Breaking Bad is regarded as one of the finest TV shows in recent years. But while few people
disagree with the show's greatness, even such a well-crafted series is bound to leave some
plot points unresolved, or write itself into a corner now and then. So, which plot point
bothers us the most?
In the season 5 episode "Confessions," Jesse Pinkman experiences a game-changing revelation
that has an explosive impact on his storyline. However, how Jesse reached his conclusion
feels a little overly convenient, if not downright contrived. Even now, years after Breaking
Bad has wrapped, the details of the episode continue to be debated among fans.
In "Confessions," after Walter White's DEA brother-in-law, Hank, tries to get a confession
from Jesse about Walt's drug empire, Walt's attorney Saul Goodman interrupts and takes
Jesse to Walt, who convinces Jesse to escape to another city and take on a new identity.
Meanwhile, Walt tapes a fake confession framing Hank for his own drug dealings, making it
difficult for Hank to move forward with drug charges against Walt.
"Hank has been building a meth empire for over a year now and using me as his chemist."
All in all, it looks like Walt is doing a pretty good job keeping himself safe. However,
no sooner has Jesse agreed to drop off the grid than he rifles through his pockets and
has a pivotal realization. At first, he's looking for his small cache of marijuana,
but discovers that it's missing. While looking for it, Jesse's fingers float across a pack
of cigarettes. It's in this moment he has a realization: He didn't lose his marijuana
— Saul's bodyguard Huell sneakily took it off him. That leads him to realize that Huell
had previously stolen the pack of cigarettes containing the poisonous ricin cigarette intended
to kill drug lord Gustavo Fring, which Jesse believes was used to poison his girlfriend's
son, Brock.
"You stole the cigarettes."
"What?"
"The ricin cigarette!"
Saul admits that Walt asked him to lift the ricin cigarette, but that he didn't know what
it was for. After realizing that Walt lied to Jesse about what happened to the ricin,
Jesse reaches a tipping point.
This somewhat convoluted set of circumstances involving ricin and cigarettes has been discussed
again and again over the years. At the time that "Confessions" aired, Jesse's sudden epiphany
caused a lot of confusion among fans, who themselves had lost track of the ricin plot
thread. In fact, the ricin narrative goes all the way back to season 2, during which
Walt makes a batch of the poison to kill the ruthless Salamanca drug distributor Tuco.
It also connects to another plot from season 4, with Walt making another batch of ricin,
which Jesse hides in a cigarette. Not long after, Brock is poisoned, and Jesse is convinced
by Walt that Gus Fring was behind the poisoning.
However, in "Confessions," Jesse comes to the conclusion that Walt used a ricin cigarette
to poison Brock.
"He poisoned Brock and you, you helped him."
While Jesse is wrong about the type of poison, he's right about the act itself -- it just
turns out that Walt used poisonous berries on Brock, not ricin.
It's understandable that fans were not only confused about all these plot points spanning
multiple seasons, but also about how Jesse managed to piece together such a complex chain
of events with just a few seconds and no real evidence. Even for Breaking Bad, this development
veers into deus ex machina territory, in which an event conveniently happens out of nowhere
for the sake of the plot. The ricin cigarette itself could easily feel like a gear of the
narrative very obviously wedged into place to push events in a certain direction.
One obvious explanation for this still-bothersome plot point is that in a way, Jesse always
knew who was really behind Brock's poisoning. Jesse knows better than anyone about Walt's
potential for cruelty and treachery because he's been side-by-side with him in the meth
ring since day one. Throughout the series, Jesse calls out Walt for lying to him and
toying with him. It's not a stretch for Jesse to conclude that Walt had something to do
with Brock's poisoning.
By waiting until the last possible second to force himself to acknowledge the truth,
the show's writers gave Jesse the opportunity to resolve his character arc. As a pawn of
Walt's, Jesse had always struggled with personal agency. Finally, during "Confessions," he
turns his fate around, and goes from a passive participant in his own life to an active one.
However, some complain that Jesse's convenient realization about the ricin cigarette feels
more like a leftover plot point, representing a moment of incompetence on the part of the
writers. These fans don't appreciate that the deus ex machina drags Walt — and the
series — to a predetermined endpoint.
Jesse often thought about Brock's poisoning, and how his relationship with Walt put Brock
and Andrea into grave danger. Brock nearly died, and at the end of the show, Andrea was
murdered as a way to intimidate Jesse after he attempted to flee from Todd and his dangerous
family. If Jesse had never gotten mixed up with Walt, Brock never would have been poisoned.
If he hadn't partnered with Walt in the meth-making biz, Jesse also wouldn't have met Todd, and
Andrea wouldn't have been killed. Similarly, if Jesse hadn't struck up a romantic relationship
with Andrea, she wouldn't have been exposed to his criminality and the bad guys around
him; Andrea would be alive and Brock wouldn't have been harmed.
"Do you know Jesse Pinkman?"
Jesse isn't directly responsible for Brock's poisoning or for Andrea's murder, but he feels
guilty all the same. At the end of the 2019 Netflix film El Camino: A
Breaking Bad Movie, Jesse heads to Alaska to begin a new life following the events of
the series. Just before he leaves, he hands Ed Galbraith a goodbye letter written to Brock.
The ending of El Camino was originally meant to feature a voiceover of Jesse reading the
note for Brock, but viewers never got to hear that or see what was inside the envelope.
Jesse Pinkman actor Aaron Paul told TV Guide that Jesse's letter to Brock was quite emotional,
and was actually the first thing that Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan wrote for El Camino.
Although the content of the letter had to be cut from the final film, Paul hopes fans
can hear Jesse's apology to Brock someday.
"It's just the most honest, beautiful, caring letter imaginable."
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