Episode Rankings: Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is one of the greatest series ever made. It's damn near flawless. The central character arc is fantastic, the acting is top-notch, the pacing is great, and the unique visual direction is unlike anything else on TV. If you somehow haven't seen Breaking Bad yet, definitely watch it. It's practically mandatory viewing. Here's my ranking of its episodes:

1. Ozymandias (S5.14) - The greatest episode of TV ever made.
2. Face Off (S4.13)
3. Crawl Space (S4.11) - That final scene absolutely chills me.
4. One Minute (S3.07)
5. To'hajiilee (S5.13)
6. Fly (S3.10) - I don't care if it's "filler", it's very good filler.
7. ABQ (S2.13)
8. Gliding Over All (S5.08)
9. Hermanos (S4.08)
10. Dead Freight (S5.05)
11. Crazy Handful Of Nothin' (S1.06)
12. Blood Money (S5.09)
13. Salud (S4.10)
14. Felina (S5.16)
15. Grilled (S2.02)
16. Box Cutter (S4.01)
17. Sunset (S3.06)
18. Phoenix (S2.12)
19. Better Call Saul (S2.08)
20. Say My Name (S5.07)
21. Half Measures (S3.12)
22. Confessions (S5.11)
23. End Times (S4.12)
24. No Mas (S3.01)
25. Peekaboo (S2.06)
26. Granite Slate (S5.07)
27. Problem Dog (S4.07)
28. Live Free Or Die (S5.01)
29. Pilot (S1.01)
30. 4 Days Out (S2.09)
31. Bug (S4.09)
32. Fifty-One (S5.04)
33. Full Measure (S3.13) - This finale did leave me kinda disappointed. It was a great episode, but some characters got really shafted.
34. I See You (S3.08)
35. Buried (S5.10)
36. Mandala (S2.11)
37. Bullet Points (S4.04)
38. Bit By A Dead Bee (S2.03)
39. Seven Thirty-Seven (S2.01)
40. And The Bag's In The River (S1.03)
41. Rapid Dog (S5.12)
42. Thirty-Eight Snub (S4.02)
43. Negro Vs Azul (S2.07)
44. Caballo Sin Nombre (S3.02)
45. Cornered (S4.06) - Crazy how we got such an iconic line in an otherwise standard episode.
46. A No Rough Stuff Type Deal (S1.07)
47. Abiquiu (S3.11)
48. Hazard Pay (S5.03)
49. The Cat's In The Bag (S1.02)
50. Down (S2.04)
51. Buyout (S5.06)
52. Shotgun (S4.05)
53. IFT (S3.03)
54. Open House (S4.03)
55. Kafkaesque (S3.09)
56. Over (S2.10)
57. Cancer Man (S1.04)
58. Mas (S3.05)
59. Breakage (S2.05)
60. Gray Matter (S1.05)
61. Madrigal (S5.02)
62. Green Light (S3.04) - The fact that this isn't even a bad episode is a testemant to this show's quality.

Breaking Bad (Season 5)

Season 5 of Breaking Bad is generally considered to be the greatest season of television of all time. I don't quite agree with that statement, I don't even think it's the greatest season of the series! However, Season 5 is still a powerhouse of a season that shows Breaking Bad going out on a high note.

Season 5 is split into two parts, 5A and 5B, each eight episodes long. Season 5A is the weaker half of the two, a slower paced half-season about Walt forming his big drug empire. As a result, there are a lot of subplots about economics and a general lack of the drama that Season 4 had. However, I still kinda like this half of the season. There are a lot of fun heists this time around as Walt tries to cover his tracks, from the magnet scheme in the premiere, to the train heist in Dead Freight, to the murder of Mike's men. Walt is full-on villain this season and it's a ton of fun to watch Bryan Cranston in the role. I also think this is probably Skylar's best season as well, Anna Gunn does an amazing job conveying the terror that she feels living with Walt. It all culminates in an excellent midseason finale that nearly resolves everything in a neat and tidy fashion, at least until it doesn't.

