Vince goes on and on about how great everyone is. I sort of ignore that part of the podcasts. Either he really loves everyone or there’s something contractual there.
On the other hand, though, he did kind of back them into a corner. The only reason they were about to kill him is because Mike trapped them. If someone witnessed the entire thing, let’s say, from the moment they all got out of the car, Mike would probably still end up in prison for murder. It would be clear that the entire thing was premeditated, not just to get vengeance for his son, but also to make it look like self defense. This person would also hear two cops admit to killing a third cop just before the ‘guy that was in the backseat’ shot them.
That’s like saying a burglar has the moral right to kill a homeowner when the homeowner pulls a gun on them. Sure, maybe it’s self defense, but it’s the burglar that made them pull the gun out to begin with.
The cops said (but Mike overheard) that they were going to kill him, but that’s what he was hoping for. So, do you morally get to kill someone in self defense when you’re the one that pushed them to the edge? Legally, maybe, morally, I’m not sure.
My guess is that the reasons that Mike allowed the bad guys to shoot first are -
We learn that the gun was non-functional, so we learn Mike’s been planning this for a while.
Having the Bad Guys shoot first gets Mike off the moral hook with the viewing audience. As has been discussed above, this is not the same thing as being legal. In BB, Mike kills lots of people. But, in each case, they were the ones who initiated the situation. (It’s the same reason that Lucas edited the cantina scene in the original Star Wars film to have Greedo shoot before Han. Having Han shoot first goes a long way to showing what he really is - desperate. The other way around make him slightly more moral, but also less interesting.)
I was thinking that, in reality, Mike would’ve likely just shot the officers with their backs turned instead of letting them know they’d been played with his one-liner, and giving them the chance to shoot back.
But, doing it this way does help give Mike the moral high ground (though he arguably had it anyways, assuming he was correct in what went down with the cops and his son). One might also say that this is a ‘younger’ Mike who hasn’t been working for guys like Fring yet, and so he still wasn’t a completely cold-blooded killer.
I was trying to figure out which guy Nacho was in Breaking Bad. I finally looked it up and it turns out he wasn’t in Breaking Bad at all. I recognized him from his role as Sarah’s ex in Orphan Black.
I agree with both of these. The gun’s being non-functional keeps viewers from having to ask themselves “did Mike just see a chance while he was drunk there at that bar, and take it?” We know that’s not what was going on, but we might have wondered about it if not for the gun.
And as far as fans of Shooting First are concerned: Gilligan and Gould are surely well-aware that a subset of their viewing audience craves the thrill of pre-emptive killing (and, probably, own the t-shirt). But they may not be courting that particular subset.
This isn’t a business killing for Mike, it’s personal. It’s the thing that has consumed his every thought for months. He daydreams all day about the look on their faces when they realize that he set them up. It’s not enough to just kill them - they have to have that moment of realization that Mike was going to avenge his son, and that he was going to get away with it because they brought him to the place they decided would be the safest place to kill someone. That’s why he gave them a moment, and even let them fire the non-functional gun - just for that little bit of extra realization that they were screwed.
But he did fail to kill the older guy on the first shot - probably hit a vest - which is why he was able to return fire and hit Mike. Not in the plan, but Mike was probably willing to assume the extra risk to get that moment of satisfaction from when they knew they were fucked.
When Walt and Jesse first take Saul out to the desert to threaten him, Saul asks “did Ignacio send you?” - that’s probably the same guy. So not directly in BB, but his presence in Saul’s life is set up that way somewhat.
