I mean, how could that be random?
[Walter stumbles, starting to succumb to the sleeping pills]
No, no, it's, uh... Oh, that was the moment. That night. I should never have left home. Never gone to your house. Maybe things would have... Oh, I was... I was at home watching TV. Some nature program about elephants... and Skyler and Holly were in another room. I can hear them on the baby monitor. She was singing a lullaby. Oh, if I had just lived right up to that moment... and not one second more... That would have been perfect.
