How can we not be talking about the birthday handjob Skyler delivered with all the enthusiasm of a two dollar mercenary whore? That was .. scary.Originally Posted by madkevin
I love this scene, where Walt finally has had too much of Skyler and her emasculating bullshit, and her constant underestimating of him. It's also great, for displaying Walt's self destructive pride and his grandiose self image. It really captures their relationship up to that point.
(Episode 4.6, don't watch if you're not there yet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEq1mGpP5A
For as annoying as Skylar can be, Walt wouldn't be nearly as interesting if she were any other way. And I was on Skylar's side much of the first season! Walt wanted to avoid treatment and accept a "dignified" death on his own terms and leave her a widow with what -- two kids, one an infant and the other severely handicapped and a teacher's pension. I'd have been up his ass to come up with something better, too. I like to think I wouldn't have used a pillow, though. :)
The character that irritates the shit out of me is Jessie. I have no idea what Mike sees in him, although I can appreciate the narrative that has him in Mike's good graces. The only time he has ever risen close to the heights of Walt was when he had to speak up to the Mexican chemists. And possibly his maneuvering to get his parent's house at a discount. :)
wumpus: I can only vaguely recall a handjob.
See, that's the part that I don't get. She's an emasculating bitch because she doesn't want him to die, doesn't really want to play along with being a drug kingpin, and wants him to get out? Yes, she's not perfect (she could turn him in, stop playing along - she clearly is enticed by the money herself). But I think she is a much more sympathetic character at this point (where I'm watching, which is one episode ahead of what you just linked).
She is still trying to sort things out, trying to figure out a way to survive this. Walt's just given himself over to being the badass hero in his own fantasy universe. He no longer even questions the morality, ethics, or rightness of what he is doing.
And what he is doing is manufacturing meth. Destroying lives, simply to gratify his own ego at this point.
Meanwhile, he continues to lie to her (both he and the family are very much at risk), and continues on his path that very much is putting his family and love ones at risk of death. Or at least I recall that not long before this scene, a few hardass dudes with a big chrome axe were waiting in the very bedroom. The same dudes who then nearly killed, and grievously wounded, his brother-in-law.
She previously made peace with him under the promise that they would both be honest from that point forward. He accepts that. Yet almost immediately thereafter, in this very scene, he once again lies because he is too arrogant to admit the truth.
And she's the bad one?
I'm not sure Skyler emasculates him. I think Walt has such an incredible need to be extraordinary, to show that he really is the big man, that he really is the stud taking care of the family and making huge money. The more I watch the show, the more I think it is Skyler who is the aggrieved party. There is a pretty ugly dynamic of Walt putting both himself and his supposed loved ones in danger, in part to assert some type of superiority and power over them. It's kind of demeaning to them all.
Part of what makes Breaking Bad work so well for me is its knack for showing Walt in as poor a light as possible, but then holding up some other character that's 10x worse and makes Walt's behavior look almost heroic. I mean, I never thought I'd be cheering as someone ran two boys over in the family car.
And that's happened (cheering for something terrible) a number of times in this show.
I think you may have missed the point of that scene. In her mind, he couldn't even BE the villain, because he's not capable enough, not strong enough, not dangerous enough. She can't envision Walt in control of his own destiny. As much as he fucks up, the man is brilliant, cunning, capable and ruthless, and Skylar can't see him that way.
So, yes, Skylar is certainly a wronged party. Walt is a far worse human being. But she's also kind of an emasculating bitch and, really, just more ANNOYING than Walt.
Last edited by MrPerson; 08-04-2012 at 12:12 AM.
A very good summary. However, in the pure annoyance factor nobody comes close Marie. In the running for the world most self-centered and oblivious person, and a pretty awful sister. Although even Marie has had moment were I've liked her.
It is tribute to the BB writers that virtually every character I've at times wanted to both comfort and kill sometimes in the same episode.
Although I really like Mike, a smart, ethical, loyal, badass, hitman is an unique combination.
