Characters / Breaking Bad: Walt's Family

Main Character Index | Better Call Saul
Walt's Family (Walter White), Heisenberg's Empire (Saul Goodman), DEA and Police, Juarez Cartel, Los Pollos Hermanos, Madrigal Electromotive, Aryan Brotherhood, Other Criminals, Other Civilians

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The White Family

Walter

Click here.

Skyler

Skyler White (née Lambert)

"I never wanted any of this."

Portrayed By: Anna Gunn

Appearances: Breaking Bad

"Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family."

Walter's wife. She has had several meager sources of income: writing short stories, selling items on eBay, working as a bookkeeper, and ultimately helping her husband launder money. Skyler and Walter have a son, Walter Jr., and an infant daughter, Holly. Skyler cares for Walter very much, but their marriage becomes increasingly strained due to his unexplained absences and bizarre behavior.

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• Age-Gap Romance: It's only commented on occasionally, but Skyler is quite a bit younger than Walt. She is said to be close to, but not yet 40 while pregnant with Holly, while Walt is already 50. Like their respective actors, Skyler and Walt are about 12 years apart.
• And Then What?: Says this to Walt when she tells him that he has made more money than they could ever spend, nor could she safely launder without getting unwanted attention. Walt does take her advice and leaves the trade.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • From "Bit By A Dead Bee": Do You have a second cell-phone?
  • From "Ozymandias": "Where's Hank?"
• Awesome by Analysis: Besides being a shrewd accountant and bookkeeper, Skyler is repeatedly shown to possess serious ingenuity. This is first demonstrated when she tracked down Jesse on her own. Later on, she uses an off-hand remark to figure out that Walt has two cell phones, a relationship with Jesse but not with Gretchen, no clear revenue, and lies about all of this, and she outright tells Walt that she knows he's a drug dealer. Once she gets involved in Walt's business, her acumen is of great utility.
• Awful Wedded Life: With Walt, whether troubled by more mundane issues like financial strain or her pregnancy, to his cancer and the fact that he's a murderous drug dealer.
• Being Evil Sucks: Unlike Walt who slowly indulges more and more in crime as the series goes on, Skyler's actions take a serious mental toll on her, as does the danger their life of crime inflicts on the whole family. Seeing Walt grow more ruthless and emotionally abusive pushes her further to the brink of despair. This all culminates in "Fifty One" where she admits that she's waiting for Walt's cancer to come back so the family can finally be free from him.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Given to Marie in force during season 5, when she is under a lot of stress and fear.
• Broken Pedestal: Even with Walter's lie about abusing her into being an accomplice in his drug-dealing activities, Marie and Walter Jr. are still never going to look at Skyler the same way again.
• Celebrity Paradox: In "Rabid Dog," there's a shot that reveals her brother-in-law owns a DVD set of Deadwood, which featured Anna Gunn.
• Chekhov's Hobby: Her love of creative writing.
  • Helps her to spin an intricate and compelling story about Walt amassing his money through gambling.
  • Spins a yarn for the IRS about being a Dumb Blonde to take the heat off Ted.
  • Likely helped author Walt's "confession" video.
• Chekhov's Skill: Skyler is a former accountant, a job she takes again from Ted, then it leads to her laundering Walt's money with high skill.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Smokes more and more as her dread of Walt grows. After admitting she's waiting for Walter's cancer to come back, she's seen smoking inside the house as he prepares to go to bed, implying she might be trying to exacerbate it with secondhand smoke.
• Control Freak: She sees herself as a necessary one, given Walt's impulsiveness.
  • In Season 1, she insists that Walt get chemo and radiation treatment, and freaks out when Marie encourages Walt to make his own decisions during the "talking pillow" exercise.
  • This quote from season 4 sums it up perfectly:
    Walt: There's gotta be dozens of car washes in this area. Who says it has to be this one?
    Skyler: I do.^note Admittedly, some of this is not a need for control, but fury at the way Bogdan treated her, and she specifically wants his car wash to get back at him
• Consummate Liar: She proves to be just as adept at this as Walt, keeping the Heisenberg secret and fooling the Beneke investigators.
• The Corruptible: Though she at first is staunchly against wanting anything to do with Walt once she learns that he's a drug dealer, Skyler gradually gets sucked into becoming part of his empire, thanks to becoming envious of the cash he brings in, on top of her personal problems making the life of crime look very appealing.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Thanks to a combination of witnessing Marie's kleptomania, and Ted's embezzling, by the time season four rolls around she becomes desensitized enough about crime that she gets a bit excited about the idea of assisting Walt's business. By the start of season five, though, whatever romanticized notion she had about the idea was lost, and she firmly steps back from it. Though it's revealed she's still okay with the idea of Walt putting a hit out on Jesse in order to keep him from talking to the cops.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • From "Box Cutter":
    Saul: People carpool to work, right? It's good for the environment.
    Skyler: He carpools? He carpools to his job at a meth lab?
  • From "Bullet Points":
    Skyler: For a fired school teacher who cooks crystal meth, I'd say you're coming out pretty much ahead.
  • From "Rabid Dog":
    Walt: Are you spying on me?!
    Skyler: Yes, and I feel just awful about it.
• Dirty Coward: Sees herself as this in "51". Subverted in that whilst she is powerless to get Walt out of the house for fear of Hank finding out she's wrapped up in his criminal schemes, she still has no problem telling Walt exactly what she thinks now he's gone to the dark side.
• The Dog Bites Back: When given a chance, she quickly turns Marie and Hank against Walt. Skyler discovers her brother-in-law is dead and attacks Walt with a knife.
• Driven to Suicide: Fakes an attempt in Season 5 so she can get Walt Jr. and Holly away from Walt.
• Dumb Blonde: Completely averted (she's actually quite smart), but she knows how to play the part of the dumb blonde. She saves Ted's thieving butt from an IRS audit with a dazzling display of this in Season 4 making the IRS agent think the books are inaccurate due to incompetence rather than tax evasion.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her first appearance is her substituting Walt's bacon for veggie bacon on his birthday without asking him, which shows her controlling tendencies.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In Season 4, "Open House", Skyler rules out using violence against Bogdan and refuses Saul's suggestion of calling an ICE raid on Bogdan, not wanting to get innocent immigrants in trouble, plus they will be needed as employees anyway.
  • More so in Season 5 when she tells Walt point blank, she will not have their kids living in a house where murdering people and dealing drugs is treated as "shit happens".
• Evil Is Not a Toy: When she chooses to be complicit to Walt's meth cooking she mostly saw it as laundering money for her irresponsible husband. She did not expect Walt's meth distribution being so huge she can't launder everything or that Walter has a bodycount and aspiration to be a kingpin.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Very much wants to make sure her children are not tarnished by her and Walt's criminal activities. It succeeds, until "Ozymandias".
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Her hair gets progressively lighter as the show goes on, and cuts it around the time when she starts the money laundering scheme.
• Foot-Dragging Divorcee: During Seasons 3-4, she ultimately doesn't sign the papers as married couples can't be compelled to testify against each other.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Played with, flipping back many times between Marie and Skyler. Skyler seems like the most responsible sibling, as Marie is flighty, childless, and kind of dumb, while Skyler is very intelligent, cunning, and controlling. However, Marie becomes more responsible through Hank's injuries landed on him by the Cousins, as Skyler also takes on more of a responsible role. However, when Marie learns that Skyler is involved in Walt's crimes, she truly understands how foolish Skyler has been.
• Get Out!: Several times.
  • Tells Walt to get out in "ABQ" after finding out about the second cellphone
  • Tells Lydia to leave the carwash after wondering why a person would wash a rental car.
  • When she finds out Hank is dead, she wants Walter out permanently.
• Good Parents: Zig-Zagged; she shows to be very caring and attentive to the baby Holly and tries her best to give Walt Jr. a upbringing. But as she begins to get involved with Walt's criminal affairs, this just puts the whole family in further danger, and culminates in Walt Jr. losing respect for her in the end.
• Good with Numbers: Studied accounting while growing up and controls the family's and, eventually, the drug empire's finances. She is also the first one to come across Ted's fraudulent practices.
• Guile Hero: Although she might lose that 'hero' label pretty quickly, Skyler is quick and manipulative.
• Hidden Depths: She's scared witless of Walt and his involvement in the meth trade, but when Skyler gets involved in the business, she reveals pretty quickly how inventive, smart, and ruthless she can be when necessary. Examples are getting Walt to buy out his old boss's car wash for laundering money by playing to his pride, concocting on the fly a story of Walt having a gambling problem to explain how he got the money to buy a said car wash, or Obfuscating Stupidity to help Ted evade getting convicted of tax fraud.
• Heel Realization: She has one much, much earlier than Walt in Season 4. It manages to stick.
• Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": When given the chance to spin stories explaining how Walt got his money, she draws on her background in creative writing to make Walt look terrible while she herself comes off as pure and blameless. Given a Call-Back toward the end of the series, when Walt arranges things to make her look like this to the police to keep her from going to jail.
  Walt: I'm "weak?" I'm "out of control?" This whole thing makes me look like crap.
  Skyler: This has to be a "warts and all" story, Walt. That's how we'll sell it, and we both look bad.
  Walt: How do you look bad, exactly? Where is the "I slept with my boss" bullet-point? I can't seem to find that anywhere.
  Skyler: For a fired school-teacher who cooks crystal meth, I'd say you're coming out pretty much ahead.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • When she realizes that Walt killed Gus Fring. She becomes borderline catatonic during most of the first half of season five.
  • Again in "Granite State" as a result of being taken through police investigations into Walt's actions.
• Holier Than Thou: Her attitude towards Walt and his choices. After some of the things she does, (particularly asking Walt to murder Jesse) it begins to border on delusion.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Because she has been married to Walt for years, she tries to believe at various points that Walt really is doing everything for the family and still is ultimately a good man. She tries to rationalize Walt's drunken rant to discredit Gale as Heisenberg as "wanting to be caught", rather than acknowledging his horrific ego.
• Hypocrite: One of her glaring flaws and often cited as a reason for fans' dislike of her character:
  • Her mentality during Walt's cancer intervention, which can be easily summed up as "we are here to say whatever we're feeling... as long as it does not disagree with what I think Walt should do."
  • It is completely understandable she would give Walt flak over becoming a meth manufacturer, no matter how noble his intentions may have been, and her protests over how badly this could end up backfiring on their family (which later, thanks to Walt's greed, over-inflated ego, underachiever's regret, rapidly degenerating morals, and his becoming very much power drunk, it does) are, overall, very sensible. This does not stop her from (at the very least) repeatedly covering for Walter's actions with much the same justification as he had for doing them in the first place, ('for the family').
  • As much as she claims that she is being driven to criminality by Walt's actions, her helping to cover up Ted's fraudulent practices was something she did on her own, completely unrelated to Walt's criminal endeavors. (She even uses the money from Walt's drug dealing to cover it all up, which fucks them all over when Walt crosses Gus Fring and he needs that money to make the family disappear).
