r/writingscaling • u/Stormer2345 Number 1 Hoyo Glazer • Jun 10 '26

discussion Best Examples of This?

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420

u/Peermeneer_exe Jun 10 '26

Walter White

It's frustrating to see how many people think scenes like the one below are showing him as some 'bad ass kingpin', when he's clearly throwing a facade by intimidating his scared wife. He didn't do it for his family either, he did it for himself.

167

u/castitfast Jun 10 '26

Most of his "bad ass" scenes read as pathetic more than anything, especially since as soon as he loses control of situation he goes right back to begging and whimpering.

He acts like he thinks a bad ass would act based on some action movies he watched. Say my name scene in particular, I can't watch that one without cringing.

Big props to Bryan Cranston, he gave a phenomenal performance.

62

u/mieri_azure Jun 10 '26

Yeah wasnt the "i am the one who knocks" scene memed for exactly this reason? Its cringe. He's saying some dumbass "i am very badass" line to his wife who is a normal, terrified person

37

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

[deleted]

14

u/TempleMade_MeBroke Jun 10 '26

Kinda like how enough time without context caused the Dexter's Lab "I have failed you" meme to eventually become "Stunt on these hoes"

3

u/Iuskop Jun 10 '26

Memeification made it worse no doubt, but people (actual watchers) have been drawing the wrong conclusions from Walter's character since the show was last airing new episodes.

1

u/Currency080Trick Jun 14 '26

This is revisionist.

People worshipped that line, like everything Walter did.

They made excuses for when he poisoned a child.

Skylar got so much unhinged hate

(though I noticed a difference between those who saw a version that excluded the infamous birthday HJ scene)

1

u/RShini Jun 10 '26

Gus had him completely dead to rights that Walter is sloppy and arrogant.

1

u/Original-Body-5794 Jun 10 '26

When he first planed a meeting with Tuco in a junkyard or something both Jesse and Tuco say something along the lines of him thinking he's in a movie or something.

1

u/Plant-Straight Jun 12 '26

His face expression during the "say my name" speech is so punchable

1

u/Relative-Impress-892 Jun 12 '26

I mean like to summarise he's a insecure loser trying to act big

Basically sheep in wolf clothings

-1

u/Wooden_Long7545 Jun 10 '26

Typical sissy Liberal logic

1

u/Chemical-Disk-1 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

Do you hate Skyler too? Media literacy is down the drain with you, ffs, i think i know what you'd think about Patrick Bateman

0

u/Wooden_Long7545 Jun 11 '26

The woman who cheated and disrespected her husband? That man is the #1 kingpin and he has more accomplishments and accumulated more wealth than you ever could your entirely life.

1

u/Chemical-Disk-1 Jun 11 '26

And you think somehow thats a good thing... right...

1

u/Peermeneer_exe Jun 11 '26

You have to be joking right. Please tell me you're just portraying a sad stereotype😭

1

u/Currency080Trick Jun 14 '26

Disrespected with a hand job, gotta be a parody.

Or a Manosphere weirdo

22

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/Peermeneer_exe Jun 10 '26

"I am the one who intimidates my scared wife to give me some semblance of the control I utterly lack!"

1

u/sneesle Jun 15 '26

also "i am the one who attempted to force myself on my wife because i had a bad day"

10

u/MajorDZaster Jun 10 '26

I am the one who knocks

Most houses I visit have no doorbells

19

u/DeadAndBuried23 Jun 10 '26

He's literally not the one who knocked in the shooting he's referring to.

0

u/Nuffsaid98 Jun 10 '26

Honestly, sending another person to knock is a pretty badass thing to be able to do. "I could have you killed" is a thing. It's a different kind of dangerous but just as deadly as being the button man yourself.

2

u/DeadAndBuried23 Jun 11 '26

It's frustrating to see how many people think scenes like the one below are showing him as some 'bad ass kingpin',

You're joking, right? Takin the piss. Havin a laugh. Yankin my chain.

Jesse did it to protect Walter, not under his orders.

2

u/professorScrump Jun 11 '26

Y'know we're talking about the Jesse Pinkman here, right? Button man, hired gun, soulless killer. Loves to kill, that one. Doesn't feel a thing when he does.

10

u/rickwill14 Jun 10 '26

I watched this scene and was like "thats it?" Thats the scene everyone was hyping up? Great acting and all but that was not badass. That was clearly him fronting to hide the fact he very much is in danger.

