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Good vs. Evil

The profound moral complexity of this show is what makes it so intriguing to me.

The process of Walt's "Breaking Bad" is an ongoing one. To say that Walt is "Bad", or that he "Broke Bad" at one particular instance would be grossly over-simplifying.

Walt did bad things for good reasons. His motives were pure. In most instances, Walt acted solely in the interest of protecting his loved ones. Would not each of us be so capable if placed in his shoes?


Compare that to Skyler, who found it very easy to kick Walt out of the house after she unraveled his lies. Did she do the right thing? Were her motives pure? Its pretty easy to condemn someone you don't love anymore, when doing so clears the way for the person you really want. If she was willing to forgive the wrongdoing of her boss, why couldn't she do the same for Walt?

In a life or death situation, when the only possible outcome is failure if you play by the rules, your only choice if you want to win... if you MUST win, is to break the rules. You can either surrender, knowing you did the 'right thing', or do WHATEVER it takes to turn the tables.

Walt had a choice. Die poor and in debt, leaving nothing behind for his family who depend on him, or find a way... ANY way to prevent that from happening.

Most likely his death would have resulted in his wife, son, and daughter losing everything. Their home, their possessions, and most certainly their dignity. This was completely unacceptable to Walt. He was willing to do the worst thing imaginable to prevent this from happening. He was willing to sacrifice himself for his family. He had nothing to lose, and his motives for making that sacrifice were pure.

Unfortunately, every bad deed that Walt commits, regardless of the justification behind it, leads him further and further down the path of darkness.

Evil is as evil does as they say. If someone does bad things, doesn't that make them bad?

In sacrificing himself for his family, he did just that. The man he was is no more. Now he is someone who is capable of doing things he never could have before.

With each new act of 'badness' that Walt commits, it becomes easier. Much to his surprise, he is enjoying it. The power is intoxicating, addictive, and entirely corrupting.

Without a doubt, Walt has broken bad, and there's no turning back now.

Walt is slowly changing from a good person who does evil things for good reasons, to an evil person who does evil things for evil reasons.

I think the first indication of this transformation was when Walt blew up the BMW of the insipid lawyer at the gas station. In Walt's mind, he was doing the world a favor, but in reality, he was doing it for himself.

The moment that the motivation for Walt's evil acts transitioned from selflessness to selfishness was the moment that he crossed over to the dark side.

Comments

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Dear Ful Mer,
There is one very important thing that you are forgetting, Walt is a high school teacher. One would hope that being a teacher period would actually make him care about those kids. He's never been presented as a very good teacher. He thinks he is, but his students all think of him as an asshole.He doesn't really care about that. There is as far as I know not one real incident of him taking a child aside to teach chemistry. He remembers Jesse as a punk. Walt know's who sold drugs. He know's who's the who's who in his high school world. Don't you find it interesting that Walt couldn't find one kid in all of the years he's been teaching chemistry to relate too? Surely there must have been at least one that he could have brought up. We all know what he thought about Jesse at the time Jesse was in his class. We all know what Jesse and the rest of the class thought about him. Ass orientated sitten on the crapper throne whilst jerking off. Very Funny!
But you must admit that Walt as a teacher doesn't teach. He considers his students beneath him, he consider's his son beneath him, He's always considered Skylar his wife beneath him, and only married her cause she was cute and there. He allow's himself the belief that the only way he can exist is making meth. The only way he can make money is through meth production. Sure, it gets his brain juices going. He still doesn't relate to kids. Not even his own. He can't in any way allow Walt jr to work in his chemistry meth camp. Walt jr has cerebral palsy. We'll I spose the new season could reflect how Walt and his son get together and sell Walts products. It will be interesting. I personally am very glad that I have no access to C4 bomb making materials. But I wish that I had a snake to get down and dirty into the deep pipe's of my house and plumbing of my house. Yes I have tried Liquid Plummer. Checked out all of the U joints available to clean. They are very clean. Plus they're not ceramic. Checked that one out before I dumped the liquid plummer in. Oye!