  • Similarly, she condescendingly tells Jesse to consider a more legal career path. When it's her turn to get a job, it's as a fraudulent bookkeeper.
  • She constantly scorns Walt over keeping secrets hidden from her, but then neglects to tell him about Ted's IRS problems that could easily lead him to prison — or the fact that she's using his money to pay them off.
  • She turns on Walt the moment she thinks he kills her brother-in-law. Yet, she has absolutely no problem telling Walt to kill Jesse, whom Walt loves just as much as Hank.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • What she employs to escape the dinner with Walt and Jesse in "Buyout".
  • "Rabid Dog":
    Walter: How much have you had to drink?
    Skyler: Not nearly enough.
• In-Series Nickname: Sky.
• I've Come Too Far: Suggesting that Walt should kill Jesse when he becomes a threat, reasoning that it's only one more life against them.
  Skyler: We've come this far... for us, what's one more?
• It's All About Me: Portrayed sympathetically (at first, anyways) when Walt spends more time supporting her over his cancer diagnosis than the other way around.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • She's a judgmental, condescending, and self-righteous hypocrite but she's also right about pretty much everything she criticizes Walt over. His corrupt and reckless choices do end up destroying their family.
  • In terms of more specific examples, Skyler is rather jerkish to Saul Goodman when poking holes in his money laundering scheme for Walter's meth earnings. That said, she's completely right to point out that Walter buying a laser tag building makes zero logical sense, as his lack of connection to the sport would be incredibly suspicious to tax auditors.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 'Very' bitchy and passive-aggressive towards Walter and Jesse and not brilliant with the small talk. She still loves her family and only wants what's best for them and even if she's capable of doing heinous things like Walt, she at least has the decency to feel conflicted about it. Even after being horrified about Walt being a drug dealer she still clearly cares for him and isn't happy when Bogdan insults his manhood in Season 4.
• Karma Houdini: Gets off very light for all the things she was complicit in. Justified in that Walter manipulates the narrative to paint her in a better light for the police and the rest of the family (making it seem like he abused her and forced her into his drug-dealing activities), feeling responsible for driving her down that path in the first place and not wanting to leave their children with a dead father and an incarcerated mother. The emotional, financial, and legal damage to her and their children is by no means negligible, either.
• Lady Macbeth: Walt wants to talk some sense into Jesse. Skyler wants Walt to have him killed instead. Considering that Jesse had just tried to burn the family house and that baby Holly cried out during that scene... it's fairly clear the her maternal instinct was playing a part in that outbreak of dagger-suggesting, though. Nobody threatens her babies without her reacting.
• Mama Bear: Her children are not going to find out about her and Walt's crimes or be in any form of danger on her watch. Unfortunately for Walt, he unknowingly becomes an obstacle to that goal in "Ozymandias" as he is involved in Hank's death. After asking him to leave, he refuses to listen and moves toward her instead, causing her to lash out at him with a knife.
• Most Writers Are Writers: It's implied that before the events of the show, she was interested in becoming a writer, as she lies to Marie about working on a short story early in season one, and Walt tries to get her to attend a writing workshop out of town in season two. It might also explain why she is better at coming up with lies on the spot. During a flashback in the season 3 finale, when she and Walt are about to buy their house, Walt suggests setting aside a room for her to use as a writing studio.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When she realizes the depths of Walt's ruthlessness and sees Ted paralyzed and terrified of her, leading to a severe Heroic BSoD.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: When Jesse found out about Walt poisoning Brock and almost burning their house down, Skyler's words were along the lines of, "What's one more?"
• Never My Fault: Repeatedly rationalizes, blames others for, and makes excuses for her own petty, selfish, and illegal behavior, such as screwing Ted in part out of petty revenge and later cooking the books for him when it becomes evident that he is committing fraud, tolerating Walt's criminal activities even as they become more and more heinous, directly helping Walt launder money, or even seriously suggesting they have Jesse killed, claiming that Walt and circumstances 'drove' her to all this. (While she sort of has a point at first, it becomes increasingly hard to justify as she becomes aware of multiple murders and becomes personally involved in two separate instances of fraud.) Multiple characters (her divorce attorney, Marie, Walter Jr.) call her out on her inability to own up to her own behavior while calling out everyone else on theirs.
• Nervous Wreck: As the series progresses and the tension ratchets up, Skyler's composure deteriorates and it appears she'll start shrieking at the drop of a hat.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Walt Jr. tells her in "Ozymandias" that by lying about Walt's actions and helping him with his money, she's just as bad as he is. She is also entirely capable of being just as petty, self-righteous, and morally questionable as her husband, all while giving him hell for it.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Along with her ability to fake distress when she needs sympathy, it's one of her best weapons, as she proves in season 4 when she tricks an IRS agent investigating Beneke Fabricators for fraudulent accounting into thinking the company's bookkeeping was flawed due to incompetence rather than criminal intent.
• Oblivious to Her Own Description: Skyler, who is played by Anna Gunn and acknowledged in-universe as being hot by someone who is somewhat younger than her, does not know what a "MILF" is.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Skyler had some shades of this, as early on she was a shrill, nagging Wet Blanket Wife that did things like forcing Walt to eat soy bacon or flipping out on him for smoking weed and threatening his "dealer" (Jesse) behind his back. However, as Walter slides into increasingly erratic, destructive, and criminal behavior, she's portrayed more sympathetically.
• Outlaw Couple: Downplayed, but with Walt, she become the one in charge of laundering all of his meth income and taking including taking care of the car wash they buy. They're not happy together, though.
• Power Hair: Gets this hairstyle after establishing the car wash laundering scheme, but grows it back out somewhat after her first Heroic BSoD.
• The Power of Acting: Turns out to be one of Skyler's best weapons. Whether she's faking contractions to bail her sister out of her shoplifting problems, making up a story about Walt's gambling addiction on the fly, or convincing a locksmith that Walt's condo is her home, Skyler can sell it.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Involves herself in Walt's crimes to enact some damage control and keep their children from ever discovering them, not because she wants to be a badass drug lord like her husband.
• Properly Paranoid: When she starts colluding with Walt in his criminal enterprise, she constantly worries that their family would be endangered, her fears becoming greater in Season 5. Near the end of the series, her fears turn out to be justified after Jesse finds out about Walt's poisoning Brock and preparing to burn their house down.
• The Scapegoat: Actually averted by the end of the series when Walt takes the heat for her, but she has played this role since learning the truth about him, for Walt Jnr/Flynn, who blames her solely for all the problems in their family, as Skyler can't tell him the truth about his father's criminal activities.
• Seamless Spontaneous Lie: When Skyler needs to justify the large amount of cash Walter earned from making meth, she spins a tale about Walt gambling that also explains the fallings-out they had. It's so good Walter himself begins to listen in awe.
• Sexless Marriage: Having previously had a healthy (if not always enthusiastic) sex life, Skyler seems to be repulsed by sex with Walt after he attempts to Wall Bang Her in "Seven Thirty Seven", until Walt tells Skyler he loves her in "Shotgun", which leads to very passionate sex and Walt Jr's reaction.
• Sexy Secretary: Lampshaded and invoked. Pretends to be an incompetent bookkeeper who was only hired for her looks — complete with low-cut dress, and inappropriate ditziness — to trick the IRS agent who's investigating Ted for fraud.
• Shed the Family Name: Reverts back to her maiden name "Lambert" in "Granite State".
• Sleeping with the Boss: With Ted, although not for the usual reasons: it's more as an act of rebellion against Walt than anything else.
• The Smart Girl: Once she starts to get involved with Walt's business, it becomes clear that she has a lot of business smarts, and her elaborate lie to the family about where the money is coming from is pretty ingenious. Skyler immediately pointing out to Walter how incredibly stupid some of his schemes are shows that she's as smart as he is, or at least more prudent.
• Stacy's Mom: Jesse, who was Walt's student as a high-schooler, tells Walt to his face that Skyler is hot.
• Taking the Heat: Forced to paint herself as the "bitch mom" to prevent Walt Jr. from learning about his father's activities.
• Took a Level in Badass: Although surprisingly a negative version; she becomes much sharper and more conniving when laundering Walt's money.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Around Season 3, she becomes much more sympathetic to the audience as Walt slides down into amorality.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Thoroughly deconstructed. To hide Walt's secret, she pretends to be one and lets Walt Jr. hate her, but it's made increasingly clear that she has good reason to be ungrateful to Walt.
• Villain Protagonist:
  • Played with in that Skyler takes a Lady Macbeth-like active role in her husband's business. Subverted by season five, she's mostly stopped dead on this trope after realizing what kind of man her husband has become.
  • She then plays this straight from "Blood Money" until "Ozymandias", when she refuses to cooperate with Hank's investigation. After this, she wants nothing more to do with Walt.
• Villainous Breakdown: Learning that Hank finally knows about Walt's criminality causes Skyler to have a minor Freak Out in front of Hank while they're at a restaurant, though Hank mistakes this display as the effects of Stockholm Syndrome.
• Wet Blanket Wife: She starts out (especially in the pilot) as a condescending wet blanket who forces her husband to eat soy bacon and reminds him which credit card to use, but as Walter slides into increasingly erratic, destructive, and criminal behavior, she becomes seen more as the Only Sane Man. She even forces Walt to return a flashy Dodge Challenger he bought for their son on the grounds that it contradicts their story while they're trying to effectively launder money. While she has plenty of flaws, she dared to have a problem with her middle-class husband becoming a meth-dealing drug kingpin. More than a few Author Filibuster scenes are intended to drive home the point that she's trying to get herself and her children away from an increasingly violent, delusional criminal. The series finale flat out has Walter say this to her.
• What You Are in the Dark: Much like Walt, Sky is capable of doing some truly loathsome things when she's able to justify it to herself. She has a Heel Realization a little earlier than Walt does, but by then too much damage has been done to really fix anything.
• Who Watches the Watchmen?: In "Cornered", Skyler has this to say:
  Skyler: Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.
• Who Will Take The Kids?: One of her biggest fears, and unusually Played for Drama. As Walt is dying anyway, she knows she has to either keep her children, despite being a drug dealer or hand them over to Hank and Marie.
• Women's Mysteries: When Skyler is detained by a jeweler on suspicion of shoplifting, she fakes going into labor to scare them into letting her go. Or possibly just to get her to stop Lamazing at them.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: A rare example of this being portrayed sympathetically. She fakes a suicide attempt in Season 4 to get Flynn and Holly away from Walt, and she convinces Hank in Season 5 that she is an unwilling participant in Walt's actions so they can figure out what to do next.
• Yoko Oh No: Saul accuses Skyler of this when she decides to become more involved with Walt's meth-dealing business and, specifically, suggests he invests in the car wash he used to work for as a way to launder money rather than invest in Saul's laser tag venue. She ultimately turns out to be correct, though.

