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| Bryan Cranston |
Are you tired of long, tedious accounts of Breaking Bad episode recaps? Then look no further than Breaking Half: a weekly column that takes the good and bad from each week's episode of Breaking Bad and dilutes it down to the core necessities. Each Monday, Breaking Half will attempt to take a few key moments from the episode and boil it down to one juicy paragraph.
Season 4, Episode 1
"Box Cutter"
*Note: This is a compilation of Jesse (Aaron Paul) saying "bitch" at varying points throughout the first few seasons.
"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."
-Walter (Bryan Cranston)
Continuing on the events of "Full Measure," Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui) and Mike (Jonathan Banks) keep Walter (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse captive in the super meth lab. After a little argument, Victor decides to start doing the cooking himself, leaving everyone to watch. Meanwhile, Skyler (Anna Gunn) discovers that Walter is missing when Marie (Betsy Brandt) stops by with some news. Skyler calls Saul (Bob Odenkirk), who knows even less. She even calls a locksmith to break into his apartment. Skyler decides that the best revenge is parking his car several blocks away. Hank (Dean Norris) is in bed bidding online for minerals, which worries Skyler. Gale's (David Costabile) apartment has turned into a crime scene and there is one crucial loophole there: his lab notes which would give away everything. Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) finally arrives and without saying a word, puts on a lab coat and kills Victor after discovering that he cooked a recent batch alone. It could also be because Walter used his leverage against him. After killing Victor, he leaves and Walter and Jesse dispose of the body with acid. They leave and have some food from Denny's before parting ways.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| Giancarlo Esposito |
Want to know why season four is my favorite? Gus! This episode pretty much revolves around waiting for and then cleaning up his mess. Gus has power and control like no other character on the show. His ability to be silent through Walter's panicked alibis is just amazingly filmed and the tension couldn't be higher. It is a testament to Giancarlo Esposito that he is able to make this one of the most unnerving scenes in the show's history just by lack of facial reactions. Also, the move of taking off and then later putting on his suit almost suggests that he is a businessman of the highest degree. He can stay clean no matter what, which just makes him that much more shocking and authentic of a villain.
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| Left to right: Cranston, Esposito,Jeremiah Bitsui, and Aaron Paul |
Best scene: The moment that gave the show its name and makes it one of Breaking Bad lore. Everyone who knows the show knows what it means when you say "box cutter." Besides Gus finally evolving into the ruthless killer that makes him so amazing, it is the tension surrounding it. He walks in and puts on the lab coat without saying a word, and as you wait for him to say something, it only makes everything feel much worse. The climactic, emotionless death of Victor just shows how deep of an ethics Gus has that he cannot risk having an impure batch of meth. It also helps that Walter is just giving one hell of a speech that may fit into this overall theme of leverage that the show has established. It is unnerving and sets up season four as the darkest season of the show to date.
Come back tomorrow when we recap "Thirty-Eight Snubbed"
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