Breaking Bad

Only two episodes have real consensus behind cutting them, and rewatch guides that cut ten would break a first viewing - several of their picks are load-bearing. The six threads below run underneath each other rather than one after another, which is why so little lifts out.

Twenty episodes. The turning points two published essential-episode lists agree on, plus the connective episodes that make them followable - neither source is watchable on its own, so the bridges here do real work.