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Does Skyler White from Breaking Bad get too much hate?

Do you hate Skyler?

  • Yes

    Votes: 449 39.1%

  • No

    Votes: 765 66.6%
  • Total voters
    1,148
prophetvx

prophetvx

Member
Nov 28, 2017
5,331
Because she wasn't well written? She's a willing participant in Walt's dealings for much of the show, then flips, then flips back. She was merely a plot device to create drama.

I didn't particularly hate her in the show but I don't think much of her plotline added in a positive way. Her value to the show was lost once they had the carwash IMO.
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
Solid SOAP said:
Imagine your husband being a murderous meth dealer and yet you're still held up to the standard of having to be "likeable."
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Breaking Bad is a dramatic comedy, it's fun to watch Walt do evil things. Fiction doesn't have to have the same standards as real life. Being a murderous meth dealer is irrelevant when for at least a bit she was on that ride too and at the very least, cautiously supportive of Walt. Her foot is in the water too, she's not completely innocent.

There's always this weird take with people acting like Skyler is just some poor housewife while ignoring the fact that she's okay with helping multiple people in the show launder money (Walt and Ted), not all that phased when she knows Walt probably had a say in at least one death (Gale - "Are we safe now? (or something along those lines)"), etc. She might not be a meth cooking, murdering, drug lord, but she's a criminal too.

I started a rewatch of Breaking Bad after Better Call Saul's most recent season finished, I'm on season 4 now. I don't like her because she's just not consistent, it seems like every other episode she's okay with Walt's criminal activities, then she's not, then she's scared, then she's a long with the ride again. It's hard to care about a character when that character seems to be completely different multiple times each season.
 
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Betty

Betty

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,604
I personally don't like her.

Her choices and actions aren't what bother me it's how she speaks to people.
 
EMT0

EMT0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,104
The only thing I hate in this thread is the OP pulling a switcheroo between the title and the poll
 
Bakercat

Bakercat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,154
'merica
I got through half of season 2 before I dropped it because of her. She pissed me off a lot for some reason, and I usually don't get into shows that much.
 
ThatCrazyGuy

ThatCrazyGuy

Member
Nov 27, 2017
9,860
I've been re-watching Breaking Bad from episode 1. I just think Skyler is badly written.

Side note, this show is even better on 2nd watch. I'm just in the beginning of season 5. I haven't watched it since the series final.

Walt is a real piece of shit. And I like Mike even more.
 
Castor Archer

Castor Archer

Member
Jan 8, 2019
2,298
I don't like any of the characters from Breaking Bad. They all suck in their own ways.

Except for Skinny Pete he is perfect and needs to be protected at all costs
 
Cookie

Cookie

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,258
My wife and I have watched the show 3 or 4 times and we hate Skylar every time. She's an asshole from the beginning, before she knows about Walt.

Also, just because Walt is an asshole doesn't mean Skylar isn't. Walt is an anti hero, of course people are going to like him despite what he does. Skylar is just a shitty character, she gets better later on but it's hard to come back from the first few seasons where she adds nothing AND does a bunch of shitty things.

Breaking Bad is essentially a fantasy show, 99.9% of what Walt does will never feature in the viewers lives but Skylar is doing shitty things that the viewer can relate to.

Plus, she's a fucking Karen.
 
Nameless

Nameless

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,357
While she definitely gets too much hate, I think some also paint her a blameless victim 100% of time when she wasn't that either. Just like Walt she had chances to get out and chose not to take them. And like Walt part of her did enjoy it.
 
AnansiThePersona

AnansiThePersona

Started a revolution but the mic was unplugged
Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,682
She gets too much hate but she still sucks. Now Wendy Byrde from Ozark? *chef kiss*
 
jfkgoblue

jfkgoblue

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,650
On the one hand, she is thrust into a shady illegal drug trade world without her consent and some of things Walt does to her are fucked up. On the other hand she is a huge hypocrite about it as she has no problem with the money it brings in.
 

pez2k

Member
Apr 21, 2018
401
captive said:
Here's the problem with that argument. She doesn't know about the meth until like season 3.
She's just annoyed that she doesn't have absolute control over Walt anymore.
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Yes, for me this was exactly what was dislikeable about Skyler's character - in the early parts of the series she seems more bothered overall about the fact she doesn't know where Walt is going than about how he's coping with the cancer treatment. As far as I remember it, she is portrayed very much as a controlling spouse, with Walt a 'sympathetic' doting husband who's just trying to provide for his family after he dies. Of course, how he goes about doing that is to lie to her, kill people and sell drugs, but in retrospect it feels to me like her actions are there primarily to generate viewer sympathy for Walt despite what a psycho he is.

Later in the series when Skyler knows about Walt's crimes and actively hates him, she's much more understandable in how she is trapped, scared and angry, and acting out to hurt Walt for the monster he's become.
 
kyle mechlachlan

kyle mechlachlan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,297
IIRC she's written to be a foil so the viewer will hate her. Walt is a bad guy but the show presents him as a good badass guy and anyone trying to interfere with him being a cool badass we're meant to dislike.
 
JasoNsider

JasoNsider

Developer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,147
Canada
She gets way too much hate. If anything, I feel this is a perfect litmus test for the biases and objectivity of the viewer. You are seeing it through the lens of Walter. If you project his tribulations onto her you might be fooled into thinking she's annoying/aggravating/insufferable.
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
captive said:
Here's the problem with that argument. She doesn't know about the meth until like season 3.
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And then when she does find out, sure, she kicks him out, but a few episodes later she's meeting Saul, helping come up with stories and ways to launder the money. She doesn't really get nervous again until people start dying and realizes the walls are closing in. She's not all that different from Kim in BCS, only not written as well.

