What would it look like if someone took all of the scenes from Breaking
Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino and rearranged them so
that they played in chronological order?
Even before Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad frequently jumped
around time. We saw plenty of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and even some scenes
that were inserted into the timelines of previous episodes.
Breaking Bad was meant to be consumed non-linearly. While Walt's
phone call to Skyler in the cold open of
Ozymandiaschronologically takes place during the pilot,
thematically it's meant to take place near the end of the show. Walt
and Gretchen's conversation about the components of a human body, despite
chronologically taking place many years previously, has a thematic relevance to
the shots of Walt and Jesse cleaning up Emilio's body.
Scenes of Walt and Jesse cleaning up Emilio's body are juxtaposed by Walt and
Gretchen talking about the components of a human body.
In fact, basically all of Better Call Saul, while chronologically
beforeBreaking Bad, thematically takes place
afterwards.
...which reminds me, if you've never watched Breaking Bad and want to
know where to start: Start with Breaking Bad.Better
Call Saul frequently draws parallels to Breaking Bad that the
creators are expecting you to understand. Besides, some events of the show,
including the very first scene of the first episode,
chronologically take place after Breaking Bad anyway. Some people have
argued that one can (or even should) watch Better Call Saul
first, but I am not one of those people.
I initially had the idea to create a full Breaking Bad timeline.
Characters often tell stories of their pasts — Walter tells Walter Jr. a
story about his father dying of Huntington's disease in Salud, he tells
Jesse about how he sold his shares in Grey Matter Technologies in
Buyout, and we couldn't possibly forget Mike's iconic Half
Measures monologue. However, I pretty quickly realized just how massive an
undertaking that would be. I couldn't get through the pilot without asking
myself complicated questions such as "when was Hank's interview that we see on
TV filmed?" I also started to wonder about character birthdays, relationships,
and important life events — Information that I wouldn't have the first
clue about how to find on my own.
And as it turns out, somebody already did the work for me. The fan-run
Breaking Bad wiki has an extensive
timeline
of events that is as meticulous as one could hope for, and it was an
invaluable resource in the creation of this article. Their timeline offers
precise dates for many of the Pre-Breaking Bad moments, such as Walt's
aforementioned conversation with Gretchen. I don't
really know where they get some of this information (likely some combination of
insider podcasts, commentary tracks, and creator interviews) but pretty much
all of what I've read seems to make sense, so we're just going to be cringe and
#TrustTheScience on this one.
So this article will not be going into the same level of depth. Instead, we
will be focusing solely on events that are depicted on the screen. Think of
this as a theoretical re-cut of Breaking Bad where scenes are moved
around and spliced together into one very long continuous stream of video.
This article will assume that you already know the events of
Breaking Bad, so we will be spending very little time summarizing
events. Also, it should go without saying, but we will be spoiling Breaking
Bad like crazy, so if you've never seen the show, here is your warning to
go watch it.
If you have never seen Better Call Saul or El Camino, you can
use the buttons below to hide spoilers. (N.B. Spoilers are visible by
default.)
Lastly, before we begin, I'd like to address some things regarding the level
of detail we'll be going into:
Breaking Bad frequently balances multiple plots per episode, and it
often cuts between them for the sake of the story's flow. We're not always
consuming these plots in very precise, chronological order. The best quick
example I can think of is from the episode Gray Matter.
We open the third act on a scene of Walt driving home to see his family
gathered in his living room, ready to initiate the famous "talking pillow"
conversation. Walt sits down and the scene cuts.
We cut to Jesse and Badger in the desert, arguing about the quality of Jesse's
meth. Jesse then drives off, leaving Badger stranded. This scene lasts about 2
minutes.
We then cut back to Skyler, presumably picking up right from where the first
scene left off.
We're not meant to assume that Walt and his family waited 2 minutes before
having their conversation. We naturally assume that these two scenes are
happening around the same general window of time. There are many instances of
these parallel storylines, and it would be exhausting to point out every little
instance where this occurs. I would need to go back and pay attention to
every scene transition, and I'm not going to do that unless the
episode makes a specific point of when these scenes take place in relation to
one another, such as in the episode Rabid
Dog.
