I think he views himself as irredeemable. He was corrupted as a young man, and that mistake hurt the people he loves. At a certain point he sees there’s no fixing what’s done. He decides to use his already broken morality to benefit the loved ones he has left as much as he can. Not to feel better about himself, but to sacrifice his redemption to protect the only good part left of him, his family.
he was talking about paths we take. and he also said the will play the cards he was dealt with. i think you are right saying he thought he was irredeemable
Yes, that's how he views himself but it's an excuse behind which he hides. He doesn't have the guts to do what he needs to do - live an upright life away from gangsters and violence - so justifies his criminal lifestyle on the basis that "it's too late to change".
Thing about Mike is that ultimately he's a fatalist. It's all in his speech about the road; his fundamental belief is that once you're on a set path, there's no way off it no matter how hard you try. Once you cross a certain line, there's no second chances, no redemption, no becoming a better man. This ultimately informs all his actions; why not work as a hitman for a cartel if you're already damned? Contrast with Saul, who eventually comes to believe that it's possible to change and find some measure of redemption and improvement even late in a life full of crooked deeds.
Saul didn't believe he could change, it was just emotions for kim that made him deal with his punishment like always. If there's anyone befitting of the description it was Howard, he changed and fought to be better and it didnt end well
@theodisius1 Mike says in "Bagman" that Mike doesn't care if he lives or dies. When he is not being a henchman or grandfather, Mike drinks cheap beer, watches baseball or hangs out in a bar or diner. He doesn't have a wife or friends hobbies or causes to devote his time to. He just exists.
The fact that Mike's character analysis ( alone ! ) has produced so many interesting and contrary comments, just goes to show how compelling and nuanced these two series are. Both total masterpieces- I miss them so much !
At the start of BCS, Mike goes out of his way to find and report the body of an innocent man who died because he unknowingly got involved in Mike's feud with Hector. At the end of BCS, Mike's covering up the death of an innocent man to protect his boss's interests. Mike wanted to be at peace with himself over his son's death but ended up selling his soul in the process to obtain it
Mike isn't moral or ethical but principled. This is why Gus values him so much. For someone who uses people (often without their knowledge), Gus can count on Mike acting like Mike. There's no ambiguity in the principles Mike lives by, so he is free of the anxiety caused by people like Lalo or Walter.
And what do you use to choose those principles, you base them on your morality as a person, they just don't appear out of nowhere, they have a moral and ethic base.
When he said “all the money he had was taken by the government, and now all he has left ARE the terrible acts he committed, and it was all for nothing” Shit made my heart sink.
Finger made A LOT of money in his time, and he was 100% knowledgeable on what happens to the money if things went south, finger was a meticulous man does anybody really think he left his real nut (pause) in reach of the governments grasp? He HAD to make sure they found something or else they’d never stop looking and his granddaughter would never be able to spend a dime without them on her ass, to think finger just let them take all the money he ever earned is such a weird thing to think considering we all know how smart he is
What I love the most about Mike is every character feels safe around him and can be vulnerable around him and let things off their chest. Like when Gus told him about the memorial for max and took Mike there. Or Nacho telling him about Tuco and his history and telling him how scared he actually is inside of his mask. Also don't forget his relationship with Jesse in BrBa.
Even Walt felt safe enough to suggest killing Fring. It cost him a jab to the face and the loss of any trust Mike might have had in him, but he opened up
All these characters have this one thing in common : extremely elaborate rationalization of terrible behavior. On this level Mike is no better than any other.
@Jason Voorhees I think it's the exact opposite, in that it's in fact VERY realistic because there's no such thing as superheroes and supervillains in real life. Everything and everyone is a shade of grey, some people are perhaps darker shades of grey and some are lighter shades but 99% of the time there is no pure good and no pure evil, people do bad things for good reasons and good things for bad reasons
What's really interesting is the Salamanca's weren't even really responsible for Nacho's death... That would be Mike's employer, Gus, who forced Nacho's hand by repeatedly threatening his father. That Mike seems to be in denial of this obvious fact is pretty interesting actually
i.e. someone who would shine in military roles, but when you get disillusioned you get ppl like Mike bringing every shitty thing they had to do in order to survive, to the streets and their families.
I loved that scene with Mike and Nacho’s father. For all his wisdom and righteousness, he’s not actually a good guy at the end of the day. No decent and moral person would kill someone like Werner. As an ex-cop, he could have always found work not involving a drug lord.
Also, yes he could have found work but it wouldn’t make shit compared to what he made and his goal was to set up his granddaughter for life. I mean I’m not saying he’s all good but I don’t think you’ve made good points.
I guess he chose his works based on how much he could give to his granddaughter. Writers wanted to show that he's trying to make his granddaughter's life as easy as he could in as little time as he had. I guess that's Mike's justification to path he chose.
I think Mike is probably what Jesse would’ve turned into if he’d stayed in the game for a few decades. That’s why he tried to get Jesse to leave at every opportunity after Gus’s death, he saw himself in Jesse.
Mike is definitely my favorite character. He recognizes what he has done and what he has become. He has the most depth of awareness of all of the characters, which truly adds to his stoic and cold personality. I found myself respecting Mike the most because he is selfless and carries a great sadness and burden around him. Yet he still fights and doesn't give up.
It’s heartbreaking knowing he sacrificed years of time being able to support her for immediate stability built on the same dirty money that killed his son
Deep down Mike wanted to change but couldn't forgive himself for son's death so he continued going down the rabbit hole since there was no point fixing what can't be undone. He deserved second chance. Truly the most tragic character in the series.
Great video... with regards to Mike's intentions for Kayley, one has to also ask, would she rather grow up with the money (whether she knows the means where it is from) OR simply having Mike remain in her life for the foreseeable future, being there for her where her father couldn't. Not simply have disappeared with his death (seemingly abandoning her), with Mike not realising that he could have a positive impact on her life without the money.
One of the biggest things about mike is you can tell he’s remorseful for his actions, in the BCS finale he talked about how he would go back and change things with people, but he knows he can’t
Mike has a toolkit and skillset that's valuable. He forms the rules of applying those to be as straightforward and less deceptive as possible. Even if the project or actions are immoral and against the law of society. What Mike brings is structure to do the least amount of evil while still doing evil. Which is antithetical to greed.
4:09 Mike does know about how the money was earned. There was that episode where Mike almost pressed charges against Jimmy, but believed his theory about the Kettlemans', and even gave him helpful insight on where they might be. I know it's not really crucial to the analysis of Mike's character or the point being made, but he did know the context.
I think that Mike deep down is a man who always wanted the right things, but he went about the wrong ways in order to try to achieve them. And the deeper he went, the more muddied his soul became, and the harder it became to get out. I think that's why that Mike developed a soft spot for both Nacho and Jesse, because I think he may have seen himself when he was their age. He saw two young men who were good people, but they were running with the wrong crowd, a crowd they didn't really belong in, because they had a level of decency that the men around them didn't. He may have reasoned that in some ways it was too late for him, but they still had a chance. Obviously he could not dictate to them what they chose to do with their lives, but I believe he wanted to try to steer them towards the right direction through gentle guidance, as both of them were too stubborn to respond to a firm approach.
You’ve earned a like from me. I’m so tired of people that hate Walt, love Mike. He’s a great character but he’s a hypocrite. Nothing wrong with not liking Walt but that doesn’t mean everything Mike says is the gospel.
Walt and Mike are more similar than people think. They are of course different in terms of personality and ambition, as Walt is egotistical and prideful. But both of them choose to be involved in the criminal world even if they don't really need to.
@BATKID THE JEDI BENDU Mike accused Walt of doing half measures. But he was ready to kill Jesse. Jesse who wanted to drop out of the drug game after a kid was being threatened by a gang. And Mike tried to justify it. He makes excuses too. But yes for all intents and purposes he is more consistent. But he stayed in the game too long and watched too many people get hurt (and him doing hurting) to claim he was doing it for others.
@H Blue Mole Mike is a complicated guy wouldn’t call him completely bad or good I’d say he does good and bad things but that’s what Breaking Bad reflects, how complicated people can be but it is trying to show us that at the end of the day no matter how complicated we are there is morally right decisions and morally wrong decisions and we have to be careful with the choices we make in life. Mike has acknowledged this since BCS and had many regrets about his life choices he just didn’t see that he still had a chance to do the right thing he believed it was too late for him anyway and continued down his later years of criminality.
9:20 I think killing Werner and what Manuel Varga said to him made Mike realise he was as bad as the other criminals which I think is why in Breaking Bad he's less questioning of Gus and just does what he's told whereas in Better Call Saul he almost quit working for Gus after Gus ordered him to kill Werner for drunkenly telling Lalo about the meth lab only to be talked back in by Gus patching him up and appealed to their shared hatred of the Salamancas. Mike also wouldn't let Gus kill Manuel.
Or just maybe in breaking bad he is the ay he is because the writers didn’t have BCS Mike in mind. Find it so weird when people try make it make sense when the writers were never thinking what you know now
mike is an amazing character. he’s background of the vietnam war and the guilt of his sons death meld together to make a really interesting character. the writing team is superb.
I always liked the shot at 1:01. The framing of the fence to make it seem like Mike is in a cage. And he is. He may never go to jail, or get arrested, or even be convicted. But he is trapped in the life he chose. That's Mike's prison.
