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TV: Breaking Bad

Lshap

Lshap

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Jun 6, 2011
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ArGarBarGar said:
If you find her greatest offense is to help launder money for the father of her children, then you are not doing a very good job of putting her close to the same evilness of Walter White or a large number of other characters in the show.
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Funny, I never thought Walt was actually evil. In fact, at the time the show was wrapping up its final episodes I was defending the character in a long debate on this site. This was one of my (many) points on the subject:

Lshap said:
I agree Walt is driven by ego as much as desperation. His Heisenberg persona allows him to become the empire-builder he always wanted to be. But throughout his journey from teacher to drug-king, I don't think he ever once enjoyed killing anyone, and in fact the show took great pains to show the extreme circumstances that brought him to those decisions. You referenced the first episode as the start of his decline, but look at that scene on its own and you see a desperate, terrified wimp being threatened at gunpoint. At that moment, Walt could either kill or be killed. Had the show ended with that episode, almost everyone would've thought, "Here's a good guy who put himself in a bad situation". Walt was clearly the victim.

And that's the relativism I mentioned. It starts with, "What else could I have done??", escalates to, "What other choice do I have next?", and arrives at, "Him or me". Walt never lost his distaste for death, but it's become such a familiar distaste that he can now swallow it quickly and move on faster. But as long as he can hang onto that distaste and feelings of remorse he can still rationalize that he hasn't changed, only the circumstances surrounding him have.

I realize we're talking about the unlikely story of a middle-age man going into the meth business, and from a safe distance it's easy to see that Walt was voluntarily walking into a snake pit the moment he entered the drug world. But throughout five seasons of escalating stakes, threats and responses, Walt naively kept believing he could manage and control the situation so that nobody else would get hurt. And each time he lost control and somebody died, he put a mental wedge between the horrible act and the good person he believed himself to be, rationalized to himself that the past was the past and moved forward, with his self-image unshaken. I mean, up to the last episode he really believed he could wrap Heisenberg up and continue on as a family man like nothing happened. That doesn't say "Evil" to me, that says "Denial".
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Alexander the Gr8

Alexander the Gr8

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Blender said:
What!?:help:

More evil than Gus? Any of the Salamancas? Jack? Todd? I'm not sure she would crack the top 10.
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Well I guess you are right, I exaggerated a lot :laugh:. My point is, she isn't good after season 3, although not as much as all the psychopaths on the show. She got a taste of the criminal world and didn't leave it until the very end. The only important character who remained good from the beginning to the end is Hank, obviously.

The true hero in Breaking Bad was Hank, and Jesse to a lesser extent.
 
TP

TP

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Dec 2, 2008
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alko said:
Just curious:

In season 4, Episode "Salud", Don Eladio received some special Tequila. What is it for a Tequila? Can you buy it?
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It's not real. Better Call Saul used it again as an easter egg.
 
chicagoskycam

chicagoskycam

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Eazy for Kuzy said:
Well I guess you are right, I exaggerated a lot :laugh:. My point is, she isn't good after season 3, although not as much as all the psychopaths on the show. She got a taste of the criminal world and didn't leave it until the very end. The only important character who remained good from the beginning to the end is Hank, obviously.

The true hero in Breaking Bad was Hank, and Jesse to a lesser extent.
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Mmm not really. You could say Gomez. Hank beat the **** out of suspect, Jesse. He ran his own investigation after he was explicitly told not to and got Gomez and him killed. Maybe it was a means to an end. He started a fight in a bar on purpose. Hank put Jesse in a dangerous situation for his own personal goals. We know what the result of that was.

You missed the point of the show if you trying to quantify people in good vs. bad. Everyone has challenges and bad moments especially in extremely stressful situations. Skylar to me was trying to make the best out of the situation she was forced in to, this is after Walt refused to leave her. Remember she feels guilty for what happened to Hank and she knows Walt is somehow involved. She wants to give money as Hank's insurance won't cover it and comes up with the poker story. This is when she becomes complicit and cannot really turn back. Seems like a horrible person.
 