Breaking Bad also sometimes likes to start episodes on a
flash-forward to the end of the episode, as a sort of "so you're probably
wondering how I ended up here" cliché. It's usually pretty obvious exactly when
these scenes take place, so unless the scene is particularly noteworthy or
ambiguous, I'm not going to point it out. Instead, I'll give you a list of all
of these "non-essential" flash-forwards now:
In Breaking Bad, this occurs in Crazy Handful of Nothin',
Grilled, and Bug.
In Better Call Saul, this occurs in Talk.
Oh, by the way, I'm not going to be covering the mini-sodes or El
Camino teasers. Sorry!
Pre-Better Call Saul
Chuck reads The Adventures of Mabel to Saul.
Saul begins stealing money from the cash register in his father's store.
Mike lays down cement in his driveway.
A young Kim Wexler refuses a ride home from her mother.
Kim's mother pretends to scold her for shoplifting.
Walt talks about the components of a human body with Gretchen.
Hector teaches the cousins a cruel lesson about family.
A young Gustavo Fring meets high-ranking members of the cartel, who kill his
best friend, Max Arciniega.
Saul and Marco pull a scam involving a fake Rolex.
Chuck bails out Saul after the Chicago sunroof incident.
Saul says good-bye to Marco and heads to Albuquerque.
Saul has dinner with Chuck and Rebecca.
Walt and Skyler buy a house.
Saul talks with Kim about a recent legal victory of Chuck's and then enters the
HHM library.
Saul tells Kim and Chuck that he passed the bar, but then gets let down by
Howard.
Saul and Chuck sing The Winner Takes It All by ABBA.
Jesse builds a wooden box for his woodworking class.
Chuck sits beside his mother as she says her last words.
Hector is humiliated by Gus at don Eladio's hacienda.
Chuck tries to hide his condition from his ex-wife.
Mike kills the corrupt cops that murdered his son and then relocates to
Albuquerque the following day.
Saul drops off groceries for Chuck and the two have a brief talk.
Better Call Saul properly begins with Saul Goodman, or James McGill
as he is known at this point in the story, feebly trying to defend 3 boys that
broke into a morgue and had sex with a head.
Saul meets with the Kettlemans, who side with HHM, and then Saul tries to
pull a stunt with the skater twins, who end up accidentally following Tuco's
grandma instead.
The skater twins call Tuco's grandmother a 'bizznatch'.
But interestingly enough, Tuco's scenes don't end there. After the title
card for Mijo, we get to see his perspective of the events at the end of
Uno. Tuco cleans up some blood off his carpet when he hears Saul
knocking on his door.
Saul's perspective from the end of Uno.Tuco's perspective from the start of Mijo.
And with that, we lead directly into the events of Mijo and the rest
of season 1, all the way until Marco.
Marco
The episode begins properly with Saul meeting Howard, giving him
instructions on how to take care of Chuck, and then having a breakdown during
the seniors' bingo game. Saul then decides to go on a trip back to Cicero where
he reunites with Marco.
Saul and Marco visit his family's old store.
Marco dies during one of their scams and Saul visits his funeral. He then
returns to Albuquerque where he gets an offer to work at Davis & Main. Saul
drives up to the courthouse, and from here we get another inserted scene.
Saul meets with lawyers from Davis & Main.
Saul then has his conversation with Mike outside the courthouse and drives
away while humming Smoke on the Water to himself.
That concludes season 1 and leads us immediately into season 2... and 3.
Well actually, we do have a few things to talk about.
Gloves Off
This season 2 episode opens on a flash-forward to a scene that takes place
after the end of the episode. Mike gets into a fight with Tuco and then meets
with Nacho, who gives him $25,000.
Mike returns home and covers his wounds.
Season 2 concludes with two cliffhanger endings: Mike gets an ominous note
left on his car saying “Don't” and Chuck secretly records Saul's
confession of forgery. Season 3 follows up immediately on both: Saul
leaves Chuck's house and goes back to his office, where he meets with Kim;
Howard goes to Chuck's house and discusses Saul's confession; Mike spends the
entire rest of the day taking his car apart, looking for the tracker that's
hidden in his gas cap.
Sunk Costs
In this episode, Mike sabotages Hector's operations by secretly covering one
of his trucks with drugs. He does so using a pair of sneakers dangled over some
power lines.
A Los Pollos Hermanos truck drives off as a pair of sneakers falls from
some power lines.
We then don't get any more scenes until the end of season 3.
Lantern
As with season 2, season 3 also ends on two cliffhangers, this time focusing
on Nacho and Chuck. Nacho's segment ends with Hector's stroke, while Chuck's
ends with his suicide.
