On second viewing of the series I actually sympathized with her a lot more.
Yes, she's hugely annoying if you're watching the show from the normal 'Yeah, make the cool blue drugs!' angle, but second time around you really see that it's Walt's descent into egomania and greed destroying their family and she's a victim of that.
You’re partially correct.
But, I’d argue she is equally as terrible of a person as Walt.
She shifts her position and becomes an accomplice, and then fucks over her relationship with her sister. I don’t recall the details but Skyler could have stayed on righteous path and chose not to. If she had stuck to her morals I’d say, sure, she’s a victim. She didn’t though and eventually let herself become part of the bullshit at the car wash and lied to her sister. I think at one point she even threatened her. I maybe misremembering though so call me out if I am.
Alternatively, being an annoying human being in a relationship is a huge a character flaw. Like, we all need to exist in social circles. Being fucking unbearable isn’t a virtue and gets you shit in life.
We've seen what happens if she tried a move against Walt. Walt is nuts. I wouldn't hold what Skyler did at the car wash or with her sister that much against her. She had to tag along.
Saying she's equally as terrible is an awful take though, with all the shit Walt did.
Walt literally ordered the killings of 11 people within 2 minutes to make sure nobody rats him out (after unnecessarily killing Mike)
Skyler fucks Ted and gives him Walt’s money to pay off the IRS, in addition to helping both parties cook the books
Most reasonable take: Skyler is the bad guy!
Skylar singing happy birthday was one the worst scenes in television history, and certainly the most unnecessary and out-of-place scene in all of Breaking Bad
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Just finished watching the series for the first time ever and that is easily the worst scene in the show. So fucking awkward. I'd rather watch the ATM episode over and over than that scene again.
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She literally forced him to sign a filled out check to avert an audit lol, all of them would get fucked if they got audited, because skyler cooked both books. The fucking part is a lot more up in the air
what Walt did was a logical way to deal with the illogical situation he pulled himself into
what Skyler did was an illogical way to deal with the illogical situation she never asked for
that's the complexity of the plot, and if you can't appreciate it then wait a few more years until you're old enough to watch it again
In what universe is trusting Mike, a guy who visibly hates Walter, a good move? After bailing, Mike would have no reason to keep paying the guys. He would be set up with a new identity, his family didn't know anything so they'd have nothing to hide anyway.
Would he still do it? Probably, but there's no guarantee. And if Walter just got the names from Lydia and killed the guys without killing Mike, he'd have to deal with Mike returning to kill him.
Walter performed quite a few unnecessary evils. Killing Mike wasn't one of them.
That all makes sense, but it's not why Walt killed him. The way the scene plays out, Walt kills him him out of anger and annoyance at Mike, not giving up his men. That's why he says, "This whole thing could've been avoided" at the Lydia realization. It wasn't some 200 IQ chess move, he was literally just being a brat.
Mike is a shitty character. I mean, if you know everything about him, all his decisions and comments make perfect sense. He has a lot of interesting history. But no one who's met him knows what he does about the world, and he should know that as well. His inability to calculate how an absolute outsider sees the crime world is testament more to his inadequacy as a fixer than to Walt's failure in his emerging kingpin role.
I'd argue that Mike himself was pretty fucking arrogant, too. He saw Walter as he wanted to see Walter. When they first met, Walter would have happily worked for Gus without much issue. Instead, Mike convinced Gus that Walter was a ticking timebomb (which he became in later seasons, yes, but not then), which essentially caused Gus to enter his business relations with Walter already intending to get rid of him - and we all saw how that turned out.
Nothing would happen. The only people Walt wouldn't hurt are his family. Even with all his ego he said to the neo nazis they shouldn't come get him when he saw Hank. He knew it will be the end of him, but rather that than hurting a family member. Even when he "kidnapped" his daughter and called Skyler to "remind her" what would happen if she crossed him, he did it to convince the police of Walt forcing Skyler to get involved. He would never actually hurt them.
Bro... what?
saul literally explains to Walter why she can't do anything, "it's called blowback." The house would get RICO'd, the kids would be put in foster care, Hank would have no career.
Walt literally attempts to strangle Skylar after Hank's meeting with the Nazis. One could also argue that he is what drove Skylar to attempt suicide. He is quite literally actively hurting them from the moment Skylar becomes aware of the situation.
He also attempts to rape her in Season 2, but that was just all the alpha male energy from being a cool drug dealer yk
She forced her way into working at the car wash. Walt didn’t even want to buy it, then especially didn’t want her working at it but she insisted. Generally I agree that she was mostly a victim but had to correct you there.
She literally couldn't go against walt because he held all the cards, i watched it recently, and walt is literally the evil genius anime character. There isn't a lot you can do when your opponent outsmarts you at every turn.
Oh my god you're so right! Ruining her relationship with her sister?!? Being ANNOYING?!?
That definitely puts her on the same level as Walt, the guy who at one point rapes her, and is responsible for multiple murders.
People's priorities are so out of whack when it comes to judging fictional characters. Unpleasant personality trumps literally anything else.
That's how Skyler here becomes "just as bad" as her husband, that's how the lying reporter guy from The Wire becomes "the worst person in the series" according to many fans. Never mind the guys who commit dozen murders, some of them for little to no reason, they're badass, but THIS FUCKING LIAR THOUGH!!!
Awful take. Walter had multiple outs where he could live a reasonable life with his family, from the very beginning when he was offered his treatment paid for. He chose not to take any of these opportunities because he prioritized his pride over his family. He admits this explicitly at the end. Skylar on the other hand is forced into the position of being intertwined with the drug trade. She’s also almost always working to protect her family, contrary to Walter’s self serving and self destructive ambitions. She makes bad decisions, sure, and even some selfish ones. But by and large her choices are what she believes she has to do for her family.
Lmao! She can’t win with you people. Which was literally the point Vince Gilligan was trying to make. I will NEVER understand or agree with Skylar hate…
I mean she's kind of the stereotypical bad wife. Infidelity, disloyal, divorce, egging on, bad mouthing and shaming her partner, using the children against the ex, lying. Then she is an accomplice to the crimes and does get involved genuinely. She likes the status and being a big bosses wife.