Season 5B manages to be even better than the first half in a lot of ways due to one major change: Hank now knows Walt is Heisenberg. Seriously, the conflict between Hank and Walt is so ridiculously compelling, it rivals Walt's conflict with Gus. The personal connection that the two have and the amazing job on part of the actors makes every single confrontation between them electric and dramatic, and the cat and mouse game between Walt and Hank is super compelling and fun. This really is a half-seasons about secrets being revealed and characters dealing with the consequences of their actions, as Jesse also starts to learn about the awful things Walt did from poisoning Brock to killing Jane. It all builds up to the climax of the series and greatest episode of all time, Ozymandias. I'll elaborate more on why I love it so much later, but it really brings all of the plot threads and characters together to one explosive head. The sheer quality of nearly every episode in this second half is phenomenal and just barely matches the level of the second half of Season 4, even if I do have a few gripes with this season that prevent it from surpassing the fourth.

My biggest issue with Season 5 is the pacing, a common issue for Breaking Bad. Walt makes his drug empire and retires in the course of just eight episodes and the season contains massive time jumps in episodes like Gliding Over All and Granite State. I feel like Season 5 could have been split into two normal sized seasons rather than two halves of a slightly longer than average season. In addition, I'm not quite sure how I feel about Walt's shift from a straight-up villain to a bit of an anti-hero in the finale. He's done so many awful things that I actually prefer a more tragic episode like Ozymandias as a series finale so that he doesn't end up with a bittersweet ending where he got closure with everyone, though I still enjoyed the ending we got. And while I do enjoy Todd's gang, they don't hold a candle to Gus. Still, when most of my issues with the season boil down to "it's not as good as Season 4", I'd still say this is a pretty great season. Despite my misgivings, I still really love Season 5. It was so compelling that I pretty much just binged it in three days, and packs in some of the best episodes of the series.

Speaking of which, these are the highlights for me, yes, I know it's basically half the season:

Dead Freight: I already mentioned how much fun the Season 5A heists are, but Dead Freight is easily the best of the bunch, likely the best setpiece in the series (if not second to the shootout in Felina). It's tense, exciting, and a bit of a spectacle, while still having its consequences on the series when Todd suddenly shoots a child that saw the whole affair. It's such a shocking shift in tone that pretty much destroys any remaining source of lightheartedness for the rest of the series. 

Say My Name: If you've seen this series, you know why this episode is a highlight, two big reasons. First of all, the "say my name" scene is one of the most badass Walt moments in the entire series. Second of all, Mike's death is easily one of the most gutwrenching in the series because of how unnecessary it was, it's not cathartic or shocking, it's just plain tragic. This is a great episode with an amazing start and end.

Gliding Over All: Outside of some time jump quirks, Gliding Over All is a great midseason finale for the season that serves as the obligatory "nearly end everything on a positive note before things start to go to hell at the very last minute" episode that many tragic shows do. It just felt so crazy seeing Walt finally make all of the money he needed to retire, though still not as crazy as Hank finally learning the truth.

Blood Money: This was a great start to Season 5B, nearly entirely focused on Walt and Hank as they both deal with the massive change in their family dynamics. The final confrontation at Hank's garage is so intense and well-acted that it sticks out in my mind as one of my favorite scenes of the season.

Confessions: Similarly to Blood Money, this episode has some truly stunning confrontations within the family, particularly the big scene at the restaurant. I didn't know what to expect when Walt gave Hank a confession tape, but I definitely didn't expect him to make a video that framed Hank instead. There's also a pretty great ending where Jesse learns Walt poisoned Brock, fully turns against him, and plans to burn down his house using gasoline.

To'hajiilee: This episode felt like the final confrontation between Hank and Walt, the end of their cat and mouse game where Hank ended up the victor... almost. Hank was really smart this episode in the way that he finally managed to trap and arrest Walt, but of course, it couldn't end there. The Neo Nazis arrive and start a massive shootout with Hank and Gomez, completely ignoring Walt's pleas. It's a hell of a cliffhanger and a perfect set up for...

Ozymandias: Ozymandias was inevitable. It's the climax, the payoff, the fallout, the consequences of all of Walt's actions. This episode is jam-packed with twists, shocking moments, and resolutions. Its cinematography is immaculate, the pacing is relentless, it left me breathless from start to finish. Like seriously, the sheer amount of stuff that goes on in this episode! Hank and Gomez die, Walt loses his money, Jesse is captured, Jane's death is revealed, Walt Jr learns the truth, Skylar and Walt have a knife fight, Holly is kidnapped, and Walt gets his identity erased, nearly every minute of this episode has some sort of big plot development! Even more, I feel Ozymandias could have even been a strong though tragic series finale, and the next two episodes suffer just because they're not as good as this one. Ozymandias is my favorite episode in television history, and it's gonna take a hell of a lot for that to change. It's hard to improve on perfection, after all.

