End of the Line

Mission

End of the Line
Carl Johnson and Sweet heading out to deal with Big Smoke Carl Johnson and Sweet heading out to deal with Big Smoke
Game	GTA San Andreas
For	Sweet
Target	Kill Big Smoke and Frank Tenpenny and finish the story once and for all
Location	Ganton, Los Santos
Fail	Death of Carl Johnson Death of Sweet Destruction of the SWAT Tank Destruction of the Feltzer Escape of Frank Tenpenny
Reward	Respect $250,000 Storyline completion
Unlocked by	Los Desperados Acquisition of over 35% gang territory in Los Santos
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End of the Line is the final central storyline mission and the last in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, accessed independently by protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson under the inspiration and in the company of, and given by his brother, deuteragonist and Grove Street Families leader Sean "Sweet" Johnson, from his house in Grove Street, Ganton, Los Santos.

Mission

Carl and Sweet have managed to find out where former friend and gang defaulter Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris is hiding. Apparently, he's holed up in a fortified crack den in East Los Santos. They drive over to Smoke's hideout in East Los Santos, all the while avoiding rioters. Upon arriving, they see that Smoke's crack palace has heavy security and there's no way to enter the place except for breaking through the wall. Carl finds a SWAT Tank nearby and steals it while being attacked by SWAT officers and Ballas gang members. He successfully smashes the wall and enters the crack palace.

Upon entering, Carl makes his way through three floors while killing Ballas, Vagos, San Fierro Rifa, and Russian Mafia gang members as well as workers, who all carry strong weapons like M4s, AK-47s, and MP5s. Carl manages to find Smoke, who, after playing a video game, stands up to claim that he doesn't feel any regrets over betraying the Grove Street Families and takes out a gun ready to battle Carl. During a shoot-out, Carl manages to kill Smoke and after a brief conversation questioning Smoke's decision, he learns that Smoke had no choice and saw the opportunity for power and money, before he sees Smoke dying.

Recently acquitted corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officer Frank Tenpenny, who had been watching the whole thing, and whose instigation had pushed Smoke to betray the Families, arrives and asks Carl to put all of Smoke's money in his bag. Tenpenny threatens Carl with a shotgun, but Carl distracts him by shouting out Sweet's name to dodge for cover finding a gun. After he notices that he got fooled, he tries to shoot Carl, but misses, and backs away with the money. After that, Tenpenny runs to the second floor and sets the whole building on fire by shooting a generator and causing it to explode. Carl goes the same way out and kills any gang member on his way while avoiding burning himself by the fires around the building.

After successfully escaping, Tenpenny attempts to drive away in his Firetruck, but Sweet, at that very moment, jumps on his Greenwood and then leaps at the ladder on the back of the truck, and hangs on from the ladder, refusing to let Tenpenny escape justice again. Carl enters a parked Feltzer, actually belonging to Smoke, and starts to chase Tenpenny. During a long chase throughout Los Santos with rioters on the road throwing molotovs and police chasing the trio, a police officer in the truck gets out and starts to stomp on Sweet's fingers. As Sweet loses his grip, Carl parks his car under the ladder and Sweet falls on the hood of the Feltzer.

Sweet then takes control of the car with Carl acting as the shooter with a Micro-SMG. The chase continues throughout the city with Carl destroying cop cars as well as rioters chasing them in cars and bikes. The chase comes to an end on the bridge going above Ganton where Tenpenny crashes his truck and, after the injuries, dies at the heart of Grove Street territory.

Carl, Sweet, aging hippie The Truth, Carl's sister Kendl Johnson, and her boyfriend, Mexican-American Varrios Los Aztecas gang leader Cesar Vialpando together start a conversation as Tenpenny says his last words and they head inside the Johnson House to talk about their future. Suddenly, Madd Dogg, his now accountant Ken "Rosie" Rosenberg, record producer Kent Paul and performing artist Maccer enter the house with everybody inside drawing their guns towards them. Madd Dogg announces his first gold record as everyone lowers the guns and they all celebrate their success before Carl heads out of the house to take note of the aftermath of it all.

