Breaking Bad 3x10

Jesse continues complaining about the working conditions in the state-of-the-art underground laboratory. They have to clean and maintain their own equipment; they have to bring in their own food and drink; and relative to the street value their income is low. Jesse’s been talking to his buddies about dealing on their own again – and skimmed half a pound of meth at the lab. He thinks he found a new market: his rehab group meetings. Right away Walt notices their net total is off by half a pound. After Jesse leaves, Walt gets all worked up about a fly in the lab. He breaks a lamp, balances on the outer rail of the catwalk, and – you guessed it – falls off, nearly breaking his neck! When Jesse returns the next morning, Walt’s gone compulsively obsessive about it. He’s been chasing the fly the whole night, he has reversed the air ventilation, and refuses to cook until they’ve dealt with the “contaminant.” Jesse points out they are making poison for “people who don’t care.” Still, the situation goes completely out of hand. Walt even locks Jesse out and Jesse turns the power off in retaliation.

Eventually, Jesse goes to the pharmacy and buys every possible insecticide and fly swapper he can find. Walt settles on the fly strips. Jesse also bought sleeping pills which he later puts in Walt’s coffee. Jesse starts talking about his aunt who also had cancer, which leads Walt to reflect that he’s lost the perfect moment to pass away, before Skyler found out. Finally, finally, after climbing atop a ladder stack atop two steel carts, Jesse finally kills the fly. Walt’s already fallen asleep. So, Jesse cooks on his own. Before leaving the lab, Walt warns Jesse he won’t be able to protect him, if Gus ever found out about the missing meth. Jesse responds that he never asked him to. Ironically, when Walt goes asleep that night, there’s a fly in his bedroom. Even though this episode has the feel of filler to postpone the season’s climax, the writing is so stellar I was glued to the screen. It’s clear that Walt fears for his live now that he’s learned how ruthless Gus is (who’s been responsible for the deaths of cartel lord Bolsa and at least one Cousin, and for the shootout that nearly killed Hank) – one more mistake and Walt may end up dead, too.