4.07 Problem Dog

Summary and Spoilers

Jesse’s shoot-to-kill video game brings back memories of his cold-blooded murder of Gale. This is probably a first step out of the loop in which he is stuck; he is aided by the newfound support he has gained from Mike and Gus. While Walt sometimes protects him (and critiques him) like a father, Gus seems to actually respect him and see his value.

Skyler asks Walt to bring Junior’s car back to the dealership for a partial refund. Instead, Walt does a few donuts and accidentally crashes it. He then simply torches it, calls a cab, and lets Saul handle the 50 thousand dollar cleanup chore. No matter – he withdraws another 272 thousand dollars from the safe, which is what he makes every two weeks. Skyler now has to figure out how to launder – or just store - 272 thousand dollars in a business that normally makes about that per year.

While at Saul’s office, Walt asks Saul for the name of a hit man, but Saul is unable to help. Instead, Walt goes to Jesse’s place, to enlist Jesse in the task of killing Gus. Jesse doesn’t seem to need too much prodding to go along with the plan.

Walt prepares a batch of ricin, the same powerful and undetectable poison that Walt and Jesse used to kill Tuco. Jesse hides the tiny vial in one of his cigarettes.

Hank and Junior have lunch at Los Pollos Hermanos. Always the gracious host, Gus himself emerges to praise DEA agent Hank for his fine work. Hank asks for a Diet Coke refill, and Gus fetches it himself. Later, Hank pockets the cup for fingerprints.

It is time for the big meeting of Gus’s mob and the drug cartel that has been ambushing Gus’s trucks. Gus offers 50 million as a one-time payoff. The cartel rep offers a yes (allow yourself to be fully taken over) or no choice only. The meeting ends quickly, and war is about to break out. Jesse is there; he is even given a gun, and he briefly considers either dumping the ricin in the coffee, or shooting Gus, but instead he stays cool. Later, as he and Mike drive back, Mike praises Jesse’s loyalty but says that maybe it is directed at the wrong guy. This kind of talk seems to be swaying Jesse; later, when Walt asks Jesse if he has had a chance to kill Gus, Jesse lies that he hasn’t seen him.

Jesse is back in rehab, but he is really there to confess to his sins. He admits that he returned the first time only to find possible meth customers. And he partially admits to killing Gale, but he substitutes ‘dog’, referring to Gale as a ‘problem dog’. This elicits perhaps a more emotional response from the other group members, because they believe he killed an animal and not a person.

Finally, Hank meets with Gomez to lay out his theory about Gale and Gus. Hank now suspects that Gus could be Heisenberg – the guy who is running a huge meth operation. They think he is drawing a long bow until he pulls out his ace in the hole – fingerprint proof that Gus has been in Gale’s apartment.

Comments

This is a deliberately paced, intensely powerful episode, as virtually every character has to come face to face with a seemingly insurmountable dilemma. Skyler has to figure out how to launder 7.5 million dollars a year. Jesse is trying to overcome the specter of himself as murderer. Gus is faced with a drug cartel that will settle for nothing less than total domination. And Jesse has to decide exactly where his loyalties lie. He is already slipping across to Gus’s camp; you’ll notice a rare lie to Walt about not having had the opportunity to kill Gus. And with the way Walt has treated Jesse, it’s easy to think that he would be making the right choice if he changed sides.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"No, I’m sure he’ll see me."
- Walt to cab dispatcher, as car burns in background

"I’m sorry, did I wake you? I – I caught this thing before it got into the system. That means your record stays clean; the wife never finds out. I’ve been working magic here! I could at least get an ‘attaboy’."
- Saul

Walt: Did he speak to you?
Jesse: it – it was over in ten seconds.
Walt: Would you just answer!
Jesse: He said he sees things in people.
Walt: What things? What people?

Jesse: Drop the sales pitch! I’ll do it!
Walt: You’ll do what?
Jesse: I’ll kill him – first chance I get!

Mike: Alright, what’s the order of the day?
Jesse: Eyes open; mouth shut.

