10 Episodes That Turned Good TV Shows Into Classics

A (slightly unbelievable) three years on from Breaking Bad’s finale, fans continue to argue over the exact moment where Walter White began his unredeemable descent into evil. Amongst the fanboy debating, one episode stands out as not only the point of no return for Walt morally, but also the episode that cemented the show as a modern classic. That episode is “Phoenix”.

The show’s second season had been building nicely, with Walt’s meth empire beginning to take shape, Jesse Pinkman enjoying a rare spell of happiness with girlfriend Jane, and the introduction of key players such as Saul Goodman and Gus Fring. Things truly came to a head by the season’s twelfth episode, which ends with Walter walking in to Jesse’s house, only to find his cooking partner and beau passed out from heroin abuse. While trying to wake Jesse, he inadvertently knocks into Jane, causing her to vomit and choke on it. At first, our anti-hero reacts like any human would - panics and tries to help - only to stop and contemplate that actually, Jane’s removal would be best for business. He leaves her to die, and as the tears leave his eyes so do his last remnants of morality.

“Phoenix” may not have had the bombast of what would come later (looking at you “Ozymandias”) but it was the episode that most boldly marked the transformation in Walt’s character, the shifting dynamic between him and Jesse, and indeed the direction Breaking Bad would go. The quirky crime drama that had opened with a middle-aged man scampering around the desert in his underpants was on it’s way to becoming one of the 21st century’s most important cultural achievements.