History Recap / BreakingBadS4E1BoxCutter

* SlashedThroat: Gus does this to Victor to punish him for not preventing Gale's murder but also to create a past victim showcase and scare the crap out of Walt, Jesse and Mike so that they never step out of line again. Victor was not only not expecting it, but the throat slitting was conducted with a box cutter (complete with a blood spurt). Just to make this throat slitting creepier, Gus simply removes his bloodied hazmat suit, puts on his business suit, tells Jesse and Walt to clean up the mess, and calmly returns to work.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Victor's death by box cutter at the hands of Gus. Jesus H. Christ...

As Victor continues his cook, Walt's superiority lessens when Victor remembers a key step in the process. Jesse remains completely silent and motionless. Then Gus enters the lab, to Victor's delight and Walt's dismay. As Gus silently walks down the stairs, changes out of his suit and tie and puts on a bio-hazard outfit, Walt begins rationalizing his actions as necessary steps to defend himself, growing more panicked as Gus continues to dress. Finally, Gus selects a box cutter from the tool bench, the same used by Gale in the {{Cold Open}} to open boxes of lab equipment, and looms over Walt and Jesse as they both wait for his next move. Gus then steps across and cuts Victor's throat, spraying blood over Mike, Walt, and Jesse and shocking all three. A nauseated Walt cannot meet Gus's eyes, while Jesse furiously stares him down like a cornered dog. Gus calmly drops the box cutter, washes Victor's blood off, gets dressed again, and prepares to leave, but not before uttering a single line: "Get back to work."

Walt and Jesse mop up the blood, and with Mike's help, dispose of Victor's body, his gun and the box cutter in one of their [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E2TheCatsintheBag hydrofluoric acid barrels.]] Later, Walt and Jesse eat breakfast at a Denny's, and a paranoid Walt discusses what their next move against Gus should be. Jesse appears totally detached and unconcerned, seeing their lives as safe for the time being because Gus does indeed need them, reluctant though he is to keep them around. Nonetheless, Gus's warning to them with Victor's demise was loud and clear to him: if Gus can't kill them, he can at least make them wish he had.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: As mentioned above, Gus's method of disposing of Victor is so sudden and brutal that Mike instinctively pulls a gun on Gus before he realizes what's going on.

* TooDumbToLive: Victor checking out Gale's crime scene without making up a story to the witnesses and letting himself be seen, which leads to his death by Gus's box cutter.

* SacrificialLion: Victor is killed both because he implicated himself and as a warning to Walter and Jesse that Gus is not afraid to cut any loose ends.

Walt and Jesse mop up the blood, and with Mike's help, dispose of Victor's body, his gun and the box cutter in one of their [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E2CatsintheBag hydrofluoric acid barrels.]] Later, Walt and Jesse eat breakfast at a Denny's, and a paranoid Walt discusses what their next move against Gus should be. Jesse appears totally detached and unconcerned, seeing their lives as safe for the time being because Gus does indeed need them, reluctant though he is to keep them around. Nonetheless, Gus's warning to them with Victor's demise was loud and clear to him: if Gus can't kill them, he can at least make them wish he had.

Back in the present, Jesse is seen standing in Gale's doorway after firing his gun at Gale. He slowly leaves in a daze. Victor arrives shortly after, pushing through a crowd of neighbors to see Gale, dead on his floor, before leaving to take Jesse back to the lab. In the super lab, Walt and Mike stare one another down before Victor arrives and delivers the news that Gale is dead. While Victor destroys lab equipment in frustration, Mike makes the call to Gus as Walt sits smugly content his plan has worked. Mike also learns Victor was seen at Gale's apartment. Back at the White house, Marie drops in to say hi to Skyler and notes that Walt's car is in the driveway, assuming a reunion. Skyler, unaware of this, drives the car to another street so Jr. will not see it.

At the lab, Walt explains to Mike and Victor that he is now the only available cook, and that they need to stay on schedule. Victor responds by beginning the meth cooking process, claiming he knows all the steps. Skyler attempts to locate Walt by speaking with a paranoid Saul Goodman, who has hired a bodyguard, Huell, in case of fallout in the Gus/Walt feud. With no other options, Skyler goes to Walt's apartment and calls a locksmith, faking a panic attack and purse robbery so that he will let her in. Inside, she finds nothing that tells her where Walt is, but chances upon the [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E13ABQ glass teddy bear eye from the plane crash.]]

