Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com EW.com
    • All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
    • All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
    • All Music
    • Music Reviews
    • All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • The Bachelor
    • The Last of Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • You
    • The Masked Singer
    • Yellowstone
    • Saturday Night Live
    • Outer Banks
    • All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
    • All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
    • All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
    • All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com EW.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Sex and the City turns 25: A conversation with Skipper, Carrie's nice-guy pal from season 1

      Sex and the City turns 25: A conversation with Skipper, Carrie's nice-guy pal from season 1

      Ben Weber, who played Carrie's pal (and Miranda's boyfriend) Skipper, shares his memories from the set of Sex and the City season 1. Read More
    • 20 years of Wrong Turn: How a movie about murderous cannibals became an unkillable franchise

      20 years of Wrong Turn: How a movie about murderous cannibals became an unkillable franchise

      The Eliza Dushku-starring 2003 horror film was followed by six other movies, with two more planned. Some of the key figures in front of and behind the camera explained how it happened. Read More
    • Harvey Guillén finds his light: The What We Do in the Shadows star on pride, perseverance, and Puss in Boots

      Harvey Guillén finds his light: The What We Do in the Shadows star on pride, perseverance, and Puss in Boots

      “It's more important now than ever to be as loud as we can be, to create the queerest content we can,” says the Blue Beetle actor, who graces EW’s 2023 Pride cover. Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • What to Watch

    What to Watch

    See All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • BINGE

    BINGE

    See All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • The Bachelor
    • The Last of Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • You
    • The Masked Singer
    • Yellowstone
    • Saturday Night Live
    • Outer Banks
  • The Awardist

    The Awardist

    See All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. TV
  3. Breaking Bad: The 10 essential moments from the first episode

Breaking Bad: The 10 essential moments from the first episode

Take a look back at the key scenes from the meth drama's pilot that set the course for tragedy
By Dan Snierson and Derek Lawrence Updated June 29, 2018 at 05:22 PM EDT
Skip gallery slides
FB

1 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

From cancer to cooking

06_Vrt_GalleryBB2
Credit: Ben Leuner/AMC

Breaking Bad turned 10 years old at the beginning of 2018, and in celebration of its decade in existence, the cast reunited on the cover of EW (check out more from out Breaking Bad cast reunion right here).

Furthermore, to mark the milestone anniversary of AMC’s critically acclaimed drama centering on high school teacher-turned-meth lord Walter White (Bryan Cranston), we present, in chronological order, the 10 most important scenes from the episode in which the darkness in Walter White first came to light.

1 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Walt's wild ride

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

Can you name a show that offered a more disturbing and disorienting opening sequence? We see a pair of khakis flying through the air, an RV driving over them, a man in tighty whities (whom we’ll come to know as Walt) in a gas mask behind the wheel, a dude passed out beside him (whom we'll come to know as his partner, Jesse) chemicals spilling behind them and two guys sliding around the floor before the RV crashes. Walt hops out and records a goodbye video to his family — which is not an admission of guilt!— and then stands on a desert road, his gun pointed in the direction of approaching sirens. One question: What the f—?

2 of 11

3 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Wash and (emotionally) fold

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

You could argue that Walt set his course straight for hell once he became a murderous drug kingpin, but his lowest moment — at least in a sadsack sense — came when he was just a high school teacher moonlighting at a carwash to make ends meet. When one of the washers called in sick, he was demoted from manning the cashier to cleaning a car belonging to one of his students, who, with his girlfriend, laughed at Walt while he toiled away. For the time being, he was the one who buffs.

3 of 11

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Gun-shy

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

Walt’s surprise 50th birthday party serves as both our introduction to his loud, cocky, DEA brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris) and the first time we’ll see a gun in the hands of the man who will soon be known as Heisenberg. Upon becoming a lethal cook, he’ll look the part when armed (i.e., the finale’s Nazi-killing machine gun), but here, he appears as uncomfortable holding a weapon as a high school science teacher should.

