C₁₀H₁₅N · CH₄OH → C₁₀H₁₅NO · H₂O

The Descent of
Walter White.

62 episodes. ~200 deaths. $80 million. Tracking the transformation from Mr. Chips to Scarface, one data point at a time.

01 THE CLIMB

A show that only got better

Most TV shows peak early and coast. Breaking Bad did the opposite. The average rating climbed from 8.7 in Season 1 to 9.6 in Season 5. Only one episode dipped below 8.0.

02 THE BODY COUNT

Say my name

Walter White started as a man who couldn't even stomach killing in self-defense. By the finale, his body count topped 200, direct and indirect. The Wayfarer 167 crash alone accounts for the Season 2 spike.

03 THE MONEY

$737,000 was the number

Walt calculated exactly $737,000 to secure his family's future. He made 108 times that. Then lost almost all of it. The rise and fall of Heisenberg's empire, in dollars.

04 THE EMPIRE

Who owns the screen?

Bryan Cranston appears in all 62 episodes. 1,633 minutes of screen time. That's 27 hours of Walter White. Gus Fring, one of TV's greatest villains, had just 112 minutes. Impact isn't about time.

05 THE AUDIENCE

The Netflix effect

Breaking Bad premiered to 1.4 million viewers. The finale drew 10.28 million. A 636% increase. It was one of the first shows where Netflix streaming of old seasons supercharged live viewership.

06 THE RECORD BOOK

The numbers that define the show