Breaking Bad Episode 16: 4 Days Out

Walter White and Jesse Pinkman embark on a four-day marathon meth cook in the desert after Walter, convinced his cancer is terminal and he has little time left, decides to earn enough money to secure his family's future. Walter lies to his wife Skyler, claiming he is visiting his mother for an extended weekend, and pressures Jesse to join him by falsely claiming their supply of methylamine will soon spoil, forcing Jesse to cancel a date with Jane.

After arriving at the desert cook site, the two cook nonstop from dawn to dusk for two days, producing forty-seven pounds of meth that Walter estimates will be worth approximately $1.34 million total. Exhausted, Jesse convinces Walter to take a break and check into a motel, but when they attempt to leave, they discover the RV's battery is dead because Jesse left the keys in the ignition, draining the charge.

They siphon gasoline from the RV to the portable generator to jump-start the engine, but spilled fuel catches fire, and Jesse uses all of their drinking water to douse the flames. With no water left and the generator out of gas, Walter attempts to trickle charge the battery by manually cranking the generator, but he grows weak, coughs up blood, and the engine fails to start. As Walter falls into a depression, believing he deserved to die for his lies, Jesse urges him to think scientifically, inspiring Walter to construct a makeshift battery from materials in the RV to restart the engine.

The episode concludes with Walter and his family returning to the doctor a week later, where they learn Walter's cancer is in remission and his tumor has shrunk by 80%; the "growth" he saw was merely inflamed tissue, and the blood he coughed up was from a treatable tear in his esophagus. While Walter's family erupts in happiness, Walter sits in private, pale and frightened, realizing that his criminal empire and lies will not end with his death.