"Bullet Points" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 37th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on August 7, 2011.
Plot
Mike Ehrmantraut rides in the back of a Los Pollos Hermanos refrigerator truck on a meth delivery run. The truck suddenly screeches to a halt as it is forced off the road by a pair of hijackers. Mike quickly pulls out his gun and listens as the gunmen pull the driver from the cab and shoot him in the head. He then takes cover as the gunmen raise Heckler & Koch MP5K submachine guns and shoot up the trailer. After firing two volleys, the gunmen break into the truck, only to be promptly shot dead by Mike. Only after he steps out of the truck does the audience find that one bullet has grazed his right ear.
Walter and Skyler White prepare an elaborate story about Walter having a gambling addiction and a successful card counting method. They hope it will explain how they can pay for Hank Schrader's medical bills and purchase a car wash (that will actually be used to launder Walter's meth profits). Walter remains too distracted to put much effort into the charade and is worried about how Walter White Jr. will perceive him. During a family dinner at Hank and Marie Schrader's, Skyler and Walter tell everyone the gambling addiction story, but Hank and Walter Jr. turn out to be impressed by it.
Later, Walter is shocked to learn that Hank is investigating Gale Boetticher's murder. Hank says that he believes that Gale was the elusive Heisenberg and expresses regret that he was not able to arrest him. When asked by Hank to read about a chemical process written in Gale's lab notes, Walt notices a line from a Walt Whitman poem and a dedication: "W.W. My Star, My Perfect Silence." When Hank mentions the initials matching Walt's, Walt jokingly admits "you got me," before telling Hank that "W.W." refers to the poet. When Walt asks Hank about the investigation, he learns that the only leads are some fingerprints and an eyewitness spotted at the scene. Hearing about this evidence, Walt is spooked and worries that the police will connect Jesse Pinkman to the murder.
Walter goes to Jesse's house and is disgusted by its condition, as it is now being used as a crack house by addicts and vagrants. Jesse is adamant nothing can connect him to Gale's murder, but when he is asked if he picked up the shell casing from the gun (which could have his fingerprints on it), it is revealed he did not. When he is further questioned about the murder, Jesse starts to panic due to the memory of it and pays two druggies to kick Walter out of the house. Walter later laments to Saul Goodman about how the meth business is falling apart because no one is acting professionally, and rejects an offer to go into hiding.
Jesse's detached complacency eventually leads to all of his meth money being stolen from his house, but Mike quickly recovers it and warns Jesse that he's on thin ice. Jesse is apathetic about the loss and recovery, leading Mike to tell Gus Fring that Jesse's lack of professionalism is a problem for the organization, and they must intervene. Jesse does not show up at the lab the next day and Walter realizes that he has been kidnapped. The episode ends with Mike driving Jesse to an unknown destination. When he asks Jesse if he would like to know where they are going, the only reply is a simple "nope."
Production
"Bullet Points" was written by Moira Walley-Beckett and directed by Colin Bucksey, the third Breaking Bad episode he directed after "Phoenix" in season two and "I See You" in season three. During the cold open scene, one of Gus' drug-smuggling trucks is attacked by members of a Mexican drug cartel. This is a reference to what series creator Vince Gilligan refers to as a brewing "cold war" between Gus and the cartel due to Gus' actions against them during the third season. The scene in "Bullet Points" is the first reference to this storyline since the third-season finale "Full Measure", when Mike killed several cartel henchmen who had taken over one of Gus' chemical supply warehouses. To create the bullet holes that strike the truck Mike is hiding inside, the special effects department drilled, wired and hand-planted 380 squib explosives onto the truck, including 150 on each side of the vehicle and 80 for the back door. Two sets of the back door were used, one for the view of shots being fired at the exterior of the door and one for the view of the interior.