Better Call Saul: Mike Ehrmantraut's Inspiring July 4th Video Message
· BCPosted in: streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: better call saul, breaking bad
Better Call Saul: Mike Ehrmantraut's Inspiring July 4th Video Message
For July 4th, Better Call Saul's Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) offered a video message about the difference between "Right v. Wrong."
Published Sat, 04 Jul 2026 11:07:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
|
Comments
Article Summary
- Better Call Saul’s Saul4Democracy campaign includes Mike Ehrmantraut delivering a serious July 4th video message.
- Jonathan Banks’ Mike recalls the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings and how his father taught him “right vs. wrong.”
- Mike notes Joseph McCarthy was a bully, using the story to stress courage, truth, and moral clarity on July 4th.
- The post also rounds up the earlier Saul videos and Vince Gilligan’s updates on Saul, Kim, Jesse, and more.
Up until now, fans of Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan's Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn-starring Better Call Saul were treated to a series of videos over on the Saul4Democracy YouTube channel, where Saul (Odenkirk) offered fun, snarky, and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)-approved looks at our rights as U.S. citizens as we inched closer to America's 250th birthday. But with today being the big day, Saul has handed the mic over to Mike for a very serious message about the importance of knowing "Right v. Wrong."
"June 9th, 1954. How many of you remember that day? Yeah. Right. Well, I do. I was in elementary school and we had one of the first televisions in the neighborhood which would have been great if it was tuned in to The Lone Ranger. But my old man, my old man wanted to watch this boring show called the 'Army- McCarthy Hearings,'" Mike kicked off his video message. From there, Mike adds that Joseph McCarthy was "a United States Senator and he was a real peach. He'd lie, he'd bully, he'd destroy reputations. He would hurt people without a thought. And everybody was afraid of him. Because he was 'rooting out communism.'" But on that date, during those hearings, someone was finally brave enough to take on McCarthy – and how that moment was when Mike's father explained to him the difference between "right v. left" and "right v. wrong."
And here's a look back at the first three videos in what appears to be a series, followed by what Gilligan and Gould had to share about the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe and how they see the future playing out for some characters:
Back in November 2025, The Rich Eisen Show host Rich Eisen took a moment to travel back to the universes of Gilligan's Breaking Bad and Gilligan and Gould's Better Call Saul, offering Gilligan the names of six characters and giving him a chance to share what he believes they're up to these days. "I think [Donald] Trump pardoned him. That's what I think. I think he's out. That's what I think," Gilligan shared about Jimmy's/Saul's fate after the credits rolled on the series finale, seemingly leaving Jimmy to serve out his 80+ years sentence. "I think he's a free man. I think he's doing infomercials, I think, is what he's doing. Yeah, he's selling stuff on… TV."
Regarding Seehorn's Kim Wexler, Gilligan sees her leaving her boyfriend and sprinkler job, and going into public defender/legal advocacy work. With Paul's Jesse, Gilligan sees him having carved out a good life for himself in Alaska, possibly seeing him following up on his dream from early on in the series of being a bush pilot, flying vacationers to camping and hunting locations. As for Cranston's Walter White, Gilligan puts to rest the theory that he actually died in the car as he was attempting to re-enter society to clean up his mistakes. Translation? The series finale is actually the series finale. Gilligan also offered some interesting insights into what happened with Huell Babineaux (Lavell Crawford), Skyler (Anna Gunn), and Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), which you can check out in the video below (beginning at around the 11:30 mark).
Speaking with TVLine back in August 2022, Gould revealed that the original plan had the duo "meeting in Albuquerque before he [Jimmy] went to prison, and the last scene was him in prison by himself, thinking. And I liked that a lot, but it seemed a little cold. I think ultimately, we all felt like ending with the two of them felt like the strongest way to go." And during the first go-around, Jimmy "was fearful about what was going to happen to him in prison, and it was a lot about the fear. This is a very different scene… It's mostly about wistful connection." And that moment when Jimmy hits Kim with the finger guns? Gould revealed that he "was on the bubble about the very last scene in the prison yard." Gould added, "There was a version that didn't have that, that ended with the two of them smoking, and I went back and forth on that for a while. Then ultimately, having watched them both, I felt like it was right, and it felt more honest to end with the two of them apart rather than the two of them together."
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!