WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.040 Welcome to today's Deep Dive. We're jumping right 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:07.000 into a really specific slice of television history 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.050 today. Yeah, we really are. And I'm excited about 00:00:10.050 --> 00:00:12.789 this one. Me too. So if you're listening to this, 00:00:13.050 --> 00:00:15.070 you're likely familiar with the world of retail 00:00:15.070 --> 00:00:16.710 management. Whether you're running a massive 00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:20.070 superstore like Walmart or, you know, a corner 00:00:20.070 --> 00:00:23.850 bodega or even a high -end clothing boutique, 00:00:24.109 --> 00:00:27.250 there is this specific line item on the annual 00:00:27.250 --> 00:00:29.789 budget that every manager just absolutely hates. 00:00:29.949 --> 00:00:32.070 Oh, yeah. But they all accept it. Right. They 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:34.710 have to. It's called shrinkage, or more colloquially, 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:38.159 in the trade. breakage. It is a really fascinating 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.020 bit of economic realism when you look at it. 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:43.100 I mean, it accounts for the jar of pickles that 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:45.500 just slips out of a stock boy's hands and shatters 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:47.500 an aisle four. Yeah, or the t -shirt that walks 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:49.799 out the door under a teenager's jacket. Exactly. 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:53.280 It accounts for shipping errors, spoilage, minor 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:56.829 accidents, all of that. It's the calculated statistical 00:00:56.829 --> 00:00:59.289 inevitability of loss. A healthy business model 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:01.789 basically assumes that you will never ever capture 00:01:01.789 --> 00:01:04.409 100 % of your potential revenue. Right, you accept 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:06.329 the loss to keep the machine moving. You sweep 00:01:06.329 --> 00:01:08.810 up the glass, you write off the inventory, you 00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:10.810 log it in the spreadsheet, and then you just 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:12.849 open the doors the next day. You don't shut down 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:15.650 the whole store because a single jar broke. No, 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:17.750 of course not. But here is the question we are 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:19.709 wrestling with today, and it's our core mission 00:01:19.709 --> 00:01:22.849 for this deep dive. What happens when you apply 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:26.650 that standard retail logic to a high stakes criminal 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:29.030 enterprise? Right. What happens when the damaged 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:32.510 goods aren't jars of pickles, but human beings? 00:01:32.909 --> 00:01:35.349 And perhaps most critically, what happens when 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:38.349 the CEO of that enterprise just flat out refuses 00:01:38.349 --> 00:01:41.090 to accept that loss is part of the game? That 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:43.230 is the central tension of the material we're 00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:45.769 covering today. We are looking at Breaking Bad, 00:01:46.030 --> 00:01:49.049 specifically season two, episode five. Titled 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:52.409 Very Appropriately and Starkly. Breakage breakage 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:54.329 now before you think oh, I know this one It's 00:01:54.329 --> 00:01:56.209 just a setup episode where they move furniture 00:01:56.209 --> 00:01:58.609 around hold on don't skip ahead just yet We have 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:00.849 looked at the data and this particular piece 00:02:00.849 --> 00:02:03.890 of media is incredibly polarizing I mean it is 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:06.590 a bit of a Rorschach test for the audience It 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:09.530 really is on one side you have critics like Noel 00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:12.030 Murray from the AV Club giving it a straight 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:15.400 -up A grade. He called it a masterpiece of visual 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:18.159 storytelling and thematic density. But then on 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.479 the other side, you have the rankings. Vulture 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.840 ranked every single episode of the series. All 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:25.639 62 of them. All 62. And they put breakage at 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:29.000 number 62. Dead last. Dead last. The absolute 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.199 bottom of the barrel according to their metrics. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:33.939 And the ringer wasn't much kinder either. They 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:37.240 placed it at 44th out of 62. So solidly in the 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.900 bottom third. So our mission today is to really 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:43.120 reconcile that massive gap for you. How can a 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.120 piece of media be visually brilliant and narratively 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:49.139 essential, yet be perceived as the worst or the 00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:51.800 most boring? by a really significant portion 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:53.560 of the audience. It usually comes down to what 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:56.060 the viewer is prioritizing, right? Like the adrenaline 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:58.500 of the plot versus the architecture of the psychology. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:00.879 Exactly. And this deep dive is definitely for 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:02.340 those who are interested in that architecture. 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:05.240 This episode is the absolute foundation upon 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:07.520 which the rest of the tragedies build. So let's 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:09.580 open the file on the basics first, just to set 00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:11.979 the context for you. This originally aired on 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:15.379 April 5th, 2009. Right. It was directed by Johann 00:03:15.379 --> 00:03:18.669 Rank and written by Moira Wally Beckett. And 00:03:18.669 --> 00:03:20.650 Johann Rank is a name worth noting here. He brings 00:03:20.650 --> 00:03:23.530 a very specific visual style to this. A lot of 00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:26.770 claustrophobic angles, a lot of focus on texture 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:29.889 and silence. And Maura Wally Beckett later went 00:03:29.889 --> 00:03:33.210 on to write Ozymandias, which many consider the 00:03:33.210 --> 00:03:35.669 greatest episode of the entire series. So the 00:03:35.669 --> 00:03:38.340 pedigree here is just incredibly high. It really 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:40.979 is. And for the trivia hunters out there, there 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:42.919 is a dedication at the end of the episode to 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:45.520 Kim Manners. Right. A titan of television directing. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:47.780 He was huge on the X -Files and Supernatural. 00:03:47.819 --> 00:03:49.960 He passed away shortly before this aired. So 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.400 it sets a pretty somber tone right from the credits. 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:55.039 Yeah, it does. But looking at the narrative itself, 00:03:55.139 --> 00:03:57.240 the real meat here is the introduction of the 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.000 crew. We finally see Badger, Skinny Pete, and 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.039 Combo stepping up from being these background 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.039 jokes to being actual employees. And of course, 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.560 we meet Jane Margolis. Jane. Yes. We will definitely 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.319 get to her. She is pivotal in ways that ripple 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.620 through the entire series. But let's start with 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.319 the business meeting. The episode opens with 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:20.519 this really fascinating shift in the power dynamic 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:24.160 between Walt and Jesse. Usually Walt is the professor, 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.800 right? Right. Lecturing the burnout student. 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:29.360 But here they are discussing distribution and 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.699 Jesse is actually the one holding the whiteboard 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:34.930 marker, so to spoof. He is. and it's driven entirely 00:04:34.930 --> 00:04:37.490 by necessity. Remember the context here for a 00:04:37.490 --> 00:04:40.750 second. Tuco Salamanca is dead. Right. The insane 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:43.629 dictator phase of their business is over. Now 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:46.430 they have a massive power vacuum. And Jesse knows 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:48.870 the DEA is sniffing around him specifically. 00:04:49.089 --> 00:04:50.990 I mean, they found his car at Tuco's, remember? 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:53.430 Exactly. He tells Walt point blank, I am not 00:04:53.430 --> 00:04:56.649 being a lone wolf anymore. He is terrified of 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:59.430 being the street level target. So Jesse actually 00:04:59.430 --> 00:05:01.529 proposes a new corporate structure. He wants 00:05:01.529 --> 00:05:03.829 to layer it. He wants to be the middleman. He 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:05.490 says, I'll be the distributor. I'll get guys 00:05:05.490 --> 00:05:08.370 to sell on the street. You cook. I manage. They 00:05:08.370 --> 00:05:10.430 sell. It's actually a very sound strategy. It's 00:05:10.430 --> 00:05:12.730 vertical integration. Jesse suggests they control 00:05:12.730 --> 00:05:15.750 production, which Walt does, and wholesale distribution. 00:05:16.290 --> 00:05:19.689 But they farm out the retail risk to subcontractors. 