WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are, 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:05.559 well, we're not just watching television. No, 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:07.660 definitely not. We're really conducting an autopsy. 00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:12.640 We are dissecting an hour of media that on the 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:15.400 surface looks like a gritty little crime thriller, 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:19.149 but underneath. I mean... It is a psychological 00:00:19.149 --> 00:00:21.329 horror story. Right, about the death of the soul. 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:24.829 Exactly. It really is. So we are looking at Breaking 00:00:24.829 --> 00:00:28.089 Bad today, specifically season two, episode six, 00:00:28.250 --> 00:00:31.429 titled Peek -A -Boo. Yes. And I have to say, 00:00:31.629 --> 00:00:33.509 looking at the stack of research we pulled for 00:00:33.509 --> 00:00:36.149 this deep dive, the shooting scripts, the lighting 00:00:36.149 --> 00:00:38.869 diagrams from Michael Slovis, the reception history 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:42.229 from Wikipedia, this story is an anomaly. How 00:00:42.229 --> 00:00:44.810 so? Well, it feels less like a chapter in a serialized 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:47.409 show and more like a standalone short film. almost 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:49.630 about purgatory. That is a perfect description. 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:52.409 Purgatory with like wood paneling. Yes. And looking 00:00:52.409 --> 00:00:54.530 at the rankings here in our notes, the critics 00:00:54.530 --> 00:00:56.649 absolutely agree with that assessment. They do. 00:00:56.829 --> 00:01:00.229 The Ringer has this at 26 out of 62 overall. 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:03.020 Vulture. bumped it all the way up to number 13. 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:06.159 Which is huge. And TV Guide, back in the day, 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.599 actually placed this in their top 100 television 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:12.239 episodes of all time. Which is fascinating when 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.060 you consider the log line. I mean, if you just 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:16.200 read the summary on Netflix or Wikipedia, it 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:18.709 sounds like a side quest. Right, right. It just 00:01:18.709 --> 00:01:21.590 says, Jesse Pinkman goes to recover stolen money 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:23.810 from a pair of junkies. That's it. That's the 00:01:23.810 --> 00:01:26.069 entire A plot. It sounds like filler. But our 00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:29.769 mission today is to unpack exactly why it isn't 00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:33.209 filler, why this specific story, which involves 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:37.129 a stolen ATM and a neglected child, is actually 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.200 the Rosetta Stone. for the entire series. We 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:42.019 are going to look really closely at the role 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:44.319 reversal theory today. Yes, the moral polarity. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.019 Exactly. How this story flips the moral polarity 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:49.400 of our two main guys, Walt and Jesse. Because 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.400 we are going to see Jesse, the supposed bad guy, 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:55.540 stumble into this sort of accidental sainthood. 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:58.120 Right. And simultaneously, we're going to watch 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:00.959 Walter White, the good father and the teacher, 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:03.680 actively choose to become a villain. It's the 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.000 exact moment the graph lines cross. It really 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.050 is. So. Let's get into the setup. We have to 00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:11.210 set the scene for you. Because the atmosphere 00:02:11.210 --> 00:02:14.069 here is heavy. Very heavy. You can practically 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:16.370 smell the set through the screen. You really 00:02:16.370 --> 00:02:18.310 can. And context is important for you to understand 00:02:18.310 --> 00:02:22.210 here. This originally aired on April 12, 2009. 00:02:22.449 --> 00:02:25.430 It was written by Jay Roberts and Vince Gilgin 00:02:25.430 --> 00:02:28.270 himself. Right, the creator. But the direction 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:30.409 is what really stands out to me in the production 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:33.069 notes. It was directed by Peter Medak. And Peter 00:02:33.069 --> 00:02:36.349 Medak is a legend. Oh, absolutely. He directed 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:39.370 the ruling class. He did the changeling. He really 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:42.289 knows how to shoot in closed spaces to make them 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:44.430 feel claustrophobic. Exactly. And if you look 00:02:44.430 --> 00:02:46.969 at the production notes we gathered, the visual 00:02:46.969 --> 00:02:49.189 language of the show completely shifts here. 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:51.729 Yeah, normally Breaking Bad is known for those 00:02:51.729 --> 00:02:55.639 wide, bright, yellow -tinted desert shots. Albuquerque 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.000 in the sun. Exactly. But Medak and the cinematographer 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.199 Michael Slovis, they went for something totally 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:03.259 different inside this house. They crushed the 00:03:03.259 --> 00:03:07.060 blacks. The shadows are just deep, inky. It's 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:11.280 almost a noir aesthetic, but a very grimy, drug 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.919 -fueled noir. Grimy is the word. It feels sticky. 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:17.340 Sticky. That's the only word for it. And the 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:19.680 sound design totally supports that. We actually 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:21.840 had to talk about the needle drop right at the 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.909 beginning. Oh, the Coltrane tract. Yes. By the 00:03:24.909 --> 00:03:27.710 Numbers by John Coltrane. It is a brilliant choice. 