As Victor continues his cook, Walt's superiority lessens when Victor remembers a key step in the process. Then Gus enters the lab, to Victor's delight and Walt's dismay. As Gus silently walks down the stairs, changes out of his suit and tie and puts on a bio-hazard outfit, Walt begins rationalizing his actions as necessary steps to defend himself, growing more panicky as Gus continues to dress. Finally, Gus selects a box cutter from the tool bench, the same used by Gale in the {{Cold Open}} to open boxes of lab equipment, and looms over Walt and Jesse as they both wait for his next move. Gus then steps across and cuts Victor's throat, spraying blood over Mike, Walt, and Jesse and shocking all three. A nauseated Walt cannot meet Gus's eyes, while Jesse furiously stares him down like a cornered dog before relenting. Gus calmly drops the box cutter, washes Victor's blood off, gets dressed again, and prepares to leave, but not before uttering a single line: "Get back to work."

Walt and Jesse mop up the blood, and with Mike's help, dispose of Victor's body, his gun and the box cutter in one of their hydrofluoric acid barrels. Later, Walt and Jesse eat breakfast at a Denny's, and Walt discusses what their next move should be. Jesse is less concerned, seeing their lives as safe for the time being, and that Gus does indeed need them, reluctant though he is to keep them around. Nonetheless, Gus's warning to them with Victor's demise was loud and clear to him: if Gus can't kill them, he can at least make them wish he had.

As Victor continues his cook, Walt's superiority lessens when Victor remembers a key step in the process. Then Gus enters the lab, to Victor's delight and Walt's dismay. As Gus silently walks down the stairs and begins to put on a bio-hazard outfit, Walt begins rationalizing his actions as necessary steps to defend himself, growing more panicky as Gus continues to dress. Finally, Gus selects a box cutter from the tool bench, the same used by Gale in the {{Cold Open}} to open boxes of lab equipment, and looms over Walt and Jesse as they both wait for his next move. Gus then steps across and cuts Victor's throat, spraying blood over Mike, Walt, and Jesse and shocking all three. A nauseated Walt cannot meet Gus's eyes, while Jesse furiously stares him down like a cornered dog before relenting. Gus calmly drops the box cutter, washes Victor's blood off, gets dressed again, and prepares to leave, but not before uttering a single line: "Get back to work."

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Victor violently kicks lab equipment in frustration due to being shocked by Gale's death and his attempt to cook meth himself hints that he refused to have Walt getting away with it. Too bad he implicated himself at the crime scene.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boxcutter.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Gus makes some [[DeadlyEuphemism cuts]] to his workforce.]]

** Gus has one when upon finding out that Walter and Jesse [[OutGambitted had killed Gale [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou to force him to spare their lives lest he will be left with no way to produce more meth]], he goes to the meth lab and slits Victor's throat, and restrains him so that he cannot stop his hemorrhage and bleeds to death, apparently to vent his anger and to scare the shit out of the protagonists, and Victor was the only person in the room that was expendable. Also notable because it's only his actions that which reflect the breakdown, he only speaks after the whole thing is over, [[PragmaticVillainy telling everyone remaining in the room to get back to work]].

** Gus has an [[TranquilFury eerily silent]] one when venting his anger by killing Victor.

* TooDumbToLive: Victor was too dumb to live by checking out Gale's crime scene without making up a story to the witnesses and letting himself be seen, which leads to his death by Gus's box cutter.

** Gus has an [[TranquilFury eerily silent]] one when venting his anger by killing Victor.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[CruelAndUnusualDeath Holy fucking shit.]]]]

* BlofeldPloy: Gus executes Victor in front of Walt and Jesse, and his motives are left ambiguous. However, it is probable that Gus killed Victor because he was seen at the scene of Gale's murder, while Walt believes he may have been killed because he tried to cook a batch. In truth, there might be a mix of motives behind Victor's death.