From watching Jane die to being “I am the one who knocks” speech, the five-time run of Breaking bad Bryan Cranston has plenty of opportunities to show off his impressive acting range. Cranston has to play moments where Walt is really broken up, like when his estranged son wants him dead, and moments where Walt is a cold-blooded monster, like when he tells Hank to “Tread lightly.“His performance straddled the line between the two sides of the character spectacularly for a truly well-rounded, three-dimensional portrayal of a complex antihero.
Cranston’s turn in Breaking bad is the benchmark against which all television antihero performances are judged. Cranston won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series a grand total of four times for his work in Breaking badAnd deserves every one of them (and of course deserves the other two he was nominated too). throughout Breaking badIn its five seasons, Cranston delivered a bunch of iconic moments that still hold up today.
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10
Walt convinces Jesse he didn’t poison Brock
After realizing that Gus will kill him if he doesn’t kill Gus first, Walt finally formulates a successful plot to assassinate the meth-and-chicken kingpin in season 4, episode 13, “Face Off.” But in order to kill Gus, he must bring Jesse back on his side, and to do that, he must convince Jesse that Gus poisoned his girlfriend’s eight-year-old son Brock. Jesse initially suspects that Walt poisoned the boy, but Walt manages to convince Jesse that it was Gus, which paves the way for his assassination plot to succeed.
What makes Cranston’s performance in this scene so impressive is that Jesse isn’t the only one he convinces that he doesn’t have Sam Brock. He fools the audience into thinking he is innocent too. The final shot of Lily of the Valley in Walt’s backyard wouldn’t hit so hard if Cranston’s performance hadn’t successfully convinced viewers that he’s innocent.
9
Walt’s “Confession” tape
Cranston’s most powerful acting moments in Breaking bad are when Walt gives his own performance, meaning Cranston has to give a performance within a performance. In season 5, episode 11, “Confessions,” Hank has finally figured out that Walt is Heisenberg and Walt is running out of options to avoid capture. With his back against the wall, Walt comes up with the ingenious idea of using the implausibility of Hank’s obliviousness against him.
Walt records a fake “confession” tape in which he claims that Hank is the mastermind behind the Heisenberg operation, and he forces Walt to produce meth for him. The genius of this false confession is that it’s actually more believable than Hank not realizing that his own brother-in-law was a drug lord. Cranston’s performance as Walt performing as an innocent man is a masterclass in multidimensional acting.
8
Walt calls his son from a bar in New Hampshire
In the latest episode of Breaking bads complete run – season 5, episode 15, “Granite State” – Walt successfully avoids capture and escapes to a hideout in New Hampshire, where he lives off the grid with a new identity. But it is not much of a life. He can barely leave the house, his cancer is back as aggressive as ever, and his only human contact is a monthly visit from the disappearing Ed Galbraith.
Walt goes to a bar and considers turning himself in to the authorities. To see if there is any hope of reconciliation with his family, he calls his son Walt, Jr., who not only rejects his attempt at reconciliation, but angrily wishes his father dead. Cranston’s performance in this scene, as a heartbroken Walt realizing he’s lost everything, made viewers empathize with a cold-hearted monster.
7
“Tread Lightly”
The Breaking bad Writers have no time to follow up on the shocking mid-season twist in season 5, episode 9, “Blood Money.” After realizing Walt is Heisenberg while reading a book on the toilet, Hank races home and goes over the DEA’s case files. When he connects the dots, he is horrified to realize that the elusive Heisenberg is his own brother-in-law. When Walt realizes Leaves of grass is missing from his bathroom, he pieces it together and races to Hank’s house.
Hank tells Walt that he doesn’t even know who he is, and Walt ominously tells him that if that’s true, “Then maybe your best course is to tread lightly.“At this point, the audience is already well aware that Walt is evil, but this is the first time that Hank sees what a monster his brother-in-law is. Cranston’s delivery of the line sends shivers down the spine of every viewer.
6
Walt tells Skyler the real reason he became a drug lord
in Breaking bads stunning series finale – season 5, episode 16, “Felina” – Walt returns to Albuquerque to settle all his old scores. He visits Skyler to give her the coordinates of Hank and Gomez’s graves, so she can use the information for a decent bargain. Walt goes to tell Skyler why he committed all the crimes he committed.
