Breaking Bad comes RIGHT out of the gate: with Walt driving a filthy RV in the New Mexico desert, in his underwear. A television phenomenon starts right here in a bald, absurd and beautiful fashion. Bryan Cranston is a man freaking out about the current predicament he's in, and we get how difficult everything's become for him, before we even get to the title of the show. Vince Gilligan doesn't try to second-guess his audience's smarts. He starts the series where the story's already started, and then he takes us back to catch our breaths.
This pilot single-handedly launched the classic television show that has come to be the template of writer-driven television and its potential to have PHENOMENAL storytelling. The pilot gives us a taste-test of what we're to expect from the rest of the show, but it leaves us wanting more: in the most satisfying way. We're EAGER to see what happens next instead of begrudgingly thinking we should. This show is its own drug.
If you haven't already seen the Breaking Bad series please do yourself a favour and watch asap! You're missing out on pop-cultural history right here!