IVIV Hope Harlingen: a wacky theory (possible spoilers)

[kelber at mindspring.com]

For anyone who's seen the AMC show Breaking Bad (about a high school chem teacher who manufactures crystal meth as a side-line), the discussion of the Hope-Amethyst story is reminiscent of an episode from that show called "Peekaboo":  

http://www.amctv.com/originals/breakingbad/season-two-episode-6

For anyone who's looking to procrastinate, here's the edited summary:

Jesse stands alone on a sidewalk, examining a large beetle as it wanders the pavement. Skinny Pete approaches and gives Jesse the name and address of the junkie that robbed him.

"Let me get this straight," Jesse says. "You got jacked by a man named Spooge." Pete doesn't know the name of Spooge's accomplice ("she's just his woman," he says), but he tells Jesse that these two "need to get got."

Outside the junkies' ramshackle house, Jesse draws his pistol and tries to psych himself up. Spooge and his woman aren't around, so Jesse breaks a window and enters the dank living room littered with garbage, ripped-up furniture and dirty laundry.

Waiting on the couch, Jesse is joined by an unbathed, half-dressed five-year-old boy. Turning on the television to a home shopping channel — the only station it gets — the child sits on the other end of the couch. "I'm hungry," he tells Jesse.

***

Back at the junkies' place, Jesse plays peekaboo with the little boy while he eats. The two addicts — grimy, bloodied, and arguing with each other — finally return home. Jesse carries the boy into a bedroom, then attacks the couple, bashing Spooge's head with the gun.


Jesse gets the junkies to hand over a little of his stolen crystal, but no cash. Just as he threatens to shoot their kneecaps, the boy walks into the living room. Spooge's woman embraces her son, making it impossible for Jesse to do anything while he's in the room. "We got your money, man," Spooge says, but it's inside an ATM they boosted from a convenience store.

Spooge claims the ATM heist was a "victimless crime" that "went smooth as silk." In fact, it resulted in a dead cashier and a baggie of Walt and Jesse's meth left at the scene.

Spooge pounds away at the ATM with a sledgehammer to no avail, calling his woman a "skank" when she challenges his competence. Jesse notices the kid is missing, and takes the opportunity to chastise her: "How about you feed the kid a decent meal every now and then, huh?" Jesse says. "Give him a bath. Put some baby powder on him."

***

Back at the junkies' house, the boy encourages Jesse to play peekaboo again. Jesse relents, and while his eyes are covered Spooge's woman knocks him out. When Jesse comes to, his gun is in her hands. "Call me a bad mother. I'll show you a bad mother, bitch," the woman says while Spooge rifles through Jesse's pockets.

***

Back at the house, Spooge has leaned the ATM against a chair and positioned himself underneath it to drill into its base. While drilling, he gets into a fight with his woman over their drugs and calls her a skank. "I ain’t no skank," she whispers, pushing the ATM upright and crushing Spooge's head. She grabs some dope off his body, crosses the room, and passes out on the couch. Jesse retrieves his gun from Spooge's body and begins wiping his fingerprints off the ATM. As he does, its door swings open and cash spills out.

Jesse grabs a wad of cash and calls 911. Telling the boy to close his eyes like they're playing peekaboo, Jesse carries him outside past Spooge's body. "Just don’t go back inside," he tells the boy.

"You have a good rest of your life, kid," Jesse adds, slipping away while the sound of approaching sirens grows louder.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>

>Kids like TV, but they do still seem to occasionally
>prefer the homegrown, hand-rolled story,
>
>so while there may be all kinds of external
>values to be gleaned and rapped about from the mere mention of coffee and TV...
>
>...within the local function of the scene, hey, Doc isn't telling a story, he's
>going for the truth, hmmm?  And his place in the creche is self-defined as one
>of the shepherds or Wise Men, not Joseph...or, the type business he is on
>(worst case scenario) he might even be mistaken for one of Herod's people...
>she's called on his services because he walks among that type of person anyway
>