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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | I've known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests. Honorable thieves. You can be on one side of the law or the other. But if you make a deal with somebody, you keep your word. You can go home today with your money and never do this again. But you took something that wasn't yours. And you sold it for a profit. You're now a criminal. Good one, bad one? That's up to you. | „ |
| ~ Mike on the difference between criminals and villains. |
| “ | Look. We all make our choices. And those choices, they put us on a road. Sometimes those choices seem small, but they put you on the road. You think about getting off... but eventually, you're back on it. And the road we're on led us out to the desert, everything that happened there and straight back to where we are right now. And nothing – nothing – can be done about that. Do you understand that? | „ |
| ~ Mike advising Jimmy to make peace with his choices like Mike himself did. |
Michael "Mike" Ehrmantraut is a major character in the Breaking Bad universe, serving as the deuteragonist of Better Call Saul, a major character in Breaking Bad and a minor character in El Camino.
He was a former corrupt police officer who used his connections in the criminal underworld to eventually become Gus Fring's right-hand man and head of security of Los Pollos Hermanos. He also carries out favors for his lawyer and old associate Saul Goodman, as a private investigator, cleaner and fixer.
He is portrayed by Jonathan Banks.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
In General[]
- He became a criminal solely to provide for his family and has always regretted this decision, despite continuing down the path.
- Despite his training, he shows exceptional skill in non-violent incapacitation methods.
- Unlike most other villains, he is not shown to be sadistic, let alone needlessly cruel at any point.
- With the exception of Werner Ziegler, he chooses to kill only criminals who deserve it.
Background[]
- He used to be a former cop with military experience, with knowledge about various tactics employed by them to stay two steps ahead.
- After his son Matt's corrupt associates Hoffman and Fensky killed him for refusing a bribe, Mike pretended to be drunk and told them he has evidence so that the crooked cops drop their guards and confess, and then killed them by duping them with a second gun.
Better Call Saul[]
- With the help of Jimmy, Mike tricked Betsy and Craig Kettleman into revealing the location of their money and took it so that Jimmy could help Kim retain her job.
- After realizing that Nacho was working for Tuco, Mike didn't take any guns while helping Pryce, realizing that Nacho doesn't want Tuco finding out. After Sobchak ignorantly took guns to the deal, Mike tried to persuade him but then disarmed him.
- Tricked Tuco into attacking him by luring him into rage, so that Tuco beats him up in front of the police and gets arrested.
- After Hector threatened his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Mike attacked the men sent after them and got Hector to give him more than their deal.
- After realizing he was getting tracked, Mike tampered with the tracking device to track the people following him.
- Began to work with Gus for vengeance against the Salamancas.
- With the help of Gus, Mike attacked one of Hector's trucks so that the truck will be caught at the border transporting drugs and Gus will gain an edge over Hector.
- Infiltrated Chuck's house with request of Jimmy and sent important information to him in light of his bar hearing.
- To prove his cover at Madrigal as a security consultant, Mike arranged to steal an employee's ID card and infiltrated the place, reviewing the place to iron out the flaws in the company, which was so effective Gus ignored Lydia's complaints due to his efficiency.
- When Henry DeVore was faking about his tragedy to gain sympathy, Mike exposed his plans and got him removed from the support group.
- Alongside Gus, Mike developed a plan to recruit prospective engineers for their superlab, vetting them so that they prove to be trustworthy as well as experts in their fields.
- Bribed a cop so that he doesn't report on Kai's activities.
- When he was being followed by Lalo, Mike tricked prevented him from leaving the parking lot by sticking gum in the ticket reader so that he would lose him.
- Using clues left by Werner and his men, Mike found Werner at a resort before Lalo, persuading him to return.
- Originally was planning to spare Werner and bribe him into silence, only extremely reluctantly killing him because of Gus's orders.
- Mike also spared Werner's wife Margarethe from possible capture and torture at the hands of Los Pollos Hermanos.
- In addition to his remorse, he was fully aware Gus had in mind a needlessly cruel method of killing Werner himself.
- Decided to work for Gus again because Lalo was the ultimate reason Werner got killed.
- Disguised himself as a librarian to interview a woman who witnessed Lalo ramming the car, thus leading to his arrest.
- When Lalo begun attacking Gus's businesses, Mike hired Saul to let him go free.
- Killed several of Juan Bolsa's men who tried to kill Saul to retrieve 7 million dollars.
- Comforted Saul when he was in despair of being stranded in the desert.
- When he found out Lalo was at Jimmy's residence, Mike guarded the house with his sniper rifle, ready to kill him to protect both Kim and Jimmy.
- When Mike found out Jimmy and Kim ruined Howard Hamlin's reputation which resulted in his death by Lalo's hands, he was utterly disgusted with them, and never really forgot about it when he worked with Jimmy (now called Saul) later on.
Breaking Bad[]
- Coached Jesse how to avoid the cops suspecting him after Jane died of an overdose.
- Prevented Walt from getting killed by the Cousins by informing Gus about them.
- Genuinely apologizes to Walt when saying he can't talk Gus out of killing him.
- Effortlessly took out a bunch of cartel goons who had taken Duane Chow as a hostage.
- Assisted Gus in poisoning the entire cartel leadership and took advantage of the carnage by ambushing and strangling Gaff from behind while he was distracted.
- When a former associate tried to use Chow as bait for him, he distracted him at the door while sneaking up from behind.
- He has one of the most tragic and dignified deaths in the franchise, as he refuses to accept Walt's apologies for shooting him by telling him to shut up and let him die peacefully, with him accepting his fate quietly.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He was a corrupt cop back in Philadelphia.
- He convinced Matt to take bribes to save him from the other corrupt cops, breaking his trust in him.
- Despite Hector letting him off the hook, Mike attacked one of his trucks and stole $250,000 for no other reason than vengeance, leading to Hector killing a Good Samaritan who rescued the driver and then the driver himself out of suspicion.
- He decided to help Gus with his criminal activities because Gus was offering him vengeance.
- He personally killed Werner Ziegler after learning that he was tricked into talking about the superlab to Lalo.
- Covered up Howard's murder at the hands of Lalo and buried both of them in the superlab, so that no one finds out what happened to them. This will posthumously ruin Howard's reputation as Mike and his men framed him to have committed suicide by drowning himself.
- During his stint as Saul's PI, Mike would suggest several criminals to him so that Saul can get them off from facing justice. Walter White will eventually meet and work with Saul due to this.
- He shot Chow in the hand for not reporting his situation to Gus.
- Threatened to break Saul's legs due to him not giving Jesse up.
- Conspired with Gus and Victor in luring Walt to the superlab and tried to kill him there, leading to Gale's murder by Jesse on Walt's orders.
External Links[]
- Mike Ehrmantraut at the Villains wiki
- Mike Ehrmantraut at the Heroes wiki
- Mike Ehrmantraut at the Breaking Bad wiki
- Mike Ehrmantraut at the Villainous Benchmark wiki
- Mike Ehrmantraut at the Inconsistently Admirable wiki
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 /  Magnificent Baddies
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