Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The King and Prince of Meth

Find the one that doesn't belong: peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin, Walter and Jesse. If you chose the last one, come on down and claim your prize! Walter and Jesse pose themselves as two polar opposites throughout the entire series of Breaking Bad, yet constantly cling to the relationship in which they rely on each other in some way.

The couple first meet in Walter's Chemistry class. However, we first see them meeting as Jesse climbs out of a meth-lab being raided by the DEA. Jesse gives off the vibe of, well, a punk. He wears clothes that are too big for him as he tries to talk with a colloquial street-gang accent. It looks like he tries too hard to be hard. Yet, all the same, Walter asks him to cook Meth with him. Why? Simply for Walter's own gain. This beginning spark in their relationship is what carries it throughout the series, as everything Walter does with Jesse for his own gain.
At first, Walter needs Jesse. Walter doesn't have the connections or brazen attitude to sell the Meth to others. He wants the simplicity of cooking the Meth while Jesse sells it. Why not? As a simple father and teacher, he is the definition of average. Jesse, on the other hand accepts the offer to partner up, which is something that seems a little more obscure. He doesn't need Walter. He can cook the meth himself, and doesn't yet realize at this point in the show how pure Walter's meth is. He's independent, and not to mention Walter was his high school chemistry teacher. What would be stranger than if your old high school chemistry teacher came up to you and asked you to sell meth for him? I would immediately assume it was a setup.
Although I don't think I'll ever fully understand why Jesse accepts this offer, he does so just the same. Walter and Jesse, being the complete opposites they are, immediately just get in each other's way. When they need to do things together, such as kill people, disintegrate their bodies, clean up disemboweled humans, you would think they bond some sort. To some degree, they do. Their respective personalities, however, continuously change, stopping them from ever forming a healthy relationship.

Jesse begins to grow as a person throughout the show, although at a very slow pace. Walter, on the other hand learns from Jesse and begins to develop his Heisenberg-like, bossy attitude. He no longer needs Jesse because he can sell the meth and find connections himself. Yet, he keeps Jesse around. With is new attitude, he needs someone to boss around. Someone who he can manipulate to do what he wants. Jesse, unlike Walter, needs this relationship. Although Walter manipulates him, and cooks meth with him, Walter is the best influence Jesse hhis house in a big party zone where meth users can come to as in his life. While he cooks with Walter, his life is on track. When he's not with Walter, he turns hang out. 

Walter, being the genius he is, constantly exploits Jesse's new found weakness. Yet its a weakness. Why does Walter keep Jesse around if he has such an obvious weakness? The answer is in the beginning, Walter does things for his own gain. He can benefit from Jesse's need of this relationship. He can easily manipulate Jesse to do whatever he damn well pleases. Especially if it involves killing someone for Walter. 

Despite this manipulation, Walter also needs Jesse, to a degree. He develops a strange father-like attitude towards Jesse. Perhaps this is because his own son is not what Walter had hoped for. Maybe the cerebral-palsy has striped Walter of the type of son he wanted, the type of person Jesse is. Maybe he's just angry at his own son for being closer with and adoring his uncle Hank. Whatever the reason may be, Jesse appeared at the right time in Walter's life for him to develop a fatherly attitude towards Jesse. He hides with a cloak of  a toughness, much like what Jesse does for his true self. He learned from Jesse well. He only shows his true feelings for Jesse in his weakest moments, like when he's been drugged by Jesse or when he's too sad to leave his house. This can be seen throughout the show as Walter inherently tries to keep Jesse involved in everything he does. Jesse has multiple opportunities to leave Walter and start his own life, which he tries to take. Walter doesn't want that, though, and keeps Jesse on the ropes as he keeps dragging him back into his plan. He can let Jesse leave at any point in time, and things would be fine. He could even double cross or manipulate Jesse into allowing Walter to get more money. He doesn't do any of this. He just keeps Jesse around, near him, because he wants him there.

1 comment:

  1. Good job here again, I actually started watching breaking bad at the beginning of the semester and it's great. With what I've watched so far I was able to create a picture in my mind and compare it to your writing. In each and every one of your post it can be seen that you took your time with writing them. Though they are lengthy it is def worth reading. I like the line in this post especially that says "yet constantly cling to the relationship in which they rely on each other in some way". I feel like this is a very strong statement here, it can have a lot of meanings, your choice of words are very unique. You have a way of captivating the reader from the beginning and keep their attention all the way to the end.

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