Breaking Bad Episode 18: Mandala

Combo Ortega, one of Walt and Jesse’s street dealers, is killed by a young boy working for rival dealers while selling drugs outside their territory. Skinny Pete, frightened by Combo’s death and Badger’s recent legal trouble, quits the drug trade. Without a distribution network, Walt and Jesse meet with lawyer Saul Goodman, who tells them they are incompetent distributors and need a cautious businessman to buy their meth in bulk. Saul arranges a meeting with such a distributor at Los Pollos Hermanos, a local chicken restaurant.

Jesse arrives late to the meeting, still high, and leaves quickly without speaking to anyone. Walt waits alone but is ignored; he later realizes the distributor saw him and refused to work with him because of Jesse’s behavior. Meanwhile, Jesse, distraught over causing Combo’s death, tells Jane Margolis to leave his apartment so he can smoke meth without harming her recovery, but she reluctantly stays. Jane soon relapses into drug addiction and introduces Jesse to heroin.

The next day, Walt returns to Los Pollos Hermanos and waits until closing time. He realizes the restaurant manager is the distributor he’s been trying to meet. Just as Walt is about to leave, an associate named Victor blocks his exit and demands he deliver the meth to a truck stop within an hour in exchange for $1.2 million cash; failure means no future business with the distributor. Walt rushes to Jesse’s apartment, breaks in while Jesse and Jane are in a heroin-induced haze, and retrieves the meth. He pauses, considers his choice, then gathers the drugs and leaves.

Meanwhile, Skyler confronts Ted Beneke after discovering embezzlement in the company’s balance sheets. Jane’s relapse and introduction of heroin to Jesse set off disastrous consequences for both of them.