People probably hated it because when it originally aired they had been waiting a week and after it they had to wait another week. We're really lucky to have the luxury of streaming
Captain Picard ..nobody said anything about that, it’s just that’s why people were more annoyed when it first aired. Unlike now, where you can just stream the next episode
Forged Cosmos duh the show been out cut for 6 years ofc their gonna have spoilers if you didn’t watch breaking bad already you had 6 years if not it’s you’re fault
and it showed in great detail the differences of personality and problem solving skills between walter and jesse.. jesse just wants to move on and not deal with it and drugs walter but walter is on his last mission on earth and is a perfectiionist and is obsessive... i also loved the humour and the fact they are SO different yet they always work nicely together because jesse is loyal and even kills the fly...notice jesse never calls him walter he addresses him in a formal way to show respect and bow to his authority
It can be for a lot of things tho lol, someone's getting ready to smoke some of the blue and suddenly there's a dead squished fly in it, it could hurt the 'business'.
Everyone misunderstands this episode. The fly was gonna replace Walt as Gustavo's cook, so they had to kill him. The fly may be one of the most threatening antagonists in the series. Rian Lil Johnson is a master of subversion.
@@jcepri it clearly could have killed everyone in the entire state american and maybe east asian continent if it wasn’t killed thanks to it’s inmense power so it couldn’t “just” contaminate the entire operation
being attracted to their rotting corpses goes a long way to explaining why and how it got down into what shoulda already been an airtight/secure/fly free lab.
I also liked the fly being a symbol/allegory for guilt over Jane's death. Jesse is the one who ends up killing the fly, as he is the one to properly move on from it, whereas at the end of the episode, Walt hears a fly buzzing in his room when he's trying to sleep.
Beginning of an episode: Walt eats at Los Pollos Hermanos End of episode: Walt farts Throughout the episode, Walt feels oppressed by something. This is shown through him constantly clutching his stomach and giving a look of discomfort. After a meeting with Gus, Walt farts on his way out. This symbolizes that he now recognizes these feelings of oppression, and has chosen to expel them, no matter how crude the method. Gus has to go.
I think the people who hated the fly episode were people who watched it live and the people who loved it where people who binge watched it, for the people who watched it live they waited one whole week and we're disappointed, for the people who binge watched it they watched it and moved on to the next episode. I've binge watched it and I like it
I remember when I first watched Fly after it was over I immediately thought "this is my favorite episode so far." It was such a nice break from the constant action and dread, just a chance for the characters to look back on the past and grow closer. I was shocked to see how universally despised it is
I'm just starting Breaking Bad last week and now on Season 3, and yeah I kinda with you this episode "Fly" really made me feel nice about Breaking Bad calm me up.
I think this episode still has relevance as when Jesse later has to speak to the foreign team of scientists, he brings up the hygiene and overall poor condition of the lab. Even though he doesn't fully agree with Walter about the fly, he has essentially taken in this information without even realising it at the time and begins to respect the process and science behind their product. After all, most the time it's the subtle things that make sense down the road that really blow your mind away when it comes to this show and it's amazing story-telling.
Walt's cleanliness and the clean lab conditions were already well established... this episode has absolutely nothing to do with Jesse being in Mexico and complaining about the extremely dirty lab conditions. Jesse's trying to put out as pure of a product as possible, so in order to do that the lab and the lab equipment need to be cleaned first... which is just common sense.
@@dinglbarry1275 exactly, which he learned from Walt during this episode. Still not significant enough to consume a whole episode but this episode was never about progression of the story
Exactly! It was definitely influenced by this episode it seems that’s what really drilled it into Jesse the importance of 0 contamination & it was a piece of art, the episode was so simple but so effective & hilarious. How could anyone hate this episode these people baffle me. Not like they were short of money & wanted to make a cheap episode, it was very relevant and brilliant.
@@dinglbarry1275 Up until the point of everything he experienced with Walt however, Jesse didn't really care. He used the wrong equipment, he didn't care about it being a perfect product, he added things into the mix that made no sense. So while it's common sense yes, it wasn't something Jesse cared about until he started cooking with Walt. And I'm not saying this episode in particular were the main cause or anything, but that he absorbed everything over time and started respecting the process more as time went on. Hence the main reason Jesse had an issue with the lab conditions is solely due to his time with Walt, although you might be able to argue whatever this was genuine or not, it is still influenced by their time together.
Ahhh yes i love that too i immediately thought of the fly episode when i watched that jesse teaching the scientists ep back then the amount of details that is put up in this show is just so damn good and it all makes perfect sense i will never not praise this show it is golden
The Fly is also one of the all time greatest Breaking Bad villians and Walter White didn't even kill him. He had the upper hand on Walt the whole episode until Jesse saved Walt and the lab 😂
Yeah absolutely right about that one! I never understood why though!? Why would she do that to Walter, I think it's clearly her trying to sabatoge Walter on purpose as she doesn't have the strength to just leave him and walk away! So she gives his money to ANOTHER man and has an affiar with same guy! Plus she hates to admit it and doesn't like having too but she loves having that kinda cash! She might not agree with how its made but she's extremely happy it's around!
@@chickenwing1887 Yeah, she wanted to prevent a wider IRS investigation into her as well, which would then threaten Walt. It’s why Saul helped. The tension was bc Skylar tried to handle it on her own without telling Walt
Flynn has a lot of meaning storywise. He’s inherently pure, innocent and spontaneous, which makes him a great contrast to Walt’s secretive and conniving nature. He’s an even better scale that since he was raised by Walt, he gives the perfect idea of the potential goodness walt was capable for and therefore how low he is falling. More than that, he’s probably the person Walt cares the most for (as well as Holly), so the extend of danger and deception Walt is willing to expose him to is an even more revealing scale of his moral decadence.
The best aspect of this show is how well it shows Walter’s manipulation skills. He’s so good at it that you as a viewer fall for it as well. He kills the most people and does the most horrific acts. But he somehow makes you feel bad for him. You still see him as the good guy in every episode.
Am I alone for conpletely despising Walt since the end of season 1? I hate his cockiness, manipulation, and especially the lies he tells hinself to justify his actions. I was cheering for Hank the entire last season.
It’s not about nothing. It’s about Walt trying to confront his “contaminated” actions and, since he can’t do that (like telling Jessie about Jane) he externalizes all on that fly. What makes me think like that is the final shot of the fly in his bedroom. He is still “contaminated”. It’s quite brilliant, I think!
The episode goes to show about how Walt is feeling guilty over his actions and the fly represents his conscience. No matter how hard he tries, he can't swipe away the feelings of guilt. At the end of the episode, he realizes he will feel that way forever and just accepts it.
Very true! I also think it sort of a reflection to Walt's life... how he had the good intentions to do good for his family and how all of a studden it is all contaminated... (Walt): "Everything is contaminated..."
Not only does it move the plot foward, but its one of the most sincere moments between Walt and Jesse. Possibly one of the most crucial episodes. I think your looking at it wrong. The entire episode is a giant metaphor for walts guilt. The contamination is the Breaking Bad that has infested walts life and how his actions effect other people. Good video.✌
he did mention that. he said there are multiple layers and many ways to look at the episode. thats why this show is amazing. its a riddle for the audience. metaphors that can be perceived in many ways depending on imagination
yeah but so what? you can accomplish ALL of that in a 3-5 minute vignette, you don't need to waste a full 50 minute episode on it. this episode was 100% greedy money grab, a 0 budget bottle episode. there is seriously no artistic reason for this beyond pretension and greed. at least 45 minutes of a viewers life lost. it is literally the exact same thing as if someone asked me how I was doing this morning and I spent 45 minutes talking about my traffic on the way in to work. Yes I could convey the entire point in a mere fraction of the time, but by dragging it on you can get a better sense of exactly how i felt sitting in traffic waiting for a seemingly endless journey to end. yeah, it is really was a stupid waste of time when you think about it
@@nikpetrovic3877 Except it'd make no sense for Walt to just open up to Jesse like Jesse was a psychiatrist and it was a scheduled appointment. If you tried to condense it into 5 minutes you'd ruin the whole point. The episode conveys Walt's looming demise, how he feels a single fly will ruin everything and his obsession to do anything at all costs to survive, even shut out Jesse, even risk his own life (In an effort to preserve it), he watches the fly the way he's being watched. After 40 minutes of struggle and drama and being driven to his breaking point, and after Jesse drugs him with sleeping pills, we finally get Walt's frayed mind, laced with sleeping pills and speaking honestly but in a stupor, showing remorse, he's not a psychopath (Like Todd) but he's still willing to kill and risk his own wellbeing (A show of him being his own demise) to preserve himself, showing the cruelty, irrationality and fear within him. You need the build up and him going beyond his own limits and harming himself in his frenzy to warrant Jesse trying to get him to sleep, thus drugging him and getting the (mostly) truth out of him. If we just started the episode and in the first 5 minutes we see Walt chase a fly, second minute shows it's been all night, third minute is Jesse going "Dude have you been up all night?" and 4th minute he spikes him, 5th minute he gets the confession, it'd be deeply rushed and not convey any of the themes or meanings, and what would we have filled the rest of the episode with, Walter screaming and crying in his car about how Gus was gonna murder his family because he failed his speech check?
@@nikpetrovic3877 I honestly agree. This episode is a waste of time and to be frank, I forgot it existed. Literally every other episode is much more entertaining simply because I actually care about what's going on. In the fly episode, however, I was waiting the whole time for something to unravel. But all I got was, as you said, something that can be accomplished in 3-5 minutes and not nearly an hour long episode. If it's wrong for me to hate the fly episode, then I don't wanna be right.
@@kianhughes6309 Idk, I remember some in the 2nd season after the Tuco episode, they were quite boring, and also some of the first episodes in season 3
This episode shows how narcissistic Walt is. Which lead to his rise and downfall. It shows Jesse’s heart and innocence, willing to help Walt even though it’s ridiculous. This was an amazing video. I absolutely love videos like this.
Exactly, I mentioned as well that the fly starts the episode small and insignificant...just a fly. Just like Walt and Jessie at the start of the series. By the end of the episode its all consumingly important just like Walt and Jessie at the end of the series. Then there is how people can lose sight of the deed by getting caught up in the act. Walt wanted to kill the fly to prevent contamination. Yet in his escalating obsessino to kill it he contaminates the lab way way more than had he just let the fly live and die. The same way they started the meth business for a specific reason which over the course of the series they lose sight of. You could go on and on..its a brilliant episode on so many levels agreed!
It’s a metaphor for walt’s self perfection and his baggage. Jesse saying it wasn’t his fault Jane died and killing the fly shortly after shows that his regret was also killed, but when he comes home and sees it in the smoke detector he realized that the death of Jane and 167 other people were all caused by him and there is nothing he can do about it
It’s interesting, in both episodes, in different ways, we see his now infamous “Subversion of Expectation” technique. With “Fly” taking fans off guard for the reasons explained in the video and Ozymandias with the several twists and turns it takes. One is universally praised and the other has a more mixed and polarizing response, akin to say, The Last Jedi.
@@victorelnaturo376 morally? Well, one could say there's no difference. But legally? I'm afraid there is. No one is obliged to rescue a dying person. Of course, I'm just saying this from an objective point of view. If it was my case, i would totally help, and I actually kind of started despising Walter after that.
@@Canadiansman How? The characters don't change in the course of the episode, they're exactly the same as they were in the previous episode. Proof of that is that you can skip this one completely and the next episode just picks up where the episode before Fly left off. It doesn't mean the episode is bad or anything. Again, it's a great character sudy and it's a very interesting way to go deeper into these characters minds.
9:38 is probably my favorite shot in the entire series- the fly suddenly appearing on the light. It’s so creepy and looks like something out of Twin Peaks.
Jesse: When you say a contamination, I’m thinking Ebola leak or something.. White: Ebola? Jesse: It’s a disease on the discovery channel where all your intestines just slip right outta your butts White: I know what Ebola is, thank you very much. Now tell me, what would a West African virus be doing in our lab, huh?
Honestly my favorite episode. It just shows how much Walter is affected by the crime, how Jesse is coping with his girlfriends death, and the guilt of walt killing her. It's just brilliant
All of those things were already well established, so reiteration of what's already known is hardly brilliant. It's a filler episode, that if you can sit back and not take the episode seriously, you may be able to find the humor in it... that's all it is.
@@dinglbarry1275 not necessarily, walt never formally gave his condolences (not to mention near or indirect confession) to jesse, so it was emotionally cathartic
God I cannot even imagine waiting for weeks and years to complete all the season. One thing I am thankful to this generation, being born on late 70s is being able to binge watch all 5 season of Breaking Bad in one week 😊
When I first watched this episode, about 20 minutes in I thought, "did they seriously dedicate an entire episode to Walter killing a fly?" But as the episode progressed I became more and more interested in the dialogue, and at the end I just thought about and analyzed what Walter had said.
Walt was hell bent on killing that fly coz he didn't want contamination, the same way he later killed Gus, Mike and jailed guys coz he didn't want to even take a chance, those guys (like the fly) were contamination in Walt's world. That's my understanding of that episode.
That's a really interesting take on Walt's character and motivations. For me, killing Gus and Mike was just simple alpha male posturing. Walt wanted to be the man but as Mike said 'Just because you killed Jesse James, doesn't make you Jesse James'.
Thats the way im thinking too.. this episode was to get rid of contamination. So he goes so hard to try to kill a single fly . So when walt have a threat he finishes it first and take cares of other things next .
For me that episode was meaningful and has the plot. Walter is going mad and their differences became obvious. Because of the great actors you can feel a lot of things. And great movies doesn't need the big scene or budget. 12 angry men for example.
It was one of my favorite episodes. So dark and ominous with a hint of insanity and obsession over such a minor "irrelevant" issue considering how deep in shit they are. The part where Walt's on the floor after finding the raisin (which was hilarious for a very brief moment) the says to Jesse "I feel like I'm running out of ways of explaining this to you, we need to take care of this fly and every trace of it It... Failing to do that, we are dead... there's no more room for error... not with these people" I got chills on how dark it suddenly turned. I also loved the part where he's explaining to Jesse when was the perfect moment to die. He explains with such detail the episode where he's watching an elephant documentary. This episode is absolutely brilliant.
Above all, this episode wanted to express Walter's hidden emotion or in other word, obsession. Walter was tired. The episode opened up his thoughts and tiredness by something very simple. a Fly! That's how you can go deeper to someone's mind and communicate. The goal of the episode is that the audience see how Walter exactly feels and how anxious he is in that situation.
I actually really like this episode, a breather, a moment of relapse, and as someone who gets anxiety quite easily, somthing like this helps levitate tensions for a lil bit.
Fly is about madness, paranoia, and anxiety. My favorite shot in the episode is at the end, when Walter is staring at a blinking smoke alarm light, and the shadow of the fly can be seen. The fly is dead, but it was never about the fly. Edit: This episode is also an example of a trope that a lot of TV shows indulge in (but few dramas...) The "trapped in a room" trope, where characters are stuck in one room together, with only their personalities to interact with. DOUBLE EDIT: THE TROPE IS CALLED A BOTTLE EPISODE?!
Finally, i scrolled way too long to see this. My take on the last scene is where Walter’s moral compass begins to deteriorate. After that he’s sort of embracing what actions he has to take, looking away from his instinct to survive.
Thanks for breaking this down, its frustrating when people say this episode sucks just because they have no attention spans and need shootouts, deaths, or explosions in every episode.
Overrated *character study, as the characters aren’t developed at all, remaining the same characters they were in the previous episode. So much so that you can skip this and you’ll be fine, won’t miss a thing.
Also my English teacher told me the fly represents evil and how Walter doesn’t let it in and try’s to fight it but in a later episode when he’s cooking in the fumigation house there’s a fly and Walt doesn’t really mind it showing how the evil is taken over and Walter is fine with it
The “Bottle Episode” is such an interesting topic for me. I think any good show should have one and Breaking Bad hits it out of the park with Fly. As someone who’s so interested in film, I love it when an entire episode focuses on just one or a few characters and just one location, yet can keep the audience entertained just as well as any other. These episodes can only be successful when there’s deep character development, and Fly achieves just that. Two of my favorite bottle episodes are Brian & Stewie (Family Guy - S8 Ep17) and Free Churro (BoJack Horseman - S5 Ep6). These both being animated shows takes the “Bottle Episode” to the extreme, as with animation moving location isn’t a thing. The writers are challenging themselves to make something great. Now Family Guy is typically every other sitcom, they make their dirty jokes, set up their cutaway gags, play their typical sitcom music during the establishment shot, none of which were present in this episode. There’s no music at all, no cutaways, no Peter, just Stewie and Brian for 30 minutes. There isn’t even a gag at the end. The plot goes that the two are locked in a bank vault after they accidentally get shut in when the bank closes for the day, they eventually reveal their true feelings about each other and question their existence and purpose in life. This is a surprisingly deep episode for a goofy cartoon, and I think about this episode often. BoJack Horseman’s Free Churro episode is literally Will Arnett talking to himself for the entire runtime, and, in my opinion, the greatest bottle episode made. It’s just one character, excluding the opening scene flashback. The plot is BoJack is coming to terms with his abusive mother’s passing while delivering her eulogy, confused on why he feels sad that the woman he’s hated forever is now dead. He goes on of how his mother’s final words, who was a bit loopy at the end, were “I See You” as she looked in his direction. He brings this up multiple times, conjuring up theories of how it was his mother finally acknowledging him, only to realize at the end of the episode she was reading an “Intensive Care Unit” sign. Upon realization, he explains how his mother never showed him any compassion, realizing that he’s sad not because his mother is dead, it’s that his dream of having a real, loving relationship with his mother is dead, and he’ll never have it. It’s a heartbreaking realization, and one of the greatest character development I may have scene ever and an absolute shame Will Arnett never got an Emmy for it
Brilliant comment! Great example with free churro I loved that episode as a stand alone and it kept me engaged the entire time just with bojack talking. It was great writing, and Aaron Paul was executive producer (Jesse from breaking bad). Thank you for acknowledging free churro from bojack that really was a great show and great episode
Walter's actions can not be justified, but I believe he does feel guilty about his actions. He first stated that he just wanted to make enough money for his family to survive when he was gone. He did that when he sold the meth to Gus in the second season but things keep getting in his way from accomplishing his way of doing things. He can no longer tell the truth to even himself because he knows chaos will erupt and will lose everything.
