Breaking Bad Fans Wish They Had Gotten More Backstory On Gray Matter

"Breaking Bad" features a plethora of captivating characters in the unforgiving tale of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his descent into the criminal underworld. From the early beginnings of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) to the family life of Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), the series deeply explores the multifaceted characters featured on-screen. However, there's one pretentious duo that fans wish they'd seen more of during Walt's dark transformation.

Gretchen (Jessica Hecht) and Elliott Schwartz (Adam Godley) played a critical role in shaping the unsatisfied Walt we meet in the series premiere. We learn in Season 1, Episode 5, aptly titled "Gray Matter," that Walt originally worked with the couple and co-founded the titular technology company. They combined their last names (Schwartz is German for "black") to form the title, though our anti-hero eventually sold his share after breaking up with Gretchen. This left him in the dust when the company became extraordinarily profitable, leaving Walt extremely resentful.

On Reddit, fans agree that this storyline could've been further explored in the series. For example, u/djav1990 had a lot to say on the subject, writing, "Seeing as how Gray Matter is so crucial to the show, it would have added some more detail on exactly what happened between Walt, Elliott, and Gretchen." It seems other fans feel the same way about this underused story, as evidenced by the comment section.

Though creator Vince Gilligan has zero regrets about "Breaking Bad," after considering Gray Matter, fans thought of other stories they'd like to see expanded on. A now-deleted user responded to the flashback idea with, "Jesse being in Walt's class, Gray Matter stuff, countless other things." That suggestion would definitely give us plenty of context about the past relationship between Walt and Jesse (Aaron Paul) in a fun and tense way.

Another user, u/CamZ17, thought the Gray Matter plot had plenty of meat on its bones to further explore, writing, "I agree. That had that one brief flashback scene with Walt and Gretchen and it barely expanded past that. Would have been cool to see the Gray Matter stuff explained more." This is echoed by u/jjolla888, who had another story idea to build on. "I agree Gray Matter has a lot of story potential," the user wrote. "I bet there is a sequel of some sort coming ... I was also disappointed the Madrigal investigation went nowhere. I suspect Vince initially was going to introduce some badass real German Mafios but decided to steer it to local Neo-Nazis."

That fan was more right than they knew, as they predicted the prequel series, "Better Call Saul," which expands on the "Breaking Bad" universe through Saul Goodman's tale (Bob Odenkirk), and even revisits the German storyline.