History Characters / BreakingBadJessePinkman

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed in that though he will likely suffer trauma for the rest of his life, [[spoiler: he still gets off lightly compared to the rest of Walt's crew, whose crimes he's usually complicit in. Not only does he get to keep his life and his freedom, but he also gets away with a good $200,000 to start over in Alaska.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed...bitch!"'']][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:As he appears in ''El Camino'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/des5jpg.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

* BrilliantButLazy: Jesse is a skilled carpenter, but he'd rather cook crystal meth than put those skills to use as a tradesman. He also has a knack for chemistry, since he becomes able to recreate Walt's formula perfectly (something nobody else could do), but he failed at chemistry in high school, because he didn't apply himself.

** It's played rather straighter (if unintentionally) with others, like Jane: he did influence her rather... negatively during one of his downward spirals and got her off the wagon she'd been successfully on (although Walt's insistence on expanding to foreign territory lead Jesse into depression, and by extension, drug use). Badger and Skinny Pete also found bumps put in their paths thanks to the same basic issue. Jesse doesn't go out to be a negative influence on others. It just kind of happens, thanks to his problems, lapses of concentration, and inability to fully think things through biting him and those around him in every way imaginable.* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Funyuns. He's usually got some in the RV to eat after cooking. Walt comments on his reliance on junk food.

* PoisonousFriend: Skyler initially confuses him as being a ToxicFriendInfluence for Walter, with quite some cause. And, ordinarily, you'd agree that an impulsive drug dealer who constantly needs his bacon saved by "more reasonable" adults would count in most people's books. [[SubvertedTrope Nope, sorry,]] [[PlayingWithATrope not that simple]]: predominantly, it's the other way around. Jesse may enable Walt, but Walt outright manipulates and uses him and his relationships with others in return. Repeatedly. However, it's played rather straighter (if unintentionally) with others, like Jane: he did influence her rather... negatively during one of his downward spirals and got her off the wagon she'd been successfully on (although Walt's insistence on expanding to foreign territory lead Jesse into depression, and by extension, drug use). Badger and Skinny Pete also found bumps put in their paths thanks to the same basic issue. Jesse doesn't go out to be a negative influence on others. It just kind of happens, thanks to his problems, lapses of concentration, and inability to fully think things through biting him and those around him in every way imaginable.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: He is the one who drove Badger and Skinny Pete back to drugs.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Funyuns. He's usually got some in the RV to eat after cooking. Walt comments on his reliance on junk food.

* BaldOfEvil: In 2009, after Victor's death and essentially replacing him, Jesse shaves his head. Much later after escaping Jack's compound, he shaves his head again after being a disheveled wreck for half a year. Though the second, it qualifies more as a BaldHeadOfToughness, as Jesse by this point has been thoroughly hardened through by all the trauma going through.

** In "4 Days Out" Jesse tries to comfort Walter (who is having a rare moment of self reflection and regret) by assuring him that everything he did was for his family and promises at the end of the episode that to make sure Walter's family get his share.

** In "[[Recap/BreakingBadS2E94DaysOut 4 Days Out]]" Jesse tries to comfort Walter (who is having a rare moment of self reflection and regret) by assuring him that everything he did was for his family and promises at the end of the episode that to make sure Walter's family get his share.

** In [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E94DaysOut 4 days out]] Jesse tries to comfort Walter (who is having a rare moment of self reflection and regret) by assuring him that everything he did was for his family and promises at the end of the episode that to make sure Walter's family get his share.

** In [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E94DaysOut 4 Days Out]] Jesse tries to comfort Walter (who is having a rare moment of self reflection and regret) by assuring him that everything he did was for his family and promises at the end of the episode that to make sure Walter's family get his share.

* PetTheDog: His soft spot for children is shown early on when he takes the heat after his parents find a joint that belonged to his kid brother. He then gets rid of the brother's joint, encouraging him not to follow in his footsteps.

* CoveredWithScars: [[spoiler: After being tortured and enslaved by the Aryan Brotherhood. Best shown in Film/ElCamino when he’s taking a shower we can see he’s got several scars all over his back and we’re shown he’s also got plenty on his face after he’s done shaving.]]

* SadClown: Becomes especially apparent in later seasons as he endures more and more trauma, making his jokiness feel forced and out of characeter.

* SadClown: Becomes especially apparent in later seasons.

* BreakoutCharacter: Initially, Jesse was slated to be a SacrificialLion for Season 1. However, Vince Gilligan was so impressed with the character and Aaron Paul's performance that he eventually promoted Jesse to the {{Deuteragonist}} of the series.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Funyuns.

