I want to make this clear upfront: I love Breaking Bad. There are few things I love as much as I love Breaking Bad, and two of those things are Better Call Saul and El Camino, both of which are Breaking Bad spinoffs. My love for this show runs so deep that I will rewatch episodes of it as comfort television—yes, comfort!
No, I am not a well person! But this is my truth, and I’m owning it. I also don’t find any of that to be controversial; Breaking Bad is one of the best shows of all time. But it’s necessary context for my more shocking truth: I am so, so tired of Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston hanging out together.
It’s not that I don’t love them individually—I do! I clapped and cheered when Cranston popped up in Asteroid City recently, playing a TV presenter who steals the film with one of its best jokes. (I will not spoil it, in part because the amount of set-up it needs is peak-Wes-Anderson-levels of exhausting.) Aaron Paul’s vocal performance as Todd on BoJack Horseman is one of my all-time favorites. But when I found out they were making a cameo as themselves in this week’s episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I groaned and groused and griped for hours.
In the pointedly titled “Celebrity Booze: The Ultimate Cash Grab,” the Gang cooks up a scheme so undercooked, it’s raw: Paul and Cranston are coming to town to promote their real-life liquor brand, Dos Hombres (ugh). Who knows more about booze than the owners of Paddy’s Pub, a perpetually empty local dive? Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), and Charlie (Charlie Day) decide to crash their meet-and-greet to pitch them on their own terrible alcohol idea: sell a blend of every popular type of liquor, mixed together. That’ll work! Surely the Breaking Bad bros will invest in this. (Well, the Gang claims to know them as “Malcolm” and “Mr. Middle” from Malcolm in the Middle.)
The whole episode feels like the Always Sunny cast managed to get the stars of one of their favorite shows to stop by, so they wrote a threadbare episode around it. Dennis and Mac barely have anything to do but follow Cranston and Paul around. Charlie is puking up nickels outside the event—don’t ask. Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Frank (Danny DeVito) are farting it up on a plane circling Philly.
But all of these other minor happenings are set dressing for Paul and Cranston further indulging their modern-day Laurel and Hardy schtick. In the episode, the actors have a toxic relationship: Paul is a controlling brat who won’t let Cranston shake Dennis’ hand, lest he end up talking too much. It’s amusing, but Paul yelling at Cranston about his love for pressing his luck on the “one-armed succubus” in Vegas is only so funny for so long. This is It’s Always Sunny—I expect vile people! But the vileness here is forced and one-note.
Since Breaking Bad ended in 2013, I’ve felt like Cranston and Paul have been trying to milk fans’ affection for them until the fandom nipple is shriveled and dry. (Sorry, that’s gross, but I already said I’m not well.) Watching their dynamic develop on the show—Walter White (Cranston) as the murderous father figure to Jesse Pinkman’s misguided, exploited young addict (Paul)—was the stuff of wonders, the kind of organic character growth most writers aspire to achieve. Part of that growth is that the finale and, later, the sequel movie El Camino provided full closure. Walt was a selfish prick who died for it, and Jesse was on the road to a better, Mr. White-less life, bitch!
But the duo continues to act as, well, a duo, despite Breaking Bad ending with them breaking up. Fun as it was to watch them cook blue meth together, then hate each other’s guts, it’s exhausting for them to keep returning to that early-show patter. The story moved on. Why can’t they?
I know why, cynically: Fans will continue to hype every little thing they do together, which is rarely anything but self-indulgent fluff. From doing extended talk show bits to hawking their Breaking Bad-referencing mezcal, it feels like these guys exclusively talk about how much they love each other. Sometimes that can be really cute; I don’t begrudge a bestie duo. I wish I were part of one! But I also don’t feel like I know anything else about either of them anymore, beyond their obsessively close friendship. Like, name the last movie Aaron Paul starred in without looking it up—you can’t!
Fans also eat up every cameo they do as Walt and Jesse. That Super Bowl commercial earlier this year was so embarrassing to me, I don’t even want to talk about it. But of course, I watched it anyway: We all love Walt and Jesse! We can’t help it! And even I was stoked to see them make a (narratively needless) appearance in the final season of Better Call Saul, a show that stood on its own two feet so well, you barely missed Breaking Bad by the end.
But I urge Paul and Cranston to help us disentangle their iconic characters from their furthering careers. They’ve found success in major roles since then, but they can’t stop reminding us that nothing comes close to their Breaking Bad bests.
That said, the Sunny episode ends with what I think is a fitting capper to this stagnant on-screen partnership. After enduring a full episode of abuse, Cranston lets Paul have it. He’s gonna shake Dennis’ hand, dammit! He’s not just the “sweet, hapless boob” that Paul likes to think he is—and if the business goes broke, or if the people eventually turn on them, they’re not going to take it out on quiet Mr. Cranston. They’re going to go after Paul, bitch!
This all turns out to be a ruse, as Cranston just wants to prove to everyone that he’s actually a great actor. And he is! I always believed it! So let him get back to playing a more interesting role than “the Guy Who Used to Be Walter White.” As sick as I am of them playing up their old roles all the time, I would never want either of my boys to be hit with real backlash.
I’m going to rewatch the Breaking Bad episode where Hank gets shot now—that always calms me down.
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