This one I can actually kind of understand because the shift is gradual. Like, if you started watching in season 3, it would be quite obvious that he’s a piece of shit, but if you start in season 1, the viewer establishes that he’s a sympathetic character and it’s hard to really identify a firm moment when he goes from being sympathetic to villain. It’s like the old ‘boiling water with a frog in it’ analogy… The viewer (at least it was true for me) tries to justify his increasingly bad actions because he’s been established as a “good guy” in the beginning until at some point they just have to step back and think, “Wow… he’s actually an awful person.” Then you watch the rest with a re-framed perspective.
Skyler: If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family…
Walter White: I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And… I was really… I was alive.
It is a gradual descent, but not so much that the viewer can be excused for not picking up on it. He kept going well after the point where he had made enough to take care of his family. He also could have accomplished his goal early by getting help from Gray Matter if he just swallowed his pride. And he was very willing to hurt or kill others as collateral damage, like Gale or Jesse’s girlfriend’s child.
This one I can actually kind of understand because the shift is gradual. Like, if you started watching in season 3, it would be quite obvious that he’s a piece of shit, but if you start in season 1, the viewer establishes that he’s a sympathetic character and it’s hard to really identify a firm moment when he goes from being sympathetic to villain. It’s like the old ‘boiling water with a frog in it’ analogy… The viewer (at least it was true for me) tries to justify his increasingly bad actions because he’s been established as a “good guy” in the beginning until at some point they just have to step back and think, “Wow… he’s actually an awful person.” Then you watch the rest with a re-framed perspective.
Skyler: If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family…
Walter White: I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And… I was really… I was alive.
It is a gradual descent, but not so much that the viewer can be excused for not picking up on it. He kept going well after the point where he had made enough to take care of his family. He also could have accomplished his goal early by getting help from Gray Matter if he just swallowed his pride. And he was very willing to hurt or kill others as collateral damage, like Gale or Jesse’s girlfriend’s child.