Breaking Bad/Characters: Difference between revisions

The main character of the series, Walt is a high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with lung cancer. Realizing he doesn't have much time left teams up with a former student to use his chemistry know how to make primo crystal meth to make tons of money to leave behind for his family.

 

* [[Acquired Situational Narcissism]]: Walter gets seriously overconfident whenever he succeeds. It's most visible in season 4, after his small victory against {{spoiler|Gus}} puts him on a huge power binge.

* [[Alliterative Name]]

* [[Badass Boast]]: "I am the one who knocks!"

* [[Badass Bookworm]]

* [[Berserk Button]]: Does not like having his pride threatened or his decisions protested one bit.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]

* [[Can't Spit It Out]]: He seems completely incapable of expressing the kinship he feels for Jesse, even though he goes batshit every time he's in danger. {{spoiler|This bites him in the ass in "Bug", since his constant belittling of Jesse who is still moved by Gale's death and finds some satisfaction in working with Mike, finally pushes him over the edge. And boy, was the biting long overdue.}}

* [[Car Fu]]: {{spoiler|Uses this on two child murdering drug dealers at the end of season 3.}}

** Possibly justified in that Walt is scrambling to buy himself more time and really has absolutely no clue what to do next.

* [[Important Haircut]]: "Badass, dad!"

* [[Jerkass]]: To everyone (mostly Jesse) except his family.

* [[Justified Criminal]]: Possibly a deconstruction as it's slowly being shown that his actions have far reaching consequences that he couldn't imagine.

* [[Motivational Lie]]: Uses one to try to get Jesse on his side in the season 4 finale.

* [[Motive Decay]]: An interesting case of this. Walt constantly tells himself that he's doing what he does to provide for his family, and on a certain level he may be right. However as the series goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that his decision to cook is as much motivated by his the desire to feed his ego as it is for helping his family.

* [[Playing Against Type]]: See [[Tom Hanks Syndrome]].

* [[Parental Substitute]]: To Jesse. Which doesn't stop him from being horribly abusive to Him.

 

* [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer]]: Subverted. He tries very hard to be one, but ultimately can't bring himself to do it.

* [[A Real Man Is a Killer]]: Brutally subverted. There are plenty of people that Jesse wants to kill throughout the first three seasons, and his reasons are at least noble in a macho, street honor sense. {{spoiler|Nevertheless, he doesn't actually get to end a life until the very end of Season 3, when he kills Gale. Jesse does not issue a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.}} Not to mention that the event {{spoiler|appears to completely shatter him and for the entire episode after Jesse barely speaks because he's still in shock.}}

* [[Berserk Button]]: Seeing children threatened or harmed drives Jesse into a near-homicidal rage.

* [[Big Brother Mentor]]: He tries to be this to his younger brother Jake but fails. Though he does take the rap for Jake's joint and steps on the joint afterwards.

* [[Book Dumb]]: Talks like an idiot, dresses like an idiot, but highly intelligent and deeply flawed and troubled. [[Freudian Excuse]] suggests that much of his behavior started as a way to piss off his parents for pushing him too hard until he left to take care of his aunt.

* [[The Caretaker]]: He was this to his Aunt before she died of cancer.

* [[Children Are Innocent]]: A firmly held belief of his. {{spoiler|This leads to him plotting the deaths of two drug dealers who are the bosses of Tomas, an 11 year old who murdered Jesse's friend Combo. This situation ultimately leads to the collapse of Walt and Gus's business relationship.}}

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Subverted. Was originally supposed to die in episode 9, but has sticked around for the rest of the series.

* [[Pretty Fly for A White Guy]]

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: "It's totally Kafkaesque, yo."

* [[Tragic Villain]]: He's been forced to do things that have convinced him he'll never be able to leave the drug trade. Made worse by the fact that Walt blackmailed him into the heavier stuff.

* [[True Companions]]: With Walter, despite the fact that they have their disagreements and {{spoiler|at least one major falling out}}.

* [[Undying Loyalty]]: Walt vouches for Jesse that he has this.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]

 

 

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Along with her [[The Power of Acting|ability to fake distress when she needs sympathy]], it's one of her best weapons, as she proves in season 4 when she {{spoiler|1=tricks an IRS agent investigating Beneke Fabricators for fraudulent accounting into thinking the company's bookkeeping was flawed due to incompetence rather than criminal intent}}.

* [[The Power of Acting]]: Turns out to be one of Skyler's best weapons. Whether she's faking contractions to bail her sister out of her shoplifting problems, making up a story about Walt's gambling addiction on the fly, or convincing a locksmith that Walt's condo is her home, Skyler can sell it.

* [[The Smart Guy|The Smart Chick]]: Not as smart as her husband but once {{spoiler|she starts to get involved with his business}} it becomes clear that she has a lot of business smarts {{spoiler|and her elaborate lie to the family about where the money is coming from is pretty ingenious}}.

** Actually, given that for all his brilliance as a chemist and meth cook Walt does things like {{spoiler|suggest to Hank that Gale wasn't Heisenberg}} and {{spoiler|buy Walt Jr. a flashy, expensive, attention-grabbing car when the family is supposed to be strapped for cash}}, both of which Skyler immediately points out are incredibly stupid things to have done, it's quite arguable that she is just as smart as he is, or at the very least more prudent.

Walter and Skyler's brother-in-law, Mike is a DEA agent. He is aware of Walter's alter ego "Heisenberg", knows that Heisenberg is the one who makes the blue meth, and has some connection with Jesse, but does not know that Walter is Heisenberg. Despite Hank's obnoxious behavior he is a decent guy and good at his job, but is not able to outmaneuver Walter. Instead Hank usually picks up the remains of Walter and Jesse's messes.

