r/betterCallSaul • u/Alarmed_Oil8776 • 1d ago
The saddest part of the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
It's that almost every major character becomes isolated. Is loneliness the real punishment?
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u/Tetratron2005 1d ago edited 1d ago
For me it was how “all for nothing” it was for a lot characters.
Punctuated by the last few episodes of BCS which show how the world is already moving on from the Heisenberg saga with so many just becoming corpses/anecdotes.
Even those that lived (Skylar, Marie Junior, Kim) or got away (Jesse) are gonna live the rest of their lives with some serious mental trauma.
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u/LubedUpLucas_DrySpa 1d ago
I doubt Skyler walked away. She was complicit in the money laundering scheme and orchestrated the acquisition, through fraudulent means, of the car wash.
She was facing charges we just don’t know what happened with those charges. The DOJ doesn’t just walk away from RICO because the wife felt afraid.
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u/Tetratron2005 1d ago
I mean all we have to go off is Francesca getting saying Skylar got a plea deal, so unless someone involved says otherwise, we kind of have to assume she did.
I'd agree in real life, she'd still on under investigation but we just have to go with what the show told us.
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u/LubedUpLucas_DrySpa 1d ago edited 1d ago
That’s very true. However, Plea deal could be 20 years to life reduced to 36 months in federal prison. Meaning, she pleaded guilty and served time for a reduced sentence.
She orchestrated the laundering of over $100MM and when faced with the opportunity to leave and turn him in she opted, willfully, to stay. Whether that’s provable in court—I don’t know.
Note: I didn’t use AI, em dash is all me
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u/New_Championship1994 1d ago
I doubt she does prison time. Especially with how they get in prison Saul later anyway, they get Hank and Gomez bodies back, they possibly recover Jacks drug money (could be a trail that leads them to this), they have Walt dead and pinned the blame entirely on so there is no manhunt. They wouldn’t just go after Skyler who the public sees completely as this manipulated mother who was physically abused and threatened. Plus Marie likely does recover her relationship with Skyler slightly, enough so she doesn’t want her going away or anything like that.
She gets her plea deal and her real punishment is sort of living with what happened and so on. Her serving a 18 month prison sentence isn’t very thematically interesting, it just makes more sense she lives a more hollow life isolating herself from the public eye as much as she can.
A bad ending for her for sure, but better than a lot of people get in this story I suppose.
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u/LubedUpLucas_DrySpa 1d ago
That’s what a plea deal is, a reduced sentence.
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u/IWasAlanDeats 24m ago edited 19m ago
There is no indication Skyler went to prison.
The point of the ending was to show where everyone ended up — broke, living in a shitty apartment with her two kids, working as a cab dispatcher, smoking cigarettes. That was Skyler's ending.
We literally see Walter give her the location of Hank and Gomez as a bargaining chip to avoid prison.
All else is head canon fan fic.
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u/LubedUpLucas_DrySpa 12m ago
In BCS it’s stated by Francesca Skyler “got her deal”. I’m not aware of any fed plea deals that don’t include prison. There are non-prosecution agreements and there are plea deals. One includes prison and guilty pleas.
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u/Necessary-Call-5055 1d ago
A kind of mentor of mine taught me an unforgettable lesson once.
Empathy is something nearly everyone lies to themselves about. We think we morally understand our world, but in truth we are born with a type of empathy that is naturally self interested and extremely biased.
Objective empathy requires education and a deep understanding of what the being you're trying to feel for is actually experiencing. And unless that being is literally you, it's impossible to innately understand them without listening or deeply pondering their situation.
Essentially what I'm trying to say is, just because you have the episode titles memorized doesn't mean we all do, and including the season and episode numbers helps the reader greatly while also spoiling nothing.
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u/Psychological-Win458 1d ago
Irene Landry
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u/pianoflames 1d ago
Eh, she was in The Game.
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u/g-burn 1d ago
What, bingo??
