What did Walter White do that was so evil

[Biffster]

@Tamerlane

I sorta figure the last episode of Better Call Saul is going to find poor Saul in a heart-attack inducing panic as Jesse shows up at his Cinnabon concession. Only to find out Jesse is just there to apply for a job :D.

Awesome!! Time to make the donuts, bitch.

[Don_t_Panic]

@Biffster

Awesome!! Time to make the donuts, bitch.

You guys need a [del]cook[/del] baker?

[DWMarch]

@Tamerlane

I sorta figure the last episode of Better Call Saul is going to find poor Saul in a heart-attack inducing panic as Jesse shows up at his Cinnabon concession. Only to find out Jesse is just there to apply for a job :D.

I would pay actual money to see this.

[Don_t_Panic]

“Wow, the buns with the blue frosting are selling like hotcakes. Hey, Jesse, what did you put in those?”

[Sherrerd]

@MaxTheVool

…If you have a choice of living in three cities:
(a) a city with no criminals
(b) a city with a bunch of Mikes
(c) a city with a bunch of Todds
you would clearly prefer (a) to (b), but also clearly prefer (b) to (c).

Well, you’d probably go insane fairly quickly with either (b) or (c). So it wouldn’t much matter.

Though I guess either would be better than a city with a bunch of Shelley Bermans…

[MaxTheVool]

@Sherrerd

Well, you’d probably go insane fairly quickly with either (b) or (c). So it wouldn’t much matter.

Let me clarify. By “a city with a bunch of” I mean, “a normal sized city, with normal sized criminal class consisting of…”. So basically a city where all the criminals are Mikes, or a city where all the criminals are Todds.

If you really think there would be no difference between living in those two hypothetical cities, well, then we just disagree.

[Sherrerd]

@MaxTheVool

Let me clarify. By “a city with a bunch of” I mean, “a normal sized city, with normal sized criminal class consisting of…”. So basically a city where all the criminals are Mikes, or a city where all the criminals are Todds.
If you really think there would be no difference between living in those two hypothetical cities, well, then we just disagree.

Actually I was attempting to make a joking reference to a 1961 Twilight Zone episode. :o

[Sam_Stone]

I finally just finished the last half season of Breaking Bad, and I thought it was pretty clear what the series was about.

First, was Walter White evil? Of course. It’s right in the title: Breaking BAD. The whole show is about what it would take for a flawed-but-law abiding citizen to descent into violent depravity. And that goes for Skyler too. She starts out being horrified by drug dealing, and in the end she becomes more ruthless than Walt, ordering him to kill Jesse to protect the family.

Was Walter White a genius? Of course. The other subtext of the show is how a man of real genius thwarts much stronger people, from the DEA to the Mexican cartels. If you think it didn’t take genius to cook the meth in the show, fine. But in the context of the show we are clearly meant to believe that it DID take that kind of genius. But more to the point, Walt manages to come up with very clever ways to thwart his enemies. And right in the last episode he has a flash of genius that allows him to figure out how to get his millions to his family right under the noses of the government. Then he singlehandedly wipes out a crew of violent murderers.

Was Jesse evil? Not in the way Hank was. Jesse was stupid, Jesse was weak, Jesse was uneducated. But he was wracked with guilt over what they had done in a way that Walt never was. Jesse wasn’t evil, but his numerous character flaws kept putting him in situations that pushed him to do despicable things.

But the show was really about the slow descent into evil that Walt followed. Remember, at the beginning of the show Walt couldn’t even bring himself to kill the guy he had chained up in the basement - a guy who was certain to kill him if he ever got free. And he was crying when he decided to let Jane die. These were transformative moments in his character.

Was he evil for not saving Jane? Of course. If you can easily save someone from dying and you don’t simply because their death will benefit you, that’s evil. It’s not illegal, and probably shouldn’t be. But don’t confuse legality with morality. It’s not illegal to cheat on your wife either, but you’re a scumbag if you do it. Walt was morally culpable for her death, even if he wasn’t the direct cause of it.

From there, Walt finds it easier to kill people if they are a direct threat to him. But as time goes on, he starts to rationalize killing/hurting other people who get in the way, like poisoning Brock. Finally he gets to a place where he’s so invested in his ‘Heisenberg the Genius’ persona that he kills Mike just for mouthing him off.

So… Doing bad things makes it easier to do even worse things, and often puts you in a situation where you have to keep doing worse things. That’s how you ‘Break Bad’.

[Biffster]

@Sam_Stone

I finally just finished the last half season of Breaking Bad, and I thought it was pretty clear what the series was about.

First, was Walter White evil? Of course. It’s right in the title: Breaking BAD. The whole show is about what it would take for a flawed-but-law abiding citizen to descent into violent depravity. And that goes for Skyler too. She starts out being horrified by drug dealing, and in the end she becomes more ruthless than Walt, ordering him to kill Jesse to protect the family.

Was Walter White a genius? Of course. The other subtext of the show is how a man of real genius thwarts much stronger people, from the DEA to the Mexican cartels. If you think it didn’t take genius to cook the meth in the show, fine. But in the context of the show we are clearly meant to believe that it DID take that kind of genius. But more to the point, Walt manages to come up with very clever ways to thwart his enemies. And right in the last episode he has a flash of genius that allows him to figure out how to get his millions to his family right under the noses of the government. Then he singlehandedly wipes out a crew of violent murderers.

Was Jesse evil? Not in the way Hank was. Jesse was stupid, Jesse was weak, Jesse was uneducated. But he was wracked with guilt over what they had done in a way that Walt never was. Jesse wasn’t evil, but his numerous character flaws kept putting him in situations that pushed him to do despicable things.

But the show was really about the slow descent into evil that Walt followed. Remember, at the beginning of the show Walt couldn’t even bring himself to kill the guy he had chained up in the basement - a guy who was certain to kill him if he ever got free. And he was crying when he decided to let Jane die. These were transformative moments in his character.

Was he evil for not saving Jane? Of course. If you can easily save someone from dying and you don’t simply because their death will benefit you, that’s evil. It’s not illegal, and probably shouldn’t be. But don’t confuse legality with morality. It’s not illegal to cheat on your wife either, but you’re a scumbag if you do it. Walt was morally culpable for her death, even if he wasn’t the direct cause of it.

From there, Walt finds it easier to kill people if they are a direct threat to him. But as time goes on, he starts to rationalize killing/hurting other people who get in the way, like poisoning Brock. Finally he gets to a place where he’s so invested in his ‘Heisenberg the Genius’ persona that he kills Mike just for mouthing him off.

So… Doing bad things makes it easier to do even worse things, and often puts you in a situation where you have to keep doing worse things. That’s how you ‘Break Bad’.

Good answer, Sam.