I don’t know what show you’re watching. Walt doesn’t come out of the gate as a ruthless murderer, it takes 3 seasons and extreme circumstances to get to that point. Walt has always treated Jesse as a surrogate son, it’s completely consistent with his character. The only people he’s been involved with killing are people that pose a direct threat to him.
Regarding Jane - she was threatning to blackmail him and expose the whole thing, and he also thought she was a bad influence on Jesse (and she was) - both because she began trying to control him for the money, and because she got him back into drugs. He wouldn’t have actively murdered her, but let her come to die through inaction. Certainly it makes no sense to say that he should’ve saved her for Jesse’s sake, if he believed she was ruining Jesse’s life.
Maybe his protectiveness of Jesse is his way of convincing himself that he’s still a decent guy. “It’s my fault he’s involved in this and I’m not going to abandon him.”
Yea, it doesn’t in any way make up for all of the bad shit he’s done, but it’s something he can cling to in his rationalizations.
For example, [del]killing Jane[/del] letting Jane die can, in Walt’s mind, be rationalized as protecting Jesse from a gold-digging druggie who was leading him down a dangerous path; when the reality was that he was protecting himself, and his money, from a blackmailer who threatened to expose his illegal activities.
You can argue that it would have made more sense to kill Jesse at the same time (make it look like they both od’ed) but that takes away the excuses he’s making to himself for murdering Jane.
Look at the scene where he’s trying to convince Jesse that the plane crash wasn’t Jesse’s fault. He throws out a bunch of ridiculous excuses about an aging ATC system and finishes with “no no, I blame the government”. He’s obviously trying to convince himself as much as he’s trying to convince Jesse.
He wants to believe that he’s not really responsible for all of the horror he’s responsible for. Jesse is part of that defense mechanism.
Remember also, that Jesse is the only person in the universe who Walt can truly talk to about this. His wife knows the outlines, but she doesn’t understand the movement in the machine.
I think Walt just wants to not be alone. To have another human being he can trust, inside the bubble.
Can you point to an example of genuine affection from Walt towards Jesse?
I’m pretty sure you have it backwards. Before she met Jesse, Jane was clean and sober. It was Jesse that got her using again, and Jane’s idea was to run away with the money and start a new life somewhere.
Maybe try to look at the combination of the ruthlessness and the fuck up as completely intentional, instead of bizarre. It’s part of what makes everything Walt touches turn to shit. Don’t think of their surrogate father/son relationship as a Ward and Beaver type deal; instead, it’s something destructive, something that eats itself. Many of the good things Walt thinks he does to help Jesse (but which are often done for Walt’s own sake) just make things worse, which leads him to do more good things, which turn bad and it cycles like that. The toxicity of the relationship is what gives it that emotional depth.
A lot of this is crystalized in the fly in the lab episode. At one point, Walt recounts to Jesse what Jane’s dad told him, which happens earlier in the evening he watches Jane choke- “He said ‘never give up on family.’ And I didn’t. I took his advice.” Walt sounds almost prideful here, that he never gave up on Jesse, that he accomplished his fatherly duty. That in a nutshell is his relationship with Jesse- Walt has zero problems watching the love of Jesse’s life die because he knows what’s best for Jesse (and himself). And that action has terrible wide-ranging repercussions.
Their relationship isn’t openly affectionate, obviously, but Walt has consistently had a soft spot for Jessie. He’s always stuck his neck out to protect him even when it presents a personal danger to himself. He has a certain pride when Jessie manages to get stuff right. He accidentally called his son Jesse when drugged up. He’s wracked with guilt over what Jane’s death did to Jesse and tries to be supportive when he’s going through rehab. Lots of little stuff.
From Walt’s perspective, all he knows is that Jesse had shit under control and now that he met this girl he’s completely wasted. He also knows that this girl is obviously acting in a very controlling fashion over Jesse, and she’s threatning to expose Walt. Walt has legitimate concerns that giving a heroin addict a bag of money and a desire to hit the road will likely result in his death. Walt didn’t see the fact that Jesse was the one who got the ball rolling on the drugs, from his perspective she’s come in and wrecked Jesse’s life.
