Breaking Bad/YMMV: Difference between revisions
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** It's hard to decide if Walt's "cooking" is retaliation for a world that never cut him a break or a genuine desire to provide for his family. Not that they're necessarily mutually exclusive.
*** The series finale has Walt himself give the answer, and {{spoiler|it's neither! He did it all because he enjoyed it, was good at it, and it made him feel truly alive.}}
** Skyler. A good woman who's acting poorly due to her husband's action?
** Jesse, [[Book Dumb]] [[Anti-Villain]] or [[Villain Protagonist]] who's been using Walt?
*** Or neither. His actions make people's sympathy for him swing like a pendulum. In some instances he's actually shown to have one of the higher moral standard of anyone in the show (in regards to certain things, like kids).
** The [[Bloody Hilarious|bathtub incident]]? Walter's fault, not Jesse's. Did it never occur to Walter to explain to Jesse ''why'' he absolutely needed to use plastic? Especially since the idea of an acid that eats through rock, glass, metal, and ceramic, but not plastic, is kind of counter-intuitive. Granted, using ''his own'' bathtub was kind of dumb, but only in that you wonder how he planned to rid of the slurry afterwards.
** Jesse's parents: Long-suffering, well-intentioned people who just came to the end of any human's thread with their screwup son? Or faux-caring, shallow people obsessed with image who arguably caused his behavior by treating him as [[The Unfavorite]]?
** Was Gale merely a fanboy of Walt's, or did his admiration [[Ambiguously Gay|go a liiiiiittle bit deeper than that?]]
* [[Badass Decay]]: Justified with Hank. He goes through a [[Humiliation Conga]] that ultimately leads to [[Break the Haughty]], leaving him rather helpless and emasculated in the end. {{spoiler|He gets better though.}}
* [[Because I'm Good At It]]: What ultimately keeps Walt cooking, his pride and ego from realizing that he has a unique skill that has created an empire that would rival that of Steve Jobs both in its value and impact on the meth industry. He's not a failure anymore and has become "the one who knocks."
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** Season 3 and 4 have both been improvements on the previous seasons. Lets just say that this show has grown more beards than ZZ Top.
* [[Hell Is That Noise]]: I'd like to thank Breaking Bad for ruining the simple call bell. Now I can't play Pit anymore!
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: "The Fly" is an unconventional episode that has people split down the middle on whether they love it or hate it. It's meant to be a cerebral, unconventional episode that sheds new light on the characters, and just so happen to be directed by Rian Johnson. This was nearly a decade before the release of ''[[The Last Jedi]]'', which was even more polarizing and hit a lot of superficially similar beats, up to being directed by the same guy!
* [[Holy Shit Quotient]]: All the freaking time.
* [[Jerkass Woobie]]: Both Jesse and Walt qualify.
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** If beating Jesse so badly that he had to be hospitalized wasn't bad enough, Tuco definitely crosses this when he beats his loyal henchman No-Doze to death ''[[Disproportionate Retribution|over showing his support the wrong way]]''.
** Jesse comes dangerously close to crossing it when he {{spoiler|starts trying to peddle meth to his addiction support group.}} While he isn't able to go through with it, those less sympathetic towards him feel that he ''actually'' crosses the line for even considering it in the first place.
** While Gus Fring is the presumed [[Big Bad]] of the show, [[Even Evil Has Standards|he draws the line]] at [[Infant Immortality|killing children]] to Walt. However, some episodes later Gus crosses it when he {{spoiler|tells Walt that he plans to kill his entire family, [[Hypocrite|infant daughter included]], if he continues to interfere with his business.}}
*** While Gus may not be willing to hurt children {{spoiler|unless he's pushed too far}}, two unnamed drug pushers working for him have no such scruples and {{spoiler|kill 11 year old Tomas when Gus orders them to stop using him to sell drugs}}.
** As long-established cartel bosses, Don Eladio and Hector Salamanca undoubtedly crossed this at some point in the distant past. But in terms of on-screen actions, there's {{spoiler|Eladio's callous murder of Gus' partner Max, and Hector forcing him to look the dying Max in the eye while he slowly bleeds out}}. From this point on, you'll be cheering on {{spoiler|Gus}} in hopes of him getting his revenge, even if he ''is'' the show's current [[Big Bad]].
