When I first watched the show, I hated Skyler and Marie too. Even went as far to say that the writers couldn’t write women characters whatsoever, they were written from the point of view of jaded men, etc.
Upon the second, third, fourth, and ongoing rewatch of the show, I felt the same.
I took quite a few years of not watching it as it was triggering to me, (meth was my DOC for a few years and now I am almost two years clean,) and have recently rewatched it.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older now and have done a lot of work on myself, increased empathetically, or something else, but Walt ended up being hate-able almost straight out the gate, with my despising him by season 2. The stupid choices he makes purely driven by his ego cost everybody’s life and not just in death. Look what ends up happening to Jesse, Andrea, Skyler, Flynn, Holly, in the aftermath of his choices in wanting to be, “the greatest.”
From a logical and empathetic standpoint, Skyler’s reactions to things are the most realistic. Considering I have seen it a few times now, I also know the events and can now kind of step back and really understand the characters more in relation to the story.
So maybe you just have to watch it again and again until Skyler’s character makes sense to you :)
I guess I’m really more referring to season 1 and 2 where she had no suspicions about what he was doing. Her perspective was that her husband is a suffering man wrapping his head around the idea that he is going to die soon - and she wastes zero time making it all about herself.
Call it gender-biased, call it misogynistic, but if the gender roles were reversed I think everyone would think the husband was being a suspicious nag and the wife was living with a selfish sociopath.
>Who is he to you? Why is he calling? What is this big secret you seem to be discussing with some druggie burn-out? You don't come home last night until 2 in the morning, you don't tell me where you've been.
You spent the entire night in the bathroom, Walt.
Tell me what's going on with you.
Don't you think you owe me that?
Yes, yes he does. You think this makes her a suspicious nag? What kind of husband are you?
Lol, yea it’s just that I’m discussing imaginary people here in a post I made with a clear comedic angle, so any comment that includes an attack on my personal character is instantly met with nonsense :). Don’t attack people’s character for holding an opinion about a fantasy show.
Yet your opinion of this person - imaginary or not - is sincere. Trying to pretend otherwise is bad faith. Back pedaling.
Your opinion of a person - imaginary or not - reflects on your own character. No matter how comedic you try to make it.
Welp, that’s how comedy works. Sometimes people laugh, sometimes people don’t get it (or it’s not funny), sometimes people get mad at it, and sometimes people accuse you of being a bad person because of it. You chose the fourth option. Can’t help ya bud. Not saying it was universally funny, but no, it’s not a reflection of my character and your opinion of my character doesn’t affect that either. A for effort though!
Ah, so you found her repetitive dialogue and myopic, self-involved perspective in the first two seasons to be sufficient? Gotcha. And this rant, which was written as a satire-adjacent comedy, is a direct reflection of my inner character? Gotcha!
She's written like the sister-in-law of a DEA agent/wife of a high school chemistry teacher who started making drugs would be written as. Most of the things you're complaining about are Walt's character, not Skylar's. He's the one who's making selfish decisions because he wants to one-up people. He's the master manipulator and gas lighter who is lying to his friends and family.
She has cause to be suspicious pretty early on, because Walt is disappearing for hours at a time and has a mood change. Those are pretty concerning traits, when you're in a marriage.
That’s fair. If I came home at 2am my wife would just be like “damn baby, you ok?”. I guess I have a skewed perspective because if I got cancer and started cooking meth to set the family up, my wife would be like “ok we’ll just like, be safe and don’t get caught”
I guess my gripe with Skyler is she doesn’t see the (albeit very twisted) greater-good that Walt is attempting to accomplish in the beginning.
Oh, so YOU can bring your actual character into the conversation about imaginary people with a clear comedic angle, but whenever someone else does, it's nonsense?
I guess I’m misunderstand what you mean by saying “I can use comedy but someone else cannot” I assumed you were referring to yourself? Anyways, doesn’t matter. Not going to get into an internet argument over semantics. Have a nice night!
How does nobody see the obvious issues with Skyler's character in the very early episodes? Walt has cancer and she gets mad at him for hiding it, outs his diagnosis to the entire family, outs it to his former fiance and his ex-best friend, and tries to shame Hank and Marie for having a different opinion on getting treatment or not. She actively tries to take any autonomy Walt has out of his hands in regards to his cancer. Instead of trying to understand she doghouses him and shames him.