Cartel rep: Is it to be yes…or no?
Gus: A hard way to begin a negotiation.
Cartel rep: This is not a negotiation.

Jesse: He said he sees something in me. Like what?
Mike: If I had to put it in a word, I’d guess…loyalty.
Jesse: Loyalty.
Mike: Although maybe you’ve got it for the wrong guy.

Woman at rehab: He was suffering? It was a kindness.
Jesse: No, he wasn’t sick…he was just like a – I don’t know, like a…problem dog.

"You know I – I couldn’t agree more, guys. Gustavo Fring – blue meth – you know – whole thing is…off the map nuts. I had to be wearing a tin foil hat, you know? Except…I can’t seem to wrap my mind around this one little thing, and that is – what are Gustavo Fring’s fingerprints doing in Gale Boetticher’s apartment?"
- Hank

 

4.06 Cornered

Summary and Spoilers

Once again, even before the credits roll, one of Gus’s trucks is ambushed. Last time, the indestructible Mike was on board and managed to fend off the attackers. This time, there are two different guards inside the truck. They are disposed of by a pipe, pumping in the truck’s own exhaust. The hijackers shoot the driver, hook up the pipe, lean back and wait. While they are waiting, they share a cooler full of lunch food that originally belonged to the truck driver and his mates. I guess they won’t be needing it. When all are dead, the hijackers open the back, scan the many tubs of chicken sauce, find the one with the laser-only-readable star, and take it.

Now we have the follow-up to Walt’s drunken blurts at the Hank and Marie dinner. Skyler has been looking up Gale Boetticher on the internet, and has surmised that he and Walt worked together. When he finally wakes up, she asks him about this and also about who killed Gale. Our old Walt denies all and again assures Skyler that no one would want to kill him in the same manner. Despite his normal assurances, Skyler has pieced together Walt’s bone thrown to Hank and Walt’s earlier scared phone message declaration of love, and believes that he is scared and on some level wants to get caught so that this whole thing can end. Walt laughs it off, but Skyler will not be denied so easily. Her confrontation finally breaks through Walt’s façade, and he shows her his ‘Heisenberg’ side, scaring her as he tells her that "…he is the one who knocks," inferring that he killed Gale – or gave the order to do so. Skyler is visibly shaken. Walt showers. When he emerges, Skyler is gone.

Walt checks out the car wash with Bogdon. Bogdon gives some unwanted advice, goading Walt about how bosses have to be tough enough to make cashiers wipe down cars. Bogdon keeps reminding Walt that he is handing over the car wash ‘as is’, so when he spies his first dollar earned in a frame and tries to take it, Walt says no. As soon as Bogdon leaves, Walt breaks the frame and uses to dollar to buy a soft drink from a vending machine.

Mike is hanging out in a restaurant with Jesse. I thought maybe Gus had made Jesse into a hero to mask his plan to kill him, but now it seems that they may be trying to get Jesse to stop using. Mike is just getting Jesse to eat something when the call comes in about the truck hijack. Mike heads off alone, telling Jesse that he doesn’t need any help.

Walt tries to get some logistical information out of Walt Jr. regarding Skyler’s whereabouts. Nothing is forthcoming. Walt plays the political game by suddenly veering from driving Junior to school, and instead buys him a Chevrolet sports car – red, no less.

Well, this episode is just filled with people who have read the scripts! Back at work, Walt tells Jesse that he believes Mike’s robbery was a setup. This of courses angers Jesse, who is just starting to feel a little bit better about himself. Later, after cooking is done, Jesse is called away before he is able to finish cleaning up. Walt reacts by going upstairs to the main factory and enlisting three textile working women to clean. This is a huge and obvious mistake – to allow them to see the inside of the meth lab – that I find it hard to believe he would do it – except that he is doing it to purposely piss off Gus, as he reveals when he toasts the camera with his mug of coffee. Sure enough, when the women finish, Tyrus arrives to take them back to Honduras. When Walt asks Tyrus to blame him, not the women, Tyrus assures him that Gus does blame him.