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Oh ya, as for the dieing poor and in debt. Aren't most of us? It's a state of being for the educated and not educated. I prefer to think of myself as educated. But monetary wise I'm poor. I'm very glad that pot will be legalized. Bought time.

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Is there an actual high school teacher who posts here? I know that I can't remember one. That's not to say there hasn't. Well, going back to watch the Grammy's.

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he could of turned around when Eliot and Gretchen offer to pick up the costs.

Ok he had killed Emilio and Krazy-8 .. but that was more or less self defense...not like murdering Sweet Jane

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In Walt's defense, I know of dozens of laws which are not effective and many more which need to be repealed or amended. So using our law as a standard of right or wrong is tricky. An example: RICO - This anti-racketeering law was intended to turn every district attorney into a mini-FBI gang-buster. What actually happened was legitimate businesses sued each other hoping to cash in on the triple damages mandated in RICO. For more than 30 years it has stifled business growth in the more mature sectors of our economy and has limited competitors in the market. Also, the Clinton administration abused the power of RICO when they used it to sue right-to-life groups and put them out of operation even though they were using the same civil disobedience Martin Luther King Jr. taught. The result is a freezing of peaceful social change. Non-violent civil disobedience will no longer work in America because of RICO.

Walt has his sins, but so do we. We are a drug-loving people with some of the harshest drug-phobic laws in the world. The majority of prisoners in our over crowded jails are there for drug offenses.

Financially speaking, both big business and government have symbiotic relationships which leave us "poor" folks out of the deal. Really, just how much of that TARP or Stimulus money did you get? America has become a corporatist nation like Argentina or San Salvador. Although Americans give the appearance of affluence, we are actually losing the opportunity to pursue happiness, and that is a dire form of poverty.

When people feel that their society is turned around wrong, the villains become heroes - Robin Hood, Rob Roy, William Wallace, William Tell, Jessie James, Billy the Kid, Jane Fonda, etc. Even in our fiction, this happens - Dances with Wolves, Avatar, District 9, and Breaking Bad. The betrayer is portrayed as virtuous.

"The law is an ass, and a bachelor." - Charles Dickens.

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But Walt always had a killer pride. His pride is what got him into this situation in the first place. In really watching Walt, his pride overrides all of his being. He's very psycho about it. The only reason that he started making meth was because he knew he could do it better than anyone else. Sure he's convinced himself that it was for his family and there was no alternative to provide for them Why? Because he in no way could go and ask for a position with his friend, who married his ex girlfriend? What is up with that? They offered to pay for everything and hire him for idea's and everything. Walt got pissed and pissy about it. He knew he had the original idea. He also knew that he didn't go forward with it. He can't truly connect with people to begin with. Sure, he's been involved with Walt Jr. But does he really love him and consider jr an actual being with thoughts and could create thoughts on his own? No. When jr created the website what was Walt's first reaction. Disdain to the Max! His first reaction had nothing to do with his knowledge of his meth making. It had everything to do with his pride of not accepting gifts of money from his freinds and neighbors to help to save his life, home and job. Walt is a sociopath. He will never realize it. When he killed Crazy 8 he considered it self defense. He didn't consider if it wasn't for himself Crazy 8 would never have been there to begin with.
When Walt killed Jane, and kill her he did, there is no such thing as being innocent and standing by while watching a person die. And creating the situation for her
to die. After all he left Jesse on his side. He knew that when he shook Jesse and saw Jane get knocked over on her back, then vomit, then choke, he knew this was his out. He after all is just a chem teacher. Sure he shed a tear whilst watching her die. I also saw a bit of a smirk. He knew he had conquered women.

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Pride got the devil. If it got him, it can get us. Pride always precedes a great fall.
That is one of Walts great flaws. He must be the one that is successful, not getting money from a website that his son created. Walt needs to have people believe that it was he that is the successful one. (Pride).
Tweed said: "He knew he had conquered women." What do you mean by that? Love to read your response.