Go to NordVPN.com/jacksaint to get 70% off a 3-year plan and use code JACKSAINT for 4 additional months free! EDIT: Hey! You might notice this video is almost 3 years old. I was just finishing Better Call Saul when this video got a sudden boost in views, so if you'd like to hear my updated thoughts they're available here: ua-cam.com/video/yQxrxKp62kc/v-deo.html Here I am hot off the presses with my Breaking Bad takes like 5 years after the series ended. I have things to say! Are they good things? That's for you to decide, and argue endlessly about in the comments section. I look forward to reading what you have to say! As always, please remember to share if you enjoy, and have a great weekend. PATREON: www.patreon.com/jacksaint KOFI: ko-fi.com/lackingsaint TWITTER: twitter.com/LackingSaint TWITCH: www.twitch.tv/lacksaint COMMUNITY: discord.gg/BttSM9j NORD VPN LINKS: nordvpn.com/blog/official-res... nordvpn.com/blog/security-plan/
@@lyudmilapavlichenko7551 I think you're right on the money. that's exactly what's being pointed out here, and it's actually really interesting how invested people get in the narrative that Walt is supposed to have become some kind of badass. like... okay, when Walt says "I am the danger" and you look at the expression on Skyler's face, it's like... oh shit. she's been saying that all along, and it's _exactly_ what she's afraid of. Walt is the danger. saying that to Skyler could never have possibly reassured her. it's almost comically tone deaf, because the same bravado that Walt sees as making him a secure person to rely on, makes Skyler see him as an absolute crazy person who is going to get her and her children killed. here he is, shouting in her face that he is dangerous. and he's loony enough to think that he's making a good case for himself. or manipulative enough to disguise a blatant threat as reassurance. Skyler is to stay in line _because_ Walt is the danger. and it's a total testament to the way male ego warps one's value system. Walt sees his own violence as a point of pride. if a violent person threatens his family, he prefers to know that he is violent enough to outmatch them and fend them off. that's the pipe dream. but there is no consideration of what might end this violence. escalation is the only path that Walt sees, because proving the strength of his violence is more important than finding peace for the people in his life. his stated motivation of providing for his family is directly contradicted by the things he does. contrast this with Skyler, who works a mundane job for mundane pay... it isn't glamorous, or particularly interesting, but it functions and Walt doesn't. I think people like to see Walt as being some kind of scrappy underdog in this situation, but because Walt drives the plot and controls so much of what happens in the narrative, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Skyler wasn't exactly my favorite character, but if you send death threats to an actor/actress because you dislike a character they played, you are a loser.
Agreed. She was WRITTEN to be a hated part of the show. And she pulled it off maybe a little too well? A show is only as good as its tension, drama, and stressful situations for any protagonist. If she was just bright and cheery, things would have been boring. A+++ to Anna Gunn for portrayed a splendid nemesis to the protagonist! Only a MORON would apply that to the actress herself.
Some people cannot separate reality from fiction. I remember a time when (in Britain at least) it was actually harmful for an actor’s career to play a rapist in a TV show. It’s a purely anecdotal example and a terrible one because I can’t remember the show, but I remember an article interviewing an actor from Coronation Street or Eastenders and how his role in the show had affected his personal life and people’s relationships to him.
God, Bryan Cranston is such a manipulative psycho! He's just so unlikable and angry. I can't believe they brought a man like him onto Malcolm in the Middle. Frankie Munez deserves a better father figure
Trainer Auro thankfully I’m smart enough to get so absorbed in a story to not completely despise a pretty reasonable person who’s just trying to keep her family together
Another type of toxic fanbase that I dislike is that the type of fans that invested in onscreen couple too much that they want the actor/actress to be together in real life even when both of them already have a family of their own.
@@nont18411 As incredible as Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt's on=screen chemistry (and even off-screen) was on Parks and Rec, Aubrey Plaza is in a committed relationship, and has been since 2011. She was dating her current partner even while April and Andy were becoming the internet's favourite couple. Chris Pratt is a Dad! Like, with someone else!? But none of that matters, because everyone knows celebrities aren't real people. Now kiss for my amusement!
"Skylar...didn't deserve the great life she has!" *earlier showed the scene where two cartel members with axes break into her house, with the intent to hack up her husband* Yes, truly an enviable existance. Such ingratitude.
Skyler was a waitress when she and Walt met, and I think it was always a bit implied that she came from a poorer background (it's been a while since I watched the series though, so maybe I'm wrong). I took the "she doesn't deserve the great (middle class) life that she has" as based on that.
@@yltraviole "I took the "she doesn't deserve the great (middle class) life that she has" as based on that." Which wouldn't be accurate either since Skyler studied economics and was an accountant at Beneke's in between childbirths, so she definitely contributed a lot to their lifestyle.
@@Medytacjusz I got that feeling too sometimes, but then again real life Mexican cartel members are notorious for gaudy displays of wealth and their criminal life style, let alone the over the top, gruesome ways they kill people who cross them, so the cousins are probably more true to real life than not.
I wanted to hate her initially but when you put yourself in her shoes, it's hard to hate her. She was made a prisoner in her own home and marriage all while worrying about the consequences Walt's actions would have on her and her children.
i just finished the show and the whole week i watched it i didn't look for anything on the internet about it. I can tell you i never wanted to hate her or hated her, the only morally wrong thing she did was cheat and that's so little compared to the evil walter did
@@Ghiscari she wasn’t perfect and didn’t always make good decisions. She did voluntarily launder Walt’s money and got involved nefarious activities. But there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that Walt put her in a no win situation. No matter what she did, her family was fcked. I think she did what she did because she did love Walt and wanted to control the situation until things went too far.
Gotta admit, I'm still keen on fight clubs 'blank out the debt' bit. Not that blowing up banks servers would do that, not now. But... Y'know, any show where banks are forced into giving a Debt Jubilee gives me a small thrill of happiness.
They are also people who think that Rick from Rick and Morty is amazing and try to act like him. Or people who wached Joker and thought that it justifies solving social issues with murder...
You don't like Skyler because the show was a goddamned masterpiece written to make you sympathize with a psychopath without even realizing you were doing it.
@@AnUnbotheredQueen So if i dislike skylar. And equally as much Hank because they directly oppose the psycho i sympathize with thats automstically Makes me sexist? Got it
@@simonkerstgens6888I meant that you can sympathetize with both people who are having confilct. because you can undrestand both position and why they are behaving like that in a well-made drama like this one. if you don't like all of the characters who is against your fav even tho those characters have the exact same amount of resonable background story and all that, that won't make you sexist but... it's kind of one-dimensional.
no offense but if you watch rhis show and love walt, to me it just looks like your terrible at forming your own opinion. like read beyond the surface. youre not even meant to like him.
Corleone yeah dude. Constant gaslighting, emotional abuse, intimidation, lying, killing, selling out his partner who was then put into slavery. Walt is just a badass.
I love when people say Walter "slowly" turned evil. In the first episode of the show, his botched drug-making operation causes him to kill one person and kidnap another. Further, Walter demonstrates his willingness to murder what he believes are police responding to his criminality. In the second episode, he's dissolving the corpse in a bathtub, and in the third he garrotes his kidnapping victim to death. That's rather more precipitous than the show's reputation suggests.
@@thud3rcl33z Well, no. In those scenes, you can tell that Walter was very much disgusted by the acts that he did during the first season. We see this change as time goes on.
@@mario167100 Feelings of regret or remorse do not absolve evil actions. Evil people can be disgusted by their evil, even as they do it. Granted, Walter did become eviler as the show continued, but it's very difficult to argue he wasn't basically evil from the beginning of the series. Additionally, the past problems Walter had with his former business associates at Grey Matter (particularly Gretchen) suggest he has a significant history of problems associated with his toxic personality and ego. It also could explain why a person with his skill set was relegated to the thankless, underappreciated role of high school chemistry teacher. There is enough in the show to support the inference that Walter's cancer didn't cause the darkness of his heart, it just disincentivized him from suppressing and not acting on it.
@@thud3rcl33z Oh yeah, I agree with that Walt had major problems with his ego that made him more predetermined to choose the path he went down, but I feel like his actions in the first season were alot more out of self-preservation than just straight gangster that he became later on. Like, if we placed season 5 walter in season 1, he would've been very noncaring about killing even innocent people. If we did the reverse and set season 1 walt in season 5, he would be way more apprehensive about doing anything such as that.
Finding this video 4 years on but just need to say this as well because NOBODY seems to ever mention this detail: When Skyler slept with Ted, this was during the time in which Skyler was fighting for a divorce from Walt, who literally would not leave. From her end, the relationship was over. Walt is the only one actually framing it as an affair, as he REFUSES to follow through with separation and keeps LARPing as a father and husband at the house. This always drives me insane??? Buddy she's dumping you, you're just not leaving? She's literally free to do whatever (or whoever) she wants.
I recently finished the show and wanted to discuss my experience with fellow fans and just like you discovered that half the fans are brain dead and are part of the heissenberg cult 😂😂😂
It's fine to hate a character. Thats a sign of a good actor/actress. Actually hating and actor/actress for playing a character is over the line though and just nuts.
Exactly! It means they're doing their job well. I feel bad when the actors who play characters like Skyler (or a actually bad characters like Joffrey) get hate and death threats for the actions of their characters. Are some people truly unable to distinguish fiction from reality?
@@dipdop9734 No they in fact are not. It sucks to realize but people really are that stupid that they don't realize shows have writers and staff. They don't want to think about any of that stuff, they just want someone to cheer and someone to harass and dump on.
That’s actually a compliment on hating on actors because that means they did they are really good at their jobs. I hated Arutrito from Money Heist so bad I despise the guy in real life. He ain’t so bad lol
Funny how Skyler haters actually think Walt is “doing it for his family”, forgetting all the horrible shit that happened could’ve been avoided if Walt accepted the Gretchen’s money
@@yaki-pm7tu Breaking Bad isn't about Skyler. It's about Walter. That's why he's the main character. Skyler is just caught in the crossfire of Walter's bad decisions. They're bad in their own ways but I can guarantee you the show makes it very obvious that Walter is worse. Walter is the one putting the family in jeopardy by bringing home drug money. Skyler just doesn't want to be associated with that which is completely fair. This isn't a matter of different readings, dude. This is about you and many other fans like you displaying your incredible lack of media comprehension and then getting all indignant and mad when you're told your interpretation is wrong. Learn how to critique media before you get snarky with me.
@@yaki-pm7tu Okay, so you actually are going through with playing dumb and gaslighting me. It's not an insult it's objectively what you're doing here, so you can get mad and throw out snide remarks all you want. Insulting me like an edgy keyboard warrior doesn't change anything. Although I don't see you as much of anything else, so... I responded to a comment of you saying, "you don't understand, breaking bad is about Skyler's effect on Walter, not the effect of Walter's ego on the entire family." It is literally the first comment under this thread. If you're gonna try and gaslight and resort to snide remarks, do it over something that can't be easily verified. It makes you look like a back peddling coward when you write a comment and then pretend you never said that to save yourself from admitting you were wrong. Just take your L and move on.
@@yaki-pm7tu I see that my claim that you are gaslighting got your ass up in a tizzy "Grr how dare you criticize my behavior?! Are you 14 or something?!" 🤣🤣🤣 Stay mad. Don't care about your feelings. Stop being stupid if you don't want to get called out 😂✌🏾
I always just assumed it was because Skylar broke part of the fantasy of the show; a logical person breaking the fantasy that the people closest to us will always see our actions are justified.
She is representation of power fantasy meets reality. I think that's big part of the hate - she drags viewer to the earth and shows that that this idea of dominance and violence is problematic and terrible.
@@alatielinara To be honest, I believe that skylers character isnt exactly morally strong. A lot of the most loved characters on the show frequently stick to their guns on their moral compass whereas she can be seen as a hypocrite, going from anti smoking to getting into smoking, being against drug business to then assisting both walt and ted. She does not have a strong moral compass and because of this she does not warrant respect
@@thechristopherous789 I agree. I do believe there is some toxic masculinity there, but I don't think that's the ONLY reason people don't care for her. She's not my favorite either, and sometimes the same could be said for Walter. While other characters have their positive attributes and reasons for doing what they do, whenever it's them in a room it feels like they're in a dick measuring contest. It doesn't become about morality or conflicting ideals anymore, but rather how long it takes until they actually separate. I won't lie, its a pretty accurate representation of toxic relationships, but just because it's accurate doesn't mean I keep wanting to sit through it. I agree with both of them to some extent, but their scenes together definitely aren't even close to my favorite part of the show.
It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s definetly disappointing. The show wasn’t about how awesome Walter was, it was quite literally about how he became a bad person 😭
Walt didn't break bad; he was always bad. He just managed to supress it in the environment of being a H.S. teacher. The story they tell of the grad student leading into startup company demonstrates the ego driven problems had always been there, and had already caused problems for him and his family.
But it was also about why he became bad. Skyler never understood or cared for how Walter feels. Even before all of the breaking bad thing. I think that's part of the reason why audience hates her.
In hindsight they should have done an episode where it's just from Skyler's perspective, where we see fully how erratic and gaslighty Walt's behaviour is when you're not following his every decision.
I love Skyler as Walt's constant reality check, like "Walt, you're not the badass druglord you think you are, you're just stacking problems in our family!"
bruh she was causing problems in the beginning, always being a complete control freak, she was one of the reasons why walt embraced the eisenberg personality, he was tired of being pushed around and told what to do.
@@tvshowmemes-jt8eb Yeah bro, I feel tired of being pushed around which is why I became a goddamn drug lord. Your post is more wild than the Amazon Rainforest 💀
@@doctahjonezthat's an ignorant stance to take however, you don't have to deny Skylar's impact on Walt as a person in order to establish that Walt is still making selfish and irresponsible decisions.
@@ezlomacks6533 well wallts initial idea was not selfish at all, if i have been dying and my family was poor, i would have done something crazy like that too... its absolutely justified.
she's an incredibly well written, realistic character, she's believable and Anna Gunn is a fantastic actress, and yet, I can say that I don't like Skylar- even though I can sympathise with her in places, I don't think she is written for us to like her, but instead to create layers of realism and progress the plot naturally.
I feel like the guys I've known who hate Skyler White are usually not the biggest feminists but do have the biggest tantrums when you tell them they could possibly be wrong 🤷♂
It's like they go out of their way to villianize women who stand up for themselves and won't take shit from their abusive psychotic husbands who walk all over them. I don't find it surprising in a show that fans hype up the main character for doing insideous things as a man and stroking his ego like he's a bad ass for doing it find the angry nagging wife unbearable for getting in the way. It's almost as if the fandom actively encourages sexism. And it's almost as if women's abuse is never taken seriously and people always cry about the guy's life being destroyed in the process because I guess the woman is just doing it out of spite is what most sexist mysoginstic people believe.
I’m a gay chick and I hate Skyler LOL. I know it’s wrong though. Something about her mannerisms and facial expressions. But I watched it a decade ago. Will have to rewatch
Buddy, you hate her because you dislike women, has little sympathy for women’s wishes, emotions and etc. and it’s ok to admit you’re just a filthy misogynistic
@7avdes you don't need a real reason to hate a character. I also dont like skyler. I also didn't care that Walt killed people, tbh he could kill children and still would root for him. I like evil characters more. I wanted Walt to build his empire and get rid of the people that betrayed him. Not saying he is a good person but I still want him to succeed, no matter what he does.
Dudes will be like "you gotta separate the person from their work, bro" when an actor does something shitty but then will send Anna Gunn death threats because they hated Skyler.
Well we get what you saying but you dont know if its the same person tho. Dudes who say that, have no control over other nub nuts so thats why they say something logical.
@@mrpopo5531 While I haven't outright heard them say the exact words I know a few guys who have this view, and even guys I don't know who hated Skyler White to the extent of sending hate mail or threats to Anna Gunn, I would bet money that they are also dismissive when people take issue with their favorite male creators who have been revealed to be abusers, assaulters, etc.
@@AZ-ty7ub I know about the threats, I am just saying why you are wrong on this. I was saying the same shit "you have to seprate actors from characters" this doesnt mean that I send threats to Annna Gunn. Its better if you edit your comment to "although they were saying that, they never defend her or did something about it". You would ask me like what can they do? Well I dunno, what about the opposite of those death threats, what about positive mails and support to counter death threats to show her that not all people are lunatics. I hate Skyler haters and especially those who send threats, Skyler haters because they are hypocrites and I hate hypocrisy with passion. And those who send threats for obvious reasons of course. Anyway in general the situation with death threats is really fucked up, look at Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar actor from star wars. And I agree with what you said last, but also people tend to hate with passions even when theres no proof of any alegetions of anything. Innocent until proven guilty. In general people love gossip and escape their problems when bad things happen to people, and they would "excuse" their joy on misfortune of others with 'oh well he did that to her or she did that to him' to "exuse" their toxic behaviour.
@@mrpopo5531 If you yourself wouldn't do such a thing then I obviously wasn't talking about you or people like you. Congratulations for meeting the bare minimum of decency.
You still said “dudes” implying basically all of them lmao. Don’t fall back on that excuse of “I wasn’t talking to your kind” after making an ignorant strawman argument of a comment.
The actress who played Skylar even received death threats sent to her over this show, as you mentioned - which is outrageous. This character was simply a human being in an impossible situation. Walter White is a murderous, manipulative criminal, in some serious self-denial; yet we are conditioned to like and hope for him. Skylar, because she is a capable person, and tries to do what she thinks is best at the time, is disliked for not being more sympathetic or 'helpful' toward Walter. Even though Walter says the right thing at the end, and ties up all the knots; Skylar and her son are going to be permanently damaged by what's happened, and his little girl will never know anything about her father, other than he was a criminal. I feel terrible for this character.
She could leave him... He wasn't holding her as hostage, you know. She actually complied with him because she still liked him after becoming a criminal. She was cogitating delivering him to the justice and divorce him but she gave up on the lawyer to do this...! (detail) What she wanted was for Walter to be someone who he was not... that simple!
@@OpportunisticHunter Yes, she loved him and she was desperate that Walt, Jr./Flynn not find out about his father. And, she was frightened for the safety of her family. She wanted him to not be a drug lord, yes.
@@evanstrong8866 Both are absurd. Threatening an actress over a role is outrageous. Despising a character because she's not 'supportive' of a criminal husband is also absurd and outrageous.
this question is probably rhetorical, so excuse me, but for anyone who can't figure it out: it's because people who worship someone like walt are inclined to think sexual assault of spouses is not that big of a deal.
Same reason Charlie sheen kept getting work despite holding a prostitute hostage for 3 days. Cos despite a lot of men claiming otherwise, society forgives men far easier than they do women - even pretend women. I don't harbor resentment against men for this cos society's repeatedly forgiving the unforgivable denies those people being forgiven from getting help & progressing emotionally. *Edit* ● "Pretend" as in fictional depictions/female characters.
I know this is an old video but I just finished the show and it seems that everybody just missed the fact that Walt sexually assaults Skylar in season 2 and it’s implied that after an episode cuts to black in season 5 that he sexually assaults her again
Yeah, the people who hate Skyler do _not_ care about that in the slightest. They're misogynists to the level where they probably think it doesn't really count as assault because she's his wife and has a duty to have sex with him whenever he wants...
@@flydrop8822I think it was after Walter offs Gus and gets his ego on the roof. Skylar is scared but knows she can't get out of him, and when he moves himself into the house again and sleep on the same bed as Skylar, he starts touching her. It is implied he had sx with her there
@@dntknonuttin Yeah, as if being female means you can't be sexist towards your own gender. They use the "female" label to validify their sexist opinions. Internalized sexism, you might call it. It's what the r/notlikeothergirls sub is all about too.
internalized misogyny is so real, leads to a lot of "I'm not like OTHER girls" type tropes/posts/talking points because the implicit thing in such tropes is that to be like "OTHER women" is shameful/bad.
Skylar is just as bad as Walt *in the later seasons.* She emotionally abuses Ted and uses him like a tool just to get back at Walt and then tosses him aside when she’s done with him. She knew Ted cared about her and she used it against him. She also chose to become a part of Walt’s operation even though she didn’t have to, but then she acted like Walt’s victim half of the time when really all she had to do was tell Walt she wanted nothing to do with it. She was directly responsible for Ted becoming paralyzed. She suggested to Walt that he kill Jesse and said “What’s one more life” which clearly showed a disregard for human life. I bolded the *in the later seasons* just to emphasize that before some fucktard calls me in incel for criticizing a fictional character. In the first 2 seasons, I was completely on Skylar’s side and I thought it was fucked up how much Walt gaslighted her. The affair is what made me start hating her. Also, I never liked Walt at any point. The characters I sympathized with the most were Hank and Jesse
It's very common in our vernacular now to use that term for some reason. I don't know how to feel about it because people don't usually say it to be sexist. For most people, it's just a habit because they've heard it a million times as a stand-in for "woman". I don't prefer to use it, but I sometimes roll my eyes when I hear it because sounds awkward to me relative to other slang words.
I'm at 18:59 and my guess as to why Skyler gets a lot of hate is that she is spoiling the 'fantasy' of being a badass. Giving the main character dissonance with a reality check.
Exactly. For men Walt is a hero, action movies teach they commit murder make money and walk away from explosions, and its ok because they are the nice guy. When you put a woman saying "hey this..is wrong", she becomes THE ULTIMATE PC SJW BITCH only here to ruin the fun. Tldr most men cant watch anything with realistic character development.
Which is funny to me because Walt himself spoils that fantasy several times, like yes he does do some pretty raw shit but there's a bunch of moments where he lets everyone know that while he's very booksmart he pretty much isn't streetsmart at all. The best example of that is when he's in the vacuum repair guy's basement with Saul, who's just listening to this stupidass plan he's coming up with to get back at Jack and is just "look, this is all over, the feds are going after your wife, they don't give a shit she doesn't know anything because they want SOMEone to make an example of if they can't get you."
@@PalitoSelvatico Honestly I can't understand how anybody would see Walt as a "hero". Heroes are grand, they're larger than life, they're brave, honest, protect the unprotected, confident, etc. Walt is the opposite of all that - he's small and petty, he's underhanded, dishonest, cowardly, delusional, he brings harm onto the unprotected, and acts selfishly. Throughout the show I just felt I hated him, and really, the last season and a half I was just watching because I needed closure for the story - I needed to see Walter White die, or get arrested, or just in any way face the consequences of his actions (since up until the end, nobody faced the consequences to his actions except those around him).
