Vince Gilligan Reflects on Breaking Bad S5’s Cold Opening as a “Dumb Idea”

Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of Breaking Bad, recently looked back on the opening scene of the final season of the series and said that it was the “dumbest thing he ever did”.

Breaking Bad is widely considered the greatest television series of all time and follows the adventures of Walter White, a high-school chemistry teacher diagnosed with cancer and his student, Jesse Pinkman. The duo team up and begin cooking blue meth, White’s own rendition of methamphetamine and sets up an empire.

The series consists of five seasons, and each episode begins with a cold opening, which sets the tone of that episode. The fifth and final season begins with a scene where a depressed and ragged Walter goes to Denny’s to celebrate his 52nd birthday.

He arranges his bacon strips to write 52, the way his wife Skyler would do for him at home. After breakfast, Walter takes out a machine gun from his car. The cold open ends on that note, with no explanation about the machine gun and what he plans to do with it.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Breaking Bad series finale, Vince Gilligan did an interview with Variety, where he talked about the much-discussed season 5 opening scene.

Gilligan mentions that while writing the scene, he had no idea what Walter would do with the machine gun. So, it was the “dumbest thing he ever did”. Read what he said below:

The biggest single fear we had was what to do with that damn machine gun. At the beginning of the final run of 16 episodes, we had Walt buy a machine gun in the trunk of a Cadillac. That was the thing I remember freaking us out the most because we did that, I committed to that. One of the dumbest things I’ve ever done in my career was committing to the idea of Walter White buying a machine gun when we did not know what he was going to do with it. We had no clue. There were literally months on end when I was completely freaked out. We’d be in the writers room’ for a full day, and I’d be slowly banging my head against the wall — not enough to hurt myself but just enough to jar the ideas loose. And everybody was kind of worried about me.

As per Gillian, they were still confused about the machine gun when the show had six episodes left. However, things slowly fell into place once they figured out how to connect the dots. The idea was that Walter had to win somehow.

By the time season 5 begins, he had already lost everything. He had lost his family, his empire, and even most of his money. But he had to do something to send the money to his family. This is when the creator thought of involving Gretchen and Elliot, which we see at the end of season 5.

Season 5 began with Walter White looking lost and depressed, with nothing to look forward to except waiting for death. He did not know what to do next. In one way, White’s state represented Vince Gilligan’s own state of confusion and turmoil when he did not know how to end the show perfectly. He was struggling with the machine gun loophole and trying to figure out a way to connect it all to the finale.

Although Gilligan now says he thought including the machine gun was a wrong idea, it was actually a step in the right direction. In the series finale, Walt ultimately uses the gun to take revenge on Jack for stealing his money and killing Hank. He also manages to free Jesse from his clutches.

The scene where Jack tells Walt that if he spares his life, he can tell him where the rest of his money is, but Walter does not listen and shoots him, much like the way Hank was shot, is still one of the most iconic scenes in the series. Walt does not make the mistake of trusting Jack again, as he had betrayed his trust by killing Hank.

The Breaking Bad finale is arguably the best finale in television history. It gave an anti-hero like Walter White a befitting end. Although he loses his empire, his family, and the trust of his dear ones, he still manages to find a way to send his money to his family through Gretchen and Elliot.

The ending is perfectly balanced, as Walter at least partially manages to do what he originally set out to do in the pilot episode – to leave enough money to his family so they do not struggle after his death. Looking back, perhaps Gilligan’s decision was not a dumb one, but the one that set the stage for a perfect finale to a perfect series.

About Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is an American crime drama TV show filmed in Alburquerque Studios in New Mexico and produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Directed by Vince Gilligan, the show follows the life of an overqualified, underpaid, and depressed chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The show follows the story of White as he pairs up with his former student Jesse Pinkman as they enter the world of crime.

The show went on to win several awards including 16 Primetime Emmy Awards, eight Satellite Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Peabody Awards, two Critics’ Choice Awards, and four Television Critics Association Awards.