Pilot (Breaking Bad)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Pilot


Caption =
Series = Breaking Bad
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Airdate = January 20, 2008
Production =
Writer = Vince Gilligan
Director = Vince Gilligan
Episode list = Episode chronology
Next = The Cat's in the BagThis is the pilot episode of the American dramedy "Breaking Bad".

ynopsis

Walter White is a 50-year old high school chemistry teacher living in a suburb of Albuquerque with his pregnant wife Skyler and his teenage son Walter Jr., who has cerebral palsy. A brilliant chemist, Walter is depressed and bored with the way his life has turned out, which among other things has him financially strapped to the point of having to take a second job as a cashier at a local car wash. He also has recently acquired a very bad nagging cough. When Walter suddenly collapses at the car wash one day, he is taken to the hospital and discovers that he has terminal lung cancer and two years left to live at best. The revelation causes a change in Walter, making him more aggressive, as he quits his second job and beats up a bunch of teenagers who mock his son when the family are out shopping. Ultimately Walter contacts his loutish brother-in-law Hank, a DEA agent who leads a local SWAT Team Unit, about tagging along with him on an upcoming raid after being offered a chance to watch the group in action earlier, where Walter was shown a tape of a raid. Walter was impressed with the amount of money the team seized.

As they stake out the suspected house, Hank says their target is a big meth dealer known as "Captain Cook." The SWAT team bursts into the meth lab and arrest someone named Emilio who they think is Captain Cook. When Hank and his partner leave Walter in the car to inspect the scene, Walter notices a half-dressed young man escape out the top floor window next door unnoticed by SWAT, leaving a topless woman behind. Walter and the young man immediately recognize each other - he is Jesse Pinkman, Walter's student from many years ago. Jesse escapes unseen by SWAT in his car, which has the license plate "THECAPN," which means that he is actually the man Hank was looking for.

Walter does not tell anyone about Jesse, but tracks him down on his own. Walter proposes that he becomes his new "cook," as Emilio was the one who knew how to make the meth. With his chemistry knowledge, Walter offers to help make high quality crystal meth that would make both men a lot of money. Jesse is very skeptical and already dislikes Walter for failing him in high school chemistry, but agrees to the plan. Acquiring an RV, the two men drive to the middle of the desert and cook there. The meth is incredibly high quality and Jesse later brags about it to his distributor, Krazy-8. Emilio, apparently Krazy-8's cousin and listening from another room as he has been released on bail, believes Jesse is a snitch who informed the DEA about their operation.

Jesse, held at gunpoint, brings Krazy-8 and Emilio to the RV. Walter is offered money upfront to become Krazy-8's new cook, but Emilio recognizes Walter because he was with Hank during the raid. He believes they are being set up. Walter bargains with Krazy-8 as he is about to be shot: he will show him how to cook the meth. As Jesse lays unconscious outside, Walter cooks for Krazy-8 and Emilio. However, he purposefully exposes them to phosphine. Walter ducks out of the RV and locks them in, gassing them to death. When Walter notices that a brush fire has started from Emilio's cigarette that had been tossed out of the RV, he dons a gas mask and puts another on Jesse, dragging him into the RV and driving away from the fire. The phosphine fumes fog up the windshield, causing Walter to drive the RV into a ditch. As sirens blare off in the distance, Walter attempts (and fails) at committing suicide, but the sirens turn out to be fire trucks headed for the brush fire; they pass Walter and Jesse without showing any interest in their situation.