How Many Seasons of Breaking Bad are there? – Breaking Bad Facts
Breaking Bad consists of five seasons that aired over 6 years. The first season premiered on January 20, 2008. It was originally supposed to have nine episodes but due to the Writers Guild of America strike, the season was shortened to seven episodes.
The first season laid out the framework for the series. Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. In order to pay his medical bills and support his family, he partners with a former student, Jesse Pinkman to manufacture and distribute crystal meth. Walter is known on the streets as Heisenberg and as his business grows, he encounters problems with local drug dealers in the area. The first season concluded on March 9, 2008.
Nearly a year later, the second season of Breaking Bad premiered on AMC. Walter and Jesse encounter more problems as the two try to dominate the streets with their trademark blue meth. Walter hires a lawyer named Saul Goodman to get them out of several complicated situations. Meanwhile, Walter and his wife, Skyler's, relationship deteriorates and Skyler demands that the two separate for a while.
The third season of Breaking Bad premiered on March 21, 2010 and also consisted of 13 episodes. Walter final confesses to Skyler that he has been making meth. Upon learning this, Skyler demands a formal divorce. A new business partner named Gus, offers to pay Walter $3 million for 3 months of services. He also supplies him with a top-notch meth lab and a new assistant named Gale. Jesse spends his days selling meth on the streets. Meanwhile, Walt's brother-in-law, Hank, who is also a DEA agent, begins to corner Jesse. Under pressure, Jesse threatens to report Walter to the police if he is arrested. In order to appease him, Walter replaces his new assistant with Jesse. At the new lab, Jesse starts stealing meth and selling it on the side. Gus loses trust in Walter and asks Gale to take over the lab. He orders one of his men to kill Walter and Jesse. The man abducts Walter to kill him. However, Walter manages to call Jesse on the phone and instructs him to kill Gale in order to save both of their lives.
Season 4 premiered on July 17, 2011. Jesse follows Walter's instruction and kills Gale. Gus is forced to keep Walter and Jesse alive as they are the only remaining trained chemists. The lab environment becomes stricter as Gus puts one of his men on patrol duty. Walt and Jesse become increasingly hostile and distant towards each other. Hank comes to the conclusion that Gus is a major drug-lord and closes in on him. Gus fires Walter and threatens to kill Hank and Walt's family. Jesse and Walt decide they have to kill Gus and convince a former head cartel member to detonate a suicide bomb in Gus' presence. Their plan works and Gus is killed along with his henchman. Afterwards, Walter and Jesse destroyed the meth lab to prevent the DEA agents from recovering any evidence.
Season 5 consisted of 16 episodes and was broken into two parts. The first 8 episodes premiered on July 15, 2012 and the second half in the August 11, 2013. After Gus' death, Jesse and Walter continue to make and distribute Meth. The DEA follows a money trail and finds nine informants in prison that are willing to cooperate with authorities. In an attempt to prevent the DEA agents from connecting the meth ring to him, Walter kills his business partner, Mike and hires a neo-Nazi gang leader, Jack Welker, to kill the rest of the informants in prison. Hank, Walter's brother-in-law, figures out that Walter is the infamous Heisenberg and that he is partnering with Jesse. After the death of Mike, Walter and Jesse's relationship deteriorates, and Hank manages to get Jesse to cooperate with him. They come up with a plan to trick Walter into revealing the location of where he buried the money. Walter falls for it and leads Jesse and Hank to the location in the desert. When Hank attempts to arrest Walter, the neo-Nazi gang shows up and despite Walter's pleas, they murder Hank. The gang also takes the majority of Walter's money and captures Jesse as a slave. He is forced into making meth for the gang.
Meanwhile, Walter goes into hiding and his cancer becomes more aggressive. He returns to his hometown to visit Skyler and his daughter one more time. Then he goes to the gang's house to seek revenge against Jack and free Jesse. Walter kills all of the gang members but gets wounded by a stray bullet. As the police arrive, Walter dies in the compound and Jesse drives away from the scene as a free man.