Pilot

Breaking Bad comes RIGHT out of the gate: with Walt driving a filthy RV in the New Mexico desert, in his underwear. A television phenomenon starts right here in a bald, absurd and beautiful fashion. Bryan Cranston is a man freaking out about the current predicament he's in, and we get how difficult everything's become for him, before we even get to the title of the show. Vince Gilligan doesn't try to second-guess his audience's smarts. He starts the series where the story's already started, and then he takes us back to catch our breaths.

This pilot single-handedly launched the classic television show that has come to be the template of writer-driven television and its potential to have PHENOMENAL storytelling. The pilot gives us a taste-test of what we're to expect from the rest of the show, but it leaves us wanting more: in the most satisfying way. We're EAGER to see what happens next instead of begrudgingly thinking we should. This show is its own drug.

If you haven't already seen the Breaking Bad series please do yourself a favour and watch asap! You're missing out on pop-cultural history right here!

Everything is perfect about the opening to Breaking Bad. The first scene catches your attention, the impeccable acting by Cranston keeps you watching, and the wonder how it got to that point sucks you in. Perfectly paced, written and acted. A wonderful start for one of the greatest shows of all time.

'Breaking Bad' is one of the most popular rated shows on IMDb, is one of those rarities where every season has either been very positively received or near-universally acclaimed critically and where all of my friends have said nothing but great things about.

Very few shows in recent memory had me so hooked from the very start that before the week was over the whole show had been watched, especially when for a lot of shows now airing watching one episode all the way through can be an endeavour. 'Breaking Bad' had that effect on me, and its reputation as one of the best, consistently brilliant and most addictive shows in many years (maybe even ever) is more than deserved in my eyes. Its weakest season is perhaps the first season, understandable as any show's first season is the one where things are still settling.

Actually everything is established remarkably from the very start, but once the writing and characterisation becomes even meatier the show reaches even higher levels.

"Pilot" though has to be up there with one of the finest pilot episodes for any show ever, and there are a good deal of great ones.

Visually, "Pilot" is both stylish and beautiful, with photography and editing that are cinematic quality and put a lot of films today to shame, where there are a lot of visually beautiful ones but also some painfully amateurish looking ones. The music always has the appropriate mood, never too intrusive, never too muted.

The writing for "Pilot" is a fine example of how to have a lot of style but also to have a lot of substance. The dialogue throughout is thought-provoking and tense, while also have a darkly wicked sense of humour and heart-tugging pathos. The story texturally rich, intimate, tense and layered, with the pace of it consistently deliberate but taut. The direction couldn't be better.

Can't say anything bad about the acting. Bryan Cranston is phenomenal as one of the most fascinating anti-heroes, or even of any kind of character, in either film or television. Aaron Paul has never been better and Anna Gunn is affecting. The characters are compelling in their realism.

Overall, a couldn't be better start for a show that got better and better. 10/10 Bethany Cox

After all this time this still remains one og the greatest TV pilots that perfectly sets the tone for the series as well as establishing premise, story and characters! The journey of Walter White begins here and I love how they manage to make it convincing by showing us his Daily life and adding some extra layer of conflict to set things on motion!

The episode perfectly balances humor amd serious issues with a couple of.dramatic sequences to give you a taste of whats to come! Knowing how it ends i also love how much can be Tracey back to this episode!

Breakimg Bad is one of my favorite shows as well as one of the best written shows along with Better Call Saul and Attack on Titan! Always loves to come back to it!

The image of a show's main character in the middle of the road, without pants, ready to shoot it out with the approaching police . . . that's some ace cliffhanger material. Yet it's the first thing anyone sees!

An exhilarating hour of television, this pilot deals effortlessly with the unenviable amount of setup that "Breaking Bad" requires. Portrait of a man beaten down by mediocrity suddenly liberated by a cancer diagnosis, Walter White is the guy you feel sorry for, but you also desperately want the guy to snap out of his suburban malaise and grab life by the balls (played with no shortage of intensity by Bryan Cranston). This intro lays out the conflict and colorful supporting characters and laces it with excellent dark humor. As fun as it is to see this guy at the end of his rope, it also demands that you return for next week.

I've been telling people for years to ignore the hype and just give the first episode a shot. And for good reason; it's one of the best pilots I've ever seen.

9/10