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.810 It's this smooth, very structured jazz track. 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:35.090 But the title, By the Numbers, is so heavily 00:03:35.090 --> 00:03:37.610 ironic. Because nothing about what Jesse is about 00:03:37.610 --> 00:03:40.949 to walk into is by the numbers. Right. It is 00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:43.750 complete chaos. It's a spiraling improvisation. 00:03:43.889 --> 00:03:46.750 Yeah. Jesse thinks he's going on a routine collection 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:49.189 run. He's putting on his costume. Yeah. He's 00:03:49.189 --> 00:03:50.909 practicing in the car. You see him in the rear 00:03:50.909 --> 00:03:53.289 view mirror yelling, where's my m— over and over. 00:03:53.449 --> 00:03:56.150 He is trying to psych himself up to be the scary 00:03:56.150 --> 00:03:59.090 drug dealer. And that is such a key insight into 00:03:59.090 --> 00:04:02.050 Jesse at this stage in the story. He is basically 00:04:02.050 --> 00:04:05.009 cosplaying as a gangster. He really thinks if 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:07.009 he wears the big hoodie and yells loud enough, 00:04:07.210 --> 00:04:09.330 he is suddenly the guy. Right, he's doing an 00:04:09.330 --> 00:04:10.969 impression of what he thinks a criminal looks 00:04:10.969 --> 00:04:14.189 like. Precisely. He is playing a role, but then 00:04:14.189 --> 00:04:17.949 he actually gets to the house. The target. The 00:04:17.949 --> 00:04:20.850 couple who ripped off Skinny Pete. identified 00:04:20.850 --> 00:04:24.129 in the sources as Spooge in Spooge's Woman. Right. 00:04:24.509 --> 00:04:26.990 And Skinny Pete got ripped off because he is 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:29.709 frankly not very scary either. No, not at all. 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:34.230 So Jesse arrives at this dilapidated house and 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:37.230 the production design team deserves a medal here. 00:04:37.410 --> 00:04:39.449 They really do. I was reading in the notes that 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:42.069 they spent days aging the wallpaper, peeling 00:04:42.069 --> 00:04:45.709 it back just so. Scattering very specific types 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:48.110 of debris. Yeah, to make it look lived in but 00:04:48.110 --> 00:04:50.660 totally dead. I like to call it the cargo cult 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:52.839 of domesticity. Oh, what do you mean by that? 00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:54.839 You know that concept where you build the shape 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:57.000 of an airport hoping the planes will land? Right, 00:04:57.019 --> 00:04:59.740 right. Well, this house has the shape of a home. 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:02.620 Yeah. There is a couch, a TV, a kitchen, but 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:05.480 the actual spirit of a home has been completely 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:08.430 exercised by the addiction. Wow. It is just a 00:05:08.430 --> 00:05:11.550 shell where people exist merely to consume. That's 00:05:11.550 --> 00:05:13.790 a great way to put it. It represents the consumer 00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:16.529 end of the product that Jesse sells. Exactly. 00:05:16.610 --> 00:05:18.370 You know, he is so used to the manufacturing 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:21.529 side, the chemistry, the clean lab, the neat 00:05:21.529 --> 00:05:23.709 stacks of cash. The glamour of it. Yeah, the 00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:27.689 money he hopes to make. But this, this is the 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:31.050 very end of the supply chain, just filth and 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:34.029 decay. And that brings us to the actual brooch. 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:37.610 Jesse breaks in. He kicks the door, gun drawn, 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:40.310 he is ready for a shootout. He's got his adrenaline 00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.750 dumping. He is absolutely ready for violence. 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:45.589 But the house is quiet. It's empty. Or so he 00:05:45.589 --> 00:05:47.589 thinks. Right. And this is where the story drives 00:05:47.589 --> 00:05:50.350 the knife in. He turns a corner and he finds 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:53.810 the boy. God, that reveal. Looks intense. It 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:55.689 isn't a jump scare, it's a heartbreak scare. 00:05:55.910 --> 00:05:58.209 And I really want to highlight Aaron Paul's acting 00:05:58.209 --> 00:06:01.009 here. He actually got an Emmy nomination for 00:06:01.009 --> 00:06:03.129 this performance. Well deserved. Because he doesn't 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:05.269 say a line like, oh my god, a child. He doesn't 00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:07.930 have to say anything. No. The entire shift is 00:06:07.930 --> 00:06:10.129 just in his eyes. It is the dilated pupils of 00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:12.329 trauma meeting the dilated pupils of empathy. 00:06:12.610 --> 00:06:14.670 Jesse just freezes. You have to remember, if 00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:17.370 you look at the entire moral universe of Breaking 00:06:17.370 --> 00:06:21.100 Bad, children are the sacred line. They are the 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:24.240 ultimate innocent bystanders. Walt eventually 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:26.779 becomes completely willing to cross that line. 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:30.379 But Jesse never does. Never. He sees this kid 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:33.860 who is dirty, shirtless, totally silent. Watching 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:36.519 a shopping channel on a TV that is literally 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:39.860 just scattic. Right. And Jesse's mask just drops. 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:43.490 The gangster vanishes entirely, and the big brother 00:06:43.490 --> 00:06:45.930 appears. The source material notes specifically 00:06:45.930 --> 00:06:49.110 say that Jesse finds and tends to the sun. Tends. 00:06:49.430 --> 00:06:51.910 And that word tends is doing a lot of heavy lifting. 