Dalton Max - Breaking Bad 101: the complete critical companion

Growth, Then Decay, Then Transformation S1 / E1
Pilot

In-Between S1 / E2
Cats in the Bag

Missing Elements S1 / E3
And the Bags in the River

Apply Yourself! S1 / E4
Cancer Man

The Point of No Return S1 / E5
Gray Matter

Enter Heisenberg S1 / E6
Crazy Handful of Nothin

The Agreement S1 / E7
A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal

The Devil in the Details S2 / E1
Seven Thirty-Seven

The Captured S2 / E2
Grilled

Fugue State S2 / E3
Bit by a Dead Bee

Descending S2 / E4
Down

Newtons Third Law S2 / E5
Breakage

Nothing But a $10 Savings Bond S2 / E6
Peekaboo

Slow and Steady S2 / E7
Negro y Azul

Everyone Needs a Good Lawyer S2 / E8
Better Call Saul

Warning Light S2 / E9
4 Days Out

Damage Repair S2 / E10
Over

All You Get Is One Shot S2 / E11
Mandala

Know Whats Best S2 / E12
Phoenix

Karma S2 / E13
ABQ

A Prayer to Santa Muerte S3 / E1
No Ms

Seeing Red S3 / E2
Caballo Sin Nombre

Welcome Home S3 / E3
I.F.T.

An Effective Motivator S3 / E4
Green Light

Close But Getting Warmer S3 / E5
Ms

The Learnd Astronomer S3 / E6
Sunset

Ruined. Turned to Shit. Dead. S3 / E7
One Minute

Half the Man S3 / E8
I See You

Learning from the Best S3 / E9
Kafkaesque

Contaminated S3 / E10
Fly

My Last Door S3 / E11
Abiquiu

No More S3 / E12
Half Measures

Nowhere to Go S3 / E13
Full Measure

Trust Us S4 / E1
Box Cutter

Cold Blood S4 / E2
Thirty-Eight Snub

One Slip-Up S4 / E3
Open House

Finger Prints S4 / E4
Bullet Points

This Genius S4 / E5
Shotgun

Another Coin Flip S4 / E6
Cornered

Lucky Cigarette S4 / E7
Problem Dog

Blood Is Thicker S4 / E8
Hermanos

Dead Men Walking S4 / E9
Bug

Zafiro Aejo S4 / E10
Salud

Nothing Left S4 / E11
Crawl Space

Predator and Prey S4 / E12
End Times

Lilies of the Valley S4 / E13
Face Off

The Mysterious Mr. Lambert S5 / E1
Live Free or Die

Tick, Tick, Tick S5 / E2
Madrigal

A Well-Oiled Machine S5 / E3
Hazard Pay

Sink or Swim S5 / E4
Fifty-One

Another Boy on a Bike S5 / E5
Dead Freight

Hydroflouric Acid and Methylamine S5 / E6
Buyout

This Whole Thing Could Have Been Avoided S5 / E7
Say My Name

An Honor Working with You S5 / E8
Gliding Over All

The Beginning of the End S5 / E9
Blood Money

Fresh in Her Mind S5 / E10
Buried

My Brothers Keeper S5 / E11
Confessions

Burn It Down S5 / E12
Rabid Dog

Back to the Burial Grounds S5 / E13
Tohajiilee

And Despair S5 / E14
Ozymandias

Gray Again S5 / E15
Granite Slate

The Moment of Truth S5 / E16
Felina

To Marian
who makes all of this possible

It was the broken plate.

The first and second episodes of Breaking Bad were good but I was a snob, watching them with my arms crossed, grumbling to myself that this new entry on AMCs airwaves was enjoyable, chewy pulp that fell below the high-water mark of the transcendently brilliant Mad Men.

Then, I saw it. A quick glimpse inside a trashcan as Walter White discarded an empty can of beer. A beer he sipped while talking to a man with a bike lock securing his throat to a pole. A man affectionately named Krazy-8, who softly told Walter that he was not cut out for this kind of work. This kind of work being cold-blooded murder.

I should probably back up. A few hours earlier, Walt compiled a list while sitting on the very same toilet he had just used to flush away the liquefied remains of Krazy-8s cousin and partner in crime, Emilio, whom Walt had poisoned to death with improvised mustard gas in order to save his own life. But Krazy-8 somehow survived the gassing and now, bike lock around his neck in the basement, Krazy-8 needed to be dealt with. Split into two columns, the list weighed the pros and consColumn A, titled Let Him Live, was rife with bullet points: Judeo/Christian Principles, Its the moral thing to do, Wont be able to live with yourself, and last but not least, Murder is Wrong. However, Column B, Kill Him, offers only one:

Hell kill your entire family if you let him go.

And so, pants around his ankles, taking a shit, Walter White weighs the costs and consequences of taking another mans life. And when he goes to Krazy-8, Walt begs him to give him a reason not to kill him. Because he doesnt want to. He doesnt want to break bad. And over the course of seven beautifully written and immaculately acted minutes, Krazy-8 does just that. He tells Walt that he wanted to study music at Oberlin, that, in fact, he spent years working in his familys furniture store to earn the tuition. Turns out Walt even shopped at the very same establishment years back for his now teenaged sons crib. And the two, jailor and jailed, sing the jingle for that furniture store together. And they bond. And Krazy-8 promises that he will exact no revenge whatsoever if Walt just lets him go. And Walt believes him. He nods, cheeks wet, relieved that he will not have to commit murder, as he shakes his empty beer can and says, Ill go get the key.

Shit. I left something out. The most important something, actually. Because earlier, before the list on the crapper, before the long talk about Oberlin and furniture, Walt makes Krazy-8 a sandwich (he even cuts off the crusts), but when he reaches the bottom of the basement stairs, hes so overwhelmed by a coughing fit that he passes out. When he wakes up, the sandwich is on the ground beside the broken plate upon which it sat. Walt gathers up the wreckage and heads back upstairs to make a new sandwich, dumping the shards into the trash bin.

The very same trash bin into which Walt tossed his empty beer can right after grabbing the key that will free Krazy-8 from captivity below. But then he sees it.

The broken plate.

Walt walks away from it at first. Then returns. Takes out the pieces. Puts them on the counter and starts to put them together like a puzzle (I have a thing for puzzles) and as he does so, he already knows that puzzle will be missing one critical piece. And he starts to mutter, No. Over and over again. No, no, no, no, no. Because he knows where that missing shard of plate is. Its clutched in Krazy-8s hand. Just waiting to exact revenge upon him. And Walter is saying no because he now has no choice. He has to ignore everything in Column A because the only relevant information is in Column B. And we all know what B stands for.