Analyzing the fly in Breaking Bad

We see "the fly" on three occasions: once, of course, a full episode is centered on it. The other two times both come from the first half of Season 5 -- once we see a real live fly, briefly, and once it's just a picture of a fly.

But what does the fly mean?

No matter what it means, you gotta love this shot.

There are many theories. Surface level, at least in "Fly" (3.09), it conveys how stressed out Walt is. He can only focus on one little thing at a time and he chooses to obsess over the fly. He's trying to feel some control over his life, and he can't even kill one little fly. That would be frustrating.

However, in "Fly" we are constantly reminded of Jane's death, and the night she died. The episode's cold open has the audio of Skyler singing the lullaby to Holly that night. Walt talks at length about it... hearing Skyler sing to their baby, the strange cosmic coincidence of meeting Jane's dad in a bar, his overwhelming guilt, his desire that he never would have left home, and finally his conclusion that that was the night he should have died. "That would have been perfect."

This isn't random. Jane died almost a full season ago. The audience has pretty much moved on. Jesse hasn't, of course, never will -- but Walt's lingering guilt is sort of surprising. And that's where we get the fly. Walt's killed a couple people before Jane, but those were sort of necessary. Self-defense. Jane's the first one that, while he may have not directly killed her, he could have saved her -- and he could have spared Jesse a lot of pain. And let's be honest, Jesse is, like, the only person Walt cares about. So he feels guilty. And he'll feel guilt for as long as Jesse feels pain.

(And there's the plane crash and all that nonsense, but I sort of feel that that plot point was more metaphorical -- it really happened, but I don't think we're meant to take it super literally.)

So the fly is Walt's guilt. Pesky. Impossible to kill.

Interestingly, though, in "Fly," Jesse is the one to ultimately kill it. But notice how his physical action of killing the fly mirrors the words he says to Walt. When Walt apologizes to Jesse about Jane, clearly aching to get this off his chest, Jesse tells him, "It's not your fault. It's not mine either. It's nobody's, not even hers." This is exactly what Walt needs to hear (even if it's not true) and it allows the fly to finally be killed -- but not until after Walt gives up his obsessive quest to kill it, telling Jesse to come down from the ladder.

But the fly returns, hours later, when Walt is trying to fall asleep at home. We see his guilt keep him up at night. There's no permanent solution, really -- it'll be a constant companion.

However only in "Fly" does Walt allow himself to become consumed with guilt. The next death I'd argue he feels really guilty about, though like Jane's, is not directly at fault for, is that of the dirt-bike kid in "Dead Freight." Also like Jane's, this is the death of an innocent and one completely unnecessary.

In "Fifty-One," we don't see a real, live fly, but notice the picture of the fly on the wall behind him. This is prior to the death of the dirt-bike kid, so in this instance the fly hangs over him, foreshadowing what's going to happen -- as he speaks of methylamine and uses the word "train": clear links to the upcoming episode "Dead Freight" and the guilt his determination will bring him.

The third time we see the fly is at the beginning of "Gliding Over All," the episode after Walt kills Mike. While Mike may not have been innocent, per se, there's a common thread. His death was completely, utterly, ridiculously unnecessary. (I'm a Mike Ehrmantraut fan, can you tell? Hence my knowing how to spell his last name.) And Walt realizes how unnecessary killing him was, before he's even dead.

This is called a rack-focus, ooh, yay, fun with film!

This time it's a live fly, sitting on a computer monitor. Walt doesn't make any attempt to kill it, just stares it down. At this point, he's compartmentalized his guilt, knows how to live with it, but doesn't really feel it.

So that's my take on the symbol of the fly in Breaking Bad. I think my theory is most congruous with the show and the separate appearances of the fly, but there are other interesting theories out there and you should definitely look them up! And you should watch "Fly" if you haven't seen it, because it's a fantastic episode, hilarious, heartbreaking, all that good stuff -- and it's like a freaking study in act structure. It's great.

Doctor Who 50th, thoughts and feels

The Day of the Doctor was for the fans, one hundred percent -- and that's the way it should have been. So props for that, Moffat.

This was immensely fun to see in a theater packed with very responsive fans -- we got all the jokes, and cheered for all the cameos. Doctor Who has often been at its best when it makes references to its own rich history, leading to great comedic and dramatic moments on the show. (The time when Ten put on the gas mask and said "Are you my mummy?"... Just wonderful.) The 50th was jam-packed with such references and that was often the most fun.

