Belated Breaking Bad Musings

Published by

Clarissa

November 12, 2013

I know it sounds weird to be discussing a show that has already ended for everybody else but we still only just started season 3. As always, I’m slow on the uptake.

So I’ve been wondering why, in an otherwise brilliantly constructed plot, the script writers had to pitch an absolutely perfect female protagonist against an absolutely disgusting male protagonist. Why not create more nuanced characters?

Of course, it is good to see such a positive female character as Skyler. Not since Buffy have I seen a strong, admirable, non-pathetic woman on American TV. But does this Walt individual have to be so irredeemably horrible? It would have made for an even better show, I believe, if the writers invested him with at least a single not-totally-vomit-producing characteristic. He could have loved an elderly grandma or taken care of a sick puppy. No human being can be 100% bad.

I especially liked the moment when his wife brought him divorce papers and he just stared at her blankly and informed her that he was happily married. This is exactly what happened to me with my ex-husband, and I will never forget wondering how I managed to end up married to a total sociopath.

Why can’t the American entertainment industry get rid of the compulsion to structure every plot on the basis of a tension between a shining, perfect hero and a vicious evildoer?

Otherwise, the plot is very good, and the psychology of the character development is quite consistent. And the feminist message of the show is inspiring. I can see that, in the years that I spent avoiding American TV, it improved dramatically.

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23 responses to “Belated Breaking Bad Musings”

musteryou

November 12, 2013

I saw some USA shows last night but I couldn’t really watch them. One was the Air Crash Investigations where the USS Vincennes shot down the Iran Air Flight 655, but without emotion. Then there was “I shouldn’t be alive” about a USA guy whose boat sunk in the ocean. But he didn’t have much emotion either, even seeming to have difficulty remembering the details of his experience.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  This show I’m watching is a mix of comedy and tragedy. There is this bumbling fellow in the midst of a midlife crisis who wants to escape into some ridiculous macho fantasy and he gets into all sorts of silly situations. It’s good to see stupid macho posturing being ridiculed like this. I did not expect it from mainstream American TV.
  
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  1. musteryou
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    Ah. I saw part of one episode, but the weird naturalistic cinematography made me think it was something else, and I’m not in the USa so couldn’t really get into it.
    
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Spiderbaby

November 13, 2013

I have seen only a bunch of episodes, so i cannot comment properly, but I can tell you that you are in the minority here.
Skyler attrated so much hatred from the audience that the actress who played her decided to write to the New York Times to defend her character. Even the show’s creator was baffled by this.
Apparently, lots of people wanted to see the anti-hero/villain protagonist going bad and Skyler was just an annoying obstacle.
I tend to agree more with you, by the way.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  Really? People are too weird.
  
  I don’t think Walt really goes bad or changes , except formally. For me, the point is precisely that no hardship can awaken in now what wasn’t there to begin with.
  
  Walt spends his life being a self-pitying, self-sabotaging whiner. Nothing changes for him, cancer or not.
  
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2. anon
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  Yeah, the people who hated Skyler I think all identified with Walter without even realizing that it makes them pretty pathetic people. She is exactly the type supposed “Men’s Rights Activists” rail against. I found her to be a touch passive aggressive for my tastes, but otherwise a pretty solidly awesome character.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    What exactly could people have against her? That she wanted a divorce? Who wouldn’t? How can anybody want to stay married to such a guy?
    
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  2. anon
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    I think they all find her to be a nag and patronizing to Walter. As you pointed out, that’s only because Walter is such a miserable adult… but for people who can’t identify that they are the source of their problems, like Walter, successful and competent mother-figures are something to loathe.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      November 13, 2013
      
      Well, they should be happy that she stopped being his Mommy and dumped him then.
      
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zinemin

November 13, 2013

After Walt killed Jesse’s girlfriend I couldn’t even identify with him to 1 % and I had to stop watching. I have been puzzled as to why everyone else continued to watch the show after that. Your explanation almost makes sense…. But if you think Skylar is the hero, aren’t you annoyed that the show clearly sees her as a side character? Can you really enjoy the show without partially identifying with Walter, like for example be happy for him if he manages to defeat some evil drug lord with the help of chemistry?
The only characters I remember fondly from this show is Skylar’s shoplifting sister and her husband. They are pretty funny.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  “After Walt killed Jesse’s girlfriend I couldn’t even identify with him to 1 % and I had to stop watching. ”
  
  – Yes, this was just horrible. And when he makes his own son drunk just to make some stupid macho point about the kid being his property? Brrrr.
  
