The operation hits a snag when one of Jesse's dealers gets shot. Badger's already laying low and Skinny Pete (who did make it out of the desert) decides to throw in the towel. It puts Walt and Jesse in the bizarre dilemma of having a ton of product, but no way to sell it.
Luckily, Saul knows a guy (who knows a guy who knows a guy) that is more experienced in this endeavor. Unlike Tuco, the guy (later named Gus) is on the level, relatively speaking, but is very cautious and rather skiddish about who he works with.
Speaking of work relationships, Jesse doesn't take the death of his friend very well. The episode tries to contrast this with Walt's supposedly callous questioning of which one died. To be fair though, Walt only met the group once for about a minute and they didn't really exchange names. You can see why Jesse would get mad at hearing that, but it comes off more as poor tact more than callousness.
To her credit, Jane does what she can to console Jesse, but in the process, she ends up relapsing. It's a shame as I would have liked to see her provide the consolation and emotional support without falling back. It does happen, though. It also makes for a stealth pun (Jane's Addiction). I have no idea if that was what they were going for, but it's hard to imagine otherwise.
On the health front, both Walt and Skyler seem to be doing well. The prior is now able to have the tumor removed surgically (though at a cost of $170,000) and the latter opts for a C-section in lieu of the traditional child birth. While it isn't scheduled for several weeks, Skyler ends up going into labor.
This puts Walt into the old Spider-Man dilemma as he has to deliver his product to his new distributor in a very narrow window of time (it's made clear that if he misses this window the arrangement is done forever) just as he gets the message about the coming baby.
I don't know how long C-sections take. Were it regular labor, there wouldn't be a problem as those go for hours. I can't imagine that it is a particularly quick process, though. Couldn't Walt make the deal and get back to the hospital in time? I guess it depends on how far out the drive is. In any event, he chooses the deal (which makes some level of sense as he needs the money to take care of everything).
On the other hand, Gus' conditions are more than a little unreasonable. An hour to retrieve that much product and move it to another location for purchase? I mean, come on, give him an hour and a half or two hours at least. I don't think it would kill him to provide a realistic deadline to deliver a product that is going to make him a lot of money.
It was good to see Saul again. While he is a comedic character, he is quite shrewd and it seems like his involvement is beneficial to Walt's endeavors. I do wonder why he only has one guy who can fill the role that Walt needs. You'd think he'd have a few on his metaphorical rolodex, but it's a moot point.
After the wham moment of the opening scene, the episode was surprisingly quiet. I guess they want to save the escalation material for the season finale, which draws ever closer.
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