00:06:52.170 --> 00:06:54.310 It is. He checks the fridge. There's no food. 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:57.230 He tries to engage the kid. And this interaction 00:06:57.230 --> 00:06:59.589 actually leads to the title of the episode. Peek 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:01.670 -a -boo. Jesse plays peek -a -boo with the boy. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:03.879 Now let's dig into the psychology of that game 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.379 for just a second. Please do. So Jean Piaget, 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:09.360 the famous developmental psychologist, talked 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.160 about peek -a -boo in the context of object permanence. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:15.279 Okay. A baby learns that just because they can't 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:17.839 see mom, doesn't mean mom ceases to exist. Right. 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:20.160 The object remains permanent even when hidden. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:22.759 Exactly. It's fundamentally about building a 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:25.100 trust in reality. But in this house, reality 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:28.040 is a complete nightmare. Precisely. So Jesse 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.339 playing peekaboo is doing two distinct things. 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:33.180 One, he is trying to distract the kid. Yeah. 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:37.339 He is literally using his own hands to block 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:39.509 the child's view of the squalor. He's saying, 00:07:39.730 --> 00:07:41.230 don't look at the filth, look at me, look at 00:07:41.230 --> 00:07:43.470 the funny face. He's editing the kid's reality. 00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:47.329 He is acting as a human shield against the trauma. 00:07:47.509 --> 00:07:50.290 Wow. But secondly, I think Jesse is trying to 00:07:50.290 --> 00:07:52.949 reassure himself. How so? He is checking to see 00:07:52.949 --> 00:07:55.189 if there is still any innocence left in the world. 00:07:55.449 --> 00:07:57.970 If he can get the kid to laugh, then maybe the 00:07:57.970 --> 00:08:00.769 world isn't completely gone to hell. It's a desperate 00:08:00.769 --> 00:08:03.569 grasp for humanity. It really is. And while all 00:08:03.569 --> 00:08:06.420 this quiet bonding is happening, The tension 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:08.420 for the viewer is just ratcheting up because 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:10.360 we know the monsters are coming home. We are 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:12.399 just waiting for Spooge and the woman to walk 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:15.279 through that door. And the casting here is incredible. 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:18.500 David Urie and Dale Dickey. They are phenomenal 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:20.560 character actors. But in this specific story, 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:24.120 they completely transform. They have this jittery, 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.980 almost insect -like energy. Yes. They are constantly 00:08:26.980 --> 00:08:29.480 moving, scratching, twitching around the set. 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:32.740 They finally arrive. And Jesse ambushes them. 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:35.990 And immediately, the tone shifts from this quiet, 00:08:36.289 --> 00:08:39.389 tragic chamber drama right back to a hostage 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:42.049 situation. Jessie demands his money. Where is 00:08:42.049 --> 00:08:44.830 it? And of course, they don't have it. They smoked 00:08:44.830 --> 00:08:47.330 it. They lost it. It's the standard attic logic. 00:08:47.830 --> 00:08:51.070 The money is gone, but hey, we have a plan. The 00:08:51.070 --> 00:08:53.409 plan. The prize. Yeah, they showed Jessie the 00:08:53.409 --> 00:08:55.129 ATM sitting right there in the living room. This 00:08:55.129 --> 00:08:58.570 prop. The ATM. It is the ultimate symbol of the 00:08:58.570 --> 00:09:01.149 entire hour. It sits there like a monolith. They 00:09:01.149 --> 00:09:03.769 stole an entire ATM from a convenience store. 00:09:03.950 --> 00:09:06.970 Which is just the sheer absurdity of it is staggering. 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:09.950 It's crazy. It is literally capitalism in a box. 00:09:10.210 --> 00:09:12.529 They have stolen a machine that represents banking, 00:09:13.049 --> 00:09:15.450 commerce and liquidity. Right. It is fully loaded 00:09:15.450 --> 00:09:18.590 with money. but they have absolutely no way to 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.950 access it. It becomes a heavy steel metaphor 00:09:21.950 --> 00:09:24.169 for their lives. They are carrying the weight 00:09:24.169 --> 00:09:26.070 of the system, but they can't extract any of 00:09:26.070 --> 00:09:29.730 the value out of it. It's this dark, tragic comedy. 00:09:30.389 --> 00:09:32.049 Spooge is down there with a hammer and a drill 00:09:32.049 --> 00:09:33.990 actually thinking he can outsmart a bank vault. 00:09:34.389 --> 00:09:36.850 He's sweating. He's swearing at the machine. 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:40.129 And Jesse is, well, Jesse is distracted. And 00:09:40.129 --> 00:09:41.690 this is where the role reversal we talked about 00:09:41.690 --> 00:09:44.590 starts to have real physical consequences. Yeah. 00:09:44.730 --> 00:09:47.429 Jesse is a bad criminal because he is a good 00:09:47.429 --> 00:09:50.269 person. Right. He should be watching the hostages. 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:53.149 He should be securing the room, controlling the 00:09:53.149 --> 00:09:55.809 sight lines. But he is watching the kid. He is 00:09:55.809 --> 00:09:58.870 playing with the boy, making sure the boy isn't 00:09:58.870 --> 00:10:01.009 scared by the drilling and the yelling. And that 00:10:01.009 --> 00:10:04.190 compassion is a massive tactical error. It is. 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:08.409 The woman, Spooge's woman, sees that his focus 00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:11.789 is split. She realizes he isn't a killer. Exactly. 00:10:11.909 --> 00:10:14.309 A real hardened killer wouldn't care about the 00:10:14.309 --> 00:10:16.710 brat on the floor. Right. So she makes her move. 00:10:16.750 --> 00:10:19.370 She knocks him out. I believe she uses a bottle 00:10:19.370 --> 00:10:21.309 or some heavy glass object. Something heavy, 00:10:21.370 --> 00:10:23.669 yeah. The house itself basically turns on him. 00:10:23.809 --> 00:10:26.710 Bam. Lights out. And when Jesse wakes up, the 00:10:26.710 --> 00:10:29.230 power dynamic has completely flipped. They have 00:10:29.230 --> 00:10:31.629 his gun. They have his money. They have his drugs. 