@@PalitoSelvatico Also it isn't very fair to say such things in such broad strokes of generalization. Perhaps the most toxic fans are the loudest, but don't conflate loudness with majority. Maybe it's all based on personal experience, and if that's the case - I'm really sorry that your personal experience with men in life has been so narrow, so as to make you see things in such a narrow way that lets you say "for men Walt is a hero" and "most men can't watch anything with realistic character development".
@@Grandbiku how many men and women have you talked about breaking bad? I watched it for 6 years since it came out, the majority of men hate skyler did you not watch the video? Did you miss the part she got literal death threats over a fictional tv show? Im glad you only know men who like skyler, congrats.
There was also that one scene where Walter tries to sexually assault her and shoves her against a fridge as early as season 2 which is never acknowledged by these kinds of fans?? Not to mention her reaction could have been justifiably more hostile as far as i remember
i dont understand people who watch breaking bad and sopranos as if you're supposed to see the main character as emblematic of good morals. the point of them is they're complicated people in tough situations where they have to be decisive. we know theyre fucked up people cause if they were theyd lead regular working class lives instead of being parasitic criminals
Kaizith sexually assault? It was an attempt at impromptu sex with his wife. Yeah, he got caught up in it for a while, but he stopped once she told him to
That scene where Walt 'came home' and called Skylar's bluff... I think that's where my perspective shifted and I started sympathizing a lot more with her, and disliking Walt himself. It was scary, to see Walt exert power over his wife (and to see their son side with him!!) like that when she was legitimately afraid for her family's safety.
Malcolm Harris She was like that long before Walt broke bad.....even when he was simply a school teacher with terminal cancer, she was a miserable b!tch. However....she did actually have a justification that the show did a really bad job of explaining....she was deeply resentful that Walt made the selfish decision to walk away from the multimillion dollar company he Co-founded, to become a low paid school teacher.
She lived every moment of her married life, and what followed, by the good grace of her husband. She never once had to find out how to pay for the next meal.
@@Dj.MODÆO I think you missed the point, which the previous comment stated. IT WAS Walter who was resentful for the money, not Skyler, which was much concern with with the well being of Walter and the family. The one who always was pride and most careless was Walter.
as a woman watching breaking bad, i never felt any disdain towards skylar. sure, she wasn’t a great wife at the beginning of the series, and shes made some questionable choices, but i honestly empathised with her. imagine learning that the father of your children, your husband, was a rising kingpin druglord that has killed so many people. that would be horrifying.
i never hated her. imagine your spouse starts lying then you find out they’re a huge drug dealer and you and your family’s life are in danger. and say that you didn’t know your spouse was the one who knocks. you’d do what you could to protect your kids
That's understandable. Problem was that Skyler learned about his activity and chose to stay and support it. At that point, repeatedly seeing her try to leave and come back half a dozen times got repetitive and annoying. Her calling the police as if Walt ever caused domestic violence was over the top. Walt brought danger to his family, but he was never actively dangerous/abusive to them
@@sickman9124 she didnt call the police to get him arrested for domestic abuse, that was the only way she could call the police (to get walter out) without just telling them hes a drug manufacturer
@@sickman9124 come on now, walt’s a certified genius. “never meant to harm his family” as he chose to endanger them daily for his own pride. “someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family” -skyler. i would call the cops too if i thought there was the barest hint of danger around my kids.
the quote "someone has to protect this familly from the man who protects this family" gave me fucking CHILLSSSSSS, theres a lot of good quotes from the show but srsly none have made me feel like that
I get the idea, but for me is just cringe. Not because it’s wrong, Skyler is right. But the lines are terrible, I think that not even Anna Gunn’s delivery could have save it.
Tbh that one scene where she single handedly saved her boss from getting caught for tax fraud by playing up the "dumb blonde" and taking the fall was her best moment in the show, like I may not have completely liked her character but definitely got my respect she was smart and a bad bitch
@The Ex-Muslim Libertarian no, it doesn't. she did that cause she thought it was right. it was against the law what her boss did, but skylar helped him to save the company and the employees. so it was still a good thing from a moral standpoint.
To be fair, that one she did not do because she thought it was right or to save the employees, she did it to save her own hide; she wanted to prevent Ted's books being closely audited, since they will then start auditing people who worked on the accounts who might have been complicit in the fraud, i.e Skyler, who has been happily laundering Walt's money for several months. She did it to cover her own ass, she didn't care about Ted at all. Which is not to say she's to blame in any way as she was covering her own ass after being essentially blackmailed into becoming an accomplice to drug money laundering by her husband. But still.
It was a boss move, as was buying the car wash for cheap. If you're going to get mad at people for doing illegal things you should go watch a different show.
@@rosePetrichor bef8re she was blackmailed to launder money for walter she knew about his fraud. She knew he was a criminal and continued to work their and then proceed to fuck him. She is just like walt but not as much of a mad man as walt
I had an abusive father who was involved with drugs that Walt reminded me a lot of, and because of that from pretty much the beginning of the show I hated Walt and sided with Skyler. I remember particular the scene with the cops and Walt acting like a doting father getting really under my skin because I had seen my dad do the exact same thing. I wonder if other people who had dealt first hand with abuse were as against Walt as I was as early as I was.
I did not have the same experiences as you, but rest assured I also got this anger. Walter is a bad man, but he had reasons at least. He went too far, making his reasons (e.g. cancer) void by ruining many people’s lives. This was one thing that made me wish he was locked away and Skylar got custody.
Definitely. I similarly had an abusive drug dealer/user meth head dad and I can tell you that I absolutely despised Walt. To the point that I had issues even finishing the show as the seasons progressed and he became more of a selfish, manipulative piece of shit. Skyler reminded me a lot of my mom, not a saint either, but desperately trying to stop Walt from absolutely destroying the family with his deluded ways. Not once in the entire series did I think "Wow. Walt is such a great guy. Skyler should really quit bitching and mind her own." She wasnt my favorite character but I understood her better than I could bring myself to like Walt.
Skyler reminded me of my abusive and narcissistic mother so I hated her and sided with Walt, even though he was also manipulative and did horrible things.
My father was borderline and very manipulative. When Walter said "I haven't been the most attentive father" while cradling his baby, his words' false sweetness brought back so many memories of my father doing similar things.
Skyle made the impossible decision of the unspeakable situation. People who hate her never were in hard position. The actress who was playing her character is just genius.
Pre-emptive comment here, I'm only about 2 minutes in, but I gotta say one thing: I've never watched a single episode of Breaking Bad, but...isn't Skyler White like...Walter White's wife? So many of these criticisms boil down to her being "up in Walt's business" and "trying to ruin his life" ... ...SHE'S HIS WIFE AND HE'S DEALING METH? Even I know that Walter White is not meant to be some glorious hero, so why is a close family member taking him to task for the horrible things he's done and keeps doing like, so unjustifiable? If you're going to focus a series on an anti-hero, isn't having other characters around to challenge their misdeeds in some way like...necessary for dramatic tension?
Because many people see the series as a power fantasy of how one person with intelligence outsmart everyone, that's why the marketing and merchandising is about "i am the danger", meanwhile all is justified as desperation of a cancer patient.
I think there needs to be a bit of nuance introduced here, both in this comment, and the video. Having seen the show, I have to admit that I did not like Skyler as a character. Most of this dislike was established in the first season with Walt in his pre-drug dealing, recently cancer-diagnosed, state. It is established that Walt has a full life, with people who love him, but kind of hold him in a silent contempt. It is suggested that when he was young he was a chemistry researcher of great promise, someone who was destined for more impressive things, but he was kind of screwed out of that opportunity. His station in life subsequently becomes a lot smaller; a family man working two jobs that seem meaningless, while his brother-in-law mocks his workaday life. Meanwhile Skyler nags and nips at him, annoyed at his foibles and his lack of sharing her pedantic views and small-town criticisms of everyone around her (particularly her family) with the expected enthusiasm. Overall, Skyler doesn't really know what Walt needs very well, and often transposes her own needs as his. There's an early scene where they both go to a party of a researcher Walt used work with, and, knowing about his diagnosis and his feelings of lost opportunity, she secretly discloses to the ex-colleague that Walt has cancer, and could he just offer Walt a job, without telling him he knows about the diagnosis, and so therefore it's absolutely not out of pity? (even though it clearly is). The guy goes along with this in front of Walt later (pretending the offer is on the basis of Walt's intellectual ability), who catches it out eventually, and so of course Walt then leaves the party, absolutely humiliated. Skyler clearly does this incredibly clumsy and hurtful thing not so much because she wants him to be happy, but because she needs him to stop being sad, and she needs him to stop being sad because (spoiler) he wants some control over his life for once, which meant for him accepting cancer and accepting death, over living for his family. Skyler wants him alive; he is not free, his freedom is totally subordinate to his family. Continually she defies his attempts to make his own decisions. Walter White, whether she truly understands what she's doing or not, becomes essentially an Unperson. Is this a masculine issue with Walt still? Very much so, but this aspect is not "toxically" masculine. Some men (myself included) demand agency in their lives, and even if they might have made their own bed to an extent in some cases, still do not want to be further reminded of it, pushed further into it, or have their agency negated. Some men want to have dignity, and for Walt, he wants to be recognised (in true Hegelian fashion). But he is not, and has not been for a long time. So he is a shell, and that shell becomes vulnerable to making some truly stupid and horrible decisions from then on. As for Skyler, it isn't that she merely neglects to *see* the signs of Walt's helplessness early on, but she actively *dismisses* those signs. He is refused that recognition, to be seen as an individual being with desires, and that is psychologically pretty damning.
Same with Melania Trump, why do people find her annoying when Donald is the bad guy and she never even wanted to become FLOTUS in the first place? Poor woman only wanted to escape from slovenia, how could she know the guy she married would become president on his old days.
And " HE'S DEALING METH"? While in reality "... the only major difference between crystal meth and Adderall is public perception." Let's all get outraged about some old tv-show's perception, while mindlessly regurgitating "war on drugs" propaganda. So woke...
What I thought of Skyler’s thought process when Walt was cradling their daughter, was that she saw a dangerous man, holding her baby and bullshitting the police. She didn’t see her husband anymore. A threat to the family, specially their children.
@@jaffacalling53 Yeah, she was. She quite literally spells out how Ted not paying his taxes would let the IRS legally bug her phone and listen to her conversations. She helped Ted under the assumption that he'd pay back the taxes at some point. As far as she knew at that point, she needed to keep the job and if she didn't cook his books she'd loose that job and a long-time friend would loose his business. Not to mention she was very conflicted over this and took convincing. On another note, if we're bringing up completely unrelated scenarios, I bet Walt was really thinking about his family when he killed Mike for no reason. Breaking Bad fans pay attention to the show challenge (Impossible)
@@owenmcleod9988 she didn’t NEED to do anything she knew he was committing fraud and chose to help him knowing what could be the consequences she didn’t NEED him or that job the same way Walter didn’t NEED to cook meth, but it’s only a problem when Walter does it huh? Grow a pair
Its Reddit, the second most common place for people to pretend to be a marginalized group in order to make their opinions seem more valid (the first one being tumblr)
Unpopular opinion here, I hate Marie more than both of them. Sure, Skyler was dramatic, but that's because she knew Walt was keeping secrets from her, secrets that were negatively affecting the entire family. Hank, while he was an arrogant hotshot at times, he was an asset against the cartels. Marie, she steals and causes drama for no reason.
Skyler was one of the most sensible characters in the entire show. Half of the people hate her because she opposed Walt. The other half hates her because she went along with his schemes. Which one is it?
@@Acer11818 I worded that badly, all characters in Breaking Bad are struggling in some sort of way, and she's right along with them. I just understand why people hate her when she's the one who actually cares about the family
My neurotic manipulative Father did this "playing the good dad" thing in front of our neighbours after the divorce from my mother and was also always talking about his important role as supplier, family values and shit. One of the reasons why walther white is clearly a villian to me and it absolutely disgusts me to see characters like these framed as heros.
me too! that's exactly what i had in mind while watching it. like, what is the victim expected to do? go along with it because "it's awesome"? no. that behavior is damaging and deadly. it's detrimental to a family. but my family had to keep quiet about it because my dad was so good at putting on the act.
@@quotenpunk279 yeah, last summer i was finally legally freed of him. can't get a restraining order because he's "not provably dangerous" which is horseshit. but seems like he's finally given up :)
Heck, I thought she was one of the most reasonable characters. She did whatever she could to navigate through her husband's web of lies and justifications in order to protect the kids.
Yeah, i feel like to an extent she was lenient on Walter. In the end she smiled at him, not as if she forgave him, but as if it was a slight relief from the lies.
And phuckin’ Ted was an act of desperation. That was Skylar trying to get _rid_ of Walt! B/c men usually take a woman’s infidelity *real* personal. But sometimes, like in this case, it backfires and he _still_ won’t leave. I’ve seen it in real life.
@@attitudeproblem6462 People who latch onto the 'I fucked Ted' move by Skyler act as if that was at the start of the series and not halfway through when she had deduced Walt was a drug dealer and wanted him out
Yeah she is so smart and great at rolling with the punches. She is really the only thing holding Walt’s mistakes together by the time they buy the car wash. I don’t know how a viewer can get to season 4 and still be rooting for Walt over her. Also anyone saying she is unforgivable for cheating clearly has a double standard because they still buy walt’s lie about him doing all this to protect his family
How did any of you work that out?? All she did was complain and belittle Walt all throughout never once supported him, she literally leaves Walt because he’s a criminal then starts fucking her boss who is also a criminal (committing tax fraud) lmao her character is really annoying actually think about yourself having a wife like that omg nightmare.
@EllieCopter-po6pt there is much to be said about skyler before walter started selling drugs, but she did try (even if unsuccessfully) to help pay bills. walt was simply an egotistical dipshit who took his supposed 'role' in their marriage too seriously.
So basically people hate her because she isn't cool with everything and reacts how a normal person would react to finding out their so is a drug dealer
They say you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. I usually can't stand her until she finds out Walt is a drug dealer, where I'm on her side for awhile, then her hypocisy gets to me and she loses me again. She seems to earn some self awareness about that over time, after that I tend to be with her regardless of whether she's enabling Walt or trying to leave him. A key area for me is when she thinks her husband is dying of cancer, when she asks where he is going all the time and he says "I like to be alone" and she says "I just want you to include me." Like she doesn't know what the word "alone" means. The same way she's controlling about the bacon they eat, the credit cards they use (why not get rid of it, or put it in a lock box?) or tracking down a suspcious caller until she's located the pot dealer of her husband, to demand he not do it again, because her brother-in-law is a "DEA Agent" and she knows how bad the marijuana drugs are... - they make you slightly light headed. Taking *all* of Skylar's behavior as the reasonable response of a person who's spouse is a drug dealer is tantamount to failing a test of object permanence.
@@futurestoryteller I see your point, at the beginning of the show, they wanted to portray Walt as a looser who's controlled by his wife and doesn't have his son's respect, so I can see how her fist impressions were not great, but if you were to watch the show from her perspective, you would see how her actions would be understandable for someone who has been kept in the dark about what her husband has been doing and then not knowing the full truth about what he does at his job. I don't think all her actions were justifiable, but understandable.
@@fernandagoncalves9221 The thing is that she's also a narcissist using Walter's flaws get herself in the center of attention the whole time. For instance, when Walter made up the gambling story to explain where he got all that money she turns the whole thing into a show. Of course, Walters manipulation was to use this flaw against her - that's why she gets slowly turned into a accomplice. Walter is a much bigger monster after and basically everyone who comes into contact with gets turned into a victim, but Skylar isn't exactly a "normal person" either.
I used to despise Skylar when I first watched the show in high school. Then I grew up, and re-watched it, and realized how her character is how 99% of people would react to their spouse being Heisenberg lmao.
@@WanquanLoot So they'd be around their mid-twenties, or so. Definitely big enough of a change from highschooler to gain some more perspective, especially where adult relationships are concerned.
@@Journey_to_who_knows If the spouse in question was a manipulative gasligher, who'd make me feel trapped in a relationship with them against my will, while also making me feel unhappy and unsafe, an affair really wouln't seem all that out of question.
I feel like the characters are disliked because they're a voice in reason in an insane fantasy. People do not like being brought back to reality when drawn to a story.
Skyler wasn't the voice of reason. She was annoying lol. Plain and simple. Like I understand her perspective completely.. but it's not interesting to watch. Like go away so I can go back to character's who are doing stuff.
@@Scott-zi7xv like I said.. i understand why she did MOST of what she did. But it doesn't automatically make her not annoying during the scenes. I'll get a brilliant scene about Gus or Mike doing something cool or discussing something extremely engaging.. then I have to jump to Skyler being simple uninteresting or just annoying. Like her smoking a cigarette while pregnant early in season one. I understand why she went out and did it. But I as a viewer and still annoyed by having to watch her do dumb stuff because Idc and would rather watch other engaging character's. Mike constantly calls Walt out on his BS and is always butting heads with him.. yet no ever gives Mike crap.. know why.. because he's a much more interesting character and isn't annoying to watch.
Worst things Skyler did: Smoked while pregnant Laundered money for Ted Slept with Ted after being denied a divorce Worst things Walt did: Poisoned Brock, a child Consistently put his family in danger Consistently lied to Skyler Took out a hit on Jesse Let Jane die Manipulated Jesse into killing Gale Set into motion the series of events that would lead to the deaths of Hank and Steve Set into motion the series of events that would lead to Jesse being a prisoner for ~6 months
The very moment Walter denied that partnership with his wealthy friend, and opportunity that Skyler managed to pull off, is the moment where one should cast doubt to the idea that Walter is doing what he's doing out the well being of his family or to satisfy his own selfish ego.
Why wouldn't Walt be egotistic? According to the show he's a chemistry savant who by all accounts should've been a wealthy partner in a chemical company worth billions. Instead he's teaching high school students chemistry. That'd be the same as you teaching the Alphabet for a living.
@@vercingetorix9005 - Walter often failed to think clearly when his emotions got the better of him. I have a feeling he lost more lucrative positions because of his underlying hot-headed nature, and eventually ended up as a high school chemistry teacher.
@@carlosdanger8043 Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly. Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother. Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family. When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank. When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter. When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank. Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card
@@StsFiveOneLima yes like Andrea right? she needed to die cuz of walt's actions? or poisoning her son deliberately just to manipulate jesse? or letting jane choke to death on her vomit when he admitted he could've easily saved her and then later rubbed that into jesse's face? surely to "provide" for your fam is an excuse. looks like we got the cult of walt right here.
I love how Walt can literally poison a child and people still support him, but Skylar has an affair because she's in an abusive relationship and people lose their minds. And I truly don't care that he knew the kid wouldn't die. HE POISONED A CHILD!
She only slept with ted after she kicked Walt out, called the police on him and asked him for a divorce after the lying. And people still claim that she cheated
He also literally had no way of knowing that the kid wouldn't die because he didn't know the kid's medical record, allergies, etc. Walt was completely complacent in letting a child die for his goals, but because the kid didn't die he was able to spin the narrative that he planned it
The thing is some villains are fun to watch & can do terrible things but still be loved universally like the joker for example. Then their are good characters that everyone hates which Skylar isn’t really a example of a good character she was a gigantic hypocrite and acted like a cringey Karen most of the show
@@hardboiled2987 she had separated from him, called the police, and tried to get him to sign divorce papers. she already didn't want to be with him, and he KNEW that, so how is it cheating?
@@zoomerdaria kinda of is, like I see your point but no matter how u frame it that’s what she did 😂hank and Marie agreed with him with doing it on his terms but she didn’t and it’s not like he didn’t know that she would be a widow which is why he was trying to leave her a large sum of money before he died, it’s cancer it’s something that is unpredictable at times so better to be safe than sorry and just leave her and the kids a large sum of money so they don’t have to worry about finances anymore And I’m not excusing what Walter did just wished she could’ve at least tried pay attention and put herself in his shoes a little bit
@@zoomerdaria Yeah I have to agree with the other two, Skyler's done a lot of decent things, but demanding Walt get treatment when it was so obvious he didn't want it even before the intervention is controlling and exactly the opposite of what you should do with almost any cancer patient. If they're old, and terminally ill, and WANT it to be the end.... Let them have what they want, it's not something to argue with them over, it IS their life. (Also orphans aren't people with a single parent, they're people with no parents, but that point isn't here nor there I just felt like you should be informed in case you genuinely thought that, 'cuz misconceptions like that can be a bit embarrassing if realised in an irl conversation with a friend or whatever)
I remember my whole family would frequently all visit my older sisters house to watch new episodes of Breaking Bad together. I felt so sad for my mom (who was watching the show there with us) because despite all my siblings having grown up watching her survive multiple abusive marriages (physical, verbal, emotional etc.); they were each so quick to shit on Skylar. Their criticisms sound frighteningly similar to those shown at the start of the vid. The worst of it was that despite our mom remaining quiet and looking visibly uncomfortable with their 'hot take' on Skylar, she wouldn't speak up because I think we both knew they'd verbally abuse our own mother as quickly as they did a character for making them question this fantasy.
Bear in mind I don't know your story, that must have been a different kind of abuse I would think? Walt was hidding things from Skylar. It wasn't physical abuse.
@@johnnyskinwalker4095 oh I'm not making a direct comparison between the two. Only highlighting that the hate train for Skylar was so widespread during the shows airing that most of my family was on it despite having lived through domestic violence themselves. The start of this video could have had a comment from a lot of people I personally know
y'know, oddly enough, my dislike for skyler flipped after she discovered walt's enterprise, and i started to like her more, and walt less. i had started off disliking her because he meddling was kind of needling and irritating specifically because it seemed to constantly be hindering the criminal enterprise plot. i disliked her for being a plot obstacle more than anything. after she finally found out, the way it flipped the script made the whole story a lot more compelling to me. the whole assumption of romantic affairs is extremely tired and instantly makes me disinterested in a subplot. by the end of the series, walt was so toxic and objectively terrible to everyone around him, that i genuinely hated him. he let jesse's girlfriend die and then manipulated him in his grief to come back and cook meth with him (can't remember exactly how that played out). skyler was proven right that what walt was doing was going to get her and her children murdered, but walt persisted with the delusion that he was an unstoppable crime lord. walt really is a detestable character by the end of the show. he's kind of a self-absorbed asshole in the beginning, but at least in the beginning he seems like more than a power hungry monster. how anyone can watch to the end and still hate skyler more than walt is a mystery to me, because the man is left with no redeeming qualities. he comes back to be sad at his wife and then goes and dies. what a waste.