Walt Jr.

Walter Jr/Flynn White

"My Dad is my hero."

Portrayed By: RJ Mitte

Appearances: Breaking Bad

"This here? All this that I've been through... and you're scared of a little chemotherapy?"

Walter and Skyler's teenage son and Holly's older brother. He has cerebral palsy, as manifested in speech difficulties and impaired motor control, for which he uses crutches. His father's absences and bizarre behavior lead them to grow apart, leading Walter Jr. to have his friends teach him to drive — rather than his dad — and to adopt the name Flynn.

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• Ancestral Name: He shares his name with his father, Walter, but begins going by the name "Flynn" on occasion starting in Season 2. He eventually legally changes his name to Flynn to distance himself from his father after discovering Walt Sr.'s drug-dealing activities. A good move too, given that Heisenberg would later become an internationally wanted criminal by the end of Season 5.
• Armor-Piercing Question: He lands one on his father when he learns the truth.
  Why don't you just fucking die already?
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even though he's much nicer and nowhere near as physically fit as his old man, Flynn immediately drops his crutches and tackles him when he realizes that his mother is in serious danger of being harmed and/or killed by Heisenberg, showing that he's capable of performing badass feats when the chips are down.
• Big Eater: Walt Jr. does love his breakfast. It's become a Memetic Mutation within the fandom.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: They're quite prominent.
• Break the Cutie: He doesn't take the news that his parents are drug dealers well.
• Broken Pedestal: He idolizes his father. When he learns the truth, he turns against him hard.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Noticeably averted for most of the series. He adores Walt and blames Skyler for their marital problems. After he learns the full truth, he calls out Walt for his actions during "Granite State" and refuses to take any of his remaining drug money.
• Disabled Snarker: One of the most on-point snarkers in the earlier seasons.
  Walt: I didn't know you started drinking coffee.
  Junior: Yeah, and I also started tying my own shoes, all by myself.
  • Later when the White family is clothes shopping.
  Skyler: Are you sure you don't want to get a different kind? Like, you know, the skinny jeans? Those are really supposed to be in style now. The skaters wear them.
  Junior: (Beat) Do I look like a skater?
  • His first conversation with his father in the pilot is pretty much an Establishing Character Moment for his snark:
  Junior: [to Walt] How does it feel to be old?
  Walt: How does it feel to be a smartass?
  Junior: Good.
• Disowned Parent: Walt Jr. pretty much disowns Walter after finding out he's a drug lord and believing that he killed Hank. He even legally changed his first name to "Flynn" to get rid of any sort of association to his father.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Decides to be called Flynn out of rebelliousness until his parents' separation, at which point he sides with his dad and demands to be called Walt Jr. He then reverts back to Flynn in Season 5B once he learns who his father really is.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first scene in "Pilot" for both his love of breakfast and his snarky personality.
  Junior: [to Walt] How does it feel to be old?
  Walt: How does it feel to be a smartass?
  Junior: Good.
• Extremely Protective Child: Zigzagged and reconstructed. For the first 4 seasons, Flynn/Walt Jr seems to almost loathe Skyler and blame her for all the problems in their family, as Skyler can't tell him the truth. The minute he finds out what his father actually did, he turns against him and becomes this for Skyler.
• Handicapped Badass: Averted for most of the show, but in "Ozymandias" he yanks Walt off Skyler during their knife-fight and calls the cops on him. Given the shock of the reveal of everything his father has done, that must have taken incredible guts.
• Heroic BSoD: He doesn't react well when he learns about his father's crimes and Hank's death in "Ozymandias".
• Hero-Worshipper:
  • Adores his father until he learns everything in "Ozymandias".
  • He also adores Hank, which is a huge bone of contention for Walt. It's actually what causes him to finally turn against his father.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He's naive enough to think his father is the perfect man. When he discovers that his father is a drug dealer, he does not take it well at all.
• I Have No Son!: Inverted. He ends up legally changing his name to Flynn in the interim months after the events of "Ozymandias", essentially disowning his father and his name out of shame.
• Jerkass Ball: Most of the time, he's a Nice Guy. But he can be very sullen and grumpy when he wants to, never more so than to Skyler when she leaves Walt, assuming that she is persecuting him when instead she is trying to keep the consequences of his meth business out of the house. Of course, he's a teenager at the end of the day, and doesn't have the right information, seeing as it's kept hidden from him. When he learns the truth in "Ozymandias", he doesn't hesitate to physically protect Skyler from Walt.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Skyler goes to great lengths to keep him from learning about Walt's cooking. By the second half of season 5, he is the only main character that's oblivious to Walt's being Heisenberg. At least, until Ozymandias.
• Meaningful Name: When he wants to be called Flynn instead of Walter, Junior. The first time this happens is simple teenage rebellion. The second time is after he finds out what his father's done, and is ashamed to share the name.
• Meaningful Rename: After Ozymandias, Walt Jr. legally changed his name to Flynn to demonstrate that he has completely disowned his father.
• Momma's Boy: For almost the entire series, he was a severe aversion of this trope, as he clearly favored his father over his mother. And whenever a predicament involving Walt and Skyler comes, Flynn almost always sided with the former and admonished the latter. This changes entirely in "Ozymandias", where he comes to his mother's aid during her scuffle with Walt. Flynn pushes Walt off of her and then calls the cops on his father. This new change in him apparently stayed months later, when he gets a call from his father, one of the things that Flynn chews him out for is how he treated her.
  Flynn: What you did to Mom?! You asshole!
• My God, What Have I Done?: Implied in regards to his treatment of his mother. While Flynn initially accuses Skyler of being just as bad as Heisenberg is when he finds out the truth behind everything in "Ozymandias", it's clear that it's mostly out of raw shock and angst more than anything. When his father calls him near the end of the series though, Flynn specifically points out how his treatment of Skyler makes him irredeemable, indicating that he regrets his hostility towards his mother throughout much of the series.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Ozymandias", the decidedly Non-Action Guy Walt Jr immediately tackles Heisenberg when he gets into a violent altercation with his mother, and promptly calls the cops. From that point onward, Walt Jr makes it clear that his once unflappable love for his father is completely vanquished when he legally changes his name to Flynn and tells his father that he wishes he were dead over the phone.
• Out of Focus: While never a major character, he appears less in Season 4 than in any other season. It is likely due to not even a year passing in-story while the actor has aged visibly.
  • The increased intensity of the show's main drug-dealing storyline probably contributes to his relative lack of appearances later on.
• Precision F-Strike: "Then why don't you just fucking die already?" Doubles as a Meaningful Echo when he says it not at all facetiously after learning of Walt's crimes.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to his father in "Granite State" when he refuses any money from his father despite his mother likely going to prison soon and barely making ends meet, reminding Walt that he's responsible for Hank's death and Skyler's plight, and has been a blight on the family.
  Flynn: ...You want to send money? You killed Uncle Hank! You KILLED HIM! What you did to Mom—you asshole! You killed Uncle Hank! Just shut up! Just stop it. Stop it! I don't want anything from you! I don't give a shit! You killed Uncle Hank! You killed him! What you did—just, shut up! Shut up! Will you just—just leave us alone, you asshole! Why are you still alive?! Why won't you just die already? Just DIE!
• Rebuilt Pedestal: After she throws Walt out of the house in the season 2 finale, Jr grows to despise Skylar, blaming her for everything going wrong with their family, even going so far as to demand she start calling him Walt Jr. again after having wanted to be called Flynn. He keeps up his low opinion of Skyler until "Ozymandias" when he is told of Walt's drug dealing and the murder of Hank. Then when Skyler gets into a knife fight with Walt, Jr shoves Walt off of her, shields her behind himself from Walt, and calls the the police on him. If there was any lingering doubt of how much much the renamed Flynn forgives and loves Skyler, the next time he speaks to Walt, Flynn tells him that he wishes Walt was dead for what he did to Skyler.
• Shed the Family Name: While he keeps the "White" last name, Walt Jr has his first name legally changed to Flynn to get rid of any association with his criminal father.
• Tempting Fate: "Salud" has him telling Walt that remembering him as a sickly but loving parent would not be so bad compared to how distant and evasive his father has been acting for the past year (since his cancer diagnosis and started cooking meth). Then "Ozymandias" happened and showed Jr. his dad for the self-deluded monster he truly was. The succeeding episode makes it viciously clear that Walt's son will never see him as a sickly-yet-loving parent ever again.
• Token Good Teammate: The most innocent person in the family, and probably the entire show.
• Took a Level in Badass: Finally finding out what his dad's been up to all this time has taken a toll on the poor kid, but a couple of scenes later, he manages to knock off Walt during the knife squabble with Skyler and pull out his phone to call the cops, especially with Walt still holding the knife. And this is a kid that still needs crutches to walk. He also doubles up in Granite State, giving a very effective "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards his dad.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Walt Jr loves his pancakes and bacon.
• Wealthy Ever After: Walt makes sure through Gretchen and Elliot that he and Skyler are given almost ten million from the money he saved, ensuring they will be well off after his death.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After learning the truth, he calls out his mother on being complicit in his father's crimes. In "Granite State", he gives one to his father for everything he did, and for acting as if nothing has happened.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Subverted. It's implied that Walt Jr. feels the strain on his and his father's relationship, but due to his dad being a criminal and all, this is not played judgmentally towards Walt Jr.

