Welcome all. In this post I am going to be discussing, observing, analyzing, and dissecting one of fiction’s most nuanced characters- Walter Hartwell White from AMC’s Breaking Bad. Is he a villainous protagonist? A heroic antagonist? Is he Walter White? Walter Black? Or a man full of gray matter? Portrayed most excellently by Bryan Cranston known most well for his role in Malcolm in the Middle prior, let’s dive and see if his actions and deeds were justified throughout the course of the series.

We’ll start off with the first “immoral” act(s) that Walter committed which were right at the start of the series. Needless to say, we know that Walter got into the meth business in order to make money for his cancer treatments and his family. Noble intentions? Sure, I think we can pass him for that albeit the method is obviously very questionable and is unfortunately against the law. Walt is a very smart man and obviously knew the risks of getting into the drug world but most likely didn’t care because he knew his death was imminent. The revelation of him finding out he would eventually die had a major psychological effect on him and he developed a laissez-faire attitude. Partnering with his former high-school student Jesse Pinkman who was well versed with the dealing and manufacturing of crystal meth, Walt creates an almost perfectly pure batch of methamphetamine which they then attempt to sell to one of Jesse’s partners, Domingo Molina aka Krazy 8. To think that everything would have gone without a hitch, all hunky dory, was pure naivety on Walt’s part, seeing as how the chances of running into a decent person in that business is slim to none. Prior to the meet with Krazy 8, his cousin Emilio (who was busted and apprehended by Walt’s DEA brother-in-law Hank Schrader) makes bail and accuses Jesse that he ratted him out. Krazy 8 and Emilio then demand to be taken to Walt because they know Jesse could not have cooked that meth by himself. When Emilio sees Walter, he recognizes and remembers him being present during his bust on a ride-along with Hank and thinks that he is DEA. This in turn causes Krazy 8 and Emilio to threaten the lives of Walt and Jesse. Thinking on his feet, Walter uses his chemistry expertise to asphyxiate them both with phosphine gas inside Jesse’s RV. Congratulations Walt, you’ve become a killer. Was it justified? Ok so……it can go both ways. On one hand, if Walt had stayed out of that business nobody would have needed to die, on the other hand, and I’m going to play devil’s advocate here, Walt has “good” intentions and at this point isn’t thinking of sticking with it for the long-term as is evident when he tries using a gun on himself afterwards due to guilt. And as we know, Krazy 8 survived but was then strangled by Walt in his basement as he was chained up because he threatened Walt’s family. Walt did feel remorse for what he did but this begins the downward spiral for Walt as he becomes less remorseful for the lives he takes or neglects despite the fact that some are necessary although others are very clearly not.

Both Krazy 8 and Emilio were disposed of by hydrofluoric acid, melted. A gruesome way to go that no every-day sane person would even think about doing to someone else. Jesse himself had never dealt with murder before let alone melting people so this was shocking for him, of course it was new to Walter too but did that stop him from wanting to meet with someone even more dangerous than Krazy 8 or Emilio? Enter Tuco Salamanca. Walter had huge balls to approach Tuco after Tuco beat Jesse up for daring to sell in his territory but cleverly had a card to play against Tuco to show he wasn’t messing around by using mercury fulminate to explode his place of business. Walter walks away like a badass after managing to secure a partnership with Tuco: Jesse and Walter cook while Tuco distributes. They find out the hard way that Tuco is a highly unstable ,volatile, and very violent man. He beats a subordinate to death and later abducts Walt and Jesse at gunpoint because he doesn’t trust them. Walter the Solution-Man decides to use ricin (a toxin) against Tuco but fails when he doesn’t take the bait. Tuco takes them both outside to execute them if they do not explain what they did to make his uncle Hector upset. It’s here that Walter responds that they planned to poison him because he’s an insane, degenerate, piece of filth. Ok so technically it wasn’t Walter who killed Tuco nor Jesse because Jesse shot Tuco using his own gun in self-defense and then Hank finished him off but the intent was there. Was it justified? I would say yes because Tuco is a lunatic and came much closer to snuffing Walt and Jesse out plus no one was going to miss that 'insane, degenerate, piece of filth’. 3 to 0 for/against record for Walt thus far. No one that anybody’s gonna shed tears for is dead but that will soon change…..

