Synopsis: Walt's family worries when he doesn't turn up for Walter, Jr.'s 16th birthday. Jesse is forced to put his lab skills to the test without Mr. White's help.
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"Salud" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the forty-third episode altogether.
Jesse, Mike, and Gus stand together out in the desert. After a long period of silence, the sound of a single-engine plane is heard before it lands nearby. The trio board the plane, with Jesse looking nervous while Gus looks at him.
At the White residence, it's Walt Jr.'s sixteenth birthday. Unable to reach Walt, Skyler surprises Junior with a Chrysler PT Cruiser parked in the driveway. Though underwhelmed, Junior politely thanks his mother, which quietly disappoints Skyler. Meanwhile, Ted visits Saul's office and is informed by Saul that his long-lost "Great-Aunt Birgit" from Luxembourg has left him $621,552.33 — almost precisely the amount of his debt to the IRS. Ted insists he knows nothing about a great-aunt, but upon hearing the amount of inheritance is all too happy to ignore the details.
In Mexico, Jesse, Mike, and Gus sit blindfolded as they are driven to the Cartel's superlab. The lab's chief chemist, Benicio, takes an instant dislike to Jesse, and maligns him when it becomes apparent that he doesn't know how to synthesize phenylacetic acid, a basic ingredient. Jesse takes charge, telling Benicio that if he wants to make a superior product, he has to do it Jesse's way. He also criticizes the lab's dingy conditions and, channeling Walt, announces that no cooking will take place until all contaminants have been eliminated . As the lab's staff begin cleaning the place, Gus and Mike are quietly proud and impressed with how Jesse is handling himself.
Walt Jr. drives to Walt's apartment and rings the doorbell. Walt initially doesn't respond until his son leaves a voicemail message threatening to call 9-1-1. His face still battered from his fight with Jesse, Walt opens the door in his underwear and lets his son in. After lying to Walt Jr. that his injuries were the result of a fight that came out of his "gambling addiction," Walt breaks down in tears, stating that he made a mistake and that he deserved the beating. Walt Jr. comforts Walt and takes him to bed. As he drifts back to sleep, Walt sleepily asks his son if he enjoyed his birthday and his car before groggily referring to him as Jesse, which Walt Jr. notices.
At the Cartel superlab, workers observe and videotape Jesse as he begins the cook alone, lasting all night. The following morning, Benicio analyzes the finished product in the gas chromatograph. After a tense few moments, the batch tests 96.2 percent pure. Jesse is ecstatic with relief; while his product is not as pure as Walt's 99%, it is still far superior to the Cartel's. To Jesse's alarm, however, he is told that he will now be effectively sold into servitude to the Cartel and remain in Mexico.
Saul visits the car wash and shows Skyler a credit report indicating that Ted leased a new Mercedes-Benz three hours after receiving the money, proving Saul's belief that Ted was not going to use the money to pay the IRS.
Meanwhile, Walt wakes up and sees that Walt Jr. spent the night on the sofa. Apologizing for his behavior, Walt details how he witnessed his own father wasting away from Huntington's disease and that it's the only memory he has of him; he adds that he doesn't want his son to remember him in a similar manner. Walt Jr. disagrees, saying that that "bad way" to remember him would be "the way you've been this whole last year." and that it wouldn't be so bad to remember him the way he was last night since he was "being real." Walt merely looks at his son stone-faced in response. Once Walt Jr. leaves, Tyrus, who was parked nearby, pulls into Walt's driveway and asks him if there's somewhere he should be.
Skyler goes to Beneke Fabricators and demands that Ted explain his lavish spending. Ted explains that he needed the Mercedes-Benz to present a successful image as he is using the money he just received to restart the business. Skyler reminds him that he should be using the money to pay the IRS, to which Ted replies that he would eventually but hopes that he can hire a lawyer to get him a better deal. Skyler retorts that Ted had already agreed in writing to pay the IRS by the end of the week and that the agreement is the one thing keeping him out of prison. Ted that lashes back that Skyler is not a part of his life anymore and that it is his money before telling her to leave. Skyler then looks at him and asks if he genuinely thinks he got that money from "great-aunt Birgit," causing Ted to realize that Skyler gave him the money.
Back in Mexico, Mike, Jesse and Gus visit Don Eladio's hacienda; Gus stands next to the pool where his partner Max was murdered years earlier. Gus opens a case and swallows some pills which seems to have no immediate effect. Jesse complains about being left in Mexico, but Mike promises that either they are all going home or none of them are. After being introduced to Jesse, Eladio spots a gift box Gus brought along which contains a bottle of Zafiro Añejo tequila. He has a waiter pour shots for everyone except Mike and Gaff. Gus stops Jesse from drinking, telling Eladio in Spanish that Jesse is an addict and can only work if sober. Poised for a toast, Eladio warily waits for Gus to drink first, as he finds the drink suspicious; Gus does so as a show of good faith. When Gus downs his glass, Eladio and his capos follow suit. Eladio then brings out his cartel girls to begin the celebration.
During the party, Eladio notices that Gus is sitting by himself near the spot where Max died instead of celebrating. Sitting next to him, Eladio tells Gus that emotion should not be a factor in their work and that business is business. Gus then asks to use the bathroom, and Eladio asks one of his men to escort Gus and ensure he does not wander off. Once inside, Gus lays a towel in front of the toilet, kneels, and very calmly forces himself to vomit. Meanwhile, Eladio becomes physically unsteady while each of his capos begin to drop dead. Gaff moves to assist Eladio, but Mike slips in from behind and garrotes him. Gus tidies up and leaves the bathroom, stepping out to confront Eladio next to the pool. Realizing that Gus has poisoned him, Eladio lunges at him but collapses into the pool, dead. On Mike's order, Jesse pulls a gun from one of the deceased capos while Mike removes Eladio's necklace from his corpse.
Gus begins to falter, the antidote pill he took earlier not counteracting all of the poison. As Mike and Jesse draw their weapons, Gus musters the strength to shout to the reinforcements that they have no one to fight for since Eladio and his capos are dead, and instead tells them to fill their pockets and leave. Mike and Jesse prop up Gus and proceed through the house as the staff flee with piles of cash in hand. In the driveway, Jesse finds a car with keys in it, and Mike eases Gus inside. Seconds later, Mike is shot in the gut. Jesse wheels around and fires multiple rounds at the gunman, killing him. With Gus and an injured Mike in the car, Jesse jumps into the driver's seat and floors it out of the compound.
