15 Best Breaking Bad Episodes, Ranked

"Breaking Bad" is one of the best TV shows of the 21st century. Ending over 13 years ago, the acclaimed series still reigns as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) series AMC ever made.

Naturally, this makes narrowing down the show's best episodes a difficult task. The fact that we had to leave off episodes from this list that included Walter White's iconic pizza toss, Jesse Pinkman's emotional "problem dog" monologue, and Mike Ehrmantraut's tragic death, is proof that there's too many great moments to include when counting down the best of "Breaking Bad." 

You could argue that even though episode has moments we'll never forget, these 15 episodes from across the entire run of "Breaking Bad" are the most impactful. Oh, what we'd give to rewatch them for the first time again. 

It goes without saying that Giancarlo Esposito's portrayal of Gus Fring in both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" puts him among the best TV character actors of all time. And we think it's safe to say that it all started with the episode "Box Cutter."

Coming hot off the cliffhanger ending of Season 3, "Box Cutter" finds Walt and Jesse held hostage in the superlab, waiting for the arrival of Gus following Jesse's murder of chemist Gale Boetticher (David Costabile).

However, when Gus finally arrives to find a defensive Walt and shell-shocked Jesse, he says nothing to them before donning a hazmat suit and slicing Victor's (Jeremiah Bitsui) throat with a box cutter. It's one of the most shocking and violent moments in all of "Breaking Bad," and it firmly establishes that, despite his mild-mannered demeanor, Gus is not the type to take a loss lying down. For what will eventually become the most high-stakes season of "Breaking Bad" thus far, "Box Cutter" is a memorable reminder to expect the unexpected, whilst giving us one of the coldest, character-defining moments of the entire show. 

One of the most heartbreaking moments in "Breaking Bad" reverberates throughout the entire rest of the series: Jane's death in Season 2's "Phoenix." This episode is pivotal for the series as it is, given that it finally sees the birth of Walt's daughter, Holly, but while Walt is not even present for that, he is present to witness Jane asphyxiate on her own vomit while unconscious from shooting heroin with Jesse. It's a moment that's guaranteed to leave you in tears, no matter how you felt about Jane's character leading up to it.

It's one of the more harrowing scenes in the entire show, feeling simultaneously shocking while also unsurprising given how the past few episodes had seen Jane relapsing on drugs and blackmailing Walt for Jesse's share of drug money. Even Walt's heart-to-heart with Jane's father moments before her death, in which he talks about Jesse like a surrogate son, feels more disturbing knowing how the absence of Jane will make Jesse easier for Walt to manipulate. Cranston's performance as a new father choosing to let another man's daughter die for his own selfish benefit is an unforgettable no-turning-back moment in his transformation to Heisenberg.

Season 5 of "Breaking Bad" features so many of the series' best episodes as fans finally get to witness Walt's drug empire start to crumble. Part of that implosion is his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), finally learning Heisenberg's true identity, with the late-season episode "To'hajiilee" seeing him outsmart Walt for the first time in the show. After teaming up with an unlikely ally in Jesse, Hank deduces that Walt has buried his money in the desert, but the only way to get to it is by tricking Walt into thinking that Jesse has found it and plans to burn it. 

Walt, reckless as ever, races to the titular desert to stop Jesse, only to find he's walked right into a trap as Hank, Gomez, and Jesse have followed him to the location of his drug earnings. Hearing Hank recite the Miranda rights to Walt, after five seasons of cat-and-mouse, is among the most satisfying moments in the entire show ... only for the arrival of Uncle Jack (Michael Bowen) and his gang of neo-Nazis to rescue Walt ending the episode with a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. 

While we're on the topic of Hank Schrader's best moments in "Breaking Bad," we can't fail to mention "One Minute," the Season 3 episode coming right after Walt and Jesse trick Hank into abandoning the RV lab with news that Marie (Betsy Brandt) is in the hospital. Hank's subsequent assault on Jesse gets him suspended from the DEA. However, all this meaningful shifting of chess pieces pales in comparison to the episode's final scene when Hank is ambushed by the Salamanca twins.

Though "Breaking Bad" utilizes action very sparingly, Hank's brutal killing of one of the twins and crippling of the other makes for one of the show's most memorable scenes. "One Minute" also showcases one of Aaron Paul's best performances when he viciously tells Walt he wants nothing to do with him from his hospital bed, before finally being convinced to rejoin the meth operation. "One Minute" isn't just the most violent, action-packed episode of "Breaking Bad," but one of its most emotionally brutal as well.

Although the death of Jane is the dramatic climax for Season 2 of "Breaking Bad," its subsequent episode, "ABQ," ties together the entire season's disparate plot threads. Most significantly, the episode sees the introduction of Saul Goodman's fixer and future "Better Call Saul" deuteragonist, Mike Ehrmantraut, who wouldn't exist without a "How I Met Your Mother" obligation. The episode also sees Skyler discover Walt's web of lies (albeit not the full extent of his misdoings), and in its final moments, a tragic plane crash over Albuquerque that is caused by Walt's own actions. 

