For 12 years, the Breaking Bad episode titled Ozymandias from Season 5 held the top spot as the perfect TV episode. On Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the episode maintained a flawless 10/10 rating until a few days ago. However, a wave of review bombing triggered by a fan war has caused the rating to drop from its perfect score after 12 years. Currently, Ozymandias stands at 9.8, making it the fourth top-rated episode of Breaking Bad. So what caused the sudden review bombing after more than a decade? Have viewers suddenly found flaws in the episode? Not really.
Why did the Breaking Bad episode lose its perfect TV score?
The reason behind Ozymandias losing its perfect rating reportedly lies with fans of Game of Thrones. The latest series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is a prequel to Game of Thrones. Its recent episode, In the Name of the Mother, was released on HBO on February 15. It immediately garnered a perfect 10 on IMDb, becoming only the second episode in television history- after Ozymandias- to achieve the feat.
The show is based on George R. R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire. Set a hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, it follows the story of a simple hedge knight.
The fan war between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Breaking Bad
While fans of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms were thrilled to see one of their episodes earn a perfect score, their celebration was short-lived. In the days that followed, the episode’s rating dropped to 9.8 and eventually 9.6. Fans claimed the fall was not organic but the result of coordinated review bombing by Breaking Bad fans who did not approve of another show sharing the perfect score. Many allegedly wanted Ozymandias to remain the sole 10/10 episode.
When Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms saw its rating decline, fans of the prequel reportedly rallied online and encouraged others through forums to review bomb Ozymandias in retaliation. On Friday, the Breaking Bad episode’s rating dipped to 9.9 for the first time in 12 years. At the time of writing, the rating stands at 9.8/10.
