To think Skyler White was horrendous and Walter should have left her?

SmellyToilet · 2022-07-30T08:40:07+00:00

Ok so Walter made a stupid decision and decided to engage in illegal activity to find his cancer treatment and support his family. He knew he was doing wrong and didn’t feel great about it so he kept it quiet. Yes he became a little distant … he was dishonest about what he was doing … he was also suffering from chemo side affects and panicking about finances. So Skyler decides the best course of action is to have an affair. She tries to turn his son against him and even tries ti stop him interacting with his baby - this is BEFORE she even knew what he was doing!! When she realises what he’s doing and how much money he has made she suddenly decides she wants “in” … yet still continues to treat him like shit and then proceeds to give HIS money away to her fuck buddy. I mean, yeah … Walter did go from small time meth cook to psychotic drug dealer kingpin but AIBU to think he should have fucked Skyler off at the start?

TLIMSISNW · 30/07/2022 09:42

He didn’t need to do any of that though. Those rich friends were willing to fund his treatment. Walters pride made him do what he did and he even admitted at the end that he did it all for himself. She didn’t turn their son against him, he did that by himself. The destruction of his family is because of his own awful behaviour and decisions.

#teamsky

Twilightimmortal · 30/07/2022 09:43

If you watch Better Call Saul you will see how the writer loves to make the 'innocent, morally correct wife flip and become worse than the male protagonist who seems to have a more honourable reason for being bad.

I cannot get over the fact that Walter could have taken a job with his old company and not recieved any charity, just worked and got his treatment.

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SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 09:45

Twilightimmortal · 30/07/2022 09:43

If you watch Better Call Saul you will see how the writer loves to make the 'innocent, morally correct wife flip and become worse than the male protagonist who seems to have a more honourable reason for being bad.

I cannot get over the fact that Walter could have taken a job with his old company and not recieved any charity, just worked and got his treatment.

We’re nearly at the end of Breaking bad now, 4 episodes left (we’ve seen it before but when it first came out so it feels like we’re watching it again for the first time 😂)

Not sure whether to watch Saul next or the Jesse Pinkman spin off …

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Ponoka7 · 30/07/2022 09:48

Walter didn't cook to fund his treatment, he cooked because of his ego and being pathetic to not accept his friends offer to fund his treatment. He was a weak, small man who couldn't handle the gift that he was given. She was in, they had to money launder. Walt because of some of his unnecessary choices put them all at risk. He killed Jane and destroyed Jesse in the process. There was a responsibility in Hank's shooting as well. I don't like the development of Wendy Bird either in Ozark.

Twilightimmortal · 30/07/2022 09:50

The Jesse movie is ok but a bit dry. It just what happens directly after Breaking Bad finished and what happened to him when he was locked in that underground meth prison.

Better Call Saul is really good. It has the back story of Saul, Mike and Fring. Also introduces some really good characters. I'm enjoying it more than I enjoyed Breaking Bad.

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SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 09:51

I love Jesse and find his downfall so sad to watch. He was vulnerable and naive

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Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 09:53

She was annoying, yeah. That happy birthday scene was cringeworthy. Erm… but he was manufacturing drugs on a huge scale and killing people, so I wouldn’t exactly say she’s the villain of the couple. And he wanted to do it - it gave him a sense of power he couldn’t get from his job, his family etc. That’s sort of the point of the show, otherwise he would have immediately stopped once he’d paid for treatment wouldn’t he?

Tangled123 · 30/07/2022 09:53

@Ponoka7 It has been so long since I watched breaking Bad that, although I know I didn’t like Sky, I can’t remember why.
I am currently watching Ozark though, and completely agree with you on Wendy. She is awful.

DorritLittle · 30/07/2022 09:55

This.

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 09:56

I do like the show by the way! Just annoys me when people villainise the woman who is slightly annoying and not the man who is a murderer and drug manufacturer. I read a good book about breaking bad for my course last year and there’s a whole chapter on Skyler hate, all about how it’s basically down to misogyny where a woman is seen as wrong because her side of the story just isn’t shown. I mean people who hate her will say ‘oh she tried to stop him interacting with his baby!’ Well of course she did! But nobody mentions the scene very early on where he tries to force himself on her. She is saying ‘no’ and pushing him off and eventually has to violently push him away. That’s who he is. So if she’s a bad wife it’s because she’s got a god awful husband!

