UPDATE: Fans of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones” have found themselves in an online clash over which show claims the highest-rated episode on IMDb.
The recent wave of review manipulation is being largely attributed to “Game of Thrones” supporters, who are eager for the fifth episode of the spin-off series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” to overtake the leaderboard. That episode has earned widespread acclaim, with many viewers hailing it as the finest installment in the entire ‘Thrones’ universe. Social media has since erupted with back-and-forth insults between the two fan communities.
At one point, the episode briefly held a perfect 10/10 rating on IMDb. However, its score has now dipped to 9.8, pushing it out of the platform’s Top 10. As a result, the series finale of “Six Feet Under” currently retains the top spot.
EARLIER: For more than a decade, there was exactly one piece of legitimate, long-form cinema or television to ever achieve the impossible on IMDB: a perfect 10/10 rating.
That honor belonged to “Ozymandias,” the penultimate episode of “Breaking Bad,” directed by Rian Johnson. With over 340,000 user votes, the episode stood alone—widely regarded as one of the greatest hours of television ever produced. I still think there were a handful of better “Breaking Bad” episodes, but the general consensus is that it’s a flat-out great hour of television, and that I agree with.
As of this today, “Ozymandias” has officially slipped from its flawless rating. The episode’s score has dropped to a 9.9 rating — how tragic —following a sudden influx of hundreds of 1/10 ratings posted over the past few days. There’s no real mystery here that the episode has been review bombed. Nobody will lose sleep over this, but it’s something that’s worth pointing out — and that will be covered by certain outlets today.
What I find astounding about the perfect score lasting this long is that, in such a divisive cultural climate, there was at least one piece of media almost everyone bonded in agreeing was perfect.
For anyone who needs a refresher, “Ozymandias” is the episode where everything collapses—where shit hits the fan, however you want to phrase it. It picks up immediately after the murder of Hank Schrader — an hour of television that offers no breathing room, no relief, and absolutely no mercy.
Johnson’s direction is cold and surgical. The writing offers zero sentimentality. The performances—particularly Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn—are devastating in their precision, stripping away any remaining illusion of heroism or control.
For years, “Ozymandias” has been mythologized as the benchmark—the big boss—the episode critics and fans alike pointed to when arguing that television could rival cinema at its most tense effect. IMDb itself became part of the legend: hundreds of thousands of votes, and not a single crack … until today.
In case you’re wondering, the films that have come closest to a perfect score on IMDb are “The Shawshank Redemption” (9.3) and “The Godfather” (9.2).
