What To Watch
These 10 Essential Breaking Bad Episodes Are the Ones Who Knock
Because it's never a bad time to spend time with Walt and Jesse.
By Derek Lawrence
March 5, 2024
Best Breaking Bad Episodes For When You Need a Walt and Jesse Fix - Netflix Tudum
You don’t have to be a scientist — or a high school chemistry teacher turned meth boss, for that matter — to know Breaking Bad had an electric, explosive energy all its own.
The addictive crime drama, created by Vince Gilligan, debuted in 2008 and unfolded over five gripping seasons. It found Bryan Cranston breaking bad as Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, who, after learning of his cancer diagnosis, makes and sells meth as a way to provide a future for his family. He partners up with a former delinquent student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), and the duo create a criminal empire. This attracts the attention of Walt’s DEA agent brother-in-law, a shady defense attorney who’d go on to get a show of his own, the owner of a fast-food chain and countless drug kingpins and henchmen.
The winner of 16 Emmy Awards, including back-to-back outstanding drama series victories, Breaking Bad features 62 extremely watchable installments, plus the 2019 sequel film El Camino. But, if you’re aiming to stick to the greatest hits, then grab a bucket of Los Pollos Hermanos and strap in for these 10 adrenaline-filled hours.
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Breaking Bad
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”
Breaking Bad begins with Walter White saying goodbye. It’s no small feat to craft a first episode of a TV series that sets up an entire new world and cast of characters — but Vince Gilligan didn’t just create a great pilot. He created a great episode of Breaking Bad. The opening sequence is riveting and disorienting: a man, in tighty whities and a gas mask, frantically driving an RV through the desert with another man passed out next to him and chemicals spilling everywhere. Our reckless driver hops out and introduces himself as Walter White as he records a goodbye video to his family. He then pulls a gun from his underwear and braces for the approaching sirens. Cue the title credits. And there are still 55 more gripping minutes in store.
Breaking Bad
Season 1, Episode 3: “And the Bag’s in the River”
The series’ third outing kicks off with a look at what Walt’s life could have been, as flashbacks give a glimpse of his genius and his role in the development of Gray Matter Technologies. Instead, he’s in Jesse’s basement, cleaning up the dead body of one drug dealer while deciding what to do with another. Writing a pros-and-cons list about whether to murder Krazy-8 (Max Arciniega) doesn’t help matters, and friendly conversations between the two men make it seem like this rookie criminal doesn’t have what it takes to kill anyone — until Walt discovers that Krazy-8 is plotting to kill him. With a tear running down his face, Walt strangles his hostage to death, executing the first of many murders to come.
Breaking Bad
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Season 2, Episode 8: “Better Call Saul”
It’s wild to remember that Breaking Bad went almost two full seasons without the one and only Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). Written by future Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould, this episode finds Walt and Jesse scrambling to free Jesse’s pal Badger (Matt Jones) from police custody. They find the perfect solution in Goodman, a sleazy, fast-talking strip-mall lawyer. After Walt poses as Badger’s uncle, he and Jesse kidnap Goodman and take him to the desert — where the frightened attorney famously utters the names “Ignacio” and “Lalo,” two figures who would loom large over the beloved spin-off series Better Call Saul. But, before we’d learn how Jimmy McGill became Saul Goodman, we watched him convince Walt that he could take this blossoming business to the next level. And for a while, it was all good, man.
Breaking Bad
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Season 3, Episode 7: “One Minute”
There’s much to unpack in this episode from director Michelle MacLaren. It includes the shocking beating of Jesse at the hands of Hank (Dean Norris), Walt’s DEA agent brother-in-law, followed by separate emotional breakdowns by both men. “Ever since I met you, everything I’ve ever cared about is gone,” an emotional Jesse declares to Walt from his hospital bed. The episode also features an exhilarating climax in which the Salamanca twins appear from the shadows to assassinate Hank — while he is often used as comic relief, he outsmarts them in a killer fashion.
Breaking Bad
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Season 3, Episode 10: “Fly”
Knives Out filmmaker Rian Johnson makes his Breaking Bad directorial debut (and first appearance on this list) with this famed bottle episode — one that wouldn’t have existed if not for budgetary issues that forced the writers to come up with an outing that kept Walt and Jesse in one location. A night of work in the superlab of new boss Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is already a struggle due to Walt’s insomnia and his suspicions that Jesse is skimming drugs. But the appearance of a fly proves to be a real pest, as Walt’s obsession with the insect ratchets up the stress and paranoia. This episode takes a break from murders and drug deals in favor of philosophical conversations and near confessions.