Felina: I know I said that I don't quite love this episode's direction, but I won't deny that this is still a strong finale and a satisfying note to end on, even if it felt a bit underwhelming after Ozymandias, I feel it still really works as an epilogue. Felina is just plain cathartic, with nearly every villain (except Walt) getting what they deserve. There are a lot of really great scenes in Felina, from Walt's reunion with Skylar, to the final showdown with the Neo Nazis, to Jesse excitedly driving away, to Lydia's death, to Walt dying in the middle of a meth lab. That final scene in particular is pretty much perfect. 

Overall, I have my personal gripes with Season 5, but there's no denying that this is just a stellar season of TV with a ton of phenomenal episodes (including the greatest of all time), some satisfying character resolutions, and an absolutely killer back half.

5/5 Stars

My ranking of the Breaking Bad seasons is:

4 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 1

My ranking of the Breaking Bad finales is:

4 > 2 > 5A > 5B > 3 > 1

Favorite Episode: Ozymandias, duh

Breaking Bad (Season 4)

Breaking Bad was always a great show, even its weaker seasons in its first half are still really great TV. But the jump in quality between Seasons 3 and 4 is definitely noticeable, and is the start of why I can easily name this series as one of my all-time favorites. Seasons 4 and 5 are both phenomenal, but the former is easily one of my favorite television seasons of all time.

Season 4 of Breaking Bad feels focused, really focused. Unlike Seasons 2 and 3 which juggle a whole bunch of arcs and storylines, this season has one main storyline: Walt vs Gus. This entire season is an extended war between the two, and this main storyline is given all of the attention it deserves. The conflict between Walt and Gus is a compelling cat-and-mouse game, one that slowly evolves and becomes more and more deadly throughout the season, starting with Gus making a simple threatening move, and ending with poison, house arrest, and explosions. In addition, the development for Walt and Gus is some of the best in the series. Walt is starting to make some truly despicable actions that are really beginning to scare everyone around him, isolating him even further. Meanwhile, Gus gets a ton of compelling backstory and sequences of his own. For all intents and purposes, this season belongs to Walt and Gus, and it's that razor sharp focus that makes it my favorite season of the bunch. 

My favorite aspect of Season 4 is its pacing and buildup. Outside of the genuinely traumatic premiere, this entire season is a slow buildup, meaning that I can actually use the cliche and say that every episode is better than the last. As the season progresses, the pace slowly increases, the intensity slowly increases, to the point where nearly every episode in the second half of the season is ridiculously intense and shocking. There's no stop-and-start like in Season 2 or meandering like in Season 3, this season excels with its satisfying and beautifully crafted buildup and payoff. It also feels like nearly every episode has some kind of iconic or important moment this time around, like how "Bullet Points" sets the stage for one of Season 5's biggest plot twists, how "Cornered" has that iconic "I am the one who knocks" quote, and how "Bug" has one of the most brutal fights between Walt and Jesse in the series. Season 4 is packed with amazing episode and iconic moments.

There's a lot of strong outings this season, especially in its latter half, but these are easily the best:

Box Cutter: This premiere is a phenomenal followup to the final two episodes of Season 3, a tense waiting game as Walt, Jesse, Mike, and Victor wait for Gus to return, and man, does he return. The scene where Gus slits Victor's throat is easily the goriest scene in the series, and it still has me screwed up even a year after seeing it for the first time.

Hermanos: While this episode was generally pretty great, it's Gus's backstory that truly made it amazing for me. The flashback that shows Gus's start of darkness being causes by none other than a pre-wheelchair Hector Salamanca is one of my favorite scenes in the series, and a rare instance of emotion from one of the most cold characters.

Salud: Similarly to Hermanos, Salud is a great episode made even better by one really good extended sequence. The finale where Gus kills off the entire cartel pretty much single-handedly is phenomenal. It leaves you shocked at how quickly the threat was disposed of without feeling anticlimactic, if anything, it makes Gus feel like an even more dangerous threat than he already was.

Crawl Space: I'd say there are two Breaking Bad episodes that left me feeling sick by the final scene, Box Cutter and this. Crawl Space's second half is phenomenal, it's tense, terrifying, and some of the best TV out there. From Gus's brutal threat, to the genius way that Ted ends up tying into the main plot, to Walt's iconic and chilling breakdown at the end of the episode, Crawl Space is a phenomenal episode that amps up the stakes for the final few episodes of the season.