00:05:20.050 --> 00:05:23.100 In this case... His friends. It's a classic pyramid 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:25.899 structure. Or a multi -level marketing scheme, 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.079 just with methamphetamine instead of essential 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:31.399 oils. Huh, right. And the three amigos, Skinny 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.160 Pete, Badger, Combo. Now, looking at these guys, 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:37.600 they don't exactly scream Fortune 500. No, not 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:39.660 at all. They're slouching, they're wearing beanies, 00:05:39.740 --> 00:05:42.259 they're talking slang. But Jesse trusts them. 00:05:42.420 --> 00:05:44.420 And for a while, it actually works. The montage 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:46.699 shows the money rolling in. It's efficient. It 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:49.560 works because they're insulated. Walt is insulated 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:51.920 from the street by Jesse and Jesse is insulated 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.379 from the buyers by the crew. But any business 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:57.199 model is only as good as its weakest link. And 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.500 in this case, the weak link is the unpredictability 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:01.660 of the customer base. Which brings us to the 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:04.899 inciting incident, the robbery. Right. Skinny 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:07.180 Pete is out there doing his job. He's not a tough 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.730 guy. He's just a dealer. He goes into a house 00:06:09.730 --> 00:06:12.050 to sell to a couple of addicts. And the scene 00:06:12.050 --> 00:06:15.170 is just, it's so grimy, it's unglamorous, it's 00:06:15.170 --> 00:06:18.350 not a cool cinematic drug deal. He gets ripped 00:06:18.350 --> 00:06:21.009 off by a couple who are clearly just vibrating 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:22.709 out of their minds. They take the meth, they 00:06:22.709 --> 00:06:24.750 take the cash, and they essentially just bully 00:06:24.750 --> 00:06:26.750 him out of the door. And this is where the definition 00:06:26.750 --> 00:06:29.709 of breakage moves from a business term to a moral 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:32.930 crisis. Jesse meets Walt to settle up the accounts. 00:06:33.329 --> 00:06:35.889 He hands over the money, but the envelope is 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:38.399 light. Walt immediately spots it too. counting 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.579 the stacks and he just stops. What is this? Where's 00:06:40.579 --> 00:06:43.779 the rest? Jesse is surprisingly calm about it, 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.160 which is interesting. He explains it just like 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.220 a manager at Target would explain a missing inventory 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:51.980 log. He says, Skinny Pete got robbed. Yeah. It 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:54.699 happens. It's breakage. He literally uses the 00:06:54.699 --> 00:06:57.319 word. He says, we made this much minus the theft. 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:00.180 Here is your split. To Jesse, this is just math. 00:07:00.329 --> 00:07:02.930 He is operating completely on a cost of doing 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:05.870 business model. He is willing to absorb the financial 00:07:05.870 --> 00:07:08.629 hit. He's even willing to let skinny Pete slide 00:07:08.629 --> 00:07:11.350 on paying it back immediately just to avoid the 00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:14.649 physical risk of confrontation. He is prioritizing 00:07:14.649 --> 00:07:17.449 safety and stability over profit maximization, 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:21.029 which is a very rational, modern way to run a 00:07:21.029 --> 00:07:23.259 business. But Walt. Walt looks at that light 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:25.639 envelope and he does not see a financial loss. 00:07:26.060 --> 00:07:29.339 He sees a massive PR disaster. Walt is operating 00:07:29.339 --> 00:07:32.459 on cartel logic. Exactly. Explain that a bit 00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:34.579 more for the listener. In the illegal drug trade, 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:37.860 you don't have access to the court system or 00:07:37.860 --> 00:07:40.199 insurance, right? If someone steals your inventory, 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:42.660 you can't sue them. You can't call the police. 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:45.319 You're only recourse. You're only actual asset. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.279 really, is your reputation for violence. Right. 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:51.620 Walt argues that if word gets out that Heisenberg's 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:54.139 crew can be robbed without consequence, they 00:07:54.139 --> 00:07:56.720 are finished. It's open season. Every junkie 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.779 in Albuquerque will take a shot at them. Is he 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:01.259 wrong, though? I mean, strictly speaking, in 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:03.360 that world. Strategically? No, he isn't wrong. 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:05.399 If you look at the history of illicit markets, 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:10.079 they really are governed by reputation. But morally... 