With Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan managed to turn the seemingly bizarre premise of a chemistry teacher cooking meth to pay for his cancer treatments into what is regarded by many to be the greatest TV series ever made. Few TV dramas, when all is said and done, feel like a complete piece. But Breaking Bad’s five seasons hold up as the saga of Walter White, charting his fabled transformation from Mr. Chips into Scarface, told in its entirety like a televised novel.

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There was never an episode of Breaking Bad that disappointed – although season 3’s “Fly” was certainly divisive among the fan base – but some installments have much higher ratings on IMDb than others.

Updated on February 14, 2023 by Ritwik Mitra: Nearly everyone has heard of Breaking Bad by this point. The series enjoyed critical praise across the board for the first four seasons before absolutely exploding in popularity courtesy of the fifth season becoming viral in every sense of the world. The story of Walt and Jesse as they form a drug empire of their own before the former really buys into his Heisenberg persona makes for a great watch. We've updated this list to include some more of the highest-rated Breaking Bad episodes.

This list contains spoilers!

20 Crazy Handful Of Nothin' (9.3)

Walt threatening Tuco in Breaking Bad

There's a reason why this episode ranks so high despite being in the first season, which is widely considered to be slow by the majority of the fanbase. It marks Walter's first step into his role as Heisenberg and depicts how the life of crime gives him a rush he hasn't felt in a while.

Walt also shaves off his hair in the show for the first time, getting the iconic look that has become synonymous with the series. It marks a turning point in the show and how Walt and Jesse's life would change for good after their association with Tuco.

19 Phoenix (9.3)

Walt watching Jane choke on her own vomit in Breaking Bad

The duo of Jesse and Jane is pretty iconic in Breaking Bad, even if the latter was only present for a single season. The impact she had on Jesse's life was huge, with Pinkman's downward spiral being kickstarted after the events of this episode.

The final scene is one of the most powerful scenes ever shot in Breaking Bad, with Walt letting Jane die after she chokes on her own vomit while on heroin. It's a horrible act, that Walt acknowledges but powers through — something that happens multiple times over the course of Breaking Bad following this pivotal moment.

18 Grilled (9.3)

Walt and Jesse being held by Tuco and Hector in Breaking Bad

Tuco Salamanca is one of the best characters in Breaking Bad, and his death is just as memorable. Both Skyler and Hank are distraught in their search for Walter, who was kidnapped along with Jesse by this maniac.

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This leads to a dramatic series of events where Tuco gets wounded by the escaping duo, only to be caught in a firefight with Hank who managed to locate his missing brother-in-law. After an intense faceoff, Tuco is eventually fatally wounded and breathes his last.

17 Sunset (9.3)

Hank trying to break into the iconic RV from Breaking Bad

It's hard to imagine that an episode mainly centered around scrapping an RV would be so compelling, but that is precisely the case in Sunset. In the wake of Walt and Jesse's professional breakup, both partners set about doing illegal activities their own way.

When Jesse inadvertently leads Hank to Walter when the latter is trying to total the RV, a clever phone call leads to Hank believing that his wife has been involved in a near-fatal car accident. This sets up a horrible series of events where Hank gets super angry at Jesse, leading to him beating the latter to a pulp in the next episode.

16 Blood Money (9.4)

Blood Money, an episode in Breaking Bad

Blood Money is the first episode that kickstarts the second half of Breaking Bad's final season. It's a brilliant episode that shows how Hank deals with the revelation of Walt being Heisenberg.

Blood Money wastes no time in setting up the events for the finale, with the episode being an absolute joy to witness. Watching Hank and Walt face off in a battle for the ages never ceases to be entertaining.

15 Half Measures (9.5)

Walter killing a dealer in Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad has several great moments across its five seasons. One such instance comes at the very end of the episode Half Measures, with Walt running over two drug dealers whom Jesse was planning to kill in a fit of rage.

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This moment arrives after the fallout of Combo's death, with Jesse losing it after his girlfriend's brother — the man who killed Combo in the first place — also meets his end. It's an amazing episode where all the buildup from past episodes pays off in a truly dramatic manner.

14 End Times (9.5)

End Times, an episode in Breaking Bad

End Times is an episode that comes at a time when Walter is finally going to get rid of Gus. This happens in tandem with the ricin poisoning of Brock, which leaves Jesse distraught and angry in his hunt for revenge.

The episode is brilliant and marks the beginning of the end for the amazing character of Gus Fring. It's a brilliant episode with a ton of tense moments throughout the board.

13 Say My Name (9.5)

Breaking Bad Walter White saying his famous "Say my name" line

Jesse and Mike want to get out of the meth business after Todd murdered a little kid, but Walt’s ego won’t let him give it up when he’s at the top of his game, so he desperately tries to convince them to stick around.

In the episode’s shocking final moments, Walt impulsively shoots Mike. Then, he realizes that he could’ve let him live and apologizes to Mike, who simply says, “Shut the f*** up and let me die in peace.”

12 One Minute (9.6)

One Minute, an episode from Breaking Bad

Hank's character is one of the most engaging parts of Breaking Bad, and watching him lose his cool and beat Jesse into a pulp is quite uncomfortable to witness. It's a side of the man that most viewers had only seen glimpses of.

It's a brilliant episode where Jesse's character falls further into despair, while Hank has to deal with the consequences of his rash actions. It's another golden chapter in this amazing series that just keeps on giving.

