- Mike: "The lesson is, if you're gonna be a criminal, do your homework."
- Daniel: "Wait. I'm not a bad guy."
- Mike: "I didn't say you were a bad guy. I said you're a criminal."
- Daniel: "What's the difference?"
- Mike: "I've known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests. Honorable thieves. You can be on one side of the law or the other. But if you make a deal with somebody, you keep your word. You can go home today with your money and never do this again. But you took something that wasn't yours. And you sold it for a profit. You're now a criminal. Good one, bad one? That's up to you."
- ―Daniel Wormald and Mike Ehrmantraut on the difference between criminals and villains.[src]
Daniel Wormald, also known by his aliases Pryce and Danny, is a quirky, nerdy and naïve man who works for a pharmaceutical company and later became the owner of Lazer Base.[1] He is known for being comically naïve, unprepared for his interactions with career criminals, and completely oblivious to the nuances and subtleties of life outside of the law.
To earn extra money, Daniel steals some of his company's pills to sell to Nacho Varga and hires Mike Ehrmantraut to provide security. Knowing that Nacho is going behind the cartel's back and wants to avoid attention, Mike assures that he abides by the terms of the deal. Daniel uses the money to buy a flashy Hummer and when he arranges another deal, Mike refuses to be a part of it. Daniel still meets Nacho, but without Mike to protect him, Nacho obtains Daniel's address. Nacho later breaks into Daniel's home to steal Daniel's cash, pill stash, and a collection of baseball cards. Daniel calls police to report the stolen cards but his awkward behavior leads the cops to find the hiding place where he kept the cash and pills. To keep Daniel from talking, Mike brokers a deal that has Nacho exchange cash and the baseball cards for Daniel's Hummer. Mike also arranges for Jimmy to represent Daniel during an interview with police, in which Jimmy allays their suspicions by claiming Daniel has a fetish for "pie sitting" and kept videos of the act in his hiding place.
Nacho breaks into Daniel's home again, this time offering Daniel $20,000 if he can procure empty capsules that look like Hector Salamanca's angina medication. Daniel approaches Mike for help and Mike declines. Mike changes his mind after comparing the risk an unprotected Daniel will face to the risk Mike created for his daughter-in-law and granddaughter by his recent actions against the Salamancas. Mike delivers the empty capsules to Nacho, who explains his plan to switch Hector's nitroglycerin for a placebo. Mike warns Nacho that if Hector dies, Nacho should immediately take the fakes from Hector and replace them with the real medication so that the cause of Hector's death will not be obvious. By 2008, Daniel had become the owner of Lazer Base, a laser tag business used by Saul Goodman as a front for money laundering.
History[]
Better Call Saul[]
Season 1[]
Mike Ehrmantraut, who is looking for work after arriving in Albuquerque, is informed by Caldera about part-time employment as a bodyguard, that is paying $500 per job, and he accepts. He arrives at a multi-story car park along with two other men where the employer (Daniel) is due to meet up with them. One of the other men, Sobchak, comments that Daniel is apparently 'as green as they come', having no prior criminal experience. He is also in disbelief after Mike informs him that he is only carrying a Pimento cheese sandwich and no gun.
Daniel soon arrives to pick up his bodyguards and introduces himself as Pryce, though he explains that it is not his real name (it is actually the name of his nephew). Sobchak warns Pryce that Mike is 'dead weight' because he did not bring a weapon and demands that he cut Mike out of the deal and instead pay him and the the other bodyguard (whom he calls 'Man Mountain') $750 each. Mike calmly responds that if he needs a gun, he will take one of Sobchak's. The thug scoffs and arrogantly dares Mike to take it from him. He holds out a gun, tauntingly. Mike swiftly and effortlessly disarms him. Enraged, Sobchak lunges forward, but Mike injures him, hitting his throat with the butt of the pistol. He then proceeds to find and dispose of all of Sobchak's weapons, meanwhile the third bodyguard runs away. An awestruck Pryce agrees to pay Mike the full original fee for three bodyguards, and the two drive off to the meet.
