Breaking Bad

Premieres Sun., Jul. 15 10/9c

Characters

Walter White Played by Bryan Cranston

Walter White, high school chemistry teacher and father of two, learns that he has inoperable lung cancer. To secure his family's financial future, he begins cooking crystal meth with Jesse, a former student. The two become known for their top-quality blue meth, but success has its complications: Walt finds himself confronting hardened criminals and committing murder. A DEA team led by his brother-in-law, Hank, is also pursuing "Heisenberg," Walt's underworld alter ego.

Skyler, Walt's wife, initially attributes her husband's erratic behavior to his cancer diagnosis. When he reveals that he makes meth, she demands a divorce. To preserve his family, Walt retires from drug production. "I am not a criminal," he tells his distributor, a respected businessman named Gus Fring. Undeterred, Gus builds a superlab and lures Walt back into meth production.

Though Walt's cancer is in remission, his life is still very much in danger: The Mexican cartel dispatches two killers, the Cousins, to murder Walt in retaliation for his role in the death of his previous distributor, Tuco Salamanca. Walt grasps the extent of Gus's influence when the businessman steers the Cousins to Hank instead — part of a larger strategy to supplant the cartel.

Hank survives the Cousins' ambush, but suffers severe injuries. Skyler stuns her sister, Marie, by offering to pay Hank's medical bills with money that Skyler claims Walt won playing illegal card games. "Something tells me that Hank is here because of you," Skyler tells Walt privately.

Relations with Gus disintegrate after Walt kills two of Gus's dealers to protect Jesse. Walt determines that to survive he must be Gus's sole meth cook, which requires eliminating Gale, his assistant at the superlab.

Walt reveals the assassination plan to Mike, Gus's hired fixer, moments before being killed. "You might want to hold off," he tells Mike. "Your boss is going to need me."

Walter White Quotes

“I said f— you. And your eyebrows… wipe down this!”
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”

“I am awake.”
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”

“We are going to make a good product that does what it is supposed to, as advertised. No emulsifiers, no baking powder, no bleach, no chili powder.”
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”

“I’m sorry, what were you asking me? Oh, yes, that stupid plastic container I asked you to buy. You see, hydrofluoric acid won’t eat through plastic; it will however dissolve metal, rock, glass, ceramic. So there’s that.”
Season 1, Episode 2: “Cat’s in the Bag…”

“I haven’t been myself lately, but I love you. Nothing about that has changed, nothing ever will. So right now, what I need, is for you to climb down out of my ass. Can you do that? Will you do that for me, honey? Will you please, just once, get off my ass, you know? I’d appreciate it, I really would.”
Season 1, Episode 3: “…And the Bag’s in the River”

“Look we all in this room, we love each other. We want what’s best for each other, and I know that; I am very thankful for that. What I want… what I want, what I need… is a choice.”
Season 1, Episode 5: “Gray Matter”

“How can you suggest that we kill a man, and you can’t even open the gun?”
Season 2, Episode 1: “Seven Thirty-Seven”

“We tried to poison you. We tried to poison you because you’re an insane, degenerate piece of filth and you deserve to die.”
Season 2, Episode 2: “Grilled”

“My wife is seven months pregnant with a baby we didn’t intend. My fifteen-year old son has cerebral palsy. I am an extremely overqualified high school chemistry teacher. When I can work, I make $43,700 per year. I have watched all of my colleagues and friends surpass me in every way imaginable. And within eighteen months, I will be dead. And you ask why I ran?”
Season 2, Episode 3: “Bit by a Dead Bee”

“You asked me what I want you to do. I want you to handle it.”
Season 2, Episode 5: “Breakage”

“The game has changed. The word is out. And you are a killer.”
Season 2, Episode 7: “Negro Y Azul”

“Sitting around, smoking marijuana, eating Cheetos and masturbating do not constitute ‘plans.’”
Season 2, Episode 9: “4 Days Out”

“All the lies — I can’t even keep them straight in my head any more.”
Season 2, Episode 9: “4 Days Out”

“It’s kind of funny. When I got my diagnosis – cancer – I said to myself, ‘Why me?’ And then, the other day, when I got the good news, I said the same thing.”
Season 2, Episode 10: “Over”

[Showing Holly the money hidden in the garage]“Want to see what your Daddy did for you? That’s right: Daddy did that. Daddy did that for you”
Season 2, Episode 12: “Phoenix”

“You come down and you wave these papers in my face when there is a whole other entire side to this. There’s your side and there’s my side, and you have not heard my side yet. You have not heard any of it at all.”
Season 3, Episode 1: “No Mas”

“Hellfire rained down on my house! Where my children sleep!”
Season 3, Episode 2: “Caballo Sin Nombre”

“But I brought dipping sticks.”
Season 3, Episode 2: “Caballo Sin Nombre”

“I’m in… you’re out.”
Season 3, Episode 5: “Mas”

“Name one thing in this world that is not negotiable.”
Season 3, Episode 6: “Sunset”

“Look, I feel like I’m running out of ways to explain this to you, but once more I shall try. This fly is a major problem for us: It will ruin our batch, and we need to destroy it and every trace of it so we can cook. Failing that, we’re dead. There’s no more room for error, not with these people.”
Season 3, Episode 10: “Fly”

“I’ve lived too long.”
Season 3, Episode 10: “Fly”

“The universe is random. It’s not inevitable. It’s simple chaos. It’s subatomic particles in endless, aimless collision. That’s what science teaches us, but what is this saying? What is it telling us, when on the very night that this man’s daughter dies, it’s me who’s having a drink with him? How can that be random?”
Season 3, Episode 10: “Fly”