Cold opens, or teasers, are the usually one to two minute long segments that come before the titles -- before the first act. All shows, virtually, have cold opens; however, not a lot of shows are known for their cold opens. But of course Breaking Bad is the exception, using teasers that often lack dialogue to entice audiences and foreshadow events.
15.) Grilled 2.02
Breaking Bad's cold opens often take advantage of desert scenery and this is no exception. This one's a flash forward to the end of the episode, showing Jesse's hydraulic car still bouncing up and down, shells littered in the sand, and Tuco's body -- we don't know it's Tuco at the time though.
14.) Bug 4.09
This super short teaser foreshadows Walt and Jesse's big blow out fight while still being really vague and artsy and intriguing when you first see it.
13.) Box Cutter 4.01
This flashback kicks off Season Four in a way that reminds us how sad we should be about Gale's death and has some somewhat subtle foreshadowing of the infamous box cutter...
Seriously, though, if this doesn't make you totally depressed about Gale then you don't have a heart. Seeing him basically bring about his own demise by pushing Gus to hire Walt is like after-the-fact foreshadowing or something, but it's a technique used in this show at least a few other times.
12.) Dead Freight 5.05
Not super significant until the very end, but that's why it's great. Not knowing what's coming, it's still some cool desertscape fun.
Whatever you think the tarantula symbolizes, it's a great addition to the episode.
11.) Problem Dog 4.07
What I like about this show is that actions have real consequences. When something major happens, it's not wrapped up in the next few episodes. It drags on. That's real life. So when Jesse kills Gale, he's still feeling the guilt and pain and PTSD seven episodes later.
This great cold open shows Jesse's graffitied house as he plays a first person shooter video game. Inevitably, he can't help but see Gale every time he shoots. But he keeps going anyway.
10.) Buried 5.10
Oh, Jesse, my love. This is the fall out from the last time we saw Jesse, racked with guilt, driving through the slums, hurling cash from his car.
Now we see an old man follow a trail of money from his yard to Jesse's crashed car (left blinker on... I love that little touch), and then to Jesse himself, lying on the playground carousel. Enjoy the gif of this great shot.
9.) Better Call Saul 2.08
This scene is just really funny. Badger, sitting on a Better Call Saul bench, feels out a potential customer. Once he's satisfied the guy's not an undercover cop, he pulls out the meth.
And the guy pulls out his gun. "DEA, you're under arrest!" Well, Badger, better call Saul!
8.) ...And the Bag's in the River 1.03
I've extolled this particular cold open before, and I continue to love it to pieces.
As I've said before, it's disgusting and thought-provoking and again plays on the theme that actions have consequences.
As I've said before, it's disgusting and thought-provoking and again plays on the theme that actions have consequences.
7.) Kafkaesque 3.09
A hilarious Pollos Hermanos ad, a waterfall of fried chicken changing into a waterfall of meth, and a nice little overview of what happens once Walt and Jesse are done for the day.
This cold open is basically what I love about Breaking Bad in under 3 minutes. And I was able to find the entire teaser on YouTube! Hurrah!
6.) Ozymandias 5.14
I wasn't sure how they were going to start this episode and I was not disappointed with the method they chose.
This flashback reeks of nostalgia and is just what we need to really get the pain of what's to come to be almost unbearable.
5.) Say My Name 5.07
This very long and dialogue heavy cold open is atypical in that, well, it's long and dialogue heavy. Here's the last 16 seconds of this particular teaser for your enjoyment.
This scene gives us the title of the episode and the season's tagline: "Say my name." "You're Heisenberg." "You're goddamn right." Walt is horrible, but you gotta admit he's a total badass.
4.) Blood Money 5.01
This continuation of Live Free or Die's cold open, is, in my opinion, the better of the two. At this point, the writers know where these flash forwards are going. Here's the last little bit of it:
We see Walt (with a full head of hair) retrieve the ricin from his deserted, graffitied house. We see Walt's neighbor, Carol, drop her groceries. We theorize on how we will get to this point in only eight episodes.
3.) ABQ 2.13
This is the last of four similar black and white flash forward cold opens that depict a pink teddy bear in a pool. Walt's pool.
This one uses some repeat footage from the previous three and continues on to widen to a view of the White house, swarming with hazmat-suit-clad clean-up crews and framed by two pillars of black smoke. As we zoom out, we change to full color. That's our hint -- the time has finally come to find out what this all means and how we will get there.
2.) No Más 3.01
This is in a lot of ways the Breaking Bad cold open. It's weird, artsy and has no dialogue. But it's so cool.
We meet the cousins, and already know they're bad news, as they place a sketch of Heisenberg at the altar. And why is everyone crawling?!
1.) Pilot 1.01
I can't say enough about this teaser. This is the first thing we are meant to see of Breaking Bad and it's perfect in every way. It gets the job done: there's no way you aren't going to sit there for an hour to find out how this flash forward comes to pass. It's artsy enough: pants fluttering down from the sky, anyone? And it's kind of hilarious. Well, I thought it was anyway.
The first scene ever of this show grabs your attention and lets you know right from the start: this is no ordinary show you're about to watch.
In a way, all of these cold opens do this because they are so effective. Let's look at the common links between these fifteen great teasers. Five utilize flash forwards, three feature flash backs and seven have little to no dialogue. One of the most important things I learned from Breaking Bad is how to tell a story without relying on dialogue as a crutch. Film is a visual medium, and this show fully understands that and takes advantage of that at every turn. And interrupting the chronology of the show through flashbacks and flash forwards creates intrigue, but doing this in teasers insures that they don't confuse viewers or break the flow of the episode's main four acts.
I could teach a semester long college course on the merits of Breaking Bad's cold opens, but for now I'll content myself with this blog post.
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