Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the two shows created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, are among the greatest pieces of television ever created, if you ask almost anyone. In this piece, we will go over one of the most important aspects of the two shows: the moral ambiguity. The writing of both shows is absolutely incredible, and both series have a lot of this moral ambiguity masterfully written into them—not just in the main characters, but pretty much any important side character as well.
Moral Ambiguity in Breaking Bad
In Breaking Bad, you, of course, have the main character, Walter White, who is very morally ambiguous throughout the entire show, but his ambiguity transforms during that time too. He starts off seeming relatively moral to the viewer, as he is just a dying man desperate to leave his family with enough money to be financially stable after he is gone.
However, as he gets deeper into the world of crime, he becomes more morally ambiguous until the ambiguity actually starts to wear off in the opposite direction even later down the line, as he becomes less and less ‘good’ and falls deeper into his dark alter ego, Heisenberg.
By the end of the show, he finally admits that he didn’t do what he did for his family but rather for his own pride. At this point, he has lost almost all his ambiguity and has very clearly become immoral, effectively becoming the villain of his own show.
The Complexity of Skylar White
In Breaking Bad, it is also interesting to look at the morality of Skylar White, Walt’s wife, as she inevitably finds out about her husband’s drug empire. Instead of turning him in, she begrudgingly accepts it and actively helps it grow and function.
Throughout the later seasons, she also gets deeper and deeper into the world of crime, but she remains ambiguous the entire time, as she never outright supports her husband but helps him out of necessity to keep herself and her children safe.
She is somewhat a victim of Heisenberg but, at the same time, also a very important asset to his business functioning properly. I would argue this actually makes her more ambiguous than Walt himself, as he, by this point, is less ambiguous and more outright bad.
Jesse Pinkman’s Tragic Journey
When it comes to Jesse Pinkman, Heisenberg’s cooking partner, I would argue he is barely ambiguous at all. Morally, he is good for the large majority of the show. He is a criminal, yes, but he never shows anything but disdain and remorse for any of his or his partner’s actions that result in harm to other people. He is arguably the show’s most tragic character, as he never really wants to participate in any of the things he does but is blackmailed and manipulated to do so by Heisenberg.
He is clearly very negatively affected by the things he sees and does. In the spin-off movie El Camino (2019), we finally see him getting the ending he deserved, successfully getting a new identity and moving to Alaska after escaping Jack and his gang of neo-Nazis.
The Moral Ambiguity of Better Call Saul
Moving on to Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad that focuses on the backstory of Saul Goodman, the criminal lawyer, Mike Ehrmantraut, Gus Fring’s tough guy, and Gustavo Fring, the drug lord. This show has a lot more characters with moral ambiguity than Breaking Bad, and as this show is a little less action-oriented and more drama-focused than Breaking Bad, the ambiguity is also different.
Jimmy McGill’s Descent into Saul Goodman
Starting with Saul Goodman, aka Jimmy McGill, we are taken through all the things that lead to him becoming Saul Goodman, showing that he is much more complex than just the comic relief from Breaking Bad. We meet him as he is trying to get going as a legitimate lawyer after his brother, Chuck, made him promise to quit being a con artist and get his life together.
But already in the first episode, we see him trying to pull off a scam after two young guys try scamming him, showing that he still has a side of “Slippin’ Jimmy” left in him.
Throughout the show, we see him becoming more and more crooked as a lawyer, committing increasingly immoral acts to benefit himself in cases and other situations, such as when his brother takes a big client away from his girlfriend, Kim Wexler. In response, he commits document forgery to make the client lose confidence in Chuck and go back to Kim.
The Duality of Kim Wexler
Eventually, Kim also becomes morally ambiguous, as she starts joining Jimmy in his schemes and even begins encouraging him. The true punch to the gut of the show happens in the final season, when a long-term scheme to take down the reputation of Kim’s old boss, Howard Hamlin, results in his murder by a cartel member.
At this moment, we as an audience finally realize that Jimmy and Kim are the villains—similar to how Walter White becomes the villain of his own show, but different because Better Call Saul has other villains who are even worse than them. Jimmy, therefore, has a more constant ambiguity as opposed to Walter White’s constantly changing ambiguity.
The Impact of Chuck McGill
Focusing more on Jimmy’s brother, Chuck, we also find moral ambiguity. He sees himself as almost perfect, holding the law as the single best measurement for morality and sacred. However, the way he treats his brother, Jimmy, is far from moral, and one could argue that Chuck is, if not the sole reason, at the very least a very large factor in Jimmy’s fall into Saul Goodman. He refuses to believe that Jimmy can change, so when Jimmy earns a law degree and becomes a lawyer, Chuck doesn’t like it one bit.
He constantly tries to sabotage Jimmy’s career, first by blocking his law partner, Howard Hamlin, from hiring Jimmy at their law firm on multiple occasions, all while making Howard take the blame for these decisions so Jimmy doesn’t know he doesn’t support him.
This all culminates in the episode “Chicanery” (S03E05), when Chuck finally loses his temper and lets his true feelings be known to Jimmy. I would argue that if Chuck had just been supportive of Jimmy, Saul Goodman would probably never have been born, as the lack of support and respect from Chuck is essentially what drives Jimmy to do the things he does.
Mike Ehrmantraut’s Code of Honor
Lastly, let’s talk about Mike Ehrmantraut. His morality is hard to analyze, as he is a very moral man despite actively engaging in some pretty serious crimes. He used to be a cop, a corrupt one, but when he loses his son to other corrupt cops, he kills them and moves to a new city. He eventually gets involved with Gustavo Fring and is hired as his main ‘security’ guy, performing all sorts of tasks for the drug lord.
Yet, while doing all of this, he maintains his morality of being honorable. He does the job he’s hired to do, remains loyal, and is adamant that anyone who isn’t ‘in the game’ shouldn’t be caught in it. An example of this is when he robs a drug-running truck from the cartel but spares the driver’s life. Later, an innocent bystander encounters the driver, leading to the cartel killing the bystander.
This angers Mike so much that he holds a grudge against the cartel, driving him to work for Gus Fring. Mike is both very ambiguous and not ambiguous at all, depending on how you look at it, because he very clearly has a high moral standard but, at the same time, kills people and works for a drug lord.
Comparing the Two Shows in Terms of Moral Ambiguity
To compare the two shows in conclusion, I would say that they are very different but also very identical simultaneously. The morally ambiguous actions of the characters in the two shows are of very different natures—you have a lot of violent and drug-related crimes in Breaking Bad and forgery, scams, and personal conflicts in Better Call Saul. However, the way these actions play out is very similar, with the main characters eventually becoming villains in their own shows, though they do so in very different ways.