Breaking Bad Timeline

This article is about the timeline of Breaking Bad episodes. For the timeline of Better Call Saul episodes, see Better Call Saul Timeline. For the complete chronology of the universe of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see Timeline.

The following is a timeline of Breaking Bad that estimates the exact dates when the episodes in each season occurred. The days in which the episodes occurred are completely estimated and include downtime between the episodes as well.

Season 1

"Pilot" - September 7-30, 2008 (three weeks)
"Cat's in the Bag..." - October 1-2, 2008 (two days)
"...and the Bag's in the River" - October 2-3, 2008 (two days)
"Cancer Man" - October 4-9, 2008 (six days)
"Gray Matter" - October 8-13, 2008 (six days)
"Crazy Handful of Nothin'" - October 14-24, 2008 (eleven days)
"A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" - October 25-31, 2008 (seven days)

Season 2

"Seven Thirty-Seven" - October 31 - November 7, 2008 (seven days)
"Grilled" - November 8, 2008 (one day)
"Bit by a Dead Bee" - November 8-11, 2008 (four days)
"Down" - November 12-17, 2008 (six days)
"Breakage" - November 18-29, 2008 (twelve days)
"Peekaboo" - November 30, 2008 (one day)
"Negro y Azul" - December 1-2, 2008 (two days)
"Better Call Saul" - December 3-5, 2008 (three days)
"4 Days Out" - December 6-12, 2008 (seven days)
"Over" - December 13-18, 2008 (six days)
"Mandala" - February 7-16, 2009 (nine days)
"Phoenix" - February 16 - March 7, 2009 (three weeks)
"ABQ" – March 7-27, 2009 (three weeks)

Season 3

"No Más" - March 28-29, 2009 (two days)
"Caballo Sin Nombre" - March 30 - April 8, 2009 (ten days)
"I.F.T." - April 9-12, 2009 (four days)
"Green Light" - April 13-17, 2009 (five days)
"Más" - April 18-22, 2009 (five days)
"Sunset" - April 23-24, 2009 (two days)
"One Minute" - April 25-26, 2009 (two days)
"I See You" - April 26-27, 2009 (two days)
"Kafkaesque" - April 27 - May 3, 2009 (seven days)
"Fly" - May 4, 2009 (one day)
"Abiquiú" - May 5-12, 2009 (eight days)
"Half Measures" - May 12-15, 2009 (four days)
"Full Measure" - May 16-22, 2009 (seven days)

Season 4

"Box Cutter" - May 22-23, 2009 (two days)
"Thirty-Eight Snub" - May 24 - June 5, 2009 (two weeks)
"Open House" - June 6-7, 2009 (two days)
"Bullet Points" - June 8-18, 2009 (eleven days)
"Shotgun" - June 18-20, 2009 (three days)
"Cornered" - June 21-22, 2009 (two days)
"Problem Dog" - June 23-26, 2009 (four days)
"Hermanos" - June 27-30, 2009 (four days)
"Bug" - July 1-7, 2009 (seven days)
"Salud" - July 8-9, 2009 (two days)
"Crawl Space" - July 9-13, 2009 (five days)
"End Times - July 13-15, 2009 (three days)
"Face Off - July 15, 2009 (one day)

Season 5

Walt's 52nd birthday in "Live Free or Die," also seen in "Felina"

"Live Free or Die" - July 15-30, 2009 (sixteen days)
"Madrigal" - July 31 - August 11, 2009 (eleven days)
"Hazard Pay" - August 12 - September 1, 2009 (nineteen days)
"Fifty-One" - September 2-9, 2009 (one week)
"Dead Freight" - September 10-16, 2009 (seven days)
"Buyout" - September 16-24, 2009 (nine days)
"Say My Name" - September 24 - October 2, 2009 (nine days)
"Gliding Over All" - October 2, 2009 - March 1, 2010 (5 months)
"Blood Money" - March 1-5, 2010 (five days)
"Buried" - March 5-7, 2010 (three days)
"Confessions" - March 7-9, 2010 (three days)
"Rabid Dog" - March 9-11, 2010 (three days)
"To'hajiilee" - March 11-13, 2010 (three days)
"Ozymandias" - March 13-14, 2010 (two days)
"Granite State" - March 15 - September 4, 2010 (6 months)
"Felina" - September 4-7, 2010 (three days)

Timeline inconsistencies

In "Phoenix," Donald Margolis states that Jane Margolis turns 27 "next month," so this episode would take place in March, as Jane’s birthday is on April 4. If this is the case, the timeline prior to Jane's death is ~2 months off.
Walter White seems to die on his 52nd birthday, which is said to be on a Tuesday. However, his birthday, September 7th, falls on a Wednesday in 2011. This would place his 52nd birthday in 2010, rather than 2011. This would be consistent, however, with a statement made by Vince Gilligan that Better Call Saul takes place "in 2002, 6 years before Saul meets Walter White." This would place "Pilot" in 2008, "Fifty-One" in 2009, and "Felina" (in which Walt turns 52) in 2010, in which September 7th was a Tuesday.
In "Gliding Over All," an episode which takes place in 2010, Jack Welker states that "...whacking bin Laden wasn't this complicated;" Osama bin Laden wasn't killed until May 2011. Vince Gilligan has publicly acknowledged this mistake, however it could still be implied he was talking about previous attempts by the US to assassinate bin Laden, who had been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1999.
In "Say My Name," Walter is watching an infomercial for the "Schticky." However, the Schticky wasn't being advertised until 2012.
In "Shotgun," posters in the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant say they've been awarded for the best burrito of 2010, even though the episode is set in 2009.

In "Mandala", the scene at the Skyler's OBGYN where they are discussing when to have Holly via a c-section, Skyler objects to her doctor's suggestion that they take the baby a week from Friday because it falls on Friday the 13th. That episode on is estimated taking place between December 19th through December 27th 2008. The calendar of 2008, Friday the 13th falls in June. In 2009 It falls three times: February, March, and November. Based on Jane's April 4th birthdate and death a month prior to her turning 27 combined with Walt's banishment from the household and Holly's actual birth proves the calendar was not consulted during this episode or Skyler, Walt, and the doctor are ignorant of the current date in that episode.
In various episodes, Jesse is seen playing the video game, "Rage". However, this game was not released until 2011, one year after the timeline of "Breaking Bad" occurs.
In Better Call Saul Insider Podcast 304 around 34:40, co-writer Peter Gould says that Gus' poisoning took place in 2007.