Is Skyler a bitch

[EightBitNate]

I haven’t watched Breaking Bad since it originally aired and I decided to rewatch it. Mid-season 2 right now. I remember defending her when people would call her a bitch during the original run but I’m kinda conflicted on how to feel now.

Don’t get me wrong, Walt’s a power hungry asshole. As smart as he is, he does so much mind numbingly stupid things. Throughout S1, Skyler is supportive of Walt and her actions make sense as someone who loves her husband and her family. For all the shit Walt is actually doing behind her back, her actions make sense. But in S2, with what we know her character knows at this point, she just seems like she’s overreacting.

I just got to the part where Walt comes back after his fugue state and he tries to explain the second phone thing as “well actually I think that was my alarm ringing, not a second phone”. This seems to be where the problems in their relationship start. I can’t remember how it plays out with this story arc, but it seems like a reasonable explanation and something that her character would believe. However, she starts acting weird herself in the episode I’m on, not telling Walt where she’s going and avoiding him.

Will have to keep watching to see her explanation for doing this, but this just seems like a really weird, bitchy thing to do her husband with cancer. Is there really a good reason for her not to believe that it was his alarm and not a second phone?

[Himu]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

[EightBitNate]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

I 1000% agree that Walt’s an asshole. I’m not blaming Skyler for their situation at all. Basically all of their misfortunes are caused by him. However, that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of being a bitch. If she believes all of Walt’s lies, then her actions don’t make sense as of S2, E4.

[Himu]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

I 1000% agree that Walt’s an asshole. I’m not blaming Skyler for their situation at all. Basically all of their misfortunes are caused by him. However, that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of being a bitch. If she believes all of Walt’s lies, then her actions don’t make sense as of S2, E4.

"Basically all of their misfortune is caused by him."

"Is Skylar a bitch?"

No. How can you say and admit Walt is what ruined their family while asking if she's a bitch? She did well under the circumstances. "I fucked Ted" Fuck Walt.

[Himu]

Also Better Call Saul > Breaking Bad

[EightBitNate]

I just got to the part where Walt comes back after his fugue state

it seems like a reasonable explanation

bro this is easily one of the more fucked up things that he does at that point in the show (pretending he's in serious psychological distress to hide the fact that he was fucking kidnapped) and you're really going to side with walt because the phone thing was a believable (but not true) excuse? lol

I’m not siding with Walt. You seem to be misinterpreting what I’m saying. From our point of you, Walt is the absolute worst. But let’s review what Skyler knows when she decides that she’s going to start avoiding Walt. For just a moment, drop all of the background information you have about Walt is actually doing. 

> Walt’s phone rang and he didn’t pick up
> Walt went missing
> Hank looked into it, cannot find a record of a call
> Hank suggested to Skyler that Walt may have a second phone
> Walt is found in a fugue state

Up to this point, Skyler’s thought process is that Walt is hiding something from her, maybe an affair. She’s right to try to punish him for this behavior, but then

> Walt tells her that it was probably an alarm to take his medication

At this point, it’s only logical that she would feel one of two ways.

1. Skyler believes Walt, things go back to the way they were
2. Skyler doesn’t believe Walt

In my opinion, option 1 seems to be more accurate for her character. She’s fully believed all of Walt’s lies so far (smoking weed, relationship with Jesse, going to a spa), and it actually sounds like a reasonable excuse. We don’t really have any indication that she’s suspicious about him up to this point.

Instead, we get option 2. Option 2 can still make sense for her character if she calls Walt on it. Instead, she just completely blocks him out. If instead, Skyler had angrily told Walt that she didn’t believe that, then I still don’t think she would be a bitch. It’s just implied she doesn’t believe him, but she never confronts him about it and chooses to partake in some childish behavior.

[EightBitNate]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

I 1000% agree that Walt’s an asshole. I’m not blaming Skyler for their situation at all. Basically all of their misfortunes are caused by him. However, that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of being a bitch. If she believes all of Walt’s lies, then her actions don’t make sense as of S2, E4.

"Basically all of their misfortune is caused by him."

"Is Skylar a bitch?"

No. How can you say and admit Walt is what ruined their family while asking if she's a bitch? She did well under the circumstances. "I fucked Ted" Fuck Walt.

Because characters aren’t omniscient like us viewers are.

