You said in a previous post that he was "moral" and a "good guy" who's only justifiably acting the way he is based on circumstance. If you're now calling him a bad man, this is new.
There is absolutely no way you can justify poisoning/torturing a kid.
And now, after last night, I'd really like to see if you're rooting for him at all.
I believe my very first words posted on this debate were conceding he would and should be in jail if this were the real world. And I do still believe, given the situations he was in, most all he did was justifiable/understandable if you're a sociopath/devoid of empathy. The moral comment, okay, I'll admit that was a poor choice of wording. My point was more that Walt had a code of ethics, he was a man who stuck to his beliefs - family first, Jesse, etc. He never used his product, nor was tempted. He tried everything to hide it from his family. He didn't go around shooting up genuinely innocent people.
As far as last night, holy freak. I literally had to pause it after the knife scene. It made me nauseous. I literally felt Walt's entire world crumbling down around him. I've never had a tv show effect me in that way before. For me, it was heartbreaking. Whatever wrong he did, goddammit, he started out with the noblest of intentions - he was dying and he wanted to provide for his family, knowing he had nothing to lose when he started.
I will say I didn't like it at all. I felt it was unnecessary, and unrealistic. Because of what I heard during Talking Bad, where Chris Hardwick said Vince has been saying for some time he can't get the "TeamWalt" folks, that Walt is a bad, bad man. I have the feeling this was done more to silence that then it was a logical extension of the characters development.
And here's the other thing I'll add, that actually, yes, Walt
IS MORAL. He was willing to give up every freaking penny he'd ever made, freaking his family over since if Hank had escaped Walt still goes to jail, now absent the money. Walt felt Hank's life, a man who had pursued him relentlessly, destroyed his life, and honestly, brought this on himself (Hank leaves it alone, none of this happens.), was worth everything he worked for. And don't say it was because he was afraid of losing his wife and kids, because he clearly still had the delusion they'd be with him always after it happened.
Would Hank have done the same for Walt? Hell no. That's why I've remained on Walt's side. Walt could have grasped that Hank dead ends this, he remains free and walks away with $80 million. Walt had reasons to
want Hank dead, and instead he was willing to give up everything to save his life? That doesn't strike me as an evil, irredeemable jerk.
So the stuff after this? Ain't Walt. Say he cracked seeing Hank die, or Vince just wants to destroy anybody like me from having a leg to stand on. I'm glad he told Jesse though, and I'd have done the same. Little nag got his brother in law killed. That was Walt's revenge.
The knife crap? I don't even know what to say. It was heart rending, but goddamn if, looking back, it makes a lick of sense to me. I don't understand why Walt Jr. called the cops, saying what he said. He was still in some denial at that point, hoping desperately his father wasn't an evil jerk. I expected him to hear Walt out. But then, Skyler is the one who not only grabbed the knife, but freaking slashed Walt to kill! Why Walt Jr. was protecting his mother, all things considered? In that scene there was one clear "bad guy", and it's not the guy with his hand slashed open.
That scene just happened too fast. They didn't hear Walt out - they didn't even know whether Hank was freaking dead until the phone call! Thus the, "Just tell us, what happened to Hank?" and Marie being crushed at the response. They even knew Walt was in handcuffs from Marie, meaning they had to know that it wasn't like Walt pulled a gun and killed Hank and his partner senselessly. They had every reason to at least hear the man out, which they didn't.
There was no reason to grab the knife, in fact, every reason not to. Even if they wanted Walt dead, get the information out of him. The second Walt Jr calls the cops, that's it. His father is done, his relationship with his father is done, everything is done. If Walt attacked Skyler, I'd get it. I don't right now. Walt was struggling with her, sure, but she was trying to kill him and he, to my eyes, trying to disarm her.
But yeah, of course in light of everything that happened after that I'm not still on Walt's side. He doesn't have a side. Stealing the baby, even that I could fathom, but it was the phone call that did it for me - "I told you you'd pay if you crossed me, Skyler. Just like Hank did." I'm sorry, maybe my Walt love is coming through, but I don't buy that as logical for the character. Not for Skyler's sake, that she didn't deserve it, because Skyler does... Cheating on him...? Trying to kill him? But rather, for Walt Jr. He had to assume Walt Jr. would be on the phone too, and I don't believe Walt would ever have said those things out loud for his son to hear.
So yeah, anyways, definitely not on Walt's side anymore. But I feel that's more the result of a creator who wanted to make sure that there was nobody left rooting for Walt by the time the finale comes, and not a natural progression of a character whereby I've been horrifically mistaken for five years.
I'll turn things around on Walt's detractors - do you think Walt deserves to pay for Hank's death? That he's genuinely culpable in it? Because like everything else used to paint Walt in a bad light, the outcome was horrific, but it's a stretch to place the burden entirely, or simply primarily, on his shoulders.
