Gus' wrinkled red plaid shirt (focused on from the back while he sat at Greta's computer) made me so sad for him. He really needs a partner/ helpmate, because he's married to his two jobs, but doesn't take very good care of himself.

The Lester-pharmacist scene also evoked a penitent or parishioner visiting his clergyman. Its tone and symbolism were rather Catholic, and applying the number of unguent applications prescribed by the pharmacist to heal the wound would have equated to Lester's saying the number of Hail Marys prescribed by a priest to…

"If it ain't one thing, then it's another" - Roseanne Rosanna Danna

The choice of a Rottweiler reminded me of Dr. Melfi's dream and subsequent discussion of its significance with her shrink.

Molly recognizes:
(1) The cojones it took for Gus to share what he knew about Malvo/Nygaard's car, as it required also explaining Gus' own "dipshittery" (which Gus manned up to in person and in front of his daughter, no less),
(2) The reason why Gus didn't check Malvo's credentials, and
(3) The soundness of Gus'…

More duality = Molly's purposeful callbacks to the restaurant conversation with her high school friend:
(1) The "Do you have a beau?" palaver
(2) The retelling of the spider bite story

'Twas a ball peen hammer, specifically.

Unless he hooks up with Polly, while Piper's in "college" and Pete's off doing his own thing. Of course, there's that prison story he might follow up.

Speaking of group dong: it felt forced to me that Larry's father was being portrayed as either bi-curious or closeted gay. Did anyone else feel that way?

Let's not overlook Officer Bell's treatment of Piper and Larry in the pilot episode, or the black female officer's glib, "Good luck with that, Chapman", when the male guard checked the obviously-terrified Piper out of Litchfield in the middle of the night.

Alex ran a game on Piper called "Prisoner's Dilemma" and won. In the game, jailers separate two prisoners who are accomplices to a serious crime. Their individual choices to confess or not can yield three possible outcomes:

@Zachary Wilson: I agree with much of what you wrote, but must make one correction: Nicky - the wild-haired, lesbian heroin addict - is also white and from a privileged (meaning moneyed) background.

That was neither Peggy's first presentation nor her first account.

Loved the inclusion of a new black woman's face in the song and dance scene.

OT:
While I agree with you, your calling Marigold "crazy-eyes" yanked me out of the moment and thrust me squarely into "Orange is the New Black" mode. (In "Orange", Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" calls the self-centered, privileged white woman who 'd once turned her back on her family's lifestyle to go bohemian and enjoy…

The apple reference was a double entendre: ATTL explained one layer of meaning. Then, there's the Adam & Eve/Garden of Eden/Knowledge of Good and Evil symbolism: Don described Lloyd's firm as a "virgin" already tempted to advertise and advised that SC&P should convince Lloyd to actually bite that apple, before Lloyd…

What d'ya think blindsided Don more: being put "on leave" by the SCDP partners or discovering Betty had secretly worked it all out beforehand to divorce Don and marry Henry?

Freddy's telling Don to fix his bayonet and get in the parade reminded me of the coat of armor Lane kept in his office and Lane's disciplined obedience as the Brit execs' "good soldier" (til Lane broke bad and helped form SCDP).

Manor born. (Sorry for being pedantic.)

Another monolith - Freddy gives hungover Don coffee and says it's black and strong, like (he either said Bob Johnson or Al Jackson).