Breaking Bad
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Season 3, Episode 13: “Full Measure”
“You don’t have to do this.” Unfortunately for Gale (David Costabile), Jesse doesn’t have a choice in the Season 3 finale, which was written and directed by Gilligan. With Jesse on the run and Walt continuing to be a problem, Gus is in the market for a new chemist, and he’s got just the guy in the affable Gale, an admirer of Walt’s work. Walt knows that his and Jesse’s only chance of survival is to get rid of Gus’ contingency plan, and so, with Walt being held up by Gus’ intimidating cleaner Mike (Jonathan Banks), Jesse has to be the one to pull the trigger. Add this to the things that will haunt him for the rest of the series.
Breaking Bad
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Season 4, Episode 13: “Face Off”
Season 4’s ending — the last episode directed by Gilligan until the series finale — was originally crafted as a possible conclusion to the entire show, as its fate at the time was still up in the air. While engaging throughout, the final 15 minutes are the true showstopper. Gus faces off with longtime rival Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis), who, with the help of Walt and Jesse, gets the drop on Gus, rigging a bomb to the bell on his wheelchair. Gus somehow walks away from the explosion, fixing his tie in classic Gus fashion, before the reveal that half his face was blown off. When notified by his wife, Skylar (Anna Gunn), that Gus has been killed, Walt chillingly declares, “I won.” And yet, what’s even more unsettling is the episode’s closing shot of a lily of the valley plant in the Whites’ backyard — the same plant that was used to poison Brock (Ian Posada), the young son of Jesse’s girlfriend Andrea (Emily Rios).
Breaking Bad
Season 5, Episode 7: “Say My Name”
The episode title says it all. Written and directed by Thomas Schnauz, who would later be behind some of the best Better Call Saul installments, “Say My Name” begins with Walt, Jesse and Mike heading to a business meeting in the desert. The sequence goes from scary good to downright scary when Walt is asked who he is: “You all know exactly who I am… Say my name.” He boasts of his criminal accomplishments, prompting his new associate to quickly realize that he’s dealing with the notorious Heisenberg. “You’re goddamn right,” responds Walt, with an evil twinkle in his eye. “Say My Name” ends with another confrontation, this one between Mike and Walt. It ends with Walt shooting Mike, after the grizzled former cop tells his killer to shut up and let him die in peace. Mike, we’ll see you in the next life — and on the next show.
Breaking Bad
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Season 5, Episode 14: “Ozymandias”
Picking up the baton from Maclaren and the preceding episode, “To’hajiilee,” Rian Johnson continues the deadly shootout between a group of Neo-Nazis, led by Todd’s (Jesse Plemons) uncle Jack (Michael Bowen), and Hank and his partner Gomez (Steven Michael Quezada). After his pleas for Hank’s life to be spared go unheeded, a revenge-seeking Walt turns Jesse over to Jack and cruelly confesses to letting Jesse’s girlfriend Jane (Krysten Ritter) die. And then there’s the vividly passionate speech he delivers to Skylar, with the police listening, confessing to be the monster we’ve seen emerge over five seasons. Was this Walt ripping into his wife, or protecting her? That’s up for debate, but it’s inarguable that “Ozymandias,” which concludes with “the Disappearer” picking Walt up to escape to a new life, would have been a fitting and triumphant ending.
Breaking Bad
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Season 5, Episode 16: “Felina”
But Gilligan & co. weren’t done just yet. “Ozymandias” was followed by “Granite State,” an epilogue-like episode that finds Walt deciding to come out of hiding in New Hampshire. “Felina,” written and directed by Gilligan, managed to give fans everything they needed, including Walt settling old scores and finally admitting what we all knew. Reunited with her fugitive husband, Skylar fights back tears as she tells him, “If I have to hear one more time, that you did this for the family…” He solemnly interjects: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it.” And that’s what made Breaking Bad (and its series finale) so great.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Bonus: El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Six years after Breaking Bad signed off in 2013, Gilligan brought us back to Albuquerque for a Jesse-focused sequel film. Picking up with Jesse fleeing Jack’s compound in “Felina,” El Camino — named for the vehicle he was driving — follows him as he tries to evade police and hustle up enough money for Ed to make him disappear. Come for the Breaking Bad flashback cameos, but stay for Jesse, the beating heart of the series, finding some peace. Now go call Saul!
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