Breaking Bad: Mike's Character Continues To Spark Debate Amongst Fans

Whenever "Breaking Bad" discourse riles up the fanbase, morality inevitably becomes a topic of discussion. Skyler White (Anna Gunn) is perhaps the most infamous example as the most hated character. While Walter White (Bryan Cranston) murders, gaslights her, and even steals their baby, Skyler gets lambasted for her mistakes. But therein lies the point of the show. No one is wholly good or evil, something that fans realized after analyzing drug dealer fixer, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). A disgraced former cop, Mike sells his services to Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and kills many people in his "Breaking Bad" run. Even though he has a code of principles, fans on Reddit didn't think that made him a good person.

"I don't understand why people see Mike as 'good'," u/tokyo_engineer_dad posted. Just like the rest of the characters, Mike aligns himself with criminals, despite holding himself to a higher moral standard. U/bewareofthethunder noted that there was a level of hypocrisy in this. Though he values innocent life, he allows Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemons) to remain, even though he is clearly unstable. U/lucidrop said Mike "will be extremely loyal to gus who is one of the worst characters in the show in terms of morals." The subject of Mike's morals may draw a confusing line, but ultimately, isn't that what "Breaking Bad" is all about?

As Vince Gilligan has made clear, "Breaking Bad" shows the devolution of Walter White into a villain. He becomes cold and unrepentant until he finally admits he continued with the lifestyle because he enjoyed it. And he isn't the only one. Even Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) — arguably the most innocent in all this — doesn't have a clean conscience. Mike Ehrmantraut is no different because, at its core, "Breaking Bad" is a show about complex characters. While some Redditors questioned Mike's morality, others argued that his character was consistent.

"Threads like this validate the genius of the show," u/BigVos argued. "Mike is absolutely a bad person. He's a villain, not a knight in shining armor. However, his arc gets the viewer to root for him." Walt isn't that much different from Mike. Despite all the egregious things that he does throughout the show, viewers are still compelled to watch him onscreen. But unlike Walt, fans get the opportunity to see more flavors of Mike due to the "Breaking Bad" spin-off, "Better Call Saul."

"After watching better call saul, we see more of his back story and more people started to like him better now than they did while br-ba actually aired. He's as flawed as the rest," u/177a_bleecker_street noted. They went on to conclude: "The redeemable qualities in him and even the rest of the flawed characters which are shown in the show humanize them, they all have vulnerable moments."