Breaking Bad is currently the highest-rated show on IMDb, with a staggering 9.5/10, voted by over 2.4M users. The AMC show ended in 2013 and has left a huge void in television, only momentarily filled by its sequel, Better Call Saul.
Breaking Bad, for many, took a season or two to fully invest themselves in. Once they did, it was a binge ride to the end. Here is a list of the worst-rated episodes on IMDb, ordered by how good they actually are.
10. Open House (Season 4 Episode 3 – 8.0/10)
This episode highlights how even Skylar has the mind of a criminal. Meeting up with Walt and Saul, Skylar pitches the car wash as a great money laundering front, and given Walt’s history of employment, it won’t raise too much suspicion.
Since Bogdan refuses any offer of hers, her duplicitous nature comes through as she hires Saul’s con artist acquaintance, Patrick Kuby, to pretend to be a United States Environmental Protection Agency representative in an expert plan to shut down Bogdan’s business. A highlight from Jesse’s spiral into drugs and s*x is the chaos he creates when throwing cash into the party at his house.
Unfortunately, Hank is bedridden and is unhappy about this situation, giving Marie the cold shoulder whenever she tries to perk him up. With no outlet and growing frustration, she starts stealing from open houses, making up elaborate background stories of herself.
The episode ends on a very crucial note (quite literally), where Detective Tim Roberts hands Hank Gale’s meth notebook to peruse.
9. Down (Season 2 Episode 4 – 8.2/10)
This episode revolves around Jesse Pinkman for the most part. Jesse’s parents are forced to evict him from his aunt’s house as they find a meth lab underneath. This scene with the attorney is difficult to watch as his parents put on a tough front.
Despite being given 72 hours to clear the house, Jesse is awoken by workers moving things out. In a very emotional moment, Jesse screams at his mother and talks about how he deserved the house for taking care of his aunt during her final moments. Jesse’s mother slaps him.
The episode follows a forlorn Jesse who is just looking for a place to crash. While making calls at a gas station, all his possessions are stolen, leaving him more helpless than before. A funny yet sad moment occurs when Jesse tries to break into the compound that has his RV but lands in a porta-potty, covering himself in blue bleach.
Jesse breaks out of the compound with the RV because he has no money to pay the repairman. Walt follows Skyler out of his house during a pleading moment when he sees the RV parked outside, in a moment of dark hilarity.
Walt and Jesse get into a physical altercation after Walt calls Jesse a “pathetic junkie”, with Jesse almost choking Walter to death.
The saddest moment occurs when Skylar smokes a cigarette despite being pregnant.
8. Cancer Man (Season 1 Episode 4 – 8.2/10)
Walt finally tells his family he has cancer, resulting in a very awkward dinner table conversation. Hank tries to alleviate the situation in a joking manner, but that doesn’t work. As Skyler pushes for treatment, we see Walt be stoic as he himself is still coming to terms with the diagnosis.
Jesse moves back into his house, and we see the clear distinction between how he is being treated vs the “good kid” of the house, his brother. The family dynamics reveal a deeper insight into Jesse’s character as he takes the blame for his brother’s marijuana joint.
7. Thirty-Eight Snub (Season 4 Episode 2 – 8.2/10)
Walt purchases a .38 snub-nosed revolver from an arms dealer in a shady motel. He displays an increased paranoia as he keeps making requests to the dealer to make it more lethal. The reason for this is to use the revolver to kill kingpin Gus Fring. Throughout the episode, we see Walt terrified yet trying to hype himself up for the kill.
An altercation breaks out between him and Mike at a bar when Walt tries to lure Mike onto his side.
Given that Gale’s death is fresh on Jesse’s mind, he spirals out of control. He throws loud raves, inviting strangers and offering a lot of alcohol and drugs to everybody. This descent into madness showcases Jesse’s inability to cope with guilt.
6. Breakage (Season 2 Episode 5 – 8.2/10)
Hank has his first panic attack, following the events of El Paso. The scene expertly depicts his mental state as he tries to gather his bearings but is unable to understand what’s happening with his body.
Walt Jr. gets busted by Skylar for sneaking alcohol out of the cabinet, leading to a confrontation with the family and Hank. In a display of toxic masculinity, Walt starts to compete with Hank by pouring more and more shots.
Jesse recruits Combo, Skinny Pete, and Badger to sell the meth he’s made. This leads to “breakage” as Skinny Pete gets robbed at knifepoint by methheads.
When Jesse tells Walt, Walt pushes Jesse down a darker path by asking him to “be prepared to handle these situations”. Walt clearly plays an authority figure to Jesse, constantly giving him commands like he’s his mule.
5. Green Light (Season 3 Episode 4 – 8.1/10)
This episode sees Walter White completely crashing out after he finds out Skylar is sleeping with her boss, Ted Beneke. When confronting Beneke, he is kicked out of the building and is ready to enter the meth business.
Walt is all over the place and is behaving unusually. When the principal of his school tries to console him, he kisses her, which leads to him getting suspended.