At a desolate abandoned power plant, a nervous Daniel debates the best way to conduct the deal. After he rambles on about whether to switch the pills and the money simultaneously, Mike interrupts and firmly instructs that he receive the money first, count it and then hand over the pills if the price has been met. Nacho Varga and his men arrive soon after. With Mike keeping a wary eye on the situation, the deal is completed with just one hiccup: Nacho's envelope of cash is short of $20. Mike demands that Daniel receive payment in full, or the deal is off. Nacho is offended by the idea that he might have shorted Daniel on purpose, and can't believe that Mike would blow up the deal over such a small amount of money. But when Mike stands his ground, Nacho begrudgingly forks over a $20 bill.
Afterward, Mike informs Daniel that he was never worried about the deal collapsing because he had done research prior to showing up for the job. He knew exactly who Nacho was, and, most importantly, that Nacho was conducting this deal without the knowledge of his boss, Tuco Salamanca. Consequently, he was incentivized to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible, hence why Mike did not feel it necessary to bring a gun. "If you're gonna be a criminal, do your homework," Mike advises. Daniel laments that he's not a bad guy, and Mike clarifies: Being a criminal doesn't mean you are a bad person. No matter which side of the law you are on, if you make a deal, you need to keep your word (this was why Mike had insisted that Nacho pay the exact amount that was agreed, even if it was only $20 shy) ("Pimento").
Season 2[]
Daniel returns a few weeks later to pick up Mike, but this time in a brand new car - a bright yellow Hummer, furnished with a red flame decal and spinning chrome rims, paid for by his earnings from the deal with Nacho. Realizing that such an unsubtle and extravagant car would likely draw unwanted attention to their illegal dealings, Mike refuses to enter the vehicle, stating that criminal activity requires more 'restraint' (Nacho later mirrors this, claiming that he wouldn't be 'caught dead' driving the car and that it looks like 'a school bus for six year old pimps'). Instead, Mike suggests that he drive them to the meeting. Daniel is taken back by such remarks but is adamant that they use his Hummer for the job, at which point Mike walks off.
With Daniel arriving at the meet alone, Nacho immediately notices Mike's absence and realizes it as an opportunity to rip him off. After the two enter a conversation about the new car, Nacho accepts an offer to look inside while Daniel fetches the pills from the trunk. Nacho quickly looks inside the glove box and finds a document containing Daniel's real name and home address. He quickly puts it back inside and exits the vehicle. Daniel gives him the pills and they both drive off.
Later, Daniel calls the cops to his home to report that he has been robbed of his valuable baseball card collection and cash. The two cops quickly become suspicious of Daniel, and when he leaves the room they notice that the couch has recently been moved. They look behind it and find a hole in the wall with nothing inside which they assume was used to store illegal items of some description ("Switch").
Mike later helps Daniel retrieve his baseball cards (along with $10,000) from Nacho and his men in exchange for Daniel's yellow-and-red Hummer H2, which he is distraught to find out that Nacho is intending to take to a chop shop. However, Daniel is not yet out of the woods, with the police growing more suspicious after their earlier search of his house. Jimmy McGill helps exonerate him by claiming to the detectives that Daniel creates fetish videos called "squat cobbler" which consists of him sitting fully-clothed in pies and even crying in some of them. McGill uses this story to explain the presence of the secret storage space behind the baseboard found in Daniel's house, claiming that it was used as a hiding space for the videos to avoid embarrassment, rather than for concealing drugs or other illegal items. Jimmy also helps authenticate the supposed fetish by filming a video of Daniel sitting in pies. Kim Wexler later finds out and is appalled that Jimmy would falsify evidence and risk jeopardizing the best job offer of his career ("Cobbler").
Season 3[]
Daniel arrives home one evening and is shocked to find Nacho sitting on his couch, having broken in through the back door. Nacho assures Daniel that he means no harm and simply wants to purchase a box of empty pill capsules (which he later uses to cause Hector's stroke through switching them with his actual medicine). Although Daniel agrees to have a shipment of capsules re-routed to his office, he remains suspicious of Nacho, given the nature of their previous encounter. Therefore, he later contacts Mike for help. Mike initially refuses, but is inspired to eventually help after talking with Anita about her dead husband. After determining that Nacho wishes Daniel no harm and genuinely intends to pay, Mike also asks for the location of the body of the truck driver that Hector murdered before reassuring Daniel and allowing him to complete the deal. ("Expenses")("Slip")
Prior to Breaking Bad[]
After his experiences with the drug business, Danny “had a vision” and would go on to purchase a local laser tag business named Lazer Base. Around 2007, the stock market took a dive, and Danny got into money troubles. He then approached his lawyer, Jimmy McGill, who was now practicing under the name Saul Goodman. He offered to use his business as a front for money laundering, leading Saul to conclude that he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut. ("Abiquiú")
Breaking Bad[]
While never seen onscreen, Danny is mentioned multiple times by Saul.