Following the end, Catalina calls for the last time and is heard having sex with her boyfriend Claude.

Pre-mission Phone Call

This phone call is achieved right after atleast 35% gang territory has been acquired by the Grove Street Families in Los Santos.

Sweet: Carl, it's Sweet.

CJ: Hey, wassup, you find Smoke?

Sweet: After we dumped on those Ballas, the Vagos started to speak. We got him now! He's hiding in Los Flores, or East Los Santos. Time to saddle up, CJ!

CJ: Alright, I'll get you and we will roll over there.

Script

Main article: End of the Line/Script

Post-mission Phone Call

CJ: Eh, wassup?

Catalina: Yes, Claude! Faster, harder, deeper! Oh yes, yes, yes!

CJ: Catalina! You sick! Get help.

Catalina: And you, Carl, you're jealous!

Reward

The reward for finishing this mission is increased respect and $250,000.

Trivia

• When Carl confronts Smoke, Smoke pulls a Combat Shotgun. However, when the gunfight begins, he uses an AK-47, most likely to decrease the difficulty of the gunfight considering the extreme amounts of damage the Combat Shotgun can deal to the player.
• During the confrontation between Carl and Smoke, the latter says to the former that he was expecting him and that he didn't care. This can be explained by a cut mission in which Carl beats up a Russian mobster to discover Smoke's whereabouts, and the Russian mobster, being left alive, decides to inform Smoke about it, perhaps explaining why Smoke isn't startled by Carl's arrival.
• Another oddity with Smoke after the cutscene where Tenpenny leaves the drug lab is that Smoke's head is under the couch, regardless of where the player killed him.
• In the cutscene after Smoke dies, Tenpenny is armed with a combat shotgun. But in the next cut scene where he shoots the generator, he is seen with a normal shotgun.
• An easy way to kill Smoke is to knock him down with a melee weapon and attack him repeatedly with it, to prevent him from getting up and running.
• If the player has completed the Firefighter side missions prior to starting the mission, it will be easy for them to escape the burning crack palace by simply running through the flames. However, even if the player isn't fireproof, they can easily jump over the fire instead of spending time putting it out.
• No matter what pistol the player has in their inventory, Carl will always have a Desert Eagle when he confronts Smoke and after he has killed Smoke. This will also be the default weapon Carl pulls out regardless of what weapon the player selected before the cut scene begins.
• The Feltzer in this mission is bulletproof, fireproof, explosion-proof, and damage-proof; it can be only obtained by failing the mission. The license plate reads "I MY AK".
• On rare occasions, Carl will shout "Hang on, Sweet" just as he starts to chase Tenpenny.
• It is possible to get close enough to the firetruck and attempt to hijack it, although it is locked.
• It is also possible to obtain a one-carriage train (only the engine carriage).
• The Brown Streak locomotive will be solid only when the player drives past it. Other times, other trains just drive straight through it.
• The two SWAT Tanks seen on this mission are the only two in the entire game. The one used to smash the wall can be stored in a garage; however, it will disappear after the mission unless the player fails the mission. Earlier, they would probably feature as FBI trucks in the deleted mission The Truth is Out There, which was extremely difficult and unrewarding as a mission.
• Tenpenny's firetruck has extreme speed, equal to a sports/supercar; a trait unheard of in any other normal firetruck. However, if you fail to catch Sweet and the mission is failed, the firetruck advances slowly and stops near Las Colinas after East Beach. You can follow it in the Feltzer and obtain it, although it goes slowly and has broken tires.
• The player is 100% free of police attention during the mission.
• The mission is played in three parts: The first ends when Carl kills Smoke and Tenpenny blows up the lab. The second ends when Carl exits the building and Sweet hangs on the firetruck, and the third is the remainder of the mission, with the chase and ending. If you had completed one or two parts and have to replay the mission, the first parts will be skipped and you will start from when you have failed the mission.
  • This is a special incidence of the Trip Skip feature, allowing the player to skip parts of the game in entirety without having to bother about the gameplay.
• The time in this mission is pre-written. Whether or not the player enters the mission at a certain time, the mission will start at 21:30 outside Sweet's house, so the confrontation between him and Smoke is normally after midnight. Although, after Tenpenny blows up the lab and Carl is alone in Smoke's room, the time is 00:00. Concerning that the player has 7 minutes (7 game hours) to get out of the building, so when he gets out the time is around the first hours of the day. However, when he starts chasing Tenpenny, the time is 17:00, so the death of Tenpenny is around late night. The mission is finally passed in 01:15.
  • That makes the mission considerably the longest in the GTA series, starting at 21:30 of the first day, and ending at 01:15 of the third day.
• When the player sees Smoke playing video game, the joystick he's holding resembles an Xbox controller.
• There are video game machines in Smoke's citadel. The player can play on them, but they have to make sure that they can get out of the building.
• It is rather odd that the gangsters in the building will not try to escape the building. This is due to, unlike GTA Vice City, the lack of NPCs being able to enter/exit buildings.
• Strangely, during the cutscene in which Carl and Smoke confront one another, Carl scoffs at Smoke for opting to wear body armor. Yet, with the countless armor pickups throughout the plant, it's highly unlikely that Carl wouldn't also be wearing armor himself.
• When Tenpenny states “And I ain't about to get dragged out of a patrol car and get beaten to death by some angry mob. No, no... Not tonight,” he may be referring to Reginald Denny, a white truck driver who was dragged out of his vehicle and severely beaten by a mob of local black residents at the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues. This occured during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which were similarly triggered when a few white officers beat up black motorist Rodney King.
• This is one of two final missions in the GTA series to feature Ken Rosenberg in the ending, with the other being Keep Your Friends Close... from GTA Vice City.
• Trying to use the health cheat, as in case of Just Business, will fail the mission.
• A strange oddity with the final chase from East Beach to Ganton is that only Los Santos Vagos rioters are seen throughout, with the Ballas featuring only in the chase from Los Flores to East Beach, that too alongside the Vagos in attendance. This oddity strikes strange in light of the consideration that Smoke did not have too close ties with the Vagos as he did with the Ballas, even killing a spate of Vagos gangsters before his dramatic rise to power, and pulling out the notorious green Sabre in the presence of only the Ballas despite his covert ties with the Vagos. This can, however, be evidenced as a balancing measure, since the Vagos didn't have a very important role to play in the gang war storyline.

