How did a character that was supposed to end dead by the end of S1 became one of the best ever characters written for TV? The answer lies in the rollercoaster of emotions Jesse Pinkman was going through, all the while we were busy with the evolution of Heisenberg. His character arc was mostly spiraling downwards but all ends were met and we were happy when he finally drove to Alaska in El Camino: The Breaking Bad movie.
If we sit and take a look at Jesse’s journey, it was way more painful than Walt’s. He was a high school dropout whose street smartness made him meet the man who was gonna change his life forever. He took a road from which there was no turning back and in the story of Pinkman, the main villain was Heisenberg beyond doubts. The way Heisenberg manipulated Jesse in all possible ways made Jesse’s life even more miserable than it was already and almost everything went wrong for Jesse. He lost his parents’ support once again due to his pot-smoking brother, Jane died, Andrea was shot dead, Brock’s life was threatened each and every second and most importantly when he learned that Walt let Jane die, he was broken beyond repair.⠀
But the takeaway lesson from Jesse’s life will be his respect for Walt at the deep of his heart. He may have turned down Heisenberg, but Walt was always Mr. White to him. He always considered Walt as his father figure and Heisenberg made sure that he was the father that Jesse never had, only during his final moments when he helped him escape. Heisenberg may have freed Jesse, but had he been less Heisenberg and more Walt, Jesse would have led a happy life somewhere in New Zealand!⠀
Jesse Pinkman is neither white nor black in the spectrum of life, but grey as we all are. When Skinny Pete said, ‘Dude, you’re my hero and shit‘ to Jesse, I too felt the same, albeit in a different manner. Jesse Pinkman is not the hero I want to be in real life, but if there was ever a day when I am gonna write something fictional, he will be my hero and shit!
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