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canyonwalkerBreaking Bad is a series not just about its main character, Walter White, but also his sidekick / partner in crime, Jesse Pinkman. Series creator Vince Gilligan has said that his original plan was to kill off Jesse at the end of the first season. Possibly that would have been in a season cliffhanger or perhaps in a penultimate scene that pushes White to do something drastic.
The Hollywood writers' strike of 2007-2008 scrambled Gilligan's plan. The season was shortened from 9 episodes to 7. Gilligan decided there wasn't enough time in the narrative to end with a supporting character's death. Jesse was saved by a labor strike! Gilligan later said this was a fortuitous coincidence as fans really liked Aaron Paul's portrayal of Jesse Pinkman.
It's a bit surprising that fans liked Jesse based on the first 4-5 episodes. The guy's an idiot. He seems to take nothing seriously and basically failed out of school. Five-ish years later he's living in a house he apparently inherited from his aunt and all his friends are drug dealers or addicts. A few scenes in episodes 5 & 6 humanize him.
After the ridiculous "intervention" Walt's wife stages in S1E5, a move that just seems to prove to Walt that nobody really understands him even though he does agree to start taking cancer treatment, Jesse notices the physical signs on Walt's body of radiation therapy. Walt reacts angrily but cools quickly when he sees that Jesse isn't demanding anything of him, just offering sympathy. Jesse knows something about it from his aunt going through it. He even remembers some of the facts and terminology about radiation treatment. That's surprising coming from a guy who failed Walt's chemistry class because he basically drew penises all over his exam paper.
We see Jesse trying— and failing— to go straight, too. He's driving around town with want-ads circled in the newspaper. (Yes, dear sweet summer children, in 2008 people looking for jobs, especially entry level jobs, found them in newspapers. Printed newspapers!) Jesse dresses up in a jacket and tie and gives a pretty good pitch to a real estate broker how he'll help him increase his sales. But it turns out the listing for a "sales assistant" is a minwage job waving around a sign on the street corner. And one of Jesse's more-idiotic, more loser-ish friends from high school is already doing it. It's hard not to feel some sympathy for a guy who shows real hustle and is told he's only qualified to compete with an organ grinder's monkey.
The Hollywood writers' strike of 2007-2008 scrambled Gilligan's plan. The season was shortened from 9 episodes to 7. Gilligan decided there wasn't enough time in the narrative to end with a supporting character's death. Jesse was saved by a labor strike! Gilligan later said this was a fortuitous coincidence as fans really liked Aaron Paul's portrayal of Jesse Pinkman.
It's a bit surprising that fans liked Jesse based on the first 4-5 episodes. The guy's an idiot. He seems to take nothing seriously and basically failed out of school. Five-ish years later he's living in a house he apparently inherited from his aunt and all his friends are drug dealers or addicts. A few scenes in episodes 5 & 6 humanize him.
After the ridiculous "intervention" Walt's wife stages in S1E5, a move that just seems to prove to Walt that nobody really understands him even though he does agree to start taking cancer treatment, Jesse notices the physical signs on Walt's body of radiation therapy. Walt reacts angrily but cools quickly when he sees that Jesse isn't demanding anything of him, just offering sympathy. Jesse knows something about it from his aunt going through it. He even remembers some of the facts and terminology about radiation treatment. That's surprising coming from a guy who failed Walt's chemistry class because he basically drew penises all over his exam paper.
We see Jesse trying— and failing— to go straight, too. He's driving around town with want-ads circled in the newspaper. (Yes, dear sweet summer children, in 2008 people looking for jobs, especially entry level jobs, found them in newspapers. Printed newspapers!) Jesse dresses up in a jacket and tie and gives a pretty good pitch to a real estate broker how he'll help him increase his sales. But it turns out the listing for a "sales assistant" is a minwage job waving around a sign on the street corner. And one of Jesse's more-idiotic, more loser-ish friends from high school is already doing it. It's hard not to feel some sympathy for a guy who shows real hustle and is told he's only qualified to compete with an organ grinder's monkey.