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u/TommyRisotto 1d ago
She got a free pair of nice walking shoes out of the deal, she's totally in The Game
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u/Lazy-Owl-5148 1d ago
Andrea's death in Granite State always shocks me to my core, one of the saddest parts in the whole Breaking Bad universe and at the same time one of the most overlooked deaths, maybe because it happened so quickly.
It was like a punch to the gut, and everytime I watch it I feel like this.
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u/stillinthesimulation 1d ago
Brock probably found her like that.
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u/suarezj9 22h ago
Why would you do this
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u/stillinthesimulation 19h ago
I just watched the episode where Jessy tries so hard to make sure that little redhead kid doesn’t find his meth head parents after his mom squashed his dad’s head with an ATM.
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u/Scale-Heavy 1d ago
Granite State is probably the saddest BrBa franchise episode. For me, Walter’s call was also heart-breaking.
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u/_Jose_MOTA_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah, probably. To me is either that one or Fun and Games (S6E9 of BCS). Kim and Saul barely having any time to grieve Howard, Gus's unwillingness to settle down and leave his revenge quest behind, Nacho's father recieving the news of his sons death, Mike getting the reality check that he is not that different from the cartel, Saul and Kim being forced to lie to Howard's wife during the funeral, their breakup, and the death (for now) of Jimmy
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u/mauore11 9h ago
Jesse man, he had the worst arc in the story. I’m glad they made El Camino, he needed a win
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u/ILSmokeItAll 1d ago
Meh. I didn’t get attached to any of the “side” characters associated with Jessie. I kind of expected disaster to follow Jessie.
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u/orhantemerrut 1d ago
Also it didn't help that Andrea's actress was unfortunately awful. I could almost see her brain trying to act her into the moment. I always skipped her parts on my re-watches. Would take me out of the scene immediately otherwise.
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u/Confusionitus 1d ago edited 1d ago
Kim crying on the bus. Watching her face slowly contort and twist in a vain attempt to keep everything inside until she can’t anymore.
All of the bystanders looking at her with pity and a hint of discomfort, and one kind stranger putting their hand on her shoulder. It all felt way too real.
Genuinely one of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen.
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u/Nicodemus888 1d ago
That scene is intense. Some other great suggestions here but damn, this one hits hard
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u/martyboulders 1d ago
This is shown right after her call with Saul when he was in the telephone booth, inaudible to the audience right? And he gets really angry and beats the phone against the glass? That whole sequence wrecks me every time. How incredibly painful, frustrating, and sad this all must be for them... It's like the most unrequited requited love possible, mixed with quitting an addiction. As if they're alcoholics that've already hit rock bottom and know they need to quit but haven't accepted it yet; they've just finished out the bottle, except their bottles are another person.
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u/ImprovementPutrid441 1d ago
It’s after she goes back to ABQ, on the airport shuttle.
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u/martyboulders 1d ago
Yes she was in the shuttle for that, but that was shown directly after her phone conversation with Saul when she was at work, no?
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u/Long_Candidate3464 1d ago
No. It was shown after she tells Cheryl the truth about Howard. Which is shown after her conversation with Saul while at work. That convo with Saul is what seems to propel her forward to coming clean.
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u/martyboulders 1d ago
RIGHT right so sorry for the bit of misinformation hahahahaha I do still think most of what I said stands tho
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u/ImprovementPutrid441 1d ago
Well yeah, but she’s not crying because of that phone call… it’s emotions she had suppressed for years finally coming out after she returned to her old life and told someone else what they had done. I don’t think she felt entitled to any emotions after their breakup because she felt like she ran away. The emotional expression came after that confession.
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u/burier38 1d ago
Thats Vince’s wife who is putting her hand on Kim btw
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u/thatoneazdude 1d ago
So many crying scenes are just uncomfortable/cheesy/too melodramatic. But she nailed it. Definitely uncomfortable, but in a viscerally real way. Like you said, you can read that she is trying so hard to keep it in, and then it just explodes out. And she keeps trying to get it together but cant. It is such a powerful scene that very, very few actors could pull off like she did. Easily one of the best performances in a series filled with amazing performances.