He has a good heart and has empathy towards people who aren’t in the game, but in general he’s not a good person even he knows this when he says in the series finale that he’d go back to the day that he took his first bribe because that was the day he was morally compromised and slowly starting to become a toxic person
Throughout breaking bad and better call saul I just kept on thinking about how much success each of the characters could find outside of "the game". There are tons of immoral acts that are entirely legal that also dont involve murder and crime. And the skills of these professional criminals would surely be valuable in a "legitimate" setting. It seems that "the game" does not only give the players no out, it is often the only thing that the players know. And that they are good at. "the game" is reliable and familiar. I think this is the real reason why those who are in the game tend to always come back to the game.
I don’t think Mike’s caution about Walthuh comes from a view that Walter is less moral. I think he considers him as a man with nothing to lose and therefore a liability. The prisoners dilemma is often used to describe a situation where the best option is to screw someone over, however that’s only true if you consider the dilemma in isolation. If you consider the prospect of working together in the future you can then justify the “altruism” again through self interest. However, Walter is the dilemma in isolation. There is no future. There’s no working together again. He will die and so his only incentive is to screw everyone over. It essentially the same as working with someone who has a death wish or is impulsive and short sighted.
The cast of BrBa and BCS is full of monsters, and Mike is arguably one of them. But he's also one of the few that both recognizes he's a monster, and doesn't use that knowledge as an excuse to go further than he has to. Mike realizes that just because he IS a bad person, that doesn't mean he NEEDS to be a bad person at every opportunity.
@SierraEcho88 You are aware that he is working for the biggest meth distributer in the whole country, right? Yes, they were NPCs, actually not even that, they were off screen, but Mike helped destroy thousands of lives. I get sick when people say these characters are good whatsoever. Jesse, for instance, gets so much sympathy for caring about that ginger kid, and spending time with him. But he, and likes of him in general are guilty of putting that child in that situation by providing drugs to his parents. Gus, Mike, Lalo, Hector, Walt, Jesse, Saul... They are all evil criminals at the end. Don't let the narrative fool you.
@SierraEcho88 How could anyone ask how Mike could be a bad person? I could see someone being ambivalent about Mike. I could see someone constructing an elaborate argument that says Mike's a good person (and it would HAVE to be elaborate because of all the bad he does). But how could anyone wonder how Mike could be characterized as a bad person? The amount of complexity one has to go through to say he's good person is enough to prove why such a question need not be asked.
@dab88 True, he started as an anti-hero, but at the same time, only degrades that morality he once had. A bad but necessary evil, until those evils overshadow the good he once had; those cops killed someone close to him, so his revenge had a clear goal. But after meeting Gus, his character arc took him on too many bad choices and it cost him everything the longer the game went on when Heisenburg showed up.
@gamewriteeye769 Mike was on the take, encouraged his son to do the same, then shot two cops as revenge when they killed his son to cover it up. For somebody who's supposed to uphold the law, Mike was both a corrupt cop and a bad person long before ever meeting Gus.
By all accounts, Mike was not a bad person. But what we define ourselves as decides the eventual outcome of what we become. Mike chose to become Gus's lapdog, and by extension of that decision, abided by that choice for the rest of his life. What he did for his family's future in all the construct of what he acted upon, believing it to be morally justifiable in the act of who he considers killing makes it all the more tragic when he dies for a fraction of nothing. The honest truth any one man can take-is the one we bear upon ourselves. Is there no greater truth then, than to bear the weight of our actions?
I wish they'd make a series featuring Mike and Fring and how they interact with each other and build an empire, they're both fine actors and could carry any show successfully.
Brilliant analysis! Very thoughtful and actually a testament to the incredible script writing behind these two magnificent shows. Well done, Just an Observation! Bravo!
This scene between Mike and the dad is lowery one of the best and unexpected scenes in the whole series. It is really rare Mike let's his guard down enough for someone to ever have the upper hand. Even wjth Gus, you get the feeling Mike isn't afraid to die if he passes him off. In this scene, he comes forward seeking an affirmation of his way of life from somewhat who, through Nachos actions, has respect for. And in just one sentence Nacho's dad completely denies that to him and instead exposes Mike to be in denial about his own actions.
I love this commentary so much. You have made me think and question so many things. I think Mike had a soft spot for those in the game who were trying to break free. He was morally ambiguous, but sheesh, i always felt he had heart, conscience and a sense of fairness. I loved Mike so much. Thank you for this. xo
This show really taught me a lot about taking short cuts and easy ways, no matter how long you hold it in the end its never a beautiful or peaceful ending it always just meaning less in the end
I think having his background in Vietnam really explains his mindset. Just like in war you fight and kill the enemy because they are the enemy. If you see someone with a weapon you assume they're willing to kill you, and therefore it's ok to kill them. When he falls into crime wars it's just a natural extension of that same coping mechanism. "Us or them"
@MrClickity Seems you need to rewatch the show. mike LOVED forcing people into confrontations, then hurting them. and he especially enjoyed messing with walt.
@Jason Voorhees what gave you the impression that Mike enjoyed hurting people? I never got that from him. He always seemed to consider it "dirty business": unpleasant, but sometimes necessary.
In my mind he's clearly lawful neutral (whereas Gus would be lawful evil for example). He just does his job and is not good nor bad inherently but when he does bad things he still wants to do them with as much respect and fairness as possible towards those who deserve it
@Shanti Rewatch Kafkaesque please. Walt was perfectly content with working for Gus just as they were and rebuffed Jesse when he brought up how small their paychecks were compared to the potential profit. Walt was genuinely content with how he was working for Gus at that time. And had no intention of taking him down. You have to remember that killing Gus gave Walt an insane ego boost. Finally being at the top for the first time in his life. It fundamentally changed him. Breaking bad’s characters are not set from day one and never change. There’s no nuance in that. Mid season 3 Walt was a different Walt than season 5 Walt.
@The collector My guy, Walt is in "the empire business", he was planning on taking down Gus from day one. He would never content himself in just working for Gus quietly, which Mike just says if he just stfu and did what Gus wanted him to, they wouldn't get caught.
@Shanti What truth? Nothing mike said in that scene was true in the slightest. The reason Walt killed Gus wasn’t because of “ego and pride”. It was because Gus threatened to kill his brother in law. And if Walt tried to intervene, he threatened to kill his entire family (including his fucking Baby)
@Jason Voorhees you gotta be trollin, one of Walt’s main quotes towards the end is “we’re done when I say we’re done”. Learning about bullying from Walter is like learning about the Bible from Satan.
I think the moment that truly made Mike and Saul's relationship go down in Breaking Bad was the flashback in the final episode. Hearing that all Jimmy cares about was himself making more money, and not changing anything probably shows how much Mike is disgusted in who he brought into his life. Especially when he later had to clean up Howard's murder. He probably was think that the reason Howard was there was because of Jimmy's greedy and conning ways.
I think one reason why so many people like Mike is because he is in essence what is called, "the human heart in conflict with itself." This quote coming from George R.R. Martin, another excellent writer who seems to understand good character development and design
The more you grow up and have to make sacrifices for the sake of the people you love, the more you'll understand that Mike and Nacho (Nacho to an extent) are the two most tragic figures on current Television.
I think what’s important to note Mike ends up not putting his money where his mouth is. He tries to be criminal with a code, like he implies to Pryce, but He killed Werner Ziegler for similar reasons the dirty cops killed his son. He is swayed easily by Gus saying he is better than the Salamanca’s but doesn’t end up doing anything when children (Tomas and the one Todd shot) are killed. He seemingly takes a stand when Gus wants to betray Nacho, but ends up doing nothing. Mike gives Walt shit about half measures but his story involved protecting innocents which to justify having Jesse killed who is trying to protect a child from gang violence. Mike ends up giving up avoiding collateral damage and people “not in the game” Jesse is a shitty person too, but he sticks to his (admittedly not good) code and leaves the business when a kid gets shot. Papa Varga was right about Mike.
Exactly people think he's just a sweet old man, but he tried to kill Jesse for trying to get revenge for a kids death. Than tried to kill Walt for trying to protect Jesse. This makes him more evil than Walt and Jesse. He may have tried to appear good, but his deeds were evil
@ۦ what is your problem lol? I said no such thing, i still like mike hes a great character, its just that people who like mike always hates walter despite them being no different in morality
I am deeply surprised we didn't get a scene with Kaylee in the Gene Timeline. I'd loved to see what she thought about Mike, especially since he was the deuteragonist of the show. Would have been nice to see the outcome of all this work.
I love the way you explain these characters, one of my favorite “grey moral” characters is the punisher. Specifically the tv show. I would love too see you analyze the character
I think what makes Mike so fantastic is that he is ammoral and fully owns it. It makes the scenes where he does good things actually mean something. Dude is very straight forward and blunt, which makes his german last name very fitting lol
I know Vince and Peter are done with the show, but I would be genuinely interested to see some sort of short film or series focusing on Kaylee and her mother and allow us to see how they were impacted by everything Mike did. Like what were they left with? How do they feel knowing the life they had was all supplied via drug money? I dunno I just think there's something worth exploring there
He might have some nice qualities, but at the end of the day he’s a retired dirty cop who willingly became an enforcer for the cartel. He had a ton of opportunities to quit or turn away, but the fact that he stayed and killed people while on Gus’ payroll says everything you need to know. It doesn’t matter if he justifies it by saying it’s for his family like Walt, he still did a ton of horrible acts in the service of monsters. Even in the context of this video, the fact that he stayed in the game until the end (despite every chance he had to walk away) supersedes the harm reduction he did while he was active, since he didn’t know those scenarios would come up in the future. If he knew things were going to get this bad and he decided to stay in to reduce the harm, I might agree, but he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
I disagree with the last part. While maybe he didn't know the specifics, I think part of why he stayed on as long as he did was because of how things could have blown up worse without him.
