AMC’s Breaking Bad
Season 4, Episode 1: “Box Cutter”
Directed by Adam Bernstein
Written by Vince Gilligan

* For a recap & review of the Season 3 finale, “Full Measure” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Thirty-Eight Snub” – click here
Flashback to when Gale Boetticher (David Costabile) was still alive, before Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) murdered him. He was the original chemist for Gus Fring’s (Giancarlo Esposito) lab, unboxing the big equipment he’d be using to cook soon enough, under watch of Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui). The cook was nerding out over the high-tech, expensive equipment. He was also busy running tests on the blue meth, assessing “the purity” of their “competition.” He was impressed by it, whereas Gus wasn’t too concerned. Ironic how his interest in the product might’ve ultimately led to his death— the Breaking Bad world is so chock full of devastating irony.
Cut ahead to Jesse shooting Gale. This is his newest burden to bear: being a murderer. Cops are being alerted to the shot fired and the dead body. Victor turns up in the middle of it, checking the apartment and looking for any sign of Pinkman, whose sitting right outside in his car. Oh, shit.
Back at the laundromat, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) keeps Walter White (Bryan Cranston) at the end of his gun, waiting. Soon, Victor gets there with Jesse, and the two cooks are in a terrifying situation. The only bargaining chip left is their ability to cook the “99%” pure meth that’s gotten them to this point.
So, what now?
At home, Skyler (Anna Gunn) wakes up to Marie (Betsy Brandt) at the door with another handful of bills needing paying. It’s not easy for the latter, she hates having to bring them to her sister. Nevertheless, her sister insists on helping. Skyler also discovers Walt’s car outside, curious as to where he is if he isn’t at home.
In the lab everyone’s waiting. Walt explains, to stay on schedule, they’d need to start cooking. He doesn’t think Gus would want to delay, despite recent fatal events. This prompts Victor to start the batch himself, having watched the process closely.
At the offices of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is Huell (Lavell Crawford), watching over the place— someone you could easily outrun, not someone you’d want to fight. Saul’s sweeping his office for bugs, worried sick about what his clients have gotten into as of late. It’s tougher having “chatty Cathy” Mrs. White calling him, wondering why her husband’s disappeared.
Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) may have gone home from the hospital, it doesn’t mean he’s doing better. He sits in bed on his computer sulking, collecting minerals, and being pissy with his wife when she tries being positive. Although it can’t be easy. He went from superman DEA agent to being unable to use his legs. Still, his wife sticks by him, as she always does, and he’d rather bid “on a new mineral” instead of talk.

The batch is going ahead with Victor as drug chef. Walt sits back quietly gloating to Jesse, who remains quiet, but he sees Victor’s paid close attention to their process, more than he’d care to admit. Then, Mr. Fring arrives. He’s already heard the bad news. Now he sees his product’s being cooked, the murderer of his friend Gale and the accomplice are served to him on a platter. This is a bad place for Jesse and Walt.
Gus doesn’t say a word. He heads back to suit up like he’s going to start cooking. I mean, he’s a chef, right? That’s not why he’s putting on a suit. He doesn’t want to get his clothes dirty. Because, while Walt rambles on explaining why he was forced into having Gale killed and why, without him, the lab’s nothing but an “$8–million hole in the ground,” Gus takes a box cutter – the very one we saw Gale use in the opening flashback scene to unbox the lab’s equipment – and cuts Victor’s throat open. The man bleeds out in his arms, while even Mike watches on in absolute horror. What a vicious message to send. All without saying a single word, too.
Afterwards, Gus takes a quick spritz in the chemical wash station, then he dresses down and puts his suit back on. To see the shock in Mike’s especially stunning. All Gus says before leaving is: “Get back to work.” Things have certainly changed. But nobody’s on any better footing. Even Mike’s expendable at this point. He and the lads are left to get rid of Victor’s corpse. They use their prior experience with dissolving bodies using hydrofluoric acid to do things better this time. Ugly, ugly work watching a body disappear like that, a human gone forever. That’s one thing Breaking Bad‘s never, ever done is glorify the world of drug dealing.
A possible problem for everyone? Gale’s Lab Notes notebook sitting on his coffee table with formulas and all sorts of things. Goddamn.
With another horror behind them, Walt and Jesse are left with few options other than to keep on cooking for Fring. The older of the two worries for his partner after he killed a man in cold blood. Jesse claims he’s okay. But Walt’s not ready to let things lie with Gus. Jesse sees things clearly, whereas his partner won’t rest that easy.
“Thirty-Eight Snub” is next time.