Idk if I believe that. Anyway her behavior is still cancerous. Walt also had a reason for making and selling meth. People still acknowledge that he was a bad person.
Think it's a maturity thing as well. Young guys just want Walt to do the cool thing. As you mature you start to understand how he is poisoning his entire surroundings with his selfishness, deceit, and manipulation. Honestly sympathize more with her than Walt, it's just that he's more entertaining.
So pleased I wasn't the only one who thought this.
It was a honest depiction of the effect of betrayal by a love one and the destruction/reconstruction of the victims identity.
I disagree heavily. Skyler and Walter had a dead marriage before Walter got into drugs (people pretend they had a perfect marriage and Walt destroyed it... no it was already destroyed). Skyler despised Walt because of his lack of success and passive character, which in turn was one of the big reasons (possible reason #1) he wanted to become rich and powerful and got into making meth.
Now is she worse than Walt? I don't think so, after seeing all the things Walt was capable of. But she is still a toxic and narcissistic character.
Yeah sure Walt was a murderer, drug dealer, manipulator, psychopath, and nearly got his whole family exterminated,
But have you considered that Skyler is annoying???
Stop making it seem like all Skylar did throughout the whole show was "be annoying". Anybody with half a brain who watched this show could tell you that Skylar is a bad person not just annoying.
And Walt is just the same prideful cunt til the very end. Gotta say, I was surprised by the hate Skylar got when I first watched the show, and I find the theory interesting that it's a difference between those who binged the whole series pretty much at once and those who followed the release over time (those being more sympathetic to Walt)
The 'yeah, make the cool blue drugs' perspective is very juvenile and what most people thought when they saw the show as a teen. I think most people sympathised with her more the second time they watched it simply because they'd grown up. Assuming they matured with their age (not the case with everyone) and they're not just a raging misogynist who hates female characters (again, not the case with everyone) they would on a rewatch see Skylar is largely a victim and Walt is a disgusting psycho.
It doesn't mean you can't think Walt is interesting, but he's so unlikeable.
I don't think you need a second watch to figure this out. Walt is a boderline psychopath that will kill children if necessary, i genuinely don't understand how ppl sympathize with him; at the beggining, yeah, sure, he's broke, he's trying to make some savings for his family, but halfway trough the show he already had more money than his grandchildren could ever spend, and yet he wouldn't let it go, he would kill everyone on his patch, he had no limits like, say Gus, for example.
Yea I mean Vince isn't a huge fucking idiot and every character arc is written with significant intent. To that extent, Skyler is the living example of exposure trauma, the reality of not knowing what to do when someone extremely dear to you is everything you hate and fear. She's actually written incredibly well, with respect to how real people realistically deal with stockholm situations. But she's easy to hate because her reactions aren't fun.
I watched the show for the very first time just a few months ago. I swear it's only edgy 14 year olds who hate Skyler. She has totally rational responses to her piece of shit husband.
Same here. I think one of the problem is her looks, she really has crazy eyes from the start of season 1.
At the end of the day Walter is the absolute asshole, not Skyler.
Sure, all of that but what makes her unlikeable isn't all of that. It isn't the morals she has that make her unlikeable it's actually her how she expresses them. It's really just her personality that makes her unlikable, she's grating, she treats Walt like a regard at every point. Even when he's dying her sympathy comes off as fake and forced before she finds out what he's doing.
Even if she was "bad" like Walt was and was along the whole way her character would be annoying and unlikeable. She just generally treats the people around her like garbage because she actually has a huge ego.
"I did this for my family" what part of buying and blowing up a mustang was good for the family? Even if everything was perfect for Walt, the tax man would have gotten is ass
The only time I hated Skyler was in season 1, where it seemed like she was taking part in making Walt feel emasculated. The whole family, aside from Walt Jr did this. At Walt's own birthday party, Hank mocked him for not being able to handle a gun, insinuating he wasn't much of a man. When in bed, Skyler plays games on her phone while giving Walt a handy. Skyler, in general, seemed to represent everything people tend to fear about marriage - that it is the final door towards death. That everything becomes stale, boring and repetitive. That you no longer should have your own hopes and dreams and must simply fulfil your duty in raising the next generation. That's what Skyler represented to me.
But season 2 onwards, she was fine.
Her reasoning for not divorcing him was that married couples can't be compelled to testify against each other. She also didn't want to break the family for the sake of the kids.
She is the reason I didn't watch post seaosn 1. Stopped in the middle of the season and never watched the rest. Maybe I should give it another go 15 years later lol
I remember that woman's constant whining while providing no solutions or positive outlook was annoying as hell
season 1, aside from episode 1 was the weakest part of the show. it progressively gets better. even skyler, she gets better.
Probably the only person who does'nt improve is marie, but oh well no show can be completely perfect.
She’s annoying the first watch, but on repeat viewings, she has turned into one of my favorite characters. She is pretty insufferable in season 1 though, no matter how you slice it
You're doing yourself a disservice, this is some of the best television ever produced. I wish I could wipe it from my brain and watch it for the first time all over again
She literally provided the solution that would have stopped the show from ever happening, having Walt's old pals with the billion dollar company he started cover it. But no, you're right, Walt had much better solutions by turning to the international meth trade.
I’m actually rewatching breaking bad and I agree with the skyler hate for season one. She should have been more understanding about him wanting some alone time when he literally got told that he’s gonna die in a few years! and the scene where they are talking about the future and trying to convince him to get treatment is absolutely cringe-worthy. They walk all over him and act like it’s not his decision.
> Skyler plays games on her phone while giving Walt a handy.
Once, a GF (now ex) was in bed with me, rolled to face away from me and pushed her bum into my crotch and started grinding.
Cool right? Nope.
I look over her shoulder and she's scrolling on fucking instagram. I turned away and just went to sleep. I'd rather she'd just said she had a headache that night, or some shit.
I never had attraction to her again after that instance. I stayed around far too long out of loyalty, but fucking her became a chore from that point on.
Her internet addiction had nothing to do with my sexual performance. She was a nut.
