Why did Walt kill Mike in Breaking Bad? Explained

Modified Mar 08, 2024 22:21 GMT

Why did Walt kill Mike in Breaking Bad? Explained (Image via AMC)

One of the most harrowing and distressing seasons of a television show in the history of the medium is none other than Breaking Bad’s fifth season, which originally aired from July 2012 to September 2013. Split into two parts with each containing eight episodes, the season in isolation is widely regarded as one of the greatest television seasons of all time.

Likewise, with how much of an emotional rollercoaster Breaking Bad’s swan song is, there are some nuanced aspects of the season’s events which fans miss upon a first or second watch. This is especially true as both halves of the fifth season approached their respective ends, constantly upping the antes up to and through their respective climaxes.

One common point of confusion which occurs within these end-of-part zones is protagonist Walter White’s decision to kill Mike Erhmantraut in the seventh episode of the fifth season overall. While the show does provide dialogue between the two which explains this, it’s relatively subtle and as a result can get lost in the tension and excitement of the situation overall.

Walt shooting Mike is the most emotional and heartbreaking of Breaking Bad’s season 5 deaths

Why did Walt kill Mike? Explained

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In the fifth season of Breaking Bad, Walter White tries his hand at taking over Gus Fring’s meth business after killing him with the help of Hector Salamanca in the fourth season. While Skyler, Saul, Mike, and Jesse are all happy with Walt’s choices in the beginning of the season, things slowly unravel as they get more involved with Todd Alquist and his group of white supremacists.

This eventually leads to a major confrontation between Walt and Mike, in which the latter accuses the former of being at fault for all of the recent tragedies that had befell them. This includes the unnecessary shooting of Drew Sharp by Todd when the crew was trying to rob a train in order to collect materials for meth production.

The infamous Breaking Bad scene also sees Mike tell Walt how he truly feels about him, saying that he went too big and ruined the “good thing” they had going for everyone as a result. This bruised Walt’s ego and pride greatly, which is understandable considering he was now the “boss” of their drug empire as Gus Fring was before him. Likewise, Walt had never seen Mike speak to Gus in such a way, which undoubtedly made him feel even more ashamed.

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However, the true catalyst in Walt’s decision to kill Mike came when he refused to give Walt the names of Gus’ associates in prison. He wanted to kill the prisoners in order to ensure anyone associated with Gus who may or may not had been told about him and Jesse was kept silent. While they did this with hush money at first, Walt eventually opted for a more permanent option in order to prioritize his own safety and his empire.

Mike, however, refused to give up the names to Walt mainly due to simply wanting out of the business. Although Mike likely could’ve given Walt the names and gotten out, doing so would’ve exposed him and his family to further danger, and unnecessarily so from his perspective. While some loyalty to Gus and his former associates may have been at play as well, the main motivating factor is clearly Mike being done with the meth business.

Thus, the penultimate episode of the first part of Breaking Bad’s fifth season sees Walt kill Mike in a fit of rage, clearly regretting his decision as soon as he realized what he had done. However, it was too late by then, with Mike mortally wounded and Walt needing to prioritize not being caught with a smoking gun, literally.