Breaking Bad: Walter White - How a Man Becomes Evil 

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Walter didn't start out "good", he started out "Harmless". There's a difference.

For all of the idiots complaining about spoilers why the hell would you watch a character analysis and not expect spoilers. Makes no sense

Moral of the show : pay teachers more

“The most dangerous man is a man that has nothing too lose”

It's also worth mentioning that in the final season Walt looks like a twisted version of how he looked in the first season.

Walter White told us what the whole show was going to be about....right in the first episode....it was all about "Growth..Change and Transformation" Wow....just wow....

Killing Crazy 8 was a landmark moment in the transition also.

Dude, I never thought that those lines in Walter's chemistry class were subtly hinting at his change as a character throughout the show. Just goes to show you that Vince Gilligan was a masterful writer and director when creating this series.

10 years later and Breaking Bad is still one of the best shows ever put to television

Funfact: they chose very carefully when they drop the F bomb. That made it such more impactful when Mike said _STFU and let me die in peace_

It's crazy that even though Walt never used the meth, he was the one most addicted to what it did for him.

"Walter is an evil man fooling people that he is good, while Jesse is a good man trying his best to be evil."

I wonder if there are high school teachers who want to be Heisenberg as much as there are students who would like to hear one of their teachers was Heisenberg.

This show baffled me as how real it is. Every response, act, emotion portrayed by Walter & everyone around him was so damn real & relatable. It's genius.

Kevin Spacey: "Sex is about power" That didn't age well...

Lmao at "I'm not the street guy yo"

This video made me realize just how genius the writing of Breaking Bad was. They revealed Walt's evil side slowly and consistently - when he was losing power (something I didn't even realize while watching the show). Compare that to the final season of Game of Thrones where the writers had Daenerys show her evil side over the course of 2 episodes...

He was a man fed up with life and suddenly had nothing to lose. That makes someone extremely dangerous.

Aaron Paul gave a phenomenal performance in this show. I’m really surprised he never played big roles in movies.

I always thought how Heisenberg's character was basically a cancer to everybody else in the series, he basically destroyed everything around him

The age old dilemma: do people actually change or is it that they hide very well their true colors (until the time comes and they end up showing them)?

I feel like the real turning point was when he let Jessie's girlfriend die. No way back from that moment on.

Breaking Bad isn’t about a good man becoming evil. It’s about the capability of evil that exist within everyone given the right motivation.

“Men don’t change they just turn into more of who they already are.”

This evil was always with him. All that time he was ignoring those feelings. Upon his diagnosis, he decided to let it go. This is what this show is all about

One of the best breaking bad analyses out there, and that's saying something

The greatest god damn character development ever in a TV show. 🤠

My favorite quote from Walter is “I sold my children’s birthright, for $5000” This just showed his inner motive, he wanted to compete with Gray matter.

Why people are afraid to say that we all have the evil side? With the right circumstances anyone of us can turn into a complitely amoral person.

Walt making meth was never morally acceptable. His friend had a well-paying job lined up for him but his ego made him decline it

The delivery on, "I'm talking with Ted" kills me everytime

When Walter runs off to New Hampshire, he thinks winning consists of dying before the police can catch him. Then, after talking to Junior he realizes the only way he can truly win: by dying on top the world. Getting rid of all his enemies and people who try to live off his work. Forcing his family to take the money and being the most powerful man in a room with Gretchen and Elliott. Killing Jack mid sentence, like he killed Hank. Saving Jesse to prove he was right: He did care about him. Finally facing his biggest lie to his family, that he did all that for himself. Dying before he can see the inside of a jail cell, surrounded by his legacy. That was the only way he could get the most definitive win. After fighting death and irrelevance, he was finally immortal.

