Lil Hal

Lil Hal
The official Quibi poster for Lil' Hal, showcasing Hal Wilkerson's two sides, has been widely criticized for its notable lack of quality by online fans and critics.
Genre	Sitcom Black Comedy Serial drama Crime drama Tragedy Thriller
Created by	Bryan Cranston Vince Gilligan
Based on	Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle
Starring	Bryan Cranston Jane Kaczmarek Frankie Muniz Justin Berfield Christopher Masterson
Opening theme	"Philistine" by Nobuhiko Sagara
Ending theme	"Cipher" by Kevin MacLeod
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Linwood Boomer Peter Gould
Running time	10-12 minutes
Budget	$27 million per episode
Release
Original network	Quibi
Picture format	HDTV 4k
Related
Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle, Better Call Saul

Lil' Hal (stylized as lil 1HHydrogenal) is an ongoing 2023 American sitcom, comedy, and crime drama created by Bryan Cranston exclusively for Quibi. It is a spin-off from Gilligan's previous series, Breaking Bad (2008–2013), as well as from Linwood Boomer's Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006), to which it serves as both a prequel and sequel to respectively. The series' first season, consisting of ten 10-12 minute long episodes premiered on May 19th, 2023, with a second, third, and fourth season currently in production.

Premise

The series takes place in a combination of the Breaking Bad (franchise) and the Malcolm in the Middle universe. Bryan Cranston reprises his role as Walter White and Hal Wilkerson simultaneously. The show follows Hal, less than half a year after the in-universe events of the Malcolm in the Middle finale, as he develops into the man who would develop into the notorious methamphetamine kingpin Heisenberg in the future, serving to fill in more of Walter White's character from before the events of Breaking Bad.

After an accident involving a Rube Goldberg machine and homemade explosives causes the death of Dewey Wilkerson, a death which Hal was agreed upon to be the cause of, Hal is left to attempt to reconcile every member of his dysfunctional family. Hal guides each of them through the process of grieving, acceptance, all while trying to regaining their trust and love through his classic heartfelt and comedic scenes. His efforts, however, are strenuous on his health, leading him to resort to the coping habit of smoking and studying rocket science for a sense of achievement. Between his family life and education pursuits, Hal spends time eating at a diner, which is later revealed to be the working place of a younger Skyler White (recast as Rhea Seehorn). As the first season progresses, Hal realizes that, despite his comedic attempts at recovering his family's love, they have moved on without the need of him, a discovery that sends Hal into depression over his true purpose. Although the Wilkerson family has mostly moved on from the death of Dewey, they still have never forgiven Hal for his involvement, which is a major contributor into the development of Hal into Walter. Hal begins to flirt with the idea of a secret affair with his current wife Lois, and his antics and collapsing stability only lead to more issues for all involved in the story, eventually culminating with a total reset of his former life and a shift in character that continue into Breaking Bad, as implied by the show being a prequel.

The show is well-known for how it handles and portrays the inherently conflicting mix of both original shows writing styles without causing tonal whiplash. Rather than attempting to find a blend of the two, the show gradually loses its serious nature over the course of the series, with the rest of the Wilkerson family returning to their comedic pre-accident personalities as Hal loses his own personality following a countless amount of stress put on him. Vince Gilligan has gone on record stating that the blend of comedy and drama was deliberately chosen to reflect and mock audience responses to the announcement of Bryan Cranston's role in Breaking Bad after his legacy in Malcolm in the Middle.

Themes

The iconic fedora of Walter White's persona Heisenberg is shown in the post credits scene of "Pilot"

A major theme of Lil' Hal (and in Vince Gilligan's works in general) is the separation of the protagonist into two distinct people: a normal side where they play out their lives daily, and an evil, alternate ego, usually one sprung up from a deep rooted issue that has manifested from pride or other contributing factors. Hal fits this theme as shown by his differing personalities that reflect the tonal opposite of the show, and by the end, his persona has finished taking over him, marking the end of Hal's story in the same manner as the other protagonists of the Breaking Bad franchise.