Skyler has driven to the four states monument – where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado share a corner. There she flips a coin – it lands ‘heads’ – which doesn’t satisfy her, so she flips again. Her question might be whether to leave Walt or to turn him in.

Mike and Jesse are parked a respectable distance from a small house. Mike says that he believes that the guys who hijacked the truck are inside. The plan is to wait until one or more of them emerge, and then confront them and get their product back. Jesse tries to buy some meth, but the guy who answers the door says they don’t sell to strangers. Jesse is not a good waiter; soon after returning to the car, he hatches another plan: he digs a hole, which against all odds lures the first meth-head out, the goes inside and knocks out the other, more violent meth-head, grabbing his semi-automatic rifle too. Mike pops in and is impressed.

Back at the restaurant, Mike and Jesse’s meal is interrupted by Gus. Jesse leaves; Mike tells Gus that the people who stole the meth left a ‘Ready to talk?’ message scrawled on the chicken tub lid. Mike wants to hire 15 guys to hit back, but Gus wants the war to stay ‘cold’ for the moment, and instead asks Mike to set up a meeting. Mike also briefs Gus on Jesse’s performance; although we are not privy to that part of the conversation, Gus praises Jesse on his way out.

Skyler returns home and throws a look of disdain at Junior’s car. Walt tries to apologize for being so ‘forward’. Skyler insists that the car must go back – that it puts the family in jeopardy. Their reaction over this is controlled but laced with deep anger and distrust.

Comments

We’ve seen Jesse go from lows to highs. It’s pleasant to see him in a better space at the moment. And on that subject, I would watch Aaron Paul cleaning his toenails for 40 minutes. This guy is a great actor.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDEC goes belly up. Disappear! It ceases to exist without me – no - you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in: I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No! I am the one who knocks!"
- Walt

Gus: I hear you can handle yourself.
Jesse: I guess.
Gus: Good night.
Jesse: Eh, excuse me. Why me?
Gus: I like to think I can see things in people.

Walt: Everything that I do – everything – I do it to protect this family.
Skyler: So buy that car: that was protecting your family?

"Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family."
- Skyler

 

4.05 Shotgun

Summary and Spoilers

Walt drives more than recklessly to try to save Jesse, calling Saul enroute to tell him to get all the money to Skyler, and leaving a goodbye message to Skyler on the White answering machine. His gun is loaded and ready. His Jihad has begun. His destination is the chicken shop; despite Gus’s car parked outside, the woman behind the counter says Gus is not there. Walt just waits, watching the cameras watching him. Eventually, Mike calls to say Jesse is with him and is fine. Jesse says the same things, and seems unconcerned with his own fate or destination. Walt walks straight into Gus’s office without permission, ostensibly to shoot him, but it’s true – Gus really is not in the building.

Mike drives Jesse to a remote location. Jesse grips his keys as a makeshift weapon. But they are not required; Mike is there to dig up a satchel of money. He tells Jesse that they have six more stops to make, and they get back in the car.

Hank briefs his policeman buddy about the belief that Gale was Heisenberg. Despite a few leads on the shooter, Hank says he is no longer interested in being briefed on the case, so Tim gathers up his paperwork.

Mike and Jesse continue their pilgrimage. Jesse seems to think he is there as backup, but Mike angrily straightens him out about that. It seems that Mike was ordered to bring Jesse – even he doesn’t know why – and he’s not happy about it.

Walt rushes back to do what he was told – continue the cook on his own – then rushes out to attend the signing of the car wash purchase. Skyler signs but has now gotten nervous, and once again asks Walt to promise that there be no more secrets. In the middle of this vulnerable moment, Skyler plays Walt’s loving goodbye message, but she doesn’t recognize it as such. Soon, they are in bed.

Later, after Walt Jr. comes home, Skyler sort of asks Walt to move back in. His alarm watch beeps, saving him from answering that question, and he rushes back to the lab. When he experiences some forklift issues, he quits working, demanding that Jesse be brought back. Instead, an unknown guy comes down and works the forklift.