Holly

Holly White

Portrayed By: Haven Tomlin, Elanor Anne Wenrich & Moira Bryg Macdonald

Appearances: Breaking Bad

"Mama, Mama, Mama."

Walt and Skyler's baby daughter and Walt Junior's younger sister. She was born in 2009.

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• Babies Ever After: Inverted. The fact that Walt knows he won't live long enough to see her grow up is one of the main forces driving his actions, as he feels the need to give her some kind of legacy.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Again, inverted; Skyler's pregnancy is a huge pressure point for Walt. Especially averted in that Walt missing her birth is one of the first major, permanent cracks in Walt and Skyler's marriage, and when Skyler realizes the extent of Walt's criminal dealings.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Holly first appears in "Phoenix", the same episode where Jane Margolis dies.
• Forbidden Friendship: Skyler often forbids Walt from even touching Holly out of spite for being a Disappeared Dad to Holly and spending so much time out of the house.
• Improbable Infant Survival: Played straight. Ultimately, however, she likely would have been killed on Gus' orders eventually had Walt not killed him first.
• I Want My Mommy!: Used as a Wham Line in "Ozymandias".
• Morality Pet: For Walt. Her crying for Skyler is what makes him realize that he can never have anything resembling a family again, no matter how much he wants it.
• Pink Means Feminine: Always shown in pink. Also doubles as a Meaningful Echo to the recurring motif of the pink teddy bear of Season 2, which ends with her birth and the deaths of everyone on two planes.
• Practically Different Generations: She's sixteen years younger than Walt Jr.
• Surprise Pregnancy: Her conception was an unplanned accident and the additional financial burden of taking care of her on top of everything else is part of what drives Walt to turn to making and selling crystal meth for quick and easy money.
• Wham Line: Her first words nonetheless. Holly keeps saying "Mama" after Walt kidnaps her in "Ozymandias", which is the final nail in the coffin for Walt in terms of trying to convince his family to stay with him.

The Schrader Family

Hank

Henry R. "Hank" Schrader

"It's easy money, till we catch ya.'"

Portrayed By: Dean Norris

Appearances: Breaking Bad | Better Call Saul

"All this, everything that's happened, I swear to God, Marie, I think the universe is trying to tell me something and I'm finally ready to listen. I'm just not the man I thought I was."

Walt and Skyler's brother-in-law and Marie's husband, who works as a DEA agent. He is actively involved in investigating a meth kingpin named "Heisenberg", unaware for over a year that his prey is actually Walter. Hank has a cavalier exterior, but in reality, the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit.

