# Your thoughts on Walter White (Breaking Bad) (SPOILERS IN POLL and DISCUSSION) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869 "2013-08-10T14:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/41 "2013-08-15T14:45:30Z")
This is a Tragedy - in the way of Shakespeare’s Tragedies. Walt is going to die - the question is whether he will be _redeemed_, i.e., seen as sympathetic and aware of all of his failures, by either himself before he dies, or framed that way by those that survive him. Or will he just go down hard and unredeemed, i.e., Richard III looking for a horse as he collapses on the battlefield. Given Cranston as an actor who can sell the ambiguity, I opt for him realizing his sins, and beginning to envision redemption - but dying based on all the damage he wrought. He will NOT merely end up with nothing or in jail, a cruel return to his loser beginnings - that is a Twilight Zone ironic-zinger ending (love 'em, but that is not the currency this show trades in). For a tragedy this ambitious, he _must_ die. ETA: I voted “dies” - but I don’t “hope” that - I merely see it as required. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/42 "2013-08-15T15:44:27Z")
Shit, **Idle Thoughts** - I didn’t mean to kill your thread…perhaps I should’ve treaded more lightly 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/43 "2013-08-15T16:35:58Z")
If Walter White were a real person, obviously, he’d DESERVE to die. But from a dramatic/artistic perspective, I have no idea what will happen or what will work best. Bad characters don’t always get their comeuppance in real life, and they don’t always get it in fiction. Occasionally, they come out on top. So, while I’d be horrified if a real-life equivalent of Walter White got away scot-free, it wouldn’t NECESSARILY bother me if the fictional Walter White did. A good ending isn’t necessarily a just ending. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/44 "2013-08-15T17:01:50Z")
I guess the four questions of this thread are: 1. Is Walt a good guy or a bad guy? I’d answer a complicated bad guy. 2. Does Walt deserve to die? Yeah. Probably. 3. Will he die? No clue. Probably not. 4. Finally, the question you asked: Do you want him to die? I answered no. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/45 "2013-08-15T17:17:07Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Walter White’s complexity is what makes him such a great character. Is the man evil, or is it that he finally discovered an outlet for all the pent up frustration and disappointment in his life that he never got to express? Who knows? > > I trust the writers to bring the series to an end with a satisfying conclusion, regardless of whether he lives or dies. I think, however, that his survival chances are close to 0%. > > ETA: After a little more thought, it comes to me that Walt and Jesse are completely antiparallel in their behavior. Walt was a good man who found the confidence to be a badass, and over five seasons he’s been pushing that line to see how far it can go. Contrast Jesse, who was never a “good” kid to begin with, but has been finding his conscience through this journey and is struggling to be good. Quite interesting. I believe that the point of the story is exactly that: All of us have the capability to be monsters or flawed saints, it depends on how we react to the situation we are placed in. Walt had many options when he found he was diagnosed with cancer, varying from accepting the treatment and fate that he already had available, to becoming a drug kingpin in pursuit of securing a future for his family. He was intelligent enough to become a drug kingpin at any time, but he didn’t feel any _pressure_ to do so. When he starts doing it, he finds he likes it. Jesse, in contrast, saw no real future outside of becoming the biggest drug dealer he could be. He was a small time monster. He wasn’t particularly applying himself at that, but his pressures were few, and mostly manageable. When he starts seeing the possibility of a better life, he tries to achieve it. However, his situation with Walt and his own moral code make that difficult, and he performs more monstrous acts as a result. On the other hand, maybe it’s as simple a contrast as good head/faulty heart vs. faulty head/good heart. I can see that argument being made, too. > [@WordMan](#): > > This is a Tragedy - in the way of Shakespeare’s Tragedies. > > Walt is going to die - the question is whether he will be _redeemed_, i.e., seen as sympathetic and aware of all of his failures, by either himself before he dies, or framed that way by those that survive him. Or will he just go down hard and unredeemed, i.e., Richard III looking for a horse as he collapses on the battlefield. > > Given Cranston as an actor who can sell the ambiguity, I opt for him realizing his sins, and beginning to envision redemption - but dying based on all the damage he wrought. > > He will NOT merely end up with nothing or in jail, a cruel return to his loser beginnings - that is a Twilight Zone ironic-zinger ending (love 'em, but that is not the currency this show trades in). For a tragedy this ambitious, he _must_ die. > > ETA: I voted “dies” - but I don’t “hope” that - I merely see it as required. Damn, are you sure you don’t write this show? Because if we brush the particulars of how we get to that scene aside, that’s really the question of these eight episodes. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/46 "2013-08-15T17:17:30Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I guess the four questions of this thread are: > > 1. Is Walt a good guy or a bad guy? I’d answer a complicated bad guy. > > 2. Does Walt deserve to die? Yeah. Probably. > > 3. Will he die? No clue. Probably not. > > 4. Finally, the question you asked: Do you want him to die? I answered no. Nice. 1. Good Buy or Bad Guy? Human Guy 2. Deserve to Die? Yes, of course - for his hubris 3. Will he? Most certainly (see my post above) 4. Do I want him to? Yes - Gloriously **scabpicker** - just the Bard talking… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869/47 "2013-08-15T17:45:12Z")
I don’t really root for stuff in shows- and isn’t Walt’s death is a foregone conclusion anyway? The whole show began when he started dying of cancer. If he’s not dead in the final scene, he’ll meet some kind of fate worse than death, alone with his pride and on the verge of dying, knowing he destroyed everything he cared about and accomplished little or nothing. Maybe he’ll care about that and maybe he won’t. One of the things that made the show great is the fact that Walt became a killer immediately. Even if you continued to sympathize with him through the killing of Jane and the poisoning of Brock or if you jumped off at some other point, they never shielded him from the consequences of his actions and didn’t let the fish out of water premise of the show linger. My theory about the show isn’t that Walt was a good guy who became a bad guy or whatever- it’s that his diagnosis unleashed a bottomless well of nihilistic rage. For a while he fell back on the excuse of providing for his family, but his main motive is getting revenge on the world. The drug empire is his monument to himself. I think to a degree he doesn’t even believe it’s real. This is a fantasy that just happens to involve tons of real deaths and misery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-walter-white-breaking-bad-spoilers-in-poll-and-discussion/665869.md?page=2)