Mike and Jesse reach their final stop. While Jesse is waiting in the car, he sees a shotgun-carrying guy approaching. Jesse floors the car and is soon being pursued at high speed by the shotgun guy and his partner. When Mike comes back outside and sees no car, he calls for alternate ride. Soon after, Jesse drives up, having lost the assailants. Mike is so impressed that he allows Jesse to smoke in the car for the first time.

Walt and Walt Jr. meet one fine morning in the kitchen and drink a cup of coffee together. There Walt learns that Skyler thinks that he is moving back in next Tuesday.

Back at the lab, Walt is surprised to find Jesse working away, and more surprised to hear his story about saving the stash. He’s right to be wary; over at the chicken shop, a meeting between Gus and Mike reveals that the shotgun dudes were hired by Mike at Gus’s request to make Jesse look like a hero. Why? Mike wonders but does not ask. Maybe they are planning on killing Jesse but they do not want Walt to think they did it.

Perhaps the burden of the pressure of knowing he is being pressured into getting back with Skyler has skewed Walt. He drinks too much at the Hank and Marie dinner. When Hank says that Gale was a genius, Walt blurts out that, in his humble opinion, the notebook was merely rote copying, and that maybe this Heisenberg is still out there. Skyler seems to know that is going on here, and she is very unhappy about it.

Finally, Hank has rediscovered his love of detecting, armed now with the thought that Heisenberg may still be at large. He wonders about the Los Pollos Hermanos logo that he has found in staunch vegan Gale’s effects.

Comments

This episode slowly builds tension and keeps it ratcheted until we can find out what is going to happen to Jesse – and Hank’s pursuit of Walt -  and Walt and Skyler’s relationship.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Hank: This guy Gale Boetticher, he was eccentric. Real character, y' know? He's, uh, he's dead now.
Skyler: Who was he?
Walter Jr.: He was a meth cook.
Hank: Uh, he was a meth chef. We're talking 5-stars, candles, and white tablecloth, y'know. I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but he was a genius, plain and simple. I mean, uh, boy, if he applied that big brain of his to something good, I dunno, who knows? He could've helped humanity or something like that. I mean, how many actual geniuses are there in the world? If he'd have taken his life in a different direction, who knows?
Walter: Hank, not to tell you your business, but I'm not sure I agree.
Hank: What do you mean?
Walter: Well, you showed me that notebook and from what I saw - and this is just my humble opinion - from what I saw on those papers...genius? Not so much. I mean, there was no reasoning, no deductions in those pages, so to my eye, all this brilliance looks like nothing more than just simple rote copying, probably of someone else's work. Believe me, I have been around enough students to know. So this genius of yours, maybe he's still out there.

"Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?"
- Hank, wondering about the Los Pollos Hermanos logo found in Gale’s effects (closing line)

 

4.04 Bullet Points

Summary and Spoilers

Even before the opening credits, we are treated to a gruesome event: one of Gus’s trucks is ambushed by two machine gun wielding men. They kill the driver in cold blood, then poke thousands of holes in the truck body. Assured incorrectly that it is now clear, they open the doors, and are promptly blown away by Mike, who is wearing a bullet-proof suit. Mike is slightly annoyed that one bullet has evaded his garb and clipped off the top of his ear.

Skyler can’t sleep; she is planning how Walt will present his gambling addiction as fact to Marie and Hank. She and Walt practice counting cards, attend a Gamblers Anonymous meetings, and review their bullet point script. This is a well-written and hilarious scene, interlaced with the tension of how their performance will determine whether or not Hank gets suspicious.

Finally, it is time for the fateful visit to Hank and Marie’s. The evening start with a tour of Hank’s rock…er, mineral collection. Soon, however, things get even worse when Hank plays a DVD of Gale singing karaoke, pulled from that same file that holds Gale’s notebook.

Later, after the gambling yarn has been spun, Hank invites Walt to bend his ear anytime if needed. When Walt returns the invitation, Hank opens the file again and they pore over the Gale case. Hank thinks Gale was the elusive Heisenberg and expresses severe disappointment that he was unable to handcuff and bring him in.

