# 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:** 11
**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, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/201 "2012-07-17T18:45:12Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 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. Didn’t somebody’s arm come off in that scene? Seems like I remembeer Hank pulling it out from under the car. ---
**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, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/202 "2012-07-17T18:48:21Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Didn’t somebody’s arm come off in that scene? Seems like I remembeer Hank pulling it out from under the car. Yup. The first dead henchman was placed under an unstable stack of cars. When the second one came to move him, the stack shifted and fell, mangling him to death and severing one of his arms. Though they never say why he was moving the guy, it is implied that he was moving him to give him a more decent burial - the second henchman had qualms about leaving the first to be devoured by scavangers. No good deed goes unrewarded! ---
**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, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/203 "2012-07-17T19:12:13Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > 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). Does Albuquerque have a good Samaritan law? Someone call Jackie Chiles! _Hello? Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Good Samaritan Law? I never heard of it. You don’t have to help anybody. That’s what this country’s all about. That’s deplorable, unfathomable, improbable. Hold on. Suzie, cancel my appointment with Dr. Bison. And pack a bag for me. I want to get to Albuquerque, New Mexico,right away._ ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/204 "2012-07-17T19:33:18Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Does the reveal of the bank account details on the picture frame strike anyone else as very forced writing compared to the rest of the episode? Gus was too careful to leave something like that out in the open, it would be encrypted on his laptop. And even for a careless person, there’s just no reason to write a bank account number on a picture frame like that. > > If I needed to hide a bank account number on paper for some reason, I’d disguise it as something else, eg make up a fake address that uses the account number as the street address + post code, then hide it in an address book with a bunch of real addresses. > > It seems incredibly amateur, unless they reveal some other character wrote it there and Gus didn’t know about the bank address on the photo. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > It wasn’t on the picture frame, it was on a piece of paper behind the picture, which was exposed when the broken frame fell apart. > [@hajario](#): > > Good point. Having the numbers there would have made sense but there was no need to label them as if he were to forget why the numbers were there. That was obviously for the audience. > [@coremelt](#): > > Doesn’t really change my point. Who tucks the details of confidential bank accounts into a picture frame? Especially a drug lord who has already been investigated recently by the police. A cayman island bank account (if it contains large sums) is incriminating even if he’s just getting investigated for suspected tax fraud on his Chicken chain. > > You just don’t leave shit like that lying around. > > So far everything previous that lead Hank to Gus were mistakes other people made, eg Gail having a Los Pollos Hermanos menu was careless on Gail’s part, not anything Gus did. [Here is the routing and account numbers behind the photo of Gus and his partner Max.](http://images.wikia.com/breakingbad/images/c/c7/Season_5_Ep._1_Evidence_Photo.jpg) Gale’s and Mike’s accounts? Maybe Gus’ and Max’s account numbers from the past, which might have been used by Don Eladio to pay them in the past…or maybe it’s Gus’ and Eladio’s used to transfer funds between one another and Gus was trying to somehow seize his account after he killed him or maybe he’s listed as a beneficiary? Maybe Gus was funding Hank’s retirement for always being one step behind? I know…I am really pulling stuff outta my ass now… ---
**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, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/205 "2012-07-17T19:33:54Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 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. 😉 I’m not so sure that it goes too far. Surely Walt knows the effects of meth, so by selling it he must be aware that he’s contributing to the deaths of either consumers or their victims. He could foresee those kinds of deaths occurring but continued in the activity. So you could argue that he’s morally culpable. ---
**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, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/206 "2012-07-17T19:47:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I’m not so sure that it goes too far. Surely Walt knows the effects of meth, so by selling it he must be aware that he’s contributing to the deaths of either consumers or their victims. > > He could foresee those kinds of deaths occurring but continued in the activity. So you could argue that he’s morally culpable. Well, sure he’s guilty of not caring about the social harm the drug does _in general_. But I don’t think you can reasonably put the responsibility for Tuco being a vicious psychopath at his door - the show makes it clear he was that way long before Walt ever met him. ---
**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, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/207 "2012-07-17T20:00:51Z")
But what about the _bacon_? How did he do 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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/208 "2012-07-17T20:13:26Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > But what about the _bacon_? How did he do that? You mean get five slices of bacon at Denny’s? The waitress was workin’ that $100 tip. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/209 "2012-07-17T20:31:04Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > But what about the _bacon_? How did he do that? _[Mmmmm](http://www.snpp.com/guides/mmmm.html) . . . unexplained bacon numbers._ ---