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.660 he is making a terrifying calculation. He is 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.120 saying that a thousand dollars of meth is worth 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:18.259 more than a human life, or at least worth the 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:21.600 risk of taking one. He is rejecting the concept 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.819 of breakage entirely. He is saying, we are too 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:27.379 good to lose money. And he forces that calculation 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:30.019 right onto Jesse. This is the moment that genuinely 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.639 gave me chills when I re -watched it. Walt shows 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.720 up at Jesse's new apartment later in the episode. 00:08:35.059 --> 00:08:37.559 He doesn't come to offer to cover the loss. He 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:39.519 doesn't come to strategize on better security. 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:43.149 No, he brings a gun. Jesse a gun. It's a snub 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.789 -nose .38, I think, and the instruction is implicit 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:49.850 but entirely clear handle it. He is outsourcing 00:08:49.850 --> 00:08:53.090 the violence. And not the hypocrisy here. Walt 00:08:53.090 --> 00:08:55.590 wants the reputation of a killer. He wants everyone 00:08:55.590 --> 00:08:58.029 to fear Heisenberg, but he wants Jesse to be 00:08:58.029 --> 00:09:00.669 the executioner. He wants to be the CEO who keeps 00:09:00.669 --> 00:09:02.870 his hands clean while the middle manager does 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:05.690 the dirty work. Exactly. It's a total rejection 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:08.190 of the breakage philosophy. Walt is saying we 00:09:08.190 --> 00:09:11.299 will not accept loss. And by refusing to lose 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:13.419 a little bit of money, he is totally willing 00:09:13.419 --> 00:09:15.960 to break Jesse's spirit. He is pushing Jesse 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:18.600 from dealer, which is essentially a passive role, 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.700 to enforcer, which is an active, violent role. 00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:25.139 And think about the long -term cost of that decision. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:27.059 This is where the analysis gets really interesting 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:29.919 for me. If Walt had just said, OK, that sucks, 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.480 let's be more careful next time, and just taking 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.220 the financial hit, think about what doesn't happen. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.440 Jesse doesn't go to the addict's house. Right. 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:40.179 The APM incident doesn't happen. The escalation 00:09:40.179 --> 00:09:42.179 with the cartel doesn't happen in the same way. 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:45.360 It's the sunk cost fallacy completely weaponized. 00:09:45.539 --> 00:09:48.379 He's trying to save a few bucks and creates a 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:50.340 black hole that eventually swallows his entire 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:52.460 family. Which brings us perfectly to the other 00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:54.120 character who is being swallowed whole in this 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:57.179 episode, Hank Schrader. If Walt is the one causing 00:09:57.179 --> 00:10:00.379 the breakage, Hank is the vessel that is literally 00:10:00.379 --> 00:10:02.860 cracking under the pressure. Hank's arc here 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:05.529 is so heartbreaking. On paper, this should be 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:08.629 the best week of his entire life. He just killed 00:10:08.629 --> 00:10:11.509 Tuko Salamanca in a heroic shootout. He is the 00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:14.389 absolute hero of the Albuquerque DEA office. 00:10:14.549 --> 00:10:16.830 And in this episode, he gets the golden ticket, 00:10:17.169 --> 00:10:19.730 a promotion to the Tri -State Task Force. It's 00:10:19.730 --> 00:10:22.009 a massive career jump. He's going to the big 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:24.769 show in El Paso. He's going to be working with 00:10:24.769 --> 00:10:27.149 the feds, crossing the border, hunting the actual 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:30.110 cartel bosses. But watch his body language in 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:32.409 these scenes, in the scene with his boss and 00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:35.940 the other agents. He's loud. He's cracking jokes. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.740 He's doing that thing Hank does where he puts 00:10:37.740 --> 00:10:40.860 on a big show. He is performing the role of the 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:43.460 alpha dog. It's a mask. It's entirely a mask. 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:45.840 And then the elevator door is closed. Oh, man, 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:48.700 that scene, the sound just drops out. The camera 00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:51.139 lingers on him. He hunches over. He grabs the 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:53.639 rail. He literally can't breathe. It is a textbook 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.279 panic attack. And it's beautifully acted by Dean 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:58.639 Norris. You see the sweat, the pallor. But why 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.700 now? When he's getting everything he worked for? 