Breaking Bad is worth rewatching in its entirety every couple of years, but there are some great episodes you can revisit on their own, outside a full series rewatch. Breaking Bad was one of the first TV shows to feel like a long movie chopped up into episode-sized chunks, but it still has some great individual episodes.
There are a few standalone episodes, like “Fly” and “4 Days Out,” that stand on their own and don’t rely on any ongoing storylines. Action-packed episodes like “Ozymandias” are a thrill from start to finish.
Better Call Saul
Season 2, Episode 8
The most rewatchable shows are sitcoms, and the Breaking Bad episode that introduced us to Saul Goodman is when this series felt the most like a sitcom. It starts with Badger getting arrested, it escalates with Slippin’ Jimmy’s legal tactics, and it culminates in a farcical sting operation.
Bob Odenkirk’s portrayal of Saul (at least, the mask he put on to hide his true self) arrived fully formed, as did his biting comic back-and-forth with his two most troublesome clients. It’s easy to see why he’s the supporting player who ended up getting a spinoff.
Salud
Season 4, Episode 10
There are no heroes in the gang war between Gus Fring and the Salamancas, but after seeing what the Salamancas did to Gus’ partner Max, I have to admit I got behind his revenge. In season 4’s “Salud,” Gus joins Don Eladio’s crew around the very same pool where Hector executed Max years earlier.
Gus gives out tequila as a peace offering, but the tequila is poisoned. Gus takes down Eladio’s whole crew, but succumbs to his own poison. Jesse takes down the last remaining footsoldier, but not before they shoot Mike. Suddenly, Jesse finds himself in quite the predicament — and that thrill never gets old.
One Minute
Season 3, Episode 7
One sequence alone makes “One Minute” one of the most rewatchable Breaking Bad episodes: the climactic shootout, in which the Cousins attempt to assassinate Hank in a parking lot. Hank gets a call from an electronically disguised voice telling him that, in one minute, two hired killers are going to attack him.
The eponymous minute that follows is a hair-raising masterclass in building tension, and the firefight that follows that is a masterclass in action filmmaking. It’s a thrilling set-piece, but it’s gritty and grounded and rooted in the horrific realities of gunshot wounds.
Felina
Season 5, Episode 16
The final episode of Breaking Bad is one of the most satisfying series finales ever produced, and one of the most fun to revisit. It has all the climactic action you want to see, but it also slows down for some tender moments between the characters, and it builds to a suitably bittersweet end for Walter White.
Breaking Bad’s final episode has the climactic shootout that Sopranos viewers wanted to see before that pesky cut-to-black denied them any closure. “Felina” just feels right as the conclusion to this epic saga.
Fly
Season 3, Episode 10
Season 3’s “Fly” is Breaking Bad’s most controversial episode by far, but it’s an easy one to pick out and rewatch, precisely because of that controversy. When it aired, “Fly” was criticized for being a bottle episode providing inconsequential filler to pad out the episode count and cut back on production costs.
But Vince Gilligan and his brain trust took a financial necessity and turned it into an existential masterpiece. “Fly” might not advance the main plot all that much, but it does put a spotlight on Walt and Jesse’s relationship in a poignant, philosophical two-man play akin to Waiting for Godot.
Crawl Space
Season 4, Episode 11
Breaking Bad is at its most intense when it feels like the walls are closing in on Walt and he’s racing against time to save the lives of himself and his family. That kind of intensity peaked in the season 4 episode “Crawl Space,” when Gus fired Walt, ordered a hit against Hank, and threatened to murder Skyler, Walt, Jr., and even Holly. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.
You can go back to this episode any time. It drops you right in the middle of Walt and Gus’ heated rivalry, it moves at a breakneck pace as Walt scrambles to contact the disappearer, and it ends with a great twist when Walt finds that Skyler has given all his money to Ted. Walt laughing maniacally in the crawlspace in the final scene is the darkly hilarious cherry on top.
Dead Freight
Season 5, Episode 5
Breaking Bad is essentially a contemporary western. It has armed standoffs in the desert, feuding gangs on the American frontier — El Camino even ends with a quick-draw pistol duel. In season 5, episode 5, “Dead Freight,” the show pulled off a great train robbery.
The reasoning for why Walt needs to steal methylamine from a train doesn’t 100% hold together, but I’m fine with any excuse to do a train-robbing episode. “Dead Freight” is a standalone masterpiece of suspense filmmaking.
4 Days Out
Season 2, Episode 9
Walt and Jesse carve out a few days for a grueling meth-cooking marathon in the desert. They drive their RV out there, whip up enough meth to pay for a few rounds of chemotherapy, and prepare to head home. But Walt is horrified to find that Jesse left the keys in the ignition, and the RV’s battery has been drained.
The ensuing fight for survival is everything Breaking Bad is at its best: a high-stakes race against time, a probing examination of a complicated relationship, and a profound meditation on the human condition. “4 Days Out” is a true masterpiece of episodic television.
Face Off
Season 4, Episode 13
Walt’s intense rivalry with Gus came to a head (and off with a face) in the season 4 finale. “Face Off” is most notable for the horrific image of Two-Face Gus adjusting his tie before dropping dead in a scorched nursing home. But it’s an intense ride right up to that point.
Walt finally gets Jesse on board with his plot to kill Gus after Walt convinces him that Gus poisoned Brock to turn him against Walt. In the jaw-dropping final moments of the episode, we’ll realize that Walt poisoned Brock to turn Jesse against Gus. Bryan Cranston gives one of his best performances in that scene; it’s a performance within a performance.
Ozymandias
Season 5, Episode 14
The first time you watched Breaking Bad, you had to get through 60 episodes’ worth of buildup and anticipation before you got to the action-packed climax of the series, with all the payoffs you’d been waiting six years to see. “Ozymandias” is still two episodes away from the end, but it marked the denouement of the saga before the aftermath in “Granite State” and the epilogue in “Felina.”
But once you’ve finished the series, you can skip those 60 episodes of buildup and go straight to the payoffs. It’s never a bad time to revisit the greatest episode of Breaking Bad. “Ozymandias” is a rollercoaster from start to finish: Hank is murdered, Jesse is enslaved, Walt, Jr. learns his father’s secret, Skyler attacks Walt with a knife, and Walt kidnaps Holly. Television doesn’t get more exciting than this.