Well put, I always advised skipping Skyler scenes on rewatches because she bogs down the plot, even if she grounds the character development. I still make the argument that she's awful (IFT, hardassness with Walt Jr, control issues) but her attempts to protect their flawed lifestyle are at least humane and relatable compared to Walt's, unless you lean towards aggressive narcissism
I agree, I started liking her a bit before she figured out what he was doing. I started liking her after it became crystal clear he was up to something. In the beginning, she was kind of overbearing and 'in his business' too much to be likeable, almost like she already didn't trust him. but once it became clear to everyone that walt was up to something (presumably cheating) then I felt her behavior was much more reasonable and understandable.
@Django Fett wow thats a hot take, Mike is very likable to me, Jesse as well, Heisenberg is controversial but i made a song based on his transformation. but in terms of their actions, if thats what u mean, i agree, everyone did stuff that was human, an thus bad decisions and misguided
Exactly. In many ways Skylar was meant to be hated. that was the concept. then the writers made her side with Walt so you like her. and then you realised how much of a bad guy Walt is when he said to her "I forgive you". That is the genius of this show.
when I was a kid I hated skylar cause I was a kid who looked at the series as guy gets money for family through crime. Also I didn't watch past the first few episodes. As an adult with a fully developed brain and life experience I realized skylar was the only person on the show who had her head on straight and that walter white completely selfishly endagers everyone in his life to live out a mobster fantasy and only makes it through each season by sheer dumb luck and when he finally gets whats coming to him it's not nearly as harsh as he deserved.
I feel like a lot of the skyler hate derives from the fact that she is the embodiment of when your mother tells you to do your chores and tells you to stop playing videogames, except with skyler it’s telling Walt to stop cooking meth and to get a proper job, and I feel the audience feels a slight relatability in that and feels hate towards skyler due to being able to relate to Walt when she gets in the way of his plans
@@quinnlove5777 nah you just dont want to hear any actual reasons why people dislike her. This video purposely found the dumbest takes from the most ignorant people and read it in a whiney annoying voice.
@@quinnlove5777 i mean i dislike her for many reasons including smoking while pregnant and her annoying attitude in season 1 but that doesn't make me sexist i dont think, on top of that she's the 2nd least hated character of the show, I think pretty much everyone in the show is a fucking asshole except for walt jr
Breaking Bad: *a show filled to the brim with cold-hearted hitmen, psychopathic drug lords, and even goddamn neo-nazis* Its audience: "clearly, the housewife who has concerns about her husband cooking meth is the one character I should focus my hate on." Also, I just watched the whole show just so i could watch this video afterwards.
@@asteroidalassassin6949 it's the difference between Voldemort hate and Umbridge hate. A lot of people have had experiences with bad teachers, who they have wished ill too but not a lot of people have had experiences with a guy who wants to exterminate an entire race of people. The second is a lot worse then the first. But the first is not something that a majority of people have a lot of experience with. So the first is gonna inspire a lot more hate.
Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly. Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother. Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family. When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank. When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter. When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank. Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card
If I had watched Breaking Bad 5 years ago, i would have hated skyler and backed up walt 100%. But that was because I was pretty much in the same position as flynn at the time. My parents were fighting, they separated, and i didnt know what was going on. I blamed my mother for tearing the family apart when that wasn't the case. She didnt want me to hate my dad, but that came at the cost of all the blame for what was wrong in our family being put on her. Years later when I watched breaking bad, i saw my mom in skyler. I cant hate her because then it would be the second time I get manipulated into thinking that "dad didn't do anything wrong! It's all the moms fault for fucking up the family"
Now I want a breaking bad-like show where the husband has some secret crazy double life, only to find out the wife has a double life that's like 100X crazier.
Comedy, and not exactly double life on the husband's part, but the B plot of Dan VS is that Chris's wife Elise is an agent for a "quasi government agency"
Honestly, I think a lot of the MRA altright bullshit has died down in the more popular subreddits since the 2016 election. It's still there if you go looking for it though, unfortunately.
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD That's definitely true. I wish I would've never discovered it in my freshman year cause I swear it fucking rotted my brain during high-school.
She lived every moment of her married life, and what followed, by the good grace of her husband. She never once had to find out how to pay for the next meal.
But... she didn't. Walt put the family in danger out of selfish desperation and admitted so in the end, Skylar kept her families life in danger after finding out the truth about Walt simply to avoid the shame and ridicule of her families reputation. If she really cared about protecting her family she would've turned him in the second she found out.
I'm going to go ahead and lay some of the blame on BB's writing. We spend so much time looking on the inner turmoil of Walt, Jesse, Hank, even _Gus_ yet Skyler has very few of these meaningful emotional moments. I think a big part of it is we never get to connect with her as she as a character never gets to move independently of the male characters. To contrast that I'll point to the fact that Kim is universally beloved by fans because we also get to see her pursuing her own ambitions, grapple with her own childhood trauma, in general act independently of her spouse a lot more. This I believe points to the female characters in BCS being simply better-written, as if Vince and Peter looked at what happened to Skyler and learned from it to improve their craft. As a final thought, as odious and hateful as the criticism of Anna Gunn's physical appearance are, here is the description of her in the original BB script: _"Skyler's cute in a way most guys wouldn't have noticed back in high school. But not soft-cute. Not in the eyes."_ So an attractive woman with hard features is in fact a perfect casting and portrayal of the character *as written* !!!
Disagree. I felt the show made her struggles apparent enough through her dialogue, expressions, smoking (as fucked up as doing it while pregnant is) and especially her epic blowup at Marie. I've only recently watched BB, now navigating the fandom and surprised at the degree of Skyler hate. I believe it has to do with me being over 30 years old and able to identify toxic behaviour. Skyler couldn't exactly move very independently due to the family-related ramifications of outing Walt, especially her (misguided) intention of sheltering Junior from it all. She, Junior and Marie would understandably receive less focus due to being outsiders in the drug world but the story depicts the spillover effects towards them quite well. Skyler was mostly a victim but simultaneously a reluctant accomplice due to her character flaw that is perfectionism towards image upkeep, which the show utterly punishes her for in S5 when the truth finally burst into the open. IMO the writers did a great job with her complexity, as with the rest of the cast overall.
She was a pregnant woman with a teenager son with cerebral palsey and a husband who got cancer and went on to become a murderer drug lord. She couldn't exactly go and be independent. To shoe her ambition, she was a very good accountant who became a successful business owner with the carwash.
Personally, I was indifferent to Skyler. I didn't like her, I didn't despise her. I find it disgusting when anybody breaks the bounds of the show into real life, though. Anna Gunn's acting is legitimately great, and I find it odd that people start targeting the actor specifically instead of just the character.
Same, tbh when i was watching the show, i didnt make any judgements or take a strong liking or distain towards any of the characters. I liked watching the story unfold, it was an emotional masterpiece, but i never did like or dislike any characters in the same way i hated Jeoffrey and loved Ned in GoT, for example. The only characters which I actually started to hate immediately was Jack and Todd, everyone else i sorta just developed an opinion on them after i finished the show.
An important aspect of Skyler’s character I believe is that she represents the actual work needed to keep a family together; Walt believes simply leaving his family money is enough, but Skyler actually makes proactive decisions (creating the gambling cover up, buying the car wash, helping Ted deal with the IRS) that protects the family and shows how bullshit Walt’s justifications are.
Skylar loved Walter White but she hated Heisenberg. I have no clue why people do not realize that. Heisenberg is just Walter’s deception, anger and ego. Skylar had to deal with Walter deceiving her, being angry at her, and being egotistical about himself. Skylar was terrified and depressed that her and her family’s lives are threatened by both the cartel and the law because of Walter choosing to become Heisenberg. The only reason she helped Walter launder money is to make sure her family’s lives don’t get ruined- NOT because she liked Walter being Heisenberg.
Also, she never feared making herself look bad to protect the ones she love. She constantly had to play "mean parent" with her son (like when she insisted they return the expensive car, or when she asked Walt to leave the house), she knew her son was getting angry at her everyday adn he kept insulting her in confusion but she didn't care as long as it was actually keeping him safe. On the other hand, Walt always said he "did everything to protect his family" yet he never showed that. He had several oportunities to stop cooking meth or at least staying in the "safer" part of the business (therefore keeping his family out of danger) but he never took them; on the contrary, he kept getting himself in worse scenarios because of his ego, because he wanted more power and money and "credit" for everything he's done. He irresponsibly told Hank that Gale was just a "cheap copy" of the real Heisenberg, bought the expensive ass cars for him and his son (twice) to look good to him and seem like the "cool, good parent" even if in reality, he was just putting them in danger. And even if it should be obvious Skyler acts "unlikable" in order to protects her family and Walt acts "cool" because he is reckless and absolutely egotistical, the public still doesn't seem to realize who is the victim acting under pressure and who is the actual bad guy. Skyler's constant hate always confuses me and infuriates me
In the real world when you're about to die, leaving your family money is more than enough to keep them together...You loving them or spending time you have left with them won't feed them after you're gone or pay the debt you've left behind you + How in the world is stealing money from your husband and giving it to your lover to solve HIS problems a "Proactive decision"??
@@thecatch4648 Skyler explained it SO many times, did you pay attention? In that situation, Ted's problems weren't just HIS. It involved Skyler as well because she signed those documents. Him being her lover (or ex lover) was not relevant in her decision. Therefore, if they caught Ted, they would also investigate other people involved with the crimen -aka SKYLER-. If that happened, not only would she be in trouble for signing illegal documents, but also for being involved with THE most searched drug cook and destroy her family. She gave Ted that money (that she was sure they wouldn't need, since Walter kept bringing insane amounts of money) so he would use it to keep himself safe and therefore Skyler and her family safe. Skyler did whatever was in her hands to make sure she didn't draw ANY kind of attention, which is the safest thing to do when you are doing something illegal.
@@maruguida8056 Lol. “Did you pay attention?” Did you pay attention to the fact that skyler willingly cooked Ted’s books after confronting him about how it was illegal and wrong? She did that for him, not her family, and then she had to pay for it with Walter’s drug money that she apparently wanted nothing to do with. If her justification is that he’d keep making more then well.. that’s essentially enabling the whole ordeal. At that point they actually could’ve gotten out of the life with a decent amount of money, but I wouldn’t blame Skyler since she didn’t know the urgency of the situation. Still pretty pathetic to think that without Walter’s drug money she would’ve been setting herself up for prison time.
Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly. Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother. Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family. When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank. When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter. When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank. Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card At least Joffri had so much less of screen time
@@doriangray104 Damn bro, relax lmaooo what she did is 10% of the evil Walter White caused. He killed and hurt a lot of people and probably killed a few lot more with his meth. He bombed a nursing home, for fuck's sake lmfaoooooooo have sex incel
People don't like when a woman takes control of their own life. They think she should have stood by her husband no matter what. They think Walt has the right to risk his family, because it's HIS family. But Skyler is an intelligent human being and brave enough to protect her children against their father.
Basically, whoever hated Skyler got manipulated by Walter White the TV character. That's somehow really funny but also kind of sad because of how easily people can be influenced :D
I just dislike her because I get it, she's justified, but she takes up too much screentime, and doing nothing of real importance for most of it. You can have morally wrong characters to be absolutely likeable, such as the Joker, and it's a TV show, we being the audience usually relate to the main character and often villains (Walter is both) in ways that are somewhat deeper than just what they do. OFC, if it was real life we wouldn't want to have any mad murder clowns around, no time-stopping vampires, no meth dealing kingpins, but just because we like them doesn't mean they manipulated us, we just dislike Skyler's attitude despite her being in the morally right scale.
I don't get how people get mad at Skyler for cheating. She wanted to get divorced and Walter refused to let her have that divorce. He was holding her hostage in the marriage contract. The relationship was over, even if there wasn't a legal divorce. She didn't cheat on a loving husband. She cheated on a man denying her the divorce. But I guess if your pride is as fragile as Walter's you wouldn't be able to see the nuance of that situation.
I dislike the reason because it doesn't really solve anything. She was HOPING that it would, but considering how Walt is, it very well could have lead to her and her families deaths (considering how unstable he is to resort to crime instead of swallowing his pride and taking payment for his treatments). She still continued on with the affair even after Walt didn't leave her because "It's the only time in my life that I don't feel bad." It's honestly understandable, but it is a mark against her to play these games instead of reporting him like she should have, even when the cops were BEGGING her for a reason and the attorney she was speaking to advised her to do so to save her family. Her hesitation to do the right thing and cut ties with Walt inevitably caused more harm than good to the family in a misguided hope that things would just work themselves out and life would return to normal. That being said though, I still think her sins are bush-league compared to what Walt and almost everyone else in the show were doing, and still understandable (but not the right choices).
First of all fuck Walt. Second of all you're wrong. Skylar is still in the wrong if my wife who im still legally married to cheated on me even if we hadn't seen each other in years by law she is still committing infedility. White knights jsut try to use this moment to defend Skylar when in truth 2 wrongs don't make a right. Also Skylar should be in prison. Walt had it coming.
@@doriangray104 Are you going to elaborate or are you going to continue crying in every comment because you're triggered someone called you out for irrationally hating a character
i watched this show with my friend and it blew my mind that people didn't like Skyler. She is such a realistic character who does what she believes is the best thing to do. What she does, specifically DOSNT shows her loyalty to her family. My favorite scenes were ironically my friend's least favorite. When Skyler cheated on Walt, I saw it as a power move. People only saw her as a bitchy woman and her cheating was like her flipping off everyone who hated her. She did it to show Walt how easy it was to do the wrong thing, how she never did! honestly, the only time i felt a bit unhappy was when she smoked, but seriously! it just showed how human she was, that she too had issues! Not to mention she was literally the first person to figure everything out. She was a queen.
Walt is probably the funniest example of "a bad guy who the audience idolized" considering how pathetic he is and how he even fails to live up to the tough-guy archetype. The rare times he does something undeniably cool are accompanied with him wimply trying to manipulate everyone into thinking he's cooler than he is. I honestly think that theatrics and his usefulness are the only reasons he wasn't killed off all the way back in season 3. Even the "Say my name" scene doesn't read as badassery and asserting dominance to me, it was more like Walt begging to be recognized for his achievements to a generally chill and confused assortment of criminals who treat crime as a job, not as some mark of power
Yeah when I first watched the "Say My Name" scene, because of the notoriety and how fucking beloved it is, I thought it was gonna be some super badass moment. No, it's just really awkward lmaoo Walter White is just like Patrick Bateman, a fucking deranged loser. That's it. And yet, just like Bateman, he's subject to idolization and being the face of Sigma Energy. It's the exact takeaway the writers are making fun of lmao.
I mean you can hate both characters? Walter is the worst character in breaking bad and Im still going to hate Skyler for being super annoying...I mean that's kind of the point of her character. You guys are arguing against strawmen...
bro you do realise the show exists to follow the story of Walter white? you can't kill him off in season 3 lmao. That's the worst take I've ever seen about breaking bad wtf
I didnt even know she was hated so much i actually felt bad for her.. when i watched it i was way more irritated with walter, how he constantly made stupid decisions and refused to communicate. He basically acted as if Skyler should just deal with the fact he was a murderer and druglord
genuinely- people who sympathise with the murdering, manipulative, self absorbed, CHILD KILLING, drug overlord and hate his wife who is wholeheartedly trying to live a normal life and keep her children safe while everything her husband does puts all of them in danger..... I just don't get it.
i’m 15. i just watched it, but i did watch it from the lens of HATING Walt, because I thought the show was overrated by how much everyone raved about it. This gave me the lens that “Walt doesn’t deserve sympathy” which only grew as i saw his selfish actions and terrible manipulations. I felt bad for everyone Walt had to be with, particularly Skyler and Jesse, especially at the end. He ruined both of their lives, and tortured them physically and mentally. On rewatches, this revelation only grows more and more, because you’re watching with a more open mind for extra details.
I think this is the most sensible opinion. People can justify her actions all they want but at the end of the day she was a hypocrite (Especially when she started laundering money) that needlessly gave all of Walt's money away to her side man, and ended up putting her entire family's life in danger for it. Never really liked her as a character after that scene. The only lenience I'll give is that Walter is terrible for even putting them all in a life threatening situation, but she outright made the situation worse. Does she deserve to be absolutely hated? No. Is she justified? A case can be made that she is. Can I see and understand why people don't like her? I'd be lying if I said I didn't. It's setting a pretty low bar to say she's a good person just because she's not as bad as Walter.
The reason the audience hates Skyler isn't because she stands in Walt's way, but that she gets in the way of the plot itself. While other antagonists amplify the tension and excitement, Skyler delays it. She is a plot block. The second is that while her worst quality may not be as bad as other characters, it is the most annoying....which is her acting high, mighty, and having the moral high ground while she participates in the criminal enterprise. It also didn't help her that one of the first things we see about her is giving Walt a sad, sad 50th birthday hand job while acting like she is giving him a huge treat.
She acted like that long before Walt broke bad. And before she even knew about the drugs, and only knew that he was dying of cancer, she made his life miserable. That’s the real reason people don’t like her.....most people were smart enough to realize in the first episode that Skylar white, was a miserable, nagging b!tch long before she ever had a justifiable reason to do so.
I just finished breaking bad. I honestly was waiting for it to be more ambiguous with regards to Walter's actions, based on how so many people liked him. But come on, it's so clear that it's a cautionary tale. Wonderful show
I watched BB for the first time just recently and to avoid spoilers I didn’t look on social media or engage with fan content until I had finished. I was so surprised to hear that everyone hated skyler, I thought she was a great and very realistic character, I even enjoyed watching some of her plot lines. Anyways, I still don’t know why she’s so universally hated, even more than hank and Marie, who are a lot more dislikable in my opinion.
This! Marie made me incredibly angry so many times! Her and Skyler's relationship is great though. There's so much between the lines. Hank is... complicated. I really liked the character for the most. He has negative traits like being a show off, hiding his emotions behind a wall of fragile manliness, not being very tactful a lot of times, etc. But overall I found him more sympathetic. He seems to have a good heart, he genuinely cares for his friends and family, his struggle with PTSD and injury put him in a bad space and he mostly gets over it, he's really competent at his job and takes it seriously and - always helpful in making a character sympathetic - he's funny.
It's a fictional show having realistic responses isn't exactly a good character trait, if it was the show would have only lasted till that episode where Walt said he had half a mil in cash in his duffel bag. She's played very well though so the hatred for the actress is very stupid.
@@snapdowndarsee4959 any show grounded in any sense of realism should have realistic responses. Also, realistic responses don’t literally mean “the most accurate to real life” but rather “the most logical responses for a given character within the world that has been established”.
Im in the exact same boat as you in terms of my thoughts on Skyler. I'm currently still watching the show, so I don't know if she gets worse in seasons four and five, but currently, I find her very likable and well written. I've heard of the massive hatedom she has, and the various theories as to why she has it. Also, no actor or actress should be threatened and harassed because they play a character people don't like.
You would kind of hope around season 3 people would have learned not to hate her when the creators made the mouthpiece for their anger a whiny teenager who has no idea what's going on, but critical thinking was never their strong suit.
@P J In a way, it's not the fandom's fault. Renegade Cut has a good video on how dissonant the acknowledgment that Rick is a shitty person is when held up against the framing of him still always ending up right or justified in acting shitty and nihilistic. It's hard to make a character really shitty but still continuously make them the one who solves all the problems and not construct a narrative that reads as "Being a shitty person is justifiable, actually, if you were as smart as Rick you'd act like an asshole too." He contrasts it with It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, where the show is about terrible people who are framed as always be wrong - and even in that case some people still look at the Always Sunny cast as somehow cool or sympathetic or redeemable.
@P J Saying it's not the fandom's fault isn't the right way to put it; it's more that the fandom isn't pulling this stuff out of nowhere. There are things within the text that encourage this reading, and I think that Breaking Bad does this too, albeit significantly less so.
I remember when Walt intentially let Jesse's GF die, and *then* it finally hit me that Walt wasn't the anti-hero; he was the villian. I felt stupid for not seeing that before. Skyler became my hero from then on out. The show really was a masterpiece of getting the audience to identify with the villian and hate the hero, but eventually they turned it around and showed you what they'd done. I think they made it pretty clear by the final season.
@@turolretar In what universe is marital rape “making tough choices”? And saying nobody deserves that, BUT *IF* SOMEONE DID it’d be her? Please seek therapy
George Carlin once said of people: "Think of a person with average intelligence, and remember that half of them are _dumber than that!"_ Not only can you not expect most people, who aren't creative to understand the thinking of creative people, but the fact is you can almost never predict human behavior. You were talking about TWD in the other thread, right? People hated Andrea and Lori, but they love Michonne and Carol and Maggie. If you have particularly flawed characters, or characters with particularly grating flaws you get all the people who disliked them *PLUS* the misogynists, and they amplify each other through interaction. For that reason you'd have to be pretty astute to predict whether writing, editing, casting etc. decisions will lead to a hatewave.
