Walt deals with the aftermath of Skylar leaving him; Jesse comes to a realization about himself.

Breaking Bad's Season 3 premiere doesn't begin exactly where we left off, but rather with a strange and bizarre cold opening - a ritual in rural Mexico with people crawling on their bellies on a dirt road in an orange, hazy twilight. It is mad Breaking Bad-ish. At Paley Fest last week [to see our cast interviews from that event, Click Here], series creator Vince Gilligan said that it's a ritual from a religion -- something to do with celebrating or worshipping the dead, but my 20 minutes of Google searching didn't find anything -- and that 4 million people celebrate it in Mexico. The people who crawl to the alter like that are a particularly devout sect—fractionalists, I guess, though Gilligan stated the religion is not just for criminals and murderers. That'll make more sense after you watch the episode. I have no idea if he was telling the truth, but it sounds so cool I would rather believe it's real than find out it's not. It's yet another little diamond of a sub-culture the producers throw at us that most viewers know nothing about.

Breaking Bad comes back after its eight-month hiatus with "No Mas," a wonderful and wonderfully-titled episode. The show is mixing its pitches in the season 3 premiere. After a hard plane-crashing fastball, we're getting an emotionally impacted change-up that lands softly into the catcher's mitt. Some shows can have an unforgettable incident like the "Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ," but only a rare few can make the next episode just as interesting without resorting to more physical fireworks. In "No Mas," the characters are struggling with the existential dilemma, a student at the high school even asks in a crowded auditorium why a just and righteous God would allow this to happen. Almost every character's first line in the episode is how they feel about the crash, except, most notably, Walt (Bryan Cranston).

"No Mas" isn't so much an important episode by style or impact, but by content. We left off with Skyler (Anna Gunn) leaving Walt and taking Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte) with her. Season 3 dives right into updates on where everyone is: Walt's reaction to Skyler leaving; where Skyler and Walt Jr. are; what Walt Jr.'s feeling about the split; where Hank (Dean Norris) and Marie side on the whole thing; Jesse (Aaron Paul) in rehab; etc. The transition into season 3 is very smooth. This episode works excellently as an episode and also as a season primer.

My favorite part about the Season 3 premiere was how Walt handled the news coverage of the crash. I can't talk much more about it without revealing some spoilers, so let's just say you're gonna like it.

"No Mas" brings us two new bad guys: a ruthless pair of cousins who literally don't say a thing throughout the first episode and let their actions (and boots) do the talking. They take an interesting journey from to the States with Albuquerque as their likely destination. I was told we're going to see quite a bit of them in Season 3 and judging from the first episode, it's gonna be awesome.

Season 2 was nothing short of brilliant, but it ended on an odd note—a red herring that left some fans scratching their heads. I was one of those fans. I had my hopes up for a large crescendo and believed that that wasn't it. I started thinking about it again around the time the first Season 3 ads started popping up and I realized I was a fool. What destruction could have matched my expectations? And what would they have to have given up to satisfy me? For all of the things that occurred in the first two seasons and all the times Walt and Jesse should have been killed, arrested or even deterred for committing these crimes, they received no penalty. This was the first moment of karmic justice. No, that plane crash was just right. The producers and writers of the show are much smarter than me.

Well it turns out after watching the Season 3 premiere, the plane crash was as impactful as I was hoping, just not in the way I thought it was going to be. I hope this Season 3 opener surprises you as much as it did me.

I can't talk too much about this episode without revealing a spoiler or two, so I'll leave the rest up to your imagination until the episode airs.

Walt rationalizing in the gym was a bit much. Man up you pansy.

The confession to Skylar was wild, I didn't expect that aspect to come so quickly this season.

LOVED Jesse ending the 'confused pussy fuckup' routine and just owning the 'bad guy' shit. I think the tables are gonna turn in the relationship now.

That stupid kid mouthing in the truck. Those two are all business. 'He's hip to it they all gotta die' with one glance.