Previously on Breaking Bad: Skyler discovered Ted Beneke was cooking his books but decided to keep working there anyway, because moral ambiguity and human weakness is the stock on trade of cable drama. Tio couldn't speak but still wanted revenge on Walt and Jesse for killing his nephew Tuco. Jesse's parents cut him off after discovering the meth lab he was running out of his basement (in the house they owned). Skyler busted Walt for dealing and traded her silence for Walt's absence. And Walt turned down Gus's $3 million offer to cook for one more month.

Time-lapse photography of the desert (always captivating) leads to a shot of Walter White driving down an empty desert road in the middle of the day, singing along to America's "Horse with No Name" (the ingles version of this week's episode title). He crosses paths with a cop car, which immediately U-turns and flicks on its lights. Walt looks momentarily worried (something incriminating in the car(?) we're led to think) before returning to his default emotion: totally pissed. The cop approaches and asks Walt if he knows why he's been pulled over, in that passive-aggressive way cops do. Walt starts to argue that he wasn't speeding, but the cop's like, "No, your windshield." Then, a brilliant cut to Walt from behind the cracked glass (up 'til this point the camera was inside the windshield -- clever work, there.

The cop asks for license and registration, which Walt digs out, but he thinks he's got an out now. He explains that his windshield is cracked because of the plane crash. He was in the debris zone, see? His plea for unearned sympathy is as pathetic as it is a fairly direct parallel to his meth situation. Extenuating circumstances! Caught a bad break! Sure, I persist in breaking the law, but only because of this terrible thing that happened to me! The cop is showing no sign of being impressed by Walt's tragedy, nor in backing off that ticket he's writing, which just gets Walt angrier.

Oh, by the way, the cop is wearing a blue ribbon, which Walt "helpfully" points out is in remembrance of the victims of the crash -- not, as I theorized last week, for lung cancer. It seems pretty obvious now, but thanks for indulging me in my wrongness anyway.

So the cop bottom-lines it for Walt that the car is unsafe to drive with the windshield cracked in a hundred places, and Walt gets so angry, he gets out of the car. Which, obviously, is a no-no. Walt gets righteous about how "This is America and I have rights" and "hellfire rained down on my house where my children sleep," and the cop keeps telling him he needs to get back in his car. He unholsters his pepper spray, which just makes Walt more insane. "Oh, this is perfect! Pepper spray the man who's just expressing his opinion under the First Amendment!" SMASH CUT TO: Walt getting shoved into the back seat of the police cruiser, whimpering and red-faced. Welcome to Breaking Bad.