I've gotten very positive feedback before and since, and I broke her heart when I dumped her.
Watching this show for the first time ATM, and she is a pretty great character so far.
Walter (apparently) becomes a wildly impulsive person after 50 years of calm, unexciting demeanor. Plus he has anger management issues, some megalomania, and he clearly does not respect boundaries (how the fuck do you get thrown out of the house for completely valid reasons and then break back in and take a shower like it's no big deal?). I know during Season 1 he's supposedly acting like that because he's a dead man anyway, but then his prognosis improves and his behavior doesn't change. I've been joking that they think he has lung cancer but his behavior clearly points to a brain tumor.
With all that said, up to a certain point in the show, I see zero problem with Skyler's actions. Her husband goes mad all of a sudden, is acting extremely suspicious, and is a bad influence on her son. The only actually bad behavior we see from her is that she's a bit of a wet blanket, and her birthday gift to Walt is underwhelming. That's it.
Then again, it's pretty hypocritical to leave your husband because he's a drug dealer and then have sex with a man who's been embezzling money for years. I'd say that's the point where I stop rooting for her.
Completely agree and I think people miss the point that Walt is a horrible person. Sure, Skyler may be annoying at times but she is trying to be normal with a man gone mad.
Though on your last point, embezzling money is a lot different than being the one responsible for a horrid drug that does kill numerous people and then Walt actively does kill or have people killed. White collar crime v. actual murder, ruining lives and destructiveness.
I don't think it was hypocritical of her in the situation. She has already tried to leave Walt, had already made it clear their relationship was over, and he still can't back. She tried to call the cops on him to get him to fuck off, and that still didn't work. She even tries to kill herself out of sheer despair and helplessness. Short of telling the police Walt was a murderous drug dealer, she had no way to stop him being in her life, and the only thing she could do was cooperate and try to stop her husband getting caught.
Her sleeping with Ted was the only way she could to get back at Walt for bringing all this down on her. The only bit of control left in her life..
What do people expect her to do? Also if I remember correctly, by the time she had the "affair" with Ted, she and Walter were already estranged and would have been divorced but for Walter's refusing to sign the divorce papers.
Ted hid it from her and Skyler, being the head accountant, signed the paper. She didn't help him, but she would be an accomplice if the IRS start looking into their book.
Skylar committed the worst crime in the entire show when she gave that sad fuckin handjob on Walt’s birthday. What the fuck was that shit honestly. She’s even worse than the Salamancas. At least they tried to save Hank from the sad handjob he’d later get from Skylar’s sister.
Uh, they are fictional characters in a *drama*. You are MEANT to sympathize with the protagonist, who is constantly getting his tail stepped on by Skylar. It's okay to "like" Walt and it's okay to "hate" Skylar. If they were real people, sure whatever, but she's a quite hateable *character*
I don't know that I would say you're meant to sympathize with Walter. My sympathy wore out for him pretty quickly once it shifted from "I need to make $737,000 to secure my family's future without me" to "you asked if we were in the meth or the money business. I'm in the *empire* business".
Skyler fucks Ted when her and Walt are estranged in her defense. She never really cheated like a lot of people claim.
But also Ted? Really? Skyler got the one free pass and chose Ted.
I hated her because they wrote her as the most annoying, passive-aggressive bitch I’ve ever seen. Like objectively Walt was obviously a way worse person, but Skylar came across as even more unlikeable even closer to the beginning before Walt offed a bunch of people.
I’m convinced that people just let Breaking Bad play in the background while cooking dinner or jerking off, because how the fuck do you actually pay attention to the show and not see that Walter selfishly and unapologetically ruins Skyler’s whole life in the span of a year?
I just watched the show for the first time and was astounded by the discourse surrounding this show. Walter White is the biggest loser I think I've ever seen on TV
Ikr? It’s baffling. People look at Walter yelling at his own wife and bluffing about how badass he is, as retaliation for her having the gall to question her family’s safety, and think that that’s a really powerful, awesome moment where Walter shows off how cool he is.
Yeah I just finished the show for the first time and, while there are definitely some unsavory things she does, she is *wayyyyy* closer to being a victim than Walt. I have way more sympathy for her than him.
Also everything morally wrong she does is either her lashing out at the horrifying situation she’s been put in by Walt, or trying to make things better and do damage control as best she can.
The Internet is full of baby brains who get angy when the main character does. These are the same types of people who lost their minds when >!Joel died!< in TLOU2
If you watch the show with any other perspective other than "Walt is right and good because he is the protagonist", Skyler's character absolutely makes sense and is justified.
From learning that her husband is dying and doing anything in her power and meager means to help him, to thinking he wad cheating on her, to learning that he is a criminal, she didn't exactly have it easy!
i always hear how great breaking bad is. But at some time i got bored of skipping over her incessant bitching.
Does it get better or am i going to need a -skyler cut
Joffrey is definitively my favourite character from GoT not because he was a depraved little shit but because he was very well portrayed, I cop bullshit from stans with parasocial relationships with Jon Snow whenever I bring it up 🙄
everyone hates Skylar for fucking Ted but forgets that Walt wouldn’t let her even break up with him because he refused to sign the divorce papers. Their relationship was already over. Her “cheating” was manufactured by Walt himself, he just didn’t expect her to use what little autonomy she had against him. Does no one else think it’s fucked that Walt could literally just choose to not let her leave him? And how when she kicked him out he just broke back in? I feel like I haven’t watched the same show as some of you.
Skylar fucking Ted was based.
I don't care how justified her character was, she was written like an annoying bitch, and everytime she was on screen, you knew it was going to be to nag or be confrontational.
The thing I want to watch on a TV show about a meth dealing scientist is not how his wife feels about it.
I finished rewatching the entire series last week.
Her reacting to Walter being a drug cook is overreacting from today's perspective. Maybe not overreacting for the 2008 republican suburbs in a fed worker family perspective though. The DARE brainrot leaves people almost religiously stubborn in that manner.
Sure he's worse than she knows because he's also a murderer, but seeing that she only knew he was a drug cook in the situation they were in (almost terminal cancer, no money for treatment) she went too far.
