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"A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" is the seventh episode of the first season of Breaking Bad and the seventh episode overall. It is also the season finale.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

1x07 - The school staff and parents

At the high school, Walt and Skyler attend a PTA meeting concerning the chemistry lab thefts. Seated next to each other, Walt begins to stroke Skyler's thigh under the table. She resists at first but then revels in the erotic moment, with his hand moving higher-and-higher. It is suddenly cut short when Walt is called upon. Later in the parking lot, the two have sex in Walt's car. Skyler wonders why this tryst felt especially good, to which Walt replies because it was illegal.

Act I[]

While a realtor shows Jesse's house to a couple, Walt arrives and looks for Jesse. Walt finds him in the RV, his ribs still bandaged from his run-in with Tuco. Walt hands Jesse his cut from the deal with Tuco, but Jesse is unhappy to learn that the deal requires them to make two more pounds of meth. Jesse mocks Walt's "brilliant business plan," saying that it's almost impossible to procure enough pseudo to produce that much meth.

At a meeting with Dr. Delcavoli, Skyler notes that Walt's color is better and that he has become more sexual since starting his treatment. She asks about alternative therapies. Dr. Delcavoli says they're fine as long as they don't interfere with his treatments.

1x07 - Junkyard

Walt arranges a meeting with Tuco at a junkyard. Jesse ridicules Walt for the location, saying that it's a movie-version of a drug deal location. When Tuco arrives, he is displeased to only receive half a pound and learn from Walt that there were "production problems". Tuco says he thought Walt was a player, but Walt holds his ground and dares to ask for more money, proposing that Tuco consider it a capital investment. The two men work out a loan at twenty-five percent weekly interest. Walt ups the ante by asking if Tuco wants four pounds instead of two. Tuco agrees but delivers a stern warning: "Talk is talk. But owing me money, that's bad."

Act II[]

Back at his house, Jesse frets that it'll take "two, three hundred boxes of sinus pills" to make four pounds of meth. Walt says they'll produce their own ingredients, but when he hands Jesse a list of chemicals and equipment to buy, Jesse tries to back out. It is after Walt encourages him to believe in himself that Jesse agrees to take on the endeavor.

1x07 - Cigars

At a festive baby shower held at the White residence, Skyler is shocked by Marie's gift: an expensive baby tiara. Hank and Walt go out by the pool to share stiff drinks, and Cuban cigars procured by Hank's FBI colleague. As Walt notes how Cuban cigars are illegal, he muses "what's legal, what's illegal [...] it's arbitrary," referencing how alcohol used to be illegal during Prohibition. Hank answers that it goes both ways too; "there's stuff that's legal that shouldn't be," mentioning meth used to be legally sold in pharmacies. That night, Skyler talks about returning Marie's gift. Walt switches the subject to alternative medicine and talks about going to a Navajo sweat lodge for the weekend.

After Walt arrives at Jesse's house, he congratulates Jesse for obtaining the supplies, though a key chemical, methylamine, is missing. Jesse has found some professionals who can steal it from a warehouse, but they want $10,000 for the job. Seeing a dusty sketching toy on a shelf in the garage, Walt suggests they steal it themselves.

Act III[]

In Jesse's kitchen, Walt extracts the powder from several of the sketching toys and mixes it with powdered iron oxide to make thermite, which produces a surface temperature high enough to melt through four inches of solid steel, and thus will break any lock that the warehouse is likely to have on its door.

Later, at a jewelry store, Skyler attempts to return the tiara, but instead of getting cash back, she is detained for shoplifting. Skyler tries to explain that the tiara was a gift, but the owner says he's pressing charges. Thinking quickly, Skyler threatens to call the local TV news and fakes going into labor. After bluffing her way out of the store, she phones Marie, leaving her an angry voicemail.

1x07 - Stealing methylamine

Walt and Jesse make their (slow) getaway with their stolen barrel of methylamine.

Act IV[]

That evening, after locking a guard inside a portable toilet, Walt and Jesse break into the warehouse. Expecting gallon bottles, they're surprised that the methylamine is in large steel barrels. They clumsily manhandle a drum off the property. The next day, the RV fails to start, forcing them to cook in Jesse's basement. Unknown to Jesse, the realtor has scheduled an open house that day. Walt tells Jesse to get the visitors to leave while he tries to cook. When one of the buyers insists on inspecting the basement, Jesse pushes him back into the kitchen and announces the house is not for sale anymore.

Meanwhile, Skyler chases down Marie at a women's clothing boutique, asking her why she stole the tiara. Marie denies Skyler's accusations and says she doesn't know what her sister is talking about. When Walt comes home, Skyler explains the situation and criticizes Marie for refusing to admit to her wrongdoing, to which Walt says that people sometimes do things for their families. Skyler asks if that justifies stealing. Walt asks what she would do if it were him, and asks if she would divorce him or turn him into the police. Skyler warns him that "you don't want to find out."

WaltJesseShock

Walt and Jesse react to Tuco's assault.