00:10:31.970 --> 00:10:34.720 He is tied up on the floor. And this leads us 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.299 to the climax of the Howe segment, the death 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:39.940 of Spooge. Which is one of the most gruesome 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:42.779 yet strangely loony tunes moments in the show's 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:45.799 entire run. It really is dark slapstick. So Spooge 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:48.919 is frustrated. He's been drilling at this machine 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:52.720 for hours. He decides to tilt the massive ATM 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:55.840 back to attack it from the bottom. Which, just 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.240 from a physics standpoint, is already a terrible 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:00.620 idea. Very bad idea. But the machine doesn't 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:03.850 kill him. Not really. His mouth kills him. Words 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:06.070 are violence in this episode. Explain that. Well, 00:11:06.070 --> 00:11:08.429 throughout the scene, the woman has been warning 00:11:08.429 --> 00:11:10.610 him over and over, don't call me that. Right. 00:11:10.610 --> 00:11:13.309 She has a specific trigger word. She does. Skank. 00:11:13.389 --> 00:11:15.950 Skank. And this is a fascinating psychological 00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:18.610 beat. It really is. These two people live in 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:21.549 absolute unmitigated filth. They have abandoned 00:11:21.549 --> 00:11:24.070 their child's basic needs. They have stolen. 00:11:24.289 --> 00:11:27.350 They have lied. Any semblance of moral dignity 00:11:27.350 --> 00:11:30.009 is completely gone. But she still has personal 00:11:30.009 --> 00:11:32.840 pride. Yes. She still has a line of respect she 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:35.500 simply will not let him cross. It's so oddly 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:37.860 specific. You can live in a house full of garbage, 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.460 but she cannot be disrespected. Exactly. So he 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:43.679 says it, he's under the machine, and he calls 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:46.639 her a skank. And she doesn't even hesitate. She 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:48.840 doesn't wind up, she doesn't yell back. She just 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.659 tips the machine. Gravity takes over. And the 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:54.620 sound design there, it is so visceral. It's awful. 00:11:54.830 --> 00:11:57.429 But what happens next is what really haunts me 00:11:57.429 --> 00:12:00.529 about this scene. It's the reaction or really 00:12:00.529 --> 00:12:03.789 the total lack of one. She doesn't scream. She 00:12:03.789 --> 00:12:05.889 doesn't try to lift it off him in a panic. She 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:07.690 goes straight to the couch. She takes the drug 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:10.049 she stole from Jesse and she just gets high. 00:12:10.169 --> 00:12:13.450 That detachment is terrifying. The problem, which 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:17.950 was spooge, is gone. The solution, which is the 00:12:17.950 --> 00:12:20.950 meth, is here. Her loop is closed. She just sits 00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:23.950 there slowly passing out while her partner lies 00:12:23.950 --> 00:12:26.950 crushed. literally three feet away. It's incredibly 00:12:26.950 --> 00:12:29.769 dark. But it creates the opening for Jesse's 00:12:29.769 --> 00:12:31.970 escape strategy. And here is the dark irony of 00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:35.210 the universe. When the ATM crushes Spooge's head, 00:12:35.690 --> 00:12:38.769 the sheer force makes the door pop open. It finally 00:12:38.769 --> 00:12:41.250 pays out. Death literally unlocked the cash. 00:12:41.730 --> 00:12:44.669 So Jesse wriggles free from his restraints. He 00:12:44.669 --> 00:12:47.009 grabs his gun back. He grabs whatever cash he 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:48.929 can from the machine. Now if you think about 00:12:48.929 --> 00:12:52.809 it, a true criminal, a Heisenberg type, would 00:12:52.809 --> 00:12:56.370 take the money wipe his prints, and vanish into 00:12:56.370 --> 00:12:58.470 the night. Leave no trace. But Jesse doesn't 00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:01.509 do that. That's his moral act. He grabs the phone. 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:04.870 He dials 911. Think about the massive risk he's 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:07.809 taking there. It's huge. He is a known associate 00:13:07.809 --> 00:13:10.419 in the local drug trade. He is placing himself 00:13:10.419 --> 00:13:13.120 directly at a grisly murder scene. He leaves 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.879 the line open so the dispatchers can trace the 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.399 address. He is effectively confessing to being 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.279 there, risking a massive prison sentence just 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.740 to make absolutely sure the cops come to rescue 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:25.679 the boy. And then we get the final image of his 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.840 exit. He runs out to the porch. It's night now. 00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:30.620 He brings the kid outside. And he says to him, 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.340 you have a good life, kid. That line destroys 00:13:33.340 --> 00:13:35.899 me every single time I watch it. Why? Because 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:38.809 you have a good life. Jesse knows, statistically, 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:41.230 the kid probably won't. The foster system's gonna 00:13:41.230 --> 00:13:44.490 swallow him up. But Jesse did the one single 00:13:44.490 --> 00:13:46.450 thing he had the power to do in that moment. 