Current Events > Lol I hate Walt. *Breaking Bad spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Every unflattering personality trait I can't stand rolled into one person.

Such a great character

I do find it annoying how people play down how shitty he is though.

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Doom_Art posted...

Every unflattering personality trait I can't stand rolled into one person.

Such a great character

I do find it annoying how people play down how shitty he is though.

All while people hated Skylar for, you know, not wanting her family dragged into a murderous drug cartel

Skyler White

Guilty of the crime of resenting that her husband became a murderer meth manufacturer

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Walt rules, Skylar sucks. Always trying to drag him down when the man is just trying to provide for his family and pay for cancer treatments.

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MaddenDude-- posted...

Walt rules, Skylar sucks. Always trying to drag him down when the man is just trying to provide for his family and pay for cancer treatments.

/s

The truly awful character is Jesse. I hated him every minute he was on screen

Derwood posted...

The truly awful character is Jesse. I hated him every minute he was on screen

I love Jesse

Mostly because I look and sound like Aaron Paul so that's probably my narcissism flaring up.

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I think the genius of his character arc is how gradually Walt slips from doing illegal acts like selling meth and murder for somewhat understandable reasons into being a prideful, selfish and borderline psychopath. I guess some people were just never able to draw the line in the sand for themselves exacly where the worm turned.

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Solid Snake07 posted...

I think the genius of his character arc is how gradually Walt slips from doing illegal acts like selling meth and murder for somewhat understandable reasons into being a prideful, selfish and borderline psychopath. I guess some people were just never able to draw the line in the sand for themselves exacly where the worm turned.

Honestly on this rewatch it's the moment where Elliott offers to pay for his treatment.

Not even pay, he just offered Walt a job which would have had good health insurance.

Everything prior to that is understandable, including murdering Emilio and Crazy 8. Everything after Walt rejects that is not excusable.

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Doom_Art posted...

Skyler White

Guilty of the crime of resenting that her husband became a murderer meth manufacturer

Well, from the get she's sort of the representation of the droll and emasculated life that Walt is living when the show starts. And for the audience seeing the story largely from Walt's perspective it's hard to not vicariously resent her for that. Obviously all of that's not totally on her but it's understandable why people just didn't find her likable.

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People really need to stop pretending Skylar isn't a bad person too.

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Doom_Art posted...

Honestly on this rewatch it's the moment where Elliott offers to pay for his treatment.

Not even pay, he just offered Walt a job which would have had good health insurance.

Everything prior to that is understandable, including murdering Emilio and Crazy 8. Everything after Walt rejects that is not excusable.

Yeah, that's fair. But most people probably wouldn't immediately draw that conclusion on their first viewing.

It's been a long time since I first watched the series but I don't think I said "okay enough's enough" all the way until the end of season 4.

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shockthemonkey posted...

Waaaaaa why wont Skylar support Walts criminal empire

I'm just explaining why people unconsciously don't like her. Don't know why you're getting emotional.

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Derwood posted...

The truly awful character is Jesse. I hated him every minute he was on screen

Jesse was the only character to develop positively. His only flaw was taking Walt's side on most things.

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Stewman_Magoo posted...

Jesse was the only character to develop positively. His only flaw was taking Walt's side on most things.

He made just about every wrong decision he could. He also said bitch a lot like he was a tough guy

I get why Jesse exists in the show. Hes there to hold a mirror up to Walt and make him see his own choices for what they are. But he really sucks as a personality

Doom_Art posted...

Skyler White

Guilty of the crime of resenting that her husband became a murderer meth manufacturer

Right? I was super late to watching Breaking Bad, so pretty much all I knew going in was everyone hated Skyler. I was super confused once I actually saw things play out; she had more than enough cause to be resentful.

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Revnir posted...

Skyler was a jerk to Walt before she found out about this, though. She gave him no freedom and always suspected the worse just because he spent some time alone. Just because she was technically correct in suspecting the worse doesn't make it right, though. Every man needs some "me" time and Skyler struck a chord with men who watch the show and suffer because of a nagging spouse.

Holy shit. This is quite a take

Mother of disabled teenager and newborn baby concerned that her cancer-stricken husband is not coming home for hours/days at a time.

Why cant she just give Walt his spaaaace?

Walt is a terrible person and a monster, Skyler is just a bad person. Let's not forget that she was on board once she saw the amount of money that was coming in, right up till she saw the consequences of the violence that came with it after what happened to Ted.

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Compared to some of the protagonists of other mega successful tv franchises from the last few decades, I honestly dont see much in the character of Walt beyond getting a great portrayal by Cranston.

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Revnir posted...

You jest, but that's basically it.

the show definitely had a problem with fans thinking Walt was the hero of the story

I would have much preferred a show about Gus.

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cjsdowg posted...

I would have much preferred a show about Gus.

I like the mystery behind Gus' background

Him showing up in BCS is enough imo

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ScazarMeltex posted...

Walt is a terrible person and a monster, Skyler is just a bad person. Let's not forget that she was on board once she saw the amount of money that was coming in, right up till she saw the consequences of the violence that came with it after what happened to Ted.

Ehhh, I'd say it was more of a case that she was on board when she realized and accepted the only other option was to completely blow up her life.

Skylar's not a bad person. Unlikable, sure. But those are two very different things.

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Revnir posted...

Most guys who watch the story have no idea what it's like to murder people or being involved in the meth trade, or having a disabled son, or all that stuff. All of it is part of the show, part of the entertainment. They follow it, they enjoy it, but it doesn't strike a chord with them. It doesn't reason with them emotionally. But most guys do know what it's like to just want to do your own thing and be brought down by your gf/wife/mom who won't give you space. That's probably the only part of the show that they had a real emotional, personal reaction to. It's cathartic. That Walt was doing some horrible stuff is really secondary because that horrible stuff doesn't reason emotionally with the fans nearly as much as Skyler's nagging of Walt.

Just say that you were attached to the protagonist instead of all this dumb shit. You were rooting for Walt despite him being a terrible person because he's the protagonist and Skyler was an obstacle. Not any of this superficial crap you typed out.
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Revnir posted...

Skyler was a jerk to Walt before she found out about this, though. She gave him no freedom and always suspected the worse just because he spent some time alone. Just because she was technically correct in suspecting the worse doesn't make it right, though. Every man needs some "me" time and Skyler struck a chord with men who watch the show and suffer because of a nagging spouse.

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One_Day_Remains posted...

Just say that you were attached to the protagonist instead of all this dumb shit. You were rooting for Walt despite him being a terrible person because he's the protagonist and Skyler was an obstacle. Not any of this superficial crap you typed out.

This is basically it. Walt was the one driving the interesting action of the show, and Skylar was an obstacle to the interesting. Most normal people can admit they just want the obstacle to go away, but it really awakened some weird misogyny in some fans.

"She nagged too much!" "She wasn't a good wife before all this started!" "She took part until she saw the consequences!"

And? She's a run of the mill shitty person at worst, the landslide of hate the character got was always strange.


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Walt was great at making you hate him yet root for him at the same time.

like i hated him for what happened to Mike and Hank yet rooted for him when he got back at those neo-nazi bastards. lol

Walt's the type of guy I could really get along with, besides all the illegal stuff. Self sufficient, wants his underlings to succeed but still has drive himself, doesn't take shit...

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Lol the show is about breaking bad. Both Walt and Jesse became bad af. Gus was end game bad. Skylar was an annoying bitch, she sucked at being bad, hence the fan hate.

Stewman_Magoo posted...

Jesse was the only character to develop positively. His only flaw was taking Walt's side on most things.

Every time he didn't take Walt's side it ended horrible for him. Poor Jesse would have had a much better life if he was a horrible person.