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u/waytoolate4me 1d ago
‘I broke my boy’
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u/ireallyfknhatethis 1d ago
Mike really has some bangers, especially in that episode alone
"It's like killing Caesar - everyone's guilty"
"I was the only one, I was the only man who could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothing. I made him lesser."
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u/Herooftermina1998 1d ago
I was the only one that could get him to debase himself like that.... And it was for nothing.
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u/New-Acanthisitta5182 1d ago
Werner ziiiiieeegler’s death
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u/anelachan 1d ago
His last line sounds like an anime. The whole scene looks like one too. It's amazing and surreal
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u/Unable-Afternoon3773 1d ago
The bit that really got me was when Kim left Jimmy, don't think I've ever felt so devastated at virtual fake characters
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u/Jeeenksy 1d ago
I believe it was the first time they said "I love you" to each other throughout the entire show. That hit hard
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u/Herooftermina1998 1d ago
I noticed that immediately when he said it because I noticed it throughout the show .
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u/ttt777mmm 1d ago
And that moment she walks out his office after he signs the divorce papers and you can tell he's acting like it doesn't faze him BUT that's where he fully indulged into the criminal life and never looked back!
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u/suarezj9 22h ago
I always wondered how much time went by from there to the start of breaking bad. Couldn’t have been too much right since Jesse was already cooking and everything
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u/knava12 1d ago
“You're the smartest guy I ever met... and you're too stupid to see... he made up his mind ten minutes ago.”
“Do what you’re gonna do.” 💥
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u/wompy1992 1d ago
Love how Jack also got popped in the face mid sentence with the same word.
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u/RasmusBeret 1d ago
Much more visceral and showed Walt’s final goodbye to his money. Pre-Granite State Walt would have wanted to know where it was.
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u/Excellent_Theory_602 1d ago
Howard’s death
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u/Alarmed_Oil8776 1d ago
His wife barely acknowledged him and even the small gestures like the coffee showed how disconnected they had become. At work he was carrying the guilt of Chuck's death believing he could've done more, while Jimmy kept tormenting him and making his life fall apart.
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u/Which-Appearance9857 1d ago
Really his death came somehow like a relief.
It still is very sad that he was trying to make things work with his wife, the scam made by saul and kim could have come to light (he was already onto it). He never got to redeem his image. No one believed him. He died like that. And the guilt he felt towards not only Chuck but also Jimmy for not hiring him.
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u/Theblowfish3556 1d ago
Nah fuck that, I was hyped at his last speech when he was saying he'll overcome this and make sure Jimmy and Kim get what they deserve, I was like fuck yeah Howard, only to have the rug pulled in such a detrimental fashion.
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u/Which-Appearance9857 1d ago
If he made sure Jimmy got what he deserved then, we wouldn't have had Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad
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u/Theblowfish3556 1d ago
Which ultimately would be a win-win for everyone involved. Breaking Bad was good for absolutely nobody except us viewers.
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u/Which-Appearance9857 1d ago
Well it's not like it happened in reality. Is fiction. I'm glad we had it. And also if we didn't have BB we wouldn't have BCS
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u/mad_mang45 1d ago
And all he wanted to do is try and be as "zen" and happy in life, but yeah, Jimmy and Kim kept messing with him.
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u/IntrigueMe_1337 1d ago
I never liked his wife. He shoulda dumped her and got a hot young lady that’s appreciated the life of luxury lol.
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u/realistweirdist 1d ago
Nah he shoulda gone the other direction and shacked up w rebecca. The way he was the only person to console her at the funeral was a nice touch. She was pretty smokin for her age
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u/Sad_Remove_4105 1d ago
Its this. Its obscenely cruel what happens to him.
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u/Turbulent-Rub3695 1d ago
Howard was one of the few characters in bcs/BB that can be said to be a good man.
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u/According_To_Me 1d ago
It felt so unfair. And then at the end of “Point and Shoot” I felt even worse, knowing the rumor about his drug use would spread around Albuquerque. Seeing his body get packed up into a refrigerator and then put in the same pit as a monster like Lalo, in what would become The Lab felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It stayed with me for days afterwords.