She reminds a lot of Andy in the Office in the sense that I keep getting the impression that the writers were never completely sure on what they wanted to do with her.
 
Stellares

Stellares

Member
Oct 27, 2017
524
Not only is the poll question flipped but apparently you can select both answers.

Skylar is hated mostly by men who root for walter.
 
Meatfist

Meatfist

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,292
The pride and hubris that got Walter into shit always stemmed from his need to maintain control and agency, and unfortunately one of the ways the shows represented this was with a naggy/controlling wife. Thankfully there's some development to her character in later seasons, but some fans were never able to shake the sexist trope that was established early on
 
Rocket Man

Rocket Man

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,509
Her actions were justifiable, but she wasn't the best written character. Still, not enough to religiously hate her or anything, there are much more hateable characters who made me stop watching the show like Carl from Walking Dead.
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
teruterubozu said:
All the women characters in Breaking Bad are written so poorly. It's basically a "man's world".
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I actually think Marie is written pretty well, even if her plot lines aren't necessarily exciting. Lydia, Jane, and Angela are pretty good too.

If we're extending "Breaking Bad" to the "Breaking Bad Universe", Kim is extremely well written.
 
tokkun

tokkun

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,406
A lot of people seem to have difficulty separating "Is this a moral character" from "Is this an entertaining character to watch".

Skylar is a more moral character than Walt. However she is also substantially less entertaining. She is written one-dimensionally for most of the show, and her primary role is to act as an unwitting obstacle to Walt's plans. As a viewer, it is perfectly reasonable to dislike a character who is not entertaining.

Gilligan did a better job with Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul. Although she sometimes acts as a foil to Jimmy's plots, that is not her only role. She is written with her own complex personal motivations, and when she comes into conflict with Jimmy, it is justified by those qualities.
 
Palette Swap

Palette Swap

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
11,210
I don't hate Tyler. I do hate polls that flip answers compared to the question asked in the thread title.
 
NightShift

NightShift

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,021
Australia
I thought she was a purposefully unlikable character but the hate against her by fans is WAY too much. It's the idiots who don't think and go off their gut that she was wrong 100% of the time when she was actually 99% right. It baffles me that Walt straight up says it in the final and that's not enough.

It's obvious that it's sexism. Like I think Chuck in BCS is a lot like her in being the unlikable foil but I think he was wrong half of the time and yet he doesn't get nearly as much hate.
 
BossAttack

BossAttack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,980
Well, I was going to say no until I saw her listed as THE most disliked character ever. I'm not a Skyler fan but there are way worse characters.
 
Wojo

Wojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
457
Buffalo
Yup. She's basically the standard white conservative soccer mom type. If she were a real person she'd be a Trump supporter.

Her initial reaction to WW smoking weed was just a huge turn off for me. That's probably what ruined her character for me.
 

Lothar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,533
Skyler has a very annoying unlikable personality. Just look at everything she did in Season 1 before she knew about the meth. If that wasn't on purpose, then she was a poorly written character. She was also complicit with Walt, a money launderer, suggested for people to be murdered, smoking while pregnant. She's not exactly good. She was morally a terrible person, along with unlike Walt, not being interesting to watch.

Carmella Soprano is a great version of this character, who to me was the most likable character on the Sopranos.

So no, Skyler doesn't get too much hate. I can understand how she would be the top of a list.
 
Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,129
Skylar was depicted right from the beginning as a dislikable character (being bossy and kind of mean to Walt, cheating on him) before Walt began his rise as a drug dealer and when he was still trying to help his family while battling cancer.

So I feel like that perspective stayed with the character when Walt began to be more assertive and the power dynamic in their couple changed.
 
jml

jml

Member
Mar 9, 2018
4,783
I'm rewatching Breaking Bad now (just finished s2) and honestly I just don't find most of the Skylar-centric scenes to be all that interesting compared to the rest of the show. For the most part there's a clear dip in quality when the show goes from a scene featuring other characters to a scene that features Skylar. Skylar sitting in an office trying to decide if she wants to hook up with white bread Ted or not puts me to sleep.

I really don't like the implication from some people that if you hate Skylar that means you're a misogynist or you didn't understand the show and you must be rooting for Walt. Walt's obviously a piece of shit but I think he's just a more interesting character to watch.
 
Huncho_Houdini

Huncho_Houdini

Member
Dec 31, 2017
7,097
Era Uma Vez said:
Yes, because the majority of people who watch the show see Walter White as a badass, instead of the piece of shit he is.
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Yeah, I was in that group as well. But then after the show ended in hindsight he was very very manipulative.

Though Skylar was definitely ready to go in on his antics often, so she's not exactly innocent. I think most people dislike her because in the earlier seasons she was seen as an impediment to the "hero."


Edit: Ah the poll question is reversed!
 
MarauderShields

MarauderShields

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,254
I see no reason to hate her and while the excessive hate may be sexism but I don't all dislike of her should be labeled as such. They show her nagging Walter before we see Walter do anything wrong so the show conditioned the viewer from the start to take Walter's side. And since she flip flops back and forth in terms of supporting Walt's criminal actions for no good reason so not only can you not paint her as a good person you can hardly even make sense of her as a character.
 
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