Both Skyler and the audience expect yet another speech about how it was all for the family, but Walt surprisingly tells her that he did it for himself. He loved to be the best at something, and he liked to feel strong after years of being an ivy, mild-mannered nobody, so he kept cooking meth after he had enough money to keep the family afloat. Cranston delivers Walt’s blunt honesty perfectly, catching everyone by surprise, both on and off-screen.
5
“We are a family!”
Season 5, episode 14, “Ozymandias,” is Breaking bads most explosive episode. It is the episode that the entire series has been leading up to, when Walt’s empire has crashed down. Hank was killed, Jesse was taken as a meth-cooking slave, and Walt, Jr. Finally learned who his father really was. As Walt rushes home from the desert and tells Skyler they have to pack their things and leave, she suspects he killed Hank.
In the ensuing fight, Skyler grabs a kitchen knife to defend herself and Walt, Jr. jumps in front of his mom to defend her. When Walt realizes that he is standing over his wife and son with a knife and they are both deeply afraid of him, he accepts that he is lost. Cranston nails Walt’s processing of the emotions as he goes from screaming, “We are a family!!“too hopelessly uttering,”We are a family…“
4
Walt’s meltdown in the crawlspace
In season 4, episode 11, “Space Crawl,” Gus has finally had enough of Walt and threatens to kill his wife and children if he continues to interfere with his business. Walt goes straight to Saul and says he needs to recruit Ed’s services as a fugitive. Saul tells him it will cost half a million dollars and Walt rushes home to tell his family to pack and collect the money from the crawlspace. But when he gets down there, he is afraid to find that almost all the money is gone.
Skyler tells him that she gave the money to Ted to pay off the IRS as a distraught Marie calls Skyler to tell her that Hank is being targeted by a cartel, Walt screams in horror. Then his screams turn to maniacal cackling as Skyler watches on in terror. Cranston has viewers chilling with Walt’s unpredictable mania in this scene.
3
Walt watches Jane Dee
In season 2, episode 12, “Phoenix,” Walt becomes concerned that Jesse’s new girlfriend Jane is encouraging him to become more independent. This is great for Jesse, and just the loving support he needs, but it’s bad for Walt, because it makes Jesse harder to control and manipulate. When Walt goes to Jesse’s house to talk to him, he finds both he and Jane passed out from a heroin binge. While trying to wake Jesse up, Walt accidentally knocks Jane onto her back and she starts choking on her own vomit.
Although he initially springs into action to save her, Walt instantly has second thoughts. He finally decides to let Jane die just because she was inconveniencing him. At first he breaks down in tears, before he looks up with a cold hearted look. In his memoirs A life in partsCranston wrote that it was his “Most harrowing“Scene in Breaking badBecause he imagined his own daughter in Jane’s place, allowing him to get to the right emotional state to sell Walt’s turmoil.
2
“I’m the one who knocks”
Walt delivers his most iconic speech in Season 4, Episode 6, “Cornered.” When Skyler asks him to just admit that he’s in danger, Walt furiously tells her that he’s not in danger – he is the danger. Walt presents the hypothetical scenario of a guy who opens his door and gets shot (the same thing that happened to Gale at Walt’s behest), and Walt says that he’s not the guy; he is “The one who knocks.“
This brilliantly written monologue proved both what a cold-blooded threat Walt had become, and how fragile his ego was. Even when a drug kingpin sends assassins to kill him, Walt can’t admit he’s vulnerable. And when Skyler suggests he is, he throws it back in her face. Cranston’s deep delivery brings the monologue to life and walks the fine line perfectly.
1
Walt’s phone call claiming Skyler’s innocence
Cranston’s most mind-blowing acting-within-acting moment arrives at the end of “Ozymandias.” After realizing his family wants nothing to do with him and they don’t deserve the scrutiny that his life of crime is about to bring, Walt calls the house. Knowing that the police will monitor the call, he scolds Skyler for not helping him build his drug business, claiming that he ran the operation alone without her cooperation.
Although his anger seems quite real, when director Rian Johnson shows Walt’s side of the call, it is clear that he is devastated. He does all this to establish Skyler’s innocence before the inevitable investigation, and he is heartbroken to be put in this position. This is the peak of Cranston Breaking bad Performance: He sells the danger, but he also sells the heartache underneath.