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canyonwalker) wrote2024-10-09 05:20 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2024-10-09 05:20 pm
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Breaking Bad S1E3: To Kill or Not to Kill; Make a List!
Episode 3 of Breaking Bad continues the transformation of Walter White from Mr. Chips to Scarface. The main plot element of this episode is Walt wrestling with what to do with mid-level drug dealer "Krazy-8", whom he and Jesse are holding prisoner in Jesse's basement. More specifically, Walt wrestles with the question, Do I kill him or do I let him go?
Walt is not a killer at heart. He's not even a hardened criminal. The extent to which "kill this guy" is not Walt's character is revealed in what he does in this episode after procrastinating multiple times. He writes out a list of pros and cons.
The camera lets us look over Walt's shoulder as he writes the list. First we see him jotting down everything on the left, all the reasons to spare the drug dealer's life. After a pair of quick cuts the camera shows the one thing on the right: "[Kill him because] He'll kill your entire family if you let him go."
I laughed out loud when I saw that. Not because it's conventionally funny but because it's funny in the manner of (very) dark humor. And it's also true within the context of a narrative like this.
It takes more than this, though, before Walt makes his final decision. Because again, he's not a hardened criminal. He's in totally over his head at this moment.
Walt tries really hard to talk himself out of killing. He continues feeding the prisoner and even strikes up conversation with him. Clearly he's trying to humanize the bad guy, to further dissuade himself from seeing murder as the expedient answer. In the conversation, at which point he even gives the prisoner a beer, Walt invites the man to talk him out of killing.
Krazy-8, whose real name we learn is Domingo, shares a bit about his family. Walt makes connections that further humanize him. For example, Domingo's dad owns a furniture store. Walt remembers the jingle from an old TV ad and bought his son's crib there 16 years ago. He and Domingo imagine that Domingo may have been working the cash register when Walt bought the crib.
Domingo shrewdly calls out Walt for not having the character to commit murder— or even to stay involved in illicit drugs. He's right, of course. Walt's in completely over his head at this point. And Domingo further discourages Walt by pointing out that Jesse is a dangerous person to have as a partner in crime. He's foolish, incautious, and a drug addict.
At the climax of the episode, Walt seems to have made up his mind to let Domingo go. He's gone upstairs and fetched the key to open the lock. But then a series of flashbacks to a scene from years earlier comes into context: What's the small missing piece? Walt tries putting together the pieces of a plate that broke when he dropped it next to Domingo. He finds that one major shard of the broken plate is missing. Domingo pocketed that shard and will use it to kill him the moment he's free, Walt realizes. Thus he knows he has to kill Domingo. He strangles him to death. And sure enough, while he's doing it, Domingo is stabbing at him with the pottery shard.
This decision— and the final bit of the thought process that leads to it— sets up who Walt is becoming.
Walt is not a killer at heart. He's not even a hardened criminal. The extent to which "kill this guy" is not Walt's character is revealed in what he does in this episode after procrastinating multiple times. He writes out a list of pros and cons.
The camera lets us look over Walt's shoulder as he writes the list. First we see him jotting down everything on the left, all the reasons to spare the drug dealer's life. After a pair of quick cuts the camera shows the one thing on the right: "[Kill him because] He'll kill your entire family if you let him go."
I laughed out loud when I saw that. Not because it's conventionally funny but because it's funny in the manner of (very) dark humor. And it's also true within the context of a narrative like this.
It takes more than this, though, before Walt makes his final decision. Because again, he's not a hardened criminal. He's in totally over his head at this moment.
Walt tries really hard to talk himself out of killing. He continues feeding the prisoner and even strikes up conversation with him. Clearly he's trying to humanize the bad guy, to further dissuade himself from seeing murder as the expedient answer. In the conversation, at which point he even gives the prisoner a beer, Walt invites the man to talk him out of killing.
Krazy-8, whose real name we learn is Domingo, shares a bit about his family. Walt makes connections that further humanize him. For example, Domingo's dad owns a furniture store. Walt remembers the jingle from an old TV ad and bought his son's crib there 16 years ago. He and Domingo imagine that Domingo may have been working the cash register when Walt bought the crib.
Domingo shrewdly calls out Walt for not having the character to commit murder— or even to stay involved in illicit drugs. He's right, of course. Walt's in completely over his head at this point. And Domingo further discourages Walt by pointing out that Jesse is a dangerous person to have as a partner in crime. He's foolish, incautious, and a drug addict.
At the climax of the episode, Walt seems to have made up his mind to let Domingo go. He's gone upstairs and fetched the key to open the lock. But then a series of flashbacks to a scene from years earlier comes into context: What's the small missing piece? Walt tries putting together the pieces of a plate that broke when he dropped it next to Domingo. He finds that one major shard of the broken plate is missing. Domingo pocketed that shard and will use it to kill him the moment he's free, Walt realizes. Thus he knows he has to kill Domingo. He strangles him to death. And sure enough, while he's doing it, Domingo is stabbing at him with the pottery shard.
This decision— and the final bit of the thought process that leads to it— sets up who Walt is becoming.