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• Action Hero: Hank, alongside being more heroic than Walt by the end, has been in some kind of physical altercation almost once a season. Starting with his fatal shootout with Tuco, these scenes get more and more tense and high-stakes such as the fight with the Cousins that ends with him near-dead, and his final moment shooting out with the Aryan Brotherhood. It gives his scenes a different energy than Walt, who by contrast is barely a fighter.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Hank is amazingly perceptive and has extremely good instincts, making him an excellent cop. His only blind spot is Walt. He knows that Walt is up to something, but he guesses that it's just an affair.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Contrasting with Walt's preference of brains over brawn, Hank is very much an Action Hero who prefers to be in the thick of conflict. His baldness thus serves a different symbolism than Walt's Bald of Evil that develops over the course of the series.
• Batman Gambit: Hank correctly figures just how greedy Walt is. With Gomez and Jesse's help, he takes a photo of a dug-up barrel of money in his backyard and has Jesse send both the pic and a taunting phone message to Walt, who immediately leads the trio to where the money is really buried and angrily confesses to his murders in the process.
• Beard of Sorrow: Downplayed. While Hank never grows a beard, he does grow noticeable stubble when he falls into depression following his run-in with the Cousins and his subsequent paralysis. Once he starts investigating Heisenberg again and getting out of his funk, the stubble goes away. It comes back after he discovers Walt is Heisenberg.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Hank initially appears to be a loud, crude, blustery foil to Walt. He is actually extremely intelligent, determined, and handy in a fight.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the second episode of season 2, he unknowingly saves Walt and Jesse from Tuco.
• Big Fun: He fits the stereotype at first (a fat, fun-loving jokester), although it becomes evident that he's a Stepford Smiler. By the end of the show he Took a Level in Cynic and he's no longer this trope.
• Big Good: In Season 5, he's promoted to the head of the DEA and serves as a Hero Antagonist (especially in 5B when he discovers that his brother-in-law Walt is Heisenberg).
• Boisterous Bruiser: Acts like one, but it's partly to cover up his inner doubts and fears.
• Break the Haughty: He gets truly broken after the taskforce bombing. Things get even worse for his physical and mental health after his shootout with the Salamanca Twins, and Season 4 has him in his foulest and most self-deprecating mood.
• Broken Ace: Hasn't been the same ever since the taskforce bombing in season 2. For a time, he was literally broken after getting shot by one of the Twins.
• Butt-Monkey: He's involved in at least three life-threatening shootouts (the last of which sees his end). He also goes through a number of episodes of PTSD, is fooled into believing that his wife has been in a serious car accident, and is in two car accidents himself. Whilst all of this is going on, he's been screwed over mightily by his supposedly loyal brother-in-law.
• Car Fu: He backs his car into one of the Cousins, effectively crushing Leonel's legs.
• Cassandra Truth: Hank begins to have his suspicions about Gustavo Fring's connection to the blue meth and Heisenberg, especially when he sees Gale (a noted vegetarian) buying food from Los Pollos Hermanos. Hank's fellow agents and superior don't buy it at all until Gustavo is found dead with half his face blown off in a nursing home and his underground meth lab is discovered.
• Celeb Crush: A few throwaway lines from him implies he's attracted to Shania Twain.
• Climax Boss: Hank is built up as Walt's greatest opponent in Season 5, only to get killed by Uncle Jack two episodes before the finale. His death is nonetheless a huge game-changer, as it leads to Walt finally being exposed as Heisenberg and alienating his family.
• Cool Uncle: To Walter Jr. Before the series, it could very well be argued that he sees Hank as more of a father to him than Walt is. Part of Jr.'s hatred towards Walt after he learns the truth is because he blames him for Hank's death, even telling him to "just die already".
• Cowboy Cop: Zigzagged. Hank occasionally bends the rules to get the results he wants, but overall he knows the limitations of the law and what he is and isn't allowed to pursue. He trespasses on private property and attempts to forcibly enter Walt's and Jesse's RV, but when he's told that he needs a warrant to enter a domicile, he backs off for the moment and calls for back-up. When he beats the living shit out of Jesse after (or so Hank thinks) the latter threatened his family, he is suspended without pay and would have been fired if Jesse didn't drop the charges. He uses Exact Words to overrule his superior on the Ehrmantraut case and gets positive results. When he does find out that Walt is his nemesis "Heisenberg", Hank goes ballistic, willing to use wildly illegal and underhanded means to apprehend him.
• Deadpan Snarker: The less obnoxious and rude he gets, the more deadpan his snarks become.
• Death Glare:
  • As soon as he uncovers that Walt is Heisenberg, their every interaction past that point involves gratuitous amounts of Hank just staring daggers into his soul, utterly seething with fury at the betrayal.
  • Early in Season 3, his behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and when Gomez calls him out on this and sincerely tries to reach out to him, Hank dismisses his concerns and gives him one of these.
• Defiant to the End: Gives a Precision F-Strike to Jack before he kills him.
• Dented Iron: Hank remains a tough-as-nails badass throughout the show, but is left horribly injured by the Cousins' attempt to kill him and requires months of physical therapy to help recover. Even when he is on his feet in Season 5, he still walks with a limp.
• Determinator: After being shot multiple times in "One Minute" by Marco Salamanca, he still manages to load Leonel's pistol with a handy bullet and kill Leonel with a round to the head. As of Season 5B, his fixation on bringing down Walt before he dies of cancer is nearly all-consuming, overriding all other considerations, including the safety of other people and even whether his evidence would hold up in court.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Of Season 5 Part 2. Despite being billed as Walt's main antagonist for the aforementioned season and the Final Boss of the show, Hank is killed by Uncle Jack in "Ozymandias", two episodes before the finale.
• Domestic Abuse: He borders on the emotional variant for a large part of Season 4 thanks to his incredibly dour state at the time, though he remains somewhat sympathetic. And once a new lead on the Heisenberg case gives him something useful to do, he returns to his old self.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Becomes increasingly cruel towards Marie after being bed-ridden by multiple gunshots because he can't stand looking weak to her.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He takes on a gang of heavily armed Neo-Nazis with nothing more than a Glock pistol, and remains composed and dignified before Jack murders him.
• Enemy Mine: With Jesse as of "Rabid Dog", teaming up to take down Walt even though they loathe each other.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He's utterly shocked after discovering that his brother-in-law is Heisenberg.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • For as much as he laughs when Walt gives Junior a drink at a party, even he gets concerned when Walt begins forcing him to drink more than he should be and even tries to take the bottle away.
  • As determined as he is to take down Walter and Skyler after he finds out how neck-deep they are in the criminal underworld, Hank immediately makes Marie relinquish Holly back to Skyler when she tries to take her away from her, as it's clear that taking a 1-year old baby away from her mother is too extreme even for a Cowboy Cop like him.
• Face Death with Dignity: He tells Jack to "just do what [he's] going to do" in contrast to Walter's begging for his life, knowing Jack would have killed him regardless of what he said.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Ultimately, his obsession with catching Heisenberg (AKA Walt) proves to be his undoing, as he can't let go of his need to capture his man.
  • Another of his core flaws is his lack of understanding of criminal psychology. For all of his skill as an investigator, he can't seem to comprehend that Walt would be so desperate enough to start cooking meth. That said, it does make sense as Walt is family and Hank genuinely thought Walt was a decent guy.
• Foil: To Walt. Walt lives a double life as Heisenberg, a ruthless drug kingpin, while Hank is a DEA agent trying to catch Heisenberg while having no idea about his true identity. Walt hides his dangerous criminal persona beneath the outward appearance of a harmless, bookish nerd, while Hank seems like an overly macho Jerkass but has a Hidden Heart of Gold. Walt uses tricks like poison and hidden bombs to kill his enemies, while Hank is an ace with a gun. The more Walt becomes consumed by his pride and ego, the more Hank manages to subdue his Good is Not Nice tendencies, becoming more humble and arguably an even better cop. When Hank finally discovers that Walt is Heisenberg, he is incensed and willing to go to any lengths to take Walt down, while Walt has no desire to fight Hank, asking him repeatedly to back down, refusing to have him killed and ultimately unsuccessfully begging Jack Welker to spare his life.