Kim recovers from her car accident, Chuck is forced to leave HHM, Hector
meets Nacho's dad, Chuck tells Saul that he “doesn't want to hurt his
feelings” and then proceeds to absolutely demolish said feelings, and
Chuck has his mental breakdown.
After Hector's stroke, Juan Bolsa asks to meet with Nacho.
With Erin's help, Saul gets Irene to go back on the Sandpiper settlement.
Later that night, Chuck commits suicide and the episode ends.
That actually concludes our discussion on season 3 and season
4.
Magic Man
Saul legally changes his name from James McGill to Saul Goodman (which is
what I've been calling him the whole time anyway). Saul then gives away the
last of his burner phones and advertises his services. Saul gives out a 50% off
discount, even after Kim advises him not to.
Two junkies raise Hell after hearing about Saul's 50% off offer.
The rest of 50% Off and The Guy for This have no noteworthy
scenes to speak of.
Namaste
Howard offers Saul a job at HHM, and Saul thanks him by trying to ruin his
life (although that doesn't happen until later). Later that day, Saul has his
"this... is not meth my client" moment, the DEA chases down one of
Gus's dealers, Gus tortures Lyle, and the next day Saul meets with Acker.
Saul buys bowling balls from a thrift store.
Later that night, Saul throws the bowling balls he purchased at Howard's
car. Mike gets stabbed by some thugs, wakes up on a ranch, and the episode
ends.
Dedicado a Max, Wexler v. Goodman, and JMM don't give
us anything to talk about.
Bagman
Bagman has one noteworthy scene, but it's probably not the one you're
thinking of.
Lalo asks Saul to pick up his money, but Saul only agrees on the condition
that he'll be paid $100,000. Lalo accepts.
The Salamanca twins pick up Lalo's money.
Then comes the rest of Bagman, which leads directly into Bad
Choice Road.
Bad Choice Road
Shortly after the best cold open in Better Call Saul (and one of the
best in all of Breaking Bad) we have a scene inserted from the
finale.
Saul and Mike sit by a cistern and talk about where they'd go if they had a
time machine.
Then we see the rest of Bad Choice Road — Saul and Mike get
picked up by Gus's men, Saul pays off Lalo's bond, and Lalo later has his
intense meeting with Saul and Kim.
Something Unforgivable
We have one very brief scene inserted into the end of this episode.
Nacho runs as Lalo's shootout begins.
Carrot and Stick
Saul visits the Kettlemans and Nacho hides out in a motel, until he is
eventually discovered and gets into a shootout with the Salamanca twins.
Nacho hides from the Salamanca twins.
During the same night, Saul gets a call from the Kettlemans. We then cut to
Mike having a conversation with Gus at one of his distribution centers. This
scene overlaps with another scene from the next episode.
Nacho says good-bye to his dad and then calls Mike and Gus.
We then cut back to Saul and Kim visiting the Kettlemans once again, and the
episode ends.
Rock and Hard Place
And we're still not done talking about this episode. At the end of
this episode, Nacho dies. We then get a very interesting scene.
A flower grows in the place where Nacho died.
Then comes the rest of season 6 until we get to Fun and Games.
Fun and Games
Howard Hamlin's car is found on a beach.
The rest of the episode plays normally until we get to Saul and Kim's
break-up scene (which has me on the verge of tears every time I watch it).
Kim visits Saul's office to sign divorce papers. Afterwards, she has a brief
conversation with Jesse outside Saul's office.
And that brings us to the end of Fun and Games and, with that, the
end of the Better Call Saul saga. Well, at least
for now.
Breaking Bad
Pilot
Breaking Bad officially begins with Walter White rising out of his
bed and exercising late at night. The events of the pilot play out normally
— Walt gets his cancer diagnosis, he goes with Hank to see a DEA drug
bust, and he "partners" up with Jesse.
Combo helps Jesse get the RV.
During Walt and Jesse's cooking montage in the pilot, we have a scene
inserted from Ozymandias.
Walt calls Skyler during his first cook with Jesse.
We then cut back to the end of the montage; Jesse compliments Walt's cooking
skills, Jesse meets with Krazy 8, Walt kills them, and he crashes the RV in a
ditch.
Walt records a video for his family.
We then get the clever fake-out with the firetruck sirens, Jesse wakes up,
and Walt says they need to clean up.
