- This article is about the episode. For the song, see Negro y Azul: The Ballad of Heisenberg.
"Negro y Azul" is the seventh episode of the second season of Breaking Bad and the fourteenth episode altogether.
A narcocorrido band performs "Negro y Azul" (Black and Blue), in which "a gringo boss" named Heisenberg disrespects the Mexican drug cartel by cornering the Albuquerque market with high-quality blue crystal. "That homie's already dead," goes the refrain, "he just doesn't know it yet."
Summary
Walter White heads to Jesse Pinkman's duplex after repeatedly trying to reach him on the phone. Pounding on the door, Walt attracts the attention of Jane Margolis — Jesse's neighbor and landlord — who refuses to grant him access even after he claims to be Jesse's father. A groggy Jesse finally appears: "Come on in... Dad," he says.
Walt scolds Jesse for holing up in his apartment and getting high. After learning that one of the junkies who ripped off Skinny Pete is dead, Walt says that he only wanted Jesse to use "fear and intimidation." He didn't want anyone killed.
Admitting that he "ain't no Tuco or Krazy 8," Jesse says that he couldn't stop Spooge's woman from crushing the junkie's head because she'd stolen his gun. Jesse can't stomach the image of the ATM crushing Spooge's head, and is relying on pot to cope.
At the El Paso office, Hank Schrader is the only one laughing when he mocks the idea of drug dealers praying to their patron saint, Jesús Malverde. When he asks his colleague Vanco why the saint's statue sits on his desk, the agent says that it's to help him know his enemy.
Jesse is due to make an exchange with Badger, Skinny Pete, and Combo, but is still distraught and refuses to leave his apartment. Walt goes in his place, meets them at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, and introduces himself as "Heisenberg." Handing over the latest haul, Skinny Pete tells Walt, "Usually I gotta chase dudes down for their money, but today everybody's paying up." People are saying that Jesse killed Spooge, the guys explain, and everyone is afraid of him. Walt doesn't let on that the rumor isn't exactly true.
Skyler White applies for a data-entry job at Beneke Fabricators, her old employer. When the receptionist gives her the brush-off, Skyler bolts past her to chat with Ted Beneke, the owner. After catching up, Ted offers Skyler her old bookkeeping position.
Back at Jesse's apartment, Walt says that they should expand their territory to take advantage of Jesse's newfound street cred. "You are a blowfish," Walt tells him. The blowfish is small, but it scares off more formidable predators by puffing itself up to appear large and intimidating. Skeptical at first, Jesse eventually gets on board: "I'm a blowfish, yeah!"
Hank becomes irritated by his colleagues' strategy of kowtowing to a drug informant they're interviewing. "How 'bout you stop jerkin' us off here?" Hank finally shouts at the man, who says that his name is Tortuga (Spanish for tortoise), because "I take my time, but I always win."
At home with her sister, Skyler says that she got a job at Beneke. "Is Mr. Grabby-Hands still there?" Marie asks, referring to Ted. Skyler says that the one-time drunken incident won't happen again.
Jesse leaves his apartment for the first time in days. Outside, Jane sketches a tattoo design. She's good, Jesse notes, but he wonders why a tattoo artist has no tats herself. "That's way too big a commitment," she says.
While Jesse chats with Jane, a biker rolls by. He shouts "Pinkman!" and tells Jesse that everyone's been talking about him. "Pinkman, huh?" says Jane, obviously not surprised Jesse's last name isn't Jackson.
On a stakeout in Mexico, Hank listens as fellow agents mock him in Spanish. His promotion was about politics, concludes one agent, who reassures the uncomprehending Hank that they're just singing his praises.
Hank thinks he spots Tortuga in the distance on one of the hills. The team piles into their trucks and drives down into the valley, to discover a gruesome sight: Tortuga's severed head mounted on a live tortoise. "HOLA DEA," is painted on its shell. To his colleagues' amusement, Hank edges away, looking ready to vomit. Seconds later, one of the Spanish-speaking officers who mocked Hank tries to lift the head off of the tortoise, setting off explosives stuffed within the tortoise. The blast kills the tortoise and the agent pulling the head, and wounds three other agents, one of them being Vanco, whose right leg is blown off below the knee. A still-woozy Hank totters over to Vanco and uses his belt as a tourniquet.