00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:49.470 He got him out of the house. He tells him, whatever 00:13:49.470 --> 00:13:52.309 you do, don't go back inside. He preserves the 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:54.629 peek -a -boo game one last time. Don't look at 00:13:54.629 --> 00:13:57.429 the horror. Stay out here in the dark, but don't 00:13:57.429 --> 00:13:59.879 look at the horror inside. It is the most heroic 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:02.740 act Jesse performs in the entire series. Aaron 00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:05.179 Paul is just brilliant in this sequence. He leaves 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:08.639 that scene a criminal, technically, but he acts 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.019 as a total savior. He saves the boy from the 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:14.399 trauma of seeing the aftermath. He preserves 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.259 that innocence as best he can. Exactly. Now, 00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:19.639 I want you to hold that image in your mind. Jesse 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:23.480 Pinkman, shaking, terrified, but acting as a 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:25.620 savior. Because now we need to cut across town. 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:28.720 To the B plot. To Walter White. The contrast 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.740 here is incredibly jarring. We go directly from 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.320 the rot and the dark shadows to the sterile, 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.500 bright fluorescent lights of a high school classroom. 00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:39.879 Walt is back. The conquering hero returns to 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.500 teaching. Right. Context here, this is Walt's 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:45.539 very first day back after his chemotherapy. His 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:48.080 cancer is in remission, or at least it's retreating, 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:50.639 and he is back at the whiteboard. But he isn't 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:53.129 really teaching chemistry. No, not at all. He 00:14:53.129 --> 00:14:55.750 is teaching a parable about his own bruised ego. 00:14:56.450 --> 00:15:00.409 The lecture topic is Dr. Tracy Hall. And I really 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:02.970 want to deep dive into this specific historical 00:15:02.970 --> 00:15:06.029 anecdote because the show glosses over the real 00:15:06.029 --> 00:15:09.169 history. Yes, the diamond metaphor. And I think 00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:11.929 knowing the truth about Hall really illuminates 00:15:11.929 --> 00:15:14.269 Walt's distortion of reality. Oh, absolutely. 00:15:15.090 --> 00:15:17.679 So... For the listeners, H. Tracy Hall was a 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:19.559 real physical chemist. He worked for General 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:21.980 Electric in the 1950s. And he really did invent 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:24.700 the pressure press that created the very first 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:28.240 synthetic diamonds. It was a massive, world -changing 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.159 breakthrough for industry. We're talking drill 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:33.559 bits, saws, modern electronics. And Walt's version 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:35.940 of the story in the classroom is that Hall made 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:39.860 this brilliant discovery. GE made incalculable 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:43.799 profit, billions of dollars. And Hall got... 00:15:43.549 --> 00:15:45.870 What was the number Walt used? A $10 savings 00:15:45.870 --> 00:15:48.929 bond. Right. Walt says he got a pittance. A $10 00:15:48.929 --> 00:15:51.169 savings bond for changing the world. Now, in 00:15:51.169 --> 00:15:53.649 reality, Hall was treated a bit better than that 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:56.389 by GE, though he certainly didn't become a billionaire 00:15:56.389 --> 00:15:59.070 off the patent. No, he didn't. But he eventually 00:15:59.070 --> 00:16:02.490 left GE on his own terms and had a very distinguished, 00:16:02.830 --> 00:16:05.629 happy career in academia. Right. He wasn't a 00:16:05.629 --> 00:16:08.370 bitter, broken man. He was a successful scientist 00:16:08.370 --> 00:16:11.299 who loved doing the actual work. But Walt doesn't 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:13.480 paint him as a scientist who loved the work. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:16.899 Walt paints him as a profound victim of corporate 00:16:16.899 --> 00:16:20.000 greed. Because Walt is projecting. Exactly. He 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.399 looks at Tracy Hall and he sees himself staring 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.740 back. He looks at General Electric. and he sees 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.779 gray matter technologies. He sees Gretchen and 00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:31.279 Elliot Schwartz. He truly believes he is the 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.519 singular genius who built the foundation of their 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:35.899 company. And they are the corporate vultures 00:16:35.899 --> 00:16:38.519 who swooped in and reap the rewards. So this 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.360 lecture to the students isn't about carbon bonds 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.279 or chemistry. It is about Walt's resentment. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.899 He is teaching these kids that the world is a 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.690 scam. and that true geniuses get screwed over. 00:16:49.830 --> 00:16:52.289 He is literally indoctrinating them into his 00:16:52.289 --> 00:16:54.750 own bitterness. It perfectly shows his headspace 00:16:54.750 --> 00:16:56.649 at this exact moment in the timeline. He should 00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:59.570 be ecstatic. He is alive. The chemo worked. He 00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:01.610 is back with his family. But he is miserable 00:17:01.610 --> 00:17:03.929 because he feels cheated. And that feeling of 00:17:03.929 --> 00:17:06.910 being cheated, that deep -seated pride, drives 00:17:06.910 --> 00:17:09.849 him directly into the massive conflict with Gretchen 00:17:09.849 --> 00:17:12.460 in the next segment. The web of lies is getting 00:17:12.460 --> 00:17:15.079 incredibly tight here. Let's remind the listener 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.619 of the setup here because it's tangled. Skyler, 00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:20.119 Walt's wife, believes that Gretchen and Elliot 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:22.599 Schwartz are paying for Walt's expensive medical 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:25.660 bills. That is Walt's central cover story for 00:17:25.660 --> 00:17:28.319 where the meth money is coming from. Right. And 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.059 Skyler, being a normal grateful person, calls 00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:32.960 Gretchen to thank her for saving her husband's 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:36.259 life. And Gretchen, who is confused but very 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:38.819 polite, doesn't blow Walt's cover immediately 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:41.519 on the phone. But the dam is breaking. It's a 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.019 complication Walt didn't foresee. Geiler gets 00:17:44.019 --> 00:17:46.519 a call from Gretchen, and she invites Gretchen 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.980 over to the house. So Walt comes home, pulls 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:51.960 up to his suburban house, and sees the massive 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.619 Bentley parked in his driveway. The pure panic 00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:57.039 on Bryan Cranston's face in that moment. It's 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:58.940 amazing he isn't afraid of the police cartel 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:01.259 finding him. He's afraid of his wife finding 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:04.740 out the truth. So Walt hurries inside, manages 00:18:04.740 --> 00:18:07.380 to intercept the conversation, and hustles Gretchen 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.180 out to her car. And out there in the driveway, 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.099 we finally get the confrontation we have been 00:18:13.099 --> 00:18:16.099 waiting for since season one. The backstory of 00:18:16.099 --> 00:18:19.000 Grey Matter. Gretchen demands to know what is 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.059 going on. She asks, if we aren't paying for this 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:25.079 treatment, who is? Which is a completely reasonable 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:27.220 question to ask a friend. Completely reasonable. 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:31.099 But Walt refuses to answer. He denies her the 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:33.359 right to know anything about his life. And then 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:37.519 she pivots to the past. The real issue. She asks 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.160 him point blank, what happened to us? Why did 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.819 you leave me? This is such a crucial piece of 00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:45.019 lore for the whole Breaking Bad universe. It 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:48.019 really is. For a long time, viewers assumed Walt 00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:50.799 was unfairly pushed out of Grey Matter, that 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:52.819 his partners conspired and stole the company 00:18:52.819 --> 00:18:55.180 from him. But here Gretchen confirms the opposite. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.299 Walt left. He walked away. He packed his bags, 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.480 broke up with her, and sold his share of the 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.319 company for $5 ,000. It was entirely his choice. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.380 And when she confronts him with this reality, 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.779 that his current mundane life and his lack of 00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:10.519 billions is actually the direct result of his 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:13.200 own choices, how does he react? Well, does he 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:16.900 reflect? Does he apologize? No. He explodes. 00:19:17.210 --> 00:19:20.369 He looks her dead in the eye and curses at her. 00:19:20.650 --> 00:19:23.750 He drops an F -bomb on her. Ending the conversation 00:19:23.750 --> 00:19:26.250 violently. It is a verbal slap to the face. It 00:19:26.250 --> 00:19:28.529 is emotional violence. And if you compare it 00:19:28.529 --> 00:19:31.089 to the ATM scene we just discussed. Oh, that's 00:19:31.089 --> 00:19:33.450 a brilliant connection. The addict woman killed 00:19:33.450 --> 00:19:35.970 Spooge because he insulted her dignity by calling 00:19:35.970 --> 00:19:39.319 her a skank. Right. Walt effectively kills his 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.680 long -standing relationship with Gretchen and 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:45.339 really his last remaining link to his pure scientific 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:48.740 past self because she bruised his ego. He burns 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:51.140 the bridge to the ground just to protect his 00:19:51.140 --> 00:19:53.980 internal narrative that he is the victim. And 00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:57.390 then the scramble. Gretchen drives off in shock. 00:19:57.690 --> 00:19:59.869 Walt goes back inside. Gretchen is gone. Skyler 00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:01.450 is sitting there waiting for an explanation. 00:20:01.630 --> 00:20:03.930 He has to explain why the quote -unquote money 00:20:03.930 --> 00:20:06.069 has suddenly stopped coming. And this is where 00:20:06.069 --> 00:20:08.690 the cover -up becomes truly pathological. Skyler 00:20:08.690 --> 00:20:10.910 tells Walt that Gretchen called to cancel the 00:20:10.910 --> 00:20:13.730 funding. Skyler assumes it's because of the economy 00:20:13.730 --> 00:20:16.450 or something normal. And Walt just improvises. 00:20:16.569 --> 00:20:19.049 He spends it. He tells Skyler they're broke. 00:20:19.329 --> 00:20:21.990 He claims the Schwartz's have gone completely 00:20:21.990 --> 00:20:23.950 broke. He even claims he went all the way to 00:20:23.950 --> 00:20:26.720 Santa Fe to discuss it with them. Why that specific 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.440 lie? Out of all the lies he could possibly tell 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.880 his wife. He could have said, we had a fight. 