@choculus after reading the comments about asserting Mike as a person with honor or morals this comment feels like a breath of fresh air. I would say that he is the same rotten bag of waste who insists on giving his family blood money rather than making an innocent attempt at a living. The only major, fundamental difference is that Mike didn't do it out of ego. He did it because he just stopped caring way too much.
Yeah. He and Walter are more alike than he realizes. He made orders of magnitude more money than he needed for his granddaughter but stayed in the business anyway.
@DixonYamowthe yeah it's just a way for em to validate their actions. I mean I love Mike but his grandaughter would not like anything that he is doing when she got old enough to understand! She probably wouldn't even want to take the money honestly. Just blood money haha she's like I'm good
In my opinion you are way better than other analytical KZcliprs like the Vile Eye , you delve deeper and hit more moral/psychological themes and still manage to remain concise
He acknowledges that nacho is better than the rest but he also tells Nacho himself that there are consequences to actions when Nacho decides to kill Hector. Plus he doesn’t prevent Nachos death. Just makes sure it’s not a painful one. He helps him in a way but lets his consequences play out because he chose to get involved in the game.
Mike was a good guy in the beginning just like other guys, Jimmy, Walt, Jesse. The fact is his son's death changed him. He believes his own principles he respect the rules. He's the reliable guy that you can trust to get the job done. Just like Walt, he was doing it for the sake of his family. His value changed after he started working for Gus.
Mike and Papa Varga’s philosophies are pretty much completely opposite . Mikes logic is criminals can be good , there isn’t inherently a correlation between crime and morals . Nacho’s dad’s logic is that just because a criminal justifies their actions doesn’t make them good . Mikes code serves him initially , he makes his decisions for the right reasons and no one gets hurt. On the other hand nachos father code doesn’t serve him as well , he is willing to put his son and himself in danger to keep out of crime . By the end of the series though , Mike’s philosophy holds up less , though he tried his best to do bad things in the best possible “least morally bad” way he still did bad things and you can’t really say he is a good guy . Nacho’s dad isn’t completely right in the end but you can’t help but think things may have been better if nacho took his advice . In the end you think differently about their respective “code”s when you see them to their conclusion .
@Jason Voorhees As Tolkien belived, "evil is kept at bay by the simple actions of normal people" saying "no" to crime and inmorality is the first and most important step, not always You Will have the chance of just denying yourself to evil but it's always the start. Also, naming Manuel Varga a coward? He told Héctor to get out of his restaurant knowing he was a dangerous man. Also You claim he kept a blind eye to crime, he did the exact opposite. He kept telling Nacho to make things right, of he truly kept a blind eye to all of that he would have not cared about his son's situation. Mike may be a baddas, he may have a code, but at the end of the day. Mike went to his grave a murderder and enforcer to a criminal empire, Manuel Will go to his grave as the man that told the Cartel "No" time and time again.
what a great video, love your in-depth analysis. Suddenly I want to start watching Better Call Saul now! I've binge watched Breaking Bad at least 5 times but could never get into Better Call Saul because it starts kinda slow...... I was 5 episodes in and I just lost interest but that was years ago. I'm willing to try again now!
I feel like when Mike's son died he felt so much grief and anger at the men who did it that the only way to stop the pain he was feeling was by killing the 2 dirty cops that killed his son. And that decision changed his life forever. What a great character. The breaking bad/better call saul universe is a beautifully orchestrated creation, very deep complex characters
I feel like out of the murder's on the show mike always was the "good guy" in my eyes, but he really is just the lesser of evils. Such a great universe we got to watch, Mike was a 10/10 character.
edit: I found this very insightful but disagree with 17:20 ish. Sure, he regrets and knows he's done wrong, but he's in with the people who wouldn't take a two week notice. Him getting there is definitely something he regrets, and i personally believe he was trying to teach nacho how to be like him, or a better son. What about his family, sure he made enough money to stop a while ago, but gus wouldn't take that. The cartel threataned him enough in BCS before waltuhh was involved. Great video
It be great if mike gets his own spin off series like saul did where we get to see a much younger and more innocent mike where we get to see him slowly learning the skill that he knows now, but most of all i want to see whats the first thing mike did as a dirty cop and how it escalated to how he turn out this way right now?
I never understood why Mike blamed Walter for "ruining everything". The only reason Walter rebelled against Gus was to save Jesse’s life in season 3. After that it was Mike who wanted to kill both Jesse and Walter. But in season 4 Mike likes Jesse once he gets to know him and starts puting all the blame on Walter and completely forgets the fact that he wanted to kill Jesse, the only reason Walter went against Gus was to save Jesse.
@Jakob Levantinus He fell for the impostor cop. And couldn't negotiate his way with either the vacuum cleaner guy or with the guy who had the money from the fridge.
@Ixian Technocrat Which is why Walt was able to manipulate him so much for so long. Even when Jesse eventually figured out that Walt poisoned Brock, Walt even with a gun pointed to his head was able to manipulate Jesse by planting a seed of doubt into his mind thinking it was Gus who ordered Brock's poisoning as some kind of master plan. Jesse of course, once again fell for a lie and spared Walt's life because like you say he wasn't particularly bright.
Jesse is shown not to be a particularly bright character in the show. Gus and Mike together faked a shootout to make Jesse feel like a hero, just after the Gale incident, and he fully fell for it. After that he puts the blame for all of that on Gus, and says it to his face at his home, but never on Mike, just because Mike acted like a father for a bit with him. Point is, Jesse is very gullible and confused.
@Alex T because he threatened Walt with snitching after Hank whooped his ass. Saul told him that Jesse is a threat and lowkey implied that they should have him killed. Walt could not do that and took the peaceful way to resolve it, he brought Jesse into the lab.
I like how the events of Better Call Saul have recontextualize scenes in Breaking Bad. Like the “I can’t” moment in the season 3 finale where Walt is begging for his life. It originally came across as Mike being apathetic, but BCS shows us that he has eventually learned the lesson that when Gus wants someone dead, there not going to be a way for him to change his mind like he tried with Werner and Nacho. So by the time of Breaking Bad, he has stopped trying to fight it.
Fun video! Thanks for the hard work. While Mike did have a choice to leave whenever he wanted to, I think he stayed because a) he made good money but also b) he knew he was the best at what he did And as you mentioned, because he could be the voice of reason to these sociopathic leaders, he probably believed that he could do the most good to society by continuing to be involved with the cartel. He did so at the cost of selling his soul, but he had already done that years ago, before the events of Better Call Saul. He's one of the only character to express concern for another human being, so I think that while he makes mistakes, we know that he is on a similar wavelength to the general audience. Lalo, Tuco, Hector, Gus, Eladio, Walt, however, are not be relatable to most (or at least I hope).
They probably never will know what he was involved with because he was never caught or taken to trial. He’ll just be a missing person. They’ll never know what happened to him.
Mike has every type of characteristics. Good and Bad or Moral and Immoral He has both. That's what makes him the best character of the Breaking Bad universe.
Mike doesn’t kill people who are in “the game” because he thinks they’re all bad. He does it because if they’re in “the game”, then they knew and accepted the risks that came along with that, one of said risks being death. The reason he doesn’t kill innocent people who aren’t in “the game” is because they didn’t sign on for it. They didn’t accept the risks of being in “the game”, and therefor, they are off-limits to mike. People who are in “the game”, know and accept the potential consequences. Innocent people do not. THAT’S why Mike doesn’t kill innocent people.
This i think is a central point. Mike is at heart somewhat of a voluntaryist. Not really an anarchist as he believes in institutions and hierarchies (even if they are as twisted as Gus’s) but he does believe that for people’s choices there are consequences and ignorance, intent, outcome can’t save you from your own actions. I don’t think he blames himself or even Gus for for Werner’s death. I think he blames Werner. While he’s sad about losing a friend he also lashes out at him before killing him. Werner chose to get in business with these guys even if he never really internalized what that meant and he chose not to listen to Mike about what that meant either. I also don’t think he considers the government to be anything other than a rival cartel to Gus’s because of his time in Vietnam.
“Say My Name” could’ve been called “Mike’s Last Day”. Watching it after Better Call Saul gives it a whole new context and makes it so much more heartbreaking.
I think the reason Mike hates Walter so much, is because Walter reminds him of who he really is underneath all his "honour" and "code". And he doesn't like looking into that mirror.
I met a cop like Mike once and did something that changed him in a way that made him realise that even the kindest of people can be the most ruthless people but it was to help him understand some of us dont like to be in the game but are forced to be a part of it and Spend years of our life trying to subdue our need to cause damage .
I felt that Mike was who Walt said he was - he did the things he did for his family. First for his son, then for his granddaughter. That extends somewhat to his allies or those he works with and comes to care about, but to a much more limited extent than his actual family. Walt, on the other hand, did what he did for himself and used his family as a cover to hide from his own mind his need for power and control.
