Bad Nauseam: Box Cutter

Gale is dead. Gus must decide what to do with Jesse and Walter, who are being held captive in the underground laboratory.

This is the first episode of Breaking Bad in a while that I feel is truly excellent – nothing but motivated character drama from start to finish. I complained in my last review that the writers had started to use murder as a source of titillation but the pivotal moment of this story is an act of violence we are supposed to find horrifying. Walt and Jesse (like the audience) are forced to bear witness to the death of Victor – a protracted affair where the man desperately struggles for breath after Gus cuts his throat.

I love the build-up to this murder. Gus enters the lab and does not say a word as he descends the stairs and slowly changes into a hazmat suit. Walt meanwhile will not shut up – you can tell that he places a great deal of faith in his ability to talk his way out of trouble.1Considering that Walt managed to cheat death in the last episode by manipulating Mike and Victor, this faith isn’t entirely unwarranted. I don’t think Gus necessarily disagrees with the arguments Walt is making – he does need a top-notch chemist if his bid to supplant the Mexican cartel is going to be successful. How to make sure though that neither Walt nor Jesse dare to thwart his plans ever again?

Some might argue that Gus killed Victor because he was seen going into Gale’s apartment, making him a person of interest to the police and a threat to Gus’ entire operation. If that was the only reason though, why not just shoot Victor and be done with it? Gus is putting on a show, making sure that Victor dies slowly and painfully so that everyone else in the room understands the consequences of disobeying his orders. Gus once declared that fear is not an “effective motivator” but he is clearly willing to use it if all else fails – the reasonable businessman is only one aspect of his personality.2I don’t think that Gus’ public persona is entirely fake – he clearly enjoys managing his employees and hates inefficiency. I’d also point out that by using a blade instead of a gun to kill Victor, Gus protected his expensive lab equipment from any potential damage.

The writers also make the smart decision to dedicate some time to the aftermath of Victor’s murder. We get a nice little callback to Season 1 with the body being dissolved in hydrofluoric acid, but the follow-up scene in the diner shows us that Walt and Jesse are reacting very differently to what they have just experienced. Jesse is almost gleeful – since Gus will now determine the exact time and nature of his death, why not embrace a nihilistic attitude and find enjoyment where he can? Walt, on the other hand, is uneasy, struggling to process what he has just witnessed. Becoming a criminal gave him an intoxicating sense of power and control – Gus has now taken all of that away from him.

The final shot is illustrative of Walter’s new humbled circumstances. Dressed in badly-fitting clothes, he walks away from Skyler and the family home – his eyes are red, as if he is struggling to hold back tears. Walt was able to out-smart Gus once, but there are no guarantees that he will be able to do it again. He started to cook meth in order to be free – instead, he is once again trapped inside of a cage.

Odds and Ends

• Reviewer Melissa Maerz notes that one of the books in Gale’s apartment is Stephen King’s “Everything’s Eventual” – appropriately enough, it’s about a young man who realises he has been tricked into killing innocent people.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Huell.3Played by Lavell Crawford. The character isn’t especially important to the story – I think the main reason he was introduced is because the writers decided that Mike now works full-time for Gus, so Saul needs someone else to do his dirty work for him.
• Skyler wants to get inside Walt’s apartment to investigate his disappearance and since she doesn’t have a key, she calls a locksmith and pretends that she was mugged.4According to the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast, the building they used for Walt’s apartment was actually Vince Gilligan’s personal residence in Albuquerque. It reminded me of a similar scene in A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal (Series 1, Episode 7) and while you could argue that this behaviour is manipulative, I interpret it as Skyler using patriarchal expectations to her advantage.
• We get a brief scene with Hank and the actors do an excellent job of conveying how much he is struggling with his recent lack of mobility. Hank asks Marie for a bed pan but is so uncomfortable that he keeps his language as vague as possible, going so far as to use Spanish when asked if he needs to urinate or defecate. The camera also lingers as Marie takes down her husband’s underwear and helps him manoeuvre into position, demonstrating how exposed and humiliated Hank feels.

• This season sees Hank start a mineral collection. You’d think there would be a deeper thematic reason why Hank suddenly becomes interested in geology, but as far as I remember it’s just a way to distract himself from his current predicament. That feels like a missed opportunity.
• The season premiere was pushed back from March to July 2011 because AMC thought a summer release would get better ratings. This gave the writers a chance to reconsider whether or not Jesse shot Gale, since the audience was divided over if he actually did it. In the end, they stuck with their initial decision as it was “the most honest (and) the one that would best continue the story.”

Please use spoiler tags in the comments, as some Avocadians are watching Breaking Bad for the first time