Though Breaking Bad was heavily serialized, and almost every episode made some kind of contribution to the overall story, it was nonetheless a television show that had its fair share of standout hours. Certain episodes were more dramatic or status quo shifting than others, while further episodes excelled because they tried something a little different stylistically or tonally, standing out as a result.
Across 62 episodes, Breaking Bad was about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth manufacturer turned drug kingpin; a man who’s diagnosed with cancer and says he’s turning to a life of crime to help his family, but then seems more drawn toward it for far less noble reasons. It works as a dark comedy (especially early on), a crime thriller, a drama series, and a slow-burn tragedy, with the following episodes representing Breaking Bad at its very best.
10
“Crazy Handful of Nothin'”
Season 1, Episode 6 (2008)
It says something about Breaking Bad as a whole that Season 1 was quite comfortably the weakest season, yet it still made for thoroughly compelling television. Part of its shortcomings came about because of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, which reduced the episode count significantly, but in those first seven episodes, Breaking Bad still made a striking impression.
The pilot episode is excellent and instantly works as a hook for the whole series (as all good pilots should), but “Crazy Handful of Nothin’” is the best single episode of Breaking Bad’s first season. In it, Walt shaves his head for the first time, establishes dominance over Tuco in a very memorable—and explosive—way, and also adopts the name “Heisenberg” here. So, to call it a pivotal episode would be an understatement.
9
“One Minute”
Season 3, Episode 7 (2010)
While “Crazy Handful of Nothing’” was the first season’s best episode, “One Minute” is debatably the single best hour of Breaking Bad’s third season. The show had already established itself as one of the great TV dramas by this point, but “One Minute” escalates things further, developing further conflict between Hank and Jesse while showing the former’s life falling apart, and itself almost ending.
Yes, the shootout at the end of “One Minute” is the most memorable part of the episode, and it’s also quite simple, on the surface. Really, Hank gets attacked by a couple of hitmen, and manages to outsmart them, ultimately surviving, but only just. That’s about it. In the moment, though, it’s agonizingly suspenseful. The rest of the episode is certainly strong, but for the set piece that concludes the episode, “One Minute” is an all-timer.
8
“Felina”
Season 5, Episode 16 (2013)
This one might be ranked a little lower than some would expect, but “Felina” isn’t quite a perfect finale. It is an effectively satisfying one, and the way it leaves very little by way of loose ends is admirable. The story that was left to tell did get wrapped up a little later, thanks to 2019’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, and also some later episodes in Better Call Saul, with that prequel series ultimately catching up to Breaking Bad and then ending after it, chronologically speaking.
If you approach it like a victory lap, “Felina” is impressive, and again, it’s satisfying as something that ties loose ends. Breaking Bad didn’t go out in a challenging or subversive way, but given it was consistently great across five seasons, and just over 60 episodes, you could certainly argue that it earned the right to conclude with a no-nonsense victory lap of sorts.
7
“4 Days Out”
Season 2, Episode 9 (2009)
In contrast to some of the aforementioned episodes, and plenty of the soon-to-be-mentioned ones, “4 Days Out” stands out without necessarily being a total uprooting of the status quo… at least not by featuring a death. It’s actually impactful because Walt finds out he’s not actually on death’s doorstep, with his cancer having gone into remission shortly after going for broke with Jesse and cooking a huge amount of meth in the desert.
This complicates things, and with the direction of Walt’s life changing, so too does the direction of the show, at least a little. But “4 Days Out” is most well-remembered for being an episode where Walt and Jesse kind of hang out during their desert misadventures, and it’s a super entertaining and almost relaxed episode, at least by Breaking Bad standards. Maybe it’s a calm-before-the-storm kind of thing, but it works well in any event, and the two actors in the episode the most by far, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, really deliver (as always).
6
“Crawl Space”
Season 4, Episode 11 (2011)
Snap back to (soul-crushing) reality, here’s one of Breaking Bad’s darkest episodes: “Crawl Space.” This is also one of its greatest episodes, dialing up the conflict between Walt and Gus Fring to near-unbearable levels, with the latter going so far as to threaten to kill the former’s wife, teenage son, and infant daughter. Walt panics, and sets about trying to bring down Gus by tipping off law enforcement, knowing that he has money set aside to get him and his family to disappear.