16:02 I feel like this is an aspect of Mike's blow up towards Walter that gets too frequently overlooked. One of the key reasons Walt and Gus' relationship broke down is actually one of the few times Walter _wasn't_ just servicing his own ego, and was also one of the few times Mike _was_ just acting in self interest. Gus did not want to partner with Jesse from the onset, and when he started beefing with Gus' goons, Gus wanted to use that as an excuse to get rid of Jesse. Jesse would've been dead were it not for Walter getting involved and getting himself into hot water with Gus, and Mike the whole time was telling Walt to just let them kill Jesse, because as was said, ultimately the stability is what he cared about.
Mike just conveniently accepted the same thing Gale talks about in BB: "adults want what they want. If it's not me producing it, it'll be someone else". Mike could work for the guy that didn't have the need to kill a bunch of people just because, or let animals like the Salamancas being the only ones ruling the drug world. No, he is not a "good guy" per se, but he's not a "bad guy" either. He's morally flawed (what was amazingly enriched in BCS) from the start, even if he feels bad for it. But he's loyal to his people and rejects doing evil just for the sake of it. He's just like every BCS main character: a person. No person is flawless or absolute evil, we're all somewhere in between, some more to one side, some more to the other. Mike in my opinion is one of the reasons why Breaking Bad was such a good show and is definitely the main reason - alongside with Saul and Gus - why BCS is one of the greatest shows of all time.
Well said and I was thinking that he's on the opposite side of this theoretical spectrum than Howard Hamlin. Mike is clearly on the bad side, given that he kills people and other horrible stuff. But he's got some good in him that keeps him from becoming a monster and allows him to be human. Howard on the other hand is mostly a good person, he's respectable, decent and polite, however he can be dishonest and condescending to others. He's definitely not bad and didn't deserve his faith but he's not perfect either. It's like a bell curve where very few people are completely bad or completely good, most fall on the center and slightly on the sides.
This is a good explanation. I think the purpose of these arguments are that someone who partially leans towards good over evil vs someone who partially leans evil over good. Someone like Mike would lean towards the evil side, yet close to the center. While the vargo father would lean towards the good side. Hard to say how far on the good. You have to break the center threshold towards the good side to be considered a 'good' person. If you're actions are fundamentally self serving, it doesn't matter what you do, you will always lean towards the evil side. You could be a pastor or the creator of a non-profit. While you could argue Mike's intentions were not self serving, but in the service of his grand daughter. But that would be incorrect. Since he is in service to her to make him feel better about the guilt he feels for his son. Which would put him as close to the center while still being on the evil side of the threshold as possible. Just my thoughts on it
Epiphany hit me a few weeks ago regarding the “Central Theme” in the Breaking Bad world 🌎 looking at people with character flaws in my real 🌍. Lack of Personal Accountability coupled with low self-esteem. If any of these characters truly believed in themselves and their true value in the world ….IMO, that adjusts their moral compass. Their focus becomes giving to the world, family giving the best emotionally of themselves….not just “Things “ And what they receive would be unsolicited ❤, helping reinforce that original pure action . They only think they are only good for what they produce not who they are. Just my opinion. Great video 🎉🎉🎉🤘🏾
Fantastic as always. And i came here and see all these videos about Breaking Bad Universe and i can't avoid to think the Masterpiece that you must be producing about Gus Fring. I can not imagine how great this work will be.
It’s fascinating. He has the same motivations as Walter in providing for his family, but just the way Mike approached the crime life seemed so much better than Walt. Mike always just wanted to get his job done right and leave. Walt wanted to basically live in purgatory but be the master.
Love how you made a video about this. The whole exchange with Nacho’s father is such a huge character moment. For a long time, viewers really sympathized and even propped up Mike because he stood above the other bad guys morally. That dialogue really puts into perspective how he still is a “bad guy” and shouldn’t get a pass simply because he’s not as bad as everyone else. Mike in BB, compared to BCS, knows himself and doesn’t make excuses
You raise very poignant points. I never bought that such a brilliant man like Mike would work as a parking lot attendant before getting sucked into the drug cartel business. With his high IQ and big balls, he would have done something else to find money for his granddaughter. In any case, Mike is my favorite character in BCS, Jesse in BB.
When Mike is talking to Nacho's dad and he's saying Nacho "wasn't like the rest of them, he was good and just fell in with bad people" he's talking about about Matty as well, but I also think he's talking about himself. Mike wants to think he's still a good person and just fell in with bad people, but the second Mike says there will be justice for Nachos deathn Papa Vargas calls Mike out and says it's not justice, it's revenge. He tells Mike he's just like the rest of the gangsters, and at the end of the day he's right. Mike likes to think he does what's right when he can and he tries to protect the innocent, but what he is doing is wrong on so many levels. What he is not doing what's best for his family at all. You don't think Mike could make a legit good living somewhere using his actual skills? He doesn't need to be Gus' henchman to provide for his family. When Kaylee grows up she will almost certainly learn about Mike and what he did and have so much pain because of it. All of the good moments will forever be changed in her mind. And think about Matty. Would he want his wife and daughters life paid for with drug money? Would he want his dad doing everything he does? Absolutely not. Matty would hate what Mike became. Matty would 100% have been trying to arrest Mike if he knew what he was doing. Mike is a tragic character but Nacho's dad was right, at the end of the day he is no different than the other gangsters. Gus has plenty of brokenness and pain to explain his actions, but he's still evil. What Mike does ruined so many people's lives and got so many people killed. He didn't succeed in providing for his family and he didn't even succeed in being there for his family in the end.
Mike probably did know that the Kettleman's money was earned unethically. He was the one who gave Jimmy the advice on how to find them. And even if Jimmy didn't tell him that the money was embezzled when describing the job (which he almost certainly would have), Mike would recognize that this was the same Kettleman and either ask about it or put the pieces together himself. But they almost certainly would have got that fact out there during the briefing.
Mike is the embodiment of internal conflict that the people who are watching the show feel with almost every important character
nah i related more with jimmys inner conflict
Thats a good way to put it. I liked Jimmy and his cleverness but also understood how much of a POS he really was
I think he views himself as irredeemable. He was corrupted as a young man, and that mistake hurt the people he loves. At a certain point he sees there’s no fixing what’s done. He decides to use his already broken morality to benefit the loved ones he has left as much as he can. Not to feel better about himself, but to sacrifice his redemption to protect the only good part left of him, his family.
he was talking about paths we take. and he also said the will play the cards he was dealt with. i think you are right saying he thought he was irredeemable
Yep. He said it himself in BB. When Jesse says that he wants to set things right, Mike says that's one thing that he can't do.
Yes, that's how he views himself but it's an excuse behind which he hides. He doesn't have the guts to do what he needs to do - live an upright life away from gangsters and violence - so justifies his criminal lifestyle on the basis that "it's too late to change".
@Lancor84 Jimmy ends up being more ethically respectable than Mike.
exactly man. in el camino, the first scene is mike essentially outlining this school of thought.
Thing about Mike is that ultimately he's a fatalist. It's all in his speech about the road; his fundamental belief is that once you're on a set path, there's no way off it no matter how hard you try. Once you cross a certain line, there's no second chances, no redemption, no becoming a better man. This ultimately informs all his actions; why not work as a hitman for a cartel if you're already damned?
Contrast with Saul, who eventually comes to believe that it's possible to change and find some measure of redemption and improvement even late in a life full of crooked deeds.
Saul didn't believe he could change, it was just emotions for kim that made him deal with his punishment like always.
If there's anyone befitting of the description it was Howard, he changed and fought to be better and it didnt end well
@theodisius1 great analysis
@theodisius1 Mike says in "Bagman" that Mike doesn't care if he lives or dies. When he is not being a henchman or grandfather, Mike drinks cheap beer, watches baseball or hangs out in a bar or diner. He doesn't have a wife or friends hobbies or causes to devote his time to. He just exists.
@Fresh2000 ZCORD
Right? These philosophies have really opened my eyes!
@theodisius1 Wow this is a great analysis,some of u should make videos
"but yet the entire desert could be filled with nachos" has to be the oddest phrase in a video about moral relativity
😂😂😂😂
Hahahahahaha imagine that 😂
I know I shouldn't have but I definitely laughed at that part
It’s crazy how I was just at that part when I read this like literally reading it confused when it got said 😂
This is gonna take a salsa-tsunami
The fact that Mike's character analysis ( alone ! ) has produced so many interesting and contrary comments, just goes to show how compelling and nuanced these two series are. Both total masterpieces- I miss them so much !
This is why I love these shows.
At the start of BCS, Mike goes out of his way to find and report the body of an innocent man who died because he unknowingly got involved in Mike's feud with Hector. At the end of BCS, Mike's covering up the death of an innocent man to protect his boss's interests.
Mike wanted to be at peace with himself over his son's death but ended up selling his soul in the process to obtain it
That’s why I hate season 6 episode 11 so much. It removed all of moral culpability from Gus and Mike, rendered both of them blameless victims.
I think these two scenes tell us everything we need to know about Mike. Well said.
Mike isn't moral or ethical but principled. This is why Gus values him so much. For someone who uses people (often without their knowledge), Gus can count on Mike acting like Mike. There's no ambiguity in the principles Mike lives by, so he is free of the anxiety caused by people like Lalo or Walter.
So he is kinda predictable in interesting way haha
And what do you use to choose those principles, you base them on your morality as a person, they just don't appear out of nowhere, they have a moral and ethic base.
Well said
Agree. Mike isn't "good." But he has a "code" he follows, and that makes him "principled." Which is something.
