Breaking Bad: Mas

 "The chemistry must be respected!"

Another fadcinating and superbly crafted episode this time, but it's clear that something ominous is going to happen. This is the calm before the storm, with the parallel obsessivenesses of Heisenberg and Hank seeming about to collide with each other.

We begin, though, with a flashback that shows how far we've come. The early part of this is the only scene to feature Walt as opposed to Heisenberg, and to show us the irresponsible Jesse of the recent past, wasting money on bad alcoholic beverages and awkward sexual stuff with strippers.

The present day is quite the contrast, as Gus pits Walt and Jesse against each other and offers Walt a state-of-the-art lab which persuades him to accept what is essentially a post as a salaried employee, a middle manager in criminal big business as Jesse, unably assisted by Saul, fails to run rings around him. Meanwhile, an increasingly obsessed Hank continues to be in denial about his feelings as he closes in onWalt and Jesse, getting very close by the end.

We also see Skyler having possible second thoughts about leaving Walt until her divorce lawyer gives some home truths; a very cute baby; and the fascinating dynamics between Walt (and Heisenberg) and Gus- two extremely intelliogent men having a verbal chess game in ten dimensions. Gus thinks he's the alpha male here, albeit subtly, and psychologically he knows how to push Walt's buttons. But will this always be the case?

This is superlative telly. Both the writing of these very three dimensional characters and indeed the acting are absolutely of the very first rank.