This is easily one of the best seasons of television ever, and it’s not even the best season of Breaking Bad. There are just so many phenomenal episodes in this season, but how would I rank them all?
Check out some of my other Breaking Bad lists:
13 – Open House
Rating: C+
Once again, this season (apart from the opener) starts with a slog of boring episodes. The worst offender is probably “Open House”, since I never really liked the Marie stealing sub-plot anyway.
12 – Thirty-Eight Snub
Rating: C+
It always frustrated me how Breaking Bad used to grind to a halt after the season opener, but to be fair season four’s “dry patch” is still quite interesting. Seeing Walt let his paranoia take over is fun, and the cat and mouse game between Walt and Gus truly begins here.
11 – Bullet Points
Rating: C+
Nothing really happens in this yet again, but the Hank / Walt conversations are quite intense, and the Gale karaoke video is one of the funniest moments in the show, even if it is a little bittersweet.
10 – Shotgun
Rating: B
Big jump up in quality, and “filler” episodes of this quality are part of the reason why I consider this to be one of the greatest television seasons of all time.
9 – Bug
Rating: B+
It doesn’t sit well with me that this fantastic episode is so low – after all, the shootout at Gus’s compound is amazing, and the whole car bug ordeal is a great plot point. There are too many great episodes in this season, so “Bug” has to lose out I’m afraid.
8 – Cornered
Rating: B+
A pretty good episode that instantly became iconic with the “I am the danger / I am the one who knocks!” speech. I still have a poster with that line on my wall, it maybe isn’t a conventional motivational quote but it does the job.
7 – Problem Dog
Rating: A-
Aaron Paul deserved all the acting awards for his performance in thisepisode – his speech at the therapy is up there with the best acting performances I’ve ever seen.
I almost forgot the kickass car explosion was in this episode as well, so this episode is easily in the A tier.
6 – Hermanos
Rating: A-
I was wondering if we ever got to see what makes Gus tick, but at the same time I was satisfied that this mysterious figure had no back story. I was blown away when we actually got it, and I was surprised that I actually felt pity for one of the most evil men in TV history.
5 – Box Cutter
Rating: A
This is probably my favourite of all the season openers.
I was eagerly anticipating the aftermath of the season 3 finale, and what we got absolutely blew me away. Gus was always a psychologically imposing villain, so to have him physically imposing as well was chilling to the core. A perfect start to a near-perfect season.
4 – End Times
Rating: A
An incredible set-up to the season finale, I only wish it was as perfect as the episodes either side of it. “Crawl Space” is an episode where everything happens at once, so this one almost felt underwhelming by comparison. I’ve still given it an A for how amazing it is.
3 – Salud
Rating: A+
I wasn’t sure what to expect when Jesse went without Walt to Mexico, but of course Gus had a master plan.
The scene where Gus gets his revenge is one of my favourites in the entire show, and it was great to see Jesse putting the cartel cooks in their place.
2 – Crawl Space
Rating: A+
One of the most terrifying and unsettling endings to any form of non-horror entertainment I’ve ever seen. So much happens in this episode, it would be pointless to try and list them off – just watch it for yourself, but not before you re-watch the entire show again.
1 – Face Off
Rating: A+
Up there as one of the greatest episodes of television ever, let alone a season finale.
You knew that the Gus / Walt confrontation had to boil over at some point, and this episode is the culmination of an intense season-long cat and mouse chase between the two. Perfect television if you ask me.
Season Rating: A+
Phenomenal, one of the best seasons of TV I’ve ever seen. Let’s see the stats:
- 7 A (54%)
- 3 B (23%)
- 3 C (23%)
Amazing work, if only there wasn’t the dry spell at the start it would have been a flawless season.
Next time, we’ll look at the first half of the best TV season ever …
Until then, check out some of my latest blog posts:
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