End Times: Slotted in between two of the greatest episodes of the series, it's a miracle that End Times holds up as well as it does. Similarly to Bug, there's a brutal standoff between Walt and Jess as the tension between them comes to a head, and the final scene where Walt nearly manages to kill Gus only to fail plants the question of how he could possibly defeat such a powerful man.

Face Off: Where do I even start with this finale? Face Off is one of the best season enders in TV history, it takes all of the plot threads throughout the season and ties them all together on an explosive note. It's not just the final battle of Gus and Walt, in one single move, Walt destroys Gus, his empire, the drug cartel, and most of his relationships, making this episode a huge step in his development. The final twist of who poisoned Brock is one of the greatest "a-ha!" moments in all of TV.

Overall, Season 4 of Breaking Bad is a pretty much perfect season. The pacing is perfect, the payoff is phenomenal, the main storyline is compelling, and the sheer amount of amazing episodes make this easily my favorite season of the series.

5/5 Stars

Breaking Bad (Season 3)

Coming after the incredibly well plotted-out Season 2, the third season of Breaking Bad doesn't quite follow the same structure. What results in easily the most uneven season of the show, with some of the highest high points yet and also some of the largest flaws.

Let's start with the good stuff, because there's still a ton of good stuff. Most of Season 3 focuses around Walt beginning to work for Gus while Skylar deals with the knowledge that her husband's a drug dealer. The first half of the season also has a villain in the form of the Salamanca Cousins, the two terrifyingly mute hitmen who are after Hank. I like a lot of these storylines, Skylar is a much better character now that she actually knows Walt deals drugs and is struggling to figure out how to deal with it, Hank's conflict with the Cousins has some of his best moments, and Gus is, once again, an excellent antagonist even if he doesn't quite seem like one until the latter half of the season. 

Now for the problems, Season 3 is pretty obviously a season that was written episode by episode rather than planned out and it shows, even moreso coming after a season as tightly-plotted as the second. The first half is alright, it's very slow-paced but it works as a slow build to the dramatic events of One Minute, but once the cousins are killed off, the show starts to meander a bit until the last two episodes. But by the second to last episode, I was still pretty engrossed, and the season could have still left a strong impact with a strong ending. It didn't quite do that, though. Full Measure is a fine finale, we get some badass Mike moments and a pretty tense final few minutes, but it felt incomplete. ABQ gave nearly every character something to do and tied up everything, but in Full Measure, characters like Skylar and Hank, who had ongoing storylines, had pretty much zero screentime. And while the plane crash definitely caught me off guard, Jesse shooting Gale was predictable the moment Jesse brought up the fact that he doesn't kill people. There was a lot of potential here but with the limited cast and the fact that we don't even see Jesse on the run, it definitely felt like the show runners weren't as on top of things this season, more than in any other episode.

Despite my gripes though, at its best, this season can still be pretty damn great:

Sunset: Sunset was an incredibly fun and incredibly tense episode that did a great job at saying goodbye to the iconic RV. The main conflict is simple, Walt and Jesse give away their RV now that they have Gus's superlab, but now they need to find a way to prevent Hank from getting his hands on it. Most of the episode is just this really entertaining cat-and-mouse game as Walt tries to give Hank the slip, with tons of close calls and clever strategies.

One Minute: Easily one of my favorite episodes of the first three seasons, One Minute is pretty much the defacto season finale for the first half of Season 3. After getting beat up by Hank, Jesse gives Walt an iconic and devastating call-out speech that really feels like the first major rift in their relationship. But the real highlight of the episode is Hank's intense fight with The Cousins. Breaking Bad has a few action scenes but this was easily my favorite of the bunch, it's relentless and scary, with all three major players near death at a constant rate. It's a brutal flurry of violence that ends on an excellent cliffhanger with all three men down.

Fly: Ah, Fly, the most divisive episode of the whole show. For a lot of people this episode is filler, but for me, it's a pretty great character study of Walt and Jesse, along with their dynamic. It says a lot that a simple storyline of Walt stringing Jesse along as he tries to kill a fly feels like such an encapsulation of the series as a whole, and Walt's big monologue near the end of the episode is definitely some of Bryan Cranston's best acting. I don't care if Fly is "filler", it's a damn good episode with great writing, fun offbeat humor, engrossing character drama, and some of the most inventive cinematography in the show thanks to Rian Johnson (Whose work I absolutely love). Easily one of the best bottle episodes of all time.

