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(S02E12) And thus begins the downfall of Russell Tupper. We've watched him destroy his own body with drugs since day one and now finally, it seems that Russell might be in a position where he absolutely, positively has to clean himself up. As if Kelly being pregnant with his child wasn't enough. The man is a wreck and it's about time something happened. The question that remains is will he rise to the challenge?

More on this after I lay out everything else first because next week's finale is going to be one helluva storm.

For starters, Izzy has entered an odd story arc. She agrees to help out her doctor with a community outreach program where local adults read to children at their schools. Of course, Izzy has no idea what this actually entails and ends up reading the kids a chapter from Heart of Darkness. After she nearly puts them to sleep, she closes her session by handing out $100 bills. Come to find out, she wants to mentor one of the kids - a black boy named Clarence. I say black boy, because Izzy followed her decision to help him with this gem: "White children are such a waste of time." She is so out of her element here. I'm curious to see where she's going to get the funds to help fix the library though.

Izzy's story wasn't over there though. Earlier, she confronted Byrd about the lighter and blood stains she found in her apartment. Byrd "has no idea" where it all came from and he swears at his grandmother. Izzy didn't hesitate at all in slapping Byrd across the face. I like that Izzy wears so many hats. Blythe Danner really does amazing work in this role. Nothing else on Byrd though. What's going on with him, Eli, and James?

Teddy and Alyssa seem to be on good terms since she returned. She sleeps over every night and even meets Craig. It's going well until Teddy asks her to come to Mexico with him. He's still hearing the voices and he has some plan that we don't know about yet. Alyssa is officially freaked though and my guess is that she won't be around much longer. I assume she'll make sure Teddy's situation is known to the doctor first. But after that, I bet she's done.

Huff's storyline was lesser than usual here. He spends a couple nights in his office (I'll get to why in a minute) and Beth comes over. They have some crazy sex and Huff wants her stay but she heads home. He gets a hotel room for the time being. This is shaping up for a real confrontation next week because Huff is regretting what he's done and wants his family back. Beth on the other hand seems to be exerting her newfound independence and I wouldn't be surprised if she asks for a divorce.

And now to the real meat of the episode. It began with Maggie. She set-up Russell and Lea with the cops and got Lea busted for cocaine possession. Beforehand though, she swept out Russell's office and cleared out everything. So Russell was fine after they searched his office. Maggie is really trying to do right by her boss here. She wants him cleaned up because Knippers needs a father for her baby.

Russell goes home, Pepper comes over, and they do blow all afternoon. Huff walks in on it and Russell more or less kicks Huff out after Craig gets preachy about Russell's lifestyle. Later on it happens. Pepper OD's. She dies in Russell's arms. I honestly don't know how he's going to get away with this. He won't. He calls Huff, but what's a psychiatrist going to do besides call 911? Russell's world came crashing down and in next week's finale ("Which Lip is the Cervical Lip?"), we'll see what happens as he tries to sweep it all up.