Hazard Pay

"Hazard Pay" is the third episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad and the forty-ninth episode altogether.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

Posing as a paralegal, Mike visits the Metropolitan Detention Center to see Dennis Markowski, the manager of Gus' industrial laundry, accompanied by Dennis' lawyer, Dan Wachsberger. Mike reassures Dennis that the deal he had with Gus is still in place. Dennis swears he's loyal but is fearful that someone else will talk after the feds seized their money. Mike guarantees everyone will be compensated as he's setting up a new operation. Dennis agrees to stay quiet. In the hallway, Mike and Dan go through the list of Mike's guys and where they're being held, planning to visit all of them in one day.

Act I[]

At the White residence, Walt is in high spirits as he unpacks boxes in the bedroom; he has decided to move back in. As he's unpacking, Walt comes across the copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass given to him by Gale Boetticher. Skyler arrives home and, seeing Walt unpacking, apprehensively questions whether this is a good idea. Walt insists that it's the way it should be. Skyler's look of worry intensifies.

Mike waits outside Saul's office while Huell guards the door. Inside, Walt and Jesse assuage Saul's doubts about working with Mike, who once threatened to break Saul's legs. Upon being allowed into the office, Mike lays down ground rules for their new meth operation: he controls the business aspect with no interference while Walt and Jesse control manufacturing, which the duo agree to. Saul privately asks Walt if he's okay with the arrangement, but Walt is unfazed: "He handles the business, and I handle him."

Saul takes the trio on a tour of potential lab venues around Albuquerque, including a printing factory and a tortilla factory; Walt, Jesse and Mike nix them all, identifying logistical problems with each. Walt and Jesse reject Saul's suggestion of Lazer Base out of hand, much to the latter's disappointment. Jesse and Mike are ready to dismiss the final venue, Vamonos Pest, but Walt, noticing a folded-up fumigation tent, declares, "It's perfect."

Act II[]

The next day, Walt, Jesse, Mike and Saul watch as workers from Vamonos Pest tent an infested house. Walt outlines his plan: to cook inside residences undergoing fumigation using a mobile lab apparatus, which no one outside will think to investigate. Saul explains that the Vamonos crew, led by a man named Ira, runs a burglary operation on the side: they copy the homeowners' keys and sell information about the houses' layout, security measures and valuables to other criminals, or come back to rob the houses themselves. Mike proposes a vote, but Walter dismisses it.

Badger and Skinny Pete, the latter of whom is revealed to have a talent with classical piano, purchase four large rolling equipment cases from a music store on Jesse's behalf. While delivering the cases, they ask Jesse to get in on the new business; Jesse, noticing a stern look from Mike, declines. Mike debriefs the Vamonos crew and forbids them from ever burglarizing houses in which Walt and Jesse conduct their cooking, even in the future. He also orders them never to engage with the duo without an invitation and to treat them as if they're "ghosts."

Later, at Jesse's house, he and Walt finalize plans for the mobile lab when Andrea and her son Brock come over. Walt greets Brock, mentioning the hospital visit, although Brock remains silent and resumes playing his handheld video game. Andrea, who is cooking dinner, invites Walt to stay. While Wait initially declines, Jesse asks him to stay for at least a drink, and Walt agrees. As Jesse and Andrea head to the kitchen, Walt sits next to Brock on the sofa and is visibly uncomfortable in the child's presence. Brock glares at Walt but says nothing, turning his attention back to his game.

Act III[]

After the homeowners leave, Walt and Jesse pull up to an infested house in a Vamonos truck. A Vamonos employee, Todd Alquist, approaches Walt and informs him that he has disabled a nanny-cam in the living room. Walt asks Todd for his name, and when he gives it, Walt then walks away. He and Jesse assemble their lab from the equipment cases and cook in a sealed tent in the living room. During a break, they watch television and drink beer on the couch. Walt manipulates Jesse into ending his relationship with Andrea; he tells Jesse that he has seen her with Andrea and believes it to be a good relationship, but adds that if Jesse loves Andrea and wants to have a life with her, he should reveal everything to her since secrets are not beneficial to a relationship. Jesse responds that while Andrea is aware he is doing something illegal, she isn't aware of the specifics and he is unsure of telling her. He then wonders if not keeping secrets means he should tell her about him killing Gale, to which Walt merely indicates that he trusts Jesse to make the final choice.

