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You are the hottest client I have ever had. By far.
~ Ed to escaping methamphetamine kingpin Walter White.
If you believe that you can pull on people’s heartstrings, you should take your chances with the police. From where I sit, you made your own luck. As did your former partner. As did your lawyer. You said it yourself, a deal’s a deal.
~ Ed to Jesse.

Edward "Ed" Galbraith, also known as the Disappearer, is a supporting character in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

He is a cautious yet very resourceful man operating as both a vacuum cleaner salesman and a criminal "disappearer" who successfully harbors Walter White, Saul Goodman, and Jesse Pinkman at different times in the Breaking Bad-Better Call Saul universe.

He is portrayed by the late Robert Forster.

Personality[]

Ed is an extremely intelligent and cautious person who follows a direct set of rules when committing his crimes. If anyone were to violate these rules he would refuse service. Although Ed regularly rejects those who violate his rules, it is shown that he can show sympathy for someone. He ends up giving Jesse a second chance when he saw how desperate he was and he also gives Saul a second chance for the same reason.

Biography[]

Season 4[]

Walter ends up feeling threatened by Gustavo Fring, he turns to Saul who mentions Ed. Walt turns down the idea, wanting another solution that doesn't involve running away. Later, when Gus is moving in to get Walt's brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, assassinated, Walt calls for Ed's contact details from Saul. Walt ends up going home to collect the money for the extraction but he doesn't have the sufficient amount of money due to Skyler White giving the money to Ted Beneke.

Season 5[]

Walt and Saul arrange to get Ed to extract and get Jesse out of town to avoid prosecution in connection to Heisenberg but Jesse ends up finding out about Walt's manipulation and poisoning of Brock so he forfeits the extraction.

Walter and Saul flee to New Hampshire and Nebraska respectively with the help of Ed. Walter lives months in isolation but later comes back to atone for everything he's done and dies in the process. Saul ends up living out his days as Gene Takavic who runs a Cinnabon and suffers from constant paranoia of anyone suspecting him to be Saul Goodman.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie[]

After Jesse escapes Jack Welker and his gang's clutches with the help of Walter, he enlists Ed to give him a second chance after collecting one third of Todd's money. Ed ends up feeling sympathy for Jesse and allows him a second chance at his services but he requires double the amount of money. Jesse ends up having $1,800 dollars short of the money he needs and he refuses to leave, leaving Ed to call the police on Jesse to get him away from him. Jesse sets out to get the last amount of money and kills Neil Kandy and Casey in the process due to being forced into a bad situation. Jesse returns to Ed and ends up getting extracted to Alaska. Ed is given a letter to young Brock Cantillo by Jesse for him to deliver and Jesse parts ways with the disappearer.

Better Call Saul[]

Saul Goodman as Gene Takavic is incredibly paranoid and he later crosses paths with a taxi driver who recognizes him. He decides to call Ed and, like what he asked Jesse, he asks him to pay double the price of the first time to which Gene agrees. Gene then changes his mind, telling Ed Galbraith that he's gonna fix things himself.

Later, when his plan backfired and his identity was exposed, Saul attempted to contact Ed once more. However, he was found and captured by the authorities before he could successfully do so.

Trivia[]