So true, I still do think Mike faces moral dilemmas like all in the show and tends to make both good and bad choices.
When he said “all the money he had was taken by the government, and now all he has left ARE the terrible acts he committed, and it was all for nothing” Shit made my heart sink.
Finger made A LOT of money in his time, and he was 100% knowledgeable on what happens to the money if things went south, finger was a meticulous man does anybody really think he left his real nut (pause) in reach of the governments grasp? He HAD to make sure they found something or else they’d never stop looking and his granddaughter would never be able to spend a dime without them on her ass, to think finger just let them take all the money he ever earned is such a weird thing to think considering we all know how smart he is
What I love the most about Mike is every character feels safe around him and can be vulnerable around him and let things off their chest.
Like when Gus told him about the memorial for max and took Mike there. Or Nacho telling him about Tuco and his history and telling him how scared he actually is inside of his mask. Also don't forget his relationship with Jesse in BrBa.
Actually, not everyone feels safe around Mike.
Kim felt terrified around Mike. That’s why she only confessed AFTER Jimmy told her that Mike’s dead.
Even Walt felt safe enough to suggest killing Fring. It cost him a jab to the face and the loss of any trust Mike might have had in him, but he opened up
Very good point
All these characters have this one thing in common : extremely elaborate rationalization of terrible behavior. On this level Mike is no better than any other.
@Jason Voorhees I think it's the exact opposite, in that it's in fact VERY realistic because there's no such thing as superheroes and supervillains in real life. Everything and everyone is a shade of grey, some people are perhaps darker shades of grey and some are lighter shades but 99% of the time there is no pure good and no pure evil, people do bad things for good reasons and good things for bad reasons
@Jason Voorhees You get the gold medal for mental gymnastics bc there's no way that's the conclusion you make
@Jason Voorhees No he is saying that Mike is a terrible person but does not want to believe it.
Are you saying the show was goofy and unrealistic?
What's really interesting is the Salamanca's weren't even really responsible for Nacho's death... That would be Mike's employer, Gus, who forced Nacho's hand by repeatedly threatening his father. That Mike seems to be in denial of this obvious fact is pretty interesting actually
There's is just so much you can do to convince your psycopath criminal boss to do or not do.
Mike is as good a person as the criminal underworld allows. He's hard, but fair. He believes in doing right by people. Compassionate, but never weak.
@Cevest_Blirobo disagree
I disagree. As good a person as the criminal underworld allows would be someone like Gus.
i.e. someone who would shine in military roles, but when you get disillusioned you get ppl like Mike bringing every shitty thing they had to do in order to survive, to the streets and their families.
Absolutely. Outside of the criminal world, he's just another hired gun for the cartel. Absolutely despicable if you see him from any other POV.
I loved that scene with Mike and Nacho’s father. For all his wisdom and righteousness, he’s not actually a good guy at the end of the day. No decent and moral person would kill someone like Werner. As an ex-cop, he could have always found work not involving a drug lord.
Two men of a similar age but with such contrasting moral viewpoints.
@Citizen Snips You must be trolling. Or you’re morally confused.
Also, yes he could have found work but it wouldn’t make shit compared to what he made and his goal was to set up his granddaughter for life. I mean I’m not saying he’s all good but I don’t think you’ve made good points.
I guess he chose his works based on how much he could give to his granddaughter. Writers wanted to show that he's trying to make his granddaughter's life as easy as he could in as little time as he had. I guess that's Mike's justification to path he chose.
I think Mike is probably what Jesse would’ve turned into if he’d stayed in the game for a few decades. That’s why he tried to get Jesse to leave at every opportunity after Gus’s death, he saw himself in Jesse.
kid named finger
Mike is definitely my favorite character. He recognizes what he has done and what he has become. He has the most depth of awareness of all of the characters, which truly adds to his stoic and cold personality. I found myself respecting Mike the most because he is selfless and carries a great sadness and burden around him. Yet he still fights and doesn't give up.
Damn, the conclusion that everything Mike did was for nothing in the end really hit me in the feels
It’s heartbreaking knowing he sacrificed years of time being able to support her for immediate stability built on the same dirty money that killed his son
Deep down Mike wanted to change but couldn't forgive himself for son's death so he continued going down the rabbit hole since there was no point fixing what can't be undone. He deserved second chance. Truly the most tragic character in the series.
Great video... with regards to Mike's intentions for Kayley, one has to also ask, would she rather grow up with the money (whether she knows the means where it is from) OR simply having Mike remain in her life for the foreseeable future, being there for her where her father couldn't. Not simply have disappeared with his death (seemingly abandoning her), with Mike not realising that he could have a positive impact on her life without the money.
plus there are other way to provide than being a hitman
Kid named Finger is such a morally conflicted person and is the personification of all the moral dilemma we viewers feel when watching the show
Waltuh
Waltuh
Waltuh
Waltuh
i adore kid named finger
@Peter Schultz Temple OS
Temple OS
Kid named personification
One of the biggest things about mike is you can tell he’s remorseful for his actions, in the BCS finale he talked about how he would go back and change things with people, but he knows he can’t
Mike has a toolkit and skillset that's valuable. He forms the rules of applying those to be as straightforward and less deceptive as possible. Even if the project or actions are immoral and against the law of society. What Mike brings is structure to do the least amount of evil while still doing evil. Which is antithetical to greed.
4:09 Mike does know about how the money was earned. There was that episode where Mike almost pressed charges against Jimmy, but believed his theory about the Kettlemans', and even gave him helpful insight on where they might be. I know it's not really crucial to the analysis of Mike's character or the point being made, but he did know the context.
I think that Mike deep down is a man who always wanted the right things, but he went about the wrong ways in order to try to achieve them. And the deeper he went, the more muddied his soul became, and the harder it became to get out.
I think that's why that Mike developed a soft spot for both Nacho and Jesse, because I think he may have seen himself when he was their age. He saw two young men who were good people, but they were running with the wrong crowd, a crowd they didn't really belong in, because they had a level of decency that the men around them didn't.
He may have reasoned that in some ways it was too late for him, but they still had a chance. Obviously he could not dictate to them what they chose to do with their lives, but I believe he wanted to try to steer them towards the right direction through gentle guidance, as both of them were too stubborn to respond to a firm approach.
You’ve earned a like from me. I’m so tired of people that hate Walt, love Mike. He’s a great character but he’s a hypocrite. Nothing wrong with not liking Walt but that doesn’t mean everything Mike says is the gospel.
Walt and Mike are more similar than people think. They are of course different in terms of personality and ambition, as Walt is egotistical and prideful. But both of them choose to be involved in the criminal world even if they don't really need to.
@BATKID THE JEDI BENDU Mike accused Walt of doing half measures. But he was ready to kill Jesse. Jesse who wanted to drop out of the drug game after a kid was being threatened by a gang. And Mike tried to justify it. He makes excuses too. But yes for all intents and purposes he is more consistent. But he stayed in the game too long and watched too many people get hurt (and him doing hurting) to claim he was doing it for others.
@BATKID THE JEDI BENDU I agree, I just really thought he was just a good guy for too long
@H Blue Mole Mike is a complicated guy wouldn’t call him completely bad or good I’d say he does good and bad things but that’s what Breaking Bad reflects, how complicated people can be but it is trying to show us that at the end of the day no matter how complicated we are there is morally right decisions and morally wrong decisions and we have to be careful with the choices we make in life. Mike has acknowledged this since BCS and had many regrets about his life choices he just didn’t see that he still had a chance to do the right thing he believed it was too late for him anyway and continued down his later years of criminality.
9:20 I think killing Werner and what Manuel Varga said to him made Mike realise he was as bad as the other criminals which I think is why in Breaking Bad he's less questioning of Gus and just does what he's told whereas in Better Call Saul he almost quit working for Gus after Gus ordered him to kill Werner for drunkenly telling Lalo about the meth lab only to be talked back in by Gus patching him up and appealed to their shared hatred of the Salamancas. Mike also wouldn't let Gus kill Manuel.
@SwaybeTV I'm talking in an in universe sense not a real life writing sense.
Or just maybe in breaking bad he is the ay he is because the writers didn’t have BCS Mike in mind. Find it so weird when people try make it make sense when the writers were never thinking what you know now
Honestly the real reason is breaking bad is before better call Saul so they didn’t know the type of character he actually was
@Henrique Stop calling him Victor
mike is an amazing character. he’s background of the vietnam war and the guilt of his sons death meld together to make a really interesting character. the writing team is superb.
I always liked the shot at 1:01. The framing of the fence to make it seem like Mike is in a cage. And he is. He may never go to jail, or get arrested, or even be convicted. But he is trapped in the life he chose. That's Mike's prison.
He has a good heart and has empathy towards people who aren’t in the game, but in general he’s not a good person even he knows this when he says in the series finale that he’d go back to the day that he took his first bribe because that was the day he was morally compromised and slowly starting to become a toxic person
Throughout breaking bad and better call saul I just kept on thinking about how much success each of the characters could find outside of "the game". There are tons of immoral acts that are entirely legal that also dont involve murder and crime. And the skills of these professional criminals would surely be valuable in a "legitimate" setting. It seems that "the game" does not only give the players no out, it is often the only thing that the players know. And that they are good at. "the game" is reliable and familiar. I think this is the real reason why those who are in the game tend to always come back to the game.