At the car wash, Marie tells Skyler that Hank has returned to work at the DEA. She insists that Skyler plan a party for Walt's upcoming 51st birthday, although Skyler declines. When Skyler takes out a cigarette, Marie begins to chastise her for smoking in a non-smoking area and for putting the car wash workers at risk of contracting secondhand smoke. Skyler, already on edge, undergoes a nervous breakdown and repeatedly shouts at Marie to "shut up" before bursting into tears. Marie, initially hurt, is concerned by the outburst.

Act IV[]

As they leave the house, Jesse activates the fumigation system to finish the pest control work, and the thick fog masks any trace of their own production odors. Upon arriving home, Walt finds a worried Marie waiting for him. She recounts Skyler's breakdown and tells him that she is in her bedroom; she presses Walt to disclose its cause and wonders if Walt has resumed gambling again. When she refuses to leave without getting an answer, Walt tells her about Ted Beneke's accident. Marie, who was unaware of Ted's injuries but knew of him, questions why this would affect Skyler's mental state to such levels, and Walt reveals that Skyler had an affair with Ted. Walt then asks her not to tell Hank, as he does not want Hank thinking less of him or Skyler. Marie agrees to keep it silent, and gets up to leave. She then hugs Walt, feeling bad for him that he was cheated on while he had cancer, before leaving the White residence.

That night, at Jesse's house, Andrea notices Jesse zoning out while she and Brock are playing a video game. Meanwhile, back at the White residence, Skyler gets out of bed and finds Walt, Walt Jr. and Holly watching Scarface in the living room. She stares silently but disapprovingly as father and son revel in the movie's violent climax. Skyler is affected by the violence shown on-screen and does not answer Walt Jr.'s insistence that she join them for their movie night.

Back at Vamonos Pest, Mike brings back around $1.3 million in cash after having sold the meth and divides it into three piles — $367,000 each. Walt states that each pile is missing $300,000, even with a cut given to dealers. Mike explains that a 20% cut goes to the drug mules (drivers). Walt is upset at the idea of paying so much to mules and Mike reminds him that they take the highest risk transport meth throughout the country and therefore demand a high fee. Walt inquires as to how much Gus paid his mules, and Mike discloses that Gus did not use mules as he had his own drivers and trucks, having spent 20 years building up a distribution network.

Mike then takes a cut out of his and Walt's piles and adds it to Jesse's, to pay him back for fronting their starter costs. Another big cut goes to Vamonos Pest, with Ira receiving a flat $110,000 plus an extra $25,000 per cook, while his men receive $10,000 per cook; Mike then reminds them of Saul's cut which is $18,000 from each of the three. Mike then announces that he will be taking $351,000 as a "Legacy Cost", leaving them with just $137,000 each. Walt, upset that he is making significantly less money than he did working for Gus, demands to know what a legacy cost is, and Mike explains that it is them doing right by Gus' employees who were involved in the previous meth operation and are now in prison, since their money was seized by the DEA. Walt is furious at the idea of paying them, stating that they were Gus' employees and not theirs; Mike reminds them that Gus' money is what incentivized them to keep silent, and Walt replies that they are essentially paying the men to keep silent, thereby making it a form of blackmail. Mike reminds Walt that the deal was that he handle the business side of things and this is how they will be conducting their business. Walt tells Mike that if he feels so strongly about it, he should pay his men with his cut. Wanting the argument to end, Jesse tells Mike to take Walt's cut out of his share. Walt, not wanting Jesse to bail him out, agrees to let Mike take the cut from his pile.