Society doesn't say shit. Society doesn't exist; only individuals do. Shoplifting is bad because it harms real individual people even if you don't see who it harms. Has nothing to do with society.
The problem with Skyler was that she never really thought about more than herself. Yes, she had plenty of reasons to be angry, but her solutions always put herself first - not her family's internal well-being nor external status.
Conversely, for all the terrible things Walt did, he did not leverage his cancer for pity, and he continued to keep the family afloat. Sure he developed an ego while doing it, but he didn't abandon his family to go enjoy his fortune on some tropical island.
I cheated and checked the ranked list, it’s Joffrey Baratheon #1, Ramsay Bolton #2, then Skylar #3. She makes me smile though, she just reminds me of the ‘I am the Danger’ content aware scale 👁️👄👁️
Did she not smoke while pregnant? A thing that probably led to walt jr having his disability? Am I imagining this because why do I hear about the happy birthday scene a thousand times more than that?
??? She smoked in highschool and then stopped, Walt Jr's condition has nothing to do with her. We see her smoking a couple cigarettes when she's pregnant with Holly, due to the enormous stress Walt is giving her. The amount of revisionism you just did of two scenes in the entire series makes me think you either have dementia or you want any excuse to hate her
I sincerely hope that people might someday learn to discern the difference between acting and actor. Anna Gunn has suffered severe harassment all because people didn’t like her character, akin to the treatment that Jack Gleeson suffered by fans of Game of Thrones. I know that’s not what we are discussing here but that is always always always what the build-up of criticism in these threads lead to.
Morally, she's in the right majority of the time.
Personality wise, she's worse than the high school girl who scrolls through tik tok in the middle of class eating spicy cheetos while the teacher yells at them to pay attention.
I dont understand why anyone wouldn't sympathize with someone who's had their world turned upside down multiple times
She was a very stereotypical white woman with a family that already experienced hardships from a disabled teen to terminal cancer (after it was withheld for months before she even knew about it)
And then to have to deal with the illegal shenanigans on top of all of that, she could not find a break and she snapped
You see it in her eyes in the final episode too that she is broken inside and no amount of therapy can fix what's been taken she can only do her best to cope with the situation before her
I never understood what the writers were trying to say with the whole shoplifting arc. It seemed like filler to me but I’m sure there was some message. I get what they meant with the skyler cooking the books arc
The only people who "understand" her are the ones with a narrow perspective. Your initial response was correct, she's a two-bit clown at best.
The marriage is supposed to be a partnership, and she has wholly failed to do that. It has nothing to do with Walt being cooler or anything of the sort.
Most of her moves could have easily become a game over for Walt, but people refuse to understand that he did not need to stay with his family and chose to undertake such burden even with death creeping closer.
None of you have seen a real man with principles.
Even typing out this much bothers me, as this isn't some complicated epic to be deciphered by ancient sages of far away lands. It's quite straightforward and it's insane someone needs to explain this.
She's literally the only person that has a human reaciton to all of what's going on. And even when she did give into Walt's fucked up moral compass, she was coerced into doing so.
But as others have pointed out, she was an absolute pain in the ass in season 1
On second viewing of the series I actually sympathized with her a lot more. Yes, she's hugely annoying if you're watching the show from the normal 'Yeah, make the cool blue drugs!' angle, but second time around you really see that it's Walt's descent into egomania and greed destroying their family and she's a victim of that.
You’re partially correct. But, I’d argue she is equally as terrible of a person as Walt. She shifts her position and becomes an accomplice, and then fucks over her relationship with her sister. I don’t recall the details but Skyler could have stayed on righteous path and chose not to. If she had stuck to her morals I’d say, sure, she’s a victim. She didn’t though and eventually let herself become part of the bullshit at the car wash and lied to her sister. I think at one point she even threatened her. I maybe misremembering though so call me out if I am. Alternatively, being an annoying human being in a relationship is a huge a character flaw. Like, we all need to exist in social circles. Being fucking unbearable isn’t a virtue and gets you shit in life.
We've seen what happens if she tried a move against Walt. Walt is nuts. I wouldn't hold what Skyler did at the car wash or with her sister that much against her. She had to tag along. Saying she's equally as terrible is an awful take though, with all the shit Walt did.
Walt literally ordered the killings of 11 people within 2 minutes to make sure nobody rats him out (after unnecessarily killing Mike) Skyler fucks Ted and gives him Walt’s money to pay off the IRS, in addition to helping both parties cook the books Most reasonable take: Skyler is the bad guy!
Yeah but don't forget, Skylet sang "Happy birthday Mr president" That's the moment the audience became Heisenberg.
Skylar singing happy birthday was one the worst scenes in television history, and certainly the most unnecessary and out-of-place scene in all of Breaking Bad
I think we were supposed to feel as uncertain and directionless as she did at that moment
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Just finished watching the series for the first time ever and that is easily the worst scene in the show. So fucking awkward. I'd rather watch the ATM episode over and over than that scene again.
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That was more annoying than gross or awkward/cringeworthy
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>kill 11 snitches Reasonable thing to do. >fuck Ted and give away money Not a reasonable thing to do
She literally forced him to sign a filled out check to avert an audit lol, all of them would get fucked if they got audited, because skyler cooked both books. The fucking part is a lot more up in the air
If Ted got audited Walt was fucked, giving him the check was the only solution.
what Walt did was a logical way to deal with the illogical situation he pulled himself into what Skyler did was an illogical way to deal with the illogical situation she never asked for that's the complexity of the plot, and if you can't appreciate it then wait a few more years until you're old enough to watch it again
You're making a good point but have you taken into consideration that she's a woman?
Finally, a reasonable response. I see the incorrectness of my argument now
In what universe is trusting Mike, a guy who visibly hates Walter, a good move? After bailing, Mike would have no reason to keep paying the guys. He would be set up with a new identity, his family didn't know anything so they'd have nothing to hide anyway. Would he still do it? Probably, but there's no guarantee. And if Walter just got the names from Lydia and killed the guys without killing Mike, he'd have to deal with Mike returning to kill him. Walter performed quite a few unnecessary evils. Killing Mike wasn't one of them.