It's a lot of ground for just one episode to cover, but besides setting in motion storylines for the future season, "ABQ" also ties up a season-long framing device depicting a scorched, pink teddy bear floating in Walter White's pool, revealing it as debris from the plane crash. It's an incredibly poignant image in a show full of memorable imagery, and it feels like a symbolic representation of just how dark Season 2 of "Breaking Bad" is compared to the first, and how Walter White's descent has long-lasting, terrible consequences for (literally) everyone around him.

"Granite State" has the difficult job of being sandwiched between the most critically acclaimed episode of "Breaking Bad" and the finale of one of the best final seasons of TV ever. Nevertheless, it doesn't waste time showing the aftermath of Walter White's fall from grace, including his desperation for absolution from his son, Jesse's imprisonment and torture at the hands of Uncle Jack's crew, and Skyler's attempts to evade government accountability for her complicity in Walt's crimes. 

It's an incredibly ambitious episode featuring some of the series' most heartbreaking moments (namely, the death of Andrea by Todd as punishment for Jesse's near escape), as well as foreshadowing the fate of Saul Goodman in "Better Call Saul." 

However, among the series' best-ever moments is when Walt, awaiting police capture in a New Hampshire bar, catches former business partners Gretchen and Elliott downplaying his role in the formation of their company, Gray Matter. Driven by this egotistical resentment that has fueled him the entire series, Walt is nowhere to be found when the cops arrive, as the iconic "Breaking Bad" theme closes out the moments leading us into the finale. 

In the first season's sixth episode, "Crazy Handful of Nothin'," Raymond Cruz makes his debut as the violent and downright terrifying Tuco Salamanca, the first of many Salamancas we'd meet over the course of the franchise. Tuco enters the picture when Walt and Jesse, now formally entering the business of cooking crystal meth together, need a proper distributor so they can make the maximum amount of money possible from their product.

Walt, with a freshly shaved head and a new alias, "Heisenberg," visits Tuco himself to negotiate with a proven madman, only Heisenberg proves to be far more intelligent than Tuco suspected, threatening to destroy Tuco's entire operation by bringing the highly volatile fulminated mercury rather than meth. It's the first, but definitely not the last, moment where Walt's transformation into Heisenberg not only becomes inevitable, but becomes some of the most thrilling TV ever made. And for now, with a villain like Tuco in the picture, we can root for Walt's victory without feeling too bad ... but enjoy that feeling while it lasts. 

"Face Off" features the most iconic death scene in all of "Breaking Bad," ending Season 4 with a literal and metaphorical bang. After his plan to assassinate Gus Fring via a car bomb goes awry, Walt and Jesse are forced to re-strategize, looping in the one person they know can manipulate Gus: Hector Salamanca. 

After witnessing Hector visiting the DEA (a meeting which involves Hector telling them nothing), Gus is led to believe that his archenemy is ratting to the police. Gus visits Hector at his nursing home to kill him, but he's already too late; Walt has rigged Hector's wheelchair with an explosive device, killing them both ... but not before Gus walks out of the room with half his face blown off, adjusting his tie before collapsing. It's one of the few moments when audiences may find themselves cheering for Walt's victory ... only to be blindsided when the episode ends with the reveal that he poisoned Andrea's son, Brock, to manipulate Jesse against Gus.

"Face Off" completely changes the nature of the show moving forward. In one episode, Walter White goes from a bumbling crook with way too much luck to a legitimate criminal mastermind.

Sometimes, the best episodes of a long drama series are the ones where everything slows down. That's definitely true of several "Breaking Bad" episodes, including Season 2's "4 Days Out." Unsure about the status of his illness, Walt convinces Jesse to go on a four-day long cook with him out in the desert, under the alibi for his family that he's going out of town. They produce over $1 million worth of crystal, only to realize that Jesse left the key in the RV's ignition, draining its battery and leaving them stranded.

The comedic banter between Walt and Jesse, which is on display throughout the series, is rarely better than it is in "4 Days Out," with one of Jesse's best moments coming when Walt decides to build a makeshift battery using an integral element: "wire," according to Jesse (the real answer was "copper"). It's no wonder this highly entertaining episode of "Breaking Bad" was chosen to be the flashback point for Walter White's return in "El Camino." It's from an era of the show where fun, almost-bottle episodes like this were more common. 

As far as action-packed episodes of "Breaking Bad" go, it doesn't get better than Season 5's "Dead Freight." After learning that Lydia's supply of methylamine is compromised by the DEA, she informs Walt, Jesse, and Mike about where else they can acquire it: a freight train. In the most western moment of "Breaking Bad", the trio decides to pull off an actual train heist, which involves stalling the conductors while they siphon out gallons of methylamine and replace it with water. 