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* [[Replacement Scrappy]]: Gale for Jesse, briefly. Ultimately subverted in that Walt really likes Gale and probably relates to him better than Jesse but decides he has to take Jesse back to keep him under control. As such, to get rid of him, Walter treats him like this.
* [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap]]:
** Skyler for a lot of fans in season 3, where she stops her nagging and complaining, and starts helping Walt launder his money. Not that it stopped her from re-entering Scrappy territory, unfortunately.
** Hank starting in season 2 {{spoiler|after he shoots Tuco and slowly starts to have a nervous breakdown.}} Not only does he show a more vulnerable side, but he undergoes genuine character development leading to him becoming a genuinely heroic detective that you'll find yourself rooting for.
* [[The Scrappy]]:
** Oh lord do people hate Skyler...
** Also during the first season Hank was a greatly disliked but after about the second episode of season 2 he gained some [[Hidden Depths]], is now an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap]].
** Marie is easily the most annoying
* [[So Cool Its Awesome]]: "Suburban dad and chemistry teacher becomes a meth cook" is a premise that's every bit as outlandish as it is ''awesome''.
* [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped]]: [[Drugs Are Bad]]. ''Very, very bad.'' They will ruin your health, your hygiene, and your life. And even the smartest people make the dumbest decisions when they're chasing their next high. While it doesn't make it right, the lives and families we see destroyed by drug use make it easy to see ''why'' Hank and his DEA buddies are so gung ho about punishing even the smallest drug-related infractions.
* [[Tear Jerker]]:
** During the I.F.T. episode, {{spoiler|Jesse repeatedly calls Jane's voice mail just so he could listen to her voice. The Tear Jerking moment happens when the voice mail is finally disconnected. The look on Jesse's face, knowing that he will never hear her voice again...}}*cries*
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** {{spoiler|"You don't have to do this."}}
** Walt crying to his son in "Salud".
* [[Too Cool to Live]]: {{spoiler|Tortuga. A smartass DEA mole played by Danny Trejo? Awesome! A shame he only existed to show the ruthlessness of the Salamanca Twins. At least he left us with one of the most creative cartel killings in the history of television.}}
* [[Wangst]]: Skyler at times. Yeah, it sucks to be married to a meth cook. {{spoiler|But when you want in on his criminal empire and get put in charge of laundering his money, you shouldn't be surprised when he ends up being forced to kill shady people in the industry who want to kill him and his loved ones.}} Marie is just as bad when it comes to needlessly whining and complaining.
* [[What an Idiot!]]:
** Ted. "I just received a mysterious inheritance equivalent to the amount of back taxes I owe. What should I do with it? I know! Buy an expensive car and 'hold out for a better deal.'"
** Gale.
** Jesse, Jesse, ''Jesse''. His poor decision-making makes life difficult for himself and Walter time and time again. Burning a massive hole in his bathroom by dumping acid in his bathtub ''in complete defiance of Walt's instructions'' is merely the tip of the iceberg! It's at least justified in his case, though, since he's a junkie who [[Ambiguous Disorder|may or may not have some sort of learning disability.]]
* [[The Woobie]]: Jesse, among others.
** Apparently, Walt thinks of Jesse as being a Woobie. According to Bryan Cranston on Inside Episode 12, in Walt's mind if something were to happen to Jesse, it would be like stabbing a puppy with a pitch fork.
** Gale, poor Gale. {{spoiler|Meth cook he may have been, he was a gentle soul and [[Adorkable]] geek who died a pointless death that could have been avoided if it wasn't for Walt and Jesse's terrible decision making.}}
** Walt himself starts as this, then becomes progressively less sympathetic as the show goes on.
** The little boy in "Peekaboo". His parents are junkies who care more about getting high than taking proper care of their son, meaning that he's perpetually covered in dirt and living in a house that looks like a condemned building.
{{reflist}}
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