The Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 11 Moment That Felt Surreal For Fans
"Better Call Saul" is in a rather interesting position chronologically compared to its predecessor, "Breaking Bad." The original show "Breaking Bad" follows the mild-mannered chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) after a terminal cancer diagnosis. Determined to take care of his wife, Skyler White (Anna Gunn), and son Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte) before his death, Walter utilizes his skills to create a powerful drug empire. In his travels, Walter runs across Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), a morally dubious lawyer of questionable knowledge.
"Better Call Saul" is essentially a prequel and a sequel to "Breaking Bad," and the show manages to do this by showing how Saul Goodman became Saul Goodman through a series of flash-forwards that highlight his life after the events of "Breaking Bad." As such, there are plenty of times for characters that appeared in "Breaking Bad" to be mentioned, which certainly throws curveballs at longtime fans. Now that "Better Call Saul" is in its final episodes, it seems like some fans have had a surreal experience from hearing a name they did not expect.
Fans were shocked to hear Skyler White mentioned in a phone call
Discussing the events of the most recent episode of "Better Call Saul," aptly named "Breaking Bad," u/womanatthecrossroads said, "Hearing the name 'skyler white' for the first time in this series was so trippy." Of course, the moment in which they are referring involves a flash-forward tollbooth phone call between Saul and his secretary Francesca (Tina Parker). Francesca lamented that it seems like she is always being followed and made a throwaway comment about how Skyler White received a deal from the government. u/samwilbur applauded this scene and was happy to find out that Skyler got a deal with law enforcement, while u/Broller2 mentioned that there was a little "Breaking Bad" leitmotif after the mention of her name.
Others were equally caught off-guard, with u/row-zee saying how they weren't sure what to expect from this particular episode, but the mere mention of Skyler White hit them like a ton of bricks. u/Griffdogg92 probably summed up everybody's feelings the best by stating that the entire phone call felt surreal. Probably the best takeaway from the entire exchange between Saul and Francesca was that Skyler was able to salvage her life after the bombastic finale of "Breaking Bad."
Fans were happy to hear about Skyler White, a stark departure from the original reactions from Breaking Bad
Another important aspect of the aforementioned comments, and a slight resolution to Skyler White's story, is that fans seem to have come around to finally rooting for the character. Back in the early days of "Breaking Bad," the hate directed toward the character was so much that Anna Gunn felt personally compelled to write an op-ed in 2013 for The New York Times that attempted to mitigate some of the vitriol.
Even one of her co-stars from "Breaking Bad" came to Skyler's defense. Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman, told Entertainment Weekly, "Why did our audience not sympathize with this poor woman? Granted, she is the thorn in Walter White's side, and everyone's rooting for Walter to succeed, but my God. You wake up one day you find out your husband is a meth kingpin, you know, you're going to have something to say about that. I really felt for Anna, because she's just such a beautiful human inside and out, and she played Skyler in such a fierce way, and people just dragged her character the most." Despite the opinions of fans from almost a decade ago, it seems like many were happy, if not surprised, to hear the character mentioned again and happy that she was able to continue living after striking some unspecified deal after the events of "Breaking Bad."