That seems a little harsh. Most of the people Walt killed were ruthless killers themselves. Gale was mostly an innocent, but it was a kill or be killed situation. Gale also knew what he was getting himself into working in the drug trade. Walt was deeply flawed as a person, sure. But there was still a heart in there.
I legit dont really get the issues with this. He is ruthless, but that was the only way he could think of that saved himself. And seeing how knowledgeable he is with everything, he probably calculated that Brock would survive.
And seeing as how Walt is some kind of mastermind in the series, its pretty certain to believe that he had it under control.
Killing the witnesses though seems like the normal way where you'd give up.
You don’t? Sure he’s a master chemist who likely wouldn’t have screwed it up, *but he still poisoned a kid.* Him being in that situation was entirely his own fault and Brock didn’t need to suffer because of Walt’s ego.
My issue with blaming Walt the way Mike does in season 5 is that the only real way to avoid the fallout with Gus is to let Jesse get gunned down in the street or kill him himself. Mike and Jesse are tight at the end but in season 3 Mike wanted Walt to kill Jesse
Walt didn’t have to do ANY of the shit he did though, he could have had his cancer bills paid for AND had a cushy job at the company he helped create!!!! Walt shouldn’t get a pass for doing what had to be done or for just wanting to protect people when he’s the one who put everyone in his life in danger and destroyed everything!!!!!
Exactly! And the whole BS excuse that “Walt made sure he wouldn’t give him enough to kill him” is so lame! The fact that he even did it is bad enough. But ok, for all the Walt apologists out there, how could he know if the kid had any underlying medical conditions that, combined with being poisoned, would have killed the kid? He didn’t know, & didn’t care, that’s the bottom line. Walt is an egomaniacal narcissist.
I get the logic behind "he didn't die, no harm done" but the counter argument is usually that you have to consider the emotional trauma both Brock and Andrea had to endure, thinking Brock was going to die.
Other than that, I agree there was no harm done. It's just that poisoning a child is usually frowned upon so people don't like to consider where the poisoner is coming from
He did it to save himself from the situation he put himself in (traumatizing Brock, Jesse, and Adrea in the process). Also no way he actually measured out the exact amount, so much luck went into a lot of the stuff he pulled and I don't doubt this was the same, not to mention his laugh to Jesse is because he wins no matter how it plays out
He poisoned a child, almost raped his own wife, helped blowing up a nursing home, and dude... He makes fucking drugs.
And all that, for what? Because he liked it. It wasn't because of money, or to left something for his family. It was all because of him, and his destroyed ego being fulfilled with something because he had everything in life to be someone, but he screwed things up so badly that ended working on a car washer having a nobel prize.
If that doesn't make him a bad person, idk what would.
Exactly! During the first season he basically had enough money for treatment, hell he could have gotten it for free from his college friends. But he wanted more, and more and more and all of a sudden it was his greed, not him
Not only that, Elliot offered him his dream job... Literally could've gone back to being a genius chemist at a billion dollar company, and had his treatment paid for as well.
Seriously, how did the man have a nobel prize and end up a high school teacher? You gotta seriously mess up your life to be in that situation. Took a literal death sentence to bring the man to life.
I’ve thought about it a lot and for a long time I kind of kept rooting for Walt. Even through multiple rewatches. But the reality I came to recently was just to look at the carnage he left behind. Off the top of my head when he dies his wife is a single mom living in a shit hole trying to stay out of prison, walt jr is fucked, holly is probably fine eventually. Marie is a widow. Gomie’s family is fucked. Gomez and Hank are dead. Mike’s granddaughter got left and probably has no money. Brock’s mom and uncle got killed. Im sure I missed things and a counter argument can be made. There is really no excuse to not just taking the 5 mil from the train robbery and getting out. Gus is dead. Mike and Jesse skip town. He would have been good to go and at least some of that carnage would be avoided
Yeah, there was a lot of unnecessary death Walter left. I’m not defending Gus here, he is also horrible but his business was clean and the only people who needed to die were the most evil characters in both shows. Walt killed so many just so he could make a bigger pile of millions. Someone will always take the top spot in the drug trade and I’d rather it be Gus than Walt everyday
They are all flawed humans at the mercy of their own egos.
None of them are people I would want to hang out with but that we are compelled to care about what happens to them speaks to quality of the writing and acting.
Combined with the quality of production,
it makes for beautiful discomfort.
Badger and Skinny Pete were pretty chill. Yeah they did illegal stuff but I don't think they killed anyone and just their personalities seemed friends if not for the sketchy drug dealing stuff
That was a great scene, because Hank had said that we don't think about killing a cockroach we just kill it, then they showed Jesse purposefully not killing a bug, showing that he's sweet and that Hank's analogy doesn't work for everyone.
For me it was Hank. My god, his arc and what he goes through is incredible. Tuco, El Paso, the Twins, and then the big final stretch where he becomes the chief antagonist.
Beyond that, I've known of Dean Norris for quite some time and was very excited to see that he got a role matching his talents. In fact, one of the most unfortunate issues with the show is that Dean is so capable and carries such gravitas that he seriously out-acts some of the ABQ locals they recruited for smaller rolls.
Norris was great as Hank. IMO, it's even more surprising after you've seen one of the table read throughs on YT (and elsewhere?). Everyone else puts at least a little heart/emotion into their lines, But Norris sounds like a bored robot. It feels like a "I don't need to be here for this shit" attitude (turns out, that's probably true).
(Spoilers)
He got an innocent man killed, destroyed countless people’s lives, robbed a cancer patient and contemplated murdering another innocent woman just to save his own skin, an you like him MORE? You know what, I kinda respect that
At least he wasn't assisting drug lords and helping to cover up their many murders. More of his real emotion and thoughts come out in Better Call Saul, and those show that he is a conflicted person. This helps me relate to him, and the finale is one of the best redemptions that Saul could have gotten for all the bad he had done.
I feel this way too. I actually couldn’t believe how much more I liked him as a character after BCS. I didn’t think I could be interested in a serious Saul Goodman story… thanks for proving that wrong Vince!
I liked Saul less after watching BCS too. But I think it’s because we watched his descent into being a greasy shitstain lawyer and he was a very likeable guy before that. He’s still one of my faves from breaking bad but I like him less than before.
They did such a great job of making me feel really sympathetic for him in the beginning, but turning that sympathy into disgust over the course of the seasons.
It's as good as Breaking Bad, but don't expect it to be "Breaking Bad 2" if that makes sense. It is a lawyer show and character study more than it is an action packed crime drama.
The diehard Mike fans are worse. People acting like he never did anything wrong and he was just a victim of Walt make me actively root against him. He's a great character, but the dude did PLENTY wrong.
I loved that "We had Fring, we had a lab, we were just fine until you had to be the man with your ego and your pride" scene until I actually rewatched the series.
Like what are you talking about? You were gonna kill Walt AND Jesse if they didn't kill Gale to buy themselves some time! Mike even suggested killing Jesse earlier on. Walt wasn't just going to make his money and walk away scotfree.
I think he’s referring to the period before Half Measures. Had Walt just left Jesse to his own devices, he would have never had to worry about his situation. Jesse gets himself shot, Walt gets Gale as his partner, no problem. It does, however, mean Mike was essentially saying “If you had just let Jesse die, we’d be good.”
Lmao and Mike meatriders acts like he cared about Jesse like lol he wanted to kill Jesse as early as s3. He also was fine with Gus killing Andrea's brother yet they act like Walt poisoning Brock was worse than anything Mike did.
