ABQ (Breaking Bad)

"ABQ" is the thirteenth and final episode of the second season of the American television crime drama series ''Breaking Bad''.

This episode introduces cleaner and hitman Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks).

Plot

In a brief flash forward, numerous investigators from the NTSB collect and catalog debris, including a half-burnt pink teddy bear, that had fallen around the Whites' pool. In the distance, two columns of smoke can be seen near their house.

Jesse Pinkman wakes from his heroin-induced sleep to find Jane Margolis dead, having choked on her own vomit. After a frenzied attempt at CPR, Jesse contacts Walter White for help. Feigning ignorance of Jane's death, Walt calls Saul Goodman. Saul sends Mike Ehrmantraut, his private investigator and cleaner, to remove all evidence of drugs from Jesse's apartment and to coach him on how to interact with authorities. Jane's father Donald arrives at the apartment to find that his daughter has died, with Jesse being interviewed by the medical examiner. Jesse is unable to look Donald in the eyes, and, believing himself to be responsible for Jane's death, runs off to a crack house nicknamed "The Shooting Gallery". Walt locates the traumatized Jesse and takes him to rehab.

Meanwhile, Walt is preparing to undergo surgery to remove his cancer. The website that Walter Jr. made to bring in anonymous donationsin reality being used by Saul to launder Walt's drug moneyhas gained media attention due to its apparent success; Walt is uncomfortable in the spotlight due to both the pity instilled upon him and the potential of someone in the drug trade recognizing him on television. On the day of Walt's operation, as he is put under anesthetics, he accidentally reveals the existence of a second cell phone he uses, making Skyler White suspicious of his activities again.

Six weeks later, after Walt is released from the hospital, Skyler reveals to him that she has investigated his behavior over the past several months and found out he has lied to her many times. Walt offers to tell her everything if she stays, but she is too afraid to know and decides to leave him. By this time, Donald has returned to work as an air traffic controller. While on the job, his mind wanders back to Jane's death; in his emotional state, he inadvertently allows the flight path of a commercial airliner to cross the space of a small corporate turboprop over Albuquerque.

Walt sits beside his swimming pool as he is startled by an explosion overhead. He looks up to see a fireball in the sky above his house, the result of the planes' midair collision. Moments later, a charred pink teddy bear lands in the pool.

Deceased

* 167 unnamed passengers on the Wayfarer 515 and JM 121 flights: died on a mid-air collision inadvertently caused by Donald Margolis, who was suffering emotional strain after the death of his daughter.

Production

The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, and directed by Adam Bernstein. It aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on May 31, 2009. The plane crash at the end of the episode was inspired by the 1986 Cerritos mid-air collision. Coincidentally, Walter White, ''Breaking Bads protagonist, shares his name with an air traffic controller involved in the Cerritos collision.

This episode introduced the character of Mike as played by Jonathan Banks. The role of the cleaner to help Jesse prepare to deal with the police was originally meant to be handled by Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk. However, due to commitments to ''How I Met Your Mother'', he was not available for filming of this episode - so Vince Gilligan created Mike for that episode and into the next season as a cleaner.

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim. Donna Bowman, writing for ''The A.V. Club'', commented that the episode "was horrific perfection".

In 2019 '' The Ringer'' ranked "ABQ" as the 28th best out of the 62 total ''Breaking Bad'' episodes.

For her work on this episode, Lynne Willingham won Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series at the 61st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, while Michael Slovis was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour).

Notes

References

External links

"ABQ"
at the official ''Breaking Bad'' site
*

{{Breaking Bad episodes

2009 American television episodes
Breaking Bad (season 2) episodes
Television episodes written by Vince Gilligan