When Hank says that Gale’s murder is being investigated and that prints were found, Walt heads to Jesse’s place to both warn and interrogate him. Jesse ignores the former and doesn’t react well to the latter; he offers one hundred dollars to a couple of his party people and they eject Walt from the house.

Saul assures Walt that the police have nothing on Jesse. Saul may be dodgy as a lawyer, so Walt uses him as a father-confessor slash therapy agent instead. Saul, however, does offer an out: a guy who will, for a substantial fee, make Walt and his family disappear without a trace.

More glimpses of Jesse’s lifestyle: rave music; graffiti, random sex, meth use. One of his guests steals a satchel – a big satchel – filled with Jesse’s hundred dollar bills. Jesse finds it missing and doesn’t even blink – just goes on playing Xbox with Mrs. Jesse du jour. Later, Jesse is visited by Mike. Mike brings the thief, tied up and whimpering, and the satchel. Jesse takes his satchel back and out bluffs Mike, saying they are not going to kill the guy which is why they blindfolded him.

Mike meets with Gus to tell him that Jesse is out of control, and that something needs to be done, despite how Walt might react.

Walt, after a day alone at the lab, visits Jesse again when there is no answer to his many phone messages. He breaks into Jesse’s place, deserted save for Jesse’s ringing cell phone.

Back at the lab, Walt asks the camera, "Where is he?" Cut to Mike driving Jesse through the desert, destination unknown.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Bullet points – like a novella."
- Walt

"Just make sure to really…hit the cancer. Really touch on the fear and despair. It’s good to remind them, and the get their sympathy right off the bat. We want them to understand why you could do something so stupid."
- Skyler

"How do you look bad exactly? And where is the ‘I slept with my boss’ bullet point – I can’t seem to find that anywhere."
- Walt

"You might look down at the floor with remorse…what? You don’t have to mean it! Just stare down at your feet Walt, okay?"
- Skyler

 

4.03 Open House

Summary and Spoilers

Walter’s back at work in the lab, sporting a lovely shiner courtesy of Mike. Despite this, he is almost smug. He thinks he’s gotten to Mike and that his plan is taking shape. He’s not too happy to discover that motion-tracking cameras have been installed in the lab and are following his every move.

Skyler drops by Walt’s place to talk about the car wash. He tries to get rid of her, but she insists on coming in when she sees his damaged face. Egged on by Skyler, Walt gives a typical Walt-speak of the incident, downplaying everything. Skyler accepts it as usual, and there’s no sign that she suspects that he is not telling the truth.

Speaking of lies, Marie is off looking at a house with a separate small studio that would suit grumpy Hank. She has fabricated her own divorce and created a child for herself too. I’m not sure why she is going to such extremes of fable-creation, but she’s very good at it.

Jesse and Walt get through another day at work. Walt prods Jesse about his health and well-being, since it’s obvious that Jesse is a little out of it. Jesse prods back about Walt’s eye bruise. Neither gets anything in return.

Saul tries to get Skyler to drop the idea of buying the car wash and purchase a nail salon, but she’s not willing to give up just yet. For some reason, Skyler will not budge. She wants to buy out Bogdon because she does not like him or his attitude.

Marie is at another open house, with a new name and a new story. When she leaves, the realtor notices one of the collectible spoons is missing from a display. Why she decided to take one from the middle and not from the end, I don’t know.

After mindlessly racing a go-cart around an indoor track, Jesse returns to his home. There, the people he has left to continue partying are trashing the place. Some are having violent and sweaty sex in full view; others are fighting and drawing blood; while others are busy graffiti-ing the walls. In a terrifying scene, Jesse walks in, sits down, and lights a cigarette – he seems totally numb to the violence and destruction.

So now we see what Marie has been doing at each house – stealing meaningless items – and now she has been caught and arrested. It’s obviously the only way she can get Hank to pay any attention to her. Lucky for her, Hank, although upset, consoles her and makes a call. None of the homeowners press charges and she is free to go, but this does not cheer her up – rather, it sends her into a crying jag.

