‘Breaking Bad’: Bryan Cranston Reveals His Favorite Scene From the Series — ‘It Was Just So Amazing’
Breaking Bad is an exceptional show from start to finish. Fans still consider it one of the greatest ever made thanks to the character development, drama, humor, and attention to detail. The series explains from start to finish how Walter White (Bryan Cranston) descends into moral depravity.
Cranston loved playing Heisenberg and fully embraced the character, even keeping his signature hat and sunglasses as a souvenir. However, there was one specific scene that Cranston identified as the best one out of all five seasons. It happened during “Dead Freight.”
‘Dead Freight’ is the most suspenseful episode of ‘Breaking Bad’
The entire episode “Dead Freight” is one adrenaline-packed hour of high energy suspense. The episode takes place during season 5, episode 5 and was written and directed by George Mastras.
It opens with a young boy riding a dirt bike through the desert. He traps a tarantula in a jar that he finds crawling through around. But the main suspense starts next as Walt, Mike, Jesse, and Todd devise a scheme to rob a train of the methylamine they needed to keep manufacturing meth.
Mike and Walt are willing to kill the train conductor to steal the chemical. But Jesse, the moral compass on the show, comes up with a hair-raising alternate plan which involves forcing the train to stop long enough so they can drain the chemical without anyone getting hurt. They complete their mission with seconds to spare.
But then, tragedy strikes. The group realizes that the little boy from the beginning of the episode has witnessed the crime. Before they can discuss what to do, Todd pulls out a gun and shoots him without hesitation. Later, he keeps the murdered child’s tarantula as a pet, proving what an evil psychopath he is.
Bryan Cranston loved the moment after the train heist in ‘Dead Freight’
Fans loved the tension in “Dead Freight” that’s unlike most other slower-paced episodes of Breaking Bad. The scene Cranston most appreciated was when Walt realized how quickly the celebration could turn into tragedy.
“All these things had to go right — and everything went right! It was fantastic!” Cranston said of the heist, according to Entertainment Weekly. “I remember the characters celebrating euphorically in pulling off the train heist of the century. And a moment later, an innocent life is snuffed out when that kid on the motorcycle just shows up.”
He explained how the heist represented highs and lows
The group celebrates pulling off the train heist with such elation only to have their happiness ruined by the murder.
“[The boy is] just there. And as Jesse and Walt are trying to figure out, ‘Oh sh*t, what do we do?’ Jesse Plemons’ character just raises a gun and shoots him. And it was like, ‘Oh my God!’,” Cranston continues.
“It was such a beautifully constructed narrative: Okay, you want to experience the highs with Walter White? You want to be on that train ride with Jesse Pinkman? Here’s that rejoicing for you, the audience. And now here’s the repercussions from the business that they’re in. Here’s what happens when you forget that there’s morality connected and consequences to every action. It was just so amazing.”
For that extreme pivot from happiness to horror, “Dead Freight” remains one of the most talked-about episodes of Breaking Bad.