Walt’s first true victim through an act of omission and selfishness is Jesse’s first girlfriend Jane Margolis. Through the lawyer Saul Goodman, Walter attempted to set up a meeting with businessman and restaurant owner Gustavo Fring to set up a working relationship which Gus refused because he considered Walter unprofessional but after demonstrating perseverance Gus gives Walter the chance by allowing him to deliver 38 pounds of meth for $1.2 million to a truck stop. This is done and Walter refuses to give Jesse his third of the money from the deal because of his concern that he’ll waste it on heroin as is justified because he found Jesse doped up on the stuff when Walter desperately went to collect the meth from his apartment. Jane blackmails Walt, telling him she’ll reveal the truth of his activities to his wife or the DEA if he doesn’t deliver what’s owed to Jesse. Can’t have that, so after a coincidental run-in with Jane’s father at a bar where they both reflect on the people they care about (Jesse and Jane), Walt goes to Jesse’s place. He barges in rudely and uninvitedly through Jesse’s back door because he’s not answering and finds Jesse and Jane sleeping, high as hell. Walt tries to wake Jesse up but can’t and accidentally pushes Jane onto her back where she begins choking. Naturally, Walt begins freaking out and resolves to do something at first but thinks again and does nothing. Jane dies as Walt cries but are they tears to feel bad for? Absolutely not. Walt may have let her die for Jesse’s benefit (how did he know Jesse might not possibly become suicidal) but it is essentially equal to murder- Jane was innocent. The first stain on Walter’s conscience which he seemed to be completely okay about. A 3-1 win/loss record for Walt right now.

The next pair of murders are a couple of thugs that belonged to Gus. Gus meets with Walter to offer him a deal of cooking for 3 months for $3 million. By this time, Walt’s wife Skylar had become estranged and told Walter to move out of the house for finding out about Walter’s 2nd cellphone confirming that he’d been lying about something, she just didn’t know the exact truth that it wasn’t smoking marijuana with Jesse Pinkman like she thought. Crazy how weed used to be a criminal activity and now when I watch it’s actually kind of laughable. Walter turns Gus down who is slightly disappointed but manipulates him by paying him and Jesse for a batch that Jesse cooked himself. Walt confronts Gus about this, how he capitalized on Walt’s pride and how he wouldn’t be happy with Jesse selling his product which Walt admits that he is not but Walter is still determined to stay out. Gus’s hook is when he shows Walter the pristine and top-of-the-line meth lab he has under his laundromat, all the tools and equipment that Walter needs at his disposal and the beguiling sentiment that a man does whatever he needs to to provide for his family: and just like that he’s got Walter. During Jesse’s rehabilitation after Jane’s death he meets a girl named Andrea who has a son named Brock and younger brother named Tomas. Jesse finds out from Andrea that Tomas was disowned because he shot a rival drug dealer in order to be initiated into a gang and gains two facts from this: it was his friend Combo that Tomas killed just before Jane died and these drug dealers are exploiting children. He also finds out that these thugs are Gus’s men as he receives blue meth from Tomas when he comes to buy. Jesse informs Walt of his plan to kill them but Walt does the same to Gus which really pisses him off. He tells both parties to make peace and be on with it as well as telling his thugs to prohibit the use of children in their business. Jesse learns from Andrea that Tomas was killed which REALLY angers Jesse and doesn’t give two rat-asses about what Gus said. With gun in hand, he is poised to take the dealers down, 1 v 2. Seeing the news on the tv about Tomas, Walt rushes to where he’ll know Jesse is going to be and floors the gas in his Aztec GTA. As the two dealers are about to execute Jesse, Walt arrives impeccably as he slams into both and runs one over then shoots the surviving one point-blank. Walt is one cold muddafugger. Justified. 5-1, win-loss for Walter.

