Peekaboo
After Skinny Pete got held up for his dope and money by a couple of methheads, Jesse has him find out more information about them so he can get back what was stolen. According to Pete's investigation, while there is little known about the woman that got him mugged, the man was known as "Spooge". With their home address, Jesse sets out to take back what is his.
When he enters Spooge's house, he finds the interior a complete mess, but there is no sign of Spooge or his girlfriend. He does find a young redheaded boy, filthy and dressed in ragged clothes, watching an infomercial on the TV (for lack of any other channels). Jesse decides to wait in the house with the young boy until Spooge and his girlfriend returns...
Meanwhile, Walt has returned to work at school for the first time since his cancer diagnosis. Back at home, Skyler receives a call from Gretchen, the conversation turning to the money that Gretchen and Elliot had supposedly given them to pay for Walt's medical bills. Gretchen is confused as Skyler tearfully thanks her for money she never actually offered. Curious, she decides to pay the Whites a visit.
When Walt and Junior return home from school, they find Gretchen's car parked outside their home. Gretchen is inside talking with Skyler, but she suddenly becomes on guard when Walt enters. She hurriedly excuses herself. Walt meets Gretchen outside as she is preparing to pull out, and asks her not to say anything to anyone until he can clear the air...
Back at Spooge's house, Jesse continues to watch infomercials with the boy until he hears screaming coming from outside: Spooge and his girlfriend are returning. Jesse places the boy back in his bedroom, then intercepts his parents in the kitchen, pistol-whipping Spooge and holding the two at gunpoint. From them, he manages to get back some of his meth, but no money. Spooge, however, explains that he has the money: he and his girlfriend had managed to steal an ATM. Described as a "victimless crime" by Spooge (an obvious lie; a man was killed lifting the machine), he plans to break open the ATM, so everyone can take the money inside.
Unfortunately, in spite of having boosted many ATMs before, Spooge never got a single one open, a fact sadly demonstrated by his futile attempts to break it open with a sledgehammer.
At a high-end restaurant, Walt meets with Gretchen. Gretchen wants Walt to explain why he would lie about her and Elliot paying for his medical bills, but Walt remains evasive, apologizing for his lies and asking Gretchen to let him explain in his own time. The discussion becomes heated as Walt later accuses Gretchen and Elliot of having cut him out and made their fortunes off of his hard work, while Gretchen fires back that Walt had abandoned them and walked out on her without a word when they had visited her family one Fourth of July weekend. Gretchen is at a loss for words, save for how sorry she feels for Walt. Walt fires back with a simple reply, quiet and two words long, but vicious: "Fuck you." Gretchen, incredulous, can do naught but silently and hurriedly leave.
When Walt returns home, Skyler questions him about what has happened between him and Gretchen. Gretchen had called, hurriedly telling her that she and Elliot could no longer pay for Walt's medical bills, then refusing to answer any calls Skyler made to them, making her suspicious. Walt manages to assuage her suspicions by explaining that, while he had talked with Gretchen, he had learned that they are broke: they couldn't pay for his bills anymore because they no longer had the money to spare. Skyler finds this odd, since Gretchen still drove a nice car, to which Walt explains that she's just keeping up appearances.
Back at Spooge's house, Spooge's girlfriend knocks Jesse out when her son comes out of his room and distracts him, then takes Jesse's gun and meth. When Jesse comes to, he finds Spooge attempting to break into the ATM from underneath with a power drill. His girlfriend, who also abuses heroin, asks Spooge for some meth to "even out", but an angry and irritable Spooge refuses, calling her a "skank" in the process. The woman demands an apology for calling her a skank, but Spooge fires back by calling her a "skank-ass skank" repeatedly.
At her wits end, she whispers "I ain't no skank", then pushes the ATM onto Spooge's head, crushing it and killing him instantly, shocking Jesse. Moments afterward, the vault of the ATM pops open, cash spilling from it. Jesse takes what money he can carry, then, while Spooge's girlfriend falls asleep, calls 911, and leaves the phone hanging while he takes the boy outside, covering him in a blanket and shielding his eyes from the sight of Spooge lying in a puddle of blood. He places the boy on the front porch, begs him not to go back inside, and says his goodbyes as he leaves while the sound of sirens grow closer...
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Spooge and his girlfriend leave their little son all alone in the house and neglect feeding, bathing, or nursing him while outside they go out looting ATMs or searching for more drugs (preferably cocaine and heroin).
- Asshole Victim: Spooge gets killed by his woman in a particularly undignified way, but no one is going to have any tears for him.
- Atrocious Alias: Jesse is amazed to find that one of the addicts who stole from Pete willingly calls himself "Spooge."