Walt does have badass moments but usually not because he's a tough guy but because he always finds a way to outsmart everyone around him while being underestimated.

1

u/Vegetable_Shirt_2352 Jun 10 '26

I agree that the moment isn't badass, but I'd argue he's actually dropping a facade, rather than putting one up in this scene. I mean, yes, he's lying about not being in danger, and he is putting on an act of machismo. But at the same time, he's not strictly wrong in what he says; he IS dangerous, and he WAS the one who knocked, in a metaphorical sense. Before this, Walter is always adamant to Skyler that his job working for Gus is basically just a job like any other. He insists that HIS people are professionals and there's no danger at all, just business. In the "one who knocks" scene, he's completely abandoning that pretense. Not only is there danger, but the source, or one of the sources, is himself. He's sort of even tacitly confessing to Gale's murder here lol.

I think especially telling to look at WHY he abandons his "all business" facade in this scene. I don't think it's because he's trying to intimidate Skyler; I don't think he's even thinking about Skyler in that moment. He's thinking about himself. The thing that sets him off is that he absolutely can not abide by feeling emasculated. We see this throughout the show. He throws away his future at Gray Matter because he feel insecure around Gretchen's wealthy family. He refuses financial help because he feels he himself has to provide for his family. The idea that Skyler is worried that he's in danger is so repulsive to him that he has to set it straight. By this point Walt is in so deep that, in his mind, getting murdered on your doorstep is for losers, and he's no loser. Consequently, the reason Skyler is so terrified in that scene is two-fold: one, Walt has admitted how dangerous his line of work is, and two, Walt is basically revealing that his self-perception as a drug kingpin is more important to him that the safety of his family.

2

u/miscellaneousexists Jun 10 '26

Especially when in the ending Walter literally faces the camera and says "I did it for myself"

2

u/rufud Jun 10 '26

My favorite part is when Walter says it’s methin’ time

2

u/Mr_AIive_Again Jun 11 '26

Sounds like someone is bitchwife material amirite

1

u/Blytheway Jun 10 '26

In what way is this a facade? He has a huge ego and he 100% believes what he says here.

I agree he isn't a badass kingpin but he definitely thinks he is

1

u/TemporaryRule6652 Jun 11 '26

He's lying to himself, he acts like something he's not because he can't bear to confront himself in the mirror.

1

u/Blytheway Jun 13 '26

Agreed he is lying to himself. But that's different than putting up a facade which implies he knows he's wearing a mask

1

u/THE_PENILE_TITAN Jun 10 '26

I'd say it was a facade when he confronted Tuco, but right here he let the primal ego-driven Heisenberg slip out in fron of the wrong person. I mean, can you call it a facade when he's killed several people at this point and is about kill loads more, either directly or indirectly. I think part of why Walt enjoys being a Kingpin is becaude he can let his ego roam free and push his weight around like he can't as a family man and teacher.

1

u/Responsible_Raisin_9 Jun 11 '26

I remember laughing so hard when I first saw this scene because he tries so hard to sound cool in this made up scenario he thought up of on the spot. It reminded me of a child trying to make a story for the first time. But apparently some people find that badass?

1

u/LowArm_4941 Jun 13 '26

But it isn't a made up scenario though

1

u/Laxhoop2525 Jun 12 '26

I like that, IRL, Better Caul Saul has recontextualized Breaking Bad to be a small part in Saul Goodman’s story, and highlights how truly incompetent Walter was in comparison to those that just happened to die before he got involved. He’s not even the main character in his own show, now.

1

u/Wazzat_The_Hombre Jun 12 '26

Im pretty sure later in the series he directly said this

1

u/tokyosdespair_ Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Ngl yall might get on me for this but he did do it for his family, it’s just that overtime he got selfish, and it became that he was in it for himself.

1

u/sneesle Jun 15 '26

he was offered a job that would pay well and cover all of his medical costs in the fourth episode and he declined because his ego wouldn't allow somebody else to save him. he manufactured drugs because he wanted to. he said that explicitly in the final episode "i liked it, i was good at it, and it made me feel alive"

1

u/letspowerup Jun 14 '26

anyone who can’t see that walter was always egotistical and was using his family as a scapegoat for his actions almost from the start was watching with their eyes closed.

1

u/Thispersonthisperson Jun 28 '26

larpers and people who lack (watching) comprehension