#you know it's interesting that he and gale basically have the same motivations. why jump to meth of all things. why go from 0 to 100 when

[16-jarrah]

i get why people would opt to say walter was a terrible person since the beginning, but i think that's like, the most boring takeaway you can get about his character. he was already insecure and prideful from the start, and it's what would hurt him and keep hurting him. but like, being insecure and prideful are regular traits any regular person can have. the actions that he makes because of these traits, which in turn keep fueling his ego more and more, are what makes him an interesting character. and he was already pretty capable of hurting other people, but he wasn't doing it out of malice, but more because of careless selfishness at first. what makes walter terrifying is that the more he does it, the more he becomes aware of what he's doing, and the more he keeps going and keeps being more and more meticulous and deliberate about what he does that hurts people and even to the point when it was specifically to hurt people.

i think the traits were there in walter from the beginning—the pilot did a pretty good job of establishing how powerless he's felt all his life and just how susceptible he is to letting this newfound perceived power get to his head so easily. he even says this explicitly in 5x06 "Buyout" when he tells jesse "i'm not in the money business, i'm in the empire business". but saying he was this monster from the start kind of implies he didn't undergo through a character arc throughout the show when it's quite literally what he did. he got worse. so much worse. through mostly the fault of his own fragility.

#idk if i put it into words right but i'm just musing #was walter a good person when brba started? up in the air. but his family genuinely adored him. despite feeling like a loser teacher #some of his coworkers actually really liked and respected him. he was just as much of a regular person as anyone else was tbh #you know it's interesting that he and gale basically have the same motivations. why jump to meth of all things. why go from 0 to 100 when #it sounds COMPLETELY ridiculous. but they were both very passionate about chemistry who felt like their potentials were wasted and felt #like they were finally putting their skills to good use again. getting to flex their muscles and shit. whenever they cook better purer meth #than most other people. i think it's a really genius idea to have this premise for the show lol #cz as much as walter is motivated by him feeling like he desperately has to take control of his own life he also is a scientist at heart #who desperately needs to apply his knowledge and skills somewhere where it would feel gratifying #seriously dude you could've tried to get a paper published or two or something. djhdidhd #but the academe has its own Politics and whatnot. so one could only speculate why walt didn't get to pursue that any more #(aside from the whole grey matter industries thing) #anyway uhhh i hope i get the post across lol not to sound cheesy cliche but brba is a corruption slash character deterioration arc #quite literally the whole point is that he Didn't Start Off Like This And He Gets Worse #again. he already had some of his bad tendencies and traits but it's like. we all do that's not necessarily inherently make or break #it's what he DOES and KEEPS DOING. CONSCIOUSLY that turns him into the horrifying man he is by the end of it all #so i just think if your biggest takeaway is Walter Was Always A Monster then you're just missing the whole damn point #op #brbaposting