Half Measures: While I didn't love the season finale, the penultimate episode was actually pretty great. Jesse's investigation into Gus's men really solidifies the fact that he's far more cruel and despicable than he initially seems, and the final scene where Walt kills two of Gus's men and tells Jesse to run is one of the most thrilling and propellant cliffhangers in the series. I also quite liked Mike's speech about not taking half measures, it's a great speech and an iconic moment overall.

Overall, I still enjoyed Season 3. Its main storylines were compelling and its high points were insanely high, but it definitely felt a bit clumsier than the previous season and ended on a bit of a weaker note. Not quite 3/5 Stars, but not 4/5 Stars either, so... 

3.5/5 Stars?

Breaking Bad (Season 2)

Breaking Bad's first season was great, but it was also really short! It felt like a prologue more than anything else, which means that for its longer and more ambitious second season, it's the point where Breaking Bad really begins to show just how excellent it can be.

Season 2 of this series starts with a strange flashforward, mostly focusing on a pink teddy bear floating in a pool. The season returns to this flashforward every once in a while throughout the season, building towards a big reveal of what it means in the season finale. Outside of this foreshadowing, most of this season doesn't quite have an overarching plot, rather it feels like more of a continuation of Walt's story. He faces off with Tuco by Episode 2, meets his lawyer Saul midway through the season, seemingly resolves his cancer in the latter half, and begins working for his new distributor Gus Fring. Season 2 introduces some of the best and most iconic characters of the series, with Saul adding a ton of enjoyable levity to the series getting his own spinoff in the process, Gus being an incredible antagonistic force, and Jesse's new girlfriend Jane becoming an incredibly important aspect of Walt and Jesse's dynamic. There are a lot of great storylines here, and the season as a whole feels incredibly well plotted-out, probably because it is! Apparently, this is the only season to be entirely written ahead of time, and it shows. I even like the surprisingly divisive plane crash reveal, I feel it's a perfect situation where Walt's actions finally result in genuinely devastating consequences.

However, Season 2 also starts to make one of my biggest gripes with the series all the more apparent. Walt either quits or takes a break from making drugs multiple times throughout the first half of the series, but it's especially bad in this season. Whenever something really big happens like Walt being kidnapped by Tuco or Walt learning his cancer is in remission, we're sure to get an episode entirely focused on his domestic life that just drags the pacing to a halt. It plays out the same way every time and those episodes ended up being some of my least favorite. Not to say I hate Walt's family, though. I didn't mention this in Season 1 but I actually really like Skylar White. She's a necessary foil for Walt who really starts to come into her own in this season finale, where she finally learns that her husband is keeping a secret from her. Season 2 also amps up the experimental stuff which I just adore, from the aforementioned vague foreshadowing, to the episode focused on Jesse and a kid, to Saul's lighthearted introduction, to the RV bottle episode, to the hilariously bizarre scene where Danny Trejo's head is attached to a tortoise with a bomb strapped to it. There's an offbeat vibe to the series that's always been there, but Season 2 definitely amps it up a bit.

There were quite a bit of great episodes this season, but these are my favorites:

Grilled: The lack of Tuco resolution in Season 1 meant that the first two episodes of Season 2 were focused on getting him out of the show, but hey, at least we got a pretty great episode from it! Grilled is a tense affair, Walt and Jesse's lives are in danger from Tuco throughout the episode, but having Hank be the one to save them and kill Tuco was both satisfying and awesome. We also get an introduction to Hector Salamanca, another excellent character who doesn't really get his time to shine until Season 4.

Better Call Saul: Saul is a great character whose arrival really signals a point in which the series takes a jump in quality. His sheer presence is a great bit of world-building for the drug world, but Bob Odenkirk's energetic and charismatic performance makes him so much more than that, a truly compelling and unique character of his own. This episode had a real sense of fun to it, there's a lot of comedy scattered around and the way Walt and Saul bypass Hank's sting operation was really slick and cool.

Phoenix: I went into this episode knowing that Jane was gonna die at some point, but I thought it would be during a finale or something. So color me surprised when, at the end of this episode, Walt walks into Jesse's room, sees Jane overdose, and watches her die. It absolutely left me stunned and desperate to see the finale...