Season 3[]
When suggesting business’ for Walter White to buy in order to launder his money, Saul pushes for him to use Danny’s Lazer Base. Skyler White rebuffs this idea, stating that it does not fit Walt.
While scoping out A1A Car Wash as a potential money laundering business for Walt, Saul mentions that the car wash is inadequate because it lacks “a Danny”. Walt is confused by this, and Saul goes on to explain that Danny, the owner of the Lazer Base, can be trusted to keep quiet about the money laundering, whereas Bogdan, the owner of the car wash, can not. ("Abiquiú")
After Jesse Pinkman, a client of Saul's, kills two street dealers working for Albuquerque’s meth kingpin, Saul hides Pinkman at Danny’s Lazer Base. He remains there until he is forced to kill a rival chemist to save Walt. ("Full Measure")
Season 5[]
After the collapse of Albuquerque’s previous meth empire, Saul begins working with Walt, Jesse, and Mike to create a new organization to fill the void on the market. After exploring several businesses to serve as a front for meth manufacturing, Saul once again attempts to convince Walt to purchase the Lazer Base. He asks them to keep an open mind, and tells them that Danny has already set aside room behind the skee-ball games for the equipment. Walt and Jesse both quickly shoot this idea down. ("Hazard Pay")
Post-Breaking Bad[]
Francesca Liddy reveals to Saul Goodman that the DEA had found and seized Lazer Base along with all of Saul's other assets and shell corporations. However, she doesn't answer when he asks how Danny is doing. ("Breaking Bad")
Quotes[]
- Mike: "The lesson is, if you're gonna be a criminal, do your homework."
- Daniel: "Wait. I'm not a bad guy."
- Mike: "I didn't say you were a bad guy. I said you're a criminal."
- Daniel: "What's the difference?"
- Mike: "I've known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests. Honorable thieves. You can be on one side of the law or the other. But if you make a deal with somebody, you keep your word. You can go home today with your money and never do this again. But you took something that wasn't yours. And you sold it for a profit. You're now a criminal. Good one, bad one? That's up to you."
- ―Mike Ehrmantraut and Daniel Wormald on the difference between criminals and villains.[src]
"I'm not here as a criminal. I'm here as a crime victim. Just because I occasionally sell some pharmaceuticals, I no longer have a right to protection from crime? And I was very careful when I talked to them. I... they have no idea about my other business." ―Daniel talking to Mike.
- "I'm glad you like my car, but I think we're looking through the wrong end of the telescope here! The priority is my baseball cards."
- ―Daniel talking to the police about his stolen baseball cards.
- Nacho: "I'll make sure the boys at the chop shop are real gentle with her."
- Daniel: "Wait...w-why? No..."
- Nacho: "Do you think I'd be caught dead driving that thing? Looks like a school bus for six year old pimps."
- ―Nacho Varga to Daniel after trading the baseball cards for the latter's Hummer[src]
Appearances[]
Better Call Saul[]
| Episodes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | ✔ | ||||||||||||
| Season 2 | ✔ | ✔ | |||||||||||
| Season 3 | ✔ | ||||||||||||
| Season 4 | |||||||||||||
| Season 5 | |||||||||||||
| Season 6 |
Trivia[]
- Daniel's vehicles include:
- In interviews with The Hollywood Reporter[2] and Rolling Stone,[1] Thomas Schnauz confirmed that Daniel Wormald and the Danny mentioned in Breaking Bad are the same character.
- He is one of the few unseen characters of Breaking Bad to appear in Better Call Saul, the others being Nacho Varga, Lalo Salamanca, and Blanca Gomez.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "We made Pryce’s real name Daniel Wormald, and my dream was always to bring Pryce back and have him be the guy who runs the Laser Tag place as Danny. It just didn’t work out that way. But when Gene mentions Danny here, that’s who he’s referring to." ‘Better Call Saul’ Writer on Finally Entering the World of ‘Breaking Bad’
- ↑ ‘Better Call Saul’ Writer-EP Thomas Schnauz Breaks Down the Momentous “Breaking Bad” Episode