4 of 11

Advertisement

5 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Stage 4 denial

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

Just when things can’t get worse in his cruddy life, Walt receives some truly terrible news: he is diagnosed with an inoperable tumor, and is told that with chemotherapy, he might be able to eke out a few more years before lung cancer will claim him. Walt is not really listening, though. After numbly summarizing back to the doctor what he was just told, he points out the tiny mustard stain on the doctor’s jacket that occupied his attention while the grim death sentence was delivered. In that moment, Walt became fractured from his old life.

5 of 11

6 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Awkward high school reunion

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

Imagine running into an old teacher at the worst possible moment? Such was the case for Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), who, while attempting to escape undetected from a DEA raid, is spotted by Mr. White. This gives the dying, aspiring meth manufacturer the idea to visit his former burnout student with an ultimatum: team up or get locked up. “You know the business... and I know the chemistry,” declares Walt. Jesse, a.k.a. Cap'n Cook, is right: This definitely isn’t an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter.

6 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Open eyes, open road

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

Why does a 60-year-old, er, 50-year-old with a “giant stick up his ass” suddenly break bad? Before they buy their mobile lab and officially become partners in the drug trade, Jesse needs to know the answer. “I am awake,” answers Walt with a smile and shrug. Funny what a death sentence can do to you.

7 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Walt gets a leg up on a bully

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

After a life of being walked over and humiliated, Walt has had enough. The White family’s shopping trip (big pants episode!) is interrupted by nearby teenagers mocking the disability of Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte). In what appears to be the norm, Walt does nothing and walks away, leaving the defense of their son to Skyler (Anna Gunn). But just as she approaches the group, Walt reemerges through the front door, kicking the leader’s leg out from under him. When the bully gets back on his feet, Walt dares him, "Take it! Take your shot!" Still, not even close to the worst thing he’s done to a kid.

8 of 11

Advertisement

9 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

This recipe is a real life-saver

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC
Credit: AMC

When Emilio (John Koyama) and Krazy-8 (Max Arciniega) jump to the erroneous conclusion that Walt and Jesse are working with the DEA, they draw their guns, ready to shoot. Walt switches into frantic negotiating mode, pleading with them to spare their lives and he’ll show them how to cook meth the artful way. It’s the first time we see Walt sandwiched desperately between a desert rock and a hard place — and certainly not the last time he’d bargain his way out.

9 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Science, bitch!

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC

Things don’t look good for Walt as he takes Krazy-8 and Emilio into the TV and through his cooking process — they’ll likely kill him once he shares the final step of his recipe — but Walt has an old friend on his side: chemistry. Remembering that a meth-making misstep will result in phosphine gas, he creates an explosion that stuns the duo, and runs out of the RV, leaving them inside to inhale the deadly gas and presumably perish. (Though come episode 2, Walt is in for a nasty surprise.) It also foreshadows another chemical explosion that Walt throws in front of another drug lord.

10 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

11 of 11

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

A new man

Breaking Bad pilotCredit: AMC

The recent love life of Walt and Skyler has been less than inspiring, as evidenced by his 50th birthday ending with Skyler trying her hand at pleasuring her husband in a very business-like fashion. But riding the adrenaline of his recent death-defying stunt, Walt returns home with renewed vigor. The couple begin passionately kissing in bed, leading Walt to turn her over and initiate sex, causing a shocked Skyler to moan and ask, “Oh, Walt, is that you?” This scene really takes you, well, behind the transformation.

11 of 11

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

  • By Dan Snierson @dansnierson
  • By Derek Lawrence

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 11 From cancer to cooking
    2 of 11 Walt's wild ride
    3 of 11 Wash and (emotionally) fold
    4 of 11 Gun-shy
    5 of 11 Stage 4 denial
    6 of 11 Awkward high school reunion
    7 of 11 Open eyes, open road
    8 of 11 Walt gets a leg up on a bully
    9 of 11 This recipe is a real life-saver
    10 of 11 Science, bitch!
    11 of 11 A new man

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    EW.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab Do Not Sell My Personal Informationthis link opens a modal window
    © Copyright EW.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    Breaking Bad: The 10 essential moments from the first episode
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.