Better Call Saul: Why Vince Gilligan Made Committing Crimes Boring and Hard

Con artists, kingpins, and criminals fill the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universe. Saul Goodman, Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and most of the rest of the cast take on roles normally filled by antagonists and villains, but they don’t act like it. They aren’t often crazy, violent, or impulsive. They spend most of their time discussing logistics or thinking quietly in run-down strip malls and cramped vehicles. And, you watch them do it. These shows capture the process of committing a crime; that process is long and sometimes slow. But, don’t mistake slow for uninteresting. Hard work is hard to hate, and hard to look away from.

FOLLOW TRACKING SHOTS

#BetterCallSaul #BreakingBad #VinceGilligan

TIMECODES
0:00 Vince Gilligan Wants Criminals to Clean After Themselves
4:13 Part 1: From Mr. Chips to Scarface
7:31 Part 2: Charlie Hustle’s Hard Times
11:57 Part 2.5: Crimes With Known Outcomes
14:02 A Long Bus Ride to Coushatta
16:24 Hard Work is Hard to Hate and Easy to Watch
17:56 Thank You

Note: While I use Vince Gilligan’s name as shorthand in this video, it should be noted that Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul were written, directed, edited, and produced by a very large team of incredibly talented people. This includes but is not limited to the creator of the Saul character, Peter Gould. Unfortunately, I can’t include all of these individuals in a 100-character YouTube title, but I would if I could.

MUSIC
Main Theme - Red Dead Redemption 2
Thorofare Hike - Firewatch
End Credits Theme #4 - Red Dead Redemption 2
Whirling-in-Rags, 8am - Disco Elysium
The Disaster - Red Dead Redemption 2

BONUS
While pulling clips for this video, I discovered some other video essays on Better Call Saul with topics similar to this one. If you would like some further reading/watching on just how well crafted the Gilligan/Gould verse can be, consider checking out these other, awesome videos:

[chapman]

There is nothing boring about chicken slow cooked to perfection seasoned with only the finest herbs and spices.

[yoloswaggins]

Did you know that Vince Gilligan actually committed all the crimes himself to research for the script? Pure genius.

[Stumme-]

I like how they kind of make crimes boring. It’s a more realistic take on crime. It’s not all crazy exciting shootouts. It also helps show how they get away with a lot of these crimes. In BrBa they don’t just kill someone and leave the body like you see in other media, they extensively clean up the crime scene so there’s no evidence.

[mariyatakeuchi]

The fact that they make cooking meth and making more than I will ever see in my life seem like a bland 9-5 situation is genius

[flightofthebumblebee]

Some of the best parts were the "boring" parts like Mike tightening up security at Madrigal warehouse or Nacho practicing throwing the pills to the jacket or Gus cleaning and cooking or other things.

[Kingly]

it's important to know that Better call Saul was primarily ran by Peter Gould, the showrunner. Vince stepped back his role on the show in season 2 and only returned for the sixth season.

So all of the talk of Vince is fine. But seriously, give Peter some credit

[reg]

it's amazing how at the beginning of BCS, we all wanted to see Saul Goodman, and with the final episode coming soon, the writers have told the story such that we all just want Jimmy back

[isaacstovell]

watching Mike disassemble a car for ten minutes or so, with zero dialogue, was a moment that forever changed my perception of what "crime TV" could/should be able to do

[usercanalviejo]

I think a big part of why they make these 'cleaning' scenes so detailed (aside from the general accuracy in the show) is part of their intention of not romanticizing organized crime. They want the audience to understand that maintaining that lifestyle is really hard and costly (both financially and emotionally), and you have a be meticulous to a paranoid degree or else things end up badly for you.

[Gredran]

I love the scene with Mike watching with Jesse and Jesse being impatient.

Mike: “sorry kid, watchin is most of the job. It’s ok… *biggest smile Mike has ever had* I made sandwiches with pimento cheese!”

[testoftetris]

one of my favorite scenes across both shows is in Better Call Saul, where Mike is in Mexico and his cell phone battery is dead. He starts trying to jerry rig a charger out of stray electrical parts and it seems like it's going to be another one of those minutes-long montage scenes. And then someone just ... hands him a phone charger. It was such a small throwaway joke but it's maybe the hardest I've laughed in the whole show

[murco_]

0:58 the way he said los pollos genuinely took every fiber of my being to not click off immediately.

[FlackNCoke]

Essentially the writers realized they couldn’t get tension out of Saul or Mike’s ultimate fates… so they decided to create tension in the smaller moments where the audience isn’t sure what they’re doing or why, but knows that SOMETHING’S up.

[miracleofsound]

Thumbs up for the Disco Elysium ost ;)

[tavish]

I remember really feeling the payoff of Gus' death so much, that I was initially shocked upon watching him walk out of Salamanca's room, only to reveal his face having been ripped off. For a moment I was caught thinking "no way he survived that, " before the camera pans to his face. It's like Vince knew people would panic about the aspect of Gus surviving after so much work, so he played with us for a moment.

[glanni]

One thing that I liked about season 1 that never appeared after that was the detective work Jimmy put in several times, like when he found the Kettlemans and when he found out about Chuck's secret betrayals, and of course the Sandpiper case he finds. They also didn't tell us right away what clues he caught, but we saw the next steps.
I find it interesting that they dropped that aspect in season 2, I guess it didn't work with the story after that point.

Edit: Not that I'm complaining either, the scheme setups are really the show's bread and butter.

[troyareyes]

So much of what i love about the Vince Gilligan universe is exemplified in Mike. Just in the way he approaches crime (taking a brown bag to a gang meet because he researched Nacho and knew it wouldn't be violent, buying a replacement for the tracker in his gas cap and reading the manual to make sure it works, ect). He treats crime like its a blue collar job; like he went to crime technical school and got his crime certification lol.

[uncertifiedmindelusiveshine]

I think some of these scenes are some of the most beautifully shot. Like, that one eagle eye view in El Camino where Jesse is tearing apart Todd’s apartment still gives me chills

[DanJackson]

You did neglect to mention one or the best parts of BCS... they made us care about several new characters who's whereabouts was unknown in BB... Nacho, Kim, Chuck & Lalo, which made up for the lack of mystery about the BB characters.

[mundzine]

"too slow paced" Walt kills someone in the first episode