Breaking Bad (season 3)
Encyclopedia
The third season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...

premiered on March 21, 2010 and concluded on June 13, 2010. It consisted of 13 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length. AMC broadcast the third season on Sundays at 10:00 pm in the United States. The complete third season was released on Region 1 DVD and Region A Blu-ray on June 7, 2011.

Plot

The city of Albuquerque is in shock after the mid-air collision at the end of the second season. Walt
Walter White (Breaking Bad)
Walter Hartwell "Walt" White is a fictional character and the antihero of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan...

 and Skyler have separated and Jesse
Jesse Pinkman
Jesse Bruce Pinkman is a fictional character of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Aaron Paul and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan.-Background:...

 is in rehab following Jane's death. Walt admits the truth about his meth business to Skyler, which results in her demanding a divorce in exchange for keeping quiet. Gus makes Walt an offer of $3 million for three months of his time, which Walt turns down because he wants his family back. Meanwhile, a pair of mysterious assassins from Mexico named Marco and Leonel, revealed to be Tuco's cousins, have set out to avenge Tuco on the orders of Tuco's invalid uncle. They almost kill an unsuspecting Walt before being notified at the last minute that Walt is working for Gus. Hank refuses another transfer to El Paso, using the Heisenberg case as an excuse to stay in Albuquerque, although he is actually too scared to go back and refuses to divulge his feelings to a concerned Marie.

Walt refuses to divorce Skyler and forcibly moves back with the family, calling Skyler's bluff that she will not tell the authorities or Walter Jr. about his illegal activities. Skyler retaliates by sleeping with her boss, Ted Beneke, in defiance of Walt's actions. A sober Jesse begins cooking the blue meth on his own to great success, angering Walt who sees it as a theft of his formula, resulting in a rift between the two. Gus exploits Walt's mental state about Skyler and the rift between him and Jesse to his advantage, convincing Walt to return to cooking meth. Walt is given an underground high-tech meth lab with an experienced assistant named Gale. He leaves Skyler signed divorce papers but makes it clear that he will continue to support the family with his meth money.

Meanwhile, Gus continues to be pressured by the Juarez Cartel to allow the hit on Walt. The Cousins show up at Gus's restaurant and ominously insist that they have waited long enough. Wishing to give Walt more time, Gus tells the Cousins they may kill Hank, the man who actually killed Tuco but was previously off-limits because he is a DEA agent.

Hank begins to investigate "Heisenberg" obsessively. He links the blue meth with the RV and unsuccessfully attempts to locate it using state DMV records. Seemingly at a dead end, Hank decides to call Walt for help. Hank is tenuously aware of a connection between Walt and Jesse—Walt had previously explained Jesse's phone calls by telling Skyler that he bought marijuana from Jesse—but he has no inkling that Walt is actually Jesse's partner. Hank asks Walt if he knows whether or not Jesse owns an RV. Mortified that Hank may be on to him, Walt arrives at the junkyard lot where Jesse stores the RV and insists that it be disposed of immediately. The lot's proprietor calls a scrap metal hauler who arranges for the RV to be destroyed. Badger tips Jesse off to Walt's plan, and Jesse frantically races to the lot to prevent Walt from taking the RV. Unaware that he is being watched by Hank or that Hank knows about the RV, Jesse leads Hank directly to the lot, where Hank comes perilously close to catching Jesse and Walt in the RV. Hank attempts to break into the RV but is confronted by the scrap metal hauler, who demonstrates a surprising level of fluency in the law of search and seizure and compels Hank to call for a search warrant. As Hank is waiting for the warrant, Walt calls Saul for help. Saul arranges for his secretary to call Hank and tell him that his wife has been in a serious car accident, prompting Hank to leave the RV to tend to his wife. After Hank leaves, the RV is compacted and hauled away. Upon realizing that he had been duped, an enraged Hank confronts Jesse at his home, beating him unconscious. Hank is suspended without pay for the incident and finally opens up about his panic attacks to Marie.

Jesse vows vengeance on Hank but is coaxed out of it by Walt, who offers to make him a partner in the lab. Skyler had asked Walt to speak to Jesse for Hank's sake, and also due to Walt missing his volatile yet successful partnership with Jesse. Gale is fired and Jesse drops the charges against Hank, but before Hank can celebrate, he is tracked down by the Cousins in a parking lot. After being warned by an unknown caller, Hank backs into and crushes Leonel before managing to kill Marco. Hank is shot four times in the incident and is hospitalized in serious condition, but survives the wounds. He refuses to leave the hospital until he can walk again. Walt also discovers that he is a target for the cartel after a legless Leonel angrily crawls towards him at the hospital, but Gus—who reveals that he knew Walt and Hank were brothers-in-law—takes care of it by having Mike poison and kill Leonel in his hospital bed.

