Breaking Bad: Abiquiu

 "You, I thought I was gonna see some, like, vaginas."

As we often do in Breaking Bad, we begin with an obliquely symbolic sceene. It's our first flashback of Jesse and Jane- in itself significant- and it's a glimpse of that Georgia O'Keefe exhibition they visited last season. It's played for laughs, of course, with Jesse being his hilariously uncultured self, but we get a discussion of O'Keefe's many painings of doors, which are all different and each of which has its own meaning.

Because doors, of course, symbolise new beginnings. The symbolism of the door, and the fact that we get a flashback to Jane in this of all episodes, means I'm certain that Jesse is going to start a new reationship with the single mother whose name I didn't catch. The morality of this is all over the place. Jesse initially seduced her with the sole purpose of selling her meth while she's trying to kick the habit. This is not a nice thing to do but, for me, the fact the makes out with her and then tries to sell her meth is even worse. 

Then again, you can tell Jesse likes and cares about her son, so it's at once hpocritical and sincere of him to be shocked when she suggests getting high a few months before picking him up.

But there's a shock to come... her little brother is the kid on the bike with the gun from last season. Ouch.

Elsewhere, we have Hank struggling with therapy and feeling utterly defeated yet utterly determined- and hes not coming home until he's well. Dean Norris is amazing here. Of course, it's worth remembering that Hank's treatment is being funded, with delicious irony, through blue meth...

But perhaps most fascinating is the ongoing slow reconciliation between Walt and Skyler, who is dipping her hands further into the blood, meeting Saul and using her bookeeping knowledge to advise- wisely, it seems- on the money laundering. And it seems the two of them are not yet divorced. I think it's clear where this is going.

And yet we end with yet another calm yet tension-filled scene between Walt and Gus, in Gus' very nice kitchen. It's all deliciously nuanced and powerful, not because of what is said but what is left unsaid.

Wow. This is proper highbrow telly.