This is a man who lived by the law all his life. He worked his ass off and barely made enough to get by. Nobody, not even his own family respected him. When he started living outside of the law, he had respect and instilled fear into everyone. He felt in control and powerful. He was a great character. R.I.P

“The evil Walt became was like a terrible chemical reaction to the end: it could not be stopped. It just had to consume everything around it, until it burnt out on its own.” WOW👏👏👏

"Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing." Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment "It can't all be for nothing" Walter White, Breaking Bad

I don't think anyone, who hasn't watched Breaking Bad, could watch this and not want to see the whole series.

“Im not the street guy yo” - Walter White

"All cowardice masquerades itself as virtue" - Nietszche

It’s so interesting that Mike, Jesse and Skyler, all of Walt’s biggest foils, were actually motivated by family and taking care of people. Walt, on the other hand, talked a big game, but was selfish and got in the way of their ability to do so. Brilliant.

*He was never good. He was always Heisenberg even before marrying Skyler. His inferiority complex was the reason the whole Gretchen thing happened. All of his life, he's always suppressed it. The whole series was all about him letting the bad out -- letting Heisenberg out.*

“Heisenburg” is just Walt’s true self. “Walter White” is the facade he’s put on for 50 years

I think a great depiction of how Walt has always been the way he is is when we have the flashback of him and Skyler walking through their home when they were young. He wanted more, he wasn't satisfied with a house like this he had his eyes set on something bigger and Skyler's opinion didn't matter.

Walter went from being Ned Flanders to Lex Luther

Essentially, "Power doesn't corrupt. It reveals."

Personally I can SOMEWHAT relate to the early changes in Walter White. Not so much the criminal part, but the cancer/ aggressiveness/ anger/ violence parts. At one point in the early 1990s after Desert Storm where I was seriously wounded, I suffered a very severe spinal injury on an poorly-planned parachute drop. My wounds from the Gulf weren't completely healed and it appeared I'd only be able to walk again -- maybe -- after several years. By that time, I'd worked my way from young Private with 2 years of college to Staff Sergeant, then thru Officer Candidate School, becoming a commissioned officer, and by 1992 was a superbly trained Infantry/ Combat Engineer/ Ranger and Special Forces Senior Officer with a Master's Degree. The Army was my life's work and my IDENTITY. Suddenly I was placed on the "Temporary Disability Retired List" with a poor outlook for ever returning to Active Duty. I was technically still in the Army, but realistically not. Needless to say I was angry, frustrated, and severely depressed. A year or so afterward I was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin's Lymphoma. At that point it was too much. I started drinking more and sometimes LOOKED for fights whenever I saw bullies or loudmouthed obnoxious people. Needless to say, no matter how tough those clowns acted, they were out of their league with me. And I LIKED IT. Like Walter White with his chemistry, I was proving to myself that I still "had it." Also, like Walter confronting the store bullies, I did it to protect others, especially those who couldn't effectively protect themselves, but also to vent my anger. And like Walter, who'd effectively lost his identity as a great chemist, I'd lost mine as a superb soldier and officer. Fortunately I never crossed into any type of criminal activity and the drinking hadn't gotten out of control (I quit completely well before it became a problem) but there are many aspects of Walter White I can understand and relate to. I can even understand -- as most of us with families can -- why he INITIALLY produced meth to provide for his family after his death. I suggest that AT FIRST it was a case for Walter of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Then we see how it becomes a matter of greed and "power" as his morality is gradually eroded. Thank God I never got in that position, although professional combat leaders often find themselves in situations where we question the morality of what we're doing. We have to constantly monitor ourselves and our people for erosions of morality -- that's when bad things can happen. In my case, I was finally recalled to Active Duty from 2001-2004. Which helped me have some closure with my military career. I suggest many of us look inside ourselves and see if we share certain of Walter's traits as his character developed.

Bombing Tuco’s place: Heisenberg was born. Letting Jane die: Heisenberg took complete control. Hank death: Walter White died. Edit: Jesus Loves you! ❤️

"the road to hell is paved with good intentions"

"i did it for me" .. this is the most powerful dialogue of the whole series

Breaking Bad is a genius TV show.

