Pilot



"Pilot" (titled "Breaking Bad" on DVD and Blu-Ray release) is the first episode of the first season of Breaking Bad.

Teaser
A man wearing nothing but his undergarments and a gas mask careens his RV down a desolate highway in the New Mexico desert. In the passenger seat, another man passed out, also wears a gas mask, his head on the dashboard. Two bodies slide across the RV floor until the vehicle steers into a ditch. The hyperventilating driver, Walter White, climbs out, dons the shirt still hanging off the side view mirror (his pants are long since gone), then re-enters the van to retrieve a video camera, his wallet and a gun. He records a cryptic handheld farewell to his wife and son as sirens can be heard in the distance. He then places the camera alongside his wallet, walks onto the road, and awaits the approach of the emergency services, gun in hand.

Summary
We flashback to three weeks earlier. Just before dawn, Walt exercises on a mini-stairmaster in front of a plaque commemorating his contributions to research that won the Nobel Prize. At breakfast, his happily henpecking wife, Skyler White, wishes him a happy birthday and hands him a plate of eggs topped by veggie bacon spelling out "50" symbolising Walt's age from that day onwards. They banter with their handicapped son, Walter, Jr. who enters and complains that the veggie bacon smells like band aids. Afterwards, Walt drops off Junior at the same local high school, J. P. Wynne High School where he works as an ineffectual chemistry teacher.

Later that day, one of Walt's more disrespectful students witnesses him working a second job at a car wash for additional income. The encounter is especially belittling since the student laughingly takes a picture with his cell phone of his teacher wiping down his tires. A now publicly humiliated Walt returns home where Skyler has organised a surprise birthday party for him and quietly scolds Walt for being late as he walks in the door. Among the guests is Walt's gregarious brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, a D.E.A. agent on the local news for busting a methamphetamine lab. Walt asks Hank how much money was recovered at the crime scene to which Hank replies "$700,000. Not a bad haul." Hank then invites Walt to accompany him on a bust. Meanwhile, in the living room, a woman fusses over Skyler's pregnancy and notes that she's "hardly even showing."

Another day at the car wash and the financially strapped Walt collapses and is taken away by an ambulance. At the hospital, a doctor verifies the worst. The non-smoking Walter has inoperable lung cancer. Walt looks detached but he understands and replies the statement "best case scenario with chemo, I'll live maybe another couple years," with unusual detachment. Back home, Walt keeps the news from Skyler. At the car wash, he explodes when his boss, Bogdan Wolynetz asks him to wipe down cars again. Walter assaults the display racks and screams obscenities at Bogdan as he storms out of the establishment.

Walter takes up Hank's offer to join him at a drug bust. While the apprehension of the alleged perpetrator is being made inside, Walt waits in the car from which he accidentally spots ex-student Jesse Pinkman escaping through the window of a neighbouring house and a nude woman tossing down his clothes. As Jesse flees the scene, Walt quickly discovers Jesse is the wanted drug dealer who goes by the street name of "Captain Cook". Later that night, Walt stops by Jesse's house where he tells the baffled dealer that they can either be partners of Walt will turn him in, with Walt offering his knowledge in Chemistry in exchange for Jesse's penchant for drug dealing.

The scene switches to the high school where Walter is seen stealing and packing boxes full of chemistry equipment. Jesse arranges to buy a used Winnebago so that their base can be mobile and evasive. The two drive out to the desert where Walt strips down to his skivvies, hangs his pants and shirt on the side view mirror, then gets to cooking the purest crystal Jesse's ever seen.

Jesse takes a sample to Krazy-8, a drug dealer who happens to be his former partner's cousin. Cousin Emilio Koyama; out on bail, believes Jesse ratted him out so the three drive out to the desert where Krazy-8 asks Walt if he wants to switch allegiances. Before he can answer, Emilio recognises Walt from the police bust and death threats ensue. Jesse tries to run, but trips and knocks himself out on a rock. Walt barters for his life by promising to reveal his cooking artistry so Emilio ties up Jesse and then goes to watch Walt work his magic. In the Winnebago, as Walt prepares the ingredients, Emilio throws a cigarette out of the window, thereby starting a bush fire. Inside, Walt mixes chemicals that produce a deadly smoke before he dashes out. The two begin firing bullets at the door but Walt holds the door shut to seal the drug dealers' fates.

Walt unties Jesse, puts a gasmask on him, and drops him in the passenger seat. We're back at the opening scene. With the sounds of sirens closing in, Walt stands in the middle of the road then tries to shoot himself. To his dismay, the safety is on. His efforts to unlock it simply result in a pointless misfire. Suddenly, fire trucks, not police cars appear. Walter stashes the gun in the back of his underwear. Jesse, sporting a black eye, comes out to join him. Walt's first day as a meth cook leaves him spent, shaken, but also invigorated. Back at home, he meets his wife's troubled queries with a typical sexual aggression which leaves her asking somewhat stunned. "Walt, is that you?"

Main Cast

 * Bryan Cranston as Walter White
 * Anna Gunn as Skyler White
 * Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
 * Dean Norris as Hank Schrader
 * Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
 * RJ Mitte as Walter White, Jr.

Supporting Cast

 * Max Arciniega as Krazy-8 Molina
 * John Koyama as Emilio Koyama
 * Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez
 * Marius Stan as Bogdan Wolynetz
 * Aaron Hill as Jock
 * Gregory Chase as Dr. Belknap
 * Carmen Serano as Principal Carmen Molina
 * Evan Bobrick as Chad
 * Roberta Marquez as Chad's Girlfriend
 * Christopher Dempsey as E.M.T.
 * Allan Pacheco as Irving
 * Jason Byrd as Ben
 * Linda Speciale as Sexy Neighbour
 * Jesus Ramirez as Jock's Friend #1
 * Joshua S. Patton as Jock's Friend #2

Featured Music

 * "Unknown Track #1" by Unknown Artist (during the opening sequence)
 * "Cruisin" by Eric Chun (at the car wash)
 * "Come on Home and Have Your Next Affair With Me" by Stonewall Jackson (during Walt's birthday party)
 * "Unknown Track #2" by Unknown Artist (at the car wash)
 * "Unknown Track #3" by Unknown Artist (at the car wash the next day)
 * "Matches In The Pool" by Dave Porter (playing as Walter throws lit matches into his pool)
 * "Ride of the Valkyries" composed by Richard Wagner, performed by Dean Norris (as Hank) (during the D.E.A. raid on Captain Cook's lab)
 * "Dirty South Hustla" by Carolina Slim (as the D.E.A. carry out the raid)
 * "Tamacun" by Rodrigo y Gabriela (as Jesse escapes from the scene of the raid)
 * "Mango Walk" by The In Crown (as Walt takes equipment from the school's lab)
 * "Dead Fingers Talking" by Working for a Nuclear Free City (during the first cook)
 * "A Gosar" by FDK (feat. Tori Papa) (March Ferrari, Jonaty Garcia and Josh Kessler) (playing as Jesse goes to meet Krazy-8)
 * "Get Low" by Pudge (playing in Krazy-8's car as he, Jesse and Emilio arrive at the cook site)
 * "Apocalypshit" by Molotov (as Walt escapes the cook site with Jesse)
 * "Out Of Time Man" by Mick Harvey (during the final scenes of the episode)