Hey everyone, today we’re going to discuss the best and worst episodes of Breaking Bad.
This is going to be a tough one, as Breaking Bad is a show I truly believe to have no conventionally
bad episodes.
When we talk about the worst, we’re talking about the worst, so not necessarily bad, just
the weakest of the series.
The one rule I have for picking which episode is the best, and the worst, is that pilots
are excluded.
I personally don’t think it’s fair to judge a show by its pilot.
Often in the first season a show is finding its footing, so in the first episode, this
applies even more, particularly as pilots are often filmed far before the rest of the
first season is.
So, not pilots.
Let’s get started.
Now, I feel like the obvious worst episode to pick for Breaking Bad, is Fly.
When you think bad or weak Breaking Bad episode, you think Fly.
I’m not going to deny that it’s one of the weaker episodes of the series.
It has the lowest score on IMDB, being the only episode of the entire series to dip below
a score of 8.
However, I feel this episode has a point, and it’s at the very least, a decent and
highly focused character study on both Walt and Jesse.
I’m also kind of a fan of bottle episodes.
This bottle episode also exists because of the lab being built.
It was so expensive that the budget had to be cut elsewhere, so it’s kind of fun I
think that they decided ‘hey, well we paid so much for this to be built, may as well
get the most out of it’.
It’s an amazing set, and it’s pretty cool to just see it explored to be honest, having
a long period of time spent there.
This is also an episode where the two main characters properly reflect on the death of
Jane, and the incoming death of Gale is foreshadowed, as they drink from Gale’s coffee machine.
Jesse tells a relevant story.
Then a big moment comes when Walt begins questioning why he did this all.
He only needed enough money to support his family when he was gone.
His old self seems to come out whilst he’s slightly drugged up by the sleeping pills
Jesse gives him.
He thinks there’s a moment that was perfect for him to die, that has since gone, and he
still believes there are certain words in a certain order to explain all of this.
He then says the perfect time was when Jane died, or the day she died.
He talks about talking to Jane’s dad.
This was the moment he says, this was his turning point.
This is honestly, an amazing conversation.
I think with the pills kicking in he kind of realises what he’s done, and it’s a
moment where he’s passed the point of no return, and he’s realised that he essentially
killed someone else’s daughter, who was innocent and who did deserve a chance to live.
Despite the dark undertones of this moment, Jesse also gets some form of closure, even
if it’s dishonest.
Walt very nearly slips up and tells Jesse he killed Jane.
So, yea Fly, I think is remembered poorly.
Watch it again, there’s genuinely an amazing conversation within the episode during the
second half, and some fun stuff within the first.
Really, I think that’s where it gets its bad wrap, as the first half is just a lot
of silly nothingness.
This whole interaction is genuinely one of the most compelling from the series, where
we get a quiet, long, and thoughtful interaction between Walt and Jesse before things go crazy
in Half and Full Measure at the end of the season.
Seriously, give it a rewatch.
The worst episode of Breaking Bad in my opinion is Thirty-Eight Snub, Season 4, Episode 2.
This is the episode right after the shocking season 4 opening, Box Cutter, and essentially
recounts the downtime after what happened at the lab, and the murder of Gale.
It’s an episode that leans in a bit too much into the idea of down-time, and recovery
with many sequences that just aren’t particularly interesting.
Quick summary.
Walt buys a 38-Snub from the gun dealer.
Mike sits in a bar.
Jesse gets a new sound system and invites Badger and Skinny Pete over for some drugs.
There’s some discussions of Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, Call of Duty Zombies, that’s
pretty fun.
Roomba.
Party sequence.
Walt practices firing his new gun.
Hank with his minerals.
Blue corundum.
Talk of the car wash.
Walt tells Skyler not to talk about it.
Jesse goes to work but tells his friends to keep the party going.
Tyrus and Mike arrive instead of Gus at the lab.
Jesse and Walt are never going to see Gus again.
Skyler takes notes on the car wash.
Hank walks to his bed.
