Breaking Bad : Walter White
Breaking Bad is an American neo–Western crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an over-qualified, dispirited high-school chemistry teacher struggling with a recent diagnosis of stage–three lung cancer. White turns to a life of crime and partners with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), to produce and distribute methamphetamine to secure his family’s financial future before he dies, while navigating the dangers of the criminal underworld.
HG Tudor turns his attention to the main characters from the world of Breaking Bad and also Better Call Saul analysing them for your interest and education, starting with the protagonist, Walter White.
10 thoughts on “Breaking Bad : Walter White”
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Thanks for this video HG.
It was interesting about OCD Vs OCPD.
1. Would a narcissist with OCD always be OCPD, if unaware?
Not necessarily.
Thanks HG.
Dear HG,
I really appreciate you are doing these series on one of my favorite TV show. Aslo including “Better Call Saul”. My guess, Saul’s brother Chuck is also a narcissist. Saul himself, it’s difficult, but I believe he is not a Narcissist, though he and Kim had a relationship similar to the one with narcissistic dynamic and at the end she left. The scene where he called her at new work place and she was with brown hair and looked so lost. Maybe he is a narc.
It would be great to see them to analyze by you as well, if possible.
I’ve got questions about Walter:
1. if he is a narcissist why did he save Jessie at the end? Why did he care? Did he want to look good in his own eyes? I understood the part about revenge against those thugs, but he could have done it simpler way if not for saving Jessie’s life.
2. I assume, since he is so into self pity, he is not a greater narcissist, probably a mid ranger, type A or B. Correct?
3. A perfectionism is it a sign of any personality disorder or anyone can have it ? My ex husband was, for sure, a perfectionist, he wanted everything to be clean, in order and precise, he would be the one who is trying to kill a fly for hours. I thought, it’s because of his military background, but now I’m guessing, maybe it’s because he is a narcissist.
I would appreciate your reply.
1. It may be linked to a desire to look good however it is more likely a plot point. As I repeatedly explain, when you are dealing with fictional characters not everything they will do will fit with the analysis because of the demands of story development, plot points and twists and character arc.
2. You will have to wait and see.
3. Perfectionism does not automatically mean somebody is a narcissist. It might be part of the need for control that a narcissist has, but it can be generated by other drivers.
Thank you for the reply, HG.
Hi! I am quite excited to watch these! I don’t watch much and don’t have Netflix on a regular basis, but Breaking Bad I enjoyed and Better Call Saul! I am ‘saving up’ the viddies to watch later when i’ve done some work. Thanks, HG!
You are welcome.
By the end of the series it was clear Walter had been a narcissist all along, but a in the first season there appeared to be more cognitive, if not actual, empathy that erodes over the course of the show. At the time he watches Jessie’s girlfriend die it’s as though he’s decided why bother with cognitive empathy. Everything after that is unrestrained. Given he appears to be consciously crossing a line when she dies, does this make him a Greater?
I’m curious. Do you think Walter would have continued along as he was in the beginning of the show, at least trying to act like a decent husband, father and teacher through to retirement and old age? Did the cancer diagnosis trigger a willingness to take criminal risks or was someone like him always destined to break bad one way or another eventually?
I suspect the enormity of the cancer diagnosis was such that it posed such a substantial threat to control this was the catalyst for him to break bad.