Connection with Breaking Bad

Every episode so far features a post-credits scene in which Hal, while asleep in bed with his wife Lois, will begin to have a sudden headache, screaming as the camera zooms into his eyes. The scene then transitions into a black and white flashforward to events that take place in the future during Breaking Bad, an homage to the same concept taken from the series' spinoff, Better Call Saul. After each flashforward sequence, Lois begins to comforts him, insisting that whatever was going on was simply a recurring nightmare. Hal, now de-stressed, then takes her word and goes back to bed, after which a camera pans to a chair next to the bed revealing an item of importance from Breaking Bad.

Characters

The cast of Lil' Hal as they appear in a promotional image. Dewey's photo is held by Justin Berfield to convey his character's emotional trauma for Dewey's death.

• Bryan Cranston as Hal Wilkerson / Walter White, father of a dysfunctional and now broken family who slips into a life of self-fulfillment as the series progresses. Hal begins the series as his Malcolm in the Middle self, albeit more emotionally unstable and scared from his involvement in Dewey's death, and silently grows into a selfish man with a desire to truly matter to a family.
• Jane Kaczmarek as Lois Wilkerson, hotheaded wife of Hal and mother of five children who, along with them, are able to better themselves as people following the death of her second youngest. Lois' bond with her children tightens at the same time an increasingly absent Hal causes them to grow distant, leaving Lois' love for him unrequited in the end.
• Frankie Muniz as Malcolm Middle, former third child and protagonist now playing the role of deuteragonist. As the focus of Lil' Hal is primarily on the relationship of Lois and Hal, Malcolm takes a backseat to a majority of the story, only becoming more involved in the later half of the series as it regresses back into its previous tones.
• Justin Berfield as Reese Wilkerson, the common sense lacking second son who usually serves as the cause for any shenanigans in the later seasons.
• Christopher Masterson as Francis Wilkerson, who makes a cameo in the pilot as a photo on the wall, implying he had died during his time serving in the military off-screen.
• A baby as Jamie Wilkerson, newest child born on Malcolm in the Middle, who serves a mild antagonistic force as his presence prevents Hal from reaching his goals.

Episodes

Season 1 (2023)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"Pilot"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	May 19th, 2023	53.13
Two years before he was Walter White, he was Hal Wilkerson. Following the false pregnancy of his sixth child and tragic death of his second youngest son, Dewey, Hal's entire life is flipped on its head as his family turns into an even bigger mess than usual. Desperate to return back to normality, Hal disguises his inner pain behind his normal goofy demeanor.
1	2	"Gutter"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	May 26th, 2023	36.51
Hal attempts to take his family out on a night of bowling under the presumption that spending time together will cheer them all up, but everyone except Jamie chooses to get a good nights sleep instead. Unable to bowl any strikes, Hal's stability and confidence is put to the test as he fights his true emotions while constantly rolling gutterballs. After managing to slip in a strike on his last turn, he tells himself it was simply a bad day.
1	3	"Shed"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	June 2nd, 2023	31.90
With the Wilkerson children still wallowing in their sorrow, Hal is left to finish the chores around the house which inadvertently takes his mind off everything for a moment. Cleaning up makes him feel like his life is getting slightly better, but after exploring the shed, he finds things that reminds him of Dewey and sobs to himself alone.
1	4	"Seven Three Seven"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	June 9th, 2023	30.19
After finding a cache of money intended to be used for a college education, Hal applies for universities in hopes of eventually earning enough money to pay for any funeral expenses for the family in the future. His wife and children become upset with him for using the money for a long term investment, causing Hal to storm out of the house.
1	5	"Two Days Out"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	June 13th, 2023	29.92
During his time spent away from his family, Hal visits the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for a night on the town. After picking up a tobacco addiction and spotting a young Skyler White at a diner, the idea of a better life is now seeded in Hal's mind.
1	6	"Gray Matter 2"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	June 20th, 2023	31.67
Once again returning to Albuquerque, this time to pursuit his education, Hal turns out to be a chemistry prodigy, drawing the attention of a young Elliot Schwartz, the future co-founding member of Gray Matter Technologies - a company that would serve as a massive factor to Walter White's development.
1	7	N/A (unaired)	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	June 27th, 2023	0.000000002
Synopsis currently unknown; episode failed to air and was not re-released after.
1	8	"Chemistry Man"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	July 4th, 2023	30.03
When Hal aces a chemistry exam at university, the power goes to his head and he begins flaunting his genius to everyone, whether they want it or not. Hal struggles to fight his urge to spend all his time away from his grieving family.
1	9	"Blank"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	July 11th, 2023	31.75
Having completed the first semester of university, Hal parties with Elliot Schwartz and friends, leading to Hal passing out from exhaustion and being robbed shortly after. Hal spends an afternoon navigating his way out of the slums of Albuquerque.
1	10	"Burner"	Vince Gilligan	Peter Gould	July 18th, 2023	35.79
Missed calls from Lois on Hal's phone lead to a messy argument that Hal has to lie his way out of. The prospect of a new life in Albuquerque is postponed for the future.

