Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad (2008)

219 mistakes since 22 Jan '17, 00:00

(26 votes)

Dead Freight - S5-E5

Plot hole: Preparing to steal methylamine from the train, Walt, Jesse and Mike measure off a predetermined distance from the railroad crossing, which happens to coincide with a handy arroyo, where they bury their tanks. Problem is that they couldn't have known that distance (calculated by knowing the position of the methylamine tanker car in the train) until Lydia told them. But she didn't call that info in until the night after they'd already buried the tanks.

Rattletrap

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Suggested correction: They were counting on the tankers being at the back of the train, far enough away and at a curved angle so that the conductors wouldn't see them, and the hoses they were using would have been long enough to reach the tankers on either side of the one they stole from. Their heist hinged on a lot of educated guesses and luck, especially because they would have had to abort if the tanker was at the front of the train, but being lucky doesn't make it a plot hole.

Phaneron

I'd have to respectfully disagree. When they paced off the distance to the trestle over the arroyo, they had a particular number in mind (814). It's not explained whether this number represented knowledge of how far back the tank car would be if the engine stopped at the crossing. But if it did, how could they have known that? Not even Lydia knew until much later. And why would they assume the tank car would be toward the back of the train? Lydia doesn't mention that. When she calls Walt, all she says is, "I've got it." And even if she were to tell him, at that point everything's in place for the heist to happen at the location where the tank are buried.

Rattletrap

IIRC the crew contacted an expert on hazardous materials shipping for advice on the scene. Rail guidelines require tankers containing hazardous materials are at a minimum "six-deep", that is, six cars away from the engine. Lydia probably told them in advance how long the train would be in terms of cars, so they had a rough guideline for which three or four tankers could possibly contain the methylamine. From there, it seems like their hoses were long enough to get to any of the other cars.

The 814 feet was to ensure that the spot they chose would be far enough away from the conductors so as to not be seen. And they weren't assuming the tankers would be at the back, they were just hoping they would be. As I mentioned, if the tankers were at the front, they wouldn't have been able to move forward with the mission. Lydia told them they would only have 6 hours to prepare for the heist after she told them where the tanker would be. That wouldn't have been enough time for them to get an excavator out there and dig the holes for their own tanks to transfer the methylamine into, so they had to guess the best spot to do it ahead of time and hope that's where it would end up being.

Phaneron

Ozymandias - S5-E14

Visible crew/equipment: Skyler pulls up in her car at the home, talking to Walter Jr. about the truck in the driveway. During this scene the camera comes down to her side of the car. Its reflection is visible in the glass of the driver's side window. (00:32:50)

manthabeat

Gliding Over All - S5-E8

Factual error: When going over the logistics of the plan to kill the ten men in prison, Jack tells Walt that killing Osama Bin Laden was less complicated. Breaking Bad takes place over a period of two years, beginning with Walt's birthday in 2008, and ending on his birthday in 2010. Bin Laden wasn't killed until May of 2011. (00:15:23)

Phaneron

Fifty-One - S5-E4

Factual error: The temporary paper license on the back window of Walt's new car has an expiration of 12 August 2012, the year the episode was released in our time. However, in the Breaking Bad world, it should still be 2009. (00:08:10)

No Mas - S3-E1

Factual error: The final scene of the episode, the cousins are hiding with other migrants amid a farm truck's bales of straw. One of the migrants claims they are in Texas. However, the mountains in the distance are the Manzano Mountains which are just several miles southeast of Albuquerque, more than 200 miles away from the border with Texas and Mexico. The migrant claims he has gone through this route 3 times, so it is unlikely this would simply be a character mistake.

lithium2001

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He could have just been boasting, whilst not actually knowing where he is. He is just a kid after all.

lionhead

Worse than all of that, is the fact that you can't get directly from Mexico into Texas without traversing a river. There are no land routes.

There are no bridges?

lionhead

4 Days Out - S2-E9

Visible crew/equipment: The boom mic is visible above Walter as he tries to convince Jesse he is too dehydrated to walk after they are stranded in the middle of the desert in the RV with a dead battery. (00:34:27)

Bug - S4-E9

Factual error: Walt and Jesse are fighting and Walt dislodges a copy of the videogame Rage from a cupboard. Rage was released more than 2 years after the time this episode was set. (00:44:30)

Show generally

Audio problem: Throughout the series the engine sound from Walt's Pontiac Aztek sounds like a 4-cylinder engine, but the Aztek was only ever available with a V6.

