This morning in Breaking Bad Land there seems to be much flat-out confusion about what happened at the end of last nights episode 511.Which is totally understandable. Because much of the crucial action of the back story concerning Jesses revelation about Walter poisoning Brock takes place off camera at the end of season four. Heres a step by step explanation of what happened in 511, and the Season 4 events leading up to it.
At around the 48-minute mark of the episode, we see Jesse is standing on that very creepy corner with the blocks that look like tombstones, waiting for Saul Goodmans vacuum cleaner guy to “disappear” him.
The chunk of backstory youd need to make this leap of logic can be found in Episode 412 and 413. This off-camera action was discussed at great lengths on Breaking Bad discussion groups, but not fully explained within the show itself.
At the 27:00 mark of Episode 412, Jesse comes over to Walts house and confronts him, accusing him of poisoning Brock. At gunpoint. You can see a bit of that confrontation starting at 2:03 in the video below.
Walt: “You said it yourself. You had [the Ricin cigarette] this morning. When could I have possibly…?”
Jesse: “You had Saul do it. I went to his office. He called me and just had to see me today. His big Man Mountain body guard patted me down and thats when he must have stole it off of me, right? Was that the plan?”
Yes, that was the plan. Jesse had it perfectly right down to the last detail, but Walt convinces him–and us–that he couldnt have done it. “Jesse,” Walt argues. “Why would I poison a child?”
Fast forward to the very end of Episode 413. Walt has already killed Gus. Jesse tells Walt that Brock is going to recover.
The very last shot of Episode 413 and indeed the last shot of the season shows the Lily of the Valley Plant in Walters yard, revealing to us that Walter had, indeed, poisoned Brock
You can hear Vince Gilligans somewhat cursory explanation starting at at 30:50 in this Comic-Con panel, with the showrunner joking, “My writers and I would always tell the story to ourselves about the Evil Juice Box Man.”
“The way we worked it out, [Walt] had just enough time to do it but it would have been very tricky indeed. It was improbable perhaps, but not impossible,” said Gilligan about the missing backstory. “But he was a very motivated individual at that point.”
(Reader Andrea Ball reminded me of this scene below from Epside 502. In the aftermath of Brocks near poisoning, Jesse is freaking out, wondering what happened to the ricin cigarette, worrying that someone else will get poisoned with it. Walt comes over to “help Jesse look.” But before arriving at Jesses, Walt makes a dummy ricin capsule out of salt, stashes the real ricin behind the switchplate–where it stays until the flash forward scene in the beginning of episode 509. Walt “finds” the Ricin in the Roomba and helps Jesse dispose of it, easing his mind, while further manipulating him.)
Whats your take? Add your comments about this weeks episode and all things Breaking Bad below.
Breaking Bad’s Brock Poisoning Explained
Gilligan provided more details regarding the poisonous ploy at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013. The writers of Breaking Bad referred to the incident as Walt becoming the “Evil Juice Box Man,” imagining him injecting the poison into Brocks juice box. Off-camera, Walt had somehow planted the juice box in Brocks lunch at school, making sure only he came in contact with the drink. The rest of the plan involving the ricin stolen by Huell then played out on-screen.
Brock ultimately survived the illness and made a full recovery. Walt later encountered Brock at a dinner gathering where he seemed very uneasy around the young boy. His actions have obviously caused a lot of guilt for how he used a childs health to mess with Jesse. While Walter White had many breaking points throughout the series, many fans consider Brocks poisoning the moment Heisenberg really turned evil, dropping any remnants of the morality he once had and focusing on retaining power regardless of who he had to harm to achieve it. Jesse eventually put the puzzle pieces together and figured out that Walt was responsible, causing an enormous amount of turmoil between the two men. Jesse also confronted Saul Goodman, who admitted that he did help Walt but didnt know that his intention was to poison a young boy.
Later on, Walt himself admitted to Jesse that he poisoned Brock with a Lily of the Valley plant just to keep Jesse on his side in order to kill Gus Fring, but by that point, their relationship was already in shambles. Shortly after, as Jesse was being dragged to Jack Welkers Compound, Walter White also confessed to Jesse that he witnessed Jane Margolis die and chose not to intervene. After Walt let Jesse free in the Breaking Bad series finale, many thought one of the first things Jesse would do was find Brock and take care of him as a way to honor Andrea. However, El Camino, released in 2019, gave Jesse Pinkman barely enough time to tie up loose ends and get a shot at the freedom he so desperately sought while he was kidnapped by Jack Welker and the neo-nazis. Before escaping to Alaska, Jesse sent a letter to Brock, but what exactly he wrote was left to the viewers imagination. Vince Gilligan originally planned to have Jesse read as a voice-over, but later chose to keep its content a secret, which remains between the creators and Aaron Paul to this day.
Who was Brock Cantillo on ‘Breaking Bad’?
Fans were first introduced to Brock Cantillo during season 3 of the series when Jesse and Andrea meet at Narcotics Anonymous. Brock was Andrea’s 6-year-old son who bonded with Jesse playing video games and hanging out. Andrea also had a 10-year-old son Tomás who later kills the drug dealer Combo. Tomás is shot dead in the episode “Half Measures.”
In season 4, Jesse tries to help Andrea by leaving a lot of cash in her mailbox so she can get out of a bad neighborhood and start a new life. She buys a house for herself and Brock and tries to turn her life around. But then Brock gets rushed to the hospital after a suspected poisoning.
At around the 48-minute mark of the episode, we see Jesse is standing on that very creepy corner with the blocks that look like tombstones, waiting for Saul Goodmans vacuum cleaner guy to “disappear” him.
This morning in Breaking Bad Land there seems to be much flat-out confusion about what happened at the end of last nights episode 511.Which is totally understandable. Because much of the crucial action of the back story concerning Jesses revelation about Walter poisoning Brock takes place off camera at the end of season four. Heres a step by step explanation of what happened in 511, and the Season 4 events leading up to it.
“The way we worked it out, [Walt] had just enough time to do it but it would have been very tricky indeed. It was improbable perhaps, but not impossible,” said Gilligan about the missing backstory. “But he was a very motivated individual at that point.”
At the 27:00 mark of Episode 412, Jesse comes over to Walts house and confronts him, accusing him of poisoning Brock. At gunpoint. You can see a bit of that confrontation starting at 2:03 in the video below.
Jesse: “You had Saul do it. I went to his office. He called me and just had to see me today. His big Man Mountain body guard patted me down and thats when he must have stole it off of me, right? Was that the plan?”
FAQ
How did Walt give the poison to Brock?
It’s an evil trick that works. The truth is that Walt did poison Brock — just not with ricin. Instead, he used a Lily of the Valley plant which was growing in his backyard. The effects of ingesting the flower mimicked the ricin that Jesse assumed Brock had eaten.
Does Brock know that Walter poisoned him?
How did Jesse find out that Walt poisoned Brock?