Meanwhile, Gus starts a grab for power that kills Juan Bolsa, the head of the Juarez Cartel. Walt realizes that Gus directed the Cousins away from him to Hank in order to put police heat on the cartel, shut down the meth pipeline from Mexico, and dominate the meth trade in the southwest US. Gus tells Walt that he will extend his three-month contract to a full year, paying Walt a total of $15 million. Jesse, unhappy at being a lowly worker under Gus and all the restrictions that earning a large amount of illegal money has, begins to skim some of the meth so he can deal freely on the side. Walter suspects Jesse is skimming, but he denies it when confronted. Hank's health plan will not cover all of the physical therapy he needs, so Skyler—who suspects that Hank's shooting is related to Walt—offers to pay for the bills with Walt's meth profit. She tells Marie that Walt earned the money by card-counting at underground blackjack games. Skyler is brought further into Walt's business when she disagrees with Saul's laundering plans and prepares to handle the laundering herself, revealing that she never filed the divorce papers because married couples do not have to testify against each other. Hank, despite his refusal to go home, leaves after losing a bet to Marie about being able to achieve an erection in his state.

Jesse enters a relationship with a girl named Andrea from his rehab meetings. He learns that her 11-year old brother Tomas was involved with Combo's murder in season two and plans to take revenge on everyone responsible, even though the two dealers work for Gus. When Walter learns that Jesse will be killed if he goes through with his plan for revenge, Walt asks Gus to resolve the situation peacefully. Gus promises Jesse that children will no longer be used in his enterprise and Jesse reluctantly accepts a truce with the dealers. Tomas is shot and killed in a park, setting Jesse back on the path of revenge, as he assumes that the drug dealers were to blame. When Walter learns of the boy's murder, he races to stop a no longer sober Jesse from confronting the dealers. Walter intervenes just in time, running over both dealers with his car. One of the dealers survives and Walt uses the dealer's own gun to execute him. Walt tells Jesse to run.

Gus is furious that Walter helped Jesse escape, who is assumed to be hiding across the country but is still in Albuquerque. Although he agrees to keep Walter on, Gus is ready to eliminate Walter and let the newly rehired Gale take his place, a plan that Walter suspects. Walter and Jesse agree that in order to keep themselves alive, Gale has to be killed so Walter will be the only quality cook and therefore too valuable to be murdered. Walter is prepared to kill Gale himself, but Mike and Victor apprehend Walter and prepare to execute him. Walter bargains for his life by telling Mike and Victor that he will provide Jesse's location in exchange for being allowed to live, but when calling Jesse he instead informs him of his predicament and orders Jesse to kill Gale immediately, nullifying Gus's move to have him murdered and replaced. Jesse goes to Gale's apartment to carry out Walt's order, pointing the gun at Gale as the screen goes to black and a gunshot is heard.

Main cast

  • Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Lee Cranston is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal the father in the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle, and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he won three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...

     as Walter White
    Walter White (Breaking Bad)
    Walter Hartwell "Walt" White is a fictional character and the antihero of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Bryan Cranston and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan...

  • Anna Gunn
    Anna Gunn
    Anna Gunn is an American actress, best known for her roles as Assistant District Attorney Jean Ward on The Practice, Martha Bullock on Deadwood, and, currently, Skyler White on Breaking Bad. She appeared on Seinfeld in the episode "The Glasses" and on the first season of Murder One...

     as Skyler White
  • Aaron Paul
    Aaron Paul
    Aaron Michael Paul is an American actor. After appearing in several roles in American television, including a recurring role on the HBO series Big Love, Paul came to prominence in the late 2000s for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he...

     as Jesse Pinkman
    Jesse Pinkman
    Jesse Bruce Pinkman is a fictional character of the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Aaron Paul and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan.-Background:...

