No Más (Breaking Bad)

"No Más" is the first episode of the third season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad. Written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Bryan Cranston, it aired on AMC in the United States on March 21, 2010.

"No Más"
Breaking Bad episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 1
Directed byBryan Cranston
Written byVince Gilligan
Cinematography byMichael Slovis
Editing bySkip Macdonald
Original air dateMarch 21, 2010 (2010-03-21)
Running time47 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

This episode introduces assassins Marco and Leonel Salamanca.

Plot

Leonel and Marco Salamanca make a pilgrimage to a Mexican shrine to Santa Muerte, making an offering and leaving a drawing of Heisenberg at the shrine.

A week after the mid-air plane collision, all of Albuquerque remains in shock. A depressed Walter White is living in his home alone following the departure of his wife, Skyler, who has moved out with their son and newborn daughter to give Walt a chance to pack his things. Walt has pieced together that Donald Margolis inadvertently caused the plane crash after being distracted by his grief over his daughter Jane’s death. Remorseful, he burns several bundles of money on the barbecue, but at the last moment changes his mind and throws the bills into the pool. While helping Walt to transport his belongings to a new apartment, Hank lifts the bag containing the money Walt obtained in his deal with Gus Fring. Walt openly admits the existence of the money, but Hank laughs, believing it to be a joke. Once in his new apartment, Walt calls to give his family his new address. He later receives a text message reading "POLLOS." At a school assembly, Walt becomes agitated as both teachers and students open up about the traumas they experienced due to the plane collision. When prompted to share his thoughts, he delivers an awkward speech comparing the accident to other tragic plane collisions, disturbing the assembled audience by advising them to "look on the bright side".

Skyler speaks to a divorce lawyer about making her separation from Walt permanent but hesitates when the attorney mentions the possibility of uncovering money Walt may have hidden. After being given a ride home from school by his father, Walter, Jr. argues with both his parents and expresses his anger towards Skyler, who refuses to give him an explanation. She also refuses when asked by her sister Marie Schrader. Finally, she confronts Walt, presenting him with divorce papers. When she accuses him of being a drug dealer, Walt admits to being a methamphetamine cook. Skyler storms off, though not before threatening to expose his secret to his children and to Hank if he does not concede to the divorce.

Walt's former business partner, Jesse Pinkman, is in rehab trying to overcome his drug addiction and come to terms with his girlfriend Jane Margolis' death. During one session, the group leader confesses how he killed his own daughter while desperately looking for vodka and says that hating oneself is only an impediment to moving on. Walt picks up Jesse and takes him to his apartment, where Jesse expresses remorse over the events that led to the mid-air collision. Walt tells him he is not responsible for what happened but Jesse calmly insists that he has learned not to shy away from who he really is: "the bad guy". Inspired by this, Walt visits Gus in Los Pollos Hermanos and tells him of his decision to get out of the meth business. Gus presents an offer for Walt to make $3 million for three months' work; Walt briefly reconsiders but ultimately refuses.

Meanwhile, the two Salamanca cousins cross into the US from Mexico hidden in the back of a truck, in search of Heisenberg. They kill their fellow passengers and the driver of the truck before blowing it up.

Production

The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, and directed by Bryan Cranston; it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on March 21, 2010. The title of the episode means "no more" in Spanish, and refers to Walt's decision to quit the meth business.

Reception

Seth Amitin of IGN gave the episode an 8.8 rating, he also stated; Breaking Bad comes back after its eight-month hiatus with "No Mas," "A wonderful and wonderfully-titled episode. The show is mixing its pitches in the season 3 premiere. After a hard plane-crashing fastball, we're getting an emotionally impacted change-up that lands softly into the catcher's mitt. While The A.V Club gave the episode an A rating.[1][2] The episode's original broadcast was viewed by 1.95 million people.[3]

In 2019, The Ringer ranked "No Más" 54th out of the 62 total Breaking Bad episodes.[4]

gollark: I guess it would make sense to swap Yemmel for Lemmmy, considering.
gollark: They aren't *that* dangerous. ni-ctl can just remotely puppet people's bodies to stick them between the person with it and you.
gollark: I'm going to acquire one of them, use a time inverter on an enchanting table to make it disenchant it, and then apply the good* enchantments to a spare GTech™ GSword™.
gollark: Probably 255.
gollark: Don't enchantments cap at 200 or so?

References
  1. Amitin, Seth (19 March 2010). "Breaking Bad: "No Mas" Review".
  2. Bowman, Donna (March 21, 2010). "Breaking Bad: "No Mas"". The A.V. Club.
  3. Julia (April 7, 2010). "Breaking Bad Season 3 Ratings". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
  4. Chris Almeida (September 30, 2019). "The Ringer's Definitive 'Breaking Bad' Episodes Ranking". The Ringer.
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