I think you have the timing wrong here. It was (1) Jesse Fine, (2) Meets Jane, (3) Watches the dude’s skull get crushed, and (4) life goes to shit. It was the killing of the junkie that started Jesse on his drug binge, and he brought Jane down with him. Jane wasn’t a negative influence on Jesse, and in total she was probably helping him out of his spiral.
I’m hard pressed to come up with anything good Walter does for Jesse. As far as I can remember, there is nothing before Walter ends up with Gus. Every interaction Walt has with Jesse is for the sole purpose of getting the money he needs.
And that expression of affection (possibly one of the few where Walt doesn’t have an ulterior self-serving motive) leads fairly directly to Jesse having to end Gale, which completely messes Jesse up. Even when Walt’s actions are genuine, they break towards the bad.
This is the twisted level of their relationship.
Well, good and bad in a show like this are pretty subjective, right? So taking that into account…
-Walt doesn’t put Hank on Jesse when Hank is busting Jesse’s cooking hideout.
-Walt gets Jesse’s money back from Tuco.
-Walt deceives Hank so they can destroy the RV.
-The blowfish pep talk.
I think it’s fair to say that Walt would view those examples as good things at the time. Of course, most of those examples (and most of any others anyone else could list) are also largely for Walt’s benefit and come back to bite Jesse in the ass in one way or another.
I think your examples kind of prove my point. In none of those is there any intent other than to save Walt’s ass or to make him money. Pre-Gus, Walt never shows any sort of affection or interest in Jesse. He considers him a fuckup, and just uses him to make money. His character should have dropped him like a hot potato when he met Gus.
But don’t you think that Walt thinks those are all good things for Jesse? And that those are generally paternalistic actions, as well? What I mean is, it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. Walt can look at Jesse like a son, as well as be self-interested. Which is one reason it’s such an interesting show- his misdirected fatherly instincts toward Jesse usually cause more harm than good, as well as being self-serving. I don’t really see what pre- or post-Gus has to do with it, if that’s a distinction you are making. Could you explain that a little?
Walt pretty much does drop Jesse like a hot potato when he meets Gus, and I agree that would be in character. They aren’t a cooking team anymore at that point. But bringing Jesse back in is also completely in character. Despite Jesse threatening to turn Walt in if he gets caught, Walt still says to Sol that Jesse would never give up his name. It’s only after Sol says that to guarantee Walt’s freedom that there may come a time to talk “options” that Walt begins to plan to get Jesse back.
And then in that scene, where Walt is trying to convince Jesse to join him in the lab and there is no earthly logical reason for Jesse to say no, he says no. “I am not turning down the money, I am turning down you.” That moment doesn’t play out like a son trying to grow beyond his father? And then after Walt says Jesse’s meth is as good as his is, Jesse is all like, All is forgiven, Dad! Let’s cook! That didn’t have a Cat’s In The Cradle vibe to you?
Any other Breaking Bad fans catch the commercial for ABC’s new comedy, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 (yes, that really is the title)? I saw it during the Oscars telecast and then thought, “Wait, did I really just see that?”
It’s even more funny when you realize that the character in Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 that Cranston is referring to is Chloe, who is played by Krysten Ritter, the actress who played Jane in BB.
Idiot me, of course, didn’t get that right away. I kept thinking, I know that actress from somewhere. I had to do some Googling before I realized who it was and got the connection.
Yes, I did. And I also found myself wondering how much of Gus’ heartlessness and ruthlessness now was born because he watched his (friend/lover) get his brains blown out by that pool.
Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?
Lots of people echoed this sentiment, but Walt did more than watch. When he enters the house, Jane is on her side, spooned up against Jesse. As a result of Walt’s efforts to wake Jesse, she rolls onto her back.
And it’s that position that causes her to asphyxiate. There’s a good case to be made that if Walt never enters the apartment, the worst thing that happens to her is the embarrassment of throwing up in stupor on her boyfriend’s back.