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:34.339 He could have said, they're greedy and decided 00:20:34.339 --> 00:20:37.000 to stop paying. But he says they are destitute. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.039 Because it satisfies his massive ego. He constructs 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:44.259 a reality where his wealthy former partners are 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:47.180 suddenly broke. In his mind, he needs to be the 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:49.650 absolute winner. The only way he can be the king 00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:52.589 is if the other kings fall. He essentially bankrupts 00:20:52.589 --> 00:20:54.569 them in his imagination just to make himself 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:56.930 feel superior in that moment. He's telling himself, 00:20:57.170 --> 00:21:00.099 I have the money now. I am the provider. They 00:21:00.099 --> 00:21:03.220 are nothing. It is so petty. It is just so small. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:06.319 It is. He isolates himself further from the truth. 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:08.299 And that is the brilliance of the writing here. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:11.420 We think of Walter White as this cold, calculating, 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.500 criminal mastermind. But at his core, he is just 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:17.680 a petty, jealous, deeply insecure man. So you 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.279 have these two parallel tracks running simultaneously. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.859 Jesse, in the House of Horrors, actually finding 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:25.710 his core humanity. Facing a harsh truth in the 00:21:25.710 --> 00:21:28.890 drug house. And Walt, in his safe suburban castle, 00:21:29.329 --> 00:21:31.730 completely losing his humanity by building a 00:21:31.730 --> 00:21:34.490 fortress of lies. That is the role reversal theory 00:21:34.490 --> 00:21:37.230 that critics focus on. Let's discuss Donna Bowman's 00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:39.509 review from The A .V. Club. Yes, I have it right 00:21:39.509 --> 00:21:42.390 here. She gave the episode an A minus specifically 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:45.170 for this structural reason. She pointed out that 00:21:45.170 --> 00:21:48.309 usually in traditional crime fiction, the criminal 00:21:48.309 --> 00:21:51.710 is the immoral one. And the teacher or the father 00:21:51.710 --> 00:21:54.359 figure is the moral anchor of the story. But 00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:56.900 this episode totally flips the board. Completely 00:21:56.900 --> 00:22:00.579 reverses it. The bad guy, Jesse, acts with striking 00:22:00.579 --> 00:22:03.599 moral clarity and compassion. He protects the 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.680 innocent. He sacrifices his own safety for a 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.619 child. While the good guy, Walt, acts with extreme 00:22:09.619 --> 00:22:12.480 deceit, anger, and petty resentment. He creates 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.819 emotional chaos just to preserve his ego. He 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:17.720 treats his own wife like a pawn in his game. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.380 It forces the audience into a really uncomfortable 00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:22.680 position. Because at this early point in season 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:25.859 two, We are still trained by television conventions 00:22:25.859 --> 00:22:29.059 to root for Walt. He is the protagonist. We naturally 00:22:29.059 --> 00:22:31.980 want him to get away with it. But Peekaboo grabs 00:22:31.980 --> 00:22:35.400 the viewer by the collar and says, really, look 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:37.599 at this guy. Look at what he is doing. It challenges 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.920 our loyalty. Are you really on the side of the 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:42.339 guy who wishes bankruptcy on his old friends 00:22:42.339 --> 00:22:45.559 just out of spite? Or are you starting to realize 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:48.259 that the janky dropout might actually be the 00:22:48.259 --> 00:22:50.880 only person with a soul left in this entire narrative? 00:22:51.150 --> 00:22:53.390 I want to go back to the core concept of peek 00:22:53.390 --> 00:22:55.470 -a -boo one last time. The title of the episode. 00:22:55.730 --> 00:22:57.630 Yes. We talked about it with Jesse and the kid 00:22:57.630 --> 00:23:00.309 hiding from the ugly reality of the house. Right. 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:02.250 But Walt is playing peek -a -boo too, isn't he? 00:23:02.349 --> 00:23:04.650 Oh, absolutely. He is covering his own eyes to 00:23:04.650 --> 00:23:07.750 his moral decay. It's the object permanence of 00:23:07.750 --> 00:23:10.349 morality for him. If he doesn't openly acknowledge 00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:12.769 Gretchen's financial help, it never happened. 00:23:12.869 --> 00:23:14.930 If he doesn't tell Skyler the truth about the 00:23:14.930 --> 00:23:17.369 meth, he isn't really a drug dealer in his home 00:23:17.369 --> 00:23:19.670 life. He truly thinks that if he just hides the 00:23:19.670 --> 00:23:22.130 truth behind his hands, the consequences disappear. 00:23:22.289 --> 00:23:24.549 He believes he can curate reality through sheer 00:23:24.549 --> 00:23:27.450 force of will. Where is Jesse? Jesse rips his 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:29.190 hands away from his eyes. He stares right at 00:23:29.190 --> 00:23:32.190 the dead body under the ATM. He stares at the 00:23:32.190 --> 00:23:35.869 neglected kid. He stares at the squalor of his 00:23:35.869 --> 00:23:38.730 own product. He absorbs the raw trauma of the 00:23:38.730 --> 00:23:40.950 truth. And that is the fundamental tragedy of 00:23:40.950 --> 00:23:43.609 Breaking Bad. The penalty for having a conscience 00:23:43.609 --> 00:23:47.170 in this world is extreme pain. Jesse hurts deeply. 00:23:47.450 --> 00:23:49.990 because he actually looks at the damage he causes. 