"You haven't been using our product have you?" When Jesse asks Walt that, I crack up every time. He wasn't wrong to ask it either because I've seen some meth heads do some weird shit when they are focused on doing something.
@@PolishGod1234 breaking bad starts around the time lalo was killed. this episode would've taken place between 8 to 14 months after the bodies were buried
@@fascilime correct. Lalo and Howard being buried in cement has absolutely no bearing on any part of Breaking Bad. It’s just shock value to make idiots think BB is more deep.
I was dying of laughter for too long to remember when he was trying to catch the fly and fell off the railing. And then Jesse hitting him with the swatter.
Yeah! it made us more engaged to the show and most importantly strengthen the bond between the two characters . Sometimes these are the times we remember spending with our friends these moments also happens in real life and it gives us weird nostalgia . And the people who hated this episode shows that they were the lifeless binge watchers who don't love the show they are just watching for the popularity and ratings.
Man as I was watching this episode, I just knew this was probably the best episode of the Series. First half, I was like, 'what's happening? Is this episode actually gonna go anywhere?'. But just after the half way point, I realised, this episode is special. This is greatness. And by the end of it, with half the seasons still left to go, I already knew, this was my favourite episode. Just dialogue, exceptional writing, genuine emotions and exceptional acting. This one episode tells us more about these 2 characters, than the whole show. I like that few others feel the same.
this episode is really underrated and a work of art... that ladder scene when walter is holding the ladder and talking to jesse.... that was just so damn amazing
I remember watching this episode when I was at my dads house. He would always just kinda watch along whenever I was watching breaking bad (this was like the 5th time that I watched this series). He never rly enjoyed the series too much but he knew the characters and started asking questions about why certain things were happened during the show. He ended up enjoying s5 a lot more because there was an insane amount of stuff happening at that point. But before that, I was watching this episode. He actually kinda enjoyed this one more then others. The jokes were top notch. I mean Jesse asking about an Ebola virus outbreak was the funniest part and it made us both laugh. Hes a great father, but theres just something special about your father enjoying watching a show you're a number 1 fan of for years. He never watches any tv series that have an ongoing plot/story.
Same. I also got my dad to watch attack on titan which I was obsessed about a couple years ago. While watching it with him, to my surprise he really enjoyed it, but I started to realize that maybe my favorite show wasn’t so great after all…
I watched this show on a whim on Netflix and have been hooked ever since. Such a brilliant cast of characters that mesh well together and an awesome storyline. Fly was a favorite for me because it was funny and really put a spotlight on Walt and Jesse’s love/abuse relationship.
This episode is a bottle episode. From Wikipedia- Bottle episodes are sometimes produced when a show has a mid-season cliffhanger or an expensive season opener/closer, to allow as much of the budget as possible to go to the more expensive episodes. Scott Brazil, executive producer/director of The Shield, described bottle episodes as "the sad little stepchild whose allowance is docked in order to buy big brother a new pair of sneaks".[3]
*S04 E11 Crawl Space* .... One of *the greatest* and my personal favourite. When walter loses faith in himself and take drastic measures to save his family from evil. Thinks it's the endgame for him, he tries, but he isn't able to do anything, at last, that moment of desperation of Walter White , the emotional outburst so bad, he screams and cries and laughs so hard............... *I was frozen on my couch, chills running down my spine, heart pounding heavily + it was fuckin 2:00AM which really freaked me out as I wasn't ready for that.*
The fly episode made us realise the hygienic standards of a lab and also helped us know how unhygienic other labs were just by seeing it without being told in the episode, especially the cartels lab and the lab Todd took over.
Man, the latest Better Call Saul episode really just turned the "worst" episode of Breaking Bad into one of the most chilling episodes in the entire franchise.
Here is my "personal" thought about this episode. Btw, it's genius: -All of these had under meaning. The episode named "Fly", after a creature known as "filthy, disgusting species". It somehow represented Walt and Jessie and all the guilts they had made, beside making meth. For Jessie, he stole an increasingly amouth of meth and lying to his partner. But for Walt, was to kept the secret about Jane's death which he was somehow responsible for, moreover, the guilt of leaving his family in danger had him badly. - The contamination, is the guilty feeling that they cannot surpass and forgive, for being "bad guys". - When Walt held the ladder, he kept sorry Jessie. Beside the secret, I think he was trying to expressed his gratitude of having Jessie around. Maybe Jess is a messed up fella but he is a loyal one, always been on trouble with Walt, while being treated like a monkey. That's explained why Walt warned Jessie about the stolen - Jessie was right about Walt. Walt is just like Jessie's auntie, nothing but a person who is obsessed with perfection. Walt always want the best, so badly that he become so selfish, not sharing his work with anyone, isolate himself in a lab which he created for his own. For him Jessie is like that fly, they are both not belongs to his success, an unwelcome guest in a very intense situation. And soon or later, Walt will drown in his own selfishness. And many many more. Idk why some people didn't like this episode. This is by far one of the best TV show has ever made...
@@nutbuster4204 When he enters the house, Jane is sleeping on her side. He's the reason she starts to look up. (I recall it was because he moved Jesse to wake him up and moved Jane accidentaly, not sure about the way he did it) And the more obvious reason is that he didn't help her and let her die.
I remember when watching this episode I was so confused by it that I hated it......as time went on I realized just how genius the episode actually was all of the symbolism and cinematography are just rich
Date Mike I think my favorite part of the episode is that when Walt talks about “the perfect time to die.” which to him, was when Jane died. I think that one line really cements to me the difference between my enjoyment of the earlier seasons and the later seasons. Such a good line. Nice profile picture by the way.
The fly at the end when Walter was sleeping could also be a sign that his cancer was coming back. Remember what Jesse said about his aunt and the „possum“ Scrabbler?
Wrong. The fly was never really there at the final scene of that episode. That was just a visual example of Walt coming to terms with his sins and the fact that they will never leave.
I think it was more about there still being a "contaminate" in their meth cooking operation and that contaminate was Gus. Thus the "red light" because he had to be "stopped" before Gus "contaminated" the operation... Interesting nonetheless.
The thing i like about this episode is that it shows the two different perspectives of these men. Not about just a fly; but about the business. Jesse just wanted to get his money and get on with it. Not worrying about the bull shit stuff. Walter couldn't let the little things go. Revenge, micro issues. And sometimes to his detriment. Sometimes.
I always hated this episode, now I know why - the writers were forced to write it due to budget. I knew it didn’t come out of their own creativity. You can feel it when you watch it.
This was my favorite episode too. I like at the end of the episode Walt recognizes the point at which he should have quit. The night Jane die. That was the night Walt crossed the point of no return. The storytelling did not progress this episode, but it was an important look back at what drove each character.
This episode featured some of the best acting in the entire show. When I watched it for the first time recently, I was taken aback by how phenomenal it was. I was really surprised by how much people disliked it because it is by far one of my favourite episodes in the show.
Me and my friend watched BB together but sometimes seperate and I told him I skipped fly and he's a huge cinematography nerd and told me to rewatch it and that it was an amazing episode, I rewatched it and understood what he meant, it really is a beautiful episode if you just take a second to understand it
I get this episode. I really do. I get all metaphors. BUT this can be did by so many better ways then in one room chasing fly. This episode is not good. I am sorry but this metaphors cannot replaced boreness of this. The character development can be done normally. They haven't money and thats why this was created. I bet producers know too that if they had budget, this episode will be good, but they didn't :(
I'm just glad i was able to binge watch the whole show (2 weeks). I don't think I would've had the patience to wait for a new episode to air on TV on a weekly basis, especially with all those cliffhangers! 😂
@@vikas-ln3zc yeah I was on summer break and literally didn't do anything else other than watch bb. I only slept for like 3-5 hours max per day and even dreamt bb scenes lmao. That's how I got sick
I always felt like this was when Walter's cancer started to come back, driving him mad. The story Jessie tells about his family member, and the ending of the episode with Walter still seeing the fly in his room, even though it was killed in the lab.
Here is something I wrote on another social media thread a week ago: This really is one of the best episodes of the series and it's a shame that so many people don't see how litered with metaphors it is and how it takes a moment in the series to show the relationship between Jesse and Walt. It's also a breather for the series to reflect on their journey. Yes, it's different from the others yet this episode deserves to be in many top ten lists of the series. Vincent Pulido Me too. It really is one of the show's best and I think a part of the reason why people are dismissing it is because of how different it is and that they think nothing happens to progress the series yet it is rich with character development between Jesse and Walt. And it shows how devastated the protagonist is by giving a glimpse into how he feels with the business such as by how he communicates with Jesse and by his frustration with the contamination. He is buried with despair and the audience gets to see that. A brilliant bottle episode that works and was made with such a tight budget. This is a great episode. It does not feel like filler either. The only episode in the series that feels closest to filler in the series is Breakage and even that one is great and has a lot going on to further the story.