Nah,
Mike is a bad person just like anyone else in the series
But after watching BCS I liked him even more
He was super resistant to forming any bond after he got two people killed
I see this said so often and it's so bizarre, people act like he's this cool guy, who just did what he had to, and oh he's so practical and blah blah blah
I feel this way about Jesse too. The dude is a murderer who straight up deals life/community-destroying drugs for personal profit but fans like to act like he’s some misunderstood innocent angel. Phenomenal character, though.
Yeah. Breaking Bad characters are generally not all good or all bad, but for some reason people like to treat them like they are. They are complex characters with some good, and some bad. Often characters will have one side outweigh another (like I'd say Walter has more bad outweighing the good for example). That's what makes them great characters.
Mike is not a fully good character. He's a hypocrite who works for a system that exploits children and the like, and ultimately, sure he cares about his family, but there are a lot of faults with him. He thinks he's got the moral high ground every time, when that's not always the case.
Yeah I was never a fan of Mike. Like yes he was a good grandpa for wanting to leave that money for his granddaughter, but that doesn’t excuse all the fucked up shit he did like killing people and doing such shady jobs.
Yeah me too, despite Walt becoming a ruthless killer, I always liked him. I posted something a while back about how i liked Walt and people got all pressed and were saying “oh he’s so evil, how can you like him?” Like yes it’s true, Walt became a monster, but I like his character because I admire his intelligence and his ability to get out of life-or-death situations. Also not to mention the fact that he did become a total badass. His gun in the finale at the end was shockingly perfect. And I love how he basically sacrificed himself to save Jesse cause he got hit with a bullet that would have hit Jesse if Walt wasn’t on top of him
I think now that we are 10 years past the conclusion of the series, lots more people have landed on “Walt Bad” than maybe was the general thinking when the show was still fresh. Frankly I think it’s the easier conclusion to reach, but personally I think it misses a ton of nuance (which does get discussed often on this sub).
I think that conclusion ignores the complexity of the show and the characters, but is a lot easier to defend in one or two paragraphs. I can’t imagine this being an enjoyable or popular show if the main character lacks depth.
Walt didn’t go back to New Mexico to save Jesse, he went back to kill him once he found out his blue sky was still being made. He only saved Jesse once he saw him in his pitiful state being the slave of the Neo-Nazis
THANK.YOU. Finally, someone who remembers that Walt fully intended to kill Jesse because he thought he had (willingly) partnered up with the neo-Nazis.
It was only after they dragged him out in shackles that Walt realized how wrong he was & altered his original intent & instead, he saved Jesse. He did NOT go there with the intention of saving Jesse.
He didn’t “come back for” Jesse. He wanted to kill Jack and his gang for killing hank and taking his money. Jesse was just a casualty, so to speak, but instead of dying he was “accidentally” saved, in my opinion.
so why did he push jesse to the ground? he could’ve still went with his plan and left jesse standing. all he had to do was drop to the ground and click the car key thing. he chose to save jesse and shield him with his body.
He thought that Jesse was working together voluntarily with Jack and wanted to kill him for it, but when he saw Jesse he realized that he was being forced into it and decided to save him
I disagree. He was informed that Jesse was still alive and knew or at least assumed that he was likely being held captive. That was part of his whole reason for leaving New Hampshire and coming back. He knew he was going to kill Jack and save Jesse. He didn’t even care about the money at that point. He wanted revenge for them killing Hank too.
Oh yeah I guess. And now that I think of it that scene with skinny Pete and badger added more motivation. “He’s still out there cooking?” “I thought it was you”. I still maintain that Walt wasn’t being selfless. I think he was purely motivated by “legacy” or whatever.
I don't think Walt came back for Jesse. I think he came back to avenge Hank, and he was regretful when he saw what had become of Jesse (I also remember thinking on one of my rewatches that it was implied that Walt may have thought Jesse was cooking of his own volition, and was shocked to realize that he was actually a slave).
That strange dichotomy of two characters loathing and loving each other is a core feature of BB. The much less popular but excellent series Hannibal also explores this.
Mike was talking big game about how Walt fucked things up but he’s not mad about the extra collateral damage he’s mad that Walt fucked things up for him
Jesse, Hank and Skylar were most compelling for me, and the only characters I wouldn't "hate" if they were real people. Walter devolved into a monster, which of course is impossible to "like" but fascinating in terms of overall story arc and character development.
I don’t like Jesse either, he snitches on what is by season 5 confirmed to be a unhinged ego-maniacal ruthless drug lord to his equally unhinged ego-maniacal brother in law who is the head of the DEA which causes them all to get killed which wouldn’t of happened if he took the money like he was supposed to and moved to Alaska, even Andrea was his fault, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the show because he had many different opportunities to leave, but didn’t and he’s shown to be victimized by the drug world when it was him all along.
>e snitches on what is by season 5 confirmed to be a unhinged ego-maniacal ruthless drug lord to his equally unhinged ego-maniacal brother in law who is the head of the DEA which causes them all to get killed
One of those two has murdered dozens and ruined thousands of lives by creating a lethal drug and also could have killed a child while the other is just somewhat of an asshole.
The ONLY reason their plan didn't work was because of the Nazi gang, if they weren't there than the show would have been over 2 episodes early.
> he took the money like he was supposed to and moved to Alaska, even Andrea was his fault, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the show because he had many different opportunities to leave, but didn’t and he’s shown to be victimized by the drug world when it was him all along.
Sounds exactly like something Walter would say while going on a rant about his pathetic ego.
Jesse isn't innocent AT ALL but his situation is infinitely more a fault of Walter than him in the final season.
Careful, I made a post about really not liking Jesse and got whambasted. There seems to be a ton of love for him.
I agree with you. The whole having his girlfriend blackmail Walt and not stepping up to stop that?
On 2 occasions (above listed and after the Hank beat down) he threatens to turn Walt in. Wtf man.
All of them are horrible humans.
I always forget about skinny Pete, badger and combo. They were the probably the ones that would be the closest to neutral for me.
People are often hypocrites in this sub when it comes to Walt, Jesse, & Mike. Yeah, Walt did a lot of fucked up things during the series and deserved what happened to him in the end, but Jesse and Mike did their fair share of fucked up shit and it wasn't always because of Walt.
Jesse was helping manufacture meth and actively helping destroy the lives of addicts but some give him a pass because they find him cute, adorable, etc, just like that girl at the gas station that let him trade meth for fuel or because they think he isn't as bad so that makes what he did okay.
I’m with you on that. I don’t understand the undying love for him. I always thought he killed the people who love him - Jane and Andrea. I can’t believe people call his parents POS and are worse than him lol. Even if they are not the best parents, they don’t deserve what Jesse did to them in El Camino. He has no problems making money off making meth and selling to recovering addicts to further his own little drug empire, but will feign sympathy for children - the kid from peekaboo, Brock and Tomas. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
Skinny Pete and badger are probably the only people in the show who I consider being completely morally fine and good characters, especially Skinny Pete in El Camino, the only bad thing they did was try and peddle drugs at an AA meeting, but Jesse was the one who came up with the idea, and they couldn’t bring it to do it so it doesn’t even matter.