I don’t think Mike’s caution about Walthuh comes from a view that Walter is less moral. I think he considers him as a man with nothing to lose and therefore a liability. The prisoners dilemma is often used to describe a situation where the best option is to screw someone over, however that’s only true if you consider the dilemma in isolation. If you consider the prospect of working together in the future you can then justify the “altruism” again through self interest. However, Walter is the dilemma in isolation. There is no future. There’s no working together again. He will die and so his only incentive is to screw everyone over. It essentially the same as working with someone who has a death wish or is impulsive and short sighted.
The cast of BrBa and BCS is full of monsters, and Mike is arguably one of them. But he's also one of the few that both recognizes he's a monster, and doesn't use that knowledge as an excuse to go further than he has to. Mike realizes that just because he IS a bad person, that doesn't mean he NEEDS to be a bad person at every opportunity.
@SierraEcho88 You are aware that he is working for the biggest meth distributer in the whole country, right? Yes, they were NPCs, actually not even that, they were off screen, but Mike helped destroy thousands of lives. I get sick when people say these characters are good whatsoever. Jesse, for instance, gets so much sympathy for caring about that ginger kid, and spending time with him. But he, and likes of him in general are guilty of putting that child in that situation by providing drugs to his parents. Gus, Mike, Lalo, Hector, Walt, Jesse, Saul... They are all evil criminals at the end. Don't let the narrative fool you.
@SierraEcho88 How could anyone ask how Mike could be a bad person? I could see someone being ambivalent about Mike. I could see someone constructing an elaborate argument that says Mike's a good person (and it would HAVE to be elaborate because of all the bad he does). But how could anyone wonder how Mike could be characterized as a bad person? The amount of complexity one has to go through to say he's good person is enough to prove why such a question need not be asked.
@dab88 True, he started as an anti-hero, but at the same time, only degrades that morality he once had. A bad but necessary evil, until those evils overshadow the good he once had; those cops killed someone close to him, so his revenge had a clear goal. But after meeting Gus, his character arc took him on too many bad choices and it cost him everything the longer the game went on when Heisenburg showed up.
@gamewriteeye769 Mike was on the take, encouraged his son to do the same, then shot two cops as revenge when they killed his son to cover it up. For somebody who's supposed to uphold the law, Mike was both a corrupt cop and a bad person long before ever meeting Gus.
By all accounts, Mike was not a bad person. But what we define ourselves as decides the eventual outcome of what we become. Mike chose to become Gus's lapdog, and by extension of that decision, abided by that choice for the rest of his life. What he did for his family's future in all the construct of what he acted upon, believing it to be morally justifiable in the act of who he considers killing makes it all the more tragic when he dies for a fraction of nothing. The honest truth any one man can take-is the one we bear upon ourselves. Is there no greater truth then, than to bear the weight of our actions?
I wish they'd make a series featuring Mike and Fring and how they interact with each other and build an empire, they're both fine actors and could carry any show successfully.
Brilliant analysis! Very thoughtful and actually a testament to the incredible script writing behind these two magnificent shows. Well done, Just an Observation! Bravo!
This scene between Mike and the dad is lowery one of the best and unexpected scenes in the whole series. It is really rare Mike let's his guard down enough for someone to ever have the upper hand. Even wjth Gus, you get the feeling Mike isn't afraid to die if he passes him off.
In this scene, he comes forward seeking an affirmation of his way of life from somewhat who, through Nachos actions, has respect for. And in just one sentence Nacho's dad completely denies that to him and instead exposes Mike to be in denial about his own actions.
I love this commentary so much. You have made me think and question so many things. I think Mike had a soft spot for those in the game who were trying to break free. He was morally ambiguous, but sheesh, i always felt he had heart, conscience and a sense of fairness. I loved Mike so much. Thank you for this. xo
This show really taught me a lot about taking short cuts and easy ways, no matter how long you hold it in the end its never a beautiful or peaceful ending it always just meaning less in the end
I think having his background in Vietnam really explains his mindset. Just like in war you fight and kill the enemy because they are the enemy. If you see someone with a weapon you assume they're willing to kill you, and therefore it's ok to kill them. When he falls into crime wars it's just a natural extension of that same coping mechanism. "Us or them"
@MrClickity
Seems you need to rewatch the show.
mike LOVED forcing people into confrontations, then hurting them. and he especially enjoyed messing with walt.
@Jason Voorhees what gave you the impression that Mike enjoyed hurting people? I never got that from him. He always seemed to consider it "dirty business": unpleasant, but sometimes necessary.
@Bill Ross imagine a show about young MIKE set in Vietnam and his days in the police force. I would pay lots of money for that.
IT WAS HIM OR THEM lol. It wasn't a "Mindset" to cope if he didn't shoot the other guys they def would have shot him.
Yeah actually maybe another reason for getting into the business is that it feels like the extension of the war.
Finger is just an awesome family member to have around but also the best bodyguard for any major psycho
In my mind he's clearly lawful neutral (whereas Gus would be lawful evil for example). He just does his job and is not good nor bad inherently but when he does bad things he still wants to do them with as much respect and fairness as possible towards those who deserve it
This was just like eating ice cream right out of the carton in that it was 19 minutes of greatness but only felt like five.
Excellent job!
What a great analysis of Finger, keep it up
This joke was so funny i died
You're really good at these reviews; keep it up!
In the violent criminal underworld, Mike is the 'good' when compared to the alternatives. You would much rather deal with Mike than Tuco.
@Shanti
Rewatch Kafkaesque please. Walt was perfectly content with working for Gus just as they were and rebuffed Jesse when he brought up how small their paychecks were compared to the potential profit. Walt was genuinely content with how he was working for Gus at that time. And had no intention of taking him down.
You have to remember that killing Gus gave Walt an insane ego boost. Finally being at the top for the first time in his life. It fundamentally changed him. Breaking bad’s characters are not set from day one and never change. There’s no nuance in that.
Mid season 3 Walt was a different Walt than season 5 Walt.
@The collector My guy, Walt is in "the empire business", he was planning on taking down Gus from day one. He would never content himself in just working for Gus quietly, which Mike just says if he just stfu and did what Gus wanted him to, they wouldn't get caught.
@Shanti
What truth? Nothing mike said in that scene was true in the slightest. The reason Walt killed Gus wasn’t because of “ego and pride”. It was because Gus threatened to kill his brother in law. And if Walt tried to intervene, he threatened to kill his entire family (including his fucking Baby)
@Jason Voorhees you gotta be trollin, one of Walt’s main quotes towards the end is “we’re done when I say we’re done”. Learning about bullying from Walter is like learning about the Bible from Satan.
Mike: Lawful Evil
Walter: Neutral Evil
Salamancas: Chaotic Evil
Basically this
I think the moment that truly made Mike and Saul's relationship go down in Breaking Bad was the flashback in the final episode. Hearing that all Jimmy cares about was himself making more money, and not changing anything probably shows how much Mike is disgusted in who he brought into his life. Especially when he later had to clean up Howard's murder. He probably was think that the reason Howard was there was because of Jimmy's greedy and conning ways.
I think one reason why so many people like Mike is because he is in essence what is called, "the human heart in conflict with itself." This quote coming from George R.R. Martin, another excellent writer who seems to understand good character development and design
You helped me see some major events in this story differently, thank you for that.
The more you grow up and have to make sacrifices for the sake of the people you love, the more you'll understand that Mike and Nacho (Nacho to an extent) are the two most tragic figures on current Television.
I see Mike as a man who was once good, convinced himself that being bad was for the greater good, but went on a downward spiral after he broke bad
I think what’s important to note Mike ends up not putting his money where his mouth is. He tries to be criminal with a code, like he implies to Pryce, but He killed Werner Ziegler for similar reasons the dirty cops killed his son. He is swayed easily by Gus saying he is better than the Salamanca’s but doesn’t end up doing anything when children (Tomas and the one Todd shot) are killed. He seemingly takes a stand when Gus wants to betray Nacho, but ends up doing nothing. Mike gives Walt shit about half measures but his story involved protecting innocents which to justify having Jesse killed who is trying to protect a child from gang violence.
Mike ends up giving up avoiding collateral damage and people “not in the game”
Jesse is a shitty person too, but he sticks to his (admittedly not good) code and leaves the business when a kid gets shot.
Papa Varga was right about Mike.
Gus was dead when Todd killed Drew Sharp
Exactly people think he's just a sweet old man, but he tried to kill Jesse for trying to get revenge for a kids death. Than tried to kill Walt for trying to protect Jesse. This makes him more evil than Walt and Jesse. He may have tried to appear good, but his deeds were evil
@Seaworth because what else there to talk about? No matter how you want to spin it trying to justify mike in the end he still chose it himself
@ۦ what is your problem lol? I said no such thing, i still like mike hes a great character, its just that people who like mike always hates walter despite them being no different in morality
I am deeply surprised we didn't get a scene with Kaylee in the Gene Timeline. I'd loved to see what she thought about Mike, especially since he was the deuteragonist of the show. Would have been nice to see the outcome of all this work.
I love the way you explain these characters, one of my favorite “grey moral” characters is the punisher. Specifically the tv show. I would love too see you analyze the character
Holy cow, that Ed Gein metaphor was incredible.
I think what makes Mike so fantastic is that he is ammoral and fully owns it.
It makes the scenes where he does good things actually mean something.
