Game Of Thrones And Breaking Bad Fans Are Engaged In The Stupidest War Imaginable

Conventional wisdom says you learn something new every day. Today, I learned that there's been a wild feud between "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones" fans where they semi-obsessively "review-bomb" episodes of the "enemy" show.

I'm not sure who has this sort of time on their hands, or why someone would choose to spend their precious time on earth review-bombing individual episodes of various television shows. (Review-bombing, for people who regularly leave their homes and touch grass, means that you sink a project's overall rating on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes' audience rating to prove some sort of stupid point.) Apparently, there's been a turf war between fans of "Breaking Bad" and the wider "Game of Thrones" universe for a while ... and now, according to the X account @westerosies, the rating for the fifth-ever episode of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is dropping as a result.

"The fifth episode of 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' fell from 9.8 to 9.7, reportedly after a wave of 1-star reviews from 'Breaking Bad' fans," the account wrote. "In response, members of the 'Game of Thrones' fandom reportedly targeted 'Ozymandias.' Its near 13-year 10.0 rating has now dropped to 9.9." 

So, why is anyone doing this? Great question. As usual, Reddit has some answers. Over in the r/BreakingBad subreddit, one user wondered why "Ozymandias," the show's celebrated penultimate episode, was seeing its ratings drop. Another cleared it up somewhat: "It's because some of 'Breaking Bad' fans were review bombing other shows that almost had the same perfect score ('A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms') recently," u/Vivid_Army5800 wrote. "So I guess they got p*ssed and started review bombing Ozymandias. Not encouraging this behavior from both sides but that's what happened."

Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the IMDb reviews for "In the Name of the Mother," the fifth episode of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." One user, JakeM-147, wrote a veritable screed about how "Ozymandias," which we assume is his favorite TV episode of all time, is light years better than this penultimate episode of a show's first season, citing things like how "In the Name of the Mother" is "less memorable" and that it doesn't leave the same "lasting impression" as "Ozymandias." Another user, luttalikhith, took a clear stance. "Episode 5 of 'AKOSK' is good and emotionally heavy, with strong drama and intense performances," they wrote. "But when you compare it to something like 'Ozymandias' from 'Breaking Bad,' you realise what true television perfection looks like." (Frankly, I think you're the only one forcing this comparison, bud!)

Multiple other one-star reviews have titled like "For Heisenberg," referencing Bryan Cranston's drug kingpin Walter White, making the reason for their review exceptionally clear. Elsewhere, on the IMDb review page for "Ozymandias," you can find a bunch of reviews titled "For Dunk" with one-star ratings attached, as fans of the Westerosi buddy comedy retaliate. Worrying about whether or not a specific episode of your favorite show has maintained the absolute top rating on IMDb is a fixation that should be concerning to your friends and loved ones, but this war appears to be waging whether anybody likes it or not. (Me. I don't like it.)

The specific episode of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" Internet dolts are review-bombing is, again, its fifth-ever episode and the penultimate episode of its premiere season. Not for nothing, "In the Name of the Mother" is a phenomenal episode of a series that's already shaping up to be one of the best new shows of 2026. As one of the story's protagonists, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), prepares to fight in a trial after angering a horrible Targaryen prince, Finn Bennett's Aerion, "In the Name of the Mother" manages to provide backstory for Duncan (aka "Dunk") without feeling overly expository and later gives audiences a satisfying conclusion to the battle at hand. "Ozymandias" is also one of the best episodes of television ever made, in which Walter White's entire criminal enterprise crumbles and his brother-in-law gets shot in the head. So why are we pitting them against each other?

I wish I could answer that question, but compiling vitriolic reactions from IMDb and Reddit hasn't really cleared anything up for me in any substantive way. Fandoms are intense (I consider myself a Swiftie, so I guess I should know), and people will go to truly extreme lengths to defend the properties they love — or, if not "extreme lengths," then they'll take time out of their day to spam an "opposing" show with bad reviews. How and why "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones" found themselves in this war also remains unclear, but here we are, I suppose. They can duke it out in a Trial of the Seven, if they so please.