ABQ: ...And what a finale it was! I loved nearly everything about ABQ, it took all of the storylines throughout the season and tied them all together, and a lot happens here! Jesse goes to rehab, Hank meets Gus, Walt cures his cancer, Skylar learns Walt's keeping a secret in a phenomenal scene, and biggest of all, Walt's killing of Jane indirectly caused a plane crash right over his house. Talk about facing the consequences of your actions. We also get the first appearance of the hitman Mike, a fascinating character who gets a ton of interesting material in both the later seasons and Better Call Saul.

Overall, outside of some moments of stop-and-start pacing, Season 2 is a strong improvement over the first with a longer length, some great character introductions, tons of memorable storylines, and a phenomenal ending.

4/5 Stars

Breaking Bad (Season 1)

At this point, Breaking Bad is widely considered to be the greatest television show ever made, and I definitely see why. It tells a simple story incredibly effectively with great performances, writing, and cinematography across the board. However, every great show tends to have its humble beginnings.

Everyone knows the story of Breaking Bad at this point. Walter White is a chemistry teacher who learns he has cancer, so he starts developing drugs with a former student named Jesse to make money for his family before he dies. Season 1 of the series feels like a sort of prologue. Walt is only dipping his toes in the criminal life here, and doesn't even invent his alter-ego Heisenberg until the penultimate episode. It's a slow first outing, one where every death Walt causes has a genuine effect on him unlike in later seasons. This is probably my favorite aspect about Season 1, Walt is constantly forced to do things that are immoral and cruel, but he slowly acclimates and even owns up to it near the end of the season by blowing up a drug dealer's hideout. However, as you may expect, Season 1 is also where Walt is the most connected with his domestic life, with many of the episodes focusing on his family members and friends as well. This is probably the weakest aspect of the season for me, while Walt slowly getting into making drugs is incredibly compelling, there are also a bunch of subplots like Walt's sister-in-law being a shoplifter and Jesse covering for his brother that I just did not find as interesting. I get why they're important, these side storylines become less prevalent as the family members get more involved in Walt's drug dealing antics as the show progresses, but it doesn't make them all that fun to watch.

Season 1 of Breaking Bad is short, only seven episodes, meaning that the moment it really starts to get good, it's pretty much already over. Apparently the season was impacted by the writer's strike, which also explains why the finale itself was pretty much an average episode. I think this shortened season works as a prologue, as I previously mentioned, but it's definitely the least memorable season of the bunch. Still, even the weakest season of Breaking Bad is great TV. Obviously the best aspect of the show is the performances. Bryan Cranston is an amazing actor in everything he does (I just reviewed Godzilla and he has great in that too), but there's a reason Walter White is his most iconic role. He perfectly captures Walt's dorky chem teacher side and cruel Heisenberg side, while imbuing enough nuance and intensity into the role that it leaves you wondering if he, morally-speaking, was always Heisenberg. There are so many ways to interpret the decisions Walt makes, which is why he's one of my favorite TV characters of all time. Jesse, as played by Aaron Paul, is a great character too, but his best moments don't start until Season 2. Right now, Jesse is at his best when playing off of Walt, thanks to the sharp, black-comedy and banter-laden writing. I also found myself really loving the cinematography in the show. All of the colors are bold and the show is almost entirely shot in wides that truly let you take in the scenery of New Mexico.

Despite its short length, there are some pretty great episodes this season:

Pilot: Easily one of the best pilot episodes ever made, Breaking Bad's first episode throws you right into the chaos with a gripping and now iconic scene where Walt crashes an RV and runs out in his underwear with a gun. The pilot does a great job of establishing the lead, his goals, and the show's themes from the get-go, while giving you a satisfying resolution to that iconic opening.

Crazy Handful Of Nothing: This was the episode that left me completely hooked. After nearly a whole season of buildup, Walt finally becomes Heisenberg, shaving off his head, and blowing up Tuco's hideout with the power of chemistry. Speaking of which, Tuco is a great and demented villain, and his story arc over the next few episodes (seeping into Season 2), is definitely one of the show's better ones.

Overall, Season 1 of Breaking Bad feels more like a prologue, with a short length and some weaker storylines, but it also sells you on the show and is just as well-written as the later seasons.

3/5 Stars