I remember the scene where Walt talks to Walter Jr about how when he was a child, he saw his own father shrivelled up sick on his death bed, and this is the only memory he has of him. The man who is supposed to be the masculinity in Walt's life is all but a weak dying man to him. Walt says he never wants to be interpreted this way, he doesn't want his children to remember him as a sick old man, which implies this is what makes him want to be known as masculine. I think if there is a "moment Walt becomes Heisenberg", (even though its just one of probably many causes) it's this moment. Ever since he was a child and went through this traumatic experience his mind has subconsciously been focused on trying to be what his father couldn't to him.
Obviously there are 2 moments where Walt becomes Heizenberd 1 is where he doesn’t go kart with Jesse and the other is where he calls Jimmy dumb for liking Time Machines. This is because Jimmy and Jesse are my favourite characters and he made them sad which is pure evil.
When I watched this show with my friend, we were constantly saying that "this was the moment" to completely innocuous things like him closing car doors, or when he's not even on screen. It became a game to find the worst moment to claim. It of course culminated in claiming the moment 14 seconds after he dies as being the true turning point of the show where he finally becomes heisenberg.
@@studdedleatherlace “wah wah you cook meth you’re a criminal that the entire DEA is trying to find wah there are multiple cartels after you” ah yes, ball busting.
I'm tired of these stupid takes where people say the show is amazing and stuff like "OMG! His hubris corrupted him absolutely." Obviously Walter's hat is haunted and he becomes evil whenever he puts it on
@@mattjindrak no not at all. Even if you believe any person has the potential to become evil, most won't actually become evil, at least not to the point of poisoning a child.
Just because Walt was a psychopath, doesn't mean his wife is a good person. She's demonstrably not a good wife and a mid mother at best. She made all the wrong decisions while putting forth a bravado colder than her actions, and it should have been the other way around if she really wanted to keep her family safe. I hated her before for being a robotic suburban mom who clearly is incapable of romantic love, and I hated her more as the show progressed.
@@spazzwazzle almost every thing she does in the show is reasonable or at least understandable. Just because you dislike her doesn’t make her a bad person. It’s very strange to have such a strong dislike for her and not for any other characterb
@@spazzwazzlethe crimes she did are quite minor compared to Walter and the reason everyone hates her despite what they say is because she’s a well written chaeacter
@@chaticc im like 90% sure those ppl either barely watched the show or are meming. For example. If you framed american psycho as not about a rich spoiled yuppie who tortures women and animals, and kills anyone who makes him feel emasculated, but framed it as about a man his lost his mind because of modernity and the societal indifference people have to men's mental health, ofc people are gonna relate to the clips of patrick bateman saying something that to some might sound cool. I mean both of those ways can be used to kind of describe the movie but are disingenuous to the actual intended messages behind the film.
@@chaticc Plus ofc people are gonna relate to the rebel characters of media in some form when you live in the kind of societal landscape we are in today. You can cope about it and ignore it, but it fucking sucks rn. No wonder people are obsessed with finding rebel role models they can relate to.
@@sjcl2563 no, I agree with you- and with that description/example of American psycho! Batman and Ghost are popular characters in that regard as well. And yes, a lot of people are meming it / haven't watched the show.
@@sjcl2563 But my point was just that I know there are *some* people (who've watched it) and will stick by the fact that he never did any "real" wrong doing because it was all for his family ( as if it couldn't be wrong AND be for his family ). Because they're my classmates and I'm in *Uni* . Therefore I can't rule out that kids are also following along/ agreeing. No point in trying to defend Skyler at all, as just the mention of her name will get them groaning in annoyance lol But yes, I also believe the others, even those aforementioned kids, are people who've only watched the show through edits, for example
It's so ridiculous because one of the reasons the show is so rewatchable is BECAUSE of Skylar. Nobody looks at the positives of that character. She's literally a perfect partner and mother when Walt isn't lying to her all the time. She has nothing but Walt, Walt Jr and her daughter first in her mind. The length she goes to to help Walt after she learns of his cancer is nothing short of someone deeply in love. While Walt saw this badly, anyone else would only love their partner more. I think people really started hating her after Walt"s "fugue state" because she could tell all he did was lie. Walt is the protagonist so it's natural to want your main character to further their goals and while Skylar's actions at times are by story definition antagonistic, she is a wonderful person and sending death threats to the actress is other worldly levels of delusional and psychopathic.
I totally agree with most of what you've said. Skylar's a great character, people don't give her enough credit for why the show works, and the people sending hate and threats to her actress can go pound sand. But the problem is that the show does go to lengths to show that Walt and Skylar's relationship is on rocky terrain. Walt evidently resents his family and his life due to feeling he was cheated out of success, and he believes he deserves better (he pretends that he wants better FOR HIS FAMILY, but really he's only thinking about how he, personally, has suffered). On Walt's birthday, his present was an unenthusiastic handie that turned into impromptu CBT when she got too excited about her Ebay bids. While their relationship isn't negative, and the resentment is entirely on Walt's end, their passion has very much withered, and Skylar has become distant, cold, and (in Walt's eyes), controlling. None of this is to justify Walt's abominable actions, and Skylar's responses to Walt's problems (real or made-up) clearly show that she does love and care about him. But if it were as simple as "Walt hated his family for no reason and there was no impetus for anything he did", the story would be a lot less interesting. Walt had no good reasons for doing what he did, but he did have reasons.