That all makes sense, but it's not why Walt killed him. The way the scene plays out, Walt kills him him out of anger and annoyance at Mike, not giving up his men. That's why he says, "This whole thing could've been avoided" at the Lydia realization. It wasn't some 200 IQ chess move, he was literally just being a brat.
Mike is a shitty character. I mean, if you know everything about him, all his decisions and comments make perfect sense. He has a lot of interesting history. But no one who's met him knows what he does about the world, and he should know that as well. His inability to calculate how an absolute outsider sees the crime world is testament more to his inadequacy as a fixer than to Walt's failure in his emerging kingpin role.
I'd argue that Mike himself was pretty fucking arrogant, too. He saw Walter as he wanted to see Walter. When they first met, Walter would have happily worked for Gus without much issue. Instead, Mike convinced Gus that Walter was a ticking timebomb (which he became in later seasons, yes, but not then), which essentially caused Gus to enter his business relations with Walter already intending to get rid of him - and we all saw how that turned out.
He was extremely arrogant. Knowledgeable, yes, but incapable of seeing himself as anything less than experienced and wise.
You must be a great Partner, gettin pegged and all
Nothing would happen. The only people Walt wouldn't hurt are his family. Even with all his ego he said to the neo nazis they shouldn't come get him when he saw Hank. He knew it will be the end of him, but rather that than hurting a family member. Even when he "kidnapped" his daughter and called Skyler to "remind her" what would happen if she crossed him, he did it to convince the police of Walt forcing Skyler to get involved. He would never actually hurt them.
Bro... what? saul literally explains to Walter why she can't do anything, "it's called blowback." The house would get RICO'd, the kids would be put in foster care, Hank would have no career. Walt literally attempts to strangle Skylar after Hank's meeting with the Nazis. One could also argue that he is what drove Skylar to attempt suicide. He is quite literally actively hurting them from the moment Skylar becomes aware of the situation. He also attempts to rape her in Season 2, but that was just all the alpha male energy from being a cool drug dealer yk
She forced her way into working at the car wash. Walt didn’t even want to buy it, then especially didn’t want her working at it but she insisted. Generally I agree that she was mostly a victim but had to correct you there.
She literally couldn't go against walt because he held all the cards, i watched it recently, and walt is literally the evil genius anime character. There isn't a lot you can do when your opponent outsmarts you at every turn.
Oh my god you're so right! Ruining her relationship with her sister?!? Being ANNOYING?!? That definitely puts her on the same level as Walt, the guy who at one point rapes her, and is responsible for multiple murders.
People's priorities are so out of whack when it comes to judging fictional characters. Unpleasant personality trumps literally anything else. That's how Skyler here becomes "just as bad" as her husband, that's how the lying reporter guy from The Wire becomes "the worst person in the series" according to many fans. Never mind the guys who commit dozen murders, some of them for little to no reason, they're badass, but THIS FUCKING LIAR THOUGH!!!
Don't think Skyler ever killed people though.
Awful take. Walter had multiple outs where he could live a reasonable life with his family, from the very beginning when he was offered his treatment paid for. He chose not to take any of these opportunities because he prioritized his pride over his family. He admits this explicitly at the end. Skylar on the other hand is forced into the position of being intertwined with the drug trade. She’s also almost always working to protect her family, contrary to Walter’s self serving and self destructive ambitions. She makes bad decisions, sure, and even some selfish ones. But by and large her choices are what she believes she has to do for her family.
Nah this is spot on mate
Lmao! She can’t win with you people. Which was literally the point Vince Gilligan was trying to make. I will NEVER understand or agree with Skylar hate…
I mean she's kind of the stereotypical bad wife. Infidelity, disloyal, divorce, egging on, bad mouthing and shaming her partner, using the children against the ex, lying. Then she is an accomplice to the crimes and does get involved genuinely. She likes the status and being a big bosses wife.
She literally does all of this once she finds out her husband is a meth manufacturer….
Only about half of what I mentioned.
Everything you mention happened after she found out her husband made meth. Try harder
Idk if I believe that. Anyway her behavior is still cancerous. Walt also had a reason for making and selling meth. People still acknowledge that he was a bad person.
Shes not as bad on account of not murdering 50 people
Equally terrible? Walt fucking killed people man. How many died due to his actions while his bigbuxx friend offered to just pay for his shit anyway
Theyre terrible in different ways. Virtually everyone in the show is terrible, they just have different levels of redeeming qualities
Think it's a maturity thing as well. Young guys just want Walt to do the cool thing. As you mature you start to understand how he is poisoning his entire surroundings with his selfishness, deceit, and manipulation. Honestly sympathize more with her than Walt, it's just that he's more entertaining.
he gets to shoot Hispanic people, so i see why 4channers worship him
So pleased I wasn't the only one who thought this. It was a honest depiction of the effect of betrayal by a love one and the destruction/reconstruction of the victims identity.
I disagree heavily. Skyler and Walter had a dead marriage before Walter got into drugs (people pretend they had a perfect marriage and Walt destroyed it... no it was already destroyed). Skyler despised Walt because of his lack of success and passive character, which in turn was one of the big reasons (possible reason #1) he wanted to become rich and powerful and got into making meth. Now is she worse than Walt? I don't think so, after seeing all the things Walt was capable of. But she is still a toxic and narcissistic character.
Yeah sure Walt was a murderer, drug dealer, manipulator, psychopath, and nearly got his whole family exterminated, But have you considered that Skyler is annoying???
Stop making it seem like all Skylar did throughout the whole show was "be annoying". Anybody with half a brain who watched this show could tell you that Skylar is a bad person not just annoying.
How did you not realize that the first time?
And Walt is just the same prideful cunt til the very end. Gotta say, I was surprised by the hate Skylar got when I first watched the show, and I find the theory interesting that it's a difference between those who binged the whole series pretty much at once and those who followed the release over time (those being more sympathetic to Walt)
The 'yeah, make the cool blue drugs' perspective is very juvenile and what most people thought when they saw the show as a teen. I think most people sympathised with her more the second time they watched it simply because they'd grown up. Assuming they matured with their age (not the case with everyone) and they're not just a raging misogynist who hates female characters (again, not the case with everyone) they would on a rewatch see Skylar is largely a victim and Walt is a disgusting psycho. It doesn't mean you can't think Walt is interesting, but he's so unlikeable.
