How Breaking Bad Created the Most Terrifying Villains on Television

a crippling little rata what a reputation to leave behind this is gustavo frank please don't hurt my baby please when we leave you're not gonna go running to those police officers out front this is todd alquist damn man look at that look and this is tuco salamanca it really isn't a primary antagonist to breaking bad but you could definitely argue some characters are presented as the villains of the series and it really boils down to which characters are able to demonstrate the highest levels of humanity despite their inherent sociopathic tendencies when we see psychopaths and sociopaths in film and television we're often as fascinated by them as we are terrified vince gilligan taps into this seemingly fear-driven intrigue we all share digs deep into the human psyche surrounding these personality disorders and then utilizes it to create some of the most tense scenarios ever to grace a television screen he writes tuko as this terrifyingly violent and unpredictable sociopath gustavo fring as a calm and calculated psychopath and todd as about as close to a purely evil psychopath as you can get without turning him into a serial killer they are all horrible reprehensible and outright terrifying but some of these characters are worse than others and it takes an understanding of how vince gilligan applies his knowledge of psychology to these characters to really tell the difference before we jump into this be sure to subscribe to nerdstalk if you haven't done so already breaking bad began airing in 2008 and unlike most television shows that slowly lose their audience as time goes on breaking bad consistently gained an audience this culminated in the show's final episode which actually beat out the nfl in ratings for that night as 10.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the fate of walter white unfold on september 29th 2013. one of the reasons breaking bad was able to accumulate such a massive following was the relatability and realism with which vince gilligan was able to write these incredibly disparate and intricate characters every time he seeks to create an emotionally evocative moment gilligan delivers with pinpoint accuracy as viewers we feel the desperation and intensity of our main characters propped up right alongside the fear and chaos instilled by the show's seemingly antagonistic secondary characters this is largely due to vince gilligan's ability to understand how human beings operate i don't think we're alike at all mr white you are not a cautious man at all you have poor judgment we aren't going to attempt to deconstruct the entirety of anti-social personality disorder or aspd for short but there are a few subtle differences between psychopaths and sociopaths that we are going to briefly touch on individually psychopathy and sociopathy are not diagnosable conditions however both fit into the diagnostic criteria to meet aspd while it is true that all psychopaths are sociopaths not all sociopaths demonstrate psychosis psychopathy is described in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders as a lack of anxiety or fear and by a bold interpersonal style that may mask maladaptive behaviors whereas a sociopath is more impulsive and volatile a true psychopath is someone that is not only an excellent manipulator but is also able to disguise themselves as being completely normal sociopaths will behave with reckless abandon as they do not really care about the consequences of their actions whereas a psychopath is fully aware of everything going on around them at any given moment in time we see these types of characters frequently in the breaking bad universe the first of these big secondary characters we are introduced to is tuko salamanca and it's quite the introduction ah tight tight tight yeah ah blue yellow pink whatever man just keep bringing me that in the sixth episode of season one titled crazy handful of nothing tuko spends the majority of his introduction beating jesse pinkman into a medically induced coma just to prove a point this cements him in our minds as being an unpredictably dangerous sociopath tuko salamanca is chaos dialed up to 11. and it's the first time walt is introduced to the dangers of dealing with a cartel with tuko vince gilligan utilizes not only sociopathy but also a somewhat rare mental disorder called intermittent explosive disorder which is defined as recurrent behavioral outbursts representing a failure to control aggressive impulses gilligan created a character that can turn from your friendly neighborhood methamphetamine wholesaler into a bloodthirsty nutcase at the drop of a dime and is very reminiscent of joe pesci's early 90s mobster characters eisenberg says relax i'm relaxed he even goes as far as to insult a man who is dying from one of his beatings all of this unpredictability and rage puts us as viewers on the edge of our seat whenever tuko is on the screen tuko uses violence to gain his power and through his character we are effectively able to be introduced to the idea that our main character is entering a ruthless and brutal world where only the strong survive tuko was actually supposed to be a much larger part of breaking bad's second season he was offered an eight episode arc but after some discussion raymond cruz requested that his character be killed off mostly because he found the role extremely difficult to play and was coming home from 14 hour shoots not wanting to speak to anyone this prompted vince gilligan to create a new antagonist for walt and jesse only this time he'd swing the aspd pendulum into the realm of true psychopathy he would create a character who was terrifying through a veneer of cold calm and quiet calculation in gustavo fring i have invited you into my home so we could sit and talk discuss what's going on in this business our business like men where tuko intimidates us with violence gustavo fring intimidates us with silence one of the ways a person can achieve power in a situation is to always say less than necessary and that's exactly how gestavofring operates we're afraid of him because we don't even understand who he is in the season 2 episode 11 titled mandala gustavo fring is originally seen as what appears to be an extra just helping out his employees during a busy lunch shift once we finally get to this somewhat impromptu meeting between gusfring and walter white we see him for who he is an incredibly intelligent cautious and informed drug dealer i have to ask why there's a subtlety to his character in the sense that at first we only catch glimpses of his more sinister nature he hides behind this plastic smile of a humble restaurant owner but even in this first scene we see him drop his facade for a few brief and terrifying seconds for the most part gustavo fring uses intimidation to maintain his power gus fring terrifies us because of how far he thinks ahead he orders the murder of don bulsa in his own home in an effort to consolidate power he has an army of foot soldiers at his command who will do his every bidding however this isn't where gustavo fring is at his most terrifying it's actually where he is the most comfortable where gestavofring is the most terrifying is when he takes matters into his own hands when he drops the facade and reveals this inner demon who has no loyalties to anyone outside of his own business he murders his right hand man in front of walt and jesse with a box cutter just because he is angry he tells walt that he has no problem murdering his infant daughter even the moments where gustavo frank demonstrates kindness and reason are all done as either a manipulation or as a means to an end nothing matters to gustavo frank more than money and power he is a one-man master class on the intelligence and intimidation necessary to maintain that power at all costs i will kill your wife i will kill your son i will kill your infant daughter perhaps the most unsettling psychopath in the breaking bad universe lies within the character of todd alquist that dude whack jon let's just stick to the facts here fox oh okay uh how about the fact that he shot a kid todd is introduced to us as just this kind of seemingly polite pest control worker there's a nanny cam in the living room clock i disabled it i just thought you should know however that facade is quickly dropped in the episode titled dead freight in which todd not only murders an innocent child without hesitation he takes a trophy with him he keeps the kid spider this is the same mentality hunters apply to wild game taking an innocent life is almost like a sport to him todd alquist isn't the most violent or calculated character on the show but that is what makes him so terrifying there's a pleasure that he derives from torturing and killing people that takes his character beyond being just a psychopath todd alquist is pure evil he seems to really enjoy the gradual psychological breakdown of jesse pinkman offering him glimpses of hope only to have those dreams dashed violently and dramatically these moments were extrapolated upon in the film el camino where we really see todd revelling in his torturous nature and just how much damage he did to jesse pinkman where tuco salamanca kills to intimidate and gustavo friend kills for power todd alquist kills because he enjoys it he doesn't have any lofty financial goals or aspirations to become head of a crime family he just exists to kill torture and cause harm which makes him the most inhuman character of these three at the end of the day it was him or us and i chose us and i would do it again he is a true narcissistic neilist he cares for nothing he exists for nothing he believes in nothing this makes him almost completely impossible to track as a character we can't predict any of his behaviors because we have no idea as to what actually drives him he isn't the strongest he isn't the smartest he is chaos incarnate and reminds us that sometimes people don't have to have explanations for what they do sometimes people are just out of nowhere todd pulls out a gun and shoots the kid this is town elquist we're talking about he killed drew sharp like it was nothing with breaking bad and the surrounding universe vince gilligan draws us in time and time again with characters that represent some of the more french elements of human psychology and pitting them against the pursuit of money power and control the absence of humanity presented within these characters reminds us what it means to be a person and how important empathy and compassion are in our day-to-day lives without empathy human interaction becomes cold unnerving and cutthroat a good writer will dig deep into the psychology of their characters to bring them to life and utilize the unpredictable nature of the human mind to drive the desired tension they seek to create he needs an ambulance he needs a hospital do something you're smart right do not do that thing these characters all have us as viewers invested in their individual stories each one of gilligan's characters could be viewed as an essay of not only various psychological conditions but also how these conditions developed and shaped these characters over time when we approach character mentalities with honor and respect for the psychology behind them we create characters that instantly deliver the intended message with pinpoint accuracy vince gilligan understands psychology he understands the subtle differences between sociopathy and psychopathy and he understands how to play with all the variables in between that's it for this week's episode if we didn't completely destroy your faith in humanity here feel free to click on one of the other videos if you want to stick around and hey thanks for watching nerdstalk

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 2,249,806

Keywords: Breaking Bad Villians, Breaking Bad Gustavo Fring, Breaking Bad Todd, Breaking Bad Tuco, Breaking Bad Vince Gilligan, Nerdstalgic, Nerdstalgic Explainer, Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad TV Show, Breaking Bad Heisenberg, Breaking Bad Walter White, Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad Better Caul Saul, Saul Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Jesse Plemons, Giancarlo Espisito, New Rockstars, Screen Crush, Screen Rant, Captain Midnight, Corridor Crew, Collider

Id: bYlA8747tNA

Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 27 2021