I loved this episode but my stupid brother and my mom hated it because supposedly "nothing interesting happened" my brother assumed that they ran out of money for production that’s why it was boring and he was right they ran out of money but he didn’t put any thought in their dialogue and how deep it was, so basically dumb people hated the episode.
I also absolutely love this episode. It also has a really relaxing vibe including the simplicity of the episode. But yes even on imdb you can see "fly" has the worst rating with a score of 7.8/10 points from all episodes. :)
People probably hated it because when it originally aired they had been waiting a week and after it they had to wait another week. We're really lucky to have the luxury of streaming
It felt almost like the calm before the storm. The following three episodes really set the plot moving for Gus to turn on Walt.
Captain Picard ..nobody said anything about that, it’s just that’s why people were more annoyed when it first aired. Unlike now, where you can just stream the next episode
@@ARingADingBaby bruh moment. I'm saying we're lucky the whole thing is on netflix.
...instead of having to wait weekly.
But yeah I'm the retard
Caleb Witts I watched it on Netflix and I still hated it
@@ARingADingBaby Captain Moron
What do you mean "Fly" didn't have a major character death, did the fly mean NOTHING to you?!
yeah lil bruh was just chillin and they murdered him
He was just trying to help cook and they killed little dude.
Spoilers!!! WTF
Forged Cosmos duh the show been out cut for 6 years ofc their gonna have spoilers if you didn’t watch breaking bad already you had 6 years if not it’s you’re fault
Matthew Handshoe he was being sarcastic
I think it also really showed how fragile his empire was, the fact that a single fly could possibly be the death of him.
and it showed in great detail the differences of personality and problem solving skills between walter and jesse.. jesse just wants to move on and not deal with it and drugs walter but walter is on his last mission on earth and is a perfectiionist and is obsessive... i also loved the humour and the fact they are SO different yet they always work nicely together because jesse is loyal and even kills the fly...notice jesse never calls him walter he addresses him in a formal way to show respect and bow to his authority
@@kimmyfreak200 I don’t think “bow” is the right word
That’s what so great about the episode (and the show) is that everybody has their own interpretation on it.
It can be for a lot of things tho lol, someone's getting ready to smoke some of the blue and suddenly there's a dead squished fly in it, it could hurt the 'business'.
Not his empire, his mind
Everyone misunderstands this episode. The fly was gonna replace Walt as Gustavo's cook, so they had to kill him. The fly may be one of the most threatening antagonists in the series. Rian Lil Johnson is a master of subversion.
No, it IS the most threatening antagonist in the entire series
The "fly" symbolized Gale. Seemingly harmless but had the potential to contaminate the operation.
@@jcepri it clearly could have killed everyone in the entire state american and maybe east asian continent if it wasn’t killed thanks to it’s inmense power so it couldn’t “just” contaminate the entire operation
I get it
Yooo this comment had me rolling 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
***Correction*** The entire plot of breaking bad is to make Huell happy
He was reasonably happy
Legends say he is still has not gone out.
Huell, are you happy?
Huell: /-_-\ reasonably
😂😂
Huell needs to use your bathroom
I’ll take a fly that refuses to die over any scene with skylar and Ted alone together any day of the week
Happy birthday to you uuuu
@@mark0183 god I threw my neck out cringing the last time I watched that.
@@joejonas6816 i skipped that part, it made me want to step out of my body
@@ericb.7354 yea me too..
@@mark0183 I’ve never watched the full scene the first time I saw it I skipped so fast I couldn’t handle it
I use to hate this episode but the realization that Lalo Salamanca reincarnated himself as a fly to annoy Walter White is peak comedy.
thats crazy
New fans 🤡🤡🤡
Could be howard too
being attracted to their rotting corpses goes a long way to explaining why and how it got down into what shoulda already been an airtight/secure/fly free lab.
@@Usabby1776 bro is gatekeeping breaking bad
I also liked the fly being a symbol/allegory for guilt over Jane's death. Jesse is the one who ends up killing the fly, as he is the one to properly move on from it, whereas at the end of the episode, Walt hears a fly buzzing in his room when he's trying to sleep.
One episode about a fly is better than the entire Season 8 of Game of Thrones
Raymond Sims the shit I took this morning is better than S8 GoT
I've never seen GOT. BB gave us all 'Hank on the throne'.
season 8 is not canon, I just refuse to believe that they've made such thing...
@Raymond Sims dont say stupid things.
No it isn't.
Walter can literally fart in an episode and have so much meaning behind it.
LOL! Is it true that "Hector Salamanca" was nominated for an Emmy?
@@rgh5069 yeah
Of course his name is walter fartwell white
Beginning of an episode: Walt eats at Los Pollos Hermanos
End of episode: Walt farts
Throughout the episode, Walt feels oppressed by something. This is shown through him constantly clutching his stomach and giving a look of discomfort.
After a meeting with Gus, Walt farts on his way out. This symbolizes that he now recognizes these feelings of oppression, and has chosen to expel them, no matter how crude the method. Gus has to go.
@Walter White Brown represents normality in the show so it means that the yellow boritos you eat will turn brown
Thats ying and jang
I think the people who hated the fly episode were people who watched it live and the people who loved it where people who binge watched it, for the people who watched it live they waited one whole week and we're disappointed, for the people who binge watched it they watched it and moved on to the next episode. I've binge watched it and I like it
This is the most sensible thing posted here. You are quiet right. I liked this episode because it gave my binge watch session a bit of variety.
Same
You have such a great understanding
i binged the shit out of BB and can confirm that the fly was unenjoyable :(
I watched on Netflix and this was my least favourite episode although it wasn’t absolutely terrible
I remember when I first watched Fly after it was over I immediately thought "this is my favorite episode so far."
It was such a nice break from the constant action and dread, just a chance for the characters to look back on the past and grow closer. I was shocked to see how universally despised it is
Im pretty late but exactly it was one of the last moments jesse and walt were somewhat happy together
Agreed it felt like an episode from season one, it was very laid back
Well based on comments and critique, the hate comes mainly from weekly watchers and not bingers like most of us
I'm just starting Breaking Bad last week and now on Season 3, and yeah I kinda with you this episode "Fly" really made me feel nice about Breaking Bad calm me up.
Ladies and gentleman I present the average consumer
I think this episode still has relevance as when Jesse later has to speak to the foreign team of scientists, he brings up the hygiene and overall poor condition of the lab. Even though he doesn't fully agree with Walter about the fly, he has essentially taken in this information without even realising it at the time and begins to respect the process and science behind their product. After all, most the time it's the subtle things that make sense down the road that really blow your mind away when it comes to this show and it's amazing story-telling.
Walt's cleanliness and the clean lab conditions were already well established... this episode has absolutely nothing to do with Jesse being in Mexico and complaining about the extremely dirty lab conditions. Jesse's trying to put out as pure of a product as possible, so in order to do that the lab and the lab equipment need to be cleaned first... which is just common sense.
@@dinglbarry1275 exactly, which he learned from Walt during this episode. Still not significant enough to consume a whole episode but this episode was never about progression of the story
Exactly! It was definitely influenced by this episode it seems that’s what really drilled it into Jesse the importance of 0 contamination & it was a piece of art, the episode was so simple but so effective & hilarious. How could anyone hate this episode these people baffle me. Not like they were short of money & wanted to make a cheap episode, it was very relevant and brilliant.
@@dinglbarry1275 Up until the point of everything he experienced with Walt however, Jesse didn't really care. He used the wrong equipment, he didn't care about it being a perfect product, he added things into the mix that made no sense. So while it's common sense yes, it wasn't something Jesse cared about until he started cooking with Walt. And I'm not saying this episode in particular were the main cause or anything, but that he absorbed everything over time and started respecting the process more as time went on.
Hence the main reason Jesse had an issue with the lab conditions is solely due to his time with Walt, although you might be able to argue whatever this was genuine or not, it is still influenced by their time together.
Ahhh yes i love that too i immediately thought of the fly episode when i watched that jesse teaching the scientists ep back then the amount of details that is put up in this show is just so damn good and it all makes perfect sense i will never not praise this show it is golden
God im so glad this show is being talked about again. I miss this universe so much even with all the horrible shit that happens inside it lol
If you haven't yet, definitely dive into Better Call Saul. The soul of Breaking Bad lives on in a different context.
It's getting in the trend again cause of El Camino
Yeah the new movie brought me 10 years back in life. Life used to be much much better back than.
Watch Mr. Robot. It's currently in it's 4th and last season, and when it comes to consistency, Mr. Robot holds up to Breaking Bad.
@@VAVORiAL The Rami Malek one?
I wonder if they included the fly in the 270 death count..
