Breaking Bad Episode 30: Fly

Walter White, suffering from insomnia, stares at the red flashing light of his smoke detector before arriving at the meth lab with Jesse Pinkman to cook another batch. Although their yield exceeds the required amount, Walt insists it falls short of his calculated expectations and refuses to accept Jesse’s suggestion that the loss is due to spillage. After Jesse leaves, Walt spots a housefly in the lab and becomes obsessed with the idea that it will contaminate the product. He attempts numerous desperate methods to kill it, including dangling from the catwalk and throwing his shoe at the ceiling, which breaks an overhead lamp. While trying to swat the fly with a broom, Walt slips from the catwalk, bounces off a stainless vessel, and falls hard onto the concrete floor; the fly then lands on one of his eyeglass lenses.

The next day, Jesse returns to find Walt injured and insisting they cannot cook until the fly is eliminated. Jesse worries about Walt’s lack of sleep and suggests going outside, but Walt uses this as an opportunity to lock Jesse out and continue hunting the fly alone. Jesse disconnects the main power to force Walt to let him back in, then retrieves flypaper and sleeping pills. While waiting for the fly to get stuck, the two talk about their families. Walt reveals he is still in remission and tells Jesse he met Jane Margolis’s father, Donald, in a bar the night Jane died, wondering about the odds of meeting two connected people on the same day. He admits the perfect moment to die would have been that night. Jesse slips sleeping pills into Walt’s drink, and Walt eventually succumbs, telling Jesse to give up on the fly and declaring “it’s all contaminated.”

Jesse climbs a precarious ladder to swat the fly, which has landed on the ladder. As Jesse prepares to strike, Walt, half-asleep, begs him to come down and apologizes for what happened to Jane. Walt then falls asleep on the couch. Jesse swats and kills the fly, turns to Walt in excitement, and realizes he is asleep. Jesse lays Walt down on the couch in a side room and finishes the cook alone. That night, Walt is awakened by buzzing and sees a fly land on the smoke detector’s flashing light. Earlier, Walt had told Jesse to be careful about the crystal he has been stealing and warned that he cannot help him if Gus finds out.