Breaking Bad Episode 34: Box Cutter

The episode opens with a flashback to Gale Boetticher in the past, observing the quality of a meth product and provoking Gus Fring to hire Walter White as his replacement; the scene then cuts to the present, where Jesse Pinkman has just shot Gale dead in his apartment, and neighbors are gathering and calling the police. Victor, Gus’s henchman, arrives at the apartment, finds Gale dead, and forces Jesse—whom he catches sitting in his car—to return to the superlab, where Mike Ehrmantraut is holding Walt under guard. Mike worries that Victor was seen at the apartment and calls Gus to report it.

Back at the lab, Walt and Jesse watch anxiously as Victor, now holding Jesse at gunpoint, insists on cooking meth himself despite Walt’s objections. Walt, sidelined, begins criticizing Victor’s technique, claiming Victor cannot be trusted to run the lab. Meanwhile, Skyler White discovers Walt’s car in her driveway, moves it a few blocks away to prevent Walter Jr. from seeing it, and calls Saul Goodman to ask where Walt is; Saul, paranoid about Walt’s fallout with Gus, is checking his office for listening devices and gives no useful information. Skyler then hires a locksmith, pretending to be locked out of Walt’s condominium, and breaks in but finds little of interest.

At the Schrader home, Marie struggles to care for Hank, who is still bedridden and belligerent after the attack on his life. Gus arrives at the lab and remains silent while Walt launches into a rambling monologue, arguing that Walt and Jesse must stay alive because their cooking skills are indispensable to Gus’s operation. Gus changes into hazmat gear, picks up the box cutter Gale used to open lab equipment boxes, and suddenly slices Victor’s throat, killing him instantly as blood sprays everywhere. Gus then coldly stares at Walt and Jesse and tells them to “get back to work”.

Walt and Jesse, shaken, use hydrofluoric acid to dissolve Victor’s body, the gun that killed Gale, and the box cutter itself. Mike assists them in disposing of the liquefied remains. Later, at a nearby diner, Walt insists that Gale’s death was necessary but fears Gus will kill them at his next opportunity; Jesse doubts Gus will easily find another manufacturer but worries Gus might make them “wish they were dead”. Police investigate Gale’s apartment, where his lab notebook is left out in the open. Walt eventually returns home and is surprised to find his car has been moved; Skyler explains why, but she is uninterested in reconciliation, and Walt leaves the conversation hopeful yet met with her cold silence.