The Fly is also one of the all time greatest Breaking Bad villians and Walter White didn't even kill him. He had the upper hand on Walt the whole episode until Jesse saved Walt and the lab 😂
I thought they still didn’t get the flu, they just they did.
the fly has more worth than the bastards that die at the end
@@benanderson3791 269*
When your likes are struck at 270
His maniac laugh in the S04E11, where he finds his money is gone to Ted, is one of the most rich scenes in TV history
He became the Joker
Crawl Space is the episode
Yeah absolutely right about that one! I never understood why though!? Why would she do that to Walter, I think it's clearly her trying to sabatoge Walter on purpose as she doesn't have the strength to just leave him and walk away! So she gives his money to ANOTHER man and has an affiar with same guy! Plus she hates to admit it and doesn't like having too but she loves having that kinda cash! She might not agree with how its made but she's extremely happy it's around!
@@Tyler_82 well he was being investigated for his tax fraud so she would have been investigated too
@@chickenwing1887 Yeah, she wanted to prevent a wider IRS investigation into her as well, which would then threaten Walt. It’s why Saul helped. The tension was bc Skylar tried to handle it on her own without telling Walt
“It’s a show that doesn’t waste a single moment”
Flynn: Hold my breakfast
?
Yeah I don’t get that one either
I think those scenes were for pacing purposes
Flynn has a lot of meaning storywise. He’s inherently pure, innocent and spontaneous, which makes him a great contrast to Walt’s secretive and conniving nature. He’s an even better scale that since he was raised by Walt, he gives the perfect idea of the potential goodness walt was capable for and therefore how low he is falling. More than that, he’s probably the person Walt cares the most for (as well as Holly), so the extend of danger and deception Walt is willing to expose him to is an even more revealing scale of his moral decadence.
@@davidkane6145 i think he wanted to make fun of his autism
The best aspect of this show is how well it shows Walter’s manipulation skills. He’s so good at it that you as a viewer fall for it as well. He kills the most people and does the most horrific acts. But he somehow makes you feel bad for him. You still see him as the good guy in every episode.
I really wanted to hate him after he killed Jane but I just couldn’t.
Am I alone for conpletely despising Walt since the end of season 1? I hate his cockiness, manipulation, and especially the lies he tells hinself to justify his actions. I was cheering for Hank the entire last season.
@@MorpheusWasted he was one of the main reasons she dies
@@ppjeje929 no, Jesse was
@@MorpheusWasted Walt had the intention of Jane dying and Jesse didn’t
The Fly was one of the best episode in my opinion. Brilliant acting by the Fly.
Imagine the fly wining an emmy
Agree
engrish
Omg u made me lol 😂
@@jamess.7811 More than likely a single letter typo but go on I guess.
It’s not about nothing. It’s about Walt trying to confront his “contaminated” actions and, since he can’t do that (like telling Jessie about Jane) he externalizes all on that fly.
What makes me think like that is the final shot of the fly in his bedroom. He is still “contaminated”. It’s quite brilliant, I think!
New fans 🤡🤡
@@Usabby1776 ?
@@Usabby1776 gatekeeper 🤡🤡
The episode goes to show about how Walt is feeling guilty over his actions and the fly represents his conscience. No matter how hard he tries, he can't swipe away the feelings of guilt. At the end of the episode, he realizes he will feel that way forever and just accepts it.
Such a great interpretation!
and in the end it’s Jesse who kills the fly...
Very true! I also think it sort of a reflection to Walt's life... how he had the good intentions to do good for his family and how all of a studden it is all contaminated...
(Walt): "Everything is contaminated..."
And even though the fly is dead, there's another one at the very end of the episode when he's about to sleep. The guilt will always come back
Or it’s just an episode about killing a fly
I love it when Jesse tries to sneak and start making the meth and walt appears out of no where and scarily says "what are you doing?"
Ikr 😭😂
Is walt your alter ego?
@@Akshit.vats. No I am walt
I mean you’re the one who said it
@@Akshit.vats. you mean your WALTER ego??? 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
Insider: This episode represents the entire series.
Writers: hehe fly go bizzz
lol
LMFAO
Not only does it move the plot foward, but its one of the most sincere moments between Walt and Jesse. Possibly one of the most crucial episodes. I think your looking at it wrong. The entire episode is a giant metaphor for walts guilt. The contamination is the Breaking Bad that has infested walts life and how his actions effect other people. Good video.✌
he did mention that. he said there are multiple layers and many ways to look at the episode. thats why this show is amazing. its a riddle for the audience. metaphors that can be perceived in many ways depending on imagination
yeah but so what? you can accomplish ALL of that in a 3-5 minute vignette, you don't need to waste a full 50 minute episode on it. this episode was 100% greedy money grab, a 0 budget bottle episode.
there is seriously no artistic reason for this beyond pretension and greed. at least 45 minutes of a viewers life lost.
it is literally the exact same thing as if someone asked me how I was doing this morning and I spent 45 minutes talking about my traffic on the way in to work. Yes I could convey the entire point in a mere fraction of the time, but by dragging it on you can get a better sense of exactly how i felt sitting in traffic waiting for a seemingly endless journey to end.
yeah, it is really was a stupid waste of time when you think about it
@@nikpetrovic3877 Except it'd make no sense for Walt to just open up to Jesse like Jesse was a psychiatrist and it was a scheduled appointment. If you tried to condense it into 5 minutes you'd ruin the whole point.
The episode conveys Walt's looming demise, how he feels a single fly will ruin everything and his obsession to do anything at all costs to survive, even shut out Jesse, even risk his own life (In an effort to preserve it), he watches the fly the way he's being watched.
After 40 minutes of struggle and drama and being driven to his breaking point, and after Jesse drugs him with sleeping pills, we finally get Walt's frayed mind, laced with sleeping pills and speaking honestly but in a stupor, showing remorse, he's not a psychopath (Like Todd) but he's still willing to kill and risk his own wellbeing (A show of him being his own demise) to preserve himself, showing the cruelty, irrationality and fear within him.
You need the build up and him going beyond his own limits and harming himself in his frenzy to warrant Jesse trying to get him to sleep, thus drugging him and getting the (mostly) truth out of him.
If we just started the episode and in the first 5 minutes we see Walt chase a fly, second minute shows it's been all night, third minute is Jesse going "Dude have you been up all night?" and 4th minute he spikes him, 5th minute he gets the confession, it'd be deeply rushed and not convey any of the themes or meanings, and what would we have filled the rest of the episode with, Walter screaming and crying in his car about how Gus was gonna murder his family because he failed his speech check?
@@nikpetrovic3877 I honestly agree. This episode is a waste of time and to be frank, I forgot it existed. Literally every other episode is much more entertaining simply because I actually care about what's going on. In the fly episode, however, I was waiting the whole time for something to unravel. But all I got was, as you said, something that can be accomplished in 3-5 minutes and not nearly an hour long episode. If it's wrong for me to hate the fly episode, then I don't wanna be right.
@@nikpetrovic3877jeez, I thought I was the only one on earth to dislike this episode...
You know a series is good when the lowest rated episode has a massive cult following.
Right? Lmao.
True shit
To be honest, there are some worse episodes that to be honest, they arent soo great
Just another black & white mickey Mouse Really? Which episodes?
@@kianhughes6309 Idk, I remember some in the 2nd season after the Tuco episode, they were quite boring, and also some of the first episodes in season 3
"The best thing about Breaking Bad is its consistency"
*fat Todd has entered the chat*
😂
omg hahahahha
on Todds back story: Breaking Fat, it will tell you how he lose weight before his demise in Felina.
@@redseamole 🤣🤣🤣
Fat Damon pls
This episode shows how narcissistic Walt is. Which lead to his rise and downfall. It shows Jesse’s heart and innocence, willing to help Walt even though it’s ridiculous.
This was an amazing video. I absolutely love videos like this.
Exactly, I mentioned as well that the fly starts the episode small and insignificant...just a fly. Just like Walt and Jessie at the start of the series. By the end of the episode its all consumingly important just like Walt and Jessie at the end of the series.
Then there is how people can lose sight of the deed by getting caught up in the act. Walt wanted to kill the fly to prevent contamination. Yet in his escalating obsessino to kill it he contaminates the lab way way more than had he just let the fly live and die. The same way they started the meth business for a specific reason which over the course of the series they lose sight of.
You could go on and on..its a brilliant episode on so many levels agreed!
@@YoreHistory its jesse btw
It’s a metaphor for walt’s self perfection and his baggage. Jesse saying it wasn’t his fault Jane died and killing the fly shortly after shows that his regret was also killed, but when he comes home and sees it in the smoke detector he realized that the death of Jane and 167 other people were all caused by him and there is nothing he can do about it
@@Borganov20 no, Jane overdosed that's her problem, two more nights and Jesse would've followed, her father killed 167 people.
@@ayoubzahyo Walt could’ve saved Jane
I absolutely LOVE "The Fly". Its all about the script. The dialogue! The conversations. Love it.
That episode left me bored more than any other episode in the whole series
@@StoneFlower77 L
@@StoneFlower77 shut up
@@StoneFlower77 Brain issue
You just said a lot of nothing.