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:04.200 Because the promotion removes his safety buffer. 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:07.919 He survived the shootout with Tuco, but it deeply 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:09.980 traumatized him. His brain is screaming, I almost 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:12.879 died. He hasn't processed that mortality at all. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:15.220 Right. And now his job is rewarding him by sending 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:17.019 him into an even more dangerous environment. 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:20.440 the border war. His body is physically rejecting 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:22.779 the reality that his ego is trying to accept. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.679 The writers use this incredible visual metaphor 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.039 to dramatize this internal pressure, too. The 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:30.360 home brewing. Ah, yes. Freight or brow. Freight 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.279 or brow. Right. Hank is bottling his beer in 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:35.919 the garage. There is a shot of him forcing the 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.120 caps onto the bottles. He is jamming them down 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:40.340 with this capping tool, and he's just using too 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:42.519 much force. One of them just shatters in his 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.419 hand, cuts him wide open. It's not subtle, but 00:11:45.419 --> 00:11:48.919 it is incredibly effective. Hank is the bottle. 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:52.139 He is under too much pressure. the fermentation 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:55.279 of his trauma, and he is being forced into a 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.019 mold he just doesn't fit anymore. He's trying 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.360 to cap his emotions, and it's causing him to 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.379 break physically. But the sound design is where 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:04.860 the A grade from the AV club really comes from. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.039 Later that night, Hank is sleeping, and he hears 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:12.059 it. Pop. It sounds exactly like gunfire. Exactly 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:13.600 like it. He wakes up, and he doesn't just wake 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.960 up groggy. He wakes up in full tactical mode. 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:17.980 He grabs his gun. He clears the hallway. He clears 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:20.440 the living room. He is moving like he is right 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:22.919 back in the shootout. He genuinely thinks the 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:24.820 cartel has come for him. And what do we find? 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:27.220 It's just the beer bottles exploding in the garage. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.220 The pressure from the fermentation blew the caps 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:32.440 right off. It's the perfect metaphor for PTSD. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:34.799 Yeah. The threat isn't external anymore. It's 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.240 internal. The danger is coming from inside his 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:39.799 own house, from his own hobby. He can't escape 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.320 the violence because he has completely internalized 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:45.360 it. The war is now in his garage. And that leads 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.360 right to the scene at the Rio Grande, the final 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:49.940 image of Hank in this episode. He drives down 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.539 to the river. He takes the trophy he kept from 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:56.399 the Tuco shootout. The grill. Tuco's teeth. encased 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:58.919 in that lucite block. It was a souvenir of his 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:01.320 victory. He looks at it with just pure disgust, 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:03.600 and he hurls it into the river. He is trying 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.399 to dispose of the breakage. He wants to throw 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:08.379 the trauma away. He wants to wash his hands of 00:13:08.379 --> 00:13:10.960 the violence. Yeah. But the tragedy of Hank Trader, 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:12.320 and this is something that plays out over the 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.820 next three seasons, is that you cannot throw 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:17.440 away a memory. You can't throw away the way your 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.159 hand shakes in an elevator. So we have Walt refusing 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.779 to break and causing chaos. We have Hank breaking 00:13:22.779 --> 00:13:24.899 privately and trying to hide it. And then we 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:27.720 have the white marriage. This is where the concept 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.679 of breakage becomes all about trust. The domestic 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.600 front is completely crumbling. We know Walt is 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.019 financially stressed. The medical bills are piling 00:13:36.019 --> 00:13:38.700 up. The drug money from Tuco is dwindling. He 00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:41.700 is physically sick from the first round of chemo. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.799 Results in two months, they say. Right. But the 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:48.539 inciting incident here is so mundane. A clogged 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:51.029 toilet. It's really visceral. Walt is vomiting, 00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:53.549 face in the bowl, and he sees the water rising. 00:13:53.889 --> 00:13:56.129 He fishes out the obstruction and it's a cigarette 00:13:56.129 --> 00:13:59.330 pack. Skyler's. Now look at the hypocrisy here. 00:13:59.750 --> 00:14:02.629 This is classic Walter White. Walt is a meth 00:14:02.629 --> 00:14:05.549 manufacturer. He has killed people. He is lying 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:07.830 about his entire existence to everyone he loves. 00:14:08.009 --> 00:14:10.330 But he finds a cigarette wrapper and he immediately 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:12.529 mounts the high horse. He confronts Skyler with 00:14:12.529 --> 00:14:14.820 his righteous indignation. You're smoking, how 00:14:14.820 --> 00:14:17.500 could you? With me having lung cancer. And Skyler's 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:19.940 reaction is really fascinating. In season one, 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:22.480 Skyler might have cried or apologized. She was 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.139 still trying to be the good wife, but season 00:14:24.139 --> 00:14:27.120 two Skyler, she stonewalls him. She just refuses 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:28.980 to apologize. She basically looks him in the 00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:31.740 eye and says nothing. She is rewriting the marital 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.279 contract right there. Her argument is rooted 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.639 in reciprocity. She knows Walt has massive secrets. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:39.700 She doesn't know what they are yet. She obviously 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:42.240 doesn't know about the meth lab, but she feels 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.440 the weight of his dishonesty. Her logic is basically, 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:48.139 if you can have a secret life, so can I. If you 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.419 break the contract of total honesty, I'm not 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:52.919 bound by it either. It's mutually assured destruction. 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:55.720 That's precisely. It's a stalemate. You lie, 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.840 I lie. And we see Skyler projecting this deep 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.740 need for truth onto her sister, Marie. Remember 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:04.659 the tiara incident? Oh, right. The stolen tiara 00:15:04.659 --> 00:15:06.700 from the baby shower in a previous narrative 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:09.340 arc. Marie stole it, gave it to Skyler, and Skyler 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:11.960 almost got arrested returning it. Marie has been 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.460 dodging that for episodes. Skyler corners her 00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:16.139 at the cookout, celebrating Hank's promotion. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.799 It's aggressive. She demands an apology. She 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.159 basically says, this will irreversibly drive 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:23.740 a wedge between us unless you acknowledge reality. 00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:28.080 And it works. Marie tearfully apologizes. Schuyler 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.139 forces the breakage out into the open. Unlike 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:33.639 the men who are hiding their cracks, Walt hiding 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.960 the crime, Hank hiding the panic attacks, Schuyler 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.059 is pointing at the crack and screaming, look 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:42.740 at this, fix this. She is desperate for control. 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:44.980 She can't control Walt's cancer. She can't control 00:15:44.980 --> 00:15:47.240 his disappearances. She can't control the secrets 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:50.639 in her house, but she can control Marie. She 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:53.580 can force Marie to admit to the theft. It's a 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:55.580 proxy war for the truth she just isn't getting 00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:57.639 from her husband. It's really heavy stuff. Every 00:15:57.639 --> 00:15:59.940 single character is dealing with loss. And amidst 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:02.679 all this heavy psychological drama, we have Jesse 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:04.740 trying to build a new foundation. We have to 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:06.379 talk about segment four, the introduction of 00:16:06.379 --> 00:16:08.399 Jane. This is such a pivotal moment for the series. 