• Frontline General: He still takes an active role in the Fring/Heisenberg case even after he's promoted to ASAC, even remaining a field agent to it, to the point that his superior Ramey criticizes him for it and tells him to knock it off.
• Genius Bruiser: While loud, overbearing, and seemingly dumb, Hank is a very skilled investigator, as seen in his work on the Fring case, beginning with his connection of Gale's murder to Gus Fring. This was hinted at early on, when he is able to find the hidden stash of meth hidden in Krazy-8's car, which Gomez couldn't locate earlier. His brawling prowess is well established throughout the series, especially in season 3's "I.F.T.", where, unarmed, he handily defeats two strong thuggish druggies in a bar, whilst taking a couple of hits to the face.
• Get It Over With: Hank knows Jack won't spare him, so he refuses to beg for his life and tells him to "do what [he's] going to do".
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Played subtly, but present. Upon finding out that Walt is Heisenberg, he risks everything to catch him, entirely losing his sense of humor from previous seasons and taking major risks, like trusting Pinkman, or abusing his authority by kidnapping Huell.
• Good is Not Nice: Definitely in Season 3 and early 4, but it's downplayed more in Season 5. Partly due to the fact that Walt's actions have gotten truly extreme and Hank has become far less obnoxious and jerkish than he was at the beginning. This trope comes back in full swing in the second part of Season 5. Hank's obsession with bringing down Walt causes him to make several morally and legally questionable decisions, and he begins to treat his co-workers with a certain degree of frigidity.
• Guile Hero: Hank is a tough fighter, but he's very perceptive and cunning as well. His plan to bring down Heisenberg relies on him taking advantage of Walt's ego and making him fall for a hard Batman Gambit.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He has one starting from Season 3 when Marie keeps asking him questions about El Paso.
• Happily Married: With Marie; contrasting the Awful Wedded Life between Walt and Skyler, Marie and Hank's marriage is never casted into any doubt or risk of failing even through their roughest patches. Marie is left completely shattered by Hank's death, and ultimately becomes a vengeful, bitter woman by the time she meets Saul Goodman at the end of Better Call Saul.
• Hero Antagonist: Becomes one once he makes catching the elusive "Heisenberg" his goal; unusually for this trope, he's unaware that the Villain Protagonist he's pursuing is right under his nose. At least until season 5.
• The Hero Dies: In this case, the Hero Antagonist. He almost had Walt arrested, but Walt unintentionally called for Jack’s gang as backup, who end up killing Hank to Walt’s despair.
• Heroic BSoD: Finally finding out that Walt is Heisenberg absolutely floors Hank. His panic attacks come back with a vengeance and he is emotionally wrecked by the time Walt confronts him about the GPS tracker.
• Heroic Willpower: When the Salamanca brothers ambush Hank in Season 3, he manages to reload his pistol and kill his assailant despite the fact that he'd just been shot multiple times.
• He's Back!: Hank's paralysis after his shooting causes a serious change in his personality and his relationship with Marie, but Walt drunkenly convincing him that Gale wasn't Heisenberg gives him the motivation to stop wallowing in self-pity and put his brain to work again. The next morning, he is out of bed, at the table with his notes, and politely apologizes to Marie for making a mess.
• Hidden Depths:
  • For the first season, Hank seems mostly to be a textbook Boisterous Bruiser, but in Season 2, after he kills Tuco, we begin to see that Hank secretly feels a lot of anxiety and fear about his job.
  • More positively, he's more analytical and intelligent than he appears to be, his bedridden status brought these traits out in Season 4.
  • Season 4 shows that he has a very nerdy hobby, as he takes up mineral collecting after his encounter with the Cousins.
• Horrible Judge of Character: It takes him a while to realize who Walt/Heisenberg really is. For almost the entire show, he thinks his brother-in-law is just a meek, harmless man.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • After he beats up Jesse Marie suggests Hank lie about what happened. His superiors would definitely have taken his word over Jesse's but he insists on doing the right thing and telling them the truth.
  • After it comes out that Walt is Heisenberg, Hank is determined to arrest Walter for his crimes and only arrest him, refusing to accept the compromise that Walt's cancer will kill him within a year anyway or that Walt can technically commit suicide to make the drama stop, considering anything less than Walt being publicly seen for the drug Kingpin that he is as unacceptable, even with the personal collateral that would bring down on his career and their family situation. This leads to him laying a trap for Walt to finally arrest him that backfires and results in his death.
• The Hyena: Has a singularly penetrating cackle. The cops at El Paso are not entertained.
• Hope Spot: Near the end of "To'hajiilee". Hank has Walt dead to rights, on record confessing to multiple murders, and Walt finally relents and surrenders. About a minute later, some trucks show up...
• If Only You Knew: He tips Walt off several times without realizing it in his capacity as a DEA agent.
• Informed Kindness: Downplayed. In the finale of Better Call Saul, his wife describes him as the kindest person ever who lived to help others. While he was morally better than many other characters (which is not too hard in this show), he was often an obnoxious jerk with No Sympathy for drug users, including Jesse. Justified, since when someone dies, the loved ones tend to remember only the positive things of the person they lost.
• Insistent Terminology: In Season 4. He's not collecting rocks, he's collecting minerals.
• Inspector Lestrade: Hank doggedly pursues Heisenberg and the origins of the blue meth - and manages to actually get close on a few occasions to discovering Gus' drug empire, but always ends up failing to bust them due to Gus staying one step ahead. It's only after Walt kills Gus and destroys his superlab that he is able to blow the Gustavo Fring case wide open, but even then, it takes a while longer until he discovers Heisenberg's true identity...
• Irony: He butts heads several times with Jesse, as he's the 'face' of the Heisenberg operation on the street level and he can tell he's involved in the drug empire, not to mention he has No Sympathy for a drug-user like Pinkman was at the show's beginning. This leads to a vicious beatdown he gives to Jesse after Walter distracts him from breaking into their 'Crystal Ship' by faking a phone call that Marie's been hospitalized to lure him away from the RV long enough for them to destroy the evidence and Hank losing it when he realizes the truth and believes Jesse somehow orchestrated the call. Jesse is afterward understandably antagonistic towards Hank, planning to sue him for the assault against Walt's pleas to have some Revenge against him and being overjoyed after seeing Hank getting wheeled into the Hospital in critical condition after his run-in with the cousins. In Season 5B, after Hank hits a complete dead-end trying to arrest Walter or find evidence of his crimes thanks to Walt's preparations, and Jesse figures out the truth behind Brock's poisoning and Walter's hand in it, both men realize they're equally invested in seeing Walter punished for his sins and strike an uneasy alliance that's actually successful in capturing Heisenberg at long last, if not for the Neo-Nazis' intervention.
• It Was with You All Along: To Walt when he confronts him about being Heisenberg.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hank is crass, loud, macho, and has an irreverent sense of humor. He's also generous to and protective of his family and genuinely believes in fighting the war on drugs.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Each time Hank meets Wendy the prostitute, he repeatedly makes rude, demeaning jokes to her face about her livelihood and substance abuse problems. Unlike with Gomez, the banter feels much more one-sided and mean-spirited, which isn't helped by the fact that Hank is taking advantage of his authority as well as her low social stature to punch down on her for no other reason than he can.
  • His willingness to have Jesse killed if it gets Walt caught dead to rights.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: "Do what you're gonna d-" [Jack shoots him in the head]
• Knight Templar: Borderline case, especially in the earlier seasons: beats Jesse senseless in Season 3 and conducted a bunch of searches without a warrant. Seems to be one of these again in Season 5 part 2, as evidenced by his treatment of Skyler and Jesse during the Heisenberg investigation.
• Meaningful Echo: At the start of the fifth season, Hank's boss George Merkert is dismissed from the DEA because purported booster Gus Fring had been selling meth under his nose. Half a season later, Hank tells Marie that he will likely be dismissed from the DEA because his brother-in-law Walt has been selling meth under his nose.
• Meaningful Name: 'Hank' is a shortening of 'Henry', which means 'Ruler of his Home', possibly indicating his standing on the side of the law, as well as his high rank, and nicely contrasting Walter's 'ruler of the people.' His last name is also tied to a German scientist too, just like Walt's alias 'Heisenberg': in this case, German scholar Gerhard Schrader (1903 – 1990), the guy who accidentally discovered the first nerve gas.
