There have been iconic television shows across decades, but not all of them possess a single episode that consistently rises above the rest. For Breaking Bad, that episode has long been Ozymandias. Frequently stated as one of the greatest hours of television ever produced, it has dominated IMDb’s top-rated episode rankings for years. But now, that dominance has been challenged. 

On February 15, the episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, titled In the Name of the Mother, dropped on HBO and instantly garnered a 10/10 rating on IMDb, being the second TV show episode to do so. Immediately, the rating battles began, leading episode ratings to fall to 9.7-9.8 from 10, allegedly done by Breaking Bad fans.

This was retaliated by A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' fans, who also gave low ratings to Ozymandias. Over 100K reviews rated the episode as low as 1 out of 10. While only 5K reviews were the ones that were in the name of the mother, for 1 out of 10.

Due to this, for the first time in 13 years, the ratings for the episode of Breaking Bad dropped to 9.9.

While the rating battles go on, it is the legacy of Breaking Bad that makes it one of the most iconic pieces of cinema even today.

What makes Breaking Bad iconic?

Breaking Bad has a very unique storytelling with the darkly humorous setup of a high school chemistry teacher turning into a meth lab cook to pay his medical bills, which is definitely an interesting hook for a series.

In its initial release, the series was critically acclaimed by critics, praising it as the best TV show of all time. The first season has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 86%.

The Pilot episode received four nominations at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. Vince Gilligan was nominated for directing it, and John Toll was nominated for its cinematography. While Bryan Cranston won the Outstanding Actor award, Lynne Willingham won the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing award.

While Breaking Bad continues to be positioned as the best series, and the battle of ratings goes on, it speaks volumes about today's audience as to how they attach their identity to the shows and series.

What is your take on the battle of ratings? Let us know in the comments.

Written by

Sreelaxmi Nair

Edited by

Itti Mahajan