Production

Conception

"I remember after we had stopped rolling the cameras for the day, I was touching up the script for Saul Gone in my bedroom. Really nice bedroom by the way. It's actually legally considered a recreation room, that's how big it is. But when Cranston showed up in there, boy, his presence. It made me feel so small, so vulnerable. The way he just drew everyone's eyes onto him. That was when I realized, hey, we really can't let his skills go to waste, right? After today, he was probably gonna go home and wait for his pay in the mail and spend the rest of his life wishing he could be in something again. 'Because what else does Cranston even do?' I asked myself. I made him what he is today. And I looked at him while he just stared me down. I said, 'you caught me in a good mood. I know I had been telling everyone back there that 'Saul' was gonna be it, but God, I can't get enough of you. We need to make something beautiful.' And he laughed at me, telling that's exactly what he was thinking about too. Boy, the look on our faces!"

—Vince Gilligan regarding Cranston's arrest for breaking and entering

Following Bryan Cranston's role reprisal in the final season of Better Call Saul in 2022 and its positive reception from audiences, Cranston would discuss the possibilities of him getting to play the character of Walter White more. "I just felt that we really had something special here," he had said in an exclusive interview with IGN. "A character who's story ended almost a decade ago, a character we all watched the tale of come to an end perfectly... We couldn't just waste White like that. Audiences love him and they love seeing me. There's so much more we can expand on here that we just didn't." Cranston took his grievences with the character to show creator Vince Gilligan approximately two days after filming of his role in Breaking Bad (Better Call Saul episode) finished, hoping to convince him that his character needed more time on the screen for audiences to feel truly satisfied with the franchise.

Time machines would later end up being a recurring theme of Saul Gone, as a subtle nod to their rejected concept.

When charges against Cranston were dropped, he and Gilligan had begun brainstorming on what direction the newest chapter of the Walter White story was going to be taken in. Several ideas were pitched between the two, some of which were publicly shared following the show's premiere. "We had this one spinoff that we had thought about specifically," Gilligan shared. "The whole thing was, like, what if Walt was so smart, that in an alternate universe, he had invented time travel?" Cranston would add on, saying "Yeah, that one was the one we thought was going to be it for a while. We were gonna call it 'Fixing Good' because the idea was Walter White traveling through time to fix all the problems he had caused in the Breaking Bad universe, and he would also meet these alternate versions of himself throughout the way that tried to stop him; some tried because they didn't want him to fix the timeline, some hated him because they knew he was doing it for his ego. It was a really fun direction and it gave us a lot of opportunities to flesh him out a bit more." Gilligan then follows up by saying "I was on board with it for a good while, but I realized we would basically be making the show into Rick and Morty, which would make our fanbase even more annoying."

It wasn't until browsing Cranston's previous works that Gilligan discovered Malcolm in the Middle, a show Cranston was well known on for playing the role of Hal, a lovable goofball of a father. Vince stated "it just hit me like a truck. I showed [Cranston] and I said, 'Oh my God. That's the show that they said was the reason you couldn't do a serious role.' That's when I realized, we had to prove those people wrong. We can work with this." The creator of Malcolm in the Middle was contacted to discuss the idea of a grittier reboot of sorts, with the comedic aspect entirely exchanged for drama and melancholy. According to Gilligan, the process of reuniting the original cast was "a massive pain" as Eric Per Sullivan, actor of Dewey Wilkerson, had passed away several years after the cancellation of Malcolm in the Middle, but the actors tragic death was written as an integral plot piece and point of origin for his new series.

