Breaking Bad, which is one of the most critically acclaimed shows in television history, has its share of memorable moments.

The original storyline, centering around a high school chemistry teacher who transforms into a ruthless kingpin in the local methamphetamine drug trade, and outstanding acting, has made it a classic viewing experience even for people that didn’t watch it when the show originally aired more than 10 years ago.

Countless critics and YouTubers have analyzed episodes and details from the show so we decided to jump into the fray and share our picks for the five best moments of the show.

Scene: Hank’s death

Episode: Ozymandias (S5 EP14)

At this point in time, Walt was arrested by Hank while Hank celebrates and calls Marie to tell her he finally caught Walt. At that moment though the people Walt hired to come in need of help, the people he had called earlier, show up. Even though Walt told them to not come because he realized Jesse partnered up with Hank and he didn’t want to hurt Hank. They show up and have a shoot-out with Hank and Gomie resulting in the death of Gomie and leaving Hank injured in the leg. Then Jack gets to Hank and points a gun at him. Walt sees this and tries to persuade Jack to not kill Hank, that Hank will cooperate and not tell anyone but to please just let him go. Jack says that there’s no way that they could let Hank go since he’s a DEA agent. Walt pleads with Jack even going as far as offering the money he had in order to let him go. But as much as Walt offers Jack, Jack still ends up shooting Hank in front of Walt with no remorse.

This moment is one of the more important ones as it shows that Wal’s actions have finally caught up with him and the consequences that they bring. This also makes him realize that not everything can go his way and that he must now suffer the consequences of his own actions that led to this. He also realizes that his actions also have an effect on the people he loves, not just him.

Scene: Say my name

Episode: Say my name (S5 EP7)

The scene starts off in the middle of the desert with Walt, Jesse, and Mike trying to make a deal with one of the distributors of meth, that being Declan. They do this because Walt doesn’t want to sell out to them and sell the rest of the methylamine that he has. Instead, Walt comes up with the idea that they should keep the methylamine and continue the meth business. They do this because they need someone else to do the distribution since Mike is leaving the business. At first, Declan doesn’t really want to do the deal with Walt, but then he asks Walt who he is. Walt responds by saying, “You know, you all know exactly who I am” and tells the distributor to say his name. Except Declan still has no clue who he is, so then Walt tells him, “I’m the cook, I’m the man who killed Gus Fring” that’s when Declan realizes who he’s talking to. So then Walt tells him yet again to “Say my name” with Declan’s response being “You’re Heisenberg”. Walt then acknowledges this by saying, “You’re goddamn right”.

This is yet again another very important moment as it shows that Walt acknowledges his alter ego, Heisenberg. It shows that Walt is no longer Walter but is instead becoming more and more like Heisenberg. In the sense that he has more control and power over things that typical Walter wouldn’t be able to handle. Another thing it shows is how much Walt has changed since the beginning of the show till now. The soft-spoken chemistry teacher we used to know is no more. Now it is empire drug lord Heisenberg.

Scene: Crawl space

Episode: Crawl Space (S4 EP11)

This scene takes place after Walt is fired by Gus from the business. This happens because Walt had tried to go to Jesse’s house the night before. Gus and Mike had already previously warned him to not interact with Jesse at all. As Walt had not listened, Gus kidnapped him and brought him to fire him and tell him that because Walt couldn’t resolve the problem with Hank he now has to resolve it. He tells Walt that if he interferes he will simply kill his wife, son, and even infant daughter. This sends Walt into a panic as now he has to get his family out of the state before Gus gets to them. He gets to Saul’s office and tells him to call for the guy that can get them out of there. He then hurries to the house to get the money he had saved in case of an emergency. He gets to the crawl space under the house to get the money while Skyler is confused as to what he’s doing. He asks Skyler where the rest of the money is and she tells him she gave it to Ted Beneke. Walt is absolutely furious as this was the money that he had been saving up just for this type of occasion and now it’s not there. He goes from screaming to laughing as he slowly loses his mind over the fact they can’t be relocated and are doomed.

This moment is just absolutely brilliant, from the cinematography, the background music, and the acting. The way it all fits together shows that Walter is now trapped and has basically no way to save his family from Gus killing them. It shows that Walter has lost all hope and instead decides to laugh it off. Also makes him realize that he’s gonna have to find another way of solving this problem to keep his family safe.

Scene: I did it for me

Episode: Felina (S5 EP16)

The scene starts with Walt going to the apartment Skyler, Walt Jr, and Holly are located. They had to move houses because she lost all her assets due to suspicion of being associated with Walter’s work. Walter then hands her a lottery ticket containing the coordinates of where Gomie and Hank’s bodies are buried. He does this so that Skyler can make a deal with the prosecutor so that she can get herself out of this mess. He then says that for all the things he did for himself. He was good at it, he liked it, and he was alive when he cooked.

This moment shows that what Walt was doing, in the beginning, may have looked like he was doing it for the family, but the more and more he did it and the better he got the more he realized how good it felt to be the best at something. He realized that finally, he gets to live the way he has wanted to for so long. His intentions at the beginning for him cooking meth were for the better of his family. Except that once he realized he was the best he didn’t want to stop. That’s why he kept cooking even though he had enough money for his family to last him a whole decade, he kept doing it because he liked it.

Scene: Hank realizes Walt is Heisenberg

Episode: Gliding over all (S5 EP8)

This scene starts off as a casual family BBQ that is being held at Walts’s place. Everyone is having fun, talking, and eating. Hank then excuses himself to go to the bathroom. As he is in there he gets bored and decides to read some of the magazines and books Walt has in the bathroom to kill some time. As he does this he stumbles upon a book that catches his eye. He opens it and reads a note inside the book that says “To my other favorite W.W. It’s an honor working with you. Fondly, G.B” Hank connects this to the evidence he had about Gale saying that he dedicated his work to W.W. At the time when he read Gale’s paper he didn’t think that it could’ve been Walter, but instead thought it was dedicated to Walt Whitman. But after he found the book in Walter’s bathroom he came to a realization that W.W is Walter White. This news is an absolute surprise to him and he takes the book and tells Marie that they need to leave.

This moment is just so impactful because Hank, someone who used to look up to Walt a lot just realized the person he was trying to chase for a year was under his nose the whole time. This also has a great impact on Walter as now he has to worry about Hank finding enough evidence to catch him and arrest him.