Well, he thinks there’s money set aside. It turns out Skyler has given it away, and so Walt loses his mind, screaming and then laughing maniacally in the titular crawl space of his house. It’s up there as one of the most memorable endings to any episode of Breaking Bad, and the episode as a whole masterfully sets in motion Season 4’s final two episodes.
5
“Phoenix”
Season 2, Episode 12 (2009)
Walt had done terrible things before “Phoenix,” but this crucial Breaking Bad episode was a new low for him, morally speaking; something harder to excuse than anything he’d done before. In “Phoenix,” Jesse’s girlfriend, Jane, threatens Walt, and so when the opportunity arises for Walt to save her life (she and Jesse got high, and she’s choking on her own vomit in Walt’s presence), he does nothing.
He might not have shot her, but as Walt eventually admits, he let her die, but he viewed it as getting rid of an obstacle, and so he let the whole thing happen. Very little is the same after “Phoenix,” and while Jane was a fairly important character during Season 2, what happens to her casts a shadow over the next three seasons, well beyond her time spent as an active part of Breaking Bad.
4
“Dead Freight”
Season 5, Episode 5 (2012)
Offering a heist storyline that can stand toe-to-toe with most of the great heist films out there, “Dead Freight” scratches a similar itch to “4 Days Out,” at least at first. This is because, initially, it’s a comparatively “fun” episode of Breaking Bad that mostly takes place outdoors, and revolves around Walt, Jesse, and Mike executing an ambitious plan to rob a train carrying a large supply of methylamine.
It’s tense but also exciting, and it seems like things end on a surprisingly positive note, all before wild card Todd sees that a young boy might’ve witnessed the heist, and guns him down without hesitation. It’s a shocking note for “Dead Freight” to end on, and establishes Todd as someone to fear (to put it mildly) as Breaking Bad approaches its end.
3
“Face Off”
Season 4, Episode 13 (2011)
After the horror of the ending to “Crawl Space,” tension builds before finally resolving in the Season 4 finale, “Face Off.” Well, it mostly resolves; like “Dead Freight,” it seems this way for the bulk of the episode. There’s satisfaction to be gained from Walt taking down Gus for good, but without a major villain, the stage is set for Walt to become pretty much the main villain of the show in Season 5.
Also, though there is a sweetness to the victory, the reveal of what Walt was willing to do, so far as endangering a kid, sours things considerably. “Face Off” is one of the most intense hours of Breaking Bad, one of the most dramatic, and then, in the end, one of the most surprising. It just does everything right, and proves to be a perfect season finale. Well, Breaking Bad‘s best season finale, to be perfectly blunt.
2
“Say My Name”
Season 5, Episode 7 (2012)
“Say My Name” is the episode where Walt drops one of his most famous lines, sure, but it’s also so much more than that. Things are closing in more and more on Walt and his whole business, but his arrogance grows to unmanageable heights here, enough so that anyone not on board with the idea that Walt’s become a villain by this point should be swayed.
And then there’s what he does at the episode’s end, and the way that such a bleak thing happens that didn’t need to, and “Say My Name” really does feel like one of Breaking Bad’s best and most important episodes. The mid-season finale that follows it is also great, with these two episodes also working in tandem to set the stakes as high as possible for Season 5B. Speaking of…
1
“Ozymandias”
Season 5, Episode 14 (2013)
The second half of Breaking Bad’s fifth season was naturally going to be its most dramatic, and of the eight episodes that made up Season 5B, the infamous and highly-praised “Ozymandias” is easily the grandest. Without going into too much detail, this is the one where everything really falls apart; where the things one might’ve expected would happen eventually, given Breaking Bad’s overall narrative, pretty much all happen here.
There are still loose ends to tie up after “Ozymandias,” obviously, but this third-last episode of the show feels like a climax to the whole thing. It’s like how a movie might have a scene or two after its biggest and most dramatic set piece. “Ozymandias” is the equivalent of that sort of set piece, and even if it’s easy/kind of predictable to single it out as Breaking Bad’s best episode, it honestly really is just that great.