Skyler’s solution to the car wash standoff is to hire a very convincing actor to pose as an EPA agent accusing the owner of dumping noxious waste into the groundwater. This will require hundreds of thousands of dollars in new filtering equipment, he says. Skyler sits nearby in her car, feeding specific law texts to him via Bluetooth.

Hank is visited by the detective that helped free Marie. The detective is on the Gayle murder case and has brought over Gale’s detailed meth notebook. He wants Hank to have a look and tell him what he’s found. Hank resists but lets him leave the notebook, then goes back to watching ten pin bowling.

Skyler has successfully talked Bogdon down to 800 thousand for the car wash, demonstrating her business acumen. While Jesse’s party keeps going, fueled by Jesse tossing cash to the masses, Skyler and Walt toast with champagne while two suspicious guys wait outside in a car. Skyler gets upset that Walt has purchased $320. Champagne, but she still thinks they should finish the bottle.

Hank has finally exhausted his appetite for Court TV and has picked up Gale’s notes. It seems to immediately grab his full attention.

Breaking Bad Quotes

Saul: Alright, how about an ICE raid? You know he's got illegals working over there. I mean, he just has to.
Skyler: We're not getting a bunch of poor innocent people in trouble, no.
Saul: Yeah, and also you're gonna need them after you take over.

 

4.02 Thirty Eight Snub

Summary and Spoilers

Walt shops for the perfect concealable gun, and practices his stilted quick draw, in preparation for shooting Gus before Gus shoots him. Before long, Walt has increased his speed, practicing specifically from a sitting position. He even sets up an empty Gus chair across from him.

Mike is still perhaps the most effected by Gus’s coldblooded slaying of Victor. The appearance of a small dried blood stain on his sleeve almost causes him to lose it in a diner.

Jesse has purchased the type of high-woofer sound system that would make me (as his neighbor) want to move somewhere else. He shows it off to Badger and Skinny Pete. It doesn’t take much urging from Jesse to get both of these guys off their 12 step program and back into having a ‘little’ bump – and soon they are arguing about which shoot-em-up video game is the best.

Jesse is looking paranoid and unwell, but rather than visiting a doctor, he decides a massive party is what he needs – noise, and lots of it. Now I’m really moving away from this guy.

Hank is sort of numb and depressed at the same time. He spends his late nights examining his mineral collection while Marie tries to sleep. Hank is trying to push Marie away, but she’s not that easy to push. I think he’s fighting a losing battle here.

Its next morning at Jesse’s party – and everyone looks wiped out on the floor, ready to be vacuumed up by the auto-vac. But Jesse has other ideas. He tasks Badger and Skinny Pete with restocking the booze, and tells the sleepy people to start partying again. Then he head off to work at the lab.

Walt is edgy, packing and fondling his gun, especially when Victor’s replacement shows up. Walt asks Mike for a meeting with Gus to clear the air, but Mike just laughs quietly and says that Walt will never see Gus again.

Hank has again made great strides in his rehabilitation. He responds with enthusiasm to his personal therapist, but as soon as the man leaves, he grows somber and shuts Marie out.

Jesse is confronted by Andrea, who has come to find out why a huge wad of cash was played in her mailbox, and who left it. Jesse doesn’t say anything, proving he did it. He also promises that it is hers to keep.

Walt has really changed, as has Breaking Bad. He has gone from being a guy in survival mode to a cold-blooded killer. Yes, you could say that he is defending himself, but he is pro-active now. When Gus will not see him, he shows up at Gus’s door – or at least he intends to, until he is interrupted by a cell phone call from Gus, who intercepts him before he finishes crossing the street and tells him to go home.

Marie takes delivery of numerous boxes of rocks – I mean, minerals – delivered to Hank. Marie is almost jealous of these lumps. They invoke so much more passion in Hank than she does. Protective of them in the way that men can be protective of their lady, Hank begs Marie to check the boxes carefully for damage.

Skyler makes a considered, generous offer of 879 thousand dollars for the car wash, but the heavily eyebrowed owner, still smarting from the way Walter quit, says he will only sell it for 20 million.