Fr, in the video of Walter killing Emilio, some dude non ironically commented “as Walter says |the moment I do, are you gonna kill me with that broken piece of plate| you can see a noticeable change in voice tone, it’s as if Heisenberg is coming out to protect Walter” I mean, DO THESE PEOPLE HEAR THEMSELVES TALKING?!?!?
One of my favorite moments in the show is Mike's "we had a good thing going". In one single statement Walter's entire character is summarized; he had ample opportunities to de-escalate the situation or at least stop it from getting worse, but every single time he chooses his pride.
While that is true, and it’s true that Walt basically only killed Mike because he lost an argument, Mike is also being a huge hypocrite in that scene. Gus told Walt he was gonna kill his brother in law, and threatened Walt’s family if he tried to intervene. Yes, Walt put himself in that situation, but I think most people in that situation would rather kill their boss who threatened their family member, than let the family member die.
@@jeper3460 He's also a hypocrite because all the problems between Walt and Gus were due to Jesse, but he forms a bond with Jesse and doesn't blame him for what happened
The issue with your comment is that every time Walt acted out of pride, his situation got better, not worse. After killing Tuco, Gus, and Mike, he became the head of his own drug empire, made all the cash he ever wanted, and then retired. Each time he "destroyed a good thing", he got a better thing, all until Hank opened Gale's book.
@@jeper3460 Yeah, Gus's threats and other actions made it very clear that Walt pretty much had to try to kill him, because it was beyond the point of recovery then. Like you said, though, it was *entirely* Walt's fault that it got that bad in the first place, and I have every reason to believe Gus would have paid Walt very handsomely and made sure his double life stayed secret. Even with Walt's fixation on Jesse, as well as his lesser personality flaws, I think Gus would have gladly ridden out the year or so that his star cook had to live, carefully noting every single process for someone, likely Gale, to succeed him, once Walt became too sick to continue. I'm not certain that Jesse would have made it out of that arrangement, though, since Gus only really pivoted towards him after Walt became increasingly unmanageable. In the end, Walter White won, which ensured that literally everyone else lost.
Mike was also one second away from murdering Walt on Gus's orders and was only stopped because Jesse killed Gale and Gus had no other chemist. Mike had a good thing for Mike. But Gus doesn't leave loose ends and Walt was a dead man walking. Mike really doesn't care who he kills, as long as it isn't his own family. Sure, he might feel bad about killing some people, but he still pulls the trigger. And it's not even about loyalty, really. Because he doesn't try to avenge Gus like a good Retainer should. He's not a knight or a samurai, he's just a mercenary.
I want to just say thank you for addressing the problem with teenagers that haven't watched the show, not understanding the meaning and projecting their beliefs on to Walt
As a former teenager who hadn’t watched the show, didn’t really understand it and was projecting his beliefs onto Walt, I am now a teenager who has seen the show and realizes how cringe I was
This is a really good video, but I have to argue that letting Jane die WAS the right thing for Walt to do. Because they were spooning, Jane would still inevitably vomit, but she'd get it all over Jesse's back and head which is icky gross and stinky smelly. Walt did the right thing.
@@VerdanaVideosand yes, some people are just evil. And it’s not always a mental illness. Donald Trump has basically made it very clear that he sees Russia as a model to reshape America into, an Autocratic Cortupt Oligarchy were he and his Billionaire Friends can never be opposed from within. That’s his goal, and the people like him, such as Elon Musk. They were born into riches and only ever wanted more.
As much as I like other Breaking Bad analysis videos it's nice to listen to someone who doesn't take themself so seriously while still having an really good take on the subject
it's the bait and switch. he starts the video going like "hey fellow tik tok kids yeah I'm doing the meme lol" but by the end it's moralizing about how the character is not sufficiently aligned with his feminist agenda.
i just saw someone shitting on jesse for siding with the DEA because "he betrayed walt >:((((" and "he made walt lose the money". walt literally HANDS JESSE TO THE N4Z1S after that scene
For the cult of Heisenberg section, I don’t believe people put Walter on a pedestal because they honor his actions but rather because that Walter, despite it being horrendously evil, does what is true to himself. Edit: Okay I just watch the rest of the section, these people are brain dead 👍
It is clear to me that he permanently became Heisenberg when Hank called him a “sussy Baka” and as we know, Hank breaking bad is always right and a brilliant detective. Excellent storytelling! Bravo Vince 👏👏👏
Throughout the show he jumps around between Walter and Heisenberg but both are not completely different, it's like a 80/20 ratio. He truly accepts both as his part towards the end
I started watching this video, and I quite literally thought to myself “got one thing wrong, he was never a good person.” So the chicanery got me really good.
Yeah, I really disliked Walt from the pilot and it was glaringly apparent he was insecure and prideful the whole way through. The only redeeming moment is when he finally admits it to Skyler (and the audience) A reality check is worth a lot and I’ll give him that.
@@micahwright5901 It’s barely even redeeming though cause even though he’s finally admitting to his true motives, he shows zero remorse and obviously still looks back on it fondly
I felt like it was a slow arc to evil when I first watched the show. Then later I watched it again and in episode 1 he gets that lovely janitor fired and I was like 😶 "Oh".