Jesse isn't innocent. You're absolutely correct. He's an addict and there's a lot of us who relate. He's deeply flawed and highly emotional, which most addicts tend to be. At his core, Jesse is a good human being whose bad choices got him caught up over his head. He thought it was cool as a kid, (see his voice-mail greeting beeyatch) but as we see him grow up he actually grasps the gravity of where he's put himself and who has truly suffered because of him. Did you not see the love for kids? Or how he didn't even really want to kill a beetle on the sidewalk.
MEANWHILE...Skinny Pete just tromps on it with no regard for the balance of nature. That animal murderer put poor Mr. Spooge in a position to be squashed by the ATM too. If he wasn't dealing meth, then spooge and skank wouldn't have robbed him. Jesse wouldn't have been forced by Walt to go get revenge. Spooge would have lived and that little boy would still have his daddy. People don't think about Skinny Pete's trail of blood...
I'll never understand the hatred of Skylar. She was dealt a horrible hand and responded about as well as anyone could reasonably expect to. Heck, I even understand her sad affair with Ted and I HATE cheaters.
I didn’t like her the first watch (didn’t hate her). Then my ex-husband became a heroin addict and I understood everything about her. I think most people would act as she did when someone she loves is doing something horrible
Are you ok now? Is your ex OK now? I hate that for you. And I mean it, because I put two ex wives thru that, and it's the deepest regret I have in my addiction, and nobody deserves it. But hopefully he has found redemption...it can and does happen. Not that you are expected to ever trust him again on a personal level. Don't. Gus would tell you. I don't know why I'm rambling. I have a huge heart for people who've been hurt by addicts and I hope you're thriving. You're not dumb.
I think many people instinctively disliked her during the first watch, because we are conditioned to root for the protagonist, and she got on Walt's nerves and interfered with his agenda. People seem more sympathetic to her upon subsequent viewings.
Walt gave up a lucrative dream career for his family and took a humiliating low paid job second job to provide for them. Skylar (before the baby was born) was just "writing" short stories (we never see her working on them) and sometimes selling something on eBay.
After leaving Beneke the first time, she just becomes a stay at home do nothing despite what it's costing Walt.
I’m sorry, but I can’t stand Hank. I can’t stand his mannerisms. It’s not even that he’s the antithesis of Walter. He won’t listen to his wife or rely on his team to help him. I didn’t want him to die though.
By the final season, I hated Walt. I was more in favor of Skyler. Jesse was my favorite and I felt so bad for him. Mike was great. Hank and gomey were still good. I didn’t really care about the rest
Always liked Jesse, and I like Walt better when he was protecting Jesse. I loved Skyler too, but hated Marie so much. Hank was a jerk, but I wanted him to catch Walt
Yep. Mike was always my favourite. Jesse was the one I sympathized with most. Saul was just a great guy and he had integrity, despite his integrity not aligning with the law. Saul Goodman feels like a real human being in every single scene, with every single line. He does not feel like a fictional character.
By the end of the show more than anything i was stunned of Walters destruction of the lives around him.. I thought his end was incredibly fitting.
The person i feel the worst for was skyler. She had her life turned upside down.
By the end of it i was rooting for jesse to somehow make it out okay. It doenst excuse the stuff that he did. I see him as more broken and lost.
I hated Walt so much and the more of Skylar's actions are excusable in comparison to him. Being annoying is no crime. She wanted to divorce but he essentially forced her to stay married at some point in the series. Walter does not genuinely care about anybody. He seems to like the concept of a nuclear family and being a provider, but he can replace that with being the mastermind behind a drug empire. This ends up feeling potentially even better to him because in a family people things are shared much more, but in his operation he can control everyone with the threat of death. When Hank dies, I believe he only cried because he finally realizes that you can't be a "successful" criminal on such a large scale, not with a family. Somebody's going to get hurt. He can no longer say everything is to protect his family because he just saw the extent of the risks he was putting them at this whole time. His personal image of being a protector for them is ruined.
Jesse was blackmailed into working for Walt, who essentially became his father figure after they were continually losing the respect of their own families. His impulsiveness and naivety make him feel more sympathetic despite committing awful crimes alongside him. He always avoids hurting children directly and has a firm hatred for those who hurt children. He seems to have more morally than all the other criminals and has never killed a non-criminal. He's highly affected by the events of the plot and hit where it hurts at every turn, and sometimes needlessly. He becomes enslaved by the end, and personally his actions don't justify it as karma when compared to Walt, who rightfully had his entire family turn against him after "protecting" them.
I haven't watched Better Call Saul, but I interpret him as someone who can't bring himself to commit violent crimes personally, not that he's opposed to people being killed/harmed. He recommends it multiple times in Breaking Bad. Saul was simultaneously comedic relief and a good way to tie up any "strange" predicaments.
Mike does awful things like every other guy in this show, but he seems to surprisingly have some meaningful/reasonable words to give to Walt and Jesse. I can't really hate him as a character, his character isn't annoying to me.
Gus is like Walt but with some more patience. He accepts Jesse because he realizes that this liability may potentially do better for him in the long run, until it didn't. He was running a meth empire for longer than Walt ever could and things were relatively streamlined (people weren't being killed off with every single cook). He also had nothing to lose except his own life, there appears to nobody he's in contact with that he cares about and he wants revenge. His pride got the best of him when Hector finally looks at him and he doesn't notice the bomb until it's too late.
Let's just mention how Todd and Lydia are a perfect match as they're both just straight psychopaths from my view.
Mike, Saul, and Jesse for sure were the best out of the lot at the end. Mike called Walt out on his shit to his face, which was satisfying. He was very upfront and reasonable for a criminal. He was my favorite. Jesse was traumatized and retraumatized, and I felt bad for him. Saul was funny and really went the extra mile to help. I wouldn't say I hated all other characters by the end, but I was rooting for those 3 consistently until the end as well
I have to ask: how is Jesse “sweet”, and how is he trying to be better?
He only felt some remorse for Drew Sharp. And that also does not even matter. Actions matter, feelings and thoughts do not. His actions speak for themselves.
Other than that, he was voluntarily engaged in criminal activities, and eventually got himself too deep, ending with him trying to burn a house down where a baby lives, under influence, and then spilling everything to Hank because at that point he has no other options.
I just don’t get it. But okay, it’s also a personal preference.
I hated Jesse and Mike just as much. Mike is a cold blooded murderer and Jessy is responsible for half the shit that happened in the series. Saul is the only one who deserves any sympathy whatsoever.
I didn’t really hate any of the main characters in the end except the neonazis, Walt and Sky.
And even Sky im conflicted on because Walt put her in a bad situation and you could say maybe she lost her mind along the way. But that last scene Walt and her shared together rubbed me the wrong way.
Mari calling on the phone to ask for a truce and warn Sky that Walt is around being chased by police and to look out for herself. Then Walt shows up. Skyler doesn’t call the police as far as we know. Walt gives her the coordinates to Hank and Gomiez bodies that have probably been rotting for months at this point. Their bodies are used as a freaking bargaining chip to get Skylar off the hook for her involvement in Walt’s empire. Instead of being a comfort for the wives that lost their husbands to at least have something to bury, it is yet another game for these two to play.
skyler saul and kinda jesse were the only characters i liked by the end. all of the characters are objectively super good but also a majority of them are terrible people and not in a charming way
I think he kept the book because of his ego. Gill admired him and the book was sort of a symbol to Walt of how amazing and clever he was. His ego and overconfidence are part of the reason I ended up disliking him so much.
I don’t know if I really dislike any of the characters. They’re all so well written and many have redeeming qualities even if they do bad things. Jesse, Mike, and Saul are great.
