From $737,000 to $80 Million | Walter White’s Vision VS Legacy

When Walter White (Bryan Cranston) White first put on his hazmat suit, he wasn’t dreaming of mountains of cash or criminal empires. As a matter of fact, he was feeling so sad and embarrassed that he could hardly accept the fact that he’s now breaking the law in order to provide above his weight. His cancer diagnosis was a real nightmare for him, and that became an exact reason to get involved in such law-breaking activities.

He was a dying high school chemistry teacher, and he had only one goal after his diagnosis and that was to leave $737000 for his family, just enough to pay off the mortgage, cover his kid’s college, and make sure his family survived without him. Then how did he end up with $80 million at the end of the series?

So, let’s break down how a man who only wanted a few hundred thousand ended up with a fortune that could last generations.

Walter’s original plan | Just enough to provide

Walt never aimed for such a lifestyle that drug lords usually aim for. In the beginning, he never aimed to have huge villas, exotic cars, and superior living. When he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he already knew that he was not able to leave as much for his family, and he couldn’t even fight and treat his cancer, as he was a mediocre school teacher. So, he founded an easy way to leave a affordable fortune.

Walt was never afraid of getting caught in the beginning. He already knew that if he could get caught somehow, he would not spend the rest of his life in prison, because he would be dead anyway.

Another interesting fact is that when Walt began cooking meth with his partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), he never planned to earn $737K. He just planned to earn enough so his family could survive after his death, but that twist was added in the series because of Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz). He literally scared both of his cooks at the very beginning of their business, which was obviously not a good thing for them, as they were simple citizens, not gangsters.

Tuco behaves like an animal while making a deal with two cooks who have just entered in the business. Moreover, these two cooks had never dealt with such situations in their lives. That one awkward incident made Walt come to the decision that he had to deal with Tuco in a public place so they could never be harmed.

After Tuco’s violent drama, Walt sits in the car with Jesse and does the math:

• 2 pounds per week.
• Tuco is paying $35,000 per pound of meth
• That’s $70,000 per week

Now, to reach his $737,000 goal, Walt calculates:

737,000÷70,000=11weeks

So Walt made only 2 public deals with Tuco and planned to make 11 more deals in order to hit his target and then quit for good. This is how we (as an audience) came to realize Walter’s vision.

Walt calculated all the expenditures from his crime earnings just like a chemical equation.

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Gus Fring’s offer | Walt’s first step to a turning point

After so much chaos among his family, the great Heisenberg finally decides to leave this business and live a clean life, so he could get his wife back and spend the rest of his days in peace. After all, he got the good news about his health as well after his surgery. But the sad part was that all of his lies were caught in a single second when he was on a hospital bed, which made him realize that he had to leave this filthy work.

Then comes one of the main antagonists of the series, Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), who made an amusing offer to Walter. He offered $3 million for 3 months of his time, no more, no less. At first, Walt resisted, as he came to a realization that he was not a criminal. Suddenly, Walt could see a future where he made far more than his original target. And with that offer, his mindset began to shift. This was the first turning point.

From a simple provider to an Empire Builder

As Walt’s skills brought him recognition in the drug world, his motives changed. After he killed Gus Fring, he felt real power and saw an ocean of opportunities to cook and sell and create a fortune that could last a generation. He wanted power, respect, and control over everything and everyone.

I’m not in the meth business. I’m in the empire business (Season 5 Episode 6 – Buyout)

Heisenberg revealed his new and actual intentions in front of his partner Jesse in the 5th season. While explaining to Jesse how he was cheated in his early age, when his own teammates stole his plan and built millions based on his idea, that is worth $2 billion in the present time.

He mentioned that he’s not wasting his potential by sitting at home doing nothing. He planned to create a legacy that everyone will remember, especially in the crime world. On the other hand, his partner assisted in moving on, as now they had enough money to enjoy the rest of their lives, but that was the time when Mr. White began to feel like a real boss, so he planned to run his empire on his own.

The Final Numbers | The storage unit of cash

In the 5th season, when Skyler (Anna Gunn) mentioned to her husband how much money they had made, she finally managed to convince him to stop cooking. She mentioned that she can’t even count the money her husband has made in a single year. The money was growing so fast that they had to rent a private storage unit where they could hide all that illegal money. That was an estimated amount of $80 million.

The best part is that he had $80 million left after his treatment, buying a car wash, wasting a lot of money on his stupid decisions, and buying his two executive cars (one of them was burned just for fun, which was a Dodge Challenger).

After this wonderful sight of cash, Heisenberg was finally satisfied and decided to leave this empire of meth and retire himself, so he could spend his remaining time with his family, and he did this for real. But, finally, when it was time to leave all the ugliness behind, his time came to answer for his crimes, and unfortunately, he was caught by Hank (Dean Norris).

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Heisenberg’s downfall | Where did all the money go?

Well, despite all his efforts, he was never able to spend all his money on himself, or even on his family. He wanted to spend all that money on his own family, especially on his children, but by the end of the series, he became so overconfident and blind in power that he even forgot that he could also be cheated despite all his cleverness and intelligence.

Now the main question arises, where did all the money go? So, a new twist comes into Walt and Jesse’s life, even in their business, when they start working with Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Laura Fraser) and Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemons), who become real antagonists and game changers in the finale, and were the main reasons for the downfall of Heisenberg, and even Jesse Pinkman.

When our meth expert was finally caught, he made a mistake calling Todd’s uncle Jack (Michael Bowen), who was a hired assassin of Walter. When he saw a mountain of cash for the first time in his life, he even betrayed his own boss and captured all the barrels of money Walter had made in his entire criminal career. He left one barrel to Walt, as a gesture of goodwill, or whatever, as a viewer, we call this.

In the series wrap-up, we can see how Walt finally said goodbye to his family. He had $9 million left, which he used to disappear and buy a new identity for himself. Moreover, he purchased a lot of goods while he was in exile, and managed to buy weapons and a car for himself, which he later used to free Jesse.

He told Skyler that he had given $9,720,000 to Elliott (Adam Godley) and Gretchen (Jessica Hecht) with instructions to put it in a trust fund for Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) and Holly once they turn 18. By the end of the series, Walt’s empire had crumbled. All his money vanished, stolen, seized, and destroyed in the chaos of his downfall.

So he built around $80 million from his drug empire and managed to leave $9,720,000 for his family.