The biggest laugh may have come from this line after Eleven said "timey-wimey" and John Hurt gave him a look: "I don't know where he picked that up," said Ten. All of the banter between the three docs was pure gold.

There was of course a huge cheer for Tom Baker and also for the small flash we got of Peter Capaldi, soon to become number 12. Or thirteen?

This guy can definitely pull off "the oncoming storm."

The plot of this special focuses on what happened after Classic Who left off and before New Who picked up -- what happened was John Hurt, or Doctor number 8 and a half: The Warrior. The one who killed all the time-lords, making himself the only one left -- and extremely angsty about it for the next three regenerations.

The plot was intricate and coherent and intriguing and just about everything you'd want, until, well... the end.

I'm not sure how I feel about the big plot twist. To me, the fact that the Doctor killed his entire race has been integral to his character since Nine. Obviously we don't lose what already happened -- a convenience since they apparently won't remember the big stunt that every single regeneration was in on. That's a lot of memory loss. How do you forget something you've done twelve times?

Honestly, I'm not sure what the Doctor's motivation is anymore. I've always seen him as someone so guilt-ridden and self-loathing that he has to keep moving and running and saving planets and collecting young companions and being goofy. If he stops for a moment to really think about what he's done, well -- that can't ever happen. To me, that's what New Who is all about -- that darkness and how he deals with it and how it occasionally bleeds through. And this big plot twist cheapens the darkness of the past seven seasons, since the Doctor apparently had nothing to feel guilty about at all.

Did I mention that the special effects were stunning?

My verdict is that if this had been the series finale, and series in the American sense as in no more Who, it would've been flawless. Don't get me wrong, as an homage to this show and its fans, it did a fantastic job. But I have trouble seeing where we go from here. Where Eleven (and Twelve) will go, no longer with the darkness in his eyes that Clara spoke of. "Home," Eleven said. But what does that mean? Will he un-freeze Gallifrey? And how does that work? Is the Time War not over, then, just on pause?

I suppose there are plenty of questions left to warrant another 50 years as everyone's hoping for.

However, if there's not a really, monumental, noticeable shift in the Doctor's persona from here on out I will feel extremely cheated. Moffat, if you're going to rewrite history you have to stick to it and commit. The Doctor's not the same guy anymore. We have to see that in what's left of Eleven and definitely in Twelve -- who I was actually expecting to be a really dark Doctor. So much for that.

I guess I have to accept that the days of Tennant and Russel T Davies are gone, with Ten saying, for what's got to be the last time, "I don't want to go." (The only really painful moment of the show -- I nearly died.)

I don't want you to go, either, but this is a show that's always moving forward and maybe we'll get to Trenzalore someday and see what that's all about... but it's hard not to look back with nostalgia. The 50th let us do that (especially for Tennant, ughh), but reminded us that while the show's past is great, the future has a lot of potential.

Fun with map projections.

Here's something you might not know about me: I love maps. Love 'em. And map projection is really super fascinating. I mean, think about it: The earth is sphere, and not even close to a perfect one, and yet we are all more familiar with the way it looks flattened out. But how do you flatten out a sphere?

Welcome to the wonderful world of map projection.

This is Ptolemy's map of the world, created in the 2nd century, C.E. Since Ptolemy was not an idiot, he knew that the earth was round and his map sort of reflects that knowledge, though I'm not sure what the deal is with the cherub things around the map's perimeter. However, Europe and Western Asia are recognizable.

The most interesting thing about this map though, is that big island in the lower, right half. Any guesses what that is? It's Sri Lanka. But wait, you say -- Sri Lanka is not bigger than Spain! And where's India? Fair points. India is that tiny little pointy thing north of Sri Lanka. But -- but -- India is so much bigger than Sri Lanka! Well, yeah. It is. So why did the map end up being this way?

Welcome to map distortion, my friends, the evil twin of map projection. You can't have one without the other. 

(I just realized I'm being shamefully nerdy about maps. Eh.)

The reason why Sri Lanka ended up being so inaccurately large has to do with the island's importance to European traders. Sri Lanka, or Ceylon back then, was a huge center of trade in the Indian Ocean. It's importance and prominence translated into square mileage on Ptolemy's map. Whereas India, not such a big deal back then, doesn't even really make an appearance.

Well, you say, that is ridiculous! Thank God we have accurate maps nowadays! 

I smile with delight at your ignorance and prepare to educate you on the problems with modern map projections.

Let's look at the two map projections discussed in this great clip from The West Wing, and then explore less familiar and newer projections.

