The train heist. For 47 minutes, you forget you are watching a drama. It plays like a heist thriller, right up until the final, shocking second. "What about the boy?" The coldest cut to black in TV history.

The Cousins’ assault on Hank. From the ominous note on the windshield to the parking lot shootout, this is the most brutal action sequence in the show’s history. Dean Norris deserved an Emmy for his terrified phone call to Marie.

Gus Fring adjusts his tie. The nursing home bomb is a perfect Rube Goldberg machine of death. Walt finally "wins," but the final shot—the camera panning down to the Lily of the Valley in Walt’s backyard—turns the victory into a moral horror show.

The perfect ending. Walt admits, "I did it for me." The machine gun in the trunk, the laser pointer, the final walk through the meth lab. It doesn't give you a happy ending; it gives you a right ending.

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The birth of Heisenberg. Skylar tells Walt she gave the money to Ted. Walt’s maniacal laughter beneath the house as the camera pulls away to reveal the ticking clock? That is the scariest thing Bryan Cranston has ever done. The Masterpiece Theater (The Top 4) You can argue the order, but you cannot argue the quality. These are the four episodes that define Breaking Bad .

The fake confession. The phone call. The desert shootout. This episode is 45 minutes of pure, uncut adrenaline. When Hank finally slaps the cuffs on Walt, and Jack’s Neo-Nazis show up, the scream Walt lets out is the sound of a soul shattering.

But someone has to do it.