  • Robert Forster, the man who plays Ed, died on the same day that El Camino was released. His appearance as Ed in Better Call Saul was posthumous with the episode being dedicated to his memory.
    • Ed's cameo in Better Call Saul was originally going to be audio only. However, the episode was shot during the production of El Camino, enabling him to make a full appearance.
  • It's implied that Ed may have a less expensive relocation service for his clients that is never addressed in the show. When Saul initially gives Walter White instructions on how to contact Ed, he mentions that Walter needs the Deluxe Service which costs $125,000. This was required because of just how much Walter's life was in danger at the time from Gustavo Fring. Ed's possibly less expensive services are never covered or mentioned as Walt, Saul and Jesse all use his Deluxe Service.
  • Ed is shown to have a series of strict rules regarding his services, several of which Jesse Pinkman has broken. When calling Ed in "Confessions", Saul confirms that Jesse knows and understands the rules. Jesse later admits in El Camino that he knows that he broke Ed's rules. Ed's rules as seen in "Crawl Space," "Confessions," "Granite State", El Camino and "Magic Man" are:
    • He must be contacted through his special passphrase though its unclear if it has to be done just over the phone or can be done in person as well. When Saul gave Walt instructions he said to leave a message and Ed would call back within five minutes. When calling for Jesse, Saul talked directly to Ed. Without the passphrase, Ed refuses to acknowledge that he is the person the client is looking for.
    • His fee is one-hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per person for the deluxe service. The amount is non-negotiable and without the full fee, Ed will only offer advice if the client is on the run and won't otherwise lift a finger to help.
    • He works fast so the client must be ready to go before they call to arrange a pickup after which Ed will put them up in a safe house located beneath his vacuum repair shop until everything is settled.
    • He will not take anyone who is high at the time of pickup and possibly not if they have drugs on them.
    • The person (or persons) being picked up must not be accompanied by anyone who is not taking part in the relocation.
    • Ed is always "Punctual with a capital P."
    • When supplying his clients with their new identity, Ed, depending on the severity of the situation they are escaping from, sometimes allows them their choice of where he will take them to begin their new life as in "Confessions" Saul confirmed that Jesse would have a say in where he would go and Ed would later in El Camino take him to Alaska at his request. However Ed himself chose Nebraska as the location where he would take Saul, likely due to his face being too well known. It is unknown if it was Walt's request to go to New Hampshire though it likely wasn't due to him being too hot a client (and also dying from cancer) to be left on his own in public and Ed chose his location specifically to hide him and bring him supplies covertly.
      • In a deleted scene for El Camino, Ed gives Jesse a choice to his surprise and states that there's "no guarantees, but I'll do what I can."
    • Ed refuses to do anything to help a client that risks exposure or danger for himself and will quickly sever ties with his clients if they behave irrationally and jeopardize his interests. When dealing with Walt, Ed tells him that he must not leave the property or he will stop dealing with him as Walt's leaving risks exposure for them both. He also refuses to take any of Jesse's money when he can't complete the deal as he feels it will end badly for them both. When Jesse tries to use this rule against him, Ed calls the police which Jesse sees as a bluff initially as it risks exposure for Ed, but it is not a bluff. However, Ed does not expose Jesse who has left and lies to the police despite their argument just moments before and Jesse's attempt to force Ed to help.
    • With Ed, a deal is a deal and his word is his bond. If a client makes a deal with him, as long as he is paid, he will honor the deal to the best of his ability.
    • Ed requires that the client pay for any previous aborted pickups if they seek his services again.
    • Ed typically requires $10,000 more each time he performs an additional service for his clients as seen with Ed forcing Walt to pay him each time he brings supplies and to spend an hour playing cards with him. This rule appears to be more flexible however as Ed agrees to deliver Jesse's letter to Brock Cantillo without requesting anything in return. It is possible Ed did not demand additional payment from Jesse due to the fact that, unlike Walt, he would never see him again or simply as a gesture of kindness. Ed did remain cautious as he did not touch the letter without gloves as to not leave his fingerprints, read it to ensure it revealed no details about Jesse's location and he asked Jesse to seal the letter as to not leave his own DNA on the letter either. He also chose to mail it from a faraway location from Albuquerque in Mexico City, where he would be traveling to in order to prevent the letter from being traced back to him and possibly to mislead the police on Jesse's whereabouts as well.
    • Ed is willing to extract and relocate a person more than once in the event their new identity is compromised, but the second time costs double ($250,000). The extraction location will be the same place the person got dropped off at with Ed setting a specific time and date.
  • Along with Mike Ehrmantraut, Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Austin Ramey, Ed is one of the only five characters to appear in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino.

External Link[]

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