  • Dean Norris
    Dean Norris
    Dean Joseph Norris is an American actor currently starring as DEA agent Hank Schrader, the brother-in-law of main character Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad, which premiered on January 20, 2008.-Biography:...

     as Hank Schrader
  • Betsy Brandt
    Betsy Brandt
    Betsy Brandt is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Marie Schrader in Breaking Bad-Early life:Brandt is a native of Bay City, Michigan. Betsy graduated from Western High School in 1991....

     as Marie Schrader
  • RJ Mitte
    RJ Mitte
    Roy Frank “RJ” Mitte III is an American actor best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC television series, Breaking Bad....

     as Walter White, Jr.
  • Bob Odenkirk
    Bob Odenkirk
    Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...

     as Saul Goodman
  • Giancarlo Esposito
    Giancarlo Esposito
    Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American film and television actor and director.-Early life:Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same...

     as Gustavo "Gus" Fring
    Gus Fring
    Gustavo 'Gus' Fring is a fictional character in the American television drama series Breaking Bad on AMC. He is portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan. Gus is one of the most prominent methamphetamine distributors in the southwest...

  • Jonathan Banks
    Jonathan Banks
    Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...

     as Mike

Recurring cast

  • David Costabile
    David Costabile
    David Costabile is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. He is best known for his recurring television roles on The Wire , Flight of the Conchords , Damages , and Breaking Bad...

     as Gale Boetticher
  • Steven Michael Quezada as Steven Gomez
  • Christopher Cousins as Ted Beneke
  • Emily Rios
    Emily Rios
    Emily Clara Rios is an American actress and model.Rios, a Mexican American, was born in Los Angeles, California. She was raised as a Jehovah's Witness in the city of El Monte, California. Rios was discovered while shopping in an area shopping mall. She has appeared in the short For Them and...

     as Andrea Cantillo
  • Mark Margolis
    Mark Margolis
    Mark Margolis is an American actor who has been making films since 1976.Margolis went to Temple University briefly before moving to New York City, where he studied drama with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio...

     as Don Hector Salamanca aka "Tio"
  • Charles Baker as Skinny Pete
  • Matt L. Jones
    Matt L. Jones
    Matthew L. "Matt" Jones is an American actor and comedian best known for his recurring role as Badger on Breaking Bad and for voicing Gunther on the animated series Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.-Life and career:...

     as Badger Mayhew
  • Luis Moncada and Daniel Moncada as "The Cousins"
  • Jeremiah Bitsui as Victor
  • Angelo Martinez as Tomas

Episodes

  • The first column refers to the episode's number in the overall series.
  • The second column refers to the episode's number in that particular season.

{| class="wikitable" width="100%" style="margin-right: 0;"
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! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| #
! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| Title
! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| Directed by
! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| Written by
! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| Original air date
! style="background-color: #fada00; color: #000000;"| U.S. viewers
(million)
|-
|}

Production

Unlike the second season, when the Breaking Bad writers planned the storyline for the entire season in advance of filming, the writing staff did not fully plan out the third season before production and instead developed the storyline as the episodes progressed.

Home media releases

The third season was released on DVD in Region 1 and on Blu-ray in Region A on June 7, 2011, in Region 4 on November 24, 2010 and in Region 2 in Germany on May 19, 2011.

Special features on the DVD and Blu-ray include nine audio commentaries:
  • "No Mas" by Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Lee Cranston is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal the father in the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle, and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he won three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...

    , Aaron Paul
    Aaron Paul
    Aaron Michael Paul is an American actor. After appearing in several roles in American television, including a recurring role on the HBO series Big Love, Paul came to prominence in the late 2000s for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he...

    , Anna Gunn
    Anna Gunn
    Anna Gunn is an American actress, best known for her roles as Assistant District Attorney Jean Ward on The Practice, Martha Bullock on Deadwood, and, currently, Skyler White on Breaking Bad. She appeared on Seinfeld in the episode "The Glasses" and on the first season of Murder One...

    , Skip MacDonald, Dave Porter, and Michael Slovis
  • "Mas" by Vince Gilligan
    Vince Gilligan
    Vince Gilligan is an American writer, director and producer. He is the creator of the highly acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. Gilligan has also worked on the hit series The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen. He is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University...

    , Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Bob Odenkirk
    Bob Odenkirk
    Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...

    , and Moira Walley-Beckett
    Moira Walley-Beckett
    Moira Walley-Beckett is a Canadian-born, American-based television actress, producer and writer. She has worked on the AMC drama Breaking Bad as a writer and producer and has been nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on the series.-Biography:Walley-Beckett worked throughout...

  • "Sunset" by Vince Gilligan, Dean Norris
    Dean Norris
    Dean Joseph Norris is an American actor currently starring as DEA agent Hank Schrader, the brother-in-law of main character Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad, which premiered on January 20, 2008.-Biography:...