Dude is very straight forward and blunt, which makes his german last name very fitting lol
I know Vince and Peter are done with the show, but I would be genuinely interested to see some sort of short film or series focusing on Kaylee and her mother and allow us to see how they were impacted by everything Mike did. Like what were they left with? How do they feel knowing the life they had was all supplied via drug money? I dunno I just think there's something worth exploring there
He might have some nice qualities, but at the end of the day he’s a retired dirty cop who willingly became an enforcer for the cartel. He had a ton of opportunities to quit or turn away, but the fact that he stayed and killed people while on Gus’ payroll says everything you need to know. It doesn’t matter if he justifies it by saying it’s for his family like Walt, he still did a ton of horrible acts in the service of monsters.
Even in the context of this video, the fact that he stayed in the game until the end (despite every chance he had to walk away) supersedes the harm reduction he did while he was active, since he didn’t know those scenarios would come up in the future. If he knew things were going to get this bad and he decided to stay in to reduce the harm, I might agree, but he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
I disagree with the last part. While maybe he didn't know the specifics, I think part of why he stayed on as long as he did was because of how things could have blown up worse without him.
@choculus after reading the comments about asserting Mike as a person with honor or morals this comment feels like a breath of fresh air. I would say that he is the same rotten bag of waste who insists on giving his family blood money rather than making an innocent attempt at a living. The only major, fundamental difference is that Mike didn't do it out of ego. He did it because he just stopped caring way too much.
Yeah. He and Walter are more alike than he realizes. He made orders of magnitude more money than he needed for his granddaughter but stayed in the business anyway.
@DixonYamowthe yeah it's just a way for em to validate their actions. I mean I love Mike but his grandaughter would not like anything that he is doing when she got old enough to understand! She probably wouldn't even want to take the money honestly. Just blood money haha she's like I'm good
AMEN to that!
This is an absolutely superb analysis! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
In my opinion you are way better than other analytical KZcliprs like the Vile Eye , you delve deeper and hit more moral/psychological themes and still manage to remain concise
He acknowledges that nacho is better than the rest but he also tells Nacho himself that there are consequences to actions when Nacho decides to kill Hector. Plus he doesn’t prevent Nachos death. Just makes sure it’s not a painful one. He helps him in a way but lets his consequences play out because he chose to get involved in the game.
I hate how Mike's story ends. It's so damn sad 😢
In the end, all he managed to accomplish was to corrupt his soul.
Mike was a good guy in the beginning just like other guys, Jimmy, Walt, Jesse. The fact is his son's death changed him. He believes his own principles he respect the rules. He's the reliable guy that you can trust to get the job done. Just like Walt, he was doing it for the sake of his family. His value changed after he started working for Gus.
Mike and Papa Varga’s philosophies are pretty much completely opposite . Mikes logic is criminals can be good , there isn’t inherently a correlation between crime and morals . Nacho’s dad’s logic is that just because a criminal justifies their actions doesn’t make them good . Mikes code serves him initially , he makes his decisions for the right reasons and no one gets hurt. On the other hand nachos father code doesn’t serve him as well , he is willing to put his son and himself in danger to keep out of crime . By the end of the series though , Mike’s philosophy holds up less , though he tried his best to do bad things in the best possible “least morally bad” way he still did bad things and you can’t really say he is a good guy . Nacho’s dad isn’t completely right in the end but you can’t help but think things may have been better if nacho took his advice . In the end you think differently about their respective “code”s when you see them to their conclusion .
@Jason Voorheeswhat?
I take issue w the idea that Nacho’s dad was 100% right in what he said here - but when did he ever turn a blind eye to evil?
Mike errs mans and trouts and he wears a fishing hat, too. Nacho's dad likes nachos and he had one that burnt too badly. The end.
@Jason Voorhees
As Tolkien belived, "evil is kept at bay by the simple actions of normal people" saying "no" to crime and inmorality is the first and most important step, not always You Will have the chance of just denying yourself to evil but it's always the start. Also, naming Manuel Varga a coward? He told Héctor to get out of his restaurant knowing he was a dangerous man.
Also You claim he kept a blind eye to crime, he did the exact opposite. He kept telling Nacho to make things right, of he truly kept a blind eye to all of that he would have not cared about his son's situation. Mike may be a baddas, he may have a code, but at the end of the day. Mike went to his grave a murderder and enforcer to a criminal empire, Manuel Will go to his grave as the man that told the Cartel "No" time and time again.
@i didn't mean to shoot that vietnamese farmer but-
Good guy? what did nachos coward father do that was good? He turned a blind eye to evil.
Interesting analysis
what a great video, love your in-depth analysis. Suddenly I want to start watching Better Call Saul now! I've binge watched Breaking Bad at least 5 times but could never get into Better Call Saul because it starts kinda slow...... I was 5 episodes in and I just lost interest but that was years ago. I'm willing to try again now!
I feel like when Mike's son died he felt so much grief and anger at the men who did it that the only way to stop the pain he was feeling was by killing the 2 dirty cops that killed his son. And that decision changed his life forever. What a great character. The breaking bad/better call saul universe is a beautifully orchestrated creation, very deep complex characters
I think the way Mike’s system of morality sees the world is through a lens of what’s “fair”, not “right”
I feel like out of the murder's on the show mike always was the "good guy" in my eyes, but he really is just the lesser of evils. Such a great universe we got to watch, Mike was a 10/10 character.
edit: I found this very insightful but disagree with 17:20 ish. Sure, he regrets and knows he's done wrong, but he's in with the people who wouldn't take a two week notice. Him getting there is definitely something he regrets, and i personally believe he was trying to teach nacho how to be like him, or a better son. What about his family, sure he made enough money to stop a while ago, but gus wouldn't take that. The cartel threataned him enough in BCS before waltuhh was involved. Great video
It be great if mike gets his own spin off series like saul did where we get to see a much younger and more innocent mike where we get to see him slowly learning the skill that he knows now, but most of all i want to see whats the first thing mike did as a dirty cop and how it escalated to how he turn out this way right now?
I never understood why Mike blamed Walter for "ruining everything". The only reason Walter rebelled against Gus was to save Jesse’s life in season 3. After that it was Mike who wanted to kill both Jesse and Walter. But in season 4 Mike likes Jesse once he gets to know him and starts puting all the blame on Walter and completely forgets the fact that he wanted to kill Jesse, the only reason Walter went against Gus was to save Jesse.
@Jakob Levantinus He fell for the impostor cop. And couldn't negotiate his way with either the vacuum cleaner guy or with the guy who had the money from the fridge.
@ixiantechnocrat346 and now watch El Camino for an opportunity to re-visit the question of Jesse's capacity
@Ixian Technocrat Which is why Walt was able to manipulate him so much for so long. Even when Jesse eventually figured out that Walt poisoned Brock, Walt even with a gun pointed to his head was able to manipulate Jesse by planting a seed of doubt into his mind thinking it was Gus who ordered Brock's poisoning as some kind of master plan. Jesse of course, once again fell for a lie and spared Walt's life because like you say he wasn't particularly bright.
Jesse is shown not to be a particularly bright character in the show. Gus and Mike together faked a shootout to make Jesse feel like a hero, just after the Gale incident, and he fully fell for it. After that he puts the blame for all of that on Gus, and says it to his face at his home, but never on Mike, just because Mike acted like a father for a bit with him. Point is, Jesse is very gullible and confused.
@Alex T because he threatened Walt with snitching after Hank whooped his ass. Saul told him that Jesse is a threat and lowkey implied that they should have him killed. Walt could not do that and took the peaceful way to resolve it, he brought Jesse into the lab.
I like how the events of Better Call Saul have recontextualize scenes in Breaking Bad. Like the “I can’t” moment in the season 3 finale where Walt is begging for his life. It originally came across as Mike being apathetic, but BCS shows us that he has eventually learned the lesson that when Gus wants someone dead, there not going to be a way for him to change his mind like he tried with Werner and Nacho. So by the time of Breaking Bad, he has stopped trying to fight it.
Loved the video, really well made. But i think it's worth mentioning that in there world theres never a way out.
Mike Ehrmantraut was really one of the most complex characters ever written for television.
He was a good person that did awful things. You can be a horrible good guy or an ethical bad guy. I love the grey area that Mike's character lives in.
Fun video! Thanks for the hard work.
While Mike did have a choice to leave whenever he wanted to, I think he stayed because a) he made good money but also b) he knew he was the best at what he did
And as you mentioned, because he could be the voice of reason to these sociopathic leaders, he probably believed that he could do the most good to society by continuing to be involved with the cartel. He did so at the cost of selling his soul, but he had already done that years ago, before the events of Better Call Saul.
He's one of the only character to express concern for another human being, so I think that while he makes mistakes, we know that he is on a similar wavelength to the general audience. Lalo, Tuco, Hector, Gus, Eladio, Walt, however, are not be relatable to most (or at least I hope).
It’s even worse when you remember that Mike’s family will find out what he did, and that they will never know his final fate. A barrel in the desert.
@Half Eaten Media not true. he was publicly associated with Madrigal, if you recall
They probably never will know what he was involved with because he was never caught or taken to trial.
He’ll just be a missing person. They’ll never know what happened to him.
Mike is literally chaotic neutral, willing to do bad and good just to keep things settle.
Mike has every type of characteristics. Good and Bad or Moral and Immoral
He has both. That's what makes him the best character of the Breaking Bad universe.
