10 Times Walter White Proved He Was Breaking Bad's Main Villain (2024)

Breaking Bad is one of the most beloved TV series of all time. Over five seasons, it traces the journey of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), who goes from a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher to a ruthless drug kingpin. Walt justified his descent into crime by claiming it was all to fund his cancer treatment and earn money for his family to use after he's gone.

These sympathetic goals endeared fans to Walt, who constantly defended his actions throughout the show's run. By the end of the series, however, it becomes apparent that Walt is completely irredeemable. The money he was earning was secondary compared to the power he was gaining. Looking back at Walt's actions throughout the entire series shows that he was really the true villain all along.

10 Lies to Skyler About His Cancer Treatment

Walt proves quickly in Breaking Bad that he's lying to himself to justify his violence, and this is often evidenced by his constant dishonesty to his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). Walt lies to Skyler on numerous occasions, despite claiming that everything he's doing is for his family.

One of his major early lies is around his cancer treatment. He tells Skyler that his former business partners, the Schwartzes (Adam Godley and Jessica Hecht), are paying for his treatment when, in fact, he's using drug money. Even this early in the show, Walt's actions are driven by his ego and desire for power, more than a genuine concern for his family's well-being.

9 Blackmails Jesse to Cook Meth in the First Place

The defining relationship of Breaking Bad is the one between Walter White and his former student-turned-partner in crime, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). As the series goes on, Walt makes decisions that increasingly alienate Jesse before betraying him entirely. However, as much as Walt acts as if he's looking out for Jesse during the early part of the show, it can be easy to forget that their entire relationship is based on blackmail.

In the pilot episode, Walt sees Jesse fleeing a meth lab. He approaches his former student and offers him an ultimatum: help Walt enter the drug business or get turned in and arrested. This is the first hint that Walt has no issue using other people to accomplish his goals and sets Jesse on a path leading him toward death and misery.

8 Gets Three of the Laundromat Workers Deported

By Season 4, it isn't just those already in the drug trade Walt is ready to use and abuse at a moment's notice -- it's anyone he perceives as lesser than him. One day, when Walt is concerned that Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is trying to drive a wedge between him and Jesse, he is left on his own to clean the entire meth lab.

Seeing this as part of Gus' game, he goes to the laundromat and pays three Spanish-speaking workers to come down and clean the lab for him while Walt puts his feet up. As a consequence, Walt later finds out that the three women were deported; although he seems angry about this, it was his choice to drag three innocent people into the power games between him and Gus.

7 Makes Jessie Dissolve Emilio in Acid

Walt is faced with the first of many of his murderous moral quandaries in the show's second episode. After the events of the pilot, he and Jesse need to dispose of the body of Emilio and kill Krazy-8. Walt initially dictates to Jesse what needs to be done, but after some pushback, they flip a coin. The result is Walt has to murder Krazy-8, while Jesse dissolves Emilio's body in acid.

This compromise is not as fair as it first seems. While both Emilio and Krazy-8 are strangers to Walt, whom he feels superior to, Emilio is Jesse's former partner. Jesse conceals his feelings and carries out his task right away, but Walt hesitates, leaving Krazy-8 alive an extra day. While Walt gets to go home and forget about everything for a night, Jesse has to share a house with the two of them. Again, Walt is shown as naturally self-centered and unconcerned with other people.

6 Forces Jesse to Kill Gale

At the end of Season 3, Gus reinstates Gale (David Costabile) at the lab as Walt's assistant. Gale's goal is to learn all he can so he can take over from Walt when Gus executes him. Walt sees through the facade and schemes with Jesse to kill Gale.

Although Walt planned to carry out the murder, he finds himself trapped and orders Jesse to do it instead. This is the first time Jesse kills someone in the show, and the resulting trauma is one of the main elements contributing to his fall. Jesse had the opportunity to take all his money and hide away; killing Gale was to save Walt, not himself. Despite this, Walt only becomes more dismissive of his partner.