Titling

"At first I was worried "Lil' Hal" sounded too stupid. I thought people would go "what is that? Breaking Bad for babies? Obviously, they did end up saying that. But then I saw someone on a Reddit thread say that the title symbolized how Hal was becoming little in comparison to his Walter White persona. The comment had a lot of upvotes, too. It made me feel a lot better about everything.

—Vince Gilligan regarding his genius

Lil' Hal was the result of approximately three months of brainstorming between Gilligan's creative team. The team was looking to title the show something that "perfectly encapsulated the journey Hal goes through," but were unable to finalize a name before the deadline.

Other rejected titles have been publicized and are listed below:

• Breaking Hal
• Walter in the Middle
• Better Heckle Hal
• Boss of You (Now)
• Breaking Bad Zero
• Heisenberg Jr.
• Is It Wrong To Leave My Family To Eventually Become A Drug Lord For Not Forgiving Me For Our Son's Death?

Development history

Lil' Hal is unique when compared to the other works of Vince Gilligan and most other shows in that almost all writing was done exclusively by a single person, with no team of writers, proofreaders, or editors other than Cranston as an extreme form of method acting. Nobody other than him had seen the script or was allowed to give input at all. The first time Vince had seen the script, he said "it was beautiful." Despite this, the executives of many streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO Max rejected Lil' Hal on the grounds of "sucking ass." The sole platform that would accept Lil' Hal was the dead but yet to be buried streaming service Quibi who was desperate to return to the mainstream it had never been in to begin with. To fit with Quibi's style of content, each episode had to be made about ten minutes long, drastically affecting production and causing months of setbacks. Quibi ordered a first season of Lil' Hal on January 7th, 2023. Three more seasons were ordered the next day, as Quibi realized it was going to die anyway.

Filming

Filming for Lil' Hal was described by the crew as a "living nightmare". A majority of the show had to be shot on the same cameras used for Malcolm in the Middle to recapture the authentic quality of the time period, which meant the crew would have to adjust themselves to older, outdated technology. As the cost of having Cranston took up a majority of the budget, the Wilkerson house was the only available property they could legally remain on. Many parts of the home were unable to be shot in without accidentally filming a cast member on break. Restrooms were unavailable as the only one was being remodeled to recreate the scene of a bathtub falling through the ceiling from Breaking Bad, despite the home only being one story. "Some of the choices they made were asinine and detrimental," an anonymous crew member named Kevin Miller stated. Despite the hardships of filming, Lil' Hal's cinematography was generally regarded as on par with that of Gilligan's other works.

While season one is majorly comprised of shots inside the Wilkerson house, there are several scenes and episodes that take place around Albuquerque. Gutter is primarily shot in a bowling alley, much like the Emmy Award winning Malcolm in the Middle episode Bowling. A locally owned bowling alley was chosen over that of a franchise chain to support local businesses in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to, as Vince Gilligan stated, "try to keep the show realistic. We don't want the family going to anywhere nice-looking. Kirtland Lanes on 1400 Texas Street, Albuquerque was what we went with. That one looked disgusting enough. Yeah."

"Oh my God, the pizza. Don't even get me started. I just couldn't manage it, I think something in me had changed. The worst part was how hungry the rest of the camera crew was. I had to keep throwing perfectly good pizza up there because the crew kept taking slices before I could pick it back up to reshoot. One time specifically, I threw it so hard it hit one of our cameras high up and ruined the shot. Then the camera just (makes sliding gesture) all the way down the roof tiles and smashed the windshield of someones car. We never found out who's it was.

—Bryan Cranston regarding his lunch

Pizza-throwing scene

One of the most iconic scenes from Breaking Bad involved Walter White tossing a pizza on the roof after an argument with Skyler. Vince Gilligan felt the need to expand the backstory of this scene, and to do so, needed to recreate it with Hal. The remade scene appeared in the sixth episode Grey Matter 2, however, unlike during the original filming of the scene, Cranston was unable to land the pizza on his first try. Over two hundred dollars were spent on pizzas for the single scene.