This video really did a 180 and I did not expect it. Always thought the split personality explanation of his character kind of misses the point of the show, so im glad this video essay went a different direction
As someone who just watched Breaking Bad for the first time about a month ago, I've always scratched my head in confusion whenever coming across comments mentioning when Walt became Heisenberg. The whole time I was watching, I've only ever seen Walter White, and Heisenberg is simply a pseudonym for him, if you will. There's no evil alter ego that's waiting to be unleashed, it's all just Walter White falling deeper and deeper into his flaws. Thank you so much for laying out all my thoughts over this better than I ever could! Not to mention, making an extremely entertaining video at that.
I think Walter was always like this. He even said that to Jimmy: You we're always like this. But he means himself. People always took advantage of him, and when he started dealing drugs he saw that people scared of him, respect him. And he could even kill the person (Gale, Crazy 8) without any Conciquances. So he liked being this dangerous man, he finally can fight back and show everyone that he's the man ( or the one who knocks)
I think Jesse is the symbol for walt's humanity, the more evil walt becomes the more Jesse suffers and in the end walt tries to let Jesse die, he is essentially killing his own humanity or soft side to suppress the emotional baggage he got from hank's death.
Think of it as the original dying and falling victim to their alter ego, In Star Wars anakin is so different from Vader they can’t even be compared, in TWD season 1 Rick and season 5 Ricktator are so different they can’t be compared, and so on, it’s also just classic pretentious nature vs nurture stuff
@@ddfdfufff9170I’d say that’s just not true tho, maybe he always had it contained but saying the same man who was his wife’s bitch is the same as the man who runs over two thugs is just cuckoo
@@Gamfluenti love that you guys interpret skylar being normal (as in getting in the way of walter's criminal enterprise) as being a bitch you guys are so easy to manipulate that you would've been walt's bitches
There is no Heisenberg without the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and there is no Heisenberg uncertainty principle without the late great molecular physicist Werner Heisenberg. Therefore, the exact moment that Walter White becomes Heisenberg must necessarily be December 5, 1901.
Wrong. The existence of the chemist Heisenberg doesn't mean that the alter ego of Walter White will exist. Necessary vs sufficient conditions: it's a necessary condition not a sufficient one.
It's also pretty funny to me how Mike is like Walts secret good twin. Still a criminal who earns his living with whacky schemes and contraptions, but he actually does care about his family, despite having to stay away from them most of the time. He is a mentor to Jesse, he has a moral code he follows whenever he possibly can, and even when he has to kill people, he still spares some of them beyond what is reasonable (Hi Lydia) sometimes. If you wanna latch onto a Breaking Bad daddy figure, Mike is right there.
The way Bryan Cranston says "Fuck you," to Gretchen is so visceral and offensive that it feels like if any instance of the word "fuck" should be censored, it's that one. It's so aggressive and angry that it puts me back to being a child and hearing the word for the first time.
Walter White helped me realize how much of a prideful person I was. Even when I was right, I was always smug and grandiose about it, and it alienated people around me. Breaking Bad made me a better person, though, because I saw just how bad a person could get.
I am also trying to improve by being less prideful. How do you get past the moral obstacle of not killing your competitors when they tell you they will kill your infant daughter? I keep on launching long campaigns where we play figurative chess against each other but the pieces are subordinate's lives and mental well-being.
The scene where he ROFLs in his crawlspace is genuinely the scariest thing I have ever seen in any media. The build up, the intensity of the situation, the phone ringing in the background and Skyler's reaction - it all fits so well together to create an absolutely frightening scene. When I watched Breaking Bad the second time, I couldn't help but wonder what Skyler must have been thinking. She had no idea in how much danger they were since Walter never told her anything. Edit: I CHANGED IT TO ROFL! YOU CAN FCK OFF NOW!
@@gertrudemilhouse5626 Of German heritage, and I do take offense. Not super offended. But it's an old, tired, untrue trope of a "joke". The fact is that every person on Earth has a Heisenberg dwelling inside them, has truly evil potential, and for most it's just a matter of having tolerable life circumstances that the bad side doesn't appear. Put most people under even a little real stress, and they will do bad things to survive, even to simply save their ego. The difference is competence; luckily most people are moronic and can only set fires/shoot people, but Walter White was a genius, and this is his outcome. EVERYONE has evil potential, most of the battle is not being put to the test, and when tested, that is when people show their true colors, and most people, regardless of ethnicity, would do considerably bad things. @linchen008 I encourage you to stop hating yourself/your heritage, to focus on the engineering, not the whole WW2 part.
@@MrRyan-wu4jx that's like the most worn out excuse for hating skyler ever, she have to cover for walt cause she know if she don't someone would likely kill her whole family
@@duyanhng8430 no. she didn’t realize the type of danger Walt was involved in when she first decided it was okay. She was naive to that and thats why she flips out when she finds out he killed Gus. That argument doesn’t work here.
@@MrRyan-wu4jx everyone with half a brain know that criminals making millions have connections, if a chain suddenly break there will be consequence. you just hate women in general bro
People love terrible people. "Sigma" boys who love Patrick Bateman are proof of that. They also love cherrypicking. They openly ignore undesirable traits (unmanliness, ahole-ism) just to think of that person as perfect.
he did almost nothing wrong during the gus saga, he had to kill gale, kill the dealers, poison brock, and kill gus to save his life or jesse's. People always say he's at fault for it but no one blames gus for attempting to murder Walt over and over again, forcing him to act in self defense.
