Gus Fring is probably the strongest villain to appear across Breaking Bad's five seasons. He is excellently written, with his threat built up steadily during the course of Seasons 2, 3 and 4, and he is performed brilliantly by Giancarlo Esposito. The way in which the two most powerful characters of those seasons - Gus and Walt - constantly circle around one another and exist in an increasingly tense state of détente is phenomenal, and leads to a climactic finale at Season 4's end. And what a finale. Gus' death scene just might be the most memorable moment in the entire series. It is gruesome, funny, dark and utterly insane all at the same time. Every Breaking Bad loves it, and rightfully so. But no fan can deny how utterly ridiculous it is - and fittingly so. A larger-than-life character like Gus Fring deserves a larger-than-life death scene, and he gets it. His life-long nemesis (established as such well in advance of this episode, rather than being thrown in as a plot device like, for instance, the Nazis in Season 5) Hector Salamanca finally gets to enact his revenge on the man that he hates even more than Walt. And, finally, that irritating but iconic bell that has been a mainstay of the show since the beginning of the second season serves a significant purpose. Walt connects explosives to it, which are to be triggered by Hector's ringing. With Gus inches away from him, Hector repeatedly rings the bell - and the room explodes. The audience is momentarily stunned. That is it. The great Gus Fring has fallen. And then, unbelievably, Gus walks out of the room and characteristically straightens his tie calmly. Momentarily, fans scream at the screen. That is STUPID. How could he survi...? The camera pans around to reveal the other side of Gus' face. It is burned to a crisp, with makeup resembling that of Two-Face in The Dark Knight, and features an empty eye socket that reveals scraps of skull. Gus collapses to the floor, dead. Absolutely crazy, and totally unrealistic. But genuinely one of the most brilliantly executed scenes in the history of television. Got any more times when Breaking Bad went too far? Shout them out in the comments.