The Mercator Projection:

This projection looks nice to us, probably because it's the most familiar. It's the one used on Google Maps. All map projections strike a balance of accuracy in size and accuracy in shape. The Mercator Projection picks shape over size, all the way. As demonstrated in the West Wing clip, Greenland, while appearing monstrous, is actually this size, comparatively to Africa:

What's more disturbing, though, than making a glacier where no one lives look bigger than it actually is, is making a huge, diverse continent where 1 billion people live look much smaller than it actually is. Thanks, Mercator projection. This is a picture I want everyone to see and, like, hang on their wall and just let it sink in: 

Africa, I appreciate how large you are.

Another smaller, more personal gripe about the Mercator projection: I was led to believe than Norway, Sweden and Finland are actually fairly large countries! They are not. My score on Sporcle quizzes has suffered in result. See, map projections have real world consequences.

The Peters Projection:

The Peters Projection picked size over shape. I see and appreciate their cause, but actually now Canada and Russia look like they're not the biggest two countries in the world, so that's no good. Plus this map is not nice to look at. Africa looks great, though. But everything around the poles got all squatty and ugly looking. It makes people accustomed to the Mercator Projection (which is everyone) uncomfortable. And maps should be fun to look at. Nice try, Peters Projection, but this isn't a solution. What we need is a compromise between size and shape.

Robinson Projection:

This compromise projection looks great (excepting Antarctica) and strikes a nice balance between accuracy of size and shape.

Cahill Butterfly Map:

Interesting, but kind of disorienting.

Goode Homolosine Projection:

Similar to the butterfly map, while preserving north-south orientation. Generally nicer to look at, but still sort of funky.

Mollweide Projection:

This is a very nice map, and Antarctica has been reined in a little. Always appreciated.

Werner Projection:

This heart-shaped projection is great for looking at the north pole, but not so great for much else. Like, check out Australia. What's up with Australia?! 

There will be distortion in maps for as long as we insist on projecting a sphere's surface onto a two-dimensional piece of paper. There's no totally satisfying solution, so the answer is to use a variety of maps and understand that none are perfect. And use globes whenever possible. Globes are fantastic.

Breaking Bad: the best cold opens

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. 

Let's count down the fifteen best Breaking Bad cold opens and examine what makes them so great.

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.

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.

My book befriends other (better) books

My book and The Book Thief are best friends. Actually, no -- The Book Thief doesn't know my book exists, but my book has a shrine to it in its closet. It's not weird at all.

Here my book feels inferior and rather pale next to the flashy Hunger Games series. 

The shadow cast on my book by The Kite Runner is a literal representation of how this great book completely overshadows my book.

Here we see my book feeling very humorless and dull standing between Stephen Colbert's two books.

My book is fangirling so hard right now, so close to all these awesome John Green books.

My book is absolutely overwhelmed to be surrounded by the entire Harry Potter series.

JOHN GREEN AND I ARE POSED IN PRACTICALLY THE SAME WAY. UM. YEAH. WE'RE CLEARLY MEANT TO BE BEST FRIENDS OR PENPALS OR SOMETHING PLEASE JOHN. PLEASE. 

My author bio feels very wordy and unnecessarily long side by side with Stephen Colbert's. Also humorless and dull.

...I am not worthy...

10 best Breaking Bad episodes

In honor of my having just completely caught up with Breaking Bad, here are my picks for the ten best episodes, in countdown style...

10.) "Four Days Out" 2.09

This episode is simple, heartfelt, funny... really just wonderful.

Walt and Jesse's extremely dysfunctional relationship almost works for a while in this episode, and the interactions they have here are the kind of thing we get nostalgic for toward the end.

9.) "Pilot" 1.01

No matter how far this show has come (and gone) the fact remains that the pilot episode is one of the best pilots ever and, well, one of the best episodes of the series.

A goal in film is to create something iconic. And the pilot introduces  so many now iconic images. The R.V. Walt in his tighty-whities, wielding a gun. The first cool "cook" montage of many to come. Not to mention, this episode kicks off with the best cold open of all time. I've watched this episode three times and each time I've enjoyed it, and each time I've noticed little things that continue to be relevant all the way to the end. That's the sign of a good pilot.

8.) "Fly" 3.10

This episode is hugely controversial. You either love it or you hate it. Guess what. I love it.