I always had a question about this. Never understand why people hate her liked that. People can relate to criminals, murders, scammers, stealers, gang members, drug dealers, corrupt lawyers, corrupt politicians, corrupt officers, psychopaths, torturers but not the relative normal wife lol
I'm probably sure the developers would not expect this reaction, or at least not in this level. Edit: 04:30 Yep, more one thing the dumb part of the fanbase didn't get it. Like the "Walter White isn't dead "theory", "Walter White is cool badass guy who did all for his family" and probably more stupid stuff
People can relate to Walt because everything he did was understandable, all of his actions were usually logical, and always consistent Skylar was- increasingly as the series went on and her role in the story grew- a wild card antagonizing force based almost entirely around emotional outbursts, who believed whatever the dramatic plot necessitated her to believe at the time, whether or not it was consistent with her past motivations or made sense in context
Normal Wife? Is it "Normal" that your actions to having your husband be a drug dealer is to start laundering his money, smoking while pregnant, stealing Walt's money and cheating out of spite instead of calling the police the instant she found out about it?
i think people hate Skylar because she‘s by far the most uncomfortably realistic person in the show. she‘s not larger than life, she‘s not a perfect person, but also not evil at all. she reacts very sensibly to the information she has, and handles her life getting derailed surprisingly well. but she knows Walt, and the person he used to be, and by her pure existence derails all of his grand delusions about himself. She knows that what Walt does is wrong, and despite her flaws is a decent person and sticks by that, reminding the audience that actually Walt isn’t half the tragic hero he considers herself.
imagine your husband is sneaking off to do things, and when you need to know how he's doing due to him having CANCER and financial issues , he just dodges your questions and emotionally manipulates you. imagine your family falling apart as your husband dives into a criminal world, and a family member dies because of your husband. Now do you think you wouldn't act irrationally?
She did not acted irrationally. In fact she was one of the most rational people in the show. She stayed silent and cooperated with Walt because she knew otherwise it would cause chaos to her family. She gave good advice to instead buy car wash instead of some laser playground that would’ve caused Walt to produced nonsensical bullshits, or when Walt just bought expensive car where it could’ve aroused suspicion at that moment. She was always the one that keep it nicely under the rug. The plan was all for them to stay low profile, launder the money, and their kids can live nicely without arousing suspicion. And it was proven once Skyler was in the loop, everything was peaceful for a moment. But because of Walter’s own egoistical actions that he brought upon himself, that plan was ruined. Walter’s smart, but he is not at all rational, and Skyler is rational side that he needed until Heisenberg’s ego got the best of him
@@crappyj7603 Bro she smoked cigarettes while pregnant?. Like REALLY early season 1.. he honestly wasn't even that shady at that point and time. So yeah... acted irrationally.
@@hypeman1825 yeah just because she was manipulated doesn’t mean we can’t hate her for being a cheat, smoking while pregnant and continuing to smoke in front of the baby, that’s what I hated her for
“The show isn’t interested in having any character be a morally pure-cut individual”. You hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, a LOT of people watched this show at too young an age when their media literacy level was still stuck at “good guys” and “bad guys” and “protagonist = hero”. I doubt many of those people, who make up the majority of Skyler-haters/Walt deifiers, have actually gone back and given the show another full watch as adults.
I agree, I feel like the rise in Breaking Bad’s popularity within recent meme culture means that a lot of young kids are drawn to it. As a result there is a growing lack of maturity and critical thinking present in recent discourse related to the show. The excuse before, when the show was airing, was that such behaviours such as sexism etc were more prevalent and tolerated, but now when things have changed, it’s just weird. I suppose the popularity of people like Andrew Tate is an example of why a lot of young kids watching the show are so quick to make these judgments.
That probably made no sense at all, but I really agree on the bad guys and good guys comment. My younger brother recently watched both better call Saul and breaking bad, and saw things that way. People cannot always be one way or the other, just as things aren’t always black and white, but he wasn’t able to see that.
This might come to you as a shock but perhaps those "media illiterate" individuals simply made a conscious choice, and calling them "media illiterate" just because you disagree with their choice is quite immature of you.
@@rusi6219 You don't have to love Skyler or have her be your favorite character but if you watch the show and come out thinking "wow she's such a fucking bitch" and that she's "just as bad as Walt", then yeah you are media illiterate. Might be a hot take but there IS such a thing as being wrong in the interpretation you give to the media you consume, regardless of how popular that interpretation is.
So, I was addicted to meth for a while and had to stop watching Breaking Bad partway through s02 (all the imagery), so I didn't get further in the series, where a lot of Walter's actions come back to bite him, and a lot of Skyler's highly reasonable predictions come true. But even in that first little bit of the show, I could feel myself just unfairly despising Skyler. Part of it was that she reminded me of the verbally abusive Catholic soccer moms I grew up around (weirdly personal and specific), but there was another, large, less obvious/more insidious aspect to it, since I rly, rly hated her from the start. And I think you seriously nailed all of it in this video -- there's another part of me and p much all men (and just ppl in general since, y'know... widespread social issue), deep down inside, that did just hate Skyler for essentially being the "shrill annoying harpy, getting in the way of a man's journey toward power." Like, I'd get a little thrill every time Walter did something a Boss Man would do, and I'd just cringe so hard at all of Skyler's "nagging." And weirdly enough, my politics and perspectives on that stuff had already been very activism and anti-oppression focused -- so it's just incredible to see you unravel this in such an eloquent way, that'll maybe get some of us to either reconsider our own toxic perspectives, or, for ppl who think they've mostly transcended toxic masculinity -- to realize when it's still in us, just beneath the surface, and how that can often be reflected in the ways we react to media. (Also, I've never been a dealer, but as a former addict myself: Skyler did nothing wrong. I've seen some shit, and a LOT of meth dealers eventually disappear in The Bad Way. It's not a job ppl can have unless they're p much only responsible for themselves, and themselves alone, imo).
Very good comment. I have to admit, although I'm a man, I never hated Skyler and I find that kind of misogyny very alien. Like, OF COURSE she tried to get in Walter's way. How is it not obvious? Do I think this way because I'm queer? I dunno. But it might have something to do with it. I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with straight men.
For me, the part I hate most about Skyler is that she's every bit as bad of a spouse and parent as Walt (probably worse actually) but believes that's she's somehow morally superior.
Didn't love her at first but the more unforgivable Walts actions became the more I started sympathising with Skyler to the point where she became one of my favorite characters, easily one of the most well-written and "human" characters on the entire show.
Same here. I always had respect for her, the kind that I lost for Walter like a season in. I understand and empathize with her motives more than almost anyone else’s.
I must say that her writing really droped at the start of season 5 where I am currently at. I actually liked her before. But maybe she'll redeem herself
People's opinions of others are often influenced more by the person's persona and how they influence them emotionally rather than purely their actions. Its perfectly reasonable to hate Skylar.
@@brandonkey181 It's not reasonable to hate Skyler. You can name any example of anything she did but absolutely nothing reasonably warrants the extreme, irrational hatred so many people seem to have of her.
I watched it for the first time at the start of quaranitine and I just always felt really sorry for Skylar. In fact the level of hatred described in this video is what I felt towards Walt which did nothing but rise as the series progressed lmao.
@@DrCooch Skyler acts as a narcissist sometimes. Many people are scarred by narcissist female relative, typically their mother, and this can provoke really strong reaction. For some her character seems like cheap, easy way to evoke reaction and emotion from audience. A more subtle approach to her character could have worked better IMO. She's a bit one-dimensional.
I genuinely worry for the people that think Skyler is on the same level of evil as Walt. She was the victim of constant abuse, gaslighting, and wrongful condemnation from her whole family, and took the best course of actions to protect both Walt and the family from the start. A sad reality that many people in the real world are in the same position as Skyler, and are just as villainized for it.
Ok Skyler is definetely not as bad as Walt, but to claim she was a victim of abuse is stretching it. She had multiple oportunities to rat Walt out when it was starting out, to the point of even having the police at her house in front of her, but she got greedy just like him. She saw the money and fell into the same trap Walt did, thinking this was "for the family", and in the end her actions to "protect the family" almost lead to their deaths in the end of season 4, when she gave the money to Ted to cover up the tax evasion.
@@flydrop8822 Dude what are you talking about? She did not see the money and get greedy- He manipulated her, lied to her, and BROKE INTO THEIR HOUSE TO FORCE HER TO LET HIM BACK INTO THE FAMILY. His actions to "protect the family" (which he admits later is bullshit) almost kills him and EVERY member of his family MULTIPLE times. All she wanted was everything to become relatively stable, she just wanted her family to stay together while Walter was actively trying to rip it apart by prioritizing being a drug lord over anything else. He routinely abuses her via manipulation, coercion, and ridiculing her ideas anytime she opens her mouth. She is nowhere NEAR as terrible as Walter was, the ONLY reason she accepted his money is because they were going to *lose their house*. She ONLY ever did anything to protect her family, all Walter cared about was his ego and pride.
@@malchickoleander "broke into their house", she called the police and didn't tell anything to them, she had her lawyer tell her to report him and she didn't listen, she helped him hide his money and was slowly becoming accostumed to his way if it weren't for the insanely stressful situations that came about soon (like the one with Gus Fring and Hank finding out). She is not as terrible as Walter, but she is guilty too, and if it wasn't for how he lied on phone to the cops about the way he manipulated and treated her in the last episode, she would be in jail.
@@flydrop8822 And literally all of those things are because of the manipulation, coercion, and downright intimidation Walter imposed on Skyler. I do not know WHERE you are getting the idea that he lied on the phone to the cops, firstly because I haven't seen the last episode yet and secondly because he is absolutely a manipulative abusive coercive piece of shit to her for the ENTIRE show. Point by point: 1. There is literally zero question both in-universe and as a viewer as to whether or not Walter broke into the house. He definitely did. He manipulated her AND the police by flat out LYING TO THEM and interacting with the baby in an "ohh I'm just a misunderstood husband :(((" way, both of which pressured her to keep quiet. Are we forgetting, again, that he FLAT OUT LIED TO THE COPS IN FRONT OF HER? 2. She was trying to protect her family, as she explained TO the lawyer. She only ever accepted his money because she was terrified of what it'd do to her family if he was caught, and they desperately needed it so they wouldn't lose their house and livelihoods. 3. Yes, she helped him hide his money and grew accustomed to his ways. Victims of abuse often react this way, this is an extremely realistic response from someone who has been exposed to such high-stress situations for so long and has been manipulated for so long. Whether or not she is legally guilty, which as you point out yes she is (but even then, literally because Walter explained how he abused and manipulated her she didn't go to jail which means she still isn't), she is fucking Jesus compared to Walter. The man who has murdered, who manufactures drugs, who actively ruins the lives of every single person around him. Walter White is an evil son of a bitch and he uses Skyler as a tool to further his own selfish desires. He does not care about her. She is abused and silenced into dealing with his shit for the whole show. Is she a perfect person? Absolutely not, no one is. But she is nowhere even CLOSE to the deplorable person Walter is.
@@malchickoleander you should definetely watch the last episodes before drawing any conclusions, I am sorry I spoiled it to you. Regardlessly, you are still stretching. Yes Walter lied to the cops in front of her, wtf does that have to do with manipulating HER? He was just lying as he usually does to basically everyone. There was no coercion, at no point did he force her into anything (outside from that sexual assault scene way back... That was definetely gross from him, but doesn't effect the drug production part) and when he broke into the house he did so because he didn't care anymore if she was gonna throw him to the cops (and the only reason the show kept going is because she CHOSE not to). "everyone makes mistakes" dude i dont know about you but i havent participated in a multi million dollar money laundring acheme from drug trafficking. Maurie made mistakes, Hank made mistakes. Walt Jr. made mistakes. Skyler made *severe* mistakes. And Walter, yes he has done worse than all, no doubt on that. But to claim she "just mades mistakes" like everyone else? That is 100% excuse. If you don't care about getting spoiled: What happens in the end is that Walter White makes a call to his house (which was wired by the cops at that time), basically humiliating Skyler to her last fibers of being and proudly claiming he was behind Hank's death. We are lead to believe he went off the worst end with this, but later it is revealed he did this intentionally to drive off the police's attention on Skyler and make it seem like she was nothing but a victim (which I just outlined it was not case). He later speaks to her again and finally tells her the truth about everything, while also giving her the coords for Hank and Steve corpses (who were murdered by some nazis Walter hired to kill Jesse, and ended up killing Hank and Steve instead, stealing Walt's money and making Jesse a slave). Walter ends up killing all the nazis and dies. Skyler ends up innocented due to his last efforts to clear up her name.
At first I considered myself a Skyler hater, but after my second watch through I realized she’s one of the most realistically written characters that grounds the insane adventure Walt takes you on, and gives a realistic look at what a wife or s/o would do in this situation. I still find myself being annoyed with Skyler if I ever think about the happy birthday scene, but I also now understand that it’s not nearly as bad as some of the things Walt has done that many people overlook when hating on Skyler. People often forget that while Walt is the protagonist, he’s not a good person. Yes you root for him but you also have to think how he’s the bad guy. All the issues in the show wouldn’t happen if he wasn’t so money and power hungry.
The main reason why she’s so hated though is that it’s almost as she’s being presented as the direct obstacle Walter has to get over in order to succeed.
Part of the reason she's hated is because she is realistic. Keep in mind a lot of shows viewers are probably married guys with stressful jobs and nagging cheating wives who boss them around, and Skylars character just strikes a nerve. Meanwhile they identify with Walt because who wouldn't want to have a fantasy of rising to the top in something?
Ahh yes, I just typed this in a different thread…. It’s also a bit of wanting the spouse or partner to support the main character in that which takes the story forward. A partner in crime instead of what would (most likely) happen in reality. I’m glad to see this perspective here as well!
I hated Skyler on my first watch through. But I watched the entire show in a week and I was suffering from the "Criminal High" and set in the idea of Walt doing it for his family and thus everything he did was morally level. It wasn't until my 2nd watch that I noticed all the nuances, I noticed Walt was doing it for himself and dragging his family in this world that they were either oblivious to, or did not want to be in. My 2nd watch through, Skyler was 100% a victim. She is not squeaky clean, but she was in a very controlling and abusive relationship. If you are coming out of the end of the show, thinking Walt is some kind of saviour and that Skyler is an annoying bratty wife, you might have missed some valuable context.
Doesn't Walter literally says at the final season he did it all for himself and never did it for the money or his family. Those were only lies he told himself to justify what he did.
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EDIT: Hey! You might notice this video is almost 3 years old. I was just finishing Better Call Saul when this video got a sudden boost in views, so if you'd like to hear my updated thoughts they're available here: ua-cam.com/video/yQxrxKp62kc/v-deo.html
Here I am hot off the presses with my Breaking Bad takes like 5 years after the series ended. I have things to say! Are they good things? That's for you to decide, and argue endlessly about in the comments section. I look forward to reading what you have to say! As always, please remember to share if you enjoy, and have a great weekend.
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Amazing video as always
Could you do a video on billions?
Who were the voices we heard? I didn’t see credits for them anywhere.
At the beginning of your video you mentioned how Walter gaslit Skyler. Did anyone else notice how Walter gaslit us, the audience? 🤔
I wish comment downvotes still mattered. Product Placement is the dead pet on the information superhighway.
@@lyudmilapavlichenko7551 I think you're right on the money. that's exactly what's being pointed out here, and it's actually really interesting how invested people get in the narrative that Walt is supposed to have become some kind of badass.
like... okay, when Walt says "I am the danger" and you look at the expression on Skyler's face, it's like... oh shit. she's been saying that all along, and it's _exactly_ what she's afraid of. Walt is the danger. saying that to Skyler could never have possibly reassured her. it's almost comically tone deaf, because the same bravado that Walt sees as making him a secure person to rely on, makes Skyler see him as an absolute crazy person who is going to get her and her children killed. here he is, shouting in her face that he is dangerous. and he's loony enough to think that he's making a good case for himself. or manipulative enough to disguise a blatant threat as reassurance. Skyler is to stay in line _because_ Walt is the danger.
and it's a total testament to the way male ego warps one's value system. Walt sees his own violence as a point of pride. if a violent person threatens his family, he prefers to know that he is violent enough to outmatch them and fend them off. that's the pipe dream. but there is no consideration of what might end this violence. escalation is the only path that Walt sees, because proving the strength of his violence is more important than finding peace for the people in his life. his stated motivation of providing for his family is directly contradicted by the things he does. contrast this with Skyler, who works a mundane job for mundane pay... it isn't glamorous, or particularly interesting, but it functions and Walt doesn't.
I think people like to see Walt as being some kind of scrappy underdog in this situation, but because Walt drives the plot and controls so much of what happens in the narrative, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Skyler wasn't exactly my favorite character, but if you send death threats to an actor/actress because you dislike a character they played, you are a loser.
that only means that they did a fantastic job
@@plum.world.entertainment 😐
Loser is putting it way too kindly. You have to be unbelievably mentally deficient and have no processing capacity to do something so mindless
Agreed. She was WRITTEN to be a hated part of the show. And she pulled it off maybe a little too well? A show is only as good as its tension, drama, and stressful situations for any protagonist. If she was just bright and cheery, things would have been boring. A+++ to Anna Gunn for portrayed a splendid nemesis to the protagonist! Only a MORON would apply that to the actress herself.
Finally, logic
I never understand why people harass actors when they don't like a character. Like the actor has any kind of control over the narrative.
If anything, it's a sign of a good actor, that they can get people to have such a visceral reaction to a fictional character
Only actor I've known that can control the story's narrative is Tom Cruise, usually for the worse.
yea I know give her a break no need to hate on her looks because you don't like her character in a tv show xD
Some people cannot separate reality from fiction. I remember a time when (in Britain at least) it was actually harmful for an actor’s career to play a rapist in a TV show. It’s a purely anecdotal example and a terrible one because I can’t remember the show, but I remember an article interviewing an actor from Coronation Street or Eastenders and how his role in the show had affected his personal life and people’s relationships to him.
While that's true you do know an actor with creative control, you just dont want to think about it.
Example- Adam Sandler
Legit the worst thing about Skyler was her singing happy birthday to Ted
And her husband being Walter white, yo
It was so cringey it was probably the worst scene in the show
No it was her fucking ted
Fr
@@blueyellowandgreen yea everytime I rewatch the show I make sure to skip that scene lmao
"Skyler is always trying to get in the way of Walt's life"
Walt's life:
This is so well put lol
I’m so glad I’m smart enough to understand the difference between a character and an actor.
God, Bryan Cranston is such a manipulative psycho! He's just so unlikable and angry. I can't believe they brought a man like him onto Malcolm in the Middle. Frankie Munez deserves a better father figure
Trainer Auro thankfully I’m smart enough to get so absorbed in a story to not completely despise a pretty reasonable person who’s just trying to keep her family together
Another type of toxic fanbase that I dislike is that the type of fans that invested in onscreen couple too much that they want the actor/actress to be together in real life even when both of them already have a family of their own.
@@nont18411 As incredible as Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt's on=screen chemistry (and even off-screen) was on Parks and Rec, Aubrey Plaza is in a committed relationship, and has been since 2011. She was dating her current partner even while April and Andy were becoming the internet's favourite couple. Chris Pratt is a Dad! Like, with someone else!?
But none of that matters, because everyone knows celebrities aren't real people. Now kiss for my amusement!
Nirawit Karnjanasomwong I especially hate it with Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. She literally is a wife and a mother.
"Skylar...didn't deserve the great life she has!"
*earlier showed the scene where two cartel members with axes break into her house, with the intent to hack up her husband*
Yes, truly an enviable existance. Such ingratitude.
Plus....the White family life....wasn't great pre or post meth
Skyler was a waitress when she and Walt met, and I think it was always a bit implied that she came from a poorer background (it's been a while since I watched the series though, so maybe I'm wrong). I took the "she doesn't deserve the great (middle class) life that she has" as based on that.
granted, the cartel dudes were so ridiculously campy and over the top it was hard to take them seriously. Worst point in the series imho.
@@yltraviole "I took the "she doesn't deserve the great (middle class) life that she has" as based on that."
Which wouldn't be accurate either since Skyler studied economics and was an accountant at Beneke's in between childbirths, so she definitely contributed a lot to their lifestyle.
@@Medytacjusz I got that feeling too sometimes, but then again real life Mexican cartel members are notorious for gaudy displays of wealth and their criminal life style, let alone the over the top, gruesome ways they kill people who cross them, so the cousins are probably more true to real life than not.
« The fact that she’s so obsessed with what he’s doing »
Gee it’s almost like they’re married or something
@Corleone shhh.
Corleone looks like someone is past his bedtime
@Corleone yikes, why he a soy boy from these two sentences, just curious because his sarcasm didn't strike me as weak or beta?
@@parisknight1840 lol im just curious as to what makes the commentor a soy boy
@Corleone yikes
I wanted to hate her initially but when you put yourself in her shoes, it's hard to hate her. She was made a prisoner in her own home and marriage all while worrying about the consequences Walt's actions would have on her and her children.
She is a hateable character even if Walt wasnt a criminal
i just finished the show and the whole week i watched it i didn't look for anything on the internet about it. I can tell you i never wanted to hate her or hated her, the only morally wrong thing she did was cheat and that's so little compared to the evil walter did
@@b4sh936why is she hateable? Sounds like misogyny. Go touch grass and get therapy.
@@Ghiscari she wasn’t perfect and didn’t always make good decisions. She did voluntarily launder Walt’s money and got involved nefarious activities. But there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that Walt put her in a no win situation. No matter what she did, her family was fcked. I think she did what she did because she did love Walt and wanted to control the situation until things went too far.
@@maximvs272 they were separated. That doesn't even qualify as cheating
People who idolize Walter and his behavior are the same people who think the lesson of Fight Club was to start your own Fight club
lol
True
You’re so right!!!
Gotta admit, I'm still keen on fight clubs 'blank out the debt' bit. Not that blowing up banks servers would do that, not now. But... Y'know, any show where banks are forced into giving a Debt Jubilee gives me a small thrill of happiness.
They are also people who think that Rick from Rick and Morty is amazing and try to act like him. Or people who wached Joker and thought that it justifies solving social issues with murder...
You don't like Skyler because the show was a goddamned masterpiece written to make you sympathize with a psychopath without even realizing you were doing it.
Nah... human mind can sympathize with more than one characters at the same time. they just sexist af grl
@@AnUnbotheredQueen
So if i dislike skylar. And equally as much Hank because they directly oppose the psycho i sympathize with thats automstically Makes me sexist? Got it
@@simonkerstgens6888I meant that you can sympathetize with both people who are having confilct. because you can undrestand both position and why they are behaving like that in a well-made drama like this one. if you don't like all of the characters who is against your fav even tho those characters have the exact same amount of resonable background story and all that, that won't make you sexist but... it's kind of one-dimensional.