00:23:50.390 --> 00:23:52.609 Walt feels totally fine because he is willfully 00:23:52.609 --> 00:23:54.609 blind to it. Jesse lives in the painful world 00:23:54.609 --> 00:23:57.329 of truth. Walt lives in the comfortable, padded 00:23:57.329 --> 00:23:59.769 bubble of lies. And as the series goes on from 00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:03.230 this episode, we see that bubble harden into 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:06.029 impenetrable armor. It's incredibly heavy stuff, 00:24:06.029 --> 00:24:08.970 but it is exactly why this specific hour ranks 00:24:08.970 --> 00:24:11.609 so high on all those lists. It isn't just an 00:24:11.609 --> 00:24:13.670 action episode about recovering stolen meth. 00:24:13.890 --> 00:24:16.509 No, it's a profound philosophy lecture with a 00:24:16.509 --> 00:24:19.400 body count. Exactly. So to summarize our key 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:21.680 takeaways from the sources. We have covered the 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:23.960 stark cinematography shifts. The real history 00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:26.519 of synthetic diamonds and Tracy Hall. The developmental 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:29.440 psychology of the peak B game. The dual storylines 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.160 contrasting the horror of the ATM house with 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.460 the cold bitterness of the White Household. And 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:37.799 the sociopathy of the ATM crush itself. We have 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.460 covered a lot of ground today. A lot to digest. 00:24:40.660 --> 00:24:42.740 I want to end with a final thought on the legacy 00:24:42.740 --> 00:24:45.200 of this episode. Okay. You mentioned TV Guide 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.779 ranking it in their top 100 episodes of all time, 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:52.980 way back in 2009. Right. And The Ringer and Vulture 00:24:52.980 --> 00:24:55.660 ranking it so highly in their retrospectives. 00:24:56.660 --> 00:24:59.539 Do you think that high praise holds up in 2026? 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:02.640 I really do. I actually think it holds up better 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.420 now than it did when it first aired. Why is that? 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:09.240 We are in an era of television where anti -heroes 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:12.809 are everywhere. Every show has a dark, brooding 00:25:12.809 --> 00:25:16.109 protagonist. True. But Breaking Bad was entirely 00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:18.569 unique in how it deconstructed the anti -hero 00:25:18.569 --> 00:25:21.359 myth. And peekaboo is the thesis statement. for 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:23.839 that deconstruction. It tells the audience being 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:26.599 a badass criminal isn't cool, it's dirty, it 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:28.940 smells bad, and it deeply hurts innocent children. 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.980 It strips away all the Hollywood glamour. There 00:25:30.980 --> 00:25:33.400 is no cool music montage when Jesse is walking 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:35.539 through that house. No, it's just silence, static, 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:37.900 and flies. And that brutal honesty is why it 00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:39.940 sticks with people years later. You can easily 00:25:39.940 --> 00:25:42.319 forget the complex plot mechanics of the season. 00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:45.440 Who owes who money? The cartel politics. But 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.880 you never forget the enduring image of that silent 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:50.200 kid sitting on the stairs. Or the sound of the 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:52.400 ATM falling. Or the sound of the ATM falling. 00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:54.640 It's burned into the brain. Well, this has been 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:57.819 quite a journey. From the dilated pupils of a 00:25:57.819 --> 00:26:01.299 neglected child to the wildly dilated ego of 00:26:01.299 --> 00:26:03.480 a high school chemistry teacher. We certainly 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.960 went there. I want to leave you, the listener, 00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:09.660 with a final provocative closing thought. We 00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:11.640 touched on this, but let's make it explicit for 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:14.599 you to mull over. Lay it out. In this episode, 00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:18.039 we witnessed two distinct acts of extreme destruction. 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:22.599 Right. One was loud, messy, visceral, and involved 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:25.579 physically crushing a human skull with a steel 00:26:25.579 --> 00:26:27.940 machine. It was committed by a woman high on 00:26:27.940 --> 00:26:30.299 meth who had completely lost her mind. A crime 00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:33.079 of pure passion and madness. Yes. The other act 00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:35.960 was quiet. It happened in a sunny suburban driveway 00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:38.890 and a clean kitchen. It was committed by a perfectly 00:26:38.890 --> 00:26:41.569 sober man in a nice button -down shirt. And it 00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:43.690 involved destroying a lifelong friendship and 00:26:43.690 --> 00:26:46.450 lying to a pregnant spouse, all just to preserve 00:26:46.450 --> 00:26:49.130 a false sense of superiority. A crime of cold 00:26:49.130 --> 00:26:51.730 calculation and massive ego. So the question 00:26:51.730 --> 00:26:54.650 for you to explore is, which one of these acts 00:26:54.650 --> 00:26:56.950 was actually more destructive in the grand scheme? 00:26:57.230 --> 00:26:59.990 Which person is further gone morally? The woman 00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:03.210 who killed in a flash of drug -fueled anger over 00:27:03.210 --> 00:27:06.680 an insult. or the man who systematically dismantles 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:09.319 the truth and isolates his family because he 00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:11.740 simply cannot handle being grateful. I think 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:14.759 we know the answer to that, but it's a very scary 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:17.019 answer to admit. Think about it. Thanks for listening 00:27:17.019 --> 00:27:19.299 to this deep dive. We'll see you next time. Stay 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:19.819 curious.