00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:10.240 Yeah. Jesse is effectively homeless at this point. 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.879 He's been crashing in the RV. He finds this duplex 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:16.120 for rent. And he meets the landlord, Jane Margolis, 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.019 played by Kristen Ritter. Jessie is trying so 00:16:19.019 --> 00:16:21.600 hard to cosplay a normal person here. He's wearing 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.539 decent clothes. He's being polite. He really 00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:26.679 wants to be a responsible tenant. But the application 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.259 form is a disaster. No credit, no employment 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:33.279 history. He is a ghost in the system. Jane is 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.200 the gatekeeper to the normal life Jessie wants. 00:16:35.779 --> 00:16:38.200 She looks at the application and says, no, she 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.120 is professional. She spots the red flags immediately. 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.899 But then Jessie flashes the cash. And this tells 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:47.059 us everything about Jane in about 10 seconds. 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:48.740 She looks at the unfurnished place. She looks 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:50.879 at the cash. She looks at the blank form, and 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.460 she improvises. She said she'll rent to him, 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:55.820 but if you pay cash, the rent is higher. It's 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:59.620 a corruption tax or a risk premium. She is signaling 00:16:59.620 --> 00:17:02.139 that she is transactional. She's willing to bend 00:17:02.139 --> 00:17:04.720 the rules for a profit. In a way, she and Jesse 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.079 are perfect for each other. They're both outcasts 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.720 trying to navigate the straight world and both 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:12.140 kind of failing to do it, honestly. It establishes 00:17:12.140 --> 00:17:14.440 her as someone who isn't necessarily bad, but 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.740 who is morally flexible. She's not a civilian 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:18.539 like Skyler. She's in the gray area, just like 00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:20.849 Jesse. And we also see Jesse trying to clean 00:17:20.849 --> 00:17:23.410 up his other loose ends with Clovis, the towing 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:26.029 guy. Right. He goes back to the yard. He pays 00:17:26.029 --> 00:17:27.970 for the gate he smashed in the previous breakout. 00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:31.049 He pays for the towing. He stores the RV there. 00:17:31.349 --> 00:17:35.049 He even buys a nondescript used car. A red Toyota 00:17:35.049 --> 00:17:39.140 Trussell, I think. He is trying so hard to compartmentalize. 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:41.779 He thinks he can keep the daytime Jesse, the 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:43.559 guy with the apartment, and the cute neighbor 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:45.339 completely separate from the nighttime Jesse, 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.440 the guy with the gun and the meth. He thinks 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:51.059 he can simply pay off the past. But the gun is 00:17:51.059 --> 00:17:52.920 in the apartment. The gun is in the apartment. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:55.759 The breakage has already moved in with him. You 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:58.079 cannot separate the two worlds. That is the lesson 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:00.160 the show hammers home again and again. You can 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.000 buy a new car, you can rent a new apartment, 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:03.960 but if you bring the gun with you, you are still 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.900 in the game. So Bringing it all back to the critical 00:18:07.900 --> 00:18:09.619 reception, we talked about this at the start. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.240 Why did Vulture hate this episode so much? Why 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.599 rank it 62nd out of 62? I really think it suffers 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:19.059 from middle child syndrome. It's a bridge episode. 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:21.380 It doesn't have the kinetic energy of the pilot 00:18:21.380 --> 00:18:24.960 or the explosive climax of a season finale. Right. 00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:27.339 If you are binge watching for the adrenaline 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:30.059 rush, waiting for the big explosions or the train 00:18:30.059 --> 00:18:32.759 heists, this episode feels like a break check. 