5 Bombs a Nursing Home

As the feud between Gus and Walt heightens in Season 4, Walt plants a pipe bomb inside Hector's (Mark Margolis) wheelchair. Via Jesse, Walt discovers that Gus makes frequent visits to taunt Hector in his nursing home. Banking that the two have a mutual enemy, Walt convinces Hector to act as a suicide bomber and kill Gus.

The explosion at the nursing home only killed three people, all of whom were involved in the drug trade, but the potential for far more collateral damage is evident. Walt doesn't even debate the morality of setting off a bomb in a nursing home. It's simply the most efficient way to accomplish his goals.

4 Orders Multiple Prison Murders

After betraying and killing Mike (Jonathan Banks) in cold blood, Walt enlists the help of Neo-Nazis to take out his incarcerated men. The 10 men were loyal to Mike and posed no threat to Walt until he decided to go against his word and not let Mike go free.

Walt needed the 10 men to die at the same time in three separate prisons to guarantee that none of them would testify against him. By this point, Walt was far past redemption, but for someone as otherwise intelligent and level-headed as him, working with Neo-Nazis represented a new low.

3 Gives Jesse to Jack and Todd

In the inimitable episode "Ozymandias," Walt delivers his most devastating betrayal. After Jack (Michael Bowen) and Todd (Jesse Plemons) kill Hank (Dean Norris) despite Walt's pleas, he's given the chance to go free with some of his money. Before leaving, Walt tells Todd where Jesse is hiding, exposing his former partner and allowing him to be captured and tortured.

After Hank is killed, Walt realizes that he has lost. There is nothing left for him to do but take the money and walk away. Despite this, Walt's ego won't allow that to happen. If he's hurting, everyone has to be hurting. He gains nothing from giving up Jesse; it's pure spite and a complete betrayal of the person he dragged into his empire in the first place.

2 Poisons Brock

Perhaps one of the coldest reveals in the entire series comes in the Season 4 finale, when the final shot shows that Walt was the one who poisoned the 6-year-old Brock (Ian Posada) one episode prior. Following a slightly convoluted series of events, Walt poisons Brock and blames it on Gus to convince Jesse that Gus has to die.

The plan was a success, and Walt claimed to have only given Brock a non-lethal dose. Still, there were so many variables in Walt's plan with no guarantees, making Brock's poisoning little more than a final effort from a desperate man. Walt did it without hesitation because it was a chance to save his own skin, and beyond that, the risk to everyone else was acceptable to him.

1 Watches Jane Overdose

Many fans cite the moment Walt refuses to help a suffocating Jane (Krysten Ritter) at the end of Season 2 as the moment he truly becomes Heisenberg. Seeing Jane as a bad influence on Jesse and their business, Walt breaks into their apartment, hoping to confront Jessie about it.

When he finds heroin needles on their nightstand and both Jesse and Jane unconscious in bed, he sees Jane begin to vomit. His instincts are to go and help her, but he stops himself. As he watches Jane choke on her own vomit, he realizes this is the opportunity he'd been hoping for. He begins to cry before fully understanding how he can use Jane's death to control Jesse.

Breaking Bad

TV-MA

Crime

Thriller

Drama

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Release Date

January 20, 2008

Cast

Bryan Cranston , Aaron Paul , Giancarlo Esposito , Anna Gunn , Dean Norris , Bob Odenkirk , Jonathan Banks , RJ Mitte

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

5

Website

https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/breakingbad

Franchise

Breaking Bad

Cinematographer

Michael Slovis, Reynaldo Villalobos, Arthur Albert, John Toll, Nelson Cragg, Marshall Adams

Creator

Vince Gilligan

Distributor

Sony Pictures Television

Filming Locations

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Main Characters

Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Skyler White, Walter White Jr., Hank Schrader, Marie Schrader, Saul Goodman, Gus Fring, Mike Ehrmantraut

Prequel

Better Call Saul

Producer

Stewart A. Lyons, Sam Catlin, John Shiban, Peter Gould, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Melissa Bernstein, Diane Mercer, Bryan Cranston, Moira Walley-Beckett, Karen Moore, Patty Lin

Production Company

High Bridge Entertainment, Gran Via Productions, Sony Pictures Television

Sequel

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Number of Episodes

62

Network

AMC

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix