The 5 Best Episodes of ‘Breaking Bad,’ According to IMDb
Breaking Bad debuted more than a decade ago, yet TV fans can’t stop talking about it.
The AMC drama told the story of Walter White, a chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He decides to partner with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, to start manufacturing crystal meth to make money for his family to live on.
Showrunner Vince Gilligan explained that the show was meant to “turn Mr. Chips into Scarface,” describing Walt’s loss of morality during his quest for power. There’s no question that Gilligan achieved that goal over five seasons.
Ahead, the top five episodes of the series according to IMDb prove why fans are so obsessed with the show even years later.
5. ‘Dead Freight’ – Season 5, Episode 5
Watching “Dead Freight” is not for the faint of heart.
The entire heart-pounding episode documents Walt, Jesse, and Todd working together to steal methylamine off a train using an elaborate, perfectly timed scheme that comes down to the last second. The episode is heavy on action and suspense plus proves the depth of depravity present in Todd.
At the beginning of the episode, viewers see a young child on a motorbike capture a tarantula. Later, just when the group thinks they got away with the train heist, they notice the boy saw the whole thing. Todd reacts by shooting him without hesitation.
4. ‘To’hajiilee’ – Season 5, Episode 13
Many of the best episodes of the series came at the end as the story of Heisenberg’s ultimate demise came together.
In one of the last episodes of Breaking Bad, Jesse works to find out where Walt has his money hidden so he can take away the one thing that matters to his former partner. He sets up a con, making Walt think he’s found the money and flushes him out to the desert and straight into the clutches of the DEA.
Walt takes out a hit on Jesse through Todd’s white supremacist relative, Uncle Jack.
3. ‘Face Off’ – Season 4, Episode 13
There’s a play on words for the title “Face Off,” the season finale of the fourth season. In that episode, Walter White finally defeats his former boss turned enemy, Gus Fring, by enlisting Hector Salamanca in a suicide bombing mission at the nursing home he’s living in.
With that, Gus Fring has his face blown off. Literally.
2. ‘Felina’ – Season 5, Episode 16
The series finale of Breaking Bad wraps up the story in a fitting way. Walt comes out of hiding and returns to Albuquerque to tie up loose ends. He forces his estranged former business partners, the Schwartzes, to help hide what’s left of his money. Walt also visits his wife Skyler and admits that he was making meth because he liked it, not to help his family.
Finally, Walt heads to Uncle Jack’s compound and kills everyone there, except Jesse who was being held captive. He helps Jesse escape before collapsing to the ground surrounded by the meth-making equipment that changed his life.
1. ‘Ozymandias’ – Season 5, Episode 14
It’s not easy to achieve a perfect 10 rating on IMDb, but “Ozymandias,” which some critics consider the greatest television episode of all time, managed to do it.
The episode is packed with emotion and drama. The episode includes Walt and Jesse cooking meth in the desert via flashback. Hank is killed via shootout in the same spot where the Breaking Bad journey began.
Walt tries one more time to save his family and winds up kidnapping his baby. Then, he calls home and clears Skyler of all wrongdoing, knowing the phone call is being recorded.
Reviewer Alan Sepinwall said, “If you were to ask me what is the best hour of dramatic television ever, I would say Breaking Bad‘s ‘Ozymandias’ and not think twice about it.”