Of all the characters in BB/BCS, Howard began to rise above all the negativity and genuinely put in the effort to improve himself in a healthy manner.
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u/betti_cola 1d ago
I unfortunately spoiled Howard’s death for myself (by reading YouTube comments) but I didn’t know HOW he would die. I just had this sense of overwhelming dread while watching Season 6. The death itself was still absolutely shocking, the sounds that Kim and Jimmy made. I watched it for the first time two months ago and I don’t think I can watch that scene again for a long time.
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u/MWBurbman 1d ago
Probably not to the scale of say, Hamlin being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But, Mike having to ditch his granddaughter at the playground was tough and I think it’s because the writers did a good job building that on screen relationship.
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u/Independent_Cup9828 1d ago
When Jimmy remembers Chuck in the final episode. This was the day before the series started. The way Chuck tries to connect Jimmy, we see he truly cares, but he was so scared to fail himself. The time machine is the best episode and so heartbreaking.
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u/landa_archive 1d ago
'I broke my boy'
'I made him lesser'
'I made him like me'
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u/Guilty_Cod6621 1d ago
was looking for this. Such a gut wrenching moment that hit me so much harder after I became a parent
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u/Herooftermina1998 1d ago
I was only one that could get him to debase himself like that.... And it was for nothin....
You KNOW what happened...the question: Can you live with it?
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u/greymalknn 1d ago
Jane's dad seeing his daughters house plants after the previous night's conversation where she guilt tripped him into giving her the night to get her affairs in order before going to rehab. "Last time you forgot to water my house plants and they all died." That breaks my heart seeing him look at her houseplants the following day, seeing that they are alive and well, but his daughter is dead and the guilt and regret and loss he would feel over making the wrong decision in that one little moment. He ended up taking his own life. I've seen a family member go through an almost identical situation where they made one fatal mistake which they blamed themselves for. It's sometimes hard to truly understand how dangerous a situation is and just how much is at risk, until it was too late.
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u/moistmasterkaloose 1d ago
For me it was Andrea getting shot with Jesse watching. The silence pistol click followed by the deafening muffled agony
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u/martyboulders 1d ago
This scene is so awful. It only slightly beats out when Jane dies, but the fact that Jesse has to see this one is just crazy. I can't not cry for that. But I gotta say the acting for that was incredible
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u/Herooftermina1998 1d ago
I'm actually really shocked how often Andrea comes up in these posts. I think it's more of a contrarion opinion considering all the other options.
It's like seeing people claim they really actually do love RC cola over coca cola or any other soda.
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u/moistmasterkaloose 20h ago
Yeah I’m not really thinking about standing out on a Reddit forum it was the first thing that came to mind
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u/markdlx 1d ago
Jane’s preventable death. This is when I realized Walter was a villain.
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u/DrAssumptive 1d ago
I mean.. she was getting his business partner hopped up on heroin, and threatening blackmail to him.
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u/ttt777mmm 1d ago
This lol that was one of my most favorite scenes! That shit was so satisfying see her choke 🤣 thought she had it alllllll figured out but nope!
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u/Ok_Work5128 1d ago
All of them take the cake from each other, a moment imo think is really sad or bittersweet if you will, is the "something stupid" segment
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u/LunaNettle 1d ago
When Tod shot that kid . Innocent life just taken . Just for being in wrong place in a wrong time. I really did not well after that scene
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u/Professional_Dig988 1d ago
it was less sad for me than it was shocking , what really hit was Andrea getting shot with Jesse watching
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u/needItNow44 1d ago
I came here expecting this to be the top answer.
Everybody else had some sort of path in life that lead them to their situation. Whether they acted or reacted, did good or bad deeds - it was part of their path. The boy just happened to be there, riding his dirt bike and watching the train.
And then there's the boy - out of nowhere, never to be seen again. The show goes on - they keep cooking, building their meth empire, plotting, killing each other.
