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A chemistry teacher holds up a piece of copper wire, asks his student which element will carry the current, and the student, thrilled to finally know something, shouts the one word that is not an element. The copper scene from Breaking Bad (2008), Season 2, Episode 9, 4 Days Out (2009), directed by Michelle MacLaren and written by Sam Catlin, is the funniest exchange in the series, and Bryan Cranston's face does most of the talking.

The mood is a science lesson delivered at the exact wrong moment for both participants. Walt, convinced he has weeks to live, has dragged Jesse into the desert for a marathon cook, the RV battery is dead because the keys were left in the ignition, the generator has burned, the water went on the fire, and the phone died mid-rescue, so the two men who cannot stand each other are stranded with a dead vehicle and nothing but Walt's brain. Building a battery out of coins, washers, brake fluid, and sponges revives him, and the lecture on anodes and cathodes flows out with genuine joy, until the question about conduction, the copper literally in his hand, and Aaron Paul's Jesse lighting up like a kid who has finally cracked the exam, offering wire, and then, corrected, ooooh, wire, still not hearing the word copper even as Walt repeats it. Cranston plays the disappointment in slow motion, the hope leaving his eyes, the teacher who failed this student once in a classroom discovering the failure has followed him into the wilderness. Fans have been quoting it in chemistry labs for fifteen years. This is comedy storytelling in a survival thriller, character revealed by a confidently wrong answer.

What makes it a must-see is the setup it gives the ending. Walt is happiest in that desert, teaching and building, and the news that he might actually live, minutes later, makes him look far worse.

Save this post for your funniest Breaking Bad moments collection, and share it with the friend who would also have said wire, twice.View all 28 comments