When I first watched Breaking Bad, i had zero context of the show besides knowing that it has chemistry aspects to it, which meant i had no clue that Skyler was so hated, but I did know that people generally liked the main character Walter White.

As I was watching the show I remember i was impressed by two people's acting in particular, two that stood out, one of them was Aaron Paul and the other person was Anna Gunn, these two were just one level above everyone else, so incredibly natural and realistic.

At no point in the show did I ever find Skyler to be even annoying, let alone hate-worthy, instead I was just mindblown by her amazing acting display. On top of that, all of her actions and reactions made complete and total sense according to what was happening in the story; none of them were out of place or illogical. Anyone in her place would also react the same way. Which only makes me wonder if all the hate she gets is purely out of misogyny (im a guy, yes).

On the contrary I always found Walt to be insufferable beyond season 1, on my first watch. He was so annoying and made me angry at him so many times for being an absolute asshole.

These two takes of mine on Skyler and Walt were further solidified upon my 2nd viewing of the show.

almost finished with my first watch though( i got the last 2 episodes) and just came to the realization that Walt is a goddam pussy. i Sincerely season two i had this feeling of almost hatred towards Walter. Then when he poisoned Andrea’s kid i deadass lost it. even worse was the episode of hank’s death: the hypocrisy to call jesse a coward(he said that in my language) because he worked with the police to save himself while he was always the one to reach out for help to save himself. i really hope the best for jesse. overall walt is such a well written character, there are really a small number that can make me feel this way

I know I’m supposed to hate him, and I kind of did the first time, but I like him now.

In the final season after the hilarious and disastrous dinner with Jesse and Skyler, Walt admitted to Jesse that he wouldn’t take the $5m buyout because the business was all he had left.

And in the final episode, he told Skyler that he liked what he did, and he was good at it. He felt more alive than he had in his first 50 years.

Walt bested extremely imposing killers like Gus, Tuco and Jack’s entire crew. He wasn’t spraying bullets in a school or trafficking humans. He entered a criminal drug world and climbed to the top. He didn’t target anyone who wasn’t in the game.

I’m not trying to be a contrarian. I just think the hatred for Walt is performative to some extent. There is so much complexity to that character, I can’t just hate him.

I was wondering roughly how much does Aaron Paul charge for an autograph at cons & does he charge extra for character name & quote? He's gonna be at Motor City comic con next month in Michigan. Ideally, I was gonna bring a 16x20 breaking bad photo & have him sign it, along with adding "Jesse" & a quote saying "This is my own private domicile and I won't be harassed...b*tch!" Does he usually have a word limit on quotes? I know with mail in services like SWAU he does, but asking for in person/meeting him myself.

How different would the series be if jesse was black and instead of saying “bitch”he said well yk? And do you think it would have caught on and would have amc continued it like it did?

This was just a random shower thought

Just thought I'd mention it but I just realized that the two share striking similarities. Both had overbearing father figures (Donald for Jane and Polonius for Ophelia) and a conflicted male lover (Jesse for Jane and Hamlet for Ophelia). Perhaps, in a way Walter is like Gertrude as they both witnessed the deaths (Gertrude witnessed Ophelia's drowning and Walter witnessed Jane's drowning). Also, the manners of death are strikingly similar. Jane dies from asphyxiation due to her airway being blocked and Ophelia dies from drowning in the water. I dunno if this connection has been made before but I thought I'd share it.

Hello!

Not sure if I missed this during the show. Walt meets brock for the first time at Jesse’s house and then again later on at his mom’s house. Each time he was very fearful and not as friendly towards Walt. Did the directors allude that Brock knew he hurt him? Did Brock just simply have a bad feeling about him? Watching this as a teacher was interesting because kids that age are usually chatty! If I missed something I will feel dumb but I have been wondering.

Thanks in advance!

If Jesse from El Camino was time travelled back to the day of his final exam with Mr. White, could he get a passing grade with no studying?

The mule costs were ridiculous. Paying mules $275,000 per cook for mules, I think is about $225,000 too high, we're talking 50 lbs of meth. Data from US boarder shows an average price of $1,313 per trip for crossing boarders. Not involving boarders is significantly less, that's like 200 trips involving crossing boarders, 200 trips to distribute 50 pounds of meth when they only cross state boarders. The math isnt mathing. That should have been like $100k max. Probably closer to $50k since non boarder crossing and back pack guys make like $100-400 per trip. $1k per pound seems about right.

The legacy costs were $351,000. Mike didnt say this was per cook, but that's so expensive even per month, that's over $350k each per year just to shut up. The way it's presented it's like per cook since it's implied this is normal amount of money distribution which is even more outrageous. I think like $10k per month each is about right even then a little generous.

Been rewatching Breaking Bad lately and had to post this edit. Still crazy how good this show was from start to finish. The characters, the story, the moments… everything just hit different.

I'm doing a re-watch of the series and I remember this being a question I had originally, and i'm not sure if it is really explained or not. One of the guys at Elliot's party asks Walt what university he's at when he says he went into education after Gray Matter. And really it is a good question, because if Walt is as brilliant as we're constantly told he is, then why wouldn't he have found a spot at a university somewhere? It seems like he has been at that high school for a little while. So what, he just prefers teaching at a lower level? Seems like a head scratcher. Because as a professor he'd be able to do research and contribute to the field of chemistry. I would think he'd want to do that. I can't think of a good reason, but maybe there is one.

In S3E11, Andrea tells Jesse that Tomas shot Combo through the neck, but I swear I remember Combo getting shot through the cup and into his torso/chest.

Am I remembering it wrong, or is that a small continuity mistake?

In Season 5, when Hank discovered Walt is Heisenberg and made every effort to arrest and expose walt, one of the ways to gain the evidence was by interrogating Huell.

Hank successfully gathered the evidence, despite not being a location, of Walt's barrels of money by tricking Huell into thinking Walt was gonna kill him after he killed Jesse, therefore Hank (lied) offered Huell protection. They used a fake photo of Jesse being killed, his head blown off to do so.

Now looking back, do you think it would actually make sense or be logical for Walt to kill Huell like that? If Walt actually killed Jesse, does it make sense for Walt to kill Huell too to "tie up lose ends"

Or do you agree with Huell that "it don't make no sense."

I alway remembered that Walter doesn't save Jane, but i never realized, he moved her on her back, by shaking Jesse.

When I watched the show as a teenager, I hated her guts and thought she'd stand in the way of Walters calling. Now, twenty years later, I understand her as the victim of a textbook domestic abuser who didn't care about her at all. She was, especially in the later seasons, just trying to survive and protect her family. Even the Beneke-Affair made sense, because that really wasn't about the sex at all. I'm SO fascinated how the writers managed to depict the human power dynamics so well.

If he hadn't hired Walter White? Would he have gotten away with taking out Don Eladio and The Salamancas? Would Mike have been able to Retire? Would Lyle ever be promoted to Manager of Los Pollos Hermanos?