Breaking Bad mistake picture

4 Days Out - S2-E9

Visible crew/equipment: When Jesse declares he's going to start walking and sits up in the cot, Walt reaches out to him and a boom mic is visible at the top of the screen. (00:34:25)

Video

ABQ - S2-E13

Factual error: When the planes crash over Albuquerque, when the bear is falling towards Walt's house, there is a quick shot of Albuquerque suburbia and mountains. Two major streets are visible, the one on the right is Eubank Blvd and the one in the lower left is Wyoming Blvd, both which run north and south through the city. This means the shot is facing north. There are no mountains immediately north of Albuquerque as shown. The closest mountain range, the Sandia Mountains, are on the east side and wouldn't be in that shot. The closest mountain range in the north are the Jemez Mountains, which are 40 miles away. They would barely be visible in that shot (they would look like blue hills in the distance).

aassed

ABQ - S2-E13

Other mistake: When the bear is falling through the sky after the plane crash, it is shown through its point of view. When it starts falling, a shot of northern Albuquerque is shown but when the bear turns over, suddenly it is facing the east. Eubank Blvd is a major north and south street, is seen in the shot of the north. In the latter shot, Candelaria Rd, which is a east and west street is visible. When the bear spun over, it should be showing Eubank Blvd going south.

aassed

One Minute - S3-E7

Character mistake: When Hank is asked to hand over his gun and badge, he just puts his loaded gun on the table. When, in fact, you would remove the magazine and bullet in the chamber before handing it over.

Green Light - S3-E4

Other mistake: When Gus and Mike meet up in the parking lot, Mike hands Gus a copy of Walter's medical report. When the camera pans down to show the report in Gus' hand, the patient name listed is Jack Test and not Walter White. (00:30:04)

Casual Person

Grilled - S2-E2

Continuity mistake: When at Tuco's house, Jesse is first shown emptying his pockets and then getting everything back, even going as far as showing the clean table at the first timestamp, but when he's back at his car at the second timestamp, he doesn't have his keys, supposedly left at the table. (00:32:23 - 00:43:24)

Fly - S3-E10

Character mistake: After Walt tries to slap the fly on the paper, he lifts his hand and the math is wrong. He has 2,103 + 9,745 = 11,928 and 6,012 + 7,287 = 13,301. But the actual sums are 11,848 and 13,299.

Bishop73

Hazard Pay - S5-E3

Other mistake: Jesse and his girlfriend and Brock are all apparently playing the video game, but when they show the TV it's only split screen so only 2 are really playing.

Gliding Over All - S5-E8

Visible crew/equipment: Walt just ordered to kill all Mike's witnesses in prison. While it shows one of them stop in front of the locked door and get killed by the other prisoners, a cameraman is reflected in the glass door.

Cornered - S4-E6

Walter White: Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up. Disappears. It ceases to exist, without me. No, you don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. I AM the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No! I am the one who knocks!

More quotes from Breaking Bad

Phoenix - S2-E12

Trivia: The website Walter Jr. creates to raise money for Walter Sr. can be found at http://www.savewalterwhite.com/. The donation link used to send the viewer to a legitimate cancer charity's website, but now just goes to AMC's home page. (00:20:00)

Ssiscool

More trivia for Breaking Bad

Caballo sin Nombre - S3-E2

Question: When Saul buys Jesse's house from his parents, he said that he showed their lawyer, Mr. Gardner, "all the pertinent financials", meaning $875,000 in cash available to buy the house. Jesse only had $450,000 and that money was not in any account. How did Saul show Mr. Gardner that he had $875,000 in cash?

dweezel7

Answer: Saul is a criminal himself. It's not past his capabilities to forge some documents to show the 857k is available.

Ssiscool

Forged documents by Saul is most likely the correct answer.

The_Iceman

Answer: Saul has a stash of cash himself, hidden in his office. It's possible he used some of that instead as part of the scheme instead of having to go through the effort of falsifying documents.

Phaneron

Answer: In all likelihood, he sold some more meth.

Captain Defenestrator

At the time, they were not producing enough Meth to get that much money in the time frame of the events.

Ssiscool

More questions & answers from Breaking Bad

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