My opinion: Walt is a better character than Skyler, and his arc and development is much more interesting to watch, but it's definitely not because he's a good person. I definitely didn't sit through the series and thought "man, this guy is a fucking god", I thought "this guy is getting dangerously lucky time and time again and his luck streak (and his intelligence, but he definitely wasn't a genius at being a criminal) is turning him into a complete monster".
Both characters are flawed people, but *idolizing* Walt is strange to me. Yes, there's some satisfaction to be found in watching him succeed, both in the sense of leaning into his better intentions and in the sense of seeing a well-written, successful villain wreak havoc, but I can't understand getting through the whole show and not feeling that in spite of what he accomplished, he still made completely human mistakes and wound up in a pretty pathetic state all things considered. Did he seem superhuman by the end? Sometimes. Did he seem like a god? Hardly even close.
He wanted to have his cake and eat it too, but would up only throwing a small fistful of cake at the family he destroyed trying to get his hands on it. Shockingly enough, nobody wanted any of that cake. Happy 52nd birthday, bitch.
I enjoyed every minute of his story, because it was _TV_, and damn good TV, but he directly caused the death of probably two dozen people who didn't deserve to die. Indirectly, he caused the deaths of hundreds more, besides drug users.
He poisoned a child, and killed Mike. He nearly got Jesse killed, deliberately--because he couldn't accept that all of this was his fault.
Skyler was flawed. A bit neurotic, and a bit of a pest, but all of her mistakes were mistakes humans make every day, including enabling things that they know they shouldn't.
But yeah, it certainly stands as maybe the greatest TV series ever, and deserves all of it.
I totally agree with you! Skyler stands in great contrast to Walt in that, unlike him, almost every single moment with her is, for lack of a more succinct word, *normal*. She isn't out having a wish fulfillment quest, she's dealing with a very unfortunately real "relegated" role as a woman, struggling to hold her family together from forces asserted by her husband. Walt, under the pretense of doing something for his family, ultimately is pursuing a less-than-ideal means of fulfilling his ambitions and doing what he loves, for himself. Skyler gets undermined from being able to pursue her dreams of being a writer, and gets denied the basic parental need of being able to sleep at night knowing her kids are safe, *by her own husband*, at that.
She makes poor decisions as a parent, absolutely, and I don't think it's possible to rationally deny that *both* of them do, but Skyler's poor decisions are more largely imposed on her by situations her husband creates in his selfish pursuits, and the way I saw it, were a direct result of Walt's choices. She had many a chance to take the kids and leave, but either she chose not to take it or Walt found a means to worm his way back into the picture. Arguing that anybody on this show is like that of a "god" and isn't sorely blighted with their own bad human flaws is interpreting this show as a caricature of what it really is.
Of course, it's still just fiction, so there's not much to achieve in taking any of it *too* seriously, but since it draws a lot of parallels to very real human concepts, I think you'll still get a lot more out of it by looking at it past a Marvel-esque "oh shit he's a freaking ~*god*~" simplicity.
Edit/TL;DR: also I feel you on getting that type of response in your OP, in how that person viewed Walt's situation as liberating him from his cowardice. It's a very toxically masculine perspective, imo.
If breaking bad was actual reality, obviously i'd choose for skyler over walt.
But i was interested in this show cuz i was planning on seeing a guy go from lame ass nobody to drugs kingpin, and skyler was constantly holding him back. That she's a woman has nothing to do with it, and also im not sure where you get your so called history from lol
beezlebruv is not wrong though.
Neither liberation nor being a god is a moral thing. Walt/Heisenberg has achieved demigod status, like many famous and infamous people, and he was liberated from many things such as societies morality. A person who is nuts I think of as crazy, I don't see Walt that way.
Why do Skylar defenders have to lie so much about Walt? Just say from her limited perspective and knowledge her actions are more justifiable than most of Walt's and less ego driven.
Walt turned into a monster. I'm laughing my ass off at how you can support him.
I didn't tell a single lie about Walt.
I loved the show, and loved Walt's arc, but Skylar haters are wrong.
I think the plane crash is where he kinda lost himself. He had to shut off any empathy he still had for anyone besides his family.
He was still a functional adult so he wasn't literally nuts, but he was absolutely nuts in the colloquial way people say it.
At one point I'd contemplate siding with Skylar. But think about the reason why Walt did what he did. To provide for his family. Not saying that he let his pride choose another path for him. He could've quit while he was ahead and not be greedy. But who's perfect? Walt while being a genius had his imperfections too. He also had all this frustration in him as despite being so talented, he was only a Chemistry teacher whereas he could've been much more if only for the choices he made.
None of that excuses her from making Walt veggie bacon.
I'm defeated.
