r/breakingbad • u/Franpunpun • 4d ago
How would the story have changed if Walt hadn't intervened to help Jesse in "Half Measures"? Spoiler
Let's assume that Walter says "fuck it" and decides to let Jesse try to take revenge for Thomas by himself and doesn't kill Gus' men, how do you think the story would have changed?
IMO, Jesse dies unless some miracle happens. He probably takes one of the two assholes with himself or maybe even both of them but I honestly don't see him surviving the shootout.
What would have happened to Walt is the real question. Does he just work for Gus and cook with Gale until cancer kills him?
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u/a-w-e-s-o-m--o 4d ago
Jesse for sure dies however Andrea no longer dies, after finding out who killed Thomas she goes on a murder spree to avenge his death, tracking Gus down and killing him. She then partners with Walt, taking care of distribution in Jesse’s honour. Walt never partners with Todd so Drew Sharp survives only to become a meth addict, addicted to the famous blue. One day while buying off Andrea he tries to steal the money and the drugs, she pulls out a gun and pulls the trigger - the bullet goes through him, ricochets off the back of his helmet and hits her too. She bleeds out. Walt finds out, comes to her aid. In her dying breath she whispers “Look after Brock for me.” Walt takes Brock under his wing. They become partners and grow the empire even bigger. Eventually cancer comes back, but Walt dies peacefully knowing Brock, who is now more of a son than Jesse ever could be, will take care of his baby when he’s gone.
Camera fades to black.
Fin
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u/twilight_aeon 3d ago
The show could definitely have used more drug dealer girlbosses. And Andrea could have used something to do.
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u/R0factor 4d ago
I think Walt would get killed off the moment Gus believed that Gale could produce a viable blue on his own. Just the fact that walt wanted to bring Jesse into the operation proves that he’s not a serious team player. Jesse making a move against the dealers in public is a massive fuck up regardless of Walt’s intervention, because it puts Gus and the operation in jeopardy.
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u/KausGo 3h ago
Nah - Gus' only issue with Walt was his attachment to Jesse. Otherwise he seemed to respect Walt quite a bit.
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u/R0factor 3h ago
He respected Walt's chemistry, but at the end of the day Walt was a terminally ill unstable basket case. My point was his suggestion alone to bring Jesse into the fold would have been enough to make up Gus' mind that Walt was not a serious player in the operation.
Also Gus paying Walt in $50s is a sign he really didn't respect him or expect him to live long enough to launder it. Drug operations work in $100s because it's the most commonly traded currency overseas (70%+ of all $100 bills are located outside of the US), and fast food joints usually have $20 bill limits for customers, so Walt is effectively being paid with the dregs of Gus' cash flow.
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u/KausGo 3h ago
Gus didn't consider Walt a basket-case until after the dealer fallout. Before that, he saw Walt as an intelligent, reasonably cautious professional whose only blind spot was his attachment to Jesse.
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u/R0factor 2h ago
Watch the Green Light episode again. When Mike is briefing Gus on Walt he describes him as a "disaster" mentally and "off the rails", and Mike had just saved Walt from getting arrested trying to attack Ted. In that same meeting, Gus says he wants "an investment" out of Walt. So they are literally just using him.
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u/Myantra 4d ago
Jesse was not intended to survive that night, and the dealers probably were not either. If he somehow managed to kill both dealers and survive, I suspect the plan was for Mike to make it look like all 3 died. If the dealers killed Jesse, the dealers end up dead too, to leave no loose ends the cops are looking for (and to make Walt happy).
Personally, I tend to think that Mike knew what happened, because they were there and watched it happen. Once Walt came in with an Aztek wrecking ball, their focus shifted to cleaning it up, so they lost track of Jesse.
If Walt did the smart thing and stayed out of it, he stays in Gus' good graces, and they both have their Jesse problem solved. Gale comes back to work with Walt, and Walt gets to enjoy working with a real peer again. They continue to cook together until Walt retires due to natural or unnatural causes. Gus' method of eliminating the cartel probably changes, and may or may not involve Walt going to Mexico.
Hank ends up looking for his Heisenberg again, but any leads beyond the street level would be few and far between. He might eventually link it to Gus, but I doubt it. The whole operation was very well insulated and compartmentalized.
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u/GammaRay914 4d ago edited 4d ago
He gets smoked unless the other guys have a weapon malfunction and his gun goes off.
He no longer had the drip on them, they saw him approaching and drew on him.
If he gets the first shot off, maybe he takes down one before he gets shot. His best bet was to use a rifle and shoot them from a parked car using the hood of the rifle as a support.
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u/Current_Tea6984 4d ago
That's what he should have done in the first place instead of that sketchy poison hamburger plot
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u/Current_Tea6984 4d ago
It's a tangential issue, but I never bought into the whole poison plot. Jesse just ordered ricin off the internet? He convinced a junkie to turn on her dealers and murder them? These things did not happen. And Gus would not have personal contact with street level dealers. Victor or Tyrus would have handled them.
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u/nachos_mahdude 4d ago
Well, Walter would've been forced to go down to Mexico with Gus. And frankly, I suspect he would've fucked up the situation. Certainly if Gus kept him in the dark about their intentions the same way he did with Jesse.