The highest rated episode "ozymandias" and the lowest rated episode "fly" are directed by the same person; Rian Johnson
That guy needs to stick to shit like this and never touch a single sci-fi genre movie again (star wars)
Thanks for that, Boss!
@@mattmacaulay2900 Nice MGSV reference
It’s interesting, in both episodes, in different ways, we see his now infamous “Subversion of Expectation” technique. With “Fly” taking fans off guard for the reasons explained in the video and Ozymandias with the several twists and turns it takes. One is universally praised and the other has a more mixed and polarizing response, akin to say, The Last Jedi.
@@isaiahrodriguez2770 b-b-but the last jedi is a bad movie :(
That episode scared the shit out of me when Walt breaks down and starts talking about Jesse and Jane. I thought he was gonna tell Jesse he killed Jane
Well he didn't kill jane, he just let her die. Two different things
lourdes in that situation when he could’ve done something is there really a difference?
@@victorelnaturo376 morally? Well, one could say there's no difference. But legally? I'm afraid there is. No one is obliged to rescue a dying person. Of course, I'm just saying this from an objective point of view. If it was my case, i would totally help, and I actually kind of started despising Walter after that.
@@lourdes6222 actually In some states there is a good samaritan law. You have to do something.
Good Samaritan laws are to protect samaritans from prosecution not to oblige folks to help
I personally think Fly is a great episode, but it’s sure as hell not the best in the series for me.
Ozymandias, felina, tohajilee, grilled, 4 days out
Aq
guille garcia I’m torn between ozymandias, 4 days out and felina for my favorite episode
Crawl space is my fav one
Lol 4 days out is so overrated it’s good but prob not in my top 15
Loved the tension you felt when Walter almost told Jessie ab him being there when his girl passed
Honestly dude. I fell almost asleep until that came to be a topic of their discussion.
It’s not even remotely close to a bad ep it’s such a character developing ep and it was deep
i have always seen it about walt doing something he is the best at for once and he is become a controlling perfectionist
Vector_Bruno I don’t think it develops the characters at all, but it does study them in a very interesting way.
TheArsenalMan125 it shows his paranoia
Bruno Bessa I think it develops them pretty well
@@Canadiansman How? The characters don't change in the course of the episode, they're exactly the same as they were in the previous episode.
Proof of that is that you can skip this one completely and the next episode just picks up where the episode before Fly left off.
It doesn't mean the episode is bad or anything. Again, it's a great character sudy and it's a very interesting way to go deeper into these characters minds.
“Doesn’t waste a single moment”
Vince Gilligan: Makes 5 minute scenes of dialogue-free breakfast.
That's not a wasted time
Also important acuz you See relationship between severel people
@@mospy9353 *Gilligan
YoU CaN SeE ThE ExACt MoMENt WhEN WaLT JR beCOmES BrEaKfAST
It’s to show how awkward it’s got for Walt at home
9:38 is probably my favorite shot in the entire series- the fly suddenly appearing on the light. It’s so creepy and looks like something out of Twin Peaks.
Exactly what I thought when I saw it!! It’s so eerie and mysterious
I loved it too.. Looks like the fly is telling Walt "You can't get rid of us no matter how hard you try, Walt.. I am so tiny, yet so big in your head"
True. Similar to "A space oddysey"
Jesse: When you say a contamination, I’m thinking Ebola leak or something..
White: Ebola?
Jesse: It’s a disease on the discovery channel where all your intestines just slip right outta your butts
White: I know what Ebola is, thank you very much. Now tell me, what would a West African virus be doing in our lab, huh?
that was some Drake and Josh shit right there
This comment made me laugh! I do like the episode tho
*Coronavirus enters the chat*
@@sandoval9276 where's the door?
Ebola? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within our superlab?
Walk freaks out about one lone fly in the lab but has the idea to secretly cook in bug infested houses.
control freak lol
Honestly my favorite episode. It just shows how much Walter is affected by the crime, how Jesse is coping with his girlfriends death, and the guilt of walt killing her. It's just brilliant
Im 14 and this is deep
All of those things were already well established, so reiteration of what's already known is hardly brilliant. It's a filler episode, that if you can sit back and not take the episode seriously, you may be able to find the humor in it... that's all it is.
_"the guilt of walt killing her"_ Walt didn't reslly kill Jane...
@@dinglbarry1275 not necessarily, walt never formally gave his condolences (not to mention near or indirect confession) to jesse, so it was emotionally cathartic
@@Neodynium.the_permanent_magnet he literally did. he was the one who moved her to her back and watched her choke on her vomit💀😭
God I cannot even imagine waiting for weeks and years to complete all the season. One thing I am thankful to this generation, being born on late 70s is being able to binge watch all 5 season of Breaking Bad in one week 😊
When I first watched this episode, about 20 minutes in I thought, "did they seriously dedicate an entire episode to Walter killing a fly?" But as the episode progressed I became more and more interested in the dialogue, and at the end I just thought about and analyzed what Walter had said.
Wait, you watch snipe2dietv csgo right?
@@cinderella8187 yes lmao
Yeah the episode was really about the heartfelt conversation between Walt and Jesse than the fly
Fly is not the best episode. But it does not deserve the hate, I personally really enjoyed it.
It was my favorite
@JRC i laughed the most when walt got smacked on the head. And also his reaction to it. It made me burst out laughing
Far from the best episode, ozmandias probably takes the throne.
I guess people didn't like waiting a week to get no intense situations
@@randomness5281 yeah but binge watching it had a different effect
I never hated fly, just don't think its the best.
DaDopeDude ozymandias right?
tbh I prefer it over the Season 2 episode with Walt and Jesse stranded in the desert
@Richard HART 100%
Same
And who said it's the best?!
The fly is an incredibly important episode showing Walt lose his moral compass... How could you hate it?
Walt was hell bent on killing that fly coz he didn't want contamination, the same way he later killed Gus, Mike and jailed guys coz he didn't want to even take a chance, those guys (like the fly) were contamination in Walt's world.
That's my understanding of that episode.
That's a really interesting take on Walt's character and motivations. For me, killing Gus and Mike was just simple alpha male posturing. Walt wanted to be the man but as Mike said 'Just because you killed Jesse James, doesn't make you Jesse James'.
Thats the way im thinking too.. this episode was to get rid of contamination. So he goes so hard to try to kill a single fly . So when walt have a threat he finishes it first and take cares of other things next
.
Bro atleast give a warning SPOILERS AHEAD
My bad, sorry about that Persona's Magic.
@@armyyyyyyyyyyyy Dude, you are watching this videos and seeing comments, you can't spect to not get spoiled
I’d rather have an entire episode of Walt and Jesse cooking meth with some casual conversation sprinkled in
shoresy me too!
Cough cough> most of 4 days out
Man I wish that episode exists with Tarantino directing it
I just love every cooking series in the show
we've seen a ton of that, but this one truly was special
For me that episode was meaningful and has the plot. Walter is going mad and their differences became obvious. Because of the great actors you can feel a lot of things. And great movies doesn't need the big scene or budget. 12 angry men for example.
It was one of my favorite episodes. So dark and ominous with a hint of insanity and obsession over such a minor "irrelevant" issue considering how deep in shit they are. The part where Walt's on the floor after finding the raisin (which was hilarious for a very brief moment) the says to Jesse "I feel like I'm running out of ways of explaining this to you, we need to take care of this fly and every trace of it It... Failing to do that, we are dead... there's no more room for error... not with these people" I got chills on how dark it suddenly turned. I also loved the part where he's explaining to Jesse when was the perfect moment to die. He explains with such detail the episode where he's watching an elephant documentary. This episode is absolutely brilliant.
When i saw your comment i thought about 12 angry men before reading 12 angry men in your comment
The actual worst episodes are Breakage and Open House
when Jesse asks "but what about the contamination"
and Walt replies "its all contaminated"
that was just genius
Above all, this episode wanted to express Walter's hidden emotion or in other word, obsession. Walter was tired. The episode opened up his thoughts and tiredness by something very simple. a Fly!
That's how you can go deeper to someone's mind and communicate. The goal of the episode is that the audience see how Walter exactly feels and how anxious he is in that situation.
the one thing I felt boring in this show was marie and Skyler scenes.
I hated Walter Jr. scenes yet suprisingly I didnt hate him as a character
Holy shit Marie
@Hank Schrader: I understand, Marie is your wife and you have to defend her. Nothing to be ashamed of bro.
YES I HATE SKYLER BUT MARIE??? MARIE?!?!??!?! SHES THE BEST CHARACTER IN THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!
@@wilczarzxv She's a Karen.
Imagine my face when I realized that Rian Johnson directed this episode. He also directed quite possibly the best episode of the series, Ozymandias.
We don't even know you let alone imagine your face?
@@studiousboy644 lmao
I actually really like this episode, a breather, a moment of relapse, and as someone who gets anxiety quite easily, somthing like this helps levitate tensions for a lil bit.
Fly is about madness, paranoia, and anxiety.
My favorite shot in the episode is at the end, when Walter is staring at a blinking smoke alarm light, and the shadow of the fly can be seen. The fly is dead, but it was never about the fly.