 

* [[Bald of Awesome]]

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: In the second episode of season 2 he unknowingly saves Walt and Jesse from Tuco.

* [[Noble Bigot With a Badge]]: Subverted. Though he's not very politically correct and frequently makes racially insensitive jokes to his Mexican-American partner, he doesn't appear to be genuinely bigoted or racist.

* [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]]: {{spoiler|Gives one to Jesse in season 3.}}

* [[Retirony]]: {{spoiler|Subverted and somewhat inverted. After getting in a whole mess of trouble for beating up Jesse he tells Marie he thinks that "The universe is telling me I shouldn't be a cop anymore." and believes that he is ultimately going to be fired for it. Around this time Gus gives the cousins the okay to kill Hank. However, Hank ends up getting to keep his jobs and immediately after the cousins try to kill him but he narrowly escapes.}}

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Despite being deeply traumatized by {{spoiler|his shootout with Tuco}} and {{spoiler|the bombing in Juarez}}, he continues to maintain his blustery, backslapping persona in front of colleagues and friends.

Walt and Skyler's son. He does not take the news that his father is dying of cancer well and lashes out in a stereotypically rebellious teenager-ish way (including changing his name to Flynn), but eventually gets over it and acts a lot more mature as series progresses. Jr. has cerebral palsy and walks with crutches and speaks with a slight slur.

 

* [[Dawson Casting]]: Notably averted, RJ Mitte is actually 17 years old (as of season 3).

** Though as the show's timeline progresses far more slowly than production time, he does become noticably older than he should be, which may be at least part of the reason for his becoming [[Out of Focus]].

* [[Disabled Snarker]]

* [[Do Not Call Me Paul]]: Decides to be called Flynn for some reason.

 

* [[Absentee Actor]]: Noticeable in the season 2 finale when bizarrely we see Mike talking to the phone with Saul but never hear Saul's voice or see him on the other end despite both occurring during an earlier episode where's Saul's only appearance was in a phone call scene.

* [[Ambulance Chaser]]

* [[Amoral Attorney]]: "Going gets tough, you don't want a criminal lawyer. You want a ''criminal'' lawyer, know what I mean?"

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: Threatens Saul with this in the season 3 finale.

{{quote| '''Mike:''' "Don't make me beat you till your legs don't work."}}

* [[Punch Clock Villain]]

* [[Put On a Bus]]: After he's {{spoiler|shot in Mexico in season 4}}. This cleverly allowed the writers to {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real|take out his boss]]}} while {{spoiler|leaving him alive}} to [[The Bus Came Back|possibly return in season 5]].

* [[Big Bad]]: The show's first. {{spoiler|Ultimately, subverted as he only ends up hanging around for a couple episodes before biting the dust two episodes into season 2.}}

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Despite being an awful person he still gladly takes care of his elderly uncle, who apparently beat the "family is all" mantra into all the young Salamancas.

* [[Jerkass]]

* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}

* [[Off the Wagon]]: A former addict having a love affair with an addict meth dealer. It was bound to happen.

* [[Perky Goth]]: She favors goth styles and designs tattoos, but is otherwise pretty upbeat.

* [[Retirony]]: {{spoiler|Retiring from heroin.}}

* [[Statuesque Stunner]]

 

 

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: They go on one seeking revenge on Walt for his involvement in {{spoiler|Tuco's death}}.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: They seem to live by it. They wear awesome clothes, they're incredibly calm and collected, they walk unflinchingly even into cars and they decide to kill {{spoiler|Hank}} with an axe. {{spoiler|[[Deconstructed Trope|The last two bits are their undoing.]]}}

* [[The Sociopath|The Sociopaths]]

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: The Cousins. Except that they don't talk much.

Hank's partner. Hanks makes fun of Gomez for being Latino, Gomez makes fun of Hank for being white, but they get along fine. A good cop in his own right.

 

* [[The Danza]]

* [[Nice Guy]]: Hank gives him a lot of crap, but he never loses his cool.

* [[Pride]]: In season 4 Hanks goads him into {{spoiler|conducting an extrajudicial search of Gus' industrial laundry facility}} by insulting his abilities as a cop.

 

 

* [[Adorkable]]

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: There's hints of this; Gale likes Mexican opera music and his apartment is well decorated, but it's never really explored further than this so he may just be [[Camp Straight]].

* {{spoiler|[[Back for The Dead]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Bolivian Army Cliffhanger]]}}: The last scene of season 3 is this for him.

* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[The Informant]]: For the DEA.}}

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: After the explosion in the pilot.

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Was supposed to die in the pilot but the actors and crew enjoyed working with him so the character was kept {{spoiler|for two more episodes}}.

* [[The Informant]]: The DEA's in the Mexican cartel.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: He says so; his name means "tortoise" in Spanish, which he claims is reflective of his way of getting things done - slow, but successful. {{spoiler|1=When the Twins murder him, they deliver his head to the DEA on the back of a tortoise.}}

 

 

 

* [[Bad Boss]]: Forces cashiers to do menial labour. He tries to [[Justified Trope|justify]] his actions by explaining that "a boss has to be tough."

* [[The Bus Came Back]]: After disappearing early in season 1 he comes back in season 4.

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: At the beginning of the series he's the [[Jerkass|obnoxious boss]] at Walt's second job, but he comes back in a big way.

* [[Jerkass]]

** They ring hollow, however, since he treats running a carwash as something that requires a degree and an iron fist (and he's talking to someone who by that time directly killed at least three people) and Walt shuts him up completely by taking his first earned dollar from him.

 

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: His name gets dropped earlier in the same episode in which he appears.

* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}

* [[Shout Out]]: Shares a name with the actor who played Krazy 8 back in the first season.

* [[The Smart Guy]]: {{spoiler|He knows the science, while Gus knows the business.}}