Gallery

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  Carl Johnson, Sweet, and Grove Street gunmen shooting their way through Big Smoke's roadblocks.

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  CJ telling Sweet to wait outside while he goes inside to kill Smoke.

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  A S.W.A.T. being driven by Carl Johnson after stealing it.

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  CJ smashing through Smoke's crack palace with a SWAT tank.

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  CJ fighting his way through the crack palace.

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  CJ reaching the Ballas lounge.

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  CJ confronting Smoke.

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  CJ and Smoke fighting to the death.

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  CJ speaking to a dying Smoke.

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  Frank Tenpenny sneaking up on CJ.

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  CJ diving out of the crack palace as it is blown apart.

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  The burning building.

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  Sweet grabbing onto the back of Tenpenny's fire truck as CJ runs for a nearby Feltzer to give pursuit.

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  CJ frantically approaching the back of the fire truck to catch Sweet as a cop stomps on his fingers.

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  Sweet taking the wheel as CJ opens fire on Tenpenny.

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  Sweet continuing to chase Tenpenny as Vagos rioters throw molotovs at them from an overhanging bridge.

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  Tenpenny losing control of the fire truck and toppling over the Grove Street bridge into a fatal crash.

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  Frank Tenpenny complaining about not being understood.

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  CJ pointing a gun at the dying Tenpenny.

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  CJ discussing the future with Kendl, Sweet, and Cesar Vialpando.

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  Madd Dogg arriving with Ken Rosenberg, Kent Paul, and Maccer to announce his gold record to everyone.

See also

• Mission walkthrough

Video walkthrough

PC Version - GTASeriesVideos
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