"Game's changed, yo," Jesse tells Badger, Combo, and Skinny Pete at the museum. They're going to sell meth when and where they want. "I'm gonna be king and you guys will be princes or dukes or something," he adds. They need to recruit more dealers into a layered command structure, "like nachos," he says. "Exponential growth."
"We're not charging enough," Walt replies when Jesse tells him his crew is raking in the dough. "Corner the market, then raise the price. Simple economics," Walt explains.
Skyler, setting up her office, learns that Ted and his wife split up. "We should have lunch one day. Like old times," Ted says.
Jesse, smoking on his back porch while Jane does the same on hers, admits his name is Pinkman and that Walt isn't his dad. Jane says that she doesn't care what his business is, as long as he doesn't do it at the duplex.
Jesse invites Jane over to see his new flat-screen TV. The two sit in folding lawn chairs waiting for the satellite dish to acquire a signal. Jesse squirms impatiently until Jane reaches over and holds his hand.
Credits
Main Cast
- Bryan Cranston as Walter White
- Anna Gunn as Skyler White
- Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
- Dean Norris as Hank Schrader
- Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
- RJ Mitte as Walter White Jr.
Supporting Cast
- Danny Trejo as Tortuga
- Krysten Ritter as Jane Margolis
- Matt L. Jones as Brandon "Badger" Mayhew
- Christopher Cousins as Ted Beneke
- Charles Baker as Skinny Pete
- Rodney Rush as Christian "Combo" Ortega
- J.D. Garfield as Vanco
- Todd Terry as SAC Ramey
- Rio Alexander as Federale
- Jonathan Ragsdale as Barry
- Catherine Haun as Margaret
- John Christopher Hicks as Big Biker
- Gabriel Berrelleza as Narcocorridos Band #1
- Martiniano Berrelleza Alvarado as Narcocorridos Band #2
Trivia
- "Negro y Azul" (pronounced [ˈne.ɰɾo i aˈsul]) is Spanish for "Black & Blue."
- The title of the song "Negro y Azul" refers to fact that, when Walter poses as "Heisenberg" he typically wears a black attire (his sunglasses, windbreaker and pork pie hat) and deals his distinctive blue methamphetamine.
- Black and blue also refers to heavy bruising meaning a lot of pain. It could also refer to Jesse's TV at the end of the episode, which has a black case and shows a blue screen because it isn't working properly, while Jesse & Jane are dressed in black in the dark environment.
- Tortuga appears during the teaser.
- Someone dressed as Jesús Malverde appears in the "Negro y Azul" music video. A bust of Jesús Malverde later appears in the El Paso DEA offices.
- During the end credits, a whistling instrumental version of "Negro y Azul" can be heard.
- In this episode Hank states to Vanco the following: "Going after neo-Nazis, you don't wear swastikas right?" This statement may or may not foreshadow Hank's later interaction with Jack Welker, a neo-Nazi.
- As Jesse enters the science museum he passes a photo of an atomic bomb explosion. The display mentions 'headed by Werner Heisenberg'
- The turtle explosion in this episode is foreshadowed when Walt meets Badger, Combo & Skinny Pete in the Cold War museum. The 1950s civil defence song Duck and Cover, about a cartoon turtle named Burt who knows how to stay safe if a nuclear bomb detonates, is played just before an image of an atomic bomb is shown in the museum.
Featured Music
- "Negro y Azul: Ballad of Heisenberg" by Los Cuates de Sinaloa (during the teaser)
- "Duck and Cover" by Federal Civil Defense Administration (when Walt meets Badger, Combo & Skinny Pete)
- "Nariz Inquieta" by Miguel Enriquez y Sus Torrenciales (while the DEA meet with Tortuga)
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