Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are two once in a lifetime tv series in the pantheon of best shows ever. Both had great writing, striking visuals, career-best performances, and a knack for incredible, shocking deaths, that always surprised their viewers. Spoilers follow as here are the top 10 deaths in Breaking Bad and Better Caul Saul, ranked by shock value:
10- Nacho Varga – Better Call Saul
Nacho (Michael Mando) was a dead man walking from the moment he betrayed Lalo (Tony Dalton), allowing Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) to enter their compound. After the killing attempt is botched, Nacho accepted getting killed as long as Gus and Mike (Jonathan Banks) saved his father.
Nacho had become one of the greatest characters in Better Call Saul and even though his death was heartbreaking, at least he went with a bang. Nacho didn’t give his enemies the satisfaction of killing him; he confessed that he was the one that caused Hector’s (Mark Margolis) stroke, got out of his ties, stole a gun, and killed himself. It was sad to see Nacho go, but at least he did it on his own terms.
9- Mike Ehrmantraut
Mike Ehrmantraut was a former cop who became the strong arm and cleaner for any of Gus’s problems, and he did all this while being cool and calm throughout it. That’s what he was doing when we met him in Breaking Bad. Although he was a criminal, Mike had a moral code and did all the bad things he did so her granddaughter could have a better future.
His death could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t confronted Walt (Brian Cranston) about all the bad things he had been doing. Walt was always the scariest when his ego was hurt, so he killed Mike in a fit of anger, for no real reason other than being challenged. It was a shocking end, as it looked like Mike was going to miraculously make it out of the drug game alive, but his moral code and no bullsh*t way of looking at things, made him tell some truths to Walt that the meth dealer was not ready to accept.
8- Werner Zielger – Better Call Saul
Werner (Rainer Bock) was a great German engineer who thought and created the underground superlab Walt and Jesse would work in Breaking Bad. The superlab was a months-long, arduous project, and even after becoming friends with Mike, the German started missing his family and tried to get back to Germany.
Mike knew he had to kill him, on orders from Gus, and when he finally did, we could see Mike losing a part of his soul, as even though building the superlab was a criminal endeavor, Werner’s biggest crime was missing his wife.
7- Chuck McGill – Better Call Saul
Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) was Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) brother, and Better Call Saul’s first seasons were defined by the relationship between the two. What started as sibling rivalry ended in tragedy, when, after Jimmy got Chuck disbarred and the firm made him retire, Chuck committed suicide by kicking a lantern and letting burn his house down with him in it, as he believed he had nothing left to live for.
It was a tragic, melancholic and shocking death as it could’ve been avoided with better communication between the brothers, and it was a death that hung in Jimmy’s conscience for the rest of the show.