Exactly, they always bring Skylar cheating on Walt (which if you were ACTUALLY paying attention, no she didn't) but for some reason ignore this fucked up scene completely
@@norml.hugh-mann "Skylar bangs Ted that's cheating" Did you actually watched the episode? Skylar had already told Walter she wanted him to sign the divorce papers before that situation, she was already done with the relationship. So no, It's not cheating when your partner literraly says she wants to break up with you and you refuse because you're soo delusional and ignorant of your partner's feelings to think the relationship still has a standing ground
Ha, what's neat is that I was already on board with the "Walt was always Heisenberg" interpretation myself but you laid out such a convincing case for the crawlspace moment it actually got me for a bit there...
The funny thing is, in BCS, it couldn't have been more ironic when Walt calls Jimmy out in the cellar. "So you were like this", as if you are one to talk you piece of shit.
Walt was always Heisenberg. Nobody noticed just how cruel and outright mean he is as a TEACHER; he literally makes fun of his struggling students including Jesse instead of actually spending time with them to allow them to become a more competent students of chemistry. His pedagogy is based on ability and individual competency, and is itself a relic of the past. Chemistry is hard, and he was a bad teacher in a difficult subject.
But that’s only when we see him. Jesses mother said that Walt was the only teacher who really cared about motivating Jesse and the flashbacks show Walt being a very gentle, cool person. Something snapped in him when he found out that they were having another baby. The cancer diagnosis opened the door for him to become Heisenberg.
@@rahatahmed6188 still, not true. Because in the conversations they have with each other in the first season, there is a definite antagonism between the two that goes back years. In fact, Jesse is not even surprised at the sheer amount of vitriol sent his way by Walt, not something that would be expected between a mentor and mentee after years of not seeing one another. In fact, Walt often derided Jesse as almost deserving of being “druggie.” No, I refuse to concede my point. And Jesse’s mother said that Walt pushed him, but we see that Jesse’s mother is someone that also believes herself to be a good parent despite her own tremendous faults as a parental unit, so that throws her credibility into question.
You’re wrong, Walt becomes Heisenberg in the final scene of the show where Jesse says “Say you want this! Say you’re breaking bad!” And walt replies humbly with “I am Breaking Bad” only to be met with the jaw dropping response from Jesse “Then you Better Call Saul cause I’m El Caminoing” Bravo Vincentopher Nolan
The real life werner Heisenberg was a genius, absolutely brilliant man who in the end worked for the Nazis helping them build an atomic bomb, in breaking bad walt also finds himself working with nazis. Just found that interesting
I feel otherwise. It’s as if he was trying to acknowledge it specifically to make Skylar feel better, but he still fully believes that he did it for the family even if it’s not the whole story. Heck, even admitting that he did it for himself, that admission itself he did for the family. Maybe I’m reaching but to me he still genuinely believes he did everything (at least partly) for the family.
@@Zestytrashcan82 I have a mixed take. Walt represent the passive, timid side of Walter White. But there is a nasty, ruthless side of him that he's suppressed over the years of marriage, a handicapped son, financial mediocrity, uninspired youth, etc. However, that side of him isn't "Heisenberg." To me, he creates "Heisenberg" after his diagnosis as a way to take control over the last aspect of his life, his death. He creates this persona in his head of what he thinks a big time drug dealer is. Him walking into Tuco's office, blowing it up, making a deal, walking out with a bag of cash in front of everyone? That shit doesn't happen but in comic books. He creates this comic book like mega persona. But he gets a taste of reality when Tuco beats NoDoze to death. That's when Walt says, I need this persona to net me $700,00+ thousand (can't remember the specific amount off hand). After remission, Heisenberg becomes a way for Walter White to control every aspect of his life. Whenever he feels like he's losing control of a situation, is when you get the classic Heisenberg melt downs and freak out moments. I do agree that the shift is gradual, as most changes like that are. He doesn't lose Walt in a day. But I tend to disagree that there isn't a defining moment where Walt dies for good, and Heisenberg fully takes over. To me, that moment is crawl space. Walt, dies in that basement, and is buried underneath the family home that he pushed for, that ends up playing a role in Walter White being beaten into the submissive Walt. But it's Heisenberg that fully emerges from that basement. Everything is a calculated move for Heisenberg to continue his quest for his empire. That side of Walter that was always there, but didn't have a reason to come to the surface until the diagnosis. And ultimately, in the end, Heisenberg serves it's purpose as he controls his death. Just my take.
While I personally prefer the interpretation that "Heisenberg" was both a gradually progression of Walt's descent, as well as part of his personality he had buried beneath the surface, the only "Walt became Heisenberg moment," that really seems to make sense to me would be the moment he got cancer. Without that catalyst, he never would've had an excuse to break bad, thus preventing "Heisenberg" from taking over.
I disagree kind of I don’t think that when he was diagnosed was when he decided “To Be Heisenberg” I think it was the second he had an easy out and still decided to “Break Bad” when Eliot offered him money
@@idkmantbhlol-fp8vqPride is literally the cardinal sin through which all others manifest, my brother. In the immortal words of Marcellus Wallace, "Fuck Pride."
Just want to say; about 17 and a half minutes in, Walt starts whistling. I love that you chose to keep him whistling in the background of your commentary. Some next level editing there.