DorritLittle · 30/07/2022 09:58

Wendy is like Lady Macbeth. Such an amazingly horrifying character!

Better Call Saul is for me better that BB and that's saying something.

DorritLittle · 30/07/2022 09:59

What was the book/course @kanaloa? I completely agree.

LondonWolf · 30/07/2022 10:00

They almost always make it the wife's fault though. Wonder why? 🤔

BooseysMom · 30/07/2022 10:02

I love Jesse and find his downfall so sad to watch. He was vulnerable and naive

Yes me too.

Great to find this thread on BB. I've just finished watching it. I never watched it when it first came out. Didn't really like El Camino. Just started Better Call Saul.. much better!

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 10:07

DorritLittle · 30/07/2022 09:59

What was the book/course @kanaloa? I completely agree.

It wasn’t a course on Breaking Bad! It was a course on disruptive film and society, it was a little side module I was allowed to take as I do English literature, but I wrote about portrayals of/influence of Mexican culture in certain types of American film (especially crime). Very interesting! But the breaking bad aspect was from my own research. If there is an actual course on breaking bad I wish I could take it since I could relax on all my readings!

The book was a collection of critical essays on the programme overall - I think it was called ‘masculinity in breaking bad’ and one of the essays was all about ‘skyler hate online’ and why/how the online hate came about. And it really touches on things like this op. Like how op suggests Walter made a ‘stupid mistake’ in manipulating his ex student to sell drugs for him, becoming a kingpin, and being complicit in murders, whereas skyler is ‘horrendous’ for… what? Nothing! It’s quite an interesting book, and quite an interesting concept altogether, because the show is so entirely wrapped up in masculinity. There’s also an extended discussion on the idea that the word ‘bitch’ is extensively used by the character who is regularly made someone’s ‘bitch’ and overall is the least traditionally ‘masculine’ character, he presents as more sensitive/emotional. It even considers the show as a feminist text.

Okay, I’ll stop now since I realise your question wasn’t an invitation 😂 but if you work at a university do let me know and I’ll pitch you my Breaking Bad module idea!

happinessischocolate · 30/07/2022 10:19

Skylar was mildly annoying but I hated Walter, and loved Jesse

I enjoyed the whole idea of the socially accepted good people, the school teacher and the cop and the local business man were all arseholes. Hank getting his wife off the stealing charges and Walter turning into a drug lord who will just kill people.

Whilst Jesse and his mates who society thinks are the dregs of humanity, actually had more empathy and morals than the so called good guys

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SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 10:21

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 09:56

I do like the show by the way! Just annoys me when people villainise the woman who is slightly annoying and not the man who is a murderer and drug manufacturer. I read a good book about breaking bad for my course last year and there’s a whole chapter on Skyler hate, all about how it’s basically down to misogyny where a woman is seen as wrong because her side of the story just isn’t shown. I mean people who hate her will say ‘oh she tried to stop him interacting with his baby!’ Well of course she did! But nobody mentions the scene very early on where he tries to force himself on her. She is saying ‘no’ and pushing him off and eventually has to violently push him away. That’s who he is. So if she’s a bad wife it’s because she’s got a god awful husband!

Admittedly I’d forgotten about that scene!

I do find the shoe fascinating to discuss, there is so much depth to it and so many ways of looking at it.

I mean, Skyler aside you can kind of see how Walter descended into the man he became. He had been diagnosed with cancer, was worried about finances, saw an easy way to make quick money - didn’t really understand the world he was getting into - it all snowballs and he finds himself working for big time drug dealers/gangsters. This was not his world and it was a dangerous world to try and escape from … so he slowly morphed into “Heisenberg” as a way to survive it.

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SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 10:24

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 10:07

It wasn’t a course on Breaking Bad! It was a course on disruptive film and society, it was a little side module I was allowed to take as I do English literature, but I wrote about portrayals of/influence of Mexican culture in certain types of American film (especially crime). Very interesting! But the breaking bad aspect was from my own research. If there is an actual course on breaking bad I wish I could take it since I could relax on all my readings!

