Walter White is an awful person

[JMSA]

I'm on Season 2 of Breaking Bad. I haven't googled the programme at all, so was unaware that Skyler gets a lot of hate online (my daughter has just told me this). Well, what a surprise, the bar is set so much lower for a man!
He's greedy, selfish, unbelievably dishonest and cruel. He has just watched Jesse's girlfriend choke to death on her own vomit!
He deserves everything that is hopefully coming to him.
Team Skyler for me! And Walt Jnr/Flynn is adorable.

He's horrible, I didn't like him much at all. But the programme is really good. I absolutely loved Better Call Saul and it's better imo.
But they're both great!

Agree op. Which is why BCS is so much better. Saul is very likeable, and has a good heart.
Walter is a rapist imo. Poor Skyler. Hank was much more interesting.

Saul (Jimmy) is a much more nuanced character. And it's interesting starting from the person he becomes (Saul Goodman) and then working backwards to see how he got there. It's a very clever nod to the Godfather prequel/sequel relationship that the first and second films developed.

I read somewhere that pitched BB as watching WW ‘turn from Mr Chips into Scarface’

Edited to add I think it was Vince Gilligan, the creator
Brilliant

I never understand the fan love for Jesse. Is it just because he's pretty? I want him to sort himself out & survive, but he's no saint either. My brothers are drug addicts, though, I see Jesse thru the prism of knowing people with plenty opportunities who blithely chucked them away.

He’s enacting the rage someone who has done everything right but still drawn the crap cards would feel. He has nothing to lose, so sacrifices his integrity to protect his family’s future.

It’s a great show. One well intentioned step at a time, they all end up shooting down that slippery slope. Their priorities and loyalties change. It’s an excellent portrayal of the dynamics of relationship too.

We were exactly the same kind of fell out with him more as it went along . Also fell out with peaky blinders in a similar way . Kind of glorification of crime.

He redeems himself a bit more often than Walt, in his dealings with children for example. But yeah, he's young, cute and kinda funny, so the bar will be set even lower!
It was a real dick move to try and recruit the addicts from his support group I was proud of Skinny Pete and Brandon for taking a stance on that!

I have a crush on Walter White so I've got a problem clearly 😂

BB is an absolutely amazing series

My only advice is stop watching it at the end of season 4.

Wait til the bit with a certain plant (trying not to give any spoilers away!). That's when I lost sympathy with Walt

No, the key of the character is that he isn't really doing it for his family, he's doing it for himself, his ego, the power. Telling himself it's for his family is what gives him permission to take each step further. Deep down, he knows. He admits it later.

Skyler isn’t squeaky clean either as you’ll find out watching later seasons. But the show is clever in that it does make you root for him and then you gradually realise he’s just an awful person who ruins or corrupts every single person he comes into contact with.

I think he’s a fundamentally bad person, and Jesse is a fundamentally good one, although he does do some pretty bad stuff. But I wonder, if he’d had all the chances in life Walt had had, would he have turned out different. Maybe not.

Yes Walter gets worse snd Jesse gets better.

I agree with this.
Walter's arrogance, pride and self interest was there from the start, seen in brief glimpses, notably the conversation with Gretchen in episode two.
His life disappointments and adverse circumstances then brought it all to the fore.

I thought BB was a masterpiece and Brian Cranston was incredible in the way he brought Walt to life.

I think Walter never got the validation he feels he was due in his life before. He left the company he founded with his 2 best friends before it became a very successful business. He is very obviously extremely intelligent but ended up a high school teacher who has to supplement his wages working in a car wash. He finds a purpose and recognition as a producer of a superior drug product and enjoys the power and status this brings him - whilst distancing himself from the harm he is causing. Watching his character change through the show's seasons is amazing.
He is extremely morally complex - I think he went into the drug trade to pay for his cancer care but was then taken over by the recognition and validation he had been craving all of his life.

Keep watching and you might just understand the hate for Skylar.
I backed her all the way until ... no spoilers.

It's a truly fantastic series - enjoy 😊

I liked him for the first few episodes and then started to despise him. I didn't root for him. I love Jesse though.

I would say I empathised with him, but never liked him.

And Sons of Anarchy

Jesus Christ, spoiler alert.

Walt was given the opportunity to have all his medical care paid for by his old friend and business partner (can't recall his name). There was no "need" for him to Break Bad at all, save his pride. That's part of the complexity of the whole situation. He isn't really doing it for his family; it's for himself.

I absolutely loved BB and think that Walter started out with good intentions but very gradually got drawn into a way of life where his actions and attitudes became normalised, plus he was in a situation he couldn't easily get out of. I think if you are in the illegal drug trade then you can justify a lot of things to yourself, and I suppose dreadful things do become normalised. Even Mike Erhmantraut, on the one hand, is a doting grandfather and father in law, but kills people for a living. (Hope that isn't a spoiler)

I found Saul/Jimmy in Better Call Saul much more distasteful and deliberately coniving, but also very likeable and compelling too.

El Camino was a bit traumatising!! Some seriously nasty people in that one!

Bryan Cranston seems like a genuinely nice man.

You can't claim spoiler alert for a show that's years old!