# Breaking Bad 5.01 "Live Free or Die" 7/15/12 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323 "2012-07-15T18:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/181 "2012-07-17T16:20:14Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Uhh, no. If you recall, he was very reluctant to accept the free meal and only did so because the waitress pushed him. Then he left a $100 tip. > > Don’t any of you guys pay attention? 😛 It was a joke guys. Work with me here. Besides, it was a fake hundred. He is branching out 🙂 And I got DISH, so it looks I am gonna be boned here shortly ☹ ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/182 "2012-07-17T16:30:19Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > Yes he didn’t say much…but when he was down checking out the lab, did he mention that it looked exactly like the sketches in Gail’s Lab Notes? > [@Critical1](#): > > I think the part you misheard was something like > “Just like bettikers drawings” (no idea how to spell Gails last name) > or maybe he said “Gail Bettikers” > I had to run that spot a couple times to figure out what he said. Yes! Thank you…I thought that’s what he said. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/183 "2012-07-17T16:42:10Z")
I’d like to know how Walt made a large “52” out of three pieces of bacon broken in half. By my calcs, the least amount would have to be five strips. Hah! Explain _that_, if you can, smart guys! ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/184 "2012-07-17T16:57:22Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I have a question about earlier seasons - I’ve caught up to the end of season 2 so far, and one thing has bugged me. > > Do we ever find out what Walt did with Crazy-8’s body? > > I mean, disposing of the other guy was a major plot point, but somehow Walt made Crazy-8 disappear without Jesse’s (perhaps dubious) help. Up to the end of season 2, it’s never mentioned again, far as I know. Walt and Jesse dissolved him in acid, just like the bathtub guy (I forget which was Emilio and which was Crazy 8). It occurs off-screen but Jesse mentions it when he tells Walt why he’s putting the house up for sale. He says something like, We flushed two guys down the toilet, so I can’t even take a dump in peace. Presumably, after the drama of the bathtub, showing Walt and Jesse stewing up dead guys in a plastic bin from Wal-Mart would have been anticlimactic. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/185 "2012-07-17T17:03:32Z")
So what is Walt’s body count now? He killed the dealer with a bicycle lock in the first season, the two street dealers who killed Jesse’s girlfriend’s brother, and two of Gus’s henchmen, so he’s killed 5 men with his own hands. He orchestrated the deaths of Gus, Tyrus, and I suppose Tio (though that was more assisted suicide)- would that be 2nd degree murder or conspiracy? I think Saul could get the nursing home deaths dismissed for lack of evidence (because the evidence was blown up), and the first kill could be thrown out as self-defense, but the other four would be enough to get him life in prison before anything to do with meth was even mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/186 "2012-07-17T17:19:26Z")
He killed Emilio with phosphine gas and Krazy 8 with the bike lock. He also inadvertently killed Jane by moving her on to her back and then watching her choke to death. He’s also directly responsible for putting Combo on that street corner, though that’s a moral culpability, not a legal one. Same with the passengers killed by Jane’s dad. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/187 "2012-07-17T17:23:09Z")
I’m not so sure that you can blame him for the passengers. With Combo he understood the dangers that street dealers faced so he has some culpability. There’s no way he could have foreseen that Jane’s death would lead to an air disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/188 "2012-07-17T17:28:46Z")
It’s [Gale Boetticher](http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Gale_Boetticher). Not Gail Bettiker. > [@Erdosain](#): > > He also inadvertently killed Jane by moving her on to her back and then watching her choke to death. It wasn’t inadvertent. He deliberately did not act to save her when he saw she was choking. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/189 "2012-07-17T17:29:58Z")
**davidm** , fair enough. Walt’s death toll: Direct: Emilio Krazy 8 Jane Dealer 1 - hit by Walt’s Aztec Dealer 2 - shot in head by Walt Gale Boetticher (ordered his execution) Gus Tyrus Meth lab employee 1 Meth lab employee 2 Indirect: Combo ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/190 "2012-07-17T17:33:10Z")
If you’re including indirect deaths, there’s a jet full of them. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/191 "2012-07-17T17:35:07Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > So what is Walt’s body count now? > > He killed the dealer with a bicycle lock in the first season, the two street dealers who killed Jesse’s girlfriend’s brother, and two of Gus’s henchmen, so he’s killed 5 men with his own hands. > > He orchestrated the deaths of Gus, Tyrus, and I suppose Tio (though that was more assisted suicide)- would that be 2nd degree murder or conspiracy? > > I think Saul could get the nursing home deaths dismissed for lack of evidence (because the evidence was blown up), and the first kill could be thrown out as self-defense, but the other four would be enough to get him life in prison before anything to do with meth was even mentioned. There’s also Emilio who never recovered from getting gassed and wound up getting dissolved in a bathtub. I would also include Jane though I understand that many will debate this point. His actions caused her to roll onto her back and he did nothing when she began choking. And Gale Boetticher: Didn’t pull the trigger but ordered the murder so it’s at least conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/192 "2012-07-17T17:46:49Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > But it isn’t proof that the drive has been wiped, which seems to be the assumption that they’re working from. It worked… because Walt said so. 😛 [PC Magazine has an article](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407192,00.asp) on the efficacy of turning a junkyard electromagnet into a remote degausser. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/193 "2012-07-17T17:50:03Z")
Wasn’t there a character crushed to death in a junkyard in the first season? Who was that? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/194 "2012-07-17T18:00:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wasn’t there a character crushed to death in a junkyard in the first season? Who was that? That was one of Tuco’s henchmen, a car fell on him I think. I’ve forgotten if Walt was directly responsible. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/195 "2012-07-17T18:10:01Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > If you’re including indirect deaths, there’s a jet full of them. That’s too attenuated even to be indirect. Walt didn’t arrange for John DeLancie to crash the plane. There are too many independent voluntary intervening acts to say that Walt was responsible for it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/196 "2012-07-17T18:21:14Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > He killed Emilio with phosphine gas and Krazy 8 with the bike lock. He also inadvertently killed Jane by moving her on to her back and then watching her choke to death. He’s also directly responsible for putting Combo on that street corner, though that’s a moral culpability, not a legal one. Same with the passengers killed by Jane’s dad. > [@Acsenray](#): > > It’s [Gale Boetticher](http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Gale_Boetticher). Not Gail Bettiker. > > It wasn’t inadvertent. He deliberately did not act to save her when he saw she was choking. I’d strongly suggest we don’t go down the “did he or didn’t he kill Jane on purpose” road or we’re not likely to get back to a discussion on the current episode. I say this in the nicest possibly way. This debate has derailed enough other threads over the years. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/197 "2012-07-17T18:22:42Z")
The only reason it was on the show was to demonstrate the fallout of Walter’s chosen path. None of that could have happened without him. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/198 "2012-07-17T18:32:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’d strongly suggest we don’t go down the “did he or didn’t he kill Jane on purpose” road or we’re not likely to get back to a discussion on the current episode. It’s not a question of whether it was on _purpose_, because it’s very clear that his intention was to let her die. The question people debate is whether he could be considered _responsible_ for her death by failing to act (and some will also argue that he caused her to roll onto her back, making him an agent in the act and not just a bystander). I say that doesn’t count as him killing her, but yeah, I agree, let’s not go down that road. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/199 "2012-07-17T18:43:16Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > That was one of Tuco’s henchmen, a car fell on him I think. I’ve forgotten if Walt was directly responsible. He wasn’t. The henchman was crushed trying to move the body of another of Tuco’s henchment that Tuco beat to death for no reason in a psychotic rage. Though you could say Tuco’s rage was fueled by the extra-good meth he’d just taken … but that goes too far I think. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/200 "2012-07-17T18:44:55Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Walt and Jesse dissolved him in acid, just like the bathtub guy (I forget which was Emilio and which was Crazy 8). It occurs off-screen but Jesse mentions it when he tells Walt why he’s putting the house up for sale. He says something like, We flushed two guys down the toilet, so I can’t even take a dump in peace. > > Presumably, after the drama of the bathtub, showing Walt and Jesse stewing up dead guys in a plastic bin from Wal-Mart would have been anticlimactic. Thanks! I missed that reference. There goes my hope that his body would be found in this series, causing all sorts of trouble. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323.md?page=11)