The following day, Walt and Jesse meet Tuco again at the junkyard. Tuco questions why the meth is blue. Walt tells him that they used a different chemical process but it is just as potent. Sampling the product, Tuco is ecstatic about the results. Tuco's henchman No-Doze makes a haughty comment to Walt and Jesse "Just remember who you're working for." Tuco accuses No-Doze of thinking they're stupid or thinking Tuco's stupid. To the horrified onlookers, he then viciously attacks him, beating him unconscious, brandishing his bloodied knuckles. Finishing up, Tuco laughs and tells a stunned Walt that he'll see him next week.

Official Photos[]

Trivia[]

  • The episode title references a quote from the film, Fargo.
  • Jesse comments about selling his house that "I got two dudes that turned into raspberry slushy and flushed down my toilet," confirming that Krazy-8 was also dissolved in hydrofluoric acid and flushed.
  • This is the first appearance of Walt's Blue Meth.
  • This is the introduction to the proper Heisenberg attire (porkpie hat and classic shades.)
  • This is the only season finale not to be written by Vince Gilligan (excluding the mid-season finale of Season 5, "Gliding Over All".)
  • The meeting between Walter, Jesse, and Tuco in the junkyard was parodied in the opening of the Breaking Bad special episode of Mythbusters, in which Aaron Paul and Vince Gilligan drive into a junkyard and meet the show's hosts.
  • The comment by No-Doze that provoked the brutal beating by Tuco was not the first time he spoke out of turn. In the Better Call Saul episode "Mijo", Tuco becomes angry when No-Doze speaks out of turn, and coldly tells him, "Stop helping".
  • Walt's narrative about a one-man commando using thermite to disable the Gustav Gun is fictional. In reality, the Germans destroyed the cannon themselves on April 14, 1945, a day before the arrival of US troops, to prevent it from falling into Allied hands. It is likely that Walt exaggerated the story to emphasize the effectiveness of thermite to Jesse while demonstrating its power against a metal lock.
    • Walt may not have been describing the actual disablement of the Gustav Gun but rather using the possibility of such an event as an illustration of thermite's potency while explaining it to Jesse. Notably, Walt never claimed that the described event occurred, only that thermite would be effective.
  • The technique portrayed in the episode of the use of thermite against the lock would not result in significant damage, as a substantial amount of the heat would dissipate when the mixture burns off, dispersing hot metallic droplets. Typically, when initiating a thermite reaction, it is conducted in a ceramic container with a small opening at the bottom. This design helps contain the heat and molten metal until a sufficient amount accumulates. The intense heat generated from the thermite reaction could potentially damage the locking mechanism, leading to its opening, even though the lock appeared mostly intact after the thermite charge burned off.

Production[]

Credits[]

Guest Starring

  • Raymond Cruz as Tuco Salamanca
  • Carmen Serano as Carmen Molina
  • Beth Bailey as Jodi Nichols
  • Geoffrey Rivas as Police Officer

  • Co-Starring

    Uncredited

    • Cliff Gravel as Teacher
    • Clark Sanchez as Biker

    Filming Locations[]

    Featured Music[]

    • "The Hand Clap" by Hurricane Chris (feat. Big Poppa & HollyHood Bay Bay) (in Tuco's truck as he arrives at the meet)
    • "Candy Everybody Wants" by 10,000 Maniacs (at the baby shower)
    • "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels (while Walt & Hank smoke cigars)
    • "Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Continuo in D minor, BWV 1043, Second movement, Largo ma non tanto by Johann Sebastian Bach" by Bettine Clemen & Hanz Friedman (in the jewellery store when Skyler tries to return the tiara)
    • "Beautiful Emilie" by Keziah Jones (in the clothes store where Skyler confronts Marie)
    • "Who's Gone Save My Soul" by Gnarls Barkley (as Tuco leaves the meet)

    Memorable Quotes[]

    "I don't know. How about Taco Cabeza? Half the deals I've ever done went down at Taco Cabeza. Nice and public. Open 24 hours. Nobody ever gets shot at Taco Cabeza. Hell, why not the mall? You know, wait at the Gap. "Hey! It's time for the meet!" You know, I'll put down the flat-front khakis, head on over, grab an Orange Julius. Skip the part where psycho lunatic Tuco, you know, comes and steals my drugs and leaves me bleeding to death."
    ―Jesse suggesting a location to sell methamphetamine.

    Jesse: "Four pounds. Four pounds – like two pounds wasn't bad enough. We're talking two – three-hundred boxes of sinus pills. There ain't that many smurfs in the world."
    Walter: "We're not going to need pseudoephedrine. We're going to make phenylacetone in a tube furnace, then we're going to use reductive amination to yield methamphetamine. Four pounds."
    Jesse: "So no pseudo?"
    Walter: "No pseudo."
    Jesse: "So you do have a plan! Yeah Mr. White! Yeah science!"
    ―Jesse and Walt discuss the new chemical process to yield four pounds of meth.
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