Though it's one of many episodes that has you sitting on the edge of your seat, watching the gang pull off this incredibly ambitious robbery is enough to make this one of the show's best episodes all on its own. Just as our "heroes" are basking in their victory and the episode is about over, Todd apathetically kills a boy who seemingly witnessed the whole thing. It's one of the most horrid and shocking moments in all of "Breaking Bad," and firmly established Todd as one of the most hated characters in the entire franchise, which says a lot.

Not only is "Felina" one of the highest-rated TV episodes of all time, according to IMDb users, but it's easily one of the most perfectly executed series finales ever aired. Most of the episode follows Walt's return to Albuquerque to enact revenge against Uncle Jack's gang, all the while securing his family's financial security with the (unwilling) help of Gretchen and Elliott. 

While we have "El Camino" to show us what happens exactly after the series cuts to black for the last time, nothing can beat the sentimental, bittersweet feeling that came when we watched "Felina" for the very first time. Though audiences at this point may be rooting for Walt to finally get his just desserts, seeing him save Jesse's life and then die in Uncle Jack's meth lab right before the police were able to catch him is a far more satisfying ending than a bloody free-for-all could've provided. The perfect needle drop of Badfinger's "Baby Blue" says it all: "I guess I got what I deserved..." In the end, there isn't a better way a show like "Breaking Bad" could've concluded.

How is it that one of the most engaging, entertaining, and suspenseful episodes of "Breaking Bad" entirely follows Walt and Jesse trying to kill a fly in their super lab? Season 3's "Fly" was directed by a future famous filmmaker, Rian Johnson, and it's a brilliant combination of so many elements that make it a one-of-a-kind show: a compelling character arc for each of its two leads, incredible physical comedy and banter, and, of course, stellar chemistry between Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.

Among the episode's more meaningful moments is when Walt, drugged with sleeping pills by Jesse, nearly confesses to watching Jane die, but passes out before he's able to. Though one could argue it's an episode in which nothing really happens, it's arguably the most fascinating episode of the series because of these limitations. Getting to see an hour-long episode of Walt and Jesse working together, in spite of all their conflicts and differences, to solve a very menial problem is downright absurd and hilarious, and helps layer their relationship with some much-needed levity. 

If there's one thing television audiences can trust Vince Gilligan with, it's crafting an engaging pilot that primes a series for dozens more hours of storytelling. Those who were stunned watching Rhea Seehorn shine in Gilligan's defiantly weird sci-fi tale "Pluribus" may not remember just how groundbreaking and compelling the pilot episode of "Breaking Bad" is, even without the guarantee of future episodes. Bryan Cranston completely defies typecasting as the mild-mannered Walter White: a high school chemistry teacher whose lung cancer diagnosis sends him on a downward spiral ending with him pantsless in the New Mexico desert driving an RV filled with two incapacitated criminals in tow.

In a way, "Pilot" is the entire story of "Breaking Bad" across five seasons, diluted into one episode. Everything we learn about the series in "Felina," from Walt's true motivation being not providing for his family but a selfish want to take control of his life to his dysfunctional, albeit oddly caring, relationship with Jesse Pinkman, is all established in this end-to-end episode showcasing Vince Gilligan's unparalleled writing and directing ability.  

At this point, comparing "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad" is a futile effort, but it says a lot that the spin-off series began as just a run-of-the-mill episode in the second season, which was later completely re-contextualized in Season 6 of "Better Call Saul." 

The introduction of Saul initially begins as just a problem for Walt and Jesse to solve, after Badger is arrested for peddling their drugs, but getting involved with this guy turns out to be one of the more pivotal moments in the entire "Breaking Bad" franchise.

After successfully fooling the DEA by having Badger rat on the "wrong" Heisenberg, Saul's surprise appearance in Walt's chemistry classroom at the end of the episode proves that, in partnering with a highly opportunistic former con artist, Walt has hit a point of no return. In one single episode, an entire spin-off series (and two of its most integral characters, Nacho and Lalo) was set into motion right under the audience's noses. Plus, having a comedic actor like Bob Odenkirk join the series' cast promises some much-needed levity to the show going forward. 

It all had to come crashing down at some point for Walter White, but wow, does "Ozymandias" (directed by Rian Johnson) make it feel a hundred times more tragic than we could've ever predicted. Hot off the cliffhanger ending of "To'hajiilee," the episode kicks off with Uncle Jack's execution of Hank, and proceeds with non-stop blows to everything Walt has built, from him finally telling Jesse that he watched Jane die, to being run out of his own home by his own family. Even the best shows like "Breaking Bad" don't get this devastating.

Though all these moments feel like they'd been a long time coming for Walt, the way "Ozymandias" is both written and directed from his POV is enough to make even his most ardent hater feel a little bad for him. Looking back on all the Shakespearean tragedy that occurs in this single hour of television, it never ceases to be amazing how perfect the writers stuck the landing. Look on their works, ye mighty, and despair!