• Mirror Character: Hank's obsession with catching Walt leads to him becoming increasingly manipulative, a trait commonly attributed to Walt. It gets to the point where he's willing to allow the death of his lead if it incriminates Walt. His treatment of Jesse also mirrors Walt's.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He doesn't outright state it, but his facial expression after he brutally assaults Jesse indicates that he feels a degree of remorse for letting his emotions cloud his judgment.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If he had just gone to the DEA with his suspicions of Walt being Heisenberg from the beginning, then it would've probably prevented his and Gomez's deaths.
• Noble Bigot with a Badge: Though he's not very politically correct and frequently makes racially insensitive jokes to his Mexican-American partner, he doesn't appear to be aggressively bigoted or racist. He also assumes that Gomez knows he is not serious about it.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He brutally beats Jesse in Season 3 to the point of hospitalizing him.
• Not Quite Dead: Parodied in one of the DVD extras. After his execution and burial by the Neo-Nazis, Hank simply crawls out of the ground, plucks the bullet out of his head, and swears to avenge Gomez.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: As Skyler points out, telling her not to speak to a lawyer isn't helping her. The fact that he gloats when catching Walt also shows that whether there is a sense of justice in his reasoning or not, he is driven by personal vendetta.
• N-Word Privileges: Tends to assume he has them with his Hispanic colleagues, not that they hesitate to respond in kind.
• Oh, Crap!: Two in "Confessions": the first when Walt's "confession" tape turns out to be blackmail, and a second one when Marie admits she took $177k from Walt to pay for Hank's rehab.
• Only Sane Man: Until he finds out about Walt being Heisenberg.
• The Peter Principle: Downplayed, but implied that while Hank was an excellent agent, he's a pretty weak ASAC, often forgetting some of his mundane but important responsibilities and focusing on ensnaring Mike.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Before Saul is introduced, he was the main comic relief of the show. Completely gone in the final season when things went Darker and Edgier.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Hank frequently makes racist, sexist, and classist jokes.
• Posthumous Character: Hank's death at Jack Welker's hands is ultimately what causes Heisenberg's empire and family to crumble from within, and is what motivates Heisenberg to destroy the Aryan Brotherhood once and for all. Even beyond 2010, Hank still has a presence within the final episode of Better Call Saul, as Marie is hellbent on getting Saul Goodman behind bars due to his involvement with Heisenberg, thus making him complicit in his death in her eyes.
• Precision F-Strike: Given to Jack in "Ozymandias": "My name is ASAC Schrader, and you can go fuck yourself".
• Rank Up: He gets assigned to a better unit and later promoted, but he's a full-blooded agent who resents being a Desk Jockey.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a devastating one to Walt at the end of "Blood Money".
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Very, very downplayed. According to his actor, Dean Norris, Hank at the very least bitterly acknowledges that Walt did everything he could do to save his life, which is why he offers Walt amicable final words.
• Retirony:
  • Subverted. After getting in a whole mess of trouble for beating up Jesse, he tells Marie he thinks that "The universe is telling [him he] shouldn't be a cop anymore," and he believes that he is going to be fired. Around this time, Gus gives the Cousins the okay to kill Hank. However, Hank ends up getting to keep his job, and when the Cousins try to kill him, he (narrowly) escapes.
  • Subverted again after Hank finds out Walt was Heisenberg all along. He tells Marie that the moment he busts Walt, his career will be over because he was under Hank's nose the whole time.
  • Succumbs to this in "Ozymandias", when, having finally caught Walt, he calls Marie to tell her that he's got Walt dead to rights, and is killed almost immediately after.
• Sad Clown: Hank tends to smile a lot and toss around crude jokes, but there's a complex and troubled man beneath the big smile he usually wears. By the time he discovers who Heisenberg really is, all of his levity up and vanishes, leaving his vindictiveness as the only thing driving him.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Walt's Sensitive Guy, at first. Hank is brash, crude and boisterous, an avid sports fan and gun enthusiast, and his work as a DEA agent often puts him in danger. Walt is a mild-mannered and milquetoast high school chemistry teacher, much more of an intellectual and something of a dork. As the show progresses, however, they both shift around the spectrum: Hank reveals an increasing amount of emotional problems and insecurities, as well as some nerdy interests, while Walter becomes increasingly cold, ruthless, and dangerous.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He jokes about killing Tuco, but in private he's revealed to be incredibly rattled by the experience and starts experiencing PTSD episodes. This gradually worsens over the series, such as when Tortuga's head is blown up right near him and kills some of his El Paso associates. But things come to a head when he realizes Walter is Heisenberg — he nearly collapses upon realizing it.
• Stepford Smiler: Despite being deeply traumatized by his shootout with Tuco and the bombing in Juarez, he continues to maintain his blustery, backslapping persona in front of colleagues and friends.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Most notably, he becomes a memetic hero after defeating Tuco Salamanca. He then joins a much more prestigious task force, who are mean-spirited bullies who hate him for not speaking enough Spanish. Everyone congratulates him on how badass it will be, but he's teased nonstop...and then they work on an extremely dangerous job that results in the deaths of the other crew members.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Decorated DEA Agent Hank is always in pursuit of the elusive "Heisenberg"... his brother-in-law.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In "Shotgun" Hank is convinced Gale Boetticher is Heisenberg after Jesse killed Gale. With him dead, Hank laments that a genius like him wasted his life cooking meth when he could have done great things for society. This is surprisingly empathetic of Hank considering Heisenberg had been his white whale for a while at that point.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: For much of Season 4 he takes out the pain of his violent trauma and humiliating paralysis on Marie, showing no appreciation for anything she does to help him while he's bedridden, coldly rebuffing any attempt she makes to reach out to him and generally treating her in an emotionally abusive manner. After Walt drunkenly gives him a new lead on the Heisenberg case, Hank reading his notes at the table and politely apologizing for making a mess is a clear sign that He's Back!. This trope hits him hard when he finds out Walt is Heisenberg and he completely loses his sense of humor or any sign of bantering with his colleagues including Gomez, the only exception is when he's arresting Heisenberg.
• Tranquil Fury: When he clocks Walt in "Blood Money."
• Turn in Your Badge: In Season 3 when he takes the Heisenberg investigation too far and is suspended. Thankfully he's back in action by the latter half of Season 4.
• Unscrupulous Hero: In Season 5, he will stop at nothing to take down Walt, even if it means going outside the law and getting Jesse killed.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Hank is the one who originally offered to take Walter on a ride-along to a meth lab, claiming he should get a little excitement in his life. If he hadn't, Walter probably wouldn't have asked to go on one, he wouldn't have been reunited with Jesse and a lot of death and destruction wouldn't have happened. This includes both of his fatal shootings. Poor Hank's own Boisterous Bruiser tendencies helped pave the way for Heisenberg. Walt's "confession" tape even has him spell out that Hank showed him just how much money was to be made in the drug manufacturing business in the first place.
• Villain Killer: He kills the psychopathic Tuco in a gunfight. He also headshots Marco Salamanca, and mortally wounds Leonel with his car (though Mike ends up being the one to finish him off).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Gomez can't talk to each other for five minutes without insulting or trashing each other. They also love, trust, and depend on one another like you wouldn't believe.
• Wham Line:
  • "Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?" Following up on that in the next episode, "Except... What are Gustavo Fring's fingerprints doing at Gale Boetticher's apartment?"
  • A funny example of a delayed one. "W.W., who could that be?... Walter White?"
• Wham Shot: In-Universe. Him finding a dedication from Gale inside Walt's copy of Leaves of Grass, leading him to finally have the "Eureka!" Moment that Walt is actually Heisenberg.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gives a long and well-deserved one to Walt once the truth is uncovered.
  "It was you. All along, it was you! You son of a bitch. You drove into traffic to keep me from that laundry. That call I got telling me Marie was in the hospital... that wasn't Pinkman. You had my cell number. You killed ten witnesses to save your sorry ass. You bombed a nursing home. You're Heisenberg. Heisenberg! You lying, two-faced sack of shit!"