00:18:33.049 --> 00:18:36.769 It's moving pieces around. Hank to El Paso, Jessie 00:18:36.769 --> 00:18:40.130 to a new apartment, Jane's intro. It's the vegetables. 00:18:40.190 --> 00:18:42.049 You have to eat the vegetables to get the dessert. 00:18:42.490 --> 00:18:44.509 But for the deep dive listener, for you, this 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:48.069 is the nutrient dense part of the meal. You cannot 00:18:48.069 --> 00:18:51.450 understand Hank's character in seasons three, 00:18:51.450 --> 00:18:54.190 four or five. without understanding the panic 00:18:54.190 --> 00:18:56.509 attack in the elevator in season two. You cannot 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:58.730 understand the tragedy of Jesse Pinkman without 00:18:58.730 --> 00:19:01.569 seeing him try and fail to be a normal tenant 00:19:01.569 --> 00:19:04.029 in this episode. Noel Murray at the AV club was 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:06.609 absolutely right. The visual comparisons, the 00:19:06.609 --> 00:19:09.109 bottles versus the gunshots, the retail loss 00:19:09.109 --> 00:19:12.190 versus the human loss, Walt's secret versus Skyler's 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:14.309 secret that is high level character work. It's 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:16.430 doing the heavy lifting so the later episodes 00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:18.990 can just coast on the emotional setup. It honestly 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:21.589 changes the genre. This episode is the pivot 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:24.039 point. where Breaking Bad stops being a dark 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:26.539 comedy about a teacher making drugs and starts 00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:28.920 being a tragedy about the true cost of power. 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:33.500 So let's wrap this up. If we are looking at the 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:36.619 cost of doing business, what is the bill? The 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:39.720 bill is total. That is the key takeaway. You 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:41.920 cannot budget for the kind of loss they're inviting 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.700 in. Breakage isn't just about lost math. It's 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:47.279 about the cost of doing business in a life of 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:50.220 crime. Hank pays the cost through trauma. His 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:53.420 peace of mind is gone. Walt pays the cost through 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:55.799 the erosion of his marriage. He wins the argument 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:58.160 about the money, but he completely loses the 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.640 trust of his wife. And Jesse pays the cost by 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.519 being forced toward violence. The concept of 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.900 breakage suggests that loss is manageable. You 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:08.859 lose 2 % of inventory, you survive. But the episode 00:20:08.859 --> 00:20:11.759 argues the exact opposite. In this world, the 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.559 loss is unmanageable. It spreads. It's not a 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:16.640 cracked jar. It's a cracked foundation. The whole 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.380 house is going to come down. And it all started 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.339 because Walt wouldn't let $1 ,000 go. That's 00:20:21.339 --> 00:20:23.339 the thought I really want you to sit with. Consider 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:25.619 the definition of breakage presented by Jesse, 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.460 revenue loss that must be expected. Walt rejected 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:31.380 the financial loss of breakage. But by refusing 00:20:31.380 --> 00:20:33.579 to lose a little money, he initiates a chain 00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:35.920 of events that will break everything else in 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:39.059 his life. Is avoiding a small loss really worth 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:42.299 risking a total collapse? How many times in life 00:20:42.299 --> 00:20:44.960 do we double down on a bad situation because 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.779 we refuse to accept a small loss? We throw good 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:50.700 money after bad, or we escalate a conflict just 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:54.039 to save face. Walt's decision to buy a gun to 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:56.640 solve a theft problem is the ultimate cautionary 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.279 tale. He thought he was saving his reputation. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:01.839 In reality, he was lighting the match that would 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.779 burn his whole world down. Sometimes you just 00:21:03.779 --> 00:21:05.819 have to sweep up the pickles and move on. Exactly. 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:07.779 Let it break. It's cheaper than the alternative. 00:21:08.140 --> 00:21:10.259 That's a wrap on breakage. Thank you for diving 00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:11.940 deep with us. We'll see you on the next one.