Reception

Lil' Hal is widely regarded as one of the most controversial entries to the Breaking Bad franchise in existence.Unlike Slippin' Jimmy, which received overwhelmingly negative reception and is universally considered one of the worst TV shows of all time, Lil' Hal has many fans split on its true value to the franchise as a whole. Fans of Lil' Hal praise the execution of Hal's character development and the show's handling of comedy and drama, as well as the performances of every reprised cast member, with Kaczmarek in particular receiving several Emmy nominations for her scene in the ending of the season finale. Haters, however, claim that turning Malcolm in the Middle into a drama is unrealistic and goes against everything the original show stood for, as well as criticizing the necessity of the show and if it truly fits with the rest of the franchise. While many can agree on the quality of the writing being on par with that of Gilligan's other works, many of the decisions made regarding the continuation of Malcolm in the Middle and revision of important events in the Breaking Bad universe have been heavily scrutinized online by fans and critics alike.

Retcons

Episode seven of season one, Gray Matter 2, is infamous for changing the canonical timeline ofBreaking Bad to move events that happen much earlier in Walter White's life into just under two years prior to the events shown in Breaking Bad. In-universe, Walter White would meet Elliott Schwartz, co-founder of Gray Matter Technologies, a major contributor to the moment Walter became Heisenberg, at some time in the 1980s. With the retcon of Lil' Hal, this means that Gray Matter Technologies would have had to accumulate a value of $2,160,000,000 in the span of just under two years, or approximately $1,080,000,000 in the span of one year, or approximately $540,000,000 every six months, or approximately $125,000 an hour, which is slightly higher than the minimum wage of Albuquerque, a factual error that has been universally agreed upon to be one of the worst mistakes Vince Gilligan has ever made.

The retcon of the youngest child of the Wilkerson family, Jamie, being the future character of Flynn (Walter White Jr.) has also been criticized for being dumb, as has the idea of Walter White having cheated on a previous lover, as it seemed out of character for him to do something bad.

Homestuck incident

In episode four of season one, Walter White implies being familiar with the character of Lil Hal, an artificial intelligence chat bot used by the character Dink Strider from the infamous online webcomic Homestuck. Although the quote itself seemed ambiguous, many fans of the series discovered the line and began to harass Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston's social media profiles, asking how much they knew about Homestuck.

On the 14th of June, Homestuck creator Andrew Hussie would discuss the ongoing harassment, denouncing the trolls who participated by calling them "not cool" and asking that they "dont do that again." Rather than stop their harassment altogether, the fans who had previously harassed Vince Gilligan began harassing Andrew Hussie for creating Homestuck to begin with.

Legacy

After its run, Lil' Hal had become regarded as the "black sheep" of the Breaking Bad franchise. Many people still claim that the concept alone was baffling, and to have it be made into a full series was surreal to watch unfold. Some have analyzed the series in retrospect, attempting to search for its worth and find a justification for its existence. Fans who have become dedicated to the show refer to it as the most overhated and misunderstood piece of media in existence.

One of the most notable impacts of Lil' Hal was its revival in interest in Malcolm in the Middle. Demand for its re-release on physical medium and on streaming services increased by 346% after the announcement of the first season, and saw a total interest increase of 5837% over the course of Lil' Hal's run. In comparison, during Breaking Bad's run, its spinoff show Better Call Saul saw a 0% increase in interest throughout its five year run.

Ratings

A graph showcasing Lil' Hal's performance. Yikes!

With the current first season having an average critic score of 33 on Metacritic, an average 21% critic score and an average 42% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an average 3.4/10 rating on IMDB, Lil' Hal is one of Vince Gilligan's worst performing shows of all time, and the lowest rated series in the Breaking Bad franchise, disregarding Slippin' Jimmy which was legally disowned by Vince Gilligan two months after its release. The show was the most watched program on Quibi in 2023 as well as its most watched program overall.

The series is notable for its sheer difference in views compared to the original run of Breaking Bad, but this may be attributed to the combination of several different franchises resulting in a larger audience, or potentially even the view counts being artificially manipulated in an attempt to cover up a potential failure that could result in the cancellation of the series.