Edit: This episode is also an example of a trope that a lot of TV shows indulge in (but few dramas...) The "trapped in a room" trope, where characters are stuck in one room together, with only their personalities to interact with.
DOUBLE EDIT: THE TROPE IS CALLED A BOTTLE EPISODE?!
Finally, i scrolled way too long to see this.
My take on the last scene is where Walter’s moral compass begins to deteriorate. After that he’s sort of embracing what actions he has to take, looking away from his instinct to survive.
It’s also pretty “Kafkaesque, yo”
Thanks for breaking this down, its frustrating when people say this episode sucks just because they have no attention spans and need shootouts, deaths, or explosions in every episode.
This episode isn’t even that bad it’s basically an hour of character development and it barely has
Fillers
Overrated *character study, as the characters aren’t developed at all, remaining the same characters they were in the previous episode. So much so that you can skip this and you’ll be fine, won’t miss a thing.
There’s a difference between character development and opening up to your partner
The episode itself is filler
Exactly. What I think the fly at the end means, is exactly that. After all of that day, nothing changed with walt, and he's problems are still there
Neither of them develop any character, some depth is shown (which was already there) and there's that
Wait... people don't like The Fly??? It instantly struck me as a favorite when I watched it
the fly represent something out of his control, walt can´t get rid of it.
JD OW His guilt probably
@@manuj2868 and also his cancer
His guilt of janes death and the plane crash
who tf hates this episode? There is not even a SIGNLE second in this series that I didn't like watching
Because it's slow paced and doesnt add anything to the plot
@@cjpearce1407 But it adds to Walt and Jesse's characterizations.
@@pinkkfloydd well I mean they are both relatively normal humans so its obvious what they think and feel
Idk I didn't like watching Skyler singing happy birthday to Ted
I’m here to remind u, yes there is. Skylar’s happy birthday song.
I loved this episode. It felt so isolating and we’re just alone with Walt and Jesse’s thoughts
Also my English teacher told me the fly represents evil and how Walter doesn’t let it in and try’s to fight it but in a later episode when he’s cooking in the fumigation house there’s a fly and Walt doesn’t really mind it showing how the evil is taken over and Walter is fine with it
The “Bottle Episode” is such an interesting topic for me. I think any good show should have one and Breaking Bad hits it out of the park with Fly. As someone who’s so interested in film, I love it when an entire episode focuses on just one or a few characters and just one location, yet can keep the audience entertained just as well as any other. These episodes can only be successful when there’s deep character development, and Fly achieves just that.
Two of my favorite bottle episodes are Brian & Stewie (Family Guy - S8 Ep17) and Free Churro (BoJack Horseman - S5 Ep6). These both being animated shows takes the “Bottle Episode” to the extreme, as with animation moving location isn’t a thing. The writers are challenging themselves to make something great. Now Family Guy is typically every other sitcom, they make their dirty jokes, set up their cutaway gags, play their typical sitcom music during the establishment shot, none of which were present in this episode. There’s no music at all, no cutaways, no Peter, just Stewie and Brian for 30 minutes. There isn’t even a gag at the end. The plot goes that the two are locked in a bank vault after they accidentally get shut in when the bank closes for the day, they eventually reveal their true feelings about each other and question their existence and purpose in life. This is a surprisingly deep episode for a goofy cartoon, and I think about this episode often.
BoJack Horseman’s Free Churro episode is literally Will Arnett talking to himself for the entire runtime, and, in my opinion, the greatest bottle episode made. It’s just one character, excluding the opening scene flashback. The plot is BoJack is coming to terms with his abusive mother’s passing while delivering her eulogy, confused on why he feels sad that the woman he’s hated forever is now dead. He goes on of how his mother’s final words, who was a bit loopy at the end, were “I See You” as she looked in his direction. He brings this up multiple times, conjuring up theories of how it was his mother finally acknowledging him, only to realize at the end of the episode she was reading an “Intensive Care Unit” sign. Upon realization, he explains how his mother never showed him any compassion, realizing that he’s sad not because his mother is dead, it’s that his dream of having a real, loving relationship with his mother is dead, and he’ll never have it. It’s a heartbreaking realization, and one of the greatest character development I may have scene ever and an absolute shame Will Arnett never got an Emmy for it
Brilliant comment! Great example with free churro I loved that episode as a stand alone and it kept me engaged the entire time just with bojack talking. It was great writing, and Aaron Paul was executive producer (Jesse from breaking bad). Thank you for acknowledging free churro from bojack that really was a great show and great episode
Walter's actions can not be justified, but I believe he does feel guilty about his actions. He first stated that he just wanted to make enough money for his family to survive when he was gone. He did that when he sold the meth to Gus in the second season but things keep getting in his way from accomplishing his way of doing things. He can no longer tell the truth to even himself because he knows chaos will erupt and will lose everything.
"You haven't been using our product have you?" When Jesse asks Walt that, I crack up every time. He wasn't wrong to ask it either because I've seen some meth heads do some weird shit when they are focused on doing something.
It's actually the exact kind of obsessive behaviour Jessie exploits later while on a mission with Mike
Man, the fly being attracted by the smell of decomposing corpses is one of the best writing decisions made.
Idk abput that, Breaking Bad events happen years after Lalo and Howard died, there are probably only nones left
@@PolishGod1234 breaking bad starts around the time lalo was killed. this episode would've taken place between 8 to 14 months after the bodies were buried
@@daspooterman No, Lalo and Howard died in 2004. This episode would be around 2009, 5 years later.
Well, I'm not so sure about that. Weren't the bodies buried in cement? Not sure a fly can really smell much through solid cement.
@@fascilime correct. Lalo and Howard being buried in cement has absolutely no bearing on any part of Breaking Bad. It’s just shock value to make idiots think BB is more deep.
I was dying of laughter for too long to remember when he was trying to catch the fly and fell off the railing. And then Jesse hitting him with the swatter.
Imagine Walt Dying in Felina and a Fly sit on Him!
Now that would be a hell of a scene
Walt cares about Jesse after all (and I love them together). This series is by far the most brilliant I've ever seen.
That fly is Lalo Salamanca
i unironically loved fly. it stood out amongst the other episodes and was great for character development. it’s a nice little break from the insanity.
Yeah! it made us more engaged to the show and most importantly strengthen the bond between the two characters . Sometimes these are the times we remember spending with our friends these moments also happens in real life and it gives us weird nostalgia . And the people who hated this episode shows that they were the lifeless binge watchers who don't love the show they are just watching for the popularity and ratings.
Man as I was watching this episode, I just knew this was probably the best episode of the Series. First half, I was like, 'what's happening? Is this episode actually gonna go anywhere?'. But just after the half way point, I realised, this episode is special. This is greatness. And by the end of it, with half the seasons still left to go, I already knew, this was my favourite episode. Just dialogue, exceptional writing, genuine emotions and exceptional acting. This one episode tells us more about these 2 characters, than the whole show. I like that few others feel the same.
Narrator: There was no major character death
The fly: Am I a joke to you?
this episode is really underrated and a work of art... that ladder scene when walter is holding the ladder and talking to jesse.... that was just so damn amazing
This was a great episode and deeper look into Jesse and Walts relationship
The episode has great Character Development
I remember watching this episode when I was at my dads house. He would always just kinda watch along whenever I was watching breaking bad (this was like the 5th time that I watched this series). He never rly enjoyed the series too much but he knew the characters and started asking questions about why certain things were happened during the show. He ended up enjoying s5 a lot more because there was an insane amount of stuff happening at that point. But before that, I was watching this episode. He actually kinda enjoyed this one more then others. The jokes were top notch. I mean Jesse asking about an Ebola virus outbreak was the funniest part and it made us both laugh. Hes a great father, but theres just something special about your father enjoying watching a show you're a number 1 fan of for years. He never watches any tv series that have an ongoing plot/story.
Same. I also got my dad to watch attack on titan which I was obsessed about a couple years ago. While watching it with him, to my surprise he really enjoyed it, but I started to realize that maybe my favorite show wasn’t so great after all…
DUDE! This is sooo me and my dad! 😄
I watched this show on a whim on Netflix and have been hooked ever since. Such a brilliant cast of characters that mesh well together and an awesome storyline. Fly was a favorite for me because it was funny and really put a spotlight on Walt and Jesse’s love/abuse relationship.
This episode is a bottle episode. From Wikipedia- Bottle episodes are sometimes produced when a show has a mid-season cliffhanger or an expensive season opener/closer, to allow as much of the budget as possible to go to the more expensive episodes. Scott Brazil, executive producer/director of The Shield, described bottle episodes as "the sad little stepchild whose allowance is docked in order to buy big brother a new pair of sneaks".[3]
You are the first person I’ve ever seen cite a RUclips comment
@@Tristan02539 It's because I can't text very fast ! Cut and paste, quick and easy - factual too. Lol.
John Debest oh I wasn’t criticizing or anything I was just admiring how you gave credit with proper in text citations
yea he litteraly said that it was a bottle episode
the fly hits different knowing there’s two dead bodies buried under the lab. an crazy drug lord and an innocent lawful man. shits kinda depressing
*S04 E11 Crawl Space* .... One of *the greatest* and my personal favourite.
