After over a decade of being ridiculed for never having seenBreaking Bad, I finally sat down a few weeks ago to watch what’s often been lauded as one of thegreatest TV shows of all time.I had actually watched the first two seasons ofBreaking Badback in 2013, shortly before the critically acclaimed fifth and final season arrived, but I suddenly fell off my binge-watch and, over the next 12 years, never returned to it.
I know – afterBreaking Bad’s incredible finaleandBetter Call Saul’s masterful run, I don’t have an excuse for taking so long to finish the series. Ultimately, I agree thatBreaking Bad’s five seasonsamount to one of the best shows I’ve ever watched, which makes my stubbornness of never taking time to watch it earlier more frustrating. Partially, of course, because of themany harsh realities that come with first watching it in 2025rather than its original run.
7It Was Impossible To Not Know That Walter White Dies In The End
Though, Walt’s Fate Has Still Been Debated
Unfortunately, waiting so long to watchBreaking Badmeant thatthe unwritten online spoiler embargo had long expired. For a decade before I finally finished the hit AMC show, I already knew thatBreaking Badended withWalter White’s death. Walt dying was ultimately expected, but the gravity of the moment and whetherBreaking Badwould truly go down that path was already ruined for me.
That said,I managed to avoid learning exactly how Walter White died. Being able to go into the finale blind about how Walt would meet his demise still kept that suspense alive for me throughoutBreaking Bad’s ending, as I had no idea it would involve him sacrificing himself to rescue Jesse. Despite knowing Walt would die, I was still satisfied by not knowing the full weight of the circumstances of his death.
Of course, the reverse is also true regarding Jesse Pinkman’s fate. Since I knew about hisreturn in Netflix’s 2019El Caminomovie,Jesse’s survival was spoiled for me over six years ago. Much of the suspense regarding Jesse’s devastatingBreaking Badseason 5 story – and especially his captivity toward the very end of the series – was undermined by knowing he would escape it all alive.
Walt Screaming In The Car Doesn’t Hit The Same
Another harsh reality of watchingBreaking Badfor the very first time in 2025 is that I’ve already seen some of the show’s most devastating moments countless times. However, they’ve been in the form of memes, whichtakes away from the emotional weight of seeing the full context of those sceneswithin the show.
For instance, Walter White screaming to try to stop Hank while stuck in the car inBreaking Bad’s magnum opus “Ozymandias”doesn’t have the same effect when seen hundreds of times in meme-form beforehand. When I hear Walt saying “Someone cooked here,”I’m laughing at the scene rather than feeling the dreadit’s meant to inspire.
5The Hatred For Skyler Was So Overblown That I Kept Expecting Her To Be An Actual Villain
Skyler Didn’t Deserve Such Intense Backlash
Skyler White has often been listed among the most-hated TV charactersalongside despicable villains likeGame of Thrones’ Joffrey Baratheon and Cersei Lannister. However, while Joffrey and Cersei’s actions make their backlash warranted, the same isn’t true for Skyler – she was just a woman whose husband upended their lives by secretly operating as a major drug kingpin.
Feeling frustrated with Skyler early on is reasonable, given the show trains us to root for Walt despite the dangerous lies he continues to tell to his family. However,her actions never truly warranted the intense, widespread hatredshe’s received sinceBreaking Badseason 1. Given thecultural response to Skyler, I kept expecting her to finally become a villain, and it never happened.
Returning toBreaking Badcomes with the reminder thatAaron Paul gives a knock-out performance throughout the series, truly coming into his own as an actor and going toe-to-toe with Bryan Cranston by season 3. As such, it’s tough to watch the show today knowing that Paul hasn’t had many other hits sinceBreaking Bad’s ending.
Aaron Paul returned as Jesse Pinkman in bothBetter Call SaulandEl Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
That isn’t to say, however, that he hasn’t starred in any subsequent masterpieces. His role in Netflix’s animatedBoJack Horseman, for instance, provides one of the series’ most complex, compelling characters. However, it isn’t the on-screen smash that would have been expected for Aaron Paul afterBreaking Bad.
Paul’s movies in the time sinceBreaking Bad’s 2013 finalehave largely included movies that didn’t become box office hits, such asExodus: Gods and KingsandEye in the Sky, or quickly left the cultural landscape after release, such asNeed for SpeedandCentral Intelligence. WhenBreaking Badended, Paul was only 34 years old, soit’s surprising that he didn’t get roped into more franchises or thrillerswith larger potential.
3Giancarlo Esposito Is Fantastic As Gus, But It Exacerbated Him Being Typecast As A Villain
Esposito’s Biggest New Projects Often Cast Him As The Villain
Giancarlo Esposito only stars in three seasons ofBreaking Bad, but he makes the most of any second that he’s on-screen. Gus Fring became one ofTV’s most iconic villains of all time, andno otherBreaking Badantagonist came close. As if Esposito’s time as Gus Fring couldn’t get any better, he returned inBreaking Bad’s prequel seriesBetter Call Saulto deliver another masterclass performance.
It’s understandable that a project would want to jump on the opportunity to bring a performance like that of Gus Fring to the table if Esposito is available.
As incredible as Esposito is in bothBreaking BadandBetter Call Saul, it’s difficult not to realize while watching that he’scontinued to be typecast as a villain in many of his biggest subsequent roles.The Boys,The Mandalorian,Captain America: Brave New World,Abigail,Okja, andThe Gentlemenare all post-Breaking Badprojects that cast Esposito as a significant villain.
However,Esposito’s talent expands far beyond playing the villain, which makes it somewhat disappointing that he’s been cast in that role for so many of his subsequent high-profile movies and TV shows. Of course, it’s understandable that a project would want to jump on the opportunity to bring aperformance like that of Gus Fringto the table if Esposito is available.
It’s harsh to look back on the legacy ofBreaking Badtoday and realize that AMC hasn’t been able to repeat its lightning-in-a-bottle magic. In reality,AMC’s true successor toBreaking Badwas its own prequel, withBetter Call Saulalso frequently being called superiorto the original series. However, there hasn’t been a distinct new AMC show since with the same hold over pop culture.
WhileThe Walking Deadfranchise’s spinoffscontinue to dominate AMC, that property originally arrived two years intoBreaking Bad’s run. SinceBreaking Bad’s 2013 ending, thebiggest brand-new AMC entries have been series likePreacher,Kevin Can F*** Himself, and Anne Rice’s Immortal Universeshows, though they still don’t mirror the massive legacy of Vince Gilligan’s series.
I Missed Out On Its Cultural Peak
The harshest reality of waiting until 2025 to watchBreaking Badin full for the very first time is thatI never got to experience the series’ cultural dominance at its peak. I didn’t entirely understand the meaning of theBreaking Badmemes that took over the internet, I wasn’t engaged with the original discourse around the finale, and I didn’t get to watch “Ozymandias” in full before seeing it in bits and pieces on the internet for years.
96%
98%
El Camino
92%
I only have myself to blame for waiting so long to watchBreaking Bad, but I’ll miss the passion with which fans of the show would tell me why I needed to see it as soon as possible. Thankfully, the world is still eager to break down and discussBreaking Badcontent 12 years later, so I didn’t fully miss out on the wave of interest. Now, ontoBetter Call Saul’s six seasons.
