There are select few TV shows from the 21st century that have really made their mark as some of the best television in history. FromThe SopranostoLost, the gathering of fans and viewers has been tremendous. This list wouldn’t be complete, of course, without the iconicBreaking Bad, brought to the small screen by Vince Gilligan.
Breaking Badnot only has two spectacular lead characters – Bryan Cranston as Walter White and Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman – but also an array of characters, good and evil, who add so much complexity to both the story and the people involved. Throughout the five seasons, there are a number of villains that Walter works with and, in some cases, has to defeat. Among those villains,Gus Fring – played by Giancarlo Esposito – stands as one of the most powerful and utterly sinister of the bunch.
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Gus made his on-screen debut at the end of season 2, and played a crucial role in the show throughout seasons 3 and 4. Perhaps his most iconic appearance was that within the season 4 opener, titled “Box Cutter”. Following the shocking events that transpired in the season 3 finale, “Box Cutter” takes off with its own surprises and showcases just how far Gus will go to display his own power as a drug lord.
Season 3 ofBreaking Badends with Walt and Jesse butting heads with their new boss Gus, and making decisions for their joint business without his consent. Jesse flees after Walt murders two dealers who work for Gus and Walt has to answer to Gus about why he did what he did, while also giving him options about how to move forward. Gus agrees to keep Walt on board, but secretly is devising a plan in which he replaces Walt with another chemist, Gale Boetticher.
Once Walt catches wind of his plan, he and Jesse decide the only way they can both stay alive is if they murder their replacement cook. Walt initially agrees to be the one to pull the trigger, but after being taken by Gus' right-hand man, Victor, back to the lab to be executed, he has Jesse go ahead and pursue the murder of Gale, to which Jesse is successful.
“Box Cutter” then opens right where season 3 left off. After killing Gale, Jesse flees the scene and goes to his car outside Gale’s apartment. Alarmed neighbors proceed to call the police and await their arrival at Gale’s door. It’s then that Victor shows up to confirm that Gale is indeed dead. Quickly exiting the building, he finds Jesse distraught in his car and enters the vehicle, ordering him to drive to the lab while threatening Jesse at gunpoint.
Once they get to the lab,Walt and Jesse sit hostage to Victorand hitman Mike Ehrmantraut as they wait for Gus to arrive and decide what to do with his two disobedient cooks. While they wait, Walt tries to explain himself and attempts to provide justification for murdering Gale. He also points out the fact that he and Jesse must remain alive if Gus is to continue his crystal meth business as planned, stating that they’re the only ones who know the process in which to cook the notorious 99% pure blue crystal meth.
However, Victor has been observing their process for weeks and begins cooking the next batch, proving that Gus doesn’t need them. A frantic Walter becomes even more worried once Gus enters the lab himself, begging for mercy and offering reasons to keep them both alive.Gus, in his sinister ways, descends the stairs and walks behind Walt and Jesseto put on a hazmat suit, all without saying a single word.
Gus proceeds to grab a box cutter and opens the blade before returning to the group, standing next to Victor who eagerly waits for Gus to kill both Walt and Jesse. However, Victor’s caught by surprise when Gus turns around and slits his throat instead, holding him up as he bleeds out, all the while Gus never breaking eye contact with a shocked Walt. As Victor dies, Gus drops his body on the floor, takes the suit off, cleans himself up, and climbs back up the stairs. Before he exits, he turns to the cooks and says his only line in the entire scene, “Well?… Get back to work.”
After that, Walt and Jesse are forced to clean up the bloody mess and dispose of Victor’s body in hydrofluoric acid. It then cuts to them eating at a Denny’s where they come to terms about what just happened and what it means for their future working under Gus.
Why Does Gus Fring Kill Victor?
Throughout his time in the series,Gus Fring is a very calculated drug lordwho sets forth any plan of his and makes sure that that plan follows through by any means necessary. In doing so, he exhibits determined practicality while also enforcing his exceptional power as a leader and a businessman, both of which play an essential role in his decision to kill Victor.
Firstly, Gus saw killing Victor as a major component in saving his own skin. While Jesse was able to flee the crime scene of Gale’s murder without being spotted, Victor was careless and was seen by numerous neighbors as he entered Gale’s apartment and quickly left. Had Gus kept him alive, witnesses would have only one person to describe to police, that being Victor. In addition, Victor left the parking lot in Jesse’s car, thus abandoning his own vehicle and giving law enforcement yet another method in which they could track him down.
Outside of being practical, Gus' stunt was also a way in which he could show Walt and Jesse just how powerful he was. Victor was basically Gus' right-hand man in the sense that he would stand in Gus' place during certain meetings and be the one to relay information back and forth between Gus and others he was working with, all while serving as a sort of bodyguard. So, with Gus showing no hesitation in murdering his assistant, Gus expressed the fact that everyone who decides to be employed by him are all equally expendable, even if they play a critical role in the daily operations of the business.
Considering how Walt and Jesse ended up in this circumstance, Gus also found it necessary to reestablish his role as the person in charge.Walt proved himself to be impulsiveand made a move where he was the one who was holding the cards, falsely under the impression that he had Gus on a string. Gus acted quick and didn’t allow for Walt’s ego to get any bigger, cementing the fact that he calls the shots and anyone who is willing to try his hand will face the consequences.
Gus Fring was arguably the strongest drug lord and crystal meth distributor that Walt and Jesse worked for inBreaking Bad, with his deep connections with the Mexican Cartel and his low-key status as a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant owner in the States. He solidified his part in the series and even after his ultimate demise, he left a lasting impact for the remainder of the show in how it all eventually unraveled.
