10 Worst Breaking Bad Episodes
5. Gray Matter
Written by Patty Lin and directed by Tricia Brock, Gray Matter is the fifth episode in season one and delves deeper into the lives of Walt and Skylar before the events of the show.
The episode focuses on a party the pair attend hosted by Elliott Schwartz, the husband of Walt's former girlfriend Gretchen, both of whom he had set up a business with. It's revealed that Walt opted to sell his shares in the company, which they had named 'Gray Matter Technologies', with the husband and wife subsequently booming on the back of his innovations.
The exchanges at the party between the two couples are some of the most awkward in the entire opening season of Breaking Bad, and things get even more cringe-worthy when Skylar decides to hold an intervention with the family for Walt.
Pacing-wise, Gray Matter is one of the slowest in the show's entire history, with it really only being an episode to show why Jesse and Walt need each other, and why the latter in particular would opt for a life of crime to leave something behind for his family.
However, there are some clever undertones the episode is able to convey in Walt's character that will prove to be important as the show went on, namely his pride and how that will influence him becoming Heisenberg later on.