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CokenoPepsi

CokenoPepsi

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Oct 28, 2016
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Eazy for Kuzy said:
Well I guess you are right, I exaggerated a lot :laugh:. My point is, she isn't good after season 3, although not as much as all the psychopaths on the show. She got a taste of the criminal world and didn't leave it until the very end. The only important character who remained good from the beginning to the end is Hank, obviously.

The true hero in Breaking Bad was Hank, and Jesse to a lesser extent.
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**** no, Jesse was the worst he didn't get enough punishment for his crimes.
 
Neutrinos

Neutrinos

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Sep 23, 2016
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alko said:
Just curious:

In season 4, Episode "Salud", Don Eladio received some special Tequila. What is it for a Tequila? Can you buy it?
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The producers approached a tequila company about using their brand, but the company didn't feel comfortable with having characters die as a result of drinking their product

So they made up a brand
 
CycloneLaunch

CycloneLaunch

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CokenoPepsi said:
**** no, Jesse was the worst he didn't get enough punishment for his crimes.
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giphy.gif
 
The Gabe Blade

The Gabe Blade

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Jul 9, 2004
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CokenoPepsi said:
**** no, Jesse was the worst he didn't get enough punishment for his crimes.
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There was a common theme throughout Breaking Bad of Jesse taking the brunt if not all of the fallout from Walt & his crimes

I was going to start a long list, but I remembered that someone made this wonderful video

 
Datsyukian Deke

Datsyukian Deke

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Apr 5, 2012
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Giancarlo Esposito really should have at least won a few awards for his performance in this show. He practically made seasons 3 & 4, in terms of story lines.

I always thought Jesse should have been killed off after the first couple seasons. Between him & Skylar, they both got old pretty quick, but that's just my opinion.
 
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glovesave_35

glovesave_35

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Datsyukian Deke said:
I always thought Jesse should have been killed off after the first couple seasons. Between him & Skylar, they both got old pretty quick, but that's just my opinion.
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It's been a little while since I watched, but Skylar was the worst character on the show. I just found her really annoying.

Jesse was my second least favorite character. All the "yo-yo b****" stuff was just cringey.

Hank also seemed like a real stock cop character from top to bottom.
 
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End on a Hinote

End on a Hinote

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Aug 22, 2011
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Lshap said:
Funny, I never thought Walt was actually evil. In fact, at the time the show was wrapping up its final episodes I was defending the character in a long debate on this site. This was one of my (many) points on the subject:
Click to expand...

Agreed. While he admitted that he liked what he did in the final episode there was still clear signs that he was still a very sane, normal man.
 
Brodeur

Brodeur

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ucanthanzalthetruth said:
Just finishing a rewatch, reminded me how much I hate Marie. Still don't get the point of her shoplifting subplot.
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I always thought the shoplifting was gonna lead to something. My personal retcon was that she compulsively stole "Leaves of Grass" from the White's house and Hank stumbled on it at home, then had his revelation. And then since Marie stole it, he couldn't use it as evidence (not sure if that's even plausible).
 
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Neutrinos

Neutrinos

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Brodeur said:
I always thought the shoplifting was gonna lead to something. My personal retcon was that she compulsively stole "Leaves of Grass" from the White's house and Hank stumbled on it at home, then had his revelation. And then since Marie stole it, he couldn't use it as evidence (not sure if that's even plausible).
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I'm pretty sure Hank discovered that book while using the White's toilet
 
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chicagoskycam

chicagoskycam

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Brodeur said:
Yeah I know. I was saying I was hoping the shoplifting subplot would have led to something rather than just being a strange thing for a few episodes.
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Didn
glovesave_35 said:
It's been a little while since I watched, but Skylar was the worst character on the show. I just found her really annoying.

Jesse was my second least favorite character. All the "yo-yo b****" stuff was just cringey.

Hank also seemed like a real stock cop character from top to bottom.
Click to expand...

That was the point and Gunn did an exceptional job the last few seasons.
 
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