Breaking Bad but due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike only seven episodes were filmed. It ran from January 20 to March 9, 2008. A struggling high school chemistry teacher, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), is diagnosed with inoperable, advanced lung cancer. On a ride-along with his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank Schrader (Dean Norris), Walter sees a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), fleeing the scene of a meth lab. He later contacts Jesse and devises a scheme to become partners in an attempt to combine their skills to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, with Walter cooking the product and
Fly (Breaking Bad) television we're likely to see this year." In "TIME", James Poniewozik called it "the most unusual and very possibly best episode of Breaking Bad so far", comparing it favorably to "The Sopranos"<nowiki>'</nowiki> "Pine Barrens". In "Entertainment Weekly", Ken Tucker said he would be "shocked if both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul don’t use the episode for Emmy consideration", and lauded it for "[opening] up to become an opportunity for Walt and Jesse to explain more fully the sadnesses and regrets they have over everything". Alan Sepinwall, writing for "HitFix", speculated that "Fly" may be "the best bottle show ever" and