‘Marie, get out’.
Uncut pizza?
Andrea comes to Jesse’s house.
She asks about the money.
Jesse waves goodbye to Brock.
Walt goes to Gus’ house.
He gets a phone call.
‘Go home Walter’.
Hank buys more minerals.
Skyler talks to Bogdan.
Mike’s at the bar, Saul’s on TV, Walt comes in.
Mike identifies his gun he bought at the start.
‘Get me in a room with him, I’ll do the rest.’
Walt says.
Mike hits him.
Credits.
It’s a good episode for memes.
My main issue with this episode is largely that the following episode, Open House essentially
is the same episode, but better.
It still holds focus on the downtime after Box Cutter, but it moves the plot forward,
and the way the characters are dealing with their personal situations, is simply more
interesting.
It would’ve been beneficial I think if these episodes had been merged or the scenes were
dispersed better between them, maybe each having more focus on one character, instead
of a slow burn for everyone.
These party sequences Jesse has are nothing short of boring.
I understand that this is how Jesse is dealing with the killing of Gale, but it feels like
it goes on just a bit too long and needed to be a bit more varied.
Again, in Open House we get some party scenes, but then we get additional scenes, where we
see more emotion come out as Jesse tries harder to distract himself, and in general more methods
of distraction.
It’s a small change, but it’s undeniably more interesting to watch.
In Open House, we also get a bit more of a conclusion to Skyler and Walt’s conversation.
We get some fun stuff with Saul, we get the car wash takeover, and it’s just a ton more
fun and a whole lot more active.
We also get some far more interesting conversations and interactions between Jesse and Walt, and
Saul, Skyler, and Walt.
Everything kind of goes somewhere in this episode, where the episode prior it was mostly
set-up.
Even then, these two could probably be merged, or at the very least more of the pay-off could
have been moved over to Thirty-Eight Snub.
Marie in this episode has some fun sequences where she goes to open houses, and Hank finally
gets his interest back when an officer brings him Gale’s notebook.
I feel Thirty-Eight Snub’s issue too is that a lot of possible tension just isn’t
that tense.
Walt buying a gun and then seemingly preparing to actually shoot Gus in the lab before it
turns out to be Victor, is just odd I thought.
There’s Walt being careful and cautious and then there’s Walt straight up planning
to shoot Gus when he sees him again.
It’s clear as soon as Victor enters he knows Walter has a gun, which Mike later confirms.
Going to his house and planning on shooting him is just a bad idea and seems near out
of character
for Walt, even in his panicked and paranoid state.
Then again, I suppose we totally have seen him go full measure just two episodes prior.
The stuff with Hank and Marie is quite dreary to watch, and drags quite a bit, with scenes
primarily focusing on Hank being rude to Marie, and wallowing in sorrow.
It’s totally understandable why he feels that way, but it doesn’t feel enjoyable
to watch, and there’s a far too many scenes of this happening within this same episode
that it feels like the point is run home a little too much.
It’s clear he’s frustrated, but I feel the constant holding back of anger is just
a little overdone here.
The best part of the episode I thought was Skyler and Bogdan’s conversation about selling
and buying the car wash.
With Bogdan’s offer of 20 million dollars for Walter White, and his reference to Season
1 of how Walter quit his job back then.
It’s a fun throwback, but a very relevant and important reason behind the car wash’s
sale, particularly when Bogdan says Walter isn’t man enough to come to him himself.
Which again, is paid off in the next episode, Open House.
Walt and Mike’s final scene in the bar is a good one.
It’s a short conversation that ends in Walt being punched.
It’s satisfying in that regard, and it sets up the later conversation in Season 5, when
Mike complains about Walt’s pride and ego, and how they had a good deal with Gus at the
helm.
I like these moments when we see Mike’s otherwise cold and unclear emotion break through
clearly when he’s angry.
So, my choice for the worst episode of Breaking Bad, is Thirty-Eight Snub.
It’s impressive I feel that this is an episode I found to be the worst, because it’s a
great episode.