After Mike leaves, Walt asks Jesse how he is feeling. Jesse reveals that he broke up with Andrea as he did not want to tell her the truth about everything; Walter, who does not care to hear anything beyond the fact that they broke up, interrupts Jesse from explaining in detail and merely asks Jesse how he feels about the money. Jesse tells Walt that he is looking at their situation incorrectly; when they worked for Gus, they made 200 pounds of meth per cook, while their latest cook was barely 50 pounds. As such, while they aren't making as much per cook, they are getting a bigger percentage of the profits as they are now owners instead of employees. Walt, still upset about Mike's legacy cost initiative, tells Jesse that he has been thinking about Victor and his death; he muses that while he initially thought Gus killed Victor to send them a message, he now wonders whether Gus killed Victor for trying to cook meth on his own and therefore stepping out of his place and taking liberties that were not his to take.

Official Photos[]

Trivia[]

• This is Season 5's least-watched episode, only garnering 2.20 million viewers during its premiere.
• This is the only episode of Breaking Bad, where Hank Schrader is alive, in which Marie appears but Hank doesn't.
• The title comes from Mike promising Dennis Markowski he'd get his hazard pay and is also what Walt and Mike fight about in the end of the episode.
• This episode features the first appearance of Todd Alquist.
• Walt and Walt Jr. watch a classic scene from the film Scarface (1983). This scene was in the spec script for "Pilot" but was removed before filming began.
  • Vince Gilligan has often described the character arc of Walter White as "Taking Mr. Chips and turning him into Scarface"
  • Interestingly, Scarface featured in supporting roles a number of actors who were also in Breaking Bad as supporting characters, including Mark Margolis (Hector Salamanca), Steven Bauer (Don Eladio) and Míriam Colón (Tuco's grandmother in Better Call Saul).
• Vince Gilligan has stated he and his writers are proud of the new setup they have made for Walt and Jesse to transact cooking in. Though he has also stated that he doesn't know if setting up mobile meth labs in houses undergoing fumigation would work in real life.
• Vamonos Pest uses cyfluthrin for its fogging work, and also has a shelves full of bromadiolone and glyphosate (Roundup).
• The paper strip that Walt drips a liquid onto to get a color change seems to be pH indicator paper. This suggests that Walt is using the pH of a mixture as a proxy for determining when a certain reaction has gone to completion.
• The scene of Walt and Jesse drinking beer on the couch is used in The Simpsons for the couch gag in season 24 episode 17 "What Animated Women Want".
• Brock and Andrea are playing Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing on the Xbox 360.

Production[]

Credits[]

Featured Music[]

• "Gambler's Guts (aka You Got The Guts?)" by Doghouse Lords (playing in Dan's headphones while Mike talks with Dennis)
• "Los Galvez's y los Contrera's" by Sergio Caro (in the background at the tortilla factory)
• "Solfeggietto No. 2 in C Minor, H 220, Wq. 117" by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, performed by Charles Baker as Skinny Pete (while he and Badger shop for roadie cases)
• "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" by The Peddlers (while Jesse and Walt cook)
• "Three Blind Mice (The Three Stooges Main Theme)" by Lyle Murphy (while Jesse and Walt watch TV during the cook)
• "Seaside Hill" by Jun Senoue (video game background music)

Memorable Quotes[]

Saul: "So you bring him here? Come on! The three of us, we're the three amigos. All for one, one for all. We don't need a fourth amigo."

Walter: "Saul, Mike knows the business. He knows distributors."

Jesse: "Mike's okay."

Saul: "He's okay? He said he was gonna break my legs. And don't tell me he didn't mean it, okay? Because he gave me the dead mackerel eyes. He meant it."

Walter: "Saul, Mike threatened me. He threatened Jesse. He probably threatened someone before breakfast this morning. It's what he does. Come on, grow a pair."

―Walter, Jesse and Saul on partnering with Mike.

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"Everyone dies in this movie, don't they?"

―Walt commenting on Scarface.

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"Listen, Walter. Just because you shot Jesse James don’t make you Jesse James."

―Mike to Walter about the murder of Gus.