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Walt and Jesse not friendly til end of S4!

posted 8 years ago by MrCottonsParrot
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I found it hard to accept both men's loyalty for each other in Series 4, when we had never yet seen them get along with 100% friendly dialogue.

In every single scene together they are confrontational. Until the final episode of Series 4, Walt and Jesse were always arguing, yelling or fighting.

Of course we know they have spent hundreds of hours together cooking meth, so it stands to reason they must have got on well some of the time, but it would have been nice to see them share at least one or two jokes or pleasantries, before having to watch four whole seasons first!

"Look at it this way; in a hundred years who's gonna care?"

[–] Whatlarks 8 years ago

Things aren't as simple in that surrogate father/son relationship as they may appear. There are moments in that period when the pair are not at each other's throats. They are relatively few, but I think they take on extra poignancy for being rare.

Consider that no one consistently argues, yells and fights with another unless they have a significant emotional investment in them, and in the relationship. One of the strange and wondrous qualities of human affairs is that expressions of seemingly negative passion do not always and necessarily mean "I hate you to the core, and have no regard for you whatsoever." In that sense, Jesse and Walt are like the constantly bickering couple who nevertheless couldn't do without one another.

Also consider that even victims of abuse very often defend their abusers. Again, things are not always as simple as they appear - and that's one of the values of this show. That's one reason why it's worth at least one review.

Edited to add an example. Rewatch the scene in Four Days Out, season 2, when the RV's battery dies:

WALT
Why couldn't I have just gone to
Santa Fe? Why? Why?

JESSE
Mr. White. Mr. White! What are
you doing? Mr. White?

WALT
Oh, God. I have this coming.

JESSE
What?

WALT
I have it coming. I deserve this.

JESSE
Hey, snap out of it. All right? First off,
everything you did, you did for your
family. Right?

WALT
All I ever managed to do was worry
and disappoint them and lie. Oh, God.
All the lies.I can't even... I can't even
keep them straight in my head anymore.

JESSE
You know what? Screw this. I'm walking.
You can come or not. Where's my other
shoe...

WALT
Jesse. Jesse! Your body is running
dangerously low on electrolytes.
Sodium, potassium, calcium. And
when they're gone your brain ceases
to communicate with your muscles.
Your lungs stop breathing, your heart
stops pumping. You go marching out
there and within an hour, you will be dead.

JESSE
Okay, you need to cut out all your loser
crybaby crap right now and think of
something scientific.

WALT
Something--

JESSE
Something scientific, right.

WALT
What?!

JESSE
Come on, man. You're smart, all right?
You made poison out of beans, yo.
All right, look. We got an entire lab
right here, all right?

It goes on from there, as surrogate father & teacher works with surrogate son & student to put the improvised battery together.

"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

[–] MrCottonsParrot 8 years ago

Yes, and I remember that scene, and though it proves they care for each other, it is still controntational.

I just would have liked SOME light relief from all the bickering and shouting.

Just ONE joke or happy interaction between the two of them, during four whole series, but no; it wasn't meant to be.

I did feel this was a writing failing, especially when such care was taken in the writing to produce long, poignant scenes of Skyler and Walt's breakup.

And that great humorous scene of Skyler pretending to be a ditzy bimbo, so the auditor would not be harsh for Ted's faulty finance books. There were plenty of humorous scenes. Shame they were never between the two leads.

"Look at it this way; in a hundred years who's gonna care?"

[–] swolbach 8 years ago

Funny, in 4 Days Out, which Whatlarks is referring to, earlier in the episode we are treated to what was probably their highest point together, as a team, after Walt calculates how much money they should make on the meth they just made. Jesse convinces Walt to just let go and be happy...and give him a high five...only to be dissapointed to a new low, when they find the battery dead.

Something always happens with these two...as if they jinxed themselves by allowing for a happy moment. You don't find them happy together, like that, too often, if at all, after that scene. Of course, people dying or attempting to kill you CAN have that affect...so there's that.

[–] heisenberg12 8 years ago

They don't stand out as much as the arguing and fighting scenes at a lazy glance due to the proportion of them, but they are there if you think harder and look for them. For example, even in the episode after 4 Days Out, Jesse consults with Walter at the restaurant table about his cancer and his remission. Fly has some calm scenes too.

In season 5A they are the closest. A few scenes there that stand out are Jesse visiting Walt's house and calmly and gently trying to console him on leaving the business, with Skyler walking in and a Walt inviting him to dinner, and also when Walt comforts Jesse when he finds the ricin cigarette in the roomba.

They're sprinkled in and scattered about but there are quite a few there when you look for them, although they are overshadowed by so many confrontation scenes.

One thing about the dynamic of the relationship to begin with was that they didn't really like each other very much and the true nature of the relationship is teacher student when Walt blackmails him into becoming his partner. There was always a defiant Jesse and a patronizing Walt colliding as these two unlikely business partners in a precarious business never quite agreed on anything and like many business partnerships, particularly those done on a handshake, not to mention illegally, the struggle for power was always present. Also, business is business while wives are intimate relationships. Walt and Jesse didn't have anything in common besides the method cooking business, relatively speaking, so they only got together when there were business related problems to solve, like many business people do. If Walt did drugs, for example, or dated strippers, they would have had more in common personally and more fun. Maybe Jesse could've invited him over to smoke a bong and watch Ice Road Truckers or play video games.

[–] mgreen9715 8 years ago

I honestly never understood the huge bond and friendship that people claim that these two had. There was always drama between them and either Walt was lying and manipulating Jesse for his own ends or Jesse was constantly messing up and Walt would throw a fit for half the episode.