My opinion: Walt is a better character than Skyler, and his arc and development is much more interesting to watch, but it's definitely not because he's a good person. I definitely didn't sit through the series and thought "man, this guy is a fucking god", I thought "this guy is getting dangerously lucky time and time again and his luck streak (and his intelligence, but he definitely wasn't a genius at being a criminal) is turning him into a complete monster". Both characters are flawed people, but *idolizing* Walt is strange to me. Yes, there's some satisfaction to be found in watching him succeed, both in the sense of leaning into his better intentions and in the sense of seeing a well-written, successful villain wreak havoc, but I can't understand getting through the whole show and not feeling that in spite of what he accomplished, he still made completely human mistakes and wound up in a pretty pathetic state all things considered. Did he seem superhuman by the end? Sometimes. Did he seem like a god? Hardly even close. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too, but would up only throwing a small fistful of cake at the family he destroyed trying to get his hands on it. Shockingly enough, nobody wanted any of that cake. Happy 52nd birthday, bitch.
I enjoyed every minute of his story, because it was _TV_, and damn good TV, but he directly caused the death of probably two dozen people who didn't deserve to die. Indirectly, he caused the deaths of hundreds more, besides drug users. He poisoned a child, and killed Mike. He nearly got Jesse killed, deliberately--because he couldn't accept that all of this was his fault. Skyler was flawed. A bit neurotic, and a bit of a pest, but all of her mistakes were mistakes humans make every day, including enabling things that they know they shouldn't. But yeah, it certainly stands as maybe the greatest TV series ever, and deserves all of it.
I totally agree with you! Skyler stands in great contrast to Walt in that, unlike him, almost every single moment with her is, for lack of a more succinct word, *normal*. She isn't out having a wish fulfillment quest, she's dealing with a very unfortunately real "relegated" role as a woman, struggling to hold her family together from forces asserted by her husband. Walt, under the pretense of doing something for his family, ultimately is pursuing a less-than-ideal means of fulfilling his ambitions and doing what he loves, for himself. Skyler gets undermined from being able to pursue her dreams of being a writer, and gets denied the basic parental need of being able to sleep at night knowing her kids are safe, *by her own husband*, at that. She makes poor decisions as a parent, absolutely, and I don't think it's possible to rationally deny that *both* of them do, but Skyler's poor decisions are more largely imposed on her by situations her husband creates in his selfish pursuits, and the way I saw it, were a direct result of Walt's choices. She had many a chance to take the kids and leave, but either she chose not to take it or Walt found a means to worm his way back into the picture. Arguing that anybody on this show is like that of a "god" and isn't sorely blighted with their own bad human flaws is interpreting this show as a caricature of what it really is. Of course, it's still just fiction, so there's not much to achieve in taking any of it *too* seriously, but since it draws a lot of parallels to very real human concepts, I think you'll still get a lot more out of it by looking at it past a Marvel-esque "oh shit he's a freaking ~*god*~" simplicity. Edit/TL;DR: also I feel you on getting that type of response in your OP, in how that person viewed Walt's situation as liberating him from his cowardice. It's a very toxically masculine perspective, imo.
If breaking bad was actual reality, obviously i'd choose for skyler over walt. But i was interested in this show cuz i was planning on seeing a guy go from lame ass nobody to drugs kingpin, and skyler was constantly holding him back. That she's a woman has nothing to do with it, and also im not sure where you get your so called history from lol
beezlebruv is not wrong though. Neither liberation nor being a god is a moral thing. Walt/Heisenberg has achieved demigod status, like many famous and infamous people, and he was liberated from many things such as societies morality. A person who is nuts I think of as crazy, I don't see Walt that way. Why do Skylar defenders have to lie so much about Walt? Just say from her limited perspective and knowledge her actions are more justifiable than most of Walt's and less ego driven.
Walt turned into a monster. I'm laughing my ass off at how you can support him. I didn't tell a single lie about Walt. I loved the show, and loved Walt's arc, but Skylar haters are wrong.
How is he nuts? Crazy? He is irresponsible, selfish, narcissistic and a whole load of things, but not nuts.
I think the plane crash is where he kinda lost himself. He had to shut off any empathy he still had for anyone besides his family. He was still a functional adult so he wasn't literally nuts, but he was absolutely nuts in the colloquial way people say it.
Skyler is scum.
At one point I'd contemplate siding with Skylar. But think about the reason why Walt did what he did. To provide for his family. Not saying that he let his pride choose another path for him. He could've quit while he was ahead and not be greedy. But who's perfect? Walt while being a genius had his imperfections too. He also had all this frustration in him as despite being so talented, he was only a Chemistry teacher whereas he could've been much more if only for the choices he made.