Summary
- Walt, Jesse, and Saul each had very different endings in the Breaking Bad universe, with Walt dying irredeemably despite trying to make amends, Jesse finding a fresh start in Alaska, and Saul taking responsibility for his crimes and spending the rest of his life in prison.
- All three characters got what they deserved in the end. Walt's death was satisfying due to his immoral actions, Jesse deserved a happy ending after his remorseful journey, and Saul's life in prison reflected his middle-of-the-road complex character.
- While Walt's ending was thrilling, Jesse and Saul had more emotional endings. However, Saul's culmination was the best in the Breaking Bad universe due to his morally gray character, skillful legal tactics, and the context it provided to Breaking Bad's story.
The Breaking Bad universe arguably has three main characters in Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Saul Goodman, but who had the best ending out of the three? While Breaking Bad's cast of characters can certainly be considered an ensemble, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman certainly emerged as the two standout characters on which the story was based. Despite Saul Goodman not having a major role throughout Breaking Bad, his prequel series - Better Call Saul - gave the criminal lawyer a much bigger showcase than first thought.
Concerning Jesse, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie provided his character with a fitting ending after the events of Breaking Bad. While all three characters had very different endings, long has the debate been waged over whose ending was the most satisfying. With that being said, here is a definitive exploration of which character had the best ending, 15 years after Breaking Bad ended.
Related: 10 Breaking Bad Scenes That Are Basically Perfect
Walter White, Jesse Pinkman & Saul Goodman All Had Very Different Endings
Firstly, it is worth exploring the disparities between the endings of Saul, Walt, and Jesse's stories. Beginning with Walter White, the protagonist of Breaking Bad saw his story come to an end in the final episode of the show, "Felina." After building his way up from a timid chemistry teacher to a hardened, egotistical drug kingpin, Walt's life falls apart as he goes into hiding to escape imprisonment for his crimes.
Eventually, Walt returns to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attempt and rectify some of the mistakes he made. From arranging a trust fund for his son, apologizing to his ex-wife Skylar by admitting he got into the drug business for his own ego, and freeing Jesse from imprisonment by massacring his captors, Walt rights some of the wrongs in his life. After being hit by a stray bullet, Walt collapses to the floor of a meth lab and dies contentedly.
Concerning Jesse, his ending is explored in El Camino, a Netflix film set directly after Walt frees him from the compound of Jack and Todd. The film details Jesse's attempts at avoiding the police while raising enough money to contact Ed Galbraith aka The Disappearer so that he can start a new life away from the eyes of the law. Eventually, Jesse finds the cash and has a fresh start in Alaska in what is undoubtedly the happiest ending out of most Breaking Bad characters.
Finally, Better Call Saul outlines Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman's ending in the Breaking Bad universe. After also using The Disappearer to get his own life post-Breaking Bad in Nebraska, Saul is eventually recognized and arrested. After whittling his sentence down to only seven years using his lawyer skills, Saul then admits in court to his crimes and states that, without him, Walter White would not have had the drug empire he did. He then reverts to using his birth name, Jimmy McGill, showing remorse for his brother's death, and makes amends with his ex-wife Kim Wexler before taking responsibility for his actions and spending the rest of his life in prison.
Walt, Jesse & Saul All Got What They Deserved In The End
While all three endings for these characters are very different, they are perfect in that each of Walt, Jesse, and Saul got what they deserved. Walt's egotistical, narcissistic devolution into Heisenberg saw him commit horrible acts which he admitted he liked by the end of the series. His moral compass was all but destroyed by the end of Breaking Bad, meaning his death was arguably deserved while also being satisfying. Jesse, on the other hand, was often the character in Breaking Bad shown to be on the right side of the moral line in opposition to Walt.
While Jesse had also done awful things, he always showed remorse for his actions and was affected deeply by them, with most being forced upon him by characters like Walt. This proved that Jesse was simply a sympathetic, understandable, relatable, and downright likable protagonist who deserved a happy ending, something his disappearance in Alaska allowed for. With Saul/Jimmy, his character was somewhere in between. He had shown streaks of goodness like Jesse, but also partaken in Walt's criminal empire which was fueled by his own upbringing that brought out a darker side in him.
As a result of this, Saul's ending reflected both his darker and lighter sides. He made peace with his brother's death and life with Kim while also taking responsibility for his actions as part of Walt's empire. As such, dying like the irredeemable Walt seems like too harsh of a punishment while living a happy life like Jesse seems too lenient, meaning spending life in prison yet alive was exactly what Saul deserved based on his journey.
Jesse & Saul Had More Emotional Endings Than Walt, But His Had More Thrills
When concerning the feelings each of Walt, Jesse, and Saul's endings elicited, the former had a much more thrilling culmination while the latter two had much more emotional finishes to their journey. Walt's story ended with him threatening two people who had wronged him into providing for his son before building a car-mounted, automated machine gun to mow down a group of Neo-Nazis to save Jesse. It is safe to say this ending was much more exciting than the quieter, more emotional scenes that ended Saul and Jesse's journeys.
Why Saul Had The Best Breaking Bad Universe Ending
With all of these elements in mind, it is safe to say that Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill had the best Breaking Bad universe ending. Given Walt's almost irredeemable actions in the latter seasons of Breaking Bad, his ending was satisfying and action-packed yet lacked the emotional gut-punch of Jesse's. Speaking of, Jesse's ending was easily the most downright heartwarming given his sympathetic and likable character finally got the chance to settle down in a life of his own making rather than one driven by evil figures like Walt, Gus Fring, or Jack and Todd. While both endings were great, Saul's culmination was on another level entirely.
As explored previously, Saul Goodman was a much more morally gray character than Walt and Jesse. If Walt represents the dark side and Jesse the light, Saul is more of a man in the middle. This meant that his character was simultaneously sympathetic, yet his darker side was more fleshed out and believable given his history than Walt's was. As such, Saul's ending was the most compelling as it was harder to quantify exactly what it was he deserved, with the nonetheless satisfying conclusion indicating excellent writing above the more black-and-white conclusions of the other two characters. Furthermore, Saul's ending was better because of how it contextualized Breaking Bad.
Saul's speech about how Walt would be nothing without him is true, something that many people did not realize until hearing it from Saul's mouth. This, combined with Saul's incredible ability to take a life sentence down to seven years in prison, all highlights how skilled Saul truly is when it comes to the law. Not only does this retroactively benefit Breaking Bad's story, but it proves the context given to Saul/Jimmy's lawyer career in Better Call Saul was a fantastic idea for a prequel. All of this proves that, while all endings were fantastic, none in the Breaking Bad universe can compare to Saul Goodman’s.