@Justin Bergman they both have feelings, psychopaths lack empathy and remorse for causing unhappiness, sociopaths have antisocial personality disorder
no offense but if you watch rhis show and love walt, to me it just looks like your terrible at forming your own opinion. like read beyond the surface. youre not even meant to like him.
the show is called 'breaking bad' and people don't see that it's about a guy who slowly turns evil...
Corleone yeah dude. Constant gaslighting, emotional abuse, intimidation, lying, killing, selling out his partner who was then put into slavery. Walt is just a badass.
I love when people say Walter "slowly" turned evil. In the first episode of the show, his botched drug-making operation causes him to kill one person and kidnap another. Further, Walter demonstrates his willingness to murder what he believes are police responding to his criminality. In the second episode, he's dissolving the corpse in a bathtub, and in the third he garrotes his kidnapping victim to death. That's rather more precipitous than the show's reputation suggests.
@@thud3rcl33z Well, no. In those scenes, you can tell that Walter was very much disgusted by the acts that he did during the first season. We see this change as time goes on.
@@mario167100 Feelings of regret or remorse do not absolve evil actions. Evil people can be disgusted by their evil, even as they do it. Granted, Walter did become eviler as the show continued, but it's very difficult to argue he wasn't basically evil from the beginning of the series.
Additionally, the past problems Walter had with his former business associates at Grey Matter (particularly Gretchen) suggest he has a significant history of problems associated with his toxic personality and ego. It also could explain why a person with his skill set was relegated to the thankless, underappreciated role of high school chemistry teacher. There is enough in the show to support the inference that Walter's cancer didn't cause the darkness of his heart, it just disincentivized him from suppressing and not acting on it.
@@thud3rcl33z Oh yeah, I agree with that Walt had major problems with his ego that made him more predetermined to choose the path he went down, but I feel like his actions in the first season were alot more out of self-preservation than just straight gangster that he became later on.
Like, if we placed season 5 walter in season 1, he would've been very noncaring about killing even innocent people. If we did the reverse and set season 1 walt in season 5, he would be way more apprehensive about doing anything such as that.
Finding this video 4 years on but just need to say this as well because NOBODY seems to ever mention this detail: When Skyler slept with Ted, this was during the time in which Skyler was fighting for a divorce from Walt, who literally would not leave. From her end, the relationship was over. Walt is the only one actually framing it as an affair, as he REFUSES to follow through with separation and keeps LARPing as a father and husband at the house. This always drives me insane??? Buddy she's dumping you, you're just not leaving? She's literally free to do whatever (or whoever) she wants.
Why would he leave when it's his own house.
@@heinzriemann3213 Are you kidding?
@@mdan6941 why would I?
I recently finished the show and wanted to discuss my experience with fellow fans and just like you discovered that half the fans are brain dead and are part of the heissenberg cult 😂😂😂
I never hated it for that reason, I just thought it was gross for a person to have an affair with their boss
It's fine to hate a character. Thats a sign of a good actor/actress. Actually hating and actor/actress for playing a character is over the line though and just nuts.
Exactly! It means they're doing their job well. I feel bad when the actors who play characters like Skyler (or a actually bad characters like Joffrey) get hate and death threats for the actions of their characters. Are some people truly unable to distinguish fiction from reality?
It's not just nuts, it's incredibly stupid.
@@dipdop9734 No they in fact are not. It sucks to realize but people really are that stupid that they don't realize shows have writers and staff. They don't want to think about any of that stuff, they just want someone to cheer and someone to harass and dump on.
That’s actually a compliment on hating on actors because that means they did they are really good at their jobs. I hated Arutrito from Money Heist so bad I despise the guy in real life. He ain’t so bad lol
Poor Kelly Marie Tran
Funny how Skyler haters actually think Walt is “doing it for his family”, forgetting all the horrible shit that happened could’ve been avoided if Walt accepted the Gretchen’s money
@@yaki-pm7tume when im a filthy woman hater
@@yaki-pm7tu If this is your actual take away from Breaking Bad you failed horribly at comprehending it.
@@yaki-pm7tu Breaking Bad isn't about Skyler. It's about Walter. That's why he's the main character. Skyler is just caught in the crossfire of Walter's bad decisions. They're bad in their own ways but I can guarantee you the show makes it very obvious that Walter is worse. Walter is the one putting the family in jeopardy by bringing home drug money. Skyler just doesn't want to be associated with that which is completely fair. This isn't a matter of different readings, dude. This is about you and many other fans like you displaying your incredible lack of media comprehension and then getting all indignant and mad when you're told your interpretation is wrong. Learn how to critique media before you get snarky with me.
@@yaki-pm7tu Okay, so you actually are going through with playing dumb and gaslighting me. It's not an insult it's objectively what you're doing here, so you can get mad and throw out snide remarks all you want. Insulting me like an edgy keyboard warrior doesn't change anything. Although I don't see you as much of anything else, so...
I responded to a comment of you saying,
"you don't understand, breaking bad is about Skyler's effect on Walter, not the effect of Walter's ego on the entire family." It is literally the first comment under this thread. If you're gonna try and gaslight and resort to snide remarks, do it over something that can't be easily verified. It makes you look like a back peddling coward when you write a comment and then pretend you never said that to save yourself from admitting you were wrong. Just take your L and move on.
@@yaki-pm7tu I see that my claim that you are gaslighting got your ass up in a tizzy "Grr how dare you criticize my behavior?! Are you 14 or something?!" 🤣🤣🤣
Stay mad. Don't care about your feelings. Stop being stupid if you don't want to get called out 😂✌🏾
I always just assumed it was because Skylar broke part of the fantasy of the show; a logical person breaking the fantasy that the people closest to us will always see our actions are justified.
honestly it was, hes just trying to bush that its underlying toxic masculinity and brush of any other aargument
She is representation of power fantasy meets reality. I think that's big part of the hate - she drags viewer to the earth and shows that that this idea of dominance and violence is problematic and terrible.
@@alatielinara To be honest, I believe that skylers character isnt exactly morally strong. A lot of the most loved characters on the show frequently stick to their guns on their moral compass whereas she can be seen as a hypocrite, going from anti smoking to getting into smoking, being against drug business to then assisting both walt and ted. She does not have a strong moral compass and because of this she does not warrant respect
no she’s just annoying
@@thechristopherous789 I agree. I do believe there is some toxic masculinity there, but I don't think that's the ONLY reason people don't care for her. She's not my favorite either, and sometimes the same could be said for Walter. While other characters have their positive attributes and reasons for doing what they do, whenever it's them in a room it feels like they're in a dick measuring contest. It doesn't become about morality or conflicting ideals anymore, but rather how long it takes until they actually separate. I won't lie, its a pretty accurate representation of toxic relationships, but just because it's accurate doesn't mean I keep wanting to sit through it. I agree with both of them to some extent, but their scenes together definitely aren't even close to my favorite part of the show.
It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s definetly disappointing. The show wasn’t about how awesome Walter was, it was quite literally about how he became a bad person 😭
He broke bad?
@@SpaceKadet1454 exactly
Walt didn't break bad; he was always bad. He just managed to supress it in the environment of being a H.S. teacher. The story they tell of the grad student leading into startup company demonstrates the ego driven problems had always been there, and had already caused problems for him and his family.
But it was also about why he became bad. Skyler never understood or cared for how Walter feels. Even before all of the breaking bad thing. I think that's part of the reason why audience hates her.
In hindsight they should have done an episode where it's just from Skyler's perspective, where we see fully how erratic and gaslighty Walt's behaviour is when you're not following his every decision.
Now that would have been a great move.
I would've replaced the fly episode with that tbh
@@vero-kd8vg I thought the fly episode was stellar personally
@@vero-kd8vg I liked the fly episode. But I also would've loved an episode from Skyler's perspective.
there's already an episode when skyler starts leaving the house and smoking and it pisses walter the f. it is basically the episode from her position.
I love Skyler as Walt's constant reality check, like "Walt, you're not the badass druglord you think you are, you're just stacking problems in our family!"
bruh she was causing problems in the beginning, always being a complete control freak, she was one of the reasons why walt embraced the eisenberg personality, he was tired of being pushed around and told what to do.
@@tvshowmemes-jt8eb Yeah bro, I feel tired of being pushed around which is why I became a goddamn drug lord. Your post is more wild than the Amazon Rainforest 💀
Stacking problems like in millions. A cancer ridden school teacher wants to help out his family and this is the thanks he gets 😢
@@doctahjonezthat's an ignorant stance to take however, you don't have to deny Skylar's impact on Walt as a person in order to establish that Walt is still making selfish and irresponsible decisions.
@@ezlomacks6533 well wallts initial idea was not selfish at all, if i have been dying and my family was poor, i would have done something crazy like that too... its absolutely justified.
she's an incredibly well written, realistic character, she's believable and Anna Gunn is a fantastic actress, and yet, I can say that I don't like Skylar- even though I can sympathise with her in places, I don't think she is written for us to like her, but instead to create layers of realism and progress the plot naturally.
This
@@thatbitch1234 EXACTLY
@@thatbitch1234 Tax Fraud = Literally Supplying Drugs to the Cartel
@@thatbitch1234 almost every character in this show is a hypocrite
@@thatbitch1234 Called Skyler a hypocrite for sleeping with someone who commits Tax Fraud when Walt is selling drugs
I feel like the guys I've known who hate Skyler White are usually not the biggest feminists but do have the biggest tantrums when you tell them they could possibly be wrong 🤷♂
It's like they go out of their way to villianize women who stand up for themselves and won't take shit from their abusive psychotic husbands who walk all over them.
I don't find it surprising in a show that fans hype up the main character for doing insideous things as a man and stroking his ego like he's a bad ass for doing it find the angry nagging wife unbearable for getting in the way. It's almost as if the fandom actively encourages sexism. And it's almost as if women's abuse is never taken seriously and people always cry about the guy's life being destroyed in the process because I guess the woman is just doing it out of spite is what most sexist mysoginstic people believe.
I’m a gay chick and I hate Skyler LOL. I know it’s wrong though. Something about her mannerisms and facial expressions. But I watched it a decade ago. Will have to rewatch
@@WetPaintChiIs that the only reason you hate her for?
Buddy, you hate her because you dislike women, has little sympathy for women’s wishes, emotions and etc. and it’s ok to admit you’re just a filthy misogynistic
@7avdes you don't need a real reason to hate a character. I also dont like skyler. I also didn't care that Walt killed people, tbh he could kill children and still would root for him. I like evil characters more. I wanted Walt to build his empire and get rid of the people that betrayed him. Not saying he is a good person but I still want him to succeed, no matter what he does.
Dudes will be like "you gotta separate the person from their work, bro" when an actor does something shitty but then will send Anna Gunn death threats because they hated Skyler.
Well we get what you saying but you dont know if its the same person tho.
Dudes who say that, have no control over other nub nuts so thats why they say something logical.
@@mrpopo5531 While I haven't outright heard them say the exact words I know a few guys who have this view, and even guys I don't know who hated Skyler White to the extent of sending hate mail or threats to Anna Gunn, I would bet money that they are also dismissive when people take issue with their favorite male creators who have been revealed to be abusers, assaulters, etc.
@@AZ-ty7ub I know about the threats, I am just saying why you are wrong on this. I was saying the same shit "you have to seprate actors from characters" this doesnt mean that I send threats to Annna Gunn.
Its better if you edit your comment to "although they were saying that, they never defend her or did something about it". You would ask me like what can they do? Well I dunno, what about the opposite of those death threats, what about positive mails and support to counter death threats to show her that not all people are lunatics. I hate Skyler haters and especially those who send threats, Skyler haters because they are hypocrites and I hate hypocrisy with passion. And those who send threats for obvious reasons of course.
Anyway in general the situation with death threats is really fucked up, look at Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar actor from star wars.
And I agree with what you said last, but also people tend to hate with passions even when theres no proof of any alegetions of anything. Innocent until proven guilty. In general people love gossip and escape their problems when bad things happen to people, and they would "excuse" their joy on misfortune of others with 'oh well he did that to her or she did that to him' to "exuse" their toxic behaviour.
@@mrpopo5531 If you yourself wouldn't do such a thing then I obviously wasn't talking about you or people like you. Congratulations for meeting the bare minimum of decency.
You still said “dudes” implying basically all of them lmao. Don’t fall back on that excuse of “I wasn’t talking to your kind” after making an ignorant strawman argument of a comment.
The actress who played Skylar even received death threats sent to her over this show, as you mentioned - which is outrageous. This character was simply a human being in an impossible situation. Walter White is a murderous, manipulative criminal, in some serious self-denial; yet we are conditioned to like and hope for him. Skylar, because she is a capable person, and tries to do what she thinks is best at the time, is disliked for not being more sympathetic or 'helpful' toward Walter. Even though Walter says the right thing at the end, and ties up all the knots; Skylar and her son are going to be permanently damaged by what's happened, and his little girl will never know anything about her father, other than he was a criminal. I feel terrible for this character.
She could leave him... He wasn't holding her as hostage, you know. She actually complied with him because she still liked him after becoming a criminal. She was cogitating delivering him to the justice and divorce him but she gave up on the lawyer to do this...! (detail) What she wanted was for Walter to be someone who he was not... that simple!
@@OpportunisticHunter Yes, she loved him and she was desperate that Walt, Jr./Flynn not find out about his father. And, she was frightened for the safety of her family. She wanted him to not be a drug lord, yes.
I like how you say it's outrageous and go on to defend the fictional character's actions. It's outrageous because Anna Gunn is a real person.
@@evanstrong8866 Both are absurd. Threatening an actress over a role is outrageous. Despising a character because she's not 'supportive' of a criminal husband is also absurd and outrageous.
@@curiousworld7912 So it would be more reasonable to kill, say for example, the actor who played Joffrey than Anna Gunn? I don't agree.
Walt assaults her in the kitchen and it's just... never mentioned or addressed ever again. Why does this never hang over the Cult of Walt?
this question is probably rhetorical, so excuse me, but for anyone who can't figure it out:
it's because people who worship someone like walt are inclined to think sexual assault of spouses is not that big of a deal.
Same reason Charlie sheen kept getting work despite holding a prostitute hostage for 3 days.
Cos despite a lot of men claiming otherwise, society forgives men far easier than they do women - even pretend women.
I don't harbor resentment against men for this cos society's repeatedly forgiving the unforgivable denies those people being forgiven from getting help & progressing emotionally.
*Edit* ● "Pretend" as in fictional depictions/female characters.
@Alejandro your take is bad and you should feel bad
@@AmberAmber Wait what is a "pretend woman"?
@@hexx2211 I'm sure they meant a fictional character. I hope they did at least lol
I know this is an old video but I just finished the show and it seems that everybody just missed the fact that Walt sexually assaults Skylar in season 2 and it’s implied that after an episode cuts to black in season 5 that he sexually assaults her again
After that I couldn’t root for Walt one bit
Yeah, the people who hate Skyler do _not_ care about that in the slightest. They're misogynists to the level where they probably think it doesn't really count as assault because she's his wife and has a duty to have sex with him whenever he wants...
season 5? which one in season 5?
@@flydrop8822I think it was after Walter offs Gus and gets his ego on the roof. Skylar is scared but knows she can't get out of him, and when he moves himself into the house again and sleep on the same bed as Skylar, he starts touching her. It is implied he had sx with her there
@@sadgreent5138that scene was so unbearable to watch.
"I'm a female"
-No woman ever
That's how redditors speak.
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD never leave the main page....never, you stop meeting Redditers and you will start meeting Redditers™
its women who have been brainwashed by the internet to hate themselves.
@@dntknonuttin Yeah, as if being female means you can't be sexist towards your own gender. They use the "female" label to validify their sexist opinions. Internalized sexism, you might call it. It's what the r/notlikeothergirls sub is all about too.
internalized misogyny is so real, leads to a lot of "I'm not like OTHER girls" type tropes/posts/talking points because the implicit thing in such tropes is that to be like "OTHER women" is shameful/bad.
When I watched this show I occasionally found myself not liking her, but then I would step back and say “can you really blame her”?
That sums up my experience watching the show
yeah sometimes she was a bit annoying but almost all of her actions were completely reasonable given the situation
Yes. You can blame her
@@bmomouse6859 You can, but you'd be an incel for it.
Skylar is just as bad as Walt *in the later seasons.* She emotionally abuses Ted and uses him like a tool just to get back at Walt and then tosses him aside when she’s done with him. She knew Ted cared about her and she used it against him. She also chose to become a part of Walt’s operation even though she didn’t have to, but then she acted like Walt’s victim half of the time when really all she had to do was tell Walt she wanted nothing to do with it. She was directly responsible for Ted becoming paralyzed. She suggested to Walt that he kill Jesse and said “What’s one more life” which clearly showed a disregard for human life.
I bolded the *in the later seasons* just to emphasize that before some fucktard calls me in incel for criticizing a fictional character.
In the first 2 seasons, I was completely on Skylar’s side and I thought it was fucked up how much Walt gaslighted her. The affair is what made me start hating her. Also, I never liked Walt at any point. The characters I sympathized with the most were Hank and Jesse
Of course the cool girl calls herself “a female”
She's not like OTHER girls...
TBH knowing how Reddit is full of sock-puppet accounts, I figured that poster is probably a G.I.R.L. (Guy In Real Life)
It's very common in our vernacular now to use that term for some reason. I don't know how to feel about it because people don't usually say it to be sexist. For most people, it's just a habit because they've heard it a million times as a stand-in for "woman". I don't prefer to use it, but I sometimes roll my eyes when I hear it because sounds awkward to me relative to other slang words.
Well you don’t see “male” being used in quite the same way. Gee whiz , I could think of some theories why...
iM a FeMaLe,, and- (insert worst take ever here)
Breaking bad fans when they see a psychopathic murderer: 😁
Breaking bad fans when they see a woman: 🤬
I'm at 18:59 and my guess as to why Skyler gets a lot of hate is that she is spoiling the 'fantasy' of being a badass. Giving the main character dissonance with a reality check.
Exactly. For men Walt is a hero, action movies teach they commit murder make money and walk away from explosions, and its ok because they are the nice guy. When you put a woman saying "hey this..is wrong", she becomes THE ULTIMATE PC SJW BITCH only here to ruin the fun. Tldr most men cant watch anything with realistic character development.
Which is funny to me because Walt himself spoils that fantasy several times, like yes he does do some pretty raw shit but there's a bunch of moments where he lets everyone know that while he's very booksmart he pretty much isn't streetsmart at all. The best example of that is when he's in the vacuum repair guy's basement with Saul, who's just listening to this stupidass plan he's coming up with to get back at Jack and is just "look, this is all over, the feds are going after your wife, they don't give a shit she doesn't know anything because they want SOMEone to make an example of if they can't get you."
@@PalitoSelvatico Honestly I can't understand how anybody would see Walt as a "hero". Heroes are grand, they're larger than life, they're brave, honest, protect the unprotected, confident, etc. Walt is the opposite of all that - he's small and petty, he's underhanded, dishonest, cowardly, delusional, he brings harm onto the unprotected, and acts selfishly. Throughout the show I just felt I hated him, and really, the last season and a half I was just watching because I needed closure for the story - I needed to see Walter White die, or get arrested, or just in any way face the consequences of his actions (since up until the end, nobody faced the consequences to his actions except those around him).
@@PalitoSelvatico Also it isn't very fair to say such things in such broad strokes of generalization. Perhaps the most toxic fans are the loudest, but don't conflate loudness with majority. Maybe it's all based on personal experience, and if that's the case - I'm really sorry that your personal experience with men in life has been so narrow, so as to make you see things in such a narrow way that lets you say "for men Walt is a hero" and "most men can't watch anything with realistic character development".
@@Grandbiku how many men and women have you talked about breaking bad? I watched it for 6 years since it came out, the majority of men hate skyler did you not watch the video? Did you miss the part she got literal death threats over a fictional tv show? Im glad you only know men who like skyler, congrats.
There was also that one scene where Walter tries to sexually assault her and shoves her against a fridge as early as season 2 which is never acknowledged by these kinds of fans?? Not to mention her reaction could have been justifiably more hostile as far as i remember
i dont understand people who watch breaking bad and sopranos as if you're supposed to see the main character as emblematic of good morals. the point of them is they're complicated people in tough situations where they have to be decisive. we know theyre fucked up people cause if they were theyd lead regular working class lives instead of being parasitic criminals
Kaizith sexually assault? It was an attempt at impromptu sex with his wife. Yeah, he got caught up in it for a while, but he stopped once she told him to
@@DorianSmorian Ask the writers. I'll bet you are wrong.
@@Alejandro-te2nt bro why are you everywhere in this comment section. calm down
Clay3613 You don’t have to ask anyone, it’s in the text.
That scene where Walt 'came home' and called Skylar's bluff... I think that's where my perspective shifted and I started sympathizing a lot more with her, and disliking Walt himself. It was scary, to see Walt exert power over his wife (and to see their son side with him!!) like that when she was legitimately afraid for her family's safety.
It sure is terrifying for a man to be able to be at their own home that thry own
Yeah that was disgusting, and made me hate Walt even more than I already did by that point.
@@kylie8486 no one aside from Mike and Gus even knows the twins were at his house
I hate her because she drove Walter Jr. into an evil, destructive breakfast addiction by preparing it for him every day.
Skyler is afraid and has to right to be afraid. Walter is manipulative and a megalomaniac.
Malcolm Harris She was like that long before Walt broke bad.....even when he was simply a school teacher with terminal cancer, she was a miserable b!tch. However....she did actually have a justification that the show did a really bad job of explaining....she was deeply resentful that Walt made the selfish decision to walk away from the multimillion dollar company he Co-founded, to become a low paid school teacher.
She lived every moment of her married life, and what followed, by the good grace of her husband. She never once had to find out how to pay for the next meal.
@@StsFiveOneLima You make Walter's life of drug dealing as a "grace" she should be thankful for and not something that puts her entire family at risk.
@@Dj.MODÆO I think you missed the point, which the previous comment stated. IT WAS Walter who was resentful for the money, not Skyler, which was much concern with with the well being of Walter and the family. The one who always was pride and most careless was Walter.
Is no one gonna talk about the fact Walter sexually assaulted Skyler?
as a woman watching breaking bad, i never felt any disdain towards skylar. sure, she wasn’t a great wife at the beginning of the series, and shes made some questionable choices, but i honestly empathised with her. imagine learning that the father of your children, your husband, was a rising kingpin druglord that has killed so many people. that would be horrifying.
