"You give me one hit, and I'll be any kind of mother that you want."
Crikey, this is a dark one. For a start, it centres on a junkie couple who live in the most depressing squalour imaginable, with the woman at one point declaring she's come down too far from the heroin she took to counteract the meth- and now needs more heroin. They both look as awful as their home, and then shockingly we (and Jesse) discover they have a horribly neglected kid. This is remniscent of the baby from Trainspotting, and as dark as the series, or indeed television, can get.
It's in this environent that Jesse has to dish out retribution for last week's dishonour amongst thieves. And it's hard, as he has obvious compassion for the kid, an interesting comparison to what is happening to Walt. The whole thing ends with some wonderfully gruesome black humour, but the overriding impression is one of awful and dehumanising chaos.
Walt's plot strand is entirely separate, with Gretchen finding out about the lies Walt has been telling about how his treatment is being paid for. There's a fascinating and highly charged scene between the exes that serves up a lot of exposition about what happened all those years ago but, as they're having a row, it feels natural- and Gretchen is quite right that Walt has changed.
Oddly enough, Walt seems to growing a little closer to both Skyler and Walt Jr by the end. But how long can he keep juggling all these balls in the air? This is gripping, masterfully unfolding stuff. I think I still know broadly where things are headed, but the details keep me guessing.
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