“Breaking Bad” will premiere its fourth season this Sunday on AMC. I know what most of you who do not watch the show are thinking. “I’m not going to start watching a show in its fourth season. I don’t care how good it is, I’ve missed too much.” Now, yes you would be right, you’ve missed A LOT. More than I could ever fully recap here. But what you can still learn is the minimum of what you need to know to begin watching the escapades of Walter White come this Sunday.
It’s a fantastic show. One Chuck Klosterman just called the best show of the past 10 years on Grantland. So if you have the time, and let’s be honest, it’s Friday so you probably have the time, take a look at a few key bullet points from the past three seasons of “Breaking Bad”. When you’re finished you should be all prepared to enter Walter White’s world.
Season 1
- Walter White is a chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer.
- Walt has a wife named Skylar, a teenage son named Walter Jr. who has Cerebral Palsy, and a daughter on the way.
- Walt has no savings to speak of, and therefore becomes increasingly nervous he will have nothing to leave his family when he passes away.
- Walt’s brother-in-law is a DEA agent (Hank) who takes him on a crystal meth sting, where Walt sees one of his former students (Jesse) escaping the scene.
- Walt and Jesse then team up to produce and sell the perfect blend of meth, with Walt knowing the chemistry and Jesse “knowing” the drug trade.
- As Walt begins to make money, he is able to pay for his hugely expensive medical treatments.
- Walt begins going by the pseudonym “Heisenberg”.
- Walt and Jesse become hooked up with a kingpin named Tuco, who, after making a deal with Walt and Jesse, proceeds to beat one of his thugs to death.
- Walt Season 1 Murder Count = 1, a rival dealer he chokes to death, who Jesse then “dissolves” in a bathtub, which falls through the ceiling, leaving Jesse and Walt to mop up the dealer’s remains.
Season 2
- Tuco, tweaked out on meth and severely paranoid, kidnaps Jesse and Walt, Walt and Jesse eventually get away after wounding Tuco. Hank traces Jesse’s (who he thinks is Walt’s pot dealer) car to Tuco’s hideout and kills Tuco in a shootout as Walt and Jesse run away unseen.
- Jesse is kicked out of his house and eventually moves into a split home next to the renter and recovering addict, Jane, who Jesse starts seeing.
- Walt and Jesse try to just be distributors and one of their dealers gets pinched. They hire local ambulance chaser Saul Goodman to get him out.
- Walt gets favorable medical news and is told a very expensive surgery would further improve his chances.
- Needing more money than ever, Saul hooks Walt up with a wholesaler, local fast food chicken restaurant owner Gus.
- Walt delivers their latest batch for $1.2 million while Skylar goes into labor, Jane, who is now back on drugs, convinces Jesse to blackmail Walt for more money.
- Walt tells Skylar about his second cell phone under sedation and that coupled with all his other secrets from the last few months leads Skylar to order Walt to leave the house.
- Jane overdoses and her father is so traumatized he ignores his responsibilities as an air-traffic controller and causes a major plane crash with the wreckage landing on Walt’s lawn and car.
- Walt Season 2 Murder Count = 1, he arrives at Jesse’s house just as Jane begins to OD and instead of helping her, he lets her die in front of him, ridding him of her threats of blackmail.
Season 3
- Jesse is in rehab and Walt tells Skylar he’s a drug dealer and she promptly wants a divorce.
- Two twin drug dealers who are Tuco’s cousins come to hunt Walt because they believe he killed Tuco.
- As Walt attempts to reconcile with Skylar by ignoring her divorce demands, she sleeps with her boss to get back at him.
- Gus tries to get Walt cooking again and offers him $3 million and has built an underground lab for production, and he also persuades the twins to leave Walt alone until their business is finished.
- Walt begins cooking for Gus with a new partner named Gale as Jesse has gone off on his own.
- Hank, who’s been chasing “Heisenberg”, tracks Jesse’s trailer down with Walt inside. Having no other option of getting him to leave, they have Saul’s assistant call Hank saying his wife Marie has been in an accident and Hank then flees.
- When Hank realizes Jesse has tricked him, he goes to his house and beats him to a pulp.
- Walt convinces Jesse to not press charges against Hank by allowing him back into their partnership.
- Gus tells the twins Hank is the one who killed Tuco and the three have a bloody showdown in a parking lot, which leaves one twin dead, one missing his legs (who later dies) and Hank paralyzed.
- Skylar offers to pay for Hank’s medical bills with Walt’s drug money, but tells Marie it’s from gambling.
- Jesse, trying to skim off the top, tries selling extra meth on the side. He hooks up with an addict named Andrea whose young brother was forced by dealers to kill one of Jesse’s friends last season.
- Jesse wants vengeance, but the dealers are Gus’, who forbids it. Later, Andrea’s young brother is found murdered.
- Jesse goes to kill the dealers but as he does Walt drives up killing one of the dealers, and then gets out and shoots the other in the head, then tells Jesse to run.
- Gus brings back Gale as Walt’s assistant and Walt soon realizes Gus has instructed Gale to memorize the meth recipe so he can get rid of Walt.
- Walt, knowing Gus’ plan, sends Jesse to kill Gale so no one besides Walt and Jesse know the recipe, making them indispensable.
- Gus’ men pick up Walt and take them to the lab to kill him, but Walt calls Jesse and tells him to kill Gale now, who then pulls the trigger.
- Walt Season 3 Murder Count = 3, the two dealers and he basically forces Jesse to kill Gale.
That’s really all you need to know, and if this sounds like the type of stuff that might interest you then you’re all set for Sunday. Enjoy the premiere!
-Dr. Jack
