During an interview with Vanity Fair in which he broke down some iconic drug trafficking scenes from across film and television (including scenes from "Narcos," "The Wire," and "Ozark"), Craig Chretien addressed how the very first meth-cooking montage in "Breaking Bad" is not realistic; not only due to the lack of safety precautions present but the actual cooking of the meth itself.
"What sort of surprised me is that [Walter White], who is a real chemist, he's pretty exposed. Also not wearing gloves. That would be sort of unrealistic" said Chretien. "A real chemist wouldn't go without having all the protection then to start mixing these types of chemicals." Chretien went on to critique the lack of "sophistication" in the mixing process, saying it just seemed like the chemicals were haphazardly thrown together without mixing or measuring anything.
Funnily enough, one thing which Chretien did say was realistic was the dirty RV lab the duo is working out of, which was referred to jokingly within the DEA as "Beavis and Butthead" labs. Although this early sequence featured some unrealistically lax safety guidelines and some messy cooking, it's undeniable that this montage makes for one of the most memorable and entertaining moments in the pilot.