- Berserk Button: Spooge's girlfriend really, really hates being called a "skank". Gretchen doesn't appreciate being involved in Walt's series of lies to cover the fact that he never accepted the Schwartzs' offer to pay for his cancer treatment. A formerly evasive and less than impressed Walt soon drops a chilling "Fuck you." in response when she says she feels sorry for his resentment of her and Elliot for (allegedly) cutting him out of Gray Matter and depriving him of billions of dollars.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Jesse issues a few of these in the confrontation with Spooge and his woman, for what little good it does.
- Bloody Hilarious: Spooge gets his head crushed by an ATM.
- Book Dumb:
- When Skinny Pete writes down Spooge's address for Jesse, he writes "street" as "streat". Jesse calls him out on it.
- Spooge and his woman are none too bright, either.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Spooge got his head smashed by an ATM.
- A Day in the Limelight: Jesse gets more focus in this episode than Walt does.
- Dead Man's Trigger Finger: Downplayed since this is with a power drill instead of a gun. Spooge briefly squeezes the trigger of his drill when his head is crushed by the ATM.
- Dirty Coward: Spooge's girlfriend shamelessly uses her little boy as a shield between her and Jesse during the tense hold-up. Whether or not she is the boy's biological mother is never actually confirmed, but it doesn't make it better whether she is or not.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Spooge's woman crushes his head with the ATM for repeatedly calling her a 'skank.' To be fair, she was so strung out on drugs that she probably didn't even realize what she was doing.
- The Dog Bites Back: Spooge constantly insults his woman in a nasty manner, endlessly provoking her... until the end of the episode, when he once again calls her a “skank”. She, having been high on drugs, can’t take it anymore, and tips over an ATM machine that was above Spooge’s head, squishing his head and killing him.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Walt responds simply but chillingly to Gretchen's pity of his hatred towards the Schwartz family: "Fuck. You."
- Drugs Are Bad: This episode gives us a good, harsh look at where the path of drug abuse can lead you.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Jesse is sickened by the way the two meth addicts treat their son.
- Evil Versus Evil: Spooge and his girlfriend pose even greater dangers to each other than Jesse armed with a revolver is to both of them, as they are always arguing and fighting over drugs.
- Exact Words: Gretchen employs a lot of this to simultaneously avoid taking credit for Walt's treatment and deny that she and Elliot have been doing it.
- Fan Disservice: Spooge and his girlfriend. Seriously, kids, drugs take away your pretty.
- Foreshadowing:
- During a lesson on carbon, Walt recounts the story of the man who invented synthetic diamonds, H. Tracy Hall, and how he was rewarded for his breakthrough invention with a ten-dollar savings bond. Walt, similarly, made several breakthroughs for Grey Matter but had sold his share of the company for pennies on the dollar after breaking up with Gretchen, as he would tell Jesse late in the final season.
- The episode opens with Skinny Pete stomping out a beetle. Later, Spooge's head gets crushed by an ATM. Both were done without second thoughts and with the same aloof amount of ease. Jessie is present at both, and is the only person who cares about the innocent on the scene.
- Friend to All Children: Jesse's Big Brother Instinct kicks in when he sees Spooge and his girlfriend's undernourished, dirty child just walking around all alone in the house. He goes to great lengths to make sure that the boy doesn't see any violence (even as his own parents don't seem to care), and makes sure the kid gets picked up by the police before he takes off.
- Hair of the Dog: With meth instead of alcohol. Spooge's girlfriend overdoses on the blue meth and begs Spooge for more meth to take the edge off.
- Head Crushing: Spooge's girlfriend — after being repeatedly called a "skank" by Spooge — kills him by tipping over the ATM he was trying to break into onto his head.
- Hidden Depths: When Spooge complains about Jesse hitting him, he uses accurate medical terminology to describe the risk of a simple hit to the head-turning into a concussion or subdural hematoma. David Ury, who portrayed him, has speculated that Spooge may have been a healthcare professional at one point before falling into drug use.
- Hypocrite: Walter has balls the size of Mexico to claim in his lie to Skyler that Gretchen was prideful enough to still drive around in her Bentley while supposedly having financial troubles when his pride is what made him cut the Schwartzs out of his life and leave Gray Matter in the first place.
- Inherently Funny Words: Spooge.
- Insane Troll Logic: Spooge claims that since every ATM has a weakness of some kind, logically the manufacturer must have placed it on the bottom since that's where it'd be hardest to access and exploit said weakness. His girlfriend, drugged out of her mind as she is, instantly points out how dumb this logic is, since weaknesses aren't usually intentionally designed into anything. Possibly subverted since the door does pop open after he spends a while tinkering with the bottom, but it's not clear if this is a direct result of said tinkering, or the door finally giving out due to repeated sledgehammer whacks combined with a sudden, sharp bump courtesy of it landing on Spooge's head.
- Let Me Get This Straight...:Gretchen: Let me just get this straight: Elliot and I offered to pay for your treatment, no strings attached – an offer which still stands by the way – and you turn us down out of pride, whatever. And then you tell your wife that in fact, we are paying for your treatment. Without our knowledge, against our will, you involve us in your lie, and you sit here and tell me that that is none of my business?
