How Breaking Bad Created the Most Terrifying Villains on Television

It's not often a TV show has villains at the caliber of Breaking Bad. That's because the series creator Vince Gilligan used clinical psychology when he was developing the antagonists of Breaking Bad. Each one more evil than the next, but all for different reasons. Vince Gilligan was a master at creating truly evil characters throughout Breaking Bad's 5 season run.

#BreakingBad #VinceGilligan #Nerdstalgic

Written by Dave Baker
Edited by Nick Murphy

[patrickg]

I would argue that what makes Todd so terrifying is that he DOESN’T enjoy tormenting people, but he’s so disconnected from anything resembling empathy or kindness that he just doesn’t understand why it’s so wrong. It’s like his day job

[DownWithBureaucracy]

I always liked and respected the character of Gus. He's cold and calculated but he's entirely logical. He gave Walt and Jessie a fair deal and was more than patient with them

[humandeviant]

I think Todd was pretty much the scariest one. What he turned out to be was so unexpected and he was so chill about everything he does.

[The_Archer-heft]

imagine making a character so good, the actor doesn't want to play as him anymore because it hurts his mental health, truly terrifying yet amazing

[taddybear]

Gus wasn't just motivated by wealth and power, he was motivated by revenge as well. He's such an excellent villain.

[marcuso.]

What's terrifying about these characters is how realistically they're portrayed. I've known men and women like Tuco who would fly off the handle at a short notice, or people like Gus and Todd who act friendly at one point only to do horrible things the next. Props to these actors for their incredible work. Especially Giancarlo Esposito because Gus was just a force of nature at times.

[calebdallas]

Gus didnt kill his henchman because he was angry, Gus doesn't act on emotion. He killed him because he showed his face at the crime scene.
Todd doesn't kill for fun, there's no fun in it. He kills the kid because he saw what happened, he kills Andrea to keep Jesse in line. He feels nothing, he's empty. When his whole family is gunned down he doesn't even care.

[gonzalogca]

Tuco is actually the nicest guy in the Breaking Bad universe. Look how he takes care of his abuelita in Better Call Saul.

[capncake]

You completely misunderstood Todd’s character. He’s a psychopath who does things out of necessity. I think he actually thought off Jesse sorta like a friend, which is why he gave him ice cream. He literally just took the spider because he thought it was cool, not out of some hunter’s mentality. He killed the kid because a witness, killed Andrea to keep Jesse in line and tortured him to get information.

[JadeyCatgirl]

Part of what makes Todd killing Drew Sharp so shocking is it comes right after the train heist. Up until the end this had been a really fun, and somewhat whacky episode. They carefully weighed all the factors to safely get the methylamine without hurting anyone.  Kuby has some comedic dialogue with the engineers. Everything is going well, and there's exciting rush for them to finish up. For a moment everything had gone well, and they revel in their success. Now there's this kid on the scene. I had expected this to be setting up for a funny ending where they have to quickly explain what they are doing there. Instead, Todd changes the direction of the whole episode in its final moment. It immediately goes from one of the lightest to one of the darkest.

[LowReedExpert]

I feel real confused about this interpretation of Todd. Undoubtedly the dude's a psychopath, but he was presented as killing for fun as if he was just killing whenever he wanted. In the series, with exception of keeping Jesse as a pet, each action was done in direct response as a cold answer. Killed Sharp to eliminate any witnesses. Killed Andrea to keep his cook in line like he promised. Killed his housekeeper because she found his money.

Those aren't the crimes of someone killing because they enjoy it, those are of someone who doesn't care for human life beyond their objective use. Anyone who could pose a real threat was taken out immediately. He's also one of the few characters to really show pretty much no emotion. Gus has empathy, Tuco has empathy, Todd is unchanging and cold - no happiness, no fear, no empathy, at best he has an attraction to Lydia

[priatalat]

Actually, Gus killed his henchmen because he became a liability when people saw him at the crime scene. This is proven further when they show a very detailed wanted poster for him later in the show, hinting at how easily he'd be recognized and caught if still left alive.

[AsbestosMuffins]

Gus Fring really saves the show, I think 4 seasons of Tucco beating people to death constantly would have dragged the show down, but by fate, he stepped off the show at the exact right time

[ericO]

I think that they showed another kind of evil in Lydia, who is the kind of evil that lies to themselves and can’t even see what they have done.

[felliperibeiro]

The most interesting thing about it all is that Walter White manages to have the personality of these three villains together, that's amazing

[charlesancer]

I do think you got Tod's character completely wrong. He doesn't kill for pleasure. He does kill because he doesn't feel anything. When the actor was asked how he intemperated his role he said: it's like when you step on a fly. It sucks for the fly but the fly doesn't have fallue to you because it's a fly.

[georgevelis]

I disagree with your take on Todd. He doesn't really enjoy killing. That's what makes him terrifying. He doesn't feel anything when he takes lives or tortures people. It's no different to him than everyday stuff. He won't kill for no reason, but he does it in such a cold, emotionless way. He would react the same way if he had to murder 5 children as he would if he had to take out that trash or go buy some milk from the store

[eltedioso]

I agree that Todd is a psychopath, but I disagree that he kills just because he enjoys it. He's indifferent to it, but all the violence serves a purpose to him. Killing Drew Sharpe? because he witnessed the heist. Killing Declan's gang? because he & uncle Jack wanted to take over the meth operation (and he wanted Lydia's affections too). Killing his maid? because she found his money (and he admitted to Jesse that he felt kinda bad about it, and even gave her a nice eulogy of sorts in the desert). He doesn't seem to actually ENJOY the violence, but he's perfectly willing to do it when he sees it as necessary or convenient.

[plasmazing]

You seem to forget that the main motivation for Gus is revenge, his main motivation in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul was always revenge for Max, when he was shot he was clearly heartbroken. He is very cold and calculating, but it is all in service of revenge, he clearly enjoys telling Hector about when one of his family members have died, or the rest of the cartel. And as others have pointed out, he didn't just kill Victor because he was angry, he killed him both to send a message to Walt and Jesse, and because people saw him at the crime scene at Gale's death.

[ODISeth]

Damn, it’s amazing how smart this guy sounds while getting so much blatantly wrong, both about the show and about the psychology of ASPD. I’m kind of impressed you can make such astoundingly false statements seem so believable