Breaking Bad Episode 5.02 Madrigal

At a test kitchen in Germany, Madrigal Electromotive executive Peter Schuler glumly tastes a variety of dipping sauces. His secretary interrupts to inform him the police have arrived. On his way to face his fate, Schuler grabs an automatic defibrillator and locks himself in the bathroom. As the authorities pound on the door, Schuler places one of the AED contacts in his mouth and electrocutes himself.

Panicked, Jesse tells Walt over the phone that the ricin cigarette is still missing, fearing an innocent bystander might find it. After promising to help Jesse look for it, Walt fills a similar vial with salt and creates a duplicate cigarette. He then stashes the real ricin - which he retrieved from Saul previously - behind a wall outlet cover in his bedroom at the White house.

Walt and Jesse toss his house, searching desperately for the cigarette. On the verge of giving up, Jesse heeds Walt's suggestion to check the Roomba - where he finds the fake ricin cigarette. Devastated, broken, Jesse apologizes for accusing Walt of poisoning Brock.

Walt and Jesse visit Mike and announce plans to start cooking again, but Mike refuses to partner up. "You are a time bomb," he tells Walt. "I have no intention of being around for the boom."

Hank, Gomez and Merkert meet with Madrigal executives. The head of Madrigal is shocked at Schuler's death, and remorseful. He pledges Madrigal's cooperation with the DEA investigation.

Hank and Gomez share a drink with Merkert, who has been quietly pushed out for his personal relationship with Gus and for failing to sniff out Gus's drug empire. Hank says he managed to peek at the laptop before the evidence room debacle, but it was encryptedóhe doubts theyíd have gotten much off it anyway. "So Hector Salamanca killed Fring, but who gave Salamanca the bomb?" Merkert asks. Gomez mentions APD's discovery of Gus's secret offshore bank accounts as a possible lead.

Mike meets Lydia, one of the Madrigal executives, at a diner. She hands him a list of eleven men who were on Gus's payroll and suggests Mike kill them before they can implicate either of them. Mike shoots down the idea, vouching for his men.

At home, Skyler refuses to get out of bed, insisting someone else can open the car wash for her. Walt suggests she take a shower to feel better, and she wordlessly obliges: after his eerie absolution, she seems like a shadow of herself.

Mike walks into the DEA offices as Chow, the proprietor of Gus's chemical warehouse, walks out. "You know they talked to me," Chow says nervously. If Mike's unnerved by that news, he doesn't show a hint of it.

In an interrogation room, Mike tells Hank that he worked for Los Pollos as head of corporate security. Hank doesn't buy his story, but admits he doesnít have enough evidence to arrest Mike. As Mike leaves, Hank mentions that they traced Gus's offshore accounts to eleven men - including a $2 million account in Mike's granddaughter Kaylee's name. Mike pauses, but then says he has no idea what theyíre talking about: even though the Feds have seized his money, he still won't crack.

Walt and Jesse visit Saul to discuss finding a new venue for the lab, preferably nearby and not in an RV. Saul says an in-town venue will be difficult, but Walt snaps, "If Gus can manage it, then so can we."

Jesse reports that he was able to find all the precursor chemicals except for methylamine. Walt encourages Jesse to keep looking for methylamine, but Jesse doubts he'll be able to scare any up. When Saul advises they pull out of the meth business, Walt snaps back that he's broke. "Does that seem like an acceptable stopping point to you?"

Mike is playing a board game with his granddaughter when Chow calls to say the DEA threatened to take his money. "We gotta talk, not on the phone," Chow says. "Can you come to my house?" Chow hangs up and looks at Chris - one of Mike's former henchmen - who's holding him at gunpoint: someone is setting a trap for Mike.

From inside Chow's house, Chris watches Mike walk toward the front door and puts his gun muzzle to the peephole. He hears a strange sound and looks through the peephole, where he sees a suspended toy pig Mike borrowed from Kaylee's old toys at his apartment. Suddenly, Mike is behind Chris and orders him to drop the gun.

Chris admits that Lydia was going to pay him $30,000 to kill Mike and $10,000 for each man on the list, starting with Chow - who's already dead on the couch. Mike shoots him dead with a sigh.

Later, Mike travels to Houston, sneaks into Lydia's house and pulls her into a bedroom at gunpoint. Lydia begs him to leave her body in the house so that her daughter won't think she was abandoned. On the verge of shooting her, something stops him. He hesitates and asks if she can still get her hands on methylamine. "Maybe," she says. "Why?"

Clearly in a corner, and not happy about the decision he's about to make, Mike calls Walt and agrees to a partnership. "Good," Walt says and hangs up. He washes the dishes and then climbs into bed with Skyler, who refuses to face him.

"What you're feeling right now, about Ted, everything. It'll pass," he says, caressing her arm and kissing her. "When we do what we do for good reasons, then we've got nothing to worry about," he continues. "And there's no better reason than family."

Skyler, shellshocked and unable to bring herself to stop him, stares silently ahead as Walt fondles her unresponsive body.