Breaking Bad is a show about, well, breaking bad. As show creator Vince Gilligan put it, breaking bad means “raising hell.” It’s when you abandon your moral spectrum. Since Walter White is the show’s protagonist, the title may suggest that the only one to break bad is this mild-mannered chemistry teacher who ends up becoming a ruthless drug kingpin. However, that’s not the case.
Almost every character in the critically-acclaimed TV show has done something wrong. To be fair, all the wrong actions on this list are a result of Walt one way or another. The levels of immorality will differ of course from character to character. Some actions are going to seem worse than others. Still, there’s something that every main character does within the show’s five seasons that go against their morals. Here are the worst things each main character from Breaking Bad has ever done.
Walter Jr. - Blaming His Mother For Kicking Out Walt
Out of all the main characters, Walter Jr. is definitely the show’s most innocent one (except for baby Holly). Despite this, Walter Jr. has done some questionable things, yet they’re all done out of ignorance. He doesn’t actually know what is going on, having no idea that his father is a hardened criminal. As such, Walter Jr. constantly berates and insults his own mother for kicking out Walt. Little does he know, Skyler is doing everything in her power to keep her family away from the consequences of the drug game. Walter Jr. just wasn’t willing to see his mom’s side of the story.
Marie Schrader - Tries To Steal Holly From Skyler
After Marie finds out about Walt being a drug kingpin, she obviously loses all respect for him. Who she’s not sure about, however, is Skyler. Once she learns that Skyler also knew about Walt’s actions, Marie essentially attempts to kidnap baby Holly from Skyler right then and there. Marie has done some odd things throughout the show, most notably, shoplifting. While that may be illegal, attempted baby-napping is still her worst action. If it wasn’t for Hank stopping her, she may have actually gone through with it.
Jesse Pinkman - Killing Gale
The tragic part about this is that Jesse was doing this out of pure survival for both him and Walt. In order to save his partner, Jesse is forced to kill Gale, that way Gus has no choice but to keep them alive and cooking. Jesse throughout the show has never truly been evil. Yes, he does cook and sell meth, but it’s clear he was never cut out for the life of an outlaw. This is evident is in his hesitation to kill Gale, only to pull the trigger seconds later. It’s a heartbreaking scene, especially since Gale was not necessarily a bad guy; he was just a man caught up in the wrong situation.
Skyler White - Laundering Walt’s Money
To be fair, Skyler’s initial intentions were to keep herself out of prison, as well as keeping Walt’s secret for the sake of the family. That being said, Season 4 of Breaking Bad shows Skyler being a full-on white-collar criminal. She’s able to manipulate Bogdan into selling his car wash. Even worse, she hires Huell and Patrick to go over to Ted Beneke’s house and intimidate him into paying the IRS. In an “act of God,” as Huell hilariously put it, Ted tries to flee, only to have an accident that leaves himself completely paralyzed. Skyler definitely has dirty hands throughout the show, which all started when she decided to get involved with Walt’s business.
Hank Schrader - Beating Jesse To A Bloody Pulp
One can argue that Hank is the true hero of the show, as the cast is mainly made up of criminal antagonists. Hank’s character at the beginning was just loud, obnoxious, and borderline racist. He does start to become the hero as he tries to take down Gus Fring and then Walt later. Hank’s not completely clean, though. His worst action is when he loses his temper on Jesse. After Hank had both Jesse and Walt trapped in an RV waiting for a warrant, Walt gets the idea to do a fake phone call, pretending that Marie is in the hospital. After Hank finds out it was all just a ruse, he angrily heads to Jesse’s house and beats him within an inch of his life. Jesse may be a drug dealer, but Hank took it too far.
Saul Goodman - Suggests Killing Hank And Jesse
Since Saul is just a sleazy criminal lawyer, he tends to keep his hands clean as possible. Therefore, he doesn’t actually do anything too horrible on the show — well, besides being a scheming lawyer who is able to manipulate our justice system. At times, Saul can seem somewhat cowardly when faced against danger. When Jesse seems intent on killing both him and Walt, Saul mildly suggests to Walt that they should “put down a rabid dog.” Before that, Saul even threw out Hank’s name to Walt since Hank now knows who Walt truly is. If Walt didn’t care so much about these two, Saul wouldn’t hesitate to arrange for both of their murders.
Gustavo “Gus” Fring - Giving The Salamanca Twins Hank’s Name
Tuco’s twin cousins, Leonel and Marco, are hell-bent on killing Walt for revenge. Since Gus needs Walt to cook, he instead gives the twins Hank’s name, since Hank was the one who actually killed Tuco. Luckily, Hank is not killed, since Gus sends him an anonymous warning seconds before. Still, Gus did not care whether or not Hank actually dies. He only wanted it to be a bloody shootout that gets the DEA to crack down on the cartel. It’s clear that Gus is a man who will do anything for the sake of maintaining his meth empire, which includes killing innocents.
Mike Ehrmantraut - Just Killed A Lot Of People
In a show about outlaws, Mike was actually the hardest entry on this list. Even though Mike is basically a hitman and criminal fixer, he truly never kills or hurts anyone innocent throughout the three seasons he is on the show. The people he does kill are usually other criminal enemies, specifically cartel members. No one is losing sleep over their murders. Then again, murder is murder, so we still have to include that as Mike’s worst action. Despite being a brutish and skilled killer, he may just be the most redeeming character on the show.
Walt - Letting Jane Die
Walt is difficult for this list, as it’s just hard to select his worst action. While poisoning Brock was a dastardly move, it’s possible that he was smart enough to know that the kid wouldn’t have died. Because of this, Walt’s worst action happened all the way back in Season 2, when he allowed Jane to overdose. Jane was seen as an obstacle to Walt, but yet she was still innocent. Walt could’ve easily flipped her over so she wouldn’t choke to death, but he did what was best for his own self-interest. This becomes his true character as the show progresses, as we see a man with a giant ego, willing to do anything for his own gain.
