Breaking Bad Episode 23: I.F.T.

Walter White forcibly moves back into his family home against Skyler White’s will, escalating their conflict until Skyler calls the police to remove him. When officers arrive, Walter Jr. is thrilled to have his father back and lashes out at his mother, while Skyler refuses to tell the police about Walt’s drug manufacturing, leaving Walt in the house. Later, Skyler meets with her divorce attorney, Pamela Orbic, and confesses that Walt is a meth manufacturer; the attorney advises her to tell the police and sue for divorce, but Skyler tearfully declines, fearing her son will learn his father is a criminal and that Walt’s lung cancer may kill him soon.

At work, Skyler initiates an affair with her boss, Ted Beneke. Meanwhile, Jesse Pinkman, having moved back into his parents’ former home, struggles with grief over Jane Margolis’s death. Saul Goodman visits Jesse, asking him to convince Walt to resume cooking meth for Gus Fring; Jesse dismisses the request but later decides to cook a batch on his own.

In a flashback to Mexico in 2008, DEA informant Tortuga is killed by the Cousins (Leonel and Marco Salamanca) after his boss paints “HOLA DEA” on a tortoise’s shell as a “birthday present.” In 2009, the Cousins steal a minivan by crashing it into an elderly woman’s wheelchair, taking Hector Salamanca (“Tio”) to a meeting with Gus Fring and cartel boss Juan Bolsa. Gus argues that Walter White cannot be killed yet because he is still needed for business, but once that deal ends, he will allow the Cousins to kill Walt.

Hank Strassler is reassigned to the El Paso DEA task force, triggering a severe panic attack. To cope, he engineers a confrontation in a dive bar, beating up two men he believes are drug traffickers.

Later, Walt shows Skyler the money he has earned, claiming it will help with the mortgage and Walter Jr.’s college tuition, asking her to at least consider it. When Skyler returns home from work, she coldly tells Walt, “I f***ed Ted,” revealing her affair to push him away. The episode’s title, “I.F.T.,” abbreviates this statement.