Breaking Bad’s Box Cutter episode shows us a violent scene that shows a major character arc development between Jesse Pinkman, Walter White, and Gustavo Fring.
It is one of the most well-remembered episodes in the series. And today we’re going to explain a few things about this episode because there’s a scene in which Gustavo Fring kills his henchman Victor in a gruesome way.
Some viewers might find the murder of Victor difficult to understand because it seemed unnecessarily gory and not contributive to the plot.
But Breaking Bad was full of mental power plays, and if you put things under a microscope, you’ll understand why Vince Gilligan put this on the show.
The Gale Boetticher Problem
Gale Boetticher was taking over Jesse’s place at the lab, and while he and Walt were getting along, it proved to be bad for business Walt wanted to have Jesse back because he realized he needed someone to manipulate and have his loyalty.
Gale was talented and at any given moment, and due to Gustavo’s murderous nature, he could’ve killed Walt and Jesse and had Gale do the cooking with Walt’s precision and that could’ve been the end of it.
Box Cutter Was One Hell Of An Episode
Gus Fring kills Victor in Season 4 Episode 1 of Breaking Bad. The episode, titled “Box Cutter” is one of the most remembered ones of the season, —it shares appreciation with fans and critics with episodes like “Fly” or “FeLiNa”.
As Breaking Bad unfolded across seasons, we saw how Walter White “broke bad,” he went from a man with a terminal disease, a failed career, and a trajectory grudge with a family to support and a relationship on the rocks who ventured into the manufacture of illegal narcotics into a man that became comfortable with the financial perks of making methamphetamine.
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Walt Breaks Bad
Between seasons three and four, Walter White’s morals turned darker, he became violent, maniacal, capricious, manipulative, and dangerous. He gaslit Jesse into killing lab tech Gale Boetticher, he killed Jesse’s girlfriend, and he went on to poison a kid.
And his ego put him at confrontational odds with Gustavo Fring, the man in the USA that held the distribution network for the drug cartels, the man who bankrolled, Walter and Jesee’s top-notch industrial meth lab located below the cleaners.
Walter Sets The Stage, Gus Finishes The Play
Walter constantly tested Gustavo’s saint-like patience. And while Gustavo was patient and quiet, he proved to be brutally violent, calculated, and scheming.
When Walter realizes that he needs Jesse for the business, it’s a climactic moment: Gus ordered Victor to save Gale but finds him dead, Victor finds Jesse in the car and moves him at gunpoint to the lab.
Why Did Gus Kill Victor?
And Mike under Gustavo’s orders is about to bust a cap on Walt’s bald head. Since Victor blew his cover, he comments that he knows how to cook meth, but that’s when Gustavo arrives at the meth lab and hears a rambling, pleading-for-his-life rant.
Somehow, Walt’s rambling convinces him, and Gus realizes that Jesse and Walt are a duo and that Victor screwed up.
So what does Gus do? He shows his brutal side by grabbing a box cutter after changing into a hazmat suit and slashing Victor’s throat open without saying a word to Walt and Jesse, sending a message that he understood and telling them to go back to work.
Gustavo Fring is a pragmatic and machiavellian character that comprehends what sorts of things make Walter tick, and what’s good for business is also good for him. And if that means taking someone out of the equation in the drug game, so be it. That’s just how the drug game goes.
After the murder, Walt and Jessee get rid of Victor by dissolving him into a vat of acid. Then they go to have breakfast, and Walt continues gaslighting a PTSD-ed Jesse about how necessary those bloodbaths were.
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