The most interesting aspect of how this series manipulates its audience, if we set Walter White aside, is how the other characters are used.
Because the series never clearly tells us, “Walter is right.” On the contrary, throughout the series, there are enough characters who show that what he is doing is wrong. The problem is that we mostly evaluate those characters’ actions through Walter’s eyes.
For example, Jesse Pinkman is the series’ conscience.
Although Jesse is a criminal, he cannot accept the weight of his crimes as easily as Walter does. As he earns money, harms people, and things escalate, we see him deteriorate psychologically. He tries to escape what he has done, feels remorse, and repeatedly wants to leave this life behind.
That is why the audience empathizes with Jesse.
But something interesting happens here: our empathy for Jesse causes us to forget that he is a criminal. We see his suffering, but we easily push the suffering he causes others into the background. Thus, the series does not present a criminal character to us as a “good person,” but by comparing his conscience with Walter’s lack of conscience, it causes us to sympathize with him.
Skyler, meanwhile, is the complete opposite.
Skyler is one of the characters the series deliberately makes the audience hate. She realizes that Walter is lying, sees the danger, and understands that he is putting his family at risk. In many situations, her reaction is actually completely reasonable.
But how does the series portray her? As tense, irritable, constantly creating problems, and trying to blame Walter. Against this backdrop, Walter appears calmer, smarter, and more in control of events. As a result, the audience focuses not on the danger Walter creates for his family, but on Skyler making Walter’s life difficult. Of course, there are also moments when Skyler’s own decisions are debatable, such as the Ted situation. But the main point is that the series presents even the moments when she is right in an unpleasant way.
Then comes Hank Schrader.
At the beginning of the series, Hank is presented to us as an almost caricature-like and superficial character. He seems boastful, makes inappropriate jokes, and appears rougher and more primitive beside Walter’s quiet personality. Over time, however, the situation changes. Hank becomes one of the people closest to the truth in the series. Although he is actually one of the last to understand what Walter is doing, once he realizes it, he becomes the main character standing against him.
And this is where another method of manipulation used by the series emerges. The characters who tell us the truth often seem unpleasant. Meanwhile, the characters we love often move away from that truth. Jesse sees the moral consequences of Walter’s actions. Skyler sees the danger Walter creates for his family and his life. Hank reveals who Walter is through facts. All three approach the same truth from different directions. Yet even knowing all this, the audience still remains on Walter’s side. Because the series does not merely show us events. It also determines whose eyes we will see those events through. Walter’s perspective is more interesting. His problems are bigger. His decisions are more dramatic. His plans interest us more. And so, the series directs the audience’s attention toward the question, “Why is Walter doing this?” Yet the more important question is: “Does Walter have the right to do this?”
Breaking Bad uses precisely the difference between these two questions. As a result, the series’ manipulation does not merely force us to empathize with Walter White. More interestingly, the series forces us to see something else in what we are watching. Each character shows us, in their own way, that what Walter is doing is wrong, but the audience still remains on the wrong side of the story. Because the story is constructed to be more compelling than the truth.
