How long did you keep rooting for Walter White? (page 2)

RayPublisher

I'm STILL rooting for Walt! One of the best shows since the Shield IMO...

The Shield had similar characters- likeable, heroic cops that gradually got dirtier and dirtier until you were forced to reluctantly stop liking them. They cut corners, skimmed off the top, but caught lots of bad guys and did more good than harm. Then they gradually break more and more bad.

The show creator said that by the end he wanted to illustrate how easy it is to get caught up in something and fall down that slippery slope...to like a character that is essentially a thug and a bad person.

Terry

I don't think there are "shades of gray" (not 50, anyway) when it comes to Sociopaths and their behavior.

The premise of BREAKING BAD--at first---purports to be that there may be justifiable reasons (death by cancer) for doing bad things

so that you can provide for your family.

This gives US (the audience) comfort and empathy in rooting for Walter and Jesse.

NOW STOP---and consider that premise for the moral trap it certainly turns out to be.

As I said--there are no shades of gray with EVIL.

We are seduced as an audience.

Our sense of morality is the frog being boiled. We don't jump out of the water and we are boiled alive.

It isn't too much of a stretch to say it is not much different from being in a cult with a gradual awakening and grappling for justification for hanging in!

I think we are going to have to go down below the pits and depths of the sociopath, Walter White, in order to view our own complicity!

If I were to speculate....I would say the template for this journey is the Martin Scorcese film TAXI DRIVER.

I'd predict this TV series Breaking Bad will have the same ending, too.

Travis Bickle slowly lost his soul and sought to purge it with a blaze of glory in rescue of the young prostitute.

However, he ended up being a hero. A hero, I might add, who learned nothing in his journey!

Walter White may well be Travis Bickle.

Dagney

When he started manipulating Jesse I started to lose empathy for Walt. He has played that hand masterfully with Jesse. Jesse is who I am rooting for.

Also, Skylar is a complex character. Love her/hate her. She was in an impossible position, then she turned into something she never thought she would be from her affair, to money launderer, and so understandably cold.

The episodes are amazing. Rewatching them you get more and more. I agree, the camera work is fantastic. I know I need to watch again.

BTW, I just did a marathon streaming of "The Wire." So many people recommended it, and Swedish friends said it was the best series ever, which I thought was odd... Finally, with HBOGO, you can stream the whole series. It is an amazing show. Took me a while to get into it, but was hooked.

slimboyfat

BluesBrother Breaking Bad is quite simply probably the best thing ever made for TV.

What are others' favourite lines?

"I am the one who knocks!" was a classic, but I love Mike's line to Walt: "Just because you shoot Jesse James, don't make you Jesse James!"

How long did you keep rooting for Walter White?

RayPublisher

RayPublisher

Terry

Dagney

slimboyfat

Tater-T

Tater-T

talesin

truthseekeriam

LostInTranslation

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