The silliest battle of the year: Walter White vs Sir Duncan

Luca Fontana

25.2.2026

Translation: Elicia Payne

Review bombing, fan escalation and a kick off the IMDb throne: the latest series war is absurd, entertaining and telling at the same time. It shows how we really defend TV and movie masterpieces as if they were our own.

There are moments in human history where I question whether, as a species, we actually have nothing else to worry about. Then I realise, of course, we do. But none of them are as entertaining as a digital war between fanbases who are prepared to walk over (virtual) dead bodies for the legacy of their fictional heroes.

So, let’s go back to how it all began.

The Ozymandias fortress has fallen

For 13 years, Breaking Bad’s episode Ozymandias was enthroned unchallenged on the IMDb Olympus of series history: with an even 10 out of 10 points with hundreds of thousands of ratings. Untouchable. No other series episode had ever received such a perfect rating. That was, at least, until a certain Knight of the Seven Kingdoms appeared on the scene.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms set out to do the impossible: Episodes 4 (Seven) and 5 (In the Name of the Mother) briefly cracked the extraordinary 10 out of 10 points rating on IMDb. A sacrilege for the followers of the meth king!

What followed wasn’t a fair exchange of opinions, but pure digital artillery. With a lot of resentment and classic review bombing – i.e. awarding absurdly low ratings to artificially push the average down across all reviews – they made sure that the two Knight episodes quickly left the throne again and slipped downwards. At the same time, comments like «Heil Heisenberg» or «Say my name» appeared in the reviews of both episodes.

But it didn’t take long for the fantasy fans to respond. Especially after HBO is said to have launched a counter-attack with this video. In an act of retaliation that would have even made Tywin Lannister proud, Knight fans stormed the Ozymandias episode profile. The outcome? A historical earthquake. Ozymandias dropped to a 9.5 out of 10 score. After 13 years, the perfect record’s gone. And what are the reviews of the legendary Breaking Bad episode saying today?

«The Lannisters send their regards», «The North Remembers» and «Winter is Coming».

Not the first IMDb battle?

You’d be naive in thinking this small-scale war is a historic first. The internet’s memory is long – and the list of post-decimal battles even longer. Probably the most famous example is the rise of The Shawshank Redemption to the top of IMDb’s list of highest rated films of all time.

For years, The Godfather held first place like an unshakeable monument to film history. Then Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was released in 2008, and with it a wave of enthusiastic comic fans who catapulted the film to number one within a few days. Then came the war: supporters of both camps began to bombard the opposition with 1-star ratings in order to «straighten out» the rankings.

While fans of the mafia epic and the superhero opera were beating each other up, the prison drama, which until then had remained quietly in third place, moved to the top – and stayed there. For the past 18 years. And yet The Shawshank Redemption flopped when it was released in 1994 and didn’t win a single Oscar. It was only through its sudden rise to become the highest-rated film of all time that an entire generation discovered it.

War for decimals

Is this review rowing sad? It is a bit. Is it funny? Absolutely. It’s the ultimate form of recognition today – to hate another show so much because it threatens your own favourite show. It makes no difference to the camera work quality, the pain in Bryan Cranstons eyes or the atmosphere in the seven kingdoms, whether an episode has a 10 or 9.9.

It’s a war over decimals, waged by people who probably love both series but have succumbed to the tribalism of social media. At the end of this «bloodshed», all that remains is the realisation that we live in a time when television is so good that we argue about whether a masterpiece is «perfect» or just «almost perfect».

And you know what? When I look at this bizarre petty war, I feel less inclined to study the stats and more like slouching on the sofa again and watching something epic. No matter who wins this war, the real winners are us viewers, who get to watch a hell of a lot of good stories amongst all the rubbish the streaming age has to offer.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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