Hank Schrader

Hank Schrader

"Hank Schrader"played by Dean Norris" is a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. He is also Walter's boisterous brother-in-law, and Marie Schrader's husband. He is currently investigating a new meth kingpin in the area named "Heisenberg", unaware that Heisenberg is actually Walter. Hank is not free of shortcomings – he once offered Walter a Cuban cigar, and when asked whether that was legal, replied "sometimes the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest." Although loutish and obstreperous, he is highly competent at his job and genuinely cares about Walter and his family. When searching for a missing Walter in season two, he stumbled upon the drug baron Tuco and killed him. This earned him a promotion and a transfer to El Paso but also triggered panic attacks, which Hank struggles to keep from affecting his work. While in El Paso, Hank is with a group of fellow DEA agents, preparing to meet an informant, when a tortoise with the informant's severed head atop its shell arrived, with a sign painted along the tortoise's shell that said "HOLA DEA". This triggers a panic attack for Hank, who flees to a car to hide his embarrassment from his colleagues, who are investigating the shell. Removing the informant's head from the tortoise shell triggers a nasty explosion, killing and wounding the DEA agents who were nearby. Although unharmed (his hiding the panic attack from his colleagues resulted in being shielded from the blast), Hank is so further traumatized by this incident that he is unable to return to El Paso, eventually giving up the promotion, which went to his close friend and partner, Steven Gomez. Nagged by feelings of inadequacy, Hank becomes obsessed with the Heisenberg case, and overly aggressive on the job, starting a fight with two men in a bar whom he suspects of dealing drugs. A call telling him that Marie was in a car accident forced him to abandon pursuit of Jesse's RV, a huge clue in the case. Discovering he had been duped, he violently beat up Jesse, resulting in his suspension from the DEA. Hank finally opens up to Marie and reveals his panic attacks, but Jesse ends up not pressing charges because Walter agrees to a 50-50 deal working in Gus' mega-lab for millions each. Unknown to him, the Cousins—twin brothers and hitmen from Mexico—have been following him, planning to avenge Tuco's death. An anonymous caller warns Hank about the hit one minute beforehand, just as he returns to his car in a shopping center parking lot. Because he is suspended, Hank is unarmed. He is shot multiple times, but manages to kill one of the Cousins and severely injures the other, who on Gus' orders is later murdered by Mike while in the hospital. Hank is left unable to walk by the shooting and doctors are unsure if he will be left paraplegic. Marie, however, insists on putting Hank into expensive PT (physical therapy). When told that insurance won't cover the doctors Marie chooses, Skyler and Walter agree to pay for it (unbeknownst to Hank). When Marie suggests taking care of Hank at home, Hank refuses, saying that he won't go home until he can walk again. Marie makes a bet that he can still get an erection, and if he does, he has to return home. Shortly afterwards, Hank looks annoyed as Marie triumphantly wheels him out of the hospital. Later on it is shown that in his recovery, Hank has spent time "bidding on minerals", or buying rocks. Many of these rocks (crystals) resemble the blue meth crystals Heisenberg produces. Throughout his recovery, he is much harsher to Marie than he ever had been in the past, snapping at her constantly and treating her with contempt. The cause of this behavior is likely the fact that he is dependent on her for things he would once do himself (going to the bathroom and heavy lifting, among others). He seems to be his usual self in the presence of others, though he still makes crude remarks about Marie in their company. Recently, he has been approached by the Albuquerque Police Department to offer his insights into the shooting of Gale, including looking over his lab notebook. He had come to believe that Gale might have been the elusive Heisenberg, and (seeing this as closure for his previous work) turns the evidence back over to the APD. However, at a celebratory dinner with Walter and his family congratulating their acquisition of a car wash, Hank discusses his conclusions about Gale being a cooking genius, prompting Walter to arrogantly claim that he doubts that Gale was doing anything more than copying the work of a greater meth cook. Suspicions aroused, he had the APD send over the evidence once more, this time noticing that Gale, a known vegan and consumer of organic food, had a bag from Los Pollos Hermanos (Gus's fast food joint), and questions why a vegan would eat fried chicken.