**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, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/210 "2012-07-17T20:37:07Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > 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. There’s an interesting thought in the last sentence in that article (I am not to blame for the grammar). > [@](#): > > Perhaps the fact that the probability that the drive was not erased, is an important plot for the show’s final season. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/211 "2012-07-17T20:45:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > But what about the _bacon_? How did he do that? Well, the Grand Slam (the free birthday dish at Denny’s from the cite upthread) usually comes with Bacon and Sausage, but you can substitute the sausage for _more_ bacon. If memory serves me correct, Walt didn’t have any sausage on his plate, but maybe he had 4 or 5 slices of bacon and he broke them in halves (if 5 slices) or into _thirds_ (if only 4 slices)…with 10-12 pieces, he could easily make a “52” on his plate. Now somebody…go re-watch the scene and report back on the plausibility of that scenario…I’m still at work. ---
**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, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/212 "2012-07-17T21:03:58Z")
So the free birthday breakfast has to be a specific menu item? He ordered it before she mentioned the free breakfast. Aha, a plot hole! :eek: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/213 "2012-07-17T21:07:18Z")
No, you can order the Grand Slam with many different options, birthday or no birthday…it’s one of their most popular menu items…Walt just happened to order it before he knew it was free since it was his birthday. ---
**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, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/214 "2012-07-17T21:09:54Z")
Damn bacon plot holes. This show has now just lost all credibility for me. Next thing you know damn Ewoks from Endor will be cooking the Meth and Hans Solo will shoot first when the Feds break down the door. And the Chicken guy will be retconned and digitally changed into Jabba the Hut (who is also running a shady pizza chain). Damn you. Damn you all to hell producers, directors and writers! ---
**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, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/215 "2012-07-17T21:10:40Z")
Or… he knew it was free and it was all an act! :eek: ---
**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, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/216 "2012-07-17T21:30:15Z")
Maybe when Hank finally learns the true identity of Heisenberg, it will be _spelled out in bacon!_ ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/217 "2012-07-17T22:35:29Z")
Not related to the show but… check out [this article that comes up when you google “heisenberg bacon”!](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_2002_Spring/ai_85132094/) ---
**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, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/218 "2012-07-17T23:50:58Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > Well, the Grand Slam (the free birthday dish at Denny’s from the cite upthread) usually comes with Bacon and Sausage, but you can substitute the sausage for _more_ bacon. If memory serves me correct, Walt didn’t have any sausage on his plate, but maybe he had 4 or 5 slices of bacon and he broke them in halves (if 5 slices) or into _thirds_ (if only 4 slices)…with 10-12 pieces, he could easily make a “52” on his plate. > > Now somebody…go re-watch the scene and report back on the plausibility of that scenario…I’m still at work. No. No no no no no. They _clearly_ showed him picking up three slices and breaking them in half. They’re trying to pull a fast one with this, _and I’m sure it means something integral to the story arc!_. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we should be able to figure out what this means. _Think_, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/219 "2012-07-18T00:04:26Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > No. No no no no no. They _clearly_ showed him picking up three slices and breaking them in half. They’re trying to pull a fast one with this, _and I’m sure it means something integral to the story arc!_. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we should be able to figure out what this means. _Think_, dammit! He’s moved from synthesizing blue meth to synthesizing bacon? ---
**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 18, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323/220 "2012-07-18T00:58:04Z")
[Here’s](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f44/JoeyJoeyPP/bacon.jpg) yer damn bacon… I took this picture right after he broke it in half (but before any cut aways had been made). It clearly shows that there were originally five pieces). I’ve drawn a line on each piece since it’s hard to tell in the picture, but they’re all there…I assure you. Now, when they cut to they guy watching him, it’s clear that they replace\* the bacon Walt broke with 10 nice equally sized pieces, but he did start with 5 pieces. \*They didn’t replace all of them, and I’m guessing the only reason for the cutaway was to replace the short pieces that weren’t going to work. You can see that piece in his hand that’s folded over. That makes it into the final 52. For a show that everyone saves and rewatches scenes of over and over, I’m surprised I’m the first one to do this. Also, just so you know, those two short pieces that look like one move individually when Walt picks up the one that’s in his hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-5-01-live-free-or-die-7-15-12/628323.md?page=12)