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Breaking Bad Season 1 Episode 1

Pilot

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9.1

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EPISODE REVIEWS
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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 1/20/08

Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who learns that he has lung cancer. With a new lease on life, Walter becomes a drug dealer to secure his family's financial security.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (16)

Breaking Bad

9.0

By DexterMorgan2, Apr 26, 2013

With all the people telling me to watch this show and the high ratings it gets I found I had to watch it This first episode was very good and it starts off with a chemistry teacher Walter White who finds out he has lung cancer and it makes him look at life from a different perspective and he becomes a drug dealer Walter soon realises that it wasn't as easy as he thought This was a good pilot episode and I will continue to watch this show.moreless
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1x01 "Pilot"

9.5

By lucianoabc, Jul 08, 2012

I've heard a lot about this show, not only on tv.com, overall in the Internet and in magazines. So in a boring Satuday night I decided to give this show a try.

I couldnt sleep that night. This show is pure lightning. The amazing performance by Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul plus the depth of Bryan's character make this the best pilot I've ever seen.
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Now THIS is how you start a show! This is the first episode I have watched, and I am addicted already! We meet Walt and Jesse, who go into the meth business together. This had humor, thrills, and an epic conclusion. A fantastic pilot.moreless

9.5

By DumbDawg2694, Dec 08, 2011

In this, the pilot of Breaking Bad, we meet Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, who due to an accident at a car wash, develops terminal lung cancer. In order to make money (and cushion his family's future), he and one of his former students go into the meth-making business. And along the way, the two encounter trouble from competition.

Usually, pilots don't hook me immediately. But this show is an exception. This pilot is for a lack of a better phrase, epically awesome! The emotions are real, the humor is fresh and new, and the action was impressive. I was surprised at the humor, and how funny it actually was. The acting, especially by Walt, helps buy the character(s), and makes you believe the characters are real. The action surprised me too, and I was on the edge of my seat... well, bed.

I just got done with the pilot, and if this is this good, I can't wait to see the rest! Considder me addicted!

My Score: Amoreless
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We meet Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in the fantastic pilot

9.2

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Oct 17, 2011

The pilot of Breaking Bad, for me, was like a breath of fresh air. I was coming off of "The Shield" finale, and I knew that Lost and 24, two shows that I grew up with, would be ending soon. Therefore, I turned to two separate shows to keep me grounded: Dexter and Breaking Bad. Dexter is great, don't get me wrong, but this show just grabbed me in a completely different way.

First off, the show seems to take ideas that are boilerplate for dramas or for television shows period and flip them on their head. We get the typical "show something exciting at the beginning and go back a few weeks to show how it happened!" which is one of the oldest tricks in the book. However, Breaking Bad does it with such energy and vigor that it's hard to complain about it. We meet Walter White, a Chemistry teacher who just turned fifty and suffers from inoperable lung cancer.. but he hasn't told his family this. His life seems to be one dull moment after the other, and we learn that he was once involved in research that lead to a Nobel prize.. from that to this? It seems like a depressing step down, but Walt does what he can. His wife is pregnant with their second child and his first son has a mild case of cerebral palsy.

So what does he do? After watching his DEA brother-in-law take down a few bad guys at a meth lab, he decides to put his chemistry skills to good use. With the aid of one of his former students, Jesse, he begins cooking meth, presumably for money to help pay for any operation or chemo bills. From here, we get an incredible build-up, from an innocent chemistry teacher to a guy who has nothing to lose and is willing to break the law, or "break bad," for a chance to get money for him and his family. It's the usual anti-hero set-up, as the protagonist prepares to do things we wouldn't normally do but he still cheer for him.

The episode is incredible for a pilot, setting up future plots, establishing background (at least minor background) for certain characters and giving us incredible performances all around. Bryan Cranston is amazing here, and he won a well-deserved Emmy for this episode. Aaron Paul also proves himself to be a great actor too. As for the supporting characters, I would call them the weakest part of a nearly perfect show, but as someone who has already seen the show, I can say that the characters get better over time.