Mike just hangs out in the bar, drinking and watching tacky Saul Goodman TV ads and waiting for the pain to go away. Walt visits, specifically to try to convince Mike that his life is also hanging by a thread, and to get Mike to arrange a Gus/Walt private meeting so Walt can "…do the rest." Mike listens patiently and then punches Walt to the floor, kicking him a couple of times to finish his reply.

After three days, the partiers are leaving, and Jesse is looking very scared to see them go. Alone, Jesse turns up the stereo and tries not to lose his mind.

Comments

Fantastic episode from start to finish. It took one episode to immerse myself in these characters, but it’s all coming back now.

Memorable Moments

• Automated vacuum-cam, cleaning up after the party
• Overhead night shot, with elongated shadows, of Walter outside Gus’s house

Breaking Bad Quotes

"It’s for defence…defence. I’ll take it."
- Walt, rationalizing his purchase of a snub-nosed revolver

"Get me in a room with him. Mike – just get me in a room, and I’ll do the rest."
- Walt

 

4.01 Box Cutter

Summary and Spoilers

Jesse has shot Gale dead. Victor easily captures the catatonic Jesse and brings him to the lab at gunpoint. Now they all wait for Gus to arrive and pass judgment.

Meanwhile, Marie has dropped in to thank Skyler for paying all those bills and to drop off a few newer, bigger ones. She notices Walt’s car parked in the driveway and expresses how happy she is that Skyler and Walt are back together – that is, if they really are back together. Skyler doesn’t volunteer any information, and immediately after, she parks Walt’s car a few blocks away so Walt Jr. does not see it and start asking questions.

Skyler calls Saul to try to get some information, but he is less than useless. He assures her Walt is okay, although he has no information, and after she hangs up he goes back to worrying about whether or not his office is bugged.

Skyler convinces a locksmith to pick the lock on Walter’s unit, but it takes a full-on Oscar-worthy performance to do so. Inside, she finds nothing that has any meaning to her – just a glass eye.

Hank doesn’t want to talk about his PE session. The PE may be encouraged, but Hank isn’t that thrilled that he walked 16 feet in 20 minutes.

Victor starts cooking, saying Walt is not needed, and he seems to be doing a pretty good job. Then Gus arrives. While Gus slowly, and without a word, dons full protective gear and brandishes neon blue box cutters, Walt makes one more impassioned desperate plea for his life and Jesse’s. Of course, we know where this is leading. Victor was sighted at Gale’s. Mike would have told Gus this. Gus kills Victor right in front of Walt, Jesse, and Mike. This is a lesson for them all, and the first sign that Gus is not just a godfather order giver. He is also a ruthless killer if required. He then gets back into his street clothes and ascends the stairs. Just before leaving, Gus says his first, last, and only words: "Well…get back to work."

Walt and Jesse’s first job is to dispose of the body, using their old favorite – hydrofluoric acid.

Later, Jesse eats a big breakfast and Walt sips a coffee. You would think Jesse would be distraught after his last 24 hours, but he eats big and talks big. He’s gone over the edge and seems bothered by none of what has happened.

Walt returns to Skyler’s house to find his car gone. Skyler points him in the right direction.

Finally, we see a quick view of Gale’s apartment as investigators pore over it. On the coffee table is a book titled ‘Lab Notes.’

Comments

Ah…finally it is back. I waited so long. And it is still good – and very shocking to reacquaint myself with this violence after a long time.

Memorable Moments

Gus’s quiet and horrific scene.

Breaking Bad Quotes

"Alright, let's talk about Gale Boetticher. He was a good man and a good chemist. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He didn't deserve it at all. But I'd shoot him again and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. When you make it Gale versus me, or Gale versus Jesse, Gale loses! Simple as that. This is on you, Gus, not me, not Jesse. I mean really, what'd you expect me to do? Just simply roll over and allow you to murder us? That I wouldn't take measures - extreme measures - to defend myself? Wrong! Think again."
- Walt