Meanwhile, Jesse insists that his cook is as good as Walt’s, which stings, as that’s all that’s left for Walt to be good at. With Jesse selling directly to Gus’ street dealers, the final blow was delivered, and Walt was pulled back into the meth business by Gus’ expert movements from the shadows.
4. Over (Season 2 Episode 10 – 8.4/10)
When Walt learns that his cancer is in remission, he reacts bitterly, upset that his “winning streak” is over.
He starts obsessing over things in the house, fixing the water heater and shouting at Skyler and Walt Jr, isolating them further. As a result of this, Skyler starts to find comfort in Ted Beneke.
A noteworthy moment is when Walt forces Walt Jr. to keep drinking despite Hank forcefully trying to get Walt to stop. Walter does not step down, leading to Walt Jr. puking into the pool. Walt displays the need to be masculine and better than Hank, who has always emasculated Walt.
Jesse and Jane go on a cute art date as they grow closer and have artistic debates, signalling their approach to life.
The funniest moment in the episode is when Walt advises a stranger who’s buying supplies for meth, but ends up scaring him off.
A highlight Heisenberg moment happens when he tells the stranger’s partner to “stay out of my territory”. Walt is Walt no more.
3. Gray Matter (Season 1 Episode 5 – 8.3/10)
The episode is the biggest backstory we get to Walt being a chemist genius. We learnt that he co-founded Gray Matter along with Schwartz. Gretchen and Elliot are extremely successful after Walt leaves the company, and their wealth disparity is constantly highlighted throughout the episode.
As if throwing oil onto fire, Elliot even offers Walt a job at the company, which he refuses out of pride. Elliot does this as a way of helping Walt cope with the financial burdens of cancer treatment, but Walt does not want to accept charity from someone who “stole” his life’s work.
Walt is discreetly bitter about this whole affair, and even Skyler tries to inquire about Walt’s past from Gretchen.
Jesse tries to make his own cook, but dealers laugh him off, and he realizes his street cred and worth are entirely reliant on Walter’s pure meth batch.
Walt’s growing tension at home after a refusal to accept money pushes him deeper into the meth empire as he believes in his own capabilities.
2. Bit by a Dead Bee (Season 2 Episode 3 – 8.3/10)
The iconic Fugue State episode sees Walt stripping naked in a supermarket and pretending to be out of his senses. This is the grandest lie that Walter has told about his reasons to cook meth, and apparently, the story had worked.
Skyler, of course, observant as ever, grows suspicious and doesn’t believe the concoction of lies that Walt has uttered. She begins to expertly notice discrepancies in his stories.
Jesse stages his house to look worn-out so the DEA wouldn’t be suspicious of his involvement with Tuco. He begins acting as a stoner when questioned, showing us that he’s digging himself deeper into a hole.
The episode ends with Walter already planning their next move.
1. Fly (Season 3 Episode 10 – 7.9/10)
We are now at the episode considered the most controversial of all the show’s episodes, given that its storytelling revolves mostly around catching a fly in the methlab.
Walt grows increasingly frustrated at his failed attempts at swatting it, despite creatively trying to do so. Fearing contamination, he does everything he possibly can in an obsessive manner to retain control.
His mental state declines, and at one point, he almost fesses to Jesse that he was there the night Jane had died. This heartbreaking moment shows us what a manipulator Walt was and how naive Jesse was to trust him. After Walt finally sleeps, Jesse kills the fly while another one flies above Walt – telling us that the story is far from over.
Here’s a summary of the ranked order in a table –
| # | EPISODE | SEASON | EPISODE NUMBER | IMDb RATING | SYNOPSIS |
| 10 | Open House | 4 | 3 | 8.0 | Marie & Skyler launder, Jesse parties, Hank obsesses over minerals. |
| 9 | Down | 2 | 4 | 8.2 | Walt reveals cancer, Jesse is blamed for Jake’s weed. |
| 8 | Cancer Man | 1 | 4 | 8.2 | Walt reveals cancer, Jesse blamed for Jake’s weed. |
| 7 | Thirty-Eight Snub | 4 | 2 | 8.2 | Walt buys a gun, Skyler schemes, Jesse spirals. |
| 6 | Breakage | 2 | 5 | 8.2 | Dealers robbed, Hank shaken, Walt pushes Jesse toward violence. |
| 5 | Green Light | 3 | 4 | 8.1 | Walt obsesses over a fly, nearly confesses to Jane. |
| 4 | Over | 2 | 10 | 8.4 | Walt in remission asserts dominance: “stay out of my territory.” |
| 3 | Gray Matter | 1 | 5 | 8.3 | Walt rejects Gray Matter offer, sealing his criminal path. |
| 2 | Bit by a Dead Bee | 2 | 3 | 8.3 | Walt fakes a fugue state, Jesse covers with a junkie alibi. |
| 1 | Fly | 3 | 10 | 7.9 | Walt & Jesse unravel, family tensions, Jesse is evicted. |
Breaking Bad has numerous episodes that are very highly rated on IMDb, and it looks like even its lowest-rated episodes are really good.
Is it time for a rewatch? Let us know in the comments.
Breaking Bad is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.