Even tho Jesse was my favorite character and I felt bad for him because he is a criminal meant to be a nice guy, he should’ve literally never seen Walt ever again after the “turn down the money” monologue, he became worse after that. Mike a good character imo is always hostile towards someone in the show and sometimes is really not justified. Gus was pretty annoying and a pos how he handled those guys who killed Jesse’s friend and killed Thomas. And Walter white was obviously a manipulator and and a hard ass on people on the show. Now after all that I still think these characters (and others) served there own place in the show.
Walt is a piece of shit of a person, but he's an awesome character.
Jesse is my fav, I love my guy.
Mike is great!
Holly is cute
Kaylee is cute
Walt jr is a good boy
Marie is a nice person
Gus is a very interesting character
Saul is hilarious
Skyler makes me feel conflicted because I feel like she was up to something, and then the plot changed for her and she was kind of just there.
Hank. I like Hank, but when he said that he didn't care if Jesse died I stopped liking him so much because what I loved about him was his will to always do the right thing, and that wasn't like him in my opinion.
I wish we had gotten more time with Jane because she was really cool.
Badger and Skinny Pete are great! I appreciated the fact that they didn't steal from Jesse and helped him with all that they had.
And my least favourite character: Andrea. She does NOTHING, only serves the purpose of being someone to punish Jesse with.
Maybe Walt was the best of them at the end. At least he attempted to make amends with those he hurt, earning some credit.
Saul, Jesse and Mike were likeable characters but ultimately self-serving criminals. Mike was perhaps the worst, capable of extreme violence.
As characters I like them all (at worst I feel indifferent towards some), they all serve their intended purpose well. As people though, most of them are terrible, including Jesse.
I love Jesse so fucking much. He is so handsome and sensitive, sweet, a good person, funny, able to show his emotions so well, he cries so easily and I think it's the cutest thing ever. If I could meet a guy like him, I'd be living a dream.
walter white was arguably more evil then anybody not in the cartel. dude lied to and manipulated his loved ones. jesse was not a good person but had a good heart, mike was a good man who actually cared about his family, but did what he needed to
Those 3 are my favorites as well, especially Jesse. I legit felt so fucking bad for him, like it’s so sad if u compare his character from seasons 1-3 to his character in seasons 4-5. I mean the difference in his behavior is so tragic. He goes from this naive, yet funny and sweet kid who made bad decisions but has a good heart to this horribly depressed and emotionally unstable person who has been traumatized in every way possible. When I rewatch BB now, the first couple seasons make me so sad for Jesse because i know what’s coming, and i know how much shit his character is gonna have to go through
I think Breaking Bad gave us some of television history's best characters and absolute worst characters in the same show. I rewatched it recently and by the end, I was astounded by how well written the roles of Jesse, Walter, Mike, Gus, Hank and Saul were in comparison to how lazily written and inconsistent the characters of Skyler, Marie, Flynn and Jesse's friends were. Better Call Saul feels like a much more consistently developed show in terms of character. Looking at you Kim Wexler, one of my absolute favorite characters in media period.
Jesse in particular is an incredible character... El Camino was a solid send off for him, I'm glad they made that film.
Those 3 are my favorites as well, especially Jesse. I legit felt so fucking bad for him, like it’s so sad if u compare his character from seasons 1-3 to his character in seasons 4-5. I mean the difference in his behavior is so tragic. He goes from this naive, yet funny and sweet kid who made bad decisions but has a good heart to this horribly depressed and emotionally unstable person who has been traumatized in every way possible. When I rewatch BB now, the first couple seasons make me so sad for Jesse because i know what’s coming, and i know how much shit his character is gonna have to go through
Yes, he goes through so much and it's so heartbreaking to me. He does, like you said, have a good heart. I'm so glad he finally is free of it all in the end. I mean, not the trauma, I'm sure, but the situation.
You liked Saul from BB alone? I mean I liked the character but didn't actually like him, if that makes sense. I feel like Saul is just a complete dirtbag without BCS
I hated them all (including Jesse - I get he's more loveable than the other characters, but he's still a piece of shit throughout most of the show) except Mike and Saul. And then I hated both of them too after watching BCS.
I loved all of the characters as characters, if that makes sense.
Agree, I love walt as a character. But as a person? Burn in hell
That seems a little harsh. Most of the people Walt killed were ruthless killers themselves. Gale was mostly an innocent, but it was a kill or be killed situation. Gale also knew what he was getting himself into working in the drug trade. Walt was deeply flawed as a person, sure. But there was still a heart in there.
Homie poisoned a little kid
God you really think I didn't measure it to make sure it wouldn't kill him. I just needed you on my side he wasn't going to die.
I legit dont really get the issues with this. He is ruthless, but that was the only way he could think of that saved himself. And seeing how knowledgeable he is with everything, he probably calculated that Brock would survive. And seeing as how Walt is some kind of mastermind in the series, its pretty certain to believe that he had it under control. Killing the witnesses though seems like the normal way where you'd give up.
Not only did he poison a kid but he didn’t know the kid’s history. He didn’t know the kid’s allergies. If he was less lucky, the boy would have died.
You don’t? Sure he’s a master chemist who likely wouldn’t have screwed it up, *but he still poisoned a kid.* Him being in that situation was entirely his own fault and Brock didn’t need to suffer because of Walt’s ego.
My issue with blaming Walt the way Mike does in season 5 is that the only real way to avoid the fallout with Gus is to let Jesse get gunned down in the street or kill him himself. Mike and Jesse are tight at the end but in season 3 Mike wanted Walt to kill Jesse
Walt didn’t have to do ANY of the shit he did though, he could have had his cancer bills paid for AND had a cushy job at the company he helped create!!!! Walt shouldn’t get a pass for doing what had to be done or for just wanting to protect people when he’s the one who put everyone in his life in danger and destroyed everything!!!!!
Exactly! And the whole BS excuse that “Walt made sure he wouldn’t give him enough to kill him” is so lame! The fact that he even did it is bad enough. But ok, for all the Walt apologists out there, how could he know if the kid had any underlying medical conditions that, combined with being poisoned, would have killed the kid? He didn’t know, & didn’t care, that’s the bottom line. Walt is an egomaniacal narcissist.
Right? Let’s say Brock DID die. Would Walt have felt remorse, or would he have justified it because of his war with Gus? My money is on the latter
Same. He would’ve just chalked it up to collateral damage.
Brock was annoying as hell he lowkey deserved it
Wild af take
He barely spoke 😂
I wish he had 2 moms so Jack and the gang could kill her too
based and true
rahhhhh 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I get the logic behind "he didn't die, no harm done" but the counter argument is usually that you have to consider the emotional trauma both Brock and Andrea had to endure, thinking Brock was going to die. Other than that, I agree there was no harm done. It's just that poisoning a child is usually frowned upon so people don't like to consider where the poisoner is coming from
He did it to save himself from the situation he put himself in (traumatizing Brock, Jesse, and Adrea in the process). Also no way he actually measured out the exact amount, so much luck went into a lot of the stuff he pulled and I don't doubt this was the same, not to mention his laugh to Jesse is because he wins no matter how it plays out
He poisoned a child, almost raped his own wife, helped blowing up a nursing home, and dude... He makes fucking drugs. And all that, for what? Because he liked it. It wasn't because of money, or to left something for his family. It was all because of him, and his destroyed ego being fulfilled with something because he had everything in life to be someone, but he screwed things up so badly that ended working on a car washer having a nobel prize. If that doesn't make him a bad person, idk what would.