Not long after Walt curtly informs Gus that he is out, Jesse shows Walter the meth he cooked, almost perfectly replicating Walt’s formula. Prideful man that Walter is, he scoffs at Jesse’s product calling it substandard. Surely after that Gus convinces Walter to work for him and Walter, ass that he is, snidely, grudgingly, and childishly remarks to Jesse that he’s out while he (Walt) is still in because Gus was just using Jesse to get to Walt. He tells Jesse to enjoy the money that he received for his batch because that’s the last he’ll ever earn in the business, clearly still miffed that Jesse used his product. You know the man is crazy when he’s possessive over meth. Walt receives a partner, Gale Boetticher, while Jesse receives a beating from Hank Schrader. Not content with the partnership, Walt yearns for Jesse back who tells Walter to basically jump off a cliff when Walter visits him in the hospital and asks him to come back. Jesse eventually agrees and Gale is replaced to keep Walter content. The conflict between Gus’s thugs and Walter and Jesse transpire wherefore Walt’s lab partner is switched again to Gale. Knowing that Gus will kill them once Gale becomes confident enough to cook Walter’s formula, they resolve to, what other way to put it, murder Gale. It’s Walter’s idea and Jesse is against it at first but as Walt puts it, it’s them or Gale. A very unfortunate fate for Gale, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time of his life. Gale’s death at the hands of Jesse (while crying guiltily) was the result of Walter and Gus’ doing primarily. Another unnecessary loss at the hands of Heisenberg: 5-2.

In the S4E5 episode, Walt and Skylar are having dinner at the Schraders where Hank makes an educated and professional guess that Gale was the great Heisenberg. A drunk, senseless, and prideful Walt tells him he’s basically got the wrong guy and that he’s still out there which compels Hank to continue the investigation. Skylar is even shocked by this and wonders why he would do that and Walt admits he wasn’t in his right mind. Before this conversation however, and before the dinner with the Schraders, Walt had raced towards Los Pollos Hermanos to confront Gus about the whereabouts of Jesse as he did not show up for work and assumed he had been kidnapped. Walt called Skylar in desperation to tell her he loved her in case something happened. This, along with Walt foolishly goading Hank into continuing the investigation, led Skylar to believe Walt wanted out and this is where Walt admits he spoke out of turn. Skylar strongly implores him to go to the police as she knows that their family is in danger but oh-so-cocky Walter says he’s not the one in danger, he’s the one who knocks. This no doubt and very understandably scares Skylar and sees that her husband has completely changed, no longer the man she loved and married. Walt also showed pride and wrongful judgment when he contacted Saul to set up a meet with Gus for the first time: he had just found out before that his cancer had remitted by 80% so even he felt there was no need to continue to make money for cancer treatments but alas, his encounter with rival drug dealers manufacturing and distributing in his territory caused him to get back in the game. Twice before he worked for Gus long-term he almost walked out.

The oh-so devious and cunning Walter next poisons a child in order to “win” Jesse back not knowing that Jesse had never turned his back to Walt at all. At this point, Jesse was just bitter, resentful, and holding a grudge after the physical altercation he had with Walt but he never wanted him dead until…….Jesse thought that Walt poisoned Andrea’s son Brock as a way of getting back at Jesse for helping Gus and Mike albeit involuntarily. After the Gale murder, Gus had been grooming Jesse to take over Walt’s position as cook and came up with reasons for taking Walt out of the picture but Jesse refused to lift a finger if anything happened to him. Gus started getting Jesse to cook on his own making Walt realize he was expendable and disposable at any minute prompting him to plead with Jesse to join forces against Gus. Finding out what Walter was up to, Gus abducts him and takes him to the desert and tells him to stay away from Jesse. He also tells him that Hank is going to be killed and that if he interferes he will kill his family. This being a huge no-no for the family man, this is when he acts, Jesse holds Walter at gunpoint but Walter cleverly convinces Jesse by playing dumb that Gus’ boy Tyrus must’ve grabbed the ricin cigarette from Jesse’s locker in the lab and somehow done the deed. He convinces him that Gus was using his tricks in order to turn Jesse and Walt against each other and Jesse doesn’t even take the time to process it properly nor does Walt even guess how exactly Tyrus accomplished said deed. He simply convinces Jesse to turn against Gus. Jesse then stays at the hospital and shirks his meth-cooking duties ruining a batch. Knowing that Gus would arrive to tell Jesse to get back to work, Walter plants a bomb under his car but the plan fails when Gus suspects something is up. Walt, however gets his chance when he manages to lure Gus to the nursing home where Hector Salamanca resides and uses Hector’s enmity towards Gus to persuade him to strap a bomb onto his wheelchair thus blowing himself up and half of Gus’s face also killing him. Pertaining to Brock, the doctors say that it was a plant known as Lily of the Valley that he ingested, though how is unknown. The season 4 finale shows a slow zooming shot of this plant in Walter’s backyard indicating that he indeed was the perpetrator which he reveals in the next season when Jesse finds out. Walt’s plan involved framing himself by having Jesse believe it was him at first, then redirecting the blame towards Gus who isn’t above using children in his methods. Walter frantically explains he needed to get him on his side and only gave him an appropriate amount but come on, who seriously does that? It makes one question whether Walter White changed from who he used to be or that this man actually had it in him all this time to commit preposterous acts as such. The score is 6-3 for Heisenberg. So far his justified kills outweigh his unjustified ones but his ledger is already red and the fact that the man can go on about his daily life makes him less and less able to empathize with.