When walter loses faith in himself and take drastic measures to save his family from evil. Thinks it's the endgame for him, he tries, but he isn't able to do anything, at last, that moment of desperation of Walter White , the emotional outburst so bad, he screams and cries and laughs so hard...............
*I was frozen on my couch, chills running down my spine, heart pounding heavily + it was fuckin 2:00AM which really freaked me out as I wasn't ready for that.*
People its just a show take it lightly
@@shantolion1576 no
tread lightly Shanto, tread lightly
you dont know what you are saying
This episode is one of my all time favorites. Things just get so real, as Walt contemplates his actions and the consequences of those actions. LOVE IT
The fly episode made us realise the hygienic standards of a lab and also helped us know how unhygienic other labs were just by seeing it without being told in the episode, especially the cartels lab and the lab Todd took over.
Man, the latest Better Call Saul episode really just turned the "worst" episode of Breaking Bad into one of the most chilling episodes in the entire franchise.
what episode of BCS do you mean?
Huh?
@@sleepybean21 Point and Shoot. I'm guessing it has to do with what is under the lab? I'm missing their point tho
Lol no it didn’t. Those “facts” added in BCS don’t affect BB in any way… it’s just unnecessary set dressing in a prequel.
The fly is clearly possessed by Lalo's ghost. It's far too devious and smart
Here is my "personal" thought about this episode. Btw, it's genius:
-All of these had under meaning. The episode named "Fly", after a creature known as "filthy, disgusting species". It somehow represented Walt and Jessie and all the guilts they had made, beside making meth. For Jessie, he stole an increasingly amouth of meth and lying to his partner. But for Walt, was to kept the secret about Jane's death which he was somehow responsible for, moreover, the guilt of leaving his family in danger had him badly.
- The contamination, is the guilty feeling that they cannot surpass and forgive, for being "bad guys".
- When Walt held the ladder, he kept sorry Jessie. Beside the secret, I think he was trying to expressed his gratitude of having Jessie around. Maybe Jess is a messed up fella but he is a loyal one, always been on trouble with Walt, while being treated like a monkey. That's explained why Walt warned Jessie about the stolen
- Jessie was right about Walt. Walt is just like Jessie's auntie, nothing but a person who is obsessed with perfection. Walt always want the best, so badly that he become so selfish, not sharing his work with anyone, isolate himself in a lab which he created for his own. For him Jessie is like that fly, they are both not belongs to his success, an unwelcome guest in a very intense situation. And soon or later, Walt will drown in his own selfishness.
And many many more. Idk why some people didn't like this episode. This is by far one of the best TV show has ever made...
Overanalysis
Dicknanigans
Im still kinda confused how walt effected jane’s death.
@@nutbuster4204 When he enters the house, Jane is sleeping on her side. He's the reason she starts to look up. (I recall it was because he moved Jesse to wake him up and moved Jane accidentaly, not sure about the way he did it) And the more obvious reason is that he didn't help her and let her die.
@@GerNomico Ah thats make sense
I remember when watching this episode I was so confused by it that I hated it......as time went on I realized just how genius the episode actually was all of the symbolism and cinematography are just rich
Date Mike I think my favorite part of the episode is that when Walt talks about “the perfect time to die.” which to him, was when Jane died. I think that one line really cements to me the difference between my enjoyment of the earlier seasons and the later seasons. Such a good line. Nice profile picture by the way.
@@david2legit2quit same
Through out the episode I was afraid that one them will get hurt badly. Luckily that didn't happened.
I think the fly represented the contamination of the soul. Jesse was able to get rid of it but Walter gets on the dark side.
The fly at the end when Walter was sleeping could also be a sign that his cancer was coming back. Remember what Jesse said about his aunt and the „possum“ Scrabbler?
That's because the cancer spread to Jesse's aunt's brain. Afaik, Walter's cancer stayed in his lungs
Wrong. The fly was never really there at the final scene of that episode. That was just a visual example of Walt coming to terms with his sins and the fact that they will never leave.
I think it was more about there still being a "contaminate" in their meth cooking operation and that contaminate was Gus. Thus the "red light" because he had to be "stopped" before Gus "contaminated" the operation...
Interesting nonetheless.
2:50 I legit thought there were hairs on my screen for a second
The thing i like about this episode is that it shows the two different perspectives of these men. Not about just a fly; but about the business.
Jesse just wanted to get his money and get on with it. Not worrying about the bull shit stuff.
Walter couldn't let the little things go. Revenge, micro issues. And sometimes to his detriment. Sometimes.
I always hated this episode, now I know why - the writers were forced to write it due to budget. I knew it didn’t come out of their own creativity. You can feel it when you watch it.
@@thefilmpoets I agree I was like is this a filler or something lol
@@thefilmpoets a lot of the best episodes on tv face a lot of constraints due to budget.
@@thefilmpoetswhat? How can you say that the episode didn't come out of creativity just because of the budget?
This was my favorite episode too.
I like at the end of the episode Walt recognizes the point at which he should have quit. The night Jane die. That was the night Walt crossed the point of no return. The storytelling did not progress this episode, but it was an important look back at what drove each character.
This episode featured some of the best acting in the entire show. When I watched it for the first time recently, I was taken aback by how phenomenal it was. I was really surprised by how much people disliked it because it is by far one of my favourite episodes in the show.
Me and my friend watched BB together but sometimes seperate and I told him I skipped fly and he's a huge cinematography nerd and told me to rewatch it and that it was an amazing episode, I rewatched it and understood what he meant, it really is a beautiful episode if you just take a second to understand it
That moment when the most hated episode of your show is still a 7.8 on IMDb
its so sad that so many people cant appreciate this masterpiece.
How is this a masterpiece? Seriously I wanna know
I get this episode. I really do. I get all metaphors. BUT this can be did by so many better ways then in one room chasing fly. This episode is not good. I am sorry but this metaphors cannot replaced boreness of this. The character development can be done normally. They haven't money and thats why this was created. I bet producers know too that if they had budget, this episode will be good, but they didn't :(
AyJeEm33 Not everyone is a native speaker, what he says is right though
@AyJeEm33 Sorry man, I am from czech republic. What exactly is wrong? The end is weird but grammarly right, no?
The episode reminds of the quote “The darkness is a metaphor for darkness” from BoJack Horseman
I'm just glad i was able to binge watch the whole show (2 weeks). I don't think I would've had the patience to wait for a new episode to air on TV on a weekly basis, especially with all those cliffhangers! 😂
The season finales were the worst. All you could do was sit and wait for the next season. Worth it though!
I did the same
I binged the whole show in 4 days and got sick right after
@@roshanpk9101 that's more than 15 episodes per day... On average each episode is 47 minutes in length 🤷🏻♂️
@@vikas-ln3zc yeah I was on summer break and literally didn't do anything else other than watch bb. I only slept for like 3-5 hours max per day and even dreamt bb scenes lmao. That's how I got sick
There are many connections between the fly, Jesse’s grieving, and Walt’s first recognition of his horrific actions, and how they have affected Jesse.
This episode has a much darker meaning to it now after Better Call Saul's "Point and Shoot" episode.
May be a bottle episode but i loved every episode of that show even that one
I always felt like this was when Walter's cancer started to come back, driving him mad. The story Jessie tells about his family member, and the ending of the episode with Walter still seeing the fly in his room, even though it was killed in the lab.
Here is something I wrote on another social media thread a week ago:
This really is one of the best episodes of the series and it's a shame that so many people don't see how litered with metaphors it is and how it takes a moment in the series to show the relationship between Jesse and Walt. It's also a breather for the series to reflect on their journey.
Yes, it's different from the others yet this episode deserves to be in many top ten lists of the series.
Vincent Pulido Me too. It really is one of the show's best and I think a part of the reason why people are dismissing it is because of how different it is and that they think nothing happens to progress the series yet it is rich with character development between Jesse and Walt.
And it shows how devastated the protagonist is by giving a glimpse into how he feels with the business such as by how he communicates with Jesse and by his frustration with the contamination. He is buried with despair and the audience gets to see that. A brilliant bottle episode that works and was made with such a tight budget. This is a great episode. It does not feel like filler either. The only episode in the series that feels closest to filler in the series is Breakage and even that one is great and has a lot going on to further the story.
Wait what? I genuinely didn't know this was a hated episode. I've always liked this episode and so do my friends who also watch
I loved this episode but my stupid brother and my mom hated it because supposedly "nothing interesting happened" my brother assumed that they ran out of money for production that’s why it was boring and he was right they ran out of money but he didn’t put any thought in their dialogue and how deep it was, so basically dumb people hated the episode.
I also absolutely love this episode. It also has a really relaxing vibe including the simplicity of the episode. But yes even on imdb you can see "fly" has the worst rating with a score of 7.8/10 points from all episodes. :)
@Sol Invictus that scene was hilarious tho
The fly preside is a metaphor that is trying to say that walt is like the fly and is stuck in his situation and can’t escape