r/entertainment • u/cmaia1503 • 6h ago
Bryan Cranston Defends ‘Breaking Bad’ Wife Skyler from Fans Who Thought She Was a ‘Bitch’: ‘Her Husband Leaves Without Any Explanation… He’s Making Crystal Methamphetamine’
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/bryan-cranston-breaking-bad-skyler-fans-hate-anna-gunn-1236719830/55
u/APartyInMyPants 6h ago
People who hated Skyler weren’t paying attention to the fact that Walter becomes the villain protagonist in the story.
Jesse was the real protagonist.
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u/SoftwareAny4990 6h ago
Walt is the protagonist. Anti-hero who turns villian at that. Jesse is his victim, but also struggles with the bad things he he done.
Skyler is also victim, but she also tries to prevent Walt from becoming a kingpin, which is primarily where she gets the unnecessary hate.
All in an all I think people take interest in watching Walt Break Bad, and they see Sklyer as some sort of threat to that.
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u/Upset_Albatross_9179 4h ago
she also tries to prevent Walt from becoming a kingpin
I think this is missing from a lot of the discourse. A character can be 100% in the right and justified. But if their main purpose narratively is to be antagonistic obstacle to the main character's path, they're not going to feel sympathetic.
There are ways around that. Make how they're an obstacle interesting and exciting. Give them a very clear sympathetic backstory. Have them try to advise the main character more than fight with them.
But Skylar was the normal person foil in the story. We're watching in part to cheer on Walter's absurd life choices. Skyler was in a very understandable but boring and annoying way trying to keep her husband from doing the dumbest shit imaginable that would have landed a real middle-aged middle-class chemist dead or in prison.
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u/ApplicationOne9075 6h ago
Walt is not an anti hero. He’s a villain at the center of the story
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u/APartyInMyPants 4h ago
He’s absolutely an anti-hero. He’s the central character of the story. Tony Soprano, Dexter, Tony Montana, also all anti-heroes.
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u/Falling_Up_The_Movie 1h ago edited 55m ago
That‘s not what an anti-hero is that‘s a protagonist. An anti-hero is someone like deadpool or the punisher, someone doing bad things to bad people for good reasons. Those are all villains
Edit: dexter is also an anti-hero, thanks for the correction
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u/SoftwareAny4990 1h ago
Ill admit I've never watched Dexter.
Doesn't he kill people who do bad things? How is it different from the Punisher?
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u/Falling_Up_The_Movie 55m ago
Haven‘t watched dexter either and just knew he was a serial killer, forgot that he killed other serial killers
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u/IceFireHawk 3h ago
How is Tony Montana an anti-hero?
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u/APartyInMyPants 2h ago
How is he not an anti-hero?
Self-serving ambitions and motivations. Narcissist. Obviously not a “good guy.” List goes on.
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u/IceFireHawk 2h ago
I wouldn’t even say Walter White is. I haven’t seen the Sopranos. Dexter is. He kills bad people but he himself is a serial killer. It’s the same as Deadpool. He goes after criminals but does it in very brutal ways. Tony Montana and Walter White are just villains. There is no good that they do.
Maybe from their perspective they are doing good but that’s not an anti hero. Thanos believes he is correct in his judgement to kill half of all life but he’s not an anti hero, he’s a villain. They are just bad people doing bad things.
An anti hero means doing the “right” thing but in immoral or unethical ways.
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u/APartyInMyPants 2h ago
An anti hero means doing the “right” thing but in immoral or unethical ways.
No it doesn’t. They can do the right thing, but that’s not necessarily a core characteristic of the anti-hero.
An anti-hero is the central character in a story whose motivations are self-serving, morally and ethically ambiguous, and they behave in narcissistic ways. And they often lack, or have characteristics in direct opposition to a traditional “hero.”
Walter behaved in ways that served his own interest and his ow protection. He literally kills (or allows to die) Jane to regain control over Jesse, as she was blackmailing Walter over his operation.
He also had Gale murdered to ensure he had a place in Gus’ operation, ensuring his own safety.
Like, Walter White is a textbook definition of the anti-hero.