Walt and Jesse pay to have the RV pulled out of the ditch.
Walt then gets home, dries his money off, has sex with Skyler, and the
episode ends.
I find it funny how killing a man not only didn't kill his sex drive, but
actually seemed to arouse it. It's even funnier when you realize that Walt
knows that there's a half-dead witness to his crimes writhing around in the RV
as he speaks.
And with that, we're pretty much done talking about season 1.
Season 2 properly opens immediately after the end of season 1. In
fact, we rather infamously open up on the same scene from season 1, albeit with
different music, different color grading, and some cuts.
From A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal.From Seven Thirty-Seven.
The next few episodes don't give us anything to talk about. Things get very
interesting when we reach Breakage.
Breakage
Breakage itself plays out normally. Jesse meets Jane and then
recruits his friends to start selling meth. Meanwhile, Hank begins to suffer
from PTSD. The opening scene of the episode, however, is very unique.
Border-hoppers discover Tuco's grill on the bank of a river.
Peekaboo has no inserted scenes.
Negro y Azul
Sometime after the best opening scene in the entire series, Hank goes to El
Paso and meets Tortuga.
Tuco's cousins behead Tortuga.
Hank then later discovers Tortuga's severed head on the tortoise and avoids
the explosion because of his PTSD.
Then, as far as Breaking Bad is concerned, we don't get any more new
scenes until 4 Days Out.
Better Call Saul
And how fitting that Better Call Saul should insert multiple scenes
into Better Call Saul (from an episode called Breaking Bad no
less).
The first new scene comes after Walt and Jesse throw a bag over Saul's head
and take him out into the desert.
Walt and Jesse drag Saul out into the desert.
This obviously leads directly into Saul's conversation with Walt and Jesse
in the desert. The same episode also inserts another scene immediately after
this one:
Saul talks to Walt and Jesse in the RV.
The two meet Saul in his office the following day and they execute Saul's
plan using Jimmy in-and-out. We then have another scene added:
Mike advises Saul not to work with Walter White.
Saul walks up to the school Walter White works in.
Saul has his conversation with Walt and the episode ends.
Also, fun fact about this episode: Saul actually does refer to himself as
"McGill" in his initial conversation with Walt, a small detail many fans didn't
notice.
4 Days Out
Within Breaking Bad itself, the whole episode just plays out
normally. El Camino adds a scene near the end of the
episode, after Walt and Jesse get the RV to run.
Walt and Jesse stop at a hotel.
Walter then returns home, gets the news that his cancer is in remission, and
the episode ends.
Jesse and Jane visit an art gallery for Georgia O'Keefe.
Jesse and Jane talk on their way back from the art gallery.
Sometime after the death of Combo, Walt and Jesse try to meet with Saul's
secret contact, Gus, who initially just ignores them. Walt manages to meet Gus
a second time, who then chastises Walt for allowing his partner to show up high
to a meeting.
Gale sets up equipment in Gus's lab.
So, finally, Gus makes the deal with Walter White. Phoenix has no
inserted scenes, which leads us to ABQ.
ABQ
ABQ is easily one of my favorite episodes in the whole show and is
super underrated, but that's not really what we're here to discuss.
Mike makes his first appearance in Breaking Bad, Walter Jr. sets up a
website (I wonder if he used
landchad.net?), and Skyler
learns the truth about Walt.
We see the aftermath of the Wayfarer 515 plane crash.
There's then a long stretch of time without any new scenes. It isn't until
we get to I See You where we get another scene.
I See You
After Leonel's death, Gus calls Bolsa, who is killed during their phone
call.
Gus taunts Hector in the nursing home.
And, believe it or not, that is it for seasons 3 and 4 of
Breaking Bad.
Season 5 properly opens immediately after the end of season 4, and we don't
get any noteworthy scenes until Dead Freight.
Dead Freight
Walt, Jesse, and Mike come up with a plan to rob a train for more
methylamine.
Drew Sharp puts a tarantula in a jar.
The heist is successful, but then Drew Sharp shows up and Todd kills him
(one of the best twists of all time, by the way), and then the episode
ends.
As far as Breaking Bad itself goes, the next few episodes don't give
us much to talk about. El Camino, on the other hand,
gives us another scene.
