“Ozymandias” is widely considered to be the greatest episode fromBreaking Bad’s five-season run – but there’s a little-known behind-the-scenes tidbit that makes it even better. Season 5, episode 14, “Ozymandias,” is the jaw-dropping climax thatBreaking Badwas building to from the very beginning. It opens with a shootout in the desert that results in Jesse’s enslavement andHank’s anxiety-inducing death, and it only gets more intense from there. This is the episode that brings Walter White’s criminal empire crumbling down as his family turns on him and he has to vanish with a new identity.
To this day, “Ozymandias” is the only television episode witha perfect 10/10 rating on IMDb, and it toppedRolling Stone’s 2024 list of the greatest TV episodes ever produced. The episode also swept the Emmys: Bryan Cranston scored his fourth win for Outstanding Lead Actor, Anna Gunn scored her second consecutive win for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and Moira Walley-Beckett won Outstanding Writing for her incredible script. This episode is impressive by any metric, butit becomes even more impressive with the knowledge of a behind-the-scenes detail that made a tough scene even tougher for Gunn to pull off.
Skyler’s Cathartic Scene In “Ozymandias” Was A Difficult Shoot For Anna Gunn
One ofthe most explosive scenes in “Ozymandias”sees Walt and Skyler getting into a physical fight with a kitchen knife. Walt, Jr. jumps in to defend his mother and Walt realizes his family sees him for the monster he’s become and the jig is up. He decides to leave his family, but not before kidnapping his infant daughter Holly. As Walt takes Holly into his car, pulls out of the driveway, and disappears down the street, a distraught Skyler runs out into the road, begs him to stop, and breaks down.
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In a behind-the-scenes video posted on YouTube byAbharghus, Gunn described this scene as the “culmination of six years on the show.” It was arguably the most important moment for her character up to that point, and one of the most intense scenes in the entire series.It took a lot out of Gunn to get into the right emotional stateto play it. And then, in an irritating twist of fate, it started to snow and the filming had to be put on hold.
Gunn was already in character and in the fraught emotional state that the scene required. The crew told her to hold off her emotions and stay in that tortured state of mind until the snowfall subsided and the cameras could start rolling again.
Gunn was already in character and in the fraught emotional state that the scene required. The crew told her to hold off her emotions and stay in that tortured state of mind until the snowfall subsided and the cameras could start rolling again. Playing a mother whose emotionally abusive husband is abducting her baby is already a rough mindset for an actor to get into, butGunn had to stay in that mindset indefinitely until the snow finally stopped falling. It makes her Emmy-winning performance all the more impressive.
The End Of “Ozymandias” Was The Culmination Of Skyler’s Character Arc
Skyler Finally Stood Up To Walt And Got Him Out Of Her Life For Good
In addition to serving as the point of no return for Walt, “Ozymandias” marked the culmination ofSkyler’s entire five-season arc. Throughout the series,Skyler had gone from being the oblivious wife of a drug lord to a knowing accomplice in her husband’s crimes to essentially a victim of psychological torture. In “Ozymandias,” when she grabbed that kitchen knife, she finally stood up to Walt. She successfully got her husband out of her life once and for all, and the confrontation was just as horrific and devastating as she’d feared.
Anna Gunn’s Performance Was One Of Many Great Things About “Ozymandias”
It’s A Perfect Episode At Every Level — Writing, Directing, Performances, Etc.
Gunn’s spectacular performance as Skyler is just one great aspect of “Ozymandias.” It’s a perfect episode of television at every level. All the other performances are just as great as Gunn’s.Cranston brings Walt’s monstrosity to a head while expertly maintaining what’s left of his humanity; his poignant delivery of the line “We’re a family!” is one ofthe key moments from Cranston’sBreaking Badperformance. Aaron Paul captures the tragedy of Jesse’s life being turned upside down and Dean Norris nails Hank’s badass monologue in the face of death.
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Rian Johnson’s razor-sharp direction ratchets up the tension brilliantlyas Walt’s two lives come crashing into each other. Walley-Beckett’s masterfully crafted script lands every dramatic payoff, from Hank’s heroic final stand to Walt’s anticlimactic disappearance, in a deeply satisfying fashion. IfBreaking Badhadn’t pulled off “Ozymandias,” then the entire series would have fallen apart. Now that it’s renowned as the greatest episode of television ever produced, it’s hard to imagine that climactic hour being pulled off any more effectively.
Breaking Bad
Cast
Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg.