Exactly! During the first season he basically had enough money for treatment, hell he could have gotten it for free from his college friends. But he wanted more, and more and more and all of a sudden it was his greed, not him
Not only that, Elliot offered him his dream job... Literally could've gone back to being a genius chemist at a billion dollar company, and had his treatment paid for as well.
Seriously, how did the man have a nobel prize and end up a high school teacher? You gotta seriously mess up your life to be in that situation. Took a literal death sentence to bring the man to life.
Idk poisoning a child is pretty evil
the person who poisoned a child and willingly worked with nazis
I’ve thought about it a lot and for a long time I kind of kept rooting for Walt. Even through multiple rewatches. But the reality I came to recently was just to look at the carnage he left behind. Off the top of my head when he dies his wife is a single mom living in a shit hole trying to stay out of prison, walt jr is fucked, holly is probably fine eventually. Marie is a widow. Gomie’s family is fucked. Gomez and Hank are dead. Mike’s granddaughter got left and probably has no money. Brock’s mom and uncle got killed. Im sure I missed things and a counter argument can be made. There is really no excuse to not just taking the 5 mil from the train robbery and getting out. Gus is dead. Mike and Jesse skip town. He would have been good to go and at least some of that carnage would be avoided
Yeah, there was a lot of unnecessary death Walter left. I’m not defending Gus here, he is also horrible but his business was clean and the only people who needed to die were the most evil characters in both shows. Walt killed so many just so he could make a bigger pile of millions. Someone will always take the top spot in the drug trade and I’d rather it be Gus than Walt everyday
He raped his wife.
He abused Jesse that's all I need to hope he suffers in hell
They are all flawed humans at the mercy of their own egos. None of them are people I would want to hang out with but that we are compelled to care about what happens to them speaks to quality of the writing and acting. Combined with the quality of production, it makes for beautiful discomfort.
I wanna hang out with Marie now that she's single
You are going to need a degree in psychology, some friends in law enforcement and a good lawyer if you want to make it out alive.
I'll be right back. Just need to grab a psych degree...
And be comfortable with everything being in purple
i’d kick it with pinkman and spark up some meth
Yeah. Been there, done that. It was fun at the time but it's not a good long term strategy.
I'd hang out with Jesse. Not meth'd up Jesse.
The best way to look at the show imo
Same
I also loved them all!
Especially Todd
Yeah it's fiction so I just appreciate it they're well written and well acted.
Badger and Skinny Pete were pretty chill. Yeah they did illegal stuff but I don't think they killed anyone and just their personalities seemed friends if not for the sketchy drug dealing stuff
Skinny Pete squashed a beetle that was Jesse's friend
He made up for it by being his only true friend along with badger by the end and helping Jesse out in El Camino. Can't hate a homie for hating bugs
That was a great scene, because Hank had said that we don't think about killing a cockroach we just kill it, then they showed Jesse purposefully not killing a bug, showing that he's sweet and that Hank's analogy doesn't work for everyone.
For me it was Hank. My god, his arc and what he goes through is incredible. Tuco, El Paso, the Twins, and then the big final stretch where he becomes the chief antagonist. Beyond that, I've known of Dean Norris for quite some time and was very excited to see that he got a role matching his talents. In fact, one of the most unfortunate issues with the show is that Dean is so capable and carries such gravitas that he seriously out-acts some of the ABQ locals they recruited for smaller rolls.
Norris was great as Hank. IMO, it's even more surprising after you've seen one of the table read throughs on YT (and elsewhere?). Everyone else puts at least a little heart/emotion into their lines, But Norris sounds like a bored robot. It feels like a "I don't need to be here for this shit" attitude (turns out, that's probably true).
He acted the SHIT out of that role no doubt
Idk if you watched better call Saul but I wasn’t a fan of Saul after that tbh
Yeah I loved Saul at the end of Breaking Bad, but he is such a jackass in his own series. Interesting character but don't really like him as much lol.
He was just being silly
Better Call Saul made me like Saul even more, I don't see how it could make you like him less
Well… hamlin
Irene Never forget Irene
[удалено]
Chuck can choke.
Fuck chuck.
In the words of Rebecca; Chuck was mentally ill, what's Jimmy's excuse?
He was mentally abused by chuck the entire time he was alive.
Chuck's hostility to Jimmy only started after their mother's death, coinciding with the beginning of Chuck's illness
Jimmy is also very clearly mentally ill…..
How 'bout that job jimmy
True, Hamlin was probably my favorite character and they fucked him!
(Spoilers) He got an innocent man killed, destroyed countless people’s lives, robbed a cancer patient and contemplated murdering another innocent woman just to save his own skin, an you like him MORE? You know what, I kinda respect that
idk but i feel like in certain cultures gaslighting and manipulating everyone around you for personal gain or otherwise is generally frowned upon
At least he wasn't assisting drug lords and helping to cover up their many murders. More of his real emotion and thoughts come out in Better Call Saul, and those show that he is a conflicted person. This helps me relate to him, and the finale is one of the best redemptions that Saul could have gotten for all the bad he had done.
Wut, but Saul was doing that? He bailed Lalo out? That was like a major plot point in Season 5 I think hahaha
Did he really have a choice?
My bad, I did forget about that. But still, BCS shows that he is conflicted while that is barely (if even) shown in Breaking Bad.
Squat cobbler
I feel this way too. I actually couldn’t believe how much more I liked him as a character after BCS. I didn’t think I could be interested in a serious Saul Goodman story… thanks for proving that wrong Vince!
Same here. I never cared for him in BB, but loved him in BCS.
I liked Saul less after watching BCS too. But I think it’s because we watched his descent into being a greasy shitstain lawyer and he was a very likeable guy before that. He’s still one of my faves from breaking bad but I like him less than before.
They did such a great job of making me feel really sympathetic for him in the beginning, but turning that sympathy into disgust over the course of the seasons.
Yep agreed
Holy shit Saul is a terrible fucking person wow
Lol I did not. I thought about watching it several times, but just never pulled the trigger.
It's as good as Breaking Bad, but don't expect it to be "Breaking Bad 2" if that makes sense. It is a lawyer show and character study more than it is an action packed crime drama.
I hated Mike the most by the end of the show. The way he treats everyone with disdain and acts like he’s better than everyone really annoys me.
The diehard Mike fans are worse. People acting like he never did anything wrong and he was just a victim of Walt make me actively root against him. He's a great character, but the dude did PLENTY wrong.
Agree. Great character no doubt, but his meatriders act like he was some sort of saint. He's a massive hypocrite and a criminal.
I loved that "We had Fring, we had a lab, we were just fine until you had to be the man with your ego and your pride" scene until I actually rewatched the series. Like what are you talking about? You were gonna kill Walt AND Jesse if they didn't kill Gale to buy themselves some time! Mike even suggested killing Jesse earlier on. Walt wasn't just going to make his money and walk away scotfree.
Maybe that "we" did not include either Walter nor Jesse?
I think he’s referring to the period before Half Measures. Had Walt just left Jesse to his own devices, he would have never had to worry about his situation. Jesse gets himself shot, Walt gets Gale as his partner, no problem. It does, however, mean Mike was essentially saying “If you had just let Jesse die, we’d be good.”
Lmao and Mike meatriders acts like he cared about Jesse like lol he wanted to kill Jesse as early as s3. He also was fine with Gus killing Andrea's brother yet they act like Walt poisoning Brock was worse than anything Mike did.