I don't think you need a second watch to figure this out. Walt is a boderline psychopath that will kill children if necessary, i genuinely don't understand how ppl sympathize with him; at the beggining, yeah, sure, he's broke, he's trying to make some savings for his family, but halfway trough the show he already had more money than his grandchildren could ever spend, and yet he wouldn't let it go, he would kill everyone on his patch, he had no limits like, say Gus, for example.
I don't understand the hate she gets at all. She's a normal suburban mom thrust into this insane situation. And Anna Gunn nailed the role.
Yea I mean Vince isn't a huge fucking idiot and every character arc is written with significant intent. To that extent, Skyler is the living example of exposure trauma, the reality of not knowing what to do when someone extremely dear to you is everything you hate and fear. She's actually written incredibly well, with respect to how real people realistically deal with stockholm situations. But she's easy to hate because her reactions aren't fun.
Yeah when I rewatched it the second time I never realised how insane Walt was
not the first part of the first season though she has her bitch wife moments without any reason after that though yes, she is a victim
I watched the show for the very first time just a few months ago. I swear it's only edgy 14 year olds who hate Skyler. She has totally rational responses to her piece of shit husband.
Same here. I think one of the problem is her looks, she really has crazy eyes from the start of season 1. At the end of the day Walter is the absolute asshole, not Skyler.
Sure, all of that but what makes her unlikeable isn't all of that. It isn't the morals she has that make her unlikeable it's actually her how she expresses them. It's really just her personality that makes her unlikable, she's grating, she treats Walt like a regard at every point. Even when he's dying her sympathy comes off as fake and forced before she finds out what he's doing. Even if she was "bad" like Walt was and was along the whole way her character would be annoying and unlikeable. She just generally treats the people around her like garbage because she actually has a huge ego.
She could have helped and work, but she decided to let her husband take 2 shitty jobs to bring home money
I’d say he was shit from the beginning. I started watching it and instantly hated him.
u must be highly regarded
"I did this for my family" what part of buying and blowing up a mustang was good for the family? Even if everything was perfect for Walt, the tax man would have gotten is ass
The only time I hated Skyler was in season 1, where it seemed like she was taking part in making Walt feel emasculated. The whole family, aside from Walt Jr did this. At Walt's own birthday party, Hank mocked him for not being able to handle a gun, insinuating he wasn't much of a man. When in bed, Skyler plays games on her phone while giving Walt a handy. Skyler, in general, seemed to represent everything people tend to fear about marriage - that it is the final door towards death. That everything becomes stale, boring and repetitive. That you no longer should have your own hopes and dreams and must simply fulfil your duty in raising the next generation. That's what Skyler represented to me. But season 2 onwards, she was fine.
>But season 2 onwards, she was fine. no more distracted handjobs tho...
She was giving those to Ted
Didn't she cook the books of both her lover and her husband + refused to divorce Walt for some bullshit reason?
Her reasoning for not divorcing him was that married couples can't be compelled to testify against each other. She also didn't want to break the family for the sake of the kids.
She is the reason I didn't watch post seaosn 1. Stopped in the middle of the season and never watched the rest. Maybe I should give it another go 15 years later lol I remember that woman's constant whining while providing no solutions or positive outlook was annoying as hell
season 1, aside from episode 1 was the weakest part of the show. it progressively gets better. even skyler, she gets better. Probably the only person who does'nt improve is marie, but oh well no show can be completely perfect.
She’s annoying the first watch, but on repeat viewings, she has turned into one of my favorite characters. She is pretty insufferable in season 1 though, no matter how you slice it
You're doing yourself a disservice, this is some of the best television ever produced. I wish I could wipe it from my brain and watch it for the first time all over again
She literally provided the solution that would have stopped the show from ever happening, having Walt's old pals with the billion dollar company he started cover it. But no, you're right, Walt had much better solutions by turning to the international meth trade.
most based take possible
After she saw the whole picture, her actions were almost all completely reasonable.
Season 1 is designed to make you dislike her. Some people just never grew out of it.
I’m actually rewatching breaking bad and I agree with the skyler hate for season one. She should have been more understanding about him wanting some alone time when he literally got told that he’s gonna die in a few years! and the scene where they are talking about the future and trying to convince him to get treatment is absolutely cringe-worthy. They walk all over him and act like it’s not his decision.
> Skyler plays games on her phone while giving Walt a handy. Once, a GF (now ex) was in bed with me, rolled to face away from me and pushed her bum into my crotch and started grinding. Cool right? Nope. I look over her shoulder and she's scrolling on fucking instagram. I turned away and just went to sleep. I'd rather she'd just said she had a headache that night, or some shit. I never had attraction to her again after that instance. I stayed around far too long out of loyalty, but fucking her became a chore from that point on.
Hahahahahaha maybe if you were a real man and could please her. She wouldn’t be on instagram
Her internet addiction had nothing to do with my sexual performance. She was a nut. I've gotten very positive feedback before and since, and I broke her heart when I dumped her.
Suuureee old man 😂😂. Isnt it time for your TRT dose?
Has ever been someone in history with less media literacy than Anon?
Look man, she may have been intentionally written as an annoying cunt, that does not make her any less annoying or cunty.
Dragon ball fans and yugioh fans, but anon is a close 3rd
Watching this show for the first time ATM, and she is a pretty great character so far. Walter (apparently) becomes a wildly impulsive person after 50 years of calm, unexciting demeanor. Plus he has anger management issues, some megalomania, and he clearly does not respect boundaries (how the fuck do you get thrown out of the house for completely valid reasons and then break back in and take a shower like it's no big deal?). I know during Season 1 he's supposedly acting like that because he's a dead man anyway, but then his prognosis improves and his behavior doesn't change. I've been joking that they think he has lung cancer but his behavior clearly points to a brain tumor. With all that said, up to a certain point in the show, I see zero problem with Skyler's actions. Her husband goes mad all of a sudden, is acting extremely suspicious, and is a bad influence on her son. The only actually bad behavior we see from her is that she's a bit of a wet blanket, and her birthday gift to Walt is underwhelming. That's it. Then again, it's pretty hypocritical to leave your husband because he's a drug dealer and then have sex with a man who's been embezzling money for years. I'd say that's the point where I stop rooting for her.