One of the reasons "I did it for me" is so satisfying is that it's possibly the first time in the show where Walt willingly sheds his ego. We see plenty of times where he is _forced_ to abandon it, where circumstances force him to be humble or grovel in some way; that's part of why the show is so funny. Many of the show's funniest moments come from watching this stuffy, self-important man be humiliated and brought low, forced to eat dirt in order to keep from going to jail. But there is nothing forcing him in the finale. No gun to his head, no cops waiting to arrest him. Just him and his wife in a room together, his daughter sleeping down the hall. And there, he finally admits what he is. To his wife, to the audience, and maybe even to himself. We finally see him humble _himself._ And that is the moment where Heisenberg becomes Walte- _(gunshots)_
I have to add another emasculating factor I found not mentioned: his son struggles. I have a son in the autistic spectrum, almost non verbal, and, while now I am quite proud of him an his progresses, I felt emasculated by his diagnosis. I got over it and now I think I am a better man, but find out your firstborn male son has any issues shatters the mental image of him you started build up the moment you discover of his existence. I think this borrow of expectations is a very bad thing for a son or daughter, so I am happy I got over it. But I think Walter lacked the strength to get over it, and I think that could be a big factor in his starting depression.
Yes, I think that's part of why he likes Jesse. Jesse is handsome and charismatic... and not disabled. And Walt clearly has pride issues. The scene where he "stands up" for his son, it's because he is embarrassed. Walt was never necessarily a good guy lol.
My son is non verbal autistic and is awesome and I love him exactly the way he is. Never felt emasculated, if anything it put me in papa bear /protector mode. I dunno....
Most of the time I find "funny" edits in these kinds of videos to be fairly obnoxious and out of place tonally, but I think this video does it right. The video itself doesn't set itself up as being so absolutely serious in the first place, the edits are infrequent enough to still have punch, none of them overstay their welcome, and they generally don't try to stand on their own, rather being a humorous extension of the idea or imagery currently on display. In other words; good job :D
Walt is a lot like Zuko in Avatar the Last Airbender, in that his character arc never has a singular turning point or even a set of points that can be used to display the full transition from one side to the other. They were both always capable of being both of their selves and their transition happens slowly without any easily identifiable transitions, just like change happens in real people. In Walt's case, his change comes from removal of inhibition, while in Zuko's case, his change comes from the influence of his new perspectives. The whole "turning point" idea in character analysis is a super trope-y thing.
That first sentence I was like wait did you watch ATLA backwards but yes absolutely. I believe all of us humans are flawed and complex situations lead us to be balancing on the edge of better or worse versions of ourselves. We don't need to mentally relate to people in media, far to many people do this. Breaking bad is a great story and well shot and directed, but when I was less secure of myself I was wrapped up in trying to figure who I was at my core, any media I watched I tried to take something from. I watched ATLA as an adult and zukos arc was my fav, along with iroh. I think as a kid/teen I would have been more relating with his edgy/villain character and frustrated that he changed. As an adult I have changed and I see "good" people as those who are seeking to or intending to do the best they can and know. Nobody is born good or bad, we are all a mixture of possibility. I don't know why I'm writing this wall but thank you for sharing this and sparking my brain to reflect on Zukos journey again for the first time in years!
Exsept Zuko has a little bit more leeway due to being brainwashed since birth to be a natzi, his father scarring him and sacking him out of his nation until he finishes his impossible mission, hearing from his sister his grandfather demanded his d3ath from his father due to his father making an insult, which resulted in his mother disappearing when he was like 8... And he was 16 in the show.
We don't exactly see how Walt ended up as a high school teacher, but based on the little evidence available and his personality, it's not hard to guess. There was a job between Grey Matter and JP Wynn. He was working at some sort of lab for a company. We're told as much in the flashback where he and Skyler are looking at houses. In the flashback, he still had some career prospects, or at least thought he did, since he figured he would end up having enough to get a bigger house later. However, that clearly didn't pan out given where he is in the pilot. What probably happened is, just like at Grey Matter, something happened at work that made him feel emasculated and he suddenly decided to quit and probably burned all his bridges on the way out, just like before, and as a result, couldn't get himself recommendations for a similar position elsewhere. The reason he ended up at a high school instead of a university is probably because he burned his bridges with any old colleagues who might have recommended him for a tenure. The same thing would go on to happen at the carwash, at school, in his career as a drug dealer, and even with his own family. You know how they say if you meet one person who acts like an asshole, that person is an asshole, but if everyone you meet is an asshole, then you're the asshole? That's Walt in a nutshell. If this happened once, then you could chalk it up to the one company being led by a dickhead. But when it happens repeatedly, then it forms a pervasive pattern of behavior. He's the worst kind of narcissist.
I believe the actress who plays Gretchen said that the story she was given was her family was wealthy, and when she brought Walt to meet them, he got so angry and felt they looked down on him, that he left her and the company. So Walt has always valued money to the extent he sabotaged himself.
@@lucystoner That's a pride thing. He felt they looked down on him because she had more money than he did. Money is part of it, but it was his ego that was bruised because of it.
Honestly I've never seen anybody do a better job of explaining correctly the opposition's position on points of contention then this guy here. Verdana : the walking definition of a well-reasoned argument.
what are the ods of me watching a really good small random youtube video, scrolling into newest comments then seeing another small youtuber i watch leave a reply less then an hour ago?