    , John Shiban
    John Shiban
    John Shiban is an Emmy Award nominated American television writer and producer. He worked in both capacities on The X-Files and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen, Star Trek: Enterprise, Smallville, Supernatural, Legend of the Seeker, Breaking Bad and The Vampire Diaries...

    , Kelley Dixon, and Thomas Golubic
  • "One Minute" by Dean Norris, Luis Moncada, Daniel Moncada, Michelle MacLaren
    Michelle MacLaren
    Michelle Maxwell MacLaren is a Canadian television director and producer who has worked on numerous series both in Canada and the United States, and is perhaps best known for her work on shows such as The X-Files, Breaking Bad and most recently Frank Darabont's acclaimed series The Walking Dead...

    , Thomas Schnauz, and Dave Porter
  • "I See You" by Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, Betsy Brandt
    Betsy Brandt
    Betsy Brandt is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Marie Schrader in Breaking Bad-Early life:Brandt is a native of Bay City, Michigan. Betsy graduated from Western High School in 1991....

    , RJ Mitte
    RJ Mitte
    Roy Frank “RJ” Mitte III is an American actor best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC television series, Breaking Bad....

    , and Gennifer Hutchison
  • "Kafkaesque" by Vince Gilligan, Betsy Brandt, George Mastras
    George Mastras
    George Mastras is an American author, television writer and producer. He has worked on all four seasons of the AMC drama Breaking Bad. He won the Pen USA Literary Award in 2009, and was nominated for a 2010 Prime Time Emmy Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and four Writers Guild of America ...

    , and Michael Slovis
  • "Fly" by Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Moira Walley-Beckett
  • "Half Measures" by Bryan Cranston, Adam Bernstein
    Adam Bernstein
    Adam Bernstein is an American film, music video and television director and screenwriter. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey...

    , Bill Powloski, Peter Gould
    Peter Gould (writer)
    Peter Gould is an American television writer and producer. He has worked on all four seasons of the AMC drama Breaking Bad. He had been nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the series.-Biography:...

    , Jonathan Banks
    Jonathan Banks
    Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...

    , and Michael Slovis
  • "Full Measure" by Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, and Jonathan Banks


Behind-the-scene featurettes include:
  • 20 episodes of "Inside Breaking Bad"
  • "Hit and Run"
  • "The Music of Breaking Bad
  • "White Heat: Cranston on Fire"
  • "Pizza of Destiny: Cranston's Greatest Shot"
  • "Silent But Deadly: The Brothers Moncada"
  • "Team S.C.I.E.N.C.E."
  • "AMC News Visits the Breaking Bad Writer's Room"
  • Mini video podcasts for every episode


Also included is a gag reel, deleted scenes, and "Better Call Saul" commercials and testimonials. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is Breaking Bad cast and crew photo collection.

Reception

The third season of Breaking Bad received universal acclaim from critics, scoring 89 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

.

The third season received numerous awards and nominations, including seven Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 nominations with two wins. Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Lee Cranston is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director. He is best known for his roles as Hal the father in the Fox situation comedy Malcolm in the Middle, and Walter White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which he won three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...

 won his third consecutive award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul
Aaron Michael Paul is an American actor. After appearing in several roles in American television, including a recurring role on the HBO series Big Love, Paul came to prominence in the late 2000s for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he...

 won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series after being nominated the previous year. The series received its second consecutive nomination for Outstanding Drama Series; Michael Slovis was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for a One Hour Series; Michelle MacLaren
Michelle MacLaren
Michelle Maxwell MacLaren is a Canadian television director and producer who has worked on numerous series both in Canada and the United States, and is perhaps best known for her work on shows such as The X-Files, Breaking Bad and most recently Frank Darabont's acclaimed series The Walking Dead...

 was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "One Minute"; Skip MacDonald was nominated for Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series; and it was also nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.

The series received four nominations for the Television Critics Association Awards
TCA Awards
The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television excellence. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer.-Categories:...

, including winning for Outstanding Achievement in Drama. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul were each nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama, and the series was nominated for Program of the Year. Cranston also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Cranston received his first Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.

James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...

 of TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

named "One Minute" as the fourth best television episode of 2010. He also included "Fly", "Half Measures" and "Full Measure" on his list of honorable mentions. The Futon Critic listed "Full Measure" as the sixth best episode of 2010, saying that "No show has played with the expectations of we've come to expect from television more than Breaking Bad. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

named Breaking Bad the best television series of 2010.
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