Buyout
Drew Sharp's death causes a schism in Walt and Jesse. Jesse is clearly
disturbed by his death, while Walt seems to view it as more of an inconvenience
than anything else. While Walt casually whistles to himself, Jesse gets a call
from Mike on his way out.
Jesse and Mike discuss their plans for the future.
Say My Name and Gliding Over All play out normally.
Blood Money
This episode properly begins immediately after the end of Gliding Over
All, and it plays out normally until we get to the scene of Jesse throwing
his money out of his car.
An old man discovers a trail of money that leads him to Jesse.
The following day, Walt has his famous encounter with Hank and the episode
ends. Buried properly begins immediately after this encounter.
Confessions
The episode Confessions has one very short scene inserted near the
end.
Jesse snorts a line of meth before breaking into Walt's house.
Rabid Dog
Hank intercepts Jesse at Walt's house, and then Walt arrives right as they
leave.
From this point on, we now have two different storylines running parallel to
one another.
Walt searches his house for Jesse.
Walt leaves a message for Jesse, which is intercepted by Hank.
The following day, Jesse wakes up in Hank's house and records his
confession. We know this scene is the following day because Hank plays Walt's
second message, telling Jesse to meet him in the plaza.
And believe it or not we're still not done talking about this
episode.
Todd cooks a batch with 76% purity, and then gets a call from Walt.
And then, as far as Breaking Bad is concerned, that is it until we
reach the finale.
Ozymandias
Ozymandias itself doesn't have any scenes inserted into it, but
Better Call Saul does add a scene that takes place between it and
Granite State.
Saul says good-bye to Francesca and calls the disappearer.
Saul's mansion is repossessed.
Granite State
Granite State opens shortly after the opening scene in Quite a
Ride. Saul is brought to Best Quality Vacuum and is told he'll have to
bunk with Walter.
Walt and Saul talk about regrets.
The majority of El Camino's flashbacks take place during Granite
State, specifically after Andrea's death but before Walt's final scene with
the disappearer.
Jesse gets sprayed with a giant hose.
Neil Kandy reinforces the steel contraption designed to prevent Jesse from
escaping.
Todd brings Jesse to his apartment to help move and bury the body of his
cleaning lady, Sonia.
Felina
The first and ninth episodes of season 5 open on flash-forwards to scenes
that chronologically take place during Felina. They take place
back-to-back, after Walt threatens Gretchen and Elliott.
Walt meets with the black market arms dealer.
Walt returns to his old house to retrieve the ricin.
Walt thinks back to his 50th birthday.
Afterwards, Walt walks back to his car, bumps into Carol, and the scene
ends.
Watching the Blood Money flash-forward and Felina back-to-back
exposes a pretty glaring incongruity in the length of Walter's hair.
From Blood MoneyFrom Felina
We cut to Walt's meeting with Todd and Lydia, and from there the rest of the
finale plays normally.
Jesse hides from police officers.
And with that, we have officially reached the end of Breaking
Bad.
Post-Breaking Bad
El Camino
The rest of El Camino takes place.
Sometime after the events of El Camino comes the end
of Better Call Saul. We have officially entered the black and
white dimension.
Saul, disguised as Gene, manages a Cinnabon in Nebraska.
Nippy is a very underrated episode, but for the purposes of this
article it doesn't give us anything to talk about.
Breaking Bad
Before this episode even begins, we actually see part of Waterworks
first.
A day in Kim's life.
From this point on, we basically have two stories running parallel.
Saul calls Francesca and then Kim.
That concludes Breaking Bad and leads us into the rest of
Waterworks and Saul Gone.
And now we have officially finally reached the end of the timeline.
I hope you enjoyed this article, since I enjoyed writing it. I might turn
this article into a video, as I imagine I could make it more fun that way
(mainly by adding a bunch of stupid memes but also giving more detailed visual
examples of the things I'm talking about). If that day ever comes it will be a
while from now, as I currently don't have a machine running Windows, and video
editors on Linux are all completely unusable.
Also, a benefit of writing this as an article is that I've given the reader
the option to toggle spoilers for the "extended canon" (since I actually hadn't
seen all of Better Call Saul prior to writing this article). That
wouldn't really be possible to do in video form, unless I decided to make
multiple separate cuts of the video which there's no way in Hell I'm ever going
to do (you'll be lucky if you get the one!)
If I've made any mistakes in this article, please feel free to contact me
and let me know! You may also feel free to criticize and troubleshoot my janky
JavaScript code.