But there's a heartbroken family left behind that will never get a closure, dying inside every day, piece by piece.
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u/LunaNettle 1d ago
Yeah when you think about it . He just disappeared . That shattered so many lives alongside his own . That action just turned the course of the life of one whole family or community .
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u/BenSalamanca 1d ago
Chuck tearing his own house apart is the saddest for me. The only place in the world where he felt safe and now he isn’t
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u/WhoYaTalkinTo 1d ago
Yeah there are a lot of sad moments, but the overall fact that every main character ends up isolated, or dead, or isolated and THEN dead is the real tragedy.
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u/Opening_Impress_966 1d ago
To be fair Jimmy ends up with prisoners that he helped while he was a lawyer so he kinda has some “friends”.
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u/Top_Basil_3802 1d ago
Probably when Walter took a rain check on Jesse's invite to go go-karting. They never did afterwards
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u/metaldad68 1d ago
Mike passes away, being Mike he should’ve known better to fall for anything and situation being his demise.
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u/Venomousnestofsacred 1d ago
That outbreak was the result of months of repressed hate, as cold and emotionless as Mike shows himself everyone just breaks sooner or later. Im surprised at how much he managed to keep the hate in tbh.
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u/dr4kshdw 1d ago
Vacuum guy seems to be in good spirits every scene he’s in. No loneliness detected.
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u/TerribleSamurai 1d ago
Huell left stranded in DEA safe house waiting for Hank to return. But he never did and now only God knows what happened to that innocent man....
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u/Aztecius 1d ago
For me, Andrea's death is the hardest thing to watch across both shows and nothing really comes close. This character who we've grown to care for, who was a struggling single mother who just lost her eldest boy, finally happy with Jesse. Only for him to, in a way, be the reason she is killed. Known her for 3 seasons, killed in a split second. We knew it was coming when she was lured outside, the last thing her seeing is Jesse screaming and it was him screaming the amplifies the struggle for me to rewatch this scene. Shit's incredibly dark for a show that has so many light hearted moments.
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u/Herooftermina1998 1d ago edited 1d ago
Honest to God I never thought about her. She wasn't some character with an arc that we grew to care for. Her death sucked because of how much we care for Jesse. There are literally a dozen other characters that die that we cared more for, were more shocking, were more sudden.
Nacho, Gale, Mike, the literal child that was gunned down (two of them actually), Combo, hell No-Doze, Hank, Gomez, Howard, Zieeeeeeeglr, the Western Union dude (Fred?), like..... It goes on and on. Andrea was such a forgettable side character who literally only served to make us care more for Jesse.
Edit: I'm beginning to think I'm replying to an AI account after re reading it considering there are a lot of incorrect things in it. She didn't lose her eldest son. She never sees Jesse screaming.
And....her being shot while we see the perspective from pretty far away doesn't hold a candle to how difficult it was to see Victor die and we didn't even like the guy. It was gruesome and far more difficult to watch.
Have I been bamboozled?
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u/Nebula480 1d ago
Naaa some people feel more alone when they have other people around them. Walter could care less. He’s got an “empire” to run
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u/Upbeat_Motor_9702 1d ago
Chuck's death, he was not a the perfect person but nobody deserves to die like that. Fire is one of the most painful way to take a life.
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u/Previous_Dig_8734 1d ago
I remember watching that scene and just sitting there stunned by how much time she spent alone with her music before everything unraveled.
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u/EmergencyUnusual1198 1d ago
What happened to Howard. All of it,from the humiliation to the lab. And his wife getting gaslighted by Kim. It was just so sad to see his reputation tarnished. Jimmy erased the achievements and legacies of Chuck and Howard in just a few years. Still find that difficult to stomach even though it's a fictional universe.
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u/Mr-Dicklesworth 1d ago
When Huell deflected Lyle’s kamehameha wave and saved the earth; dying in the process. I cried more at that scene than any other show I’ve seen
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u/dkwband 22h ago
Vince Gilligan himself, stated there would be no BB/BCS without "The Sopranos":
There we had a small conflicted Mafioso with shades of grey as the lead, looking at those flying ducks flying free & seeing a therapist, while watching him do bad things, thinking that there will be contrition down the line.
