Vince Gilligan

Lore & Background

In the episode "Peekaboo," co-written by Vince Gilligan and J. Roberts, the story splits between two intense domestic crises. Jesse Pinkman tracks down Spooge and his wife after they ripped off Skinny Pete. Inside their dilapidated home, Jesse finds a neglected young boy. When the couple returns, an enraged Jesse demands his meth and money back. They return part of the drugs but claim to have lost the rest, showing him a stolen ATM instead. While Spooge struggles to open the machine, Jesse plays with the child until the wife knocks him unconscious, stealing his gun and drugs. The situation escalates when the wife, angered by Spooge repeatedly calling her a "skank," pushes over the heavy ATM, crushing him to death. She then consumes his drugs on the couch. Jesse recovers, retrieves his gun, takes the cash that spills from the opened ATM, calls 9-1-1, and rescues the boy before fleeing.

In Their Own Story

Parallel to Jesse's chaotic night, Walter White returns to teaching after finishing chemotherapy. He delivers a class lecture on Dr. Tracy Hall, the inventor of synthetic diamonds who earned very little while General Electric made massive profits. At home, Skyler receives a call from Gretchen Schwartz, whom she believes is paying Walt's medical bills. When Gretchen arrives and sees Walt, she leaves quickly. Walt chases her outside, asking her not to speak until they can talk privately. Later, he attempts to apologize for lying, but Gretchen demands to know how he has been funding his treatment. Angered by being cut out of Gray Matter Technologies, Walt denies her the right to that information. Gretchen insists Walt was the one who walked away from their past relationship. After Walt curses at her, she leaves. Upon his return home, Skyler reveals that Gretchen called to say the Schwartzes will no longer pay for his treatment. Walt lies, claiming the Schwartzes went broke and that he drove to Santa Fe to discuss it with Gretchen.

Reader's Guide

The episode "Peekaboo" was directed by Peter Medak and aired on April 12, 2009. It received critical acclaim, with Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club awarding it an A−, specifically praising the reversal of roles between Jesse and Walter. In 2009, TV Guide included "Peekaboo" in its list of the 100 greatest television episodes of all time. Later rankings placed it as the 26th best out of 62 total Breaking Bad episodes by The Ringer in 2019, and Vulture ranked it 13th overall. Additionally, Aaron Paul received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in this specific episode.

Did You Know?

• Vince Gilligan co-wrote the Season 2 episode "Peekaboo" with J. Roberts.
• "Peekaboo" aired on April 12, 2009, on AMC.
• The episode features a scene where an ATM is pushed over, crushing a character named Spooge.
• Vince Gilligan's work on "Peekaboo" contributed to Aaron Paul receiving a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
• In 2019, The Ringer ranked "Peekaboo" as the 26th best episode out of all 62 Breaking Bad episodes.