Quick Take: Breaking Bad, "Box Cutter"
"Trust us." - Jesse
Review: Breaking Bad, "Box Cutter"
(S0401) About a quarter of the way through “Box Cutter,” I tweeted, “It looks like Victor is going to be a bigger character this season.” And with a quick flick of Gus Fring’s wrist, I was pretty blatantly proven wrong. Victor will not be a major character in season four because Victor is nothing more than a mushy concoction of blood and bones in a plastic tub in the back of a truck.
And how did we get to Victor’s demise. Well chronologically, Jesse killed Gale (thankfully, people can put their doubts to rest that he pulled the gun away at the last moment as people surmised during last season’s finale), Victor showed up to find Gale dead, he then found Jesse sitting stunned in a car and brought him back to the lab where Walt sat beneath the glaring gaze of Mike. Walt’s deduced that with Gale gone, Gus couldn’t afford to kill Walt or Jesse because he needed someone to cook. Except, Victor apparently learned a thing or two watching previous batches being produced and was able to mimic the process, much to Walt’s chagrin (he even know to add the aluminum!)
And Victor seems on top of the world when finally, finally Gus shows up. Walt and Jesse can be eliminated because he’s the new star chemistry disciple. Gus makes his way slowly down the steps and removes his suit jacket, his dress shirt, his tie, his shoes, piece-by-piece. He puts on a lab suit and takes hold of a box-cutter (used in the opening flashback showing Gale setting up the lab, but more on that in a bit) and slowly circles Walt and Jesse as Walt tries to plead his case. But the blade never touches our two heroes. Gus instead violently slices through Victor’s the throat.
The real question is, why? Was it because he was reckless in showing up at Gale’s house and was seen by the neighbors? It seems like a logical answer, sure. Gus isn’t the type of businessman to cut any corners. He’s also not one to hesitate when a deed needs to be done. And yet, it still seemed odd to me. Nonetheless, what a perfectly paced/acted/shot scene. Just plain brutal.
As he exits (leaving Walt and Jesse to dispose of Victor’s body in acid just like they disposed of Krazy 8 back in season one), Gus tells them to get a-cooking. And that’s what they do. And in their post-cooking (victory?) meal at Denny’s, Walt asks Jesse what their next move should be. He thinks they are on borrowed time and eventually Gus will get rid of them after he finds a new chemist. But Jesse isn’t so sure. He (probably rightfully) guesses that it took Gus years to find and groom an employee like Gale, someone who’s both an expert in the field and who knows to keep his mouth shut. Gus just can’t afford to go forward without Walt and Jesse. But as Jesse puts it, that doesn’t mean he can’t make their lives a living hell.
Speaking of a living hell, Hank is in the very early stages of his rehabilitation and is deservedly frustrated. He’s subjected the purple-wearing Marie with harsh sarcasm and internet rock purchases. I wonder how Hank and Marie will fit into the big picture of Breaking Bad’s fourth season, but it’s too early to really gauge it either way (though one thing that does keep them at least tangentially related to Walt is that the meth-money is being used to fund the growing expense of said rehabilitation).
And then there’s Skyler, who continues to sway ever the more to the side of her own moral ambiguity in her attempt to find just where Walt might be all evening. She lies to a locksmith and even uses the baby (what’s that baby’s name again?) as a prop to get him to illegally gain access to Walt’s apartment. She doesn’t gain too much information, but she doesn’t find that damn bear’s eye that Walt just can’t seem to part ways with.
Speaking of watching eyes, the final scene shows the Albuquerque Police Department already in the midst of investigating Gale's murder. While there isn’t anything that immediately links Jesse to the crime, but a lingering shot of Gale’s “Lab Notes” booklet shows a potential link between Gale and Gus.
Early in the episode, the camera also passes by another book in Gale’s apartment, Stephen King’s short story collection “Everything’s Eventual.” Eventually on Breaking Bad, more lies are going to be told and more people are going to die. It’s all just a matter of when.
Lingering thoughts about "Box Cutter":
I agree -- it's puzzling as to why Gus took out Victor. The scene played out as menacing and shocking as any from the entire BB run to be sure. As you say, it must relate to Victor's exposure at Gale's apartment.
And perhaps it's a "subtle" acknowlegement that Walt is right -- Victor is a guy following an instruction sheet recipe and would have no idea what to do when the slightest thing in the seemingly delicate meth cooking process goes awry (and how crazy and sick and cool is it that Breaking Bad has us this deep into studying the skill set of cooking up meth for drug addicts?).
On another note: was just noting on Chris' story that I see Jesse as highly vulnerable now. He appears to be fatalistic while Gus really has very little reason to keep him around, except perhaps as a future chip to use against Walt.
The previous commenter made my chuckle with his spelling of Sopranos, but I agree with at least a portion of what he said. It was pretty clear that Gus had to kill Victor for 4 reasons.
1. The whole situation got so f-ed up that Gus had to kill SOMEONE, just to maintain a modicum of respect/fear from his subordinates.
2. Like everyone has mentioned, Victor was seen at the crime scene, which leave open the possibility of the police being able to identify him.
3. Victor was really the only person in the room he could kill. Mike's skills make him too valuable to easily replace. Ditto for Walt. And Walt's wild-ass behavior of late forces Gus to take his word for it when he says that he will only cook if Jesse's life is spared.
4. Lastly, and probably most importantly, it was Victor's responsibilty as Gus' "muscle" to make sure that Fring's orders to kill Walt were followed out to the T. Gus could no longer trust him to do his job properly, and, in the drug business, we all know what happens to henchmen that are no longer useful.
That's a pretty good sum up, Lucas. And your #1 reminds me of that brilliant/primal scene in which Tony Soprano, while recovering from being shot, takes on the big dumb kid in a scuffle/brawl simply to show off his Alpha Dog cred to the crew. I think there was a little bit of that with Gus, if in a vastly more cold and brutal (Marlo-ish?) kind of way.