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codey posted...

This is basically it. Walt was the one driving the interesting action of the show, and Skylar was an obstacle to the interesting. Most normal people can admit they just want the obstacle to go away, but it really awakened some weird misogyny in some fans.

"She nagged too much!" "She wasn't a good wife before all this started!" "She took part until she saw the consequences!"

And? She's a run of the mill shitty person at worst, the landslide of hate the character got was always strange.

And when she had the affair they all felt justified in their hate

Skyler was an annoying bitch who was just constantly nagging her husband over dumb stuff.

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MaddenDude-- posted...

Skyler was an annoying bitch who was just constantly nagging her husband over dumb stuff.

"Dumb stuff" lol like obviously lying and gaslighting her about making and selling drugs

Ted was probably the worst character to me. When he got the money and refused to pay the IRS. And it didn't even make sense, because he said he needed to use the money to get his business running again so his employees can "pay their mortgages", but then like not even a minute later he writes Skyler a check to essentially give it all back (which Skyler refused, but still). If he was willing to give it all back to Skyler, why couldn't he give it to the IRS? And then Ted used the excuse of "I can't pay the IRS with gambling money", suddenly taking the high road after having no problem cooking the books and having Skyler sign off on them and putting her in the line of fire.
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I love Ted getting strongarmed by Huell and Bill Burr

He'd have no recourse to that. What would he say? "These thugs are keeping me captive and making me pay my taxes"

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Skylar sucked until season 3. She was fine once she became aware of Walt's shenanigans.
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CruelBuffalo posted...

"Dumb stuff" lol like obviously lying and gaslighting her about making and selling drugs

Exactly. "Skyler is a bitch" is the worst opinion

My memory is fuzzy - can anyone give me some examples of Skyler mistreating/disrespecting Walt before he began to consistently lie to her? I mean, it might be hard, since he began to live a double life (and lie to her about it) in the first episode.

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Revnir posted...

That's not really superficial crap. I'm trying to give reasons why the reaction was so overwhelming that some people speculated that Skyler was one of the most hated characters in television history. That's kind of a big deal. Think about it. A normal suburban mother who finds out her husband is a murderer involved in the drug trade is one of the most hated characters in television history.

It it that unusual? The innocent family member is pretty much always seen as a negative in shows like this. Either they sit around and do nothing but nag and be oblivious. Or they have their own plot which has to be its own drama away from the main conflict which tends to frustrate people who just want to see crimes and the tension that results from them. Most TV shows tend to struggle with these types of characters and overall I think Skylar was handled okay. It's just that the Walt and Jessie plots were way more popular and people didn't want to see Skylar.

Jack Bauer's daughter was handled way worse. She was running away from cougars in the second season of 24 so she had something to do.

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CaptainOfCrush posted...

My memory is fuzzy - can anyone give me some examples of Skyler mistreating/disrespecting Walt before he began to consistently lie to her? I mean, it might be hard, since he began to live a double life (and lie to her about it) in the first episode.

The only example of shitty behavior I can think of was the disinterested HJ on his bday.

Outside of that it seemed to be a fairly healthy and normal marriage.

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CaptainOfCrush posted...

My memory is fuzzy - can anyone give me some examples of Skyler mistreating/disrespecting Walt before he began to consistently lie to her? I mean, it might be hard, since he began to live a double life (and lie to her about it) in the first episode.

The worst thing she really did was be kind of a cold, controlling wife. She gives him that weird veggie bacon for his birthday he didn't like, nagged at him for being late, and gave him that shitty birthday handjob.

She's just an average annoying person, nothing she does is worthy of the misogyny that gets thrown her way.

That's not to say there's no reason to dislike. If you're reason for disliking her is that she's an obstacle in the way of more interesting stuff for Walt to get into, that's cool, that's a valid reason. But some people do Olympic level mental gymnastics to claim that she's just as bad a person as Walt is and thats just ridiculous.

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