Just watch the way the episode unfolds and the way we lead up to that eerie and incredible first and final scene. This was just a taste of what was to come in the future for the show.moreless
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this was kind of sorta maybe awesome

10

By futuramarama, Sep 25, 2011

Before I got into this show, people told me how great the start to it was. How the first like 3 episodes were really strong starts to the show and how the quality only gets better and better. So, I watched this pilot episode. I rewatched it recently, and yea; it's kind of awesome. I loved it. Scenes i really liked were Walt telling Jesse if he did not cook with him, he would turn him in to the police, Walt using what he learned earlier in the episode to kill those two guys in the RV, Walt standing on the guy's leg who was making fun of Walt Jr., amongst other things. My favorite thing about the first couple seasons are the interactions between Jesse and Walt, and this was a fantastic opener to a fantastic show. Not only is the plot pretty great, but the acting, particularly Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, is great. Best acting I've seen in a while, maybe even ever. Definitely an awesome start to the tv series Breaking Bad. A+ grade (though you probably knew that already).moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Bryan Cranston	Walter White
Anna Gunn	Skyler White
Aaron Paul	Jesse Pinkman
Dean Norris	Hank Schrader
Betsy Brandt	Marie Schrader
RJ Mitte	Walter White Jr.

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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John Koyama	Emilio Koyama	Guest Star
Aaron Hill	Jock	Guest Star
Marius Stan	Bogdan	Guest Star
Steven Michael Quezada	Steven Gomez	Recurring Role
Carmen Serano	Carmen	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (6)
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- Unlike the episode, Walt would never be able to actually ride-along with DEA agents. They have strict rules about this and civilians are not even able to enter the DEA cars.
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- Vince Gilligan admitted in a Season 4 episode podcast that the location of the show was supposed to be set in Riverside, California. The original pilot was filmed there but they learned of the incentive ABQ was giving out for production teams to film there. They ended up staying in ABQ.
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- Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris were interestingly also cast in "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006). This movie had a part when the family makes a sleep-over stop in Albuquerque. Both actors showed up in the movie at this point. Therefore, it's possible that they were already scouting or starting production on Breaking Bad as far back as 2005.
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- Casting: Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn have both previously guest starred on Seinfield. Anna played one of Jerry's girlfriends while Bryan was the infamous dentist Dr. Tim Whatley.
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- The chemical formula shown in the intros, C10H15N (149.24 molecular weight), is the real formula for methamphetamine.
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- A plaque on the wall of Walt's home says he did research in proton radiography in 1985 that contributed to someone's Nobel Prize win. According to the Nobel Prize website, the winners in 1985 for Chemistry were Herbert Hauptman and Jerome Karle who won for their development of methods to determine crystal structures.
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QUOTES (6)
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- Walter: Chemisty, it is the study of what?...Ben
  Ben: Chemicals?
  Walter: Chemicals...no. Chemistry is, well technically, chemistry is the study of matter. But I prefer to see it as the study of change.
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- Jesse: (to Walt) Some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, age what? Sixty? He's just gonna break bad?
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- (Walt gets handed a gun)
  Walt: This is heavy.
  Hank: (Referring to the police force) That's why they hire men.
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- (Walt is washing his student's car)
  Chad: Hey, Mr. White! Make those tires shine. Ha! (Takes a photo of Walt washing the wheels)
  Female student: (on the phone) Oh my god! You won't believe who's cleaning Chad's car.
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- (referring to Walt's penis)
  Skyler: What is going on down there? Is he asleep?
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- Walt Jr.: So, how does it feel to be old?
  Walter: How does it feel to be a smart ass?
  Walt Jr.: Good!
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NOTES (6)
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- Featured Music:
  "Come on Home and Have Your Next Affair With Me" by Stonewall Jackson
  "Dirty South Hustla" by Carolina Slim
  "Tamacun" by Rodrigo y Gabriela
  "Mango Walk" by The In-Crowd
  "Dead Fingers" by Working for a Nuclear Free City
  "A Gosar" by SDK (feat. Tori Papa)
  "Get Low" by Pudge
  "Apocalypsh*t" by Molotov
  "Out of Time Man" by Mick Harvey
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- Original International Air Dates:
  United Kingdom: September 28, 2008 on FX
  Czech Republic: January 14, 2011 on Nova Cinema
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- Awards and Nominations:
  
  2008 - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Bryan Cranston) (won)
  2008 - Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series (won)
  2008 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a One-Hour Series (nominated)
  2008 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (nominated)
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- Bryan Cranston studied real chemistry procedures, items, methods, etc via a professor at USC (University of Southern California) for Breaking Bad. As such he had to call the writers to correct some mistakes in scripts.
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- An actual DEA agent was brought on board to show the actors/crew how to make crystal meth.
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- Filming Location: Albuquerque, NM
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Jesse: You ain't Welcome Back, Kotter, so step off. No speeches.
  Welcome Back, Kotteris a television show about a former high school Sweathog that returns to his roots as a teacher. The title character, Gabe Kotter, reached out to the current Sweathogs to try and help them through their difficulties.
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