With Bryan Cranston confirming the rumors that a "Breaking Bad" movie is in the works on the Dan Patrick Show, fans of the iconic series rejoiced in excitement and nostalgia.
Ten years after it's humble premiere on AMC and five years after it's epic series finale, Vince's Gilligan's masterwork has gone down in the annals of history as one of the finest television series of all-time. It has a place on the Mount Rushmore of groundbreaking TV shows of the 21st century along with "The Sopranos" and "The Wire."
"Breaking Bad" tells the story of meek chemistry school teacher Walter White and his transformation from to meth-making drug kingpin thanks to his abrupt lung cancer diagnosis. And the series is not just about the effect Walt's transformation has on him, but the devastating effect it has on those closest to him: His wife Skyler, son Walt Jr. baby daughter Holly, his brother-in-law (and DEA agent) Hank, and his sister-in-law Marie.
As fans grew by the millions throughout the show's run, they fell in love with almost every character and their complex issues: Walt, his former student turned partner in crime Jesse Pinkman, his cartoonish lawyer Saul Goodman, the menacing Gus Fring, and the coldblooded but lovable hitman Mike.
His wife Skyler meanwhile became the show's least popular character because she obviously opposes Walt's actions and punishes him for it by kicking him out of their house. Of course, Walt didn't admit to her that he cooked meth until she figured it out herself at the end of Season 2, following Walt's endless series of lies.
Skyler eventually tried to mend fences with Walt for the sake of keeping their strained family together, but by the series end their marriage and relationship is broken beyond repair.
Most "Breaking Bad" fans agree in unison that Skyler was the "Annoying" one.
The "Nagging" one.
The "Female Dog" of the show.
But let's take a minute to understand Skyler's point of view:
Skyler White, an ordinary housewife in New Mexico, mother of a teenager with cerebral palsy and about to have another child who was unplanned, has a husband who was diagnosed with lung cancer.
That same husband did not tell her about his diagnosis for weeks, and he abruptly quit his other job at a carwash, who inexplicably went out behind her back dozens of times and lied to her for months about what he was really doing.
And what he was really doing was making some of the most addictive illegal drugs in the world and supplying them for some of the most cold-blooded crime bosses in the world, thereby making a ton of blood money and making him and his entire family in danger of being killed or imprisoned if anything goes wrong. Even if they have a lot of money, there's plenty they can't use because the IRS could get onto them.
The same husband who turns around at her and proclaims "I am the danger!"
So the idea that Skyler is angry and feels betrayed by her husband for selfishly putting their family in dire jeopardy makes her a "nagging bitch?"
In stories of any kind, the audience follows the sequence of events from the point-of-view. Sometimes it's told from one character who's the centerpiece of the tale, other times it's an event with multiple telling their version of the story. Although "Breaking Bad" has several great characters and their perspectives, it's Walter White who we've seen the most by far.
Because the show begins and ends with Walt, and we the viewer follow him and understand his motivations, we accept highly questionable actions. Walt is our guy, and his wife trying to interfere in his plans is not her trying to save her family but an inconvenience.
If the show was told entirely through Skyler, we wouldn't see an exciting drama but a tragedy about a family being broken by husband's ego and selfishness. The wife and mother did all she could to try and stop it, and the fact that she and her children survived is heroic itself.
Looking back on the epic series finale, Walt's character arc was not coming to rescue his former partner Jesse Pinkman, but finally admitting to Skyler that he did all of this not for his family, but himself. That is the truth he has to accept and make peace with it.
He liked it, he was good at it, it made him feel alive.
While I may have deconstructed and exposed the moral flaws of the show's main character, I still love the Walter White and Jesse Pinkman dearly for the epic story and character development they displayed in ways no other show has.
With a movie continuing the story of the surviving characters of "Breaking Bad", Vince Gilligan and the creators have a chance to continue the story of Skyler White in the aftermath of the finale and have her become the hero the fans never knew they had.