The book was a collection of critical essays on the programme overall - I think it was called ‘masculinity in breaking bad’ and one of the essays was all about ‘skyler hate online’ and why/how the online hate came about. And it really touches on things like this op. Like how op suggests Walter made a ‘stupid mistake’ in manipulating his ex student to sell drugs for him, becoming a kingpin, and being complicit in murders, whereas skyler is ‘horrendous’ for… what? Nothing! It’s quite an interesting book, and quite an interesting concept altogether, because the show is so entirely wrapped up in masculinity. There’s also an extended discussion on the idea that the word ‘bitch’ is extensively used by the character who is regularly made someone’s ‘bitch’ and overall is the least traditionally ‘masculine’ character, he presents as more sensitive/emotional. It even considers the show as a feminist text.

Okay, I’ll stop now since I realise your question wasn’t an invitation 😂 but if you work at a university do let me know and I’ll pitch you my Breaking Bad module idea!

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“There’s also an extended discussion on the idea that the word ‘bitch’ is extensively used by the character who is regularly made someone’s ‘bitch’”

————

Thats another interesting factor I never considered! So glad I started this thread, I need to talk about Breaking Bad! 😂 I’m finding it so much more interesting than the first time I watched it.

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Retrievemysanity · 30/07/2022 10:24

It’s been a while since I watched BB but didn’t Walter miss the birth of his child because he was doing some drug related stuff? And was secretive, put his whole family at risk etc. Walter was horrendous. Skylar was a bit annoying but nowhere near Walter levels of bellend. Absolutely loved Jesse though.

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SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 10:28

happinessischocolate · 30/07/2022 10:19

Skylar was mildly annoying but I hated Walter, and loved Jesse

I enjoyed the whole idea of the socially accepted good people, the school teacher and the cop and the local business man were all arseholes. Hank getting his wife off the stealing charges and Walter turning into a drug lord who will just kill people.

Whilst Jesse and his mates who society thinks are the dregs of humanity, actually had more empathy and morals than the so called good guys

Another interesting way of looking at it. In the early episodes when Jesse’s mate is killed … Walter doesn’t give a shit, it’s just collateral damage. Jesse and his other friends are deeply effected by it and Badger and Skinny Pete actually want to quit at that point.

3 children are hurt in the series, 2 of them fatally and Jesse blames himself for all 3 when it was infact Walters fault all along. And he doesn’t give a shit.

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Palamon · 30/07/2022 10:29

It was surprising how much everyone hated Skyler.

I was one of them and rooted for Walt until the very end despite the fact he was the terrible character. Was part of it that we hated anyone that stood in Walt's way?

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 10:31

SmellyToilet · 30/07/2022 10:24

“There’s also an extended discussion on the idea that the word ‘bitch’ is extensively used by the character who is regularly made someone’s ‘bitch’”

————

Thats another interesting factor I never considered! So glad I started this thread, I need to talk about Breaking Bad! 😂 I’m finding it so much more interesting than the first time I watched it.

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😂

I can’t help myself because in real life I’ve learned that ‘there was a discussion on the word bitch being used extensively by the character who is regularly made someone’s bitch’ is not an appropriate response to ‘what have you been up to?’ But it’s such an interesting show! So many factors to consider etc.

Kanaloa · 30/07/2022 10:34

@Palamon

Do you think it’s maybe a bit like seeing a revenge play? We see this character who is doing the opposite of everything socially acceptable and is taking what he wants by force and there’s something that stirs the same part of you that Titus Andronicus does. You know it can’t really happen because it’s ‘wrong’ but it’s satisfying and it allows this odd moment of wondering what it would be like to just do what you want to with no concern for social norms.

AllyCatTown · 30/07/2022 10:37

It’s been a while since I watched it but the amount of hate towards her was ridiculous. Even the actress was attacked on social media.

Walter is the lead character so we’re seeing things from his pov more than others. Also as so often happens when you have a lead male his wife creates conflict for the story and you end up disliking her for disrupting main character’s plans.

C0mfyChairP0se · 30/07/2022 10:39

I didn't find her annoying. She knew when she was being lied to, that's all.