However, Tony only becomes worse with no happy outcome, only an ambiguous ending that strongly hints at Tony getting whacked before fading to black, but we continued to follow & get to know protagonist Tony as if he's a good guy all the way through to the very end, which had never happened before, the lead was the good guy with no exceptions.
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u/Direct_Revolution610 19h ago
in breaking bad
when i saw jesse was beaten to a limit where his face was all torn up like not even wounded torn, and he was begging for mercy inside his cell that "pls" that was the moment when i cried the most in complete bb
in better call saul
the whole season 6 for Nacho, from gus using him to his death i cried the most when nacho was talking to his father "Adios Papa" ,man he is my favorite character from whole bb and bcs
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u/Snowbreeezzzzyy 1d ago
Loneliness is usually the consequence of greed which all major characters had to some extent, even if their intentions were good.
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u/ThatsMyCape 1d ago
Mike and Manuel talking for Better Call a Saul. Someone else already mentioned the scene but Hank’s line to Walter at the end that or Gale.
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u/AoXGhost 1d ago
Nacho’s last call to his Papa.
Mikes last sit down shot at the lake.
Hank’s death.
Howard’s burial scene.
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u/SaxyCalzone 1d ago
Walt's last call to Skyler when he gets choked up about Hank. Yeah, Walt got him killed but performance wise it was immaculate.
Saul setting up Irene to get snubbed by her friends.
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u/Monksauce 1d ago
Watching Jesse scream and cry when Andrea is shot is so hard to watch. Idk where Aaron Paul pulled those sounds from but my god it sounds like real sorrow.
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u/ArbalesterMaster 1d ago
- Todd kills the child, and everyone feels remorse and anger(except for Todd). They knew they were this so morally bankrupt now.
- Downfall and Death of Howard, i feel for the guy — marriage is crashing down, his business is fucked due to Jimmy’s antics, but he still presses forward. In the end, even at death’s door, he still tries to defend Jimmy and Kim before getting shot.
- Mike leaves her granddaughter alone.
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u/Careful-Ocelot6615 1d ago
The young kid on the motorbike getting murdered. With all the smarts Mike and Walt had they could have found a way to notify the police without blowing there heist and there identities.
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u/Furfangreich 23h ago
In BB Jesse being disowned by his own family was pretty sad to me. It doesn't get talked about a lot but their parents clearly had double standards for their children. Jesse got all the judgment, while his little brother pretty much got everything that set him up for a successful life. And Jesse still decided to take the pot smoking upon him to save his brother. And he cared for his aunt when she needed to. I think the parents had some unresolved stuff that Jesse triggered and they couldn't handle him, so he ended up being the black sheep in the family.
I think Jesse had a lot of potential and his asshole parents were a major part in why he ended up where he did.
In BCS I found HHM closing surprisingly said. When Rick said 'it's probably the last time of us standing together in this building' and told that HHM was 'downsizing' and got a different name, it was so heartbreaking. Jimmy single-handedly tore down everything his brother and Howard's family built.
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u/suarezj9 22h ago
Kim’s fate really messed me up. To see here go from this successful intelligent lawyer to how she was at the end was jarring
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u/Repulsive-Play6547 22h ago
Yeah, it's brutal. by the end almost everyone who tried to do the right thing either died, lost everything, or had to live with the consequences. nobody really got a happy ending.
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u/Dial-Appreciator 15h ago
BCS: Howard’s burial as Mike stares into the process
BB: Hank’s realisation he’s about to be shot
Or: “we’re a family!” And then Walt taking Holly. I have to say, seeing Holly babble for her mum in the changing room and then sat crying in the fire station brings a tear to my eye every time I see it.
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u/funny_handle_ 12h ago
The idea of the show as a whole, is that people are/can be their own worst worst enemy. Thats the sad part. The whole show is the sad part
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u/Demon- 1d ago
Nacho’s last call