AMC’s Breaking Bad Season 4 kicks off with “Boxcutter”

If you aren’t aware, AMC has been crushing it lately. Just about every drama series on the channel for the last few years has been must-see TV. I’m sure you’ve heard of the critically acclaimed Mad Men or last year’s smash hit The Walking Dead, but the best show on AMC (maybe even on TV) is the lesser known Breaking Bad which is entering it’s 4^th season.

Breaking Bad is the story of a High School chemistry teacher, Walter White, who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and decides to pick up manufacturing methamphetamine to pay for his cancer treatment and provide a nest egg for his family. The series chronicles this man’s new “career” and the trials and tribulations that go along with it. The show is addicting, so if you haven’t seen it, get the DVD’s, catch up and start watching.

Season 4 begins with the episode Boxcutter, as season 3 left off with a huge cliffhanger. Walt’s former lab assistant Gail is depicted opening up the boxes containing the expensive lab equipment that meth king-pin Gus has provided for their mega-lab. In the finale of Season 3, Walt’s partner Jessie killed Gail in order to save Walt’s life. You see, a couple of Gus’s goons were killed by Walt in the finale and now that Gail knows Walt’s cooking process, he has no need for Heisenberg (Walt’s alias) and wants him dead. By killing Gail, Jessie ensures that Gus’s other men don’t kill Walt because he’ll need him to make the product. If you aren’t following me here, I apologize. Like I said, get the DVD’s, catch up and get with it.

After killing Gail, Jessie is picked up by one of Gus’s top men and brought to the lab where Walt is being held. The goons are forced to call Gus and inform him that his trusted cook has been murdered. The episode is rather drawn out (but never dull) as Walt’s estranged wife Skyler worries about his whereabouts. Gus’s goons are convinced by Walt that they shouldn’t kill him until they hear back from Gus. The same guy that picked up Jessie tries to prove that he too knows Walt’s cooking method, and that they don’t need him. The suspense builds throughout the episode until the moment Gus arrives at the lab.

This is where the episode gets absolutely bad-ass. Gus walks into the lab like a boss without saying a word to anyone. If you haven’t seen the show, the guy looks like a grown-up Steve Urkel/Carlton Banks hybrid. Very proper, always business-like and direct. Gus walks down the metal stairs and over to Walt and Jessie with a stone-cold look in his eye. He pauses for a minute, then walks directly to the the lab coats. While Walt pleads his case in order to save Jessie and his life, Gus takes off his shirt, changes into full-body lab gear then walks back toward his men.

Gus checks a few drawers and finds a bright green boxcutter, perhaps the very same boxcutter Gail used to open the boxes in the beginning of the episode. Without uttering a word, he takes the boxcutter and slices one of his goon’s throats (the same one that picked up Jessie). The man bleeds out and dies in front of Walt and Jessie, and Gus washes himself off, changes and leaves. As he’s about to walk out the door he simply says “Well, get back to work”. Walt and Jessie are spared and a legion of Breaking Bad viewers are primed for a very interesting episode 2.

Solid start to the 4^th season of an awesome show if I do say so myself.