Walter has now reached boiling point because even after Gus’ death he fills the vacuum and becomes head honcho of the drug business. With no Gus and the Cartel dead, there is no one to oppose him. Lydia-Rodarte Quayle, an executive employee from Madrigal Electromotive who funded Gus’ activities and then began supplying methylamine for Walt, Mike, and Jesse’s business is wrongly accused by Mike of planting a GPS tracker on a barrel of methylamine for the DEA to find. Lydia is brought before the 3, locked in handcuffs to decide her fate. Mike already has no compunction about killing her since she had prior to this incident put a hit out on Mike and the rest of Gus’s subordinates for fear that they would spill to the DEA about Gus’ operation. Because Lydia talked, Walt votes along with Mike, for lack of a better phrase, to put her down (she lives). And he does it so naturally too. Just another Tuesday for Walt now. The business has made him cold and emotionless. Death is just a part of the business now. The man is so consumed that he even robs a damn, freaking train. Walt would most likely commit arson if it meant obtaining methylamine since he could resort to grand larceny. Because of this ambition and determination, another innocent life is lost when a child riding a dirtbike witnesses this and is executed by Todd Alquist. Despite this, Walt sticks his nose up at Skylar like a little child, proud of what he’s done and still wants to go on despite Jesse and Mike now wanting out with Jesse going so far as to calling their profits blood money. Mike and Jesse propose selling out to a rival drug dealer named Declan for 5 million a-piece but the great Heisenberg who knows his worth won’t have it. He tells Jesse he isn’t in the drug or money business, he’s in the empire business. This man has gone full power-trip. Fully consumed that he’s lost sight of what really matters. When Jesse confronts him about how many more people are going to die for their actions, Walt simply replies that it’s done and life basically goes on as well as telling him that he wants the money just as badly as he does and could make up to 20x as much as he did before. Jesse is taken aback by Walt’s attitude and tells him what happens from there on is on him.

Mike’s lawyer is caught depositing Mike’s illegal drug money and is apprehended. He agrees to talk for Hank and fellow DEA agent Steve Gomez. Walt warns Mike that the DEA is coming after him and meets him near a river with Mike’s getaway bag. Walt demands the names of Gus’ other men which Mike refuses to divulge out of loyalty and the two get into an argument because Walt feels that Mike owes him the names of the men but Mike tells him everything that has transpired is Walt’s fault which it really is and insults his pride and ego. Not liking that, Walt walks up to Mike when he’s in his car and shoots him with Mike’s gun that he stole from his bag. Whether he killed Mike out of anger or fear that he would talk is unknown. Walter tries to apologize to Mike as he is dying who tells Walter to shut the fuck up and let him die in peace. To protect himself and Jesse, Walt hires a group of Neo-Nazi hit-men to kill Mike’s remaining associates in prison: 9 total. By this point, I lost all respect for Walter for falling down to such a low level of character and dignity, not just for the fact that he resorted to such a thing but also that he was so relaxed in the company of men like that. At this point, I thought to myself that he did deserve to lose his family. I wouldn’t blame any wife for wanting to get away from a narcissist like Walt. Because Lydia and the inmates did not directly threat Walter themselves, I am going to say they were unjustified. Walter voted to kill a woman who had done nothing to him and the inmates were fine where they were. The kid on the dirtbike, whose name was Drew Sharp, is obviously unjustified. That leaves Mike Ehrmantraut, who I am going to say yes and no to. Mike was an enforcer who would have done anything Gus told him to do which included killing anyone and almost actually did with Walter. Mike did not have to die but because he threatened Walter several times, he falls under justified and unjustified. That makes the score 7-15 for Heisenberg. Unjustified now has overtaken justified.