Awesome analysis of an awesome character, great job!

Another early sign of Heisenberg is when he's offered money for his cancer treatments but his pride and bitterness forces him to decline. After that it was no longer necessary to cook meth but a purely selfish choice. On the flip side by admitting his true reasons for cooking meth to Skylar and then rescuing Jesse, I think his long buried better nature did start to resurface towards the end.

it's funny how my experience watching breaking bad the first time was totally different from the second time. the first time, I felt a lot more empathy for walter, I thought he was really incredible and didn't think much about his responsibility for the tragedies that happened, I was like: these people around him are really unbearable and mean, he can't take it more. the second time i watched it, a few years later, my feeling for walter was one of anger, indignation. I was able to see how self-centered he is and that his bad side did not come during the show. this guy just managed to destroy the lives of everyone around him and, well, analyzing the other characters I also realized that they were not so unbearable, they were people with their mistakes and successes, qualities and defects, and the truth is that walter probably ALWAYS had an inferiority complex. that is the case: a therapy would have solved it.

I remember talking to my mate who hated Skyler because she wasn't supportive of Walt but I was thinking, but Walt did not have to go down that path.

There's this book, 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' , and Walter White is the perfect example of one. The book however, points out that most nice guys aren't nice. They do things to further their own desires, not because they are genuinely nice.

At the beginning of the show Hank tells Walter come with him on a raid ''live a little''. At the end Walter says I did for me, I liked it, I was good at it, I was alive. It's not about good to evil, it was about going from an NPC to becoming an actual player character.

BEFORE HE COULDNT STAND UP FOR HIMSELF, NOW HE CANT STAND DOWN.... Damn that was so accurate

Pls do character study of jesse pinkman and his future

never enough breaking bad analysis’

Best dialogue delivery ever "I am the danger" ......that intensity in the eye ...wow!!!!

I think what’s interesting about the final two episodes is how Walt/Heisenberg’s acceptance of both sides of himself seems to unify both sides of his personality. The Heisenberg in him accepts that he’s lost and that he shouldn’t try and boost his ego further (and finds kindness and forgiveness to save Jesse) while the Walt side of him accepts he did it all for selfish reasons because he liked it and was good at it.

Kevin Spacey saying 'sex is power' creeps me out

Vince Gilligan succeeded on his promise: He turned Mr. Chips into Scarface.

"No one cared who I was til I put on the hat"

I see Breaking Bad’s evolution of Walter White as an everyday man who never questioned his surroundings, life or himself. Once he started to ask the questions and act on them, he realized how different he really was.

He was always Heisenberg, he was just hiding his true self.

Walter White went from a non-reactive Nobel gas to a highly unstable Radioactove isotope. That was the transformation and chemistry metaphor.

“I’m not the street guy yo”😂😂😂😂

"YEAH MR. WHITE, SCIENCE!"

I never made the connection that Walt's actions directly mimic that of an addict. The excuses and lack of responsibility for his actions until after a "detox" or in varied moments of clarity, the mental gymnastics it took for him to justify his actions, always chasing that first high, asking for "one last hit" every time he almost quit, the erratic behavior after particularly good highs/successes, obsession, illusions of grandeur, paranoia, a total disregard for how his chasing that high may affect others... Great video as usual!

Never watched Breaking Bad but after this critique I will.

I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't watch Breaking Bad until 3 months ago. I'm grateful I didn't know any spoilers. Such a powerful, raw game changing show. And seeing as how I just finished the finale last week, this analysis feels refreshing and accurate. Well done!

Like the joker said, "Sanity is like gravity, all it takes is a little push".

Chemistry is the study of change. So you could say his job is the center part of the narrative, both the reason he can become a drug dealer and the reason he becomes the type of man that is powerful in that business. Because breaking bad is not the study of what's matter??, but the study of what is changing?? Great video. I never tough about how much more his job is essential to the history.

