7. Killing Krazy 8
"The moment I do... Are you gonna stick me with that broken piece of plate?" While not technically the first death that Walt was responsible for, the murder of Krazy 8 is significant for a few reasons. First of all, the method is more direct. Walt essentially garrottes Mr. 8 with a bicycle lock. Secondly, the murder isn't something that happens "in the moment". Krazy 8 was securely locked to a post in Jesse's basement. Walt had plenty of time to consider what to do. Once Walt notices that Krazy 8 was hiding a piece of broken plate (presumably to kill Walter with), Walt's mind is made up: Krazy gottta go. We get to see what is essentially an early version of a Heisenberg performance piece. Walt keeps Krazy 8 calm by walking down to the basement with the lock key visible. He builds confidence in Krazy by making himself seem vulnerable when he asks "So....you're not angry?" At the moment when Walt has Krazy convinced that he is going to get through the scenario alive, he drops the bomb by asking "The moment I do...are you gonna stick me with that broken piece of plate?" before pulling the lock against Krazy's windpipe. Walt clearly has some inner turmoil with this decision, and probably wished at the time that there could have been a more peaceful solution. Before commencing the killing he had tears in his eyes and it did take him awhile to come to his conclusion. Walt wasn't full-blown Heisenberg at this point and was still reconciling what Freud called his "ID" and "Super-ego". What makes this occasion so important is that, like with any killer, it helped to desensitize Walter to doing whatever he felt was necessary to achieve his goals. As the body count rose, we see less tears and more conviction out of Mr. White.