Vince Gilligan Believes Breaking Bad Was 'Rigged'
Many consider "Breaking Bad" a great show, if not one of the most perfect TV shows ever made. When you add the Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) movie "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" and the spin-off show "Better Call Saul" in the mix, the combined might of these works paint a lengthy and brutal, yet captivating picture of the criminal underbelly of Albuquerque, NM.
As the creator of "Breaking Bad" and co-creator of "Better Call Saul," Vince Gilligan is the man holding the reins of this vast and beloved fictional universe. With the series finale of "Better Call Saul" — which may very well be the final visit in the "Breaking Bad" universe — now behind him, Gilligan has voiced certain opinions about his monumental creation. As can be the case with creative people, he's found some negative sides to his work ... and one of his biggest grievances, it turns out, is the way "Breaking Bad" is rigged to fail certain characters.
Gilligan thinks Breaking Bad did a disservice to Skyler
The most hated character on "Breaking Bad" is quite easily Skyler White (Anna Gunn), Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) long-suffering wife who attempts to act as a voice of reason, but eventually can't avoid her husband's meth machinations. In an interview with The New Yorker, Vince Gilligan discussed the hate Skyler received, which he personally found quite strange.
"Back when the show first aired, Skyler was roundly disliked," Gilligan said. "I think that always troubled Anna Gunn. And I can tell you it always troubled me, because Skyler, the character, did nothing to deserve that. And Anna certainly did nothing to deserve that. She played the part beautifully."
However, despite openly wondering about the fan hate Skyler received, Gilligan also revealed that he has come to understand that the laser-like focus "Breaking Bad" maintained on Walt and his story set the game up in a way that did no favors to the budding meth kingpin's wife.
"I realize in hindsight that the show was rigged, in the sense that the storytelling was solely through Walt's eyes, even in scenes he wasn't present for," he said. "Even Gus [Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito], his archenemy, didn't suffer the animosity Skyler received. It's a weird thing. I'm still thinking about it all these years later."
On a personal note, Gilligan pointed out that his appreciation of Walter White has greatly diminished over the years, due to Walt's selfish egoism and awful decisions. "He was constantly griping about how the world shortchanged him, how his brilliance was never given its due. When you take all of that into consideration, you wind up saying, "Why was I rooting for this guy?" Perhaps now that the end of "Better Call Saul" has closed the book on the story, fans who revisit "Breaking Bad" might see both Mr. and Mrs. White in a drastically different light.