5. Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)
How could the episode that started it all not be included? Frankly, this episode would work on its own as a feature film, its thats good. Were introduced to all these well-written characters and all of Walter Whites trials and tribulations are laid out in one go. Rarely is a world so fully-explored or a central cast are instantly relatable in under an hour. The beginning is genius- madcap, exciting, demented and full of promise as an out-of-breath man in his tighty-whities confesses to a camera of his sins and then aims a gun into the middle of a desert road. Our interest is piqued almost immediately and from then on it never lets up. Jesse has a great introduction as well, and there isnt a single element to this episode that isnt exceptional. Be it the sparse score, the lush cinematography, the central performance or the dialogue, this screams quality and individuality from the get go. A lot of pilots either raise the bar too high and subsequent episode of a series are never as good, or they can be flawed and a series is need to work out those teething problems, but Breaking Bads pilot establishes everything it needs to and marks its territory as twisted and grounded drama from the start.