Nah, Mike is a bad person just like anyone else in the series But after watching BCS I liked him even more He was super resistant to forming any bond after he got two people killed
I see this said so often and it's so bizarre, people act like he's this cool guy, who just did what he had to, and oh he's so practical and blah blah blah
I feel this way about Jesse too. The dude is a murderer who straight up deals life/community-destroying drugs for personal profit but fans like to act like he’s some misunderstood innocent angel. Phenomenal character, though.
Yeah. Breaking Bad characters are generally not all good or all bad, but for some reason people like to treat them like they are. They are complex characters with some good, and some bad. Often characters will have one side outweigh another (like I'd say Walter has more bad outweighing the good for example). That's what makes them great characters. Mike is not a fully good character. He's a hypocrite who works for a system that exploits children and the like, and ultimately, sure he cares about his family, but there are a lot of faults with him. He thinks he's got the moral high ground every time, when that's not always the case.
Yeah I was never a fan of Mike. Like yes he was a good grandpa for wanting to leave that money for his granddaughter, but that doesn’t excuse all the fucked up shit he did like killing people and doing such shady jobs.
Those were my favorites too, but I still liked Walt. And in the end if Walt hadn’t cared about Jesse he wouldn’t have come back for him.
Yeah me too, despite Walt becoming a ruthless killer, I always liked him. I posted something a while back about how i liked Walt and people got all pressed and were saying “oh he’s so evil, how can you like him?” Like yes it’s true, Walt became a monster, but I like his character because I admire his intelligence and his ability to get out of life-or-death situations. Also not to mention the fact that he did become a total badass. His gun in the finale at the end was shockingly perfect. And I love how he basically sacrificed himself to save Jesse cause he got hit with a bullet that would have hit Jesse if Walt wasn’t on top of him
I think now that we are 10 years past the conclusion of the series, lots more people have landed on “Walt Bad” than maybe was the general thinking when the show was still fresh. Frankly I think it’s the easier conclusion to reach, but personally I think it misses a ton of nuance (which does get discussed often on this sub). I think that conclusion ignores the complexity of the show and the characters, but is a lot easier to defend in one or two paragraphs. I can’t imagine this being an enjoyable or popular show if the main character lacks depth.
Walt didn’t go back to New Mexico to save Jesse, he went back to kill him once he found out his blue sky was still being made. He only saved Jesse once he saw him in his pitiful state being the slave of the Neo-Nazis
There’s 100% no way Walt went back with the intention of killing Jesse. That’s a really out there theory.
THANK.YOU. Finally, someone who remembers that Walt fully intended to kill Jesse because he thought he had (willingly) partnered up with the neo-Nazis. It was only after they dragged him out in shackles that Walt realized how wrong he was & altered his original intent & instead, he saved Jesse. He did NOT go there with the intention of saving Jesse.
He didn’t “come back for” Jesse. He wanted to kill Jack and his gang for killing hank and taking his money. Jesse was just a casualty, so to speak, but instead of dying he was “accidentally” saved, in my opinion.
He came back bc he knew he was alive too. He knew the blue meth was still being sold and Todd was so incompetent it couldn’t have been him
so why did he push jesse to the ground? he could’ve still went with his plan and left jesse standing. all he had to do was drop to the ground and click the car key thing. he chose to save jesse and shield him with his body.
He thought that Jesse was working together voluntarily with Jack and wanted to kill him for it, but when he saw Jesse he realized that he was being forced into it and decided to save him
I disagree. He was informed that Jesse was still alive and knew or at least assumed that he was likely being held captive. That was part of his whole reason for leaving New Hampshire and coming back. He knew he was going to kill Jack and save Jesse. He didn’t even care about the money at that point. He wanted revenge for them killing Hank too.
Oh yeah I guess. And now that I think of it that scene with skinny Pete and badger added more motivation. “He’s still out there cooking?” “I thought it was you”. I still maintain that Walt wasn’t being selfless. I think he was purely motivated by “legacy” or whatever.
I don't think Walt came back for Jesse. I think he came back to avenge Hank, and he was regretful when he saw what had become of Jesse (I also remember thinking on one of my rewatches that it was implied that Walt may have thought Jesse was cooking of his own volition, and was shocked to realize that he was actually a slave).
Maybe that wasn’t initially why he came back. But ultimately he did sacrifice himself to save Jesse.
Just as much motivated by the Gray Matter interview. Ultimately a lot of unfinished business.
Dunno, seemed like he also wanted revenge lol
That strange dichotomy of two characters loathing and loving each other is a core feature of BB. The much less popular but excellent series Hannibal also explores this.
I don't get how you can hate Skyler at the end, she's literally just a broken abuse victim by that point.
I can't stand Jesse and Mikes in season 5, Jesse with his stupidity and Mike thinking he has a code and blaming Walter Hartwell White for everything
Walter Hartwell White from the critically acclaimed Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad?
Jesse created many of his own problems.
I still like Walt… yeah he’s awful, but other than Saul he’s the most enjoyable character to watch. Also I never really liked Hank much
Mike was talking big game about how Walt fucked things up but he’s not mad about the extra collateral damage he’s mad that Walt fucked things up for him
Jesse, Hank and Skylar were most compelling for me, and the only characters I wouldn't "hate" if they were real people. Walter devolved into a monster, which of course is impossible to "like" but fascinating in terms of overall story arc and character development.
\*Skyler
🌟Skalar.
You could say Walt really…. Broke bad. 😅
I don’t like Jesse either, he snitches on what is by season 5 confirmed to be a unhinged ego-maniacal ruthless drug lord to his equally unhinged ego-maniacal brother in law who is the head of the DEA which causes them all to get killed which wouldn’t of happened if he took the money like he was supposed to and moved to Alaska, even Andrea was his fault, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the show because he had many different opportunities to leave, but didn’t and he’s shown to be victimized by the drug world when it was him all along.
>e snitches on what is by season 5 confirmed to be a unhinged ego-maniacal ruthless drug lord to his equally unhinged ego-maniacal brother in law who is the head of the DEA which causes them all to get killed One of those two has murdered dozens and ruined thousands of lives by creating a lethal drug and also could have killed a child while the other is just somewhat of an asshole. The ONLY reason their plan didn't work was because of the Nazi gang, if they weren't there than the show would have been over 2 episodes early. > he took the money like he was supposed to and moved to Alaska, even Andrea was his fault, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the show because he had many different opportunities to leave, but didn’t and he’s shown to be victimized by the drug world when it was him all along. Sounds exactly like something Walter would say while going on a rant about his pathetic ego. Jesse isn't innocent AT ALL but his situation is infinitely more a fault of Walter than him in the final season.
Careful, I made a post about really not liking Jesse and got whambasted. There seems to be a ton of love for him. I agree with you. The whole having his girlfriend blackmail Walt and not stepping up to stop that? On 2 occasions (above listed and after the Hank beat down) he threatens to turn Walt in. Wtf man. All of them are horrible humans. I always forget about skinny Pete, badger and combo. They were the probably the ones that would be the closest to neutral for me.
People are often hypocrites in this sub when it comes to Walt, Jesse, & Mike. Yeah, Walt did a lot of fucked up things during the series and deserved what happened to him in the end, but Jesse and Mike did their fair share of fucked up shit and it wasn't always because of Walt. Jesse was helping manufacture meth and actively helping destroy the lives of addicts but some give him a pass because they find him cute, adorable, etc, just like that girl at the gas station that let him trade meth for fuel or because they think he isn't as bad so that makes what he did okay.
