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The family drama in Breaking Bad is excruciating.

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H

Horse Detective

Why the long case?
My girlfriend and I are re watching Breaking Bad, and god damn does Walt's family suck.

I mean I get that its the point, but I think we both found ourselves browsing Gaf whenever Skyler and Marie would start talking about some bullshit. I don't remember any of these people redeeming themselves at any point.

Hank is quite obviously excluded.
 
E

EatinOlives

Member
Didn't Vince Gilligan say he had a very hard time writing storylines for Marie and Skyler early on, which is why he essentially just stopped that altogether?
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
All of Marie's plotlines suck but I think Skylar is mostly fine. There are definitely parts with her when I was thinking, "can we just get back to the drugs, please?" but at least most of her scenes are related back to Walt in some way.

Marie's kleptomania plotline was so fucking bad.

For as much as people laud Breaking Bad, there are still some really terrible parts in the first couple seasons.
 
H

Horse Detective

Why the long case?
Moppeh said:
All of Marie's plotlines suck but I think Skylar is mostly fine. There are definitely parts with her when I was thinking, "can we just get back to the drugs, please?" but at least most of her scenes are related back to Walt in some way.

Marie's kleptomania plotline was so fucking bad.
Click to expand...

It detracts from the show and makes it feel like an attempt at a sitcom.
 
O

old manatee

Banned
resize
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
Horse Detective said:
It detracts from the show and makes it feel like an attempt at a sitcom.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they definitely seemed a little unsure as to how the family aspect was going to work within the story early on.

Once they stopped involving Marie as much, the family drama was way more bearable and often quite good.
 
P

Pezking

Member
It all starts in the very first episode with Walt getting vegetarian bacon and the most bored handjob imaginable from Skyler on his 50th birthday.

You think that family has already hit rock bottom. But it only gets worse.
 
S

Sheroking

Member
Cable shows in particular have to knock this "criminal life/family life" dichotomy the fuck off in general.

The Sopranos was hit or miss in this regard, but generally is told the story as well as it needed to be told. Homeland? Ray Donovan? Breaking Bad? A lot of it was damned insufferable.
 
R

riotous

Banned
Marie's plot is about how it affects Skylar and Hank; she is the most important person in both of their lives and her narcissism and kleptomania makes them feel that much more alone as the rest of their lives fall apart.

I love the show, even the Marie plot.

edit: And Skylar's husband is dying; her husband has become incredibly distant.. she struggles with that and then finds out it's because he's been selling Meth and repeatedly lying to her face; she's then stuck between a rock and a hard place because telling anyone her husband sells meth would lead to the entire family falling apart, so she has to play the "bad guy" who seems put off by her husband whose cover story is that he's some sort of Vegas card shark. Meanwhile as I mentioned her closest relative is a kelpto psychopath who is a total cunt to her.
 
T

theaffection

Member
Walt Jr is such an asshole. Probably the worst character. Your dad is working hard for you and you shun him and shit on him? Dick.


Really dug Marie as a character. Her storylines were usually filler, but she had alot of layers and was entertaining enough that it was worth getting invested in her


Never understood all the hate for Skyler.
 
J

Jokab

Member
I agree with the excruciating part, but I think it's a good thing. I could barely get through some scenes because they were hard to watch; not because they were poorly written or acted, but because the scenes were simply relatable.
 
Z

ZeoVGM

Banned
Ah, it's been a while since I've seen the thick layer of sexism regarding Skylar's character pop up on the internet.
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Dash_Riprock said:
Between Skyler, Marie, and Walt Jr. aka "Flynn" I can't decide who I despised more.
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Well you're supposed to despise Walt the most. He's the villain.

theaffection said:
Walt Jr is such an asshole. Probably the worst character. Your dad is working hard for you and you shun him and shit on him? Dick.
Click to expand...

So you hated a teenage character being written as a teenage character. Also Walt was a crappy father.
 
H

Horse Detective

Why the long case?
I'm editing this post because my words weren't meant to be derogatory or sexist, but I am far too tired to want to engage in the snowball effect with people quoting me and trying to figure out if I was being malicious.

Yes I realize Skylar deals with things like any sane person would.

Yes I realize she isn't a bad person.

No I don't encourage or endorse any of the bad shit Walt does.
 
R

riotous

Banned
Horse Detective said:
I would argue that you are supposed to enjoy Walt the most, but feel icky because of it.
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What are you supposed to enjoy? The whole Heisenberg thing was clearly meant to be cringe worthy; the ultimate poser. IIRC the creators of the show were surprised anyone actually liked Walt. He's a slimey cornball.

IMO of course :)
 
G

GiantEnemyGoomba

Member
It's more effective seeing how mundane yet relatable Walt's life is as he transitions to the horrible things he does as Heisenberg. Because of Walt we go from veggie bacon to his family being scared for their lives and Hank dying.
 
H

Horse Detective

Why the long case?
riotous said:
What are you supposed to enjoy? The whole Heisenberg thing was clearly meant to be cringe worthy; the ultimate poser. IIRC the creators o the show were surprised anyone actually liked Walt. He's a slimey cornball.

IMO of course :)
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Nah, I personally think the fan base gets a little self indulgent when it comes to that discussion. That's just me though, based on how I have seen the fan base develop as this show progressed.

It's obvious that what he is doing is unrealistic and selfish, but to say the creators think people don't want to watch it is pretty pretentious.
 