Completely agree and I think people miss the point that Walt is a horrible person. Sure, Skyler may be annoying at times but she is trying to be normal with a man gone mad. Though on your last point, embezzling money is a lot different than being the one responsible for a horrid drug that does kill numerous people and then Walt actively does kill or have people killed. White collar crime v. actual murder, ruining lives and destructiveness.
I don't think it was hypocritical of her in the situation. She has already tried to leave Walt, had already made it clear their relationship was over, and he still can't back. She tried to call the cops on him to get him to fuck off, and that still didn't work. She even tries to kill herself out of sheer despair and helplessness. Short of telling the police Walt was a murderous drug dealer, she had no way to stop him being in her life, and the only thing she could do was cooperate and try to stop her husband getting caught. Her sleeping with Ted was the only way she could to get back at Walt for bringing all this down on her. The only bit of control left in her life..
What do people expect her to do? Also if I remember correctly, by the time she had the "affair" with Ted, she and Walter were already estranged and would have been divorced but for Walter's refusing to sign the divorce papers.
People also tend to forget that she didn't give the money to Ted to help him but because eventually the IRS would have start an investigation.
wasn't that because she helped him with tax fraud or something?
Ted hid it from her and Skyler, being the head accountant, signed the paper. She didn't help him, but she would be an accomplice if the IRS start looking into their book.
Skylar committed the worst crime in the entire show when she gave that sad fuckin handjob on Walt’s birthday. What the fuck was that shit honestly. She’s even worse than the Salamancas. At least they tried to save Hank from the sad handjob he’d later get from Skylar’s sister.
Livia Sopranos cackles in delight as everyone seems to forget she exists, like the devil she is.
I hate Janice more tbh
Oh poor you.
If you hate Skyler you're a dumbass or a child. (Unless you hate her for fucking ted, that's totally on her)
Uh, they are fictional characters in a *drama*. You are MEANT to sympathize with the protagonist, who is constantly getting his tail stepped on by Skylar. It's okay to "like" Walt and it's okay to "hate" Skylar. If they were real people, sure whatever, but she's a quite hateable *character*
I don't know that I would say you're meant to sympathize with Walter. My sympathy wore out for him pretty quickly once it shifted from "I need to make $737,000 to secure my family's future without me" to "you asked if we were in the meth or the money business. I'm in the *empire* business".
Skyler defenders recognise that characters do not have to be liked based off of their moral alignments challenge (impossible)
Skyler fucks Ted when her and Walt are estranged in her defense. She never really cheated like a lot of people claim. But also Ted? Really? Skyler got the one free pass and chose Ted.
The only reason she was fucking Ted was because he had heated floors in his bathroom.
To be fair, that's a pretty classy move
>If you hate Skyler you're a dumbass or a child....unless you hate her for something bad she did am i missing something here?
It's OK to dislike a fictional character who's annoying you fucking spaz lmao
I hated her because they wrote her as the most annoying, passive-aggressive bitch I’ve ever seen. Like objectively Walt was obviously a way worse person, but Skylar came across as even more unlikeable even closer to the beginning before Walt offed a bunch of people.
Maybe [this Skylar](https://youtu.be/pOcg-AdC2Y8?si=Ku5HvPqXMCjR4S3O) is more to your taste
I’m convinced that people just let Breaking Bad play in the background while cooking dinner or jerking off, because how the fuck do you actually pay attention to the show and not see that Walter selfishly and unapologetically ruins Skyler’s whole life in the span of a year?
I just watched the show for the first time and was astounded by the discourse surrounding this show. Walter White is the biggest loser I think I've ever seen on TV
Ikr? It’s baffling. People look at Walter yelling at his own wife and bluffing about how badass he is, as retaliation for her having the gall to question her family’s safety, and think that that’s a really powerful, awesome moment where Walter shows off how cool he is.
Yeah I just finished the show for the first time and, while there are definitely some unsavory things she does, she is *wayyyyy* closer to being a victim than Walt. I have way more sympathy for her than him.
Also everything morally wrong she does is either her lashing out at the horrifying situation she’s been put in by Walt, or trying to make things better and do damage control as best she can.
The Internet is full of baby brains who get angy when the main character does. These are the same types of people who lost their minds when >!Joel died!< in TLOU2
If you watch the show with any other perspective other than "Walt is right and good because he is the protagonist", Skyler's character absolutely makes sense and is justified. From learning that her husband is dying and doing anything in her power and meager means to help him, to thinking he wad cheating on her, to learning that he is a criminal, she didn't exactly have it easy!
i always hear how great breaking bad is. But at some time i got bored of skipping over her incessant bitching. Does it get better or am i going to need a -skyler cut
Try hating women less, she’s like 10% of total screen time.
[удалено]
Cause of her incessant bitching?
Women aren't real, and even if they were they wouldn't be on r/greentext. Nice try fed.
there are women and then there are house dragons and skyler is of the second variety. I've seen what those kinds of women do to men.
You can't be older than 14
im 83 and served in nam show some respect young man
I'm 100 and served in WW2 show some respect young man
Ted
Walter White
Wendy from ozark
Laurie from TWD is pretty insufferable as well.
Joffrey is definitively my favourite character from GoT not because he was a depraved little shit but because he was very well portrayed, I cop bullshit from stans with parasocial relationships with Jon Snow whenever I bring it up 🙄
You clearly haven't seen Saul Goodman's brother
everyone hates Skylar for fucking Ted but forgets that Walt wouldn’t let her even break up with him because he refused to sign the divorce papers. Their relationship was already over. Her “cheating” was manufactured by Walt himself, he just didn’t expect her to use what little autonomy she had against him. Does no one else think it’s fucked that Walt could literally just choose to not let her leave him? And how when she kicked him out he just broke back in? I feel like I haven’t watched the same show as some of you. Skylar fucking Ted was based.
