How could Walter White leave the book in the bathroom? | Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad cast Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk and creator Vince Gilligan at the The New York Times talks panel 2013

[ludwigmises]

Walter just didn’t think about it. The only person in the world who could’ve understood the importance of the inscription in the book, was Hank.

[wyskass]

I think Vince's idea is most realistic. If you look at how criminals get caught, it's rarely some dramatic arrogance or meaningful event. He simply didn't think about it, it was just his bathroom, and was overlooked. The banality of it is a perfect representation of how random or seemingly insignificant events can change the course of lives. As they say a criminal must never make a mistake, and nobody can be perfect forever. The banality of this is most poetic to me.

[seeker.]

Better Question, why is hank dropping a deuce in the master bath. You do not use the master bath if its not yours.

[Syryu]

I always took it as it just something that he overlooked. It syncs up with what Skylar told him in Season 3 after they bought the car wash and Walt bought an expensive drink. She tells him that for the whole operation to work and remaining working, EVERYTHING needs to be accounted for and tie into the story they tell people. The smallest irregularity, the smallest inconsistency, the slightest oversight could bring everything crashing down.

And that's exactly what happened.

[matthewtuckey]

Fring to Heisenberg: "You are not a cautious man at all."

[tacticalpossum]

I've always just accepted that he got careless. Police catch people all the time with stuff that you'd never in a million years think somebody would be able to find and link to a crime.

[mikehall]

I agree wholeheartedly with Gilligan, everyone, even the most careful geniuses, slip into complacency. It’s called being a human being.

[moxxy]

I can't see Walter White when I look at Bryan Cranston being his normal self. That is the mark of a good actor.

[krueger]

Also, Walter was nowhere near as calculated as Mike or Gus. He was sloppy and came close to getting caught so many times and had to get Mike or Saul to help him. The biggest reason Mike never wanted to work with him was because of his sloppiness.

[ariel]

I think Vince is right. The irony of doing big maneuvers successfully and then getting caught because of a stupid slip up like not placing a random book in a particular place is exactly the beauty of it all. His arrogance from his many successes goes to show that while being brilliany, he's still flawed

[MaxMustermann-goxf]

Walter got so close to being caught by Hank so many times. Hank missed so many clues before... why would Walt all of a sudden suspect that this seemingly innocuous piece of evidence would not only be found by Hank by pure coincidence, Hank not being the type to read poetry, but also that Hank would read the inscription, rather than going straight to one of the poems, and would then piece it together, remembering a specific detail from his investigation from months ago. That last point sounds more like Hank, but would Walt consider that? Only if he were extremely cautious and methodical in covering his tracks, which he is not, as he demonstrated many times throughout the show.

[zeus]

For the writer to say that the audience’s opinion is every bit as valid as his own… that’s a level of humility that makes Gilligan’s work more commendable

[MrShedinthepeg]

My take from the situation was that Walt kept the book due to ego. The inscription was flattering, so he just couldn’t bear to part with it

[mikemoss]

1:00 "he was not as cautious as he should have been"

"I don't think we're alike at all, Mr. White. You're not a cautious man at all." -Gus Fring

[Kredorish]

Considering he was frantically looking for the book and couldn’t sleep the episode after implies it was mostly an accident that he left the book there. But why the writers chose to to let Walter forget is another question.

[xthewated]

Walt had several close calls with Hank and Hank seemed oblivious to each one. He likely never would’ve expected Hank of all people to randomly grab a poetry book out of his bathroom, read the inscription, and piece together the whole implication in seconds.

[MrDuneedon]

Vince's comment about the book inscription resonates with me. A few years ago, my brother had a book sent to me ('Lincoln in the Bardo, ' by George Saunders), and I thanked him for it, but always thought my brother's reaction back to me was a bit strange -- like he was disappointed with the way I reacted. A year afterwards, when I finally got around to reading it, I noticed the title page was inscribed personally to me, from the author, with a nice little hand-drawn doodle from the author, too. Turns out, my brother had met him at a book signing. I immediately phoned my brother and offered my apologies for my extreme oversight.

[ezracarson]

I think Walt's complacency was specifically driven by the fact that he chose to believe that Gale didn't matter. He consistently belittled, disrespected, and under appreciated Gale in order to feel powerful and stroke his ego. When Hank finally figures it out, it's made possible because Gale was a good guy, who just liked doing chemistry, and because Walt was so arrogant he literally forgot. Gale gets a posthumous win just for being kind enough to give Walt a gift.

[willb]

The way vince addressed and answered the question made me respect him even more than I already did

[skycloud]

To really sell the idea of how much more careless Walt became overtime, there's an intentional contrast between the 2nd season when Walk berates Jesse for bringing a meth lab to an airport, then later at the very end of Season 4, Jesse berates Walt instead, after Walt just brought a bomb into a hospital.