‘Breaking Bad’ has come to an end. We will always have the memories. Here are ten of the best.
WARNING! The following contains important Breaking Bad spoilers.
10) The broken plate
In only the second episode of the show, Breaking Bad had one of the best moments in the series. Lead character Walter White ends up with a drug dealer named Krazy 8 tied down in his partner Jesse Pinkman’s basement. After doing everything he can to appear like a good person, he is left with no other choice but to kill the prisoner. It had been decided between Walter and Jesse that Walter would be the one to kill Krazy 8, but having his doubts, Walter thinks about setting him free. Walter brings Krazy 8 a sandwich and in doing so he collapses to the ground, falling unconscious. He wakes up, later discovering that a piece of the shattered plate is missing, most likely in Krazy 8’s possession. Walter confronts him and this leads to a struggle. The fight ends with Walter strangling Krazy 8 with a bike lock.
9) The best assassins west of the Mississippi
Skipping ahead from the second episode to the finale, we arrive at this classic Breaking Bad moment. After seeing his former partners Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz on television taking all of the credit for creating the company Gray Matter Technologies and ignoring Walter’s contributions, Mr. White ends up in their home with a proposition. Walter tells them they have to give his drug money to his son Walter Junior on his 18th birthday. Walter explains his family would never take his money and coming from the wealthy and charitable Schwartz Family, the donation would seem reasonable. To ensure this happens, Walter lets them know he has hired the two best assassins west of the Mississippi to watch over the Schwartz Family. Red lasers immediately show up pressed against them, from alleged sniper rifles. Scared and convinced, Elliot and Gretchen agree to Walter’s deal. We soon find out this was nothing more than Badger and Skinny Pete with laser pointers. A classic Breaking Bad gag filled with surprises, tense moments, and a lot of humor.
8) Gus kills the Cartel
Some bad guys have their own villains in life. Gus Fring had the Mexican Drug Cartel, the men responsible for killing his partner and attempting to ruin his business. While at war with each other, Gus submits to the Cartel and offers them a Trojan Horse in the form of their leader’s favorite tequila. Gus Fring was never a man to submit to his enemies. The tequila was poisoned and managed to wipe out the entire Cartel. Most of us never thought we would root for Walter White’s biggest nemesis. In this moment though, we were all happy to see Gus get retribution.
7) The train robbery
They referred to it as the greatest methylamine heist in history, the second biggest most likely being when some teenager five-finger-discounted a pack of Sudafed from a Walgreens. The train heist they pulled off in Breaking Bad had everything. There was a lot that needed to go right and even more that ended up going wrong. They did eventually pull it off, switching the meth with water to keep the train’s weight the same without anyone knowing they had been robbed. Then as soon as the celebration began it came to a halt when Todd pulled out a gun and shot a witness, a young boy on a dirt bike. The entire scene was perfect. Just when we thought things would go awry, they fixed the problem only to end up with a bigger one at the end.
6) Gus dies
Killing Gus Fring proved to be difficult for Walter. He could never get close enough to shoot him, Jesse was morally unable to poison him, and the surefire car bomb Walter had set never got a chance to explode. It took Walter turning to Gus’s nemesis Hector Salamanaca for Gus to finally get what he had coming. As if the lead up to his death was not enough, the actual moment was beyond amazing. After the bomb goes off in the nursing home bedroom, the indestructible Gus Fring exits, appearing unharmed. Gus adjusts his tie as the camera pans across his body and we see the right side of his face, burnt to a crisp. Gus falls to the ground dead. Another impossible problem had finally been solved, but at the cost of new ones.
5) Ten in two minutes
Walter realizes that there are too many men out there who know way too much information about the drug operation. After Walter kills Mike, the ten imprisoned former employees of Gus Fring have even less of a reason to keep their lips sealed. Walter turns to associate Todd for help. Todd’s Aryan Brotherhood connected uncle Jack Welker orders hits from inside the prison on all ten possible snitches. To ensure all of them die and the prisons in the area do not go on lockdown, the hits have to take place within two minutes of each other at three different penitentiaries. The plan goes off without a hitch. The scenes in particular of ten different men getting eliminated with such ease show just how powerful Walter White had become. This was the moment he had become Ozymandias.
4) The crawlspace
During his struggle with Gus, Walter got to a point where he could finally leave town with all of the money he had accrued cooking meth. All Walter had to do was return home, gather up his family, and then take the money out from the crawlspace where it was stashed. The best laid plans went astray and Skyler told Walter that she had leant the money to her boss Ted Beneke, the same man she had an affair with previously. At this point Walter can do nothing other than lie in the crawlspace laughing. His perfect plan, the one that was the most sensible, could not work because his wife got too involved. The final shot pulling up through the home’s crawlspace gave Breaking Bad fans everywhere chills. Walter had gone maniacal. Imminent death on its way and all he could do was laugh about it.
3) The hit on Hank
The silent hitmen known as ‘The Cousins’ were merciless and unemotional with their killings. When Gus told them they could not kill Walter because he was too valuable to him, Gus gave them the name of the man responsible for killing their cousin Tuco, Walter’s brother-in-law Hank. The Cousins arrive at a parking lot where they attempt to kill Hank. It is only because of a phone call he receives moments before the hit that helps Hank to survive the attack. The entire scene was perfect and unexpected. Hank defends himself with his car and pistol in the most realistic ways possible. One of the cousins eventually loses his legs and the other gets his brains blown out right before dropping an axe into Hank’s head. Of all the action sequences in Breaking Bad, this might be the bloodiest and most unforeseen on how it would end.
2) “Say my name”
Walter White reached his peak moment of intimidation when he met in the desert with a potential buyer of the Methylamine he had robbed from the train. Jesse and Mike wanted to sell their shares of the meth while Walter wanted to cook it all and earn even more money. Judging Walter on appearance alone, he did not seem like anyone too important. The drug dealer attempted to bully Walter into giving him what he wanted, until he asked Walter who he was. Walter said he was the best meth cook in the world; he was the man responsible for killing Gus Fring. At first there was doubt and then finally the man realized who Walter was…
“Say my name,” said Walter.
A pause.
“Heisenberg,” said the drug distributor.
“You’re G@!#amn right.”
1) Look on the bright side
Collateral damage was a big part of the destruction Walter White caused the world. The worst as far as numbers go came as a result of letting Jesse’s girlfriend Jane die. Jane’s father, an air traffic controller upset over her death, caused two planes to crash into each other by directing them into the same path. The destructive and tragic “accident” disturbed the community to the point an assembly was held in the school gymnasium. Students and faculty members were given the chance to express themselves in front of everyone. Walter was asked to give a speech. Already realizing he could have prevented this all, Walter tries to secretly justify his actions, telling everyone to “look on the bright side.” Walter goes on a legendarily calm rant about how things could have been a lot worse. He rattles off statistics of different plane crashes and how this one was not such a big deal. The looks on the students’ faces and the air getting sucked out of the entire room made this scene terrific. This was the moment we saw Walter White as a man incapable of sympathizing with others. If only Walter could have explained to everyone that Jane needed to die to get Jesse back, maybe they would not have been so upset.
