The Breaking Bad Episode That Aged Poorly
"Breaking Bad" is often regarded as one of the best television shows of all time. Focusing on Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his journey from mild-mannered chemistry teacher to one of the biggest drug lords in New Mexico, "Breaking Bad" won 16 Emmy Awards during its five-season run and was nominated for a total of 58. In fact, the show was so beloved that even legendary actor Anthony Hopkins sent a letter to Cranston proclaiming it the "best acting" he had ever seen (per Vanity Fair).
Still, no show is perfect, especially as time passes and standards change for what's expected of a great series. "Breaking Bad" concluded its run in 2013, which was quite a while ago. So it's natural to assume that certain parts of even a great series like "Breaking Bad" wouldn't exactly age in a graceful way. However, there's one particular episode of the show that really hasn't aged well at all.
Fly's bottle episode structure is outdated in the era of streaming networks
Most episodes of "Breaking Bad" arguably existed to either move the story forward in some way or develop its rich stable of intriguing characters. However, in Season 3, the show threw a curveball at fans with "Fly," an episode that exclusively focused on Walter White and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) obsessively searching their meth lab for a loose fly. The episode was essentially nothing more than a bottle episode, a method networks have used as a cost-cutting measure when a show is nearing the end of its budget, and it didn't really advance the plot of the show in any meaningful way.
"Fly" is also the lowest-rated episode of "Breaking Bad" on IMDb, garnering a still-not-that-bad 7.9 overall rating. While some critics have defended it, with even Business Insider's Nathaniel Lee proclaiming it the best episode of the series, it's still an episode that would be out of place in the modern era of streaming networks where bottle episodes aren't nearly as common, especially with serialized shows. In addition to being the most divisive episode of "Breaking Bad," "Fly" is easily the series' most outdated entry.