[dkdk]

the biggest in TV history

[Momo]

I bailed out of this mid season 2 for many reasons but the tipping point was Skyler behaving in ways to cause conflict that wasnt logical. Derided everyone I knew that called this the best drama they watched 

[EightBitNate]

I bailed out of this mid season 2 for many reasons but the tipping point was Skyler behaving in ways to cause conflict that wasnt logical. Derided everyone I knew that called this the best drama they watched 

That’s exactly what it is. She’s not behaving how an adult would in her situation. I’m not saying “she’s a bitch because she makes Walt’s life harder”. I’m saying she’s a bitch because she isn’t vocal about her distrust for her husband.

[Himu]

I bailed out of this mid season 2 for many reasons but the tipping point was Skyler behaving in ways to cause conflict that wasnt logical. Derided everyone I knew that called this the best drama they watched 

That’s exactly what it is. She’s not behaving how an adult would in her situation. I’m not saying “she’s a bitch because she makes Walt’s life harder”. I’m saying she’s a bitch because she isn’t vocal about her distrust for her husband.

What happens and what's the context? I haven't seen BB in years.

[Transhuman]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

Raped?

[EightBitNate]

I bailed out of this mid season 2 for many reasons but the tipping point was Skyler behaving in ways to cause conflict that wasnt logical. Derided everyone I knew that called this the best drama they watched 

That’s exactly what it is. She’s not behaving how an adult would in her situation. I’m not saying “she’s a bitch because she makes Walt’s life harder”. I’m saying she’s a bitch because she isn’t vocal about her distrust for her husband.

What happens and what's the context? I haven't seen BB in years.

I explained it in my reply to Shosta. Basically, after Walt’s phone rings and it’s not able to be traced to his main number, Skyler suspects he has a second phone. She asks him about it and he tells her “it wasn’t a phone you heard ringing, it was my alarm to take my medicine.” It’s out of character for her not to believe him imo, but she doesn’t believe him nevertheless. The thing is, she doesn’t tell him “I don’t believe that”. Instead, she starts leaving the house without telling Walt where she’s going, giving him one word responses, etc. Very clearly upset with him and acting out like a teenager. It’s frustrating to watch her because I really want her to hash it out like an adult.

This is where their relationship starts falling apart.

[EightBitNate]

No.

Walt is an asshole, raped her, and ruined their family.

Raped?

He tries having sex with her despite her saying no. She pushes him away and he apologizes.

[EightBitNate]

This would be a pretty obvious lie. She LIVES with him, she knows what his phone alarm sounds like, and his medication routine, and any other details that conflict with that.

I don’t really want to get argue the details of this point, because it could be something as simple as Walt having started the alarm the day before and that just being the first time Skyler was around to hear it. The larger point here is that if she didn’t believe it, why not address it by saying that?

But that's how it happens. You trust somebody up until the very moment that you don't. She just spent an entire day wondering where he's been and thinking about some mysterious second phone and she's probably been picking up on lots of little things that are changing about Walt. He's been explaining the shit out of himself for a whole season now. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be THE moment in the show where she becomes suspicious of Walt.

Pretty much every lie Walt feeds to Skyler is accepted unconditionally. I haven’t been paying special attention to that aspect of it but if there were clues that Skyler was skeptical of Walt, they weren’t made very clear. If she reflected on them and retrospectively decided that he may be lying, the writers should’ve had her say that. It’s just so odd to me that a switch was flipped and we don’t really get any insight into what Skyler’s actually thinking. Literally all we get is “I’m mad at you.”

First of all, if she suspects he's lying, then there's nothing she can do about it because if she confronts him then he'll keep lying. Second of all, she's not being childish, she's having a perfectly reasonable reaction to just being lied to about his mental breakdown. It's not about the phone, it's about the extent that he was willing to go to cover up whatever it was he doing.

There’s no way she would’ve known that her suspicion was correct without confronting Walt. It’s either
 
A - have your suspicions and choose to keep them to yourself until you can confirm them
B - confront the accused. If you feel like they’re lying, then you tell them you feel that way. Choose to punish them after you’ve vocalized how you feel.

What Skyler did was a combination of the two.

C - keep your suspicions to yourself AND punish the person without letting them why your upset. 

C is just not how a reasonable person reacts to the situation.

[team filler]

[Mr Gilhaney]

No, but Carmella is.

[BIONIC]

(Image removed from quote.)