The fly has a ton of possible interpretations and meanings -- maybe I'll make a separate blog post about that. But moving beyond the artsy-fartsy aspects of this episode (how 'bout that cold open, eh?), it's just really enjoyable. Walt and Jesse. Together. In the lab. Trying to kill a fly. For forty-five minutes. And it's only Walt and Jesse (and the fly) -- no one else makes an appearance. It's plenty funny, but this episode is so important. Walt almost tells Jesse he let Jane die. If he had, it would've been a very different moment from the one in Ozymandias. At this point, Walt still regrets it. In Ozymandias, not so much... But Walt doesn't tell Jesse this. However, he does tell him that he wished he would have died the night Jane died -- which is hugely important to our understanding of Walt in season three and beyond. 

7.) "Gliding Over All" 5.08

If you think you've seen good video editing but you haven't seen this episode... I'm sorry to break it to you, but you don't even really know what a montage is. Of course there's the famous, fantastically edited, if hard to watch, prison/shank montage. But the four minute long Crystal Blue Persuasion montage is even better. Click the link. Click it.

The scene Skyler shows Walt his huge stack of money was actually the first scene of Breaking Bad I ever saw. Of course when my dad showed me this scene a year or two ago, it had no meaning to me. With context, however, a second viewing made an impact. When she asks him how much is enough, she's missing the point: this has never been about the money for Walt. If it had been, he would've stopped long ago -- or, rather, would've taken the money from Elliot. That stack can get twice as big and it won't be enough.

It's sort of infuriating though that everything could have been pretty much okay if Hank had just waited until he got home. But justice has to be served and let's be honest -- it's a fantastic cliffhanger.

6.) "...And the Bag's in the River" 1.03

This is the first Great episode of Breaking Bad, with a capital G. It's got one of my favorite cold opens: shots of Jesse and Walt scrubbing Emilio's chunky, gooey remains from the carpet interspersed with a flashback of Walt and Gretchen, discussing the elements that make up a human body. Once they list all the elements and their percentages, there is still a portion of a percent unaccounted for. Hmm. What are they missing? What are they forgetting? "A soul?" Gretchen proposes wistfully. No, Walt says firmly. "There's just chemistry here." But what are they missing? "There's got to be more to a human being than that," flashback Walt concludes, as current day Walt pours a bucket of liquefied Emilio down the toilet. 

It's immensely powerful.

This is the episode when we realize that this is a show that makes no excuses. Walt talks to the captured Krazy 8, all the while knowing its his job to "take care of him" (based on a coin flip -- Jesse gets the other job: disposing of Emilio). Yet Walt allows himself to connect with Krazy 8, claiming that he's looking for a reason not to kill him. In a revealing moment, Walt makes a pros and cons list -- kill him verses let him live. The let him live column basically reiterates the same point over and over: it's the moral thing to do. But the kill him column has one point: if I don't, he will kill my entire family. That is the repeated conflict of the show.

However, we get to know Krazy 8 a bit. We like him, actually. But in a sequence that still gives me the chills, Walt digs the shattered remains of the plate out of the trash to find a huge, dagger-like chunk missing. "Why are you doing this?" Walt implores, knowing now that he has no choice. So he goes back to the basement, allowing Krazy 8 to think he's going to get away until... he chokes him to death with the bike lock.

This episode sets the stage and the tone for the rest of the series in a way that the first two episodes didn't.

5.) "Grilled" 2.02

I always say, if the first season doesn't hook you, this episode will. I think this episode was supposed to be the Season 1 finale but got pushed to the unceremonious slot of second episode of the second season because of the writers' strike that cut the first season short. But watch this episode knowing that it's of season finale caliber. 

This episode is chewing-on-your-fingernails, edge-of-your-seat intense, as Tuco plays around with a machete while Walt and Jesse quietly try to poison him. But Hector Salamanca, everyone's favorite senile ex-cartel boss, is sharper than he looks. The bell is genius. Honestly. I think it's easy to take for granted how genius the bell is, but trust me. It's genius. Just the way it starts dinging after Hank kills Tuco and continues into the end credits. 

This is the point of no return. There's no turning back once you've seen this episode.

4.) "Half Measures" and "Full Measure" 3.12 & 3.13

Yeah, I know, I cheated by lumping these two together. But they are really two parts of a whole. Half Measures is, to me, all about Mike's speech: "No more half measures, Walter." Brilliant. And of course Walt saving Jesse's life. Always appreciated. But mostly these two episodes are Mike, Mike, Mike. Love that guy. I want to be Mike Ehrmantraut when I grow up. I'd argue that in the context of this show Mike is actually a really moral character, and his speech in Half Measures is a lot of my basis for that argument.