But that’s just how it goes with this show.
It has an overabundance of downtime with a lack of meaningful conversation.
A good episode for humour though.
When it comes to the best episode of Breaking Bad it just seems like a bit of an unfair
thing to decide on when episodes like Ozymandias exist.
My personal dilemma is between Ozymandias and Felina.
These are the two best episodes to me, and they are certainly helped by the fact that
they occur at the end of the series, where not just seasonal payoffs are happening, but
series pay-offs are happening.
I personally think it’s a testament to the series’ greatness that two of the highest
rated episodes are some of the final ones.
It shows that the series is wrapped up properly and is really how things should be.
Granite State, Half Measures, Full Measure, Dead Freight, To’hajiilee, Crawl Space,
and many more are all worthwhile mentions.
Full Measure I think comes the closest to taking that top spot.
However, I still find that the sheer amount of payoff that Ozymandias and Felina provide
is simply too much for any other episode to properly face up to them.
These episodes are the point of the show that show us the downfall of Walter, and the resulting
consequences of everything he has done throughout the series, or essentially, the consequences
of the series.
I’m beating around the bush.
I feel it quite simply just has to be Ozymandias.
We begin the episode with a Season 1 flashback, to a scene where Walt still has hair, and
the RV doesn’t even have its bullet holes yet.
Walt calls Skyler, and she believes his lie right away.
Back in the present Steve Gomez is dead, and Hank is injured on the ground.
Walt tries to plea for Hank’s life, but as Hank explains, that was never going to
work even after offering up his 80 million dollars.
They take Walt’s money, leaving him a barrel.
Walt points out Jesse, then tells him he watched Jane die.
Jack and his men take Jesse, saying they plan on questioning him.
Walt then leaves with his barrel.
His car breaks down and he buys a truck from a man in the desert.
Marie and Skyler have a confrontation at the car wash.
We see Jesse in the compound, and his new cooking job for Jack.
Skyler tells Walt Jr. about Walt’s drug business.
They go home to find Walt’s new truck outside.
Walt tells them to pack, ready to leave.
Walt gets angry.
Skyler grabs a knife, they fight, Walt Jr. protects Skyler and Walt leaves the house
with Holly.
Walt calls Skyler and the police listen in, he frames the event so that it seems like
he threatened her to stay quiet, and everything was done by him, without her involvement.
He tells them they will never see Hank again, then leaves Holly at a fire station.
He gets picked up by the disappear-er and leaves Albuquerque.
Nearly every actor gives their best performance in this episode.
It’s Anna Gunn’s best, RJ Mitte’s, Betsy Brandt’s, Aaron Paul’s Bryan Cranston’s,
although for both of them that’s highly debatable given how many incredible moments
there are throughout the series from them.
Oh yea, and Holly by the way.
Genuinely amazing acting from this baby in that moment.
The visuals are great, the choice of music is amazing, and the progression of events
throughout the episode maintain a constant tension and rhythm even though the episode
begins with the death of what is arguably the show’s hero.
I feel there’s not much else for me to add that everyone hasn’t already analysed to
the core.
This is an episode that isn’t just one of the best of the series, which is a feat in
itself, but is considered one of the best episodes of TV, ever.
It’s an episode that is so packed full of emotion and is one I genuinely cannot watch
without welling up at least a bit due to its highly emotional moments.
All of the series, this was the possibility of where things could go.
After Walt’s killing of Gus, his rise to being his own boss with his own empire, the
name Heisenberg becoming well-know, and feared within drug and criminal communities, he finally
has his fall.
He finally faces the full consequences of his actions in one swift and crushing blow,
he loses everything he has built over the past 5 seasons.
It’s truly amazing and is one of those episodes of TV I genuinely wish I could watch for the
first time again, as overdone as that line is, it’s true.
Alright, well that’s gonna do it.
I do hope you enjoyed and be sure to let me know what you believe to be the best and the
worst episodes of Breaking Bad.
Thanks for watching.