11 Salud (9.6)

Salud, a Breaking Bad episode

Gustavo Fring might be a vile character at times, but Salud is where this man shines his brightest. After witnessing his tragic backstory, fans wanted this man to get the revenge he deserved.

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After years, he finally exacted his revenge on the cartel that killed his lover and established himself as the biggest kingpin around. It's a brilliant episode that shows just how far ahead Gus had thought when it came to his revenge.

10 Confessions (9.6)

Confessions, a Breaking Bad episode

The second half of the final season is full to the brim with amazing episodes and memorable moments. Confessions is no exception to this golden rule.

Even during a moment when Walter's deck of lies is crumbling away, his relationship with Jesse never takes a backseat. In fact, the two characters share one of their most powerful moments in this brilliant episode.

9 Gliding Over All (9.6)

Breaking Bad Hank

Splitting seasons of TV shows into two parts has become commonplace since AMC aired Breaking Bad’s final run in two eight-episode chunks. In the midseason finale “Gliding Over All,” Walt finally solves all his problems in the criminal underworld and things are looking up.

Then, in the episode’s fateful cliffhanger ending, Hank flicks through a book while he’s sitting on the Whites’ toilet, finds Gale’s incriminating inscription, and realizes the drug lord he’s been chasing has been his own seemingly mild-mannered brother-in-law this whole time.

8 Full Measure (9.6)

Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman Shooting

In the season 3 finale, Walt realizes Gus is going to have himself and Jesse killed as soon as Gale is able to cook meth of the same quality as Heisenberg’s, so he sends Jesse to kill Gale.

Gale’s death was a significant turning point in Jesse’s character arc. He was filled with guilt for the rest of the series, and it exemplified how Walt uses Jesse to do his dirty work.

7 Dead Freight (9.7)

Breaking Bad Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Todd Alquist stopping a freight train

Vince Gilligan conceived Breaking Bad to be a western set in modern times, among other things, and one of the clearest examples of this is “Dead Freight,” which is literally about a train robbery.

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The methylamine heist goes off without a hitch and Walt and Jesse get to enjoy a celebration for a couple of brief moments before they spot 14-year-old Drew Sharp, who saw the whole thing. Without hesitation, Todd shoots the kid dead.

6 Granite State (9.7)

Breaking Bad - Granite State

Between the explosive climactic revelations of “Ozymandias” and the cerebral closure of “Felina,” Breaking Bad’s penultimate episode “Granite State” saw Walt adopting a new identity and moving to an isolated cabin in New Hampshire, where he’s left alone for months on end.

It’s clear as day that all the terrible things Walt did were for nothing. He tries to prove this wrong by going to a local bar, calling Walt, Jr., and arranging to give him some money, but his son tells him to drop dead. When he’s about to turn himself in, he sees Gretchen and Elliot dragging him through the mud on TV and decides to settle some scores first. As the cops arrive at the bar, Heisenberg is gone.

5 Crawl Space (9.7)

Breaking Bad Walter White In Crawl Space

Gus makes it very clear to Walt that he’s not messing around in season 4’s “Crawl Space.” He informs Walt that he’s going to have Hank killed and that if he tries to interfere, he’ll kill his wife and kids, too. Meanwhile, Skyler gives a ton of Walt’s money to Ted to help him pay off his debts.

These two storylines converge in one of the show’s most iconic moments as Walt comes home in a panic and tells Skyler they have to leave immediately. He climbs into the crawlspace and finds that most of his cash is missing. When Skyler tells him she gave it to Ted, he starts laughing hysterically.

4 To’hajiilee (9.8)

Breaking Bad Walter White Captured

After Hank turns Jesse against Walt, the two know exactly how to get to him: by threatening his cash supply. They send him a doctored photo that looks like they’ve dug up his money, and he races out to the desert to stop them.

He calls in Uncle Jack and his neo-Nazi gang, who arrive just as Walt is turning himself in. Then, a gunfight breaks out, setting the stage for “Ozymandias.”

3 Face Off (9.9)

Breaking Bad Walter White On The Phone

Gus Fring is easily Breaking Bad’s greatest villain because he’s a meth kingpin who’s even smarter and more ruthless than Walt. Walt can outsmart a near-sighted gangster-like Tuco in his sleep, but he finally found his intellectual match in Gus.

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In the season 4 finale “Face Off,” Walt finally manages to defeat Gus by teaming up with his arch-rival, Hector Salamanca, to plant a bomb that will blow half his face off, hence the title.

2 Felina (9.9)

Breaking Bad - Felina

A lot of acclaimed TV dramas, like Game of Thrones and Dexter, shot themselves in the foot with terrible series finales that tarnishes the legacy of everything that came before. Breaking Bad didn’t suffer from this problem; its finale episode “Felina” is one of the most satisfying conclusions in TV history.

Gilligan and co. managed to wrap up all the story threads in a neat bow with the story of Walter White’s return to Albuquerque and his final stand against his old business partners.

1 Ozymandias (10.0)

Breaking Bad Walter White Sitting

While “Felina” provided the ending to the saga of Walter White, the third-to-last episode “Ozymandias” is when it all came to a head, as signified by its perfect score of 10 on IMDb. Opening with the shootout that claims the lives of Hank and Gomez, “Ozymandias” marks the point of no return for Heisenberg.

After a knife fight with Skyler, Walt kidnaps Holly and takes her on the run with him. He has a change of heart, leaving Holly at a fire station and making a difficult phone call that will clear Skyler of her association with his meth business before relocating and taking on a new identity, completely alone.

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