1x01 "Pilot" January 20, 2008

Walter White, a 50-year old chemistry teacher, secretly begins making crystal methamphetamine to support his family when he finds out that he has terminal lung cancer. He teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, who is a meth dealer. Jesse is trying to sell the meth but the dealers snatch him and make him show them the lab. Walter knows they intend to kill him so he poisons them while showing them his recipe.

Full recap

A man wearing nothing but tightie whities and a gas mask careens his Winnebago down a desolate highway in the New Mexico desert. In the passenger seat, another man-either passed out or passed beyond-also wears a gas mask, his head on the dashboard. Two bodies, even more likely dead, slide across the RV floor until the vehicle veers into a ditch. The hyperventilating driver, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), climbs out, dons the shirt still hanging off the side view mirror (his pants are long since gone), then re-enters the van to retrieve a video camera, his wallet, and a gun. He records a cryptic, handheld farewell to his wife and son. "I just want you to know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart." That said, he faces the oncoming sirens, gun in hand.

Flashback to his birthday three weeks earlier. At dusk, Walt exercises on a mini-stairmaster in front of a plaque commemorating his contributions to some Nobel Prize worthy research. At breakfast, his happily henpecking wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) hands him a plate of eggs topped by veggie bacon spelling "50" before bantering with their handicapped son (RJ Mitte). Afterwards, Walt drops off Junior at the same local high school where he works as an ineffectual chemistry teacher.

Later that day, one of Walt's more disrespectful students witnesses him moonlighting at a car wash for additional income. The encounter is especially belittling since the student laughingly photographs his teacher wiping down the tires. A now publicly humiliated Walt returns home where Skyler has organized a surprise birthday party for him. Among the guests is Walt's gregarious brother-in-law, Hank, a DEA agent on the local news for busting a methamphetamine lab. Walt asks Hank (Dean Norris) how much money was recovered at the crime scene to which Hank replies "$700,000. Not a bad haul." Hank then invites Walt to accompany him on a bust. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a woman fusses over Skyler's pregnancy and notes that she's "hardly even showing."

Another day at the car wash and the financially strapped Walt collapses and is taken away by ambulance. At the hospital, a doctor verifies the worst. The non-smoking Walter has inoperable lung cancer. Walt looks detached but he understands. "Best case scenario with chemo, I'll live maybe another couple years." Back home, Walt keeps the news from Skyler. At the carwash, he explodes when his boss asks him to wipe down cars again. Walter assaults the display racks. "Wipe down this!" he shouts grabbing his crotch.

And so the transformation of Walter White begins.

It continues as he joins his brother in-law at a drug bust. While the arrest is made inside, Walt waits in the car from which he spies ex-student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) escaping through a window. Later that night Walt stops by Jesse's house where he tells the baffled dealer that they can either partner or Walt will turn him in. "You know the business, I know chemistry," says Walt. An unlikely partnership is forged.

Walt goes to the school and steals beakers, flasks, and protective aprons. Jesse arranges to buy a used Winnebago so that their base can be mobile and harder to detect. The two drive out to the desert where Walt strips down to his skivvies, hangs his pants and shirt on the side view mirror, then gets to cooking the purest crystal Jesse's ever seen. "You're a damn artist," he says.

Jesse takes a sample to Krazy 8, a drug dealer who happens to be his former partner's cousin. Cousin Emilio, out on bail, believes Jesse ratted him out so the three drive out to the desert where Krazy 8 asks Walt if he wants to switch allegiances. Before he can answer, Emilio recognizes Walt from the police bust. Death threats ensue. Jesse tries to run, but trips and knocks himself out on a rock. Walt barters for his life by promising to reveal his cooking artistry so Emilio ties up Jesse and then goes to watch Walt work his magic. In the Winnebago, as Walt prepares the ingredients, Emilio throws a cigarette out the window, thereby starting a brush fire. Inside, Walt mixes chemicals that produce a deadly smoke before he dashes out. Bullets fly but Walt holds the door shut to seal these drug dealers' fates

