Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad gained a reputation as a masterpiece. It has several awards and stellar reviews to prove just how good it was during its run and years after. Being regarded for how well-thought-out every single aspect of it was, the series did nothing by mistake, and every decision was calculated. At least, that’s what fans think.
There were more than a handful of things in the series that many fans did not understand the significance of until episodes later, and plot points that simply did not pan out. With this in mind, many would be curious to know the process by which these came to be, and Gilligan has been quite open about it.
It would seem that one of the most iconic plot devices in the Bryan Cranston series led to one of the most well-known plotholes in Better Call Saul.
Vince Gilligan and the Machine Gun
In the 16th episode of the final season of Breaking Bad, Walter White ends up buying an M60 machine gun. While it stays in the background for the rest of the season, it ends up being the cause of his death, with one of his own bullets being the reason for his death. During an interview with Variety, Vince Gilligan revealed how this came to be and the process is a lot less witty than many might think.
It was self-evident that Walt’s story should not end well, so the idea of him looking like the cancer had returned felt right. But you just kind of feel your way through. We didn’t know where it was going. It’s astounding how little we knew.
The showrunner revealed that when the final season began, the writers and creators of the series were simply going with the flow. They did not know how they were going to end the series; even though they were sure that Walt was not going to be okay by the end of it. With this attitude, they decided to simply write as they went and go along with their guts.
There was a little bit of hubris on my part thinking we would figure it out. “We’ve got 16 episodes until the end. We’ll get there!” We were still six or seven episodes away from the end and we still hadn’t figured out where we were going with the machine gun.
While this worked well for the early episodes of the season, things started to turn sour when the final six episodes were left. With not much of an idea about what they were going to do, they decided to brainstorm and look through all the plot devices they added this season, including the machine gun.
I remember saying, “Just for a thought experiment, let’s pretend we never did that thing with the machine gun.” I got really scared, but my writers kept me honest. They held my feet to the fire and said we needed to deal with the machine gun.
But we made it up as we went. What does this character want right now? What obstacle is in his way? To anyone reading this who fancies a career as a showrunner, don’t do it that way! It’s painful and scary.
The creator revealed that he was originally leaning towards scrapping the gun altogether. However, his fellow writers decided to push him and add it to the finale. What was added as a mere passing thought ended up being the weapon of destruction for one of the most iconic characters in television history.
The Shoe Doesn’t Always Fit
While the strategy of winging it can sometimes work in television, it can also sometimes cause some very big plotholes. In Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman’s character casually mentions a lot of things about his personal life as a joke. In one of his rants, he also mentioned that he had three wives. However, when Better Call Saul began to air, only one was seen.
Since then, many fans have wondered about the other two wives, trying to piece together if the series scrapped the idea or if they are just really good at hiding. During the interview, Vince Gilligan addressed this conversation as well, and his perspective was quite interesting.
The showrunner revealed that when they were making the spin-off series, they made the bold decision to not be bound by the plots and characters that were mentioned in the original series. This allowed them to focus on the story and what the characters needed, rather than following continuity.
Another thing is Jimmy’s various wives. “Breaking Bad” established that he had three wives, and we know one of them — Kim Wexler. But that was something we never really nailed down, which caused us a little bit of grief along the way.
Thanks to this, they decided that they would stick to Saul having only one wife, Kim Wexler, and they would grieve the rest two in private.
Watch Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul on Netflix.