R

riotous

Banned
Horse Detective said:
but to say the creators think people don't want to watch it is pretty pretentious.
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I didn't say that. I mean yeah you enjoy watching it; I enjoy watching all kinds of characters. I don't know why you'd "Feel icky" about it unless you actually liked him or find him endearing.

The creators were surprised so many people ACTUALLY liked Walt, thought of him as the hero, etc.
 
H

Horse Detective

Why the long case?
riotous said:
The creators were surprised so many people ACTUALLY liked Walt, thought of him as the hero, etc.
Click to expand...

Oh, I mean I can't really comment on that. This show doesn't really have heroes, which probably adds to its entertainment value.

NoblesseOblige said:
I have no clue what else you would call him.
Click to expand...

I think villain works, but some people have a hard time separating the label from protagonist, even though they are one in the same for him.
 
R

riotous

Banned
Horse Detective said:
Oh, I mean I can't really comment on that. This show doesn't really have heroes, which probably adds to its entertainment value.
Click to expand...

Yeah for sure; nothing is really black and white in the show which makes it realistic (not overall, it's over the top, but realistic in the sense that even people with seriously fucked up moral compasses can still show empathy for people). It's still interesting how people reacted to the characters; particularly Walt.
 
D

daviyoung

Banned
Yes, it's thumbscrews level of torture. Eventually the show becomes focused on it, and peppers the melodramatic tedium with flashes of actually watchable charactees. But it's not enough to save it in the end.
 
Z

ZeoVGM

Banned
Horse Detective said:
For me she just adds to the "I did it because I enjoyed it" aspect.

What a mundane, boring, headache inducing life this man leads. Annoying cookie cutter wife, annoying son, annoying brother in law, boring unfulfilling job.
Click to expand...

And there it is.

Annoying woman, getting an attitude when her husband is hiding the fact that he's a drug dealer from her. How dare she.

Seriously man, what is a "cookie cutter wife" exactly?
 
B

Bounceounce

Member
I feel compelled to say that Skyler is my third favorite character in Breaking Bad after Hank in the number one spot and Walter in the second, that I was always sympathetic towards her and found the family drama incredibly compelling, and lastly that I always disliked Walter/distrusted him/didn't buy his justifications from the first episode and was solidified in that opinion by the Grey Matter episode.

By Season 5 I had a vitriolic hatred for Walt that literally made me shake and have my skin crawl/stomach churn ďanxiety mixed with anger/fist clenching pretty much).

Skyler is misunderstood in my opinion, not just by her haters but by many of her defenders as well.

I couldn't believe the reaction she got from people online once I finished the series and read hundreds and hundreds of pages of discussions on various sites/listenes to reviews.

I still don't get it honestly.

Edit:

Also Marie is freaking hilarious and Betsy Brandt's performance in the Open House episode was incredible.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
You know the best part

The best part is when
Hank died
and everyone is freaking out about it

and Marie and 'flynn' are like 'ohhhh no'.

It was worth it.
 
A

Auto-Reply

Member
Horse Detective said:
My girlfriend and I are re watching Breaking Bad, and god damn does Walt's family suck.

I mean I get that its the point, but I think we both found ourselves browsing Gaf whenever Skyler and Marie would start talking about some bullshit. I don't remember any of these people redeeming themselves at any point.

Hank is quite obviously excluded.
Click to expand...

There are many real life family situations far worse than the Walter White family... the drug king part excluded... or maybe not, I mean you never know lol
 
SoulUnison

SoulUnison

Banned
Maintenance said:
I never understood the hate for Skyler.

Winona from Justified though, now that one could die in a fire.
Click to expand...

The hate for Skyler is mostly because she was an actual voice of reason and got in the way of the show being 100% "Heisenberg's Super Exciting Drug Kingpin Hour."
The admonishment and harassment Anna Gunn got for simply playing a three-dimensional character the way she was written was eye-opening.

Horse Detective said:
What a mundane, boring, headache inducing life this man leads. Annoying cookie cutter wife, annoying son, annoying brother in law, boring unfulfilling job.
Click to expand...

ZeoVGM said:
Seriously man, what is a "cookie cutter wife" exactly?
Click to expand...

Seriously, what is this opinion?
"Just a standard boilerplate woman. You know the type."
 
M

MoeDabs

Member
NoblesseOblige said:
I have no clue what else you would call him. He is the antagonist of the show, to his family, to Jesse, to himself. Villain.
Click to expand...

He is the protagonist, not the antagonist. That's usually the big bad they take down every 1-2 seasons. The show doesn't really have heroes or villains in a traditional sense. But it's obvious you want to push this so whatever.
 
R

riotous

Banned
MoeDabs said:
He is the protagonist, not the antagonist. That's usually the big bad they take down every 1-2 seasons. The show doesn't really have heroes or villains in a traditional sense. But it's obvious you want to push this so whatever.
Click to expand...

A protagonist can be a villain. I don't think Walt is a simple villain; but the story is partly about how he wants to be. "I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS" He's a poser villain who lives out a weird power fantasy and actually fucks shit up because he has a serious lack of general empathy (borderline sociopath, although he's capable of empathy he seems to completely lack it for strangers, as evidenced by him selling meth, killing meth dealers, and not seeming to give a shit about the plane crash.)
 
Z

ZeoVGM

Banned
SoulUnison said:
The admonishment and harassment Anna Gunn got for simply playing a three-dimensional character the ways he was written was eye-opening.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I think she wrote an article about it actually.

Whenever I saw someone call her a "bitch" or something along those lines in reaction to her getting angry at Walt (for, you know, lying about terrible things) it told me so much about them.
 
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