Skyler, much like Betty Draper, gets absolutely killed in recap comment threads, and I think some of that hate comes from misogyny. The way a couple posters have picked up on 'emasculating bitch', or called her a two dollar whore... And on other websites people constantly talk shit about Anna Gun's figure or jaw or whatever. Maybe an overidentification with Walt leads to that kind of hate.
I think part of why Betty Draper is so unloved is because January Jones is not a particularly gifted actress. It's hard to feel sympathy for a character when the performance is so wooden. Anna Gunn on the other hand brings real depth to Skylar, and is perfect in the role.
Last edited by MrPerson; 08-04-2012 at 03:24 AM.
Dude, settle down. Just because I do not like the fictional character of Skylar - who, let's be clear, I am not supposed to like in the first place - does not make me a misogynist. It means I do not like her, specifically. I am perfectly capable of somehow not transferring that to all women, everywhere, for reals.
I think that goes too far. I don't think it is emasculating to assume that your spouse, who was a mid-life school teacher, is capable of fending off violent drug cartels. I think that is just rational, not emasculating.
Also, I think there is more to that scene and her emotions than you are believing. I'm not even sure that Skyler wants to believe that Walt is capable of such things. I don't think it is nearly so much emasculation, as her hope that perhaps her husband really did get wrongly twisted up in something above his head. That he was the potential victim, the innocent.
Instead, Walt, in his braggadocio, pretty much confirmed that he was not just a meth cook out of his league trying to help his family (which at least might have been sympathetic to Skyler).
Instead, he confirmed that he is in fact violent. Perhaps even a murderer.
If I were put in that situation, I would frankly want to believe the former myself. Not because I was trying to be "emasculating," but because I would prefer not to think of my spouse as a violent psychopath.
Last edited by SlyFrog; 08-04-2012 at 07:14 AM.
Yes! OMG yes. Most chemistry teachers are going to fail against low level players like Tuco. Walt has been equal parts lucky and ruthless. Remember how he mopped up the furniture salesman's son in the first season? Grizzly. Nobody expects that sort of thing from someone else, except for maybe Tuco's wife.
Well, actually yes, they are going to. Just like Walt did.
Including Skylar. Which is sort of our point.
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Last edited by Mr. Zero; 08-04-2012 at 08:56 AM. Reason: nevermind
Good point. I guess Tuco did get the drop on Walt, but Hank saved Walt's ass.
I'm saying it's not necessarily emasculating to expect a guy like Walt to be a milquetoast, especially if you haven’t been privy to all his secret drug dealer shenanigans.
Tuco was just another victim in the shitstorm of mayhem Walt's actions have caused. It's a pretty impressive list overall. Getting the drop on Walt doomed Tuco's entire family.
Exactly, Larry. From this distance, it seems more like a win for Walt.
It is if you're married to him.
When I first read this, I thought it said "it's as if" and that you were suggesting I was Skylar (annoying and emasculating you). I laughed.
That was a good episode.
The tension is killing me.
Whatever happened to no half measures? The office chick should get it.
The bedroom scene was excellent.
But then where will they get that chemical they need? There are other considerations. She should get gone though, seems like SHE's the weakest link.
My least favorite point in the series was around season two somewhere, when Skylar clearly knows something is wrong and Walt is lying and covering up something. Nothing Skylar did or didn't do takes any responsibility off Walt for how terribly he treated her and how cavalierly he treated whatever relationship they had at that point, but I was also really frustrated with how terribly she handled things. They were both so dishonest with each other; as much as I assumed it wouldn't change anything for the better, I wished for more honest direct confrontation between them. I was worried we were headed down that road again; having them finally blow up was terrible to watch, but it felt so authentic. I'm glad it happened.
I think Mike is probably right about the source of the GPS tracker -- Hank isn't even as far as suspecting the warehouse of being a connection to the network.
Walt has always trusted Mike, even when he didn't like what Mike was telling him. So, is Walt to the point where his need to be the Badass in the room has trumped even common sense?
Yes, I'd say they've been driving that point home. Right down to, well, what he drove home.
Walt needs cash.
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