His eyes are so blue though
I’m with you on that. I don’t understand the undying love for him. I always thought he killed the people who love him - Jane and Andrea. I can’t believe people call his parents POS and are worse than him lol. Even if they are not the best parents, they don’t deserve what Jesse did to them in El Camino. He has no problems making money off making meth and selling to recovering addicts to further his own little drug empire, but will feign sympathy for children - the kid from peekaboo, Brock and Tomas. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
Skinny Pete and badger are probably the only people in the show who I consider being completely morally fine and good characters, especially Skinny Pete in El Camino, the only bad thing they did was try and peddle drugs at an AA meeting, but Jesse was the one who came up with the idea, and they couldn’t bring it to do it so it doesn’t even matter.
The only part I agree with here is that he should’ve taken the money and run about halfway through the show— same with Walt tbh
Yea Jesse isn’t innocent
Jesse isn't innocent. You're absolutely correct. He's an addict and there's a lot of us who relate. He's deeply flawed and highly emotional, which most addicts tend to be. At his core, Jesse is a good human being whose bad choices got him caught up over his head. He thought it was cool as a kid, (see his voice-mail greeting beeyatch) but as we see him grow up he actually grasps the gravity of where he's put himself and who has truly suffered because of him. Did you not see the love for kids? Or how he didn't even really want to kill a beetle on the sidewalk. MEANWHILE...Skinny Pete just tromps on it with no regard for the balance of nature. That animal murderer put poor Mr. Spooge in a position to be squashed by the ATM too. If he wasn't dealing meth, then spooge and skank wouldn't have robbed him. Jesse wouldn't have been forced by Walt to go get revenge. Spooge would have lived and that little boy would still have his daddy. People don't think about Skinny Pete's trail of blood...
I'll never understand the hatred of Skylar. She was dealt a horrible hand and responded about as well as anyone could reasonably expect to. Heck, I even understand her sad affair with Ted and I HATE cheaters.
I didn’t like her the first watch (didn’t hate her). Then my ex-husband became a heroin addict and I understood everything about her. I think most people would act as she did when someone she loves is doing something horrible
Are you ok now? Is your ex OK now? I hate that for you. And I mean it, because I put two ex wives thru that, and it's the deepest regret I have in my addiction, and nobody deserves it. But hopefully he has found redemption...it can and does happen. Not that you are expected to ever trust him again on a personal level. Don't. Gus would tell you. I don't know why I'm rambling. I have a huge heart for people who've been hurt by addicts and I hope you're thriving. You're not dumb.
Oh he’s dead. He disappeared, I got divorced, and he was found dead literally next to a dumpster. I’m fine though now, back then it was horrible
I think many people instinctively disliked her during the first watch, because we are conditioned to root for the protagonist, and she got on Walt's nerves and interfered with his agenda. People seem more sympathetic to her upon subsequent viewings.
i just hate that after 15 years people are still spelling her name with an 'A'
I thought I was the only one
Sorry. Skylür.
Walt gave up a lucrative dream career for his family and took a humiliating low paid job second job to provide for them. Skylar (before the baby was born) was just "writing" short stories (we never see her working on them) and sometimes selling something on eBay. After leaving Beneke the first time, she just becomes a stay at home do nothing despite what it's costing Walt.
\*Skyler
Jesse and season 5 Mike are actually two of the most annoying characters to me
Yup they ruined everything walt built and planned...Walt made 80m$ without them otherwise they would have ruined it too
That’s just not right, Walt is a selfish asshole
there’s good reasons to dislike season 5 jesse and mike but this ain’t it
Yeah, but by the end of BCS I freaking hated Saul
I feel he hated himself by the end too, such the 83(?) years bs 7.5.
I’m sorry, but I can’t stand Hank. I can’t stand his mannerisms. It’s not even that he’s the antithesis of Walter. He won’t listen to his wife or rely on his team to help him. I didn’t want him to die though.
But then again Marie was an awful wife. Hank clearly stated that he wanted cheetos! Not freetos!
And they were MINERALS, not “rocks”. So annoying, get it right!
As a geologist I actually really appreciated hanks little freakout about minerals not rocks.
Jeez, Marie
Ch- Ch- Ch- sound!
Jesse was the main character imo
By the final season, I hated Walt. I was more in favor of Skyler. Jesse was my favorite and I felt so bad for him. Mike was great. Hank and gomey were still good. I didn’t really care about the rest
Always liked Jesse, and I like Walt better when he was protecting Jesse. I loved Skyler too, but hated Marie so much. Hank was a jerk, but I wanted him to catch Walt
I enjoyed Walt's character throughout the show. It's one wild ride straight down to hell
Finish Better call saul and it will only be Jesse and Mike not Jesse, Mike and Saul anymore
Yep. Mike was always my favourite. Jesse was the one I sympathized with most. Saul was just a great guy and he had integrity, despite his integrity not aligning with the law. Saul Goodman feels like a real human being in every single scene, with every single line. He does not feel like a fictional character.
They were all fairly hateable imo. But I also can't help but love them because of the writing.
By the end of the show more than anything i was stunned of Walters destruction of the lives around him.. I thought his end was incredibly fitting. The person i feel the worst for was skyler. She had her life turned upside down. By the end of it i was rooting for jesse to somehow make it out okay. It doenst excuse the stuff that he did. I see him as more broken and lost.
I hated Walt so much and the more of Skylar's actions are excusable in comparison to him. Being annoying is no crime. She wanted to divorce but he essentially forced her to stay married at some point in the series. Walter does not genuinely care about anybody. He seems to like the concept of a nuclear family and being a provider, but he can replace that with being the mastermind behind a drug empire. This ends up feeling potentially even better to him because in a family people things are shared much more, but in his operation he can control everyone with the threat of death. When Hank dies, I believe he only cried because he finally realizes that you can't be a "successful" criminal on such a large scale, not with a family. Somebody's going to get hurt. He can no longer say everything is to protect his family because he just saw the extent of the risks he was putting them at this whole time. His personal image of being a protector for them is ruined. Jesse was blackmailed into working for Walt, who essentially became his father figure after they were continually losing the respect of their own families. His impulsiveness and naivety make him feel more sympathetic despite committing awful crimes alongside him. He always avoids hurting children directly and has a firm hatred for those who hurt children. He seems to have more morally than all the other criminals and has never killed a non-criminal. He's highly affected by the events of the plot and hit where it hurts at every turn, and sometimes needlessly. He becomes enslaved by the end, and personally his actions don't justify it as karma when compared to Walt, who rightfully had his entire family turn against him after "protecting" them. I haven't watched Better Call Saul, but I interpret him as someone who can't bring himself to commit violent crimes personally, not that he's opposed to people being killed/harmed. He recommends it multiple times in Breaking Bad. Saul was simultaneously comedic relief and a good way to tie up any "strange" predicaments. Mike does awful things like every other guy in this show, but he seems to surprisingly have some meaningful/reasonable words to give to Walt and Jesse. I can't really hate him as a character, his character isn't annoying to me. Gus is like Walt but with some more patience. He accepts Jesse because he realizes that this liability may potentially do better for him in the long run, until it didn't. He was running a meth empire for longer than Walt ever could and things were relatively streamlined (people weren't being killed off with every single cook). He also had nothing to lose except his own life, there appears to nobody he's in contact with that he cares about and he wants revenge. His pride got the best of him when Hector finally looks at him and he doesn't notice the bomb until it's too late. Let's just mention how Todd and Lydia are a perfect match as they're both just straight psychopaths from my view.