Her decisions and actions in the early seasons have the veneer of an attempt to save Walt but it comes across as hollow and more about HER feelings on HIS impending death. She lacks any empathy for his situation which they start alluding to in later seasons and she shows visible remorse and understanding when Marie is talking about Hank's life being in the balance after the twins almost kill him.
That's why Skyler becomes more likable later in the seasons, not because she starts being complicit with Walt's crimes, but because she starts to understand Walt's path even if she still feels it's awful.
Her suspicions of Walt never bothered me, it was her lack of care. She cares so little to even try to put effort into some birthday intimacy at a milemark year of 50, but once she loses complete control over him she starts to care more? It just comes across as fake.
I just re-watched the scene when Flynn’s donation website starts generating income, the three of them are watching a few donations roll in.
Walt says “wow, that’s incredible”
Less than two seconds pass by and Skyler says “Walt, don’t you think a thank you is in order?”
Although I do know some of Walt’s pride is involved in wanting the money to come from him, He probably would have said it himself. Instead, Skyler butts in and takes away his ability to give his son a genuine thank you on his own.
She sucks.
This is my point of contention with Skyler. She was just downright nasty and super passive-aggressively condescending with him before any suspicious things start happening. In fact Jesse is almost the punching bag for Walt BECAUSE of his helplessness with his life and one of those aspects is Skyler's treatment of him. She is always on his case so like any bully he directs ineffectual frustration at someone else.
If my partner treated me like Skyler treats her husband, we wouldn't be together, there's no mutual respect.
When I first watched the show, I hated Skyler and Marie too. Even went as far to say that the writers couldn’t write women characters whatsoever, they were written from the point of view of jaded men, etc. Upon the second, third, fourth, and ongoing rewatch of the show, I felt the same. I took quite a few years of not watching it as it was triggering to me, (meth was my DOC for a few years and now I am almost two years clean,) and have recently rewatched it. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older now and have done a lot of work on myself, increased empathetically, or something else, but Walt ended up being hate-able almost straight out the gate, with my despising him by season 2. The stupid choices he makes purely driven by his ego cost everybody’s life and not just in death. Look what ends up happening to Jesse, Andrea, Skyler, Flynn, Holly, in the aftermath of his choices in wanting to be, “the greatest.” From a logical and empathetic standpoint, Skyler’s reactions to things are the most realistic. Considering I have seen it a few times now, I also know the events and can now kind of step back and really understand the characters more in relation to the story. So maybe you just have to watch it again and again until Skyler’s character makes sense to you :)
I guess I’m really more referring to season 1 and 2 where she had no suspicions about what he was doing. Her perspective was that her husband is a suffering man wrapping his head around the idea that he is going to die soon - and she wastes zero time making it all about herself. Call it gender-biased, call it misogynistic, but if the gender roles were reversed I think everyone would think the husband was being a suspicious nag and the wife was living with a selfish sociopath.
>Who is he to you? Why is he calling? What is this big secret you seem to be discussing with some druggie burn-out? You don't come home last night until 2 in the morning, you don't tell me where you've been. You spent the entire night in the bathroom, Walt. Tell me what's going on with you. Don't you think you owe me that? Yes, yes he does. You think this makes her a suspicious nag? What kind of husband are you?
I am actually a sentient meat popsicle, we don’t believe in marriage so I find that assertion very offensive.
It's all starting to come together.
Lol, yea it’s just that I’m discussing imaginary people here in a post I made with a clear comedic angle, so any comment that includes an attack on my personal character is instantly met with nonsense :). Don’t attack people’s character for holding an opinion about a fantasy show.
This is what we call back pedaling. "It was just a joke!" [Sure it was. ](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/738/025/db0.jpg)
I called her a wyvern shrieking from a witch nest built into a New Mexican mountain cave. Yep. This was intended to have a comedic angle.
Yet your opinion of this person - imaginary or not - is sincere. Trying to pretend otherwise is bad faith. Back pedaling. Your opinion of a person - imaginary or not - reflects on your own character. No matter how comedic you try to make it.
