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

[SmellyToilet]

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?

I need to watch it for a third time.

I enjoyed seeing how each characters flaws which seemed on the whole, fairly mild at the start, grew and changed them - no ones perfect, but in some seemingly normal, good people, a tiny flaw under the 'right' pressure grows into something horrific... whereas in contrast, Jesse and his friends were seemingly 'all flaw' really and you see their better natures coming through.

I liked Skyler and felt sorry for her, I rapidly stopped feeling sorry for WW and i really really disliked Hank and his missus, they were always papering over the cracks!

I think Walter was always really Heisenberg, under the surface. He started out as a gifted chemist, but was too full of his own vanity to notice that his business partners were selling him out. He was so academic, but not nearly Street savvy enough so they took him to the cleaners. I think he burned with resentment ever after. I think it burned him that he was reduced to working as a chemistry teacher to pay the bills. Even worse, it burned like Hell when he had to take a 2nd job at the car wash and even wash the cars! He hated it. He hated what his life had become. He hated that Skylar patronised him and expected him to do a job he felt demeaned him. He hated everyone around him because he knew he was so much smarter than all of them, but they were all financially more successful.

I think Walter's cancer was actually a metaphor for his rage and hate.

Never liked Skyler, even the silly name drove me mad.

He just wanted a bit of excitement before he died.

Remember he’s the one who knocks.

Nah Walter was a piece of shit to everyone, her affair is nothing compared to his actions

I think she had an exit affair (which is common) and then tried to safeguard her kids from not being around a dangerous meth cook/ drug dealer/ criminal. Cheating not great, but at least she wasn't part of the white supremacist equivalent of the mafia.

When I first watched BB I was team Walter, but fresh eyes now. I would rather die of cancer than become a meth cook. Because ultimately you get tied up with people like that, you might end up coming home to your whole family being killed or whatever.

Just started rewatching BB again and loving it as much as the first time around. Skylar never annoyed me, really don't get the hate. It's the only series I can binge watch episodes, the writing is brilliant. Can't wait for Tuco to show up!

All I know is my 15 yr old son said "the Whites don't seem to have any kind of marriage".

They are definitely more like two single people living in the same house

I thought it was a brilliant example of character switching. Initially Walter was the pillar of the community type, school teacher etc. and he held the moral high ground.
Jessie was a house breaking small time dealer. Throughout the series they gradually exchange places (morally). I literally cheered out loud when Jessie finally escapes. I had no sympathy for Walter, despite his cancer and marital situation.
Was talked into watching BB by my OH, never thought it would be as good as it was.

Say his name …

Heisenberg...

You’re goddamn right!

😁

😎love it!

I’ve watched it a few times over the years and hate Walt more each time. The last time I watched it, this year I think, I was heartbroken for Jesse. Many kids do drugs but his parents disowned him (I think?) and Walt essentially groomed him. For Jesse to be as good at cooking as he ended up being, he must have been quite intelligent. Had Walt been a different man, he could have helped Jesse make the life he deserved and was capable of, but, instead, he gave him the fatherly attention he craved and manipulated him and abused him into doing exactly as he was told.

walt, to me, is the epitome of toxic masculinity and everything that is wrong with the world.

@AlohaMolly - I would have liked the follow up to have been Jesse working in Alaska as a chemistry teacher or research scientist.

I actually don't understand what people find annoying about Skyler. I liked her character a lot and felt that she was put in a horrendous situation.

Same,!
And she only gave ted the money so he would pay the IRS and not draw attention to their laundrette!!
She played dumb in front of Ted's auditors so excellently I think she could have played the part of the wife kept in the dark very well if they were investigated.

I think Vince Gilligan deliberately made Skyler unlikeable from the start, so we would have more sympathy with Walt.
He never meant it to be for his family, only for him.
I always thought it was a fab example of someone who had been a small people pleaser, bad luck and not being assertive enough to get ahead. Others stand on him to get to where they want to be.
Getting cancer, he snaps, fed up with his boring life, boring wife he sees his chance to be something before his time runs out.
As we know it gets way out of hand and years of butter resentment, social ettiquette and being good, he does go to the opposite extreme.
If Skyler were fun and cool the story would be lacking.
Far more interesting is the relationship between Walt and Jesse, I saw a complicated Father and Son. Walt at the end knows this. Especially as his own son has rejected him.
I have watched it 3 times and this relationship is more apparent.
Yes what Walt is doing is sooo wrong, but after leading a half life, his Heisenberg does everything 100 percent. Walt is impossible in between.

Carnwath I mean

Carwash

i watched it when it first came out as a teenager, then again as an adult with children and a home of my own and I can't believe how much it changed my perspective. I didn't like skylar the first time, I thought Walter was really brave for doing all this for his family and clever for getting away with so much. I was upset when it ended and he didn't 'win'.

But the second time, I felt very sorry for skylar. I had experienced post partum depression myself by that point so I can absolutely see why she would do the swimming pool scene in front if everyone as a cry for help.
The first time I watched it I was all "it's obviously a cry for help eyeroll" and the second time I was like "it's a desperate cry for help poor woman!"
very clever getting the children away from the house and Walt to keep them safe. I didn't realise before.

Incidentally Walt reminds me of a man I know in real life. Family friend, known all my life.
The first time I watched it I thought they were both strong characters who would bend the rules and do whatever it takes
Funnily enough the man who it reminds me of got involved in drugs (not selling or making. just taking) and his life seems to have fallen out of control like Walters and he reminds me now of Walter, not brave and strong but stubborn, proud and I suppose weak minded.
Very sad.

I can't wait to watch it again in my 30s.

I’m just waiting for the current series of “better call Saul” to end before I rewatch BB. To anyone who hasn’t watched the former, one word: do!

Thank you. I've been hovering over Saul for a few weeks now. I need to take the plunge I guess.

Am I the only one who liked Walter better because the actor who played him was fantastic? It wasn't Walter I liked, it was the fine acting I enjoyed watching.

I thought the actress who played Skylar wasn't a good actress. That's why I didn't care for her character. I couldn't get past how much I disliked her scenes.

I could never figure out if I liked Jesse or not.
But his skin was way too good for a meth user. I couldn't get past him not looking like a meth user (my brothers are druggies, including meth) And those perfect teeth. Arrgggghhh...

I definitely liked Hank & his wife too, for the quality of their acting. Walt Jr. was good, too.

And the cinematography, feast-for-eyes.

I gave up after series 2, though. Couldn't cope with the horrible violence after all.

Great post