Marie

Marie Schrader (née Lambert)

"Facing death changes a person. It has to, don't you think?"

Portrayed By: Betsy Brandt

Appearances: Breaking Bad | Better Call Saul

"No matter what they do with you now, no matter where they put you or for how long, it will never be enough."

Skyler's sister, Hank's wife, and Walt's sister-in-law. Marie works as a radiologic technologist. She doesn't hesitate to offer advice to others but often fails to practice what she preaches. She shoplifts obsessively due to kleptomania, for which she sees a therapist. She appears to be a self-centered and shallow narcissist but is very devoted to her husband and cares deeply for her sister's family.

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• The Artifact: The show was originally conceived as more comedic, similar to Weeds. The first season's subplot with Marie's shoplifting/kleptomania is written in a rather light tone. The subplot came back up later and wasn't well-received.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: While Marie does love her older sister, she frequently gets on Skyler's nerves to the point that she has to scream at Marie to shut up.
• Back for the Finale: Makes a major appearance in the finale of Better Call Saul, 9 real-life years after her last appearance in "Felina".
• Berserk Button: After the events of "Felina", just the mere thought of Walter White sends Marie into a seething rage, which makes sense given his indirect role in her husband Hank's death. Notably, she refuses to even mention him by name.
• Broken Bird: By the time we see her again in Better Call Saul, Marie has become a cold, miserable woman who is clearly still grieving Hank's death over a year later.
• Buffy Speak: "My arches happen to be very arch-y."
• The Bus Came Back: Returns from Breaking Bad for the finale of Better Call Saul to confront a detained Saul Goodman and condemn him for his crimes before attending his trial as a witness.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: "I can't tell you. I promised I would never, ever tell." "... All I'll say is that it has to do with infidelity."
• Character Blog: During the events of Season 4, she kept a blog.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • She's obsessed with the color purple. Most of her clothes and furniture are purple. Loads of symbolism here: beyond the greed in hoarding items of just one color, you've got purple representing royalty, vanity, wealth, materialism, basically anything that makes her out to be, as she's seen in Season One, an Alpha Bitch. Note that even as her role changes to The Cassandra through the course of the show, this symbolism doesn't change. In her blog, she discusses the time she found a purple toaster oven as an example of thinking big and achieving your dreams.
  • From "Confessions", when things really turn dark, she starts wearing black.
  • And "Felina", where she wears black and white, symbolizing the loss of Hank from her life.
• Crusading Widow: Denied the opportunity for revenge against Walt for Hank's death as Walt also died, Marie's fervently determined to see anybody remotely linked with him (like Saul) punished in Walt's stead.
• A Day in the Limelight: While normally a Satellite Character to Hank or Skyler, there's a subplot in a Season 4 episode that revolves around her kleptomania.
• Death Glare: She fixes a withering scowl at Saul whenever she looks at him during court proceedings.
• Dumbass Has a Point:
  • Marie is naive enough to think you can overdose on marijuana and die from it, but during the "Talking Pillow" debate in Season 1, she's the only one who thinks Walt should decide on his own whether his cancer should be treated and calls out Skyler on not giving Walt a chance to speak and forcing everyone to have one opinion.
  • In Season 5B about Walt's criminal activities, Marie is able to figure out that Skyler knew about it for much longer than Hank suspected, and that she was too wrapped up in things to work with the police.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: At least gets to see Walter White's lawyer go down for life, and according to Betsy Brandt, Jimmy talking about his complicated relationship with his brother inspired Marie to mend things with Skyler.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Even at the most stressful of times, Marie is always seen with her hair down and blown out. In "Felina", following the trauma of all the revelations, as well as Hank's presumed death and prolonged disappearance, it's the only time we ever see her hair in a ponytail. She's also wearing noticeably less makeup. By the time she appears in court for the Better Call Saul finale, set a few months after the events of "Felina", she's back to her old style, although considering she is still very much in a Broken Bird state, it's likely just for the formal nature of the court appearance.
• Foil: To Walt, of all people. She can arguably be seen as his Lighter and Softer Distaff Counterpart: both have a dangerous ego, a bad need for recognition, and a sense of entitlement to be more than they are; they also are Consummate liars (especially with themselves), impulsive and spiteful. But, while Walt's delusional entitlement results in him becoming a ruthless drug lord, Marie's shoplifting is largely victimless. Moreover, contrasting Walt and Skyler's Awful Wedded Life, Marie has a consistently loving, resilient marriage with Hank. It also seems significant to point out that both Marie and Walt fight with Skyler over Holly during the course of Season 5B.
  • What really sets them apart is that Marie lacks the ability to really "break bad" as Walt does, but she is just as immoral as him in some instances. Besides her kleptomania, Marie is perfectly comfortable with police corruption when it benefits her (Hank protecting her from theft charges, and Marie suggesting that Hank lies about his attack on Jesse to get out of trouble), uses family as a justification for her actions (stealing a tiara for baby Holly), and fantasizes about poisoning Walt with an obscure, untraceable chemical, which is very similar to Walt’s usage of ricin. It could be argued that the only thing keeping her from becoming more like Walt is that she lacks the knowledge to commit greater crimes without being caught.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Played with, flipping back many times between Marie and Skyler. Skyler seems like the most responsible sibling, as Marie is flighty, childless, and kind of dumb, while Skyler is very intelligent, cunning, and controlling. However, Marie becomes more responsible through Hank's injuries landed on him by the Cousins, as Skyler also takes on more of a responsible role. However, when Marie learns that Skyler is involved in Walt's crimes, she truly understands how foolish Skyler has been.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: All of her outfits have at least one purple-colored article of clothing (until "Felina", where she wears all black to symbolize her mourning Hank's death) and she also owns many other items (blankets, household items, etc) in varying shades of violet.
• Happily Married: With Hank, barring rough patches in Season 4. They genuinely love each other and are very devoted.
• Heroic BSoD: She collapses after hearing about Hank's death and is near catatonic in "Granite State". She's still in this state during 'Saul Gone'.
• Hypocrite: Played With. She calls Skyler out when she realizes how long she's known about Walt's drug empire, despite the fact that she definitely should've been in prison for all of the items that she stole (or attempted to steal). However, her crimes were more minor compared to the far more heinous act of Skyler knowing but not informing about a person who was running a criminal operation that involves making meth and killing people.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When under stress, her first response is almost universally to focus on arbitrary annoyances and childish whining, and during Hank's abusive phase during recovery, she went around to open houses lying to real estate agents about herself as a hobby (or rather as a coping mechanism). Not to mention that time she deliberately ran over a kid's toy truck. However, despite her unquestioned status as an annoying know-it-all, she also clearly loves her family. It's especially visible when she does her best to stop Hank from falling into depression after he's confined to a bed. While she has a tendency throughout to be entitled and selfish, Marie repeatedly shows how much she loves Hank and how worried she is about embarrassing him.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: A very dark and disproportionate example. Marie frequently criticizes Skyler for her illegal behavior, though Marie is a kleptomaniac who relies on Hank's connections to stop her from suffering any legal consequences. But Hank dies and Marie ends up absolutely broken, so it's impossible to call her an actual Karma Houdini.
• Kick the Dog: She runs over a kid's remote control car on purpose. At the very least, Hank is courteous enough to pay the kid for a new one.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Wears a white lab coat for her job. Justified, as her job involves the use of damaging radiation techniques and chemicals.
• Loose Lips: Cannot keep a secret to save her life, letting slip Walt's pot use when Skyler confided in her (albeit mistakenly believing she meant Junior) and Skyler's infidelity in the last season. The only secret she actually keeps in the series is that Walt and Skyler were paying for Hank's rehab with "gambling money" which she eventually reveals to Hank after Walt tries to use that money to discredit Hank.
• Moment of Weakness: She experiences a very severe one through Season 4; with Hank's hostile behavior because of his injuries and her putting max effort into making him happy again, Marie begins to relapse into her old habits of lying and shoplifting out of immense stress. When she gets caught and lands herself under arrest, she completely breaks down in shame outside the police station.
• Motor Mouth: Once Marie starts talking, she gets out about four paragraphs in 10 seconds.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: She is very self-centered and according to Skyler, she always had to be the center of attention even in childhood. Early on in the series, she shoplifts an expensive tiara as a baby shower present and initially refuses to apologize after Skyler almost gets arrested over it. When her husband Hank starts to suffer PTSD after a firefight and takes the day off work after receiving a big promotion, she chews him out over it, chalking his out-of-character behavior up to laziness and not bothering to ask if anything's wrong until his condition worsens.
• Out of Focus: Has the least amount of screen time of any of the original cast members.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Under normal circumstances, bluntly telling your cancer-ridden brother-in-law to kill himself would be petty and cruel. However, when that brother-in-law happens to be a meth kingpin and a mass murderer that your husband has been hunting for the past year, well...
• Pet the Dog: When confronting Saul in "Saul Gone", after she tears into him for Hank's murder, she then goes on to tear into him for Steve Gomez's murder as well, specifically bring up that because of what Saul helped Walt do, Steve's three children are now fatherless. During Saul's trial, she sits with Steve's widow and holds her to comfort her when it looks like Saul might get away with everything.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Marie is an X-ray technician. While we don't see her on the job, she demonstrates an understanding of radiology while talking to Skyler and Walt.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Until Season 5B, when everything gets much darker, including Marie.
• The Pollyanna: Even after Hank is severely disabled after the Cousins shot him, she retains her generally happy-go-lucky and positive outlook. When he dies though, she loses all will to be like this.
• Revenge by Proxy: She is understandably very invested in seeing Saul Goodman convicted and rotting away in prison for the rest of his life because of Hank's murder. After all, she can't get revenge on Walter because he's dead (as are Jack, Todd, and the rest of the Neo-Nazis) and Jesse has dropped off the face of the earth and presumed to have fled to Mexico and is beyond the government's reach, which leaves Saul as Walter's last major associate still standing. Thus, in her mind, Saul is the one left holding (and deserving) the blame for the murders of her husband and Gomez.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Marie is right to blame Walt for indirectly playing a part in Hank's hospitalization in Season 3, since Walt's activities are what led Hank to Tuco in the first place and brought the cousins across the border, and he is also directly responsible for the actions which led to Hank beating Jesse and getting suspended and disarmed. However, Marie doesn't know about any of that, instead falling back on the assumption that Walt simply bought drugs off of Jesse and put him on Hank's radar.
• Self-Serving Memory: Indulges in a bit of this regarding Hank in the series finale for Better Call Saul. She notes that Hank was a kind, decent man who cared very much for the people around him. While it is true that Hank did gradually become a better person over the course of the series, he certainly wasn't as good as Marie says he was at first, particularly regarding his casual racism and sexism towards others, and his emotionally abusive behavior towards Marie herself after becoming temporarily paralyzed. It could be justified by the fact that she's clearly still grieving over her husband's senseless death and angry while confronting one of the men who played some small role in it.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: She refers to the deceased Walt solely as "the two-faced, poisonous bastard."
• Stating the Simple Solution: In Season 5B, when Walt's identity as Heisenberg is finally made clear to her and Hank, and Walt tries to argue against attempting to arrest him and publicly identifying him as the mysterious drug Kingpin on the grounds that his cancer has returned and is growing worse, to the point that he will likely be dead within a year before the charges can actually be brought against him, not to mention the difficulty in definitively proving he's Heisenberg in the first place, Marie points out that if Walt's argument is that he wants the drama to stop because he'll be dead soon, then he should just kill himself now and get it over with. Not only does this underline her utter rejection of Walt now that she knows his true colors, but it clearly catches Walt and Skyler off-guard. Hank rejects that out of hand because he wants to see Heisenberg punished and sees any other option that leads to Walt avoiding the courts and sentencing as unacceptable.
• Stepford Smiler: She's really just that chipper most of the time, but still keeps up her regular behavior when she's actually deeply hurt by Hank's behavior after he's injured. When Hank is murdered by the Neo-Nazis, however, all attempts at putting on a happy facade crumble for good.
• Sticky Fingers: Is prone to shoplifting and other forms of minor larceny, particularly when she's under stress.
• Suicide Dare: She angrily tells Walt to kill himself if he wants to avoid being arrested after finding out he's Heisenberg.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a devastating one to Saul in "Saul Gone", blaming him for the death of her husband and condemning him for his cooperation with Walter White.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Over the first four and a half seasons, she serves mostly as light comic relief or as a passive victim of Hank's angry outbursts. But when she finds out about Walt and Skyler's criminality, she proves to be an extremely fierce and determined woman, collaborating with Hank in his investigation and giving him several good ideas, viciously slapping her sister just like Hank punched Walter and Jesse punched Saul, and giving both her and Walt devastating What the Hell, Hero? speeches.
  • By the time of the Grand Finale of Better Call Saul, Marie is willing to stand up to Saul Goodman himself, and has become smart enough to not fall for his Manipulative Bastard tendencies.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: While she was already on the road to this by the end of Breaking Bad, her fury over Walter dying before he could receive his legal comeuppance and grief over Hank's death has made her a lot more curt and unpleasant. This not only extends towards Saul (for whom her unfriendliness is very justified), but towards the prosecution when she feels they aren't moving in the direction she wants them to.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Skyler when she learns that Skyler has known for ages about Walt's involvement in the drug trade.
• Womanchild: She often behaves like a spoiled, bratty child and even shoplifted a tiara while refusing to take responsibility for it.

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