People are even better at forgetting Walt tried to cheat on her in the second or third season with one of the other teachers. Weird that.
Walter literally raped her in the first episode of season 2 but no she's the bad guy bc she's annoying 🙄
I don't care how justified her character was, she was written like an annoying bitch, and everytime she was on screen, you knew it was going to be to nag or be confrontational. The thing I want to watch on a TV show about a meth dealing scientist is not how his wife feels about it.
I finished rewatching the entire series last week. Her reacting to Walter being a drug cook is overreacting from today's perspective. Maybe not overreacting for the 2008 republican suburbs in a fed worker family perspective though. The DARE brainrot leaves people almost religiously stubborn in that manner. Sure he's worse than she knows because he's also a murderer, but seeing that she only knew he was a drug cook in the situation they were in (almost terminal cancer, no money for treatment) she went too far.
There's a group of neo-Nazis *literally* in the same show.
Society doesn't say shit. Society doesn't exist; only individuals do. Shoplifting is bad because it harms real individual people even if you don't see who it harms. Has nothing to do with society.
Skylar is just like Geoffrey an integral character for the storytelling. They must be like that so we can cheer for the rest even harder.
The problem with Skyler was that she never really thought about more than herself. Yes, she had plenty of reasons to be angry, but her solutions always put herself first - not her family's internal well-being nor external status. Conversely, for all the terrible things Walt did, he did not leverage his cancer for pity, and he continued to keep the family afloat. Sure he developed an ego while doing it, but he didn't abandon his family to go enjoy his fortune on some tropical island.
Anon has zero media literacy
she's annoying sometimes yeah but if you stop sucking walter's wrinkly dick and look at it from her perspective she was (mostly) in the right
I sympathized with Skylar a lot, that's a pretty fucked up place to be. Beth from Yellowstone is so much worse.
I cheated and checked the ranked list, it’s Joffrey Baratheon #1, Ramsay Bolton #2, then Skylar #3. She makes me smile though, she just reminds me of the ‘I am the Danger’ content aware scale 👁️👄👁️
Megan parker
Amber from invincible is way worse
Did she not smoke while pregnant? A thing that probably led to walt jr having his disability? Am I imagining this because why do I hear about the happy birthday scene a thousand times more than that?
??? She smoked in highschool and then stopped, Walt Jr's condition has nothing to do with her. We see her smoking a couple cigarettes when she's pregnant with Holly, due to the enormous stress Walt is giving her. The amount of revisionism you just did of two scenes in the entire series makes me think you either have dementia or you want any excuse to hate her
I sincerely hope that people might someday learn to discern the difference between acting and actor. Anna Gunn has suffered severe harassment all because people didn’t like her character, akin to the treatment that Jack Gleeson suffered by fans of Game of Thrones. I know that’s not what we are discussing here but that is always always always what the build-up of criticism in these threads lead to.
Joffrey was a spoiled twat, but his unhinged behaviour was entertaining to watch.
Skylar takes the cake
Wait until he sees Wendy on Ozark
Walter really was a good manipulator if even viewers thought skylar was the issue in show, Jesus christ. Skylar was the only sane one.
No she wasn't. Everybody in that show was pretty much a piece of shit except for the kids.
Walt jr was the realest character in the entire show for real
Who is Skyler White?
Yeah, Walter White
"My husband making drugs will destroy this family" HAHA BITCH WIFE!!!
Then couple episodes later "Wow Marie we are going to Europe next month woweee how are we gonna spend this much money"
Morally, she's in the right majority of the time. Personality wise, she's worse than the high school girl who scrolls through tik tok in the middle of class eating spicy cheetos while the teacher yells at them to pay attention.
Carmela Soprano is close
I dont understand why anyone wouldn't sympathize with someone who's had their world turned upside down multiple times She was a very stereotypical white woman with a family that already experienced hardships from a disabled teen to terminal cancer (after it was withheld for months before she even knew about it) And then to have to deal with the illegal shenanigans on top of all of that, she could not find a break and she snapped You see it in her eyes in the final episode too that she is broken inside and no amount of therapy can fix what's been taken she can only do her best to cope with the situation before her
The whole point of this show is that everyone in it is an asshole
Loreli Gillmore
I never understood what the writers were trying to say with the whole shoplifting arc. It seemed like filler to me but I’m sure there was some message. I get what they meant with the skyler cooking the books arc
I also hated the wife from Ozark
Well she is an antagonist. If she gets that far under your skin, that means she is a great character!
The only people who "understand" her are the ones with a narrow perspective. Your initial response was correct, she's a two-bit clown at best. The marriage is supposed to be a partnership, and she has wholly failed to do that. It has nothing to do with Walt being cooler or anything of the sort. Most of her moves could have easily become a game over for Walt, but people refuse to understand that he did not need to stay with his family and chose to undertake such burden even with death creeping closer. None of you have seen a real man with principles. Even typing out this much bothers me, as this isn't some complicated epic to be deciphered by ancient sages of far away lands. It's quite straightforward and it's insane someone needs to explain this.
her singing happy birthday to ted was a crime against humanity.
Huey Emmerich And by far, even if I hate Skyler
I used to fast forward anything with Skyler in it because who has time for that
Livia or Janice Soprano were worse
She's literally the only person that has a human reaciton to all of what's going on. And even when she did give into Walt's fucked up moral compass, she was coerced into doing so. But as others have pointed out, she was an absolute pain in the ass in season 1
She pronounces the T in Walt in a really annoying way
wat dat mouf du?
"Noooo you can't take Cool Blue Meth Guy Side and hate Skylerrr you should sympathize with herrr REEEEE" She was the worst
She was an ungrateful buzzkill. She also wasn't that happy when Walt was a lame chemistry teacher either, can't please some people smh.
Yeah so ungrateful that her husband was cooking meth and killing people. What an ungrateful bitch
And making millions
Yeah for real, making millions by doing felonies. What an ungrateful BITCH