Mike Ehrmantraut has three perfect farewells in the Breaking Bad franchise, including the sequel movie El Camino and the prequel series Better Call Saul. Every character in the Breaking Bad universe is torn between their dark side and their light side. Walter White embraces his lowest desires once his death is imminent, Jesse Pinkman’s rebellious persona is broken when he spirals down into a life of drugs and crime, and Jimmy McGill’s greed leads him to create Saul Goodman. Likewise, Jonathan Banks’s Mike Ehrmantraut is an upright, loving grandfather under the guise of a deadly hitman.
A cold and methodical police officer turned criminal enforcer, Mike offers his talents to crooks like Saul Goodman, Gustavo Fring, and Walter White. His extraordinary ability to get the job done quick and seamlessly keeps him farther away from danger than other criminals, but not even that guarantees him a happy ending. Mike survives the aftermath of Gus Fring’s death, the DEA’s investigation, and Lydia’s careless attempts to cover her tracks, and yet, his death comes at the hands of a reckless Walter White, who kills him in a burst of rage in the original series. It’s a relatively peaceful ending for a Breaking Bad character.
If anybody associated with Heisenberg’s empire deserved to go that way, it was Mike. But he also earned two other cathartic moments that put an end to his journey at different points in the Breaking Bad franchise. El Camino features a conversation between Mike and Jesse where they discuss an ideal destination where they could start over. Mike mentions Alaska, which ends up being the place Jesse escapes to at the end of El Camino. The Better Call Saul finale also says goodbye to Mike with a conversation between him and Jimmy where they share what they’d do if they had a time machine. Mike says that he would go back to 2001, to when his son Matt died, before changing his answer to 1984, the year he accepted his first bribe, which sent him down a criminal path. All three of Mike’s endings portray him as a pure person at heart, whereas Walter White, Jimmy McGill, and Jesse Pinkman still have some learning to do before they get their due.
Mike’s Breaking Bad Ending Keeps Getting Sadder… But Better
All three of Mike Ehrmantraut’s endings are tragic in their own way. His death in Breaking Bad feels unfair for such a noble character that no longer poses any threat to either side, and it feels even more heartbreaking considering that his death doesn’t even benefit Walter White, who Mike severely underestimates. El Camino highlights how Mike doesn’t get to enjoy the ideal future that he longed for, but it shows that his dreams at least live on with Jesse Pinkman, as Jesse’s escape to Alaska materializes the peaceful life that neither Mike, nor his son Matt, nor his other son figures, Nacho Varga and Werner Ziegler, could attain. Lastly, Better Call Saul confirms that Mike had already regretted the choices he made long before his death. Each of Mike’s farewell scenes sends him further back in the Breaking Bad timeline but also develops a deeper layer of his character.
Mike Ehrmantrut’s three Breaking Bad endings also make him the voice of reason for all three protagonists close to their own sendoffs. Mike’s death shows Walter White how senseless his obsession is when he doesn’t even accept Walt’s apologies during his last moments. El Camino‘s flashback allows Mike to provide a sliver of hope for Jesse by showing him the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. And in the Better Call Saul finale, Mike subtly reminds Jimmy that, sooner or later, he has to stop thinking about superficial matters like money and start caring for his loved ones, which Jimmy ultimately does when he chooses the high road and lets his Saul Goodman and Gene Takavic personas die. For a character who started with a minimal role in Breaking Bad ‘s early episodes, Jonathan Banks’s Mike Ehrmantraut certainly received quite a thorough development.
