Breaking Bad: Every Major Death Ranked

If Walter White’s evolution from meek chemist to ruthless drug lord is the show’s overriding arc, the development of Hank Schrader from brash knucklehead cop to Breaking Bad’s de facto hero is almost as impressive. Our understanding of Hank becomes deeper, and by Season Five many of us were hoping he’d capture Walter and put an end to the madness.

He doesn’t, obviously, because there was plenty of show left to go at that point. We didn’t expect him to get his man and receive a medal; neither did we expect him to take a bullet from a Nazi in the middle of the desert, alongside longtime partner Steve Gomez, and be buried in the sand never to be found.

It’s a heartbreaking moment, the latest in a long line of atrocities in which Walt is complicit. Walter never wanted his brother-in-law to be murdered, of course, but the chain of events he set into motion led ultimately to this.

Hank goes out like a badass, delivering an ice cold send-off, no begging, no pleading. This is no hero’s death, though - just another in a long line of horrible acts caused in some way by Walter’s terrible choices.