Mike doesn’t kill people who are in “the game” because he thinks they’re all bad. He does it because if they’re in “the game”, then they knew and accepted the risks that came along with that, one of said risks being death. The reason he doesn’t kill innocent people who aren’t in “the game” is because they didn’t sign on for it. They didn’t accept the risks of being in “the game”, and therefor, they are off-limits to mike.
People who are in “the game”, know and accept the potential consequences. Innocent people do not. THAT’S why Mike doesn’t kill innocent people.
This i think is a central point. Mike is at heart somewhat of a voluntaryist. Not really an anarchist as he believes in institutions and hierarchies (even if they are as twisted as Gus’s) but he does believe that for people’s choices there are consequences and ignorance, intent, outcome can’t save you from your own actions. I don’t think he blames himself or even Gus for for Werner’s death. I think he blames Werner. While he’s sad about losing a friend he also lashes out at him before killing him. Werner chose to get in business with these guys even if he never really internalized what that meant and he chose not to listen to Mike about what that meant either.
I also don’t think he considers the government to be anything other than a rival cartel to Gus’s because of his time in Vietnam.
“Say My Name” could’ve been called “Mike’s Last Day”. Watching it after Better Call Saul gives it a whole new context and makes it so much more heartbreaking.
I think the reason Mike hates Walter so much, is because Walter reminds him of who he really is underneath all his "honour" and "code". And he doesn't like looking into that mirror.
Mike is probably the most misunderstood character in BrBa. He's NOT a good guy. Great video!
@Bruh moment Thanks. This discussion makes me so desperate. Shallow good-bad dichotomies, it is still so easy to mislead a people😞
@Kutna Horum so is walt and gus
@TwistedFireX it makes him better then Gus or lalo
You're right, he's NOT a good guy...He's a GREAT guy
He’s not a psychotic murderer. Still pretty far from “good guy” classification.
I don’t think they featured good guys.
I met a cop like Mike once and did something that changed him in a way that made him realise that even the kindest of people can be the most ruthless people but it was to help him understand some of us dont like to be in the game but are forced to be a part of it and Spend years of our life trying to subdue our need to cause damage .
Mike should honestly get his own spinoff, but with a younger Mike showing how he ended up in the tangle of everything.
"It's only self defense because he got involved in the first place"
That's the stand your ground principle in a nutshell.
No. Nice try.
I felt that Mike was who Walt said he was - he did the things he did for his family. First for his son, then for his granddaughter. That extends somewhat to his allies or those he works with and comes to care about, but to a much more limited extent than his actual family. Walt, on the other hand, did what he did for himself and used his family as a cover to hide from his own mind his need for power and control.
16:02
I feel like this is an aspect of Mike's blow up towards Walter that gets too frequently overlooked. One of the key reasons Walt and Gus' relationship broke down is actually one of the few times Walter _wasn't_ just servicing his own ego, and was also one of the few times Mike _was_ just acting in self interest. Gus did not want to partner with Jesse from the onset, and when he started beefing with Gus' goons, Gus wanted to use that as an excuse to get rid of Jesse. Jesse would've been dead were it not for Walter getting involved and getting himself into hot water with Gus, and Mike the whole time was telling Walt to just let them kill Jesse, because as was said, ultimately the stability is what he cared about.
Mike just conveniently accepted the same thing Gale talks about in BB: "adults want what they want. If it's not me producing it, it'll be someone else". Mike could work for the guy that didn't have the need to kill a bunch of people just because, or let animals like the Salamancas being the only ones ruling the drug world. No, he is not a "good guy" per se, but he's not a "bad guy" either. He's morally flawed (what was amazingly enriched in BCS) from the start, even if he feels bad for it. But he's loyal to his people and rejects doing evil just for the sake of it. He's just like every BCS main character: a person. No person is flawless or absolute evil, we're all somewhere in between, some more to one side, some more to the other. Mike in my opinion is one of the reasons why Breaking Bad was such a good show and is definitely the main reason - alongside with Saul and Gus - why BCS is one of the greatest shows of all time.
@susan Denny chuck*
Well said and I was thinking that he's on the opposite side of this theoretical spectrum than Howard Hamlin. Mike is clearly on the bad side, given that he kills people and other horrible stuff. But he's got some good in him that keeps him from becoming a monster and allows him to be human. Howard on the other hand is mostly a good person, he's respectable, decent and polite, however he can be dishonest and condescending to others. He's definitely not bad and didn't deserve his faith but he's not perfect either. It's like a bell curve where very few people are completely bad or completely good, most fall on the center and slightly on the sides.
You left out Kim, who was the most complex person in BCS.
This is a good explanation. I think the purpose of these arguments are that someone who partially leans towards good over evil vs someone who partially leans evil over good. Someone like Mike would lean towards the evil side, yet close to the center. While the vargo father would lean towards the good side. Hard to say how far on the good. You have to break the center threshold towards the good side to be considered a 'good' person. If you're actions are fundamentally self serving, it doesn't matter what you do, you will always lean towards the evil side. You could be a pastor or the creator of a non-profit. While you could argue Mike's intentions were not self serving, but in the service of his grand daughter. But that would be incorrect. Since he is in service to her to make him feel better about the guilt he feels for his son. Which would put him as close to the center while still being on the evil side of the threshold as possible. Just my thoughts on it
I’d reckon jack and Todd are 99.1% evil
How the hell have I not seen this channel before? What a great content.
Epiphany hit me a few weeks ago regarding the “Central Theme” in the Breaking Bad world 🌎 looking at people with character flaws in my real 🌍. Lack of Personal Accountability coupled with low self-esteem. If any of these characters truly believed in themselves and their true value in the world ….IMO, that adjusts their moral compass. Their focus becomes giving to the world, family giving the best emotionally of themselves….not just “Things “ And what they receive would be unsolicited ❤, helping reinforce that original pure action . They only think they are only good for what they produce not who they are. Just my opinion. Great video 🎉🎉🎉🤘🏾
Fantastic as always. And i came here and see all these videos about Breaking Bad Universe and i can't avoid to think the Masterpiece that you must be producing about Gus Fring. I can not imagine how great this work will be.
Thanks… that is next week but lower your expectations
It’s fascinating. He has the same motivations as Walter in providing for his family, but just the way Mike approached the crime life seemed so much better than Walt. Mike always just wanted to get his job done right and leave. Walt wanted to basically live in purgatory but be the master.
Mike was one of my favorite characters on BB and BCS and Jonathan Banks is a fantastic actor.
Love how you made a video about this. The whole exchange with Nacho’s father is such a huge character moment. For a long time, viewers really sympathized and even propped up Mike because he stood above the other bad guys morally. That dialogue really puts into perspective how he still is a “bad guy” and shouldn’t get a pass simply because he’s not as bad as everyone else. Mike in BB, compared to BCS, knows himself and doesn’t make excuses
Mike is my favourite character in breaking bad. I was so happy to see him taking up a big part of Better call Saul.
You raise very poignant points. I never bought that such a brilliant man like Mike would work as a parking lot attendant before getting sucked into the drug cartel business. With his high IQ and big balls, he would have done something else to find money for his granddaughter. In any case, Mike is my favorite character in BCS, Jesse in BB.
When Mike is talking to Nacho's dad and he's saying Nacho "wasn't like the rest of them, he was good and just fell in with bad people" he's talking about about Matty as well, but I also think he's talking about himself. Mike wants to think he's still a good person and just fell in with bad people, but the second Mike says there will be justice for Nachos deathn Papa Vargas calls Mike out and says it's not justice, it's revenge. He tells Mike he's just like the rest of the gangsters, and at the end of the day he's right. Mike likes to think he does what's right when he can and he tries to protect the innocent, but what he is doing is wrong on so many levels. What he is not doing what's best for his family at all. You don't think Mike could make a legit good living somewhere using his actual skills? He doesn't need to be Gus' henchman to provide for his family. When Kaylee grows up she will almost certainly learn about Mike and what he did and have so much pain because of it. All of the good moments will forever be changed in her mind. And think about Matty. Would he want his wife and daughters life paid for with drug money? Would he want his dad doing everything he does? Absolutely not. Matty would hate what Mike became. Matty would 100% have been trying to arrest Mike if he knew what he was doing. Mike is a tragic character but Nacho's dad was right, at the end of the day he is no different than the other gangsters. Gus has plenty of brokenness and pain to explain his actions, but he's still evil. What Mike does ruined so many people's lives and got so many people killed. He didn't succeed in providing for his family and he didn't even succeed in being there for his family in the end.
A wonderful portrait of Mike! Well done! 👌👍
Well for Mike he has a great relationship with his granddaughter and he does seem to care about his family
"The entire desert could be filled with Nachos".
Sorry, that line sounds really funny to me out of context. Great video 👍
@itsa me Thanks, it's quite common
i like yo avatar
I heard this line just as I read this comment, and it was funny!😂
@Fresh2000 ZCORD "80 million Nachos"
Imagine Walt tried to bargain nachos instead of money to save Hank in the desert
Mike probably did know that the Kettleman's money was earned unethically. He was the one who gave Jimmy the advice on how to find them. And even if Jimmy didn't tell him that the money was embezzled when describing the job (which he almost certainly would have), Mike would recognize that this was the same Kettleman and either ask about it or put the pieces together himself. But they almost certainly would have got that fact out there during the briefing.
Mike is a person who keeps his word. A true man.
Mike's character in one sentence: "I don't know! It's not my call!"