There ain’t no rest for the wicked and this certainly applies to Walt. After the prison murder, Skylar shows Walter the huge amount of cash that he’s earned. She asks him when will enough be enough. This seems to be the ultimate time that Walter resolves to quit, everything hunky-dory, no care in the world. Most unfortunately for Walt, everything goes to, excuse my Spanish, shit. Everything that Walt had been involved in comes to a head and comes to bite Walter in the ass. Hank finds out Walt is Heisenberg. Walter was a coward for choosing not to confess because Hank had no concrete evidence against him and blackmailed him into keeping quiet about it by making a DVD framing Hank as the mastermind. Jesse also finds out about Brock and in retaliation, threatens Walt’s family and confesses everything to Hank and Steve Gomez. Out of desperation and seeing no other choice, he hires the Neo-Nazi hit-men again, who are actually led by Todd Alquist’s uncle Jack Welker, to kill Jesse. Jesse scares Walt into thinking he has one of his barrels with money in it which he buried in the desert which prompts Walt to drive to the location who Jesse, Hank, and Steve Gomez find through GPS. Thinking that Jesse would be alone, Walter gave the coordinates of his location to Jack’s group but called the hit off when he realized Hank and Steve were there too (he arrived before Jesse, Hank, and Steve). Jack’s group still arrived and a firefight ensued once they knew Hank was DEA. Outnumbered, Steve was killed and most sadly, so was Hank. Another casualty thanks to Walter’s hubris. After Hank is killed, Jesse is taken, and Walter spitefully tells him he let Jane die. What kind of asshole does that? Walter is one cold son-of-a-gun. Hank’s death is another stain for Walter as was Jesse’s imprisonment by Jack’s gang to force him to cook meth for them which violated the agreement that they would kill him quickly and painlessly as per Walt’s terms. It’s 7-17 now for Walt but he evens that score when he returns for Jesse and uses an automatic machine gun to plow Jack and his degenerates down, killing 10 or so men, give or take.

After Hank’s death and Jesse’s abduction by Jack’s gang but before Walt kills Jack and his men, Skylar realizes that something happened to Hank because her sister Marie had just called her to tell her that Hank arrested Walt. Not able to answer, Skylar assumes Hank is dead and that Walter is responsible. Basically disowned by his family, Walter relocates to New Hampshire with the help of Ed Galbraith and is now nationally infamous. Jesse attempts to escape captivity and is punished by being forced to watch Todd shoot Andrea to death. 17-18. After Walter returns to Albuquerque primarily to have his former business partners, Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz, agree to send his money to his family, Walter secondarily goes to Jack’s compound, kills him and his men, and frees Jesse. No apology for what he’s put Jesse through, but he tells Jesse to kill him, it’s what he wants. Jesse tells him to do it himself. Walter then answers Todd’s phone and tells Lydia that she’s been poisoned with ricin. The reason why I think Walt did this is because she posed to a threat to Skylar and his family. Justified? I’ll count it. 18-18.

So it would seem that Walter White truly is a man made of gray matter. He is even with the amount of justified vs unjustified kills he got. Can one call him a protagonist? I don’t think so. Can one call him an antagonist? Again, I’m not sure. Although if I had to lean on one more than the other, he is more of an antagonist. His traits of selfishness, pride, ambition, determination, and narcissism are all classic negative traits found in a villain who is reluctant to give up his power. Did he make any sacrifices? Maybe small ones, which is the quintessential heroic trait but he’s no hero. Outright villain, he isn’t either. He belittled people. He gloated. In all honesty, none of the actions he did were justified because the activities he was involved in were criminal and if he had stayed out no one would have died but that would mean no Breaking Bad. Walter White is just a man, neither very benevolent nor malevolent. He’s a man with weaknesses but also a very dangerous man. Who knows what more he’s capable of when push comes to shove? He most certainly has made a mark in pop culture as one of the most complex characters and has certainly joined the pantheon of memorable tv/movie anti-heroes.

TV Shows

Walter White- Good Bad Guy, Bad Good Guy, Somewhere in Between- Is He Justified?