Breaking Bad: Say My Name

 "Do you really want to live in a world without Coca Cola...?"

So that's it, then. Mike and Jesse (for now!) are out of the meth business, like people who win big in the casino, go home and quite sensibly never gamble again. But Walt... no, Heisenberg... can't do that. He's addicted, and thus doomed. He's going to stay in the business, so it' a case of when, not if, he will fall.. I'm convinced that the rest of this season is purely about how this plays out.

The extent of his hubris is shown in the extraordinary opening scene, in which a threatened Heisenberg arrogantly takes charge and probably gets himself a distributor. Yes, his hubris is punctured whe he fails to get Jesse to stay and instead has to employ that thick, child-killing psych... but that won't last. I bet.

Todd, incidentally, is an interesting contrast with Heisenberg. He's young, and just natutrally evil, noty pushed into it by hardship, like Walt. He's therefore a boring, mundane little tit. No wonder Skyler is so disgusted by Walt's attempted small talk aboit work, and rather sensibly prefers to spend time with her wine instead.

Then we have Hank- moved up in the world through histenacity, but getting chewed out for that same obsessiveness, showing signs of lacking the big picture perspective a boss needs. And we have Mike, methodically retiring from the business, like the Mr Fixit he is...  until Hank makes it all go pear shaped, and ensures the money will no longer flow to those who must be paid off.

The ending is ambiguous and fascinating... and pointless, as Walt notes. He didn't even need to threaten Mike. But he has. And the consequences can only be big...

Obviously, this is first class telly. We're long past the point where I need to say it.