We all have 2 dogs inside of us 1 good 1 bad which one wins? The one you feed the most

I love this idea that the character's moral philosophy transitions from good to evil because he changed from inactive to active. It seems analogous to the ACTUAL Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in that we cannot definitively measure, or predict, the change in momentum of an object. It's just like Walt's transition to and from Heisenberg! God damn, what an amazing show...

3:03 lmao I love her voice here. “Walt himself becomes addicted” *”NoT TO DrUgS”*

Walt reminded me a lot of Light from Death Note. A man who was always in line with the law but suddenly has the power to change that. Also Kira is to Light as Heisenberg is to Walt.

When walter used a crippled old man in a nursing home as a suicide bomber, his journey to the Dark Side was complete :)

I’m glad I watched this in 2019 when everything’s already uploaded and I don’t have to wait for the next season to come out. Hate waiting

6:45 - Holy crap! Didn't think of this metaphor!

Great vid, one of the best characters ever written (and performed). A vid on Better Call Saul would be great!

"No, no, you listen to me. Its time for YOU to listen to ME" lmao he says that line so perfectly

"Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love." Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

6:46 Layers to this show to the atomic level

This channel deserves to be so much bigger!

When a good man is pushed beyond his limits, beyond his tolerance for abuse, then yes, he will become evil.

WELL DONE! Well thought out, really enjoyed watching, thanks

Guys, I gotta hand it to you. Love the take that you guys bring to characters and give us insight into the creative processes that go into making these characters and these series or movies. I just discovered your channel a couple of days ago and I'm already in love with it. I hope you guys keep making more content like you have been.❤️🙌 All the best guys!

very good character study on Walter White love ya ScreenPrism

Just finished watching Breaking Bad from start to finish for like the 5th time. I disliked Skyler the very first time I saw the series, but every time I see re-watch the show I can't help but feel bad for her.

Damn, your videos are in-depth and well-researched.

Walt might as well have "Joke's on you I didn't learn anything." carved into his tombstone.

Great analysis, I like the reference to crime and punishment a lot. I've noticed the similarity when I've watched BrBad for the first time. Looking forward to seeing Jimmy McGill vs Saul Goodman analysis!

I don't know why everyone hates Skyler so much. She didn't exactly make great choices but what was she supposed to do? She was constantly faced with impossible decisions. Turn her husband in and ruin their kids lives or don't? that's tough. And everyone says she "tore the family apart" by keeping the kids with hank and Marie. But she was protecting them, plain and simple. From what she knew, Walt had killed multiple people and others were out to kill him. What else would a mother do but get her children as far from him as possible. And she offered to go to the police, but Walt threatened her. She may have not been the most lovable character but she was a complex one who ultimately was looking out for her families safety.

I love rewatching these videos.....great job!!!!

Great take, as always. Watching the series for the 3rd time, it's amazing to realize that the whole essence of the show can be explained/summarized in those very 5 mins in the first episode: his lecture when he talks about chemistry, matter, change, and chiral/mirror images, "Although the may look the same, they don't always behave the same".

I also believe it could be argued that Breaking Bad follows the formula of William Shakespeare's great play "Macbeth." Both characters appear to be good men, men who are living their lives according to the codes of their generations. Yet, both secretly crave power, respect, and glory. And although both men do receive these (Walter White from his wife, friends, and students who love him, Macbeth with King Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, and the Princes) they still feel that they do not have what they desire. When a prophetic image is shown to them (Walt with the drug bust by Hank and Macbeth being visited by the Strange Sisters) they find that through murder they can rise to power. This then leads both men to become truly monstrous, willing to do anything to get to the top.

I absolutely love the chemical reaction metaphor you refer to explain Walt's transformation. A chemical reaction does indeed begin with stored chemical 'potential' energy in chemical bonds, which indeed is released (converted to) heat in many reactions.

This was exceptionally well made. Well done