The seven-episode first season is drawing to a close, and we've got a humdinger going here. Just when you thought the chemistry angle was totally played, "Crazy Handful of Nothin'" brings it from all sides. Walt submits to chemistry (in the form of the chemotherapy pouring into his circulatory system every week), asserts that chemistry is his territory (in the renewal of his partnership with Jesse), and exploits the violence of sudden chemical reactions (in a conclusion that's as good as anything this show's produced so far).
And that conclusion is teased for us in an arresting opening where Walt's big speech with Jesse about being "just the chemist" alternates with an apocalyptic vision of shaved-head Walt carrying a bloodstained bag out of a dangerous neighborhood. But Walt isn't looking so powerful as the show opens. Indeed, the humiliation factor hasn't been as high since he was scrubbing rims the first week. He lies to Skylar about getting a check from Elliott — it went "right into my credit union account," he assures her — and then has to beg the medical receptionist not to deposit his check until after the weekend. He's reduced to adopting support-group "feelings" lingo to shield himself from Skylar's public questions about where he spends those missing afternoons and evenings. (Long walks, he claims; "I do enjoy the nature.")
Worst of all, he's wasting away. Dropping weight (Cranston now looks drawn and increasingly bony), puking in the school lavatory, and losing his hair in clumps. Yet when Jesse busts his hump selling the crystal all over town — to dopers and housewives alike — Walt's share is only $1300, not enough to cover his chemotherapy bill for one week. At first Walt claims Jesse suffers from "a lack of motivation," but for once we're privy to a view of Jesse's character that Walt isn't. He's hustling. And he's got something at stake in this operation, too; when he fans a nauseous Walt with his magazine out in the desert, it seems like a partnership of equally committed associates for the first time.
Jesse has to school Walt in the business end of the meth trade; the only way to move a lot of product and therefore make the big chunks of change is in wholesale — distribution. Unfortunately they killed the previous distributor as well as Jesse's contact with same. The new guy in town, Tuco, has an intimidating organization and isn't interested in cutting deals with Jesse, as shown by the severe beating he administers to the Cap'n with, among other things, a bag of money.