* AmbiguousDisorder: While not necessarily intentional, one could argue that Jesse shows signs of a low-level learning disability[[note]]As in, ADHD, dyslexia etc.[[/note]] although it isn't a clear case as he also ''lacks'' certain symptoms usually associated with them. His apparent laziness, dumbness and impulsiveness cover up a mind that can both learn fast and excels on things he's actually interested in[[note]]Lacking basic, everyday knowledge is seen as a potential sign of a learning disability, especially if paired with an unusually high interest in a few select subject matters[[/note]], and his semi-frequent emotional outbursts also fit this theory since some [=LDs=] cause difficulty in emotional control. Even his drug use ties into this, as there's some correlation between mental illnesses and drug use - mostly because drugs are used as an attempt to self-medicate. That said, the series never suggests he has one and instead paints him as BrilliantButLazy; it just wouldn't be a huge twist if he had one.

* BerserkButton:
** Seeing children threatened or harmed drives Jesse into a near-homicidal rage.
** To a less homicidal extent, Jesse gets pissed when he sees kids being neglected by junky parents, stemming from Spooge and his lady's neglect of their son and driving a small wedge in his relationship with Andrea.
** He doesn't take kindly to being called "stupid", once getting into a fist fight with Walt over it.

** In the last season of the show, they introduce Todd, who can basically be seen as the "Anti-Jesse." Whereas Jesse first looks like a hardened, back-stabbing thug, it's revealed slowly he has a soft heart and isn't as bad as anyone thought he was (including himself). Todd at first glance is a perfectly normal, boring guy [[spoiler:but is quickly revealed to be a sociopath who in spite of his friendly, casual demeanor sees nothing wrong with murdering the people around him. Jesse's BerserkButton is kids being hurt or killed, but Todd's EstablishingCharacterMoment was when he casually shot a little boy in the chest.]]

* YouRemindMeOfX: In ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', he gets a downplayed version of this from both [[spoiler:Jimmy and Kim, as the latter is made uneasy by Jesse/Walt's fighting, reminding him of his fights with Chuck, and Kim sees him as a sad kid on the same bad choice road she went on.]]

* TooDumbToLive: For all his clever ideas, he also has big moments of this, ''in spades''. Gosh, what a brilliant idea to dispose of bodies with hydrofluoric acid in a cast iron bathtub... and extinguish a burning generator with the last supplies of potable water!

* BookDumb: Jesse did poorly in Walt's chemistry class, and doesn't always know the scientific name for the chemicals and processes used in meth cooking (as when he can only identify a certain chemical by the honeybee label on the barrels he and Walt use), and in a flashback during ''Film/ElCamino'', Walt is legitimately surprised to discover Jesse had actually managed to get his high school diploma [[note]](much to Jesse's annoyance, Walt was actually on the stage during Jesse's commencement ceremony, but he completely forgot about it)[[/note]]]]. Yet he's [[BrilliantButLazy highly intelligent]] and seems to have a genuine talent for the knack-driven, practical side of chemistry. Notably, he's the only person other than Walt and Gale who can consistently produce meth at 90% or higher purity, even under very trying conditions, and he's the only other person who seems to ''understand'' Walt's cooking methods instead of just following the recipe by rote.

* TheDragon: Is this to Walt. It is only due to him that Walt expanded his cookery from the ordinary streets to men like Tuco and Gus. Also, he murdered Gale, thus securing Walt and himself. His usefulness to Walt has gotten to the point where he is a ''crucial'' part of his meth operation, such as when he comes up with an idea on how to erase the security footage of them burning down the lab with a magnet or when he figures out a way to rob the methylamine train without anyone knowing. [[spoiler:This ends in ''Confessions'' for good.]]

** His ultimate fate is contrasted with Saul's [[spoiler:as the last survivors of Heisenberg's criminal empire.]] [[spoiler:Both of them were forced to leave their old lives in New Mexico behind and assume new identities (Jesse as Mr. Driscoll, Saul as Gene Taković), but whereas Jesse is hopeful and finally free to pursue the life he so desperately craved, Saul is stuck in a boring and repetitive loop of existence that has ground him down.]]

* ActionSurvivor: [[spoiler:By the time of ''El Carmino'', Jesse has been through ''a lot'' due to his involvement with Walt. He has experienced the death of two girlfriends, been forced to kill an innocent man, having to help cover up the murder of a child, having been on the receiving end of several severe beatings, and gone through six months of living hell as the slave of Jack's gang.]]