Imagine you’re walking down the street, just minding your own business. Then bam, you’ve been cursed. For the rest of your days, you can only rewatch 10 episodes from Breaking Bad. At this point you’ve stopped in your tracks, devastated, confused. Why is this happening? But it’s no time for self-pity; you have to think fast! Which episodes from this beloved crime show will you choose? As most (if not all) fans can attest, there are so many worth watching again and again that it’s pretty hard to narrow down your favorites to 10.
Really every episode Breaking Bad feels essential to the whole, but which ones do you need the most to satisfy your occasional hankering for Vince Gilligan‘s most popular series? Probably not “Fly,” as cool and underrated as it is. Another mistake would be to choose half of your list from one specific season, which would make the rewatching experience feel even more imbalanced than it would with episodes more spread out from one another. Basically, you want to choose chapters that are not only perfect in and of themselves but also feel essential to grasping the character arcs over the course of the series. Capturing the suspense, the humor, the darkness, and what makes us keep coming back, these 10 episodes may just be enough to understand this show’s brilliance.
10
“Pilot”
Season 1, Episode 1
A pair of pants fall to the ground. An RV is racing through the desert, and a middle-aged man wearing nothing more than a gas mask and tighty-whities is behind the wheel. The guy in the passenger seat is knocked out, and there appear to be two bodies sliding around in the back. Now that is how you begin a series: the frantic energy, the darkly comedic imagery, the many questions the audience is left with.
Had the show not begun in medias res, it wouldn’t quite have the same energy. However, everything in between that opening scene and when we finally see how things turn out still keeps our gazes firmly on the screen. After getting diagnosed with cancer, Walter (Bryan Cranston) keeps it to himself while acting out in various entertaining ways. Watching him beat up a bully, quit the car wash, and team up with his old student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) is incredibly fun. No notes.
9
“Crazy Handful of Nothin'”
Season 1, Episode 6
You might think of “Crazy Handful of Nothin'” as the climax of season one. Walt and Jesse try to get back into the meth business, but now they have to work with Tuco (Raymond Cruz). Jesse makes a fool of himself, which leaves everything to a newly-bald Walt. In the meantime, Hank (Dean Norris) traces a gas mask back to Walt’s high school, at which point he watches a kind custodian take the blame for Walt’s crime.
This is the birth of Heisenberg. When he introduces himself to Tuco and his men, we can see that Walt’s not messing around. And when we see what Walt does, what he’s capable of, we see that he’s really not messing around. “Want to find out?” is one of the best lines in the show. Along with that opening scene, which produces a similar level of intrigue as the opener to “Pilot,” the audience witnesses a man who realizes just how much he can accomplish with enough nerve and grit.
8
“Phoenix”
Season 2, Episode 12
By the time we get to “Phoenix,” Jesse and Jane (Krysten Ritter) are using heroin in Jesse’s apartment. Her father Donald (John de Lancie) catches her, which is one of the saddest moments in the show. It’s painful to watch Jane’s father hang up that phone right before calling the police. This decision will haunt him for the rest of his life, and the tragedy that unfolds hits just as hard today as it did then.
After Walt missed the birth of his child because Jesse wasn’t around, he is both furious at and terribly concerned for Jesse’s well-being. His refusal to give Jesse his share until he’s clean echoes Donald’s attempt to help his daughter, and their coincidental meeting at a bar solidifies the episode’s theme of parenting a troubled adult. However, this episode is ultimately defined by that devastating final scene, where we see Walt take one big step further into his moral descent.
7
“Half Measures”
Season 3, Episode 12
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