Not only did it not score any points, it was points against her. I think Walt automatically resents anyone that diverts Jesse’s attention from him.
Being a junkie isn’t a moral failing. It’s an addiction. Watching her choke and doing nothing was colder than murdering someone who presents you with a life threat. Jane was one of Walt’s most cruel murders, and I do consider it murder.
All I know is that the little girls playing Holly each deserve an Oscar. Apparently that scene in the bathroom where Holly starts going “Mama” wasn’t in the script - the baby’s mom was a few feet away so when she started asking for her Bryan Cranston just went with it.
Even if they make a special Emmy just so the kids can toddle up on a stage and get recognized for such heart-rending acting. That scene in the fire truck? Damnnn. 
Not only was Jane someone Jesse cared about, but Jesse blamed himself for her death, and sunk into a depression. Walt supposedly cared about Jesse, but he burdened Jesse with not just grief, but also with guilt.
Also, it seems extra cold to me because of how little effort it would have taken to save her. If someone is drowning, then you have to jump in, pull them out, and maybe do CPR. There’s also a distinct chance you could drown if you do try to help them, whether if the water is to strong, or the swimmer’s flailing panic pushes you under water. There’s a lot of situations where saving someone’s life requires effort and danger to the saver. But I believe that all Walt needed to do was move Jane back over to her side and she’d be okay. Maybe call 911 just to be sure.
Jesse deserved every ounce of that guilt. He’s more responsible for fucking up Jane’s life than Walk could ever be.
It has occurred to me that this was Hank’s way of rubbing Walt’s nose in the fact that he was probably going to lose the money. If Walt had kept his mouth shut, Uncle Jack and his associates wouldn’t have known about the money. So Hank got in one last jab at Walt before being murdered.
Yeah, I just read that last night. That’s unbelievable. I know scenes with little kids tend to drift that direction when they need them to be sad/crying, but that was just perfect.
Maybe this should be a separate thread, but is it just me, or does the success of Breaking Bad put The X Files in a different light? It’s a show that was really good on its own in the early years, but it got Vince Gilligan his first TV job and I think it has a real influence on Breaking Bad’s tone- especially in the first few seasons when there was more dark comedy and a little less dark darkness. In fact I just noticed that the first X Files episode I ever saw was one of his (Soft Light). Mighty oaks from acorns or something.
That’s crazy! Maybe “Holly” can share Moira Walley-Beckett’s upcoming writing Emmy.
Jesse will kill Todd and escape. The Nazis won’t have a cook, so they’ll lean on Skylar to get Walt back. Skylar ends up dead at the hands of the Nazis. Kids dead or with Marie.
This is the M60 angle. Scorched earth, no need to worry about hitting something unintentional. Kill them all.
The ricin is for Jesse. Walt lets Jesse get close to him, knowing Jesse hates his guts over Jane. Jesse kills Walt, but not before Walt pricks him with some ricin. They’ve been trying to sneak it into food and drink all this time, unsuccessfully, but the original tale was the Russian spy (or diplomat or somebody) that got pricked with a tiny amount under the skin.
Jesse, with Walt dead, thinks it’s over and goes to see Andrea. Starts to play a video game with Brock and keels over.
Or not.
Or maybe the whole show is just some autistic kid’s dream
Meh, not so much, Jane did a pretty good job of fucking her up life before Jesse showed up. We got to see her darker side when she began negotiating with Walt.
I have a theory that Breaking Bad in part comes out of Vince Gilligan’s desire to get right everything that was wrong with the X-files. The X-files overstayed its welcome, and kept running until everyone was bored with it and the main cast started leaving. Breaking Bad, in contrast, was always designed to have a definite end point in sight, and goes out on a high note. The X-files hit the reset button every episode, and the characters never had any real development in spite of all the weird stuff they experienced. Breaking Bad is hyper-serialized, every action has a consequence, and the characters change in profound and permanent ways. The overarching “mythology” of the X-files (the alien abduction stuff) never really held together, and didn’t go anywhere. The plots on Breaking Bad, on the other hand, are rock solid and meticulously charted out, with clear beginnings, middles and ends, and every single plot thread always connects directly to the main storyline.
Anyway, it’s just a theory, as I have no idea what Vince really thinks about the X-files, beyond the few mentions of it on the podcast, where he just says that it was a great job.
As Gus said, “Never trust a junkie”- disease/addiction or not, many of them do horrible things to get a fix, and she had the ability to destroy literally everything in Walt’s life: his freedom, his family, his money, his reputation, etc…
It reminds me of Seymour’s ethical dilemma with the dentist in LITTLE SHOP.
Hey Acsenray, Vince Gilligan himself described Todd as a psychopath in an EW article. Here’s the quote:
GILLIGAN SAYS “For Todd, our lovable yet psychopathic Opie, the heart wants what the heart wants, and Todd’s heart wants Lydia.”
I agree. I put Jane’s death near the bottom of Walt’s sins.
I can see Walt thinking that, if she was alive and with Jesse and all that money to buy drugs with, Jesse was doomed to suffer an inevitable junkie OD death - one just like Jane was demonstrating right in front of him.
It is not yet obvious that all Walt cares about is Walt’s wishes - it is at least possible to see it as Walt murdering Jane through inaction to preserve Jesse’s life from a woman that Walt has reason to believe is a blackmailing and selfish addict only pretending to love Jesse and really only interested in shooting up with Jesse’s cash.
This doesn’t paint Walt as a good guy, but his motives regarding Jane were at least somewhat ambiguous. Naturally, he had a string selfish motive as well.
That’s different then. Without that comment, you don’t have a basis for diagnosing Todd. I would, however, ask Gilligan to clarify whether he means it literally.
She was clean, going to meetings, and employed (albeit by her father) when Jesse showed up.
Also, I said nothing about how much she fucked up. She obviously is also at fault for her end. I was only comparing Walt and Jesse.
Looks to me more like a flippant comment than a diagnosis. Also, Vince Gilligan is a brilliant writer, but not a psychologist. And in any case: Intentional fallacy. There’s plenty of room for interpretation regarding Todd’s mental makeup and moral virtues or lack thereof, no matter what Gilligan says. The same goes for every character on the show. That’s why the show is so much fun.