I thought it was made pretty clear that Walt had major character issues way before he started cooking meth. The grey matter backstory pretty much showed it, he had potential but blamed everyone else for his decisions and failures. It was made pretty clear
I thought he might have left Grey Matter bc Gretchen dumped him and started dating Elliot, which would have been a really hard situation for anyone. But we find out later that he left her, and Vince Gilligan said it was because Walt felt inferior to Gretchen's wealthy family. So bc of his ego, he shot his own career and financial situation in the foot, then was bitter and claimed to be the victim for the rest of his life. Maybe that insecurity about her family's wealth is why he only took $5000 for his shares in the company, to act like he didn't need any more than that. The only thing that turned out better for him was that he married a woman who wasn't as educated or accomplished as him - I think Skyler was smarter in many ways, just not re: understanding of physical sciences. Even if Gretchen wasn't from a wealthy family, he wouldn't have been able to stand being married to her as she advanced in her education and her contributions to the company.
Not only that, but he had that moment in episode one or two where he messed with the rich asshole's car, just because he had been a bit of a jerk. Walt always had that streak in him and it makes you wonder how many times he did this before the show started.
Seeing this video pop up in my recommendations was actually truly the moment I decided to finally give the show I've heard so much about a shot. I've gotten through the whole series (aside from the spin-offs at the moment) and am immensely happy I've actually watched it for myself. I liked it. The characters felt incredibly real and fleshed out, watching their every action was immensely captivating and that pure terror of seeing just what horrors Walter was truly capable of was astonishing, the story never failing to keep you tense, eagerly awaiting what events unfold next. Having said all that, here I am. I've come back to this video and finally gave it a watch. The quotation marks in the title really encited my interest as I felt I had a pretty good idea of what the talking points may be. I have to admit, though, the opening portion nearly made me stop watching before the trick reveal, seeing as I've got the impression this was actually going to be a 100% earners "evil Heisenberg fedora breaks bad in a crawlspace" kind of an essay... and we've all heared entirely too much of that. Even watching the show, my recommendations were bombarded with incredibly shallow analysis of the characters, glorifying Walter and, of course, hating Skyler. The Skyler hate in particular got incredibly annoying as I got through the show because... well, she's really not in the wrong. However, working on something unrelated, I decided to proceed with the video and boy was I pleasantly surprised. Hats off to you, you wonderful person, as this is truly a palate cleanser. It is incredibly refreshing to see a proper, well-thought out essay that doesn't sideline the uncomfortable truth, eager to reach some incredibly awkward conclusion. the amount of people who seemingly miss Walter's own admission as to why he was doing what he did in the end is baffling. I, however, will have to admit that I totally missed the detail that the man truly was the one who became his own undoing, shot by his own contraption in the very finale. A very nice touch from the show that flew over my head as I was just to captivated by the events unfolding. So... thank you! This may seem random, but I dunno if I'd ever watch the show otherwise. This was a great essay and, of course, truly the moment I became a Breaking Bad fan.
Full agreement. I watched Breaking Bad real late, without the advertising or the hype or the online convo at the time. I had always heard Heisenberg talked about like a split personality but that just didn't track in the show for me. The show communicates clearly that Walt has always had this self-destructive pride and ego. The cancer was a trigger for him to lose control, sure, but this capacity was always in him.
I agree that watching it late was helpful to getting away from the heisenberg obsession. I watched it for the first time last year and found myself having a few very contradictory opinions to the general public from the 2000s.
A thought on people preferring the "badass" Walter that you lay out 90% of yourself. Walter in the beginning is not a good person, he has all the flaws he has at the end. Based on how you explain it, though, there's one thing he stops being: a coward. Nobody likes cowardice.
I guess. I mean what you say is true. I don't consider myself a coward either, but there's one thing I find more important; not being a murderer. 🥹 I guess what I mean is he could have stopped being a coward without going nearly as far as he did down an evil path. Good people do not have to be cowards.
Walter White: You think people prefer the "badass" version of me? Well, let me tell you something. In the beginning, I might not have been a saint, but I was just a man struggling to make ends meet, dealing with life's punches. Everyone's got flaws, and I'm no exception. But you're right about one thing. Along the way, I stopped being a coward. I faced the challenges head-on. Cowardice, that's what nobody likes. You remember that image of my father, weak and dying? I swore I wouldn't be remembered like that. I had to be strong, not just for myself, but for my family. Sure, I made choices, some darker than others, but it wasn't about being liked. It was about survival, about making a mark and ensuring my legacy wouldn't be one of weakness. So, if people prefer the "badass" Walter, maybe it's because they see a man who refused to cower in the face of adversity.
Walter White: You think people prefer the "badass" version of me? Well, let me tell you something. In the beginning, I might not have been a saint, but I was just a man struggling to make ends meet, dealing with life's punches. Everyone's got flaws, and I'm no exception. But you're right about one thing. Along the way, I stopped being a coward. I faced the challenges head-on. Cowardice, that's what nobody likes. You remember that image of my father, weak and dying? I swore I wouldn't be remembered like that. I had to be strong, not just for myself, but for my family. Sure, I made choices, some darker than others, but it wasn't about being liked. It was about survival, about making a mark and ensuring my legacy wouldn't be one of weakness. So, if people prefer the "badass" Walter, maybe it's because they see a man who refused to cower in the face of adversity.
I actually love videos like this because it's the gift that keeps on giving, breaking bad sparking all these discussions YEARS later after the series ended just goes to show how good the writing was, that we keep deconstructing the series. Also you're pretty funny, cheers man.
Heisenberg was conceived the moment Walt saw his dying father. He was born the moment Walt started telling himself the lie that Elliott stole Gretchen from him and they “forced” him out of the company. The nudge that brought him to the surface was when he got his cancer diagnosis.
This commentary was actually quite insightful, especially the conclusion. I always thought Walter was very much a selfish and egotistical jerk, but I think what's truly scary is how well the character of Walter/Heisenberg was capable of manipulating the viewers as well. It never even dawned on me that he could be a narcissist because as you said, with the way the show is written, it gives you a window into his mind and his own justifications for why has 'has' to do what he does at every step of the way. One my favourite shows, and well done for the analysis.
This video fails to realize the obvious intent of Vince to display that watermelon became hamburger the second he decided not to build a robot to get him and jesse out of the desert.
Oh he most definitely gets a pass as we know off the bat hes gonna die. Therefore we're looking through the lense of a desperate man who would do anything to protect his family. In turn making us ignore the fact that he constantly puts them in danger and hurts those around him
I started out hating Skylar because of how much she acted like the worst traits of my mother, but as time went on i found myself appreciating the fact that she really was just a woman in a very, very rough position. I always didn't like Walt that much but i loved his character in the context of the story
@@lemonov3031 Trust me when I say everyone who still roots for Skylar still skips the Happy Birthday to Ted scene. No excuse for that crime against humanity
This show is a great example of perspective and how it can fool the audience. The reason a lot of people side with Walter is because he’s the main character. On a meta level, he’s the one we’re supposed to like because he’s the person we focus on. As a thought experiment, I’d like to see an alternate universe where the show had the exact same plot but this time, Hank was the main character. We follow his life around, while Walt’s downfall is the B story. We’d watch as Hank slowly breaks a case we know everything about, and would probably root for him to win. Even though Walt’s story is similar, a lot more people would understand the depravity he goes to, and how big his ego truly is. But because Walt is our POV character, more people post-hoc his morality. If you want another great example, you can look at Falcon and the Winter Solider and how it handles John Walker, but that’s an entirely different discussion.
I think the thing is for some people it really is just surface level, people like characters they think are cool, it’s why people like characters that are evil but cool like Darth Vader. As long as Walter White gets his “badass” scenes those scenes are always going to appeal to people who only want to see a tough guy look tough. It’s sort of like how some people see queer coded villains in some ways, the villains are way more self-confident in the expression of themselves in unconventional ways. Resulting in them being appealing to an audience that relates to that, regardless of their villainy. People do pick and choose parts they like about characters, even if it’s potentially a misinterpretation of an entire character. That’s not to say I agree at all with the interpretation that walter’s toxicity is tough or admirable, or that people aren’t idolizing things he does that are just straight up horrible. But that people picking and choosing what parts they like about a character isn’t unheard of at all. For it to be impossible for people to idolize him, he’d have to half literally no traits anyone could admire.
The final Episode of BCS makes it abundantly clear how damaging Walt was. When Jimmy testifies to Walts crimes, you get an outside perspective of what is going on for the first time.
This... THIS IS THE ONE! I just re-watched the 5th season and came away from it with a desire to write some kind of video essay on the subject, but THIS VIDEO IS IT! Perfectly articulating the true nature of the character and the twisted perception of him held by many on the internet. Bravo. This truly was the moment I became a subscriber
The need to over simplify, the desire to keep having more and more, the narcissism, the selfishness. These are all faults many young men in modern-day society possess and its no surprise many of these young men idolise Walter White because, in a way, he is living their fantasy. He gets to be the man in charge, he gains enormous fame and power, becomes a 'legend', he has a wife who cant leave him, he is seen as terrifying and is of course, very very wealthy. Walter White's story is primarily about masculinity, pride and ego and we are seeing in real life these personality faults being rampant among so many of us. This is why I love to analyse (or watch someone else analyse) this show. It applies to so much of life, truly an incredible work of art. Vravo Bince.
Not many people know this, but Hyde was always Jekyll. In that Edward Hyde was just a nickname that the respected Dr Jekyll hid behind so that he could have the freedom to and not some separate personality. Seems familiar.
The ending of Crawlspace is still quite significant even if its not “tHe MoMeNt WaLt BeCoMeS hEiSeNbErG”, since it is more that part of Walter dies as he lays in his figurative grave thinking he condemned his family to be brutally killed by Gus as a direct result of his own actions. And I think that after making it through that shit is when Walt finally stops trying to convince himself that cooking meth was for his family and fully embraces doing it just to satisfy his pride and ego.
I’m glad people are starting to realize you cannot dilute a persons entire life and story into a single moment where they made the absolute transformation between personas
What I really don't get about the "Walt did nothing wrong" crowd is that even if you somehow believe his behavior was morally excusable, he still did tons of things that were strategically ill-advised, self-sabotaging, or just plain stupid. Like, how does anybody look at scenes like the one where he throws the pizza on the roof and think "wow so based, so genius"
@@NateTheGreat368 bruh the second skyler told him to clean it up he literally just cleaned it up. Whats based about it?? He cant even commit to one act of silly mischief without going "i didnt mean to.... why are you guys so mean to me...." nothing based about that
Skyler was a badass tbh. I love that scene where Hank tries to surreptitiously interrogate her at the restaurant by acting like the concerned brother in law, only for her to turn it on him by repeatedly and loudly asking "Am I being detained? Am I under arrest?" and making clear that she's VERY aware that her cop brother in law is NOT her friend right now. I found season 3 the hardest to watch because of how terribly Walt was behaving towards her as he'd crossed a line that season into severely emotionally abusive and it was uncomfortable to watch.. I also love when Jesse first starts cooking for the cartels and they try to make fun of him for expecting one of the chemicals to be ready-made because they synthesize it in house. and it's like "Well, you know someone was coming to cook meth with you, so WHY DID YOU NOT SYNTHESIZE THE CHEMICAL? You just deliberately wasted hours of his day.
@@GOTTA_RUNidk, the scene where she looks Walt straight in the eye after everything he had done and told him she f Ted was pretty awesome. Like, people say she cheated but by that point, no. She basically said “You may refuse to leave, but I am done.”
@@NoFirstNoLastNameofc, she may have not seen the complete Heisenberg but she still fell in love with that guy, the guy with Heisenberg inside so it's pretty fair to assume that she has some of those tendencies too, she just controls it very well, maybe that's why she is so good with numbers because they show logic and control while walt is a chemist where nothing is ever logical.
Skylar was not "badass" she had a plethora of opportunities to get away from walt but instead she helps him lie and potentially kill millions of people I don't find that badass.
The scene with Gretchen about not accepting the money for cancer treatment is the most illuminating. All the problems Walt was causing in BB before then could be seen as just Walt's reaction primarily to having cancer and thinking Jesse isn't a very good *Chemist* specifically, but there are a lot of moments indicating behavioral traits that were present well before the start. Walt really became a complete piece of shit towards Jesse when Jane died and beyond, but it was never a good relationship to begin with when it all started with Walt blackmailing him. It wasn't just "Respect the Chemistry," it was really "Respect me" in the worst way you can ask for it. It all was there when he was at Grey Matter as much as when he was blackmailing Jesse. I never really called Walt Heisenberg. He was always just Walt, and eventually, Walt The Mega Asshole.
That moment when you realize that Walt and Vegeta have the opposite character arc. One starts with a loving family and ends without one, the other begins without one and ends with one. Both are driven by pride.
I'm so upset I haven't seen your channel until now. Your writing is very high quality and attention grabbing. You present something, then make us care about it. I love it dude keep it up
The ways in which you poke fun at the pseudo intellectualism of many Breaking Bad essays while simulatenously making really cogent & intelligent points, all without ever coming across the least bit self-important, is truly something else. Well paced, hilarious & SUBVERSIVE in a non-ironic and good way. Funny you mentioned Nietzsche, your prior definition of "goodness" reminded me of his thoughts on the subject. Specifically, that the incapability of exercising evil doesnt make one instrically good, and its only ever "goodness" to be fully CAPABLE of and even tempted by evil, but consciously choosing to not walk that path. As you pointed out, Walter was incapable of evil for most of his life... and basically the second he WAS capable of it (or no longer saw consequences for it), he seized with little hesitation. Amazing work!
I really liked skylers part in the show. She was walts moral compass and he somehow still corrupted her after lying to her because of his manipulation and threats of ruining their reputations. She also serves as a plot device for some of walts outbursts of anger and his full transformation into the imoral man he becomes just to spite her in some cases. The show is a masterpiece in setup, camera work, and just overall storytelling. There is no character you could take out of the show and have it still be as good as it is.
As someone who pegged Walt as an emotionally stunted idiot jackass from episode one, BB always felt more like it was about the other characters (first and foremost Jesse) slowly coming to realize just how little they could actually trust/rely on him than Walt himself changing all that much while he dragged everybody down with him. He himself just kinda gives into his worse impulses more. Co-lead Jesse is 'breaking bad' because of his circumstances, while Walt 'breaks bad' out of a desire for personal power, and we constantly see characters of the former archetype entrapped and domineered by characters of the latter; most blatantly with Jesse himself in the final season. If Walt wasn't a 'powerseeking' control freak (or just better at rational thinking/relying on Jesses expertise even just sometimes), chances are he would not have gotten Tuco killed, felt the need to piss off Gus, ended up hunting Mike down, decided that associating with a guy who could get ten inmates murdered on the quick was a good idea, or consistently alienated his family. Walt and Heisenberg are the same, one is just a persona he wears while playing nice. ...Rip to Krazy 8 and his cousin tho, those bozos were doomed from the start
Walt was always Heisenberg. He always felt that he was better than his circumstances and resented his life. The truth is, Walt never really changed as a personality, he was just emboldened as he escalated. I mean from the first couple of episodes, he was talking about mass producing and distribution networks. His goal was to build an empire from the beginning. He just justified his ambition as a convoluted way to support his family. The true motive was to feed his ego.
For me, the moment Walter became Heisenberg was when Jane died, as it was the first scene I’ve ever seen of Breaking Bad. When I sat down to watch the show myself, I did it with the intention of watching Heisenberg. To see the character the internet raved about. But it never came. To me, there was no moment Walter became Heisenberg, they were always the same.