MIKE!

Full Measure has a killer cliff hanger (literally) and raises really important moral questions, because we all love Jesse, but Gale was such a good person... I think we can all agree, though, that's Walt's awful.

Seriously, I need therapy now because of Jesse Pinkman.

3.) "Face Off" 4.13

Heh. Heh.

Yeah, so this episode happened. I legitimately wish I could erase my memory of this episode's plot and watch it completely fresh (along with End Times) not knowing what Walt did. Because that must've been the shocker of all shockers. This is how you freaking wrap a season, guys. Oh, and Gus died, but that gets dwarfed by the reveal in the last few seconds. And that takes some doing because Gus freaking died. In a really iconic, memorable way. And the name of the episode, well -- you get the joke.

2.) "Crawl Space" 4.11

This episode is spot-on with the dark humor the show's known for. I love the exchange between Walt and Saul: "Gus is going to kill my entire family!" "Christ..." Saul's just like, damn it, Gus, not this again... And of course Huell. Just... Huell. This episode is basically a record bad day for Walt. And it allows us to be okay with Gus's impending death. Gustavo "I-will-kill-your-infant-daughter" Fringe is a complete psychopath.

From the moment Walt burst into Saul's office, talking a mile a minute, I let his anxiety spread to me, and I was basically hyperventilating for the last 10 minutes of this episode. It's really such a perfect tragedy, that all Walt can do at the end is laugh. Laugh like a madman, as Skyler backs away and moves slowly down the hallway, toward the phone where Marie is leaving a message --"it's happening again" -- all while Walt's crazed laughter echoes in the background.

Enjoy the last 2 and a half minutes. The build up at Saul's office is really important, but this scene standing alone still gives me chills like nothing else. Plus the final shot of this episode is so much like the final shot of the final episode that I think it can't be a coincidence.

See what I mean? Totally not a coincidence. 

AND I JUST FIGURED OUT WHAT IT MEANS. Okay, in Crawl Space whatever is left of Walter White dies. Gone. I mean, he poisons a child in the next episode. Walter White is dead. In Felina, of course, Heisenberg dies. This is a character who has died twice, and here we have his two selves dying in strikingly similar fashions. Walter White's death is a tragedy. Heisenberg's death is a relief. 

1.) "Ozymandias" 5.14

This episode begins with a flashback. Walt and Jesse cooking in the RV, Walt lying to Skyler, Jesse being dumb -- you know, the good old days. That is the moment when I knew -- this episode is going to be really painful. They're giving us this, something light, and then they're going to destroy us. And they did. This episode is gut punch after gut punch. This episode, as I've said before, is the lowest of the low for Walt. The full extent of his evil transformation. For those of us who just wanted the show to turn "Mr. Chips into Scarface," we could have viewed this as the series finale. The last two episodes bring us back from the edge a bit, but the damage has been done. There's no undoing Hank's death (or Gomie's, let's not forget Gomie!). There's no undoing Jesse's awful fate. And Walt -- Walt loses everything. Absolutely everything.

You want to hear something that makes Hank's death even sadder? Okay, remember in Buried (5.10) when Walt buried his eight barrels of cash in the desert, spending all day and all night digging the hole? The entire time he was digging, he was unwittingly digging Hank's grave. In Walt's greed and desperation, he literally (and figuratively) dug Hank's grave. This is almost unbearably depressing.

The climax undoubtedly comes in the form of a verbal and physical confrontation Walt has with his wife and son. And this is the moment when all of Walt's pretenses fall away and he has to face the truth of what he's done to his family in the name of saving his family. It's tough stuff and the acting is, well, the best I've ever seen if I can be so bold.

Although I love Felina as a series finale and think it did everything it should have done, I'm not ranking it as one of the top ten best episodes over all. This show sets a very high bar for itself, and an internal ranking such as this one is very hard to do. Breaking Bad fans are known for being very self-righteous and confident that they alone understand the show -- hence the new tag: imho -- a.k.a.: don't kill me. These are, in my humble opinion, the best ten episodes (well, eleven) according to my understanding of the show. There are many runner-ups, like the pilot, End Times, Salud and let's just throw in the whole of Season Four while we're at it, but these ten (well, eleven) affected me the most and also represent a variety of seasons and styles.

I can't say it enough, and this time I'll quote one of my favorite YouTubers: "If you haven't watched Breaking Bad, honest to God go watch it."