[long pause]
Walter: Yeah. That's pretty much the size of it. - Missing Steps Plan: Spooge and his girlfriend decide to steal an ATM and empty out all its cash so they can buy more drugs. And just how were they going to get the cash out of it, they didn't even think of that; Spooge has already apparently stole six of them prior, but completely failed in opening any of them. Only when Jesse arrives and holds them at gunpoint do they get serious about emptying it, so Spooge resorts to breaking it open with a sledgehammer - which proves to be futile due to the door being secured too well.
- Step 1: Haul an actual, well-bolted and well-secured ATM right out of a low-surveillance store.
- Step 2: ???
- Step 3: Get the cash to buy more drugs!!
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Averted. The dealer who ripped off Skinny Pete is named Spooge. Invoked later by Jesse who calls himself "Diesel" in an attempt to sound intimidating.
- No Name Given: Spooge's girlfriend and son remain unnamed.
- Oh, Crap!: A few times over the course of the episode:
- Spooge and his girlfriend freaking out when Jesse confronts them.Spooge's girl: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAA—
Jesse: SHUT UP!
Spooge's girl: AAA—
Jesse: SHUT UP!
Spooge's girl: ...ah... - Jesse freaking out as Spooge's girl crushes Spooge's head with the ATM.
- Walt has a minor one when he sees Gretchen stopped by his house, potentially putting his cover story about her and Elliot footing his medical bills in jeopardy. Gretchen, in turn, has one when Walt comes back home.
- Spooge and his girlfriend freaking out when Jesse confronts them.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Jesse practices saying "Where's my money, bitch!?" outside of Spooge's house. He only says it for real onscreen once.
- Pet the Dog: Jesse calls the cops in the hopes they'll bring the neglected child to social services where he could have a better life.
- Precision F-Strike: Walt drops one on Gretchen when she says she feels sorry for him.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Walt's F-Bomb to Gretchen really sells just how much hatred he's fostered towards her and Elliot for supposedly getting him dropped from Gray Matter and stealing credit for his research.
- "Rashomon"-Style: It soon becomes clear that Walt and Gretchen remember their breakup and Walt leaving Gray Matter very differently. Vince Gilligan once said that Gretchen's version is much closer to the truth, that Walt's pride had a lot of trouble dealing with how inferior he felt around Gretchen's wealthy and successful family, and he abruptly left and Gretchen never understood why.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: After Spooge is killed and Jesse takes the money, he dials 911 and leaves the phone off the hook for the police to arrive. Jesse brings Spooge's son outside, being careful not to let him witness his father's corpse, and leaves him on the front porch for the police to collect. His fate is unknown, but it can't be worse than living in a literal crack den.
- The Speechless: Spooge's kid never speaks aloud, and is mostly unresponsive to anything Jesse says or does. It is sadly unclear if he even can speak.
- Spotting the Thread: Skyler is initially so taken aback by the news that the Schwartzes won't be "continuing" to pay for Walt's treatment that she doesn't voice any doubts about Walt's attempt to spin things. However, just before the end of their talk Skyler suddenly starts wondering why, if Gretchen and Elliot are having money problems as serious as Walt claims, Gretchen is still driving around a Bentley. Despite Walt's attempts to explain it away, it's clear that Skyler has doubts as of that moment, and those doubts will eventually drive her to get answers from Gretchen.
- Too Dumb to Live: Spooge should've known better than to call his girlfriend a skank, pushing her Berserk Button, while his head was under a heavy ATM. Instead, he proceeded to call her a skank eighteen times in under a minute, pushing her well past her Rage Breaking Point. Not his smartest idea, but his final idea.
- Unreliable Voiceover: Spooge claims that the theft of the ATM went "smooth as silk" and was "a victimless crime". As he says this, the crime scene is shown, where the clerk lies dead in a pool of blood, having been stabbed in the chest.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Spooge's son doesn't react at all to Jesse breaking into the house, suggesting that he is too violence-addled and/or malnourished to care.
- We Used to Be Friends: Walt clearly has no intention of giving Gretchen any kind of explanation for his involving her and Elliot in his lies and would prefer if she just disregards the matter altogether. When she refuses to leave it at that, Walt immediately reveals just how much he despises both Elliot and her for apparently "cutting him out" of Gray Matter and "stealing" his research to add to Gretchen's already considerable fortune. If that didn't seal the deal, Walt's extremely cold-hearted "Fuck. You." most certainly made Gretchen see that he would never accept her help even in death.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gretchen essentially says this to Walt after he arranges to meet with her alone in order to apologize for his lies and keep her quiet. Especially once it becomes increasingly clear that Walt is still very resentful of her and Elliot, and that this resentment played a key role in him refusing their unconditional offer of support.
- Your Head A-Splode: After one too many "skanks", Spooge's girlfriend drops the ATM on his head.