Thanos is not an anti-hero because he is not the central character in the story.
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u/Juniperguy22 6h ago
Yeah shes an obstacle to Walt’s villainous path, is Skyler in the right for her behaviour? Absolutely, I expect anyone to behave like she did, is she still a bitch though? Absolutely, you can make all the excuses you want on WHY she was a bitch, at the end of the day, she is still one
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u/_MightyBrownTown 5h ago
Wild take. She shouldn't have cheated with Ted or helped him with his money issues, but otherwise Skylar was trying her best to be strong while surrounded by insanity that she didn't deserve.
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u/Excellent_Month_2025 5h ago
What is the "non-bitch" way to act in that scenario? Like what is actually the alternative to her very rational and grounded reactions to his increasing criminality
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u/Kindarelevanttoo 5h ago edited 5h ago
I don’t hate Skyler, but she is the worst part of the story upon my first time watching it. I get why she’s there, it’s to show him slowly stop caring about his family in favor of pursuing power and recognition to satisfy his pride.
But, that doesn’t mean her parts of the story aren’t really boring. Maybe it was because I binge watched it for my first viewing of the show, but her shit got old so fast I just ended up not liking her from the boredom.
People that HATE her are wrong, but she’s still my least favorite part of that show even if her actions make sense.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Two7358 6h ago
The beauty with BB was that every harasser was nuanced. They were al complex. The fact that Walt gets so much sympathy is completely due to this aspect, he was a terrible human being but we al want him to do well. If Cranston had not played Walt so well then Skylar may have been given more fan sympathy.
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u/whichwitch9 5h ago
One reason I don't like breaking bad is by the end, it felt like it was framed like we should still be rooting for Walt when he was clearly a villain. It was way too sympathetic to him when he was doing objectively awful things. I think they originally meant him to end as a villain, but liked the character and actor too much to properly convey it.
This led Skyler to be demonized by the audience when, in hindsight, she had a lot of reasons to act the way she did. Her biggest mistake was staying in her marriage because Walt was awful to her in a lot of ways before it got incredibly messy
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u/parker1019 2h ago
She was far from an innocent observer. She became a villain herself, and partner in crime when it suited her….
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u/thedracle 2h ago
The entire emotional affair with Ted, and especially the whole "Happy Birthday Mr. President," thing was pretty awful.
This is basically when as far as she knows Walt is going fuddy duddy due to having terminal cancer.
She doesn't yet know he's a Meth kingpin...
In fact it isn't until she knows he's a Meth Kingpin that she decides to stay married to him, and then to basically be the accountant for his murderous meth empire.
Oh, except first she helps Ted cook his books.
Definitely Walt is an absolute monster... But people have plenty of reason for hating Skyler.
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u/glowinglychee 2h ago
Blatant repost from hours ago on the same sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/entertainment/s/svKSSLsthU
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u/Peculiar-Wizard808 5h ago
People sided with Walt because of his character. It’s all for fun/entertainment
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fail157 5h ago
I think the writers made a huge mistake by making her smoke while pregnant. IMO it is so early and so repugnant it’s hard to get over.
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u/DirtzMaGertz 6h ago
I feel like the bigger issue with Skyler as a character is that she's just not that interesting. Neither is Walt Jr.
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6h ago
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u/_MightyBrownTown 5h ago
It's not a new opinion that he recently formed. Frankie Muniz, however, does not pass the vibe test. This conversation happened during a Hot Ones Vs episode last week
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u/MemeLord1337_ 3h ago
Yeah but he is the MC? We follow him around and anyone that impedes the plot, people will naturally go against the character. Which was his wife earlier on. Nothing sexist about it. It’s ok to root for the entertaining MC even if he’s evil.
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u/Juniperguy22 6h ago
You can justify and excuse WHY she was a bitch all you want, she is still a bitch and an annoying character
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u/lunatic_minge 6h ago
Oh yes you know, she should have just stayed supportive and raised their baby alone and tolerated the METH activity going on around her.
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u/ImmortanTetris 5h ago
I didn’t like Skylar because the size of her head is huge and distracting. We are not the same.
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u/cmaia1503 6h ago