The Cost of Doing Business
Warning: Spoilers for 4x13.
Disclaimer: I don't own Breaking Bad and I make no money from this. All hail Vince Gilligan in his awesomeness.
Negotiation is a tactic that is very important to master, especially when you are (albeit somewhat unwittingly) a criminal mastermind. A negotiator must always trust his instinct, must always follow his own rules – "never pay for proof of life" and all of that – and must know when the other side is asking for too much.
A negotiator must also know what to do when they are sitting across from the one person who holds the key to saving the negotiator, his partner, and the negotiator's entire family, and that one person looks across with devious determination in his big brown eyes and says, "I want a dragon."
"Brock, I can't get you a dragon."
"Why not?"
Walt sighs.
"It's just not… feasible at the moment."
"Fireworks?"
"No. Your mother would kill me." Like she's not going to already if she ever figures out what I'm up to right now. Walt reaches into his bag and retrieves the Toys R Us catalog, passing it over to his young decoy. "Here's what's available." Brock's eyes go wide as he flips through and immediately points to a bright red mountain bike.
"This." Walt sighs and leans forward; well, at least it's not a BB Gun.
"Isn't it enough to help take down the bad man who killed Tomas?"
"This," Brock cuts him off, pointing again. He crosses his arms and leans back, staring the older man down.
"Okay, okay, I'll get you the bike. Then it's settled? Are you sure you want to do this? You know what's going to happen, right?" Brock nods.
"Yeah," he replies simply.
"And you can't tell anyone?"
"Yeah," Brock says. "It's so Jesse is your friend again. Forever." He kicks the table and looks up at Walt.
"Are you scared?" Everything that's wrong with this scenario. Every single bit, Walt's mind sings.
"Nah," Brock replies, "I'm not afraid of nothing, Mr. White."
And if I play my cards right, Brock, you'll never need to be.
"In the future… don't ever do this again. Do something that some strange person tells you to do," Walt cautions. "This is… special circumstances." He sighs again. "I'm a little worried you'll end up like Jesse."
"Really?" Brock beams up at him and smiles. "…Awesome."