(S03E07) How did the cousins become the cold, unfeeling mutants we've perceived them to be? It started with a dunk in the beer bucket. Uncle's lesson may have been about family, but what sunk in to the youthful psychopaths was how to kill someone in one minute. A minute would turn out to be their undoing ...

Picking up from last week, Hank erupted and attacked Jesse viciously, but why on earth did Jesse let him walk through the door? Was Jesse looking for a beat down, because he had to anticipate this bull of a man was not there to chat. The gravity of what Hank did was played realistically, and if Hank listened to Marie, he would have lied about the incident. He chose to man up and accept what he did, that he broke the law, even if it meant the end of his career.

Jesse's rage was on full display in two scenes -- the initial one when Saul and Walt visited him in the hospital, then later with just Walt. This anger has been building since Jane's death and his stint in rehab. Jesse has shown flashes of it before, but after getting beaten by Hank -- basically taking the punishment for the whole RV in the scrap yard situation -- Pinkman let loose. His tirade about how he would destroy Hank's life and haunt him for years to come shook Walt to the core. It even made Saul wonder about 'alternatives.'

What was shocking was that as hateful as Jesse sounded about Hank, his one on one with Walt was worse. Skyler hates Walt, but she hasn't verbalized it. Jesse did, blaming Mr. White for destroying his life and leaving him alone and isolated. The depth of Jessie's pain was then characterized with the cartoon pain chart.

Kudos to Walt for taking Jesse's venom and responding with the one morsel he could give Jessie to assuage him: Jesse's meth was as good as Walt's. That's what it's come to for these two. The fact that Jesse calmed down and accepted the deal was somewhat predictable, but it was probably inevitable that Jesse and Walt would reunite. They are partners in crime.

Why is the Heisenberg partnership back on? Because Walt realized he was safer with Jesse as an ally than an adversary, so he deep-sixed Gale. That fell under the category of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The money doesn't matter to Walt, so $1.5 million for Jesse was a small price to pay to get him off Hank's back.

And that goes back to his scene with Skyler in which she reminded him that Hank was family... Despite was Walt said, he does consider Hank family and this was something Hank could do to try and make right everything he'd done wrong.

In the parking lot confrontation, if cousin number two had not gone for the axe to eviscerate Hank, there's no way Hank would have found the hollow-point cartridge that allowed him to blow off his head with a last shot.

But why were the cousins were so concerned about bullet proof vests? They knew they were going to get the drop on Hank. He had no way of knowing there was a hit out on him, and until the call and the one minute notice was given, Hank was a dead duck. The call, by the way, had to be from Gus. Eliminating the cousins would make Gus' life a lot easier and this way, his hands would be clean.

The threat from the cousins is over now, but Uncle is still alive and will want revenge. It wouldn't be a surprise if another set of cousins showed up to go after Heisenberg. Gus' maneuver bought time for Walt to cook, but the Mexicans still want Walt dead.

Finally, in a twisted way, since Jesse was dropping the charges, Hank may get reinstated to the DEA. And after stopping two Mexican drug killers in the parking lot where another man was murdered, Hank could be hailed a hero and be fast-tracked back into action. Unfortunately, for Walt and Jesse, he'll be right back on the Heisenberg trail.

Other points of interest

-- Saul's priceless. His assessment of Jesse's pummeled face was that it was a 'get out of jail free' card. No sympathy, just business.

-- Poor Gale. He was blindsided by Walt's rejection and without ever knowing why it was really happening, the guy could be scarred for life from that experience.

-- The gun dealer was a fast talker, which was a good thing because he was going on about sex involving golden showers.

-- Great moment: Marie and Hank in the elevator. He cried and held her, but when the elevator opened again, it was over. Did it really happen or was it what Hank wished he had done? I think it was real.

-- Skyler liked Walt's new townhouse. Her comment: "Crime really does pay."

-- Hank admitted he had been freezing up on the job, a fact that played out initially when he saw the cousins coming.