Breaking Bad's Twelve Greatest Scenes: Number 12

One of the Greatest Television Shows of All-Time.

With the final season of Breaking Bad well underway and only six episodes left to go, Boat Shoes and Burritos will be counting down the twelve greatest scenes ever on Breaking Bad. The list will go from 12 to 1, with atleast one new scene being revealed everyday. Let's get it started.



Number 12: Walt's basement conversation with Krazy 8.

Season 1, Episode 3 “And the Bag’s in the River”




This was the moment I knew I liked Breaking Bad. I wasn’t officially hooked yet, but Walt’s conversation with his Season 1 foe Krazy-8 in Jesse’s basement (technically his Aunt's) made me keenly aware of how well-written and artistic this show was.  In the show’s pilot, Walt and Jesse poison their would be meth distributors Emilio and Krazy-8, acting in “self-defense” after Krazy-8 suspects Walt is an undercover cop. Krazy-8 later wakes up, so Walt and Jessi decide to kidnap him and tie him to a pipe in Jesse’s basement. The scene begins with Walt walking down to the basement to deliver Krazy-8 a sandwich (with the crusts cut-off, per Krazy-8’s request), with the intent of also killing him. However, upon walking downstairs, Walt loses balance during a coughing attack and knocks himself out upon contact with the basement floor. Walt later wakes up and  informs Krazy-8 the fall was a result of his cancer. Walt, at this point in the series, is terrified at the thought of  killing another human being, and asks Krazy-8 to give him a reason not to kill him. Then Krazy-8 tells Walt about his backstory, while the two men share a six-pack of beer together. Krazy-8 tells Walt about college and his former musical aspirations. Additionally, Walt and Krazy-8 talk about Krazy-8’s father’s furniture store and laugh about its late night commercials. After Krazy-8 tells Walt about the day he told his father “Fuck you” and quit the furniture store, Walt looks at Krazy-8 with a face of understanding. Considering Walt had recently quit the Car Wash in a similiarly unprofessional manner, he gets this guy.  Krazy-8 then finds out that Walt is hiding his cancer from his family and realizes the real reason why he’s cooking meth. Of course, Krazy-8 is really just trying to save himself during this conversation. Additionally, as we find out later, Krazy-8 does not simply want to be released peacefully, but also wants to exact revenge on Walt and Jessie. However, for this brief moment, Walt and Krazy-8 seem to be having a genuine conversation together. Despite their differences, they really seemed to enjoy eachother’s company and learning about each other. While most shows would simply paint Krazy-8 as an evil drug dealer without really going beyond the surface, Breaking Bad lets the audience find out a little bit about his back-story. Although the scene doesn’t make me feel empathy for Krazy-8, it does make him a fully realized and interesting character.  This meth-dealer studied business administration at UNM and likes his sandwiches with the crusts cut-off.  Of course, Breaking Bad isn’t the first show to have three-dimensional villains. However, with this moment, I became fully aware that this show was aspiring to be more than jsut the ordinary cable drama.



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