Say My Name (Breaking Bad)

Plot

Walt, Mike (Jonathan Banks), and Jesse (Aaron Paul) meet with Declan, their Phoenix-based competitor. Instead of agreeing to Declan's offer to purchase the heisted methylamine for $15 million in exchange for removing Walt's blue meth from the drug market, Walt offers a counterproposal: to sell his superior product through Declan's southwest distribution network in exchange for a substantial share of the business and a one-time, $5 million payment to Mike for his share. Frustrated with having to negotiate with Walt, Declan demands to know who he is. Refusing to back down, Walt insists that Declan already knows his name and demands that Declan say it. When Walt informs him that it was he who killed Gus Fring, Declan resignedly realizes and acknowledges Walt as Heisenberg.

As Mike leaves with his $5 million, he informs Walt that he will continue to pay the legacy costs of hazard payments to Fring's men out of his own money, but that Walt must remove the eavesdropping bugs planted earlier in Hank's (Dean Norris) office before a sweep is performed by the DEA. Walt avoids Jesse's attempts to get his share of the money and leave the business. Meanwhile, Mike learns through the bugs that the DEA has a search warrant for his house. He gets rid of his weapons and stashes a go bag with cash, a passport, and a gun in an airport parking lot. When Hank and Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada) search his house, they find nothing. Later, Hank is instructed by his superior that he must end his surveillance of Mike and proceed with other cases due to budgetary considerations. Not being instructed otherwise, Hank decides to have Gomez follow Mike's attorney, Dan (Chris Freihofer), who has been placing cash in various safe deposit boxes to facilitate the transfer of the hazard payments and to set aside money for Mike's granddaughter Kaylee (Kaija Roze Bales). Gomez successfully catches Dan in the act and apprehends him.

Jesse confronts Walt and demands his share of the money. Walt becomes hostile and accuses Jesse of having nothing in his life, but his attempts to manipulate Jesse fail and Jesse ultimately leaves without his money, angering Walt further. Walt is forced to cook his next batch of meth with Todd (Jesse Plemons), who proves to be much more subordinate and better at following orders than Jesse. Pretending to be distraught over Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt visits Hank at his office and manages to remove the bugs, but overhears Gomez telling Hank that they have arrested Dan and that he plans on telling everything he knows about Mike. Walt frantically calls Mike, who is at a park with his granddaughter, and tells him the DEA is coming for him. Upon the arrival of the local police, Mike is forced to flee the park without saying goodbye to his granddaughter.

Mike calls Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and asks him to retrieve the go bag for his getaway, but Saul fears the DEA will follow him. When Jesse volunteers to help, Mike refuses his assistance, leaving Walt to retrieve the bag. When Walt meets with Mike, he refuses to hand over the bag unless Mike tells him the names of the nine men he is paying off. Mike refuses and, angered by Walt's insistence that Mike owes him gratitude, proceeds to insult Walt's pride, insisting the entire situation could have been avoided if Walt had continued to work for Gus and hadn't killed him, and that all that is happening to them is because of his ego. He walks back to his car, and Walt storms off momentarily, but then walks over to Mike's car. Once in his car, Mike realizes his gun is missing from the getaway bag, just as Walt uses it to shoot him through the car window. Mike tries to run away, but - mortally wounded - ultimately resigns himself to sitting on a log by the river. After Walt catches up to him, Walt realizes he could have just asked Madrigal executive Lydia (Laura Fraser) for the names of the employees and that shooting Mike was unnecessary. As Walt stammers an apology, Mike tells him to shut up and let him die in peace; after a moment of silence, he falls off the log, dead.

Production

The episode was written and directed by Thomas Schnauz and aired on AMC on August 26, 2012.

This episode marks the final appearance of Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). Show creator Vince Gilligan talked about Mike's death and why it was one of his favorite moments of the series:

Ratings

"Say My Name" was watched by 2.98 million viewers and received a 1.4 rating among viewers aged 18-49, the series' highest ratings at the time.

Critical reception

The episode received highly positive reviews from critics with many critics singling out Jonathan Banks and Bryan Cranston for particular praise. The episode is recognized by many critics as one of the best in the series. TV Fanatic's Matt Richenthal gave "Say My Name" a five-star rating, calling it "one of the best in series history." Seth Amitin of IGN gave the episode a 9 out of 10 rating, calling it "mind-blowing", but stating that "I hate to see Mike go out like that. He deserved more. I literally can't give this higher than a 9.0, it was just too sad of an ending." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix thought the episode was "a mostly tremendous episode of a drama", adding the death of Mike "is just a gorgeous, devastating scene."

Thomas Schnauz was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for writing this episode.