Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan Added A Heartbreaking Tribute Most Fans Missed
Vince Gilligan is well known for the painstaking attention to detail he put into "Breaking Bad," and over the years, fans have sniffed out dozens of small Easter eggs and callbacks that prove just how thorough Gilligan is when crafting a story.
A few of the most notable hidden details include Walter White (Bryan Cranston) losing his pants in the pilot and then walking past them again in the Season 5 episode "Ozymandias," and the pink teddy bear in Season 2 foreshadowing Gustavo Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) death in Season 4. Although most of these Easter eggs are solely for the narrative's sake, Gilligan also added another small detail that serves as a tribute to his late aunt, Ginny Lambert.
In Season 2, Episode 4 — "Down," we get a brief shot of Jesse Pinkman's bedroom, and the camera lingers for a moment on a photo of Jesse with his Aunt Ginny — who left him her house after she passed away from lung cancer. On the "Breaking Bad Insider Podcast” Episode 4, Gilligan revealed that the woman in the photo is Lambert, who similarly passed away from lung cancer before the Season 1 premiere. Gilligan went on to say that this photo was a well-deserved tribute for his beloved aunt, whom he misses dearly.
The last name Lambert appears several times in Breaking Bad
Besides this photograph of Ginny Lambert, Vince Gilligan appears to have slipped in several other tributes to his beloved aunt later in the series.
Most notably, the maiden name of Skylar White (Anna Gunn) and Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt) is Lambert, likely inspired by the same aunt who gave her name and likeness to Aunt Ginny. Lambert is also the false last name used by Walter White while he's on the run during "Breaking Bad" Season 5. Though the in-universe explanation for this fake identity is probably just Walt using his wife's maiden name, fans can clearly connect the dots back to Gilligan's aunt.
During his aforementioned interview on the "Breaking Bad Insider Podcast," Gilligan expressed his immense gratitude for being able to include his aunt in "Breaking Bad" since she never actually got to see the show before she passed away. Though you likely missed this small detail amid all the drug-fueled chaos of "Breaking Bad," this loving tribute is certainly one of the most important Easter eggs that Vince Gilligan ever added to the series.