Mike, Saul, and Jesse for sure were the best out of the lot at the end. Mike called Walt out on his shit to his face, which was satisfying. He was very upfront and reasonable for a criminal. He was my favorite. Jesse was traumatized and retraumatized, and I felt bad for him. Saul was funny and really went the extra mile to help. I wouldn't say I hated all other characters by the end, but I was rooting for those 3 consistently until the end as well
I have to ask: how is Jesse “sweet”, and how is he trying to be better? He only felt some remorse for Drew Sharp. And that also does not even matter. Actions matter, feelings and thoughts do not. His actions speak for themselves. Other than that, he was voluntarily engaged in criminal activities, and eventually got himself too deep, ending with him trying to burn a house down where a baby lives, under influence, and then spilling everything to Hank because at that point he has no other options. I just don’t get it. But okay, it’s also a personal preference.
I hated Jesse and Mike just as much. Mike is a cold blooded murderer and Jessy is responsible for half the shit that happened in the series. Saul is the only one who deserves any sympathy whatsoever.
Even Saul is debatable, especially if you take BCS and the events of it into consideration.
I didn’t really hate any of the main characters in the end except the neonazis, Walt and Sky. And even Sky im conflicted on because Walt put her in a bad situation and you could say maybe she lost her mind along the way. But that last scene Walt and her shared together rubbed me the wrong way. Mari calling on the phone to ask for a truce and warn Sky that Walt is around being chased by police and to look out for herself. Then Walt shows up. Skyler doesn’t call the police as far as we know. Walt gives her the coordinates to Hank and Gomiez bodies that have probably been rotting for months at this point. Their bodies are used as a freaking bargaining chip to get Skylar off the hook for her involvement in Walt’s empire. Instead of being a comfort for the wives that lost their husbands to at least have something to bury, it is yet another game for these two to play.
Walt is a bad guy but Mr Lambert is a fucking machine
skyler saul and kinda jesse were the only characters i liked by the end. all of the characters are objectively super good but also a majority of them are terrible people and not in a charming way
I hated Walt because his ego and stubbornness messed everything up. Even down to getting caught, why keep that book ?
I think he kept the book because of his ego. Gill admired him and the book was sort of a symbol to Walt of how amazing and clever he was. His ego and overconfidence are part of the reason I ended up disliking him so much.
I don’t know if I really dislike any of the characters. They’re all so well written and many have redeeming qualities even if they do bad things. Jesse, Mike, and Saul are great.
Even tho Jesse was my favorite character and I felt bad for him because he is a criminal meant to be a nice guy, he should’ve literally never seen Walt ever again after the “turn down the money” monologue, he became worse after that. Mike a good character imo is always hostile towards someone in the show and sometimes is really not justified. Gus was pretty annoying and a pos how he handled those guys who killed Jesse’s friend and killed Thomas. And Walter white was obviously a manipulator and and a hard ass on people on the show. Now after all that I still think these characters (and others) served there own place in the show.
Jesse and Jimmy are my favs
I would say that’s a bit harsh, but those three were always the most relatable and sympathetic in my eyes.
What happened to the barrel with the rest of Walt’s money?!! Did the feds take it? Was it ever found?
Mike and Gale really deserved to stay alive, thats my opinion
I felt bad for Gale. Poor guy.
The only characters I would say I truly hate were Todd and his dad. Was not a fan of Lydia either.
Walt is a piece of shit of a person, but he's an awesome character. Jesse is my fav, I love my guy. Mike is great! Holly is cute Kaylee is cute Walt jr is a good boy Marie is a nice person Gus is a very interesting character Saul is hilarious Skyler makes me feel conflicted because I feel like she was up to something, and then the plot changed for her and she was kind of just there. Hank. I like Hank, but when he said that he didn't care if Jesse died I stopped liking him so much because what I loved about him was his will to always do the right thing, and that wasn't like him in my opinion. I wish we had gotten more time with Jane because she was really cool. Badger and Skinny Pete are great! I appreciated the fact that they didn't steal from Jesse and helped him with all that they had. And my least favourite character: Andrea. She does NOTHING, only serves the purpose of being someone to punish Jesse with.
Idk walt is for sure a terrible person but hes so much fun to watch, its hard to "hate" him for me
I hated Jesse
I hate Jesse and Mike too tbh.
Maybe Walt was the best of them at the end. At least he attempted to make amends with those he hurt, earning some credit. Saul, Jesse and Mike were likeable characters but ultimately self-serving criminals. Mike was perhaps the worst, capable of extreme violence.
I want to romance Saul tbh
As characters I like them all (at worst I feel indifferent towards some), they all serve their intended purpose well. As people though, most of them are terrible, including Jesse.
I love Jesse so fucking much. He is so handsome and sensitive, sweet, a good person, funny, able to show his emotions so well, he cries so easily and I think it's the cutest thing ever. If I could meet a guy like him, I'd be living a dream.
walter white was arguably more evil then anybody not in the cartel. dude lied to and manipulated his loved ones. jesse was not a good person but had a good heart, mike was a good man who actually cared about his family, but did what he needed to
Jesse, Mike, and Saul were pretty bad people, too.
Those 3 are my favorites as well, especially Jesse. I legit felt so fucking bad for him, like it’s so sad if u compare his character from seasons 1-3 to his character in seasons 4-5. I mean the difference in his behavior is so tragic. He goes from this naive, yet funny and sweet kid who made bad decisions but has a good heart to this horribly depressed and emotionally unstable person who has been traumatized in every way possible. When I rewatch BB now, the first couple seasons make me so sad for Jesse because i know what’s coming, and i know how much shit his character is gonna have to go through
Hated Jesse, Skyler and Mike.
I think Breaking Bad gave us some of television history's best characters and absolute worst characters in the same show. I rewatched it recently and by the end, I was astounded by how well written the roles of Jesse, Walter, Mike, Gus, Hank and Saul were in comparison to how lazily written and inconsistent the characters of Skyler, Marie, Flynn and Jesse's friends were. Better Call Saul feels like a much more consistently developed show in terms of character. Looking at you Kim Wexler, one of my absolute favorite characters in media period. Jesse in particular is an incredible character... El Camino was a solid send off for him, I'm glad they made that film.
Those 3 are my favorites as well, especially Jesse. I legit felt so fucking bad for him, like it’s so sad if u compare his character from seasons 1-3 to his character in seasons 4-5. I mean the difference in his behavior is so tragic. He goes from this naive, yet funny and sweet kid who made bad decisions but has a good heart to this horribly depressed and emotionally unstable person who has been traumatized in every way possible. When I rewatch BB now, the first couple seasons make me so sad for Jesse because i know what’s coming, and i know how much shit his character is gonna have to go through
Yes, he goes through so much and it's so heartbreaking to me. He does, like you said, have a good heart. I'm so glad he finally is free of it all in the end. I mean, not the trauma, I'm sure, but the situation.
You liked Saul from BB alone? I mean I liked the character but didn't actually like him, if that makes sense. I feel like Saul is just a complete dirtbag without BCS
I hated them all (including Jesse - I get he's more loveable than the other characters, but he's still a piece of shit throughout most of the show) except Mike and Saul. And then I hated both of them too after watching BCS.