Walt unties Jesse, puts a gasmask on him, and drops him in the passenger seat. We're back at the opening scene. With the sound of sirens closing in, Walt stands in the middle of the road then tries to shoot himself. To his dismay, the safety is on. His efforts to unlock it simply result in a pointless misfire. Suddenly, fire trucks, not police cars, appear. Walter stashes the gun in the back of his underwear. Jesse, sporting a black eye, comes out to join him. Walt's first day as a meth cook leaves him spent, shaken, but also invigorated. Back at home, he meets his wife's troubled queries with atypical sexual aggression which leaves her asking somewhat stunned: "Walter, is that you?"

Still my favorite episode, I'm sure that this one will go down as a T.V classic someday. It is a great episode, showing you enough about the characters to get a feel for who they are, but not enough info to give away all the secrets. I love Walt in this episode and at one point (after his "everyday/birthday from hell" in which he is disrespected by students and his boss, not to mention not the center of attention at his own B-day party. I just want to give him a big hug Because he is so relateable and believable. If the show ended after this episode it would have beena great loss, bit it was a great self-contained story of an everyman doing what he thinks needs to be done for his family in an extraordinarly unfair situation.

Wow i watched the pilot yesterday and the character transformations are all incredible, it was like 2 total different sets of peope

You hadn't seen the pilot before season 2? Interesting.

nah i had seen it from the start, i was reccomending it to my cousin and we watched the pilot together so it was the second time

Ah, I see, I've done that too actually...........pretty soon will be doing it again (my sister wants to watch the first season.) It is certainly interesting to check out the older episodes a second, perhaps third time after seeing more recent ones.

the comedy of the show has changed a lot too...it was pretty funny in episode 1, with the whole masturbation scene and all but this year its pretty serious and the comedy is VERY subtle

The show has become alot darker as it has progressed, and the comedy has become much more gallows humor, rather than the quirky humor it embraced early on. However, while this sort of shift would ruin the continuity of many shows, Breaking Bad did it seemlessly, and it feels natural rather than forced.

I just watch the Pilot last night with commentary, It was funny stuff. Got some interesting facts too. Like how Krazy 8 was to do only one show, but everybody liked him so much they wanted him back to do some more, so they brought him back to life.

Really? Interesting, I'll have to watch the commentary, That bit about Krazy8 doesn't surprise me though, considering how he was brought back in. (the whole shuffling under the tarp thing)

I loved how he almost fooled Walt in Jesse's basement. The lead up to the reveal was intense.

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Breaking_Bad_1x01.pdf

I think this is a pretty legit version/copy of the script for the pilot. I stumbled across it, and found it a very interesting read, to compare and contrast the differences with what actually happened in the pilot, and things that happened in later episodes. If this isn't cool, feel free to edit the post admin.

i love this episode i saw it when it first premier this is probably the only TV show i can watch the episodes over and over and it doesn't really get old to me

Shawn wrote:i love this episode i saw it when it first premier this is probably the only TV show i can watch the episodes over and over and it doesn't really get old to me

I agree, while I didn't actually start watching until the DVDs came around (thank god for NETFLIX recommendations ) I can watch the episodes, especially the ones I really enjoy like the pilot 2,3,4,5 times even without them losing their entertainment value, they are almost like a favorite movie to me in many ways.

Lparsons7981 wrote:

Shawn wrote:i love this episode i saw it when it first premier this is probably the only TV show i can watch the episodes over and over and it doesn't really get old to me

I agree, while I didn't actually start watching until the DVDs came around (thank god for NETFLIX recommendations ) I can watch the episodes, especially the ones I really enjoy like the pilot 2,3,4,5 times even without them losing their entertainment value, they are almost like a favorite movie to me in many ways.

haha yeah exactly even on sundays i rewatch the episode that just played to see if i missed something or can find something out different in that episode that i didnt notice when i previously watched it