  “But if you think Skylar is the hero, aren’t you annoyed that the show clearly sees her as a side character?”
  
  – The thing is, nobody will want to watch a show about happy, healthy people. Were would be the drama, you know?
  
  “Can you really enjoy the show without partially identifying with Walter, like for example be happy for him if he manages to defeat some evil drug lord with the help of chemistry?”
  
  – At first, I felt this way but after the episode with the divorce papers, I just want somebody to inflict bodily harm on him.
  
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  1. zinemin
    
    November 14, 2013
    
    The scene where he got his son drunk was really horrible too.
    
    I get it that it can be interesting to have a bad person as protagonist. I enjoyed House of Cards. What bothers me is that I felt writers trying to manipulate us to be on his side and think that his actions are understandable given that he feels underappreciated in his life. The message seems to be that women need to make an effort for the husband to feel like he’s in power, otherwise he has every right to run amok.
    
    But I like your unorthodox interpretation a lot. I agree the series has strong satirical elements.
    
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ladyleahjane

November 13, 2013

Yeah, every man I’ve talked to (except my roommate, bless him, he knows better) who watches the show thinks that Walter is some sort of anti-hero to aspire to, and that Skylar is an annoying nag who is getting in the way and emasculating him. Where they got the idea that Walt is someone inspirational is beyond me.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  I now really appreciate my husband who says that he can’t find any more empathy for Walt in himself.
  
  And how can Skyler be a nag if she is the one who left him and wanted to sever contact while he continued pestering her? At least, this is where we are in season 3.
  
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  1. ladyleahjane
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    I think that their opinion of her as a nag cemented in the first two seasons, when she was “pestering” him to get that high-quality chemotherapy, and other apparent sins. They just didn’t bother to change their minds when taking in new information.
    Let me know what you think of her character development as the show goes on! Something very interesting happens.
    
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  2. Spiderbaby
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    Walter leads a frustrating existence partly because of unfavourable circumstances, partly for his bad choices, but ultimately finds a way to break free and become a “badass”. That’s why some people like to identify with him. In this scenario, Skyler is a burden, and married life is a trap.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      November 13, 2013
      
      I think that everything in his situation except the cancer is entirely of his own making. The guy clearly loves to feel sorry for himself. Why did he have to work at a car wash where students would see and make fun of him? Couldn’t he do online tutoring, for example? Or a million other things. Even be an adjunct at a nearby college. No, he had to pick the most humiliating job and wallow. And it’s the same with everything.
      
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  3. Stille (@aperfectbalance)
    
    November 13, 2013
    
    I disliked her and I didn’t know why I disliked her until I rewatched the first few episodes with my boyfriend. Seems like that vegan bacon thing had lodged itself into my subconscious and I projected on Skyler the distaste I have for that particular food item. Considering that the US is the land of bacon, perhaps there were many others who felt like me?
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      November 13, 2013
      
      She is a little too facile and earnest, that’s true, but to see a non-pathetic woman on American TV is so rare that I have to take what I can get. 🙂
      
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2. musteryou
  
  November 15, 2013
  
  I’m always happy to get out of such a male’s way and stop emasculating him. Hopefully he can stand up sufficiently to get himself home.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    November 15, 2013
    
    In this show, the wife did everything she could to get the fellow out of the house but he insisted on staying. I will never understand people who insist on staying in a relationship with a person who begs them to leave.
    
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cliff arroyo

November 13, 2013

I’ve only seen the very first episode, which was kind of amusing/interesting but didn’t pull me in to watch more yet. Not sure if I’ll get back to it.

My take on that one episode was that the theme of the show was liberation and the price thereof. WW had a miserable life that he felt trapped in but didn’t chuck out of concern for his family, especially hi son (I don’t remember the wife making any impression in that episode).
The cancer diagnosis and his decision to use his particular knowledge and skills for personal gain and damn the costs to others made him feel more alive than he had in years. The conflict was that if he wasn’t terminally ill he would never change his life but the changes he makes in the face of death brought more fulfillment than living the way he was supposed to.

It’s almost like a vision quest – he enters a new kind of reality responding to stimuli that only he can perceive so those who can’t will be perceived by the audience as dragging him down to a mundane sphere where only death awaits.

Maybe I should give it another shot….

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1. musteryou
  
  November 13, 2013
  
  http://unsanesafe.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/servility.html
  
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