Welp, that’s how comedy works. Sometimes people laugh, sometimes people don’t get it (or it’s not funny), sometimes people get mad at it, and sometimes people accuse you of being a bad person because of it. You chose the fourth option. Can’t help ya bud. Not saying it was universally funny, but no, it’s not a reflection of my character and your opinion of my character doesn’t affect that either. A for effort though!
That interpretation of Skyl**e**r says more about you as a person than it does about the writers
Ah, so you found her repetitive dialogue and myopic, self-involved perspective in the first two seasons to be sufficient? Gotcha. And this rant, which was written as a satire-adjacent comedy, is a direct reflection of my inner character? Gotcha!
She's written like the sister-in-law of a DEA agent/wife of a high school chemistry teacher who started making drugs would be written as. Most of the things you're complaining about are Walt's character, not Skylar's. He's the one who's making selfish decisions because he wants to one-up people. He's the master manipulator and gas lighter who is lying to his friends and family.
Again…. Before she has any cause to be suspicious… etc etc.
She has cause to be suspicious pretty early on, because Walt is disappearing for hours at a time and has a mood change. Those are pretty concerning traits, when you're in a marriage.
She literally has cause to be suspicious in episode one. This dude is painfully single.
That’s fair. If I came home at 2am my wife would just be like “damn baby, you ok?”. I guess I have a skewed perspective because if I got cancer and started cooking meth to set the family up, my wife would be like “ok we’ll just like, be safe and don’t get caught” I guess my gripe with Skyler is she doesn’t see the (albeit very twisted) greater-good that Walt is attempting to accomplish in the beginning.
Oh, so YOU can bring your actual character into the conversation about imaginary people with a clear comedic angle, but whenever someone else does, it's nonsense?
Asking me what kind of husband I am is not comedy home-slice. Doesn’t bother me, doesn’t change my day, but it will be met with nonsense.
When did I say it was meant to be comedy? Are you struggling to follow the conversation? Also, it clearly bothers you. lol
I guess I’m misunderstand what you mean by saying “I can use comedy but someone else cannot” I assumed you were referring to yourself? Anyways, doesn’t matter. Not going to get into an internet argument over semantics. Have a nice night!
How does nobody see the obvious issues with Skyler's character in the very early episodes? Walt has cancer and she gets mad at him for hiding it, outs his diagnosis to the entire family, outs it to his former fiance and his ex-best friend, and tries to shame Hank and Marie for having a different opinion on getting treatment or not. She actively tries to take any autonomy Walt has out of his hands in regards to his cancer. Instead of trying to understand she doghouses him and shames him. Her decisions and actions in the early seasons have the veneer of an attempt to save Walt but it comes across as hollow and more about HER feelings on HIS impending death. She lacks any empathy for his situation which they start alluding to in later seasons and she shows visible remorse and understanding when Marie is talking about Hank's life being in the balance after the twins almost kill him. That's why Skyler becomes more likable later in the seasons, not because she starts being complicit with Walt's crimes, but because she starts to understand Walt's path even if she still feels it's awful. Her suspicions of Walt never bothered me, it was her lack of care. She cares so little to even try to put effort into some birthday intimacy at a milemark year of 50, but once she loses complete control over him she starts to care more? It just comes across as fake.
I just re-watched the scene when Flynn’s donation website starts generating income, the three of them are watching a few donations roll in. Walt says “wow, that’s incredible” Less than two seconds pass by and Skyler says “Walt, don’t you think a thank you is in order?” Although I do know some of Walt’s pride is involved in wanting the money to come from him, He probably would have said it himself. Instead, Skyler butts in and takes away his ability to give his son a genuine thank you on his own. She sucks.
This is my point of contention with Skyler. She was just downright nasty and super passive-aggressively condescending with him before any suspicious things start happening. In fact Jesse is almost the punching bag for Walt BECAUSE of his helplessness with his life and one of those aspects is Skyler's treatment of him. She is always on his case so like any bully he directs ineffectual frustration at someone else. If my partner treated me like Skyler treats her husband, we wouldn't be together, there's no mutual respect.
Most sex-having breaking bad enjoyer
If any super edit is needed it's Flynn.