Skyler White (2024)

in:Mature, Breaking Bad Villainous Benchmarks, Live Action Villainous Benchmarks,

Her Evil Ranking[]

Her Villainous Deeds[]

Even prior to the series, she was apathetic to Walter's misfortunes in life and more times than not kept her own interests in mind rather than her family's. And while it was a serious topic, she didn't let Walt opine about how he wanted to live his life with his cancer, calling out both Marie and Hank when they were in favour about letting Walt talk.
In general, she's a jerkish and controlling woman who tends to think more about herself than others and always wants things done her way, whether it's with Walter or anyone else.
She committed adultery with Ted Beneke, her co-worker, just to spite Walt and takes satisfaction in seeing it upset him. While it's understandable in a way, due to Walt's drug-dealing, lies and refusal to respect Skyler's boundaries, and her presenting the divorce papers beforehand, not only did she do this right after the night Walt could finally express to her that he did what he did for his family (something that she didn't let him talk before), but infidelity is still a serious issue to be taken as something justified.
She's hypocritical, as she takes the moral high ground in calling Walt out for his drug-dealing activities while still working with Ted, who commits tax fraud.
Despite reprimanding Walt for his actions and how he obtained his money, she still used some of her husband's drug money (albeit to pay the bills and afford Hank's physical therapy).
She helped Walt launder his money by buying his former boss' car wash and came up with the idea to contaminate the water, so his boss would had no choice but to sell to them, since he couldn't afford the repairs.
She had Saul send Huell Babineaux and Patrick Kuby to intimidate Ted Beneke into paying his taxes that he owed to the IRS, which indirectly led to Ted running away, tripping and becoming paralyzed.
- The money she gave Ted to help him pay off his taxes was from Walt's drug stash, which meant Walt didn't have enough to pay Saul to get him and his family to safety when Gus came after them.
She manipulated Hank and Marie by trying to drown herself in the pool, in order to convince them to take the children (although it was for the safety of their children).
She let Walt store a tank of stolen meth at the car wash.
After Jesse tried to burn down her house, she encouraged Walt to kill him, which even shocked Walt.
She refused to comply with Hank's attempt to arrest Walt, and assisted Walt in attempting to frame Hank for his drug dealing.
When Walt revealed Hank had died, she put the blame on Walter and tried to kill him by stabbing him.
By being compliant in her husband's crimes, she played a significant role in the rise of Heisenberg's empire, shattering the love between the Schraders and the Whites, and indirectly played a part in Hank's death.
While she's obviously standard when compared to the likes of Gus Fring and Hector Salamanca, she has less resources than both of them since she's a simple businesswoman whereas Gus is a drug kingpin with immense wealth and vast resources and Hector is a renowned crime lord, meaning it's unfair to compare Skyler to Gus or Hector.

Why She Doesn't Stand Out?[]

Despite playing a significant role in Walter's villainy, her actions fail the baseline.
She massively fails the Heinous Standards to Saul Goodman, Todd Alquist, Lalo Salamanca, the Cousins, and Jack Welker, who all do way worse than her with lower resources.
- It could even be argued that she fails to her own husband, Walter White himself, as while it's true that he obviously has more resources due to being America's biggest drug kingpin (meaning he has a lot of wealth and countless resources at his disposal), Skyler has personal connections to Walt as they are both married, but the way she enables Walt's villainy isn't enough for her to stand out alongside Saul, who played an even larger role in Walt becoming the drug kingpin he is known as.
She is very tragic and sympathetic, as she is horrified of what her husband has become and nearly killed herself on his birthday by drowning herself.
She shows insecurities through her fears of not being able to protect her family and wondering what her children will think of her in the future.
She usually has reasonable motivations and is technically an anti-villain, as she tried to protect her family's integrity by helping Walt better hide his tracks from law enforcement.
She still loves Walt, even after all he put them through. In the series finale, she didn't call the police on him and agreed to talk to him and allowed him tie up loose ends.
She has standards, opposing actions such as murder, theft, and drug dealing. In many cases, she is shocked by her husband's actions and tries to pull him back from his activities in the drug trade.
She loves her family, which includes her two children, Walter Jr. and Holly, her sister and her brother in-law:
- With her two children, she tries to set a better example for them and attempts to lead them to a normal life by filing for a divorce upon first hearing of Walter's crimes, continues to care for them throughout the entire show, and breaks down when Walt kidnapped Holly.
- Despite their arguments, she greatly cares for his sister Marie, to which the feeling is mutual. Both have comforted each other in times of need, and even after Hank's death, Marie still cares for her, warning her of Walt's return to Albuquerque.
She's On and Off, encouraging Walt to exit the life of crime several times, and caring for her children.
She displays remorse for her crimes, especially after Hank's death.