Are u trans?
As a woman, I hated her fucking guts.
Welp deal with it
I mean she literally fucked Ted.
@@DDOLFANZ505 you should deal with the dorito stains on your fingers, and the mountain dew can you just spilled all over the god damned carpet, jimmy
i never hated her. imagine your spouse starts lying then you find out they’re a huge drug dealer and you and your family’s life are in danger. and say that you didn’t know your spouse was the one who knocks. you’d do what you could to protect your kids
That's understandable. Problem was that Skyler learned about his activity and chose to stay and support it.
At that point, repeatedly seeing her try to leave and come back half a dozen times got repetitive and annoying.
Her calling the police as if Walt ever caused domestic violence was over the top. Walt brought danger to his family, but he was never actively dangerous/abusive to them
@@sickman9124 she didnt call the police to get him arrested for domestic abuse, that was the only way she could call the police (to get walter out) without just telling them hes a drug manufacturer
@@ther3dwizard Understandable. Now that I think about it, they made that clear the first time she did something like that
@@sickman9124NEVER ACTIVELY DANGEROUS?! did we watch the same show?! not to mention she basically immediately regretted being in board with it…
@@sickman9124 come on now, walt’s a certified genius. “never meant to harm his family” as he chose to endanger them daily for his own pride. “someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family” -skyler. i would call the cops too if i thought there was the barest hint of danger around my kids.
the quote "someone has to protect this familly from the man who protects this family" gave me fucking CHILLSSSSSS, theres a lot of good quotes from the show but srsly none have made me feel like that
I get the idea, but for me is just cringe.
Not because it’s wrong, Skyler is right. But the lines are terrible, I think that not even Anna Gunn’s delivery could have save it.
Tbh that one scene where she single handedly saved her boss from getting caught for tax fraud by playing up the "dumb blonde" and taking the fall was her best moment in the show, like I may not have completely liked her character but definitely got my respect she was smart and a bad bitch
@The Ex-Muslim Libertarian no, it doesn't. she did that cause she thought it was right. it was against the law what her boss did, but skylar helped him to save the company and the employees. so it was still a good thing from a moral standpoint.
To be fair, that one she did not do because she thought it was right or to save the employees, she did it to save her own hide; she wanted to prevent Ted's books being closely audited, since they will then start auditing people who worked on the accounts who might have been complicit in the fraud, i.e Skyler, who has been happily laundering Walt's money for several months. She did it to cover her own ass, she didn't care about Ted at all. Which is not to say she's to blame in any way as she was covering her own ass after being essentially blackmailed into becoming an accomplice to drug money laundering by her husband. But still.
It was a boss move, as was buying the car wash for cheap.
If you're going to get mad at people for doing illegal things you should go watch a different show.
@@rosePetrichor bef8re she was blackmailed to launder money for walter she knew about his fraud. She knew he was a criminal and continued to work their and then proceed to fuck him. She is just like walt but not as much of a mad man as walt
Are we really getting on skyler's case for doing illegal things when walt has literally murdered people in cold blood
I hate skylar because she’s so ungrateful and won’t even let me be around my kids
No joke, it's just annoying, everyone does their thing and Skyler always has to be a total nerf in between
@@darealpnutafnf1160 it's not like she's his wife or anything
@@showerheadjoker9672 yeah it’s not like we had two kids or anything
@@Heisenberg-mt2lx true true
You're a jerk too man, no offense
I had an abusive father who was involved with drugs that Walt reminded me a lot of, and because of that from pretty much the beginning of the show I hated Walt and sided with Skyler. I remember particular the scene with the cops and Walt acting like a doting father getting really under my skin because I had seen my dad do the exact same thing. I wonder if other people who had dealt first hand with abuse were as against Walt as I was as early as I was.
I did not have the same experiences as you, but rest assured I also got this anger. Walter is a bad man, but he had reasons at least. He went too far, making his reasons (e.g. cancer) void by ruining many people’s lives. This was one thing that made me wish he was locked away and Skylar got custody.
Definitely. I similarly had an abusive drug dealer/user meth head dad and I can tell you that I absolutely despised Walt. To the point that I had issues even finishing the show as the seasons progressed and he became more of a selfish, manipulative piece of shit. Skyler reminded me a lot of my mom, not a saint either, but desperately trying to stop Walt from absolutely destroying the family with his deluded ways. Not once in the entire series did I think "Wow. Walt is such a great guy. Skyler should really quit bitching and mind her own." She wasnt my favorite character but I understood her better than I could bring myself to like Walt.
Skyler reminded me of my abusive and narcissistic mother so I hated her and sided with Walt, even though he was also manipulative and did horrible things.
@Kieden Vondys Because they are selling drugs that perpetuate abuse cycles like this. Also, 16:38 and on is a good example of why not.
My father was borderline and very manipulative. When Walter said "I haven't been the most attentive father" while cradling his baby, his words' false sweetness brought back so many memories of my father doing similar things.
Skyle made the impossible decision of the unspeakable situation. People who hate her never were in hard position. The actress who was playing her character is just genius.
Pre-emptive comment here, I'm only about 2 minutes in, but I gotta say one thing:
I've never watched a single episode of Breaking Bad, but...isn't Skyler White like...Walter White's wife? So many of these criticisms boil down to her being "up in Walt's business" and "trying to ruin his life" ...
...SHE'S HIS WIFE AND HE'S DEALING METH? Even I know that Walter White is not meant to be some glorious hero, so why is a close family member taking him to task for the horrible things he's done and keeps doing like, so unjustifiable? If you're going to focus a series on an anti-hero, isn't having other characters around to challenge their misdeeds in some way like...necessary for dramatic tension?
Because many people see the series as a power fantasy of how one person with intelligence outsmart everyone, that's why the marketing and merchandising is about "i am the danger", meanwhile all is justified as desperation of a cancer patient.
I think there needs to be a bit of nuance introduced here, both in this comment, and the video. Having seen the show, I have to admit that I did not like Skyler as a character. Most of this dislike was established in the first season with Walt in his pre-drug dealing, recently cancer-diagnosed, state.
It is established that Walt has a full life, with people who love him, but kind of hold him in a silent contempt. It is suggested that when he was young he was a chemistry researcher of great promise, someone who was destined for more impressive things, but he was kind of screwed out of that opportunity. His station in life subsequently becomes a lot smaller; a family man working two jobs that seem meaningless, while his brother-in-law mocks his workaday life. Meanwhile Skyler nags and nips at him, annoyed at his foibles and his lack of sharing her pedantic views and small-town criticisms of everyone around her (particularly her family) with the expected enthusiasm.
Overall, Skyler doesn't really know what Walt needs very well, and often transposes her own needs as his. There's an early scene where they both go to a party of a researcher Walt used work with, and, knowing about his diagnosis and his feelings of lost opportunity, she secretly discloses to the ex-colleague that Walt has cancer, and could he just offer Walt a job, without telling him he knows about the diagnosis, and so therefore it's absolutely not out of pity? (even though it clearly is). The guy goes along with this in front of Walt later (pretending the offer is on the basis of Walt's intellectual ability), who catches it out eventually, and so of course Walt then leaves the party, absolutely humiliated.
Skyler clearly does this incredibly clumsy and hurtful thing not so much because she wants him to be happy, but because she needs him to stop being sad, and she needs him to stop being sad because (spoiler) he wants some control over his life for once, which meant for him accepting cancer and accepting death, over living for his family. Skyler wants him alive; he is not free, his freedom is totally subordinate to his family. Continually she defies his attempts to make his own decisions. Walter White, whether she truly understands what she's doing or not, becomes essentially an Unperson.
Is this a masculine issue with Walt still? Very much so, but this aspect is not "toxically" masculine. Some men (myself included) demand agency in their lives, and even if they might have made their own bed to an extent in some cases, still do not want to be further reminded of it, pushed further into it, or have their agency negated.
Some men want to have dignity, and for Walt, he wants to be recognised (in true Hegelian fashion). But he is not, and has not been for a long time. So he is a shell, and that shell becomes vulnerable to making some truly stupid and horrible decisions from then on. As for Skyler, it isn't that she merely neglects to *see* the signs of Walt's helplessness early on, but she actively *dismisses* those signs. He is refused that recognition, to be seen as an individual being with desires, and that is psychologically pretty damning.
Same with Melania Trump, why do people find her annoying when Donald is the bad guy and she never even wanted to become FLOTUS in the first place? Poor woman only wanted to escape from slovenia, how could she know the guy she married would become president on his old days.
@@billhicks8 Just to clarify -- are you saying that expecting/demanding to have one's agency respected is a specifically "masculine" trait?
And " HE'S DEALING METH"? While in reality "... the only major difference between crystal meth and Adderall is public perception." Let's all get outraged about some old tv-show's perception, while mindlessly regurgitating "war on drugs" propaganda. So woke...
What I thought of Skyler’s thought process when Walt was cradling their daughter, was that she saw a dangerous man, holding her baby and bullshitting the police. She didn’t see her husband anymore. A threat to the family, specially their children.
Skyler sure was thinking of her family when she helped Ted commit fraud.
@@jaffacalling53
Yeah, she was. She quite literally spells out how Ted not paying his taxes would let the IRS legally bug her phone and listen to her conversations.
She helped Ted under the assumption that he'd pay back the taxes at some point. As far as she knew at that point, she needed to keep the job and if she didn't cook his books she'd loose that job and a long-time friend would loose his business. Not to mention she was very conflicted over this and took convincing.
On another note, if we're bringing up completely unrelated scenarios, I bet Walt was really thinking about his family when he killed Mike for no reason.
Breaking Bad fans pay attention to the show challenge (Impossible)
@@owenmcleod9988 that's exactly what happened. People really have selective memory
@@owenmcleod9988 Todd was thinking more about Walt's family when he shot that kid
@@owenmcleod9988 she didn’t NEED to do anything she knew he was committing fraud and chose to help him knowing what could be the consequences she didn’t NEED him or that job the same way Walter didn’t NEED to cook meth, but it’s only a problem when Walter does it huh? Grow a pair
I have never once heard a woman begin a sentence with "I am a female..."
If they refer to women as "females," then they're male. No exceptions.
Its Reddit, the second most common place for people to pretend to be a marginalized group in order to make their opinions seem more valid (the first one being tumblr)
it's very important in Reddit that you identify yourself as a female woman
they have to say that to get more updoots
@@voluption428 does it actually work?
I will never not be shocked that people chose to collectively hate Skyler over Hank, honestly
Did you actually watch the show?
hank is annoying as hell lol@@Dumpsterhuggies
@Dumpsterhuggies yeah, but clearly you didn't if you honestly believe Hank was more tolerable than Skyler
Unpopular opinion here, I hate Marie more than both of them. Sure, Skyler was dramatic, but that's because she knew Walt was keeping secrets from her, secrets that were negatively affecting the entire family. Hank, while he was an arrogant hotshot at times, he was an asset against the cartels. Marie, she steals and causes drama for no reason.
What did Hank ever do?
Skyler was one of the most sensible characters in the entire show.
Half of the people hate her because she opposed Walt. The other half hates her because she went along with his schemes. Which one is it?
RIGHT! She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t
Exactly, she's just a deeply flawed character who's trying to do the best for her and her family.
@@blokvader8283she’s not a flawed character. she’s a person who’s suffering
@@Acer11818 I worded that badly, all characters in Breaking Bad are struggling in some sort of way, and she's right along with them.
I just understand why people hate her when she's the one who actually cares about the family
@@pencil6965 (im gonna say it) : happends a lot with women for some reason
My neurotic manipulative Father did this "playing the good dad" thing in front of our neighbours after the divorce from my mother and was also always talking about his important role as supplier, family values and shit. One of the reasons why walther white is clearly a villian to me and it absolutely disgusts me to see characters like these framed as heros.
me too! that's exactly what i had in mind while watching it. like, what is the victim expected to do? go along with it because "it's awesome"? no. that behavior is damaging and deadly. it's detrimental to a family. but my family had to keep quiet about it because my dad was so good at putting on the act.
@@cj.17 holy fuk... : P Hope it's over now in some way.
@@quotenpunk279 yeah, last summer i was finally legally freed of him. can't get a restraining order because he's "not provably dangerous" which is horseshit. but seems like he's finally given up :)
Grow up. That’s all I need to say. Because until u do a real conversation abt this cannot be had.
@@jimmybeanchugger1832 what
Heck, I thought she was one of the most reasonable characters. She did whatever she could to navigate through her husband's web of lies and justifications in order to protect the kids.
Yeah, i feel like to an extent she was lenient on Walter. In the end she smiled at him, not as if she forgave him, but as if it was a slight relief from the lies.
And phuckin’ Ted was an act of desperation. That was Skylar trying to get _rid_ of Walt! B/c men usually take a woman’s infidelity *real* personal. But sometimes, like in this case, it backfires and he _still_ won’t leave. I’ve seen it in real life.
@@attitudeproblem6462 People who latch onto the 'I fucked Ted' move by Skyler act as if that was at the start of the series and not halfway through when she had deduced Walt was a drug dealer and wanted him out
Yeah she is so smart and great at rolling with the punches. She is really the only thing holding Walt’s mistakes together by the time they buy the car wash. I don’t know how a viewer can get to season 4 and still be rooting for Walt over her.
Also anyone saying she is unforgivable for cheating clearly has a double standard because they still buy walt’s lie about him doing all this to protect his family
How did any of you work that out?? All she did was complain and belittle Walt all throughout never once supported him, she literally leaves Walt because he’s a criminal then starts fucking her boss who is also a criminal (committing tax fraud) lmao her character is really annoying actually think about yourself having a wife like that omg nightmare.
walts manipulation so strong it even worked on the viewers lmao.
@EllieCopter-po6pteven got gaslighted
@EllieCopter-po6pt there is much to be said about skyler before walter started selling drugs, but she did try (even if unsuccessfully) to help pay bills. walt was simply an egotistical dipshit who took his supposed 'role' in their marriage too seriously.
@EllieCopter-po6pt Condescending? Have you seen the way Walt treats Jesse?
apparently people can't have opinions now
@@srteo0What? We can't have an opinion on you being an incel? Don't be a soy boy about it.
So basically people hate her because she isn't cool with everything and reacts how a normal person would react to finding out their so is a drug dealer
Yup
They say you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. I usually can't stand her until she finds out Walt is a drug dealer, where I'm on her side for awhile, then her hypocisy gets to me and she loses me again. She seems to earn some self awareness about that over time, after that I tend to be with her regardless of whether she's enabling Walt or trying to leave him. A key area for me is when she thinks her husband is dying of cancer, when she asks where he is going all the time and he says "I like to be alone" and she says "I just want you to include me." Like she doesn't know what the word "alone" means. The same way she's controlling about the bacon they eat, the credit cards they use (why not get rid of it, or put it in a lock box?) or tracking down a suspcious caller until she's located the pot dealer of her husband, to demand he not do it again, because her brother-in-law is a "DEA Agent" and she knows how bad the marijuana drugs are... - they make you slightly light headed.
Taking *all* of Skylar's behavior as the reasonable response of a person who's spouse is a drug dealer is tantamount to failing a test of object permanence.
@@futurestoryteller I see your point, at the beginning of the show, they wanted to portray Walt as a looser who's controlled by his wife and doesn't have his son's respect, so I can see how her fist impressions were not great, but if you were to watch the show from her perspective, you would see how her actions would be understandable for someone who has been kept in the dark about what her husband has been doing and then not knowing the full truth about what he does at his job.
I don't think all her actions were justifiable, but understandable.
Yeah, fuck Skylar for behaving like a sensible wife...
@@fernandagoncalves9221 The thing is that she's also a narcissist using Walter's flaws get herself in the center of attention the whole time. For instance, when Walter made up the gambling story to explain where he got all that money she turns the whole thing into a show.
Of course, Walters manipulation was to use this flaw against her - that's why she gets slowly turned into a accomplice. Walter is a much bigger monster after and basically everyone who comes into contact with gets turned into a victim, but Skylar isn't exactly a "normal person" either.
I used to despise Skylar when I first watched the show in high school. Then I grew up, and re-watched it, and realized how her character is how 99% of people would react to their spouse being Heisenberg lmao.
U couldn't have grown up much because it was only 7 years ago
@@WanquanLoot So they'd be around their mid-twenties, or so. Definitely big enough of a change from highschooler to gain some more perspective, especially where adult relationships are concerned.
So if your spouse has terminal cancer you'd rush to have a affair ?
@@Journey_to_who_knows If the spouse in question was a manipulative gasligher, who'd make me feel trapped in a relationship with them against my will, while also making me feel unhappy and unsafe, an affair really wouln't seem all that out of question.
@@Journey_to_who_knows if my spouse had turned into an abusive manipulative p.o.s? hell yes.
I feel like the characters are disliked because they're a voice in reason in an insane fantasy. People do not like being brought back to reality when drawn to a story.
well that's the same reason why many hate lisa simpson. Voice of reason and annoying, same thing.
Skyler wasn't the voice of reason. She was annoying lol. Plain and simple. Like I understand her perspective completely.. but it's not interesting to watch. Like go away so I can go back to character's who are doing stuff.
@@hypeman1825 You think she is annoying BECAUSE she conveys the reasonable point of view, and reacts in reasonable ways considering the circumstances
@@Scott-zi7xv like I said.. i understand why she did MOST of what she did. But it doesn't automatically make her not annoying during the scenes. I'll get a brilliant scene about Gus or Mike doing something cool or discussing something extremely engaging.. then I have to jump to Skyler being simple uninteresting or just annoying.
Like her smoking a cigarette while pregnant early in season one. I understand why she went out and did it. But I as a viewer and still annoyed by having to watch her do dumb stuff because Idc and would rather watch other engaging character's.
Mike constantly calls Walt out on his BS and is always butting heads with him.. yet no ever gives Mike crap.. know why.. because he's a much more interesting character and isn't annoying to watch.
Definitely this.
Worst things Skyler did:
Smoked while pregnant
Laundered money for Ted
Slept with Ted after being denied a divorce
Worst things Walt did:
Poisoned Brock, a child
Consistently put his family in danger
Consistently lied to Skyler
Took out a hit on Jesse
Let Jane die
Manipulated Jesse into killing Gale
Set into motion the series of events that would lead to the deaths of Hank and Steve
Set into motion the series of events that would lead to Jesse being a prisoner for ~6 months
The very moment Walter denied that partnership with his wealthy friend, and opportunity that Skyler managed to pull off, is the moment where one should cast doubt to the idea that Walter is doing what he's doing out the well being of his family or to satisfy his own selfish ego.
Why wouldn't Walt be egotistic? According to the show he's a chemistry savant who by all accounts should've been a wealthy partner in a chemical company worth billions. Instead he's teaching high school students chemistry. That'd be the same as you teaching the Alphabet for a living.
So your solution is to go sell meth? When you have a wife and kids?
@@vercingetorix9005 - Walter often failed to think clearly when his emotions got the better of him. I have a feeling he lost more lucrative positions because of his underlying hot-headed nature, and eventually ended up as a high school chemistry teacher.
@@carlosdanger8043 Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly.
Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother.
Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family.
When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank.
When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter.
When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank.
Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card
@@doriangray104 lol I see you are quite the anti-skyler activist xD
At the end of the day, Walt is the one who destroyed the family, got hundreds of people killed, and ran a criminal empire.
And also provided for his family WELL in to the future. And also most of those who died needed to.
@@StsFiveOneLima yes like Andrea right? she needed to die cuz of walt's actions? or poisoning her son deliberately just to manipulate jesse? or letting jane choke to death on her vomit when he admitted he could've easily saved her and then later rubbed that into jesse's face? surely to "provide" for your fam is an excuse. looks like we got the cult of walt right here.
@@StsFiveOneLima Eliot offered him the money in episode 5, get that bullshit out of here
@@theclassapenguin5180 True. ATC Q guy should have reported not ready to go back to work :-)
@@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502 That money was for his chemo and that wasn't even going to last either
I love how Walt can literally poison a child and people still support him, but Skylar has an affair because she's in an abusive relationship and people lose their minds. And I truly don't care that he knew the kid wouldn't die. HE POISONED A CHILD!
She only slept with ted after she kicked Walt out, called the police on him and asked him for a divorce after the lying. And people still claim that she cheated
He also literally had no way of knowing that the kid wouldn't die because he didn't know the kid's medical record, allergies, etc. Walt was completely complacent in letting a child die for his goals, but because the kid didn't die he was able to spin the narrative that he planned it
Nah skyler cheating is easily worse
@@lotsaspaghettimamaluigi to who? Insecure men?
The thing is some villains are fun to watch & can do terrible things but still be loved universally like the joker for example. Then their are good characters that everyone hates which Skylar isn’t really a example of a good character she was a gigantic hypocrite and acted like a cringey Karen most of the show
"She cheated" sooo? Walt tried to cheat too but he had no game.
Skyler defenders are as demented as walter simps and this commeny proves it.
@@hardboiled2987 she had separated from him, called the police, and tried to get him to sign divorce papers. she already didn't want to be with him, and he KNEW that, so how is it cheating?
wait when did he? I forgot
@@vladys5238 like early seasons he ✨tries✨ to come on to the principal (his boss?) if I recall correctly
"An eye for an eye" is not a valid justification. (I removed the second half cos the video brought up a good point)
It's insane how the show is so well-written that you end up disliking Skyler (a victim) more than Walter (her victimizer).
in the beginning that was the other way around not letting him die at home then framing it as a intervention
coercive control springs to mind
@@tiddergreen3667 It's not coercive control to try and convince your husband and the father of your children to make you a widow and them orphans.
@@zoomerdaria kinda of is, like I see your point but no matter how u frame it that’s what she did 😂hank and Marie agreed with him with doing it on his terms but she didn’t and it’s not like he didn’t know that she would be a widow which is why he was trying to leave her a large sum of money before he died, it’s cancer it’s something that is unpredictable at times so better to be safe than sorry and just leave her and the kids a large sum of money so they don’t have to worry about finances anymore And I’m not excusing what Walter did just wished she could’ve at least tried pay attention and put herself in his shoes a little bit
@@zoomerdaria Yeah I have to agree with the other two, Skyler's done a lot of decent things, but demanding Walt get treatment when it was so obvious he didn't want it even before the intervention is controlling and exactly the opposite of what you should do with almost any cancer patient.
If they're old, and terminally ill, and WANT it to be the end.... Let them have what they want, it's not something to argue with them over, it IS their life.
(Also orphans aren't people with a single parent, they're people with no parents, but that point isn't here nor there I just felt like you should be informed in case you genuinely thought that, 'cuz misconceptions like that can be a bit embarrassing if realised in an irl conversation with a friend or whatever)
you’re mistaking good writing for breaking bad fans just absolutely hating women
I remember my whole family would frequently all visit my older sisters house to watch new episodes of Breaking Bad together. I felt so sad for my mom (who was watching the show there with us) because despite all my siblings having grown up watching her survive multiple abusive marriages (physical, verbal, emotional etc.); they were each so quick to shit on Skylar. Their criticisms sound frighteningly similar to those shown at the start of the vid.
The worst of it was that despite our mom remaining quiet and looking visibly uncomfortable with their 'hot take' on Skylar, she wouldn't speak up because I think we both knew they'd verbally abuse our own mother as quickly as they did a character for making them question this fantasy.
If your mom is around, give her a hug for me 💜
Why do people keep calling it a fantasy? The guy _ruins_ his life, and it is *objectively* his fault. There is no fantasy in that.
Bear in mind I don't know your story, that must have been a different kind of abuse I would think? Walt was hidding things from Skylar. It wasn't physical abuse.
@@johnnyskinwalker4095 oh I'm not making a direct comparison between the two. Only highlighting that the hate train for Skylar was so widespread during the shows airing that most of my family was on it despite having lived through domestic violence themselves. The start of this video could have had a comment from a lot of people I personally know
@@steven4218 Agreed. I must admit I was uncomfortable with it myself.
y'know, oddly enough, my dislike for skyler flipped after she discovered walt's enterprise, and i started to like her more, and walt less. i had started off disliking her because he meddling was kind of needling and irritating specifically because it seemed to constantly be hindering the criminal enterprise plot. i disliked her for being a plot obstacle more than anything. after she finally found out, the way it flipped the script made the whole story a lot more compelling to me. the whole assumption of romantic affairs is extremely tired and instantly makes me disinterested in a subplot.
by the end of the series, walt was so toxic and objectively terrible to everyone around him, that i genuinely hated him. he let jesse's girlfriend die and then manipulated him in his grief to come back and cook meth with him (can't remember exactly how that played out). skyler was proven right that what walt was doing was going to get her and her children murdered, but walt persisted with the delusion that he was an unstoppable crime lord.
walt really is a detestable character by the end of the show. he's kind of a self-absorbed asshole in the beginning, but at least in the beginning he seems like more than a power hungry monster. how anyone can watch to the end and still hate skyler more than walt is a mystery to me, because the man is left with no redeeming qualities. he comes back to be sad at his wife and then goes and dies. what a waste.
Well put, I always advised skipping Skyler scenes on rewatches because she bogs down the plot, even if she grounds the character development. I still make the argument that she's awful (IFT, hardassness with Walt Jr, control issues) but her attempts to protect their flawed lifestyle are at least humane and relatable compared to Walt's, unless you lean towards aggressive narcissism
Same, I liked her by the end
I agree, I started liking her a bit before she figured out what he was doing. I started liking her after it became crystal clear he was up to something.
In the beginning, she was kind of overbearing and 'in his business' too much to be likeable, almost like she already didn't trust him. but once it became clear to everyone that walt was up to something (presumably cheating) then I felt her behavior was much more reasonable and understandable.
@Django Fett wow thats a hot take, Mike is very likable to me, Jesse as well, Heisenberg is controversial but i made a song based on his transformation. but in terms of their actions, if thats what u mean, i agree, everyone did stuff that was human, an thus bad decisions and misguided
Exactly. In many ways Skylar was meant to be hated. that was the concept. then the writers made her side with Walt so you like her. and then you realised how much of a bad guy Walt is when he said to her "I forgive you". That is the genius of this show.
when I was a kid I hated skylar cause I was a kid who looked at the series as guy gets money for family through crime. Also I didn't watch past the first few episodes. As an adult with a fully developed brain and life experience I realized skylar was the only person on the show who had her head on straight and that walter white completely selfishly endagers everyone in his life to live out a mobster fantasy and only makes it through each season by sheer dumb luck and when he finally gets whats coming to him it's not nearly as harsh as he deserved.
Yes, and I'm honestly glad that Marie was there for Skylar, to somehow remind her of how unacceptable Walter's behavior was.
I feel like a lot of the skyler hate derives from the fact that she is the embodiment of when your mother tells you to do your chores and tells you to stop playing videogames, except with skyler it’s telling Walt to stop cooking meth and to get a proper job, and I feel the audience feels a slight relatability in that and feels hate towards skyler due to being able to relate to Walt when she gets in the way of his plans
It’s just sexism I fear 😵💫
@@quinnlove5777 nah you just dont want to hear any actual reasons why people dislike her.
This video purposely found the dumbest takes from the most ignorant people and read it in a whiney annoying voice.
@@quinnlove5777 i mean i dislike her for many reasons including smoking while pregnant and her annoying attitude in season 1 but that doesn't make me sexist i dont think, on top of that she's the 2nd least hated character of the show, I think pretty much everyone in the show is a fucking asshole except for walt jr
@@quinnlove5777 Goofy Ahhh
@@quinnlove5777 Explain
Breaking Bad: *a show filled to the brim with cold-hearted hitmen, psychopathic drug lords, and even goddamn neo-nazis*
Its audience: "clearly, the housewife who has concerns about her husband cooking meth is the one character I should focus my hate on."
Also, I just watched the whole show just so i could watch this video afterwards.
at least none of those hitmen, drug lords, and neo-nazis were hypocrites about it.
@@IChIDH Walter is a total hypocrite. Saying he does everything for his family while putting them in constant danger
More people can relate to having an annoying mother/wife figure picking through their life. Those other people were just insane villains.
@@asteroidalassassin6949 it's the difference between Voldemort hate and Umbridge hate. A lot of people have had experiences with bad teachers, who they have wished ill too but not a lot of people have had experiences with a guy who wants to exterminate an entire race of people. The second is a lot worse then the first. But the first is not something that a majority of people have a lot of experience with. So the first is gonna inspire a lot more hate.
@@IChIDH how can you say this when walter is the biggest liar in the series WTF
"Reddit, are you okay?"
The answer to that question is always no, and we all know it.
If Reddit needs therapy I think 4 Chan is clinically insane
Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly.
Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother.
Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family.
When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank.
When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter.
When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank.
Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card
@@luizabianco yep
Dorian Gray this was the most confusingly written shit I have ever read. I’m still fucking confused
@@luizabianco
As annoying as that is, he is not wrong.
If I had watched Breaking Bad 5 years ago, i would have hated skyler and backed up walt 100%. But that was because I was pretty much in the same position as flynn at the time. My parents were fighting, they separated, and i didnt know what was going on. I blamed my mother for tearing the family apart when that wasn't the case. She didnt want me to hate my dad, but that came at the cost of all the blame for what was wrong in our family being put on her.
Years later when I watched breaking bad, i saw my mom in skyler. I cant hate her because then it would be the second time I get manipulated into thinking that "dad didn't do anything wrong! It's all the moms fault for fucking up the family"
Now I want a breaking bad-like show where the husband has some secret crazy double life, only to find out the wife has a double life that's like 100X crazier.
i will 100% donate money to back this show.
So Mr. and Mrs. Smith?
It's not as extreme as what you're describing but Ozark sort of seems like it's heading in that direction by the end of the last season.
Comedy, and not exactly double life on the husband's part, but the B plot of Dan VS is that Chris's wife Elise is an agent for a "quasi government agency"
There's a subplot like that in Orphan Black, with the clone who's a soccer mom.
“Reddit, are you okay?”
Were they ever okay to begin with?
Probably not
The Solar Wolf nope never
Honestly, I think a lot of the MRA altright bullshit has died down in the more popular subreddits since the 2016 election. It's still there if you go looking for it though, unfortunately.
@@aluminumcurtain yeah but reddit as a WHOLE is populated by people who don't even seem human, independently of their political stance
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD That's definitely true. I wish I would've never discovered it in my freshman year cause I swear it fucking rotted my brain during high-school.
Skylar lived a lie, took on stress and pain, and hurt her son all to protect her family. Skylar is what Walt started the series thinking he would be.
Oh shit u right
She lived every moment of her married life, and what followed, by the good grace of her husband. She never once had to find out how to pay for the next meal.
Exactly.
But... she didn't. Walt put the family in danger out of selfish desperation and admitted so in the end, Skylar kept her families life in danger after finding out the truth about Walt simply to avoid the shame and ridicule of her families reputation. If she really cared about protecting her family she would've turned him in the second she found out.
*slow clap *
I'm going to go ahead and lay some of the blame on BB's writing. We spend so much time looking on the inner turmoil of Walt, Jesse, Hank, even _Gus_ yet Skyler has very few of these meaningful emotional moments. I think a big part of it is we never get to connect with her as she as a character never gets to move independently of the male characters. To contrast that I'll point to the fact that Kim is universally beloved by fans because we also get to see her pursuing her own ambitions, grapple with her own childhood trauma, in general act independently of her spouse a lot more. This I believe points to the female characters in BCS being simply better-written, as if Vince and Peter looked at what happened to Skyler and learned from it to improve their craft.
As a final thought, as odious and hateful as the criticism of Anna Gunn's physical appearance are, here is the description of her in the original BB script:
_"Skyler's cute in a way most guys wouldn't have noticed back in high school. But not soft-cute. Not in the eyes."_
So an attractive woman with hard features is in fact a perfect casting and portrayal of the character *as written* !!!
Disagree. I felt the show made her struggles apparent enough through her dialogue, expressions, smoking (as fucked up as doing it while pregnant is) and especially her epic blowup at Marie. I've only recently watched BB, now navigating the fandom and surprised at the degree of Skyler hate. I believe it has to do with me being over 30 years old and able to identify toxic behaviour.
Skyler couldn't exactly move very independently due to the family-related ramifications of outing Walt, especially her (misguided) intention of sheltering Junior from it all. She, Junior and Marie would understandably receive less focus due to being outsiders in the drug world but the story depicts the spillover effects towards them quite well. Skyler was mostly a victim but simultaneously a reluctant accomplice due to her character flaw that is perfectionism towards image upkeep, which the show utterly punishes her for in S5 when the truth finally burst into the open. IMO the writers did a great job with her complexity, as with the rest of the cast overall.
She was a pregnant woman with a teenager son with cerebral palsey and a husband who got cancer and went on to become a murderer drug lord. She couldn't exactly go and be independent. To shoe her ambition, she was a very good accountant who became a successful business owner with the carwash.
Personally, I was indifferent to Skyler. I didn't like her, I didn't despise her. I find it disgusting when anybody breaks the bounds of the show into real life, though. Anna Gunn's acting is legitimately great, and I find it odd that people start targeting the actor specifically instead of just the character.
Same, tbh when i was watching the show, i didnt make any judgements or take a strong liking or distain towards any of the characters. I liked watching the story unfold, it was an emotional masterpiece, but i never did like or dislike any characters in the same way i hated Jeoffrey and loved Ned in GoT, for example. The only characters which I actually started to hate immediately was Jack and Todd, everyone else i sorta just developed an opinion on them after i finished the show.
An important aspect of Skyler’s character I believe is that she represents the actual work needed to keep a family together; Walt believes simply leaving his family money is enough, but Skyler actually makes proactive decisions (creating the gambling cover up, buying the car wash, helping Ted deal with the IRS) that protects the family and shows how bullshit Walt’s justifications are.
Skylar loved Walter White but she hated Heisenberg. I have no clue why people do not realize that. Heisenberg is just Walter’s deception, anger and ego. Skylar had to deal with Walter deceiving her, being angry at her, and being egotistical about himself.
Skylar was terrified and depressed that her and her family’s lives are threatened by both the cartel and the law because of Walter choosing to become Heisenberg. The only reason she helped Walter launder money is to make sure her family’s lives don’t get ruined- NOT because she liked Walter being Heisenberg.
Also, she never feared making herself look bad to protect the ones she love. She constantly had to play "mean parent" with her son (like when she insisted they return the expensive car, or when she asked Walt to leave the house), she knew her son was getting angry at her everyday adn he kept insulting her in confusion but she didn't care as long as it was actually keeping him safe. On the other hand, Walt always said he "did everything to protect his family" yet he never showed that. He had several oportunities to stop cooking meth or at least staying in the "safer" part of the business (therefore keeping his family out of danger) but he never took them; on the contrary, he kept getting himself in worse scenarios because of his ego, because he wanted more power and money and "credit" for everything he's done. He irresponsibly told Hank that Gale was just a "cheap copy" of the real Heisenberg, bought the expensive ass cars for him and his son (twice) to look good to him and seem like the "cool, good parent" even if in reality, he was just putting them in danger.
And even if it should be obvious Skyler acts "unlikable" in order to protects her family and Walt acts "cool" because he is reckless and absolutely egotistical, the public still doesn't seem to realize who is the victim acting under pressure and who is the actual bad guy. Skyler's constant hate always confuses me and infuriates me
In the real world when you're about to die, leaving your family money is more than enough to keep them together...You loving them or spending time you have left with them won't feed them after you're gone or pay the debt you've left behind you + How in the world is stealing money from your husband and giving it to your lover to solve HIS problems a "Proactive decision"??
@@thecatch4648 Skyler explained it SO many times, did you pay attention? In that situation, Ted's problems weren't just HIS. It involved Skyler as well because she signed those documents. Him being her lover (or ex lover) was not relevant in her decision. Therefore, if they caught Ted, they would also investigate other people involved with the crimen -aka SKYLER-. If that happened, not only would she be in trouble for signing illegal documents, but also for being involved with THE most searched drug cook and destroy her family. She gave Ted that money (that she was sure they wouldn't need, since Walter kept bringing insane amounts of money) so he would use it to keep himself safe and therefore Skyler and her family safe. Skyler did whatever was in her hands to make sure she didn't draw ANY kind of attention, which is the safest thing to do when you are doing something illegal.
@@maruguida8056 Lol. “Did you pay attention?” Did you pay attention to the fact that skyler willingly cooked Ted’s books after confronting him about how it was illegal and wrong? She did that for him, not her family, and then she had to pay for it with Walter’s drug money that she apparently wanted nothing to do with. If her justification is that he’d keep making more then well.. that’s essentially enabling the whole ordeal. At that point they actually could’ve gotten out of the life with a decent amount of money, but I wouldn’t blame Skyler since she didn’t know the urgency of the situation. Still pretty pathetic to think that without Walter’s drug money she would’ve been setting herself up for prison time.
"on a level with Joffrey from GoT"
There are no words.
Skyler was cooking Ted's books even before she knew that Walter was a criminal for Walter, Walter Junior and for Holly.
Skyler was smoking when she was pregnant by Walter Junior, smoking when she was pregnant by Holly, smoking with Holly in the room for Holly and Walter Junior because she is the best mother.
Also, when Skyler was giving "proper motivation" for Bogdan just because she didn't like him she didn't break bad for herself, she was doing it for her family.
When Skyler was sleeping with her criminal boss she was doing it for Walter Junior, Holly, Walter, Marie and Hank.
When Skyler didn't turn in divorce papers and munipulated Walter to come back to the family, and was waiting on Walter's cancer at the same she was doing it for her kids and Walter.
When Skyler wasn't working with Hank, was blackmailing Marie and Hank by helping Walter create that tape, she was doing it for Marie and Hank.
Explaining: throughout the whole show hypocritical POS Skyler broke bad for herself excusing everything by more pathetic excuses than Walter's excuses, shifting blame, not taking responsibility for her actions, sitting on her high horse and playing victim card
At least Joffri had so much less of screen time
I like Joffrey more than Skylar tbh, he was way more interesting to watch
@@doriangray104 Too much incel here
@@doriangray104 Damn bro, relax lmaooo what she did is 10% of the evil Walter White caused. He killed and hurt a lot of people and probably killed a few lot more with his meth. He bombed a nursing home, for fuck's sake lmfaoooooooo have sex incel
@@altafkalam2716 Too much simp here
People don't like when a woman takes control of their own life. They think she should have stood by her husband no matter what. They think Walt has the right to risk his family, because it's HIS family. But Skyler is an intelligent human being and brave enough to protect her children against their father.
Basically, whoever hated Skyler got manipulated by Walter White the TV character. That's somehow really funny but also kind of sad because of how easily people can be influenced :D
Nope, I hate her for completely valid reasons. Smoking while pregnant or cheating for example.
Probably the same (or adjacent to) people who thought _Midsommar_ has a happy ending
No I hate her because she is a hypocrite that started working with alt for no reason.
I just dislike her because I get it, she's justified, but she takes up too much screentime, and doing nothing of real importance for most of it.
You can have morally wrong characters to be absolutely likeable, such as the Joker, and it's a TV show, we being the audience usually relate to the main character and often villains (Walter is both) in ways that are somewhat deeper than just what they do.
OFC, if it was real life we wouldn't want to have any mad murder clowns around, no time-stopping vampires, no meth dealing kingpins, but just because we like them doesn't mean they manipulated us, we just dislike Skyler's attitude despite her being in the morally right scale.
Exact same people who bend over backwards for Daenerys Targaryen burning down Kings Landing and mass murdering thousands of civilians.
I don't get how people get mad at Skyler for cheating. She wanted to get divorced and Walter refused to let her have that divorce. He was holding her hostage in the marriage contract. The relationship was over, even if there wasn't a legal divorce. She didn't cheat on a loving husband. She cheated on a man denying her the divorce.
But I guess if your pride is as fragile as Walter's you wouldn't be able to see the nuance of that situation.
I dislike the reason because it doesn't really solve anything. She was HOPING that it would, but considering how Walt is, it very well could have lead to her and her families deaths (considering how unstable he is to resort to crime instead of swallowing his pride and taking payment for his treatments).
She still continued on with the affair even after Walt didn't leave her because "It's the only time in my life that I don't feel bad." It's honestly understandable, but it is a mark against her to play these games instead of reporting him like she should have, even when the cops were BEGGING her for a reason and the attorney she was speaking to advised her to do so to save her family.
Her hesitation to do the right thing and cut ties with Walt inevitably caused more harm than good to the family in a misguided hope that things would just work themselves out and life would return to normal.
That being said though, I still think her sins are bush-league compared to what Walt and almost everyone else in the show were doing, and still understandable (but not the right choices).
she didn't cheat at all.
@@bumfricker2487Yea she did
First of all fuck Walt. Second of all you're wrong. Skylar is still in the wrong if my wife who im still legally married to cheated on me even if we hadn't seen each other in years by law she is still committing infedility. White knights jsut try to use this moment to defend Skylar when in truth 2 wrongs don't make a right. Also Skylar should be in prison. Walt had it coming.
@@HalloweenowlFacts you nailed it on the head
Never hated Skylar. Always just was amazed on how realistic her reactions were to all of Walt's bullshit.
She was more full of BS than Walter 🤣
@@doriangray104 Are you going to elaborate or are you going to continue crying in every comment because you're triggered someone called you out for irrationally hating a character
@@lemonwithalime skyler said to walt “i fucked ted” what else do you need
@@Hamza.H523 Cheating is as bad as killing people.
Got it. lol
@@Hamza.H523 he had his reasons shit happens.
i watched this show with my friend and it blew my mind that people didn't like Skyler. She is such a realistic character who does what she believes is the best thing to do. What she does, specifically DOSNT shows her loyalty to her family. My favorite scenes were ironically my friend's least favorite. When Skyler cheated on Walt, I saw it as a power move. People only saw her as a bitchy woman and her cheating was like her flipping off everyone who hated her. She did it to show Walt how easy it was to do the wrong thing, how she never did! honestly, the only time i felt a bit unhappy was when she smoked, but seriously! it just showed how human she was, that she too had issues!
Not to mention she was literally the first person to figure everything out. She was a queen.
Walt is probably the funniest example of "a bad guy who the audience idolized" considering how pathetic he is and how he even fails to live up to the tough-guy archetype. The rare times he does something undeniably cool are accompanied with him wimply trying to manipulate everyone into thinking he's cooler than he is. I honestly think that theatrics and his usefulness are the only reasons he wasn't killed off all the way back in season 3. Even the "Say my name" scene doesn't read as badassery and asserting dominance to me, it was more like Walt begging to be recognized for his achievements to a generally chill and confused assortment of criminals who treat crime as a job, not as some mark of power
Yeah when I first watched the "Say My Name" scene, because of the notoriety and how fucking beloved it is, I thought it was gonna be some super badass moment. No, it's just really awkward lmaoo
Walter White is just like Patrick Bateman, a fucking deranged loser. That's it. And yet, just like Bateman, he's subject to idolization and being the face of Sigma Energy.
It's the exact takeaway the writers are making fun of lmao.
I think that's why he's so popular honestly.
I mean you can hate both characters? Walter is the worst character in breaking bad and Im still going to hate Skyler for being super annoying...I mean that's kind of the point of her character.
You guys are arguing against strawmen...
@@blokvader8283DAMN UR SPITTING
bro you do realise the show exists to follow the story of Walter white? you can't kill him off in season 3 lmao. That's the worst take I've ever seen about breaking bad wtf
I didnt even know she was hated so much i actually felt bad for her.. when i watched it i was way more irritated with walter, how he constantly made stupid decisions and refused to communicate. He basically acted as if Skyler should just deal with the fact he was a murderer and druglord
Absolutely omfg! Ugh.
genuinely- people who sympathise with the murdering, manipulative, self absorbed, CHILD KILLING, drug overlord and hate his wife who is wholeheartedly trying to live a normal life and keep her children safe while everything her husband does puts all of them in danger..... I just don't get it.
Did you watch it for the first time when you were over 35 or before? I hated her until i rewatched it at 35.
@@emusaurus oh nope i watched it when i was 15
i’m 15. i just watched it, but i did watch it from the lens of HATING Walt, because I thought the show was overrated by how much everyone raved about it.
This gave me the lens that “Walt doesn’t deserve sympathy” which only grew as i saw his selfish actions and terrible manipulations. I felt bad for everyone Walt had to be with, particularly Skyler and Jesse, especially at the end.
He ruined both of their lives, and tortured them physically and mentally.
On rewatches, this revelation only grows more and more, because you’re watching with a more open mind for extra details.
can't lie, I dislike Skylar as a character, but i can 100% see where she's coming from
I think this is the most sensible opinion. People can justify her actions all they want but at the end of the day she was a hypocrite (Especially when she started laundering money) that needlessly gave all of Walt's money away to her side man, and ended up putting her entire family's life in danger for it. Never really liked her as a character after that scene. The only lenience I'll give is that Walter is terrible for even putting them all in a life threatening situation, but she outright made the situation worse.
Does she deserve to be absolutely hated? No.
Is she justified? A case can be made that she is.
Can I see and understand why people don't like her? I'd be lying if I said I didn't. It's setting a pretty low bar to say she's a good person just because she's not as bad as Walter.
EXACTLY.
Yeah I can see her point a lot of the time. And also I did like how many levels her character had to her
The reason the audience hates Skyler isn't because she stands in Walt's way, but that she gets in the way of the plot itself. While other antagonists amplify the tension and excitement, Skyler delays it. She is a plot block. The second is that while her worst quality may not be as bad as other characters, it is the most annoying....which is her acting high, mighty, and having the moral high ground while she participates in the criminal enterprise.
It also didn't help her that one of the first things we see about her is giving Walt a sad, sad 50th birthday hand job while acting like she is giving him a huge treat.
She acted like that long before Walt broke bad. And before she even knew about the drugs, and only knew that he was dying of cancer, she made his life miserable. That’s the real reason people don’t like her.....most people were smart enough to realize in the first episode that Skylar white, was a miserable, nagging b!tch long before she ever had a justifiable reason to do so.
I just finished breaking bad. I honestly was waiting for it to be more ambiguous with regards to Walter's actions, based on how so many people liked him. But come on, it's so clear that it's a cautionary tale. Wonderful show
_"meth man good. wife bad."_
-(some) Breaking Bad fans
Well she did cheat on him, don't pretend she is some innocent angel
@Potential Propaganda The kid Todd shot
@Potential Propaganda I agree with you, but I can't remember Gomey doing anything too bad.
Yes
How can you watch breaking bad and not put yourself in Walt's shoes? In Walt's shoes there is no reason not to hate her
I watched BB for the first time just recently and to avoid spoilers I didn’t look on social media or engage with fan content until I had finished. I was so surprised to hear that everyone hated skyler, I thought she was a great and very realistic character, I even enjoyed watching some of her plot lines. Anyways, I still don’t know why she’s so universally hated, even more than hank and Marie, who are a lot more dislikable in my opinion.
This! Marie made me incredibly angry so many times! Her and Skyler's relationship is great though. There's so much between the lines. Hank is... complicated. I really liked the character for the most. He has negative traits like being a show off, hiding his emotions behind a wall of fragile manliness, not being very tactful a lot of times, etc. But overall I found him more sympathetic. He seems to have a good heart, he genuinely cares for his friends and family, his struggle with PTSD and injury put him in a bad space and he mostly gets over it, he's really competent at his job and takes it seriously and - always helpful in making a character sympathetic - he's funny.
It's a fictional show having realistic responses isn't exactly a good character trait, if it was the show would have only lasted till that episode where Walt said he had half a mil in cash in his duffel bag. She's played very well though so the hatred for the actress is very stupid.
Marie is the worst character in the show she's just a compulsive liar and manipulator
@@snapdowndarsee4959 any show grounded in any sense of realism should have realistic responses. Also, realistic responses don’t literally mean “the most accurate to real life” but rather “the most logical responses for a given character within the world that has been established”.
Im in the exact same boat as you in terms of my thoughts on Skyler. I'm currently still watching the show, so I don't know if she gets worse in seasons four and five, but currently, I find her very likable and well written. I've heard of the massive hatedom she has, and the various theories as to why she has it. Also, no actor or actress should be threatened and harassed because they play a character people don't like.
You would kind of hope around season 3 people would have learned not to hate her when the creators made the mouthpiece for their anger a whiny teenager who has no idea what's going on, but critical thinking was never their strong suit.
especially in the matter of female characters
rip fandom brain cells 😔
@P J In a way, it's not the fandom's fault. Renegade Cut has a good video on how dissonant the acknowledgment that Rick is a shitty person is when held up against the framing of him still always ending up right or justified in acting shitty and nihilistic. It's hard to make a character really shitty but still continuously make them the one who solves all the problems and not construct a narrative that reads as "Being a shitty person is justifiable, actually, if you were as smart as Rick you'd act like an asshole too." He contrasts it with It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, where the show is about terrible people who are framed as always be wrong - and even in that case some people still look at the Always Sunny cast as somehow cool or sympathetic or redeemable.
@P J
Saying it's not the fandom's fault isn't the right way to put it; it's more that the fandom isn't pulling this stuff out of nowhere. There are things within the text that encourage this reading, and I think that Breaking Bad does this too, albeit significantly less so.
I remember when Walt intentially let Jesse's GF die, and *then* it finally hit me that Walt wasn't the anti-hero; he was the villian. I felt stupid for not seeing that before. Skyler became my hero from then on out. The show really was a masterpiece of getting the audience to identify with the villian and hate the hero, but eventually they turned it around and showed you what they'd done. I think they made it pretty clear by the final season.
Remember when Walt attempted marital rape and then was heavily implied to have committed it in a later season and no one EVER talks about it.
yes!! im rewatching the show rn and when i got to that i was like "holy fuck why do i rarely hear people talking about this part 😟"
No one deserves that, but if we had to pick one character it would be Skyler. Walt did nothing wrong, he just had to make tough choices.
@@turolretar In what universe is marital rape “making tough choices”? And saying nobody deserves that, BUT *IF* SOMEONE DID it’d be her? Please seek therapy
@@turolretar what the hell do you mean by he didnt do anything wrong did we even watch the same show?his ego ruined him and his family.
My mom and I were talking about this recently 🤢
More often than not audiences are a bigger fan of the idea of protagonist-centered morality than actual writers/storytellers are.
George Carlin once said of people: "Think of a person with average intelligence, and remember that half of them are _dumber than that!"_
Not only can you not expect most people, who aren't creative to understand the thinking of creative people, but the fact is you can almost never predict human behavior. You were talking about TWD in the other thread, right? People hated Andrea and Lori, but they love Michonne and Carol and Maggie. If you have particularly flawed characters, or characters with particularly grating flaws you get all the people who disliked them *PLUS* the misogynists, and they amplify each other through interaction. For that reason you'd have to be pretty astute to predict whether writing, editing, casting etc. decisions will lead to a hatewave.
I always had a question about this. Never understand why people hate her liked that. People can relate to criminals, murders, scammers, stealers, gang members, drug dealers, corrupt lawyers, corrupt politicians, corrupt officers, psychopaths, torturers but not the relative normal wife lol
I'm probably sure the developers would not expect this reaction, or at least not in this level.
Edit: 04:30 Yep, more one thing the dumb part of the fanbase didn't get it. Like the "Walter White isn't dead "theory", "Walter White is cool badass guy who did all for his family" and probably more stupid stuff
She’s as much a piece of shit criminal as Walt is, she just played a smaller role. I hate both of them
People can relate to Walt because everything he did was understandable, all of his actions were usually logical, and always consistent
Skylar was- increasingly as the series went on and her role in the story grew- a wild card antagonizing force based almost entirely around emotional outbursts, who believed whatever the dramatic plot necessitated her to believe at the time, whether or not it was consistent with her past motivations or made sense in context
Normal Wife?
Is it "Normal" that your actions to having your husband be a drug dealer is to start laundering his money, smoking while pregnant, stealing Walt's money and cheating out of spite instead of calling the police the instant she found out about it?
I fucking hate skyler.
i think people hate Skylar because she‘s by far the most uncomfortably realistic person in the show. she‘s not larger than life, she‘s not a perfect person, but also not evil at all. she reacts very sensibly to the information she has, and handles her life getting derailed surprisingly well.
but she knows Walt, and the person he used to be, and by her pure existence derails all of his grand delusions about himself.
She knows that what Walt does is wrong, and despite her flaws is a decent person and sticks by that, reminding the audience that actually Walt isn’t half the tragic hero he considers herself.
imagine your husband is sneaking off to do things, and when you need to know how he's doing due to him having CANCER and financial issues , he just dodges your questions and emotionally manipulates you. imagine your family falling apart as your husband dives into a criminal world, and a family member dies because of your husband. Now do you think you wouldn't act irrationally?
You were right up until you said she acted irrationally
She did not acted irrationally. In fact she was one of the most rational people in the show. She stayed silent and cooperated with Walt because she knew otherwise it would cause chaos to her family. She gave good advice to instead buy car wash instead of some laser playground that would’ve caused Walt to produced nonsensical bullshits, or when Walt just bought expensive car where it could’ve aroused suspicion at that moment. She was always the one that keep it nicely under the rug. The plan was all for them to stay low profile, launder the money, and their kids can live nicely without arousing suspicion. And it was proven once Skyler was in the loop, everything was peaceful for a moment. But because of Walter’s own egoistical actions that he brought upon himself, that plan was ruined. Walter’s smart, but he is not at all rational, and Skyler is rational side that he needed until Heisenberg’s ego got the best of him
@@crappyj7603 Bro she smoked cigarettes while pregnant?. Like REALLY early season 1.. he honestly wasn't even that shady at that point and time. So yeah... acted irrationally.
@@hypeman1825 yeah just because she was manipulated doesn’t mean we can’t hate her for being a cheat, smoking while pregnant and continuing to smoke in front of the baby, that’s what I hated her for
@@BlazerT48 She smoked while pregnant, she's 5000 miles away from being a rational individual.....
“The show isn’t interested in having any character be a morally pure-cut individual”. You hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, a LOT of people watched this show at too young an age when their media literacy level was still stuck at “good guys” and “bad guys” and “protagonist = hero”. I doubt many of those people, who make up the majority of Skyler-haters/Walt deifiers, have actually gone back and given the show another full watch as adults.
I agree, I feel like the rise in Breaking Bad’s popularity within recent meme culture means that a lot of young kids are drawn to it. As a result there is a growing lack of maturity and critical thinking present in recent discourse related to the show. The excuse before, when the show was airing, was that such behaviours such as sexism etc were more prevalent and tolerated, but now when things have changed, it’s just weird. I suppose the popularity of people like Andrew Tate is an example of why a lot of young kids watching the show are so quick to make these judgments.
That probably made no sense at all, but I really agree on the bad guys and good guys comment. My younger brother recently watched both better call Saul and breaking bad, and saw things that way. People cannot always be one way or the other, just as things aren’t always black and white, but he wasn’t able to see that.
This might come to you as a shock but perhaps those "media illiterate" individuals simply made a conscious choice, and calling them "media illiterate" just because you disagree with their choice is quite immature of you.
@@rusi6219 You don't have to love Skyler or have her be your favorite character but if you watch the show and come out thinking "wow she's such a fucking bitch" and that she's "just as bad as Walt", then yeah you are media illiterate. Might be a hot take but there IS such a thing as being wrong in the interpretation you give to the media you consume, regardless of how popular that interpretation is.
Yes. Glad I watched this show late, but as an adult.
So, I was addicted to meth for a while and had to stop watching Breaking Bad partway through s02 (all the imagery), so I didn't get further in the series, where a lot of Walter's actions come back to bite him, and a lot of Skyler's highly reasonable predictions come true. But even in that first little bit of the show, I could feel myself just unfairly despising Skyler. Part of it was that she reminded me of the verbally abusive Catholic soccer moms I grew up around (weirdly personal and specific), but there was another, large, less obvious/more insidious aspect to it, since I rly, rly hated her from the start. And I think you seriously nailed all of it in this video -- there's another part of me and p much all men (and just ppl in general since, y'know... widespread social issue), deep down inside, that did just hate Skyler for essentially being the "shrill annoying harpy, getting in the way of a man's journey toward power." Like, I'd get a little thrill every time Walter did something a Boss Man would do, and I'd just cringe so hard at all of Skyler's "nagging."
And weirdly enough, my politics and perspectives on that stuff had already been very activism and anti-oppression focused -- so it's just incredible to see you unravel this in such an eloquent way, that'll maybe get some of us to either reconsider our own toxic perspectives, or, for ppl who think they've mostly transcended toxic masculinity -- to realize when it's still in us, just beneath the surface, and how that can often be reflected in the ways we react to media.
(Also, I've never been a dealer, but as a former addict myself: Skyler did nothing wrong. I've seen some shit, and a LOT of meth dealers eventually disappear in The Bad Way. It's not a job ppl can have unless they're p much only responsible for themselves, and themselves alone, imo).
@@n0ctem845 Thanks! It's a tough one to beat, but it's definitely always possible!
Toy Carousel May your growth through life continue to bring the sorts of surprises that inspire gratitude.
@@chaosvii Thank you! You as well!
Very good comment.
I have to admit, although I'm a man, I never hated Skyler and I find that kind of misogyny very alien. Like, OF COURSE she tried to get in Walter's way. How is it not obvious?
Do I think this way because I'm queer? I dunno. But it might have something to do with it. I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with straight men.
wow bro, im glad you recovered. Would you ever go on a podcast an verbally express your journey and POV on various subjects?
For me, the part I hate most about Skyler is that she's every bit as bad of a spouse and parent as Walt (probably worse actually) but believes that's she's somehow morally superior.
You've caught me, Jack. I hate Skyler because I love that weed.
Didn't love her at first but the more unforgivable Walts actions became the more I started sympathising with Skyler to the point where she became one of my favorite characters, easily one of the most well-written and "human" characters on the entire show.
Same! There were moments where I was cheering for her and it's shocking to see how many people were having those moments with walt instead.
Same here. I always had respect for her, the kind that I lost for Walter like a season in. I understand and empathize with her motives more than almost anyone else’s.
I must say that her writing really droped at the start of season 5 where I am currently at. I actually liked her before. But maybe she'll redeem herself
She's a flawed character, like all the characters in the show, but I feel the hatred for her is completely overblown.
People's opinions of others are often influenced more by the person's persona and how they influence them emotionally rather than purely their actions. Its perfectly reasonable to hate Skylar.
@@brandonkey181 It's not reasonable to hate Skyler. You can name any example of anything she did but absolutely nothing reasonably warrants the extreme, irrational hatred so many people seem to have of her.
I watched it for the first time at the start of quaranitine and I just always felt really sorry for Skylar. In fact the level of hatred described in this video is what I felt towards Walt which did nothing but rise as the series progressed lmao.
Everytime she opened her mouth I wanted to slap her. I felt that like without even thibking too much. It was like an impulse.
@@DrCooch Skyler acts as a narcissist sometimes. Many people are scarred by narcissist female relative, typically their mother, and this can provoke really strong reaction. For some her character seems like cheap, easy way to evoke reaction and emotion from audience. A more subtle approach to her character could have worked better IMO. She's a bit one-dimensional.
My favourite character who never gets in walters way is the guy who runs the trailer park who asks Hank for a warrant
I genuinely worry for the people that think Skyler is on the same level of evil as Walt. She was the victim of constant abuse, gaslighting, and wrongful condemnation from her whole family, and took the best course of actions to protect both Walt and the family from the start. A sad reality that many people in the real world are in the same position as Skyler, and are just as villainized for it.
Ok Skyler is definetely not as bad as Walt, but to claim she was a victim of abuse is stretching it. She had multiple oportunities to rat Walt out when it was starting out, to the point of even having the police at her house in front of her, but she got greedy just like him. She saw the money and fell into the same trap Walt did, thinking this was "for the family", and in the end her actions to "protect the family" almost lead to their deaths in the end of season 4, when she gave the money to Ted to cover up the tax evasion.
@@flydrop8822 Dude what are you talking about? She did not see the money and get greedy- He manipulated her, lied to her, and BROKE INTO THEIR HOUSE TO FORCE HER TO LET HIM BACK INTO THE FAMILY. His actions to "protect the family" (which he admits later is bullshit) almost kills him and EVERY member of his family MULTIPLE times. All she wanted was everything to become relatively stable, she just wanted her family to stay together while Walter was actively trying to rip it apart by prioritizing being a drug lord over anything else. He routinely abuses her via manipulation, coercion, and ridiculing her ideas anytime she opens her mouth. She is nowhere NEAR as terrible as Walter was, the ONLY reason she accepted his money is because they were going to *lose their house*. She ONLY ever did anything to protect her family, all Walter cared about was his ego and pride.
@@malchickoleander "broke into their house", she called the police and didn't tell anything to them, she had her lawyer tell her to report him and she didn't listen, she helped him hide his money and was slowly becoming accostumed to his way if it weren't for the insanely stressful situations that came about soon (like the one with Gus Fring and Hank finding out). She is not as terrible as Walter, but she is guilty too, and if it wasn't for how he lied on phone to the cops about the way he manipulated and treated her in the last episode, she would be in jail.
@@flydrop8822 And literally all of those things are because of the manipulation, coercion, and downright intimidation Walter imposed on Skyler. I do not know WHERE you are getting the idea that he lied on the phone to the cops, firstly because I haven't seen the last episode yet and secondly because he is absolutely a manipulative abusive coercive piece of shit to her for the ENTIRE show.
Point by point:
1. There is literally zero question both in-universe and as a viewer as to whether or not Walter broke into the house. He definitely did. He manipulated her AND the police by flat out LYING TO THEM and interacting with the baby in an "ohh I'm just a misunderstood husband :(((" way, both of which pressured her to keep quiet. Are we forgetting, again, that he FLAT OUT LIED TO THE COPS IN FRONT OF HER?
2. She was trying to protect her family, as she explained TO the lawyer. She only ever accepted his money because she was terrified of what it'd do to her family if he was caught, and they desperately needed it so they wouldn't lose their house and livelihoods.
3. Yes, she helped him hide his money and grew accustomed to his ways. Victims of abuse often react this way, this is an extremely realistic response from someone who has been exposed to such high-stress situations for so long and has been manipulated for so long.
Whether or not she is legally guilty, which as you point out yes she is (but even then, literally because Walter explained how he abused and manipulated her she didn't go to jail which means she still isn't), she is fucking Jesus compared to Walter. The man who has murdered, who manufactures drugs, who actively ruins the lives of every single person around him. Walter White is an evil son of a bitch and he uses Skyler as a tool to further his own selfish desires. He does not care about her. She is abused and silenced into dealing with his shit for the whole show. Is she a perfect person? Absolutely not, no one is. But she is nowhere even CLOSE to the deplorable person Walter is.
@@malchickoleander you should definetely watch the last episodes before drawing any conclusions, I am sorry I spoiled it to you.
Regardlessly, you are still stretching. Yes Walter lied to the cops in front of her, wtf does that have to do with manipulating HER? He was just lying as he usually does to basically everyone. There was no coercion, at no point did he force her into anything (outside from that sexual assault scene way back... That was definetely gross from him, but doesn't effect the drug production part) and when he broke into the house he did so because he didn't care anymore if she was gonna throw him to the cops (and the only reason the show kept going is because she CHOSE not to).
"everyone makes mistakes" dude i dont know about you but i havent participated in a multi million dollar money laundring acheme from drug trafficking. Maurie made mistakes, Hank made mistakes. Walt Jr. made mistakes. Skyler made *severe* mistakes. And Walter, yes he has done worse than all, no doubt on that. But to claim she "just mades mistakes" like everyone else? That is 100% excuse.
If you don't care about getting spoiled:
What happens in the end is that Walter White makes a call to his house (which was wired by the cops at that time), basically humiliating Skyler to her last fibers of being and proudly claiming he was behind Hank's death. We are lead to believe he went off the worst end with this, but later it is revealed he did this intentionally to drive off the police's attention on Skyler and make it seem like she was nothing but a victim (which I just outlined it was not case). He later speaks to her again and finally tells her the truth about everything, while also giving her the coords for Hank and Steve corpses (who were murdered by some nazis Walter hired to kill Jesse, and ended up killing Hank and Steve instead, stealing Walt's money and making Jesse a slave). Walter ends up killing all the nazis and dies. Skyler ends up innocented due to his last efforts to clear up her name.
At first I considered myself a Skyler hater, but after my second watch through I realized she’s one of the most realistically written characters that grounds the insane adventure Walt takes you on, and gives a realistic look at what a wife or s/o would do in this situation.
I still find myself being annoyed with Skyler if I ever think about the happy birthday scene, but I also now understand that it’s not nearly as bad as some of the things Walt has done that many people overlook when hating on Skyler.
People often forget that while Walt is the protagonist, he’s not a good person. Yes you root for him but you also have to think how he’s the bad guy. All the issues in the show wouldn’t happen if he wasn’t so money and power hungry.
The main reason why she’s so hated though is that it’s almost as she’s being presented as the direct obstacle Walter has to get over in order to succeed.
Part of the reason she's hated is because she is realistic. Keep in mind a lot of shows viewers are probably married guys with stressful jobs and nagging cheating wives who boss them around, and Skylars character just strikes a nerve. Meanwhile they identify with Walt because who wouldn't want to have a fantasy of rising to the top in something?
She's annoying to look at & annoying to listen to.
Stop acting like you know what you're talking about...
Well I don’t have a husband
Ahh yes, I just typed this in a different thread…. It’s also a bit of wanting the spouse or partner to support the main character in that which takes the story forward. A partner in crime instead of what would (most likely) happen in reality.
I’m glad to see this perspective here as well!
I hated Skyler on my first watch through. But I watched the entire show in a week and I was suffering from the "Criminal High" and set in the idea of Walt doing it for his family and thus everything he did was morally level. It wasn't until my 2nd watch that I noticed all the nuances, I noticed Walt was doing it for himself and dragging his family in this world that they were either oblivious to, or did not want to be in. My 2nd watch through, Skyler was 100% a victim. She is not squeaky clean, but she was in a very controlling and abusive relationship.
If you are coming out of the end of the show, thinking Walt is some kind of saviour and that Skyler is an annoying bratty wife, you might have missed some valuable context.
Doesn't Walter literally says at the final season he did it all for himself and never did it for the money or his family. Those were only lies he told himself to justify what he did.